diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 15798-8.txt | 5942 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 15798-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 123843 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 15798-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 231917 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 15798-h/15798-h.htm | 6081 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 15798-h/images/155-tb.png | bin | 0 -> 28591 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 15798-h/images/23-tb.png | bin | 0 -> 32522 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 15798-h/images/67-tb.png | bin | 0 -> 24931 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 15798-h/images/c1.png | bin | 0 -> 1174 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 15798-h/images/c10.png | bin | 0 -> 1249 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 15798-h/images/c11.png | bin | 0 -> 1309 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 15798-h/images/c2.png | bin | 0 -> 1254 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 15798-h/images/c3.png | bin | 0 -> 1182 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 15798-h/images/c4.png | bin | 0 -> 1351 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 15798-h/images/c5.png | bin | 0 -> 1241 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 15798-h/images/c6.png | bin | 0 -> 1236 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 15798-h/images/c7.png | bin | 0 -> 1698 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 15798-h/images/c8.png | bin | 0 -> 1308 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 15798-h/images/c9.png | bin | 0 -> 1253 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 15798.txt | 5942 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 15798.zip | bin | 0 -> 123816 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
23 files changed, 17981 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/15798-8.txt b/15798-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f11e837 --- /dev/null +++ b/15798-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5942 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Clover, by Susan Coolidge, Illustrated by +Jessie McDermot + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Clover + + +Author: Susan Coolidge + +Release Date: May 8, 2005 [eBook #15798] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CLOVER*** + + +E-text prepared by Rose Koven, Juliet Sutherland, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 15798-h.htm or 15798-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/7/9/15798/15798-h/15798-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/7/9/15798/15798-h.zip) + + + + + +CLOVER + +by + +SUSAN COOLIDGE + +Author of "What Katy Did," "Mischief's Thanksgiving," +"Nine Little Goslings," etc. + +Illustrated by JESSIE McDERMOT + +Boston +Little, Brown, and Company +Alfred Mudge & Son, Inc., Printers, +Boston, Mass., U.S.A. + +1907 + + + + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + I. A TALK ON THE DOORSTEPS + + II. THE DAY OF HAPPY LETTERS + + III. THE FIRST WEDDING IN THE FAMILY + + IV. TWO LONG YEARS IN ONE SHORT CHAPTER + + V. CAR FORTY-SEVEN + + VI. ST. HELEN'S + + VII. MAKING ACQUAINTANCE + +VIII. HIGH VALLEY + + IX. OVER A PASS + + X. NO. 13 PIUTE STREET + + XI. THE LAST OF THE CLOVER-LEAVES + + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +A TALK ON THE DOORSTEPS. + + +It was one of those afternoons in late April which are as mild and balmy +as any June day. The air was full of the chirps and twitters of +nest-building birds, and of sweet indefinable odors from half-developed +leaf-buds and cherry and pear blossoms. The wisterias overhead were +thickly starred with pointed pearl-colored sacs, growing purpler with each +hour, which would be flowers before long; the hedges were quickening into +life, the long pensile willow-boughs and the honey-locusts hung in a mist +of fine green against the sky, and delicious smells came with every puff +of wind from the bed of white violets under the parlor windows. + +Katy and Clover Carr, sitting with their sewing on the door-steps, drew in +with every breath the sense of spring. Who does not know the +delightfulness of that first sitting out of doors after a long winter's +confinement? It seems like flinging the gauntlet down to the powers of +cold. Hope and renovation are in the air. Life has conquered Death, and to +the happy hearts in love with life there is joy in the victory. The two +sisters talked busily as they sewed, but all the time an only +half-conscious rapture informed their senses,--the sympathy of that which +is immortal in human souls with the resurrection of natural things, which +is the sure pledge of immortality. + +It was nearly a year since Katy had come back from that too brief journey +to Europe with Mrs. Ashe and Amy, about which some of you have read, and +many things of interest to the Carr family had happened during the +interval. The "Natchitoches" had duly arrived in New York in October, and +presently afterward Burnet was convulsed by the appearance of a tall young +fellow in naval uniform, and the announcement of Katy's engagement to +Lieutenant Worthington. + +It was a piece of news which interested everybody in the little town, for +Dr. Carr was a universal friend and favorite. For a time he had been the +only physician in the place; and though with the gradual growth of +population two or three younger men had appeared to dispute the ground +with him, they were forced for the most part to content themselves with +doctoring the new arrivals, and with such fragments and leavings of +practice as Dr. Carr chose to intrust to them. None of the old established +families would consent to call in any one else if they could possibly get +the "old" doctor. + +A skilful practitioner, who is at the same time a wise adviser, a helpful +friend, and an agreeable man, must necessarily command a wide influence. +Dr. Carr was "by all odds and far away," as our English cousins would +express it, the most popular person in Burnet, wanted for all pleasant +occasions, and doubly wanted for all painful ones. + +So the news of Katy's engagement was made a matter of personal concern by +a great many people, and caused a general stir, partly because she was her +father's daughter, and partly because she was herself; for Katy had won +many friends by her own merit. So long as Ned Worthington stayed, a sort +of tide of congratulation and sympathy seemed to sweep through the house +all day long. Tea-roses and chrysanthemums, and baskets of pears and the +beautiful Burnet grapes flooded the premises, and the door-bell rang so +often that Clover threatened to leave the door open, with a card +attached,--"Walk straight in. _He_ is in the parlor!" + +Everybody wanted to see and know Katy's lover, and to have him as a guest. +Ten tea-drinkings a week would scarcely have contented Katy's +well-wishers, had the limitations of mortal weeks permitted such a thing; +and not a can of oysters would have been left in the place if Lieutenant +Worthington's leave had lasted three days longer. Clover and Elsie loudly +complained that they themselves never had a chance to see him; for +whenever he was not driving or walking with Katy, or having long +_tête-à-têtes_ in the library, he was eating muffins somewhere, or making +calls on old ladies whose feelings would be dreadfully hurt if he went +away without their seeing him. + +"Sisters seem to come off worst of all," protested Johnnie. But in spite +of their lamentations they all saw enough of their future brother-in-law +to grow fond of him; and notwithstanding some natural pangs of jealousy at +having to share Katy with an outsider, it was a happy visit, and every one +was sorry when the leave of absence ended, and Ned had to go away. + +A month later the "Natchitoches" sailed for the Bahamas. It was to be a +six months' cruise only; and on her return she was for a while to make +part of the home squadron. This furnished a good opportunity for her +first lieutenant to marry; so it was agreed that the wedding should take +place in June, and Katy set about her preparations in the leisurely and +simple fashion which was characteristic of her. She had no ambition for a +great _trousseau_, and desired to save her father expense; so her outfit, +as compared with that of most modern brides, was a very moderate one, but +being planned and mostly made at home, it necessarily involved thought, +time, and a good deal of personal exertion. + +Dear little Clover flung herself into the affair with even more interest +than if it had been her own. Many happy mornings that winter did the +sisters spend together over their dainty stitches and "white seam." Elsie +and Johnnie were good needle-women now, and could help in many ways. Mrs. +Ashe often joined them; even Amy could contribute aid in the plainer +sewing, and thread everybody's needles. But the most daring and +indefatigable of all was Clover, who never swerved in her determination +that Katy's "things" should be as nice and as pretty as love and industry +combined could make them. Her ideas as to decoration soared far beyond +Katy's. She hem-stitched, she cat-stitched, she feather-stitched, she +lace-stitched, she tucked and frilled and embroidered, and generally +worked her fingers off; while the bride vainly protested that all this +finery was quite unnecessary, and that simple hems and a little Hamburg +edging would answer just as well. Clover merely repeated the words, +"Hamburg edging!" with an accent of scorn, and went straight on in her +elected way. + +As each article received its last touch, and came from the laundry white +and immaculate, it was folded to perfection, tied with a narrow blue or +pale rose-colored ribbon, and laid aside in a sacred receptacle known as +"The Wedding Bureau." The handkerchiefs, grouped in dozens, were strewn +with dried violets and rose-leaves to make them sweet. Lavender-bags and +sachets of orris lay among the linen; and perfumes as of Araby were +discernible whenever a drawer in the bureau was pulled out. + +So the winter passed, and now spring was come; and the two girls on the +doorsteps were talking about the wedding, which seemed very near now. + +"Tell me just what sort of an affair you want it to be," said Clover. + +"It seems more your wedding than mine, you have worked so hard for it," +replied Katy. "You might give your ideas first." + +"My ideas are not very distinct. It's only lately that I have begun to +think about it at all, there has been so much to do. I'd like to have you +have a beautiful dress and a great many wedding-presents and everything as +pretty as can be, but not so many bridesmaids as Cecy, because there is +always such a fuss in getting them nicely up the aisle in church and out +again,--that is as far as I've got. But so long as you are pleased, and it +goes off well, I don't care exactly how it is managed." + +"Then, since you are in such an accommodating frame of mind, it seems a +good time to break my views to you. Don't be shocked, Clovy; but, do you +know, I don't want to be married in church at all, or to have any +bridesmaids, or anything arranged for beforehand particularly. I should +like things to be simple, and to just _happen_." + +"But, Katy, you can't do it like that. It will all get into a snarl if +there is no planning beforehand or rehearsals; it would be confused and +horrid." + +"I don't see why it would be confused if there were nothing to confuse. +Please not be vexed; but I always have hated the ordinary kind of wedding, +with its fuss and worry and so much of everything, and just like all the +other weddings, and the bride looking tired to death, and nobody enjoying +it a bit. I'd like mine to be different, and more--more--real. I don't +want any show or processing about, but just to have things nice and +pretty, and all the people I love and who love me to come to it, and +nothing cut and dried, and nobody tired, and to make it a sort of dear, +loving occasion, with leisure to realize how dear it is and what it all +means. Don't you think it would really be nicer in that way?" + +"Well, yes, as you put it, and 'viewed from the higher standard,' as Miss +Inches would say, perhaps it would. Still, bridesmaids and all that are +very pretty to look at; and folks will be surprised if you don't have +them." + +"Never mind folks," remarked the irreverent Katy. "I don't care a button +for that argument. Yes; bridesmaids and going up the aisle in a long +procession and all the rest _are_ pretty to look at,--or were before they +got to be so hackneyed. I can imagine the first bridal procession up the +aisle of some early cathedral as having been perfectly beautiful. But +nowadays, when the butcher and baker and candlestick-maker and everybody +else do it just alike, the custom seems to me to have lost its charm. I +never did enjoy having things exactly as every one else has them,--all +going in the same direction like a flock of sheep. I would like my little +wedding to be something especially my own. There was a poetical meaning in +those old customs; but now that the custom has swallowed up so much of +the meaning, it would please me better to retain the meaning and drop the +custom." + +"I see what you mean," said Clover, not quite convinced, but inclined as +usual to admire Katy and think that whatever she meant must be right. "But +tell me a little more. You mean to have a wedding-dress, don't you?" +doubtfully. + +"Yes, indeed!" + +"Have you thought what it shall be?" + +"Do you recollect that beautiful white crape shawl of mamma's which papa +gave me two years ago? It has a lovely wreath of embroidery round it; and +it came to me the other day that it would make a charming gown, with white +surah or something for the under-dress. I should like that better than +anything new, because mamma used to wear it, and it would seem as if she +were here still, helping me to get ready. Don't you think so?" + +"It is a lovely idea," said Clover, the ever-ready tears dimming her happy +blue eyes for a moment, "and just like you. Yes, that shall be the +dress,--dear mamma's shawl. It will please papa too, I think, to have you +choose it." + +"I thought perhaps it would," said Katy, soberly. "Then I have a wide +white watered sash which Aunt Izzy gave me, and I mean to have that worked +into the dress somehow. I should like to wear something of hers too, for +she was really good to us when we were little, and all that long time that +I was ill; and we were not always good to her, I am afraid. Poor Aunt +Izzy! What troublesome little wretches we were,--I most of all!" + +"Were you? Somehow I never can recollect the time when you were not a born +angel. I am afraid I don't remember Aunt Izzy well. I just have a vague +memory of somebody who was pretty strict and cross." + +"Ah, you never had a back, and needed to be waited on night and day, or +you would recollect a great deal more than that. Cousin Helen helped me to +appreciate what Aunt Izzy really was. By the way, one of the two things I +have set my heart on is to have Cousin Helen come to my wedding." + +"It would be lovely if she could. Do you suppose there is any chance?" + +"I wrote her week before last, but she hasn't answered yet. Of course it +depends on how she is; but the accounts from her have been pretty good +this year." + +"What is the other thing you have set your heart on? You said 'two.'" + +"The other is that Rose Red shall be here, and little Rose. I wrote to her +the other day also, and coaxed hard. Wouldn't it be too enchanting? You +know how we have always longed to have her in Burnet; and if she could +come now it would make everything twice as pleasant." + +"Katy, what an enchanting thought!" cried Clover, who had not seen Rose +since they all left Hillsover. "It would be the greatest lark that ever +was to have the Roses. When do you suppose we shall hear? I can hardly +wait, I am in such a hurry to have her say 'Yes.'" + +"But suppose she says 'No'?" + +"I won't think of such a possibility. Now go on. I suppose your principles +don't preclude a wedding-cake?" + +"On the contrary, they include a great deal of wedding-cake. I want to +send a box to everybody in Burnet,--all the poor people, I mean, and the +old people and the children at the Home and those forlorn creatures at the +poor-house and all papa's patients." + +"But, Katy, that will cost a lot," objected the thrifty Clover. + +"I know it; so we must do it in the cheapest way, and make the cake +ourselves. I have Aunt Izzy's recipe, which is a very good one; and if we +all take hold, it won't be such an immense piece of work. Debby has +quantities of raisins stoned already. She has been doing them in the +evenings a few at a time for the last month. Mrs. Ashe knows a factory +where you can get the little white boxes for ten dollars a thousand, and I +have commissioned her to send for five hundred." + +"Five hundred! What an immense quantity!" + +"Yes; but there are all the Hillsover girls to be remembered, and all our +kith and kin, and everybody at the wedding will want one. I don't think it +will be too many. Oh, I have arranged it all in my mind. Johnnie will +slice the citron, Elsie will wash the currants, Debby measure and bake, +Alexander mix, you and I will attend to the icing, and all of us will cut +it up." + +"Alexander!" + +"Alexander. He is quite pleased with the idea, and has constructed an +implement--a sort of spade, cut out of new pine wood--for the purpose. He +says it will be a sight easier than digging flower-beds. We will set about +it next week; for the cake improves by keeping, and as it is the heaviest +job we have to do, it will be well to get it out of the way early." + +"Sha'n't you have a floral bell, or a bower to stand in, or something of +that kind?" ventured Clover, timidly. + +"Indeed I shall not," replied Katy. "I particularly dislike floral bells +and bowers. They are next worst to anchors and harps and 'floral pillows' +and all the rest of the dreadful things that they have at funerals. No, we +will have plenty of fresh flowers, but not in stiff arrangements. I want +it all to seem easy and to _be_ easy. Don't look so disgusted, Clovy." + +"Oh, I'm not disgusted. It's your wedding. I want you to have everything +in your own way." + +"It's everybody's wedding, I think," said Katy, tenderly. "Everybody is so +kind about it. Did you see the thing that Polly sent this morning?" + +"No. It must have come after I went out. What was it?" + +"Seven yards of beautiful nun's lace which she bought in Florence. She +says it is to trim a morning dress; but it's really too pretty. How dear +Polly is! She sends me something almost every day. I seem to be in her +thoughts all the time. It is because she loves Ned so much, of course; +but it is just as kind of her." + +"I think she loves you almost as much as Ned," said Clover. + +"Oh, she couldn't do that; Ned is her only brother. There is Amy at the +gate now." + +It was a much taller Amy than had come home from Italy the year before who +was walking toward them under the budding locust-boughs. Roman fever had +seemed to quicken and stimulate all Amy's powers, and she had grown very +fast during the past year. Her face was as frank and childlike as ever, +and her eyes as blue; but she was prettier than when she went to Europe, +for her cheeks were pink, and the mane of waving hair which framed them in +was very becoming. The hair was just long enough now to touch her +shoulders; it was turning brown as it lengthened, but the ends of the +locks still shone with childish gold, and caught the sun in little shining +rings as it filtered down through the tree branches. + +She kissed Clover several times, and gave Katy a long, close hug; then +she produced a parcel daintily hid in silver paper. + +"Tanta," she said,--this was a pet name lately invented for Katy,--"here +is something for you from mamma. It's something quite particular, I think, +for mamma cried when she was writing the note; not a hard cry, you know, +but just two little teeny-weeny tears in her eyes. She kept smiling, +though, and she looked happy, so I guess it isn't anything very bad. She +said I was to give it to you with her best, _best_ love." + +Katy opened the parcel, and beheld a square veil of beautiful old blonde. +The note said: + + This was my wedding-veil, dearest Katy, and my mother wore it + before me. It has been laid aside all these years with the idea + that perhaps Amy might want it some day; but instead I send it + to you, without whom there would be no Amy to wear this or + anything else. I think it would please Ned to see it on your + head, and I know it would make me very happy; but if you don't + feel like using it, don't mind for a moment saying so to + + + Your loving + POLLY. + + +[Illustration: "Katy opened the parcel, and beheld a square veil of +beautiful old blonde."] + + +Katy handed the note silently to Clover, and laid her face for a little +while among the soft folds of the lace, about which a faint odor of roses +hung like the breath of old-time and unforgotten loves and affections. + +"Shall you?" queried Clover, softly. + +"Why, of course! Doesn't it seem too sweet? Both our mothers!" + +"There!" cried Amy, "you are going to cry too, Tanta! I thought weddings +were nice funny things. I never supposed they made people feel badly. I +sha'n't ever let Mabel get married, I think. But she'll have to stay a +little girl always in that case, for I certainly won't have her an old +maid." + +"What do you know about old maids, midget?" asked Clover. + +"Why, Miss Clover, I have seen lots of them. There was that one at the +Pension Suisse; you remember, Tanta? And the two on the steamer when we +came home. And there's Miss Fitz who made my blue frock; Ellen said she +was a regular old maid. I never mean to let Mabel be like that." + +"I don't think there's the least danger," remarked Katy, glancing at the +inseparable Mabel, who was perched on Amy's arm, and who did not look a +day older than she had done eighteen months previously. "Amy, we're going +to make wedding-cake next week,--heaps and heaps of wedding-cake. Don't +you want to come and help?" + +"Why, of course I do. What fun! Which day may I come?" + +The cake-making did really turn out fun. Many hands made light work of +what would have been a formidable job for one or two. It was all done +gradually. Johnnie cut the golden citron quarters into thin transparent +slices in the sitting-room one morning while the others were sewing, and +reading Tennyson aloud. Elsie and Amy made a regular frolic of the +currant-washing. Katy, with Debby's assistance, weighed and measured; and +the mixture was enthusiastically stirred by Alexander, with the "spade" +which he had invented, in a large new wash-tub. Then came the baking, +which for two days filled the house with spicy, plum-puddingy odors; then +the great feat of icing the big square loaves; and then the cutting up, in +which all took part. There was much careful measurement that the slices +might be an exact fit; and the kitchen rang with bright laughter and chat +as Katy and Clover wielded the sharp bread-knives, and the others fitted +the portions into their boxes, and tied the ribbons in crisp little bows. +Many delicious crumbs and odd corners and fragments fell to the share of +the younger workers; and altogether the occasion struck Amy as so +enjoyable that she announced--with her mouth full--that she had changed +her mind, and that Mabel might get married as often as she pleased, if she +would have cake like _that_ every time,--a liberality of permission which +Mabel listened to with her invariable waxen smile. + +When all was over, and the last ribbons tied, the hundreds of little boxes +were stacked in careful piles on a shelf of the inner closet of the +doctor's office to wait till they were wanted,--an arrangement which +naughty Clover pronounced eminently suitable, since there should always +be a doctor close at hand where there was so much wedding-cake. But before +all this was accomplished, came what Katy, in imitation of one of Miss +Edgeworth's heroines, called "The Day of Happy Letters." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE DAY OF HAPPY LETTERS. + + +The arrival of the morning boat with letters and newspapers from the East +was the great event of the day in Burnet. It was due at eleven o'clock; +and everybody, consciously or unconsciously, was on the lookout for it. +The gentlemen were at the office bright and early, and stood chatting with +each other, and fingering the keys of their little drawers till the rattle +of the shutter announced that the mail was distributed. Their wives and +daughters at home, meanwhile, were equally in a state of expectation, and +whatever they might be doing kept ears and eyes on the alert for the step +on the gravel and the click of the latch which betokened the arrival of +the family news-bringer. + +Doctors cannot command their time like other people, and Dr. Carr was +often detained by his patients, and made late for the mail, so it was all +the pleasanter a surprise when on the great day of the cake-baking he came +in earlier than usual, with his hands quite full of letters and parcels. +All the girls made a rush for him at once; but he fended them off with an +elbow, while with teasing slowness he read the addresses on the envelopes. + +"Miss Carr--Miss Carr--Miss Katherine Carr--Miss Carr again; four for you, +Katy. Dr. P. Carr,--a bill and a newspaper, I perceive; all that an old +country doctor with a daughter about to be married ought to expect, I +suppose. Miss Clover E. Carr,--one for the 'Confidante in white linen.' +Here, take it, Clovy. Miss Carr again. Katy, you have the lion's share. +Miss Joanna Carr,--in the unmistakable handwriting of Miss Inches. Miss +Katherine Carr, care Dr. Carr. That looks like a wedding present, Katy. +Miss Elsie Carr; Cecy's hand, I should say. Miss Carr once more,--from the +conquering hero, judging from the post-mark. Dr. Carr,--another +newspaper, and--hollo!--one more for Miss Carr. Well, children, I hope for +once you are satisfied with the amount of your correspondence. My arm +fairly aches with the weight of it. I hope the letters are not so heavy +inside as out." + +"I am quite satisfied, Papa, thank you," said Katy, looking up with a +happy smile from Ned's letter, which she had torn open first of all. "Are +you going, dear?" She laid her packages down to help him on with his coat. +Katy never forgot her father. + +"Yes, I am going. Time and rheumatism wait for no man. You can tell me +your news when I come back." + +It is not fair to peep into love letters, so I will only say of Ned's that +it was very long, very entertaining,--Katy thought,--and contained the +pleasant information that the "Natchitoches" was to sail four days after +it was posted, and would reach New York a week sooner than any one had +dared to hope. The letter contained several other things as well, which +showed Katy how continually she had been in his thoughts,--a painting on +rice paper, a dried flower or two, a couple of little pen-and-ink sketches +of the harbor of Santa Lucia and the shipping, and a small cravat of an +odd convent lace folded very flat and smooth. Altogether it was a +delightful letter, and Katy read it, as it were, in leaps, her eyes +catching at the salient points, and leaving the details to be dwelt upon +when she should be alone. + +This done, she thrust the letter into her pocket, and proceeded to examine +the others. The first was in Cousin Helen's clear, beautiful +handwriting:-- + + DEAR KATY,--If any one had told us ten years ago that in this + particular year of grace you would be getting ready to be + married, and I preparing to come to your wedding, I think we + should have listened with some incredulity, as to an agreeable + fairy tale which could not possibly come true. We didn't look + much like it, did we,--you in your big chair and I on my sofa? + Yet here we are! When your letter first reached me it seemed a + sort of impossible thing that I should accept your invitation; + but the more I thought about it the more I felt as if I must, + and now things seem to be working round to that end quite + marvellously. I have had a good winter, but the doctor wishes me + to try the experiment of the water cure again which benefited me + so much the summer of your accident. This brings me in your + direction; and I don't see why I might not come a little earlier + than I otherwise should, and have the great pleasure of seeing + you married, and making acquaintance with Lieutenant + Worthington. That is, if you are perfectly sure that to have at + so busy a time a guest who, like the Queen of Spain, has the + disadvantage of being without legs, will not be more care than + enjoyment. Think seriously over this point, and don't send for + me unless you are certain. Meanwhile, I am making ready. Alex + and Emma and little Helen--who is a pretty big Helen now--are to + be my escorts as far as Buffalo on their way to Niagara. After + that is all plain sailing, and Jane Carter and I can manage very + well for ourselves. It seems like a dream to think that I may + see you all so soon; but it is such a pleasant one that I would + not wake up on any account. + + I have a little gift which I shall bring you myself, my Katy; + but I have a fancy also that you shall wear some trifling thing + on your wedding-day which comes from me, so for fear of being + forestalled I will say now, please don't buy any stockings for + the occasion, but wear the pair which go with this, for the sake + of your loving + + + COUSIN HELEN. + +"These must be they," cried Elsie, pouncing on one of the little packages. +"May I cut the string, Katy?" + +Permission was granted; and Elsie cut the string. It was indeed a pair of +beautiful white silk stockings embroidered in an open pattern, and far +finer than anything which Katy would have thought of choosing for herself. + +"Don't they look exactly like Cousin Helen?" she said, fondling them. "Her +things always are choicer and prettier than anybody's else, somehow. I +can't think how she does it, when she never by any chance goes into a +shop. Who can this be from, I wonder?" + +"This" was the second little package. It proved to contain a small volume +bound in white and gold, entitled, "Advice to Brides." On the fly-leaf +appeared this inscription:-- + + To Katherine Carr, on the occasion of her approaching bridal, + from her affectionate teacher, + + + MARIANNE NIPSON. + + 1 Timothy, ii. 11. + +Clover at once ran to fetch her Testament that she might verify the +quotation, and announced with a shriek of laughter that it was: "Let the +women learn in silence with all subjection;" while Katy, much diverted, +read extracts casually selected from the work, such as: "A wife should +receive her husband's decree without cavil or question, remembering that +the husband is the head of the wife, and that in all matters of dispute +his opinion naturally and scripturally outweighs her own." + +Or: "'A soft answer turneth away wrath.' If your husband comes home +fretted and impatient, do not answer him sharply, but soothe him with +gentle words and caresses. Strict attention to the minor details of +domestic management will often avail to secure peace." + +And again: "Keep in mind the epitaph raised in honor of an exemplary wife +of the last century,--'She never banged the door.' Qualify yourself for a +similar testimonial." + +"Tanta never does bang doors," remarked Amy, who had come in as this last +"elegant extract" was being read. + +"No, that's true; she doesn't," said Clover. "Her prevailing vice is to +leave them open. I like that truth about a good dinner 'availing' to +secure peace, and the advice to 'caress' your bear when he is at his +crossest. Ned never does issue 'decrees,' though, I fancy; and on the +whole, Katy, I don't believe Mrs. Nipson's present is going to be any +particular comfort in your future trials. Do read something else to take +the taste out of our mouths. We will listen in 'all subjection.'" + +Katy was already deep in a long epistle from Rose. + +"This is too delicious," she said; "do listen." And she began again at the +beginning:-- + + MY SWEETEST OF ALL OLD SWEETS,--Come to your wedding! Of course + I shall. It would never seem to me to have any legal sanction + whatever if I were not there to add my blessing. Only let me + know which day "early in June" it is to be, that I may make + ready. Deniston will fetch us on, and by a special piece of good + luck, a man in Chicago--whose name I shall always bless if only + I can remember what it is--has been instigated by our mutual + good angel to want him on business just about that time; so that + he would have to go West anyway, and would rather have me along + than not, and is perfectly resigned to his fate. I mean to come + three days before, and stay three days after the wedding, if I + may, and altogether it is going to be a lark of larks. Little + Rose can talk quite fluently now, and almost read; that is, she + knows six letters of her picture alphabet. She composes poems + also. The other day she suddenly announced,-- + + "Mamma, I have made up a sort of a im. May I say it to you?" + + I naturally consented, and this was the + + + IM. + + Jump in the parlor, + Jump in the hall, + God made us all! + + + Now did you ever hear of anything quite so dear as that, for a + baby only three years and five months old? I tell you she is a + wonder. You will all adore her, Clover particularly. Oh, my dear + little C.! To think I am going to see her! + + I met both Ellen Gray and Esther Dearborn the other day, and + where do you think it was? At Mary Silver's wedding! Yes, she is + actually married to the Rev. Charles Playfair Strothers, and + settled in a little parsonage somewhere in the Hoosac + Tunnel,--or near it,--and already immersed in "duties." I can't + think what arguments he used to screw her up to the rash act; + but there she is. + + It wasn't exactly what one would call a cheerful wedding. All + the connection took it very seriously; and Mary's uncle, who + married her, preached quite a lengthy funeral discourse to the + young couple, and got them nicely ready for death, burial, and + the next world, before he would consent to unite them for this. + He was a solemn-looking old person, who had been a missionary, + and "had laid away three dear wives in foreign lands," as he + confided to me afterward over a plate of ice-cream. He seemed + to me to be "taking notice," as they say of babies, and it is + barely possible that he mistook me for a single woman, for his + attentions were rather pronounced till I introduced my husband + prominently into conversation; after that he seemed more + attracted by Ellen Gray. + + Mary cried straight through the ceremony. In fact, I imagine she + cried straight through the engagement, for her eyes looked wept + out and had scarlet rims, and she was as white as her veil. In + fact, whiter, for that was made of beautiful _point de Venise_, + and was just a trifle yellowish. Everybody cried. Her mother and + sister sobbed aloud, so did several maiden aunts and a + grandmother or two and a few cousins. The church resounded with + guggles and gasps, like a great deal of bath-water running out + of an ill-constructed tub. Mr. Silver also wept, as a business + man may, in a series of sniffs interspersed with silk + handkerchief; you know the kind. Altogether it was a most + cheerless affair. I seemed to be the only person present who was + not in tears; but I really didn't see anything to cry about, so + far as I was concerned, though I felt very hard-hearted. + + I had to go alone, for Deniston was in New York. I got to the + church rather early, and my new spring bonnet--which is a + superior one--seemed to impress the ushers, so they put me in a + very distinguished front pew all by myself. I bore my honors + meekly, and found them quite agreeable, in fact,--you know I + always did like to be made much of,--so you can imagine my + disgust when presently three of the stoutest ladies you ever saw + came sailing up the aisle, and prepared to invade _my_ pew. + + "Please move up, Madam," said the fattest of all, who wore a + wonderful yellow hat. + + But I was not "raised" at Hillsover for nothing, and remembering + the success of our little ruse on the railroad train long ago, I + stepped out into the aisle, and with my sweetest smile made room + for them to pass. + + "Perhaps I would better keep the seat next the door," I murmured + to the yellow lady, "in case an attack should come on." + + "An attack!" she repeated in an accent of alarm. She whispered + to the others. All three eyed me suspiciously, while I stood + looking as pensive and suffering as I could. Then after + confabulating together for a little, they all swept into the + seat behind mine, and I heard them speculating in low tones as + to whether it was epilepsy or catalepsy or convulsions that I + was subject to. I presume they made signs to all the other + people who came in to steer clear of the lady with fits, for + nobody invaded my privacy, and I sat in lonely splendor with a + pew to myself, and was very comfortable indeed. + + Mary's dress was white satin, with a great deal of point lace + and pearl passementerie, and she wore a pair of diamond + ear-rings which her father gave her, and a bouquet almost but + not quite as large, which was the gift of the bridegroom. He has + a nice face, and I think Silvery Mary will be happy with him, + much happier than with her rather dismal family, though his + salary is only fifteen hundred a year, and pearl passementerie, + I believe, quite unknown and useless in the Hoosac region. She + had loads of the most beautiful presents you ever saw. All the + Silvers are rolling in riches, you know. One little thing made + me laugh, for it was so like her. When the clergyman said, + "Mary, wilt thou take this man to be thy wedded husband?" I + distinctly saw her put her fingers over her mouth in the old, + frightened way. It was only for a second, and after that I + rather think Mr. Strothers held her hand tight for fear she + might do it again. She sent her love to you, Katy. What sort of + a gown are _you_ going to have, by the way? + + I have kept my best news to the last, which is that Deniston has + at last given way, and we are to move into town in October. We + have taken a little house in West Cedar Street. It is quite + small and very dingy and I presume inconvenient, but I already + love it to distraction, and feel as if I should sit up all night + for the first month to enjoy the sensation of being no longer + that horrid thing, a resident of the suburbs. I hunt the paper + shops and collect samples of odd and occult pattern, and compare + them with carpets, and am altogether in my element, only longing + for the time to come when I may put together my pots and pans + and betake me across the mill-dam. Meantime, Roslein is living + in a state of quarantine. She is not permitted to speak with any + other children, or even to look out of window at one, for fear + she may contract some sort of contagious disease, and spoil our + beautiful visit to Burnet. She sends you a kiss, and so do I; + and mother and Sylvia and Deniston and grandmamma, particularly, + desire their love. + + + Your loving + + ROSE RED. + +"Oh," cried Clover, catching Katy round the waist, and waltzing wildly +about the room, "what a delicious letter! What fun we are going to have! +It seems too good to be true. Tum-ti-ti, tum-ti-ti. Keep step, Katy. I +forgive you for the first time for getting married. I never did before, +really and truly. Tum-ti-ti; I am so happy that I must dance!" + +"There go my letters," said Katy, as with the last rapid twirl, Rose's +many-sheeted epistle and the "Advice to Brides" flew to right and left. +"There go two of your hair-pins, Clover. Oh, do stop; we shall all be in +pieces." + +Clover brought her gyrations to a close by landing her unwilling partner +suddenly on the sofa. Then with a last squeeze and a rapid kiss she began +to pick up the scattered letters. + +"Now read the rest," she commanded, "though anything else will sound flat +after Rose's." + +"Hear this first," said Elsie, who had taken advantage of the pause to +open her own letter. "It is from Cecy, and she says she is coming to spend +a month with her mother on purpose to be here for Katy's wedding. She +sends heaps of love to you, Katy, and says she only hopes that Mr. +Worthington will prove as perfectly satisfactory in all respects as her +own dear Sylvester." + +"My gracious, I should hope he would," put in Clover, who was still in the +wildest spirits. "What a dear old goose Cecy is! I never hankered in the +least for Sylvester Slack, did you, Katy?" + +"Certainly not. It would be a most improper proceeding if I had," replied +Katy, with a laugh. "Whom do you think this letter is from, girls? Do +listen to it. It's written by that nice old Mr. Allen Beach, whom we met +in London. Don't you recollect my telling you about him?" + + MY DEAR MISS CARR,--Our friends in Harley Street have told me a + piece of news concerning you which came to them lately in a + letter from Mrs. Ashe, and I hope you will permit me to offer + you my most sincere congratulations and good wishes. I recollect + meeting Lieutenant Worthington when he was here two years ago, + and liking him very much. One is always glad in a foreign land + to be able to show so good a specimen of one's young countrymen + as he affords,--not that England need be counted as a foreign + country by any American, and least of all by myself, who have + found it a true home for so many years. + + As a little souvenir of our week of sight-seeing together, of + which I retain most agreeable remembrances, I have sent you by + my friends the Sawyers, who sail for America shortly, a copy of + Hare's "Walks in London," which a young _protégée_ of mine has + for the past year been illustrating with photographs of the many + curious old buildings described. You took so much interest in + them while here that I hope you may like to see them again. Will + you please accept with it my most cordial wishes for your + future, and believe me + + + Very faithfully your friend, + ALLEN BEACH. + +"What a nice letter!" said Clover. + +"Isn't it?" replied Katy, with shining eyes, "what a thing it is to be a +gentleman, and to know how to say and do things in the right way! I am so +surprised and pleased that Mr. Beach should remember me. I never supposed +he would, he sees so many people in London all the time, and it is quite a +long time since we were there, nearly two years. Was your letter from Miss +Inches, John?" + +"Yes, and Mamma Marian sends you her love; and there's a present coming by +express for you,--some sort of a book with a hard name. I can scarcely +make it out, the Ru--ru--something of Omar Kay--y--Well, anyway it's a +book, and she hopes you will read Emerson's 'Essay on Friendship' over +before you are married, because it's a helpful utterance, and adjusts the +mind to mutual conditions." + +"Worse than 1 Timothy, ii. 11," muttered Clover. "Well, Katy dear, what +next? What _are_ you laughing at?" + +"You will never guess, I am sure. This is a letter from Miss Jane! And she +has made me this pincushion!" + +The pincushion was of a familiar type, two circles of pasteboard covered +with gray silk, neatly over-handed together, and stuck with a row of +closely fitting pins. Miss Jane's note ran as follows:-- + + HILLSOVER, April 21. + + + DEAR KATY,--I hear from Mrs. Nipson that you are to be married + shortly, and I want to say that you have my best wishes for your + future. I think a man ought to be happy who has you for a wife. + I only hope the one you have chosen is worthy of you. Probably + he isn't, but perhaps you won't find it out. Life is a knotty + problem for most of us. May you solve it satisfactorily to + yourself and others! I have nothing to send but my good wishes + and a few pins. They are not an unlucky present, I believe, as + scissors are said to be. + + Remember me to your sister, and believe me to be with true + regard, + + + Yours, JANE A. BANGS. + +"Dear me, is that her name?" cried Clover. "I always supposed she was +baptized 'Miss Jane.' It never occurred to me that she had any other +title. What appropriate initials! How she used to J.A.B. with us!" + +"Now, Clovy, that's not kind. It's a very nice note indeed, and I am +touched by it. It's a beautiful compliment to say that the man ought to be +happy who has got me, I think. I never supposed that Miss Jane could pay a +compliment." + +"Or make a joke! That touch about the scissors is really jocose,--for Miss +Jane. Rose Red will shriek over the letter and that particularly rigid +pincushion. They are both of them so exactly like her. Dear me! only one +letter left. Who is that from, Katy? How fast one does eat up one's +pleasures!" + +"But you had a letter yourself. Surely papa said so. What was that? You +haven't read it to us." + +"No, for it contains a secret which you are not to hear just yet," replied +Clover. "Brides mustn't ask questions. Go on with yours." + +"Mine is from Louisa Agnew,--quite a long one, too. It's an age since we +heard from her, you know." + + ASHBURN, April 24. + + + DEAR KATY,--Your delightful letter and invitation came day + before yesterday, and thank you for both. There is nothing in + the world that would please me better than to come to your + wedding if it were possible, but it simply isn't. If you lived + in New Haven now, or even Boston,--but Burnet is so dreadfully + far off, it seems as inaccessible as Kamchatka to a person who, + like myself, has a house to keep and two babies to take care of. + + Don't look so alarmed. The house is the same house you saw when + you were here, and so is one of the babies; the other is a new + acquisition just two years old, and as great a darling as Daisy + was at the same age. My mother has been really better in health + since he came, but just now she is at a sort of Rest Cure in + Kentucky; and I have my hands full with papa and the children, + as you can imagine, so I can't go off two days' journey to a + wedding,--not even to yours, my dearest old Katy. I shall think + about you all day long on _the_ day, when I know which it is, + and try to imagine just how everything looks; and yet I don't + find that quite easy, for somehow I fancy that your wedding will + be a little different from the common run. You always were + different from other people to me, you know,--you and + Clover,--and I love you so much, and I always shall. + + Papa has taken a kit-kat portrait of me in oils,--and a blue + dress,--which he thinks is like, and which I am going to send + you as soon as it comes home from the framers. I hope you will + like it a little for my sake. Dear Katy, I send so much love + with it. + + I have only seen the Pages in the street since they came home + from Europe; but the last piece of news here is Lilly's + engagement to Comte Ernest de Conflans. He has something to do + with the French legation in Washington, I believe; and they + crossed in the same steamer. I saw him driving with her the + other day,--a little man, not handsome, and very dark. I do not + know when they are to be married. Your Cousin Clarence is in + Colorado. + + With two kisses apiece and a great hug for you, Katy, I am + always + + + Your affectionate friend, + LOUISA. + +"Dear me!" said the insatiable Clover, "is that the very last? I wish we +had another mail, and twelve more letters coming in at once. What a +blessed institution the post-office is!" + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE FIRST WEDDING IN THE FAMILY. + + +The great job of the cake-making over, a sense of leisure settled on the +house. There seemed nothing left to be done which need put any one out of +his or her way particularly. Katy had among her other qualities a great +deal of what is called "forehandedness." To leave things to be attended to +at the last moment in a flurry and a hurry would have been intolerable to +her. She firmly believed in the doctrine of a certain wise man of our own +day who says that to push your work before you is easy enough, but to pull +it after you is very hard indeed. + +All that winter, without saying much about it,--for Katy did not "do her +thinking outside her head,"--she had been gradually making ready for the +great event of the spring. Little by little, a touch here and a touch +there, matters had been put in train, and the result now appeared in a +surprising ease of mind and absence of confusion. The house had received +its spring cleaning a fortnight earlier than usual, and was in fair, nice +order, with freshly-beaten carpets and newly-washed curtains. Katy's +dresses were ordered betimes, and had come home, been tried on, and folded +away ten days before the wedding. They were not many in number, but all +were pretty and in good taste, for the frigate was to be in Bar Harbor and +Newport for a part of the summer, and Katy wanted to do Ned credit, and +look well in his eyes and those of his friends. + +All the arrangements, kept studiously simple, were beautifully +systematized; and their very simplicity made them easy to carry out. The +guest chambers were completely ready, one or two extra helpers were +engaged that the servants might not be overworked, the order of every meal +for the three busiest days was settled and written down. Each of the +younger sisters had some special charge committed to her. Elsie was to +wait on Cousin Helen, and see that she and her nurse had everything they +wanted. Clover was to care for the two Roses; Johnnie to oversee the table +arrangements, and make sure that all was right in that direction. Dear +little Amy was indefatigable as a doer of errands, and her quick feet were +at everybody's service to "save steps." Cecy arrived, and haunted the +house all day long, anxious to be of use to somebody; Mrs. Ashe put her +time at their disposal; there was such a superabundance of helpers, in +fact, that no one could feel over taxed. And Katy, while still serving as +main spring to the whole, had plenty of time to write her notes, open her +wedding presents, and enjoy her friends in a leisurely, unfatigued fashion +which was a standing wonderment to Cecy, whose own wedding had been of the +onerous sort, and had worn her to skin and bone. + +"I am only just beginning to recover from it now," she remarked +plaintively, "and there you sit, Katy, looking as fresh as a rose; not +tired a bit, and never seeming to have anything on your mind. I can't +think how you do it. I never was at a wedding before where everybody was +not perfectly worn out." + +"You never were at such a simple wedding before," explained Katy. "I'm not +ambitious, you see. I want to keep things pretty much as they are every +day, only with a little more of everything because of there being more +people to provide for. If I were attempting to make it a beautiful, +picturesque wedding, we should get as tired as anybody, I have no doubt." + +Katy's gifts were numerous enough to satisfy even Clover, and comprised +all manner of things, from a silver tray which came, with a rather stiff +note, from Mrs. Page and Lilly, to Mary's new flour-scoop, Debby's sifter, +and a bottle of home-made hair tonic from an old woman in the "County +Home." Each of the brothers and sisters had made her something, Katy +having expressed a preference for presents of home manufacture. Mrs. Ashe +gave her a beautiful sapphire ring, and Cecy Hall--as they still called +her inadvertently half the time--an elaborate sofa-pillow embroidered by +herself. Katy liked all her gifts, both large and small, both for what +they were and for what they meant, and took a good healthy, hearty +satisfaction in the fact that so many people cared for her, and had worked +to give her a pleasure. + +Cousin Helen was the first guest to arrive, five days before the wedding. +When Dr. Carr, who had gone to Buffalo to meet and escort her down, lifted +her from the carriage and carried her indoors, all of them could easily +have fancied that it was the first visit happening over again, for she +looked exactly as she did then, and scarcely a day older. She happened to +have on a soft gray travelling dress too, much like that which she wore on +the previous occasion, which made the illusion more complete. + +But there was no illusion to Cousin Helen herself. Everything to her +seemed changed and quite different. The ten years which had passed so +lightly over her head had made a vast alteration in the cousins whom she +remembered as children. The older ones were grown up, the younger ones in +a fair way to be so; even Phil, who had been in white frocks with curls +falling over his shoulders at the time of her former visit to Burnet, was +now fifteen and as tall as his father. He was very slight in build, and +looked delicate, she thought; but Katy assured her that he was perfectly +well, and thin only because he had outgrown his strength. + +It was one of the delightful results of Katy's "forehandedness" that she +could command time during those next two days to thoroughly enjoy Cousin +Helen. She sat beside her sofa for hours at a time, holding her hand and +talking with a freedom of confidence such as she could have shown to no +one else, except perhaps to Clover. She had the feeling that in so doing +she was rendering account to a sort of visible conscience of all the +events, the mistakes, the successes, the glad and the sorry of the long +interval that had passed since they met. It was a pleasure and relief to +her; and to Cousin Helen the recital was of equal interest, for though she +knew the main facts by letter, there was a satisfaction in collecting the +little details which seldom get fully put into letters. + +One subject only Katy touched rather guardedly; and that was Ned. She was +so desirous that her cousin should approve of him, and so anxious not to +raise her expectations and have her disappointed, that she would not half +say how very nice she herself thought him to be. But Cousin Helen could +"read between the lines," and out of Katy's very reserve she constructed +an idea of Ned which satisfied her pretty well. + +So the two happy days passed, and on the third arrived the other anxiously +expected guests, Rose Red and little Rose. + +They came early in the morning, when no one was particularly looking for +them, which made it all the pleasanter. Clover was on the porch twisting +the honeysuckle tendrils upon the trellis when the carriage drove up to +the gate, and Rose's sunny face popped out of the window. Clover +recognized her at once, and with a shriek which brought all the others +downstairs, flew down the path, and had little Rose in her arms before any +one else could get there. + +"You see before you a deserted wife," was Rose's first salutation. +"Deniston has just dumped us on the wharf, and gone on to Chicago in that +abominable boat, leaving me to your tender mercies. O Business, Business! +what crimes are committed in thy name, as Madame Roland would say!" + +"Never mind Deniston," cried Clover, with a rapturous squeeze. "Let us +play that he doesn't exist, for a little while. We have got you now, and +we mean to keep you." + +"How pleasant you look!" said Rose, glancing up the locust walk toward the +house, which wore a most inviting and hospitable air, with doors and +windows wide open, and the soft wind fluttering the vines and the white +curtains. "Ah, there comes Katy now." She ran forward to meet her while +Clover followed with little Rose. + +"Let me det down, pease," said that young lady,--the first remark she had +made. "I tan walk all by myself. I am not a baby any more." + +"_Will_ you hear her talk?" cried Katy, catching her up. "Isn't it +wonderful? Rosebud, who am I, do you think?" + +"My Aunt Taty, I dess, betause you is so big. Is you mawwied yet?" + +"No, indeed. Did you think I would get 'mawwied' without you? I have been +waiting for you and mamma to come and help me." + +"Well, we is here," in a tone of immense satisfaction. "Now you tan." + +The larger Rose meanwhile was making acquaintance with the others. She +needed no introductions, but seemed to know by instinct which was each boy +and each girl, and to fit the right names to them all. In five minutes she +seemed as much at home as though she had spent her life in Burnet. They +bore her into the house in a sort of triumph, and upstairs to the blue +bedroom, which Katy and Clover had vacated for her; and such a hubbub of +talk and laughter presently issued therefrom that Cousin Helen, on the +other side the entry, asked Jane to set her door open that she might enjoy +the sounds,--they were so merry. + +Rose's bright, rather high-pitched voice was easily distinguishable above +the rest. She was evidently relating some experience of her journey, with +an occasional splash by way of accompaniment, which suggested that she +might be washing her hands. + +"Yes, she really has grown awfully pretty; and she had on the loveliest +dark-brown suit you ever saw, with a fawn-colored hat, and was altogether +dazzling; and, do you know, I was really quite glad to see her. I can't +imagine why, but I was! I didn't stay glad long, however." + +"Why not? What did she do?" This in Clover's voice. + +"Well, she didn't do anything, but she was distant and disagreeable. I +scarcely observed it at first, I was so pleased to see one of the old +Hillsover girls; and I went on being very cordial. Then Lilly tried to put +me down by running over a list of her fine acquaintances, Lady this, and +the Marquis of that,--people whom she and her mother had known abroad. It +made me think of my old autograph book with Antonio de Vallombrosa, and +the rest. Do you remember?" + +"Of course we do. Well, go on." + +"At last she said something about Comte Ernest de Conflans,--I had heard +of him, perhaps? He crossed in the steamer with 'Mamma and me,' it seems; +and we have seen a great deal of him. This appeared a good opportunity to +show that I too have relations with the nobility, so I said yes, I had met +him in Boston, and my sister had seen a good deal of him in Washington +last winter. + +"'And what did she think of him?' demanded Lilly. + +"'Well,' said I, 'she didn't seem to think a great deal about him. She +says all the young men at the French legation seem more than usually +foolish, but Comte Ernest is the worst of the lot. He really _does_ look +like an absolute fool, you know,' I added pleasantly. Now, girls, what was +there in that to make her angry? Can you tell? She grew scarlet, and +glared as if she wanted to bite my head off; and then she turned her back +and would scarcely speak to me again. Does she always behave that way when +the aristocracy is lightly spoken of?" + +"Oh, Rose,--oh, Rose," cried Clover, in fits of laughter, "did you really +tell her that?" + +"I really did. Why shouldn't I? Is there any reason in particular?" + +"Only that she is engaged to him," replied Katy, in an extinguished voice. + +"Good gracious! No wonder she scowled! This is really dreadful. But then +why did she look so black when she asked where we were going, and I said +to your wedding? That didn't seem to please her any more than my little +remarks about the nobility." + +"I don't pretend to understand Lilly," said Katy, temperately; "she is an +odd girl." + +"I suppose an odd girl can't be expected to have an even temper," +remarked Rose, apparently speaking with a hairpin in her mouth. "Well, +I've done for myself, that is evident. I need never expect any notice in +future from the Comtesse de Conflans." + +Cousin Helen heard no more, but presently steps sounded outside her door, +and Katy looked in to ask if she were dressed, and if she might bring Rose +in, a request which was gladly granted. It was a pretty sight to see Rose +with Cousin Helen. She knew all about her already from Clover and Katy, +and fell at once under the gentle spell which seemed always to surround +that invalid sofa, begged leave to say "Cousin Helen" as the others did, +and was altogether at her best and sweetest when with her, full of +merriment, but full too of a deference and sympathy which made her +particularly charming. + +"I never did see anything so lovely in all my life before," she told +Clover in confidence. "To watch her lying there looking so radiant and so +peaceful and so interested in Katy's affairs, and never once seeming to +remember that except for that accident she too would have been a bride +and had a wedding! It's perfectly wonderful! Do you suppose she is never +sorry for herself? She seems the merriest of us all." + +"I don't think she remembers herself often enough to be sorry. She is +always thinking of some one else, it seems to me." + +"Well, I am glad to have seen her," added Rose, in a more serious tone +than was usual to her. "She and grandmamma are of a different order of +beings from the rest of the world. I don't wonder you and Katy always were +so good; you ought to be with such a Cousin Helen." + +"I don't think we were as good as you make us out, but Cousin Helen has +really been one of the strong influences of our lives. She was the making +of Katy, when she had that long illness; and Katy has made the rest of +us." + +Little Rose from the first moment became the delight of the household, and +especially of Amy Ashe, who could not do enough for her, and took her off +her mother's hands so entirely that Rose complained that she seemed to +have lost her child as well as her husband. She was a sedate little +maiden, and wonderfully wise for her years. Already, in some ways she +seemed older than her erratic little mother, of whom, in a droll fashion, +she assumed a sort of charge. She was a born housewife. + +"Mamma, you have fordotten your wings," Clover would hear her saying. +"Mamma, you has a wip in your seeve, you must mend it," or "Mamma, don't +fordet dat your teys is in the top dwawer,"--all these reminders and +advices being made particularly comical by the baby pronunciation. Rose's +theory was that little Rose was a messenger from heaven sent to buffet her +and correct her mistakes. + +"The bane and the antidote," she would say. "Think of my having a child +with powers of ratiocination!" + +Rose came down the night of her arrival after a long, freshening nap, +looking rested and bonny in a pretty blue dress, and saying that as +little Rose too had taken a good sleep, she might sit up to tea if the +family liked. The family were only too pleased to have her do so. After +tea Rose carried her off, ostensibly to go to bed, but Clover heard a +great deal of confabulating and giggling in the hall and on the stairs, +and soon after, Rose returned, the door-bell rang loudly, and there +entered an astonishing vision,--little Rose, costumed as a Cupid or a +carrier-pigeon, no one knew exactly which, with a pair of large white +wings fastened on her shoulders, and dragging behind her by a loop of +ribbon a sizeable basket quite full of parcels. + +Straight toward Katy she went, and with her small hands behind her back +and her blue eyes fixed full on Katy's face, repeated with the utmost +solemnity the following "poem:" + + "I'm a messender, you see, + Fwom Hymen's Expwess Tumpany. + All these little bundles are + For my Aunty Taty Tarr; + If she knows wot's dood for her + She will tiss the messender." + + +[Illustration: + + + "I'm a messender, you see, + Fwom Hymen's Expwess Tumpany."] + + +"You sweet thing!" cried Katy, "tissing the messender" with all her heart. +"I never heard such a dear little poem. Did you write it yourself, +Roslein?" + +"No. Mamma wote it, but she teached it to me so I tould say it." + +The bundles of course contained wedding gifts. Rose seemed to have brought +her trunk full of them. There were a pretty pair of salt-cellars from Mrs. +Redding, a charming paper-knife of silver, with an antique coin set in the +handle, from Sylvia, a hand-mirror mounted in brass from Esther Dearborn, +a long towel with fringed and embroidered ends from Ellen Gray, and from +dear old Mrs. Redding a beautiful lace-pin set with a moonstone. Next came +a little _repoussé_ pitcher marked, "With love from Mary Silver," then a +parcel tied with pink ribbons, containing a card-case of Japanese leather, +which was little Rose's gift, and last of all Rose's own present, a +delightful case full of ivory brushes and combs. Altogether never was such +a satisfactory "fardel" brought by Hymen's or any other express company +before; and in opening the packages, reading the notes that came with them +and exclaiming and admiring, time flew so fast that Rose quite forgot the +hour, till little Rose, growing sleepy, reminded her of it by saying,-- + +"Mamma, I dess I'd better do to bed now, betause if I don't I shall be too +seepy to turn to Aunt Taty's wedding to-mowwow." + +"Dear me!" cried Rose, catching the child up. "This is simply dreadful! +what a mother I am! Things _are_ come to a pass indeed, if babes and +sucklings have to ask to be put to bed. Baby, you ought to have been +christened Nathan the Wise." + +She disappeared with Roslein's drowsy eyes looking over her shoulder. + +Next afternoon came Ned, and with him, to Katy's surprise and pleasure, +appeared the good old commodore who had played such a kind part in their +affairs in Italy the year before. It was a great compliment that he should +think it worth while to come so far to see one of his junior officers +married; and it showed so much real regard for Ned that everybody was +delighted. These guests were quartered with Mrs. Ashe, but they took most +of their meals with the Carrs; and it was arranged that they, with Polly +and Amy, should come to an early breakfast on the marriage morning. + +After Ned's arrival things did seem to grow a little fuller and busier, +for he naturally wanted Katy to himself, and she was too preoccupied to +keep her calm grasp on events; still all went smoothly, and Rose declared +that there never was such a wedding since the world was made,--no tears, +no worries, nobody looking tired, nothing disagreeable! + +Clover's one great subject of concern was the fear that it might rain. +There was a little haze about the sunset the night before, and she +expressed her intention to Cousin Helen of lying awake all night to see +how things looked. + +"I really feel as if I could not bear it if it should storm," she said, +"after all this fine weather too; and I know I shall not sleep a wink, +anyway." + +"I think we can trust God to take care of the weather even on Katy's +wedding-day," replied Cousin Helen, gently. + +And after all it was she who lay awake. Pain had made her a restless +sleeper, and as her bed commanded the great arch of western sky, she saw +the moon, a sharp-curved silver shape, descend and disappear a little +before midnight. She roused again when all was still, solemn darkness +except for a spangle of stars, and later, opened her eyes in time to catch +the faint rose flush of dawn reflected from the east. She raised herself +on her elbow to watch the light grow. + +"It is a fair day for the child," she whispered to herself. "How good God +is!" Then she slept again for a long, restful space, and woke refreshed, +so that Katy's secret fear that Cousin Helen might be ill from excitement, +and not able to come to her wedding, was not realized. + +Clover, meantime, had slept soundly all night. She and Katy shared the +same room, and waked almost at the same moment. It was early still; but +the sisters felt bright and rested and ready for work, so they rose at +once. + +They dressed in silence, after a little whispered rejoicing over the +beautiful morning, and in silence took their Bibles and sat down side by +side to read the daily portion which was their habit. Then hand in hand +they stole downstairs, disturbing nobody, softly opened doors and windows, +carried bowls and jars out on the porch, and proceeded to arrange a great +basket full of roses which had been brought the night before, and set in +the dew-cool shade of the willows to keep fresh. + +Before breakfast all the house had put on festal airs. Summer had come +early to Burnet that year; every garden was in bud and blossom, and every +one who had flowers had sent their best to grace Katy's wedding. The whole +world seemed full of delicious smells. Each table and chimney-piece bore a +fragrant load; a great bowl of Jacqueminots stood in the middle of the +breakfast-table, and two large jars of the same on the porch, where Clover +had arranged various seats and cushions that it might serve as a sort of +outdoor parlor. + +Nobody who came to that early breakfast ever forgot its peace and +pleasantness and the sweet atmosphere of affection which seemed to pervade +everything about it. After breakfast came family prayers as usual, Dr. +Carr reading the chapter, and the dear old commodore joining with a hearty +nautical voice in,-- + + "Awake my soul! and with the sun," + +which was a favorite hymn with all of them. Ned shared Katy's book, and +his face and hers alone would have been breakfast enough for the company +if everything else had failed, as Rose remarked to Clover in a whisper, +though nobody found any fault with the more substantial fare which Debby +had sent in previously. Somehow this little mutual service of prayer and +praise seemed to fit in with the spirit of the day, and give it its +keynote. + +"It's just the sweetest wedding," Mrs. Ashe told her brother. "And the +wonderful thing is that everything comes so naturally. Katy is precisely +her usual self,--only a little more so." + +"I'm under great obligations to Amy for having that fever," was Ned's +somewhat indirect answer; but his sister understood what he meant. + +Breakfast over, the guests discreetly removed themselves; and the whole +family joined in resetting the table for the luncheon, which was to be at +two, Katy and Ned departing in the boat at four. It was a simple but +abundant repast, with plenty of delicious home-cooked food,--oysters and +salads and cold chicken; fresh salmon from Lake Superior; a big Virginia +ham baked to perfection, red and translucent to its savory centre; hot +coffee, and quantities of Debby's perfect rolls. There were strawberries, +also, and ice-cream, and the best of home-made cake and jellies, and +everywhere vases of fresh roses to perfume the feast. When all was +arranged, there was still time for Katy to make Cousin Helen a visit, and +then go to her room for a quiet rest before dressing; and still that same +unhurried air pervaded the house. + +There had been a little discussion the night before as to just how the +bride should make her appearance at the decisive moment; but Katy had +settled it by saying simply that she should come downstairs, and Ned could +meet her at the foot of the staircase. + +"It is the simplest way," she said; "and you know I don't want any fuss. I +will just come down." + +"I dare say she's right," remarked Rose; "but it seems to me to require a +great deal of courage." + +And after all, it didn't. The simple and natural way of doing a thing +generally turns out the easiest. Clover helped Katy to put on the +wedding-gown of soft crape and creamy white silk. It was trimmed with old +lace and knots of ribbon, and Katy wore with it two or three white roses +which Ned had brought her, and a pearl pendant which was his gift. Then +Clover had to go downstairs to receive the guests, and see that Cousin +Helen's sofa was put in the right place; and Rose, who remained behind, +had the pleasure of arranging Katy's veil. The yellow-white of the old +blonde was very becoming, and altogether, the effect, though not +"stylish," was very sweet. Katy was a little pale, but otherwise exactly +like her usual self, with no tremors or self-consciousness. + +Presently little Rose came up with a message. + +"Aunty Tover says dat Dr. Tone has tum, and everything is weddy, and you'd +better tum down," she announced. + +Katy gave Rose a last kiss, and went down the hall. But little Rose was so +fascinated by the appearance of the white dress and veil that she kept +fast hold of Katy's hand, disregarding her mother's suggestion that she +should slip down the back staircase, as she herself proposed to do. + +"No, I want to do with my Aunt Taty," she persisted. + +So it chanced that Katy came downstairs with pretty little Rose clinging +to her like a sort of impromptu bridesmaid; and meeting Ned's eyes as he +stood at the foot waiting for her, she forgot herself, lost the little +sense of shyness which was creeping over her, and responded to his look +with a tender, brilliant smile. The light from the hall-door caught her +face and figure just then, the color flashed into her cheeks; and she +looked like a beautiful, happy picture of a bride, and all by +accident,--which was the best thing about it; for pre-arranged effects are +not always effective, and are apt to betray their pre-arrangement. + +Then Katy took Ned's arm, little Rose let go her hand, and they went into +the parlor and were married. + +Dr. Stone had an old-fashioned and very solemn wedding service which he +was accustomed to use on such occasions. He generally spoke of the bride +as "Thy handmaiden," which was a form that Clover particularly +deprecated. He had also been known to advert to the world where there is +neither marrying nor giving in marriage as a great improvement on this, +which seemed, to say the least, an unfortunate allusion under the +circumstances. But upon this occasion his feelings were warmed and +touched, and he called Katy "My dear child," which was much better than +"Thy handmaiden." + +When the ceremony was over, Ned kissed Katy, and her father kissed her, +and the girls and Dorry and Phil; and then, without waiting for any one +else, she left her place and went straight to where Cousin Helen lay on +her sofa, watching the scene with those clear, tender eyes in which no +shadow of past regrets could be detected. Katy knelt down beside her, and +they exchanged a long, silent embrace. There was no need for words between +hearts which knew each other so well. + +After that for a little while all was congratulations and good wishes. I +think no bride ever carried more hearty good-will into her new life than +did my Katy. All sorts of people took Ned off into corners to tell him +privately what a fortunate person he was in winning such a wife. Each +fresh confidence of this sort was a fresh delight to him, he so thoroughly +agreed with it. + +"She's a prize, sir!