THE OLD COUPLE.
There is no spot so dark on earth,
But love can shed bright glimmers there,
Nor anguish known, of human birth,
That yieldeth not to faith and prayer.
In the basement of a rear building in one of those cross streets that
grow more and more squalid as they stretch down to the water's edge, sat
an aged couple, at nightfall, on the day when our humble heroine was
presented to the reader. The room was damp, low and dark; a couple of
rude chairs, a deal table, and a long wooden chest were all the
furniture it contained. A rough shelf ran over the mantel-piece, on
which were arranged a half dozen unmatched cups and saucers, and a
broken plate or two, and a teapot, minus half its spout, all
scrupulously washed, and piled together with some appearance of
ostentation.
A brown platter, which stood on the table, contained the only approach
to food that the humble dwelling afforded. A bone of bacon thrice
picked, and preserved probably from a wretched desire to possess
something in the shape of food, though that something was but a mockery,
this and a fragment of bread lay upon the platter, covered with a neat
crash towel.
A straw bed made up on one corner of the floor partook of the general
neatness everywhere visible in the wretched dwelling; the sheets were of
homespun linen, such as our Down East house-wives loved to manufacture
years ago, and the covering a patch-work quilt, formed of rich,
old-fashioned chintz, was neatly turned under the edges. One might have
known how more than precious was that fine old quilt, by the great care
taken to preserve it. The whole apartment bespoke extreme poverty in its
most respectable form. Perfect destitution and scrupulous neatness were
so blended, that it made the heart ache with compassion.
The old couple drew their seats closer together on the hearth-stone, and
looked wistfully in each other's faces as the darkness of coming night
gathered around them. The bright morning had been succeeded by a chill,
uncomfortable rain, and this increased tenfold the gloomy and dark
atmosphere of the basement. Thus they sat gazing at each other, and
listening moodily to the rain as it beat heavier and heavier upon the
sidewalks.
"Come, come!" said the old woman, with a smile that she intended to be
cheerful, but which was only a wan reflection of what she wished. "This
is all very wrong; once to-day the Lord has sent us food, and here we
are desponding again. Julia will be cold and wet, poor thing; don't let
her find us looking so hungry when she comes in."
"I was thinking of her," muttered the old man, in a sad voice. "Yes, the
poor thing will be cold and wet and wretched enough, but that is nothing
to the disappointment; she had built up such hopes this morning."
"Well, who knows after all; something may have happened!" said the old
woman, with an effort at hopefulness.
"No, no," replied the man, in a voice of touching despondency, "if she
had done anything, the child would have been home long ago. She has no
heart to come back."
The old man passed his hand over his eyes, and then flung a handful of
chips and shavings on the fire from a scant pile that lay in a corner.
The blaze flamed up, revealing the desolate room for a moment, and then
died away, flashing over the pale and haggard faces that bent over it,
with a wan brilliancy that made them look absolutely corpse-like.
Those two wrinkled faces were meagre and wrinkled from lack of
sustenance; still, in the faded lineaments there was nothing to revolt
the heart. Patience, sweet and troubled affection, were blended with
every grief-written line. But the wants of the body had stamped
themselves sharply there. The thin lips were pale and fixed in an
expression of habitual endurance. Their eyes were sharp and eager, dark
arches lay around them, and these were broken by wrinkles that were not
all of age.
As the flame blazed up, the old man turned and looked earnestly on his
wife, a look of keen want, of newly whetted hunger broke from her eyes,
naturally so meek and tranquil, and the poor old man turned his glance
another way with a faint groan. It was a picture of terrible famine. Yet
patience and affection flung a thrilling beauty over it.
One more furtive glance that old man cast on his wife, as the flame went
down, and then he clasped his withered fingers, wringing them together.
"You are starving--you are more hungry than ever," he said, "and I have
nothing to give you."
The poor woman lifted up her head and tried to smile, but the effort was
heart-rending.
"It is strange," she said, "but the food we had this morning only seems
to make me more hungry. Is it so with you, Benjamin? I keep thinking of
it all the time. The rain as it plashes on the pavement seems like that
warm coffee boiling over on the hearth; those shavings as they lie in
the corner are constantly shifting before my eyes, and seem like rolls
and twists of bread, which I have only to stoop forward and take."
