A YEAR LATER.
Kathleen was sitting in the swing, and idly pushing a hole in the saw
dust, with the toe of her shoe; while Katherine sat on a log hemming a
handkerchief, a red rose stuck in her hair, and much thoughtfulness in
her face.
"I think it's too horrible to think about," said the former, suddenly,
and with a vinegary aspect of countenance.
"He may be nice," returned the latter, consolingly, though with much
evident distaste to the fact.
"Who cares, and then besides, I bet he isn't."
"You mustn't bet."
"I will. You may be nice, and proper, and so awfully prim, if you want
to, but I sha'n't."
"You're nearly fifteen."
"Suppose I am. Besides I'm not; it's three months yet."
"Well," said Kittie, after a pause, and turning a corner in her
handkerchief with great nicety, "I suppose since it's settled, that he
will be here in a few days. Bea has fixed his room so pretty."
"Pooh! I bet he'll never notice it, and he'll be an everlasting bother,
and we'll never have any more fun; and I'm going to tell him the minute
he gets here, that I hate him; and I hope that'll make him happy and
want to stay," exclaimed Kat vehemently.
"Besides," continued Kittie, as placidly as though nothing was
disturbing the serenity of her sister, "you see, my dear, how it will
help mama."
Any remark of a like character, would, at any time, reduce the girls
from the most active rebellion to passive acquiescence; and Kat
immediately lost her ferocious determination and looked reflective, as
she recalled the dear face they loved, with its pale patient sweetness,
and the gray hair that had all come into the brown locks within the last
year, since Ernestine went away.
"Well," she said in a moment, and beginning to swing, "I suppose it's
all right, but I wish he wasn't so old. Twenty! my goodness! He'll be
forever lecturing us and reading solemn books, because I know he's
solemn; sick people always are, and everything will have to be poky and
still to suit him, and I think it's abominable!"
"Exactly," answered Kittie, with a nod of agreement. "But Kat, there's
one splendid big thing to offset all those little horrid ones; why don't
you think of that?"
"Well, I do, and I'm most tickled to death, that mama won't have to
teach any more; poor, dear, blessed mama, she's most tired and worried
to death;" and Kat's face grew very tender as she swung and thought over
it all.
"Oh Kat!" cried Kittie, with a sudden vehemence, though the question
that hung on her lips had been asked countless times in the past year,
"Where do you suppose Ernestine is?"
Kat stopped the swing, and faced her sister with a sudden decision.
"I think," she said slowly, "Kittie, I think she's--dead!"
"Oh no! you don't surely! She can't be!" cried Kittie in terror; for no
one had ever hazarded that cruel belief before. "Our Ernestine dead! I
couldn't believe it, and I think it would kill mama, if she thought we
would never find her again."
"But I can't help but feel so," said Kat sadly. "Just think of her
getting into New York in the night, and not knowing anything where to
go. I just know something dreadful happened, because we never can find
one thing about her after she got there."
"But I don't believe she's dead!" exclaimed Kittie firmly. "I wouldn't
believe it if I wanted to; and I think some time, or somehow, we will
find her, or she will come back to us."
"Well I hope so I'm sure, for it will never seem right without her,"
said Kat. "Seems to me, we all lived so happy, with no troubles of any
kind, until all of a sudden, then everything happens all at once. Home
has never seemed the same since papa died."
"When you look back and think how things have changed, don't it seem
strange," said Kittie, dropping her sewing and looking pensively off at
the wood-pile. "It seems so funny, to think that Miss Howard is married,
and that people live in the little old school-house.
"Didn't we used to have fun there?"
"Yes, we did, and we're getting old dreadful fast," said Kat, ruefully.
"I can't imagine anything more dreadful than getting to be young ladies,
and having to wear long dresses, and done-up hair, and always be polite
and proper. I think it's horrible to be nearly fifteen!"