--she's a prize!" old Mr. Worrett kept repeating, +shaking Ned's hand with each repetition. Mrs. Worrett had not been able to +come. She never left home now on account of the prevailing weakness of +carryalls; but she sent Katy her best love and a gorgeous broom made of +the tails of her own peacocks. + +"Aren't you sorry you are not going to stay and have a nice time with us +all, and help eat up the rest of the cake?" demanded Clover, as she put +her head into the carriage for a last kiss, two hours later. + +"Very!" said Katy; but she didn't look sorry at all. + +"There's one comfort," Clover remarked valiantly, as she walked back to +the house with her arm round Rose's waist. "She's coming back in +December, when the ship sails, and as likely as not she will stay a year, +or perhaps two. That's what I like about the navy. You can eat your cake, +and have it too. Husbands go off for good long times, and leave their +wives behind them. I think it's delightful!" + +"I wonder if Katy will think it quite so delightful," remarked Rose. +"Girls are not always so anxious to ship their husbands off for what you +call 'good long times.'" + +"I think she ought. It seems to me perfectly unnatural that any one should +want to leave her own family and go away for always. I like Ned dearly, +but except for this blessed arrangement about going to sea, I don't see +how Katy could." + +"Clover, you are a goose. You'll be wiser one of these days, see if you +aren't," was Rose's only reply. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +TWO LONG YEARS IN ONE SHORT CHAPTER. + + +Katy's absence left a sad blank in the household. Every one missed her, +but nobody so much as Clover, who all her life long had been her +room-mate, confidante, and intimate friend. + +It was a great help that Rose was there for the first three lonely days. +Dulness and sadness were impossible with that vivacious little person at +hand; and so long as she stayed, Clover had small leisure to be mournful. +Rose was so bright and merry and affectionate that Elsie and John were +almost as much in love with her as Clover herself, and sat and sunned +themselves in her warmth, so to speak, all day long, while Phil and Dorry +fairly quarrelled as to which should have the pleasure of doing little +services for her and Baby Rose. + +If she could have remained the summer through, all would have seemed easy; +but that of course was impossible. Mr. Browne appeared with a provoking +punctuality on the morning of the fourth day, prepared to carry his family +away with him. He spent one night at Dr. Carr's, and they all liked him +very much. No one could help it, he was so cordial and friendly and +pleasant. Still, for all her liking, Clover could have found it in her +heart to quite detest him as the final moment drew near. + +"Let him go home without you," she urged coaxingly. "Stay with us all +summer,--you and little Rose! He can come back in September to fetch you, +and it would be so delightful to us." + +"My dear, I couldn't live without Deniston till September," said the +disappointing Rose. "It may not show itself to a casual observer, but I am +really quite foolish about Deniston. I shouldn't be happy away from him at +all. He's the only husband I've got,--a 'poor thing, but mine own,' as +the 'immortal William' puts it." + +"Oh, dear," groaned Clover. "That is the way that Katy is going to talk +about Ned, I suppose. Matrimony is the most aggravating condition of +things for outsiders that was ever invented. I wish nobody _had_ invented +it. Here it would be so nice for us to have you stay, and the moment that +provoking husband of yours appears, you can't think of any one else." + +"Too true--much too true. Now, Clovy, don't embitter our last moments with +reproaches. It's hard enough to leave you as it is, when I've just found +you again after all these years. I've had the most beautiful visit that +ever was, and you've all been awfully dear and nice. 'Kiss me quick and +let me go,' as the song says. I only wish Burnet was next door to West +Cedar Street!" + +Next day Mr. Browne sailed away with his "handful of Roses," as Elsie +sentimentally termed them (and indeed, Rose by herself would have been a +handful for almost any man); and Clover, like Lord Ullin, was "left +lamenting." Cousin Helen remained, however; and it was not till she too +departed, a week later, that Clover fully recognized what it meant to have +Katy married. Then indeed she could have found it in her heart to emulate +Eugénie de la Ferronayes, and shed tears over all the little inanimate +objects which her sister had left behind,--the worn-out gloves, the old +dressing slippers in the shoe-bag. But dear me, we get used to everything, +and it is fortunate that we do! Life is too full, and hearts too flexible, +and really sad things too sad, for the survival of sentimental regrets +over changes which do not involve real loss and the wide separation of +death. In time, Clover learned to live without Katy, and to be cheerful +still. + +Her cheerfulness was greatly helped by the letters which came regularly, +and showed how contented Katy herself was. She and Ned were having a +beautiful time, first in New York, and making visits near it, then in +Portsmouth and Portland, when the frigate moved on to these harbors, and +in Newport, which was full and gay and amusing to the last degree. Later, +in August, the letters came from Bar Harbor, where Katy had followed, in +company with the commodore's wife, who seemed as nice as her husband; and +Clover heard of all manner of delightful doings,--sails, excursions, +receptions on board ship, and long moonlight paddles with Ned, who was an +expert canoeist. Everybody was so wonderfully kind, Katy said; but Ned +wrote to his sister that Katy was a great favorite; every one liked her, +and his particular friends were all raging wildly round in quest of girls +just like her to marry. "But it's no use; for, as I tell them," he added, +"that sort isn't made in batches. There is only one Katy; and happily she +belongs to me, and the other fellows must get along as they can." + +This was all satisfactory and comforting; and Clover could endure a little +loneliness herself so long as her beloved Katy seemed so happy. She was +very busy besides, and there _were_ compensations, as she admitted to +herself. She liked the consequence of being at the head of domestic +affairs, and succeeding to Katy's position as papa's special +daughter,--the person to whom he came for all he wanted, and to whom he +told his little secrets. She and Elsie became more intimate than they had +ever been before; and Elsie in her turn enjoyed being Clover's lieutenant +as Clover had been Katy's. So the summer did not seem long to any of them; +and when September was once past, and they could begin to say, "month +after next," the time sped much faster. + +"Mrs. Hall asked me this morning when the Worthingtons were coming," said +Johnnie, one day. "It seems so funny to have Katy spoken of as 'the +Worthingtons.'" + +"I only wish the Worthingtons would write and say when," remarked Clover. +"It is more than a week since we heard from them." + +The next day brought the wished-for letter, and the good news that Ned had +a fortnight's leave, and meant to bring Katy home the middle of November, +and stay for Thanksgiving. After that the "Natchitoches" was to sail for +an eighteen months' cruise to China and Japan; and then Ned would probably +have two years ashore at the Torpedo Station or Naval Academy or +somewhere, and they would start a little home for themselves. + +"Meantime," wrote Katy, "I am coming to spend a year and a half with you, +if urged. Don't all speak at once, and don't mind saying so, if you don't +want me." + +The bitter drop in this pleasant intelligence--there generally is one, you +know--was that the fortnight of Ned's stay was to be spent at Mrs. Ashe's. +"It's her only chance to see Ned," said Katy; "so I know you won't mind, +for afterward you will have me for such a long visit." + +But they _did_ mind very much! + +"I don't think it's fair," cried Johnnie, hotly, while Clover and Elsie +exchanged disgusted looks; "Katy belongs to us." + +"Katy belongs to her husband, on the contrary," said Dr. Carr, +overhearing her; "you must learn that lesson once for all, children. +There's no escape from the melancholy fact; and it's quite right and +natural that Ned should wish to go to his sister, and she should want to +have him." + +"Ned! yes. But Katy--" + +"My dear, Katy _is_ Ned," answered Dr. Carr, with a twinkle. Then noticing +the extremely unconvinced expression of Johnnie's face, he added more +seriously, "Don't be cross, children, and spoil all Katy's pleasure in +coming home, with your foolish jealousies. Clover, I trust to you to take +these young mutineers in hand and make them listen to reason." + +Thus appealed to, Clover rallied her powers, and while laboring to bring +Elsie and John to a proper frame of mind, schooled herself as well, so as +to be able to treat Mrs. Ashe amiably when they met. Dear, unconscious +Polly meanwhile was devising all sorts of pleasant and hospitable plans +designed to make Ned's stay a sort of continuous fête to everybody. She +put on no airs over the preference shown her, and was altogether so kind +and friendly and sweet that no one could quarrel with her even in thought, +and Johnnie herself had to forgive her, and be contented with a little +whispered grumble to Dorry now and then over the inconvenience of +possessing "people-in-law." + +And then Katy came, the same Katy, only, as Clover thought, nicer, +brighter, dearer, and certainly better-looking than ever. Sea air had +tanned her a little, but the brown was becoming; and she had gained an +ease and polish of manner which her sisters admired very much. And after +all, it seemed to make little difference at which house they stayed, for +they were in and out of both all day long; and Mrs. Ashe threw her doors +open to the Carrs and wanted some or all of them for every meal, so that +except for the name of the thing, it was almost as satisfactory to have +Katy over the way as occupying her old quarters. + +The fortnight sped only too rapidly. Ned departed, and Katy settled +herself in the familiar corner to wait till he should come back again. +Navy wives have to learn the hard lesson of patience in the long +separations entailed by their husbands' profession. Katy missed Ned +sorely, but she was too unselfish to mope, or to let the others know how +hard to bear his loss seemed to her. She never told any one how she lay +awake in stormy nights, or when the wind blew,--and it seemed to blow +oftener than usual that winter,--imagining the frigate in a gale, and +whispering little prayers for Ned's safety. Then her good sense would come +back, and remind her that wind in Burnet did not necessarily mean wind in +Shanghai or Yokohama or wherever the "Natchitoches" might be; and she +would put herself to sleep with the repetition of that lovely verse of +Keble's "Evening Hymn," left out in most of the collections, but which was +particularly dear to her:-- + + "Thou Ruler of the light and dark, + Guide through the tempest Thine own Ark; + Amid the howling, wintry sea, + We are in port if we have Thee." + +So the winter passed, and the spring; and another summer came and went, +with little change to the quiet Burnet household, and Katy's brief life +with her husband began to seem dreamy and unreal, it lay so far behind. +And then, with the beginning of the second winter came a new anxiety. + +Phil, as we said in the last chapter, had grown too fast to be very +strong, and was the most delicate of the family in looks and health, +though full of spirit and fun. Going out to skate with some other boys the +week before Christmas, on a pond which was not so securely frozen as it +looked, the ice gave way; and though no one was drowned, the whole party +had a drenching, and were thoroughly chilled. None of the others minded it +much, but the exposure had a serious effect on Phil. He caught a bad cold +which rapidly increased into pneumonia; and Christmas Day, usually such a +bright one in the Carr household, was overshadowed by anxious forebodings, +for Phil was seriously ill, and the doctor felt by no means sure how +things would turn with him. The sisters nursed him devotedly, and by +March he was out again; but he did not get _well_ or lose the persistent +little cough, which kept him thin and weak. Dr. Carr tried this remedy and +that, but nothing seemed to do much good; and Katy thought that her father +looked graver and more anxious every time that he tested Phil's +temperature or listened at his chest. + +"It's not serious yet," he told her in private; "but I don't like the look +of things. The boy is just at a turning-point. Any little thing might set +him one way or the other. I wish I could send him away from this damp lake +climate." + +But sending a half-sick boy away is not such an easy thing, nor was it +quite clear where he ought to go. So matters drifted along for another +month, and then Phil settled the question for himself by having a slight +hemorrhage. It was evident that something must be done, and speedily--but +what? Dr. Carr wrote to various medical acquaintances, and in reply +pamphlets and letters poured in, each designed to prove that the +particular part of the country to which the pamphlet or the letter +referred was the only one to which it was at all worth while to consign an +invalid with delicate lungs. One recommended Florida, another Georgia, a +third South Carolina; a fourth and fifth recommended cold instead of heat, +and an open air life with the mercury at zero. It was hard to decide what +was best. + +"He ought not to go off alone either," said the puzzled father. "He is +neither old enough nor wise enough to manage by himself, but who to send +with him is the puzzle. It doubles the expense, too." + +"Perhaps I--" began Katy, but her father cut her short with a gesture. + +"No, Katy, I couldn't permit that. Your husband is due in a few weeks now. +You must be free to go to him wherever he is, not hampered with the care +of a sick brother. Besides, whoever takes charge of Phil must be prepared +for a long absence,--at least a year. It must be either Clover or myself; +and as it seems out of the question that I shall drop my practice for a +year, Clover is the person." + +"Phil is seventeen now," suggested Katy. "That is not so very young." + +"No, not if he were in full health. Plenty of boys no older than he have +gone out West by themselves, and fared perfectly well. But in Phil's +condition that would never answer. He has a tendency to be low-spirited +about himself too, and he needs incessant care and watchfulness." + +"Out West," repeated Katy. "Have you decided, then?" + +"Yes. The letter I had yesterday from Hope, makes me pretty sure that St. +Helen's is the best place we have heard of." + +"St. Helen's! Where is that?" + +"It is one of the new health-resorts in Colorado which has lately come +into notice for consumptives. It's very high up; nearly or quite six +thousand feet, and the air is said to be something remarkable." + +"Clover will manage beautifully, I think; she is such a sensible little +thing," said Katy. + +"She seems to me, and he too, about as fit to go off two thousand miles by +themselves as the Babes in the Wood," remarked Dr. Carr, who, like many +other fathers, found it hard to realize that his children had outgrown +their childhood. "However, there's no help for it. If I don't stay and +grind away at the mill, there is no one to pay for this long journey. +Clover will have to do her best." + +"And a very good best it will be you'll see," said Katy, consolingly. +"Does Dr. Hope tell you anything about the place?" she added, turning over +the letter which her father had handed her. + +"Oh, he says the scenery is fine, and the mean rain-fall is this, and the +mean precipitation that, and that boarding-places can be had. That is +pretty much all. So far as climate goes, it is the right place, but I +presume the accommodations are poor enough. The children must go prepared +to rough it. The town was only settled ten or eleven years ago; there +hasn't been time to make things comfortable," remarked Dr. Carr, with a +truly Eastern ignorance of the rapid way in which things march in the far +West. + +Clover's feelings when the decision was announced to her it would be hard +to explain in full. She was both confused and exhilarated by the sudden +weight of responsibility laid upon her. To leave everybody and everything +she had always been used to, and go away to such a distance alone with +Phil, made her gasp with a sense of dismay, while at the same time the +idea that for the first time in her life she was trusted with something +really important, roused her energies, and made her feel braced and +valiant, like a soldier to whom some difficult enterprise is intrusted on +the day of battle. + +Many consultations followed as to what the travellers should carry with +them, by what route they would best go, and how prepare for the journey. A +great deal of contradictory advice was offered, as is usually the case +when people are starting on a voyage or a long railway ride. One friend +wrote to recommend that they should provide themselves with a week's +provisions in advance, and enclosed a list of crackers, jam, potted meats, +tea, fruit, and hardware, which would have made a heavy load for a donkey +or mule to carry. How were poor Clover and Phil to transport such a weight +of things? Another advised against umbrellas and water-proof cloaks,--what +was the use of such things where it never rained?--while a second letter, +received the same day, assured them that thunder and hail storms were +things for which travellers in Colorado must live in a state of continual +preparation. "Who shall decide when doctors disagree?" In the end Clover +concluded that it was best to follow the leadings of commonsense and +rational precaution, do about a quarter of what people advised, and leave +the rest undone; and she found that this worked very well. + +As they knew so little of the resources of St. Helen's, and there was such +a strong impression prevailing in the family as to its being a rough sort +of newly-settled place, Clover and Katy judged it wise to pack a large +box of stores to go out by freight: oatmeal and arrowroot and beef-extract +and Albert biscuits,--things which Philly ought to have, and which in a +wild region might be hard to come by. Debby filled all the corners with +home-made dainties of various sorts; and Clover, besides a spirit-lamp and +a tea-pot, put into her trunks various small decorations,--Japanese fans +and pictures, photographs, a vase or two, books and a sofa-pillow,--things +which took little room, and which she thought would make their quarters +look more comfortable in case they were very bare and unfurnished. People +felt sorry for the probable hardships the brother and sister were to +undergo; and they had as many little gifts and notes of sympathy and +counsel as Katy herself when she was starting for Europe. + +But I am anticipating. Before the trunks were packed, Dr. Carr's anxieties +about his "Babes in the Wood" were greatly allayed by a visit from Mrs. +Hall. She came to tell him that she had heard of a possible "matron" for +Clover. + +"I am not acquainted with the lady myself," she said; "but my cousin, who +writes about her, knows her quite well, and says she is a highly +respectable person, and belongs to nice people. Her sister, or some one, +married a Phillips of Boston, and I've always heard that that family was +one of the best there. She's had some malarial trouble, and is at the West +now on account of it, staying with a friend in Omaha; but she wants to +spend the summer at St. Helen's. And as I know you have worried a good +deal over having Clover and Phil go off by themselves, I thought it might +be a comfort to you to hear of this Mrs. Watson." + +"You are very good. If she proves to be the right sort of person, it +_will_ be an immense comfort. Do you know when she wants to start?" + +"About the end of May,--just the right time, you see. She could join +Clover and Philip as they go through, which will work nicely for them +all." + +"So it will. Well, this is quite a relief. Please write to your cousin, +Mrs. Hall, and make the arrangement. I don't want Mrs. Watson to be +burdened with any real care of the children, of course; but if she can +arrange to go along with them, and give Clover a word of advice now and +then, should she need it, I shall be easier in my mind about them." + +Clover was only doubtfully grateful when she heard of this arrangement. + +"Papa always will persist in thinking that I am a baby still," she said to +Katy, drawing her little figure up to look as tall as possible. "I am +twenty-two, I would have him remember. How do we know what this Mrs. +Watson is like? She may be the most disagreeable person in the world for +all papa can tell." + +"I really can't find it in my heart to be sorry that it has happened, papa +looks so much relieved by it," Katy rejoined. + +But all dissatisfactions and worries and misgivings took wings and flew +away when, just ten days before the travellers were to start, a new and +delightful change was made in the programme. Ned telegraphed that the +ship, instead of coming to New York, was ordered to San Francisco to +refit, and he wanted Katy to join him there early in June, prepared to +spend the summer; while almost simultaneously came a letter from Mrs. +Ashe, who with Amy had been staying a couple of months in New York, to say +that hearing of Ned's plan had decided her also to take a trip to +California with some friends who had previously asked her to join them. +These friends were, it seemed, the Daytons of Albany. Mr. Dayton was a +railroad magnate, and had the control of a private car in which the party +were to travel; and Mrs. Ashe was authorized to invite Katy, and Clover +and Phil also, to go along with them,--the former all the way to +California, and the others as far as Denver, where the roads separated. + +This was truly delightful. Such an offer was surely worth a few days' +delay. The plan seemed to settle itself all in one minute. Mrs. Watson, +whom every one now regretted as a complication, was the only difficulty; +but a couple of telegrams settled that perplexity, and it was arranged +that she should join them on the same train, though in a different car. To +have Katy as a fellow-traveller, and Mrs. Ashe and Amy, made a different +thing of the long journey, and Clover proceeded with her preparations in +jubilant spirits. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +CAR FORTY-SEVEN. + + +It is they who stay behind who suffer most from leave-takings. Those who +go have the continual change of scenes and impressions to help them to +forget; those who remain must bear as best they may the dull heavy sense +of loss and separation. + +The parting at Burnet was not a cheerful one. Clover was oppressed with +the nearness of untried responsibilities; and though she kept up a brave +face, she was inwardly homesick. Phil slept badly the night before the +start, and looked so wan and thin as he stood on the steamer's deck beside +his sisters, waving good-by to the party on the wharf, that a new and +sharp thrill of anxiety shot through his father's heart. The boy looked so +young and helpless to be sent away ill among strangers, and round-faced +little Clover seemed such a fragile support! There was no help for it. The +thing was decided on, decided for the best, as they all hoped; but Dr. +Carr was not at all happy in his mind as he watched the steamer become a +gradually lessening speck in the distance, and he sighed heavily when at +last he turned away. + +Elsie echoed the sigh. She, too, had noticed Phil's looks and papa's +gravity, and her heart felt heavy within her. The house, when they reached +it, seemed lonely and empty. Papa went at once to his office, and they +heard him lock the door. This was such an unusual proceeding in the middle +of the morning that she and Johnnie opened wide eyes of dismay at each +other. + +"Is papa crying, do you suppose?" whispered John. + +"No, I don't think it can be _that_. Papa never does cry; but I'm afraid +he's feeling badly," responded Elsie, in the same hushed tone. "Oh, dear, +how horrid it is not even to have Clover at home! What _are_ we going to +do without her and Katy?" + +"I don't know I'm sure. You can't think how queer I feel, Elsie,--just as +if my heart had slipped out of its place, and was going down, down into my +boots. I think it must be the way people feel when they are homesick. I +had it once before when I was at Inches Mills, but never since then. How I +wish Philly had never gone to skate on that nasty pond!" and John burst +into a passion of tears. + +"Oh, don't, don't!" cried poor Elsie, for Johnnie's sobs were infectious, +and she felt an ominous lump coming into her own throat, "don't behave so, +Johnnie. Think if papa came out, and found us crying! Clover particularly +said that we must make the house bright for him. I'm going to sow the +mignonette seed [desperately]; come and help me. The trowel is on the back +porch, and you might get Dorry's jack-knife and cut some little sticks to +mark the places." + +This expedient was successful. Johnnie, who loved to "whittle" above all +things, dried her tears, and ran for her shade hat; and by the time the +tiny brown seeds were sprinkled into the brown earth of the borders, both +the girls were themselves again. Dr. Carr appeared from his retirement +half an hour later. A note had come for him meanwhile, but somehow no one +had quite liked to knock at the door and deliver it. + +Elsie handed it to him now, with a timid, anxious look, whose import +seemed to strike him, for he laughed a little, and pinched her cheek as he +read. + +"I've been writing to Dr. Hope about the children," he said; "that's all. +Don't wait dinner for me, chicks. I'm off for the Corners to see a boy +who's had a fall, and I'll get a bite there. Order something good for tea, +Elsie; and afterward we'll have a game of cribbage if I'm not called out. +We must be as jolly as we can, or Clover will scold us when she comes +back." + +Meanwhile the three travellers were faring through the first stage of +their journey very comfortably. The fresh air and change brightened Phil; +he ate a good dinner, and afterward took quite a long nap on a sofa, +Clover sitting by to keep him covered and see that he did not get cold. +Late in the evening they changed to the express train, and there again, +Phil, after being tucked up behind the curtains of his section, went to +sleep and passed a satisfactory night, so that he reached Chicago looking +so much better than when they left Burnet that his father's heart would +have been lightened could he have seen him. + +Mrs. Ashe came down to the station to meet them, together with Mr. +Dayton,--a kind, friendly man with a tired but particularly pleasant face. +All the necessary transfer of baggage, etc., was made easy, and they were +carried off at once to the hotel where rooms had been secured. There they +were rapturously received by Amy, and introduced to Mrs. Dayton, a sweet, +spirited little matron, with a face as kindly as her husband's, but not so +worn. Mr. Dayton looked as if for years he had been bearing the whole +weight of a railroad on his shoulders, as in one sense it may be said that +he had. + +"We have been here almost a whole day," said Amy, who had taken +possession, as a matter of course, of her old perch on Katy's knee. +"Chicago is the biggest place you ever saw, Tanta; but it isn't so pretty +as Burnet. And oh! don't you think Car Forty-seven is nice,--the one we +are going out West in, you know? And this morning Mr. Dayton took us to +see it. It's the cunningest place that ever was. There's one dear little +drawer in the wall that Mrs. Dayton says I may have to keep Mabel's things +in. I never saw a drawer in a car before. There's a lovely little bedroom +too, and such a nice washing-basin, and a kitchen, and all sorts of +things. I can hardly wait till I show them to you. Don't you think that +travelling is the most delightful thing in the world, Miss Clover?" + +"Yes--if only--people--don't get too tired," said Clover, with an anxious +glance at Phil, as he lay back in an easy-chair. She did not dare say, +"if Phil doesn't get too tired," for she had already discovered that +nothing annoyed him so much as being talked about as an invalid, and that +he was very apt to revenge himself by doing something imprudent +immediately afterward, to disguise from an observant world the fact that +he couldn't do it without running a risk. Like most boys, he resented +being "fussed over,"--a fact which made the care of him more difficult +than it would otherwise have been. + +The room which had been taken for Clover and Katy looked out on the lake, +which was not far away; and the reach of blue water would have made a +pretty view if trains of cars had not continually steamed between it and +the hotel, staining the sky and blurring the prospect with their smokes. +Katy wondered how it happened that the early settlers who laid out Chicago +had not bethought themselves to secure this fine water frontage as an +ornament to the future city; but Mr. Dayton explained that in the rapid +growth of Western towns, things arranged themselves rather than were +arranged for, and that the first pioneers had other things to think about +than what a New Englander would call "sightliness,"--and Katy could easily +believe this to be true. + +Car Forty-seven was on the track when they drove to the station at noon +next day. It was the end car of a long express train, which, Mr. Dayton +told them, is considered the place of honor, and generally assigned to +private cars. It was of an old-fashioned pattern, and did not compare, as +they were informed, with the palaces on wheels built nowadays for the use +of railroad presidents and directors. But though Katy heard of cars with +French beds, plunge baths, open fireplaces, and other incredible luxuries, +Car Forty-seven still seemed to her inexperienced eyes and Clover's a +marvel of comfort and convenience. + +A small kitchen, a store closet, and a sort of baggage-room, fitted with +berths for two servants, occupied the end of the car nearest the engine. +Then came a dressing-closet, with ample marble basins where hot water as +well as cold was always on tap; then a wide state-room, with a bed on +either side, and then a large compartment occupying the middle of the car, +where by day four nice little dining-tables could be set, with a seat on +either side, and by night six sleeping sections made up. The rest of the +car was arranged as a sitting-room, glassed all around, and furnished with +comfortable seats of various kinds, a writing-desk, two or three tables of +different sizes, and various small lockers and receptacles, fitted into +the partitions to serve as catch-alls for loose articles of all sorts. + +Bunches of lovely roses and baskets of strawberries stood on the tables; +and quite a number of the Daytons' friends had come down to see them off, +each bringing some sort of good-by gift for the travellers,--flowers, +hothouse grapes, early cherries, or home-made cake. They were all so +cordial and pleasant and so interested in Phil, that Katy and Clover lost +their hearts to each in turn, and forever afterward were ready to stand +up for Chicago as the kindest place that ever was seen. + +Then amid farewells and good wishes the train moved slowly out of the +station, and the inmates of Car Forty-seven proceeded to "go to +housekeeping," as Mrs. Dayton expressed it, and to settle themselves and +their belongings in these new quarters. Mrs. Ashe and Amy, it was decided, +should occupy the state-room, and the other ladies were to dress there +when it was convenient. Sections were assigned to everybody,--Clover's +opposite Phil's so that she might hear him if he needed anything in the +night; and Mr. Dayton called for all the bonnets and hats, and amid much +laughter proceeded to pin up each in thick folds of newspaper, and fasten +it on a hook not to be taken down till the end of the journey. Mabel's +feathered turban took its turn with the rest, at Amy's particular request. +Dust was the main thing to be guarded against, and Katy, having been duly +forewarned, had gone out in the morning, and bought for herself and Clover +soft hats of whity-gray felt and veils of the same color, like those +which Mrs. Dayton and Polly had provided for the journey, and which had +the advantage of being light as well as unspoilable. + +But there was no dust that first morning, as the train ran smoothly across +the fertile prairies of Illinois first, and then of Iowa, between fields +dazzling with the fresh green of wheat and rye, and waysides studded with +such wild-flowers as none of them had ever seen or dreamed of before. Pink +spikes and white and vivid blue spikes; masses of brown and orange cups, +like low-growing tulips; ranks of beautiful vetches and purple lupines; +escholtzias, like immense sweeps of golden sunlight; wild sweet peas; +trumpet-shaped blossoms whose name no one knew,--all flung broadcast over +the face of the land, and in such stintless quantities that it dazzled the +mind to think of as it did the eyes to behold them. The low-lying horizons +looked infinitely far off; the sense of space was confusing. Here and +there appeared a home-stead, backed with a "break-wind" of thickly-planted +trees; but the general impression was of vast, still distance, endless +reaches of sky, and uncounted flowers growing for their own pleasure and +with no regard for human observation. + +In studying Car Forty-seven, Katy was much impressed by the thoroughness +of Mrs. Dayton's preparations for the comfort of her party. Everything +that could possibly be needed seemed to have been thought of,--pins, +cologne, sewing materials, all sorts of softening washes for the skin, to +be used on the alkaline plains, sponges to wet and fasten into the crown +of hats, other sponges to breathe through, medicines of various kinds, +sticking-plaster, witch-hazel and arnica, whisk brooms, piles of magazines +and novels, telegraph blanks, stationery. Nothing seemed forgotten. Clover +said that it reminded her of the mother of the Swiss Family Robinson and +that wonderful bag out of which everything was produced that could be +thought of, from a grand piano to a bottle of pickles; and after that +"Mrs. Robinson" became Mrs. Dayton's pet name among her +fellow-travellers. She adopted it cheerfully; and her "wonderful bag" +proving quite as unfailing and trustworthy as that of her prototype, the +title seemed justified. + +Pretty soon after starting came their first dinner on the car. Such a nice +one!--soup, roast chicken and lamb, green peas, new potatoes, stewed +tomato; all as hot and as perfectly served as if they had been "on dry +land," as Amy phrased it. There was fresh curly lettuce too, with +mayonnaise dressing, and a dessert of strawberries and ice-cream,--the +latter made and frozen on the car, whose resources seemed inexhaustible. +The cook had been attached to Car Forty-seven for some years, and had a +celebrity on his own road for the preparation of certain dishes, which no +one else could do as well, however many markets and refrigerators and +kitchen ranges might be at command. One of these dishes was a peculiar +form of cracked wheat, made crisp and savory after some mysterious +fashion, and eaten with thick cream. Like most _chefs_, the cook liked to +do the things in which he excelled, and finding that it was admired, he +gave the party this delicious wheat every morning. + + "The car seems paved with bottles of Apollinaris and with + lemons," wrote Katy to her father. "There seems no limit to the + supply. Just as surely as it grows warm and dusty, and we begin + to remember that we are thirsty, a tinkle is heard, and Bayard + appears with a tray,--iced lemonade, if you please, made with + Apollinaris water with strawberries floating on top! What do you + think of that at thirty miles an hour? Bayard is the colored + butler. The cook is named Roland. We have a fine flavor of peers + and paladins among us, you perceive. + + "The first day out was cool and delicious, and we had no dust. + At six o'clock we stopped at a junction, and our car was + detached and run off on a siding. This was because Mr. Dayton + had business in the place, and we were to wait and be taken on + by the next express train soon after midnight. At first they ran + us down to a pretty place by the side of the river, where it was + cool, and we could look out on the water and a green bank + opposite, and we thought we were going to have such a nice + night; but the authorities changed their minds, and presently + to our deep disgust a locomotive came puffing down the road, + clawed us up, ran us back, and finally left us in the middle of + innumerable tracks and switches just where all the freight + trains came in and met. All night long they were arriving and + going out. Cars loaded with cattle, cars loaded with sheep, with + pigs! Such bleatings and mooings and gruntings, I never heard in + all my life before. I could think of nothing but that verse in + the Psalms, 'Strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round,' and + could only hope that the poor animals did not feel half as badly + as they sounded. + + "Then long before light, as we lay listening to these lamentable + roarings and grunts, and quite unable to sleep for heat and + noise, came the blessed express, and presently we were away out + of all the din, with the fresh air of the prairie blowing in; + and in no time at all we were so sound asleep that it seemed but + a minute before morning. Phil's slumbers lasted so long that we + had to breakfast without him, for Mrs. Dayton would not let us + wake him up. You can't think how kind she is, and Mr. Dayton + too; and this way of travelling is so easy and delightful that + it scarcely seems to tire one at all. Phil has borne the journey + wonderfully well so far." + +At Omaha, on the evening of the second day, Clover's future "matron" and +adviser, Mrs. Watson, was to join them. She had been telegraphed to from +Chicago, and had replied, so that they knew she was expecting them. +Clover's thoughts were so occupied with curiosity as to what she would +turn out to be, that she scarcely realized that she was crossing the +Mississippi for the first time, and she gave scant attention to the low +bluffs which bound the river, and on which the Indians used to hold their +councils in those dim days when there was still an "undiscovered West" set +down in geographies and atlases. + +As soon as they reached the Omaha side of the river, she and Katy jumped +down from the car, and immediately found themselves face to face with an +anxious-looking little old lady, with white hair frizzled and banged over +a puckered forehead, and a pair of watery blue eyes peering from beneath, +evidently in search of somebody. Her hands were quite full of bags and +parcels, and a little heap of similar articles lay on the platform near +her, of which she seemed afraid to lose sight for a moment. + +"Oh, is it Miss Carr?" was her first salutation. "I'm Mrs. Watson. I +thought it might be you, from the fact that you got out of that car, and +it seems rather different--I am quite relieved to see you. I didn't know +but something--My daughter she said to me as I was coming away, 'Now, +Mother, don't lose yourself, whatever you do. It seems quite wild to think +of you in Canyon this and Canyon that, and the Garden of the Gods! Do get +some one to keep an eye on you, or we shall never hear of you again. +You'll--' It's quite a comfort that you have got here. I supposed you +would, but the uncertainty--Oh, dear! that man is carrying off my trunks. +Please run after him and tell him to bring them back!" + +"It's all right; he's the porter," explained Mr. Dayton. "Did you get your +checks for Denver or St. Helen's?" + +"Oh, I haven't any checks yet. I didn't know which it ought to be, so I +waited till--Miss Carr and her brother would see to it for me I knew, and +I wrote my daughter--My friend, Mrs. Peters,--I've been staying with her, +you know,--was sick in bed, and I wouldn't let--Dear me! what has that +gentleman gone off for in such a hurry?" + +"He has gone to get your checks," said Clover, divided between diversion +and dismay at this specimen of her future "matron." "We only stay here a +few minutes, I believe. Do you know exactly when the train starts, Mrs. +Watson?" + +"No, dear, I don't. I never know anything about trains and things like +that. Somebody always has to tell me, and put me on the cars. I shall +trust to you and your brother to do that now. It's a great comfort to have +a gentleman to see to things for you." + +A gentleman! Poor Philly! + +Mr. Dayton now came back to them. It was lucky that he knew the station +and was used to the ways of railroads, for it appeared that Mrs. Watson +had made no arrangements whatever for her journey, but had blindly +devolved the care of herself and her belongings on her "young friends," as +she called Clover and Phil. She had no sleeping section secured and no +tickets, and they had to be procured at the last moment and in such a +scramble that the last of her parcels was handed on to the platform by a +porter, at full run, after the train was in motion. She was not at all +flurried by the commotion, though others were, and blandly repeated that +she knew from the beginning that all would be right as soon as Miss Carr +and her brother arrived. + +Mrs. Dayton had sent a courteous invitation to the old lady to come to Car +Forty-seven for tea, but Mrs. Watson did not at all like being left alone +meantime, and held fast to Clover when the others moved to go. + +"I'm used to being a good deal looked after," she explained. "All the +family know my ways, and they never do let me be alone much. I'm taken +faint sometimes; and the doctor says it's my heart or something that's +the cause of it, so my daughter she--You ain't going, my dear, are you?" + +"I must look after my brother," said poor Clover; "he's been ill, you +know, and this is the time for his medicine." + +"Dear me! is he ill?" said Mrs. Watson, in an aggrieved tone. "I wasn't +prepared for that. You'll have your hands pretty full with him and me +both, won't you?--for though I'm well enough just now, there's no knowing +what a day may bring forth, and you're all I have to depend upon. You're +sure you must go? It seems as if your sister--Mrs. Worthing, is that the +name?--might see to the medicine, and give you a little freedom. Don't let +your brother be too exacting, dear. It is the worst thing for a young man. +I'll sit here a little while, and then I'll--The conductor will help me, I +suppose, or perhaps that gentleman might--I hate to be left by myself." + +These were the last words which Clover heard as she escaped. She entered +Car Forty-seven with such a rueful and disgusted countenance that +everybody burst out laughing. + +"What is the matter, Miss Clover?" asked Mr. Dayton. "Has your old lady +left something after all?" + +"Don't call her _my_ old lady! I'm supposed to be her young lady, under +her charge," said Clover, trying to smile. But the moment she got Katy to +herself, she burst out with,-- + +"My dear, what _am_ I going to do? It's really too dreadful. Instead of +some one to help me, which is what papa meant, Mrs. Watson seems to depend +on me to take all the care of her; and she says she has fainting fits and +disease of the heart! How can I take care of her? Phil needs me all the +time, and a great deal more than she does; I don't see how I can." + +"You can't, of course. You are here to take care of Phil; and it is out of +the question that you should have another person to look after. But I +think you must mistake Mrs. Watson, Clovy. I know that Mrs. Hall wrote +plainly about Phil's illness, for she showed me the letter." + +"Just wait till you hear her talk," cried the exasperated Clover. "You +will find that I didn't mistake her at all. Oh, why did Mrs. Hall +interfere? It would all seem so easy in comparison--so perfectly easy--if +only Philly and I were alone together." + +Katy thought that Clover was fretted and disposed to exaggerate; but after +Mrs. Watson joined them a little later, she changed her opinion. The old +lady was an inveterate talker, and her habit of only half finishing her +sentences made it difficult to follow the meanderings of her rambling +discourse. It turned largely on her daughter, Mrs. Phillips, her husband, +children, house, furniture, habits, tastes, and the Phillips connection +generally. + +"She's the only one I've got," she informed Mrs. Dayton; "so of course +she's all-important to me. Jane Phillips--that's Henry's youngest +sister--often says that really of all the women she ever knew Ellen is the +most--And there's plenty to do always, of course, with three children and +such a large elegant house and company coming all the--It's lucky that +there's plenty to do with. Henry's very liberal. He likes to have things +nice, so Ellen she--Why, when I was packing up to come away he brought me +that _repoussé_ fruit-knife there in my bag--Oh, it's in my other bag! +Never mind; I'll show it to you some other time--solid silver, you know. +Bigelow and Kennard--their things always good, though expensive; and my +son-in-law he said, 'You're going to a fruit country, and--' Mrs. Peters +doesn't think there is so much fruit, though. All sent on from California, +as I wrote,--and I guess Ellen and Henry were surprised to hear it." + +Katy held serious counsel with herself that night as to what she should do +about this extraordinary "guide, philosopher, and friend" whom the Fates +had provided for Clover. She saw that her father, from very over-anxiety, +had made a mistake, and complicated Clover's inevitable cares with a most +undesirable companion, who would add to rather than relieve them. She +could not decide what was best to do; and in fact the time was short for +doing anything, for the next evening would bring them to Denver, and poor +Clover must be left to face the situation by herself as best she might. + +Katy finally concluded to write her father plainly how things stood, and +beg him to set Clover's mind quite at rest as to any responsibility for +Mrs. Watson, and also to have a talk with that lady herself, and explain +matters as clearly as she could. It seemed all that was in her power. + +Next day the party woke to a wonderful sense of lightness and exhilaration +which no one could account for till the conductor told them that the +apparently level plain over which they were speeding was more than four +thousand feet above the sea. It seemed impossible to believe it. Hour by +hour they climbed; but the climb was imperceptible. Now four thousand six +hundred feet of elevation was reported, now four thousand eight hundred, +at last above five thousand; and still there seemed about them nothing +but a vast expanse of flat levels,--the table-lands of Nebraska. There was +little that was beautiful in the landscape, which was principally made up +of wide reaches of sand, dotted with cactus and grease-wood and with the +droll cone-shaped burrows of the prairie-dogs, who could be seen gravely +sitting on the roofs of their houses, or turning sudden somersaults in at +the holes on top as the train whizzed by. They passed and repassed long +links of a broad shallow river which the maps showed to be the Platte, and +which seemed to be made of two-thirds sand to one-third water. Now and +again mounted horsemen appeared in the distance whom Mr. Dayton said were +"cow-boys;" but no cows were visible, and the rapidly moving figures were +neither as picturesque nor as formidable as they had expected them to be. + +Flowers were still abundant, and their splendid masses gave the charm of +color to the rather arid landscape. Soon after noon dim blue outlines came +into view, which grew rapidly bolder and more distinct, and revealed +themselves as the Rocky Mountains,--the "backbone of the American +Continent," of which we have all heard so much in geographies and the +newspapers. It was delightful, in spite of dust and glare, to sit with +that sweep of magnificent air rushing into their lungs, and watch the +great ranges grow and grow and deepen in hue, till they seemed close at +hand. To Katy they were like enchanted land. Somewhere on the other side +of them, on the dim Pacific coast, her husband was waiting for her to +come, and the wheels seemed to revolve with a regular rhythmic beat to the +cadence of the old Scotch song,-- + + "And will I see his face again; + And will I hear him speak?" + +But to Clover the wheels sang something less jubilant, and she studied the +mountains on her little travelling-map, and measured their distance from +Burnet with a sigh. They were the walls of what seemed to her a sort of +prison, as she realized that presently she should be left alone among +them, Katy and Polly gone, and these new friends whom she had learned to +like so much,--left alone with Phil and, what was worse, with Mrs. Watson! +There was a comic side to the latter situation, undoubtedly, but at the +moment she could not enjoy it. + +Katy carried out her intention. She made a long call on Mrs. Watson in her +section, and listened patiently to her bemoanings over the noise of the +car which had kept her from sleeping; the "lady in gray over there" who +had taken such a long time to dress in the morning that she--Mrs. +Watson--could not get into the toilet-room at the precise moment that she +wished; the newspaper boy who would not let her "just glance over" the +Denver "Republican" unless she bought and paid for it ("and I only wanted +to see the Washington news, my dear, and something about a tin wedding in +East Dedham. My mother came from there, and I recognized one of the names +and--But he took it away quite rudely; and when I complained, the +conductor wouldn't attend to what I--"); and the bad piece of beefsteak +which had been brought for her breakfast at the eating-station. Katy +soothed and comforted to the best of her ability, and then plunged into +her subject, explaining Phil's very delicate condition and the necessity +for constant watchfulness on the part of Clover, and saying most +distinctly and in the plainest of English that Mrs. Watson must not expect +Clover to take care of her too. The old lady was not in the least +offended; but her replies were so incoherent that Katy was not sure that +she understood the matter any better for the explanation. + +"Certainly, my dear, certainly. Your brother doesn't appear so very sick; +but he must be looked after, of course. Boys always ought to be. I'll +remind your sister if she seems to be forgetting anything. I hope I shall +keep well myself, so as not to be a worry to her. And we can take little +excursions together, I dare say--Girls always like to go, and of course an +older person--Oh, no, your brother won't need her so much as you think. He +seems pretty strong to me, and--You mustn't worry about them, Mrs. +Worthing--We shall all get on very well, I'm sure, provided I don't break +down, and I guess I sha'n't, though they say almost every one does in this +air. Why, we shall be as high up as the top of Mount Washington." + +Katy went back to Forty-seven in despair, to comfort herself with a long +confidential chat with Clover in which she exhorted her not to let herself +be imposed upon. + +"Be good to her, and make her as happy as you can, but don't feel bound to +wait on her, and run her errands. I am sure papa would not wish it; and it +will half kill you if you attempt it. Phil, till he gets stronger, is all +you can manage. You not only have to nurse him, you know, but to keep him +happy. It's so bad for him to mope. You want all your time to read with +him, and take walks and drives; that is, if there are any carriages at St. +Helen's. Don't let Mrs. Watson seize upon you, Clover. I'm awfully afraid +that she means to, and I can see that she is a real old woman of the sea. +Once she gets on your back you will never be able to throw her off." + +"She shall not get on my back," said Clover, straightening her small +figure; "but doesn't it seem _unnecessary_ that I should have an old woman +of the sea to grapple with as well as Phil?" + +"Provoking things are apt to seem unnecessary, I fancy. You mustn't let +yourself get worried, dear Clovy. The old lady means kindly enough, I +think, only she's naturally tiresome, and has become helpless from habit. +Be nice to her, but hold your own. Self-preservation is the first law of +Nature." + +Just at dusk the train reached Denver, and the dreaded moment of parting +came. There were kisses and tearful good-byes, but not much time was +allowed for either. The last glimpse that Clover had of Katy was as the +train moved away, when she put her head far out of the window of Car +Forty-seven to kiss her hand once more, and call back, in a tone oracular +and solemn enough to suit King Charles the First, his own admonitory word, +"Remember!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +ST. HELEN'S. + + +Never in her life had Clover felt so small and incompetent and so very, +very young as when the train with Car Forty-seven attached vanished from +sight, and left her on the platform of the Denver station with her two +companions. There they stood, Phil on one side tired and drooping, Mrs. +Watson on the other blinking anxiously about, both evidently depending on +her for guidance and direction. For one moment a sort of pale +consternation swept over her. Then the sense of the inevitable and the +nobler sense of responsibility came to her aid. She rallied herself; the +color returned to her cheeks, and she said bravely to Mrs. Watson,-- + +"Now, if you and Phil will just sit down on that settee over there and +make yourselves comfortable, I will find out about the trains for St. +Helen's, and where we had better go for the night." + +Mrs. Watson and Phil seated themselves accordingly, and Clover stood for a +moment considering what she should do. Outside was a wilderness of tracks +up and down which trains were puffing, in obedience, doubtless, to some +law understood by themselves, but which looked to the uninitiated like the +direst confusion. Inside the station the scene was equally confused. +Travellers just arrived and just going away were rushing in and out; +porters and baggage-agents with their hands full hurried to and fro. No +one seemed at leisure to answer a question or even to listen to one. + +Just then she caught sight of a shrewd, yet good-natured face looking at +her from the window of the ticket-office; and without hesitation she went +up to the enclosure. It was the ticket-agent whose eye she had caught. He +was at liberty at the moment, and his answers to her inquiries, though +brief, were polite and kind. People generally did soften to Clover. There +was such an odd and pretty contrast between her girlish appealing look and +her dignified little manner, like a child trying to be stately but only +succeeding in being primly sweet. + +The next train for St. Helen's left at nine in the morning, it seemed, and +the ticket-agent recommended the Sherman House as a hotel where they would +be very comfortable for the night. + +"The omnibus is just outside," he said encouragingly. "You'll find it a +first-class house,--best there is west of Chicago. From the East? Just so. +You've not seen our opera-house yet, I suppose. Denver folks are rather +proud of it. Biggest in the country except the new one in New York. Hope +you'll find time to visit it." + +"I should like to," said Clover; "but we are here for only one night. My +brother's been ill, and we are going directly on to St. Helen's. I'm very +much obliged to you." + +Her look of pretty honest gratitude seemed to touch the heart of the +ticket-man. He opened the door of his fastness, and came out--actually +came out!--and with a long shrill whistle summoned a porter whom he +addressed as, "Here, you Pat," and bade, "Take this lady's things, and put +them into the 'bus for the Sherman; look sharp now, and see that she's all +right." Then to Clover,-- + +"You'll find it very comfortable at the Sherman, Miss, and I hope you'll +have a good night. If you'll come to me in the morning, I'll explain about +the baggage transfer." + +Clover thanked this obliging being again, and rejoined her party, who were +patiently sitting where she had left them. + +"Dear me!" said Mrs. Watson as the omnibus rolled off, "I had no idea that +Denver was such a large place. Street cars too! Well, I declare!" + +"And what nice shops!" said Clover, equally surprised. + +Her ideas had been rather vague as to what was to be expected in the close +neighborhood of the Rocky Mountains; but she knew that Denver had only +existed a few years, and was prepared to find everything looking rough and +unfinished. + +"Why, they have restaurants here and jewellers' shops!" she cried. "Look, +Phil, what a nice grocery! We needn't have packed all those oatmeal +biscuits if only we had known. And electric lights! How wonderful! But of +course St. Helen's is quite different." + +Their amazement increased when they reached the hotel, and were taken in a +large dining-room to order dinner from a bill of fare which seemed to +include every known luxury, from Oregon salmon and Lake Superior +white-fish to frozen sherbets and California peaches and apricots. But +wonderment yielded to fatigue, and again as Clover fell asleep she was +conscious of a deep depression. What had she undertaken to do? How could +she do it? + +But a night of sound sleep followed by such a morning of unclouded +brilliance as is seldom seen east of Colorado banished these misgivings. +Courage rose under the stimulus of such air and sunshine. + +"I must just live for each day as it comes," said little Clover to +herself, "do my best as things turn up, keep Phil happy, and satisfy Mrs. +Watson,--if I can,--and not worry about to-morrows or yesterdays. That is +the only safe way, and I won't forget if I can help it." + +With these wise resolves she ran down stairs, looking so blithe and bright +that Phil cheered at the sight of her, and lost the long morning face he +had got up with, while even Mrs. Watson caught the contagion, and became +fairly hopeful and content. A little leaven of good-will and good heart in +one often avails to lighten the heaviness of many. + +The distance between Denver and St. Helen's is less than a hundred miles, +but as the railroad has to climb and cross a range of hills between two +and three thousand feet high, the journey occupies several hours. As the +train gradually rose higher and higher, the travellers began to get wide +views, first of the magnificent panorama of mountains which lies to the +northwest of Denver, sixty miles away, with Long's Peak in the middle, and +after crossing the crest of the "Divide," where a blue little lake rimmed +with wild-flowers sparkled in the sun, of the more southern ranges. After +a while they found themselves running parallel to a mountain chain of +strange and beautiful forms, green almost to the top, and intersected with +deep ravines and cliffs which the conductor informed them were "canyons." +They seemed quite near at hand, for their bases sank into low rounded +hills covered with woods, these melted into undulating table-lands, and +those again into a narrow strip of park-like plain across which ran the +track. Flowers innumerable grew on this plain, mixed with grass of a tawny +brown-green. There were cactuses, red and yellow, scarlet and white +gillias, tall spikes of yucca in full bloom, and masses of a superb white +poppy with an orange-brown centre, whose blue-green foliage was prickly +like that of the thistle. Here and there on the higher uplands appeared +strange rock shapes of red and pink and pale yellow, which looked like +castles with towers and pinnacles, or like primitive fortifications. +Clover thought it all strangely beautiful, but Mrs. Watson found fault +with it as "queer." + +"It looks unnatural, somehow," she objected; "not a bit like the East. Red +never was a favorite color of mine. Ellen had a magenta bonnet once, and +it always worried--But Henry liked it, so of course--People can't see +things the same way. Now the green hat she had winter before last +was--Don't you think those mountains are dreadfully bright and distinct? I +don't like such high-colored rocks. Even the green looks red, somehow. I +like soft, hazy mountains like Blue Hill and Wachusett. Ellen spent a +summer up at Princeton once. It was when little Cynthia had +diphtheria--she's named after me, you know, and Henry he thought--But I +don't like the staring kind like these; and somehow those buildings, which +the conductor says are not buildings but rocks, make my flesh creep." + +"They'd be scrumptious places to repel attacks of Indians from," observed +Phil; "two or three scouts with breech-loaders up on that scarlet wall +there could keep off a hundred Piutes." + +"I don't feel that way a bit," Clover was saying to Mrs. Watson. "I like +the color, it's so rich; and I think the mountains are perfectly +beautiful. If St. Helen's is like this I am going to like it, I know." + +St. Helen's, when they reached it, proved to be very much "like this," +only more so, as Phil remarked. The little settlement was built on a low +plateau facing the mountains, and here the plain narrowed, and the +beautiful range, seen through the clear atmosphere, seemed only a mile or +two away, though in reality it was eight or ten. To the east the plain +widened again into great upland sweeps like the Kentish Downs, with here +and there a belt of black woodland, and here and there a line of low +bluffs. Viewed from a height, with the cloud-shadows sweeping across it, +it had the extent and splendor of the sea, and looked very much like it. + +The town, seen from below, seemed a larger place than Clover had expected, +and again she felt the creeping, nervous feeling come over her. But before +the train had fairly stopped, a brisk, active little man jumped on board, +and walking into the car, began to look about him with keen, observant +eyes. After one sweeping glance, he came straight to where Clover was +collecting her bags and parcels, held out his hand, and said in a pleasant +voice, "I think this must be Miss Carr." + +"I am Dr. Hope," he went on; "your father telegraphed when you were to +leave Chicago, and I have come down to two or three trains in the hope of +meeting you." + +"Have you, indeed?" said Clover, with a rush of relief. "How very kind of +you! And so papa telegraphed! I never thought of that. Phil, here is Dr. +Hope, papa's friend; Dr. Hope, Mrs. Watson." + +"This is really a very agreeable attention,--your coming to meet us," +said Mrs. Watson; "a very agreeable attention indeed. Well, I shall write +Ellen--that's my daughter, Mrs. Phillips, you know--that before we had got +out of the cars, a gentleman--And though I've always been in the habit of +going about a good deal, it's always been in the East, of course, and +things are--What are we going to do first, Dr. Hope? Miss Carr has a great +deal of energy for a girl, but naturally--I suppose there's an hotel at +St. Helen's. Ellen is rather particular where I stay. 