"HERE is a telegram, mamma!" said Kitty, throwing open the door. "It
has just come!"
Mrs. Tremain opened the note. "It is just what I expected!" said she,
as the tears filled her eyes. "Your aunt Leffington is dead!"
"Dear old lady!" said Cousin Tilly. "How glad she must have been to go.
She has lasted on wonderfully! How old was she?"
"Eighty-eight years old. It is nearly fifty years since she lost her
husband and daughter at one blow. She has had a long time to wait."
"Do you think she was glad to die, mamma?" asked Kitty.
"Yes, my dear! I do not believe there has been a day for fifty years
that she would not have rejoiced at the summons. Yet she was always
cheerful, and constantly busied herself in working for others. She was
a good Christian, though she had some oddities, as was expected."
Only a week now intervened before Christmas. It came on Sunday, and the
Sunday before, Kitty invited all the children to come to her house on
Saturday afternoon. She had quite decided to give away her treasured
picture-books, and had written each child's name in the one destined
for her.
"I have a letter from Aunt Baldwin, Kitty!" said her mother, as Kitty
came in from school the next day. "There is some news in it which
concerns you. Listen!"
After giving an account of Mrs. Leffington's last moments, Mrs. Baldwin
went on to say—
"The good old lady always said, 'Amabel, I shall not leave my money to
you and Catherine. You are well enough off as it is. I shall provide
for my old Aggy, and leave the rest to the Old Ladies' Home, but the
other things I shall divide between you.' She has kept her word. She
has left her jewels and silver to me, her books and furniture to you,
and all her clothes and other personal matters to Kitty, making me her
executor. I presume you will like to keep the furniture, which is rich
and well preserved, though old-fashioned. Please write to me about it
directly."
"You will keep it, won't you, mamma?" asked Kitty. "You won't let Aunt
Leffington's things be sold?"
"Certainly not, my dear! We have two unfurnished rooms in this big
house, you know, which we can now fit up very nicely. But hear the rest
of the letter."
"There is one large trunk, the contents of which I hardly know what
to do with," Mrs. Baldwin continued. "You remember Aunt Leffington's
fancy for buying all sorts of things merely because they were cheap.
She always said she should find a use for them, and I presume she has
given away hundreds of dollars' worth of children's clothes, toys, &c.
But there still remains this large camphor-wood chest, perfectly filled
with the most miscellaneous collection of odds and ends I ever saw.
After some consideration, I have concluded to send this box to Kitty
at once, thinking that she may make use of some of its contents as
gifts to her little class. She will therefore receive it, probably, on
the same day as this letter. I shall send the other things as soon as
possible."
"Oh, mamma!" said Kitty. She could get no farther, but looked at her
mother with sparkling and imploring eyes.
"You are thinking you can furnish your Christmas tree out of Aunt
Leffington's box," said her mother, smiling.
"May I, mamma?"
"Yes, Kitty, if you find any thing suitable. But, remember, you must
not give away a single thing without asking me first."
"I won't indeed, mamma! Oh, mamma, here comes the express-man this very
minute. What a great, big box!"
"Isn't it a big one?" said the good-natured express-man, smiling at
Kitty's rapture. "I think it is most too big for a little puss like
you! Here is the key, I expect, in this little parcel."
A happier girl than Kitty was not to be found in the whole United
States that day! What bundles were disclosed when the box was opened!
What dolls, and dolls' houses, and furniture, and dishes!—What
picture-books, and china-cups, and images, and work-baskets, and
scissors, and "odds and ends" enough to stock a small shop Kitty took
up one and another, and did not know which to admire most.
"Your only embarrassment will be in choosing among your treasures!"
said her mother. "Do not be too extravagant, my dear! It is never a
good plan with children!"
"Please pick out the things for me, mamma!" said Kitty. "You will know
best, and I will lock up the rest for another time."
Mrs. Tremain selected such articles as she thought suitable, and Kitty
spent a pleasant evening in putting the marks upon them.
"You will not need to give away your pretty, little picture-books
now," remarked Cousin Tilly, who had taken great interest in Kitty's
preparations, and had, indeed, laid in sundry private stores of her own
to help them out.
"I think I shall give them, for all that, Cousin Tilly," replied Kitty,
gravely. "I feel as though I had promised."
Cousin Tilly looked at Mrs. Tremain, and nodded a grave approval. "I
should feel just so if I were you, I know," said she. "By the way, do
you know the Daskins are really gone?"
"Gone!" said Mrs. Tremain.
"Gone, bag and baggage, and a good riddance," replied Cousin Tilly.
"They say they are going to California, but I think it's doubtful if
they get so far. I can't say I care much for any of them except the
sick one: I am sorry for him!"
"I think Mr. Daskin was good to that boy," remarked Kitty.
"I believe you are right," said her mother. "His kindness to the boy
was one redeeming trait about him."
"Fanny used to say that her father cared more for Fred than all the
rest of them," added Kitty. "Poor Fanny! I wonder what she will come
to?"
"To no good, I'm afraid," said Cousin Tilly. "A girl with no more
principle than that seldom turns out well."
"And yet every one tried to do Fanny good," remarked Kitty,
thoughtfully. "Miss Oliver took a great deal of pains with her, and so
did Miss May, her Sunday-school teacher. And I am sure nobody could
be kinder than Mrs. May was while Fanny lived there. It was not as if
nobody had cared for her."
"My dear child, it is by no means so easy to do people good as you
might suppose from reading some books and hearing some good people
talk," said her mother. "An old author says, very truly, that all the
good in the universe will not benefit a man so long as it is outside of
him."
"I think Fanny's great defect was that she never cared for anybody
but herself," observed Cousin Tilly. "You see how little she thought
of Kitty, after all her pretences. She never even came to bid her
good-bye."
"Perhaps she was ashamed," said Kitty.
"Probably she was afraid," said her mother. "I could easily have
given her a good deal of trouble, as she knew very well. I could have
proved by Miss Perkins that she really did spend Kitty's money. But
as they were going so soon, I preferred to let matters alone. Kitty's
three dollars will be well expended if it teaches her to beware of
flatterers."
[Illustration: _Kitty's Christmas Tree._
The children were highly delighted with their presents.]
Kitty's party was perfectly successful. The children were highly
delighted with their presents, and as much pleased with the apple,
cocoanut, and molasses candy which Cousin Tilly had secretly prepared
as they would have been with the most costly Parisian confections.
Kitty still keeps the class, and takes the greatest pains with them.
And as she has lately been more desirous to teach them English than to
show off her own French, they have made famous progress.
Lizzy Gates has never receded from her determination to lead a
Christian life. She has had to struggle with many temptations, but she
is a girl with a great deal of character and courage, and she gains
ground every day. As a sample of her improvement, she saw the whole
contents of Aunt Leffington's camphor-wood chest displayed without
asking Kitty for the least trifle, nor would she accept some bead
trimmings which she acknowledged would be just the thing to finish the
cushion she was working for Miss Oliver, until Mrs. Tremain herself
particularly requested her to do so.
Of Fanny Daskin I have no good to say, and therefore I will say
nothing—except that she never appeared in Holford again.
THE END.