Part 22 (1/2)
”Are you?” he asked, seating himself on the side of the bed and drawing her into his arms. ”Well, daughter, it is only for a moment, to bid you good-night, as usual, and see that you are in need of nothing. Tell me, are all your wants supplied?”
”Yes, sir; now that I have my father here to give me his good-night kiss and blessing. Ah! papa dear, I do not know how I could ever live away from you again. I am so glad you no longer have to go sailing away over the ocean, leaving your children behind.”
”I am glad of it, too,” he returned, ”but I sometimes fear that the day may come when my dear eldest daughter will want to leave me for a home with someone else.”
”Indeed, father dear, you need not have the slightest fear of that,” she said, laying her head against his breast with a low, happy laugh. ”I am sure there isn't in the wide world any other man whom I could love half so well as I do you. I am just as glad to belong to you now as ever I was.”
”And don't want me to give you away?”
”No, no, indeed!” she cried with energy. ”Oh, papa! you surely are not thinking of such a thing? You have said, over and over again, that you would not,--at least not for years yet,--even if I wanted you to.”
”And I say the same now; so don't be wanting me to,” he returned in jesting tone, and laying her down upon her pillow as he spoke. ”Now go to sleep at once, that you may be ready to rise at your usual early hour and join your father in the morning stroll about the grounds. 'The Lord bless thee and keep thee; the Lord make his face s.h.i.+ne upon thee, and be gracious unto thee; the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace,'” he added in tender, solemn tones, his hand resting upon her head as he spoke.
Then, with a good-night kiss upon her lips, he left her, and contented and happy she speedily pa.s.sed into the land of dreams.
The captain, pa.s.sing through Grace's room to his own, paused for a moment at her bedside, bent over her, and kissed the sweet lips; but she slept on, unconscious of the caress.
He found Violet still awake, repeated to her his little talk with Lucilla, and added, with evident satisfaction, ”I feel convinced that, as yet, no one has made any impression upon her heart, that I, her father, still hold the fort there.”
”Yes; I have hardly a doubt of it,” returned Violet; ”and it may be many a long day before she is deluded into thinking there is any other man who begins to compare to him; something that I have known for years was not the case,” she concluded with a happy laugh.
The sun was hardly above the horizon when Lucilla awoke; but she sprang up hastily, with the thought that her father would soon be out in the grounds, and she wanted to be with him. There would be a great deal to attend to in preparation for their expected guests, and perhaps she could be of some a.s.sistance; at all events she would like to see all that was going on, and give her opinion on any doubtful subject.
So she lost no time about attending to the duties of the hour and place, spending a little time upon her knees, asking for the watchful care of her Heavenly Father through all the day, that she might be kept from folly and sin, and have strength and wisdom to do every duty and meet every trial, and beseeching his blessing upon all her dear ones, not forgetting the dear brother so far away from home and kindred. Then she made a rapid but careful toilet, and hastened, with light, swift footsteps, down the broad stairway and out upon the veranda, where she found her father in consultation with Christine, the housekeeper.
Blithe good-mornings were exchanged, Christine went back into the house, and father and daughter walked out together into the grounds.
Preparations were going on for the entertainment of the expected guests, old and young, and Lucilla was not only permitted, but invited to give her opinion in regard to them all, and any suggestions that might occur to her; which she did frankly and fully, and with the result that more than one of them was adopted; for her father wished to please her and had great confidence in her opinion of such matters. There were croquet and tennis grounds, swings in the shade of the trees in the grove; inviting-looking seats there, and in other suitable places; there were shaded walks and winding paths through the woods; indeed, every sort of arrangement for recreation and pleasure that could be thought of and prepared for in the allotted s.p.a.ce.
Captain Raymond and his daughter walked about inspecting everything, until they had gone over the whole place, giving all needed directions to the workmen who were busied here and there with some alterations the captain had decided upon the previous day, then returned to the house, for it was nearing breakfast time.
They found Violet, Grace, and the two younger children on the veranda.
Morning greetings were exchanged, then Lucilla hurried to her rooms to make some changes in her dress and was coming down again when the breakfast bell rang.
It was a cheerful, even merry, party that gathered about the table to partake of the meal, an excellent one; for the captain and Violet were most hospitable entertainers.
The talk ran princ.i.p.ally upon the sports that would enliven and entertain the company during the day; suggestions from any and every one being in order; and, by the time the meal was concluded, all felt that they had every prospect of a most enjoyable holiday.
”The weather could not be more propitious than it is,” remarked Captain Keith. ”You began your enjoyment of it early, Miss Lu,” turning to Lucilla. ”I happened to be at my window and saw you and your father out in the grounds.”
”Yes,” she said, ”papa and I usually do take a stroll about them before breakfast. He is always an early riser. I inherit the taste for it from him and, being in excellent health, can indulge it without injury.”
”Which is something to be thankful for,” he said with a smile.
”Yes, indeed!” she returned heartily. ”Health and strength are the greatest of earthly blessings. I would not part with them for any amount of money.”
”No; money cannot buy health and strength, though they may give one the ability to earn money. You, however, have a father able and willing to furnish all you may need of it.”
”Yes,” said the captain in his pleasant way, ”but that daughter of mine likes to make herself useful to me, and does so to such an extent that I really think she earns all she gets.”