Part 10 (2/2)
It was a delightful day to them all. Dinner was served in the upper room, and Phebe thought as she watched the glowing face of her brother that it was never before half so beautiful as now. Was it because Phebe was again near him? Or had the kind words and suggestions of his new friend aroused energies of which before he was not conscious? It was true that every moment had been filled with reading and conversation and it was all so new to Willie! ”It is a fact,” continued Mrs. g.a.y.l.o.r.d after Tiny had taken off the last dish from the table; ”that many with far less brains and more inefficient than yourself have filled important places in the world's history. With exercise I do not see why your body should not become st.u.r.dy and robust. I have a friend in Boston who has a large clothing store and manufactures his own goods, and the great object of insisting upon your company to-day was to tell you that I will, if you desire it, bring your case to his notice, and if he favors my suggestions will let you know all about it.”
”O--if I could!” came from his overflowing heart. ”If I could only do something! I have always been told that it was no use for me to exert myself for I was helpless, and I had settled down as far as it was possible on that supposition.”
”But you are not! Your present skill with the needle has its advantages and in a very short time you would be independent at least. Labor brings contentment and with it the years would not pa.s.s so laggardly.”
Phebe had come up behind him and was smoothing his brown curls with her gentle hand, and reaching up his trembling one he clasped hers tightly as he asked:
”Phebe, more than sister, can I do this? Will the time ever come when I shall cease to eat the bread of dependence? Tell me Phebe, for your words have ever given me strength; am I truly only the long withered stalk you hold as the emblem of myself?”
”No, Willie! Believe what Mrs. g.a.y.l.o.r.d has said and grow firm! You can--you will! I feel it in my heart you 'will go up the stairs' and leave some at the foot who do not now expect to stay there! I thought of it to-day and determined not to let you go ahead of me, and so kept close by your side.” She laughed while he warmly pressed the hand he had been holding.
”You see,” interposed Mrs. g.a.y.l.o.r.d, ”Phebe and I have talked a little about this but I did not mention, even to her, the plans which for more than two weeks I have been maturing. To-morrow we will go to the city, Phebe and I, and see what can be done, and if you will come to us on the following day all can be decided.”
It _was_ decided! Mr. Bancroft of Boston would do well by him; take him into his own home and see that his wants were attended to until he had become efficient in the business, and then give him a place in his establishment if he proved himself worthy.
”Worthy?” exclaimed Phebe; ”he is n.o.ble--he will be all you can desire!”
”The hearts of young ladies are not always reliable in _business_ relations,” replied the gentleman with a mischievous twinkle in his bright eye. ”However, Mrs. g.a.y.l.o.r.d, upon your maturer judgment I will try him, for really you have excited in me an interest for the young man; and I see no reason why he cannot be a master workman. _I_ began life by coiling my feet under me on the bench, and I could have done it just as well had they not been incased in No. 9's.” He laughed. ”His Rover will be just the thing; he can soon be taught to bring his master to his work and return to his kennel for protection. And by the way, I shall be obliged to see that _his_ animal has an 'ordinance' of its own.
They kill dogs here so promiscuously.”
”_I_ had thought of that and concluded to set Pompy at work training another for his use as soon as I return home. You know he is famous at such work.”
Willie received the report of their successful mission in the city with almost ecstatic joy. ”Can it be true?” he thought. There would be difficulties; any amount of pride must be overcome--shrinking sensitiveness subdued--but he would try! To have aspirations--antic.i.p.ations of success--what more could he desire?
In three days Mrs. g.a.y.l.o.r.d would go with Willie to his new home and Phebe was to accompany them.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
CHAPTER XI.
”ROSEDALE.”
Come with me, gentle reader, to the sunny south, to the land of orange groves, where the air is sweetest and the sky is bluest; where nature's lyre does not of necessity get unstrung or lose her summer melodies as winter breaks in with harsh, discordant notes to jar the ear and chill the rich, warm blood. Come to the land of flowers, of poetry, of dreams.
Hard seems the fate which thrusts a ”serpent into every paradise,” in whose trail death follows, withering up its freshness and throwing a net-work of decay over its richest beauties. Yet such is the intruder blighting many homes in the cold regions of the bustling north, as well as in the clime where the sweet singers of the faded woods delight to pour out their winter's songs. Alas! that it should be so.
”Why, my Lily-Bell, how faded you look this morning! Worse than the rose you wore in your hair last night. Now let me wager something. What shall it be? Ah! my yesterday's letter against your's of yesterday, also, that I can divine the cause. Shall it be? Ah! that smile! It was like the morning zephyrs sporting with the withered petals of my 'Lily-Bell.' Let me kiss back its beauty, or breath some of my exuberance into it, which seems so worthless in its prodigality,” and the lively little lady bent over the invalid's chair and kissed over and over again the brow of her companion.
”There! there! Look quickly! Two little rose leaves of unquestionably pinkish hue are fluttering in close proximity to those lovely dimples.
But they have flitted away again. What a pity that beauty is so fleeting.”
”I should think you would despair, dear Grace, of charming one into life who has been so long dead. The task would be more congenial to your taste, I imagine, to roll me up and lay me away in your casket of precious relics for memory to grow sentimental over in future years. Why do you not do it, _la Pet.i.te_? Own that you are weary, as the rest do, and thrust me out of sight.”
”No, indeed; I have no pa.s.sion for musty relics. Come, let us away to the drawing-room. It is nearly time for breakfast.”
”Are you aware, cousin mine, of the compliments you have been showering upon me, 'fading, withering,' etc.? To tell the truth, I am quite unwilling, under their pressure, to appear before our brilliant guests, understanding now the full array of blemishes of which I am the possessor.”
”I was only prattling, Lily-Bell. Nothing human could be purer or sweeter than that face of yours. Let me picture it,” and kneeling on the carpet before her companion, she took a little white hand and pressed it lovingly in her own.
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