The old man smiled wanly, and a tear started to his eyes, gliding down
his cheek in the dim light.
"Let us try the bone once more," he said, after a brief silence, "there
may be a morsel left yet."
"Yes, the bone! there may be something on the bone yet! In our good
fortune this morning we must have forgotten to scrape it quite clean!"
cried the old woman, starting up with eager haste, and bringing the
platter from the table.
The husband took it from her hands, and setting it down before the
fire, knelt on one knee, and began to scrape the bone eagerly with a
knife. "See, see!" he said, with a painful effort at cheerfulness, as
some strips and fragments fell on the platter, leaving the bone white
and glistening like ivory. "This is better than I expected! With a crust
and a cup of clear cold water, it will go a good way."
"No, no," said the woman, turning her eyes resolutely away, "we had
forgotten Julia. She scarcely ate a mouthful this morning!"
"I know," said the old man, dropping his knife with a sigh.
"Put it aside, and let us try and look as if we had been eating all day.
She would not touch it if--if----" Here the good old woman's eyes fell
upon the little heap of food--those precious fragments which her husband
had scraped together with his knife. The animal grew strong within her
at the sight; she drew a long breath, and reaching forth her bony hand,
clutched them like a bird of prey; her thin lips quivered and worked
with a sort of ferocious joy, as she devoured the little morsel, then,
as if ashamed of her voracity, she lifted her glowing eyes to her
husband, and cast the fragment of food still between her fingers back
upon the platter.
"I could not help it! Oh, Benjamin, I could _not_ help it!" Big tears
started in her eyes, and rolled penitently down her cheek. "Take it
away! take it away!" she said, covering her face with both hands. "You
see how ravenous the taste of food makes me!"
"Take it!" said the old man, thrusting the platter into her lap.
"No! no! You haven't had a taste; you--you--I am better now, much
better!"
For one instant the old man's fingers quivered over the morsel still
left upon the platter, for he was famished and craving more food, even
as his wife had been; but his better nature prevailed, and dashing his
hand away, he thrust the plate more decidedly into her lap.
"Eat!" he said. "Eat! I can wait, and God will take care of the child!"
But the poor woman waved the food away, still keeping one hand
resolutely over her eyes. "No--no!" she said faintly, "no--no!"
Her husband lifted the plate softly from her lap: she started, looked
eagerly around, and sunk back in her chair with a hysterical laugh.
"The strawberries! the strawberries, Benjamin! Only think, if Julia
could not sell the strawberries she will eat them, you know, all--all.
Only think what a feast the child will have when she has all those
strawberries! Bring back the meat; what will she care for that?"
The old man brought back the plate, but with a sorrowful look. He
remembered that the strawberries entrusted to his grandchild were the
property of another; but he could not find the heart to suggest this to
the poor famished creature before him, and he rejoiced at the brief
delusion that would induce her to eat the little that was left. With
martyr-like stoicism he stifled his own craving hunger, and sat by while
his wife devoured the remainder of the precious store.
"And you have had none," she said, with a piteous look of self-reproach,
when her own sharp want was somewhat appeased.
"Oh, I can wait for Julia and the strawberries."
"And if that should fail," answered the poor wife, filled with remorse
at her selfishness, or what she began to condemn as such, "if anything
should have happened, you may pawn or sell the quilt to-morrow--I will
say nothing against it--not a word. It was used for the first time
when--when _she_ was a baby, and--"
"And we have starved and suffered rather than part with it!" cried the
old man, moving gloomily up and down the room, "while she--"
"Is dead and buried, I am afraid," said the woman, interrupting him.
"No," answered the old man, solemnly, "or we should not have been left
behind. It is not for nothing, wife, that you and I, and her child too,
have starved and pined, and prayed in this cellar. God has an end to
accomplish, and we are His instruments; how, I cannot tell. It is dark,
as yet; but all in His good time, His work will be done. Let us be
patient."
"Patient!" said the old woman, dolefully; "I haven't strength to be
anything but patient."
