_THE CLAN._
ROSE scrambled into the china-closet as rapidly as possible, and there
refreshed herself by making faces at Debby, while she settled her
plumage and screwed up her courage. Then she crept softly down the hall
and peeped into the parlor. No one appeared, and all was so still she
felt sure the company was upstairs. So she skipped boldly through the
half-open folding-doors, to behold on the other side a sight that nearly
took her breath away.
Seven boys stood in a row,--all ages, all sizes, all yellow-haired and
blue-eyed, all in full Scotch costume, and all smiling, nodding, and
saying as with one voice, "How are you, cousin?"
Rose gave a little gasp and looked wildly about her as if ready to fly,
for fear magnified the seven and the room seemed full of boys. Before
she could run, however, the tallest lad stepped out of the line, saying
pleasantly,--
"Don't be frightened. This is the clan come to welcome you; and I'm the
chief, Archie, at your service."
[Illustration: THE EIGHT COUSINS.--Page 10.]
He held out his hand as he spoke, and Rose timidly put her own into a
brown paw, which closed over the white morsel and held it as the chief
continued his introductions.
"We came in full rig, for we always turn out in style on grand
occasions. Hope you like it. Now I'll tell you who these chaps are, and
then we shall be all right. This big one is Prince Charlie, Aunt Clara's
boy. She has but one, so he is an extra good one. This old fellow is
Mac, the bookworm, called Worm for short. This sweet creature is Steve
the Dandy. Look at his gloves and top-knot, if you please. They are Aunt
Jane's lads, and a precious pair you'd better believe. These are the
Brats, my brothers, Geordie and Will, and Jamie the Baby. Now, my men,
step out and show your manners."
At this command, to Rose's great dismay, six more hands were offered,
and it was evident that she was expected to shake them _all_. It was a
trying moment to the bashful child; but, remembering that they were her
kinsmen come to welcome her, she tried her best to return the greeting
cordially.
This impressive ceremony being over, the clan broke ranks, and both
rooms instantly appeared to be pervaded with boys. Rose hastily retired
to the shelter of a big chair and sat there watching the invaders and
wondering when her aunt would come and rescue her.
As if bound to do their duty manfully, yet rather oppressed by it, each
lad paused beside her chair in his wanderings, made a brief remark,
received a still briefer answer, and then sheered off with a relieved
expression.
Archie came first, and, leaning over the chair-back, observed in a
paternal tone,--
"I'm glad you've come, cousin, and I hope you'll find the Aunt-hill
pretty jolly."
"I think I shall."
Mac shook his hair out of his eyes, stumbled over a stool, and asked
abruptly,--
"Did you bring any books with you?"
"Four boxes full. They are in the library."
Mac vanished from the room, and Steve, striking an attitude which
displayed his costume effectively, said with an affable smile,--
"We were sorry not to see you last Wednesday. I hope your cold is
better."
"Yes, thank you." And a smile began to dimple about Rose's mouth as she
remembered her retreat under the bed-cover.
Feeling that he had been received with distinguished marks of attention,
Steve strolled away with his top-knot higher than ever, and Prince
Charlie pranced across the room, saying in a free and easy tone,--
"Mamma sent her love and hopes you will be well enough to come over for
a day next week. It must be desperately dull here for a little thing
like you."
"I'm thirteen and a half, though I _do_ look small," cried Rose,
forgetting her shyness in indignation at this insult to her newly
acquired teens.
"Beg pardon, ma'am; never should have guessed it." And Charlie went off
with a laugh, glad to have struck a spark out of his meek cousin.
Geordie and Will came together, two sturdy eleven and twelve year
olders, and, fixing their round blue eyes on Rose, fired off a question
apiece as if it was a shooting match and she the target.
"Did you bring your monkey?"
"No; he is dead."
"Are you going to have a boat?"
"I hope not."
Here the two, with a right-about-face movement, abruptly marched away,
and little Jamie demanded with childish frankness,--
"Did you bring me any thing nice?"
"Yes, lots of candy," answered Rose, whereupon Jamie ascended into her
lap with a sounding kiss and the announcement that he liked her very
much.
This proceeding rather startled Rose, for the other lads looked and
laughed, and in her confusion she said hastily to the young usurper,--
"Did you see the circus go by?"
"When? Where?" cried all the boys in great excitement at once.
"Just before you came. At least I thought it was a circus, for I saw a
red and black sort of cart and ever so many little ponies, and--"
She got no farther, for a general shout made her pause suddenly, as
Archie explained the joke by saying in the middle of his laugh,--
"It was our new dog-cart and the Shetland ponies. You'll never hear the
last of your circus, cousin."
"But there were so many, and they went so fast, and the cart was so very
red," began Rose, trying to explain her mistake.