'At your age, +Mother, you must be made comfortable, whatever it costs,' she says; and so +I--An only daughter, you know--but you'll attend to all those things for +us now, Doctor." + +"There's quite a good hotel," said Dr. Hope, his eyes twinkling a little; +"I'll show it to you as we drive up. You'll find it very comfortable if +you prefer to go there. But for these young people I've taken rooms at a +boarding-house, a quieter and less expensive place. I thought it was what +your father would prefer," he added in a lower tone to Clover. + +"I am sure he would," she replied; but Mrs. Watson broke in,-- + +"Oh, I shall go wherever Miss Carr goes. She's under my care, you +know--Though at the same time I must say that in the long run I have +generally found that the most expensive places turn out the cheapest. As +Ellen often says, get the best and--What do they charge at this hotel that +you speak of, Dr. Hope?" + +"The Shoshone House? About twenty-five dollars a week, I think, if you +make a permanent arrangement." + +"That _is_ a good deal," remarked Mrs. Watson, meditatively, while Clover +hastened to say,-- + +"It is a great deal more than Phil and I can spend, Dr. Hope; I am glad +you have chosen the other place for us." + +"I suppose it _is_ better," admitted Mm Watson; but when they gained the +top of the hill, and a picturesque, many-gabled, many-balconied structure +was pointed out as the Shoshone, her regrets returned, and she began again +to murmur that very often the most expensive places turned out the +cheapest in the end, and that it stood to reason that they must be the +best. Dr. Hope rather encouraged this view, and proposed that she should +stop and look at some rooms; but no, she could not desert her young +charges and would go on, though at the same time she must say that her +opinion as an older person who had seen more of the world was--She was +used to being consulted. Why, Addy Phillips wouldn't order that crushed +strawberry bengaline of hers till Mrs. Watson saw the sample, and--But +girls had their own ideas, and were bound to carry them out, Ellen always +said so, and for her part she knew her duty and meant to do it! + +Dr. Hope flashed one rapid, comical look at Clover. Western life sharpens +the wits, if it does nothing else, and Westerners as a general thing +become pretty good judges of character. It had not taken ten minutes for +the keen-witted little doctor to fathom the peculiarities of Clover's +"chaperone," and he would most willingly have planted her in the congenial +soil of the Shoshone House, which would have provided a wider field for +her restlessness and self-occupation, and many more people to listen to +her narratives and sympathize with her complaints. But it was no use. She +was resolved to abide by the fortunes of her "young friends." + +While this discussion was proceeding, the carriage had been rolling down a +wide street running along the edge of the plateau, opposite the mountain +range. Pretty houses stood on either side in green, shaded door-yards, +with roses and vine-hung piazzas and nicely-cut grass. + +"Why, it looks like a New England town," said Clover, amazed; "I thought +there were no trees here." + +"Yes, I know," said Dr. Hope smiling. "You came, like most Eastern people, +prepared to find us sitting in the middle of a sandy waste, on cactus +pincushions, picking our teeth with bowie-knives, and with no neighbors +but Indians and grizzly bears. Well; sixteen years ago we could have +filled the bill pretty well. Then there was not a single house in St. +Helen's,--not even a tent, and not one of the trees that you see here had +been planted. Now we have three railroads meeting at our depot, a +population of nearly seven thousand, electric lights, telephones, a good +opera-house, a system of works which brings first-rate spring water into +the town from six miles away,--in short, pretty much all the modern +conveniences." + +"But what _has_ made the place grow so fast?" asked Clover. + +"If I may be allowed a professional pun, it is built up on coughings. It +is a town for invalids. Half the people here came out for the benefit of +their lungs." + +"Isn't that rather depressing?" + +"It would be more so if most of them did not look so well that no one +would suspect them of being ill. Here we are." + +Clover looked out eagerly. There was nothing picturesque about the house +at whose gate the carriage had stopped. It was a large shabby structure, +with a piazza above as well as below, and on these piazzas various people +were sitting who looked unmistakably ill. The front of the house, however, +commanded the fine mountain view. + +"You see," explained Dr. Hope, drawing Clover aside, "boarding-places that +are both comfortable and reasonable are rather scarce at St. Helen's. I +know all about the table here and the drainage; and the view is desirable, +and Mrs. Marsh, who keeps the house, is one of the best women we have. +She's from down your way too,--Barnstable, Mass., I think." + +Clover privately wondered how Barnstable, Mass., could be classed as +"down" the same way with Burnet, not having learned as yet that to the +soaring Western mind that insignificant fraction of the whole country +known as "the East," means anywhere from Maine to Michigan, and that such +trivial geographical differences as exist between the different sections +seem scarcely worth consideration when compared with the vast spaces +which lie beyond toward the setting sun. But perhaps Dr. Hope was only +trying to tease her, for he twinkled amusedly at her puzzled face as he +went on,-- + +"I think you can make yourselves comfortable here. It was the best I could +do. But your old lady would be much better suited at the Shoshone, and I +wish she'd go there." + +Clover could not help laughing. "I wish that people wouldn't persist in +calling Mrs. Watson my old lady," she thought. + +Mrs. Marsh, a pleasant-looking person, came to meet them as they entered. +She showed Clover and Phil their rooms, which had been secured for them, +and then carried Mrs. Watson off to look at another which she could have +if she liked. + +The rooms were on the third floor. A big front one for Phil, with a sunny +south window and two others looking towards the west and the mountains, +and, opening from it, a smaller room for Clover. + +"Your brother ought to live in fresh air both in doors and out," said Dr. +Hope; "and I thought this large room would answer as a sort of sitting +place for both of you." + +"It's ever so nice; and we are both more obliged to you than we can say," +replied Clover, holding out her hand as the doctor rose to go. He gave a +pleased little laugh as he shook it. + +"That's all right," he said. "I owe your father's children any good turn +in my power, for he was a good friend to me when I was a poor boy just +beginning, and needed friends. That's my house with the red roof, Miss +Clover. You see how near it is; and please remember that besides the care +of this boy here, I'm in charge of you too, and have the inside track of +the rest of the friends you are going to make in Colorado. I expect to be +called on whenever you want anything, or feel lonesome, or are at a loss +in any way. My wife is coming to see you as soon as you have had your +dinner and got settled a little. She sent those to you," indicating a vase +on the table, filled with flowers. They were of a sort which Clover had +never seen before,--deep cup-shaped blossoms of beautiful pale purple and +white. + +"Oh, what are they?" she called after the doctor. + +"Anemones," he answered, and was gone. + +"What a dear, nice, kind man!" cried Clover. "Isn't it delightful to have +a friend right off who knows papa, and does things for us because we are +papa's children? You like him, don't you, Phil; and don't you like your +room?" + +"Yes; only it doesn't seem fair that I should have the largest." + +"Oh, yes; it is perfectly fair. I never shall want to be in mine except +when I am dressing or asleep. I shall sit here with you all the time; and +isn't it lovely that we have those enchanting mountains just before our +eyes? I never saw anything in my life that I liked so much as I do that +one." + +It was Cheyenne Mountain at which she pointed, the last of the chain, and +set a little apart, as it were, from the others. There is as much +difference between mountains as between people, as mountain-lovers know, +and like people they present characters and individualities of their own. +The noble lines of Mount Cheyenne are full of a strange dignity; but it is +dignity mixed with an indefinable charm. The canyons nestle about its +base, as children at a parent's knee; its cedar forests clothe it like +drapery; it lifts its head to the dawn and the sunset; and the sun seems +to love it best of all, and lies longer on it than on the other peaks. + +Clover did not analyze her impressions, but she fell in love with it at +first sight, and loved it better and better all the time that she stayed +at St. Helen's. "Dr. Hope and Mount Cheyenne were our first friends in the +place," she used to say in after-days. + +"How nice it is to be by ourselves!" said Phil, as he lay comfortably on +the sofa watching Clover unpack. "I get so tired of being all the time +with people. Dear me! the room looks quite homelike already." + +Clover had spread a pretty towel over the bare table, laid some books and +her writing-case upon it, and was now pinning up a photograph over the +mantel-piece. + +"We'll make it nice by-and-by," she said cheerfully; "and now that I've +tidied up a little, I think I'll go and see what has become of Mrs. +Watson. She'll think I have quite forgotten her. You'll lie quiet and rest +till dinner, won't you?" + +"Yes," said Phil, who looked very sleepy; "I'm all right for an hour to +come. Don't hurry back if the ancient female wants you." + +Clover spread a shawl over him before she went and shut one of the +windows. + + +[Illustration: "Clover spread a shawl over him before she left, and shut +one of the windows."] + + +"We won't have you catching cold the very first morning," she said. "That +would be a bad story to send back to papa." + +She found Mrs. Watson in very low spirits about her room. + +"It's not that it's small," she said. "I don't need a very big room; but I +don't like being poked away at the back so. I've always had a front room +all my life. And at Ellen's in the summer, I have a corner chamber, and +see the sea and everything--It's an elegant room, solid black walnut with +marble tops, and--Lighthouses too; I have three of them in view, and they +are really company for me on dark nights. I don't want to be fussy, but +really to look out on nothing but a side yard with some trees--and they +aren't elms or anything that I'm used to, but a new kind. There's a thing +out there, too, that I never saw before, which looks like one of the giant +ants' nests of Africa in 'Morse's Geography' that I used to read about +when I was--It makes me really nervous." + +Clover went to the window to look at the mysterious object. It was a +cone-shaped thing of white unburned clay, whose use she could not guess. +She found later that it was a receptacle for ashes. + +"I suppose _your_ rooms are front ones?" went on Mrs. Watson, querulously. + +"Mine isn't. It's quite a little one at the side. I think it must be just +under this. Phil's is in front, and is a nice large one with a view of +the mountains. I wish there were one just like it for you. The doctor says +that it's very important for him to have a great deal of air in his room." + +"Doctors always say that; and of course Dr. Hope, being a friend of yours +and all--It's quite natural he should give you the preference. Though the +Phillips's are accustomed--but there, it's no use; only, as I tell Ellen, +Boston is the place for me, where my family is known, and people realize +what I'm used to." + +"I'm so sorry," Clover said again. "Perhaps somebody will go away, and +Mrs. Marsh have a front room for you before long." + +"She did say that she might. I suppose she thinks some of her boarders +will be dying off. In fact, there is one--that tall man in gray in the +reclining-chair--who didn't seem to me likely to last long. Well, we will +hope for the best. I'm not one who likes to make difficulties." + +This prospect, together with dinner, which was presently announced, raised +Mrs. Watson's spirits a little, and Clover left her in the parlor, +exchanging experiences and discussing symptoms with some ladies who had +sat opposite them at table. Mrs. Hope came for a call; a pretty little +woman, as friendly and kind as her husband. Then Clover and Phil went out +for a stroll about the town. Their wonder increased at every turn; that a +place so well equipped and complete in its appointments could have been +created out of nothing in fifteen years was a marvel! + +After two or three turns they found themselves among shops, whose +plate-glass windows revealed all manner of wares,--confectionery, new +books, pretty glass and china, bonnets of the latest fashion. One or two +large pharmacies glittered with jars--purple and otherwise--enough to +tempt any number of Rosamonds. Handsome carriages drawn by fine horses +rolled past them, with well-dressed people inside. In short, St. Helen's +was exactly like a thriving Eastern town of double its size, with the +difference that here a great many more people seemed to ride than to +drive. Some one cantered past every moment,--a lady alone, two or three +girls together, or a party of rough-looking men in long boots, or a single +ranchman sitting loose in his stirrups, and swinging a stock whip. + +Clover and Phil were standing on a corner, looking at some "Rocky Mountain +Curiosities" displayed for sale,--minerals, Pueblo pottery, stuffed +animals, and Indian blankets; and Phil had just commented on the beauty of +a black horse which was tied to a post close by, when its rider emerged +from a shop, and prepared to mount. + +He was a rather good-looking young fellow, sunburnt and not very tall, but +with a lithe active figure, red-brown eyes and a long mustache of tawny +chestnut. He wore spurs and a broad-brimmed sombrero, and carried in his +hand a whip which seemed two-thirds lash. As he put his foot into the +stirrup, he turned for another look at Clover, whom he had rather stared +at while passing, and then changing his intention, took it out again, and +came toward them. + +"I beg your pardon," he said; "but aren't you--isn't it--Clover Carr?" + +"Yes," said Clover, wondering, but still without the least notion as to +whom the stranger might be. + +"You've forgotten me?" went on the young man, with a smile which made his +face very bright. "That's rather hard too; for I knew you at once. I +suppose I'm a good deal changed, though, and perhaps I shouldn't have made +you out except for your eyes; they're just the same. Why, Clover, I'm your +cousin, Clarence Page!" + +"Clarence Page!" cried Clover, joyfully; "not really! Why, Clarence, I +never should have known you in the world, and I can't think how you came +to know me. I was only fourteen when I saw you last, and you were quite a +little boy. What good luck that we should meet, and on our first day too! +Some one wrote that you were in Colorado, but I had no idea that you lived +at St. Helen's." + +"I don't; not much. I'm living on a ranch out that way," jerking his +elbow toward the northwest, "but I ride in often to get the mail. Have you +just come? You said the first day." + +"Yes; we only got here this morning. And this is my brother Phil. Don't +you recollect how I used to tell you about him at Ashburn?" + +"I should think you did," shaking hands cordially; "she used to talk about +you all the time, so that I felt intimately acquainted with all the +family. Well, I call this first rate luck. It's two years since I saw any +one from home." + +"Home?" + +"Well; the East, you know. It all seems like home when you're out here. +And I mean any one that I know, of course. People from the East come out +all the while. They are as thick as bumblebees at St. Helen's, but they +don't amount to much unless you know them. Have you seen anything of +mother and Lilly since they got back from Europe, Clover?" + +"No, indeed. I haven't seen them since we left Hillsover. Katy has, +though. She met them in Nice when she was there, and they sent her a +wedding present. You knew that she was married, didn't you?" + +"Yes, I got her cards. Pa sent them. He writes oftener than the others do; +and he came out once and stayed a month on the ranch with me. That was +while mother was in Europe. Where are you stopping? The Shoshone, I +suppose." + +"No, at a quieter place,--Mrs. Marsh's, on the same street." + +"Oh, I know Mother Marsh. I went there when I first came out, and had +caught the mountain fever, and she was ever so kind to me. I'm glad you +are there. She's a nice woman." + +"How far away is your ranch?" + +"About sixteen miles. Oh, I say, Clover, you and Phil must come out and +stay with us sometime this summer. We'll have a round-up for you if you +will." + +"What is a 'round-up' and who is 'us'?" said Clover, smiling. + +"Well, a round-up is a kind of general muster of the stock. All the +animals are driven in and counted, and the young ones branded. It's pretty +exciting sometimes, I can tell you, for the cattle get wild, and it's all +we can do to manage them. You should see some of our boys ride; it's +splendid, and there's one half-breed that's the best hand with the lasso I +ever saw. Phil will like it, I know. And 'us' is me and my partner." + +"Have you a partner?" + +"Yes, two, in fact; but one of them lives in New Mexico just now, so he +does not count. That's Bert Talcott. He's a New York fellow. The other's +English, a Devonshire man. Geoff Templestowe is his name." + +"Is he nice?" + +"You can just bet your pile that he is," said Clarence, who seemed to have +assimilated Western slang with the rest of the West. "Wait till I bring +him to see you. We'll come in on purpose some day soon. Well, I must be +going. Good-by, Clover; good-by, Phil. It's awfully jolly to have you +here." + +"I never should have guessed who it was," remarked Clover, as they watched +the active figure canter down the street and turn for a last flourish of +the hat. "He was the roughest, scrubbiest boy when we last met. What a +fine-looking fellow he has grown to be, and how well he rides!" + +"No wonder; a fellow who can have a horse whenever he has a mind to," said +Phil, enviously. "Life on a ranch must be great fun, I think." + +"Yes; in one way, but pretty rough and lonely too, sometimes. It will be +nice to go out and see Clarence's, if we can get some lady to go with us, +won't it?" + +"Well, just don't let it be Mrs. Watson, whoever else it is. She would +spoil it all if she went." + +"Now, Philly, don't. We're supposed to be leaning on her for support." + +"Oh, come now, lean on that old thing! Why she couldn't support a postage +stamp standing edgewise, as the man says in the play. Do you suppose I +don't know how you have to look out for her and do everything? She's not a +bit of use." + +"Yes; but you and I have got to be polite to her, Philly. We mustn't +forget that." + +"Oh, I'll be polite enough, if she will just leave us alone," retorted +Phil. + +Promising! + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +MAKING ACQUAINTANCE. + + +Phil was better than his word. He was never uncivil to Mrs. Watson, and +his distant manners, which really signified distaste, were set down by +that lady to boyish shyness. + +"They often are like that when they are young," she told Clover; "but they +get bravely over it after a while. He'll outgrow it, dear, and you mustn't +let it worry you a bit." + +Meanwhile, Mrs. Watson's own flow of conversation was so ample that there +was never any danger of awkward silences when she was present, which was a +comfort. She had taken Clover into high favor now, and Clover deserved +it,--for though she protected herself against encroachments, and +resolutely kept the greater part of her time free for Phil, she was +always considerate, and sweet in manner to the older lady, and she found +spare half-hours every day in which to sit and go out with her, so that +she should not feel neglected. Mrs. Watson grew quite fond of her "young +friend," though she stood a little in awe of her too, and was disposed to +be jealous if any one showed more attention to Clover than to herself. + +An early outburst of this feeling came on the third day after their +arrival, when Mrs. Hope asked Phil and Clover to dinner, and did _not_ ask +Mrs. Watson. She had discussed the point with her husband, but the doctor +"jumped on" the idea forcibly, and protested that if that old thing was to +come too, he would "have a consultation in Pueblo, and be off in the five +thirty train, sure as fate." + +"It's not that I care," Mrs. Watson assured Clover plaintively. "I've had +so much done for me all my life that of course--But I _do_ like to be +properly treated. It isn't as if I were just anybody. I don't suppose Mrs. +Hope knows much about Boston society anyway, but still--And I should +think a girl from South Framingham (didn't you say she was from South +Framingham?) would at least know who the Abraham Peabodys are, and they're +Henry's--But I don't imagine she was much of anybody before she was +married; and out here it's all hail fellow and well met, they say, though +in that case I don't see--Well, well, it's no matter, only it seems queer +to me; and I think you'd better drop a hint about it when you're there, +and just explain that my daughter lives next door to the +Lieutenant-Governor when she is in the country, and opposite the +Assistant-Bishop in town, and has one of the Harvard Overseers for a near +neighbor, and is distantly related to the Reveres! You'd think even a +South Framingham girl must know about the lantern and the Old South, and +how much they've always been respected at home." + +Clover pacified her as well as she could, by assurances that it was not a +dinner-party, and they were only asked to meet one girl whom Mrs. Hope +wanted her to know. + +"If it were a large affair, I am sure you would have been asked too," she +said, and so left her "old woman of the sea" partly consoled. + +It was the most lovely evening possible, as Clover and Phil walked down +the street toward Dr. Hope's. Soft shadows lay over the lower spurs of the +ranges. The canyons looked black and deep, but the peaks still glittered +in rosy light. The mesa was in shadow, but the nearer plain lay in full +sunshine, hot and yellow, and the west wind was full of mountain +fragrance. + +Phil gave little skips as he went along. Already he seemed like a +different boy. All the droop and languor had gone, and given place to an +exhilaration which half frightened Clover, who had constant trouble in +keeping him from doing things which she knew to be imprudent. Dr. Hope had +warned her that invalids often harmed themselves by over-exertion under +the first stimulus of the high air. + +"Why, how queer!" she exclaimed, stopping suddenly before one of the +pretty places just above Mrs. Marsh's boarding-house. + +"What?" + +"Don't you see? That yard! When we came by here yesterday it was all green +grass and rose-bushes, and girls were playing croquet; and now, look, it's +a pond!" + +Sure enough! There were the rose-bushes still, and the croquet arches; but +they were standing, so to speak, up to their knees in pools of water, +which seemed several inches deep, and covered the whole place, with the +exception of the flagged walks which ran from the gates to the front and +side doors of the house. Clover noticed now, for the first time, that +these walks were several inches higher than the grass-beds on either side. +She wondered if they were made so on purpose, and resolved to notice if +the next place had the same arrangement. + +But as they reached the next place and the next, lo! the phenomenon was +repeated and Dr. Hope's lawn too was in the same condition,--everything +was overlaid with water. They began to suspect what it must mean, and +Mrs. Hope confirmed the suspicion. It was irrigation day in Mountain +Avenue, it seemed. Every street in the town had its appointed period when +the invaluable water, brought from a long distance for the purpose, was +"laid on" and kept at a certain depth for a prescribed number of hours. + +"We owe our grass and shrubs and flower-beds entirely to this +arrangement," Mrs. Hope told them. "Nothing could live through our dry +summers if we did not have the irrigating system." + +"Are the summers so dry?" asked Clover. "It seems to me that we have had a +thunder-storm almost every day since we came." + +"We do have a good many thunderstorms," Mrs. Hope admitted; "but we can't +depend on them for the gardens." + +"And did you ever hear such magnificent thunder?" asked Dr. Hope. +"Colorado thunder beats the world." + +"Wait till you see our magnificent Colorado hail," put in Mrs. Hope, +wickedly. "That beats the world, too. It cuts our flowers to pieces, and +sometimes kills the sheep on the plains. We are very proud of it. The +doctor thinks everything in Colorado perfection." + +"I have always pitied places which had to be irrigated," remarked Clover, +with her eyes fixed on the little twin-lakes which yesterday were lawns. +"But I begin to think I was mistaken. It's very superior, of course, to +have rains; but then at the East we sometimes don't have rain when we want +it, and the grass gets dreadfully yellow. Don't you remember, Phil, how +hard Katy and I worked last summer to keep the geraniums and fuschias +alive in that long drought? Now, if we had had water like this to come +once a week, and make a nice deep pond for us, how different it would have +been!" + +"Oh, you must come out West for real comfort," said Dr. Hope. "The East is +a dreadfully one-horse little place, anyhow." + +"But you don't mean New York and Boston when you say 'one-horse little +place,' surely?" + +"Don't I?" said the undaunted doctor. "Wait till you see more of us out +here." + +"Here's Poppy, at last," cried Mrs. Hope, as a girl came hurriedly up the +walk. "You're late, dear." + +"Poppy," whose real name was Marian Chase, was the girl who had been asked +to meet them. She was a tall, rosy creature, to whom Clover took an +instant fancy, and seemed in perfect health; yet she told them that when +she came out to Colorado three years before, she had travelled on a +mattress, with a doctor and a trained nurse in attendance. + +"Your brother will be as strong, or stronger than I at the end of a year," +she said; "or if he doesn't get well as fast as he ought, you must take +him up to the Ute Valley. That's where I made my first gain." + +"Where is the valley?" + +"Thirty miles away to the northwest,--up there among the mountains. It is +a great deal higher than this, and such a lovely peaceful place. I hope +you'll go there." + +"We shall, of course, if Phil needs it; but I like St. Helen's so much +that I would rather stay here if we can." + +Dinner was now announced, and Mrs. Hope led the way into a pretty room +hung with engravings and old plates after the modern fashion, where a +white-spread table stood decorated with wild-flowers, candle-sticks with +little red-shaded tapers, and a pyramid of plums and apricots. There was +the usual succession of soup and fish and roast and salad which one looks +for at a dinner on the sea-level, winding up with ice-cream of a highly +civilized description, but Clover could scarcely eat for wondering how all +these things had come there so soon, so very soon. It seemed like +magic,--one minute the solemn peaks and passes, the prairie-dogs and the +thorny plain, the next all these portières and rugs and etchings and down +pillows and pretty devices in glass and china, as if some enchanter's wand +had tapped the wilderness, and hey, presto! modern civilization had sprung +up like Jonah's gourd all in a minute, or like the palace which Aladdin +summoned into being in a single night for the occupation of the Princess +of China, by the rubbing of his wonderful lamp. And then, just as the +fruit-plates were put on the table, came a call, and the doctor was out in +the hall, "holloing" and conducting with some distant patient one of those +mysterious telephonic conversations which to those who overhear seem all +replies and no questions. It was most remarkable, and quite unlike her +preconceived ideas of what was likely to take place at the base of the +Rocky Mountains. + +A pleasant evening followed. "Poppy" played delightfully on the piano; +later came a rubber of whist. It was like home. + +"Before these children go, let us settle about the drive," said Dr. Hope +to his wife. + +"Oh, yes! Miss Carr--" + +"Oh, please, won't you call me Clover?" + +"Indeed I will,--Clover, then,--we want to take you for a good long drive +to-morrow, and show you something; but the trouble is, the doctor and I +are at variance as to what the something shall be. I want you to see +Odin's Garden; and the doctor insists that you ought to go to the Cheyenne +canyons first, because those are his favorites. Now, which shall it be? We +will leave it to you." + +"But how can I choose? I don't know either of them. What a queer +name,--Odin's Garden!" + +"I'll tell you how to settle it," cried Marian Chase, whose nickname it +seemed had been given her because when she first came to St. Helen's she +wore a bunch of poppies in her hat. "Take them to Cheyenne to-morrow; and +the next day--or Thursday--let me get up a picnic for Odin's Garden; just +a few of our special cronies,--the Allans and the Blanchards and Mary +Pelham and Will Amory. Will you, dear Mrs. Hope, and be our matron? That +would be lovely." + +Mrs. Hope consented, and Clover walked home as if treading on air. Was +this the St. Helen's to which she had looked forward with so much +dread,--this gay, delightful place, where such pleasant things happened, +and people were so kind? How she wished that she could get at Katy and +papa for five minutes--on a wishing carpet or something--to tell them how +different everything was from what she had expected. + +One thing only marred her anticipations for the morrow, which was the fear +that Mrs. Watson might be hurt, and make a scene. Happily, Mrs. Hope's +thoughts took the same direction; and by some occult process of influence, +the use of which good wives understand, she prevailed on her refractory +doctor to allow the old lady to be asked to join the party. + +So early next morning came a very polite note; and it was proposed that +Phil should ride the doctor's horse, and act as escort to Miss Chase, who +was to go on horseback likewise. No proposal could have been more +agreeable to Phil, who adored horses, and seldom had the chance to mount +one; so every one was pleased, and Mrs. Watson preened her ancestral +feathers with great satisfaction. + +"You see, dear, how well it was to give that little hint about the +Reveres and the Abraham Peabodys," she said. Clover felt dreadfully +dishonest; but she dared not confess that she had forgotten all about the +hint, still less that she had never meant to give one. "The better part of +valor is discretion," she remembered; so she held her peace, though her +cheeks glowed guiltily. + +At three o'clock they set forth in a light roomy carriage,--not exactly a +carryall, but of the carryall family,--with a pair of fast horses, Miss +Chase and Phil cantering happily alongside, or before or behind, just as +it happened. The sun was very hot; but there was a delicious breeze, and +the dryness and elasticity of the air made the heat easy to bear. + +The way lay across and down the southern slope of the plateau on which the +town was built. Then they came to splendid fields of grain and +"afalfa,"--a cereal quite new to them, with broad, very green leaves. The +roadside was gay with flowers,--gillias and mountain balm; high pink and +purple spikes, like foxgloves, which they were told were pentstemons; +painters' brush, whose green tips seemed dipped in liquid vermilion, and +masses of the splendid wild poppies. They crossed a foaming little river; +and a sharp turn brought them into a narrower and wilder road, which ran +straight toward the mountain side. This was overhung by trees, whose shade +was grateful after the hot sun. + +Narrower and narrower grew the road, more and more sharp the turns. They +were at the entrance of a deep defile, up which the road wound and wound, +following the links of the river, which they crossed and recrossed +repeatedly. Such a wonderful and perfect little river, with water clear as +air and cold as ice, flowing over a bed of smooth granite, here slipping +noiselessly down long slopes of rock like thin films of glass, there +deepening into pools of translucent blue-green like aqua-marine or beryl, +again plunging down in mimic waterfalls, a sheet of iridescent foam. The +sound of its rush and its ripple was like a laugh. Never was such happy +water, Clover thought, as it curved and bent and swayed this way and that +on its downward course as if moved by some merry, capricious instinct, +like a child dancing as it goes. Regiments or great ferns grew along its +banks, and immense thickets of wild roses of all shades, from deep +Jacqueminot red to pale blush-white. Here and there rose a lonely spike of +yucca, and in the little ravines to right and left grew in the crevices of +the rocks clumps of superb straw-colored columbines four feet high. + +Looking up, Clover saw above the tree-tops strange pinnacles and spires +and obelisks which seemed air-hung, of purple-red and orange-tawny and +pale pinkish gray and terra cotta, in which the sunshine and the +cloud-shadows broke in a multiplicity of wonderful half-tints. Above them +was the dazzling blue of the Colorado sky. She drew a long, long breath. + +"So this is a canyon," she said. "How glad I am that I have lived to see +one." + +"Yes, this is a canyon," Dr. Hope replied. "Some of us think it _the_ +canyon; but there are dozens of others, and no two of them are alike. I'm +glad you are pleased with this, for it's my favorite. I wish your father +could see it." + +Clover hardly understood what he said she was so fascinated and absorbed. +She looked up at the bright pinnacles, down at the flowers and the sheen +of the river-pools and the mad rush of its cascades, and felt as though +she were in a dream. Through the dream she caught half-comprehended +fragments of conversation from the seat behind. Mrs. Watson was giving her +impressions of the scenery. + +"It's pretty, I suppose," she remarked; "but it's so very queer, and I'm +not used to queer things. And this road is frightfully narrow. If a load +of hay or a big Concord coach should come along, I can't think what we +should do. I see that Dr. Hope drives carefully, but yet--You don't think +we shall meet anything of the kind to-day, do you, Doctor?" + +"Not a Concord coach, and certainly not a hay-wagon, for they don't make +hay up here in the mountains." + +"Well, that is a relief. I didn't know. Ellen she always says, 'Mother, +you're a real fidget;' but when one grows old, and has valves in the heart +as I have, you never--We might meet one of those big pedler's wagons, +though, and they frighten horses worse than anything. Oh, what's that +coming now? Let us get out, Dr. Hope; pray, let us all get out." + +"Sit still, ma'am," said the doctor, sternly, for Mrs. Watson was wildly +fumbling at the fastening of the door. "Mary, put your arm round Mrs. +Watson, and hold her tight. There'll be a real accident, sure as fate, if +you don't." Then in a gentler tone, "It's only a buggy, ma'am; there's +plenty of room. There's no possible risk of a pedler's wagon. What on +earth should a pedler be doing up here on the side of Cheyenne! +Prairie-dogs don't use pomatum or tin-ware." + +"Oh, I didn't know," repeated poor Mrs. Watson, nervously. She watched the +buggy timorously till it was safely past; then her spirits revived. + +"Well," she cried, "we're safe this time; but I call it tempting +Providence to drive so fast on such a rough road. If all canyons are as +wild as this, I sha'n't ever venture to go into another." + +"Bless me! this is one of our mildest specimens," said Dr. Hope, who +seemed to have a perverse desire to give Mrs. Watson a distaste for +canyons. "This is a smooth one; but some canyons are really rough. Do you +remember, Mary, the day we got stuck up at the top of the Westmoreland, +and had to unhitch the horses, and how I stood in the middle of the creek +and yanked the carriage round while you held them? That was the day we +heard the mountain lion, and there were fresh bear-tracks all over the +mud, you remember." + +"Good gracious!" cried Mrs. Watson, quite pale; "what an awful place! +Bears and lions! What on earth did you go there for?" + +"Oh, purely for pleasure," replied the doctor, lightly. "We don't mind +such little matters out West. We try to accustom ourselves to wild beasts, +and make friends of them." + +"John, don't talk such nonsense," cried his wife, quite angrily. "Mrs. +Watson, you mustn't believe a word the doctor says. I've lived in Colorado +nine years; and I've never once seen a mountain lion, or a bear either, +except the stuffed ones in the shops. Don't let the doctor frighten you." + +But Dr. Hope's wicked work was done. Mrs. Watson, quite unconvinced by +these well-meant assurances, sat pale and awe-struck, repeating under her +breath,-- + +"Dreadful! What _will_ Ellen say? Bears and lions! Oh, dear me!" + +"Look, look!" cried Clover, who had not listened to a word of this +conversation; "did you ever see anything so lovely?" She referred to what +she was looking at,--a small point of pale straw-colored rock some +hundreds of feet in height, which a turn in the road had just revealed, +soaring above the tops of the trees. + +"I don't see that it's lovely at all," said Mrs. Watson, testily. "It's +unnatural, if that's what you mean. Rocks ought not to be that color. +They never are at the East. It looks to me exactly like an enormous unripe +banana standing on end." + +This simile nearly "finished" the party. "It's big enough to disagree with +all the Sunday-schools in creation at once," remarked the doctor, between +his shouts, while even Clover shook with laughter. Mrs. Watson felt that +she had made a hit, and grew complacent again. + +"See what your brother picked for me," cried Poppy, riding alongside, and +exhibiting a great sheaf of columbine tied to the pommel of her saddle. +"And how do you like North Cheyenne? Isn't it an exquisite place?" + +"Perfectly lovely; I feel as if I must come here every day." + +"Yes, I know; but there are so many other places out here about which you +have that feeling." + +"Now we will show you the other Cheyenne Canyon,--the twin of this," said +Dr. Hope; "but you must prepare your mind to find it entirely different." + +After rather a rough mile or two through woods, they came to a wooden +shed, or shanty, at the mouth of a gorge, and here Dr. Hope drew up his +horses, and helped them all out. + +"Is it much of a walk?" asked Mrs. Watson. + +"It is rather long and rather steep," said Mrs. Hope; "but it is lovely if +you only go a little way in, and you and I will sit down the moment you +feel tired, and let the others go forward." + +South Cheyenne Canyon was indeed "entirely different." Instead of a +green-floored, vine-hung ravine, it is a wild mountain gorge, walled with +precipitous cliffs of great height; and its river--every canyon has a +river--comes from a source at the top of the gorge in a series of mad +leaps, forming seven waterfalls, which plunge into circular basins of +rock, worn smooth by the action of the stream. These pools are curiously +various in shape, and the color of the water, as it pauses a moment to +rest in each before taking its next plunge, is beautiful. Little plank +walks are laid along the river-side, and rude staircases for the steepest +pitches. Up these the party went, leaving Mrs. Watson and Mrs. Hope far +behind,--Poppy with her habit over her arm, Clover stopping every other +moment to pick some new flower, Phil shying stones into the rapids as he +passed,--till the top of the topmost cascade was reached, and looking back +they could see the whole wonderful way by which they had climbed, and down +which the river made its turbulent rush. Clover gathered a great mat of +green scarlet-berried vine like glorified cranberry, which Dr. Hope told +her was the famous kinnikinnick, and was just remarking on the cool +water-sounds which filled the place, when all of a sudden these sounds +seemed to grow angry, the defile of precipices turned a frowning blue, and +looking up they saw a great thunder-cloud gathering overhead. + +"We must run," cried Dr. Hope, and down they flew, racing at full speed +along the long flights of steps and the plank walks, which echoed to the +sound of their flying feet. Far below they could see two fast-moving +specks which they guessed to be Mrs. Hope and Mrs. Watson, hurrying to a +place of shelter. Nearer and nearer came the storm, louder the growl of +the thunder, and great hail-stones pattered on their heads before they +gained the cabin; none too soon, for in another moment the cloud broke, +and the air was full of a dizzy whirl of sleet and rain. + +Others besides themselves had been surprised in the ravine, and every few +minutes another and another wet figure would come flying down the path, so +that the little refuge was soon full. The storm lasted half an hour, then +it scattered as rapidly as it had come, the sun broke out brilliantly, and +the drive home would have been delightful if it had not been for the sad +fact that Mrs. Watson had left her parasol in the carriage, and it had +been wet, and somewhat stained by the india-rubber blanket which had been +thrown over it for protection. Her lamentations were pathetic. + +"Jane Phillips gave it to me,--she was a Sampson, you know,--and I +thought ever so much of it. It was at Hovey's--We were there together, and +I admired it; and she said, 'Mrs. Watson, you must let me--' Six dollars +was the price of it. That's a good deal for a parasol, you know, unless +it's really a nice one; but Hovey's things are always--I had the handle +shortened a little just before I came away, too, so that it would go into +my trunk; it had to be mended anyhow, so that it seemed a good--Dear, +dear! and now it's spoiled! What a pity I left it in the carriage! I shall +know better another time, but this climate is so different. It never rains +in this way at home. It takes a little while about it, and gives notice; +and we say that there's going to be a northeaster, or that it looks like a +thunder-storm, and we put on our second-best clothes or we stay at home. +It's a great deal nicer, I think." + +"I am so sorry," said kind little Mrs. Hope. "Our storms out here do come +up very suddenly. I wish I had noticed that you had left your parasol. +Well, Clover, you've had a chance now to see the doctor's beautiful +Colorado hail and thunder to perfection. How do you like them?" + +"I like everything in Colorado, I believe," replied Clover, laughing. "I +won't even except the hail." + +"She's the girl for this part of the world," cried Dr. Hope, approvingly. +"She'd make a first-rate pioneer. We'll keep her out here, Mary, and never +let her go home. She was born to live at the West." + +"Was I? It seems queer then that I should have been born to live in +Burnet." + +"Oh, we'll change all that." + +"I'm sure I don't see how." + +"There are ways and means," oracularly. + +Mrs. Watson was so cast down by the misadventure to her parasol that she +expressed no regret at not being asked to join in the picnic next day, +especially as she understood that it consisted of young people. Mrs. Hope +very rightly decided that a whole day out of doors, in a rough place, +would give pain rather than pleasure to a person who was both so feeble +and so fussy, and did not suggest her going. Clover and Phil waked up +quite fresh and untired after a sound night's sleep. There seemed no limit +to what might be done and enjoyed in that inexhaustibly renovating air. + +Odin's Garden proved to be a wonderful assemblage of rocky shapes rising +from the grass and flowers of a lonely little plain on the far side of the +mesa, four or five miles from St. Helen's. The name of the place came +probably from something suggestive in the forms of the rocks, which +reminded Clover of pictures she had seen of Assyrian and Egyptian rock +carvings. There were lion shapes and bull shapes like the rudely chiselled +gods of some heathen worship; there were slender, points and obelisks +three hundred feet high; and something suggesting a cat-faced deity, and +queer similitudes of crocodiles and apes,--all in the strange orange and +red and pale yellow formations of the region. It was a wonderful rather +than a beautiful place; but the day was spent very happily under those +mysterious stones, which, as the long afternoon shadows gathered over the +plain, and the sky glowed with sunset crimson which seemed like a +reflection from the rocks themselves, became more mysterious still. Of the +merry young party which made up the picnic, seven out of nine had come to +Colorado for health; but no one would have guessed it, they seemed so well +and so full of the enjoyment of life. Altogether, it was a day to be +marked; not with a white stone,--that would not have seemed appropriate to +Colorado,--but with a red one. Clover, writing about it afterward to +Elsie, felt that her descriptions to sober stay-at-homes might easily +sound overdrawn and exaggerated, and wound up her letter thus:-- + + "Perhaps you think that I am romancing; but I am not a bit. + Every word I say is perfectly true, only I have not made the + colors half bright or the things half beautiful enough. Colorado + is the most beautiful place in the world. [N.B.--Clover had seen + but a limited portion of the world so far.] I only wish you + could all come out to observe for yourselves that I am not + fibbing, though it sounds like it!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +HIGH VALLEY. + + +Clover was putting Phil's chamber to rights, and turning it into a +sitting-room for the day, which was always her first task in the morning. +They had been at St. Helen's nearly three weeks now, and the place had +taken on a very homelike appearance. All the books and the photographs +were unpacked, the washstand had vanished behind a screen made of a +three-leaved clothes-frame draped with chintz, while a ruffled cover of +the same gay chintz, on which bunches of crimson and pink geraniums +straggled over a cream-colored ground, gave to the narrow bed the air of a +respectable wide sofa. + +"There! those look very nice, I think," she said, giving the last touch to +a bowl full of beautiful garden roses. "How sweet they are!" + +"Your young man seems rather clever about roses," remarked Phil, who, +boy-like, dearly loved to tease his sister. + +"My young man, as you call him, has a father with a gardener," replied +Clover, calmly; "no very brilliant cleverness is required for that." + +In a cordial, kindly place, like St. Helen's, people soon make +acquaintances, and Clover and Phil felt as if they already knew half the +people in the town. Every one had come to see them and deluged them with +flowers, and invitations to dine, to drive, to take tea. Among the rest +came Mr. Thurber Wade, whom Phil was pleased to call Clover's young +man,--the son of a rich New York banker, whose ill-health had brought him +to live in St. Helen's, and who had built a handsome house on the +principal street. This gilded youth had several times sent roses to +Clover,--a fact which Phil had noticed, and upon which he was fond of +commenting. + +"Speaking of young men," went on Clover, "what do you suppose has become +of Clarence Page? He said he should come in to see us soon; but that was +ever so long ago." + +"He's a fraud, I suspect," replied Phil, lazily, from his seat in the +window. He had a geometry on his knees, and was supposed to be going on +with his education, but in reality he was looking at the mountains. "I +suppose people are pretty busy on ranches, though," he added. "Perhaps +they're sheep-shearing." + +"Oh, it isn't a sheep ranch. Don't you remember his saying that the cattle +got very wild, and they had to ride after them? They wouldn't ride after +sheep. I hope he hasn't forgotten about us. I was so glad to see him." + +While this talk went on, Clarence was cantering down the lower end of the +Ute Pass on his way to St. Helen's. Three hours later his name was brought +up to them. + +"How nice!" cried Clover. "I think as he's a relative we might let him +come here, Phil. It's so much pleasanter than the parlor." + +Clarence, who had passed the interval of waiting in noting the different +varieties of cough among the sick people in the parlor, was quite of her +opinion. + +"How jolly you look!" was almost his first remark. "I'm glad you've got a +little place of your own, and don't have to sit with those poor creatures +downstairs all the time." + +"It is much nicer. Some of them are getting better, though." + +"Some of them aren't. There's one poor fellow in a reclining-chair who +looks badly." + +"That's the one whose room Mrs. Watson has marked for her own. She asks +him three times a day how he feels, with all the solicitude of a mother," +said Phil. + +"Who's Mrs. Watson?" + +"Well, she's an old lady who is somehow fastened to us, and who considers +herself our chaperone," replied Clover, with a little laugh. "I must +introduce you by-and-by, but first we want a good talk all by ourselves. +Now tell us why you haven't come to see us before. We have been hoping +for you every day." + +"Well, I've wanted to come badly enough, but there has been a combination +of hindrances. Two of our men got sick, so there was more to do than +usual; then Geoff had to be away four days, and almost as soon as he got +back he had bad news from home, and I hated to leave him alone." + +"What sort of bad news?" + +"His sister's dead." + +"Poor fellow! In England too! You said he was English, didn't you?" + +"Yes. She was married. Her husband was a clergyman down in Cornwall +somewhere. She was older than Geoff a good deal; but he was very fond of +her, and the news cut him up dreadfully." + +"No wonder. It is horrible to hear such a thing when one is far from +home," observed Clover. She tried to realize how she should feel if word +came to St. Helen's of Katy's death, or Elsie's, or Johnnie's; but her +mind refused to accept the question. The very idea made her shiver. + +"Poor fellow!" she said again; "what could you do for him, Clarence?" + +"Not much. I'm a poor hand at comforting any one,--men generally are, I +guess. Geoff knows I'm sorry for him; but it takes a woman to say the +right thing at such times. We sit and smoke when the work's done, and I +know what he's thinking about; but we don't say anything to each other. +Now let's speak of something else. I want to settle about your coming to +High Valley." + +"High Valley? Is that the name of your place?" + +"Yes. I want you to see it. It's an awfully pretty place to my +thinking,--not so very much higher than this, but you have to climb a good +deal to get there. Can't you come? This is just the time,--raspberries +ripe, and lots of flowers wherever the beasts don't get at them. Phil can +have all the riding he wants, and it'll do poor Geoff lots of good to see +some one." + +"It would be very nice indeed," doubtfully; "but who could we get to go +with us?" + +"I thought of that. We don't take much stock in Mrs. Grundy out here; but +I supposed you'd want another lady. How would it be if I asked Mrs. Hope? +The doctor's got to come out anyway to see one of our herders who's put +his shoulder out in a fall. If he would drive you out, and Mrs. Hope would +stay on, would you come for a week? I guess you'll like it." + +"I 'guess' we should," exclaimed Clover, her face lighting up. "Clarence, +how delightful it sounds! It will be lovely to come if Mrs. Hope says +yes." + +"Then that's all right," replied Clarence, looking extremely pleased. +"I'll ride up to the doctor's as soon as dinner's over." + +"You'll dine with us, of course?" + +"Oh, I always come to Mother Marsh for a bite whenever I stay over the +day. She likes to have me. We've been great chums ever since I had fever +here, and she took care of me." + +Clover was amused at dinner to watch the cool deliberation with which +Clarence studied Mrs. Watson and her tortuous conversation, and, as he +would have expressed it, "took stock of her." The result was not +favorable, apparently. + +"What on earth did they send that old thing with you for?" he asked as +soon as they went upstairs. "She's as much out of her element here as a +canary-bird would be in a cyclone. She can't be any use to you, Clover." + +"Well, no; I don't think she is. It was a sort of mistake; I'll tell you +about it sometime. But she likes to imagine that she's taking care of me; +and as it does no harm, I let her." + +"Taking care of you! Great thunder! I wouldn't trust her to take care of a +blue-eyed kitten," observed the irreverent Clarence. "Well, I'll ride up +and settle with the Hopes, and stop and let you know as I come back." + +Mrs. Hope and the doctor were not hard to persuade. In Colorado, people +keep their lamps of enjoyment filled and trimmed, so to speak, and their +travelling energies ready girt about them, and easily adopt any plan which +promises pleasure. The following day was fixed for the start, and Clover +packed her valise and Phil's bag, with a sense of exhilaration and escape. +She was, in truth, getting very tired of the exactions of Mrs. Watson. +Mrs. Watson, on her part, did not at all approve of the excursion. + +"I think," she said, swelling with offended dignity, "that your cousin +didn't know much about politeness when he left me out of his invitation +and asked Mrs. Hope instead. Yes, I know; the doctor had to go up anyway. +That may be true, and it may not; but it doesn't alter the case. What am I +to do, I should like to know, if the valves of my heart don't open, or +don't shut--whichever it is--while I'm left all alone here among +strangers?" + +"Send for Dr. Hope," suggested Phil. "He'll only be gone one night. Clover +doesn't know anything about valves." + +"My cousin lives in a rather rough way, I imagine," interposed Clover, +with a reproving look at Phil. "He would hardly like to ask a stranger and +an invalid to his house, when he might not be able to make her +comfortable. Mrs. Hope has been there before, and she's an old friend." + +"Oh, I dare say! There are always reasons. I don't say that I should have +felt like going, but he ought to have asked me. Ellen will be surprised, +and so will--He's from Ashburn too, and he must know the Parmenters, and +Mrs. Parmenter's brother's son is partner to Henry's brother-in-law. It's +of no consequence, of course,--still, respect--older people--Boston--not +used to--Phillips--" Mrs. Watson's voice died away into fragmentary and +inaudible lamentings. + +Clover attempted no further excuse. Her good sense told her that she had a +perfect right to accept this little pleasure; that Mrs. Watson's plans for +Western travel had been formed quite independently of their own, and that +papa would not wish her to sacrifice herself and Phil to such unreasonable +humors. Still, it was not pleasant; and I am sorry to say that from this +time dated a change of feeling on Mrs. Watson's part toward her "young +friends." She took up a chronic position of grievance toward them, +confided her wrongs to all new-comers, and met Clover with an offended air +which, though Clover ignored it, did not add to the happiness of her life +at Mrs. Marsh's. + +It was early in the afternoon when they started, and the sun was just +dipping behind the mountain wall when they drove into the High Valley. It +was one of those natural parks, four miles long, which lie like +heaven-planted gardens among the Colorado ranges. The richest of grass +clothed it; fine trees grew in clumps and clusters here and there; and the +spaces about the house where fences of barbed wire defended the grass from +the cattle, seemed a carpet of wild-flowers. + +Clover exclaimed with delight at the view. The ranges which lapped and +held the high, sheltered upland in embrace opened toward the south, and +revealed a splendid lonely peak, on whose summit a drift of freshly-fallen +snow was lying. The contrast with the verdure and bloom below was +charming. + +The cabin--it was little more--stood facing this view, and was backed by a +group of noble red cedars. It was built of logs, long and low, with a rude +porch in front supported on unbarked tree trunks. Two fine collies rushed +to meet them, barking vociferously; and at the sound Clarence hurried to +the door. He met them with great enthusiasm, lifted out Mrs. Hope, then +Clover, and then began shouting for his chum, who was inside. + +"Hollo, Geoff! where are you? Hurry up; they've come." Then, as he +appeared, "Ladies and gentleman, my partner!" + +Geoffrey Templestowe was a tall, sinewy young Englishman, with ruddy hair +and beard, grave blue eyes, and an unmistakable air of good breeding. He +wore a blue flannel shirt and high boots like Clarence's, yet somehow he +made Clarence look a little rough and undistinguished. He was quiet in +speech, reserved in manner, and seemed depressed and under a cloud; but +Clover liked his face at once. He looked both strong and kind, she +thought. + +The house consisted of one large square room in the middle, which served +as parlor and dining-room both, and on either side two bedrooms. The +kitchen was in a separate building. There was no lack of comfort, though +things were rather rude, and the place had a bare, masculine look. The +floor was strewn with coyote and fox skins. Two or three easy-chairs stood +around the fireplace, in which, July as it was, a big log was blazing. +Their covers were shabby and worn; but they looked comfortable, and were +evidently in constant use. There was not the least attempt at prettiness +anywhere. Pipes and books and old newspapers littered the chairs and +tables; when an extra seat was needed Clarence simply tipped a great pile +of these on to the floor. A gun-rack hung upon the wall, together with +sundry long stock-whips and two or three pairs of spurs, and a smell of +tobacco pervaded the place. + +Clover's eyes wandered to a corner where stood a small parlor organ, and +over it a shelf of books. She rose to examine them. To her surprise they +were all hymnals and Church of England prayer-books. There were no others. +She wondered what it meant. + +Clarence had given up his own bedroom to Phil, and was to chum with his +friend. Some little attempt had been made to adorn the rooms which were +meant for the ladies. Clean towels had been spread over the pine shelves +which did duty for dressing-tables, and on each stood a tumbler stuffed as +full as it could hold with purple pentstemons. Clover could not help +laughing, yet there was something pathetic to her in the clumsy, man-like +arrangement. She relieved the tumbler by putting a few of the flowers in +her dress, and went out again to the parlor, where Mrs. Hope sat by the +fire, quizzing the two partners, who were hard at work setting their +tea-table. + +It was rather a droll spectacle,--the two muscular young fellows creaking +to and fro in their heavy boots, and taking such an infinitude of pains +with their operations. One would set a plate on the table, and the other +would forthwith alter its position slightly, or lift and scrutinize a +tumbler and dust it sedulously with a glass-towel. Each spoon was polished +with the greatest particularity before it was laid on the tray; each knife +passed under inspection. Visitors were not an every-day luxury in the High +Valley, and too much care could not be taken for their entertainment, it +seemed. + +Supper was brought in by a Chinese cook in a pigtail, wooden shoes, and a +blue Mother Hubbard, Choo Loo by name. He was evidently a good cook, for +the corn-bread and fresh mountain trout and the ham and eggs were savory +to the last degree, and the flapjacks, with which the meal concluded, and +which were eaten with a sauce of melted raspberry jelly, deserved even +higher encomium. + +"We are willing to be treated as company this first night," observed Mrs. +Hope; "but if you are going to keep us a week, you must let us make +ourselves useful, and set the table and arrange the rooms for you." + +"We will begin to-morrow morning," added Clover. "May we, Clarence? May we +play that it is our house, and do what we like, and change about and +arrange things? It will be such fun." + +"Fire away!" said her cousin, calmly. "The more you change the more we +shall like it. Geoff and I aren't set in our ways, and are glad enough to +be let off duty for a week. The hut is yours just as long as you will +stay; do just what you like with it. Though we're pretty good housekeepers +too, considering; don't you think so?" + +"Do you believe he meant it?" asked Clover, confidentially afterward of +Mrs. Hope. "Do you think they really wouldn't mind being tidied up a +little? I should so like to give that room a good dusting, if it wouldn't +vex them." + +"My dear, they will probably never know the difference except by a vague +sense of improved comfort. Men are dreadfully untidy, as a general thing, +when left to themselves; but they like very well to have other people make +things neat." + +"Mr. Templestowe told Phil that they go off early in the morning and don't +come back till breakfast at half-past seven; so if I wake early enough I +shall try to do a little setting to rights before they come in." + +"And I'll come and help if I don't over-sleep," declared Mrs. Hope; "but +this air makes me feel dreadfully as if I should." + +"I sha'n't call you," said Clover; "but it will be nice to have you, if +you come." + +She stood at her window after Mrs. Hope had gone, for a last look at the +peak which glittered sharply in the light of the moon. The air was like +scented wine. She drew a long breath. + +"How lovely it is!" she said to herself, and kissed her hand to the +mountain. "Good-night, you beautiful thing." + +She woke with the first beam of yellow sun, after eight hours of dreamless +sleep, with a keen sense of renovation and refreshment. A great splashing +was going on in the opposite wing, and manly voices hushed to suppressed +tones were audible. Then came a sound of boots on the porch; and peeping +from behind her curtain, she saw Clarence and his friend striding across +the grass in the direction of the stock-huts. She glanced at her watch. It +was a quarter past five. + +"Now is my chance," she thought; and dressing rapidly, she put on a little +cambric jacket, knotted her hair up, tied a handkerchief over it, and +hurried into the sitting-room. Her first act was to throw open all the +windows to let out the smell of stale tobacco, her next to hunt for a +broom. She found one at last, hanging on the door of a sort of +store-closet, and moving the furniture as noiselessly as she could, she +gave the room a rapid but effectual sweeping. + +While the dust settled, she stole out to a place on the hillside where the +night before she had noticed some mariposa lilies growing, and gathered a +large bunch. Then she proceeded to dust and straighten, sorted out the +newspapers, wiped the woodwork with a damp cloth, arranged the disorderly +books, and set the breakfast-table. When all this was done, there was +still time to finish her toilet and put her pretty hair in its accustomed +coils and waves; so that Clarence and Mr. Templestowe came in to find the +fire blazing, the room bright and neat, Mrs. Hope sitting at the table in +a pretty violet gingham ready to pour the coffee which Choo Loo had +brought in, and Clover, the good fairy of this transformation scene, in a +fresh blue muslin, with a ribbon to match in her hair, just setting the +mariposas in the middle of the table. Their lilac-streaked bells nodded +from a tall vase of ground glass. + +"Oh, I say," cried Clarence, "this _is_ something like! Isn't it +scrumptious, Geoff? The hut never looked like this before. It's wonderful +what a woman--no, two women," with a bow to Mrs. Hope--"can do toward +making things pleasant. Where did that vase come from, Clover? We never +owned anything so fine as that, I'm sure." + +"It came from my bag; and it's a present for you and Mr. Templestowe. I +saw it in a shop-window yesterday; and it occurred to me that it might be +just the thing for High Valley, and fill a gap. And Mrs. Hope has brought +you each a pretty coffee-cup." + +It was a merry meal. The pleasant look of the room, the little surprises, +and the refreshment of seeing new and kindly faces, raised Mr. +Templestowe's spirits, and warmed him out of his reserve. He grew cheerful +and friendly. Clarence was in uproarious spirits, and Phil even worse. It +seemed as if the air of the High Valley had got into his head. + +Dr. Hope left at noon, after making a second visit to the lame herder, and +Mrs. Hope and Clover settled themselves for a week of enjoyment. They were +alone for hours every day, while their young hosts were off on the ranch, +and they devoted part of this time to various useful and decorative arts. +They took all manner of liberties, poked about and rummaged, mended, +sponged, assorted, and felt themselves completely mistresses of the +situation. A note to Marian Chase brought up a big parcel by stage to the +Ute Valley, four miles away, from which it was fetched over by a cow-boy +on horseback; and Clover worked away busily at scrim curtains for the +windows, while Mrs. Hope shaped a slip cover of gay chintz for the +shabbiest of the armchairs, hemmed a great square of gold-colored canton +flannel for the bare, unsightly table, and made a bright red pincushion +apiece for the bachelor quarters. The sitting-room took on quite a new +aspect, and every added touch gave immense satisfaction to "the boys," as +Mrs. Hope called them, who thoroughly enjoyed the effect of these +ministrations, though they had not the least idea how to produce it +themselves. + +Creature comforts were not forgotten. The two ladies amused themselves +with experiments in cookery. The herders brought a basket of wild +raspberries, and Clover turned them into jam for winter use. Clarence +gloated over the little white pots, and was never tired of counting them. +They looked so like New England, he declared, that he felt as if he must +get a girl at once, and go and walk in the graveyard,--a pastime which he +remembered as universal in his native town. Various cakes and puddings +appeared to attest the industry of the housekeepers; and on the only wet +evening, when a wild thunder-gust was sweeping down the valley, they had a +wonderful candy-pull, and made enough to give all the cow-boys a treat. + +It must not be supposed that all their time went in these domestic +pursuits. No, indeed. Mrs. Hope had brought her own side-saddle, and had +borrowed one for Clover; the place was full of horses, and not a day +passed without a long ride up or down the valley, and into the charming +little side canyons which opened from it. A spirited broncho, named +Sorrel, had been made over to Phil's use for the time of his stay, and he +was never out of the saddle when he could help it, except to eat and +sleep. He shared in the herders' wild gallops after stock, and though +Clover felt nervous about the risks he ran, whenever she took time to +think them over, he was so very happy that she had not the heart to +interfere or check his pleasure. + +She and Mrs. Hope rode out with the gentlemen on the great day of the +round-up, and, stationed at a safe point a little way up the hillside, +watched the spectacle,--the plunging, excited herd, the cow-boys madly +galloping, swinging their long whips and lassos, darting to and fro to +head off refractory beasts or check the tendency to stampede. Both +Clarence and Geoffrey Templestowe were bold and expert riders; but the +Mexican and Texan herders in their employ far surpassed them. The ladies +had never seen anything like it. Phil and his broncho were in the midst of +things, of course, and had one or two tumbles, but nothing to hurt them; +only Clover was very thankful when it was all safely over. + +In their rides and scrambling walks it generally happened that Clarence +took possession of Clover, and left Geoff in charge of Mrs. Hope. +Cousinship and old friendship gave him a right, he considered, and he +certainly took full advantage of it. Clover liked Clarence; but there were +moments when she felt that she would rather enjoy the chance to talk more +with Mr. Templestowe, and there was a look in his eyes now and then which +seemed to say that he might enjoy it too. But Clarence did not observe +this look, and he had no idea of sharing his favorite cousin with any one, +if he could help it. + +Sunday brought the explanation of the shelf full of prayer-books which had +puzzled them on their first arrival. There was no church within reach; and +it was Geoff's regular custom, it seemed, to hold a little service for the +men in the valley. Almost all of them came, except the few Mexicans, who +were Roman Catholics, and the room was quite full. Geoff read the service +well and reverently, gave out the hymns, and played the accompaniments for +them, closing with a brief bit of a sermon by the elder Arnold. It was all +done simply and as a matter of course, and Clarence seemed to join in it +with much good-will; but Clover privately wondered whether the idea of +doing such a thing would have entered into his head had he been left +alone, or, if so, whether he would have cared enough about it to carry it +out regularly. She doubted. Whatever the shortcomings of the Church of +England may be, she certainly trains her children into a devout observance +of Sunday. + +The next day, Monday, was to be their last,--a fact lamented by every one, +particularly Phil, who regarded the High Valley as a paradise, and would +gladly have remained there for the rest of his natural life. Clover hated +to take him away; but Dr. Hope had warned her privately that a week would +be enough of it, and that with Phil's tendency to overdo, too long a stay +would be undesirable. So she stood firm, though Clarence urged a delay, +and Phil seconded the proposal with all his might. + +The very pleasantest moment of the visit perhaps came on that last +afternoon, when Geoff got her to himself for once, and took her up a +trail where she had not yet been, in search of scarlet pentstemons to +carry back to St. Helen's. They found great sheaves of the slender stems +threaded, as it were, with jewel-like blossoms; but what was better still, +they had a talk, and Clover felt that she had now a new friend. Geoff told +her of his people at home, and a little about the sister who had lately +died; only a little,--he could not yet trust himself to talk long about +her. Clover listened with frank and gentle interest. She liked to hear +about the old grange at the head of a chine above Clovelley, where Geoff +was born, and which had once been full of boys and girls, now scattered in +the English fashion to all parts of the world. There was Ralph with his +regiment in India,--he was the heir, it seemed,--and Jim and Jack in +Australia, and Oliver with his wife and children in New Zealand, and Allen +at Harrow, and another boy fitting for the civil service. There was a +married sister in Scotland, and another in London; and Isabel, the +youngest of all, still at home,--the light of the house, and the special +pet of the old squire and of Geoff's mother, who, he told Clover, had been +a great beauty in her youth, and though nearly seventy, was in his eyes +beautiful still. + +"It's pretty quiet there for Isabel," he said; "but she has my sister +Helen's two children to care for, and that will keep her busy. I used to +think she'd come out to me one of these years for a twelvemonth; but +there's little chance of her being spared now." + +Clover's sympathy did not take the form of words. It looked out of her +eyes, and spoke in the hushed tones of her soft voice. Geoff felt that it +was there, and it comforted him. The poor fellow was very lonely in those +days, and inclined to be homesick, as even a manly man sometimes is. + +"What an awful time Adam must have had of it before Eve came!" growled +Clarence, that evening, as they sat around the fire. + +"He had a pretty bad time after she came, if I remember," said Clover, +laughing. + +"Ah, but he had _her_!" + +"Stuff and nonsense! He was a long shot happier without her and her old +apple, I think," put in Phil. "You fellows don't know when you're well +off." + +Everybody laughed. + +"Phil's notion of Paradise is the High Valley and Sorrel, and no girls +about to bother and tell him not to get too tired," remarked Clover. "It's +a fair vision; but like all fair visions it must end." + +And end it did next day, when Dr. Hope appeared with the carriage, and the +bags and saddles were put in, and the great bundle of wild-flowers, with +their stems tied in wet moss; and Phil, torn from his beloved broncho, on +whose back he had passed so many happy hours, was forced to accompany the +others back to civilization. + +"I shall see you very soon," said Clarence, tucking the lap-robe round +Clover. "There's the mail to fetch, and other things. I shall be riding in +every day or two." + +"I shall see you very soon," said Geoff, on the other side. "Clarence is +not coming without me, I can assure you." + +Then the carriage drove away; and the two partners went back into the +house, which looked suddenly empty and deserted. + +"I'll tell you what!" began Clarence. + +"And I'll tell _you_ what!" rejoined Geoff. + +"A house isn't worth a red cent which hasn't a woman in it." + +"You might ride down and ask Miss Perkins to step up and adorn our lives," +said his friend, grimly. Miss Perkins was a particularly rigid spinster +who taught a school six miles distant, and for whom Clarence entertained a +particular distaste. + +"You be hanged! I don't mean that kind. I mean--" + +"The nice kind, like Mrs. Hope and your cousin. Well, I'm agreed." + +"I shall go down after the mail to-morrow," remarked Clarence, between the +puffs of his pipe. + +"So shall I." + +"All right; come along!" But though the words sounded hearty, the tone +rather belied them. Clarence was a little puzzled by and did not quite +like this newborn enthusiasm on the part of his comrade. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +OVER A PASS. + + +True to their resolve, the young heads of the High Valley Ranch rode +together to St. Helen's next day,--ostensibly to get their letters; in +reality to call on their late departed guests. They talked amicably as +they went; but unconsciously each was watching the other's mood and +speech. To like the same girl makes young men curiously observant of each +other. + +A disappointment was in store for them. They had taken it for granted that +Clover would be as disengaged and as much at their service as she had been +in the valley; and lo! she sat on the piazza with a knot of girls about +her, and a young man in an extremely "fetching" costume of snow-white +duck, with a flower in his button-hole, was bending over her chair, and +talking in a low voice of something which seemed of interest. He looked +provokingly cool and comfortable to the dusty horsemen, and very much at +home. Phil, who lounged against the piazza-rail opposite, dispensed an +enormous and meaning wink at his two friends as they came up the steps. + +Clover jumped up from her chair, and gave them a most cordial reception. + +"How delightful to see you again so soon!" she said. Then she introduced +them to a girl in pink and a girl in blue as Miss Perham and Miss +Blanchard, and they shook hands with Marian Chase, whom they already knew, +and lastly were presented to Mr. Wade, the youth in white. The three young +men eyed one another with a not very friendly scrutiny, just veiled by the +necessary outward politeness. + +"Then you will be all ready for Thursday,--and your brother too, of +course,--and my mother will stop for you at half-past ten on her way +down," they heard him say. "Miss Chase will go with the Hopes. Oh, yes; +there will be plenty of room. No danger about that. We're almost sure to +have good weather too. Good-morning. I'm so glad you enjoyed the roses." + +There was a splendid cluster of Jacqueminot buds in Clover's dress, at +which Clarence glared wrathfully as he caught these words. The only +consolation was that the creature in duck was going. He was making his +last bows; and one of the girls went with him, which still farther reduced +the number of what in his heart Clarence stigmatized as "a crowd." + +"I must go too," said the girl in blue. "Good-by, Clover. I shall run in a +minute to-morrow to talk over the last arrangements for Thursday." + +"What's going to happen on Thursday?" growled Clarence as soon as she had +departed. + +"Oh, such a delightful thing," cried Clover, sparkling and dimpling. "Old +Mr. Wade, the father of young Mr. Wade, whom you saw just now, is a +director on the railroad, you know; and they have given him the +director's car to take a party over the Marshall Pass, and he has asked +Phil and me to go. It is _such_ a surprise. Ever since we came to St. +Helen's, people have been telling us what a beautiful journey it is; but I +never supposed we should have the chance to take it. Mrs. Hope is going +too, and the doctor, and Miss Chase and Miss Perham,--all the people we +know best, in fact. Isn't it nice?" + +"Oh, certainly; very nice," replied Clarence, in a tone of deep offence. +He was most unreasonably in the sulks. Clover glanced at him with +surprise, and then at Geoff, who was talking to Marian. He looked a little +serious, and not so bright as in the valley; but he was making himself +very pleasant, notwithstanding. Surely he had the same causes for +annoyance as Clarence; but his breeding forbade him to show whatever +inward vexation he may have felt,--certainly not to allow it to influence +his manners. Clover drew a mental contrast between the two which was not +to Clarence's advantage. + +"Who's that fellow anyway?" demanded Clarence. "How long have you known +him? What business has he to be bringing you roses, and making up parties +to take you off on private cars?" + +Something in Clover's usually soft eyes made him stop suddenly. + +"I beg your pardon," he said in an altered tone. + +"I really think you should," replied Clover, with pretty dignity. + +Then she moved away, and began to talk to Geoff, whose grave courtesy at +once warmed into cheer and sun. + +Clarence, thus left a prey to remorse, was wretched. He tried to catch +Clover's eye, but she wouldn't look at him. He leaned against the +balustrade moody and miserable. Phil, who had watched these various +interludes with interest, indicated his condition to Clover with another +telegraphic wink. She glanced across, relented, and made Clarence a little +signal to come and sit by her. + +After that all went happily. Clover was honestly delighted to see her two +friends again. And now that Clarence had recovered from his ill-temper, +there was nothing to mar their enjoyment. Geoff's horse had cast a shoe on +the way down, it seemed, and must be taken to the blacksmith's, so they +did not stay very long; but it was arranged that they should come back to +dinner at Mrs. Marsh's. + +"What a raving belle you are!" remarked Marian Chase, as the young men +rode away. "Three is a good many at a time, though, isn't it?" + +"Three what?" + +"Three--hem! leaves--to one Clover!" + +"It's the usual allowance, I believe. If there were four, now--" + +"Oh, I dare say there will be. They seem to collect round you like wasps +round honey. It's some natural law, I presume,--gravitation or levitation, +which is it?" + +"I'm sure I don't know, and don't try to tease me, Poppy. People out here +are so kind that it's enough to spoil anybody." + +"Kind, forsooth! Do you consider it all pure kindness? Really, for such a +belle, you're very innocent." + +"I wish you wouldn't," protested Clover, laughing and coloring. "I never +was a belle in my life, and that's the second time you've called me that. +Nobody ever said such things to me in Burnet." + +"Ah, you had to come to Colorado to find out how attractive you could be. +Burnet must be a very quiet place. Never mind; you sha'n't be teased, +Clover dear. Only don't let this trefoil of yours get to fighting with one +another. That good-looking cousin of yours was casting quite murderous +glances at poor Thurber Wade just now." + +"Clarence is a dear boy; but he's rather spoiled and not quite grown up +yet, I think." + +"When are you coming back from the Marshall Pass?" inquired Geoff, after +dinner, when Clarence had gone for the horses. + +"On Saturday. We shall only be gone two days." + +"Then I will ride in on Thursday morning, if you will permit, with my +field-glass. It is a particularly good one, and you may find it useful for +the distant views." + +"When are you coming back?" demanded Clarence, a little later. "Saturday? +Then I sha'n't be in again before Monday." + +"Won't you want your letters?" + +"Oh, I guess there won't be any worth coming for till then." + +"Not a letter from your mother?" + +"She only writes once in a while. Most of what I get comes from pa." + +"Cousin Olivia never did seem to care much for Clarence," remarked Clover, +after they were gone. "He would have been a great deal nicer if he had had +a pleasanter time at home. It makes such a difference with boys. Now Mr. +Templestowe has a lovely mother, I'm sure." + +"Oh!" was all the reply that Phil would vouchsafe. + +"How queer people are!" thought little Clover to herself afterward. +"Neither of those boys quite liked our going on this expedition, I +think,--though I'm sure I can't imagine why; but they behaved so +differently. Mr. Templestowe thought of us and something which might give +us pleasure; and Clarence only thought about himself. Poor Clarence! he +never had half a chance till he came here. It isn't all his fault." + +The party in the director's car proved a merry one. Mrs. Wade, a jolly, +motherly woman, fond of the good things of life, and delighting in making +people comfortable, had spared no pains of preparation. There were +quantities of easy-chairs and fans and eau-de-cologne; the larder was +stocked with all imaginable dainties,--iced tea, lemonade, and champagne +cup flowed on the least provocation for all the hot moments, and each +table was a bank of flowers. Each lady had a superb bouquet; and on the +second day a great tin box of freshly-cut roses met them at Pueblo, so +that they came back as gayly furnished forth as they went. Having the +privilege of the road, the car was attached or detached to suit their +convenience, and this enabled them to command daylight for all the finest +points of the excursion. + +First of these was the Royal Gorge, where the Arkansas River pours through +a magnificent canyon, between precipices so steep and with curves so sharp +that only engineering genius of the most daring order could, it would +seem, have devised a way through. Then, after a pause at the pretty town +of Salida, with the magnificent range of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in +full sight, they began to mount the pass over long loops of rail, which +doubled and re-doubled on themselves again and again on their way to the +summit. The train had been divided; and the first half with its two +engines was seen at times puffing and snorting directly overhead of the +second half on the lower curve. + +With each hundred feet of elevation, the view changed and widened. Now it +was of over-lapping hills set with little mésas, like folds of green +velvet flung over the rocks; now of dim-seen valley depths with winding +links of silver rivers; and again of countless mountain peaks sharp-cut +against the sunset sky,--some rosy pink, some shining with snow. + +The flowers were a continual marvel. At the top of the pass, eleven +thousand feet and more above the sea, their colors and their abundance +were more profuse and splendid than on the lower levels. There were whole +fields of pentstemons, pink, blue, royal purple, or the rare scarlet +variety, like stems of asparagus strung with rubies. There were masses of +gillias, and of wonderful coreopsis, enormous cream-colored stars with +deep-orange centres, and deep yellow ones with scarlet centres; thickets +of snowy-cupped mentzelia and of wild rose; while here and there a tall +red lily burned like a little lonely flame in the green, or regiments of +convolvuli waved their stately heads. + +From below came now and again the tinkle of distant cow-bells. These, and +the plaintive coo of mourning-doves in the branches, and the rush of the +wind, which was like cool flower-scented wine, was all that broke the +stillness of the high places. + + "To think I'm so much nearer heaven + Than when I was a boy," + +misquoted Clover, as she sat on the rear platform of the car, with Poppy, +and Thurber Wade. + +"Are you sure your head doesn't ache? This elevation plays the mischief +with some people. My mother has taken to her berth with ice on her +temples." + +"Headache! No, indeed. This air is too delicious. I feel as though I could +dance all the way from here to the Black Canyon." + +"You don't look as if your head ached, or anything," said Mr. Wade, +staring at Clover admiringly. Her cheeks were pink with excitement, her +eyes full of light and exhilaration. + +"Oh dear! we are beginning to go down," she cried, watching one of the +beautiful peaks of the Sangre de Cristos as it dipped out of sight. "I +think I could find it in my heart to cry, if it were not that to-morrow +we are coming up again." + +So down, down, down they went. Dusk slowly gathered about them; and the +white-gloved butler set the little tables, and brought in broiled chicken +and grilled salmon and salad and hot rolls and peaches, and they were all +very hungry. And Clover did not cry, but fell to work on her supper with +an excellent appetite, quite unconscious that they were speeding through +another wonderful gorge without seeing one of its beauties. Then the car +was detached from the train; and when she awoke next morning they were at +the little station called Cimmaro, at the head of the famous Black Canyon, +with three hours to spare before the train from Utah should arrive to take +them back to St. Helen's. + +Early as it was, the small settlement was awake. Lights glanced from the +eating-house, where cooks were preparing breakfast for the "through" +passengers, and smokes curled from the chimneys. Close to the car was a +large brick structure which seemed to be a sort of hotel for locomotives. +A number of the enormous creatures had evidently passed the night there, +and just waked up. Clover now watched their antics with great amusement +from her window as their engineers ran them in and out, rubbed them down +like horses, and fed them with oil and coal, while they snorted and backed +and sidled a good deal as real horses do. Clover could not at all +understand what all these manoeuvres were for,--they seemed only designed +to show the paces of the iron steeds, and what they were good for. + +"Miss Clover," whispered a voice outside her curtains, "I've got hold of a +hand-car and a couple of men; and don't you want to take a spin down the +canyon and see the view with no smoke to spoil it? Just you and me and +Miss Chase. She says she'll go if you will. Hurry, and don't make a noise. +We won't wake the others." + +Of course Clover wanted to. She finished her dressing at top-speed, +hurried on her hat and jacket, stole softly out to where the others +awaited her, and in five minutes they were smoothly running down the +gorge, over high trestle-work bridges and round sharp curves which made +her draw her breath a little faster. There was no danger, the men who +managed the hand-car assured them; it was a couple of hours yet before the +next train came in; there was plenty of time to go three or four miles +down and return. + +Anything more delicious than the early morning air in the Black Canyon it +would be difficult to imagine. Cool, odorous with pines and with the +breath of the mountains, it was like a zestful draught of iced summer. +Close beside the track ran a wondrous river which seemed made of melted +jewels, so curiously brilliant were its waters and mixed of so many hues. +Its course among the rocks was a flash of foaming rapids, broken here and +there by pools of exquisite blue-green, deepening into inky-violet under +the shadow of the cliffs. And such cliffs!--one, two, three thousand feet +high; not deep-colored like those about St. Helen's, but of steadfast +mountain hues and of magnificent forms,--buttresses and spires; crags +whose bases were lost in untrodden forests; needle-sharp pinnacles like +the Swiss Aiguilles. The morning was just making its way into the canyon; +and the loftier tops flashed with yellow sun, while the rest were still in +cold shadow. + +Breakfast was just ready when the hand-car arrived again at the upper end +of the gorge, and loud were the reproaches which met the happy three as +they alighted from it. Phil was particularly afflicted. + +"I call it mean not to wake a fellow," he said. + +"But a fellow was _so_ sound asleep," said Clover, "I really hadn't the +heart. I did peep in at your curtain, and if you had moved so much as a +finger, _perhaps_ I should have called you; but you didn't." + +The return journey was equally fortunate, and the party reached St. +Helen's late in the evening of the second day, in what Mr. Wade called +"excellent form." Monday brought the young men from the ranch in again; +and another fortnight passed happily, Clover's three "leaves" being most +faithfully attentive to their central point of attraction. "Three is a +good many," as Marian Chase had said, but all girls like to be liked, and +Clover did not find this, her first little experience of the kind, at all +disagreeable. + +The excursion to the Marshall Pass, however, had an after effect which was +not so pleasant. Either the high elevation had disagreed with Phil, or he +had taken a little cold; at all events, he was distinctly less well. With +the lowering of his physical forces came a corresponding depression of +spirits. Mrs. Watson worried him, the sick people troubled him, the sound +of coughing depressed him, his appetite nagged, and his sleep was broken. +Clover felt that he must have a change, and consulted Dr. Hope, who +advised their going to the Ute Valley for a month. + +This involved giving up their rooms at Mrs. Marsh's, which was a pity, as +it was by no means certain that they would be able to get them again +later. Clover regretted this; but Fate, as Fate often does, brought a +compensation. Mrs. Watson had no mind whatever for the Ute Valley. + +"It's a dull place, they tell me, and there's nothing to do there but ride +on horseback, and as I don't ride on horseback, I really don't see what +use there would be in my going," she said to Clover. "If I were young, and +there were young men ready to ride with me all the time, it would be +different; though Ellen never did care to, except with Henry of course, +after they--And I really can't see that your brother's much different from +what he was, though if Dr. Hope says so, naturally you--He's a queer kind +of doctor, it seems to me, to send lung patients up higher than +this,--which is high already, gracious knows. No; if you decide to go, I +shall just move over to the Shoshone for the rest of the time that I'm +here. I'm sure that Dr. Carr couldn't expect me to stay on here alone, +just for the chance that you may want to come back, when as like as not, +Mrs. Marsh won't be able to take you again." + +"Oh, no; I'm quite sure he wouldn't. Only I thought," doubtfully, "that as +you've always admired Phil's room so much, you might like to secure it now +that we have to go." + +"Well, yes. If you were to be here, I might. If that man who's so sick had +got better, or gone away, or something, I dare say I should have settled +down in his room and been comfortable enough. But he seems just about as +he was when we came, so there's no use waiting; and I'd rather go to the +Shoshone anyway. I always said it was a mistake that we didn't go there in +the first place. It was Dr. Hope's doing, and I have not the least +confidence in him. He hasn't osculated me once since I came." + +"Hasn't he?" said Clover, feeling her voice tremble, and perfectly aware +of the shaking of Phil's shoulders behind her. + +"No; and I don't call just putting his ear to my chest, listening. Dr. +Bangs, at home, would be ashamed to come to the house without his +stethoscope. I mean to move this afternoon. I've given Mrs. Marsh +notice." + +So Mrs. Watson and her belongings went to the Shoshone, and Clover packed +the trunks with a lighter heart for her departure. + +The last day of July found Clover and Phil settled in the Ute Park. It was +a wild and beautiful valley, some hundreds of feet higher than St. +Helen's, and seemed the very home of peace. A Sunday-like quiet pervaded +the place, whose stillness was never broken except by bird-songs and the +rustle of the pine branches. + +The sides of the valley near its opening were dotted here and there with +huts and cabins belonging to parties who had fled from the heat of the +plains for the summer. At the upper end stood the ranch house,--a large, +rather rudely built structure,--and about it were a number of cabins and +cottages, in which two, four, or six people could be accommodated. Clover +and Phil were lodged in one of these. The tiny structure contained only a +sitting and two sleeping rooms, and was very plain and bare. But there was +a fireplace; wood was abundant, so that a cheerful blaze could be had for +cool evenings; and the little piazza faced the south, and made a sheltered +sitting place on windy days. + +One pleasant feature of the spot was its nearness to the High Valley. +Clarence and Geoff Templestowe thought nothing of riding four miles; and +scarcely a day passed when one or both did not come over. They brought +wild-flowers, or cream, or freshly-churned butter, as offerings from the +ranch; and, what Clover valued as a greater kindness yet, they brought +Phil's beloved broncho, Sorrel, and arranged with the owner of the Ute +ranch that it should remain as long as Phil was there. This gave Phil +hours of delightful exercise every day; and though sometimes he set out +early in the morning for the High Valley, and stayed later in the +afternoon than his sister thought prudent, she had not the heart to chide, +so long as he was visibly getting better hour by hour. + +Sundays the friends spent together, as a matter of course. Geoff waited +till his little home service for the ranchmen was over, and then would +gallop across with Clarence to pass the rest of the day. There was no lack +of kind people at the main house and in the cottages to take an interest +in the delicate boy and his sweet, motherly sister; so Clover had an +abundance of volunteer matrons, and plenty of pleasant ways in which to +spend those occasional days on which the High Valley attaches failed to +appear. + +It was a simple, healthful life, the happiest on the whole which they had +led since leaving home. Once or twice Mr. Thurber Wade made his +appearance, gallantly mounted, and freighted with flowers and kind +messages from his mother to Miss Carr; but Clover was never sorry when he +rode away again. Somehow he did not seem to belong to the Happy Valley, as +in her heart she denominated the place. + +There was a remarkable deal of full moon that month, as it seemed; at +least, the fact served as an excuse for a good many late transits between +the valley and the park. Now and then either Clarence or Geoff would lead +over a saddle-horse and give Clover a good gallop up or down the valley, +which she always enjoyed. The habit which she had extemporized for her +visit to the High Valley answered very well, and Mrs. Hope had lent her a +hat. + +On one of these occasions she and Clarence had ridden farther than usual, +quite down to the end of the pass, where the road dipped, and descended to +the little watering-place of Canyon Creek,--a Swiss-like village of hotels +and lodging-houses and shops for the sale of minerals and mineral waters, +set along the steep sides of a narrow green valley. They were chatting +gayly, and had just agreed that it was time to turn their horses' heads +homeward, when a sudden darkening made them aware that one of the +unexpected thunder-gusts peculiar to the region was upon them. + +They were still a mile above the village; but as no nearer place of +shelter presented itself, they decided to proceed. But the storm moved +more rapidly than they; and long before the first houses came in sight the +heavy drops began to pelt down. A brown young fellow, lying flat on his +back under a thick bush, with his horse standing over him, shouted to them +to "try the cave," waving his hand in its direction; and hurrying on, they +saw in another moment a shelving brow of rock in the cliff, under which +was a deep recess. + +To this Clarence directed the horses. He lifted Clover down. She half sat, +half leaned on the slope of the rock, well under cover, while he stretched +himself at full length on a higher ledge, and held the bridles fast. The +horses' heads and the saddles were fairly well protected, but the +hindquarters of the animals were presently streaming with water. + +"This isn't half-bad, is it?" Clarence said. His mouth was so close to +Clover's ear that she could catch his words in spite of the noisy thunder +and the roar of the descending rain. + +"No; I call it fun." + +"You look awfully pretty, do you know?" was the next and very unexpected +remark. + +"Nonsense." + +"Not nonsense at all." + +At that moment a carriage dashed rapidly by, the driver guiding the horses +as well as he could between the points of an umbrella, which constantly +menaced his eyes. Other travellers in the pass had evidently been +surprised by the storm besides themselves. The lady who held the umbrella +looked out, and caught the picture of the group under the cliff. It was a +suggestive one. Clover's hat was a little pushed forward by the rock +against which she leaned, which in its turn pushed forward the waving +rings of hair which shaded her forehead, but did not hide her laughing +eyes, or the dimples in her pink cheeks. The fair, slender girl, the dark, +stalwart young fellow so close to her, the rain, the half-sheltered +horses,--it was easy enough to construct a little romance. + +The lady evidently did so. It was what photographers call an +"instantaneous effect," caught in three seconds, as the carriage whirled +past; but in that fraction of a minute the lady had nodded and flashed a +brilliant, sympathetic smile in their direction, and Clover had nodded in +return, and laughed back. + +"A good many people seem to have been caught as we have," she said, as +another streaming vehicle dashed by. + +"I wish it would rain for a week," observed Clarence. + +"My gracious, what a wish! What would become of us if it did?" + +"We should stay here just where we are, and I should have you all to +myself for once, and nobody could come in to interfere with me." + +"Thank you extremely! How hungry we should be! How can you be so absurd, +Clarence?" + +"I'm not absurd at all. I'm perfectly in earnest." + +"Do you mean that you really want to stay a week under this rock with +nothing to eat?" + +"Well, no; not exactly that perhaps,--though if you could, I would. But I +mean that I would like to get you for a whole solid week to myself. There +is such a gang of people about always, and they all want you. Clover," he +went on, for, puzzled at his tone, she made no answer, "couldn't you like +me a little?" + +"I like you a great deal. You come next to Phil and Dorry with me." + +"Hang Phil and Dorry! Who wants to come next to them? I want you to like +me a great deal more than that. I want you to love me. Couldn't you, +Clover?" + +"How strangely you talk! I do love you, of course. You're my cousin." + +"I don't care to be loved 'of course.' I want to be loved for myself. +Clover, you know what I mean; you must know. I can afford to marry now; +won't you stay in Colorado and be my wife?" + +"I don't think you know what you are saying, Clarence. I'm older than you +are. I thought you looked upon me as a sort of mother or older sister." + +"Only fifteen months older," retorted Clarence. "I never heard of any +one's being a mother at that age. I'm a man now, I would have you +remember, though I am a little younger than you, and know my own mind as +well as if I were fifty. Dear Clovy," coaxingly, "couldn't you? You liked +the High Valley, didn't you? I'd do anything possible to make it nice and +pleasant for you." + +"I do like the High Valley very much," said Clover, still with the feeling +that Clarence must be half in joke, or she half in dream. "But, my dear +boy, it isn't my home. I couldn't leave papa and the children, and stay +out here, even with you. It would seem so strange and far away." + +"You could if you cared for me," replied Clarence, dejectedly; Clover's +kind, argumentative, elder-sisterly tone was precisely that which is most +discouraging to a lover. + +"Oh, dear," cried poor Clover, not far from tears herself; "this is +dreadful!" + +"What?" moodily. "Having an offer? You must have had lots of them before +now." + +"Indeed I never did. People don't do such things in Burnet. Please don't +say any more, Clarence. I'm very fond of you, just as I am of the boys; +but--" + +"But what? Go on." + +"How can I?" Clover was fairly crying. + +"You mean that you can't love me in the other way." + +"Yes." The word came out half as a sob, but the sincerity of the accent +was unmistakable. + +"Well," said poor Clarence, after a long bitter pause; "it isn't your +fault, I suppose. I'm not good enough for you. Still, I'd have done my +best, if you would have taken me, Clover." + +"I am sure you would," eagerly. "You've always been my favorite cousin, +you know. People can't _make_ themselves care for each other; it has to +come in spite of them or not at all,--at least, that is what the novels +say. But you're not angry with me, are you, dear? We will be good friends +always, sha'n't we?" persuasively. + +"I wonder if we can," said Clarence, in a hopeless tone. "It doesn't seem +likely; but I don't know any more about it than you do. It's my first +offer as well as yours." Then, after a silence and a struggle, he added in +a more manful tone, "We'll try for it, at least. I can't afford to give +you up. You're the sweetest girl in the world. I always said so, and I say +so still. It will be hard at first, but perhaps it may grow easier with +time." + +"Oh, it will," cried Clover, hopefully. "It's only because you're so +lonely out here, and see so few people, that makes you suppose I am better +than the rest. One of these days you'll find a girl who is a great deal +nicer than I am, and then you'll be glad that I didn't say yes. There! the +rain is just stopping." + +"It's easy enough to talk," remarked Clarence, gloomily, as he gathered up +the bridles of the horses; "but I shall do nothing of the kind. I declare +I won't!" + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +NO. 13 PIUTE STREET. + + +Clover did not see Clarence again for several days after this +conversation, the remembrance of which was uncomfortable to her. She +feared he was feeling hurt or "huffy," and would show it in his manner; +and she disliked very much the idea that Phil might suspect the reason, +or, worse still, Mr. Templestowe. + +But when he finally appeared he seemed much the same as usual. After all, +she reflected, it has only been a boyish impulse; he has already got over +it, or not meant all he said. + +In this she did Clarence an injustice. He had been very much in earnest +when he spoke; and it showed the good stuff which was in him and his real +regard for Clover that he should be making so manly a struggle with his +disappointment and pain. His life had been a lonely one in Colorado; he +could not afford to quarrel with his favorite cousin, and with him, as +with other lovers, there may have been, besides, some lurking hope that +she might yet change her mind. But perhaps Clover in a measure was right +in her conviction that Clarence was still too young and undeveloped to +have things go very deep with him. He seemed to her in many ways as boyish +and as undisciplined as Phil. + +With early September the summering of the Ute Park came to a close. The +cold begins early at that elevation, and light frosts and red leaves +warned the dwellers in tents and cabins to flee. + +Clover made her preparations for departure with real reluctance. She had +grown very fond of the place; but Phil was perfectly himself again, and +there seemed no reason for their staying longer. + +So back to St. Helen's they went and to Mrs. Marsh, who, in reply to +Clover's letter, had written that she must make room for them somehow, +though for the life of her she couldn't say how. It proved to be in two +small back rooms. An irruption of Eastern invalids had filled the house to +overflowing, and new faces met them at every turn. Two or three of the +last summer's inmates had died during their stay,--one of them the very +sick man whose room Mrs. Watson had coveted. His death took place "as if +on purpose," she told Clover, the very week after her removal to the +Shoshone. + +Mrs. Watson herself was preparing for return to the East. "I've seen the +West now," she said,--"all I want to see; and I'm quite ready to go back +to my own part of the country. Ellen writes that she thinks I'd better +start for home so as to get settled before the cold--And it's so cold here +that I can't realize that they're still in the middle of peaches at home. +Ellen always spices a great--They're better than preserves; and as for the +canned ones, why, peaches and water is what I call them. Well--my dear--" +(Distance lends enchantment, and Clover had become "My dear" again.) "I'm +glad I could come out and help you along; and now that you know so many +people here, you won't need me so much as you did at first. I shall tell +Mrs. Perkins to write to Mrs. Hall to tell your father how well your +brother is looking, and I know he'll be--And here's a little handkerchief +for a keepsake." + +It was a pretty handkerchief, of pale yellow silk with embroidered +corners, and Clover kissed the old lady as she thanked her, and they +parted good friends. But their intercourse had led her to make certain +firm resolutions. + +"I will try to keep my mind clear and my talk clear; to learn what I want +and what I have a right to want and what I mean to say, so as not to +puzzle and worry people when I grow old, by being vague and helpless and +fussy," she reflected. "I suppose if I don't form the habit now, I sha'n't +be able to then, and it would be dreadful to end by being like poor Mrs. +Watson." + +Altogether, Mrs. Marsh's house had lost its homelike character; and it was +not strange that under the circumstances Phil should flag a little. He was +not ill, but he was out of sorts and dismal, and disposed to consider the +presence of so many strangers as a personal wrong. Clover felt that it was +not a good atmosphere for him, and anxiously revolved in her mind what was +best to do. The Shoshone was much too expensive; good boarding-houses in +St. Helen's were few and far between, and all of them shared in a still +greater degree the disadvantages which had made themselves felt at Mrs. +Marsh's. + +The solution to her puzzle came--as solutions often do--unexpectedly. She +was walking down Piute Street on her way to call on Alice Blanchard, when +her attention was attracted to a small, shut-up house, on which was a +sign: "No. 13. To Let, Furnished." The sign was not printed, but written +on a half-sheet of foolscap, which was what led Clover to notice it. + +She studied the house a while, then opened the gate, and went in. Two or +three steps led to a little piazza. She seated herself on the top step, +and tried to peep in at the closed blinds of the nearest window. + +While she was doing so, a woman with a shawl over her head came hastily +down a narrow side street or alley, and approached her. + +"Oh, did you want the key?" she said. + +"The key?" replied Clover, surprised; "of this house, do you mean?" + +"Yes. Mis Starkey left it with me when she went away, because, she said, +it was handy, and I could give it to anybody who wished to look at the +place. You're the first that has come; so when I see you setting here, I +just ran over. Did Mr. Beloit send you?" + +"No; nobody sent me. Is it Mr. Beloit who has the letting of the house?" + +"Yes; but I can let folks in. I told Mis Starkey I'd air and dust a little +now and then, if it wasn't took. Poor soul! she was anxious enough about +it; and it all had to be done on a sudden, and she in such a heap of +trouble that she didn't know which way to turn. It was just lock-up and +go!" + +"Tell me about her," said Clover, making room on the step for the woman to +sit down. + +"Well, she come out last year with her man, who had lung trouble, and he +wasn't no better at first, and then he seemed to pick up for a while; and +they took this house and fixed themselves to stay for a year, at least. +They made it real nice, too, and slicked up considerable. Mis Starkey +said, said she, 'I don't want to spend no more money on it than I can +help, but Mr. Starkey must be made comfortable,' says she, them was her +very words. He used to set out on this stoop all day long in the summer, +and she alongside him, except when she had to be indoors doing the work. +She didn't keep no regular help. I did the washing for her, and come in +now and then for a day to clean; so she managed very well. + +"Then,--Wednesday before last, it was,--he had a bleeding, and sank away +like all in a minute, and was gone before the doctor could be had. Mis +Starkey was all stunned like with the shock of it; and before she had got +her mind cleared up so's to order about anything, come a telegraph to say +her son was down with diphtheria, and his wife with a young baby, and both +was very low. And between one and the other she was pretty near out of her +wits. We packed her up as quick as we could, and he was sent off by +express; and she says to me, 'Mis Kenny, you see how 't is. I've got this +house on my hands till May. There's no time to see to anything, and I've +got no heart to care; but if any one'll take it for the winter, well and +good; and I'll leave the sheets and table-cloths and everything in it, +because it may make a difference, and I don't mind about them nohow. And +if no one does take it, I'll just have to bear the loss,' says she. Poor +soul! she was in a world of trouble, surely." + +"Do you know what rent she asks for the house?" said Clover, in whose mind +a vague plan was beginning to take shape. + +"Twenty-five a month was what she paid; and she said she'd throw the +furniture in for the rest of the time, just to get rid of the rent." + +Clover reflected. Twenty-five dollars a week was what they were paying at +Mrs. Marsh's. Could they take this house and live on the same sum, after +deducting the rent, and perhaps get this good-natured-looking woman to +come in for a certain number of hours and help do the work? She almost +fancied that they could if they kept no regular servant. + +"I think I _would_ like to see the house," she said at last, after a +silent calculation and a scrutinizing look at Mrs. Kenny, who was a faded, +wiry, but withal kindly-looking person, shrewd and clean,--a North of +Ireland Protestant, as she afterward told Clover. In fact, her accent was +rather Scotch than Irish. + +They went in. The front door opened into a minute hall, from which another +door led into a back hall with a staircase. There was a tiny sitting-room, +an equally tiny dining-room, a small kitchen, and above, two bedrooms and +a sort of unplastered space, which would answer to put trunks in. That was +all, save a little woodshed. Everything was bare and scanty and rather +particularly ugly. The sitting-room had a frightful paper of mingled +mustard and molasses tint, and a matted floor; but there was a good-sized +open fireplace for the burning of wood, in which two bricks did duty for +andirons, three or four splint and cane bottomed chairs, a lounge, and a +table, while the pipe of the large "Morning-glory" stove in the +dining-room expanded into a sort of drum in the chamber above. This +secured a warm sleeping place for Phil. Clover began to think that they +could make it do. + +Mrs. Kenny, who evidently considered the house as a wonder of luxury and +convenience, opened various cupboards, and pointed admiringly to the glass +and china, the kitchen tins and utensils, and the cotton sheets and +pillow-cases which they respectively held. + +"There's water laid on," she said; "you don't have to pump any. Here's +the washtubs in the shed. That's a real nice tin boiler for the +clothes,--I never see a nicer. Mis Starkey had that heater in the +dining-room set the very week before she went away. 'Winter's coming on,' +she says, 'and I must see about keeping my husband warm;' never thinking, +poor thing, how 't was to be." + +"Does this chimney draw?" asked the practical Clover; "and does the +kitchen stove bake well?" + +"First-rate. I've seen Mis Starkey take her biscuits out many a time,--as +nice a brown as ever you'd want; and the chimney don't smoke a mite. They +kep' a wood fire here in May most all the time, so I know." + +Clover thought the matter over for a day or two, consulted with Dr. Hope, +and finally decided to try the experiment. No. 13 was taken, and Mrs. +Kenny engaged for two days' work each week, with such other occasional +assistance as Clover might require. She was a widow, it seemed, with one +son, who, being employed on the railroad, only came home for the nights. +She was glad of a regular engagement, and proved an excellent stand-by and +a great help to Clover, to whom she had taken a fancy from the start; and +many were the good turns which she did for love rather than hire for "my +little Miss," as she called her. + +To Phil the plan seemed altogether delightful. This was natural, as all +the fun fell to his share and none of the trouble; a fact of which Mrs. +Hope occasionally reminded him. Clover persisted, however, that it was all +fair, and that she got lots of fun out of it too, and didn't mind the +trouble. The house was so absurdly small that it seemed to strike every +one as a good joke; and Clover's friends set themselves to help in the +preparations, as if the establishment in Piute Street were a kind of +baby-house about which they could amuse themselves at will. + +It is a temptation always to make a house pretty, but Clover felt herself +on honor to spend no more than was necessary. Papa had trusted her, and +she was resolved to justify his trust. So she bravely withstood her +desire for several things which would have been great improvements so far +as looks went, and confined her purchases to articles of clear +necessity,--extra blankets, a bedside carpet for Phil's room, and a +chafing-dish over which she could prepare little impromptu dishes, and so +save fuel and fatigue. She allowed herself some cheap Madras curtains for +the parlor, and a few yards of deep-red flannel to cover sundry shelves +and corner brackets which Geoffrey Templestowe, who had a turn for +carpentry, put up for her. Various loans and gifts, too, appeared from +friendly attics and store-rooms to help out. Mrs. Hope hunted up some old +iron firedogs and a pair of bellows, Poppy contributed a pair of +brass-knobbed tongs, and Mrs. Marsh lent her a lamp. No. 13 began to look +attractive. + +They were nearly ready, but not yet moved in, when one day as Clover stood +in the queer little parlor, contemplating the effect of Geoff's last +effort,--an extra pine shelf above the narrow mantel-shelf,--a pair of +arms stole round her waist, and a cheek which had a sweet familiarity +about it was pressed against hers. She turned, and gave a great shriek of +amazement and joy, for it was her sister Katy's arms that held her. +Beyond, in the doorway, were Mrs. Ashe and Amy, with Phil between them. + +"Is it you; is it really you?" cried Clover, laughing and sobbing all at +once in her happy excitement. "How did it happen? I never knew that you +were coming." + +"Neither did we; it all happened suddenly," explained Katy. "The ship was +ordered to New York on three days' notice, and as soon as Ned sailed, +Polly and I made haste to follow. There would have been just time to get a +letter here if we had written at once, but I had the fancy to give you a +surprise." + +"Oh, it is _such_ a nice surprise! But when did you come, and where are +you?" + +"At the Shoshone House,--at least our bags are there; but we only stayed a +minute, we were in such a hurry to get to you. We went to Mrs. Marsh's +and found Phil, who brought us here. Have you really taken this funny +little house, as Phil tells us?" + +"We really have. Oh, what a comfort it will be to tell you all about it, +and have you say if I have done right! Dear, dear Katy, I feel as if home +had just arrived by train. And Polly, too! You all look so well, and as if +California had agreed with you. Amy has grown so that I should scarcely +have known her." + +Four delightful days followed. Katy flung herself into all Clover's plans +with the full warmth of sisterly interest; and though the Hopes and other +kind friends made many hospitable overtures, and would gladly have turned +her short visit into a continuous _fête_, she persisted in keeping the +main part of her time free. She must see a little of St. Helen's, she +declared, so as to be able to tell her father about it, and she must help +Clover to get to housekeeping,--these were the important things, and +nothing else must interfere with them. + +Most effectual assistance did she render in the way of unpacking and +arranging. More than that, one day, when Clover, rather to her own +disgust, had been made to go with Polly and Amy to Denver while Katy +stayed behind, lo! on her return, a transformation had taken place, and +the ugly paper in the parlor of No. 13 was found replaced with one of +warm, sunny gold-brown. + +"Oh, why did you?" cried Clover. "It's only for a few months, and the +other would have answered perfectly well. Why did you, Katy?" + +"I suppose it _was_ foolish," Katy admitted; "but somehow I couldn't bear +to have you sitting opposite that deplorable mustard-colored thing all +winter long. And really and truly it hardly cost anything. It was a +remnant reduced to ten cents a roll,--the whole thing was less than four +dollars. You can call it your Christmas present from me, if you like, and +I shall 'play' besides that the other paper had arsenic in it; I'm sure it +looked as if it had, and corrosive sublimate, too." + +Clover laughed outright. It was so funny to hear Katy's fertility of +excuse. + +"You dear, ridiculous darling!" she said, giving her sister a good hug; +"it was just like you, and though I scold I am perfectly delighted. I did +hate that paper with all my heart, and this is lovely. It makes the room +look like a different thing." + +Other benefactions followed. Polly, it appeared, had bought more Indian +curiosities in Denver than she knew what to do with, and begged permission +to leave a big bear-skin and two wolf-skins with Clover for the winter, +and a splendid striped Navajo blanket as a portière to keep off draughts +from the entry. Katy had set herself up in California blankets while they +were in San Francisco, and she now insisted on leaving a pair behind, and +loaning Clover besides one of two beautiful Japanese silk pictures which +Ned had given her, and which made a fine spot of color on the pretty new +wall. There were presents in her trunks for all at home, and Ned had sent +Clover a beautiful lacquered box. + +Somehow Clover seemed like a new and doubly-interesting Clover to Katy. +She was struck by the self-reliance which had grown upon her, by her +bright ways and the capacity and judgment which all her arrangements +exhibited; and she listened with delight to Mrs. Hope's praises of her +sister. + +"She really is a wonderful little creature; so wise and judgmatical, and +yet so pretty and full of fun. People are quite cracked about her out +here. I don't think you'll ever get her back at the East again, Mrs. +Worthington. There seems a strong determination on the part of several +persons to keep her here." + +"What do you mean?" + +But Mrs. Hope, who believed in the old proverb about not addling eggs by +meddling with them prematurely, refused to say another word. Clover, when +questioned, "could not imagine what Mrs. Hope meant;" and Katy had to go +away with her curiosity unsatisfied. Clarence came in once while she was +there, but she did not see Mr. Templestowe. + +Katy's last gift to Clover was a pretty tea-pot of Japanese ware. "I meant +it for Cecy," she explained. "But as you have none I'll give it to you +instead, and take her the fan I meant for you. It seems more appropriate." + +Phil and Clover moved into No. 13 the day before the Eastern party left, +so as to be able to celebrate the occasion by having them all to an +impromptu house-warming. There was not much to eat, and things were still +a little unsettled; but Clover scrambled some eggs on her little blazer +for them, the newly-lit fire burned cheerfully, and a good deal of quiet +fun went on about it. Amy was so charmed with the minute establishment +that she declared she meant to have one exactly like it for Mabel whenever +she got married. + +"And a spirit-lamp, too, just like Clover's, and a cunning, teeny-weeny +kitchen and a stove to boil things on. Mamma, when shall I be old enough +to have a house all of my own?" + +"Not till you are tired of playing with dolls, I am afraid." + +"Well, that will be never. If I thought I ever could be tired of Mabel, I +should be so ashamed of myself that I should not know what to do. You +oughtn't to say such things, Mamma; she might hear you, too, and have her +feelings hurt. And please don't call her _that_," said Amy, who had as +strong an objection to the word "doll" as mice are said to have to the +word "cat." + +Next morning the dear home people proceeded on their way, and Clover fell +to work resolutely on her housekeeping, glad to keep busy, for she had a +little fear of being homesick for Katy. Every small odd and end that she +had brought with her from Burnet came into play now. The photographs were +pinned on the wall, the few books and ornaments took their places on the +extemporized shelves and on the table, which, thanks to Mrs. Hope, was no +longer bare, but hidden by a big square of red canton flannel. There was +almost always a little bunch of flowers from the Wade greenhouses, which +were supposed to come from Mrs. Wade; and altogether the effect was cosey, +and the little interior looked absolutely pretty, though the result was +attained by such very simple means. + +Phil thought it heavenly to be by themselves and out of the reach of +strangers. Everything tasted delicious; all the arrangements pleased him; +never was boy so easily suited as he for those first few weeks at No. 13. + +"You're awfully good to me, Clover," he said one night rather suddenly, +from the depths of his rocking-chair. + +The remark was so little in Phil's line that it quite made her jump. + +"Why, Phil, what made you say that?" she asked. + +"Oh, I don't know. I was thinking about it. We used to call Katy the +nicest, but you're just as good as she is. [This Clover justly considered +a tremendous compliment.] You always make a fellow feel like home, as +Geoff Templestowe says." + +"Did Geoff say that?" with a warm sense of gladness at her heart. "How +nice of him! What made him say it?" + +"Oh, I don't know; it was up in the canyon one day when we got to +talking," replied Phil. "There are no flies on you, he considers. I asked +him once if he didn't think Miss Chase pretty, and he said not half so +pretty as you were." + +"Really! You seem to have been very confidential. And what is that about +flies? Phil, Phil, you really mustn't use such slang." + +"I suppose it is slang; but it's an awfully nice expression anyway." + +"But what _does_ it mean?" + +"Oh, you must see just by the sound of it what it means,--that there's no +nonsense sticking out all over you like some of the girls. It's a great +compliment!" + +"Is it? Well, I'm glad to know. But Mr. Templestowe never used such a +phrase, I'm sure." + +"No, he didn't," admitted Phil; "but that's what he meant." + +So the winter drew on,--the strange, beautiful Colorado winter,--with +weeks of golden sunshine broken by occasional storms of wind and sand, or +by skurries of snow which made the plains white for a few hours and then +vanished, leaving them dry and firm as before. The nights were often +cold,--so cold that comfortables and blankets seemed all too few, and +Clover roused with a shiver to think that presently it would be her duty +to get up and start the fires so that Phil might find a warm house when he +came downstairs. Then, before she knew it, fires would seem oppressive; +first one window and then another would be thrown up, and Phil would be +sitting on the piazza in the balmy sunshine as comfortable as on a June +morning at home. It was a wonderful climate; and as Clover wrote her +father, the winter was better even than the summer, and was certainly +doing Phil more good. He was able to spend hours every day in the open +air, walking, or riding Dr. Hope's horse, and improved steadily. Clover +felt very happy about him. + +This early rising and fire-making were the hardest things she had to +encounter, though all the housekeeping proved more onerous than, in her +inexperience, she had expected it to be. After the first week or two, +however, she managed very well, and gradually learned the little +labor-saving ways which can only be learned by actual experiment. Getting +breakfast and tea she enjoyed, for they could be chiefly managed by the +use of the chafing-dish. Dinners were more difficult, till she hit on the +happy idea of having Mrs. Kenny roast a big piece of beef or mutton, or a +pair of fowls every Monday. These _pièces de résistance_ in their +different stages of hot, cold, and warmed over, carried them well along +through the week, and, supplemented with an occasional chop or steak, +served very well. Fairly good soups could be bought in tins, which needed +only to be seasoned and heated for use on table. Oysters were easily +procurable there, as everywhere in the West; good brown-bread and rolls +came from the bakery; and Clover developed a hitherto dormant talent for +cookery and the making of Graham gems, corn-dodgers, hoe-cakes baked on a +barrel head before the parlor fire, and wonderful little flaky biscuits +raised all in a minute with Royal Baking Powder. + +She also became expert in that other fine art of condensing work, and +making it move in easy grooves. Her tea things she washed with her +breakfast things, just setting the cups and plates in the sink for the +night, pouring a dipper full of boiling water over them. There was no +silver to care for, no delicate glass or valuable china; the very +simplicity of apparatus made the house an easy one to keep. Clover was +kept busy, for simplify as you will, providing for the daily needs of two +persons does take time; but she liked her cares and rarely felt tired. The +elastic and vigorous air seemed to build up her forces from moment to +moment, and each day's fatigues were more than repaired by each night's +rest, which is the balance of true health in living. + +Little pleasures came from time to time. Christmas Day they spent with +the Hopes, who from first to last proved the kindest and most helpful of +friends to them. The young men from the High Valley were there also, and +the day was brightly kept,--from the home letters by the early mail to the +grand merry-making and dance with which it wound up. Everybody had some +little present for everybody else. Mrs. Wade sent Clover a tall +india-rubber plant in a china pot, which made a spire of green in the +south window for the rest of the winter; and Clover had spent many odd +moments and stitches in the fabrication of a gorgeous Mexican-worked +sideboard cloth for the Hopes. + +But of all Clover's offerings the one which pleased her most, as showing a +close observation of her needs, came from Geoff Templestowe. It was a +prosaic gift, being a wagon-load of piñon wood for the fire; but the +gnarled, oddly twisted sticks were heaped high with pine boughs and long +trails of red-fruited kinnikinnick to serve as a Christmas dressing, and +somehow the gift gave Clover a peculiar pleasure. + +"How dear of him!" she thought, lifting one of the big piñon logs with a +gentle touch; "and how like him to think of it! I wonder what makes him so +different from other people. He never says fine flourishing things like +Thurber Wade, or abrupt, rather rude things like Clarence, or +inconsiderate things like Phil, or satirical, funny things like the +doctor; but he's always doing something kind. He's a little bit like papa, +I think; and yet I don't know. I wish Katy could have seen him." + +Life at St. Helen's in the winter season is never dull; but the gayest +fortnight of all was when, late in January, the High Valley partners +deserted their duties and came in for a visit to the Hopes. All sorts of +small festivities had been saved for this special fortnight, and among the +rest, Clover and Phil gave a party. + +"If you can squeeze into the dining-room, and if you can do with just +cream-toast for tea," she explained, "it would be such fun to have you +come. I can't give you anything to eat to speak of, because I haven't any +cook, you know; but you can all eat a great deal of dinner, and then you +won't starve." + +Thurber Wade, the Hopes, Clarence, Geoff, Marian, and Alice made a party +of nine, and it was hard work indeed to squeeze so many into the tiny +dining-room of No. 13. The very difficulties, however, made it all the +jollier. Clover's cream-toast,--which she prepared before their eyes on +the blazer,--her little tarts made of crackers split, buttered, and +toasted brown with a spoonful of raspberry jam in each, and the big loaf +of hot ginger-bread to be eaten with thick cream from the High Valley, +were pronounced each in its way to be absolute perfection. Clarence and +Phil kindly volunteered to "shunt the dishes" into the kitchen after the +repast was concluded; and they gathered round the fire to play "twenty +questions" and "stage-coach," and all manner of what Clover called +"lead-pencil games,"--"crambo" and "criticism" and "anagrams" and +"consequences." There was immense laughter over some of these, as, for +instance, when Dr. Hope was reported as having met Mrs. Watson in the +North Cheyenne Canyon, and he said that knowledge is power; and she, that +when larks flew round ready roasted poor folks could stick a fork in; and +the consequence was that they eloped together to a Cannibal Island where +each suffered a process of disillusionation, and the world said it was the +natural result of osculation. This last sentence was Phil's, and I fear he +had peeped a little, or his context would not have been so apropos; but +altogether the "cream-toast swarry," as he called it, was a pronounced +success. + +It was not long after this that a mysterious little cloud of difference +seemed to fall on Thurber Wade. He ceased to call at No. 13, or to bring +flowers from his mother; and by-and-by it was learned that he had started +for a visit to the East. No one knew what had caused these phenomena, +though some people may have suspected. Later it was announced that he was +in Chicago and very attentive to a pretty Miss Somebody whose father had +made a great deal of money in Standard oil. Poppy arched her brows and +made great amused eyes at Clover, trying to entangle her into admissions +as to this or that, and Clarence experimented in the same direction; but +Clover was innocently impervious to these efforts, and no one ever knew +what had happened between her and Thurber,--if, indeed, anything had +happened. + +So May came to St. Helen's in due course, of time. The sand-storms and the +snow-storms were things of the past, the tawny yellow of the plains began +to flush with green, and every day the sun grew more warm and beautiful. +Phil seemed perfectly well and sound now; their occupancy of No. 13 was +drawing to a close; and Clover, as she reflected that Colorado would soon +be a thing of the past, and must be left behind, was sensible of a little +sinking of the heart even though she and Phil were going home. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE LAST OF THE CLOVER-LEAVES. + + +Last days are very apt to be hard days. As the time drew near for quitting +No. 13, Clover was conscious of a growing reluctance. + +"I wonder why it is that I mind it so much?" she asked herself. "Phil has +got well here, to be sure; that would be enough of itself to make me fond +of the place, and we have had a happy winter in this little house. But +still, papa, Elsie, John,--it seems very queer that I am not gladder to go +back to them. I can't account for it. It isn't natural, and it seems wrong +in me." + +It was a rainy afternoon in which Clover made these reflections. Phil, +weary of being shut indoors, had donned ulster and overshoes, and gone up +to make a call on Mrs. Hope. Clover was quite alone in the house, as she +sat with her mending-basket beside the fireplace, in which was burning the +last but three of the piñon logs,--Geoff Templestowe's Christmas present. + +"They will just last us out," reflected Clover; "what a comfort they have +been! I would like to carry the very last of them home with me, and keep +it to look at; but I suppose it would be silly." + +She looked about the little room. Nothing as yet had been moved or +disturbed, though the next week would bring their term of occupancy to a +close. + +"This is a good evening to begin to take things down and pack them," she +thought. "No one is likely to come in, and Phil is away." + +She rose from her chair, moved restlessly to and fro, and at last leaned +forward and unpinned a corner of one of the photographs on the wall. She +stood for a moment irresolutely with the pin in her fingers, then she +jammed it determinedly back into the photograph again, and returned to +her sewing. I almost think there were tears in her eyes. + +"No," she said half aloud, "I won't spoil it yet. We'll have one more +pleasant night with everything just as it is, and then I'll go to work and +pull all to pieces at once. It's the easiest way." + +Just then a foot sounded on the steps, and a knock was heard. Clover +opened the door, and gave an exclamation of pleasure. It was Geoffrey +Templestowe, splashed and wet from a muddy ride down the pass, but wearing +a very bright face. + +"How nice and unexpected this is!" was Clover's greeting. "It is such a +bad day that I didn't suppose you or Clarence could possibly get in. Come +to the fire and warm yourself. Is he here too?" + +"No; he is out at the ranch. I came in to meet a man on business; but it +seems there's a wash-out somewhere between here and Santa Fé, and my man +telegraphs that he can't get through till to-morrow noon." + +"So you will spend the night in town." + +"Yes. I took Marigold to the stable, and spoke to Mrs. Marsh about a room, +and then I walked up to see you and Phil. How is he, by the way?" + +"Quite well. I never saw him so strong or so jolly. Papa will hardly +believe his eyes when we get back. He has gone up to the Hopes, but will +be in presently. You'll stay and take tea with us, of course." + +"Thanks, if you will have me; I was hoping to be asked." + +"Oh, we're only too glad to have you. Our time here is getting so short +that we want to make the very most of all our friends; and by good luck +there is a can of oysters in the house, so I can give you something hot." + +"Do you really go so soon?" + +"Our lease is out next week, you know." + +"Really; so soon as that?" + +"It isn't soon. We have lived here nearly eight months." + +"What a good time we have all had in this little house!" cried Geoff, +regretfully. "It has been a sort of warm little centre to us homeless +people all winter." + +"You don't count yourself among the homeless ones, I hope, with such a +pleasant place as the High Valley to live in." + +"Oh, the hut is all very well in its way, of course; but I don't look at +it as a home exactly. It answers to eat and sleep in, and for a shelter +when it rains; but you can't make much more of it than that. The only time +it ever seemed home-like in the least was when you and Mrs. Hope were +there. That week spoiled it for me for all time." + +"That's a pity, if it's true, but I hope it isn't. It was a delightful +week, though; and I think you do the valley an injustice. It's a beautiful +place. Now, if you will excuse me, I am going to get supper." + +"Let me help you." + +"Oh, there is almost nothing to do. I'd much rather you would sit still +and rest. You are tired from your ride, I'm sure; and if you don't mind, +I'll bring my blazer and cook the oysters here by the fire. I always did +like to 'kitch in the dining-room,' as Mrs. Whitney calls it." + +Clover had set the tea-table before she sat down to sew, so there really +was almost nothing to do. Geoff lay back in his chair and looked on with a +sort of dreamy pleasure as she went lightly to and fro, making her +arrangements, which, simple as they were, had a certain dainty quality +about them which seemed peculiar to all that Clover did,--twisted a trail +of kinnikinnick about the butter-plate, laid a garnish of fresh parsley on +the slices of cold beef, and set a glass full of wild crocuses in the +middle of the table. Then she returned to the parlor, put the kettle, +which had already begun to sing, on the fire, and began to stir and season +her oysters, which presently sent out a savory smell. + +"I have learned six ways of cooking oysters this winter," she announced +gleefully. "This is a dry-pan-roast. I wonder if you'll approve of it. And +I wonder why Phil doesn't come. I wish he would make haste, for these are +nearly done." + +"There he is now," remarked Geoff. + +But instead it was Dr. Hope's office-boy with a note. + + DEAR C.,--Mrs. Hope wants me for a fourth hand at whist, so I'm + staying, if you don't mind. She says if it didn't pour so she'd + ask you to come too. P. + +"Well, I'm glad," said Clover. "It's been a dull day for him, and now +he'll have a pleasant evening, only he'll miss you." + +"I call it very inconsiderate of the little scamp," observed Geoff. "He +doesn't know but that he's leaving you to spend the evening quite alone." + +"Oh, boys don't think of things like that." + +"Boys ought to, then. However, I can stand his absence, if you can!" + +It was a very merry little meal to which they presently sat down, full of +the charm which the unexpected brings with it. Clover had grown to regard +Geoff as one of her very best friends, and was perfectly at her ease with +him, while to him, poor lonely fellow, such a glimpse of cosey home-life +was like a peep at Paradise. He prolonged the pleasure as much as +possible, ate each oyster slowly, descanting on its flavor, and drank more +cups of tea than were at all good for him, for the pleasure of having +Clover pour them out. He made no further offers of help when supper was +ended, but looked on with fascinated eyes as she cleared away and made +things tidy. + +At last she finished and came back to the fire. There was a silence. Geoff +was first to break it. "It would seem like a prison to you, I am afraid," +he said abruptly. + +"What would?" + +"I was thinking of what you said about the High Valley." + +"Oh!" + +"You've only seen it in summer, you know. It's quite a different place in +the winter. I don't believe a--person--could live on the year round and be +contented." + +"It would depend upon the person, of course." + +"If it were a lady,--yourself, for instance,--could it be made anyway +tolerable, do you think? Of course, one might get away now and then--" + +"I don't know. It's not easy to tell beforehand how people are going to +feel; but I can't imagine the High Valley ever seeming like a prison," +replied Clover, vexed to find herself blushing, and yet unable to help it, +Geoff's manner had such an odd intensity in it. + +"If I were sure that you could realize what it would be--" he began +impetuously; then quieting himself, "but you don't. How could you? Ranch +life is well enough in summer for a short time by way of a frolic; but in +winter and spring with the Upper Canyon full of snow, and the road down +muddy and slippery, and the storms and short days, and the sense of being +shut in and lonely, it would be a dismal place for a lady. Nobody has a +right to expect a woman to undergo such a life." + +Clover absorbed herself in her sewing, she did not speak; but still that +deep uncomfortable blush burned on her cheeks. + +"What do you think?" persisted Geoff. "Wouldn't it be inexcusable +selfishness in a man to ask such a thing?" + +"I think;" said Clover, shyly and softly, "that a man has a right to ask +for whatever he wants, and--" she paused. + +"And--what?" urged Geoff, bending forward. + +"Well, a woman has always the right to say no, if she doesn't want to say +yes." + +"You tempt me awfully," cried Geoff, starting up. "When I think what this +place is going to seem like after you've gone, and what the ranch will be +with all the heart taken from it, and the loneliness made twice as lonely +by comparison, I grow desperate, and feel as if I could not let you go +without at least risking the question. But Clover,--let me call you so +this once,--no woman could consent to such a life unless she cared very +much for a man. Could you ever love me well enough for that, do you +think?" + +"It seems to me a very unfair sort of question to put," said Clover, with +a mischievous glint in her usually soft eyes. "Suppose I said I could, and +then you turned round and remarked that you were ever so sorry that you +couldn't reciprocate my feelings--" + +"Clover," catching her hand, "how can you torment me so? Is it necessary +that I should tell you that I love you with every bit of heart that is in +me, and need you and want you and long for you, but have never dared to +hope that you could want me? Loveliest, sweetest, I do, and I always +shall, whether it is yes or no." + +"Then, Geoff--if you feel like that--if you're quite sure you feel like +that, I think--" + +"What do you think, dearest?" + +"I think--that I could be very happy even in winter--in the High Valley." + +And papa and the children, and the lonely and far-away feelings? There was +never a mention of them in this frank acceptance. Oh, Clover, Clover, +circumstances _do_ alter cases! + +Mrs. Hope's rubber of whist seemed a long one, for Phil did not get home +till a quarter before eleven, by which time the two by the fire had +settled the whole progress of their future lives, while the last logs of +the piñon wood crackled, smouldered, and at length broke apart into +flaming brands. In imagination the little ranch house had thrown out as +many wings and as easily as a newly-hatched dragon-fly, had been +beautified and made convenient in all sorts of ways,--a flower-garden had +sprouted round its base, plenty of room had been made for papa and the +children and Katy and Ned, who were to come out continually for visits in +the long lovely summers; they themselves also were to go to and fro,--to +Burnet, and still farther afield, over seas to the old Devonshire grange +which Geoff remembered so fondly. + +"How my mother and Isabel will delight in you," he said; "and the squire! +You are precisely the girl to take his fancy. We'll go over and see them +as soon as we can, won't we, Clover?" + +Clover listened delightedly to all these schemes, but through them all, +like that young Irish lady who went over the marriage service with her +lover adding at the end of every clause, "Provided my father gives his +consent," she interposed a little running thread of protest,--"If papa is +willing. You know, Geoff, I can't really promise anything till I've talked +with papa." + +It was settled that until Dr. Carr had been consulted, the affair was not +to be called an engagement, or spoken of to any one; only Clover asked +Geoff to tell Clarence all about it at once. + +The thought of Clarence was, in truth, the one cloud in her happiness just +then. It was impossible to calculate how he would take the news. If it +made him angry or very unhappy, if it broke up his friendship with Geoff, +and perhaps interfered with their partnership so that one or other of them +must leave the High Valley, Clover felt that it would grievously mar her +contentment. There was no use in planning anything till they knew how he +would feel and act. In any case, she realized that they were bound to +consider him before themselves, and make it as easy and as little painful +as possible. If he were vexatious, they must be patient; if sulky, they +must be forbearing. + +Phil opened his eyes very wide at the pair sitting so coseyly over the +fire when at last he came in. + +"I say, have _you_ been here all the evening?" he cried. "Well, that's a +sell! I wouldn't have gone out if I'd known." + +"We've missed you very much," quoth Geoff; and then he laughed as at some +extremely good joke, and Clover laughed too. + +"You seem to have kept up your spirits pretty well, considering," remarked +Phil, dryly. Boys of eighteen are not apt to enjoy jokes which do not +originate with themselves; they are suspicious of them. + +"I suppose I must go now," said Geoff, looking at his watch; "but I shall +see you again before I leave. I'll come in to-morrow after I've met my +man." + +"All right," said Phil; "I won't go out till you come." + +"Oh, pray don't feel obliged to stay in. I can't at all tell when I shall +be able to get through with the fellow." + +"Come to dinner if you can," suggested Clover. "Phil is sure to be at home +then." + +Lovers are like ostriches. Geoff went away just shaking hands casually, +and was very particular to say "Miss Carr;" and he and Clover felt that +they had managed so skilfully and concealed their secret so well; yet the +first remark made by Phil as the door shut was, "Geoff seems queer +to-night, somehow, and so do you. What have you been talking about all the +evening?" + +An observant younger brother is a difficult factor in a love affair. + +Two days passed. Clover looked in vain for a note from the High Valley to +say how Clarence had borne the revelation; and she grew more nervous with +every hour. It was absolutely necessary now to dismantle the house, and +she found a certain relief in keeping exceedingly busy. Somehow the +break-up had lost its inexplicable pain, and a glad little voice sang all +the time at her heart, "I shall come back; I shall certainly come back. +Papa will let me, I am sure, when he knows Geoff, and how nice he is." + +She was at the dining-table wrapping a row of books in paper ready for +packing, when a step sounded, and glancing round she saw Clarence himself +standing in the doorway. He did not look angry, as she had feared he +might, or moody; and though he avoided her eye at first, his face was +resolute and kind. + +"Geoff has told me," were his first words. "I know from what he said that +you, and he too, are afraid that I shall make myself disagreeable; so I've +come in to say that I shall do nothing of the kind." + +"Dear Clarence, that wasn't what Geoff meant, or I either," said Clover, +with a rush of relief, and holding out both her hands to him; "what we +were afraid of was that you might be unhappy." + +"Well," in a husky tone, and holding the little hands very tight, "it +isn't easy, of course, to give up a hope. I've held on to mine all this +time, though I've told myself a hundred times that I was a fool for doing +so, and though I knew in my heart it was no use. Now I've had two days to +think it over and get past the first shock, and, Clover, I've decided. You +and Geoff are the best friends I've got in the world. I never seemed to +make friends, somehow. Till you came to Hillsover that time nobody liked +me much; I don't know why. I can't get along without you two; so I give +you up without any hard feeling, and I mean to be as jolly as I can about +it. After all, to have you at the High Valley will be a sort of happiness, +even if you don't come for my sake exactly," with an attempt at a laugh. + +"Clarence, you really are a dear boy! I can't tell you how I thank you, +and how I admire you for being so nice about this." + +"Then that's worth something, too. I'd do a good deal to win your +approval, Clover. So it's all settled. Don't worry about me, or be afraid +that I shall spoil your comfort with sour looks. If I find I can't stand +it, I'll go away for a while; but I don't think it'll come to that. You'll +make a real home out of the ranch house, and you'll let me have my share +of your life, and be a brother to you and Geoff; and I'll try to be a good +one." + +Clover was touched to the heart by these manful words so gently spoken. + +"You shall be our dear special brother always," she said. "Only this was +needed to make me quite happy. I am so glad you don't want to go away and +leave us, or to have us leave you. We'll make the ranch over into the +dearest little home in the world, and be so cosey there all together, and +papa and the others shall come out for visits; and you'll like them so +much, I know, Elsie especially." + +"Does she look like you?" + +"Not a bit; she's ever so much prettier." + +"I don't believe a word of that" + +Clover's heart being thus lightened of its only burden by this treaty of +mutual amity, she proceeded joyously with her packing. Mrs. Hope said she +was not half sorry enough to go away, and Poppy upbraided her as a gay +deceiver without any conscience or affections. She laughed and protested +and denied, but looked so radiantly satisfied the while as to give a fair +color for her friends' accusations, especially as she could not explain +the reasons of her contentment or hint at her hopes of return. Mrs. Hope +probably had her suspicions, for she was rather urgent with Clover to +leave this thing and that for safe keeping "in case you ever come back;" +but Clover declined these offers, and resolutely packed up everything with +a foolish little superstition that it was "better luck" to do so, and that +papa would like it better. + +Quite a little group of friends assembled at the railway station to see +her and Phil set off. They were laden with flowers and fruit and "natural +soda-water" with which to beguile the long journey, and with many good +wishes and affectionate hopes that they might return some day. + +"Something tells me that you will," Mrs. Hope declared. "I feel it in my +bones, and they hardly ever deceive me. My mother had the same kind; it's +in the family." + +"Something tells me that you must," cried Poppy, embracing Clover; "but +I'm afraid it isn't bones or anything prophetic, but only the fact that I +want you to so very much." + +From the midst of these farewells Clover's eyes crossed the valley and +sought out Mount Cheyenne. + +"How differently I should be feeling," she thought, "if this were going +away with no real hope of coming back! I could hardly have borne to look +at you had that been the case, you dear beautiful thing; but I _am_ coming +back to live close beside you always, and oh, how glad I am!" + +"Is that good-by to Cheyenne?" asked Marian, catching the little wave of a +hand. + +"Yes, it _is_ good-by; but I have promised him that it shall soon be +how-do-you-do again. Mount Cheyenne and I understand each other." + +"I know; you have always had a sentimental attachment to that mountain. +Now Pike's Peak is _my_ affinity. We get on beautifully together." + +"Pike's Peak indeed! I am ashamed of you." + +Then the train moved away amid a flutter of handkerchiefs, but still +Clover and Phil were not left to themselves; for Dr. Hope, who had a +consultation in Denver, was to see them safely off in the night express, +and Geoff had some real or invented business which made it necessary for +him to go also. + +Clover carried with her through all the three days' ride the lingering +pressure of Geoff's hand, and his whispered promise to "come on soon." It +made the long way seem short. But when they arrived, amid all the kisses +and rejoicings, the exclamations over Phil's look of health and vigor, the +girls' intense interest in all that she had seen and done, papa's warm +approval of her management, her secret began to burn guiltily within her. +What _would_ they all say when they knew? + +And what did they say? I think few of you will be at a loss to guess. +Life--real life as well as life in story-books--is full of such shocks and +surprises. They are half happy, half unhappy; but they have to be borne. +Younger sisters, till their own turns come, are apt to take a severe view +of marriage plans, and to feel that they cruelly interrupt a past order of +things which, so far as they are concerned, need no improvement. And +parents, who say less and understand better, suffer, perhaps, more. "To +bear, to rear, to lose," is the order of family history, generally +unexpected, always recurring. + +But true love is not selfish. In time it accustoms itself to anything +which secures happiness for its object. Dr. Carr did confide to Katy in a +moment of private explosion that he wished the Great West had never been +invented, and that such a prohibitory tax could be laid upon young +Englishmen as to make it impossible that another one should ever be landed +on our shores; but he had never in his life refused Clover anything upon +which she had set her heart, and he saw in her eyes that her heart was +very much set on this. John and Elsie scolded and cried, and then in time +began to talk of their future visits to High Valley till they grew to +anticipate them, and be rather in a hurry for them to begin. Geoff's +arrival completed their conversion. + +"Nicer than Ned," Johnnie pronounced him; and even Dr. Carr was forced to +confess that the sons-in-law with which Fate had provided him were of a +superior sort; only he wished that they didn't want to marry _his_ girls! + +Phil, from first to last, was in favor of the plan, and a firm ally to the +lovers. He had grown extremely Western in his ideas, and was persuaded in +his mind that "this old East," as he termed it, with its puny +possibilities, did not amount to much, and that as soon as he was old +enough to shape his own destinies, he should return to the only section of +the country worthy the attention of a young man of parts. Meanwhile, he +was perfectly well again, and willing to comply with his father's desire +that before he made any positive arrangements for his future, he should +get a sound and thorough education. + + "So you are actually going out to the wild and barbarous West, + to live on a ranch, milk cows, chase the wild buffalo to its + lair, and hold the tiger-cat by its favorite forelock," wrote + Rose Red. "What was that you were saying only the other day + about nice convenient husbands, who cruise off for 'good long + times,' and leave their wives comfortably at home with their own + families? And here you are planning to marry a man who, whenever + he isn't galloping after cattle, will be in your pocket at home! + Oh, Clover, Clover, how inconsistent a thing is woman,--not to + say girl,--and what havoc that queer deity named Cupid does make + with preconceived opinions! I did think I could rely on you; but + you are just as bad as the rest of us, and when a lad whistles, + go off after him wherever he happens to lead, and think it the + best thing possible to do so. It's a mad world, my masters; and + I'm thankful that Roslein is only four and a half years old." + +And Clover's answer was one line on a postal card,-- + + "Guilty, but recommended to mercy!" + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CLOVER*** + + +******* This file should be named 15798-8.txt or 15798-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/7/9/15798 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: +https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/15798-8.zip b/15798-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..38e14c2 --- /dev/null +++ b/15798-8.zip diff --git a/15798-h.zip b/15798-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..52c022b --- /dev/null +++ b/15798-h.zip diff --git a/15798-h/15798-h.htm b/15798-h/15798-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..eba2f46 --- /dev/null +++ b/15798-h/15798-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6081 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Clover, by Susan Coolidge</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-top: + 0em; margin-right: 0em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + img {border: 0;} + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + .right {margin-left:10%; margin-right:20%; text-align: right;} + hr.full { width: 100%; } + pre {font-size: 8pt;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Clover, by Susan Coolidge, Illustrated by +Jessie McDermot</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Clover</p> +<p>Author: Susan Coolidge</p> +<p>Release Date: May 8, 2005 [eBook #15798]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CLOVER***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by Rose Koven, Juliet Sutherland,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (www.pgdp.net)</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<h1>Clover</h1> + + +<h3>By</h3> +<h2>Susan Coolidge</h2> + +<p class="center">Author of "What Katy Did," "Mischief's Thanksgiving," +"Nine Little Goslings," etc.</p> + +<p class="center">ILLUSTRATED BY JESSIE McDERMOT</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p class="center">Boston<br /> +Little, Brown, and Company<br /> +<br /> +1907</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="center"><span class='smcap'>Alfred Mudge & Son, Inc., Printers,</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class='smcap'>Boston, Mass., U.S.A.</span> +</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'>CHAPTER</td><td align='left'></td><td align='right'>PAGE</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_I"><b>I.</b></a></td><td align='left'><span class='smcap'>A Talk on the Doorsteps</span></td><td align='right'>7</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_II"><b>II.</b></a></td><td align='left'><span class='smcap'>The Day of Happy Letters</span></td><td align='right'>29</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_III"><b>III.</b></a></td><td align='left'><span class='smcap'>The First Wedding in the Family</span></td><td align='right'>51</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><b>IV.</b></a></td><td align='left'><span class='smcap'>Two Long Years in One Short Chapter</span></td><td align='right'>80</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_V"><b>V.</b></a></td><td align='left'><span class='smcap'>Car Forty-seven</span></td><td align='right'>102</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><b>VI.</b></a></td><td align='left'><span class='smcap'>St. Helen's</span></td><td align='right'>132</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_VII"><b>VII.</b></a></td><td align='left'><span class='smcap'>Making Acquaintance</span></td><td align='right'>163</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII"><b>VIII.</b></a></td><td align='left'><span class='smcap'>High Valley</span></td><td align='right'>190 </td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_IX"><b>IX.</b></a></td><td align='left'><span class='smcap'>Over a Pass</span></td><td align='right'>220</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_X"><b>X.</b></a></td><td align='left'><span class='smcap'>No. 13 Piute Street</span></td><td align='right'>250</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XI"><b>XI.</b></a></td><td align='left'><span class='smcap'>The Last of the Clover-leaves</span></td><td align='right'>280</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CLOVER.</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<h3>A TALK ON THE DOORSTEPS.</h3> + + +<div class="figleft"> +<img alt="I" src="./images/c1.png" title="I" /></div> <p>t was one of those afternoons in late April which are as mild and balmy +as any June day. The air was full of the chirps and twitters of +nest-building birds, and of sweet indefinable odors from half-developed +leaf-buds and cherry and pear blossoms. The wisterias overhead were +thickly starred with pointed pearl-colored sacs, growing purpler with each +hour, which would be flowers before long; the hedges were quickening into +life, the long pensile willow-boughs and the honey-locusts hung in a mist +of fine green against the sky, and delicious smells came with every puff +of wind from the bed of white violets under the parlor windows.</p> + +<p>Katy and Clover Carr, sitting with their sewing on the door-steps, drew in +with every breath the sense of spring. Who does not know the +delightfulness of that first sitting out of doors after a long winter's +confinement? It seems like flinging the gauntlet down to the powers of +cold. Hope and renovation are in the air. Life has conquered Death, and to +the happy hearts in love with life there is joy in the victory. The two +sisters talked busily as they sewed, but all the time an only +half-conscious rapture informed their senses,—the sympathy of that which +is immortal in human souls with the resurrection of natural things, which +is the sure pledge of immortality.</p> + +<p>It was nearly a year since Katy had come back from that too brief journey +to Europe with Mrs. Ashe and Amy, about which some of you have read, and +many things of interest to the Carr family had happened during the +interval. The "Natchitoches" had duly arrived in New York in October, and +presently afterward Burnet was convulsed by the appearance of a tall young +fellow in naval uniform, and the announcement of Katy's engagement to +Lieutenant Worthington.</p> + +<p>It was a piece of news which interested everybody in the little town, for +Dr. Carr was a universal friend and favorite. For a time he had been the +only physician in the place; and though with the gradual growth of +population two or three younger men had appeared to dispute the ground +with him, they were forced for the most part to content themselves with +doctoring the new arrivals, and with such fragments and leavings of +practice as Dr. Carr chose to intrust to them. None of the old established +families would consent to call in any one else if they could possibly get +the "old" doctor.</p> + +<p>A skilful practitioner, who is at the same time a wise adviser, a helpful +friend, and an agreeable man, must necessarily command a wide influence. +Dr. Carr was "by all odds and far away," as our English cousins would +express it, the most popular person in Burnet, wanted for all pleasant +occasions, and doubly wanted for all painful ones.</p> + +<p>So the news of Katy's engagement was made a matter of personal concern by +a great many people, and caused a general stir, partly because she was her +father's daughter, and partly because she was herself; for Katy had won +many friends by her own merit. So long as Ned Worthington stayed, a sort +of tide of congratulation and sympathy seemed to sweep through the house +all day long. Tea-roses and chrysanthemums, and baskets of pears and the +beautiful Burnet grapes flooded the premises, and the door-bell rang so +often that Clover threatened to leave the door open, with a card +attached,—"Walk straight in. <i>He</i> is in the parlor!"</p> + +<p>Everybody wanted to see and know Katy's lover, and to have him as a guest. +Ten tea-drinkings a week would scarcely have contented Katy's +well-wishers, had the limitations of mortal weeks permitted such a thing; +and not a can of oysters would have been left in the place if Lieutenant +Worthington's leave had lasted three days longer. Clover and Elsie loudly +complained that they themselves never had a chance to see him; for +whenever he was not driving or walking with Katy, or having long +<i>tête-à-têtes</i> in the library, he was eating muffins somewhere, or making +calls on old ladies whose feelings would be dreadfully hurt if he went +away without their seeing him.</p> + +<p>"Sisters seem to come off worst of all," protested Johnnie. But in spite +of their lamentations they all saw enough of their future brother-in-law +to grow fond of him; and notwithstanding some natural pangs of jealousy at +having to share Katy with an outsider, it was a happy visit, and every one +was sorry when the leave of absence ended, and Ned had to go away.</p> + +<p>A month later the "Natchitoches" sailed for the Bahamas. It was to be a +six months' cruise only; and on her return she was for a while to make +part of the home squadron. This furnished a good opportunity for her +first lieutenant to marry; so it was agreed that the wedding should take +place in June, and Katy set about her preparations in the leisurely and +simple fashion which was characteristic of her. She had no ambition for a +great <i>trousseau</i>, and desired to save her father expense; so her outfit, +as compared with that of most modern brides, was a very moderate one, but +being planned and mostly made at home, it necessarily involved thought, +time, and a good deal of personal exertion.</p> + +<p>Dear little Clover flung herself into the affair with even more interest +than if it had been her own. Many happy mornings that winter did the +sisters spend together over their dainty stitches and "white seam." Elsie +and Johnnie were good needle-women now, and could help in many ways. Mrs. +Ashe often joined them; even Amy could contribute aid in the plainer +sewing, and thread everybody's needles. But the most daring and +indefatigable of all was Clover, who never swerved in her determination +that Katy's "things" should be as nice and as pretty as love and industry +combined could make them. Her ideas as to decoration soared far beyond +Katy's. She hem-stitched, she cat-stitched, she feather-stitched, she +lace-stitched, she tucked and frilled and embroidered, and generally +worked her fingers off; while the bride vainly protested that all this +finery was quite unnecessary, and that simple hems and a little Hamburg +edging would answer just as well. Clover merely repeated the words, +"Hamburg edging!" with an accent of scorn, and went straight on in her +elected way.</p> + +<p>As each article received its last touch, and came from the laundry white +and immaculate, it was folded to perfection, tied with a narrow blue or +pale rose-colored ribbon, and laid aside in a sacred receptacle known as +"The Wedding Bureau." The handkerchiefs, grouped in dozens, were strewn +with dried violets and rose-leaves to make them sweet. Lavender-bags and +sachets of orris lay among the linen; and perfumes as of Araby were +discernible whenever a drawer in the bureau was pulled out.</p> + +<p>So the winter passed, and now spring was come; and the two girls on the +doorsteps were talking about the wedding, which seemed very near now.</p> + +<p>"Tell me just what sort of an affair you want it to be," said Clover.</p> + +<p>"It seems more your wedding than mine, you have worked so hard for it," +replied Katy. "You might give your ideas first."</p> + +<p>"My ideas are not very distinct. It's only lately that I have begun to +think about it at all, there has been so much to do. I'd like to have you +have a beautiful dress and a great many wedding-presents and everything as +pretty as can be, but not so many bridesmaids as Cecy, because there is +always such a fuss in getting them nicely up the aisle in church and out +again,—that is as far as I've got. But so long as you are pleased, and it +goes off well, I don't care exactly how it is managed."</p> + +<p>"Then, since you are in such an accommodating frame of mind, it seems a +good time to break my views to you. Don't be shocked, Clovy; but, do you +know, I don't want to be married in church at all, or to have any +bridesmaids, or anything arranged for beforehand particularly. I should +like things to be simple, and to just <i>happen</i>."</p> + +<p>"But, Katy, you can't do it like that. It will all get into a snarl if +there is no planning beforehand or rehearsals; it would be confused and +horrid."</p> + +<p>"I don't see why it would be confused if there were nothing to confuse. +Please not be vexed; but I always have hated the ordinary kind of wedding, +with its fuss and worry and so much of everything, and just like all the +other weddings, and the bride looking tired to death, and nobody enjoying +it a bit. I'd like mine to be different, and more—more—real. I don't +want any show or processing about, but just to have things nice and +pretty, and all the people I love and who love me to come to it, and +nothing cut and dried, and nobody tired, and to make it a sort of dear, +loving occasion, with leisure to realize how dear it is and what it all +means. Don't you think it would really be nicer in that way?"</p> + +<p>"Well, yes, as you put it, and 'viewed from the higher standard,' as Miss +Inches would say, perhaps it would. Still, bridesmaids and all that are +very pretty to look at; and folks will be surprised if you don't have +them."</p> + +<p>"Never mind folks," remarked the irreverent Katy. "I don't care a button +for that argument. Yes; bridesmaids and going up the aisle in a long +procession and all the rest <i>are</i> pretty to look at,—or were before they +got to be so hackneyed. I can imagine the first bridal procession up the +aisle of some early cathedral as having been perfectly beautiful. But +nowadays, when the butcher and baker and candlestick-maker and everybody +else do it just alike, the custom seems to me to have lost its charm. I +never did enjoy having things exactly as every one else has them,—all +going in the same direction like a flock of sheep. I would like my little +wedding to be something especially my own. There was a poetical meaning in +those old customs; but now that the custom has swallowed up so much of +the meaning, it would please me better to retain the meaning and drop the +custom."</p> + +<p>"I see what you mean," said Clover, not quite convinced, but inclined as +usual to admire Katy and think that whatever she meant must be right. "But +tell me a little more. You mean to have a wedding-dress, don't you?" +doubtfully.</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed!"</p> + +<p>"Have you thought what it shall be?"</p> + +<p>"Do you recollect that beautiful white crape shawl of mamma's which papa +gave me two years ago? It has a lovely wreath of embroidery round it; and +it came to me the other day that it would make a charming gown, with white +surah or something for the under-dress. I should like that better than +anything new, because mamma used to wear it, and it would seem as if she +were here still, helping me to get ready. Don't you think so?"</p> + +<p>"It is a lovely idea," said Clover, the ever-ready tears dimming her happy +blue eyes for a moment, "and just like you. Yes, that shall be the +dress,—dear mamma's shawl. It will please papa too, I think, to have you +choose it."</p> + +<p>"I thought perhaps it would," said Katy, soberly. "Then I have a wide +white watered sash which Aunt Izzy gave me, and I mean to have that worked +into the dress somehow. I should like to wear something of hers too, for +she was really good to us when we were little, and all that long time that +I was ill; and we were not always good to her, I am afraid. Poor Aunt +Izzy! What troublesome little wretches we were,—I most of all!"</p> + +<p>"Were you? Somehow I never can recollect the time when you were not a born +angel. I am afraid I don't remember Aunt Izzy well. I just have a vague +memory of somebody who was pretty strict and cross."</p> + +<p>"Ah, you never had a back, and needed to be waited on night and day, or +you would recollect a great deal more than that. Cousin Helen helped me to +appreciate what Aunt Izzy really was. By the way, one of the two things I +have set my heart on is to have Cousin Helen come to my wedding."</p> + +<p>"It would be lovely if she could. Do you suppose there is any chance?"</p> + +<p>"I wrote her week before last, but she hasn't answered yet. Of course it +depends on how she is; but the accounts from her have been pretty good +this year."</p> + +<p>"What is the other thing you have set your heart on? You said 'two.'"</p> + +<p>"The other is that Rose Red shall be here, and little Rose. I wrote to her +the other day also, and coaxed hard. Wouldn't it be too enchanting? You +know how we have always longed to have her in Burnet; and if she could +come now it would make everything twice as pleasant."</p> + +<p>"Katy, what an enchanting thought!" cried Clover, who had not seen Rose +since they all left Hillsover. "It would be the greatest lark that ever +was to have the Roses. When do you suppose we shall hear? I can hardly +wait, I am in such a hurry to have her say 'Yes.'"</p> + +<p>"But suppose she says 'No'?"</p> + +<p>"I won't think of such a possibility. Now go on. I suppose your principles +don't preclude a wedding-cake?"</p> + +<p>"On the contrary, they include a great deal of wedding-cake. I want to +send a box to everybody in Burnet,—all the poor people, I mean, and the +old people and the children at the Home and those forlorn creatures at the +poor-house and all papa's patients."</p> + +<p>"But, Katy, that will cost a lot," objected the thrifty Clover.</p> + +<p>"I know it; so we must do it in the cheapest way, and make the cake +ourselves. I have Aunt Izzy's recipe, which is a very good one; and if we +all take hold, it won't be such an immense piece of work. Debby has +quantities of raisins stoned already. She has been doing them in the +evenings a few at a time for the last month. Mrs. Ashe knows a factory +where you can get the little white boxes for ten dollars a thousand, and I +have commissioned her to send for five hundred."</p> + +<p>"Five hundred! What an immense quantity!"</p> + +<p>"Yes; but there are all the Hillsover girls to be remembered, and all our +kith and kin, and everybody at the wedding will want one. I don't think it +will be too many. Oh, I have arranged it all in my mind. Johnnie will +slice the citron, Elsie will wash the currants, Debby measure and bake, +Alexander mix, you and I will attend to the icing, and all of us will cut +it up."</p> + +<p>"Alexander!"</p> + +<p>"Alexander. He is quite pleased with the idea, and has constructed an +implement—a sort of spade, cut out of new pine wood—for the purpose. He +says it will be a sight easier than digging flower-beds. We will set about +it next week; for the cake improves by keeping, and as it is the heaviest +job we have to do, it will be well to get it out of the way early."</p> + +<p>"Sha'n't you have a floral bell, or a bower to stand in, or something of +that kind?" ventured Clover, timidly.</p> + +<p>"Indeed I shall not," replied Katy. "I particularly dislike floral bells +and bowers. They are next worst to anchors and harps and 'floral pillows' +and all the rest of the dreadful things that they have at funerals. No, we +will have plenty of fresh flowers, but not in stiff arrangements. I want +it all to seem easy and to <i>be</i> easy. Don't look so disgusted, Clovy."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm not disgusted. It's your wedding. I want you to have everything +in your own way."</p> + +<p>"It's everybody's wedding, I think," said Katy, tenderly. "Everybody is so +kind about it. Did you see the thing that Polly sent this morning?"</p> + +<p>"No. It must have come after I went out. What was it?"</p> + +<p>"Seven yards of beautiful nun's lace which she bought in Florence. She +says it is to trim a morning dress; but it's really too pretty. How dear +Polly is! She sends me something almost every day. I seem to be in her +thoughts all the time. It is because she loves Ned so much, of course; +but it is just as kind of her."</p> + +<p>"I think she loves you almost as much as Ned," said Clover.</p> + +<p>"Oh, she couldn't do that; Ned is her only brother. There is Amy at the +gate now."</p> + +<p>It was a much taller Amy than had come home from Italy the year before who +was walking toward them under the budding locust-boughs. Roman fever had +seemed to quicken and stimulate all Amy's powers, and she had grown very +fast during the past year. Her face was as frank and childlike as ever, +and her eyes as blue; but she was prettier than when she went to Europe, +for her cheeks were pink, and the mane of waving hair which framed them in +was very becoming. The hair was just long enough now to touch her +shoulders; it was turning brown as it lengthened, but the ends of the +locks still shone with childish gold, and caught the sun in little shining +rings as it filtered down through the tree branches.</p> + +<p>She kissed Clover several times, and gave Katy a long, close hug; then +she produced a parcel daintily hid in silver paper.</p> + +<p>"Tanta," she said,—this was a pet name lately invented for Katy,—"here +is something for you from mamma. It's something quite particular, I think, +for mamma cried when she was writing the note; not a hard cry, you know, +but just two little teeny-weeny tears in her eyes. She kept smiling, +though, and she looked happy, so I guess it isn't anything very bad. She +said I was to give it to you with her best, <i>best</i> love."</p> + +<p>Katy opened the parcel, and beheld a square veil of beautiful old blonde. +The note said:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>This was my wedding-veil, dearest Katy, and my mother wore it + before me. It has been laid aside all these years with the idea + that perhaps Amy might want it some day; but instead I send it + to you, without whom there would be no Amy to wear this or + anything else. I think it would please Ned to see it on your + head, and I know it would make me very happy; but if you don't + feel like using it, don't mind for a moment saying so to</p></div> + + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 20em;">Your loving</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 26em;">P</span><span class='smcap'>olly.</span> +<br /> +<br /></p> + +<p class="figcenter"><img src="./images/23-tb.png" alt="Katy opened the parcel, and beheld a square veil of beautiful old blonde" title="Katy opened the parcel, and beheld a square veil of beautiful old blonde" /></p> + +<p class="center"> +"Katy opened the parcel, and beheld a square veil of +beautiful old blonde."</p> + +<p>Katy handed the note silently to Clover, and laid her face for a little +while among the soft folds of the lace, about which a faint odor of roses +hung like the breath of old-time and unforgotten loves and affections.</p> + +<p>"Shall you?" queried Clover, softly.</p> + +<p>"Why, of course! Doesn't it seem too sweet? Both our mothers!"</p> + +<p>"There!" cried Amy, "you are going to cry too, Tanta! I thought weddings +were nice funny things. I never supposed they made people feel badly. I +sha'n't ever let Mabel get married, I think. But she'll have to stay a +little girl always in that case, for I certainly won't have her an old +maid."</p> + +<p>"What do you know about old maids, midget?" asked Clover.</p> + +<p>"Why, Miss Clover, I have seen lots of them. There was that one at the +Pension Suisse; you remember, Tanta? And the two on the steamer when we +came home. And there's Miss Fitz who made my blue frock; Ellen said she +was a regular old maid. I never mean to let Mabel be like that."</p> + +<p>"I don't think there's the least danger," remarked Katy, glancing at the +inseparable Mabel, who was perched on Amy's arm, and who did not look a +day older than she had done eighteen months previously. "Amy, we're going +to make wedding-cake next week,—heaps and heaps of wedding-cake. Don't +you want to come and help?"</p> + +<p>"Why, of course I do. What fun! Which day may I come?"</p> + +<p>The cake-making did really turn out fun. Many hands made light work of +what would have been a formidable job for one or two. It was all done +gradually. Johnnie cut the golden citron quarters into thin transparent +slices in the sitting-room one morning while the others were sewing, and +reading Tennyson aloud. Elsie and Amy made a regular frolic of the +currant-washing. Katy, with Debby's assistance, weighed and measured; and +the mixture was enthusiastically stirred by Alexander, with the "spade" +which he had invented, in a large new wash-tub. Then came the baking, +which for two days filled the house with spicy, plum-puddingy odors; then +the great feat of icing the big square loaves; and then the cutting up, in +which all took part. There was much careful measurement that the slices +might be an exact fit; and the kitchen rang with bright laughter and chat +as Katy and Clover wielded the sharp bread-knives, and the others fitted +the portions into their boxes, and tied the ribbons in crisp little bows. +Many delicious crumbs and odd corners and fragments fell to the share of +the younger workers; and altogether the occasion struck Amy as so +enjoyable that she announced—with her mouth full—that she had changed +her mind, and that Mabel might get married as often as she pleased, if she +would have cake like <i>that</i> every time,—a liberality of permission which +Mabel listened to with her invariable waxen smile.</p> + +<p>When all was over, and the last ribbons tied, the hundreds of little boxes +were stacked in careful piles on a shelf of the inner closet of the +doctor's office to wait till they were wanted,—an arrangement which +naughty Clover pronounced eminently suitable, since there should always +be a doctor close at hand where there was so much wedding-cake. But before +all this was accomplished, came what Katy, in imitation of one of Miss +Edgeworth's heroines, called "The Day of Happy Letters."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h3>THE DAY OF HAPPY LETTERS.</h3> + + +<div class="figleft"> +<img alt="T" src="./images/c2.png" title="T" /></div> <p>he arrival of the morning boat with letters and newspapers from the East +was the great event of the day in Burnet. It was due at eleven o'clock; +and everybody, consciously or unconsciously, was on the lookout for it. +The gentlemen were at the office bright and early, and stood chatting with +each other, and fingering the keys of their little drawers till the rattle +of the shutter announced that the mail was distributed. Their wives and +daughters at home, meanwhile, were equally in a state of expectation, and +whatever they might be doing kept ears and eyes on the alert for the step +on the gravel and the click of the latch which betokened the arrival of +the family news-bringer.</p> + +<p>Doctors cannot command their time like other people, and Dr. Carr was +often detained by his patients, and made late for the mail, so it was all +the pleasanter a surprise when on the great day of the cake-baking he came +in earlier than usual, with his hands quite full of letters and parcels. +All the girls made a rush for him at once; but he fended them off with an +elbow, while with teasing slowness he read the addresses on the envelopes.</p> + +<p>"Miss Carr—Miss Carr—Miss Katherine Carr—Miss Carr again; four for you, +Katy. Dr. P. Carr,—a bill and a newspaper, I perceive; all that an old +country doctor with a daughter about to be married ought to expect, I +suppose. Miss Clover E. Carr,—one for the 'Confidante in white linen.' +Here, take it, Clovy. Miss Carr again. Katy, you have the lion's share. +Miss Joanna Carr,—in the unmistakable handwriting of Miss Inches. Miss +Katherine Carr, care Dr. Carr. That looks like a wedding present, Katy. +Miss Elsie Carr; Cecy's hand, I should say. Miss Carr once more,—from the +conquering hero, judging from the post-mark. Dr. Carr,—another +newspaper, and—hollo!—one more for Miss Carr. Well, children, I hope for +once you are satisfied with the amount of your correspondence. My arm +fairly aches with the weight of it. I hope the letters are not so heavy +inside as out."</p> + +<p>"I am quite satisfied, Papa, thank you," said Katy, looking up with a +happy smile from Ned's letter, which she had torn open first of all. "Are +you going, dear?" She laid her packages down to help him on with his coat. +Katy never forgot her father.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I am going. Time and rheumatism wait for no man. You can tell me +your news when I come back."</p> + +<p>It is not fair to peep into love letters, so I will only say of Ned's that +it was very long, very entertaining,—Katy thought,—and contained the +pleasant information that the "Natchitoches" was to sail four days after +it was posted, and would reach New York a week sooner than any one had +dared to hope. The letter contained several other things as well, which +showed Katy how continually she had been in his thoughts,—a painting on +rice paper, a dried flower or two, a couple of little pen-and-ink sketches +of the harbor of Santa Lucia and the shipping, and a small cravat of an +odd convent lace folded very flat and smooth. Altogether it was a +delightful letter, and Katy read it, as it were, in leaps, her eyes +catching at the salient points, and leaving the details to be dwelt upon +when she should be alone.</p> + +<p>This done, she thrust the letter into her pocket, and proceeded to examine +the others. The first was in Cousin Helen's clear, beautiful +handwriting:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>DEAR KATY,—If any one had told us ten years ago that in this + particular year of grace you would be getting ready to be + married, and I preparing to come to your wedding, I think we + should have listened with some incredulity, as to an agreeable + fairy tale which could not possibly come true. We didn't look + much like it, did we,—you in your big chair and I on my sofa? + Yet here we are! When your letter first reached me it seemed a + sort of impossible thing that I should accept your invitation; + but the more I thought about it the more I felt as if I must, + and now things seem to be working round to that end quite + marvellously. I have had a good winter, but the doctor wishes me + to try the experiment of the water cure again which benefited me + so much the summer of your accident. This brings me in your + direction; and I don't see why I might not come a little earlier + than I otherwise should, and have the great pleasure of seeing + you married, and making acquaintance with Lieutenant + Worthington. That is, if you are perfectly sure that to have at + so busy a time a guest who, like the Queen of Spain, has the + disadvantage of being without legs, will not be more care than + enjoyment. Think seriously over this point, and don't send for + me unless you are certain. Meanwhile, I am making ready. Alex + and Emma and little Helen—who is a pretty big Helen now—are to + be my escorts as far as Buffalo on their way to Niagara. After + that is all plain sailing, and Jane Carter and I can manage very + well for ourselves. It seems like a dream to think that I may + see you all so soon; but it is such a pleasant one that I would + not wake up on any account.</p> + +<p> I have a little gift which I shall bring you myself, my Katy; + but I have a fancy also that you shall wear some trifling thing + on your wedding-day which comes from me, so for fear of being + forestalled I will say now, please don't buy any stockings for + the occasion, but wear the pair which go with this, for the sake + of your loving</p></div> + + +<p class="right"><span class='smcap'>Cousin Helen.</span> +</p> + +<p>"These must be they," cried Elsie, pouncing on one of the little packages. +"May I cut the string, Katy?"</p> + +<p>Permission was granted; and Elsie cut the string. It was indeed a pair of +beautiful white silk stockings embroidered in an open pattern, and far +finer than anything which Katy would have thought of choosing for herself.</p> + +<p>"Don't they look exactly like Cousin Helen?" she said, fondling them. "Her +things always are choicer and prettier than anybody's else, somehow. I +can't think how she does it, when she never by any chance goes into a +shop. Who can this be from, I wonder?"</p> + +<p>"This" was the second little package. It proved to contain a small volume +bound in white and gold, entitled, "Advice to Brides." On the fly-leaf +appeared this inscription:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>To Katherine Carr, on the occasion of her approaching bridal, + from her affectionate teacher,</p></div> + + +<p><span style="margin-left: 26em;">M</span><span class='smcap'>arianne Nipson.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">1 Timothy, ii. 11.</span> +</p> + +<p>Clover at once ran to fetch her Testament that she might verify the +quotation, and announced with a shriek of laughter that it was: "Let the +women learn in silence with all subjection;" while Katy, much diverted, +read extracts casually selected from the work, such as: "A wife should +receive her husband's decree without cavil or question, remembering that +the husband is the head of the wife, and that in all matters of dispute +his opinion naturally and scripturally outweighs her own."</p> + +<p>Or: "'A soft answer turneth away wrath.' If your husband comes home +fretted and impatient, do not answer him sharply, but soothe him with +gentle words and caresses. Strict attention to the minor details of +domestic management will often avail to secure peace."</p> + +<p>And again: "Keep in mind the epitaph raised in honor of an exemplary wife +of the last century,—'She never banged the door.' Qualify yourself for a +similar testimonial."</p> + +<p>"Tanta never does bang doors," remarked Amy, who had come in as this last +"elegant extract" was being read.</p> + +<p>"No, that's true; she doesn't," said Clover. "Her prevailing vice is to +leave them open. I like that truth about a good dinner 'availing' to +secure peace, and the advice to 'caress' your bear when he is at his +crossest. Ned never does issue 'decrees,' though, I fancy; and on the +whole, Katy, I don't believe Mrs. Nipson's present is going to be any +particular comfort in your future trials. Do read something else to take +the taste out of our mouths. We will listen in 'all subjection.'"</p> + +<p>Katy was already deep in a long epistle from Rose.</p> + +<p>"This is too delicious," she said; "do listen." And she began again at the +beginning:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class='smcap'>My Sweetest of all old Sweets</span>,—Come to your wedding! Of course + I shall. It would never seem to me to have any legal sanction + whatever if I were not there to add my blessing. Only let me + know which day "early in June" it is to be, that I may make + ready. Deniston will fetch us on, and by a special piece of good + luck, a man in Chicago—whose name I shall always bless if only + I can remember what it is—has been instigated by our mutual + good angel to want him on business just about that time; so that + he would have to go West anyway, and would rather have me along + than not, and is perfectly resigned to his fate. I mean to come + three days before, and stay three days after the wedding, if I + may, and altogether it is going to be a lark of larks. Little + Rose can talk quite fluently now, and almost read; that is, she + knows six letters of her picture alphabet. She composes poems + also. The other day she suddenly announced,—</p> + +<p> "Mamma, I have made up a sort of a im. May I say it to you?"</p> + +<p> I naturally consented, and this was the</p></div> + +<p class="center">IM.</p> +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="IM poem"> +<tr><td align='left'>Jump in the parlor,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Jump in the hall,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>God made us all!</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + + + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Now did you ever hear of anything quite so dear as that, for a + baby only three years and five months old? I tell you she is a + wonder. You will all adore her, Clover particularly. Oh, my dear + little C.! To think I am going to see her!</p> + +<p> I met both Ellen Gray and Esther Dearborn the other day, and + where do you think it was? At Mary Silver's wedding! Yes, she is + actually married to the Rev. Charles Playfair Strothers, and + settled in a little parsonage somewhere in the Hoosac + Tunnel,—or near it,—and already immersed in "duties." I can't + think what arguments he used to screw her up to the rash act; + but there she is.</p> + +<p> It wasn't exactly what one would call a cheerful wedding. All + the connection took it very seriously; and Mary's uncle, who + married her, preached quite a lengthy funeral discourse to the + young couple, and got them nicely ready for death, burial, and + the next world, before he would consent to unite them for this. + He was a solemn-looking old person, who had been a missionary, + and "had laid away three dear wives in foreign lands," as he + confided to me afterward over a plate of ice-cream. He seemed + to me to be "taking notice," as they say of babies, and it is + barely possible that he mistook me for a single woman, for his + attentions were rather pronounced till I introduced my husband + prominently into conversation; after that he seemed more + attracted by Ellen Gray.</p> + +<p> Mary cried straight through the ceremony. In fact, I imagine she + cried straight through the engagement, for her eyes looked wept + out and had scarlet rims, and she was as white as her veil. In + fact, whiter, for that was made of beautiful <i>point de Venise</i>, + and was just a trifle yellowish. Everybody cried. Her mother and + sister sobbed aloud, so did several maiden aunts and a + grandmother or two and a few cousins. The church resounded with + guggles and gasps, like a great deal of bath-water running out + of an ill-constructed tub. Mr. Silver also wept, as a business + man may, in a series of sniffs interspersed with silk + handkerchief; you know the kind. Altogether it was a most + cheerless affair. I seemed to be the only person present who was + not in tears; but I really didn't see anything to cry about, so + far as I was concerned, though I felt very hard-hearted.</p> + +<p> I had to go alone, for Deniston was in New York. I got to the + church rather early, and my new spring bonnet—which is a + superior one—seemed to impress the ushers, so they put me in a + very distinguished front pew all by myself. I bore my honors + meekly, and found them quite agreeable, in fact,—you know I + always did like to be made much of,—so you can imagine my + disgust when presently three of the stoutest ladies you ever saw + came sailing up the aisle, and prepared to invade <i>my</i> pew.</p> + +<p> "Please move up, Madam," said the fattest of all, who wore a + wonderful yellow hat.</p> + +<p> But I was not "raised" at Hillsover for nothing, and remembering + the success of our little ruse on the railroad train long ago, I + stepped out into the aisle, and with my sweetest smile made room + for them to pass.</p> + +<p> "Perhaps I would better keep the seat next the door," I murmured + to the yellow lady, "in case an attack should come on."</p> + +<p> "An attack!" she repeated in an accent of alarm. She whispered + to the others. All three eyed me suspiciously, while I stood + looking as pensive and suffering as I could. Then after + confabulating together for a little, they all swept into the + seat behind mine, and I heard them speculating in low tones as + to whether it was epilepsy or catalepsy or convulsions that I + was subject to. I presume they made signs to all the other + people who came in to steer clear of the lady with fits, for + nobody invaded my privacy, and I sat in lonely splendor with a + pew to myself, and was very comfortable indeed.</p> + +<p> Mary's dress was white satin, with a great deal of point lace + and pearl passementerie, and she wore a pair of diamond + ear-rings which her father gave her, and a bouquet almost but + not quite as large, which was the gift of the bridegroom. He has + a nice face, and I think Silvery Mary will be happy with him, + much happier than with her rather dismal family, though his + salary is only fifteen hundred a year, and pearl passementerie, + I believe, quite unknown and useless in the Hoosac region. She + had loads of the most beautiful presents you ever saw. All the + Silvers are rolling in riches, you know. One little thing made + me laugh, for it was so like her. When the clergyman said, + "Mary, wilt thou take this man to be thy wedded husband?" I + distinctly saw her put her fingers over her mouth in the old, + frightened way. It was only for a second, and after that I + rather think Mr. Strothers held her hand tight for fear she + might do it again. She sent her love to you, Katy. What sort of + a gown are <i>you</i> going to have, by the way?</p> + +<p> I have kept my best news to the last, which is that Deniston has + at last given way, and we are to move into town in October. We + have taken a little house in West Cedar Street. It is quite + small and very dingy and I presume inconvenient, but I already + love it to distraction, and feel as if I should sit up all night + for the first month to enjoy the sensation of being no longer + that horrid thing, a resident of the suburbs. I hunt the paper + shops and collect samples of odd and occult pattern, and compare + them with carpets, and am altogether in my element, only longing + for the time to come when I may put together my pots and pans + and betake me across the mill-dam. Meantime, Roslein is living + in a state of quarantine. She is not permitted to speak with any + other children, or even to look out of window at one, for fear + she may contract some sort of contagious disease, and spoil our + beautiful visit to Burnet. She sends you a kiss, and so do I; + and mother and Sylvia and Deniston and grandmamma, particularly, + desire their love.</p></div> + + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 22em;">Your loving</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 28em;">R</span><span class='smcap'>ose Red.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"Oh," cried Clover, catching Katy round the waist, and waltzing wildly +about the room, "what a delicious letter! What fun we are going to have! +It seems too good to be true. Tum-ti-ti, tum-ti-ti. Keep step, Katy. I +forgive you for the first time for getting married. I never did before, +really and truly. Tum-ti-ti; I am so happy that I must dance!"</p> + +<p>"There go my letters," said Katy, as with the last rapid twirl, Rose's +many-sheeted epistle and the "Advice to Brides" flew to right and left. +"There go two of your hair-pins, Clover. Oh, do stop; we shall all be in +pieces."</p> + +<p>Clover brought her gyrations to a close by landing her unwilling partner +suddenly on the sofa. Then with a last squeeze and a rapid kiss she began +to pick up the scattered letters.</p> + +<p>"Now read the rest," she commanded, "though anything else will sound flat +after Rose's."</p> + +<p>"Hear this first," said Elsie, who had taken advantage of the pause to +open her own letter. "It is from Cecy, and she says she is coming to spend +a month with her mother on purpose to be here for Katy's wedding. She +sends heaps of love to you, Katy, and says she only hopes that Mr. +Worthington will prove as perfectly satisfactory in all respects as her +own dear Sylvester."</p> + +<p>"My gracious, I should hope he would," put in Clover, who was still in the +wildest spirits. "What a dear old goose Cecy is! I never hankered in the +least for Sylvester Slack, did you, Katy?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly not. It would be a most improper proceeding if I had," replied +Katy, with a laugh. "Whom do you think this letter is from, girls? Do +listen to it. It's written by that nice old Mr. Allen Beach, whom we met +in London. Don't you recollect my telling you about him?"</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class='smcap'>My dear Miss Carr</span>,—Our friends in Harley Street have told me a + piece of news concerning you which came to them lately in a + letter from Mrs. Ashe, and I hope you will permit me to offer + you my most sincere congratulations and good wishes. I recollect + meeting Lieutenant Worthington when he was here two years ago, + and liking him very much. One is always glad in a foreign land + to be able to show so good a specimen of one's young countrymen + as he affords,—not that England need be counted as a foreign + country by any American, and least of all by myself, who have + found it a true home for so many years.</p> + +<p> As a little souvenir of our week of sight-seeing together, of + which I retain most agreeable remembrances, I have sent you by + my friends the Sawyers, who sail for America shortly, a copy of + Hare's "Walks in London," which a young <i>protégée</i> of mine has + for the past year been illustrating with photographs of the many + curious old buildings described. You took so much interest in + them while here that I hope you may like to see them again. Will + you please accept with it my most cordial wishes for your + future, and believe me</p></div> + + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 20em;">Very faithfully your friend,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 28.5em;">A</span><span class='smcap'>llen Beach.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"What a nice letter!" said Clover.</p> + +<p>"Isn't it?" replied Katy, with shining eyes, "what a thing it is to be a +gentleman, and to know how to say and do things in the right way! I am so +surprised and pleased that Mr. Beach should remember me. I never supposed +he would, he sees so many people in London all the time, and it is quite a +long time since we were there, nearly two years. Was your letter from Miss +Inches, John?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and Mamma Marian sends you her love; and there's a present coming by +express for you,—some sort of a book with a hard name. I can scarcely +make it out, the Ru—ru—something of Omar Kay—y—Well, anyway it's a +book, and she hopes you will read Emerson's 'Essay on Friendship' over +before you are married, because it's a helpful utterance, and adjusts the +mind to mutual conditions."</p> + +<p>"Worse than 1 Timothy, ii. 11," muttered Clover. "Well, Katy dear, what +next? What <i>are</i> you laughing at?"</p> + +<p>"You will never guess, I am sure. This is a letter from Miss Jane! And she +has made me this pincushion!"</p> + +<p>The pincushion was of a familiar type, two circles of pasteboard covered +with gray silk, neatly over-handed together, and stuck with a row of +closely fitting pins. Miss Jane's note ran as follows:—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 32em;">H</span><span class='smcap'>illsover, April 21.