"She will yet return to us--our beautiful prodigal--our lost child,"
continued the old man, lifting his meek eyes heavenward. "We have waited
long; but the time will come."
"If I could only think so," said the woman, shaking her head
drearily--"If I could but think so!"
"I know it," said the old man, lifting his clasped hands upward, while
his face glowed with the holy faith that was in him; "God has filled my
soul with this belief. It has given me life when food was wanting. It
grows stronger with each breath that I draw. The time will come when I
shall be called to redeem our child, even to the laying down of life, it
may be. I sometimes had a thought, wife, that her regeneration will be
thus accomplished."
"How? What do you mean to say, husband?"
"How, I cannot tell that; but the God of heaven will, in His own good
time. Let us wait and watch."
"Oh! if she comes at last, I could be so patient! But think of the years
that are gone, and no news, not a word. While we have suffered so much,
every month, more and more--ah, husband, how can I be patient?"
"Wait," said the old man, solemnly; "keep still while God does his work.
We know that our child has committed a great sin; but she was good once,
and--"
"Oh, how kind, how good she was! I think she was more like an angel than
any thing on earth, till _he_ came."
"Hush! When he is mentioned, bitter wrath rises in my bosom; I cannot
crush it out--I cannot pray it out. God help me! Oh, my God, help me to
hear this one name with charity."
"Benjamin--my husband!" cried the old woman, regarding the strong
anguish in his face with affright, as his uplifted hands shook in their
tight grip on each other, and his whole frame began to tremble.
He did not heed her pathetic cry, but sat down again by the hearth, and
with a thin hand pressed hard upon each knee, bent forward, gazing into
the smouldering fire, gloomy and silent. The old woman stole one hand
over his and pressed it gently. It returned no answering token of her
sympathy, but still rigidly held its grasp on his knee.
Again she touched his hand, and the loved name, that had been so sweet
to her in youth, filled his ear with pathetic tenderness.
"Benjamin!"
He lifted his head, looked earnestly in her face, and then sunk slowly
to his knees. With his locked hands pressed down upon the hearth, and
his head bent low like one preparing to cast off a heavy weight, he
broke forth in a prayer of such stern, passionate entreaty, that the
very storm seemed to pause and listen to the outbreak of a soul more
impetuous than itself. Never in God's holiest temple has the altar been
sanctified by a prayer, more full of majestic eloquence, than that which
rose from the hearth of the miserable cellar that night. The old man
truly wrestled with the angels, and called for help against his own
rebellious nature, till his forehead was beaded with drops of anguish,
and every word seemed to burn and quiver like fire upon his meagre lips.
She, in her weaker and more timid nature, fell down by his side, pouring
faint ejaculations and low moans into the current of his eloquence. But
while he prayed for strength to endure, for divine light by which he
could tread on beneath the burden of life, she now and then broke forth
into a moaning cry, which was,
"Bread! bread! oh God, give us this day our daily bread!"
All at once, in the midst of his pleading, the old man's voice broke; a
glorious smile spread over his features, and dropping his forehead
between both hands, he murmured in the fulness of a heart suddenly
deluged with love,
"Oh, my God, I thank thee, thou hast indeed rendered me worthy to redeem
our child!"
Then he arose feebly from his knees, and sat down with her withered hand
in his, and gazed tranquilly on the sparks of fire that shot, at
intervals, through the black shaving ashes.
"Wife," he said, and his voice was so changed from its sharp accents,
that she lifted her eyes to his in wonder; "wife, you may speak of him
now, God has given me strength; I can hear it without a vengeful wish."
"But I don't want to mention his name, I didn't mean to do it, then,"
answered the wife with a shudder.
"You see," rejoined Father Warren, with a grave, sweet smile, "You see,
wife, how long the Lord has been chastening us before he would drive the
fiend from my heart. How could I expect God to make me the instrument to
save our child while this hate of her husband lay coiled up like a viper
in my bosom?"
"And did you hate him so terribly?" she asked, not able to comprehend
the strength of a nature like his.
"Hate!" exclaimed the old man, "did you not see how I toiled and
wrestled to cast that hate out from my soul?"
"Yes, I saw," answered the wife, timidly, and they sunk into silence.