"Come and see them all!" cried the Prince. And before she knew what was
happening she was borne away to the barn and tumultuously introduced to
three shaggy ponies and the gay new dog-cart.
She had never visited these regions before, and had her doubts as to the
propriety of her being there now, but when she suggested that "Auntie
might not like it," there was a general cry of,--
"She told us to amuse you, and we can do it ever so much better out here
than poking round in the house."
"I'm afraid I shall get cold without my sacque," began Rose, who wanted
to stay, but felt rather out of her element.
"No, you won't! We'll fix you," cried the lads, as one clapped his cap
on her head, another tied a rough jacket round her neck by the sleeves,
a third nearly smothered her in a carriage blanket, and a fourth threw
open the door of the old barouche that stood there, saying with a
flourish,--
"Step in, ma'am, and make yourself comfortable while we show you some
fun."
So Rose sat in state enjoying herself very much, for the lads proceeded
to dance a Highland Fling with a spirit and skill that made her clap her
hands and laugh as she had not done for weeks.
"How is that, my lassie?" asked the Prince, coming up all flushed and
breathless when the ballet was over.
"It was splendid! I never went to the theatre but once, and the dancing
was not half so pretty as this. What clever boys you must be!" said
Rose, smiling upon her kinsmen like a little queen upon her subjects.
"Ah, we're a fine lot, and that is only the beginning of our larks. We
haven't got the pipes here or we'd
'Sing for you, play for you
A dulcy melody.'"
answered Charlie, looking much elated at her praise.
"I did not know we were Scotch; papa never said any thing about it, or
seemed to care about Scotland, except to have me sing the old ballads,"
said Rose, beginning to feel as if she had left America behind her
somewhere.
"Neither did we till lately. We've been reading Scott's novels, and all
of a sudden we remembered that our grandfather was a Scotchman. So we
hunted up the old stories, got a bagpipe, put on our plaids, and went
in, heart and soul, for the glory of the clan. We've been at it some
time now, and it's great fun. Our people like it, and I think we are a
pretty canny set."
Archie said this from the other coach-step, where he had perched, while
the rest climbed up before and behind to join in the chat as they
rested.
"I'm Fitzjames and he's Roderick Dhu, and we'll give you the broadsword
combat some day. It's a great thing, you'd better believe," added the
Prince.
"Yes, and you should hear Steve play the pipes. He makes 'em skirl like
a good one," cried Will from the box, eager to air the accomplishments
of his race.
"Mac's the fellow to hunt up the old stories and tell us how to dress
right, and pick out rousing bits for us to speak and sing," put in
Geordie, saying a good word for the absent Worm.
"And what do you and Will do?" asked Rose of Jamie, who sat beside her
as if bound to keep her in sight till the promised gift had been handed
over.
"Oh, I'm the little foot-page, and do errands, and Will and Geordie are
the troops when we march, and the stags when we hunt, and the traitors
when we want to cut any heads off."
"They are very obliging, I'm sure," said Rose, whereat the "utility men"
beamed with modest pride, and resolved to enact Wallace and Montrose as
soon as possible for their cousin's special benefit.
"Let's have a game of tag," cried the Prince, swinging himself up to a
beam with a sounding slap on Stevie's shoulder.
Regardless of his gloves, Dandy tore after him, and the rest swarmed in
every direction as if bent on breaking their necks and dislocating their
joints as rapidly as possible.
It was a new and astonishing spectacle to Rose, fresh from a prim
boarding-school, and she watched the active lads with breathless
interest, thinking their antics far superior to those of Mops, the dear
departed monkey.
Will had just covered himself with glory by pitching off of a high loft
head first and coming up all right, when Phebe appeared with a cloak,
hood, and rubbers, also a message from Aunt Plenty that "Miss Rose was
to come in directly."
"All right; we'll bring her!" answered Archie, issuing some mysterious
order, which was so promptly obeyed that, before Rose could get out of
the carriage, the boys had caught hold of the pole and rattled her out
of the barn, round the oval and up to the front door with a cheer that
brought two caps to an upper window, and caused Debby to cry aloud from
the back porch,--
"Them harum-scarum boys will certainly be the death of that delicate
little creter!"
But the "delicate little creter" seemed all the better for her trip, and
ran up the steps looking rosy, gay, and dishevelled, to be received with
lamentation by Aunt Plenty, who begged her to go and lie down at once.
"Oh, please don't! We have come to tea with our cousin, and we'll be as
good as gold if you'll let us stay, auntie," clamored the boys, who not
only approved of "our cousin," but had no mind to lose their tea, for
Aunt Plenty's name but feebly expressed her bountiful nature.
"Well, dears, you can; only be quiet, and let Rose go and take her iron
and be made tidy, and then we will see what we can find for supper,"
said the old lady as she trotted away, followed by a volley of
directions for the approaching feast.
