THE REAL MARY.
"Please tell Uncle to come up again just for a minute, Liza. Don't let
him go back to the office until----"
"Why, Miss May-ree, I done t'ought Massa Frank wah up heah wif yo' all
dis time. His lunch am gittin' cold, sottin' dah on de table, an' ole
Susie am on de rampage, sho' nuff. She jes' done tol' dis yeah chile dat
she am plumb tiahed out cookin' fo' a gemplum what doan' eat nuffin but
coffee, coffee, coffee, ebery single meal. It's 'bout time yo' put a
stop to dat, Miss May-ree. Yo' is de only one dat kin. Yo' ma nebah
'lowed Massa Frank to drink coffee dat-a-way, no-how."
"But--but, Liza,--Uncle was here for just a little minute, and--and you
don't mean that he hasn't eaten his luncheon yet? He will never have
time to do it now. Please see if he is in his room."
"No, Mary, your uncle went down stairs when he left you. I heard the
front door close a few moments later, so I fear that he has gone."
"Laws a massy! Dis yeah chile bettah keep out'n dat kitchen fo' de res'
ob _dis_ aftahnoon, sho's yo' born!"
"O Liza, Liza! look everywhere downstairs to see if Uncle isn't there,
_please_! What shall I do if he has gone--gone without a bite to eat!"
"But dat's persackly what he's done did, Miss May-ree, kase I'se looked
fo' him ebery place; an' dat's what he's been adoin' ebery day, honey;
and dat's what fo' ole Susie am so mad; an' dat's what fo' I done said
yo's de only one what kin put a stop to it. But dah, honey, doan' yo'
fret yo' poah li'l haid 'bout it no-how. Dis crazy niggah ain't got no
right to tell yo' nuffin 'bout it."
"Yes, you have, you have, Liza! Oh, I wish you had told me the very
first day! Please go right down to Susie, and ask her to cook everything
Uncle likes best for dinner this evening; and tell her that he will eat
them--every bite."
"Yas'm, Miss May-ree, I sho'ly will do dat. But ef'n ole Susie am gwine
to cook _eberyt'ing_ what Massa Frank laks bes', honey, I reckon dat
gemplum's got to wait mighty late fo' his dinnah; kase yo' know dey's a
powahful lot ob t'ings what Massa Frank laks bes'; dey sahtinly is!"
"Then pick out the ones he likes the _very best_, Liza,--the very,
_very_ best. Come back after while, and I shall help you to remember
them."
"Yas'm, Miss May-ree, yas'm," and Liza hurried down to restore peace in
the kitchen.
"O Sister, Sister, _Sister_! What shall I _do_! What _shall_ I do! Oh, I
am bad--_bad_!"
"Come, dear, come! Crying will not mend matters. You did not know that
you were doing any harm, and you have already begun to repair it; so let
us plan the next step."
"But I must tell Uncle--oh, I don't know _what_, but I must tell him
_something_! Do you think he is at his office yet? Will you telephone to
him for me, Sister?"
"He has scarcely had time to reach the office, dear; but in ten or
fifteen minutes, I shall call him and give him any message you wish to
send. In the meantime, you had better take the second step, which is to
drink this broth. Cold broth is not very tempting."
Eagerly, the little girl emptied the bowl.
"I shall take the egg and milk after while if you think I ought to,
Sister. I am _so_ tired of eggs and milk, but----"
"If you take them faithfully for another day or two, I am sure the
Doctor will order something new for you."
"If--if I took them about three times this afternoon, do you think I
could have some meat soon? Meat makes people strong, doesn't it,
Sister?"
"So do eggs and milk," laughed the nurse. "But three times in one
afternoon would be too much for you. Now, I am going to darken the room;
and while you are taking your nap, I shall telephone to your uncle. For
one thing, I shall tell him that he will find our patient better this
evening."
"Oh, yes, Sister! And ask him _please_ to go to the hotel across the
street to get his dinner right now--not luncheon,--_dinner_.