Thus minutes stole on; the rain came down more furiously; the winds
shook the loose window panes, and the fire grew fainter and fainter,
only shedding a smoky gloom over those two pale faces.
All at once there came a faint noise in the area--the moist plash of a
footstep mingled with the sound of falling rain. Then the outer door
opened, admitting a gush of damp wind into the hall that forced back the
door of the basement, and there stood little Julia Warren, panting for
breath, but full of wild and beautiful animation. The rain was dripping
from her hood, and down the heavy braids of her hair, and her little
feet left a wet print on the floor at every step.
The old man started up, and flung some fresh fuel on the fire, which
instantly filled the basement with a brilliant but transitory light.
There she stood, that brave little girl, dripping with wet, and deluged
with sudden light. Her cheeks were all in a glow, warm and wet, like
roses in a storm. Her eyes were absolutely star-like in their
brilliancy, and her voice broke through the room in a joyful gush that
made everything cheerful again.
"Did you think I was lost, grandpa, or drowned in the rain--don't it
pour, though? Here, grandma, come help me with the basket. Stop, till I
light a candle, though."
The child knelt down in her dripping garments to ignite the candle,
which she had taken somewhere from the depths of her basket. But her
little hands shook, and the flame seemed to dance before her; she really
could not hold the candle still enough for her purpose, that little form
thrilled and shook so with her innocent joy.
"Here, grandpa, you try," she said, surrendering the candle, while her
laugh filled the room like the carol of birds, when all the trees are in
blossom, "I never shall make it out; but don't think, now, that I am
shivering with the wet, or tired out--don't think anything till I have
told you all about it. There, now, we have a light; come, come!"
The little girl dragged her basket to the hearth, and no fairy, telling
down gold and rubies to a favorite, ever looked more lovely. Down by the
basket the old grandparents fell upon their knees--one holding the
light--the other crying like a child.
"See, grandpa, see; a beef-steak--a great, thick beef-steak, and
pickles, and bread, and--and--do look, grandmother, this paper--what do
you think is in it? oh! ha! I thought you would brighten up! tea, green
tea, and sugar, and--why grandfather, is that you crying so? Dear, dear,
how can you? Don't you see how happy I am? Why, as true as I live, if I
ain't crying myself all the time! Now, ain't it strange; every one of us
crying, and all for what? I--I believe I shall die, I'm so happy!"
The excited little creature dropped the paper of tea from her hands, as
she uttered these broken words, and flinging herself on the old woman's
bosom, clung to her, bathed in tears, and shaking like an aspen leaf,
literally strengthless with the joy that her coming had brought to that
desolate place.
While her arms were around the poor woman's neck, the grandmother kept
her eyes fixed upon the basket, and she contrived to break a fragment
from one of the loaves it contained, and greedily devour it amid those
warm caresses.
Joy is often more restless than grief; Julia was soon on her feet again.
"There, there, grandmother! just let the bread alone, what is that to
the supper we will have by-and-bye. I'll get three cents' worth of
charcoal, and borrow a gridiron, and--and--now don't eat any more till I
come back, because of the supper!"
The little girl darted out of the room as she uttered this last
injunction, and her step was heard like the leap of a fawn, as she
bounded through the passage. When she returned, the larger portion of a
loaf had disappeared, and the old couple were in each other's arms,
while fragments of prayer and thanksgiving fell from their lips. It was
a beautiful picture of the human heart, when its holiest and deepest
feelings are aroused. Gratitude to God and to his creatures shed a
touching loveliness over it all.
Julia, with her bright eyes and eager little hands, bustled about, quite
too happy for a thought of the fatigue she had endured all the day. She
drew forth the little table. She furbished and brightened up the cups
and saucers, and gave an extra rub to the iron candlestick, which was,
for the first time in many a day, warmed up by a tall and snowy candle.
The scent of the beef-steak as it felt the heat, the warm hiss of the
tea-kettle, the crackling of the fire, made a cheerful accompaniment to
her quick and joyous movements. The cold rain pattering without--the
light gusts of wind that shook the windows, only served to render the
comfort within more delightful.
