Our friends had a delightful voyage through the Gulf of St. Lawrence,
down the coasts of New Brunswick, Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode
Island as far as Newport on Narragansett Bay. They left the yacht lying
in the harbor there for the present, and taking hired carriages drove
out to the cottages of which their cousin, Mrs. Embury, had written,
where they found her and Mr. Embury, with their children, also Mr.
and Mrs. Cyril Keith, forming a large and interesting family party,
and filling one of the cottages; but the other was still vacant, and
large enough to accommodate very conveniently the entire party from the
_Dolphin_.
Their welcome was of the warmest. They found their new temporary abode
comfortably, though not elegantly, furnished, open and well aired;
for, though their friends had been uncertain of the exact time of
their arrival, they had expected them daily and made ready, as far as
possible, for their comfort and enjoyment.
"Ah, if we had only known just when you would get here, your supper
should have been ready," said Isadore, when greetings had been
exchanged and the excitement of the arrival had calmed down somewhat.
"But I will have it on the table as soon as possible. I am housekeeper
this week. Molly and I take the position week about, each trying to
outdo the other in catering for the united family."
"Oh, thank you! but we had supper on the yacht just before leaving
her," said Violet. "Besides, we consider ourselves at home and do not
expect or wish to be treated as company."
"And we have brought a supply of provisions of various kinds, which we
hope you may be willing to share with us," said the captain.
"That was very kind and thoughtful in you, cousin captain," returned
Isadore with a pleased look, "and I hardly think any of us will feel
inclined to reject your dainties; though we have fared very well indeed
since coming here."
"Please accept my thanks also, and those of our husbands and children,"
said Molly. "Aunt Rose and Cousin Elsie, please sit down here with the
gentlemen and let us younger ones attend to the unpacking and arranging
of the contents of your trunks. If you will trust us, I can assure you
we shall enjoy doing it. At least I am sure I shall."
"That is a kind offer, Molly," said Mrs. Travilla, "but we have done
nothing to-day to tire us and I, for one, am not in the least fatigued;
so ought not to indulge my love of ease at your expense."
"Your love of ease, Cousin Elsie!" laughed Molly. "I never discovered
that you had any."
"No; but she has a daughter who is both able and willing to attend to
the duty in question," said Rosie Travilla. "So sit you down, mother
dear, and enjoy this pleasant company, while we younger folks unpack
and find places for your goods and chattels."
"Yes, do, mother," said Captain Raymond, bringing forward an easy chair
for her. "Can't you trust me to oversee and assist these younger folks?
If not we will seat you in state in some spot convenient for you to do
that part in person."
"Thanks, captain," she returned with a smile of amusement "as
commanding and giving directions has been your business for so many
years, I think you may be trusted to attend to the matter even without
my added supervision."
"Yes, come along, sir," said Rosie, leading the way, "but please to
remember that you and we girls are not in the schoolroom."
"I shall endeavor to keep that fact in mind, my sage young sister," he
said in return.
"But it won't make any difference in your authority over your own
daughters, I am happy to know, papa," Lucilla said, with a loving,
smiling look up into his face.
"No; they are mine and under my orders always and under all
circumstances," he returned; "and I think would not have it other wise
if they might."
"Indeed we would not," said Grace, who, as usual, was near her father
and sister. "May I help, papa?"
"Well, Gracie, I think you are not really needed, and would enjoy
yourself better out yonder on the porches or on the grass with your
little brother and sister and the others, telling them stories, singing
them little songs or playing games with them."
"Yes; do try that, Gracie, and I shall be much obliged," Violet said,
joining them at the moment. "I have just left them with the promise to
ask it of you."
Grace acquiesced, went back at once, and for the next half hour devoted
herself to the amusement of the children, to their great satisfaction
and enjoyment.
"And you, Madam Raymond, would do well to go back to the society
of your older friends and exercise your many gifts for their
entertainment," remarked the captain, speaking in playful tones to his
young wife, as Grace disappeared.
"No, my dear, I prefer to exercise them for yours, if you will permit
it," she returned.