</span><br /> +</p> + + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class='smcap'>Dear Katy</span>,—I hear from Mrs. Nipson that you are to be married + shortly, and I want to say that you have my best wishes for your + future. I think a man ought to be happy who has you for a wife. + I only hope the one you have chosen is worthy of you. Probably + he isn't, but perhaps you won't find it out. Life is a knotty + problem for most of us. May you solve it satisfactorily to + yourself and others! I have nothing to send but my good wishes + and a few pins. They are not an unlucky present, I believe, as + scissors are said to be.</p> + +<p> Remember me to your sister, and believe me to be with true + regard,</p></div> + + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 12em;">Yours,</span> <span class='smcap'>Jane A. Bangs.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"Dear me, is that her name?" cried Clover. "I always supposed she was +baptized 'Miss Jane.' It never occurred to me that she had any other +title. What appropriate initials! How she used to J.A.B. with us!"</p> + +<p>"Now, Clovy, that's not kind. It's a very nice note indeed, and I am +touched by it. It's a beautiful compliment to say that the man ought to be +happy who has got me, I think. I never supposed that Miss Jane could pay a +compliment."</p> + +<p>"Or make a joke! That touch about the scissors is really jocose,—for Miss +Jane. Rose Red will shriek over the letter and that particularly rigid +pincushion. They are both of them so exactly like her. Dear me! only one +letter left. Who is that from, Katy? How fast one does eat up one's +pleasures!"</p> + +<p>"But you had a letter yourself. Surely papa said so. What was that? You +haven't read it to us."</p> + +<p>"No, for it contains a secret which you are not to hear just yet," replied +Clover. "Brides mustn't ask questions. Go on with yours."</p> + +<p>"Mine is from Louisa Agnew,—quite a long one, too. It's an age since we +heard from her, you know."</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 32em;">A</span><span class='smcap'>shburn, April 24.</span><br /> +</p> + + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class='smcap'>Dear Katy</span>,—Your delightful letter and invitation came day + before yesterday, and thank you for both. There is nothing in + the world that would please me better than to come to your + wedding if it were possible, but it simply isn't. If you lived + in New Haven now, or even Boston,—but Burnet is so dreadfully + far off, it seems as inaccessible as Kamchatka to a person who, + like myself, has a house to keep and two babies to take care of.</p> + +<p> Don't look so alarmed. The house is the same house you saw when + you were here, and so is one of the babies; the other is a new + acquisition just two years old, and as great a darling as Daisy + was at the same age. My mother has been really better in health + since he came, but just now she is at a sort of Rest Cure in + Kentucky; and I have my hands full with papa and the children, + as you can imagine, so I can't go off two days' journey to a + wedding,—not even to yours, my dearest old Katy. I shall think + about you all day long on <i>the</i> day, when I know which it is, + and try to imagine just how everything looks; and yet I don't + find that quite easy, for somehow I fancy that your wedding will + be a little different from the common run. You always were + different from other people to me, you know,—you and + Clover,—and I love you so much, and I always shall.</p> + +<p> Papa has taken a kit-kat portrait of me in oils,—and a blue + dress,—which he thinks is like, and which I am going to send + you as soon as it comes home from the framers. I hope you will + like it a little for my sake. Dear Katy, I send so much love + with it.</p> + +<p> I have only seen the Pages in the street since they came home + from Europe; but the last piece of news here is Lilly's + engagement to Comte Ernest de Conflans. He has something to do + with the French legation in Washington, I believe; and they + crossed in the same steamer. I saw him driving with her the + other day,—a little man, not handsome, and very dark. I do not + know when they are to be married. Your Cousin Clarence is in + Colorado.</p> + +<p> With two kisses apiece and a great hug for you, Katy, I am + always</p></div> + + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 22em;">Your affectionate friend,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 28em;">L</span><span class='smcap'>ouisa.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"Dear me!" said the insatiable Clover, "is that the very last? I wish we +had another mail, and twelve more letters coming in at once. What a +blessed institution the post-office is!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<h3>THE FIRST WEDDING IN THE FAMILY.</h3> + +<div class="figleft"> +<img alt="T" src="./images/c3.png" title="T" /></div> +<p>he great job of the cake-making over, a sense of leisure settled on the +house. There seemed nothing left to be done which need put any one out of +his or her way particularly. Katy had among her other qualities a great +deal of what is called "forehandedness." To leave things to be attended to +at the last moment in a flurry and a hurry would have been intolerable to +her. She firmly believed in the doctrine of a certain wise man of our own +day who says that to push your work before you is easy enough, but to pull +it after you is very hard indeed.</p> + +<p>All that winter, without saying much about it,—for Katy did not "do her +thinking outside her head,"—she had been gradually making ready for the +great event of the spring. Little by little, a touch here and a touch +there, matters had been put in train, and the result now appeared in a +surprising ease of mind and absence of confusion. The house had received +its spring cleaning a fortnight earlier than usual, and was in fair, nice +order, with freshly-beaten carpets and newly-washed curtains. Katy's +dresses were ordered betimes, and had come home, been tried on, and folded +away ten days before the wedding. They were not many in number, but all +were pretty and in good taste, for the frigate was to be in Bar Harbor and +Newport for a part of the summer, and Katy wanted to do Ned credit, and +look well in his eyes and those of his friends.</p> + +<p>All the arrangements, kept studiously simple, were beautifully +systematized; and their very simplicity made them easy to carry out. The +guest chambers were completely ready, one or two extra helpers were +engaged that the servants might not be overworked, the order of every meal +for the three busiest days was settled and written down. Each of the +younger sisters had some special charge committed to her. Elsie was to +wait on Cousin Helen, and see that she and her nurse had everything they +wanted. Clover was to care for the two Roses; Johnnie to oversee the table +arrangements, and make sure that all was right in that direction. Dear +little Amy was indefatigable as a doer of errands, and her quick feet were +at everybody's service to "save steps." Cecy arrived, and haunted the +house all day long, anxious to be of use to somebody; Mrs. Ashe put her +time at their disposal; there was such a superabundance of helpers, in +fact, that no one could feel over taxed. And Katy, while still serving as +main spring to the whole, had plenty of time to write her notes, open her +wedding presents, and enjoy her friends in a leisurely, unfatigued fashion +which was a standing wonderment to Cecy, whose own wedding had been of the +onerous sort, and had worn her to skin and bone.</p> + +<p>"I am only just beginning to recover from it now," she remarked +plaintively, "and there you sit, Katy, looking as fresh as a rose; not +tired a bit, and never seeming to have anything on your mind. I can't +think how you do it. I never was at a wedding before where everybody was +not perfectly worn out."</p> + +<p>"You never were at such a simple wedding before," explained Katy. "I'm not +ambitious, you see. I want to keep things pretty much as they are every +day, only with a little more of everything because of there being more +people to provide for. If I were attempting to make it a beautiful, +picturesque wedding, we should get as tired as anybody, I have no doubt."</p> + +<p>Katy's gifts were numerous enough to satisfy even Clover, and comprised +all manner of things, from a silver tray which came, with a rather stiff +note, from Mrs. Page and Lilly, to Mary's new flour-scoop, Debby's sifter, +and a bottle of home-made hair tonic from an old woman in the "County +Home." Each of the brothers and sisters had made her something, Katy +having expressed a preference for presents of home manufacture. Mrs. Ashe +gave her a beautiful sapphire ring, and Cecy Hall—as they still called +her inadvertently half the time—an elaborate sofa-pillow embroidered by +herself. Katy liked all her gifts, both large and small, both for what +they were and for what they meant, and took a good healthy, hearty +satisfaction in the fact that so many people cared for her, and had worked +to give her a pleasure.</p> + +<p>Cousin Helen was the first guest to arrive, five days before the wedding. +When Dr. Carr, who had gone to Buffalo to meet and escort her down, lifted +her from the carriage and carried her indoors, all of them could easily +have fancied that it was the first visit happening over again, for she +looked exactly as she did then, and scarcely a day older. She happened to +have on a soft gray travelling dress too, much like that which she wore on +the previous occasion, which made the illusion more complete.</p> + +<p>But there was no illusion to Cousin Helen herself. Everything to her +seemed changed and quite different. The ten years which had passed so +lightly over her head had made a vast alteration in the cousins whom she +remembered as children. The older ones were grown up, the younger ones in +a fair way to be so; even Phil, who had been in white frocks with curls +falling over his shoulders at the time of her former visit to Burnet, was +now fifteen and as tall as his father. He was very slight in build, and +looked delicate, she thought; but Katy assured her that he was perfectly +well, and thin only because he had outgrown his strength.</p> + +<p>It was one of the delightful results of Katy's "forehandedness" that she +could command time during those next two days to thoroughly enjoy Cousin +Helen. She sat beside her sofa for hours at a time, holding her hand and +talking with a freedom of confidence such as she could have shown to no +one else, except perhaps to Clover. She had the feeling that in so doing +she was rendering account to a sort of visible conscience of all the +events, the mistakes, the successes, the glad and the sorry of the long +interval that had passed since they met. It was a pleasure and relief to +her; and to Cousin Helen the recital was of equal interest, for though she +knew the main facts by letter, there was a satisfaction in collecting the +little details which seldom get fully put into letters.</p> + +<p>One subject only Katy touched rather guardedly; and that was Ned. She was +so desirous that her cousin should approve of him, and so anxious not to +raise her expectations and have her disappointed, that she would not half +say how very nice she herself thought him to be. But Cousin Helen could +"read between the lines," and out of Katy's very reserve she constructed +an idea of Ned which satisfied her pretty well.</p> + +<p>So the two happy days passed, and on the third arrived the other anxiously +expected guests, Rose Red and little Rose.</p> + +<p>They came early in the morning, when no one was particularly looking for +them, which made it all the pleasanter. Clover was on the porch twisting +the honeysuckle tendrils upon the trellis when the carriage drove up to +the gate, and Rose's sunny face popped out of the window. Clover +recognized her at once, and with a shriek which brought all the others +downstairs, flew down the path, and had little Rose in her arms before any +one else could get there.</p> + +<p>"You see before you a deserted wife," was Rose's first salutation. +"Deniston has just dumped us on the wharf, and gone on to Chicago in that +abominable boat, leaving me to your tender mercies. O Business, Business! +what crimes are committed in thy name, as Madame Roland would say!"</p> + +<p>"Never mind Deniston," cried Clover, with a rapturous squeeze. "Let us +play that he doesn't exist, for a little while. We have got you now, and +we mean to keep you."</p> + +<p>"How pleasant you look!" said Rose, glancing up the locust walk toward the +house, which wore a most inviting and hospitable air, with doors and +windows wide open, and the soft wind fluttering the vines and the white +curtains. "Ah, there comes Katy now." She ran forward to meet her while +Clover followed with little Rose.</p> + +<p>"Let me det down, pease," said that young lady,—the first remark she had +made. "I tan walk all by myself. I am not a baby any more."</p> + +<p>"<i>Will</i> you hear her talk?" cried Katy, catching her up. "Isn't it +wonderful? Rosebud, who am I, do you think?"</p> + +<p>"My Aunt Taty, I dess, betause you is so big. Is you mawwied yet?"</p> + +<p>"No, indeed. Did you think I would get 'mawwied' without you? I have been +waiting for you and mamma to come and help me."</p> + +<p>"Well, we is here," in a tone of immense satisfaction. "Now you tan."</p> + +<p>The larger Rose meanwhile was making acquaintance with the others. She +needed no introductions, but seemed to know by instinct which was each boy +and each girl, and to fit the right names to them all. In five minutes she +seemed as much at home as though she had spent her life in Burnet. They +bore her into the house in a sort of triumph, and upstairs to the blue +bedroom, which Katy and Clover had vacated for her; and such a hubbub of +talk and laughter presently issued therefrom that Cousin Helen, on the +other side the entry, asked Jane to set her door open that she might enjoy +the sounds,—they were so merry.</p> + +<p>Rose's bright, rather high-pitched voice was easily distinguishable above +the rest. She was evidently relating some experience of her journey, with +an occasional splash by way of accompaniment, which suggested that she +might be washing her hands.</p> + +<p>"Yes, she really has grown awfully pretty; and she had on the loveliest +dark-brown suit you ever saw, with a fawn-colored hat, and was altogether +dazzling; and, do you know, I was really quite glad to see her. I can't +imagine why, but I was! I didn't stay glad long, however."</p> + +<p>"Why not? What did she do?" This in Clover's voice.</p> + +<p>"Well, she didn't do anything, but she was distant and disagreeable. I +scarcely observed it at first, I was so pleased to see one of the old +Hillsover girls; and I went on being very cordial. Then Lilly tried to put +me down by running over a list of her fine acquaintances, Lady this, and +the Marquis of that,—people whom she and her mother had known abroad. It +made me think of my old autograph book with Antonio de Vallombrosa, and +the rest. Do you remember?"</p> + +<p>"Of course we do. Well, go on."</p> + +<p>"At last she said something about Comte Ernest de Conflans,—I had heard +of him, perhaps? He crossed in the steamer with 'Mamma and me,' it seems; +and we have seen a great deal of him. This appeared a good opportunity to +show that I too have relations with the nobility, so I said yes, I had met +him in Boston, and my sister had seen a good deal of him in Washington +last winter.</p> + +<p>"'And what did she think of him?' demanded Lilly.</p> + +<p>"'Well,' said I, 'she didn't seem to think a great deal about him. She +says all the young men at the French legation seem more than usually +foolish, but Comte Ernest is the worst of the lot. He really <i>does</i> look +like an absolute fool, you know,' I added pleasantly. Now, girls, what was +there in that to make her angry? Can you tell? She grew scarlet, and +glared as if she wanted to bite my head off; and then she turned her back +and would scarcely speak to me again. Does she always behave that way when +the aristocracy is lightly spoken of?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Rose,—oh, Rose," cried Clover, in fits of laughter, "did you really +tell her that?"</p> + +<p>"I really did. Why shouldn't I? Is there any reason in particular?"</p> + +<p>"Only that she is engaged to him," replied Katy, in an extinguished voice.</p> + +<p>"Good gracious! No wonder she scowled! This is really dreadful. But then +why did she look so black when she asked where we were going, and I said +to your wedding? That didn't seem to please her any more than my little +remarks about the nobility."</p> + +<p>"I don't pretend to understand Lilly," said Katy, temperately; "she is an +odd girl."</p> + +<p>"I suppose an odd girl can't be expected to have an even temper," +remarked Rose, apparently speaking with a hairpin in her mouth. "Well, +I've done for myself, that is evident. I need never expect any notice in +future from the Comtesse de Conflans."</p> + +<p>Cousin Helen heard no more, but presently steps sounded outside her door, +and Katy looked in to ask if she were dressed, and if she might bring Rose +in, a request which was gladly granted. It was a pretty sight to see Rose +with Cousin Helen. She knew all about her already from Clover and Katy, +and fell at once under the gentle spell which seemed always to surround +that invalid sofa, begged leave to say "Cousin Helen" as the others did, +and was altogether at her best and sweetest when with her, full of +merriment, but full too of a deference and sympathy which made her +particularly charming.</p> + +<p>"I never did see anything so lovely in all my life before," she told +Clover in confidence. "To watch her lying there looking so radiant and so +peaceful and so interested in Katy's affairs, and never once seeming to +remember that except for that accident she too would have been a bride +and had a wedding! It's perfectly wonderful! Do you suppose she is never +sorry for herself? She seems the merriest of us all."</p> + +<p>"I don't think she remembers herself often enough to be sorry. She is +always thinking of some one else, it seems to me."</p> + +<p>"Well, I am glad to have seen her," added Rose, in a more serious tone +than was usual to her. "She and grandmamma are of a different order of +beings from the rest of the world. I don't wonder you and Katy always were +so good; you ought to be with such a Cousin Helen."</p> + +<p>"I don't think we were as good as you make us out, but Cousin Helen has +really been one of the strong influences of our lives. She was the making +of Katy, when she had that long illness; and Katy has made the rest of +us."</p> + +<p>Little Rose from the first moment became the delight of the household, and +especially of Amy Ashe, who could not do enough for her, and took her off +her mother's hands so entirely that Rose complained that she seemed to +have lost her child as well as her husband. She was a sedate little +maiden, and wonderfully wise for her years. Already, in some ways she +seemed older than her erratic little mother, of whom, in a droll fashion, +she assumed a sort of charge. She was a born housewife.</p> + +<p>"Mamma, you have fordotten your wings," Clover would hear her saying. +"Mamma, you has a wip in your seeve, you must mend it," or "Mamma, don't +fordet dat your teys is in the top dwawer,"—all these reminders and +advices being made particularly comical by the baby pronunciation. Rose's +theory was that little Rose was a messenger from heaven sent to buffet her +and correct her mistakes.</p> + +<p>"The bane and the antidote," she would say. "Think of my having a child +with powers of ratiocination!"</p> + +<p>Rose came down the night of her arrival after a long, freshening nap, +looking rested and bonny in a pretty blue dress, and saying that as +little Rose too had taken a good sleep, she might sit up to tea if the +family liked. The family were only too pleased to have her do so. After +tea Rose carried her off, ostensibly to go to bed, but Clover heard a +great deal of confabulating and giggling in the hall and on the stairs, +and soon after, Rose returned, the door-bell rang loudly, and there +entered an astonishing vision,—little Rose, costumed as a Cupid or a +carrier-pigeon, no one knew exactly which, with a pair of large white +wings fastened on her shoulders, and dragging behind her by a loop of +ribbon a sizeable basket quite full of parcels.</p> + +<p>Straight toward Katy she went, and with her small hands behind her back +and her blue eyes fixed full on Katy's face, repeated with the utmost +solemnity the following "poem:"</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 12em;">"I'm a messender, you see,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 12.5em;">Fwom Hymen's Expwess Tumpany.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 12.5em;">All these little bundles are</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 12.5em;">For my Aunty Taty Tarr;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 12.5em;">If she knows wot's dood for her</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 12.5em;">She will tiss the messender."</span><br /> +</p> + + + +<p class="figcenter"><img src="./images/67-tb.png" alt="I am a messender you see," title="I am a messender you see" /></p> + +<p class="center"> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"I'm a messender, you see,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Fwom Hymen's Expwess Tumpany."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"You sweet thing!" cried Katy, "tissing the messender" with all her heart. +"I never heard such a dear little poem. Did you write it yourself, +Roslein?"</p> + +<p>"No. Mamma wote it, but she teached it to me so I tould say it."</p> + +<p>The bundles of course contained wedding gifts. Rose seemed to have brought +her trunk full of them. There were a pretty pair of salt-cellars from Mrs. +Redding, a charming paper-knife of silver, with an antique coin set in the +handle, from Sylvia, a hand-mirror mounted in brass from Esther Dearborn, +a long towel with fringed and embroidered ends from Ellen Gray, and from +dear old Mrs. Redding a beautiful lace-pin set with a moonstone. Next came +a little <i>repoussé</i> pitcher marked, "With love from Mary Silver," then a +parcel tied with pink ribbons, containing a card-case of Japanese leather, +which was little Rose's gift, and last of all Rose's own present, a +delightful case full of ivory brushes and combs. Altogether never was such +a satisfactory "fardel" brought by Hymen's or any other express company +before; and in opening the packages, reading the notes that came with them +and exclaiming and admiring, time flew so fast that Rose quite forgot the +hour, till little Rose, growing sleepy, reminded her of it by saying,—</p> + +<p>"Mamma, I dess I'd better do to bed now, betause if I don't I shall be too +seepy to turn to Aunt Taty's wedding to-mowwow."</p> + +<p>"Dear me!" cried Rose, catching the child up. "This is simply dreadful! +what a mother I am! Things <i>are</i> come to a pass indeed, if babes and +sucklings have to ask to be put to bed. Baby, you ought to have been +christened Nathan the Wise."</p> + +<p>She disappeared with Roslein's drowsy eyes looking over her shoulder.</p> + +<p>Next afternoon came Ned, and with him, to Katy's surprise and pleasure, +appeared the good old commodore who had played such a kind part in their +affairs in Italy the year before. It was a great compliment that he should +think it worth while to come so far to see one of his junior officers +married; and it showed so much real regard for Ned that everybody was +delighted. These guests were quartered with Mrs. Ashe, but they took most +of their meals with the Carrs; and it was arranged that they, with Polly +and Amy, should come to an early breakfast on the marriage morning.</p> + +<p>After Ned's arrival things did seem to grow a little fuller and busier, +for he naturally wanted Katy to himself, and she was too preoccupied to +keep her calm grasp on events; still all went smoothly, and Rose declared +that there never was such a wedding since the world was made,—no tears, +no worries, nobody looking tired, nothing disagreeable!</p> + +<p>Clover's one great subject of concern was the fear that it might rain. +There was a little haze about the sunset the night before, and she +expressed her intention to Cousin Helen of lying awake all night to see +how things looked.</p> + +<p>"I really feel as if I could not bear it if it should storm," she said, +"after all this fine weather too; and I know I shall not sleep a wink, +anyway."</p> + +<p>"I think we can trust God to take care of the weather even on Katy's +wedding-day," replied Cousin Helen, gently.</p> + +<p>And after all it was she who lay awake. Pain had made her a restless +sleeper, and as her bed commanded the great arch of western sky, she saw +the moon, a sharp-curved silver shape, descend and disappear a little +before midnight. She roused again when all was still, solemn darkness +except for a spangle of stars, and later, opened her eyes in time to catch +the faint rose flush of dawn reflected from the east. She raised herself +on her elbow to watch the light grow.</p> + +<p>"It is a fair day for the child," she whispered to herself. "How good God +is!" Then she slept again for a long, restful space, and woke refreshed, +so that Katy's secret fear that Cousin Helen might be ill from excitement, +and not able to come to her wedding, was not realized.</p> + +<p>Clover, meantime, had slept soundly all night. She and Katy shared the +same room, and waked almost at the same moment. It was early still; but +the sisters felt bright and rested and ready for work, so they rose at +once.</p> + +<p>They dressed in silence, after a little whispered rejoicing over the +beautiful morning, and in silence took their Bibles and sat down side by +side to read the daily portion which was their habit. Then hand in hand +they stole downstairs, disturbing nobody, softly opened doors and windows, +carried bowls and jars out on the porch, and proceeded to arrange a great +basket full of roses which had been brought the night before, and set in +the dew-cool shade of the willows to keep fresh.</p> + +<p>Before breakfast all the house had put on festal airs. Summer had come +early to Burnet that year; every garden was in bud and blossom, and every +one who had flowers had sent their best to grace Katy's wedding. The whole +world seemed full of delicious smells. Each table and chimney-piece bore a +fragrant load; a great bowl of Jacqueminots stood in the middle of the +breakfast-table, and two large jars of the same on the porch, where Clover +had arranged various seats and cushions that it might serve as a sort of +outdoor parlor.</p> + +<p>Nobody who came to that early breakfast ever forgot its peace and +pleasantness and the sweet atmosphere of affection which seemed to pervade +everything about it. After breakfast came family prayers as usual, Dr. +Carr reading the chapter, and the dear old commodore joining with a hearty +nautical voice in,—</p> + +<p class="center"> +"Awake my soul! and with the sun," +</p> + +<p>which was a favorite hymn with all of them. Ned shared Katy's book, and +his face and hers alone would have been breakfast enough for the company +if everything else had failed, as Rose remarked to Clover in a whisper, +though nobody found any fault with the more substantial fare which Debby +had sent in previously. Somehow this little mutual service of prayer and +praise seemed to fit in with the spirit of the day, and give it its +keynote.</p> + +<p>"It's just the sweetest wedding," Mrs. Ashe told her brother. "And the +wonderful thing is that everything comes so naturally. Katy is precisely +her usual self,—only a little more so."</p> + +<p>"I'm under great obligations to Amy for having that fever," was Ned's +somewhat indirect answer; but his sister understood what he meant.</p> + +<p>Breakfast over, the guests discreetly removed themselves; and the whole +family joined in resetting the table for the luncheon, which was to be at +two, Katy and Ned departing in the boat at four. It was a simple but +abundant repast, with plenty of delicious home-cooked food,—oysters and +salads and cold chicken; fresh salmon from Lake Superior; a big Virginia +ham baked to perfection, red and translucent to its savory centre; hot +coffee, and quantities of Debby's perfect rolls. There were strawberries, +also, and ice-cream, and the best of home-made cake and jellies, and +everywhere vases of fresh roses to perfume the feast. When all was +arranged, there was still time for Katy to make Cousin Helen a visit, and +then go to her room for a quiet rest before dressing; and still that same +unhurried air pervaded the house.</p> + +<p>There had been a little discussion the night before as to just how the +bride should make her appearance at the decisive moment; but Katy had +settled it by saying simply that she should come downstairs, and Ned could +meet her at the foot of the staircase.</p> + +<p>"It is the simplest way," she said; "and you know I don't want any fuss. I +will just come down."</p> + +<p>"I dare say she's right," remarked Rose; "but it seems to me to require a +great deal of courage."</p> + +<p>And after all, it didn't. The simple and natural way of doing a thing +generally turns out the easiest. Clover helped Katy to put on the +wedding-gown of soft crape and creamy white silk. It was trimmed with old +lace and knots of ribbon, and Katy wore with it two or three white roses +which Ned had brought her, and a pearl pendant which was his gift. Then +Clover had to go downstairs to receive the guests, and see that Cousin +Helen's sofa was put in the right place; and Rose, who remained behind, +had the pleasure of arranging Katy's veil. The yellow-white of the old +blonde was very becoming, and altogether, the effect, though not +"stylish," was very sweet. Katy was a little pale, but otherwise exactly +like her usual self, with no tremors or self-consciousness.</p> + +<p>Presently little Rose came up with a message.</p> + +<p>"Aunty Tover says dat Dr. Tone has tum, and everything is weddy, and you'd +better tum down," she announced.</p> + +<p>Katy gave Rose a last kiss, and went down the hall. But little Rose was so +fascinated by the appearance of the white dress and veil that she kept +fast hold of Katy's hand, disregarding her mother's suggestion that she +should slip down the back staircase, as she herself proposed to do.</p> + +<p>"No, I want to do with my Aunt Taty," she persisted.</p> + +<p>So it chanced that Katy came downstairs with pretty little Rose clinging +to her like a sort of impromptu bridesmaid; and meeting Ned's eyes as he +stood at the foot waiting for her, she forgot herself, lost the little +sense of shyness which was creeping over her, and responded to his look +with a tender, brilliant smile. The light from the hall-door caught her +face and figure just then, the color flashed into her cheeks; and she +looked like a beautiful, happy picture of a bride, and all by +accident,—which was the best thing about it; for pre-arranged effects are +not always effective, and are apt to betray their pre-arrangement.</p> + +<p>Then Katy took Ned's arm, little Rose let go her hand, and they went into +the parlor and were married.</p> + +<p>Dr. Stone had an old-fashioned and very solemn wedding service which he +was accustomed to use on such occasions. He generally spoke of the bride +as "Thy handmaiden," which was a form that Clover particularly +deprecated. He had also been known to advert to the world where there is +neither marrying nor giving in marriage as a great improvement on this, +which seemed, to say the least, an unfortunate allusion under the +circumstances. But upon this occasion his feelings were warmed and +touched, and he called Katy "My dear child," which was much better than +"Thy handmaiden."</p> + +<p>When the ceremony was over, Ned kissed Katy, and her father kissed her, +and the girls and Dorry and Phil; and then, without waiting for any one +else, she left her place and went straight to where Cousin Helen lay on +her sofa, watching the scene with those clear, tender eyes in which no +shadow of past regrets could be detected. Katy knelt down beside her, and +they exchanged a long, silent embrace. There was no need for words between +hearts which knew each other so well.</p> + +<p>After that for a little while all was congratulations and good wishes. I +think no bride ever carried more hearty good-will into her new life than +did my Katy. All sorts of people took Ned off into corners to tell him +privately what a fortunate person he was in winning such a wife. Each +fresh confidence of this sort was a fresh delight to him, he so thoroughly +agreed with it.</p> + +<p>"She's a prize, sir!—she's a prize!" old Mr. Worrett kept repeating, +shaking Ned's hand with each repetition. Mrs. Worrett had not been able to +come. She never left home now on account of the prevailing weakness of +carryalls; but she sent Katy her best love and a gorgeous broom made of +the tails of her own peacocks.</p> + +<p>"Aren't you sorry you are not going to stay and have a nice time with us +all, and help eat up the rest of the cake?" demanded Clover, as she put +her head into the carriage for a last kiss, two hours later.</p> + +<p>"Very!" said Katy; but she didn't look sorry at all.</p> + +<p>"There's one comfort," Clover remarked valiantly, as she walked back to +the house with her arm round Rose's waist. "She's coming back in +December, when the ship sails, and as likely as not she will stay a year, +or perhaps two. That's what I like about the navy. You can eat your cake, +and have it too. Husbands go off for good long times, and leave their +wives behind them. I think it's delightful!"</p> + +<p>"I wonder if Katy will think it quite so delightful," remarked Rose. +"Girls are not always so anxious to ship their husbands off for what you +call 'good long times.'"</p> + +<p>"I think she ought. It seems to me perfectly unnatural that any one should +want to leave her own family and go away for always. I like Ned dearly, +but except for this blessed arrangement about going to sea, I don't see +how Katy could."</p> + +<p>"Clover, you are a goose. You'll be wiser one of these days, see if you +aren't," was Rose's only reply.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h3>TWO LONG YEARS IN ONE SHORT CHAPTER.</h3> + + +<div class="figleft"> +<img alt="K" src="./images/c4.png" title="K" /></div> <p>aty's absence left a sad blank in the household. Every one missed her, +but nobody so much as Clover, who all her life long had been her +room-mate, confidante, and intimate friend.</p> + +<p>It was a great help that Rose was there for the first three lonely days. +Dulness and sadness were impossible with that vivacious little person at +hand; and so long as she stayed, Clover had small leisure to be mournful. +Rose was so bright and merry and affectionate that Elsie and John were +almost as much in love with her as Clover herself, and sat and sunned +themselves in her warmth, so to speak, all day long, while Phil and Dorry +fairly quarrelled as to which should have the pleasure of doing little +services for her and Baby Rose.</p> + +<p>If she could have remained the summer through, all would have seemed easy; +but that of course was impossible. Mr. Browne appeared with a provoking +punctuality on the morning of the fourth day, prepared to carry his family +away with him. He spent one night at Dr. Carr's, and they all liked him +very much. No one could help it, he was so cordial and friendly and +pleasant. Still, for all her liking, Clover could have found it in her +heart to quite detest him as the final moment drew near.</p> + +<p>"Let him go home without you," she urged coaxingly. "Stay with us all +summer,—you and little Rose! He can come back in September to fetch you, +and it would be so delightful to us."</p> + +<p>"My dear, I couldn't live without Deniston till September," said the +disappointing Rose. "It may not show itself to a casual observer, but I am +really quite foolish about Deniston. I shouldn't be happy away from him at +all. He's the only husband I've got,—a 'poor thing, but mine own,' as +the 'immortal William' puts it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear," groaned Clover. "That is the way that Katy is going to talk +about Ned, I suppose. Matrimony is the most aggravating condition of +things for outsiders that was ever invented. I wish nobody <i>had</i> invented +it. Here it would be so nice for us to have you stay, and the moment that +provoking husband of yours appears, you can't think of any one else."</p> + +<p>"Too true—much too true. Now, Clovy, don't embitter our last moments with +reproaches. It's hard enough to leave you as it is, when I've just found +you again after all these years. I've had the most beautiful visit that +ever was, and you've all been awfully dear and nice. 'Kiss me quick and +let me go,' as the song says. I only wish Burnet was next door to West +Cedar Street!"</p> + +<p>Next day Mr. Browne sailed away with his "handful of Roses," as Elsie +sentimentally termed them (and indeed, Rose by herself would have been a +handful for almost any man); and Clover, like Lord Ullin, was "left +lamenting." Cousin Helen remained, however; and it was not till she too +departed, a week later, that Clover fully recognized what it meant to have +Katy married. Then indeed she could have found it in her heart to emulate +Eugénie de la Ferronayes, and shed tears over all the little inanimate +objects which her sister had left behind,—the worn-out gloves, the old +dressing slippers in the shoe-bag. But dear me, we get used to everything, +and it is fortunate that we do! Life is too full, and hearts too flexible, +and really sad things too sad, for the survival of sentimental regrets +over changes which do not involve real loss and the wide separation of +death. In time, Clover learned to live without Katy, and to be cheerful +still.</p> + +<p>Her cheerfulness was greatly helped by the letters which came regularly, +and showed how contented Katy herself was. She and Ned were having a +beautiful time, first in New York, and making visits near it, then in +Portsmouth and Portland, when the frigate moved on to these harbors, and +in Newport, which was full and gay and amusing to the last degree. Later, +in August, the letters came from Bar Harbor, where Katy had followed, in +company with the commodore's wife, who seemed as nice as her husband; and +Clover heard of all manner of delightful doings,—sails, excursions, +receptions on board ship, and long moonlight paddles with Ned, who was an +expert canoeist. Everybody was so wonderfully kind, Katy said; but Ned +wrote to his sister that Katy was a great favorite; every one liked her, +and his particular friends were all raging wildly round in quest of girls +just like her to marry. "But it's no use; for, as I tell them," he added, +"that sort isn't made in batches. There is only one Katy; and happily she +belongs to me, and the other fellows must get along as they can."</p> + +<p>This was all satisfactory and comforting; and Clover could endure a little +loneliness herself so long as her beloved Katy seemed so happy. She was +very busy besides, and there <i>were</i> compensations, as she admitted to +herself. She liked the consequence of being at the head of domestic +affairs, and succeeding to Katy's position as papa's special +daughter,—the person to whom he came for all he wanted, and to whom he +told his little secrets. She and Elsie became more intimate than they had +ever been before; and Elsie in her turn enjoyed being Clover's lieutenant +as Clover had been Katy's. So the summer did not seem long to any of them; +and when September was once past, and they could begin to say, "month +after next," the time sped much faster.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Hall asked me this morning when the Worthingtons were coming," said +Johnnie, one day. "It seems so funny to have Katy spoken of as 'the +Worthingtons.'"</p> + +<p>"I only wish the Worthingtons would write and say when," remarked Clover. +"It is more than a week since we heard from them."</p> + +<p>The next day brought the wished-for letter, and the good news that Ned had +a fortnight's leave, and meant to bring Katy home the middle of November, +and stay for Thanksgiving. After that the "Natchitoches" was to sail for +an eighteen months' cruise to China and Japan; and then Ned would probably +have two years ashore at the Torpedo Station or Naval Academy or +somewhere, and they would start a little home for themselves.</p> + +<p>"Meantime," wrote Katy, "I am coming to spend a year and a half with you, +if urged. Don't all speak at once, and don't mind saying so, if you don't +want me."</p> + +<p>The bitter drop in this pleasant intelligence—there generally is one, you +know—was that the fortnight of Ned's stay was to be spent at Mrs. Ashe's. +"It's her only chance to see Ned," said Katy; "so I know you won't mind, +for afterward you will have me for such a long visit."</p> + +<p>But they <i>did</i> mind very much!</p> + +<p>"I don't think it's fair," cried Johnnie, hotly, while Clover and Elsie +exchanged disgusted looks; "Katy belongs to us."</p> + +<p>"Katy belongs to her husband, on the contrary," said Dr. Carr, +overhearing her; "you must learn that lesson once for all, children. +There's no escape from the melancholy fact; and it's quite right and +natural that Ned should wish to go to his sister, and she should want to +have him."</p> + +<p>"Ned! yes. But Katy—"</p> + +<p>"My dear, Katy <i>is</i> Ned," answered Dr. Carr, with a twinkle. Then noticing +the extremely unconvinced expression of Johnnie's face, he added more +seriously, "Don't be cross, children, and spoil all Katy's pleasure in +coming home, with your foolish jealousies. Clover, I trust to you to take +these young mutineers in hand and make them listen to reason."</p> + +<p>Thus appealed to, Clover rallied her powers, and while laboring to bring +Elsie and John to a proper frame of mind, schooled herself as well, so as +to be able to treat Mrs. Ashe amiably when they met. Dear, unconscious +Polly meanwhile was devising all sorts of pleasant and hospitable plans +designed to make Ned's stay a sort of continuous fête to everybody. She +put on no airs over the preference shown her, and was altogether so kind +and friendly and sweet that no one could quarrel with her even in thought, +and Johnnie herself had to forgive her, and be contented with a little +whispered grumble to Dorry now and then over the inconvenience of +possessing "people-in-law."</p> + +<p>And then Katy came, the same Katy, only, as Clover thought, nicer, +brighter, dearer, and certainly better-looking than ever. Sea air had +tanned her a little, but the brown was becoming; and she had gained an +ease and polish of manner which her sisters admired very much. And after +all, it seemed to make little difference at which house they stayed, for +they were in and out of both all day long; and Mrs. Ashe threw her doors +open to the Carrs and wanted some or all of them for every meal, so that +except for the name of the thing, it was almost as satisfactory to have +Katy over the way as occupying her old quarters.</p> + +<p>The fortnight sped only too rapidly. Ned departed, and Katy settled +herself in the familiar corner to wait till he should come back again. +Navy wives have to learn the hard lesson of patience in the long +separations entailed by their husbands' profession. Katy missed Ned +sorely, but she was too unselfish to mope, or to let the others know how +hard to bear his loss seemed to her. She never told any one how she lay +awake in stormy nights, or when the wind blew,—and it seemed to blow +oftener than usual that winter,—imagining the frigate in a gale, and +whispering little prayers for Ned's safety. Then her good sense would come +back, and remind her that wind in Burnet did not necessarily mean wind in +Shanghai or Yokohama or wherever the "Natchitoches" might be; and she +would put herself to sleep with the repetition of that lovely verse of +Keble's "Evening Hymn," left out in most of the collections, but which was +particularly dear to her:—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 12em;">"Thou Ruler of the light and dark,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 12.5em;">Guide through the tempest Thine own Ark;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 12.5em;">Amid the howling, wintry sea,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 12.5em;">We are in port if we have Thee."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>So the winter passed, and the spring; and another summer came and went, +with little change to the quiet Burnet household, and Katy's brief life +with her husband began to seem dreamy and unreal, it lay so far behind. +And then, with the beginning of the second winter came a new anxiety.</p> + +<p>Phil, as we said in the last chapter, had grown too fast to be very +strong, and was the most delicate of the family in looks and health, +though full of spirit and fun. Going out to skate with some other boys the +week before Christmas, on a pond which was not so securely frozen as it +looked, the ice gave way; and though no one was drowned, the whole party +had a drenching, and were thoroughly chilled. None of the others minded it +much, but the exposure had a serious effect on Phil. He caught a bad cold +which rapidly increased into pneumonia; and Christmas Day, usually such a +bright one in the Carr household, was overshadowed by anxious forebodings, +for Phil was seriously ill, and the doctor felt by no means sure how +things would turn with him. The sisters nursed him devotedly, and by +March he was out again; but he did not get <i>well</i> or lose the persistent +little cough, which kept him thin and weak. Dr. Carr tried this remedy and +that, but nothing seemed to do much good; and Katy thought that her father +looked graver and more anxious every time that he tested Phil's +temperature or listened at his chest.</p> + +<p>"It's not serious yet," he told her in private; "but I don't like the look +of things. The boy is just at a turning-point. Any little thing might set +him one way or the other. I wish I could send him away from this damp lake +climate."</p> + +<p>But sending a half-sick boy away is not such an easy thing, nor was it +quite clear where he ought to go. So matters drifted along for another +month, and then Phil settled the question for himself by having a slight +hemorrhage. It was evident that something must be done, and speedily—but +what? Dr. Carr wrote to various medical acquaintances, and in reply +pamphlets and letters poured in, each designed to prove that the +particular part of the country to which the pamphlet or the letter +referred was the only one to which it was at all worth while to consign an +invalid with delicate lungs. One recommended Florida, another Georgia, a +third South Carolina; a fourth and fifth recommended cold instead of heat, +and an open air life with the mercury at zero. It was hard to decide what +was best.</p> + +<p>"He ought not to go off alone either," said the puzzled father. "He is +neither old enough nor wise enough to manage by himself, but who to send +with him is the puzzle. It doubles the expense, too."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I—" began Katy, but her father cut her short with a gesture.</p> + +<p>"No, Katy, I couldn't permit that. Your husband is due in a few weeks now. +You must be free to go to him wherever he is, not hampered with the care +of a sick brother. Besides, whoever takes charge of Phil must be prepared +for a long absence,—at least a year. It must be either Clover or myself; +and as it seems out of the question that I shall drop my practice for a +year, Clover is the person."</p> + +<p>"Phil is seventeen now," suggested Katy. "That is not so very young."</p> + +<p>"No, not if he were in full health. Plenty of boys no older than he have +gone out West by themselves, and fared perfectly well. But in Phil's +condition that would never answer. He has a tendency to be low-spirited +about himself too, and he needs incessant care and watchfulness."</p> + +<p>"Out West," repeated Katy. "Have you decided, then?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. The letter I had yesterday from Hope, makes me pretty sure that St. +Helen's is the best place we have heard of."</p> + +<p>"St. Helen's! Where is that?"</p> + +<p>"It is one of the new health-resorts in Colorado which has lately come +into notice for consumptives. It's very high up; nearly or quite six +thousand feet, and the air is said to be something remarkable."</p> + +<p>"Clover will manage beautifully, I think; she is such a sensible little +thing," said Katy.</p> + +<p>"She seems to me, and he too, about as fit to go off two thousand miles by +themselves as the Babes in the Wood," remarked Dr. Carr, who, like many +other fathers, found it hard to realize that his children had outgrown +their childhood. "However, there's no help for it. If I don't stay and +grind away at the mill, there is no one to pay for this long journey. +Clover will have to do her best."</p> + +<p>"And a very good best it will be you'll see," said Katy, consolingly. +"Does Dr. Hope tell you anything about the place?" she added, turning over +the letter which her father had handed her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, he says the scenery is fine, and the mean rain-fall is this, and the +mean precipitation that, and that boarding-places can be had. That is +pretty much all. So far as climate goes, it is the right place, but I +presume the accommodations are poor enough. The children must go prepared +to rough it. The town was only settled ten or eleven years ago; there +hasn't been time to make things comfortable," remarked Dr. Carr, with a +truly Eastern ignorance of the rapid way in which things march in the far +West.</p> + +<p>Clover's feelings when the decision was announced to her it would be hard +to explain in full. She was both confused and exhilarated by the sudden +weight of responsibility laid upon her. To leave everybody and everything +she had always been used to, and go away to such a distance alone with +Phil, made her gasp with a sense of dismay, while at the same time the +idea that for the first time in her life she was trusted with something +really important, roused her energies, and made her feel braced and +valiant, like a soldier to whom some difficult enterprise is intrusted on +the day of battle.</p> + +<p>Many consultations followed as to what the travellers should carry with +them, by what route they would best go, and how prepare for the journey. A +great deal of contradictory advice was offered, as is usually the case +when people are starting on a voyage or a long railway ride. One friend +wrote to recommend that they should provide themselves with a week's +provisions in advance, and enclosed a list of crackers, jam, potted meats, +tea, fruit, and hardware, which would have made a heavy load for a donkey +or mule to carry. How were poor Clover and Phil to transport such a weight +of things? Another advised against umbrellas and water-proof cloaks,—what +was the use of such things where it never rained?—while a second letter, +received the same day, assured them that thunder and hail storms were +things for which travellers in Colorado must live in a state of continual +preparation. "Who shall decide when doctors disagree?" In the end Clover +concluded that it was best to follow the leadings of commonsense and +rational precaution, do about a quarter of what people advised, and leave +the rest undone; and she found that this worked very well.</p> + +<p>As they knew so little of the resources of St. Helen's, and there was such +a strong impression prevailing in the family as to its being a rough sort +of newly-settled place, Clover and Katy judged it wise to pack a large +box of stores to go out by freight: oatmeal and arrowroot and beef-extract +and Albert biscuits,—things which Philly ought to have, and which in a +wild region might be hard to come by. Debby filled all the corners with +home-made dainties of various sorts; and Clover, besides a spirit-lamp and +a tea-pot, put into her trunks various small decorations,—Japanese fans +and pictures, photographs, a vase or two, books and a sofa-pillow,—things +which took little room, and which she thought would make their quarters +look more comfortable in case they were very bare and unfurnished. People +felt sorry for the probable hardships the brother and sister were to +undergo; and they had as many little gifts and notes of sympathy and +counsel as Katy herself when she was starting for Europe.</p> + +<p>But I am anticipating. Before the trunks were packed, Dr. Carr's anxieties +about his "Babes in the Wood" were greatly allayed by a visit from Mrs. +Hall. She came to tell him that she had heard of a possible "matron" for +Clover.</p> + +<p>"I am not acquainted with the lady myself," she said; "but my cousin, who +writes about her, knows her quite well, and says she is a highly +respectable person, and belongs to nice people. Her sister, or some one, +married a Phillips of Boston, and I've always heard that that family was +one of the best there. She's had some malarial trouble, and is at the West +now on account of it, staying with a friend in Omaha; but she wants to +spend the summer at St. Helen's. And as I know you have worried a good +deal over having Clover and Phil go off by themselves, I thought it might +be a comfort to you to hear of this Mrs. Watson."</p> + +<p>"You are very good. If she proves to be the right sort of person, it +<i>will</i> be an immense comfort. Do you know when she wants to start?"</p> + +<p>"About the end of May,—just the right time, you see. She could join +Clover and Philip as they go through, which will work nicely for them +all."</p> + +<p>"So it will. Well, this is quite a relief. Please write to your cousin, +Mrs. Hall, and make the arrangement. I don't want Mrs. Watson to be +burdened with any real care of the children, of course; but if she can +arrange to go along with them, and give Clover a word of advice now and +then, should she need it, I shall be easier in my mind about them."</p> + +<p>Clover was only doubtfully grateful when she heard of this arrangement.</p> + +<p>"Papa always will persist in thinking that I am a baby still," she said to +Katy, drawing her little figure up to look as tall as possible. "I am +twenty-two, I would have him remember. How do we know what this Mrs. +Watson is like? She may be the most disagreeable person in the world for +all papa can tell."</p> + +<p>"I really can't find it in my heart to be sorry that it has happened, papa +looks so much relieved by it," Katy rejoined.</p> + +<p>But all dissatisfactions and worries and misgivings took wings and flew +away when, just ten days before the travellers were to start, a new and +delightful change was made in the programme. Ned telegraphed that the +ship, instead of coming to New York, was ordered to San Francisco to +refit, and he wanted Katy to join him there early in June, prepared to +spend the summer; while almost simultaneously came a letter from Mrs. +Ashe, who with Amy had been staying a couple of months in New York, to say +that hearing of Ned's plan had decided her also to take a trip to +California with some friends who had previously asked her to join them. +These friends were, it seemed, the Daytons of Albany. Mr. Dayton was a +railroad magnate, and had the control of a private car in which the party +were to travel; and Mrs. Ashe was authorized to invite Katy, and Clover +and Phil also, to go along with them,—the former all the way to +California, and the others as far as Denver, where the roads separated.</p> + +<p>This was truly delightful. Such an offer was surely worth a few days' +delay. The plan seemed to settle itself all in one minute. Mrs. Watson, +whom every one now regretted as a complication, was the only difficulty; +but a couple of telegrams settled that perplexity, and it was arranged +that she should join them on the same train, though in a different car. To +have Katy as a fellow-traveller, and Mrs. Ashe and Amy, made a different +thing of the long journey, and Clover proceeded with her preparations in +jubilant spirits.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h3>CAR FORTY-SEVEN.</h3> + + +<div class="figleft"> +<img alt="I" src="./images/c5.png" title="I" /></div> <p>t is they who stay behind who suffer most from leave-takings. Those who +go have the continual change of scenes and impressions to help them to +forget; those who remain must bear as best they may the dull heavy sense +of loss and separation.</p> + +<p>The parting at Burnet was not a cheerful one. Clover was oppressed with +the nearness of untried responsibilities; and though she kept up a brave +face, she was inwardly homesick. Phil slept badly the night before the +start, and looked so wan and thin as he stood on the steamer's deck beside +his sisters, waving good-by to the party on the wharf, that a new and +sharp thrill of anxiety shot through his father's heart. The boy looked so +young and helpless to be sent away ill among strangers, and round-faced +little Clover seemed such a fragile support! There was no help for it. The +thing was decided on, decided for the best, as they all hoped; but Dr. +Carr was not at all happy in his mind as he watched the steamer become a +gradually lessening speck in the distance, and he sighed heavily when at +last he turned away.</p> + +<p>Elsie echoed the sigh. She, too, had noticed Phil's looks and papa's +gravity, and her heart felt heavy within her. The house, when they reached +it, seemed lonely and empty. Papa went at once to his office, and they +heard him lock the door. This was such an unusual proceeding in the middle +of the morning that she and Johnnie opened wide eyes of dismay at each +other.</p> + +<p>"Is papa crying, do you suppose?" whispered John.</p> + +<p>"No, I don't think it can be <i>that</i>. Papa never does cry; but I'm afraid +he's feeling badly," responded Elsie, in the same hushed tone. "Oh, dear, +how horrid it is not even to have Clover at home! What <i>are</i> we going to +do without her and Katy?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know I'm sure. You can't think how queer I feel, Elsie,—just as +if my heart had slipped out of its place, and was going down, down into my +boots. I think it must be the way people feel when they are homesick. I +had it once before when I was at Inches Mills, but never since then. How I +wish Philly had never gone to skate on that nasty pond!" and John burst +into a passion of tears.</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't, don't!" cried poor Elsie, for Johnnie's sobs were infectious, +and she felt an ominous lump coming into her own throat, "don't behave so, +Johnnie. Think if papa came out, and found us crying! Clover particularly +said that we must make the house bright for him. I'm going to sow the +mignonette seed [desperately]; come and help me. The trowel is on the back +porch, and you might get Dorry's jack-knife and cut some little sticks to +mark the places."</p> + +<p>This expedient was successful. Johnnie, who loved to "whittle" above all +things, dried her tears, and ran for her shade hat; and by the time the +tiny brown seeds were sprinkled into the brown earth of the borders, both +the girls were themselves again. Dr. Carr appeared from his retirement +half an hour later. A note had come for him meanwhile, but somehow no one +had quite liked to knock at the door and deliver it.</p> + +<p>Elsie handed it to him now, with a timid, anxious look, whose import +seemed to strike him, for he laughed a little, and pinched her cheek as he +read.</p> + +<p>"I've been writing to Dr. Hope about the children," he said; "that's all. +Don't wait dinner for me, chicks. I'm off for the Corners to see a boy +who's had a fall, and I'll get a bite there. Order something good for tea, +Elsie; and afterward we'll have a game of cribbage if I'm not called out. +We must be as jolly as we can, or Clover will scold us when she comes +back."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the three travellers were faring through the first stage of +their journey very comfortably. The fresh air and change brightened Phil; +he ate a good dinner, and afterward took quite a long nap on a sofa, +Clover sitting by to keep him covered and see that he did not get cold. +Late in the evening they changed to the express train, and there again, +Phil, after being tucked up behind the curtains of his section, went to +sleep and passed a satisfactory night, so that he reached Chicago looking +so much better than when they left Burnet that his father's heart would +have been lightened could he have seen him.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ashe came down to the station to meet them, together with Mr. +Dayton,—a kind, friendly man with a tired but particularly pleasant face. +All the necessary transfer of baggage, etc., was made easy, and they were +carried off at once to the hotel where rooms had been secured. There they +were rapturously received by Amy, and introduced to Mrs. Dayton, a sweet, +spirited little matron, with a face as kindly as her husband's, but not so +worn. Mr. Dayton looked as if for years he had been bearing the whole +weight of a railroad on his shoulders, as in one sense it may be said that +he had.</p> + +<p>"We have been here almost a whole day," said Amy, who had taken +possession, as a matter of course, of her old perch on Katy's knee. +"Chicago is the biggest place you ever saw, Tanta; but it isn't so pretty +as Burnet. And oh! don't you think Car Forty-seven is nice,—the one we +are going out West in, you know? And this morning Mr. Dayton took us to +see it. It's the cunningest place that ever was. There's one dear little +drawer in the wall that Mrs. Dayton says I may have to keep Mabel's things +in. I never saw a drawer in a car before. There's a lovely little bedroom +too, and such a nice washing-basin, and a kitchen, and all sorts of +things. I can hardly wait till I show them to you. Don't you think that +travelling is the most delightful thing in the world, Miss Clover?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—if only—people—don't get too tired," said Clover, with an anxious +glance at Phil, as he lay back in an easy-chair. She did not dare say, +"if Phil doesn't get too tired," for she had already discovered that +nothing annoyed him so much as being talked about as an invalid, and that +he was very apt to revenge himself by doing something imprudent +immediately afterward, to disguise from an observant world the fact that +he couldn't do it without running a risk. Like most boys, he resented +being "fussed over,"—a fact which made the care of him more difficult +than it would otherwise have been.</p> + +<p>The room which had been taken for Clover and Katy looked out on the lake, +which was not far away; and the reach of blue water would have made a +pretty view if trains of cars had not continually steamed between it and +the hotel, staining the sky and blurring the prospect with their smokes. +Katy wondered how it happened that the early settlers who laid out Chicago +had not bethought themselves to secure this fine water frontage as an +ornament to the future city; but Mr. Dayton explained that in the rapid +growth of Western towns, things arranged themselves rather than were +arranged for, and that the first pioneers had other things to think about +than what a New Englander would call "sightliness,"—and Katy could easily +believe this to be true.</p> + +<p>Car Forty-seven was on the track when they drove to the station at noon +next day. It was the end car of a long express train, which, Mr. Dayton +told them, is considered the place of honor, and generally assigned to +private cars. It was of an old-fashioned pattern, and did not compare, as +they were informed, with the palaces on wheels built nowadays for the use +of railroad presidents and directors. But though Katy heard of cars with +French beds, plunge baths, open fireplaces, and other incredible luxuries, +Car Forty-seven still seemed to her inexperienced eyes and Clover's a +marvel of comfort and convenience.</p> + +<p>A small kitchen, a store closet, and a sort of baggage-room, fitted with +berths for two servants, occupied the end of the car nearest the engine. +Then came a dressing-closet, with ample marble basins where hot water as +well as cold was always on tap; then a wide state-room, with a bed on +either side, and then a large compartment occupying the middle of the car, +where by day four nice little dining-tables could be set, with a seat on +either side, and by night six sleeping sections made up. The rest of the +car was arranged as a sitting-room, glassed all around, and furnished with +comfortable seats of various kinds, a writing-desk, two or three tables of +different sizes, and various small lockers and receptacles, fitted into +the partitions to serve as catch-alls for loose articles of all sorts.</p> + +<p>Bunches of lovely roses and baskets of strawberries stood on the tables; +and quite a number of the Daytons' friends had come down to see them off, +each bringing some sort of good-by gift for the travellers,—flowers, +hothouse grapes, early cherries, or home-made cake. They were all so +cordial and pleasant and so interested in Phil, that Katy and Clover lost +their hearts to each in turn, and forever afterward were ready to stand +up for Chicago as the kindest place that ever was seen.</p> + +<p>Then amid farewells and good wishes the train moved slowly out of the +station, and the inmates of Car Forty-seven proceeded to "go to +housekeeping," as Mrs. Dayton expressed it, and to settle themselves and +their belongings in these new quarters. Mrs. Ashe and Amy, it was decided, +should occupy the state-room, and the other ladies were to dress there +when it was convenient. Sections were assigned to everybody,—Clover's +opposite Phil's so that she might hear him if he needed anything in the +night; and Mr. Dayton called for all the bonnets and hats, and amid much +laughter proceeded to pin up each in thick folds of newspaper, and fasten +it on a hook not to be taken down till the end of the journey. Mabel's +feathered turban took its turn with the rest, at Amy's particular request. +Dust was the main thing to be guarded against, and Katy, having been duly +forewarned, had gone out in the morning, and bought for herself and Clover +soft hats of whity-gray felt and veils of the same color, like those +which Mrs. Dayton and Polly had provided for the journey, and which had +the advantage of being light as well as unspoilable.</p> + +<p>But there was no dust that first morning, as the train ran smoothly across +the fertile prairies of Illinois first, and then of Iowa, between fields +dazzling with the fresh green of wheat and rye, and waysides studded with +such wild-flowers as none of them had ever seen or dreamed of before. Pink +spikes and white and vivid blue spikes; masses of brown and orange cups, +like low-growing tulips; ranks of beautiful vetches and purple lupines; +escholtzias, like immense sweeps of golden sunlight; wild sweet peas; +trumpet-shaped blossoms whose name no one knew,—all flung broadcast over +the face of the land, and in such stintless quantities that it dazzled the +mind to think of as it did the eyes to behold them. The low-lying horizons +looked infinitely far off; the sense of space was confusing. Here and +there appeared a home-stead, backed with a "break-wind" of thickly-planted +trees; but the general impression was of vast, still distance, endless +reaches of sky, and uncounted flowers growing for their own pleasure and +with no regard for human observation.</p> + +<p>In studying Car Forty-seven, Katy was much impressed by the thoroughness +of Mrs. Dayton's preparations for the comfort of her party. Everything +that could possibly be needed seemed to have been thought of,—pins, +cologne, sewing materials, all sorts of softening washes for the skin, to +be used on the alkaline plains, sponges to wet and fasten into the crown +of hats, other sponges to breathe through, medicines of various kinds, +sticking-plaster, witch-hazel and arnica, whisk brooms, piles of magazines +and novels, telegraph blanks, stationery. Nothing seemed forgotten. Clover +said that it reminded her of the mother of the Swiss Family Robinson and +that wonderful bag out of which everything was produced that could be +thought of, from a grand piano to a bottle of pickles; and after that +"Mrs. Robinson" became Mrs. Dayton's pet name among her +fellow-travellers. She adopted it cheerfully; and her "wonderful bag" +proving quite as unfailing and trustworthy as that of her prototype, the +title seemed justified.