Kittie loved fun as much as Kat, but she was not quite so frolicsome in
her tastes, nor so averse to a graceful train, or a lady-like structure
of hair. In fact, she had many ideas of ideal young-ladyhood that would
have amazed and dismayed her twin, had they been known. Any one who knew
them well was no longer at a loss to know which was which, for while in
childhood they had been too similar to ever be distinguished, the coming
years brought different ideas to each, and left their print in looks and
manner. Kat was wildly rebellious at the thought of growing up; she
wanted to remain in the blissful days of short hair and dresses, when
she could race with anybody, jump a fence, climb trees, and in every way
be as boyish as she could, to pay up for being a girl. Consequently she
always had a fly-away, unsettled look about her, rebelled at the
lengthened dresses, insisted on wearing her hair in a flying braid,
wouldn't be induced to cultivate ease and grace, and altogether was as
wild and unconquerable on the threshold of fifteen as she had been in
the freedom of twelve. Kittie, on the contrary, had a decided love for
grace, and the ease of a cultivated young lady. She did her hair up in
various and complicated fashions, occasionally practiced with a train,
and had learned to bow with the latest grace and twist. She remembered
Ernestine's little graceful ways, and profited by the remembrance,
thereby driving Kat to the verge of desperation, by giving frequent
lectures on the necessity of sitting still gracefully, and walking
without a skip or jump every third step. With all their little growing
differences, they were just as devoted and inseparable as ever. Kittie
would sit and sew with a lady-like air, and a posy in her belt, while
Kat would lounge in the window-seat, and read aloud, or amuse them with
nonsense; or, if they went out on the pond, Kittie would wear her
gloves and ply her oar with an eye to grace, while Kat would, perhaps,
be encased in a sun-bonnet, or be bareheaded and row as if on a contract
to outdo the champion club in existence. In their work was the same
little mark of distinction, and so now-a-days it was very easy to tell
which was Kittie and which was Kat.
It was just a year since Ernestine had gone, and such a long, sad,
hopeless year! Not a clue or trace of any kind could they find except
that she had gone to New York. The Canfield ticket agent had had his
suspicions when a lady had bought a ticket and gone on the midnight
train; but it was none of his business, to be sure; so she had gone on
her way unmolested, and farther than that, they knew nothing. Where she
went on reaching the city, no one knew, though no mode of search had
been left untried, and no expense spared, either by Mrs. Dering, or the
relatives and friends who so heartily sympathized in her heart-broken
search. There was nothing, from himself to the last dollar he possessed,
that Mr. Congreve did not offer; and Jean sent a tear-stained note with
a crisp ten dollars--all she had, and saying: "Mama, please spend it to
find Ernestine; and I ask God every few minutes, if He won't please let
us have her again."
But it had all been in vain. In the long days when Ernestine had sat and
thought and grieved, she must have matured her plans well, or else she
had gone blindly forth, on the wild impulse of despair, and been
swallowed in the black wickedness of the great city, into which she
went. It was a ceaseless question in the anxious hearts of those who
loved her, but there never came any answer; and the days and weeks
dragged into months until the year had rolled around, and they had heard
nothing. The name of the lost became more precious than ever, and many
things she had left behind, that all spoke so eloquently of her, they
treasured as priceless, and wet them with many a sad tear, while heart
and lips pleaded for the return of the dear one. The year of anxiety had
told on Mrs. Dering, for the soft brown hair was thickly lined with
grey, and there was a never-dying look of prayerful anxiety in her face,
as though in some way, her life-work had been remiss and the fault of
this one, gone astray, lay at her door. Still she never once gave up
hope that at some time God would return this dear one to her, though it
required constant prayer to strengthen the faith that trembled on the
threshold of this affliction.
Under the strain of mental and physical work, her health was slowly
giving way, and for many weeks there had been the anxious question,
"what can be done to relieve mama?" and there had been no way
discovered, for money was low, and each one already doing her utmost; so
Mrs. Dering held her position at the seminary, and was obliged to
content herself with one visit home a week, and sometimes not even
that, for the hack drive was so fatiguing, and besides, it cost fifty
cents every time.
Well, after all, God never fails to give us something to cheer our
flagging steps, never fails to know when a burdened child is falling
with its load, and never fails to take the hand outstretched to Him, and
help that child along!