"Ah, you fear to trust me to do the work without the supervision of my
capable young wife?" he returned laughingly.
"Possibly it may be done a trifle better, or, at least, more to my
mind, with that," she retorted, with becoming gravity. "At all events,
I shall know better where to look for what I want, so that, in the end,
I shall save myself trouble."
"Ah, then, I will make no further objection, but freely acknowledge
that the work will be twice as enjoyable if done under my young wife's
supervision."
"Thank you, sir," laughed Violet; "How glad I am now that I insisted on
coming to share it. As our stay is likely to be so short, I think, do
not you, it will be best to unpack only such things as we are pretty
sure to want while here?"
"Very well, my dear; as concerns that matter, you have only to give
your orders and see them carried out; while I do likewise in regard to
another; namely, that all the manual labor is to be left to other hands
than yours."
"Oh, Captain Raymond, how you do spoil me!" laughed Violet. "Who shall
say that you won't be sorry for it one of these days, and wish you had
encouraged me to be industrious and energetic."
"I am willing to take the risk," he said, placing a chair for her.
"No, I am not ready to sit down yet," she said. "We must first settle
who are to be the occupants of each room; and Cousin Annis and Ronald
should have the first choice."
"Decidedly they must have of the best; yet, I think it may be the
better plan for us to choose for them, or they will not take the best.
There are three comfortable rooms on this first floor. Shall we not
assign their use to your mother, grandparents, and the Lilburn cousins?"
"By all means," returned Violet. "Then Rosie will share with mamma,
Evelyn and our two girls take one of the third story rooms, you and
I and our little ones another, and Walter the remaining one. He, you
know, must leave us in a few days for college. Oh, the house will
accommodate us all very nicely!"
"So I think," he returned, leading the way to the third story; "and
now I insist on your having the first choice of the rooms on this
floor."
Violet hesitated, glancing inquiringly at Evelyn and Lucilla, who had
followed them up the stairway.
"Yes, Cousin Vi, that is only right, and what we would prefer to have
you do," said Evelyn.
"I see hardly any choice; they all look pleasant," added Lucilla, "and
if there is a difference, of course, we would all prefer that you and
papa should have the best."
Violet still seemed to hesitate, and Walter, who had come up in the
rear of the others, said, "I see I'll have to decide this knotty
question. My big brother, the captain, being the largest, oldest, best,
and most distinguished of this party, besides having a better half and
two children to share with him, should be assigned the largest room;
the three young ladies should take the next in size, and I--'lone and
lorn' bachelor of sixteen--will occupy the smallest, which is quite
large enough and good enough for me. So there the knotty question is
solved."
"Many thanks for your wise decision, my dear young bachelor brother,"
laughed Violet. "And now, if you and your big brother will see to
the bringing up of the trunks, I think we will soon make an end of
unpacking and arranging their contents, and be ready to join the
pleasant company on the porches."
"Yes, I think we need not do much of that work to-night," said her
husband; "it is now almost time to get our little ones to bed, and
to-morrow will give us another and better opportunity."
With that he and Walter hastened down the stairway, and not many
minutes later all were ready to rejoin the friends and relatives
sitting at ease on the porches below.
Most of the evening was passed in conversation, for they found a
great deal to hear and to tell of the scenes they had visited, and
occurrences in the family connection since last they had been together.
They had been talking of Viamede, Mrs. Travilla asking some questions
of Mr. Cyril Keith about the condition of things there, of which he was
able to render a very favorable report, in which Mr. Lilburn, among
others, seemed to be much interested.
"You visited Viamede some time ago, I remember, sir?" remarked Cyril,
turning to him.
"Yes; some few years ago, and found it a lovely place--a sort of
earthly paradise," returned the old gentleman, adding, with a look of
amusement, "I am pleased to perceive that you have not forgotten me
entirely, though we were not, at that time, related by marriage as we
are now. I have no objection in the world to being called uncle, even
by a man of your age, seeing you are own nephew to my bonny young wife."
Annis laughed, saying with a mirthful look, "Hardly young to anyone but
yourself, my dear; only a trifle younger than my dear friend and cousin
Elsie, who is grandmother to quite a number of fine children."