</p> + +<p>Pretty soon after starting came their first dinner on the car. Such a nice +one!—soup, roast chicken and lamb, green peas, new potatoes, stewed +tomato; all as hot and as perfectly served as if they had been "on dry +land," as Amy phrased it. There was fresh curly lettuce too, with +mayonnaise dressing, and a dessert of strawberries and ice-cream,—the +latter made and frozen on the car, whose resources seemed inexhaustible. +The cook had been attached to Car Forty-seven for some years, and had a +celebrity on his own road for the preparation of certain dishes, which no +one else could do as well, however many markets and refrigerators and +kitchen ranges might be at command. One of these dishes was a peculiar +form of cracked wheat, made crisp and savory after some mysterious +fashion, and eaten with thick cream. Like most <i>chefs</i>, the cook liked to +do the things in which he excelled, and finding that it was admired, he +gave the party this delicious wheat every morning.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The car seems paved with bottles of Apollinaris and with + lemons," wrote Katy to her father. "There seems no limit to the + supply. Just as surely as it grows warm and dusty, and we begin + to remember that we are thirsty, a tinkle is heard, and Bayard + appears with a tray,—iced lemonade, if you please, made with + Apollinaris water with strawberries floating on top! What do you + think of that at thirty miles an hour? Bayard is the colored + butler. The cook is named Roland. We have a fine flavor of peers + and paladins among us, you perceive.</p> + +<p> "The first day out was cool and delicious, and we had no dust. + At six o'clock we stopped at a junction, and our car was + detached and run off on a siding. This was because Mr. Dayton + had business in the place, and we were to wait and be taken on + by the next express train soon after midnight. At first they ran + us down to a pretty place by the side of the river, where it was + cool, and we could look out on the water and a green bank + opposite, and we thought we were going to have such a nice + night; but the authorities changed their minds, and presently + to our deep disgust a locomotive came puffing down the road, + clawed us up, ran us back, and finally left us in the middle of + innumerable tracks and switches just where all the freight + trains came in and met. All night long they were arriving and + going out. Cars loaded with cattle, cars loaded with sheep, with + pigs! Such bleatings and mooings and gruntings, I never heard in + all my life before. I could think of nothing but that verse in + the Psalms, 'Strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round,' and + could only hope that the poor animals did not feel half as badly + as they sounded.</p> + +<p> "Then long before light, as we lay listening to these lamentable + roarings and grunts, and quite unable to sleep for heat and + noise, came the blessed express, and presently we were away out + of all the din, with the fresh air of the prairie blowing in; + and in no time at all we were so sound asleep that it seemed but + a minute before morning. Phil's slumbers lasted so long that we + had to breakfast without him, for Mrs. Dayton would not let us + wake him up. You can't think how kind she is, and Mr. Dayton + too; and this way of travelling is so easy and delightful that + it scarcely seems to tire one at all. Phil has borne the journey + wonderfully well so far."</p></div> + +<p>At Omaha, on the evening of the second day, Clover's future "matron" and +adviser, Mrs. Watson, was to join them. She had been telegraphed to from +Chicago, and had replied, so that they knew she was expecting them. +Clover's thoughts were so occupied with curiosity as to what she would +turn out to be, that she scarcely realized that she was crossing the +Mississippi for the first time, and she gave scant attention to the low +bluffs which bound the river, and on which the Indians used to hold their +councils in those dim days when there was still an "undiscovered West" set +down in geographies and atlases.</p> + +<p>As soon as they reached the Omaha side of the river, she and Katy jumped +down from the car, and immediately found themselves face to face with an +anxious-looking little old lady, with white hair frizzled and banged over +a puckered forehead, and a pair of watery blue eyes peering from beneath, +evidently in search of somebody. Her hands were quite full of bags and +parcels, and a little heap of similar articles lay on the platform near +her, of which she seemed afraid to lose sight for a moment.</p> + +<p>"Oh, is it Miss Carr?" was her first salutation. "I'm Mrs. Watson. I +thought it might be you, from the fact that you got out of that car, and +it seems rather different—I am quite relieved to see you. I didn't know +but something—My daughter she said to me as I was coming away, 'Now, +Mother, don't lose yourself, whatever you do. It seems quite wild to think +of you in Canyon this and Canyon that, and the Garden of the Gods! Do get +some one to keep an eye on you, or we shall never hear of you again. +You'll—' It's quite a comfort that you have got here. I supposed you +would, but the uncertainty—Oh, dear! that man is carrying off my trunks. +Please run after him and tell him to bring them back!"</p> + +<p>"It's all right; he's the porter," explained Mr. Dayton. "Did you get your +checks for Denver or St. Helen's?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I haven't any checks yet. I didn't know which it ought to be, so I +waited till—Miss Carr and her brother would see to it for me I knew, and +I wrote my daughter—My friend, Mrs. Peters,—I've been staying with her, +you know,—was sick in bed, and I wouldn't let—Dear me! what has that +gentleman gone off for in such a hurry?"</p> + +<p>"He has gone to get your checks," said Clover, divided between diversion +and dismay at this specimen of her future "matron." "We only stay here a +few minutes, I believe. Do you know exactly when the train starts, Mrs. +Watson?"</p> + +<p>"No, dear, I don't. I never know anything about trains and things like +that. Somebody always has to tell me, and put me on the cars. I shall +trust to you and your brother to do that now. It's a great comfort to have +a gentleman to see to things for you."</p> + +<p>A gentleman! Poor Philly!</p> + +<p>Mr. Dayton now came back to them. It was lucky that he knew the station +and was used to the ways of railroads, for it appeared that Mrs. Watson +had made no arrangements whatever for her journey, but had blindly +devolved the care of herself and her belongings on her "young friends," as +she called Clover and Phil. She had no sleeping section secured and no +tickets, and they had to be procured at the last moment and in such a +scramble that the last of her parcels was handed on to the platform by a +porter, at full run, after the train was in motion. She was not at all +flurried by the commotion, though others were, and blandly repeated that +she knew from the beginning that all would be right as soon as Miss Carr +and her brother arrived.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dayton had sent a courteous invitation to the old lady to come to Car +Forty-seven for tea, but Mrs. Watson did not at all like being left alone +meantime, and held fast to Clover when the others moved to go.</p> + +<p>"I'm used to being a good deal looked after," she explained. "All the +family know my ways, and they never do let me be alone much. I'm taken +faint sometimes; and the doctor says it's my heart or something that's +the cause of it, so my daughter she—You ain't going, my dear, are you?"</p> + +<p>"I must look after my brother," said poor Clover; "he's been ill, you +know, and this is the time for his medicine."</p> + +<p>"Dear me! is he ill?" said Mrs. Watson, in an aggrieved tone. "I wasn't +prepared for that. You'll have your hands pretty full with him and me +both, won't you?—for though I'm well enough just now, there's no knowing +what a day may bring forth, and you're all I have to depend upon. You're +sure you must go? It seems as if your sister—Mrs. Worthing, is that the +name?—might see to the medicine, and give you a little freedom. Don't let +your brother be too exacting, dear. It is the worst thing for a young man. +I'll sit here a little while, and then I'll—The conductor will help me, I +suppose, or perhaps that gentleman might—I hate to be left by myself."</p> + +<p>These were the last words which Clover heard as she escaped. She entered +Car Forty-seven with such a rueful and disgusted countenance that +everybody burst out laughing.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter, Miss Clover?" asked Mr. Dayton. "Has your old lady +left something after all?"</p> + +<p>"Don't call her <i>my</i> old lady! I'm supposed to be her young lady, under +her charge," said Clover, trying to smile. But the moment she got Katy to +herself, she burst out with,—</p> + +<p>"My dear, what <i>am</i> I going to do? It's really too dreadful. Instead of +some one to help me, which is what papa meant, Mrs. Watson seems to depend +on me to take all the care of her; and she says she has fainting fits and +disease of the heart! How can I take care of her? Phil needs me all the +time, and a great deal more than she does; I don't see how I can."</p> + +<p>"You can't, of course. You are here to take care of Phil; and it is out of +the question that you should have another person to look after. But I +think you must mistake Mrs. Watson, Clovy. I know that Mrs. Hall wrote +plainly about Phil's illness, for she showed me the letter."</p> + +<p>"Just wait till you hear her talk," cried the exasperated Clover. "You +will find that I didn't mistake her at all. Oh, why did Mrs. Hall +interfere? It would all seem so easy in comparison—so perfectly easy—if +only Philly and I were alone together."</p> + +<p>Katy thought that Clover was fretted and disposed to exaggerate; but after +Mrs. Watson joined them a little later, she changed her opinion. The old +lady was an inveterate talker, and her habit of only half finishing her +sentences made it difficult to follow the meanderings of her rambling +discourse. It turned largely on her daughter, Mrs. Phillips, her husband, +children, house, furniture, habits, tastes, and the Phillips connection +generally.</p> + +<p>"She's the only one I've got," she informed Mrs. Dayton; "so of course +she's all-important to me. Jane Phillips—that's Henry's youngest +sister—often says that really of all the women she ever knew Ellen is the +most—And there's plenty to do always, of course, with three children and +such a large elegant house and company coming all the—It's lucky that +there's plenty to do with. Henry's very liberal. He likes to have things +nice, so Ellen she—Why, when I was packing up to come away he brought me +that <i>repoussé</i> fruit-knife there in my bag—Oh, it's in my other bag! +Never mind; I'll show it to you some other time—solid silver, you know. +Bigelow and Kennard—their things always good, though expensive; and my +son-in-law he said, 'You're going to a fruit country, and—' Mrs. Peters +doesn't think there is so much fruit, though. All sent on from California, +as I wrote,—and I guess Ellen and Henry were surprised to hear it."</p> + +<p>Katy held serious counsel with herself that night as to what she should do +about this extraordinary "guide, philosopher, and friend" whom the Fates +had provided for Clover. She saw that her father, from very over-anxiety, +had made a mistake, and complicated Clover's inevitable cares with a most +undesirable companion, who would add to rather than relieve them. She +could not decide what was best to do; and in fact the time was short for +doing anything, for the next evening would bring them to Denver, and poor +Clover must be left to face the situation by herself as best she might.</p> + +<p>Katy finally concluded to write her father plainly how things stood, and +beg him to set Clover's mind quite at rest as to any responsibility for +Mrs. Watson, and also to have a talk with that lady herself, and explain +matters as clearly as she could. It seemed all that was in her power.</p> + +<p>Next day the party woke to a wonderful sense of lightness and exhilaration +which no one could account for till the conductor told them that the +apparently level plain over which they were speeding was more than four +thousand feet above the sea. It seemed impossible to believe it. Hour by +hour they climbed; but the climb was imperceptible. Now four thousand six +hundred feet of elevation was reported, now four thousand eight hundred, +at last above five thousand; and still there seemed about them nothing +but a vast expanse of flat levels,—the table-lands of Nebraska. There was +little that was beautiful in the landscape, which was principally made up +of wide reaches of sand, dotted with cactus and grease-wood and with the +droll cone-shaped burrows of the prairie-dogs, who could be seen gravely +sitting on the roofs of their houses, or turning sudden somersaults in at +the holes on top as the train whizzed by. They passed and repassed long +links of a broad shallow river which the maps showed to be the Platte, and +which seemed to be made of two-thirds sand to one-third water. Now and +again mounted horsemen appeared in the distance whom Mr. Dayton said were +"cow-boys;" but no cows were visible, and the rapidly moving figures were +neither as picturesque nor as formidable as they had expected them to be.</p> + +<p>Flowers were still abundant, and their splendid masses gave the charm of +color to the rather arid landscape. Soon after noon dim blue outlines came +into view, which grew rapidly bolder and more distinct, and revealed +themselves as the Rocky Mountains,—the "backbone of the American +Continent," of which we have all heard so much in geographies and the +newspapers. It was delightful, in spite of dust and glare, to sit with +that sweep of magnificent air rushing into their lungs, and watch the +great ranges grow and grow and deepen in hue, till they seemed close at +hand. To Katy they were like enchanted land. Somewhere on the other side +of them, on the dim Pacific coast, her husband was waiting for her to +come, and the wheels seemed to revolve with a regular rhythmic beat to the +cadence of the old Scotch song,—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 12em;">"And will I see his face again;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 12.5em;">And will I hear him speak?"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>But to Clover the wheels sang something less jubilant, and she studied the +mountains on her little travelling-map, and measured their distance from +Burnet with a sigh. They were the walls of what seemed to her a sort of +prison, as she realized that presently she should be left alone among +them, Katy and Polly gone, and these new friends whom she had learned to +like so much,—left alone with Phil and, what was worse, with Mrs. Watson! +There was a comic side to the latter situation, undoubtedly, but at the +moment she could not enjoy it.</p> + +<p>Katy carried out her intention. She made a long call on Mrs. Watson in her +section, and listened patiently to her bemoanings over the noise of the +car which had kept her from sleeping; the "lady in gray over there" who +had taken such a long time to dress in the morning that she—Mrs. +Watson—could not get into the toilet-room at the precise moment that she +wished; the newspaper boy who would not let her "just glance over" the +Denver "Republican" unless she bought and paid for it ("and I only wanted +to see the Washington news, my dear, and something about a tin wedding in +East Dedham. My mother came from there, and I recognized one of the names +and—But he took it away quite rudely; and when I complained, the +conductor wouldn't attend to what I—"); and the bad piece of beefsteak +which had been brought for her breakfast at the eating-station. Katy +soothed and comforted to the best of her ability, and then plunged into +her subject, explaining Phil's very delicate condition and the necessity +for constant watchfulness on the part of Clover, and saying most +distinctly and in the plainest of English that Mrs. Watson must not expect +Clover to take care of her too. The old lady was not in the least +offended; but her replies were so incoherent that Katy was not sure that +she understood the matter any better for the explanation.</p> + +<p>"Certainly, my dear, certainly. Your brother doesn't appear so very sick; +but he must be looked after, of course. Boys always ought to be. I'll +remind your sister if she seems to be forgetting anything. I hope I shall +keep well myself, so as not to be a worry to her. And we can take little +excursions together, I dare say—Girls always like to go, and of course an +older person—Oh, no, your brother won't need her so much as you think. He +seems pretty strong to me, and—You mustn't worry about them, Mrs. +Worthing—We shall all get on very well, I'm sure, provided I don't break +down, and I guess I sha'n't, though they say almost every one does in this +air. Why, we shall be as high up as the top of Mount Washington."</p> + +<p>Katy went back to Forty-seven in despair, to comfort herself with a long +confidential chat with Clover in which she exhorted her not to let herself +be imposed upon.</p> + +<p>"Be good to her, and make her as happy as you can, but don't feel bound to +wait on her, and run her errands. I am sure papa would not wish it; and it +will half kill you if you attempt it. Phil, till he gets stronger, is all +you can manage. You not only have to nurse him, you know, but to keep him +happy. It's so bad for him to mope. You want all your time to read with +him, and take walks and drives; that is, if there are any carriages at St. +Helen's. Don't let Mrs. Watson seize upon you, Clover. I'm awfully afraid +that she means to, and I can see that she is a real old woman of the sea. +Once she gets on your back you will never be able to throw her off."</p> + +<p>"She shall not get on my back," said Clover, straightening her small +figure; "but doesn't it seem <i>unnecessary</i> that I should have an old woman +of the sea to grapple with as well as Phil?"</p> + +<p>"Provoking things are apt to seem unnecessary, I fancy. You mustn't let +yourself get worried, dear Clovy. The old lady means kindly enough, I +think, only she's naturally tiresome, and has become helpless from habit. +Be nice to her, but hold your own. Self-preservation is the first law of +Nature."</p> + +<p>Just at dusk the train reached Denver, and the dreaded moment of parting +came. There were kisses and tearful good-byes, but not much time was +allowed for either. The last glimpse that Clover had of Katy was as the +train moved away, when she put her head far out of the window of Car +Forty-seven to kiss her hand once more, and call back, in a tone oracular +and solemn enough to suit King Charles the First, his own admonitory word, +"Remember!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h3>ST. HELEN'S.</h3> + + +<div class="figleft"> +<img alt="N" src="./images/c6.png" title="N" /></div><p>ever in her life had Clover felt so small and incompetent and so very, +very young as when the train with Car Forty-seven attached vanished from +sight, and left her on the platform of the Denver station with her two +companions. There they stood, Phil on one side tired and drooping, Mrs. +Watson on the other blinking anxiously about, both evidently depending on +her for guidance and direction. For one moment a sort of pale +consternation swept over her. Then the sense of the inevitable and the +nobler sense of responsibility came to her aid. She rallied herself; the +color returned to her cheeks, and she said bravely to Mrs. Watson,—</p> + +<p>"Now, if you and Phil will just sit down on that settee over there and +make yourselves comfortable, I will find out about the trains for St. +Helen's, and where we had better go for the night."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Watson and Phil seated themselves accordingly, and Clover stood for a +moment considering what she should do. Outside was a wilderness of tracks +up and down which trains were puffing, in obedience, doubtless, to some +law understood by themselves, but which looked to the uninitiated like the +direst confusion. Inside the station the scene was equally confused. +Travellers just arrived and just going away were rushing in and out; +porters and baggage-agents with their hands full hurried to and fro. No +one seemed at leisure to answer a question or even to listen to one.</p> + +<p>Just then she caught sight of a shrewd, yet good-natured face looking at +her from the window of the ticket-office; and without hesitation she went +up to the enclosure. It was the ticket-agent whose eye she had caught. He +was at liberty at the moment, and his answers to her inquiries, though +brief, were polite and kind. People generally did soften to Clover. There +was such an odd and pretty contrast between her girlish appealing look and +her dignified little manner, like a child trying to be stately but only +succeeding in being primly sweet.</p> + +<p>The next train for St. Helen's left at nine in the morning, it seemed, and +the ticket-agent recommended the Sherman House as a hotel where they would +be very comfortable for the night.</p> + +<p>"The omnibus is just outside," he said encouragingly. "You'll find it a +first-class house,—best there is west of Chicago. From the East? Just so. +You've not seen our opera-house yet, I suppose. Denver folks are rather +proud of it. Biggest in the country except the new one in New York. Hope +you'll find time to visit it."</p> + +<p>"I should like to," said Clover; "but we are here for only one night. My +brother's been ill, and we are going directly on to St. Helen's. I'm very +much obliged to you."</p> + +<p>Her look of pretty honest gratitude seemed to touch the heart of the +ticket-man. He opened the door of his fastness, and came out—actually +came out!—and with a long shrill whistle summoned a porter whom he +addressed as, "Here, you Pat," and bade, "Take this lady's things, and put +them into the 'bus for the Sherman; look sharp now, and see that she's all +right." Then to Clover,—</p> + +<p>"You'll find it very comfortable at the Sherman, Miss, and I hope you'll +have a good night. If you'll come to me in the morning, I'll explain about +the baggage transfer."</p> + +<p>Clover thanked this obliging being again, and rejoined her party, who were +patiently sitting where she had left them.</p> + +<p>"Dear me!" said Mrs. Watson as the omnibus rolled off, "I had no idea that +Denver was such a large place. Street cars too! Well, I declare!"</p> + +<p>"And what nice shops!" said Clover, equally surprised.</p> + +<p>Her ideas had been rather vague as to what was to be expected in the close +neighborhood of the Rocky Mountains; but she knew that Denver had only +existed a few years, and was prepared to find everything looking rough and +unfinished.</p> + +<p>"Why, they have restaurants here and jewellers' shops!" she cried. "Look, +Phil, what a nice grocery! We needn't have packed all those oatmeal +biscuits if only we had known. And electric lights! How wonderful! But of +course St. Helen's is quite different."</p> + +<p>Their amazement increased when they reached the hotel, and were taken in a +large dining-room to order dinner from a bill of fare which seemed to +include every known luxury, from Oregon salmon and Lake Superior +white-fish to frozen sherbets and California peaches and apricots. But +wonderment yielded to fatigue, and again as Clover fell asleep she was +conscious of a deep depression. What had she undertaken to do? How could +she do it?</p> + +<p>But a night of sound sleep followed by such a morning of unclouded +brilliance as is seldom seen east of Colorado banished these misgivings. +Courage rose under the stimulus of such air and sunshine.</p> + +<p>"I must just live for each day as it comes," said little Clover to +herself, "do my best as things turn up, keep Phil happy, and satisfy Mrs. +Watson,—if I can,—and not worry about to-morrows or yesterdays. That is +the only safe way, and I won't forget if I can help it."</p> + +<p>With these wise resolves she ran down stairs, looking so blithe and bright +that Phil cheered at the sight of her, and lost the long morning face he +had got up with, while even Mrs. Watson caught the contagion, and became +fairly hopeful and content. A little leaven of good-will and good heart in +one often avails to lighten the heaviness of many.</p> + +<p>The distance between Denver and St. Helen's is less than a hundred miles, +but as the railroad has to climb and cross a range of hills between two +and three thousand feet high, the journey occupies several hours. As the +train gradually rose higher and higher, the travellers began to get wide +views, first of the magnificent panorama of mountains which lies to the +northwest of Denver, sixty miles away, with Long's Peak in the middle, and +after crossing the crest of the "Divide," where a blue little lake rimmed +with wild-flowers sparkled in the sun, of the more southern ranges. After +a while they found themselves running parallel to a mountain chain of +strange and beautiful forms, green almost to the top, and intersected with +deep ravines and cliffs which the conductor informed them were "canyons." +They seemed quite near at hand, for their bases sank into low rounded +hills covered with woods, these melted into undulating table-lands, and +those again into a narrow strip of park-like plain across which ran the +track. Flowers innumerable grew on this plain, mixed with grass of a tawny +brown-green. There were cactuses, red and yellow, scarlet and white +gillias, tall spikes of yucca in full bloom, and masses of a superb white +poppy with an orange-brown centre, whose blue-green foliage was prickly +like that of the thistle. Here and there on the higher uplands appeared +strange rock shapes of red and pink and pale yellow, which looked like +castles with towers and pinnacles, or like primitive fortifications. +Clover thought it all strangely beautiful, but Mrs. Watson found fault +with it as "queer."</p> + +<p>"It looks unnatural, somehow," she objected; "not a bit like the East. Red +never was a favorite color of mine. Ellen had a magenta bonnet once, and +it always worried—But Henry liked it, so of course—People can't see +things the same way. Now the green hat she had winter before last +was—Don't you think those mountains are dreadfully bright and distinct? I +don't like such high-colored rocks. Even the green looks red, somehow. I +like soft, hazy mountains like Blue Hill and Wachusett. Ellen spent a +summer up at Princeton once. It was when little Cynthia had +diphtheria—she's named after me, you know, and Henry he thought—But I +don't like the staring kind like these; and somehow those buildings, which +the conductor says are not buildings but rocks, make my flesh creep."</p> + +<p>"They'd be scrumptious places to repel attacks of Indians from," observed +Phil; "two or three scouts with breech-loaders up on that scarlet wall +there could keep off a hundred Piutes."</p> + +<p>"I don't feel that way a bit," Clover was saying to Mrs. Watson. "I like +the color, it's so rich; and I think the mountains are perfectly +beautiful. If St. Helen's is like this I am going to like it, I know."</p> + +<p>St. Helen's, when they reached it, proved to be very much "like this," +only more so, as Phil remarked. The little settlement was built on a low +plateau facing the mountains, and here the plain narrowed, and the +beautiful range, seen through the clear atmosphere, seemed only a mile or +two away, though in reality it was eight or ten. To the east the plain +widened again into great upland sweeps like the Kentish Downs, with here +and there a belt of black woodland, and here and there a line of low +bluffs. Viewed from a height, with the cloud-shadows sweeping across it, +it had the extent and splendor of the sea, and looked very much like it.</p> + +<p>The town, seen from below, seemed a larger place than Clover had expected, +and again she felt the creeping, nervous feeling come over her. But before +the train had fairly stopped, a brisk, active little man jumped on board, +and walking into the car, began to look about him with keen, observant +eyes. After one sweeping glance, he came straight to where Clover was +collecting her bags and parcels, held out his hand, and said in a pleasant +voice, "I think this must be Miss Carr."</p> + +<p>"I am Dr. Hope," he went on; "your father telegraphed when you were to +leave Chicago, and I have come down to two or three trains in the hope of +meeting you."</p> + +<p>"Have you, indeed?" said Clover, with a rush of relief. "How very kind of +you! And so papa telegraphed! I never thought of that. Phil, here is Dr. +Hope, papa's friend; Dr. Hope, Mrs. Watson."</p> + +<p>"This is really a very agreeable attention,—your coming to meet us," +said Mrs. Watson; "a very agreeable attention indeed. Well, I shall write +Ellen—that's my daughter, Mrs. Phillips, you know—that before we had got +out of the cars, a gentleman—And though I've always been in the habit of +going about a good deal, it's always been in the East, of course, and +things are—What are we going to do first, Dr. Hope? Miss Carr has a great +deal of energy for a girl, but naturally—I suppose there's an hotel at +St. Helen's. Ellen is rather particular where I stay. 'At your age, +Mother, you must be made comfortable, whatever it costs,' she says; and so +I—An only daughter, you know—but you'll attend to all those things for +us now, Doctor."</p> + +<p>"There's quite a good hotel," said Dr. Hope, his eyes twinkling a little; +"I'll show it to you as we drive up. You'll find it very comfortable if +you prefer to go there. But for these young people I've taken rooms at a +boarding-house, a quieter and less expensive place. I thought it was what +your father would prefer," he added in a lower tone to Clover.</p> + +<p>"I am sure he would," she replied; but Mrs. Watson broke in,—</p> + +<p>"Oh, I shall go wherever Miss Carr goes. She's under my care, you +know—Though at the same time I must say that in the long run I have +generally found that the most expensive places turn out the cheapest. As +Ellen often says, get the best and—What do they charge at this hotel that +you speak of, Dr. Hope?"</p> + +<p>"The Shoshone House? About twenty-five dollars a week, I think, if you +make a permanent arrangement."</p> + +<p>"That <i>is</i> a good deal," remarked Mrs. Watson, meditatively, while Clover +hastened to say,—</p> + +<p>"It is a great deal more than Phil and I can spend, Dr. Hope; I am glad +you have chosen the other place for us."</p> + +<p>"I suppose it <i>is</i> better," admitted Mm Watson; but when they gained the +top of the hill, and a picturesque, many-gabled, many-balconied structure +was pointed out as the Shoshone, her regrets returned, and she began again +to murmur that very often the most expensive places turned out the +cheapest in the end, and that it stood to reason that they must be the +best. Dr. Hope rather encouraged this view, and proposed that she should +stop and look at some rooms; but no, she could not desert her young +charges and would go on, though at the same time she must say that her +opinion as an older person who had seen more of the world was—She was +used to being consulted. Why, Addy Phillips wouldn't order that crushed +strawberry bengaline of hers till Mrs. Watson saw the sample, and—But +girls had their own ideas, and were bound to carry them out, Ellen always +said so, and for her part she knew her duty and meant to do it!</p> + +<p>Dr. Hope flashed one rapid, comical look at Clover. Western life sharpens +the wits, if it does nothing else, and Westerners as a general thing +become pretty good judges of character. It had not taken ten minutes for +the keen-witted little doctor to fathom the peculiarities of Clover's +"chaperone," and he would most willingly have planted her in the congenial +soil of the Shoshone House, which would have provided a wider field for +her restlessness and self-occupation, and many more people to listen to +her narratives and sympathize with her complaints. But it was no use. She +was resolved to abide by the fortunes of her "young friends."</p> + +<p>While this discussion was proceeding, the carriage had been rolling down a +wide street running along the edge of the plateau, opposite the mountain +range. Pretty houses stood on either side in green, shaded door-yards, +with roses and vine-hung piazzas and nicely-cut grass.</p> + +<p>"Why, it looks like a New England town," said Clover, amazed; "I thought +there were no trees here."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know," said Dr. Hope smiling. "You came, like most Eastern people, +prepared to find us sitting in the middle of a sandy waste, on cactus +pincushions, picking our teeth with bowie-knives, and with no neighbors +but Indians and grizzly bears. Well; sixteen years ago we could have +filled the bill pretty well. Then there was not a single house in St. +Helen's,—not even a tent, and not one of the trees that you see here had +been planted. Now we have three railroads meeting at our depot, a +population of nearly seven thousand, electric lights, telephones, a good +opera-house, a system of works which brings first-rate spring water into +the town from six miles away,—in short, pretty much all the modern +conveniences."</p> + +<p>"But what <i>has</i> made the place grow so fast?" asked Clover.</p> + +<p>"If I may be allowed a professional pun, it is built up on coughings. It +is a town for invalids. Half the people here came out for the benefit of +their lungs."</p> + +<p>"Isn't that rather depressing?"</p> + +<p>"It would be more so if most of them did not look so well that no one +would suspect them of being ill. Here we are."</p> + +<p>Clover looked out eagerly. There was nothing picturesque about the house +at whose gate the carriage had stopped. It was a large shabby structure, +with a piazza above as well as below, and on these piazzas various people +were sitting who looked unmistakably ill. The front of the house, however, +commanded the fine mountain view.</p> + +<p>"You see," explained Dr. Hope, drawing Clover aside, "boarding-places that +are both comfortable and reasonable are rather scarce at St. Helen's. I +know all about the table here and the drainage; and the view is desirable, +and Mrs. Marsh, who keeps the house, is one of the best women we have. +She's from down your way too,—Barnstable, Mass., I think."</p> + +<p>Clover privately wondered how Barnstable, Mass., could be classed as +"down" the same way with Burnet, not having learned as yet that to the +soaring Western mind that insignificant fraction of the whole country +known as "the East," means anywhere from Maine to Michigan, and that such +trivial geographical differences as exist between the different sections +seem scarcely worth consideration when compared with the vast spaces +which lie beyond toward the setting sun. But perhaps Dr. Hope was only +trying to tease her, for he twinkled amusedly at her puzzled face as he +went on,—</p> + +<p>"I think you can make yourselves comfortable here. It was the best I could +do. But your old lady would be much better suited at the Shoshone, and I +wish she'd go there."</p> + +<p>Clover could not help laughing. "I wish that people wouldn't persist in +calling Mrs. Watson my old lady," she thought.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Marsh, a pleasant-looking person, came to meet them as they entered. +She showed Clover and Phil their rooms, which had been secured for them, +and then carried Mrs. Watson off to look at another which she could have +if she liked.</p> + +<p>The rooms were on the third floor. A big front one for Phil, with a sunny +south window and two others looking towards the west and the mountains, +and, opening from it, a smaller room for Clover.</p> + +<p>"Your brother ought to live in fresh air both in doors and out," said Dr. +Hope; "and I thought this large room would answer as a sort of sitting +place for both of you."</p> + +<p>"It's ever so nice; and we are both more obliged to you than we can say," +replied Clover, holding out her hand as the doctor rose to go. He gave a +pleased little laugh as he shook it.</p> + +<p>"That's all right," he said. "I owe your father's children any good turn +in my power, for he was a good friend to me when I was a poor boy just +beginning, and needed friends. That's my house with the red roof, Miss +Clover. You see how near it is; and please remember that besides the care +of this boy here, I'm in charge of you too, and have the inside track of +the rest of the friends you are going to make in Colorado. I expect to be +called on whenever you want anything, or feel lonesome, or are at a loss +in any way. My wife is coming to see you as soon as you have had your +dinner and got settled a little. She sent those to you," indicating a vase +on the table, filled with flowers. They were of a sort which Clover had +never seen before,—deep cup-shaped blossoms of beautiful pale purple and +white.</p> + +<p>"Oh, what are they?" she called after the doctor.</p> + +<p>"Anemones," he answered, and was gone.</p> + +<p>"What a dear, nice, kind man!" cried Clover. "Isn't it delightful to have +a friend right off who knows papa, and does things for us because we are +papa's children? You like him, don't you, Phil; and don't you like your +room?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; only it doesn't seem fair that I should have the largest."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes; it is perfectly fair. I never shall want to be in mine except +when I am dressing or asleep. I shall sit here with you all the time; and +isn't it lovely that we have those enchanting mountains just before our +eyes? I never saw anything in my life that I liked so much as I do that +one."</p> + +<p>It was Cheyenne Mountain at which she pointed, the last of the chain, and +set a little apart, as it were, from the others. There is as much +difference between mountains as between people, as mountain-lovers know, +and like people they present characters and individualities of their own. +The noble lines of Mount Cheyenne are full of a strange dignity; but it is +dignity mixed with an indefinable charm. The canyons nestle about its +base, as children at a parent's knee; its cedar forests clothe it like +drapery; it lifts its head to the dawn and the sunset; and the sun seems +to love it best of all, and lies longer on it than on the other peaks.</p> + +<p>Clover did not analyze her impressions, but she fell in love with it at +first sight, and loved it better and better all the time that she stayed +at St. Helen's. "Dr. Hope and Mount Cheyenne were our first friends in the +place," she used to say in after-days.</p> + +<p>"How nice it is to be by ourselves!" said Phil, as he lay comfortably on +the sofa watching Clover unpack. "I get so tired of being all the time +with people. Dear me! the room looks quite homelike already."</p> + +<p>Clover had spread a pretty towel over the bare table, laid some books and +her writing-case upon it, and was now pinning up a photograph over the +mantel-piece.</p> + +<p>"We'll make it nice by-and-by," she said cheerfully; "and now that I've +tidied up a little, I think I'll go and see what has become of Mrs. +Watson. She'll think I have quite forgotten her. You'll lie quiet and rest +till dinner, won't you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Phil, who looked very sleepy; "I'm all right for an hour to +come. Don't hurry back if the ancient female wants you."</p> + +<p>Clover spread a shawl over him before she went and shut one of the +windows.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><img src="./images/155-tb.png" alt="Clover spread a shawl over him" title="Clover spread a shawl over him" /></p> + + +<p class="center">"Clover spread a shawl over him before she left, and shut one of the windows."--<i>Page</i> 152 </p> + +<p>"We won't have you catching cold the very first morning," she said. "That +would be a bad story to send back to papa."</p> + +<p>She found Mrs. Watson in very low spirits about her room.</p> + +<p>"It's not that it's small," she said. "I don't need a very big room; but I +don't like being poked away at the back so. I've always had a front room +all my life. And at Ellen's in the summer, I have a corner chamber, and +see the sea and everything—It's an elegant room, solid black walnut with +marble tops, and—Lighthouses too; I have three of them in view, and they +are really company for me on dark nights. I don't want to be fussy, but +really to look out on nothing but a side yard with some trees—and they +aren't elms or anything that I'm used to, but a new kind. There's a thing +out there, too, that I never saw before, which looks like one of the giant +ants' nests of Africa in 'Morse's Geography' that I used to read about +when I was—It makes me really nervous."</p> + +<p>Clover went to the window to look at the mysterious object. It was a +cone-shaped thing of white unburned clay, whose use she could not guess. +She found later that it was a receptacle for ashes.</p> + +<p>"I suppose <i>your</i> rooms are front ones?" went on Mrs. Watson, querulously.</p> + +<p>"Mine isn't. It's quite a little one at the side. I think it must be just +under this. Phil's is in front, and is a nice large one with a view of +the mountains. I wish there were one just like it for you. The doctor says +that it's very important for him to have a great deal of air in his room."</p> + +<p>"Doctors always say that; and of course Dr. Hope, being a friend of yours +and all—It's quite natural he should give you the preference. Though the +Phillips's are accustomed—but there, it's no use; only, as I tell Ellen, +Boston is the place for me, where my family is known, and people realize +what I'm used to."</p> + +<p>"I'm so sorry," Clover said again. "Perhaps somebody will go away, and +Mrs. Marsh have a front room for you before long."</p> + +<p>"She did say that she might. I suppose she thinks some of her boarders +will be dying off. In fact, there is one—that tall man in gray in the +reclining-chair—who didn't seem to me likely to last long. Well, we will +hope for the best. I'm not one who likes to make difficulties."</p> + +<p>This prospect, together with dinner, which was presently announced, raised +Mrs. Watson's spirits a little, and Clover left her in the parlor, +exchanging experiences and discussing symptoms with some ladies who had +sat opposite them at table. Mrs. Hope came for a call; a pretty little +woman, as friendly and kind as her husband. Then Clover and Phil went out +for a stroll about the town. Their wonder increased at every turn; that a +place so well equipped and complete in its appointments could have been +created out of nothing in fifteen years was a marvel!</p> + +<p>After two or three turns they found themselves among shops, whose +plate-glass windows revealed all manner of wares,—confectionery, new +books, pretty glass and china, bonnets of the latest fashion. One or two +large pharmacies glittered with jars—purple and otherwise—enough to +tempt any number of Rosamonds. Handsome carriages drawn by fine horses +rolled past them, with well-dressed people inside. In short, St. Helen's +was exactly like a thriving Eastern town of double its size, with the +difference that here a great many more people seemed to ride than to +drive. Some one cantered past every moment,—a lady alone, two or three +girls together, or a party of rough-looking men in long boots, or a single +ranchman sitting loose in his stirrups, and swinging a stock whip.</p> + +<p>Clover and Phil were standing on a corner, looking at some "Rocky Mountain +Curiosities" displayed for sale,—minerals, Pueblo pottery, stuffed +animals, and Indian blankets; and Phil had just commented on the beauty of +a black horse which was tied to a post close by, when its rider emerged +from a shop, and prepared to mount.</p> + +<p>He was a rather good-looking young fellow, sunburnt and not very tall, but +with a lithe active figure, red-brown eyes and a long mustache of tawny +chestnut. He wore spurs and a broad-brimmed sombrero, and carried in his +hand a whip which seemed two-thirds lash. As he put his foot into the +stirrup, he turned for another look at Clover, whom he had rather stared +at while passing, and then changing his intention, took it out again, and +came toward them.</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon," he said; "but aren't you—isn't it—Clover Carr?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Clover, wondering, but still without the least notion as to +whom the stranger might be.</p> + +<p>"You've forgotten me?" went on the young man, with a smile which made his +face very bright. "That's rather hard too; for I knew you at once. I +suppose I'm a good deal changed, though, and perhaps I shouldn't have made +you out except for your eyes; they're just the same. Why, Clover, I'm your +cousin, Clarence Page!"</p> + +<p>"Clarence Page!" cried Clover, joyfully; "not really! Why, Clarence, I +never should have known you in the world, and I can't think how you came +to know me. I was only fourteen when I saw you last, and you were quite a +little boy. What good luck that we should meet, and on our first day too! +Some one wrote that you were in Colorado, but I had no idea that you lived +at St. Helen's."</p> + +<p>"I don't; not much. I'm living on a ranch out that way," jerking his +elbow toward the northwest, "but I ride in often to get the mail. Have you +just come? You said the first day."</p> + +<p>"Yes; we only got here this morning. And this is my brother Phil. Don't +you recollect how I used to tell you about him at Ashburn?"</p> + +<p>"I should think you did," shaking hands cordially; "she used to talk about +you all the time, so that I felt intimately acquainted with all the +family. Well, I call this first rate luck. It's two years since I saw any +one from home."</p> + +<p>"Home?"</p> + +<p>"Well; the East, you know. It all seems like home when you're out here. +And I mean any one that I know, of course. People from the East come out +all the while. They are as thick as bumblebees at St. Helen's, but they +don't amount to much unless you know them. Have you seen anything of +mother and Lilly since they got back from Europe, Clover?"</p> + +<p>"No, indeed. I haven't seen them since we left Hillsover. Katy has, +though. She met them in Nice when she was there, and they sent her a +wedding present. You knew that she was married, didn't you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I got her cards. Pa sent them. He writes oftener than the others do; +and he came out once and stayed a month on the ranch with me. That was +while mother was in Europe. Where are you stopping? The Shoshone, I +suppose."</p> + +<p>"No, at a quieter place,—Mrs. Marsh's, on the same street."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I know Mother Marsh. I went there when I first came out, and had +caught the mountain fever, and she was ever so kind to me. I'm glad you +are there. She's a nice woman."</p> + +<p>"How far away is your ranch?"</p> + +<p>"About sixteen miles. Oh, I say, Clover, you and Phil must come out and +stay with us sometime this summer. We'll have a round-up for you if you +will."</p> + +<p>"What is a 'round-up' and who is 'us'?" said Clover, smiling.</p> + +<p>"Well, a round-up is a kind of general muster of the stock. All the +animals are driven in and counted, and the young ones branded. It's pretty +exciting sometimes, I can tell you, for the cattle get wild, and it's all +we can do to manage them. You should see some of our boys ride; it's +splendid, and there's one half-breed that's the best hand with the lasso I +ever saw. Phil will like it, I know. And 'us' is me and my partner."</p> + +<p>"Have you a partner?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, two, in fact; but one of them lives in New Mexico just now, so he +does not count. That's Bert Talcott. He's a New York fellow. The other's +English, a Devonshire man. Geoff Templestowe is his name."</p> + +<p>"Is he nice?"</p> + +<p>"You can just bet your pile that he is," said Clarence, who seemed to have +assimilated Western slang with the rest of the West. "Wait till I bring +him to see you. We'll come in on purpose some day soon. Well, I must be +going. Good-by, Clover; good-by, Phil. It's awfully jolly to have you +here."</p> + +<p>"I never should have guessed who it was," remarked Clover, as they watched +the active figure canter down the street and turn for a last flourish of +the hat. "He was the roughest, scrubbiest boy when we last met. What a +fine-looking fellow he has grown to be, and how well he rides!"</p> + +<p>"No wonder; a fellow who can have a horse whenever he has a mind to," said +Phil, enviously. "Life on a ranch must be great fun, I think."</p> + +<p>"Yes; in one way, but pretty rough and lonely too, sometimes. It will be +nice to go out and see Clarence's, if we can get some lady to go with us, +won't it?"</p> + +<p>"Well, just don't let it be Mrs. Watson, whoever else it is. She would +spoil it all if she went."</p> + +<p>"Now, Philly, don't. We're supposed to be leaning on her for support."</p> + +<p>"Oh, come now, lean on that old thing! Why she couldn't support a postage +stamp standing edgewise, as the man says in the play. Do you suppose I +don't know how you have to look out for her and do everything? She's not a +bit of use."</p> + +<p>"Yes; but you and I have got to be polite to her, Philly. We mustn't +forget that."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'll be polite enough, if she will just leave us alone," retorted +Phil.</p> + +<p>Promising!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h3>MAKING ACQUAINTANCE.</h3> + + +<div class="figleft"> +<img alt="P" src="./images/c7.png" title="P" /></div> <p>hil was better than his word. He was never uncivil to Mrs. Watson, and +his distant manners, which really signified distaste, were set down by +that lady to boyish shyness.</p> + +<p>"They often are like that when they are young," she told Clover; "but they +get bravely over it after a while. He'll outgrow it, dear, and you mustn't +let it worry you a bit."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, Mrs. Watson's own flow of conversation was so ample that there +was never any danger of awkward silences when she was present, which was a +comfort. She had taken Clover into high favor now, and Clover deserved +it,—for though she protected herself against encroachments, and +resolutely kept the greater part of her time free for Phil, she was +always considerate, and sweet in manner to the older lady, and she found +spare half-hours every day in which to sit and go out with her, so that +she should not feel neglected. Mrs. Watson grew quite fond of her "young +friend," though she stood a little in awe of her too, and was disposed to +be jealous if any one showed more attention to Clover than to herself.</p> + +<p>An early outburst of this feeling came on the third day after their +arrival, when Mrs. Hope asked Phil and Clover to dinner, and did <i>not</i> ask +Mrs. Watson. She had discussed the point with her husband, but the doctor +"jumped on" the idea forcibly, and protested that if that old thing was to +come too, he would "have a consultation in Pueblo, and be off in the five +thirty train, sure as fate."</p> + +<p>"It's not that I care," Mrs. Watson assured Clover plaintively. "I've had +so much done for me all my life that of course—But I <i>do</i> like to be +properly treated. It isn't as if I were just anybody. I don't suppose Mrs. +Hope knows much about Boston society anyway, but still—And I should +think a girl from South Framingham (didn't you say she was from South +Framingham?) would at least know who the Abraham Peabodys are, and they're +Henry's—But I don't imagine she was much of anybody before she was +married; and out here it's all hail fellow and well met, they say, though +in that case I don't see—Well, well, it's no matter, only it seems queer +to me; and I think you'd better drop a hint about it when you're there, +and just explain that my daughter lives next door to the +Lieutenant-Governor when she is in the country, and opposite the +Assistant-Bishop in town, and has one of the Harvard Overseers for a near +neighbor, and is distantly related to the Reveres! You'd think even a +South Framingham girl must know about the lantern and the Old South, and +how much they've always been respected at home."</p> + +<p>Clover pacified her as well as she could, by assurances that it was not a +dinner-party, and they were only asked to meet one girl whom Mrs. Hope +wanted her to know.</p> + +<p>"If it were a large affair, I am sure you would have been asked too," she +said, and so left her "old woman of the sea" partly consoled.</p> + +<p>It was the most lovely evening possible, as Clover and Phil walked down +the street toward Dr. Hope's. Soft shadows lay over the lower spurs of the +ranges. The canyons looked black and deep, but the peaks still glittered +in rosy light. The mesa was in shadow, but the nearer plain lay in full +sunshine, hot and yellow, and the west wind was full of mountain +fragrance.</p> + +<p>Phil gave little skips as he went along. Already he seemed like a +different boy. All the droop and languor had gone, and given place to an +exhilaration which half frightened Clover, who had constant trouble in +keeping him from doing things which she knew to be imprudent. Dr. Hope had +warned her that invalids often harmed themselves by over-exertion under +the first stimulus of the high air.</p> + +<p>"Why, how queer!" she exclaimed, stopping suddenly before one of the +pretty places just above Mrs. Marsh's boarding-house.</p> + +<p>"What?"</p> + +<p>"Don't you see? That yard! When we came by here yesterday it was all green +grass and rose-bushes, and girls were playing croquet; and now, look, it's +a pond!"</p> + +<p>Sure enough! There were the rose-bushes still, and the croquet arches; but +they were standing, so to speak, up to their knees in pools of water, +which seemed several inches deep, and covered the whole place, with the +exception of the flagged walks which ran from the gates to the front and +side doors of the house. Clover noticed now, for the first time, that +these walks were several inches higher than the grass-beds on either side. +She wondered if they were made so on purpose, and resolved to notice if +the next place had the same arrangement.</p> + +<p>But as they reached the next place and the next, lo! the phenomenon was +repeated and Dr. Hope's lawn too was in the same condition,—everything +was overlaid with water. They began to suspect what it must mean, and +Mrs. Hope confirmed the suspicion. It was irrigation day in Mountain +Avenue, it seemed. Every street in the town had its appointed period when +the invaluable water, brought from a long distance for the purpose, was +"laid on" and kept at a certain depth for a prescribed number of hours.</p> + +<p>"We owe our grass and shrubs and flower-beds entirely to this +arrangement," Mrs. Hope told them. "Nothing could live through our dry +summers if we did not have the irrigating system."</p> + +<p>"Are the summers so dry?" asked Clover. "It seems to me that we have had a +thunder-storm almost every day since we came."</p> + +<p>"We do have a good many thunderstorms," Mrs. Hope admitted; "but we can't +depend on them for the gardens."</p> + +<p>"And did you ever hear such magnificent thunder?" asked Dr. Hope. +"Colorado thunder beats the world."</p> + +<p>"Wait till you see our magnificent Colorado hail," put in Mrs. Hope, +wickedly. "That beats the world, too. It cuts our flowers to pieces, and +sometimes kills the sheep on the plains. We are very proud of it. The +doctor thinks everything in Colorado perfection."</p> + +<p>"I have always pitied places which had to be irrigated," remarked Clover, +with her eyes fixed on the little twin-lakes which yesterday were lawns. +"But I begin to think I was mistaken. It's very superior, of course, to +have rains; but then at the East we sometimes don't have rain when we want +it, and the grass gets dreadfully yellow. Don't you remember, Phil, how +hard Katy and I worked last summer to keep the geraniums and fuschias +alive in that long drought? Now, if we had had water like this to come +once a week, and make a nice deep pond for us, how different it would have +been!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, you must come out West for real comfort," said Dr. Hope. "The East is +a dreadfully one-horse little place, anyhow."</p> + +<p>"But you don't mean New York and Boston when you say 'one-horse little +place,' surely?"</p> + +<p>"Don't I?" said the undaunted doctor. "Wait till you see more of us out +here."</p> + +<p>"Here's Poppy, at last," cried Mrs. Hope, as a girl came hurriedly up the +walk. "You're late, dear."</p> + +<p>"Poppy," whose real name was Marian Chase, was the girl who had been asked +to meet them. She was a tall, rosy creature, to whom Clover took an +instant fancy, and seemed in perfect health; yet she told them that when +she came out to Colorado three years before, she had travelled on a +mattress, with a doctor and a trained nurse in attendance.</p> + +<p>"Your brother will be as strong, or stronger than I at the end of a year," +she said; "or if he doesn't get well as fast as he ought, you must take +him up to the Ute Valley. That's where I made my first gain."</p> + +<p>"Where is the valley?"</p> + +<p>"Thirty miles away to the northwest,—up there among the mountains. It is +a great deal higher than this, and such a lovely peaceful place. I hope +you'll go there."</p> + +<p>"We shall, of course, if Phil needs it; but I like St. Helen's so much +that I would rather stay here if we can."</p> + +<p>Dinner was now announced, and Mrs. Hope led the way into a pretty room +hung with engravings and old plates after the modern fashion, where a +white-spread table stood decorated with wild-flowers, candle-sticks with +little red-shaded tapers, and a pyramid of plums and apricots. There was +the usual succession of soup and fish and roast and salad which one looks +for at a dinner on the sea-level, winding up with ice-cream of a highly +civilized description, but Clover could scarcely eat for wondering how all +these things had come there so soon, so very soon. It seemed like +magic,—one minute the solemn peaks and passes, the prairie-dogs and the +thorny plain, the next all these portières and rugs and etchings and down +pillows and pretty devices in glass and china, as if some enchanter's wand +had tapped the wilderness, and hey, presto! modern civilization had sprung +up like Jonah's gourd all in a minute, or like the palace which Aladdin +summoned into being in a single night for the occupation of the Princess +of China, by the rubbing of his wonderful lamp. And then, just as the +fruit-plates were put on the table, came a call, and the doctor was out in +the hall, "holloing" and conducting with some distant patient one of those +mysterious telephonic conversations which to those who overhear seem all +replies and no questions. It was most remarkable, and quite unlike her +preconceived ideas of what was likely to take place at the base of the +Rocky Mountains.</p> + +<p>A pleasant evening followed. "Poppy" played delightfully on the piano; +later came a rubber of whist. It was like home.</p> + +<p>"Before these children go, let us settle about the drive," said Dr. Hope +to his wife.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes! Miss Carr—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, please, won't you call me Clover?"</p> + +<p>"Indeed I will,—Clover, then,—we want to take you for a good long drive +to-morrow, and show you something; but the trouble is, the doctor and I +are at variance as to what the something shall be. I want you to see +Odin's Garden; and the doctor insists that you ought to go to the Cheyenne +canyons first, because those are his favorites. Now, which shall it be? We +will leave it to you."</p> + +<p>"But how can I choose? I don't know either of them. What a queer +name,—Odin's Garden!"</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you how to settle it," cried Marian Chase, whose nickname it +seemed had been given her because when she first came to St. Helen's she +wore a bunch of poppies in her hat. "Take them to Cheyenne to-morrow; and +the next day—or Thursday—let me get up a picnic for Odin's Garden; just +a few of our special cronies,—the Allans and the Blanchards and Mary +Pelham and Will Amory. Will you, dear Mrs. Hope, and be our matron? That +would be lovely."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Hope consented, and Clover walked home as if treading on air. Was +this the St. Helen's to which she had looked forward with so much +dread,—this gay, delightful place, where such pleasant things happened, +and people were so kind? How she wished that she could get at Katy and +papa for five minutes—on a wishing carpet or something—to tell them how +different everything was from what she had expected.</p> + +<p>One thing only marred her anticipations for the morrow, which was the fear +that Mrs. Watson might be hurt, and make a scene. Happily, Mrs. Hope's +thoughts took the same direction; and by some occult process of influence, +the use of which good wives understand, she prevailed on her refractory +doctor to allow the old lady to be asked to join the party.</p> + +<p>So early next morning came a very polite note; and it was proposed that +Phil should ride the doctor's horse, and act as escort to Miss Chase, who +was to go on horseback likewise. No proposal could have been more +agreeable to Phil, who adored horses, and seldom had the chance to mount +one; so every one was pleased, and Mrs. Watson preened her ancestral +feathers with great satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"You see, dear, how well it was to give that little hint about the +Reveres and the Abraham Peabodys," she said. Clover felt dreadfully +dishonest; but she dared not confess that she had forgotten all about the +hint, still less that she had never meant to give one. "The better part of +valor is discretion," she remembered; so she held her peace, though her +cheeks glowed guiltily.</p> + +<p>At three o'clock they set forth in a light roomy carriage,—not exactly a +carryall, but of the carryall family,—with a pair of fast horses, Miss +Chase and Phil cantering happily alongside, or before or behind, just as +it happened. The sun was very hot; but there was a delicious breeze, and +the dryness and elasticity of the air made the heat easy to bear.</p> + +<p>The way lay across and down the southern slope of the plateau on which the +town was built. Then they came to splendid fields of grain and +"afalfa,"—a cereal quite new to them, with broad, very green leaves. The +roadside was gay with flowers,—gillias and mountain balm; high pink and +purple spikes, like foxgloves, which they were told were pentstemons; +painters' brush, whose green tips seemed dipped in liquid vermilion, and +masses of the splendid wild poppies. They crossed a foaming little river; +and a sharp turn brought them into a narrower and wilder road, which ran +straight toward the mountain side. This was overhung by trees, whose shade +was grateful after the hot sun.</p> + +<p>Narrower and narrower grew the road, more and more sharp the turns. They +were at the entrance of a deep defile, up which the road wound and wound, +following the links of the river, which they crossed and recrossed +repeatedly. Such a wonderful and perfect little river, with water clear as +air and cold as ice, flowing over a bed of smooth granite, here slipping +noiselessly down long slopes of rock like thin films of glass, there +deepening into pools of translucent blue-green like aqua-marine or beryl, +again plunging down in mimic waterfalls, a sheet of iridescent foam. The +sound of its rush and its ripple was like a laugh. Never was such happy +water, Clover thought, as it curved and bent and swayed this way and that +on its downward course as if moved by some merry, capricious instinct, +like a child dancing as it goes. Regiments or great ferns grew along its +banks, and immense thickets of wild roses of all shades, from deep +Jacqueminot red to pale blush-white. Here and there rose a lonely spike of +yucca, and in the little ravines to right and left grew in the crevices of +the rocks clumps of superb straw-colored columbines four feet high.</p> + +<p>Looking up, Clover saw above the tree-tops strange pinnacles and spires +and obelisks which seemed air-hung, of purple-red and orange-tawny and +pale pinkish gray and terra cotta, in which the sunshine and the +cloud-shadows broke in a multiplicity of wonderful half-tints. Above them +was the dazzling blue of the Colorado sky. She drew a long, long breath.</p> + +<p>"So this is a canyon," she said. "How glad I am that I have lived to see +one."</p> + +<p>"Yes, this is a canyon," Dr. Hope replied. "Some of us think it <i>the</i> +canyon; but there are dozens of others, and no two of them are alike. I'm +glad you are pleased with this, for it's my favorite. I wish your father +could see it."</p> + +<p>Clover hardly understood what he said she was so fascinated and absorbed. +She looked up at the bright pinnacles, down at the flowers and the sheen +of the river-pools and the mad rush of its cascades, and felt as though +she were in a dream. Through the dream she caught half-comprehended +fragments of conversation from the seat behind. Mrs. Watson was giving her +impressions of the scenery.</p> + +<p>"It's pretty, I suppose," she remarked; "but it's so very queer, and I'm +not used to queer things. And this road is frightfully narrow. If a load +of hay or a big Concord coach should come along, I can't think what we +should do. I see that Dr. Hope drives carefully, but yet—You don't think +we shall meet anything of the kind to-day, do you, Doctor?"</p> + +<p>"Not a Concord coach, and certainly not a hay-wagon, for they don't make +hay up here in the mountains."</p> + +<p>"Well, that is a relief. I didn't know. Ellen she always says, 'Mother, +you're a real fidget;' but when one grows old, and has valves in the heart +as I have, you never—We might meet one of those big pedler's wagons, +though, and they frighten horses worse than anything. Oh, what's that +coming now? Let us get out, Dr. Hope; pray, let us all get out."</p> + +<p>"Sit still, ma'am," said the doctor, sternly, for Mrs. Watson was wildly +fumbling at the fastening of the door. "Mary, put your arm round Mrs. +Watson, and hold her tight. There'll be a real accident, sure as fate, if +you don't." Then in a gentler tone, "It's only a buggy, ma'am; there's +plenty of room. There's no possible risk of a pedler's wagon. What on +earth should a pedler be doing up here on the side of Cheyenne! +Prairie-dogs don't use pomatum or tin-ware."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I didn't know," repeated poor Mrs. Watson, nervously. She watched the +buggy timorously till it was safely past; then her spirits revived.</p> + +<p>"Well," she cried, "we're safe this time; but I call it tempting +Providence to drive so fast on such a rough road. If all canyons are as +wild as this, I sha'n't ever venture to go into another."</p> + +<p>"Bless me! this is one of our mildest specimens," said Dr. Hope, who +seemed to have a perverse desire to give Mrs. Watson a distaste for +canyons. "This is a smooth one; but some canyons are really rough. Do you +remember, Mary, the day we got stuck up at the top of the Westmoreland, +and had to unhitch the horses, and how I stood in the middle of the creek +and yanked the carriage round while you held them? That was the day we +heard the mountain lion, and there were fresh bear-tracks all over the +mud, you remember."