A few moments before the breakfast hour on Monday morning, Captain
Raymond, as usual, went into the apartments of his little girls to see
how they were.
He found them in the sitting-room. Grace with a Bible in her hands,
Lulu—greatly to his surprise, busily plying a needle.
“Good-morning, my darlings,” he said, bending down to bestow a fatherly
caress upon each; then with a smiling glance at Lulu, “I am glad to see
you so industrious, daughter.”
“Yes, papa; see it’s the dress for that little Jones girl. Christine
basted the patches on for me Saturday, and showed me how to sew them;
and I am nearly done now. Please look if I am doing it well.”
“Very nicely, I think,” he replied, examining the work; “your stitches
are small and neat. Would you like to take it to the little girl
yourself, this morning?”
“If there’s time, papa.”
“There will be; your young friends are not expected much before the
dinner hour; so if the weather is pleasant, you and Gracie shall have
a little drive with me shortly after breakfast, and we will call at the
Jones’ house and leave the dress.”
Both little girls exclaimed, “How nice, papa!” and Lulu added, “I shall
enjoy giving it to her myself. And I’ll have time to go; for I got up
quite early and have pretty nearly put my rooms in order already.”
“I like to see you industrious, daughter,” her father said, kindly,
“but I do not want you to overdo the thing by being up too long, and
taking too much exercise before eating; because that might injure your
health.”
“Yes, sir; but I had a glass of milk when Gracie had hers; and now I’m
just nicely hungry for my breakfast.”
“Well, I am glad to hear it,” he said, “for the bell will probably ring
in about five minutes.”
Gracie had laid her book aside and taken possession of his knee.
“I’d like to get up early and work, too, if I could,” she said, laying
her head on his shoulder.
“Yes, I know you would, my pet,” he responded, passing his hand
caressingly over her soft curls, “but you are not strong enough yet.”
“But she’s useful, papa,” remarked Lulu, “she has been helping me to
learn my text while I sewed, by reading it over and over to me, and
we’ve learned hers, too, in the same way.”
“That was a very good plan,” he said.
“They are such nice verses, papa,” said Grace. “This is mine:
“‘He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love.’”
“And this is mine,” said Lulu:
“‘Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for
us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.’ What does
that last clause mean, papa?”
“That the love between the disciples of Christ must be great enough
to make them willing to lay down their lives—die for each other if
necessary.”
“It wouldn’t be many folks I could love so hard as that,” remarked
Lulu, emphatically.
“Doesn’t the Bible say we must love every body, papa?” asked Grace.
“Yes; ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.’ ‘But I say unto you,
love your enemies.’”
“There, I’m done!” exclaimed Lulu, breaking off her thread, throwing
the mended dress over the back of a chair, and putting away her needle.
“Papa,” coming close to his side and leaning up affectionately against
him, “it’s just as easy as any thing to love you and Gracie, and Max,
and Mamma Vi, and Grandma Elsie—and other people that are good and kind
and pleasant, but I just _can’t_ love every body; at least not a bit
as I love you,” giving him a hug and kiss.
“No, dear child, that is not required; it is right that parents and
children, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, should have a
deeper, stronger love for each other than they can possibly feel for
mere acquaintances or those whom they do not know personally; but we
are to love every body with a love of benevolence, wishing them well
and being willing to help them when in poverty or distress; if in our
power to do so.
“Also we must be patient and forbearing under provocation; the love of
benevolence, if we have it, will help us to be so, and make us willing
to yield honors and pleasures to others, even though it seem to us that
we ourselves have the best right to them.”
“Papa,” said Lulu, “I know you mean that for me; and I do intend to try
hard to be unselfish toward all my little friends while they are here;
I asked God to help me when I said my prayers this morning,” she added,
in a lower key.
“I am glad to hear it,” he said, pressing his lips to her cheek; “it is
only by his help that we can overcome in the fight with the evil of our
natures.
“We will go down to breakfast now; for there’s the bell.”
The weather proved mild, the sun shone brightly in a cloudless sky, and
the little girls greatly enjoyed the short drive with their father.
They called at the house where the Jones family lived, but were in too
great haste to stay many minutes. Grace did not get out of the carriage
at all; the captain and Lulu alighted, and went into the cabin, but
declined to sit down. Lulu handed the dress, done up in a neat bundle,
to the girl for whom she had intended it, and greatly enjoyed her look
of astonishment as she received it, her eagerly impatient tug at the
string that held it together, and her scream of delight when success
crowned her efforts and the dress—a far better and prettier than she
had ever owned before—met her astonished gaze.