"But still almost youthful in appearance, auntie, dear," said Cyril,
giving Mrs. Travilla a look of heart-felt affection. Then turning to
Mr. Lilburn, "I shall avail myself in the future of the privilege
you have accorded me, Uncle Ronald," he said. "It is a pleasant name
to speak, and a dear old gentleman who gives me the privilege of so
addressing him."
"Couldn't you give us all the same privilege, sir?" asked Mr. Embury.
"My wife is own cousin to your new niece, Mrs. Isadore Keith--I think,
too, that she is the bright, attractive sort of woman anybody might be
proud to claim kin with--and we would all feel just so about claiming
it with you. Besides that, Uncle Ronald is a good, agreeable, handy
name to use and to hear."
"Ah ha! ah ha! um h'm! so I think myself; also that this is a handy
company to own as nieces and nephews. But what say you, Annis, my bonny
bride?" turning to her, with a look that spoke proud ownership.
"That I am entirely willing you should be uncle and I aunt to the whole
crowd of good people here, if they desire it," Annis answered, with a
look of amusement. "It will not make us really any older in feeling or
appearance. And I am quite accustomed to having nieces and nephews not
very many years younger than myself."
"And have not found it a nearly unendurable trial, I hope, Aunt Annis?"
Cyril said inquiringly.
"No; quite the contrary," she answered. "But, to change the subject;
there is a good deal that is interesting to be seen about here, is
there not?"
"Yes, indeed! This is Middletown; it was formerly a part of Newport,
and known in those times as 'ye woods.' It has an area of twelve and a
half square miles. There are five schoolhouses, three churches, and a
town hall."
"Why, I thought it was country!" exclaimed Rosie. "As we drove along
I noticed little groups of houses here and there, but there seemed to
be farms, orchards, and fields; also a good many rocky-looking hills;
some that didn't seem to be cultivated at all."
"Yet, there is so much beauty that it seems to me worthy of its
name--Paradise Valley," remarked her mother.
"I think so," said Cyril, "and I expect to enjoy taking you all to its
various places of interest--Purgatory Rocks, Sachuest and Easton's
Beaches, Hanging Rocks, and the site of the former residence of Bishop
Berkeley."
"Who was he?" asked Grace.
"A clergyman, born in Ireland, educated in England; a learned man and
author of a number of books; a good Christian man too; one of whose
projects was the founding of a college in the Bermudas for the training
of ministers to supply churches and teach Christianity to the savages
of America. The English government was to supply the means, but failed
to do so, and Berkeley came on here to Newport in January, 1729, bought
a farm, built a small house upon it, and there lived and studied,
preaching occasionally, while waiting for the performance of the
promise of the English government. He waited about three years; then,
convinced that the promise would never be kept, went back to England."
"And he left the income of his property here to be used in educating
students of Yale College, did he not?" asked Violet.
"Yes; gave books too--a valuable collection donated by himself and
friends--and most of the volumes are still there. He had a share in the
formation of Redwood Library here in Newport, also. He was both a very
good and very distinguished man."
"Did he name this Paradise Valley?" asked Grace.
"No, I have been told it was named by Mr. Isaac Barker, who owned a
large part, if not all of it, in Revolutionary days. By the way, his
descendants still live here, one of them in the very house owned and
occupied by him at that time."
"Oh, yes," said Molly; "we must take you to see that house, so
interesting because a relic of the Revolution, and the dear old lady
who is now its mistress. I know you will be much interested in her,
Cousin Elsie, and all she can tell of events here in this valley during
that war."
"I shall be glad to call to see her, if you are quite sure she will not
deem it an intrusion," replied Mrs. Travilla.
"No, I am sure she will not; she is very kind and hospitable, and seems
to really enjoy telling the story of those times to one who shows a
deep interest in it."
"As we all would do," said Mr. Dinsmore, glancing at his watch as he
spoke. "But it is growing late now. Shall we not have our evening
worship together and then retire to rest? Cousin Cyril, as you are a
minister, the rest only laymen, suppose you lead our devotions."