In the midst of an anxious controversy one evening, when Mrs. Dering had
just arrived home, and was lying exhausted on the lounge; Olive came in
from the store and brought a letter with the Boston post mark; it proved
to be from Mr. Dering's cousin, a wealthy widow, with an only son whose
health was failing, and for whom the doctor prescribed a summer's rest,
and relief from study. She had once visited the Dering home, and said
she knew of no one, to whom she would so willingly trust her boy, in his
delicate health, as to Robert's wife. The price named for his board was
lavishly liberal, and filled the long felt want, for it would more than
admit of mother's being free and at home to rest, and regain her own
health and strength.
So this was what Kat, viewing matters from a personal standpoint,
thought was "horrible," and what Kittie tried to reconcile her to by
reviewing the good things that would result from it. Bea was to room
with Olive, and the sunny front room was fixed for the coming invalid,
and it is a pity that all the knick-knacks arranged by the girls could
not have retained all the curious conjectures uttered in their hearing,
as to what the coming cousin was apt to be like, and repeated them to
that same person.
He came one evening, a tall pale youth, with very black eyes, quiet
gentlemanly manners, and a faint suspicion of a mustache, and Kat
instantly declared that she didn't like him.
"I told you he'd be solemn, and look like a preacher. I bet he's got
consumption too, and I suppose he'll call me Kathleen and ask me if I'm
prepared to die?" she exclaimed, after they had met him and he had gone
to his room.
"I think he's very polite and nice," said Bea.
"He looks very intelligent," added Olive, with a pleasing idea in her
mind, of having some one with whom she could discuss her books, and
study Latin.
"Some fun in him I know," laughed Kittie. "And what nice manners he has,
and black eyes, I wonder if he appreciates them?"
"Poor fellow, just hear him cough," exclaimed Bea in sympathy. "Girls,
what have you nice for supper?"
"Slap-jacks," answered Kat grimly. "I hope he'll enjoy them."
"O Kat, you surely have something else besides cakes," cried Bea in
dismay. "It'll never do, he's used to everything nice."
"Suppose he is, we're not, and he mustn't expect it here."
"Dear me," explained Bea, starting for the kitchen; but Kittie
interrupted her, with the consoling remark:
"It's all right, I made a nice pudding with sugar sauce, and there is
cold meat and hot biscuit, that's enough, mama said so."
"I bet you he'll sit and mope in his room, and cry for his mama, dear
little boy, I'll give him a sugar horn," laughed Kat, then caught her
breath suddenly, and flushed scarlet, for there in the door stood the
new cousin, also rather flushed, but with his eyes twinkling, and his
arms full of things.
"Thank you, Cousin Kathleen," he said gravely; "I really hadn't thought
of crying, but your promise is tempting, I'll begin in a few moments. In
the meantime, here are some messages that mother sent with her love. She
selected for each, as she remembered you, and I hope that none of you
have so changed in tastes, that these little things will be out of
keeping."
His genial tone, and winning smile were very taking, and made every one
feel acquainted at once, so Bea pushed an easy chair forward, saying
with a smile:
"We'll try hard to be grateful, Cousin Ralph. Come, take this easy chair
and deliver your messages, you see we're anxious."
He did so, holding up a splendid copy of Dante.
"For Olive, whom mother remembers as a studious book-loving little girl,
and hoped she would enjoy this grand work."
"I shall indeed," cried Olive joyfully. "How kind your mother is."
"She is indeed," answered Ralph. "And very dear to me, I assure you."
"This for Beatrice," he added, holding up a stout package; "I assure
you, the interior is more attractive than the exterior," he said with a
laugh; and so Bea found it, for there was a box of kid gloves, a dozen
beautiful handkerchiefs, with her monogram worked in the corner, and a
beautiful set of jet jewelry.
Bea was in ecstasies, and put on her ornaments at once, while Ralph next
unfastened two boxes exactly alike and handed them, with their contents
exposed, to their owners.
"For Kittie," he said, "and Kathleen."
Kittie gave a little scream of delight, but Kat simply made a bow, and
said "Thanks," with the grace of a ramrod, and shut her box with a snap.
They were two beautiful chains and lockets, of ebony and gold, with the
letters "K. D." in raised letters on the lockets, and a picture of the
giver within. Ralph took no notice of Kat's reception of the gift, but
complimented Kittie as she put hers on, and then asked for Mrs. Dering.