“’Tain’t for me?” she cried; “say, miss, you didn’t never intend to
gimme it, did ye?”
“Yes,” said Lulu; “I brought it on purpose for you. Papa told me I
might.”
“Well now! I never was so s’prised in all my born days!” was the
child’s half breathless exclamation. “It’s mighty good o’ ye; and yer
pap too.”
“No, it wasn’t a bit generous in me,” said Lulu; “for I was quite done
wearing it; and besides papa gives me new ones very often.”
The captain had brought a fresh supply of delicacies for the invalid,
and had employed the moments while the children were talking in saying
a few comforting words to her. He now bade her good-by, and taking
Lulu’s hand led her back to the carriage, the young Joneses, grouped
in the door-way, sending after them glances of mingled curiosity,
admiration and envy.
“Papa,” said Grace, who was watching the slatternly, frowzy little
crowd with a curiosity and interest quite equal to theirs, “I think
those children want a ride ever so much.”
“Quite likely,” he returned, “and if they were clean and neat they
should have it; but as they are, their occupation of this carriage even
for a short time, would render it unfit for your mamma, or indeed any
of us, to enter again.” He had lifted Lulu in and taken a seat by her
side while he spoke, and now they were driving on their homeward way.
“I wish they could have a ride,” said Lulu. “Papa, couldn’t some kind
of a vehicle be hired for them?”
“Perhaps so; but who is to pay for it?” he asked.
“I, papa; if the money I have left will be enough,” answered Grace.
“I’ll help,” said Lulu; “we haven’t spent all you gave us for
Christmas, papa, and we have, this week’s allowance besides.”
“Well, I will see what can be done,” he said. “I am glad my little
daughters care for the happiness of others as well as their own.”
“We’d be dreadfully selfish if he weren’t willing to help other folks
to a little bit of good times when we are going to have so much
ourselves,” said Lulu. “Oh, Gracie, aren’t you glad the day for our
party to begin has come at last?”
“Yes,” answered Grace. “I b’lieve I’m beginning to be ’most as glad as
you are, Lu; but I wouldn’t be if papa hadn’t said I may sit on his
knee whenever I want to, and that he’ll take care of me and not let me
get too tired.”
“I think my little feeble girl is feeling rather better and stronger
to-day,” the captain remarked, bending down to caress and fondle her.
“Yes, papa; I do b’lieve I’m ’most well,” was the cheerful reply, “I
feel just as happy!”
“I, too,” chimed in Lulu; “and I’m all ready for the girls; my pretty
rooms are in perfect order. Papa, may I have Evelyn sleep with me?”
“Certainly, daughter, if it pleases her to do so. I think you could not
have a safer friend than Evelyn.
“I am very glad to see my dear little girls so happy,” he went on,
“but, my darlings, you must not expect to be entirely free from
vexation and annoyance while entertaining your young friends; there
will be clashing of interests and differences of opinion; occasions
when some will have to yield their wishes and preferences to those of
others, and I shall be highly gratified if my three children show a
readiness to do that, and do it cheerfully and pleasantly.”
“We’ll try, papa,” they both replied.
And now they seemed to forget every thing, but the pleasure close at
hand, and were nearly wild over the prospect of the new delight of
entertaining; quite new to them; for hitherto that privilege had never
been accorded them.
Their father showed himself to be in full sympathy with them and
allowed them to chatter and laugh to their hearts’ content.
Lulu’s good resolutions were, however, put to the test even before the
coming of her guests.
Almost immediately on their arrival at home Christine, the housekeeper,
sought an interview with the captain, and after a few minutes’ chat
with her, he repaired to the apartments of his daughters.
“Lulu,” he said, “we find that it will be necessary for you to
accommodate more than one of your young friends here at night.”
“O papa, please don’t say that?” she returned, coaxingly. “I thought it
would be so nice to have just Eva, and nobody else, in here with me
nights and mornings; can’t it be managed somehow?”
“I am afraid not,” he said; “there will not be room for all unless we
give you two companions.”
“But I have only one bed, papa, and it will crowd us very much to sleep
three in a bed.”