"There now," said Julia, wiping the bottom of her broken-spouted
tea-pot, and placing it upon the table, "there now, all is ready! I'm to
pour out the tea, grandpa must cut the steak, and you, grandma--oh, you
are company to-night. Come, every thing is warm and nice."
The old people drew up to the humble board. A moment their gray heads
were bent, while the girl bowed her forehead gently downward, and veiled
her eyes with their silken lashes, as if the joy sparkling there were
suddenly clouded by a thought of her own forgetfulness in taking a seat
before the half-breathed blessing was asked.
But her heart was only subdued for a moment. Directly her hands began to
flutter about the tea-pot, like a pair of humming birds, busy with some
great, uncouth flower. She poured the rich amber stream forth with a
dash, and as each lump of sugar fell into the cups, her mouth dimpled
into fresh smiles. It was quite like a fairy feast to her. Too happy for
thoughts of her own hunger, she was constantly dropping her knife and
fork to push the bread to her grandfather, or heap the old grandma's
plate afresh, and it seemed as if the broken tea-pot was perfectly
inexhaustible, so constantly did she keep it circulating around the
table.
"Isn't it nice, grandma, green tea, and such sugar. What, grandpa! you
haven't got through yet?" she was constantly saying, if either of the
old people paused in the enjoyment of their meal, for it seemed to her
as if such unusual happiness ought to last a long, long time.
"Yes," said the old man at length, pushing back his plate with a
pleasant sigh, and more pleasant smile; "yes, Julia; now let us see you
eat something, then tell us how all these things came about. You must
have been very lucky to have earned a meal like this with one day's
work."
"A meal!" cried the child; "oh, the supper. You relished the supper,
grandpa?"
"Yes; you couldn't have guessed how hungry we were, or how keenly we
should have relished anything."
"But--but, you are wondering where the next will come from. You think
me like a child in having spent so much in this one famous supper."
"Yes, like a child, a good, warm-hearted child--who could blame you?"
"Blame!" cried the grandmother, with tears in her eyes;--"blame! God
bless her!"
"But then," said the child, shaking her head and forcing back a tear
that broke through the sunshine in her eyes, "one should not spend
everything at once; grandpa means that, I suppose?"
"No, no!" answered the old woman, eagerly, "he does not mean to find the
least fault. How should he?"
"It would have been childish, though; but perhaps I should have done it,
who knows?--one don't stop to think with a bright half dollar in one's
hand, and a poor old grandfather and grandmother, hungry at home. But
then look here!"
The child drew a coin from her bosom, and held it up in the
candle-light.
"Gold!" cried the astonished grandfather, absolutely turning pale with
surprise.
"A half eagle, a genuine half eagle, as I am alive!" exclaimed the old
woman, taking the coin between her fingers and examining it eagerly.
"Yes, gold--a half eagle," said the exulting child, clasping her small
hands on the table, "worth five dollars--the old woman in the market
told me so!--five dollars! only think of that!"
"But you did not earn it," said the old man, gravely.
"Earn it--oh, no," answered the little girl with a joyous laugh, "who
ever thought of a little girl like me earning five dollars in a day?
Still I don't know. That good woman at the market told me to let every
one give what he liked for the flowers, and so I did. The most beautiful
lady you ever set eyes on, took a bunch of rose-buds from my basket, and
flung that money in its place."
"But who was this lady? There may be some mistake. She might not have
known that it was gold!" said the old man, reaching over, and taking the
half eagle from his wife.
"I think she knew; indeed I am quite sure she did," answered the child,
"for she looked at the piece as she took it from her purse. She knew
what it was worth, but I didn't."
"Well, that we may know what to think, tell us more about this wonderful
day," said the old man, still examining the gold with an anxious
expression of countenance. "Your grandmother has finished her tea, and
will listen now."
Julia was somewhat subdued by her grandfather's grave air; but spite of
this, tears and smiles struggled in her eyes, and her mouth, now
tremulous, now dimpling, could hardly be trained into anything like
serious narrative.
"Well," she said, shaking back the braids of her hair, and resolutely
folding both hands in her lap. "Very well; please don't ask any
questions till I have got through, and I'll do my best to tell
everything just as it happened. You know how I went out this morning,
about the basket that I got trusted for at the grocery, and all that.
