Rosanna sank feebly down on the hall bench, and to her own surprise and
Uncle Robert's dismay burst into tears.
"Well, who next?" said Uncle Robert. "Mrs. Harter crying in the sink,
and you weeping all over our nice hall. Oh dear, what a wet, wet world!"
"Oh, don't mind me," said Rosanna, choking back her sobs. "I am
perfectly happy, only everything turns out so differently from
everything else!"
"I suppose you are right," granted Uncle Robert. "You must be if you
know what you mean."
"I am not sure _what_ I mean," said Rosanna, "but I am so glad, glad,
_glad_ that you are going to marry that dear darling Miss Hooker instead
of that high nosed madam!"
"What are you talking about?" demanded Robert. "High nosed? Who is she?"
"I think it is someone Minnie made up," said Rosanna. "She said what a
shame if she married you."
"Well, she didn't and won't," declared Uncle Robert with conviction.
"And as far as _nose_ goes, my girl has only enough nose so that one
knows it _is_ a nose. Get that, Rosanna?"
Rosanna giggled. "Have you told grandmother?" she asked.
Uncle Robert looked suddenly sobered.
"No, I didn't, and I should have done so first and I meant to, and it is
all your fault, Rosanna."
"How so?" asked Rosanna in surprise.
"Well, if it hadn't been for you I would never have been traipsing over
the country on errands for the Girl Scouts and you wouldn't have been
waiting for me in the hall, and I wouldn't have been so fussed at seeing
you that I would forget to tell my mamma first. And she won't like it
unless she gets told right quick," added Uncle Robert, getting up.
Rosanna wiped her eyes, whereupon Uncle Robert sang:
"There, little girlie, don't you cry,
We'll have a wedding by and by,"
and ran up the stairs, three at a time, whistling as he went in search
of his mother.
Uncle Robert was not one to take chances. After seeing his mother, who
was truly pleased and had the good sense to show it, he started to Mrs.
Hargrave's, and after a short visit left that dear old lady busy at the
telephone. The result was a wonderful announcement luncheon a week
later, given by Mrs. Hargrave, at which the little Captain looked
dimplier and sweeter than ever. After the luncheon she went over to
Rosanna's house, where she found all her Girl Scouts ready to
congratulate her.
"You won't give us up, will you?" they all asked anxiously, and she
assured them that she would not. Seeing that they were really anxious,
she made them all sit down close around her, and one by one they sang
the Scout songs. They were happier after that, and only Rosanna was just
a little lonely when she thought of the days when Uncle Robert was away,
and reflected that all the days would be like that by-and-by. Just her
grandmother and herself in the great stately old house, not occupying
half of the rooms, and making so little noise that it made her lonely
just to think of it. However, she put it out of her mind as bravely as
she could.
Miss Hooker stayed to dinner, and Mrs. Horton was so charming that
Rosanna could not help thinking what a very lovely young lady she must
have been. After dinner, Mrs. Horton calmly carried her little guest
away to her own sitting-room for what she called a consultation, and
Rosanna and Uncle Robert who had nothing whatever to consult about now,
sat and read. Upstairs, Mrs. Horton sat down opposite her son's
sweetheart, and said smilingly:
"I want to say something to you that Robert does not dream I am going to
say, and if you do not approve, I want you to be frank enough and brave
enough to tell me. Will you?"
"Yes, indeed I will," Miss Hooker promised.
"I am an old woman, my dear, and silent. Sometimes I fear I am not very
agreeable. It is a hard and unchildlike life that our little Rosanna
leads here with me. I want you to ask yourself if for her sake you could
bring yourself to live here for a few years. I know how dear a new
little house is to a bride's heart, and I tremble to ask you such a
favor. But Rosanna has a lonely life at best, and with you here this
house could be made gay indeed.
"I would never ask it for myself, but I do for Rosanna. I would gladly
do anything I could for her, but I cannot fill the house with the sort
of joy and gayety that she should have. She loves you deeply, and her
Uncle Robert is her ideal.