And--and--tell him I didn't know----"
"I shall explain that part, darling; and I have just thought of a plan
which I am sure you will like. Go to sleep, now; for the sooner you do
that, the earlier you will wake to hear about it."
When Mary opened her eyes, she was surprised to find the room filled
with the rosy glow of the shaded lamp.
"Is it night, Sister? Has Uncle come?"
"No, dear, it is only half past four; but the afternoon has been so dark
that Liza and I needed the light to begin to carry out my plan."
"Oh, please tell me what it is, Sister. The very idea for me to sleep
all afternoon!"
"I am glad you did so, because you will be fresh for the evening. How
would you like to invite your uncle to have dinner up here?"
Mary clapped her hands, and Sister Julia continued, "I took it for
granted that you would approve of my plan, and called Liza to help me
carry in this table from your playroom. We shall place it close to your
bed. She has gone for the tablecloth and dishes."
"Sister, please ask her to use my great-grandmother's set--the ones with
the plain gold band and the beautiful C on them. Uncle likes those best.
And flowers--we must have flowers."
"The roses your uncle brought at noon will be just the thing."
"Roses? Oh, now I remember--and I hardly looked at them. Poor Uncle! Is
there a pretty bud among them, Sister?--Please cut off part of the stem,
and Liza will put it on his dresser for him to wear. _Sister!_ wouldn't
it be fun to write him an invitation exactly like the kind Mother sends
when she has a dinner party? I have a lovely box of paper with M. S. in
blue and gold up in the corner. We shall seal it and paste an old stamp
on it and make a postmark just as the girls at Maryvale did with the
letters they sent me by Aunt Mary. Liza will lay it on the hall table
where Uncle will see it the minute he comes in."
Sister Julia seated herself at Mary's little desk and soon had the
following invitation written:
Miss Mary Selwyn requests the pleasure of Doctor Francis P. Carlton's
company at dinner on Thursday, November eighteenth, at six o'clock.
"That is exactly what Mother says in her invitations. Did--did Uncle say
he would go to dinner when you telephoned, Sister?"
"Yes, dear, your message made him so happy that he said he would order a
Thanksgiving dinner a week ahead of time."
"That _is_ so, isn't it, Sister? A week from to-day will be
Thanksgiving. And Father and Mother and the babies won't be here; and
they will be away for Christmas and New Year's Day and Mother's
birthday and Valentine's Day and Father's birthday and for Easter and my
birthday and Fourth of July and Uncle's birthday and the twinnies'----"
Mary's voice broke in a sob.
"But think of all the happy days that you will spend with them next year
and for many, many years to come, dear. You think the babies very sweet
and cunning now, and so they are; but in another year, you will find
them far more so. They will be learning to talk and will keep you very
busy running after them to see that they do not get into mischief or
fall down the stairs. You will be a great help to Aunt Mandy then, for
she is scarcely spry enough to run after one baby,--to say nothing of
two. So just think of the happy times ahead, dear, and you will be
surprised to find how quickly this year will slip by. Come, dry your
eyes. It will never do to have your uncle find you crying. Can you think
of anything else that will help to make our surprise for him a greater
success?"
"Don't you think I ought to dress up for this dinner party, Sister?"
"Beyond washing your face and brushing your hair, I cannot very well see
how a little girl sick in bed can dress up."
"You could do up my hair the way mother wears hers, and--and--oh, I have
a beautiful new ribbon, pale blue with tiny white rosebuds sprinkled
over it. We can twist it and put it around my head like a wreath, with
the bow sticking up at one side. Let me see what else we can do--I know!
In the middle drawer of the dresser, there is a cute little dressing
sack with rosebuds made of white satin ribbon down the front instead of
buttons. I just have to loop cords over them."
When Mary was "dressed up" to her taste, the nurse insisted that she
must lean back against the pillows to rest.
"You must not overdo, or you will be worn out by the time your uncle
comes home."
The little girl gave a sigh of content.
"Sister, you have made me so happy. I thought I could never be happy
again, _never_!"
"I think you have done a great deal toward making yourself happy, Mary.