Her gift was a dress of heavy black silk, with everything necessary to
its make-up, and yards and yards of beautiful lace and fringe for its
trimming. Oh, how happy the girls were over that, and how splendid it
would seem to see mama once more in an elegant dress, such as she used
to wear.
For Ernestine, were elegantly bound copies of the old composers, and for
Jeanie an exquisite little pearl ring. The one of these, Mrs. Dering
laid away with tears, and a silent prayer, such as came from her heart
every hour of the day for the absent one; the other, she sent with a
long, loving letter to the little girl in Virginia, and thought, with a
grateful heart, that the bitterest sorrows have a drop of joy somewhere,
for the doctors had said that Jeanie could be cured.
In just a little while, it seemed as though Ralph had been with them
always, such a comfort as he was to all, and such a genial, jovial
companion as he became on all occasions. Mrs. Dering, or Aunt Elizabeth,
he very soon lifted to the niche of affection next to his mother's; and
she, in turn, loved him as an own son, and in his ambitious moments,
gave him long earnest talks, wherein she drew his unremembered Uncle
Robert, as an example of truth, manhood and honor, such as she hoped to
see him follow.
For Bea, who now revelled in all the bliss of being a young lady nearly
eighteen, he exerted all his most courtly politeness and gallant
manners, and she wondered how she had ever gotten on without him
before.
To Olive, he was confidential, and finally won her to the same state.
They studied, read and discussed, disagreed and argued, but he was
always so polite, and ready to gracefully yield when a contested point
could not be settled, that Olive grew ashamed of her more abrupt manners
and hasty speech, and so the intimacy helped her in more ways than one.
He confided to her all his ambitious plans of being a great lawyer, and
his impatience at having to drop his studies for so many months. She, in
turn, confided to him her longing for artistic study, and made him
ashamed by the patience with which she had laid aside her cherished
plans, and given all her time to the work which necessity demanded. So
their friendship prospered.
To Kittie, he was invaluable, and a more devoted brother and sister
surely never lived. They boated, walked, sang, played and, in short,
were almost constantly together. He was quick to discover the girlish
longing to be graceful, refined and accomplished, and he helped her
much, both as an example of polished, polite manners, and by rehearsing
for her many of the accomplishments and graces of ladies of his
acquaintance. And many times had he said to her in their little chats:
"You have a constant example before you, Kittie, in your mother. She is
so refined, and such a true, noble woman, I would love to see you like
her."
To Kat, he was nothing, unless it was a stumbling block in the way of
her happiness. She didn't like him, and was furiously jealous of the
flourishing friendship between him and Kittie. He had not been solemn
and poky, as she had prophesied, and the fact nettled her. She never
could make him angry, though she left no way untried, and that was
exasperating. He was always catching her at a disadvantage, and what she
thought was anger at the fact, was, in truth, wounded pride. She was as
rude as she dared be, and never lost an opportunity to sharp-shoot; and
while he realized the impoliteness of a return shot, the temptation was
too great to resist; so they had some lively skirmishes, in all good
humor on his side, but in lively anger on hers.
He came out on the porch one day, and found her sitting on the steps,
with her hat tilted over her eyes, and a generally woe-begone look in
her whole attitude; and they had just had a wordy battle out at the
pond.
"Why, Kathleen," he exclaimed, in mock penitence, "is it possible? Why,
I never meant to hurt your feelings. I didn't suppose they could be
hurt."
"No; they can't, by you," retorted Kat, knocking off her hat, and
showing her eyes scornfully bright and dry. "Whenever you speak, I
consider the source, and it never amounts to much."
"Is it possible?" he exclaimed, laughing. "When I speak to you, you are
the source of every inspiring word."
"Then I am heartily ashamed of myself."
"I don't wonder; I'm often ashamed of you."
"You're hideous," cried Kat, fiercely. "I wonder if you have the ghost
of an idea how horrible you are, Ralph Tremayne?"
"No, indeed, I never found any one impolite enough to tell me; but you
will, I'm sure."
"Don't judge my politeness by your own!"
"I can't for you have none," he rejoined coolly.