"Wait a moment, dear," she added as she saw her guest was about to
speak. "I want to tell you what we could do. There are nine large rooms
on this floor. You could select what you want for a suite, and you and
Robert could decorate and furnish and arrange them to suit yourselves. I
would be so glad to do this just as you wish, and then of course, my
dear, the house is all yours besides. Could you consider it?"
"I don't have to consider it," said the little Captain. "I have already
thought about it, and was worried about Rosanna, but I knew that she
could not come to us and leave you all alone here. I am sure Bob will be
glad to arrange it as you suggest, for he is very devoted to his mother
and to Rosanna as well."
Mrs. Horton gave a sigh of relief. "I can't thank you enough, my dearest
girl," she said. "No one wants to make your life as happy as I do, and
if there is anything I can ever do for you, you have only to tell me.
Now we must have everything new in the rooms you want, so we will go
down and tell Robert and Rosanna. How glad that child will be!"
Rosanna was tired and very nervous, and when Mrs. Horton and Miss Hooker
came down with their great plan, Rosanna once more, to her own horror,
commenced to cry.
"Well, for goodness' sake," her uncle cried, "I never _did_ see anything
like this! What ails the child? This certainly settles me! I shall
never, never plan to get married again. Rosanna is turning into a
regular _founting_; yes, ma'am, a regular _founting_!"
"Oh, I am so sorry--no, I mean I am so _glad_," said Rosanna.
"You mean you are all tired out, and ought to go to bed," said her
grandmother.
"And if I am to come here to live," said Robert's sweetheart, dimpling,
"I may as well see how I shall like putting a girl in her little bed."
Rosanna, nearly as tall as the little lady, laughed through her tears.
She went over and kissed her uncle good-night.
"I am sorry I was so silly," she whispered. "I was _so_ lonely when I
thought you were going away that somehow when I found you were not, why,
I just couldn't help myself."
"I know how you felt. It is all right, sweetness," Uncle Robert
whispered back. Rosanna's clasp tightened round his neck.
"Uncle Robert, shall I--do you suppose--will I be your sweetness just
the same even after you are married?"
Uncle Robert kissed her hard. "Before and after, and forever and ever
more!" he said. "Just as soon as I get to be a sober married man, I
shall be your uncle and your daddy too, and you are going to be the
happiest little girl in the world."
"Oh, Uncle Robert!" was all Rosanna could say, but her look thanked him
and tears were very near his own eyes as he watched the little orphaned
girl skipping off with her arm around the shoulders of his future wife.
But they were tears of happiness.
"Don't you love this room, Captain?" asked Rosanna, as she switched on
the soft flood of light.
"Indeed I do!" said Miss Hooker. "I expect to spend a great deal of my
time here. Between us, Rosanna, we ought to be able to plan the most
wonderful things for our Scout troop. And next summer Bob says he will
find a place for us to camp, and fit us out with tents and all that, so
we will not have to go to a boarding-house or hotel, but stay right in
the open. Won't that be splendid?"
"Think of it!" said Rosanna. "Won't the girls be wild when they hear
about it? Oh, dear, I wish I was eighteen so I could be a lieutenant!"
"I don't wish you were eighteen," said Miss Hooker. "I like you just as
you are."
"Oh, Miss Hooker, you are _so_ sweet!" said Rosanna.
Miss Hooker dimpled. "One thing we had better settle right now," she
said. "What are you going to call me?"
Rosanna looked blank. "I hadn't thought about that at all. Of course I
can't go on calling you Miss Hooker, and then Mrs. Horton. And you are
too little and too young to be anybody's aunt."
Miss Hooker watched her with a smile.
"What are you going to do about it then? I want you to call me just what
you like. You are to choose."
"Then I will tell you what," said Rosanna brightly. "I was reading the
sweetest little story the other day about a Spanish family, and they
called each other _Cita_. It means _dear_."
"_Cita_," repeated Miss Hooker. "Why, I think that is just as sweet as
it can be, and I should love to have you call me that."
"Then that is what you are, little Cita," said Rosanna with a kiss. And
to her devoted household, Cita she remains to this very day.
