Andrea stuck to his big brother like a leech, and insisted upon crossing
to The Camp in the same canoe with him and Cecily. To Andrea the
possibility of newly engaged persons wishing to be by themselves was
negligible. Princess Oducalchi, an old hand on inland waters, took
charge of the other canoe, and, like Arthur, in spite of a look of
resigned horror on her husband's face, paddled standing up.
Arthur, too happy to make speed, was rapidly distanced by his mother,
whose long, graceful figure and charming little, round head he regarded
from time to time with great admiration.
"She might be one of my sisters!" he exclaimed to Cecily.
"If she only was," said Cecily, "and the others were only exactly like
her, then I shouldn't be a bit frightened."
"Frightened?"
"Wouldn't you be frightened if I had six great angry brothers and you
were just going to meet them for the first time?"
Arthur smiled steadily and shook his head.
"I'm too happy to be afraid of anything."
"I'm not. The happier I feel the more frightened I feel. And I can feel
your sisters picking me all to pieces, and saying what a horrid little
thing I am!"
"Little? Haven't I told you that you are exactly the right size?"
"No, you haven't."
"Then I tell you now. I leave it to Andrea. Isn't she exactly the right
size, Andrea?"
"Then mamma is too tall."
"No, mamma is exactly the right size for a mamma. In fact, Andrea,"
exulted Arthur, "on this particular morning of this particular year of
grace everything in the world is exactly the right size, except me. I'm
not half big enough to contain my feelings. So here goes!"
And the sedate Arthur put back his head, which resembled that of the
young Galahad, and opened his mouth, and let forth the most
blood-curdling war-whoop that has been sounded during the Christian era.
Cecily clapped her hands to her ears, and Andrea gazed upon his big
brother with redoubled admiration.
"Is that like Indians do?" he asked.
"Not at all," said Arthur; "that's what studious and domesticated young
men do when they've overslept, and wake up to find the sky blue and the
forest green." And once more he whooped terrifically. And Wow, the dog,
heard him, and thought he had gone mad; and Uncas, the chipmunk, ran to
the top of a tall tree at full speed, down it even faster, and into a
deep and safe hole among the roots.
Gay alone was at the float to receive the Oducalchis; but now word of
their coming had gone about The Camp, and the remaining Darlings could
be seen hurrying up from various directions.
From embracing her mother, Gay turned with characteristic swiftness and
sweetness to Cecily, who had just stepped from Arthur's canoe to the
float, flung her arms around her, and kissed her.
"I'm not quite sure of your name," she said; "but I love you very much,
and you're prettier than all outdoors."
Then Maud came, followed by Eve and Mary, with Lee next and Phyllis
last, and they all talked at once, and made much of their mother and
Cecily and little Andrea. And they all teased Arthur at once, and
showered Oducalchi with polite and hospitable speeches. And he was
greatly moved, because he knew very well that these beautiful maidens
had loved their own brilliant scapegrace father to distraction, and that
it was hard for them to look with kindness upon his successor.
Never, I think, did a mere float, an affair of planks supported by the
displacing power of empty casks, have gathered upon it at one time so
much beauty, so many delighted and delightful faces.
And now came guides, servants, and camp helpers, to whom Princess
Oducalchi had been a kind and understanding mistress in the old days,
and then, shyly and hanging back, hoping they were wanted and not sure,
Sam Langham, Renier, Herring, the Carolinians, and others, until the
float began to sink and there was a laughter panic and a general rush up
the gangway to the shore. Here Wow, the dog, did a great deal of swift
wagging and loud barking, and Uncas, the chipmunk, from the top of a
tree said: "I'm not really angry, but I'm scolding because I'm afraid to
come down, and nobody loves me or makes much of me--ever!"
To Arthur, standing a little aside, beaming with pride and happiness,
and recording in his heart every pleasant thing which his sisters said
to Cecily and every pleasant look they gave her, came Gay presently, and
slipped an arm through his.
"I'm so glad," she said.
But there was something in her voice that was not glad, and with one
swift glance he read her wistful heart. He pressed her arm, and said:
"I know one poor little kid that's left out in the cold for the moment;
one little lion that feels as if it wasn't going to get any martyr; one
little sister that a big brother loves and understands a little bit
better than any of the others-- So there! At the moment every _chacune_
has her _chacun_, except one. Moments are fleeting, my dear, and other
moments are ahead. I, too, have lived bad, empty, unhappy moments."
"But you always knew that she cared."
"And don't you know about him?"
"I only know that I've seen so many people appear to be idiotically
happy at the same time, and it makes me want to cry."
"And for that very reason," said Arthur, "the moments that are ahead
will be the happier."
"I wonder," said Gay, and, "I know," said Arthur.