Kat could have slapped him with a relish, and like as not, if he had
been nearer her own age she would have tried it. As it was, she looked
into his laughing eyes and knew that she was angry, and he was not,
therefore he would win, for a cool head can think a great deal faster
than a hot one; so she turned on her heel with a contemptuous spin, and
left him.
That afternoon she heard Ralph and Kittie planning a walk to the woods
next day, and her jealous heart ached and burned fiercely. How
despicable he was to take all of Kittie's time, and make himself such a
paragon in her eyes, that she could talk of no one else. Kat shook her
head in dire vengeance, and might have cried if she hadn't been too
proud. But just then Kittie said:
"I don't know, Ralph, whether I can go or not; I have some sewing that I
ought to do; you remember how I tore my dress the last time we went
boating? well, I ought to darn it, you see."
"No, I don't happen to see, unless you take it out in the woods and mend
it, while I make you a crown and put it on your head as queen of
industrious girls. Violets would be very becoming to your brown hair and
winsome face."
"What nonsense!" muttered Kat, in disgust, while all the time her heart
ached. "Wouldn't it be a joke if he was saying all those things to me
instead of Kittie, and didn't know the difference. He wouldn't think I
had a winsome face if I was the last girl alive, and yet I'm the moral
image of Kittie."
"Perhaps I can find time to darn my dress this afternoon, and if I do,
then I'll go to-morrow," Kittie was saying, and then in a few moments
Ralph went away. The moment he was gone Kat came around into the arbor,
and threw herself on the grass.
"Now then, Kittie."
"Well, my dear."
"I would just like to know a thing or two?"
"What, for instance?"
"Who are you going with to-morrow? That abomination wants you to go with
him, and I've set my heart on having you go with me down town. You
haven't been with me, since the dear knows when, and upon my word, I
feel real bad."
"I'll mend my dress now, go with Ralph in the morning, and you in the
afternoon," smiled Kittie sweetly.
"No you don't," cried Kat, sitting up. "I'd like to have you to myself
for one day, at least. If he can get you from me so much in six weeks,
by the end of summer you'll be beyond speaking to me."
"Oh, Kat," cried Kittie reproachfully. "How can you?"
"Well, will you go with me to-morrow?"
"My dress--"
"I'll darn your old dress right now. Will you?"
"I don't believe you care half as much for me to go, as you do to spite
Ralph," said Kittie thoughtfully, and to Kat's amazement she suddenly
realized that this was so, not but what she really wanted Kittie, but
the predominant desire was to spite Ralph, and she was bound to do it
now, so she ran off for the dress, brought it back, and darned it
immaculately, whereupon Kittie felt that the thing was settled.
Kat was jubilant all the evening, and seized the first opportunity of
announcing the change in the programme. Shortly after they came into the
sitting-room, Ralph asked:
"Is the dress darned, Kittie?"
"Yes, it is, and I darned it, and Kittie's going down town with me
to-morrow," answered Kat glibly.
Ralph lifted his eye-brows with a smile, instantly detecting the little
spite-work.
"Why, did I speak to you?"
"Believe not; I spoke to you."
"Suppose you try the novelty of speaking when you're spoken to."
"I generally do; also at any other time that I take a notion. I've done
it all my life, and it'll take more than you to stop me."
"Some people talk to hear themselves."
"So I've heard, and I'm quite convinced that no one has a better right
to come under that head than yourself."
"Quite true; I'm amazed at your powers of penetration. Perhaps you also
observed that I rank only a little ways below my illustrious cousin,
Kathleen."
"I'm not your cousin, thank goodness."
"Don't thank anything with which you have so little acquaintance; it's
apt to never be appreciated."
"No acquaintance that I have with anything, or any body troubles me as
much as the acquaintance that I have with you."
"You have my sympathy, for I'm troubled with the same feeling."
"Do hush," exclaimed Kittie. "It's perfectly awful the way you two do
talk. Ralph, come play chess. Kat, I'm astonished."
"I don't wonder; so am I; but I never had such an object to deal with
before, so no wonder I do some unusual things," cried Kat, and bounced
out of the room to hide the tears that would come; for Kittie's voice
was reproof, and she took Ralph's part, and that was altogether too
much!