Cita and Uncle Robert did not seem able to agree on a date for their
wedding. Cita declared that it would take at least six or eight months
to get what she mysteriously called her "things" together. Uncle Robert
declared with equal fervor that she had everything she needed, and that
they were not going to go off and live on a desert isle where there were
no shops.
Finally Uncle Robert had an inspiration. "I tell you what let's do," he
said after a long argument. "Let's leave this to an outsider: someone
with no special interest in the affair. And as a business man, I will
name the agent."
"Very well," said Cita. "See that you play fair."
"I name and nominate Miss Rosanna Horton, and as her aids and assistants
I name and nominate Miss Helen Culver and Miss Elise Hargrave."
"That is not playing fair at all!" cried Cita. "You know perfectly well
that they want us to be married soon."
Robert shook his head. "Not at all! Our marriage is detrimental to those
persons named, insomuch as I shall take you off on a wedding trip, and
by so doing shall interfere with the routine of work in your Scout
troop. That is a good committee, and I shall trust them. I shall now
call them in."
The three girls were working in the Scout room on the tarleton
stockings, filling and tying them. Robert stepped to the door and
summoned them. Putting the question before them in the most serious
manner, he told them that they were to decide.
"I should think I ought to decide my _own_ wedding day!" cried Cita.
"You don't seem able to do it," said Robert. "You have been trying to
decide for the last ten days. You see it is a business proposition with
me. Perhaps if these good, kind young ladies succeed in fixing a wedding
day, say before Christmas, I won't have to buy you any Christmas
present."
"I don't _want_ to be married before Christmas," wailed Cita, looking
appealingly at the girls.
Rosanna nodded her head understandingly, and the three girls left the
room.
"When will we set it?" asked Helen. "Do they really mean that we are to
do so?"
"Tell him we have decided on the fifteenth of February," said Rosanna.
"That is the date she has fixed, but he is such a tease that she has
been teasing him in return. That will give her all the time she needs,
and she won't be all tired out. Everyone loves her, and wants to do
things for her and, besides, it is going to take weeks to get those
rooms fixed. I never saw grandmother so fussy over anything before. She
is going clear to New York and is going to take Cita to select hangings,
and she has an artist friend selecting pictures; that is, a list for
Cita to look over. Grandmother wants every last thing to be Cita's own
selection. And, girls, it is going to be _too_ lovely. What do you
think? You know those ceilings are about twenty feet high, and
grandmother has had them all lowered with plaster board and beams, so it
looks so much cozier. Grandmother is really splendid. I never loved her
so much."
"Are you almost ready to report?" demanded Uncle Robert at the door.
"All ready!" said Helen as the committee went skipping in.
"Well, let's hear the verdict," said Uncle Robert. "If this committee is
as sensible as it looks, I expect to hear them say that the date is set
for next week Tuesday."
"The fifteenth of February," said Rosanna firmly.
A look of relief spread over Cita's face.
"Wha-a-a-t?" said Uncle Robert. "Impossible! Why, _I_ named this
committee and by all the rules of politics you should have brought in
the report I want."
"But it wouldn't have been fair," said Rosanna.
"What has that to do with politics?" groaned Uncle Robert. "All right! I
have been done up; sold out, and by my own constituents. The fifteenth
of February it is. But don't you dare to make it a day later, young
ladies!" He rose.
"Where are you going?" asked Rosanna.
"Where?" said Uncle Robert, with a twinkle in his eye. "_You_ ask me
where? Well, I am going to drag myself downtown to get that Christmas
present."
"And now," said Cita after he had gone, "now don't let's think of
weddings or anything else but our Scout work. Things have been dragging
lately, and I think it is my fault. If we do not do better and snappier
work right away, I will know it is my fault, and I shall give the troop
over to someone else. Engaged girls have no business trying to run a
troop."
"Don't say that, Cita," said Rosanna. "We have all been working so hard
for Christmas that I think we have no energy left."
"Possibly," said Cita, "but we must put things pretty well in order at
the next meeting, and before then I want all these Christmas things
marked and in their proper baskets. That meeting, the last before the
holidays, will be an important one."
"Then let us go to work merrilee," said Elise, picking up a stocking,
and letting a gumdrop slide down into the toe.