AN ARRIVAL.
The silence of the pair upon the piazza was broken by the arrival at
the gate of Will, who had been to the station to meet grandmother
Sanford. Patty started up as if to run to meet her, but fell back.
"I forget that I am a cripple," she said.
"Mother, how do you do?" exclaimed Mrs. Sanford, appearing in the
doorway. "Do come up on to the piazza. I don't want to meet you on the
stairs, or I'll have a disappointment."
"Thee art as full of foolish superstitions as ever, daughter Britann,"
the old lady said, coming slowly up the steps on Will's arm.
"You dear little grandmother!" Patty cried. "How glad I am you've come!"
"I am glad to come," her grandmother answered, "and grieved much to
find thee lame. How dost thee do to-day?"
"Oh! I'm nicely. My ankle isn't painful at all. It would have been well
if I could have kept still. This is Hazard Breck, grandmother, Mr.
Putnam's nephew; you remember him.--And this, Hazard, is the nicest
grandmother that ever lived."
"Thee art the nephew of an honest man," the old lady said, "though he
is somewhat given to irreverent speech."
"He is the best of uncles, at least," Hazard answered warmly.
"He is a very respectable old gentleman," Mrs. Sanford said
patronizingly.
Will laughed meaningly, and glanced at his sister, whose cheeks
flushed. Mrs. Sanford's antipathy to the lawyer was no secret.
"Mr. Putnam is the finest man I know," Patty said, a trifle defiantly,
"except my father."
"Indeed?" Will said teasingly. "Grandmother," he added, "I think it is
all nonsense about Patty's ankle. She only makes believe, so as to have
everybody come and see her. She has a regiment of callers about the
house all the time."
"Hazard," Patty said, "if mother has no objections, I wish you'd please
toss Will into that bed of pinks."
"Objections!" exclaimed Mrs. Sanford. "Of course I've objections.
Your own brother and the most thrifty bed of pinks I've got! Patience
Sanford, I'm surprised at you!"
"If thee hast no objection, daughter Britann," grandmother Sanford said
with her quiet smile, "I'll go in and rest a little."
The old lady was the mother of Dr. Sanford and of Mrs. Plant. She was
a woman of strong character, and had adopted the Quaker faith after
her marriage, being converted to it by the labors of a woman who had
nursed her through a long illness. In her youth, grandmother Sanford
had perhaps been somewhat stern, as people of strong wills are apt
to be: but age had mellowed her, as it does all sound fruit; and now
she was so beloved by her friends and relatives, that they were ready
to quarrel for her society to such a degree, that she declared she
lived "on the circuit." She had keen perceptions, a quick sense of the
ludicrous, and a kindly heart, which endeared her to all. Even Mrs.
Sanford, who was undemonstrative in her affection for everybody else,
brightened visibly whenever her mother-in-law came, and showed her
pleasure in numerous kindly attentions. As for Patty, she worshipped
her grandmother, who understood her as no one else but Dr. Sanford did.
It was a peculiarity of the girl's to make few confidences; but to her
grandmother she would talk of matters which she mentioned to no one
else. Nor was the old lady less proud and fond of her grand-daughter;
and the love between them was, as is always love between youth and age,
a most beautiful thing to see.
Patty and Hazard Breck were scarcely left alone on the piazza, when a
new visitor appeared, in the person of Burleigh Blood. The young man
had been to the depot to see about the freight of the products of the
dairy-farm which he owned in company with his father, and had chosen
to improve his opportunity by calling at the Sanford cottage. At sight
of him, young Breck said good-by, and betook himself home by a short
cut across the garden, much to Patty's disappointment, as she wished to
hear further concerning his uncle's good fortune. She, however, sped
the parting, and welcomed the coming guest with a smile; and the young
farmer sat bashfully on the steps of the piazza before her.
"How big you are, Burleigh!" she said, glancing admiringly over his
breadth of shoulder and chest, the strong head, and the firm, large
hands.
"You told me that the other day," he said ruefully; "but I can't help
it."
"Help it? Of course not. What makes you think I meant any thing but
praise?"
"I thought I was so big and clumsy, that you must be making fun of me."
"Oh, no! I was only thinking what a mere morsel Flossy looked beside
you at the picnic."
He blushed, and pulled at his hat, after his usual awkward fashion; and
at that moment, as if summoned by a call-boy for her part in the play,
Flossy herself appeared in the doorway, bowl of pop-corn, and all.
"Good-morning, Mr. Blood," she said. "Can you tell why mutton always
tastes catty? As if it were cats, I mean."
"I--I never tasted any cats," he said with the utmost earnestness.
"No? Well, I wouldn't. But why didn't you come to inquire how I felt
after the picnic? Montfield manners and bonnets both need to be issued
in a revised edition."
"Montfield manners are perfect," Patty said, coming to the rescue of
the guest. "They cannot be improved. But you remember, Flossy, what
you had to ask Burleigh."
"Of course you understand, Mr. Blood," Flossy said, "that a lady's
request is a command."
"Yes, certainly."
"Very well. It is this I spoke to you about the other day, you know."
"I don't remember what you mean."
"You are to be my lover in this play."
"What?"
"You don't look over-charmed at the prospect," Flossy remarked coolly.
"You ought to feel honored. So saying, I will eat a few kernels of
corn. Have some, Patty?"
"But of course I can't act."
"Of course you can. I'll get the book for you now, so you can be
studying your part. We don't have rehearsal until next week."
"You are to be Jonathan Cowboy in the play," Flossy continued, having
produced the book. "Will is Mr. Bramble, and Ease Apthorpe his
daughter. I'm to be Waitstill Eastman. I chose that because she has
things to eat."
"Shall you eat pop-corn?" asked Patty.
"Really, I couldn't think of taking a part," Burleigh said.
"Nobody wants you to think of it," Flossy returned placidly. "It is
settled that you are to have it. It is a bashful part, and, if you make
any mistakes, people will think it is part of the play."
"'Vanity of vanities,'" said the voice of Bathalina Clemens, who had
approached unperceived. "'All is vanity.'"
"So are you," Flossy retorted.
"How came you home so soon?" Patty asked. "Didn't they have the
funeral?"
"No," the doleful servant answered. "Emma ain't dead: so they had to
put it off. Jane concluded to do her churning, after all; but she says
she's in hopes to get through the burying by next Wednesday. And I
should think she'd want to; for that'll finish up all the first wife's
children. It'll naturally give her more time to look after her own."
"Did you ever hear any thing so atrocious!" exclaimed Patty, as the
maid-servant disappeared round the corner of the house. "The way she
talks about that funeral is more crazy than her usual speeches, and
that is certainly needless."
"Don't names," Flossy asked pensively, "always convey a color to your
mind, Mr. Blood?"
"Convey a color?"
"Yes. Like Caroline, you know: that always makes me think of pale
yellow, and Susan of red, and Mary of blue."
"What nonsense!" laughed her cousin. "What color would Bathalina
suggest?"
"That name," said Flossy, "always calls up a grayish, dirty green, like
faded linsey-woolsey."
And at that moment the dinner-bell rang.