THE RESULT.
But so far as any surprise or discomfiture showed itself on his face,
the President seemed to be perfectly accustomed to having strange little
girls invade his sanctum, break in on his sacred quiet, pour forth an
incoherent tale, and end up by bursting into a flood of tears, and
submitting to be taken into his arms to be comforted. He mopped away
Cricket’s tears most scientifically, and presently pulled still another
handkerchief from some other pocket.
Soon the storm passed, and Cricket, spent with fatigue, found her curly
head nestled as confidingly against the President’s shoulder as if it
had been her father’s, with only a long-drawn, sobbing breath now and
then.
“Now, my little girl, I want to know more about all this,” said the
kindly voice, when she was quite calm and quiet again. “You see, I don’t
know who my little friend is, yet, either,” he added, smiling down into
the gray eyes, in which all the usual mischief and light were nearly
drowned out.
“Oh, I quite forgot,” exclaimed Cricket, apologetically, instantly
sitting up. “I beg your pardon, if you please. I meant to tell you the
very first thing that we are Doctor Ward’s daughters, and then I went
and cried, and I’m so ashamed, for, indeed, I’m not a cry-baby, truly
I’m not, and I _don’t_ see what made me cry.”
The earnest little voice and wistful eyes emphasised the words.
The President hid a smile.
“I’m sure you’re not, my little friend. So you are Doctor Ward’s little
daughters.” He held out his hand to Eunice, also, who immediately found
herself within the kind shelter of his encircling arm.
“Doctor Ward of——Street? Then I know your father very well indeed, and
am very glad to know the children of a friend I value so much; but I
wish it had been in some way pleasanter to them. But now let’s talk
business first,” with a smile. “Suppose I ask you some questions and you
answer them. That will be best.”
Every qualm gone now, and sure that they were in the presence of a
kindly judge, Cricket, who was still spokesman, answered the few clear,
direct questions that the President put. He was soon convinced of the
fact that the children’s own impulse was at the bottom of the
expedition,—that no older person had any knowledge of it, and that the
loving, loyal little hearts had carried out their undertaking,
instinctively feeling that here was a case where weakness was stronger
than strength.
Then came a few minutes of silence, during which the President
meditated, knitting his brow, and Eunice and Cricket gazed breathlessly
at him. What would he say? Donald’s fate seemed hanging in the balance.
At last the President opened his lips:
“Won’t you have a cup of tea with me? I usually take one about this
time, if I am at home.”
That was all. The girls exchanged startled glances.
The President intercepted them, and smiled down at the eager little
faces so tender and reassuring a smile that they felt the load roll off
their hearts. It was all right, somehow, they instantly felt.
Cricket smiled back with such glad confidence and good comradeship that
the President suddenly stooped and kissed the sweet, upturned little
face.
“Yes, we’ll make it all right somehow,” he said, answering her unspoken
thought; and then, gently putting her down, he went across the room and
rang a bell. The trim maid presently responded to the order given, with
a tray containing tea and fancy cakes.
The President put his little guests in low chairs, and served them
himself, talking all the time as if he were one of their intimate
friends. They soon chattered away fearlessly in response, telling him
about their school life and the theatricals, and their mother and
brother and sisters, and repeating some of the twin’s funny sayings and
doings, as if he had no other interests than theirs.
“Zaidie is the _funniest_ child,” said Cricket, confidentially. “She has
the queerest ideas. The other day, ’Liza said to her, ‘Don’t wiggle so
when I’m dressing you, because I can’t get on your dress.’ And Zaidie
said, ‘If you’re dressing me when you put on my dress, when God puts
skin on people, is that called skinning them?’”
“She is young to be interested in etymology,” said the President,
laughing; “but that is certainly logical.”
“And the other day,” chimed in Eunice, “mamma had been reading the first
chapter of Genesis to the twins, and she asked Zaidie what God made the
world out of, and Zaidie said, ‘Out of _words_,’ and mamma asked her
what she meant, and Zaidie said, ‘He made it out of _words_, because He
said, “Let there be light and there was light,” and everything else like
that, so He must have made it out of the words, ’cause there wasn’t
anything else to make it out of.’”
“I want to make Zaidie’s acquaintance,” said the President. “She should
have a chair in a theological seminary one of these days. Now, my little
friends, it’s nearly five o’clock, entirely too late for you to go home
alone. I’ll send somebody with you—or stay—I’ll go myself. Could I see
your father a few minutes, do you think?”
“Couldn’t you come home to dinner?” said Cricket, eagerly. “You could
see papa, anyway, for he’s always home at half-past five. He doesn’t see
any office people then, either.”
“Some other day I shall hope to have the pleasure of dining with you,
and making acquaintance with those interesting brothers and sisters of
yours,” said the President, smiling his delightful smile, as he rose.
“To-night, however, I’ll just see your father for five minutes, as I
have an engagement, later.”
So, escorted by the President of the great university, homeward went two
ecstatic little maids, in a perfect tumult of triumph and happiness.
Cricket could hardly keep her elastic feet on the pavement.
“The hole in my stomach is all gone,” she confided to Eunice’s ear, “and
I’m so happy that I could walk straight up the side of that house.”
Mrs. Ward, who was watching from the parlour window for their
arrival,—not anxiously, however, as she supposed they were safe with
Emily Drayton,—was filled with amazement at the sight of their escort.
“Your little daughters have given me the great pleasure of a call,” he
said, courteously. “They will perhaps explain better than I can, but I
cordially hope it was a pleasure that may be soon repeated. And now, may
I see your husband for five minutes or so?”
And then, when the President was safely in papa’s study, the eager
children poured out the story of the afternoon to mamma’s astonished
ears.