“Yes; one will have to lie on the couch here, which will make a very
comfortable bed: and that one, I think, should be my own little
daughter, Lulu.”
“Papa, you said I might have Evelyn to sleep with me, and there
wouldn’t be room for more than one on the couch.”
He sat down and drew her to him.
“Yes, I did make that promise—or rather give that permission, and I do
not withdraw it; if you insist upon it, you and Evelyn may occupy the
bed, and some one of your guests will have to content herself with the
couch; but would it not be more polite and kind on your part if you
resign your bed to her and Eva, and take the couch yourself?”
“Yes, sir; and I will if you say I must. I’ll have to, of course.”
“I don’t say you must; I only say I shall be far better pleased with
you if you do: and that it will be the right and kind thing for you to
do. But perhaps you do not care to please me?” he added, noticing the
unwilling expression of her countenance.
“Yes, papa, I do! I’d do any thing to please you,” she cried, smiling
up into his face, then putting her arm round his neck and laying her
cheek lovingly to his.
“Thank you, dear child,” he said, holding her close to his heart. “And
now you may choose which of your little friends you will have to share
these rooms with you and Eva.”
“Lora Howard,” she said. “I’m better acquainted with her than with any
of the others, except Rosie.”
“Rosie will share her mother’s room,” said the captain. “An excellent
plan, I think.”
“And Rosie Lacy is to sleep with me,” remarked Grace; “mamma told me
so; and I’m glad, for I like Rosie ever so much. Lu, may be you’ll find
it’s good fun for so many of us to be so close together.”
“I dare say she will,” said their father; “and she may invite Evelyn
almost any time to come and stay for days or weeks and share her bed.”
“Papa,” cried Lulu, delightedly, “you are just the very kindest of
fathers.”
“I am well pleased that you think so,” he said contentedly, repeating
his caresses; “while for my part, I verily believe no dearer or more
lovable children than mine are anywhere to be found.”
Grace had come to his side, and he passed an arm round her as he spoke,
bestowing upon her caresses as loving and tender as those Lulu had just
received.
“Yes, my dears,” he went on, “I think you will find it quite enjoyable
to have your little friends sharing your rooms for a while; but don’t
allow yourselves to be so taken up with sport as to neglect your
morning and evening devotions; never begin a new day, or lie down to
sleep at night, without thanking your Heavenly Father for his goodness
and mercy to you and yours, and asking to be kept from danger and from
sin. Never be ashamed or afraid though the whole world should know that
you do this. Jesus said, ‘Whosoever therefore shall confess me before
men, him will I also confess before my Father which is in heaven. But
whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my
Father which is in Heaven.’”
“Papa,” said Lulu, “I don’t think I’d hesitate to say my prayers before
others, even if I expected they’d laugh at me. I mean if I could not go
by myself to do it; but when we can find a private place where no one
but God can see or hear us, oughtn’t we to choose it for the purpose?”
“Yes; Jesus said, ‘When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when
thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and
thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.’ You have a
private place in that little tower room opening into Lulu’s bedroom,
and there you and your guests can go by turns to pray in secret.”
Then he told them how Max had shown his moral courage while visiting at
the Oaks.
“I’m proud of my brother!” exclaimed Lulu, when the tale was told, and
her eyes shone as she spoke.
“I too,” said Grace. “I’m afraid I might not have been so brave. But
Eva and Lora say prayers too; so we won’t have such a trial as Maxie
had.”
At that moment there was a sound of wheels on the drive, and Lulu,
running to the window, exclaimed in joyous tones, “It’s the Fairview
carriage with Aunt Elsie Leland, little Ned and Eva in it. Oh I’m so
glad they’ve come the very first!”
“We will go down and welcome them,” the captain said, taking Gracie’s
hand. “Do you feel able to walk, daughter? or shall I carry you?”
“I’m a little tired, papa,” Grace answered, and he picked her up and
carried her.
Meanwhile hasty, impetuous Lulu had flown to meet her friend, and as
the captain appeared on the scene was embracing her with as much ardor
and effusion as if they had been separated for months instead of only
a day or two.
“O Eva,” she cried, “I do think we are going to have the most splendid
time that ever was! You are to share my rooms, and we’ll go right up
there, if you like.”
“I do like; or shall as soon as I have spoken to your father and your
Mamma Vi,” returned Evelyn gayly, putting her small hand into the large
one the captain held out to her.
