[Illustration: 9201]
VACUATION DAY, with all its excitement, was soon followed by that day
well nigh as eventful, when on the Fourth of December General Washington
took final leave of his officers “in the great historic room” at
Fraunces Tavern, a leavetaking that proved a very touching and trying
ordeal both for him and for them. Starlight and Flutters, who had
contrived to be in the forefront of the crowd that looked on, could have
told you how plainly strong emotion was betrayed on the brave General's
face, as he passed out from the tavern, and down to the barge that was
waiting to convey him to Paulus Hook on his way to Congress.
But after that day, affairs settled down into much quieter channels than
they had known for some time--that is, at any rate as far as the people
with whom we have most to do are concerned. The Van Vleets had asked
Aunt Frances to make her home with them indefinitely, and though still
faintly cherishing the hope that she might have her own home back again
some day, she had accepted their invitation, and opened a little school
among the farmers' children in the neighborhood. Starlight was one of
her most promising pupils, and so his visits to Kings Bridge were of
necessity less frequent than they used to be. In that matter, Cousin
Harry had a great advantage over him, for having moved to New York in
order to be near his office, what more natural, and, as Harry would
have said, “what more delightful,” than to spend all his evenings at
the Bonifaces? And what a blessing those visits were to them, only they
themselves could have told you. As soon as he arrived he would first
go upstairs and have a talk with the Captain, ransacking his mind for
everything that could by any possibility interest him; then when he had
told the little or much that he had to tell, or saw that he was tiring
him, down he would go to the sitting-room, have a romp with Bonny Kate,
if she had managed to stay up past her bed-time, or possibly a game of
some sort with Hazel and Flutters, but it generally happened that after
a while there was no one left to talk to save Josephine, and of course
you know better than to think that Harry minded that. Josephine had
generally some bit of work in hand, and could not afford to simply laugh
and chat the evening away, with her pretty hands lying idle in her lap,
as perhaps is the case with your older sister, when some friend comes to
call. No, indeed! it was necessary in those days for her to stitch, and
stitch industriously in every available moment, if the Boniface needs
were to be in any wise met; nor did these two young people laugh and
chat very much either--the times were rather too serious for that; not
that they did not have a happy time of it, and sometimes were actually
merry, but, as a rule, they seemed to have something of importance to
quietly talk over.
Meantime the winter came and went, and spring began to be felt in the
air, and an occasional early bird note, or a bunch of pussy willow by
the road-side, bore witness to the fact that it was slowly but surely
coming.
It had seemed a long, long winter to Mrs. Boniface. For many weeks she
had lived the most retired life possible. Few had come to see her, and
there were but one or two friends left whom she cared to go and see.
If it had not been for Harry Avery, they would scarce have had any
communication with the outside world.
There had been no further threats made against Captain Boniface. Even
the most bitter of his enemies would hardly have found it in his heart
to persecute a man who was so hopelessly paralyzed as never to be able
to walk again; but there was something very significant in the fact
that they simply left him alone. None of them in a relenting spirit had
called to inquire how he was, and if any of the old friends, who had
treated him so cruelly that night at the Assembly, ever felt ashamed
of their behavior, they never had the grace to own it. Indeed, it is
terrible to think how that great mastering passion, which we proudly
call patriotism, sometimes seems to smother every noble and natural
impulse.
Soon after the Assembly, in fact that very night, Captain Boniface had
told his wife of the murders in South Carolina, and it seemed to her
then as though every spark of sympathy with the colonies and colonial
interests had that moment died within her. She was by far too noble to
let actual hatred take its place; but she longed with all her heart for
old England, where she had been born, and to turn her back on this new
country which had treated her so harshly. So Mrs. Boniface waited,
with no little anxiety, for the arrival of the long-looked-for letter,
cherishing the fervent hope that her father would send for them all to
come to him, planning thoughtfully all the details of their journey, and
yet never once daring to put her hope into words. It might happen that,
although willing enough to help them, he would not propose to do it by
having her little family sweep down upon him and rob the old rectory of
the quiet it had known so long, and which must be very grateful to
him in his old age. But at last the letter came, and Mrs. Boniface
straightway carried it off to Flutters's room, and closed the door and
locked it. Her hands trembled as she broke the seal. What were they to
do? that was the question that had anxiously confronted her for several
long, weary months; but always she had simply to postpone any attempt
to answer it, waiting for this letter; and now it was in her hand what
would it tell her?