Well, I went off with the new basket on my arm, making believe to myself
as bold as a lion. Still I couldn't but just keep from
crying--everything felt so strange, and I was frightened too--you don't
know how frightened!
"Grandma, I think the babes in the woods must have felt as I did, only I
had no brother with me, and it is a great deal more lonesome to wander
through lots of cold looking men and women that you never saw before,
than to be lost among the green woods, where flowers lie everywhere in
the moss, and the trees are all sorts of colors, with birds hopping and
singing about--dear little birds, such as covered the poor babes with
leaves, and--and--finally grandmother, as I was saying, I felt more
lonesome and down-hearted than these children could have done, for they
had plenty of blackberries, you know, but I was dreadful hungry--I was
indeed, though I would not own it to you; and then all the windows were
full of nice tarts and candies, just as if the people had put them
there to see how bad they could make me feel. Well, I have told you
about going into the market, and how my heart seemed to get colder and
colder, till I saw that good woman--that dear, blessed woman----"
"God bless her, for that one kind act!" exclaimed the old man,
fervently.
"He _will_ bless her; be sure of that," chimed in the good grandame.
"I wish you could have seen her--I only wish you could!" cried the
child, in her sweet, eager gratitude, "perhaps you will some day, who
knows?"
And in the same sweet, disjointed language, the child went on relating
her adventures along the streets, and on the wharf, where for the first
time she had seen an ocean steamer.
When she spoke of the lady and her strange attendant, the old people
seemed to listen with more absorbing interest. They were keenly excited
by the ardent admiration expressed by the child, yet to themselves even
this feeling was altogether unaccountable. When the little girl spoke of
the strange man whom she had met on the wharf also, her voice become
subdued, and there was a half terrified look in her eyes. The singular
impression which that man had left upon her young spirit seemed to haunt
it like a fear; she spoke almost in whispers, and looked furtively
toward the door, as if afraid of being overheard; but the moment she
related how he drove away with his beautiful companion, her courage
seemed to return, she glanced brightly around, and went on with her
narrative with renewed spirit.
"He had just gone," she said, "and I was beginning to look around for
some way to leave the wharf, when I saw a handkerchief lying at my feet.
The carriage wheel had run over it, and it was crushed down in the mud.
I picked it up, and run after the carriage, for the handkerchief was
fine as a cobweb, and worth ever so much, I dare say. In and out,
through the carts, and trunks, and people, I ran with my basket on my
arm, and the muddy handkerchief in one hand. Twice I saw the carriage,
but it was too far ahead, and at last I turned a corner--I lost it
there, and stood thinking what I should do, when the very carriage which
I had seen go off with the lady in it, passed by; the lady had stopped
for something, I suppose, and that kept her back. She was looking from
the window that minute. I thought perhaps the handkerchief was hers,
after all; so I ran off the sidewalk and shook it, that she might take
notice. The carriage stopped; down came the driver and opened the door,
and then the lady leaned out, and smiling with a sort of mournful smile,
said--
"'Well, my girl, what do you want now?'"
"I held up the handkerchief, but was quite out of breath, and could only
say, 'this--this--is it yours, ma'am?'
"She took the handkerchief, and turned to a corner where a name was
marked. Then her cheek turned pale as death, and her mouth, so full, so
red, grew white. I should have thought that she was dying, she fixed her
eyes on me so wildly.
"'Come in, come in, this instant,' she said, and before I could speak,
she caught hold of my arm, and drew me--basket and all--into the
carriage. The door was shut, and in my fright I heard her tell the man
to drive fast. I did not speak; it seemed like dreaming. There sat the
lady, so pale, so altered, with the handkerchief, all muddy as it was,
crushed hard in her white hand--sometimes looking with a sort of wild
look at me, sometimes seeming to think of nothing on earth. The carriage
went faster and faster; I was frightened and began to cry. She looked at
me very kindly then, and said--
"'Hush, child, hush! no one will harm you.' Still I could not keep from
sobbing, for it all seemed very wild and strange.