“I am very glad to see you, my dear,” he said in a fatherly manner that
made the quick tears spring to her eyes.
A sudden sense of her irreparable loss almost overwhelmed her for the
moment, and she could not utter a word of reply.
He saw her emotion, drew her nearer, and bending down, kissed her as
tenderly as if she had been his own.
“Lulu’s father may have the privilege may he not, daughter?” he asked
in affectionate accents.
A grateful look was her only answer.
But now other carriages were driving up, and guests, old and
young, pouring in so fast that there was a delightful confusion of
affectionate embraces and merry greetings.
Lulu was in her element, playing hostess to her young girl-friends,
showing them to their rooms and seeing that every thing necessary for
their comfort was provided; while Max did likewise by the boys, with
perhaps an equal sense of enjoyment, and Grace entertained her little
mates in her own quiet fashion in the lower rooms of the mansion.
Rosie Travilla, coming down a little in advance of the others, met the
captain in the lower hall.
“I’m expecting to have a lovely time, captain,” she remarked. “Zoe has
been telling me about the magic cave.”
“Has she? and would you like to step into the conservatory and see the
alterations we have made there?”
“Yes, indeed!” she answered, and he led the way.
They were quite alone, and after she had seen and made her comments
upon what had been done, he asked:
“Would my little sister like to do her big, biggest brother, a favor?”
“Do you one, do you mean, captain? Certainly; if it’s in my power.”
“Thank you,” he said, then added with gravity, “I regret that you
apparently consider me so fond of my title. Would it be difficult or
disagreeable to you to say Brother Levis instead of captain?”
“Not very,” she returned, laughing; “but the title is more convenient;
and it’s for that reason I use it; not because I ever have imagined
you to be proud or fond of it.”
“Well,” he said, “if I were in your place I think I’d use the other;
especially if ever the tables should be turned so that I wanted to ask
a favor of my biggest and oldest brother.”
“If you really care to have me do so, I might try,” she replied with a
merry look up into his face. “But is that the only favor you have to
ask?”
“No; there is another that I am still more desirous to have you grant.”
He paused for a moment, then went on:
“I have a very fiery-tempered little daughter whom I love so dearly
that it gives me great pain to punish her for her outbursts of passion.”
Rosie’s cheeks grew suddenly very hot and her eyes were downcast.
“I am certain she is fighting hard against her besetting sin,” the
captain continued, “and I am trying by every means in my power to help
her; and the favor I ask is that you will join me in this by kindly
refraining from provoking her even in sport.
“Please understand, my dear little sister, that I am not saying you
ever have intentionally provoked her, and that I know and acknowledge
that it is no difficult matter to rouse her temper.”
It cost Rosie a desperate effort to make the acknowledgment, but she
forced herself to answer, “But if you did say it, ’twould be nothing
but the truth; for I have teased her purposely more than once. But if
you’ll forgive me this time, cap—brother Levis—I’ll try not to do it
again. I never thought of it as an unkindness to you.”
“My children are very near and dear to me, Rosie,” he said; “so near
and so dear that injury to them is much more trying than a personal one.
“But I am fond of my little sister, too; both for my wife’s sake and
her own,” he added, in a kindly tone, and with an affectionate pressure
of her hand which he had taken in his. “Of course I forgive the past,
while thanking you heartily for your promise in regard to the future.”
“Does Lulu hate me?” she asked, half tearfully and blushing vividly.
“I trust not, indeed!” he said. “I have no reason to think so. It would
distress me greatly if I thought she did; and you must not imagine that
she has been telling tales; with all her faults, she is above that, I
think.”
“Yes, I do believe she is,” acknowledged Rosie.
Just then the door opened and Lulu’s voice was heard saying, “Oh, here
she is! Rosie, we were looking for you. We’re going to look at some of
the things for the tableux, and we thought you’d like to see them too.”
“Oh, yes, thank you!” cried Rosie; “those things are always
interesting. You’re coming too, aren’t you, captain?” glancing back
over her shoulder at him as she hurried toward the little group in the
doorway.
He was about to say No, but an entreating look from Lulu caused him to
change his mind and go with them.
And he made his presence welcome to them all by the interest he showed
in what interested them, and the zest with which he entered into all
their pleasures. Not at this time alone, but every day while the guests
were there; always so far as concerned the children God had given him
for his own.