It proved to be a long, long letter, and she read it slowly through,
word by word; then she buried her face in her hands and cried; but
sometimes people cry for joy and not for sorrow.
Late in the afternoon of the same day, Flutters was grooming
Gladys in the barn, accompanying the process with a queer, buzzing
noise, such as I believe is quite common to grooming the world over.
“Flutters, where are you?” called Hazel, coming into the barn in search
of him.
“Here with Gladys, Miss Hazel.”
“What do you think, Flutters?” and then Hazel climbed up and seated
herself on the edge of Gladys's trough, before adding:
[Illustration: 0205]
“We are going to England to live with grandpa. Mother says he's just the
dearest old man, and he's sent for us all to come. He lives in a lovely
rectory in Cheshire.”
“You don't mean it, Miss Hazel!” said Flutters, his breath quite taken
away.
“And of course you will go with me, Flutters. Mother says you may.”
“It's very kind of you to be willing to take me,” Flutters managed to
reply, but at the same time realized that he would do almost anything
rather than go back to England, and to the very same county, too, from
which he had come; and he leaned down, apparently to brush some straw
from one of Gladys's legs, but really to hide the tears of bitter
disappointment that had sprung unbidden into his eyes. Fortunately,
the ruse succeeded very well, Hazel never dreaming but what he was as
delighted with the news as she herself.
“I can't tell you how glad I am to go, Flutters, although mother says
we probably never should have gone, if it had not been for father's
illness. Things are getting so much quieter now that she thinks people
would have let us alone, and father could, perhaps, have found some way
to make a living, because, you see, we haven't much money left since the
war; but you knew that, Flutters?”
Flutters sort of half nodded yes, seeing that something was expected of
him, but he was not paying close attention to what Hazel was saying.
How could he bear to have them go and leave him alone in America, and
whatever should he do? were the thoughts that were filling his mind. It
seemed as though every hair on Gladys's back was bristling with the same
sad questions, and then the thought came to him that Gladys herself
would probably be left behind, too, and he laid his hand affectionately
on her prettily arched neck.
“I shall be glad to live in a King's country,” Hazel resumed, after a
little pause, “and not where everybody's as good as everybody else, and
where they don't have princes and princesses, and lovely palaces for
them to live in. But there's one thing I mean to do as soon as ever
I reach there, and that is, to get presented at Court, and tell King
George how the prisoners were treated on the 'Jersey,' He ought to
know about it, and when he does, I just guess those men will get the
punishment they deserve;” and her cheeks glowed with excitement at the
thought of the forthcoming interview. “Flutters, do you know anything
about the South of England--about Cheshire?”
“Yes, something,” answered Flutters, getting a little better command of
himself. “In what part of it does your grandfather live?”
“Feltstone, I think.”
Flutters gave a sigh of relief. Feltstone was several miles from
Burnham, his old home, but it wasn't worth while to think of that; for
back to England he would not go. To be sure, there was a chance that if
Sergeant Bellows had found his father that he might be sent for; but he
could not bear to face that alternative, and would not till he had
to. And then, wondering if he ever would hear from the Sergeant, he
remembered that he had half-hoped and half-feared that the “Blue Bird,”
which had brought Mrs. Boniface's letter, would also bring one for him.
As was to be expected, Hazel chatted on with much volubility about the
numerous arrangements for the coming journey, and how they would all
have to try to make everything as comfortable as possible for her
father. Now and then she felt conscious of a lack of enthusiasm on
Flutters's part, but the thought was only momentary, and her active
little mind at once travelled off in some new line of delightful
anticipation. All Flutters had to do was occasionally to answer a
question. He thought best not to say anything to Hazel about not going
with them until he should have talked with Mrs. Boniface. Meantime
Gladys's grooming was completed, and as her pretty mane had been plaited
by Hazel, as she talked, into half a dozen tight braids, she looked
quite as prim and trig as a little old maid on a Sunday.
