Part 1 (2/2)

”Yes, very like,” he agreed, and he smiled. ”Where is your umbrella?”

Prudence stopped abruptly. ”I don't know,” she said, with a stony face. ”I can't remember a blessed thing about the old umbrella. Oh, I guess I didn't bring it, at all.” She breathed long in her relief.

”Yes, that's it, father, I left it at Aunt Grace's. Don't you worry about it. Fairy'll bring it to-morrow. Isn't it nice that we can count on Fairy's remembering?”

”Yes, very nice,” he said, but his eyes were tender as he looked down at the little figure beside him.

”And so this is Mount Mark! Isn't it a funny name, father? Why do they call it Mount Mark?”

”I don't know. I hadn't thought to inquire. We turn here, Prudence; we are going north now. This is Main Street. The city part of the town--the business part--is to the south.”

”It's a pretty street, isn't it?” she cried. ”Such nice big maples, and such shady, porchy houses. I love houses with porches, don't you?

Has the parsonage a porch?”

”Yes, a big one on the south, and a tiny one in front. The house faces west. That is the college there. It opens in three weeks, and Fairy can make freshmen all right, they tell me. I wish you could go, too.

You haven't had your share of anything--any good thing, Prudence.”

”Well, I have my share of you, father,” she said comfortingly. ”And I've always had my share of oatmeal and sorghum mola.s.ses,--though one wouldn't think it to look at me. Fairy gained a whole inch last week at Aunt Grace's. She was so disgusted with herself. She says she'll not be able to look back on the visit with any pleasure at all, just because of that inch. Carol said she ought to look back with more pleasure, because there's an inch more of her to do it! But Fairy says she did not gain the inch in her eyes! Aunt Grace laughed every minute we were there. She says she is all sore up and down, from laughing so much.”

”We have the house fixed up pretty well, Prudence, but of course you'll have to go over it yourself and arrange it as you like. But remember this: You are not allowed to move the heavy furniture. I forbid it emphatically. There isn't enough of you for that.”

”Yes, I'll remember,--I think I will. I'm almost certain to remember some things, you know.”

”I must go to a trustees' meeting at two o'clock, but we can get a good deal done before then. Mrs. Adams is coming to help you this afternoon. She is one of our Ladies, and very kind. There, that is the parsonage!”

Prudence gazed in silence. Many would not have considered it a beautiful dwelling, but to Prudence it was heavenly. Fortunately the wide, gra.s.sy, shaded lawn greeted one first. Great spreading maples bordered the street, and cl.u.s.tering rose-bushes lined the walk leading up to the house. The walk was badly worn and broken to be sure,--but the roses were lovely! The gra.s.s had been carefully cut,--the father-minister had seen to that. The parsonage, to Prudence's gratified eyes, looked homey, and big, and inviting. In fact, it was very nearly gorgeous! It needed painting badly, it is true. The original color had been a peculiar drab, but most of it had disappeared long before, so it was no eyesore on account of the color. There were many windows, and the well-known lace curtains looked down upon Prudence tripping happily up the little board walk,--or so it seemed to her.

”Two whole stories, and an attic besides! Not to mention the bathroom!

Oh, father, the night after you wrote there was a bathroom, Constance thanked G.o.d for it when she said her prayers. And I couldn't reprove her, for I felt the same way about it myself. It'll be so splendid to have a whole tub to bathe in! I spent half the time bathing this last week at Aunt Grace's. A tub is so bountiful! A pan is awfully insufficient, father, even for me! I often think what a trouble it must be to Fairy! And a furnace, too! And electric lights! Don't you think there is something awe-inspiring in the idea of just turning a little k.n.o.b on the wall, and flooding a whole room with light? I do revel in electric lights, I tell you. Oh, we have waited a long time for it, and we've been very patient indeed, but, between you and me, father, I am most mightily glad we've hit the luxury-land at last. I'm sure we'll all feel much more religious in a parsonage that has a bathroom and electric lights! Oh, father!”

He had thrown open the door, and Prudence stood upon the threshold of her new home. It was not a fas.h.i.+onable building, by any means. The hall was narrow and long, and the staircase was just a plain businesslike staircase, with no room for cus.h.i.+ons, and flowers, and books. The doors leading from the hall were open, and Prudence caught a glimpse of three rooms furnished, rather scantily, in the old familiar furniture that had been in that other parsonage where Prudence was born, nineteen years before.

Together she and her father went from room to room, up-stairs and down, moving a table to the left, a bed to the right,--according to her own good pleasure. Afterward they had a cozy luncheon for two in the ”dining-room.”

”Oh, it is so elegant to have a dining-room,” breathed Prudence happily. ”I always pretended it was rather fun, and a great saving of work, to eat and cook and study and live in one room, but inwardly the idea always outraged me. Is that the school over there?”

”Yes, that's where Connie will go. There is only one high school in Mount Mark, so the twins will have to go to the other side of town,--a long walk, but in good weather they can come home for dinner.--I'm afraid the kitchen will be too cold in winter, Prudence,--it's hardly more than a shed, really. Maybe we'd----”

”Oh, father, if you love me, don't suggest that we move the stove in here in winter! I'm perfectly willing to freeze out there, for the sake of having a dining-room. Did I ever tell you what Carol said about that kitchen-dining-room-living-room combination at Exminster?

Well, she asked us a riddle, 'When is a dining-room not a dining-room?'

And she answered it herself, 'When it's a little pig-pen.' And I felt so badly about it, but it did look like a pig-pen, with stove here, and cupboard there, and table yonder, and--oh, no, father, please let me freeze!”

”I confess I do not see the connection between a roomful of furniture and a pig-pen, but Carol's wit is often too subtle for me.”

”Oh, that's a lovely place over there, father!” exclaimed Prudence, looking from the living-room windows toward the south. ”Isn't it beautiful?”

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