Part 9 (2/2)
”Well, my dear, and I don't wonder that you look astonished, for no one would suppose that after all I went through with I should ever again-- This is my daughter, and her husband, you know, and of course their coming made it seem quite-- We are staying in the Ute Valley; only five miles over, they said it was, but such miles! I'd rather ride ten on a level, any day, as I told Ellen, and--well, they said you were living up here; and though the road was pretty rough, it was possible to-- And if ever there was a man who could drive a buggy up to the moon, as Ellen declares, Henry is the--but really I was hardly prepared for--but any way we started, and here we are! What a wild sort of place it is that you are living in, my dear Miss Carr--not that I ought to call you Miss Carr, for-- I got your cards, of course, and I was told then that-- And your sister marrying the other young man and coming out to live here too! that must be very-- Oh, dear me! is that little boy yours? Well, I never!”
”I am very glad to see you, I am sure,” said Clover, taking the first opportunity of a break in the torrent of words, ”and Mrs. Phillips too,--this is Mrs. Phillips, is it not? Let me help you out, Mrs.
Watson, and Geoffy dear, run round to the other door and ask Euphane to send somebody to take the horses.”
”Thank you,” said Mrs. Phillips. ”Let me introduce my husband, Mrs.
Templestowe. We are at the hotel in the Ute Valley for three days, and my mother wished so much to drive over and see you that we have brought her. What a beautiful place your valley is!”
Mrs. Phillips, tall, large-featured, dark and rather angular, with a pleasant, resolute face, and clear-cut, rather incisive way of speaking, offered as complete a contrast to her pale, pudgy, incoherent little mother as could well be imagined. Clover's instant thought was, ”Now I know what _Mr._ Watson must have been like.” Mr. Phillips was also tall, with a keen, Roman-nosed face, and eye-gla.s.ses. Both had the look of people who knew what was what and had seen the world,--just the sort of persons, it would seem, to whom a parent like Mrs. Watson would be a great trial; and it was the more to their credit that they never seemed in the least impatient, and were evidently devoted to her comfort in all ways. If she fretted them, as she undoubtedly must, they gave no sign of it, and were outwardly all affectionate consideration.
”Why, where is your little boy gone? I wanted to see him,” said Mrs.
Watson, as soon as she was safely out of the carriage. ”He was here just this moment, and then--I must say you have got a beautiful situation; and if mountains were all that one needed to satisfy--but I recollect how you used to go on about them at St. Helen's-- Take care, Ellen, your skirt is caught! Ah, that's right! Miss Carr is always so--but I mustn't call her that, I know, only I never-- And now, my dear, I must have a kiss, after climbing up all this way; and there were gopher holes--at least, a man we met said they were that, and I really thought-- Tell me how you are, and all about-- That's right, Henry, take out the wraps; you never can tell how-- Of course Miss Carr's people are all-- I keep calling you Miss Carr; I really can't help it. What a beautiful view!”
Clover now led the way in-doors. The central room, large, cool, and flower-scented, was a surprise to the Eastern guests, who were not prepared to find anything so pretty and tasteful in so remote a spot.
”This is really charming!” said Mr. Phillips, glancing from fireplace to wall, and from wall to window; while his wife exclaimed with delight over the Mariposa lilies which filled a gla.s.s bowl on the table, and the tall sheaves of scarlet penstamens on either side the hearth. Mrs.
Watson blinked about curiously, actually silent for a moment, before her surprise took the form of words.
”Why, how pretty it looks, doesn't it, Ellen? and so large and s.p.a.cious, and so many-- I'm all the more surprised because when we were together before, you wouldn't go to the Shoshone House, you remember, because it was so expensive, and of course I-- Well, circ.u.mstances _do_ alter; and it is a world of changes, as Dr. Billings said in one of his sermons last spring. And I'm sure I'm glad, only I wasn't prepared to-- Ellen!
Ellen! look at that etching! It's exactly the same as yours, which Jane Phillips gave you and Henry for your tin wedding. It was very expensive, I know, for I was with her when she got it, and so--at Doll's it was; and his things naturally--but I really think the frame of this is the handsomest! Now, my dear Miss Carr, where _did_ you get that?”
”It was one of _our_ gifts,” said Clover, smiling. ”There is a double supply of wedding presents in this house, Mrs. Watson, for my sister's are here as well as our own. So we _are_ rather rich in pretty things, as you see, but not in anything else, except cows; of those we have any number. Now, if you will all excuse me for a moment, I will go up and tell Mrs. Page that you are here.”
Up she went, deliberately till she was out of sight, and then at a swift, light run the rest of the way.
”Elsie dear,” she cried, bursting into the nursery, ”who do you think is here? Mrs. Watson, our old woman of the Sea, you know. She has her son-in-law and daughter with her, and they look like rather nice people, strange to say. They have driven over from the Ute Valley, and of course they must have some lunch; but as it happens it is the worst day of the whole year for them to choose, for I have sent Choo Loo into St. Helen's to look up a Chinese cook for Imogen Young, and I meant to starve you all on poached eggs and raspberries for lunch. I can't leave them of course, but will you just run down, my darling duck, and see what can be done, and tell Euphane? There are cans of soup, of course, and sardines, and all that, but I fear the bread supply is rather short. I'll take Phillida. She's as neat as a new pin, happily. Ah, here's Geoffy. Come and have your hair brushed, boy.”
She went down with one child in her arms and the other holding her hand,--a pretty little picture for those below.
”My sister will come presently,” she explained. ”This is her little girl. And here is my son, Mrs. Watson.”
”Dear me,--I had no idea he was such a big child,” said that lady. ”Five years old, is he, or six?--only three! Oh, yes, what am I thinking about; of course he--Well, my little man, and how do you like living up here in this lonesome place?”
”Very much,” replied little Geoff, backing away from the questioner, as she aimlessly reached out after him.
”He has never lived anywhere else,” Clover explained; ”so he cannot make comparisons. Ignorance is bliss, we are told, Mrs. Watson.”
Euphane, staid and respectable in her spotless ap.r.o.n, now entered with the lunch-cloth, and Clover convoyed her guests upstairs to refresh themselves with cold water after the dust of the drive. By the time they returned the table was set, and presently Elsie appeared, cool and fresh in her pretty pink and white gingham with a knot of rose-colored ribbon in her wavy hair, her cheeks deepened to just the becoming tint, the very picture of a dainty, well-cared-for little lady. No one would have suspected that during the last half-hour she had stirred and baked a pan of brown ”gems,” mixed a cream mayonnaise for the lettuce, set a gla.s.s dish of ”junket” to form, and skimmed two pans of cream, beside getting out the soup and sweets for Euphane, and tr.i.m.m.i.n.g the dishes of fruit with kinnikinick and coreopsis. The little feast seemed to have got itself ready in some mysterious manner, without trouble to any one, which is the last added grace of any feast.
”It is perfectly charming here,” said Mrs. Phillips, more and more impressed. ”I have seen nothing at all like this at the West.”
[Ill.u.s.tration: ”No one would have suspected that she had skimmed two pans of cream”--PAGE 166.]
”There isn't any other place exactly like our valley, I really think. Of course there are other natural parks among the ranges of the Rockies, but ours always seems to me quite by itself. You see we lie so as to catch the sun, and it makes a great difference even in the winter. We have done very little to the Valley, beyond just making ourselves comfortable.”
”Very comfortable indeed, I should say.”
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