“Let's go up to the house, now,” said Hazel; “or, no, I'll tell you,
let's go up to the Marberrys and tell them.”
“I can't go, Miss Hazel; your mother said she had something for me to
do in the house.” Whereupon Hazel pouted a little, thinking it more
fitting, no doubt, that body-servants should obey their mistresses
rather than their mistresses' mothers, but at the same time seeing that
it was useless for her to contend against the force of circumstances,
which in those days of much to do and few to do it, made Flutters a most
useful member of the household.
“There are the Marberrys, now,” she cried, discovering them coming in at
the gate in their usual two-abreast fashion.
“Flutters,” cried Milly, as they both broke into a little run, “here's
a letter for you; it came up with our mail by mistake.” Flutters reached
for it eagerly. >
“It's directed just 'Flutters,' care of Captain Boniface,” ventured
Tilly; “that's queer, isn't it? Haven't you any other name, Flutters?”
“Not now,” was Flutters's rather remarkable answer, and then he ran
back to the barn as if he had forgotten something important, but really,
because, like Mrs. Boniface, he did not want to have any one “round”
when he read his letter. He chose, too, to take his seat just where
Hazel had been sitting, before he opened it. Gladys looked on with
wide-eyed pony astonishment at this unwonted appropriation of her own
individual stall, but seemed, notwithstanding, to regard the matter
good-naturedly.
If it were feasible to have schools for ponies, and Gladys had had the
benefit thereof, and at the same time no better manners than to have
looked over Flutters's shoulder, this is what she might have read “just
as easy as anything,” as you children say:
The Bunch of Grapes,
Burnham, Cheshire, England,
February 23d, 1784.
My dear Flutters: As perceived by the heading of this letter, I write
from the inn in your father's village, to which place I made haste to
journey so soon as I was favored with my furlough. And now, my dear
Flutters, I have sad news to break to you, and for which you must nerve
yourself, like the plucky little fellow that you are. Your good father
is no longer a sojourner in this sad world of ours. He died after a very
short illness, on the third of last September. I went to see his widow,
told her I had some knowledge of you, and that if your father had left
any message I would send it to you. She said she could not remember any,
save that he used sometimes to say that he would like to know if you
were well cared for. She does not seem to have as much heart as most
women, and blest if I blame you much for running off as you did. I think
your father left very little money, as folks say that your stepmother
will have to do something to support herself and her children. Wishing
I had better news to send you, Flutters, and with my dutiful respects to
the dear Bonifaces, I close this letter--the longest I ever wrote in my
life--and I hope never again to be obliged to write such another.
Yours dutifully,
R. A. Bellows.
“Oh, Gladys,” cried Flutters, when he had finished reading, and, leaning
his head against the pony's head, he sobbed aloud. Such a whirl of
emotion as that letter awoke for Flutters could not be put into words,
and in his imagination he seemed to see his fathers grave and old
Bobbin's side by side. The Bonifaces were all he had left now, and they,
they were going to leave him; but, no, and a new light seemed to flash
in on his mind--what was there now to hinder his going with them? His
stepmother would never claim him. Indeed, she need never know he was in
England, and so there was a bright side to Flutters's sorrow, and after
a while he walked quietly out from the barn with the Sergeant's letter
in his hand, and straight to Mrs. Boniface, whom he found in the
Captain's room, and then and there he told them all his story, and after
the telling felt he was even nearer and dearer to his new friends than
ever he had been before.
Only Gladys ever knew how intense had been Flutters's first sorrow on
reading the Sergeant's letter, but she was such a harum-scarum pony that
probably the memory of it went out of her head full as quickly as the
hairs, wet by Flutters's tears, dried on her forehead.