"Marmalade for me, auntie."
"Plenty of plum-cake, please."
"Tell Debby to trot out the baked pears."
"I'm your man for lemon-pie, ma'am."
"Do have fritters; Rose will like 'em."
"She'd rather have tarts, _I_ know."
When Rose came down, fifteen minutes later, with every curl smoothed and
her most beruffled apron on, she found the boys loafing about the long
hall, and paused on the half-way landing to take an observation, for
till now she had not really examined her new-found cousins.
There was a strong family resemblance among them, though some of the
yellow heads were darker than others, some of the cheeks brown instead
of rosy, and the ages varied all the way from sixteen-year-old Archie to
Jamie, who was ten years younger. None of them were especially comely
but the Prince, yet all were hearty, happy-looking lads, and Rose
decided that boys were not as dreadful as she had expected to find them.
They were all so characteristically employed that she could not help
smiling as she looked. Archie and Charlie, evidently great cronies, were
pacing up and down, shoulder to shoulder, whistling "Bonnie Dundee;" Mac
was reading in a corner, with his book close to his near-sighted eyes;
Dandy was arranging his hair before the oval glass in the hat-stand;
Geordie and Will investigating the internal economy of the moon-faced
clock; and Jamie lay kicking up his heels on the mat at the foot of the
stairs, bent on demanding his sweeties the instant Rose appeared.
She guessed his intention, and forestalled his demand by dropping a
handful of sugar-plums down upon him.
At his cry of rapture the other lads looked up and smiled involuntarily,
for the little kinswoman standing there above was a winsome sight with
her shy, soft eyes, bright hair, and laughing face. The black frock
reminded them of her loss, and filled the boyish hearts with a kindly
desire to be good to "our cousin," who had no longer any home but this.
"There she is, as fine as you please," cried Steve, kissing his hand to
her.
"Come on, Missy; tea is ready," added the Prince encouragingly.
"_I_ shall take her in." And Archie offered his arm with great dignity,
an honor that made Rose turn as red as a cherry and long to run upstairs
again.
It was a merry supper, and the two elder boys added much to the fun by
tormenting the rest with dark hints of some interesting event which was
about to occur. Something uncommonly fine they declared it was, but
enveloped in the deepest mystery for the present.
"Did I ever see it?" asked Jamie.
"Not to remember it; but Mac and Steve have, and liked it immensely,"
answered Archie, thereby causing the two mentioned to neglect Debby's
delectable fritters for several minutes, while they cudgelled their
brains.
"Who will have it first?" asked Will, with his mouth full of marmalade.
"Aunt Plenty, I guess."
"When will she have it?" demanded Geordie, bouncing in his seat with
impatience.
"Sometime on Monday."
"Heart alive! what is the boy talking about?" cried the old lady from
behind the tall urn, which left little to be seen but the topmost bow of
her cap.
"Doesn't auntie know?" asked a chorus of voices.
"No; and that's the best of the joke, for she is desperately fond of
it."
"What color is it?" asked Rose, joining in the fun.
"Blue and brown."
"Is it good to eat?" asked Jamie.
"Some people think so, but I shouldn't like to try it," answered
Charlie, laughing so he spilt his tea.
"Who does it belong to?" put in Steve.
Archie and the Prince stared at one another rather blankly for a minute,
then Archie answered with a twinkle of the eye that made Charlie explode
again,--
"To Grandfather Campbell."
This was a poser, and they gave up the puzzle, though Jamie confided to
Rose that he did not think he could live till Monday without knowing
what this remarkable thing was.
Soon after tea the Clan departed, singing "All the blue bonnets are over
the border" at the tops of their voices.
"Well, dear, how do you like your cousins?" asked Aunt Plenty, as the
last pony frisked round the corner and the din died away.
"Pretty well, ma'am; but I like Phebe better." An answer which caused
Aunt Plenty to hold up her hands in despair and trot away to tell sister
Peace that she never _should_ understand that child, and it was a mercy
Alec was coming soon to take the responsibility off their hands.
Fatigued by the unusual exertions of the afternoon, Rose curled herself
up in the sofa corner to rest and think about the great mystery, little
guessing that she was to know it first of all.
Right in the middle of her meditations, she fell asleep and dreamed she
was at home again in her own little bed. She seemed to wake and see her
father bending over her; to hear him say, "My little Rose;" to answer,
"Yes, papa;" and then to feel him take her in his arms and kiss her
tenderly. So sweet, so real was the dream, that she started up with a
cry of joy to find herself in the arms of a brown, bearded man, who held
her close, and whispered in a voice so like her father's that she clung
to him involuntarily,--
"This is my little girl, and I am Uncle Alec."