"Then the carriage stopped before a great stone house, with so many long
windows, and iron-work fence all before it. A good many trees stood
around it, and a row of stone steps went up half way from the gate to
the front door. The windows of the house were painted all sorts of
colors, and at one corner was a kind of steeple, square at the top and
full of narrow windows, and half covered with a green vine that crept
close to the stone-work almost to the top.
"No one came to the door. The strange man who rode with the driver let
us in with a key that he had, and everything was as still as a
meeting-house. When we got inside, the lady took my hand and led me into
a great square entry-way, with a marble floor checked black and white;
then she led me up a great high stair-case, covered from top to bottom
with a carpet that seemed made of roses and wood-moss. Everything was
still and half dark, for all the windows were covered deep with silk
curtains, and it had begun to cloud up out of doors.
"The lady opened a door, and led me into a room more beautiful that
anything I ever set my eyes on. But this was dark and dim like the rest.
My feet sunk into the carpet, and everything I touched seemed made of
flowers, the seats were so silken and downy.
"The lady flung off her shawl, and sat down upon a little sofa covered
with blue silk. She drew me close to her, and tried to smile.
"'Now,' she said, 'you must tell me, little girl, exactly where you got
the handkerchief!'
"'I found it--indeed I found it on the wharf,' I said, as well as I
could, for crying. 'At first I thought it must belong to the tall
gentleman, but he drove away so fast; then I saw your carriage, and
thought----'
"She stopped me before I could say the rest--her eyes were as bright as
diamonds, and her cheeks grew red again.
"'The tall gentleman! What tall gentleman?' she said.
"I told her about the man with the beautiful lady. Before I had done,
she let go of my hand and fell back on the sofa; her eyes were shut, but
down through the black lashes the great tears kept rolling till the silk
cushion under her head was wet with them. I felt sorry to see her so
troubled, and took the handkerchief from the floor--for it fell from her
hand as she sunk down. With one corner that the wheel had not touched, I
tried to wipe away the tears from her face, but she started up, all in
a tremble, and pushed me away; but not as if she were angry with me;
only as if she hated the handkerchief to touch her face.
"She walked about the room a few times, and then seemed to get quite
natural again. By-and-bye the queer looking man came up with a satchel
and a silver box, under his arm; and she talked with him in a low voice.
He seemed not to like what she said; but she grew positive, and he went
out. Then she lay down on the sofa again, as if I had not been by; her
two hands were clasped under her head; she breathed very hard, and the
tears now and then came in drops down her cheeks.
"It was getting dark, and I could hear the rain pattering outside. I
spoke softly, and said that I must go; she did not seem to hear; so I
waited and spoke again. Still she took no notice. Then I took up my
basket and went out. Nobody saw me. The great house seemed
empty--everything was grand, but so still that it made me afraid.
Nothing but the rain dripping from the trees made the least noise. All
around was a garden, and the house stood mostly alone, among the trees
on the top of a hill and lifted up from the street. I had no idea where
I was, for it seemed almost like the country, trees all around, and
green grass and rose bushes growing all about the house!
"A long wide street stretched down the hill toward the city. I noticed
the street lamp posts standing in a line each side, and just followed
them till I got into the thick of the houses once more. After this I
went up one street and down another, inquiring the way, till after a
long, long walk, I got back to the market, quite tired out and anxious.
"The good market woman was _so_ pleased to see me again. I gave her all
my money, and she counted it, and took out pay for the flowers and
strawberries. There was enough without the gold piece; she would not let
me change that, but filled the basket with nice things, just to
encourage me to work hard next week. There, now, grandfather, I have
told you all about this wonderful day. Isn't it quite like a fairy
tale?"
The old man sat gazing on the sweet and animated face of his
grandchild; his hands were clasped upon the table, and his aged face
grew luminous with Christian gratitude. Slowly his forehead bent
downward, and he answered her in the solemn and beautiful words of
Scripture, "I have been young, and now I am old; yet I have never seen
the righteous forsaken, or his seed begging bread." There was pathos and
fervency in the old man's voice, solemn even as the words it syllabled.
The little strawberry girl bowed her head with gentle feeling, and the
grandmother whispered a meek "Amen."