You must expect to have many lonely hours; but at such times, you should
try to remember how very, very much worse things could be. Suppose you
were in the place of a little girl I heard of not long ago, whose
father, mother, brothers, and sister all died of black diphtheria
within two weeks. She had no good, kind uncle or other relatives to look
after her, so there was nothing to do but to place her in an orphan
asylum."
Mary was very quiet for some time. Then Liza came in to set the table.
"Wal, Miss May-ree, what yo' reckon Massa Frank gwine t' eat fo' his
dinnah, no-how? Dem red roses, or meat an' 'tatahs an' veg'tubbles? Dem
flowahs am _mighty_ putty, honey; but ef dey's gwine to sot lak dat in
de middle ob de table, dey won't be no room fo' de t'ings to eat; and' I
reckon dis yeah chile 'll hab to sot dem on chairs, he! he! he!"
"We can place this small table just behind that one, Liza, and stand the
flowers on it."
"Dat's de ticket, Sistah! 'Peahs to me yo' alwuz knows jes' de right
t'ing."
"What is it, dear?" asked the nurse, for Mary was looking about the room
as if in search of something.
"My new doll, Sister, please. Do you know where she is? Uncle hasn't
seen her. I couldn't bear to look at her after the babies had gone."
"I put her in the high chair in your playroom, Mary."
"I'se gwine to fotch her fo' yo', honey. She am de lubliest doll-baby
yo' has, she sahtinly am! She's done fooled dis yeah chile 'bout fawty
times, sottin' dah smilin' wif her li'l hands reachin' out fo' me to tek
her."
"Please bring the chair, too, Liza. She can sit right by the bed."
The maid soon returned.
"Dah she am! _Ain't_ she jes' too lubly! What's her name, Miss May-ree?"
"Amelia Anabelle."
"Laws a massy, but dat do sound scrumptious!" and Liza turned to the
setting of the table.
Mary rested her hand for a moment on the back of the high chair, and the
maid whirled about to gaze at the crying, kicking Amelia Anabelle.
"Why--why--what--pull yo' li'l hand away, Miss May-ree! Pull it away!
Doan' yo' tech dat t'ing! Somebudy done put de conjure on dat doll!" and
Liza, her eyes bulging, backed quickly toward the door.
"No, no, Liza, don't be afraid. She will be good. See?"
Amelia Anabelle was again smiling; but Liza stood in the hall, well out
of harm's way, crying hoarsely, "Doan' yo' tech it, Miss May-ree, honey.
It am a ha'nt!"
"Oh, dear, no!" laughed the little girl. "Father wouldn't give me a
haunted doll. Who ever heard of a haunted doll, anyway? Please don't go
away, Liza. Come and finish setting the table."
"Not while dat doll am sottin' dah, Miss May-ree!"
"But the doll can't do anything unless I push a button in the back of
her neck. You are not afraid of the electric lights, are you?"
"Co'se I isn't, Miss May-ree."
"Well, you push a button to turn them on and off, and I push a button to
turn my doll's head around and show her other face. She has two faces,
you see. That's all."
"I nebah done laked two-face folkses. Miss May-ree, an' I'se not gwine
to begin to lak dem now," and Liza could not be coaxed back until Sister
Julia had carried the doll into the next room.
Presently, a cheery whistle broke the stillness of the house.
"There's Uncle, Sister! Please peep over the banisters to see what he
does when he finds the invitation. Oh, he sees it!" for the merry time
had suddenly ceased.
"I wish you could have seen his face while he read it, Mary," said the
nurse a few moments later. "He had a great laugh over the stamp and
postmark. Then he started upstairs at such a rate that I was almost
caught in the act. I heard him say, 'Well, she won't get ahead of me
there!' So what he is up to is hard to tell."
"He is whistling, 'There's a Good Time Coming, Boys!' and there _is_,
Sister! Why--why, he has gone to his room!"
"You surely would not expect him to pay you a call when he is coming to
dine with you. Perhaps he, too, thinks that he should dress up."