</p> + +<p>"Good gracious!" cried Mrs. Watson, quite pale; "what an awful place! +Bears and lions! What on earth did you go there for?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, purely for pleasure," replied the doctor, lightly. "We don't mind +such little matters out West. We try to accustom ourselves to wild beasts, +and make friends of them."</p> + +<p>"John, don't talk such nonsense," cried his wife, quite angrily. "Mrs. +Watson, you mustn't believe a word the doctor says. I've lived in Colorado +nine years; and I've never once seen a mountain lion, or a bear either, +except the stuffed ones in the shops. Don't let the doctor frighten you."</p> + +<p>But Dr. Hope's wicked work was done. Mrs. Watson, quite unconvinced by +these well-meant assurances, sat pale and awe-struck, repeating under her +breath,—</p> + +<p>"Dreadful! What <i>will</i> Ellen say? Bears and lions! Oh, dear me!"</p> + +<p>"Look, look!" cried Clover, who had not listened to a word of this +conversation; "did you ever see anything so lovely?" She referred to what +she was looking at,—a small point of pale straw-colored rock some +hundreds of feet in height, which a turn in the road had just revealed, +soaring above the tops of the trees.</p> + +<p>"I don't see that it's lovely at all," said Mrs. Watson, testily. "It's +unnatural, if that's what you mean. Rocks ought not to be that color. +They never are at the East. It looks to me exactly like an enormous unripe +banana standing on end."</p> + +<p>This simile nearly "finished" the party. "It's big enough to disagree with +all the Sunday-schools in creation at once," remarked the doctor, between +his shouts, while even Clover shook with laughter. Mrs. Watson felt that +she had made a hit, and grew complacent again.</p> + +<p>"See what your brother picked for me," cried Poppy, riding alongside, and +exhibiting a great sheaf of columbine tied to the pommel of her saddle. +"And how do you like North Cheyenne? Isn't it an exquisite place?"</p> + +<p>"Perfectly lovely; I feel as if I must come here every day."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know; but there are so many other places out here about which you +have that feeling."</p> + +<p>"Now we will show you the other Cheyenne Canyon,—the twin of this," said +Dr. Hope; "but you must prepare your mind to find it entirely different."</p> + +<p>After rather a rough mile or two through woods, they came to a wooden +shed, or shanty, at the mouth of a gorge, and here Dr. Hope drew up his +horses, and helped them all out.</p> + +<p>"Is it much of a walk?" asked Mrs. Watson.</p> + +<p>"It is rather long and rather steep," said Mrs. Hope; "but it is lovely if +you only go a little way in, and you and I will sit down the moment you +feel tired, and let the others go forward."</p> + +<p>South Cheyenne Canyon was indeed "entirely different." Instead of a +green-floored, vine-hung ravine, it is a wild mountain gorge, walled with +precipitous cliffs of great height; and its river—every canyon has a +river—comes from a source at the top of the gorge in a series of mad +leaps, forming seven waterfalls, which plunge into circular basins of +rock, worn smooth by the action of the stream. These pools are curiously +various in shape, and the color of the water, as it pauses a moment to +rest in each before taking its next plunge, is beautiful. Little plank +walks are laid along the river-side, and rude staircases for the steepest +pitches. Up these the party went, leaving Mrs. Watson and Mrs. Hope far +behind,—Poppy with her habit over her arm, Clover stopping every other +moment to pick some new flower, Phil shying stones into the rapids as he +passed,—till the top of the topmost cascade was reached, and looking back +they could see the whole wonderful way by which they had climbed, and down +which the river made its turbulent rush. Clover gathered a great mat of +green scarlet-berried vine like glorified cranberry, which Dr. Hope told +her was the famous kinnikinnick, and was just remarking on the cool +water-sounds which filled the place, when all of a sudden these sounds +seemed to grow angry, the defile of precipices turned a frowning blue, and +looking up they saw a great thunder-cloud gathering overhead.</p> + +<p>"We must run," cried Dr. Hope, and down they flew, racing at full speed +along the long flights of steps and the plank walks, which echoed to the +sound of their flying feet. Far below they could see two fast-moving +specks which they guessed to be Mrs. Hope and Mrs. Watson, hurrying to a +place of shelter. Nearer and nearer came the storm, louder the growl of +the thunder, and great hail-stones pattered on their heads before they +gained the cabin; none too soon, for in another moment the cloud broke, +and the air was full of a dizzy whirl of sleet and rain.</p> + +<p>Others besides themselves had been surprised in the ravine, and every few +minutes another and another wet figure would come flying down the path, so +that the little refuge was soon full. The storm lasted half an hour, then +it scattered as rapidly as it had come, the sun broke out brilliantly, and +the drive home would have been delightful if it had not been for the sad +fact that Mrs. Watson had left her parasol in the carriage, and it had +been wet, and somewhat stained by the india-rubber blanket which had been +thrown over it for protection. Her lamentations were pathetic.</p> + +<p>"Jane Phillips gave it to me,—she was a Sampson, you know,—and I +thought ever so much of it. It was at Hovey's—We were there together, and +I admired it; and she said, 'Mrs. Watson, you must let me—' Six dollars +was the price of it. That's a good deal for a parasol, you know, unless +it's really a nice one; but Hovey's things are always—I had the handle +shortened a little just before I came away, too, so that it would go into +my trunk; it had to be mended anyhow, so that it seemed a good—Dear, +dear! and now it's spoiled! What a pity I left it in the carriage! I shall +know better another time, but this climate is so different. It never rains +in this way at home. It takes a little while about it, and gives notice; +and we say that there's going to be a northeaster, or that it looks like a +thunder-storm, and we put on our second-best clothes or we stay at home. +It's a great deal nicer, I think."</p> + +<p>"I am so sorry," said kind little Mrs. Hope. "Our storms out here do come +up very suddenly. I wish I had noticed that you had left your parasol. +Well, Clover, you've had a chance now to see the doctor's beautiful +Colorado hail and thunder to perfection. How do you like them?"</p> + +<p>"I like everything in Colorado, I believe," replied Clover, laughing. "I +won't even except the hail."</p> + +<p>"She's the girl for this part of the world," cried Dr. Hope, approvingly. +"She'd make a first-rate pioneer. We'll keep her out here, Mary, and never +let her go home. She was born to live at the West."</p> + +<p>"Was I? It seems queer then that I should have been born to live in +Burnet."</p> + +<p>"Oh, we'll change all that."</p> + +<p>"I'm sure I don't see how."</p> + +<p>"There are ways and means," oracularly.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Watson was so cast down by the misadventure to her parasol that she +expressed no regret at not being asked to join in the picnic next day, +especially as she understood that it consisted of young people. Mrs. Hope +very rightly decided that a whole day out of doors, in a rough place, +would give pain rather than pleasure to a person who was both so feeble +and so fussy, and did not suggest her going. Clover and Phil waked up +quite fresh and untired after a sound night's sleep. There seemed no limit +to what might be done and enjoyed in that inexhaustibly renovating air.</p> + +<p>Odin's Garden proved to be a wonderful assemblage of rocky shapes rising +from the grass and flowers of a lonely little plain on the far side of the +mesa, four or five miles from St. Helen's. The name of the place came +probably from something suggestive in the forms of the rocks, which +reminded Clover of pictures she had seen of Assyrian and Egyptian rock +carvings. There were lion shapes and bull shapes like the rudely chiselled +gods of some heathen worship; there were slender, points and obelisks +three hundred feet high; and something suggesting a cat-faced deity, and +queer similitudes of crocodiles and apes,—all in the strange orange and +red and pale yellow formations of the region. It was a wonderful rather +than a beautiful place; but the day was spent very happily under those +mysterious stones, which, as the long afternoon shadows gathered over the +plain, and the sky glowed with sunset crimson which seemed like a +reflection from the rocks themselves, became more mysterious still. Of the +merry young party which made up the picnic, seven out of nine had come to +Colorado for health; but no one would have guessed it, they seemed so well +and so full of the enjoyment of life. Altogether, it was a day to be +marked; not with a white stone,—that would not have seemed appropriate to +Colorado,—but with a red one. Clover, writing about it afterward to +Elsie, felt that her descriptions to sober stay-at-homes might easily +sound overdrawn and exaggerated, and wound up her letter thus:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Perhaps you think that I am romancing; but I am not a bit. + Every word I say is perfectly true, only I have not made the + colors half bright or the things half beautiful enough. Colorado + is the most beautiful place in the world. [N.B.—Clover had seen + but a limited portion of the world so far.] I only wish you + could all come out to observe for yourselves that I am not + fibbing, though it sounds like it!"</p></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h3>HIGH VALLEY.</h3> + + +<div class="figleft"> +<img alt="C" src="./images/c8.png" title="C" /></div><p>lover was putting Phil's chamber to rights, and turning it into a +sitting-room for the day, which was always her first task in the morning. +They had been at St. Helen's nearly three weeks now, and the place had +taken on a very homelike appearance. All the books and the photographs +were unpacked, the washstand had vanished behind a screen made of a +three-leaved clothes-frame draped with chintz, while a ruffled cover of +the same gay chintz, on which bunches of crimson and pink geraniums +straggled over a cream-colored ground, gave to the narrow bed the air of a +respectable wide sofa.</p> + +<p>"There! those look very nice, I think," she said, giving the last touch to +a bowl full of beautiful garden roses. "How sweet they are!"</p> + +<p>"Your young man seems rather clever about roses," remarked Phil, who, +boy-like, dearly loved to tease his sister.</p> + +<p>"My young man, as you call him, has a father with a gardener," replied +Clover, calmly; "no very brilliant cleverness is required for that."</p> + +<p>In a cordial, kindly place, like St. Helen's, people soon make +acquaintances, and Clover and Phil felt as if they already knew half the +people in the town. Every one had come to see them and deluged them with +flowers, and invitations to dine, to drive, to take tea. Among the rest +came Mr. Thurber Wade, whom Phil was pleased to call Clover's young +man,—the son of a rich New York banker, whose ill-health had brought him +to live in St. Helen's, and who had built a handsome house on the +principal street. This gilded youth had several times sent roses to +Clover,—a fact which Phil had noticed, and upon which he was fond of +commenting.</p> + +<p>"Speaking of young men," went on Clover, "what do you suppose has become +of Clarence Page? He said he should come in to see us soon; but that was +ever so long ago."</p> + +<p>"He's a fraud, I suspect," replied Phil, lazily, from his seat in the +window. He had a geometry on his knees, and was supposed to be going on +with his education, but in reality he was looking at the mountains. "I +suppose people are pretty busy on ranches, though," he added. "Perhaps +they're sheep-shearing."</p> + +<p>"Oh, it isn't a sheep ranch. Don't you remember his saying that the cattle +got very wild, and they had to ride after them? They wouldn't ride after +sheep. I hope he hasn't forgotten about us. I was so glad to see him."</p> + +<p>While this talk went on, Clarence was cantering down the lower end of the +Ute Pass on his way to St. Helen's. Three hours later his name was brought +up to them.</p> + +<p>"How nice!" cried Clover. "I think as he's a relative we might let him +come here, Phil. It's so much pleasanter than the parlor."</p> + +<p>Clarence, who had passed the interval of waiting in noting the different +varieties of cough among the sick people in the parlor, was quite of her +opinion.</p> + +<p>"How jolly you look!" was almost his first remark. "I'm glad you've got a +little place of your own, and don't have to sit with those poor creatures +downstairs all the time."</p> + +<p>"It is much nicer. Some of them are getting better, though."</p> + +<p>"Some of them aren't. There's one poor fellow in a reclining-chair who +looks badly."</p> + +<p>"That's the one whose room Mrs. Watson has marked for her own. She asks +him three times a day how he feels, with all the solicitude of a mother," +said Phil.</p> + +<p>"Who's Mrs. Watson?"</p> + +<p>"Well, she's an old lady who is somehow fastened to us, and who considers +herself our chaperone," replied Clover, with a little laugh. "I must +introduce you by-and-by, but first we want a good talk all by ourselves. +Now tell us why you haven't come to see us before. We have been hoping +for you every day."</p> + +<p>"Well, I've wanted to come badly enough, but there has been a combination +of hindrances. Two of our men got sick, so there was more to do than +usual; then Geoff had to be away four days, and almost as soon as he got +back he had bad news from home, and I hated to leave him alone."</p> + +<p>"What sort of bad news?"</p> + +<p>"His sister's dead."</p> + +<p>"Poor fellow! In England too! You said he was English, didn't you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. She was married. Her husband was a clergyman down in Cornwall +somewhere. She was older than Geoff a good deal; but he was very fond of +her, and the news cut him up dreadfully."</p> + +<p>"No wonder. It is horrible to hear such a thing when one is far from +home," observed Clover. She tried to realize how she should feel if word +came to St. Helen's of Katy's death, or Elsie's, or Johnnie's; but her +mind refused to accept the question. The very idea made her shiver.</p> + +<p>"Poor fellow!" she said again; "what could you do for him, Clarence?"</p> + +<p>"Not much. I'm a poor hand at comforting any one,—men generally are, I +guess. Geoff knows I'm sorry for him; but it takes a woman to say the +right thing at such times. We sit and smoke when the work's done, and I +know what he's thinking about; but we don't say anything to each other. +Now let's speak of something else. I want to settle about your coming to +High Valley."</p> + +<p>"High Valley? Is that the name of your place?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I want you to see it. It's an awfully pretty place to my +thinking,—not so very much higher than this, but you have to climb a good +deal to get there. Can't you come? This is just the time,—raspberries +ripe, and lots of flowers wherever the beasts don't get at them. Phil can +have all the riding he wants, and it'll do poor Geoff lots of good to see +some one."</p> + +<p>"It would be very nice indeed," doubtfully; "but who could we get to go +with us?"</p> + +<p>"I thought of that. We don't take much stock in Mrs. Grundy out here; but +I supposed you'd want another lady. How would it be if I asked Mrs. Hope? +The doctor's got to come out anyway to see one of our herders who's put +his shoulder out in a fall. If he would drive you out, and Mrs. Hope would +stay on, would you come for a week? I guess you'll like it."</p> + +<p>"I 'guess' we should," exclaimed Clover, her face lighting up. "Clarence, +how delightful it sounds! It will be lovely to come if Mrs. Hope says +yes."</p> + +<p>"Then that's all right," replied Clarence, looking extremely pleased. +"I'll ride up to the doctor's as soon as dinner's over."</p> + +<p>"You'll dine with us, of course?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I always come to Mother Marsh for a bite whenever I stay over the +day. She likes to have me. We've been great chums ever since I had fever +here, and she took care of me."</p> + +<p>Clover was amused at dinner to watch the cool deliberation with which +Clarence studied Mrs. Watson and her tortuous conversation, and, as he +would have expressed it, "took stock of her." The result was not +favorable, apparently.</p> + +<p>"What on earth did they send that old thing with you for?" he asked as +soon as they went upstairs. "She's as much out of her element here as a +canary-bird would be in a cyclone. She can't be any use to you, Clover."</p> + +<p>"Well, no; I don't think she is. It was a sort of mistake; I'll tell you +about it sometime. But she likes to imagine that she's taking care of me; +and as it does no harm, I let her."</p> + +<p>"Taking care of you! Great thunder! I wouldn't trust her to take care of a +blue-eyed kitten," observed the irreverent Clarence. "Well, I'll ride up +and settle with the Hopes, and stop and let you know as I come back."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Hope and the doctor were not hard to persuade. In Colorado, people +keep their lamps of enjoyment filled and trimmed, so to speak, and their +travelling energies ready girt about them, and easily adopt any plan which +promises pleasure. The following day was fixed for the start, and Clover +packed her valise and Phil's bag, with a sense of exhilaration and escape. +She was, in truth, getting very tired of the exactions of Mrs. Watson. +Mrs. Watson, on her part, did not at all approve of the excursion.</p> + +<p>"I think," she said, swelling with offended dignity, "that your cousin +didn't know much about politeness when he left me out of his invitation +and asked Mrs. Hope instead. Yes, I know; the doctor had to go up anyway. +That may be true, and it may not; but it doesn't alter the case. What am I +to do, I should like to know, if the valves of my heart don't open, or +don't shut—whichever it is—while I'm left all alone here among +strangers?"</p> + +<p>"Send for Dr. Hope," suggested Phil. "He'll only be gone one night. Clover +doesn't know anything about valves."</p> + +<p>"My cousin lives in a rather rough way, I imagine," interposed Clover, +with a reproving look at Phil. "He would hardly like to ask a stranger and +an invalid to his house, when he might not be able to make her +comfortable. Mrs. Hope has been there before, and she's an old friend."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I dare say! There are always reasons. I don't say that I should have +felt like going, but he ought to have asked me. Ellen will be surprised, +and so will—He's from Ashburn too, and he must know the Parmenters, and +Mrs. Parmenter's brother's son is partner to Henry's brother-in-law. It's +of no consequence, of course,—still, respect—older people—Boston—not +used to—Phillips—" Mrs. Watson's voice died away into fragmentary and +inaudible lamentings.</p> + +<p>Clover attempted no further excuse. Her good sense told her that she had a +perfect right to accept this little pleasure; that Mrs. Watson's plans for +Western travel had been formed quite independently of their own, and that +papa would not wish her to sacrifice herself and Phil to such unreasonable +humors. Still, it was not pleasant; and I am sorry to say that from this +time dated a change of feeling on Mrs. Watson's part toward her "young +friends." She took up a chronic position of grievance toward them, +confided her wrongs to all new-comers, and met Clover with an offended air +which, though Clover ignored it, did not add to the happiness of her life +at Mrs. Marsh's.</p> + +<p>It was early in the afternoon when they started, and the sun was just +dipping behind the mountain wall when they drove into the High Valley. It +was one of those natural parks, four miles long, which lie like +heaven-planted gardens among the Colorado ranges. The richest of grass +clothed it; fine trees grew in clumps and clusters here and there; and the +spaces about the house where fences of barbed wire defended the grass from +the cattle, seemed a carpet of wild-flowers.</p> + +<p>Clover exclaimed with delight at the view. The ranges which lapped and +held the high, sheltered upland in embrace opened toward the south, and +revealed a splendid lonely peak, on whose summit a drift of freshly-fallen +snow was lying. The contrast with the verdure and bloom below was +charming.</p> + +<p>The cabin—it was little more—stood facing this view, and was backed by a +group of noble red cedars. It was built of logs, long and low, with a rude +porch in front supported on unbarked tree trunks. Two fine collies rushed +to meet them, barking vociferously; and at the sound Clarence hurried to +the door. He met them with great enthusiasm, lifted out Mrs. Hope, then +Clover, and then began shouting for his chum, who was inside.</p> + +<p>"Hollo, Geoff! where are you? Hurry up; they've come." Then, as he +appeared, "Ladies and gentleman, my partner!"</p> + +<p>Geoffrey Templestowe was a tall, sinewy young Englishman, with ruddy hair +and beard, grave blue eyes, and an unmistakable air of good breeding. He +wore a blue flannel shirt and high boots like Clarence's, yet somehow he +made Clarence look a little rough and undistinguished. He was quiet in +speech, reserved in manner, and seemed depressed and under a cloud; but +Clover liked his face at once. He looked both strong and kind, she +thought.</p> + +<p>The house consisted of one large square room in the middle, which served +as parlor and dining-room both, and on either side two bedrooms. The +kitchen was in a separate building. There was no lack of comfort, though +things were rather rude, and the place had a bare, masculine look. The +floor was strewn with coyote and fox skins. Two or three easy-chairs stood +around the fireplace, in which, July as it was, a big log was blazing. +Their covers were shabby and worn; but they looked comfortable, and were +evidently in constant use. There was not the least attempt at prettiness +anywhere. Pipes and books and old newspapers littered the chairs and +tables; when an extra seat was needed Clarence simply tipped a great pile +of these on to the floor. A gun-rack hung upon the wall, together with +sundry long stock-whips and two or three pairs of spurs, and a smell of +tobacco pervaded the place.</p> + +<p>Clover's eyes wandered to a corner where stood a small parlor organ, and +over it a shelf of books. She rose to examine them. To her surprise they +were all hymnals and Church of England prayer-books. There were no others. +She wondered what it meant.</p> + +<p>Clarence had given up his own bedroom to Phil, and was to chum with his +friend. Some little attempt had been made to adorn the rooms which were +meant for the ladies. Clean towels had been spread over the pine shelves +which did duty for dressing-tables, and on each stood a tumbler stuffed as +full as it could hold with purple pentstemons. Clover could not help +laughing, yet there was something pathetic to her in the clumsy, man-like +arrangement. She relieved the tumbler by putting a few of the flowers in +her dress, and went out again to the parlor, where Mrs. Hope sat by the +fire, quizzing the two partners, who were hard at work setting their +tea-table.</p> + +<p>It was rather a droll spectacle,—the two muscular young fellows creaking +to and fro in their heavy boots, and taking such an infinitude of pains +with their operations. One would set a plate on the table, and the other +would forthwith alter its position slightly, or lift and scrutinize a +tumbler and dust it sedulously with a glass-towel. Each spoon was polished +with the greatest particularity before it was laid on the tray; each knife +passed under inspection. Visitors were not an every-day luxury in the High +Valley, and too much care could not be taken for their entertainment, it +seemed.</p> + +<p>Supper was brought in by a Chinese cook in a pigtail, wooden shoes, and a +blue Mother Hubbard, Choo Loo by name. He was evidently a good cook, for +the corn-bread and fresh mountain trout and the ham and eggs were savory +to the last degree, and the flapjacks, with which the meal concluded, and +which were eaten with a sauce of melted raspberry jelly, deserved even +higher encomium.</p> + +<p>"We are willing to be treated as company this first night," observed Mrs. +Hope; "but if you are going to keep us a week, you must let us make +ourselves useful, and set the table and arrange the rooms for you."</p> + +<p>"We will begin to-morrow morning," added Clover. "May we, Clarence? May we +play that it is our house, and do what we like, and change about and +arrange things? It will be such fun."</p> + +<p>"Fire away!" said her cousin, calmly. "The more you change the more we +shall like it. Geoff and I aren't set in our ways, and are glad enough to +be let off duty for a week. The hut is yours just as long as you will +stay; do just what you like with it. Though we're pretty good housekeepers +too, considering; don't you think so?"</p> + +<p>"Do you believe he meant it?" asked Clover, confidentially afterward of +Mrs. Hope. "Do you think they really wouldn't mind being tidied up a +little? I should so like to give that room a good dusting, if it wouldn't +vex them."</p> + +<p>"My dear, they will probably never know the difference except by a vague +sense of improved comfort. Men are dreadfully untidy, as a general thing, +when left to themselves; but they like very well to have other people make +things neat."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Templestowe told Phil that they go off early in the morning and don't +come back till breakfast at half-past seven; so if I wake early enough I +shall try to do a little setting to rights before they come in."</p> + +<p>"And I'll come and help if I don't over-sleep," declared Mrs. Hope; "but +this air makes me feel dreadfully as if I should."</p> + +<p>"I sha'n't call you," said Clover; "but it will be nice to have you, if +you come."</p> + +<p>She stood at her window after Mrs. Hope had gone, for a last look at the +peak which glittered sharply in the light of the moon. The air was like +scented wine. She drew a long breath.</p> + +<p>"How lovely it is!" she said to herself, and kissed her hand to the +mountain. "Good-night, you beautiful thing."</p> + +<p>She woke with the first beam of yellow sun, after eight hours of dreamless +sleep, with a keen sense of renovation and refreshment. A great splashing +was going on in the opposite wing, and manly voices hushed to suppressed +tones were audible. Then came a sound of boots on the porch; and peeping +from behind her curtain, she saw Clarence and his friend striding across +the grass in the direction of the stock-huts. She glanced at her watch. It +was a quarter past five.</p> + +<p>"Now is my chance," she thought; and dressing rapidly, she put on a little +cambric jacket, knotted her hair up, tied a handkerchief over it, and +hurried into the sitting-room. Her first act was to throw open all the +windows to let out the smell of stale tobacco, her next to hunt for a +broom. She found one at last, hanging on the door of a sort of +store-closet, and moving the furniture as noiselessly as she could, she +gave the room a rapid but effectual sweeping.</p> + +<p>While the dust settled, she stole out to a place on the hillside where the +night before she had noticed some mariposa lilies growing, and gathered a +large bunch. Then she proceeded to dust and straighten, sorted out the +newspapers, wiped the woodwork with a damp cloth, arranged the disorderly +books, and set the breakfast-table. When all this was done, there was +still time to finish her toilet and put her pretty hair in its accustomed +coils and waves; so that Clarence and Mr. Templestowe came in to find the +fire blazing, the room bright and neat, Mrs. Hope sitting at the table in +a pretty violet gingham ready to pour the coffee which Choo Loo had +brought in, and Clover, the good fairy of this transformation scene, in a +fresh blue muslin, with a ribbon to match in her hair, just setting the +mariposas in the middle of the table. Their lilac-streaked bells nodded +from a tall vase of ground glass.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I say," cried Clarence, "this <i>is</i> something like! Isn't it +scrumptious, Geoff? The hut never looked like this before. It's wonderful +what a woman—no, two women," with a bow to Mrs. Hope—"can do toward +making things pleasant. Where did that vase come from, Clover? We never +owned anything so fine as that, I'm sure."</p> + +<p>"It came from my bag; and it's a present for you and Mr. Templestowe. I +saw it in a shop-window yesterday; and it occurred to me that it might be +just the thing for High Valley, and fill a gap. And Mrs. Hope has brought +you each a pretty coffee-cup."</p> + +<p>It was a merry meal. The pleasant look of the room, the little surprises, +and the refreshment of seeing new and kindly faces, raised Mr. +Templestowe's spirits, and warmed him out of his reserve. He grew cheerful +and friendly. Clarence was in uproarious spirits, and Phil even worse. It +seemed as if the air of the High Valley had got into his head.</p> + +<p>Dr. Hope left at noon, after making a second visit to the lame herder, and +Mrs. Hope and Clover settled themselves for a week of enjoyment. They were +alone for hours every day, while their young hosts were off on the ranch, +and they devoted part of this time to various useful and decorative arts. +They took all manner of liberties, poked about and rummaged, mended, +sponged, assorted, and felt themselves completely mistresses of the +situation. A note to Marian Chase brought up a big parcel by stage to the +Ute Valley, four miles away, from which it was fetched over by a cow-boy +on horseback; and Clover worked away busily at scrim curtains for the +windows, while Mrs. Hope shaped a slip cover of gay chintz for the +shabbiest of the armchairs, hemmed a great square of gold-colored canton +flannel for the bare, unsightly table, and made a bright red pincushion +apiece for the bachelor quarters. The sitting-room took on quite a new +aspect, and every added touch gave immense satisfaction to "the boys," as +Mrs. Hope called them, who thoroughly enjoyed the effect of these +ministrations, though they had not the least idea how to produce it +themselves.</p> + +<p>Creature comforts were not forgotten. The two ladies amused themselves +with experiments in cookery. The herders brought a basket of wild +raspberries, and Clover turned them into jam for winter use. Clarence +gloated over the little white pots, and was never tired of counting them. +They looked so like New England, he declared, that he felt as if he must +get a girl at once, and go and walk in the graveyard,—a pastime which he +remembered as universal in his native town. Various cakes and puddings +appeared to attest the industry of the housekeepers; and on the only wet +evening, when a wild thunder-gust was sweeping down the valley, they had a +wonderful candy-pull, and made enough to give all the cow-boys a treat.</p> + +<p>It must not be supposed that all their time went in these domestic +pursuits. No, indeed. Mrs. Hope had brought her own side-saddle, and had +borrowed one for Clover; the place was full of horses, and not a day +passed without a long ride up or down the valley, and into the charming +little side canyons which opened from it. A spirited broncho, named +Sorrel, had been made over to Phil's use for the time of his stay, and he +was never out of the saddle when he could help it, except to eat and +sleep. He shared in the herders' wild gallops after stock, and though +Clover felt nervous about the risks he ran, whenever she took time to +think them over, he was so very happy that she had not the heart to +interfere or check his pleasure.</p> + +<p>She and Mrs. Hope rode out with the gentlemen on the great day of the +round-up, and, stationed at a safe point a little way up the hillside, +watched the spectacle,—the plunging, excited herd, the cow-boys madly +galloping, swinging their long whips and lassos, darting to and fro to +head off refractory beasts or check the tendency to stampede. Both +Clarence and Geoffrey Templestowe were bold and expert riders; but the +Mexican and Texan herders in their employ far surpassed them. The ladies +had never seen anything like it. Phil and his broncho were in the midst of +things, of course, and had one or two tumbles, but nothing to hurt them; +only Clover was very thankful when it was all safely over.</p> + +<p>In their rides and scrambling walks it generally happened that Clarence +took possession of Clover, and left Geoff in charge of Mrs. Hope. +Cousinship and old friendship gave him a right, he considered, and he +certainly took full advantage of it. Clover liked Clarence; but there were +moments when she felt that she would rather enjoy the chance to talk more +with Mr. Templestowe, and there was a look in his eyes now and then which +seemed to say that he might enjoy it too. But Clarence did not observe +this look, and he had no idea of sharing his favorite cousin with any one, +if he could help it.</p> + +<p>Sunday brought the explanation of the shelf full of prayer-books which had +puzzled them on their first arrival. There was no church within reach; and +it was Geoff's regular custom, it seemed, to hold a little service for the +men in the valley. Almost all of them came, except the few Mexicans, who +were Roman Catholics, and the room was quite full. Geoff read the service +well and reverently, gave out the hymns, and played the accompaniments for +them, closing with a brief bit of a sermon by the elder Arnold. It was all +done simply and as a matter of course, and Clarence seemed to join in it +with much good-will; but Clover privately wondered whether the idea of +doing such a thing would have entered into his head had he been left +alone, or, if so, whether he would have cared enough about it to carry it +out regularly. She doubted. Whatever the shortcomings of the Church of +England may be, she certainly trains her children into a devout observance +of Sunday.</p> + +<p>The next day, Monday, was to be their last,—a fact lamented by every one, +particularly Phil, who regarded the High Valley as a paradise, and would +gladly have remained there for the rest of his natural life. Clover hated +to take him away; but Dr. Hope had warned her privately that a week would +be enough of it, and that with Phil's tendency to overdo, too long a stay +would be undesirable. So she stood firm, though Clarence urged a delay, +and Phil seconded the proposal with all his might.</p> + +<p>The very pleasantest moment of the visit perhaps came on that last +afternoon, when Geoff got her to himself for once, and took her up a +trail where she had not yet been, in search of scarlet pentstemons to +carry back to St. Helen's. They found great sheaves of the slender stems +threaded, as it were, with jewel-like blossoms; but what was better still, +they had a talk, and Clover felt that she had now a new friend. Geoff told +her of his people at home, and a little about the sister who had lately +died; only a little,—he could not yet trust himself to talk long about +her. Clover listened with frank and gentle interest. She liked to hear +about the old grange at the head of a chine above Clovelley, where Geoff +was born, and which had once been full of boys and girls, now scattered in +the English fashion to all parts of the world. There was Ralph with his +regiment in India,—he was the heir, it seemed,—and Jim and Jack in +Australia, and Oliver with his wife and children in New Zealand, and Allen +at Harrow, and another boy fitting for the civil service. There was a +married sister in Scotland, and another in London; and Isabel, the +youngest of all, still at home,—the light of the house, and the special +pet of the old squire and of Geoff's mother, who, he told Clover, had been +a great beauty in her youth, and though nearly seventy, was in his eyes +beautiful still.</p> + +<p>"It's pretty quiet there for Isabel," he said; "but she has my sister +Helen's two children to care for, and that will keep her busy. I used to +think she'd come out to me one of these years for a twelvemonth; but +there's little chance of her being spared now."</p> + +<p>Clover's sympathy did not take the form of words. It looked out of her +eyes, and spoke in the hushed tones of her soft voice. Geoff felt that it +was there, and it comforted him. The poor fellow was very lonely in those +days, and inclined to be homesick, as even a manly man sometimes is.</p> + +<p>"What an awful time Adam must have had of it before Eve came!" growled +Clarence, that evening, as they sat around the fire.</p> + +<p>"He had a pretty bad time after she came, if I remember," said Clover, +laughing.</p> + +<p>"Ah, but he had <i>her</i>!"</p> + +<p>"Stuff and nonsense! He was a long shot happier without her and her old +apple, I think," put in Phil. "You fellows don't know when you're well +off."</p> + +<p>Everybody laughed.</p> + +<p>"Phil's notion of Paradise is the High Valley and Sorrel, and no girls +about to bother and tell him not to get too tired," remarked Clover. "It's +a fair vision; but like all fair visions it must end."</p> + +<p>And end it did next day, when Dr. Hope appeared with the carriage, and the +bags and saddles were put in, and the great bundle of wild-flowers, with +their stems tied in wet moss; and Phil, torn from his beloved broncho, on +whose back he had passed so many happy hours, was forced to accompany the +others back to civilization.</p> + +<p>"I shall see you very soon," said Clarence, tucking the lap-robe round +Clover. "There's the mail to fetch, and other things. I shall be riding in +every day or two."</p> + +<p>"I shall see you very soon," said Geoff, on the other side. "Clarence is +not coming without me, I can assure you."</p> + +<p>Then the carriage drove away; and the two partners went back into the +house, which looked suddenly empty and deserted.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you what!" began Clarence.</p> + +<p>"And I'll tell <i>you</i> what!" rejoined Geoff.</p> + +<p>"A house isn't worth a red cent which hasn't a woman in it."</p> + +<p>"You might ride down and ask Miss Perkins to step up and adorn our lives," +said his friend, grimly. Miss Perkins was a particularly rigid spinster +who taught a school six miles distant, and for whom Clarence entertained a +particular distaste.</p> + +<p>"You be hanged! I don't mean that kind. I mean—"</p> + +<p>"The nice kind, like Mrs. Hope and your cousin. Well, I'm agreed."</p> + +<p>"I shall go down after the mail to-morrow," remarked Clarence, between the +puffs of his pipe.</p> + +<p>"So shall I."</p> + +<p>"All right; come along!" But though the words sounded hearty, the tone +rather belied them. Clarence was a little puzzled by and did not quite +like this newborn enthusiasm on the part of his comrade.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h3>OVER A PASS.</h3> + + +<div class="figleft"> +<img alt="T" src="./images/c9.png" title="T" /></div> <p>rue to their resolve, the young heads of the High Valley Ranch rode +together to St. Helen's next day,—ostensibly to get their letters; in +reality to call on their late departed guests. They talked amicably as +they went; but unconsciously each was watching the other's mood and +speech. To like the same girl makes young men curiously observant of each +other.</p> + +<p>A disappointment was in store for them. They had taken it for granted that +Clover would be as disengaged and as much at their service as she had been +in the valley; and lo! she sat on the piazza with a knot of girls about +her, and a young man in an extremely "fetching" costume of snow-white +duck, with a flower in his button-hole, was bending over her chair, and +talking in a low voice of something which seemed of interest. He looked +provokingly cool and comfortable to the dusty horsemen, and very much at +home. Phil, who lounged against the piazza-rail opposite, dispensed an +enormous and meaning wink at his two friends as they came up the steps.</p> + +<p>Clover jumped up from her chair, and gave them a most cordial reception.</p> + +<p>"How delightful to see you again so soon!" she said. Then she introduced +them to a girl in pink and a girl in blue as Miss Perham and Miss +Blanchard, and they shook hands with Marian Chase, whom they already knew, +and lastly were presented to Mr. Wade, the youth in white. The three young +men eyed one another with a not very friendly scrutiny, just veiled by the +necessary outward politeness.</p> + +<p>"Then you will be all ready for Thursday,—and your brother too, of +course,—and my mother will stop for you at half-past ten on her way +down," they heard him say. "Miss Chase will go with the Hopes. Oh, yes; +there will be plenty of room. No danger about that. We're almost sure to +have good weather too. Good-morning. I'm so glad you enjoyed the roses."</p> + +<p>There was a splendid cluster of Jacqueminot buds in Clover's dress, at +which Clarence glared wrathfully as he caught these words. The only +consolation was that the creature in duck was going. He was making his +last bows; and one of the girls went with him, which still farther reduced +the number of what in his heart Clarence stigmatized as "a crowd."</p> + +<p>"I must go too," said the girl in blue. "Good-by, Clover. I shall run in a +minute to-morrow to talk over the last arrangements for Thursday."</p> + +<p>"What's going to happen on Thursday?" growled Clarence as soon as she had +departed.</p> + +<p>"Oh, such a delightful thing," cried Clover, sparkling and dimpling. "Old +Mr. Wade, the father of young Mr. Wade, whom you saw just now, is a +director on the railroad, you know; and they have given him the +director's car to take a party over the Marshall Pass, and he has asked +Phil and me to go. It is <i>such</i> a surprise. Ever since we came to St. +Helen's, people have been telling us what a beautiful journey it is; but I +never supposed we should have the chance to take it. Mrs. Hope is going +too, and the doctor, and Miss Chase and Miss Perham,—all the people we +know best, in fact. Isn't it nice?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, certainly; very nice," replied Clarence, in a tone of deep offence. +He was most unreasonably in the sulks. Clover glanced at him with +surprise, and then at Geoff, who was talking to Marian. He looked a little +serious, and not so bright as in the valley; but he was making himself +very pleasant, notwithstanding. Surely he had the same causes for +annoyance as Clarence; but his breeding forbade him to show whatever +inward vexation he may have felt,—certainly not to allow it to influence +his manners. Clover drew a mental contrast between the two which was not +to Clarence's advantage.</p> + +<p>"Who's that fellow anyway?" demanded Clarence. "How long have you known +him? What business has he to be bringing you roses, and making up parties +to take you off on private cars?"</p> + +<p>Something in Clover's usually soft eyes made him stop suddenly.</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon," he said in an altered tone.</p> + +<p>"I really think you should," replied Clover, with pretty dignity.</p> + +<p>Then she moved away, and began to talk to Geoff, whose grave courtesy at +once warmed into cheer and sun.</p> + +<p>Clarence, thus left a prey to remorse, was wretched. He tried to catch +Clover's eye, but she wouldn't look at him. He leaned against the +balustrade moody and miserable. Phil, who had watched these various +interludes with interest, indicated his condition to Clover with another +telegraphic wink. She glanced across, relented, and made Clarence a little +signal to come and sit by her.</p> + +<p>After that all went happily. Clover was honestly delighted to see her two +friends again. And now that Clarence had recovered from his ill-temper, +there was nothing to mar their enjoyment. Geoff's horse had cast a shoe on +the way down, it seemed, and must be taken to the blacksmith's, so they +did not stay very long; but it was arranged that they should come back to +dinner at Mrs. Marsh's.</p> + +<p>"What a raving belle you are!" remarked Marian Chase, as the young men +rode away. "Three is a good many at a time, though, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Three what?"</p> + +<p>"Three—hem! leaves—to one Clover!"</p> + +<p>"It's the usual allowance, I believe. If there were four, now—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I dare say there will be. They seem to collect round you like wasps +round honey. It's some natural law, I presume,—gravitation or levitation, +which is it?"</p> + +<p>"I'm sure I don't know, and don't try to tease me, Poppy. People out here +are so kind that it's enough to spoil anybody."</p> + +<p>"Kind, forsooth! Do you consider it all pure kindness? Really, for such a +belle, you're very innocent."</p> + +<p>"I wish you wouldn't," protested Clover, laughing and coloring. "I never +was a belle in my life, and that's the second time you've called me that. +Nobody ever said such things to me in Burnet."</p> + +<p>"Ah, you had to come to Colorado to find out how attractive you could be. +Burnet must be a very quiet place. Never mind; you sha'n't be teased, +Clover dear. Only don't let this trefoil of yours get to fighting with one +another. That good-looking cousin of yours was casting quite murderous +glances at poor Thurber Wade just now."</p> + +<p>"Clarence is a dear boy; but he's rather spoiled and not quite grown up +yet, I think."</p> + +<p>"When are you coming back from the Marshall Pass?" inquired Geoff, after +dinner, when Clarence had gone for the horses.</p> + +<p>"On Saturday. We shall only be gone two days."</p> + +<p>"Then I will ride in on Thursday morning, if you will permit, with my +field-glass. It is a particularly good one, and you may find it useful for +the distant views."</p> + +<p>"When are you coming back?" demanded Clarence, a little later. "Saturday? +Then I sha'n't be in again before Monday."</p> + +<p>"Won't you want your letters?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I guess there won't be any worth coming for till then."</p> + +<p>"Not a letter from your mother?"</p> + +<p>"She only writes once in a while. Most of what I get comes from pa."</p> + +<p>"Cousin Olivia never did seem to care much for Clarence," remarked Clover, +after they were gone. "He would have been a great deal nicer if he had had +a pleasanter time at home. It makes such a difference with boys. Now Mr. +Templestowe has a lovely mother, I'm sure."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" was all the reply that Phil would vouchsafe.</p> + +<p>"How queer people are!" thought little Clover to herself afterward. +"Neither of those boys quite liked our going on this expedition, I +think,—though I'm sure I can't imagine why; but they behaved so +differently. Mr. Templestowe thought of us and something which might give +us pleasure; and Clarence only thought about himself. Poor Clarence! he +never had half a chance till he came here. It isn't all his fault."</p> + +<p>The party in the director's car proved a merry one. Mrs. Wade, a jolly, +motherly woman, fond of the good things of life, and delighting in making +people comfortable, had spared no pains of preparation. There were +quantities of easy-chairs and fans and eau-de-cologne; the larder was +stocked with all imaginable dainties,—iced tea, lemonade, and champagne +cup flowed on the least provocation for all the hot moments, and each +table was a bank of flowers. Each lady had a superb bouquet; and on the +second day a great tin box of freshly-cut roses met them at Pueblo, so +that they came back as gayly furnished forth as they went. Having the +privilege of the road, the car was attached or detached to suit their +convenience, and this enabled them to command daylight for all the finest +points of the excursion.</p> + +<p>First of these was the Royal Gorge, where the Arkansas River pours through +a magnificent canyon, between precipices so steep and with curves so sharp +that only engineering genius of the most daring order could, it would +seem, have devised a way through. Then, after a pause at the pretty town +of Salida, with the magnificent range of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in +full sight, they began to mount the pass over long loops of rail, which +doubled and re-doubled on themselves again and again on their way to the +summit. The train had been divided; and the first half with its two +engines was seen at times puffing and snorting directly overhead of the +second half on the lower curve.</p> + +<p>With each hundred feet of elevation, the view changed and widened. Now it +was of over-lapping hills set with little mésas, like folds of green +velvet flung over the rocks; now of dim-seen valley depths with winding +links of silver rivers; and again of countless mountain peaks sharp-cut +against the sunset sky,—some rosy pink, some shining with snow.</p> + +<p>The flowers were a continual marvel. At the top of the pass, eleven +thousand feet and more above the sea, their colors and their abundance +were more profuse and splendid than on the lower levels. There were whole +fields of pentstemons, pink, blue, royal purple, or the rare scarlet +variety, like stems of asparagus strung with rubies. There were masses of +gillias, and of wonderful coreopsis, enormous cream-colored stars with +deep-orange centres, and deep yellow ones with scarlet centres; thickets +of snowy-cupped mentzelia and of wild rose; while here and there a tall +red lily burned like a little lonely flame in the green, or regiments of +convolvuli waved their stately heads.</p> + +<p>From below came now and again the tinkle of distant cow-bells. These, and +the plaintive coo of mourning-doves in the branches, and the rush of the +wind, which was like cool flower-scented wine, was all that broke the +stillness of the high places.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 12em;">"To think I'm so much nearer heaven</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 12.5em;">Than when I was a boy,"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>misquoted Clover, as she sat on the rear platform of the car, with Poppy, +and Thurber Wade.</p> + +<p>"Are you sure your head doesn't ache? This elevation plays the mischief +with some people. My mother has taken to her berth with ice on her +temples."</p> + +<p>"Headache! No, indeed. This air is too delicious. I feel as though I could +dance all the way from here to the Black Canyon."</p> + +<p>"You don't look as if your head ached, or anything," said Mr. Wade, +staring at Clover admiringly. Her cheeks were pink with excitement, her +eyes full of light and exhilaration.</p> + +<p>"Oh dear! we are beginning to go down," she cried, watching one of the +beautiful peaks of the Sangre de Cristos as it dipped out of sight. "I +think I could find it in my heart to cry, if it were not that to-morrow +we are coming up again."</p> + +<p>So down, down, down they went. Dusk slowly gathered about them; and the +white-gloved butler set the little tables, and brought in broiled chicken +and grilled salmon and salad and hot rolls and peaches, and they were all +very hungry. And Clover did not cry, but fell to work on her supper with +an excellent appetite, quite unconscious that they were speeding through +another wonderful gorge without seeing one of its beauties. Then the car +was detached from the train; and when she awoke next morning they were at +the little station called Cimmaro, at the head of the famous Black Canyon, +with three hours to spare before the train from Utah should arrive to take +them back to St. Helen's.</p> + +<p>Early as it was, the small settlement was awake. Lights glanced from the +eating-house, where cooks were preparing breakfast for the "through" +passengers, and smokes curled from the chimneys. Close to the car was a +large brick structure which seemed to be a sort of hotel for locomotives. +A number of the enormous creatures had evidently passed the night there, +and just waked up. Clover now watched their antics with great amusement +from her window as their engineers ran them in and out, rubbed them down +like horses, and fed them with oil and coal, while they snorted and backed +and sidled a good deal as real horses do. Clover could not at all +understand what all these manœuvres were for,—they seemed only designed +to show the paces of the iron steeds, and what they were good for.</p> + +<p>"Miss Clover," whispered a voice outside her curtains, "I've got hold of a +hand-car and a couple of men; and don't you want to take a spin down the +canyon and see the view with no smoke to spoil it? Just you and me and +Miss Chase. She says she'll go if you will. Hurry, and don't make a noise. +We won't wake the others."</p> + +<p>Of course Clover wanted to. She finished her dressing at top-speed, +hurried on her hat and jacket, stole softly out to where the others +awaited her, and in five minutes they were smoothly running down the +gorge, over high trestle-work bridges and round sharp curves which made +her draw her breath a little faster. There was no danger, the men who +managed the hand-car assured them; it was a couple of hours yet before the +next train came in; there was plenty of time to go three or four miles +down and return.</p> + +<p>Anything more delicious than the early morning air in the Black Canyon it +would be difficult to imagine. Cool, odorous with pines and with the +breath of the mountains, it was like a zestful draught of iced summer. +Close beside the track ran a wondrous river which seemed made of melted +jewels, so curiously brilliant were its waters and mixed of so many hues. +Its course among the rocks was a flash of foaming rapids, broken here and +there by pools of exquisite blue-green, deepening into inky-violet under +the shadow of the cliffs. And such cliffs!—one, two, three thousand feet +high; not deep-colored like those about St. Helen's, but of steadfast +mountain hues and of magnificent forms,—buttresses and spires; crags +whose bases were lost in untrodden forests; needle-sharp pinnacles like +the Swiss Aiguilles. The morning was just making its way into the canyon; +and the loftier tops flashed with yellow sun, while the rest were still in +cold shadow.</p> + +<p>Breakfast was just ready when the hand-car arrived again at the upper end +of the gorge, and loud were the reproaches which met the happy three as +they alighted from it. Phil was particularly afflicted.</p> + +<p>"I call it mean not to wake a fellow," he said.</p> + +<p>"But a fellow was <i>so</i> sound asleep," said Clover, "I really hadn't the +heart. I did peep in at your curtain, and if you had moved so much as a +finger, <i>perhaps</i> I should have called you; but you didn't."</p> + +<p>The return journey was equally fortunate, and the party reached St. +Helen's late in the evening of the second day, in what Mr. Wade called +"excellent form." Monday brought the young men from the ranch in again; +and another fortnight passed happily, Clover's three "leaves" being most +faithfully attentive to their central point of attraction. "Three is a +good many," as Marian Chase had said, but all girls like to be liked, and +Clover did not find this, her first little experience of the kind, at all +disagreeable.</p> + +<p>The excursion to the Marshall Pass, however, had an after effect which was +not so pleasant. Either the high elevation had disagreed with Phil, or he +had taken a little cold; at all events, he was distinctly less well. With +the lowering of his physical forces came a corresponding depression of +spirits. Mrs. Watson worried him, the sick people troubled him, the sound +of coughing depressed him, his appetite nagged, and his sleep was broken. +Clover felt that he must have a change, and consulted Dr. Hope, who +advised their going to the Ute Valley for a month.</p> + +<p>This involved giving up their rooms at Mrs. Marsh's, which was a pity, as +it was by no means certain that they would be able to get them again +later. Clover regretted this; but Fate, as Fate often does, brought a +compensation. Mrs. Watson had no mind whatever for the Ute Valley.</p> + +<p>"It's a dull place, they tell me, and there's nothing to do there but ride +on horseback, and as I don't ride on horseback, I really don't see what +use there would be in my going," she said to Clover. "If I were young, and +there were young men ready to ride with me all the time, it would be +different; though Ellen never did care to, except with Henry of course, +after they—And I really can't see that your brother's much different from +what he was, though if Dr. Hope says so, naturally you—He's a queer kind +of doctor, it seems to me, to send lung patients up higher than +this,—which is high already, gracious knows. No; if you decide to go, I +shall just move over to the Shoshone for the rest of the time that I'm +here. I'm sure that Dr. Carr couldn't expect me to stay on here alone, +just for the chance that you may want to come back, when as like as not, +Mrs. Marsh won't be able to take you again."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no; I'm quite sure he wouldn't. Only I thought," doubtfully, "that as +you've always admired Phil's room so much, you might like to secure it now +that we have to go."</p> + +<p>"Well, yes. If you were to be here, I might. If that man who's so sick had +got better, or gone away, or something, I dare say I should have settled +down in his room and been comfortable enough. But he seems just about as +he was when we came, so there's no use waiting; and I'd rather go to the +Shoshone anyway. I always said it was a mistake that we didn't go there in +the first place. It was Dr. Hope's doing, and I have not the least +confidence in him. He hasn't osculated me once since I came."</p> + +<p>"Hasn't he?" said Clover, feeling her voice tremble, and perfectly aware +of the shaking of Phil's shoulders behind her.</p> + +<p>"No; and I don't call just putting his ear to my chest, listening. Dr. +Bangs, at home, would be ashamed to come to the house without his +stethoscope. I mean to move this afternoon. I've given Mrs. Marsh +notice."</p> + +<p>So Mrs. Watson and her belongings went to the Shoshone, and Clover packed +the trunks with a lighter heart for her departure.</p> + +<p>The last day of July found Clover and Phil settled in the Ute Park. It was +a wild and beautiful valley, some hundreds of feet higher than St. +Helen's, and seemed the very home of peace. A Sunday-like quiet pervaded +the place, whose stillness was never broken except by bird-songs and the +rustle of the pine branches.</p> + +<p>The sides of the valley near its opening were dotted here and there with +huts and cabins belonging to parties who had fled from the heat of the +plains for the summer. At the upper end stood the ranch house,—a large, +rather rudely built structure,—and about it were a number of cabins and +cottages, in which two, four, or six people could be accommodated. Clover +and Phil were lodged in one of these. The tiny structure contained only a +sitting and two sleeping rooms, and was very plain and bare. But there was +a fireplace; wood was abundant, so that a cheerful blaze could be had for +cool evenings; and the little piazza faced the south, and made a sheltered +sitting place on windy days.</p> + +<p>One pleasant feature of the spot was its nearness to the High Valley. +Clarence and Geoff Templestowe thought nothing of riding four miles; and +scarcely a day passed when one or both did not come over. They brought +wild-flowers, or cream, or freshly-churned butter, as offerings from the +ranch; and, what Clover valued as a greater kindness yet, they brought +Phil's beloved broncho, Sorrel, and arranged with the owner of the Ute +ranch that it should remain as long as Phil was there. This gave Phil +hours of delightful exercise every day; and though sometimes he set out +early in the morning for the High Valley, and stayed later in the +afternoon than his sister thought prudent, she had not the heart to chide, +so long as he was visibly getting better hour by hour.</p> + +<p>Sundays the friends spent together, as a matter of course. Geoff waited +till his little home service for the ranchmen was over, and then would +gallop across with Clarence to pass the rest of the day. There was no lack +of kind people at the main house and in the cottages to take an interest +in the delicate boy and his sweet, motherly sister; so Clover had an +abundance of volunteer matrons, and plenty of pleasant ways in which to +spend those occasional days on which the High Valley attaches failed to +appear.</p> + +<p>It was a simple, healthful life, the happiest on the whole which they had +led since leaving home. Once or twice Mr. Thurber Wade made his +appearance, gallantly mounted, and freighted with flowers and kind +messages from his mother to Miss Carr; but Clover was never sorry when he +rode away again. Somehow he did not seem to belong to the Happy Valley, as +in her heart she denominated the place.</p> + +<p>There was a remarkable deal of full moon that month, as it seemed; at +least, the fact served as an excuse for a good many late transits between +the valley and the park. Now and then either Clarence or Geoff would lead +over a saddle-horse and give Clover a good gallop up or down the valley, +which she always enjoyed. The habit which she had extemporized for her +visit to the High Valley answered very well, and Mrs. Hope had lent her a +hat.</p> + +<p>On one of these occasions she and Clarence had ridden farther than usual, +quite down to the end of the pass, where the road dipped, and descended to +the little watering-place of Canyon Creek,—a Swiss-like village of hotels +and lodging-houses and shops for the sale of minerals and mineral waters, +set along the steep sides of a narrow green valley. They were chatting +gayly, and had just agreed that it was time to turn their horses' heads +homeward, when a sudden darkening made them aware that one of the +unexpected thunder-gusts peculiar to the region was upon them.</p> + +<p>They were still a mile above the village; but as no nearer place of +shelter presented itself, they decided to proceed. But the storm moved +more rapidly than they; and long before the first houses came in sight the +heavy drops began to pelt down. A brown young fellow, lying flat on his +back under a thick bush, with his horse standing over him, shouted to them +to "try the cave," waving his hand in its direction; and hurrying on, they +saw in another moment a shelving brow of rock in the cliff, under which +was a deep recess.</p> + +<p>To this Clarence directed the horses. He lifted Clover down. She half sat, +half leaned on the slope of the rock, well under cover, while he stretched +himself at full length on a higher ledge, and held the bridles fast. The +horses' heads and the saddles were fairly well protected, but the +hindquarters of the animals were presently streaming with water.</p> + +<p>"This isn't half-bad, is it?" Clarence said. His mouth was so close to +Clover's ear that she could catch his words in spite of the noisy thunder +and the roar of the descending rain.</p> + +<p>"No; I call it fun."</p> + +<p>"You look awfully pretty, do you know?" was the next and very unexpected +remark.</p> + +<p>"Nonsense."</p> + +<p>"Not nonsense at all."</p> + +<p>At that moment a carriage dashed rapidly by, the driver guiding the horses +as well as he could between the points of an umbrella, which constantly +menaced his eyes. Other travellers in the pass had evidently been +surprised by the storm besides themselves. The lady who held the umbrella +looked out, and caught the picture of the group under the cliff. It was a +suggestive one. Clover's hat was a little pushed forward by the rock +against which she leaned, which in its turn pushed forward the waving +rings of hair which shaded her forehead, but did not hide her laughing +eyes, or the dimples in her pink cheeks. The fair, slender girl, the dark, +stalwart young fellow so close to her, the rain, the half-sheltered +horses,—it was easy enough to construct a little romance.</p> + +<p>The lady evidently did so. It was what photographers call an +"instantaneous effect," caught in three seconds, as the carriage whirled +past; but in that fraction of a minute the lady had nodded and flashed a +brilliant, sympathetic smile in their direction, and Clover had nodded in +return, and laughed back.</p> + +<p>"A good many people seem to have been caught as we have," she said, as +another streaming vehicle dashed by.</p> + +<p>"I wish it would rain for a week," observed Clarence.</p> + +<p>"My gracious, what a wish! What would become of us if it did?"</p> + +<p>"We should stay here just where we are, and I should have you all to +myself for once, and nobody could come in to interfere with me."</p> + +<p>"Thank you extremely! How hungry we should be! How can you be so absurd, +Clarence?"</p> + +<p>"I'm not absurd at all. I'm perfectly in earnest."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean that you really want to stay a week under this rock with +nothing to eat?"</p> + +<p>"Well, no; not exactly that perhaps,—though if you could, I would. But I +mean that I would like to get you for a whole solid week to myself. There +is such a gang of people about always, and they all want you. Clover," he +went on, for, puzzled at his tone, she made no answer, "couldn't you like +me a little?"</p> + +<p>"I like you a great deal. You come next to Phil and Dorry with me."</p> + +<p>"Hang Phil and Dorry! Who wants to come next to them? I want you to like +me a great deal more than that. I want you to love me. Couldn't you, +Clover?"</p> + +<p>"How strangely you talk! I do love you, of course. You're my cousin."</p> + +<p>"I don't care to be loved 'of course.' I want to be loved for myself. +Clover, you know what I mean; you must know. I can afford to marry now; +won't you stay in Colorado and be my wife?"</p> + +<p>"I don't think you know what you are saying, Clarence. I'm older than you +are. I thought you looked upon me as a sort of mother or older sister."</p> + +<p>"Only fifteen months older," retorted Clarence. "I never heard of any +one's being a mother at that age. I'm a man now, I would have you +remember, though I am a little younger than you, and know my own mind as +well as if I were fifty. Dear Clovy," coaxingly, "couldn't you? You liked +the High Valley, didn't you? I'd do anything possible to make it nice and +pleasant for you."</p> + +<p>"I do like the High Valley very much," said Clover, still with the feeling +that Clarence must be half in joke, or she half in dream. "But, my dear +boy, it isn't my home. I couldn't leave papa and the children, and stay +out here, even with you. It would seem so strange and far away."</p> + +<p>"You could if you cared for me," replied Clarence, dejectedly; Clover's +kind, argumentative, elder-sisterly tone was precisely that which is most +discouraging to a lover.</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear," cried poor Clover, not far from tears herself; "this is +dreadful!"</p> + +<p>"What?" moodily. "Having an offer? You must have had lots of them before +now."</p> + +<p>"Indeed I never did. People don't do such things in Burnet. Please don't +say any more, Clarence. I'm very fond of you, just as I am of the boys; +but—"</p> + +<p>"But what? Go on."</p> + +<p>"How can I?" Clover was fairly crying.</p> + +<p>"You mean that you can't love me in the other way."</p> + +<p>"Yes." The word came out half as a sob, but the sincerity of the accent +was unmistakable.</p> + +<p>"Well," said poor Clarence, after a long bitter pause; "it isn't your +fault, I suppose. I'm not good enough for you. Still, I'd have done my +best, if you would have taken me, Clover."</p> + +<p>"I am sure you would," eagerly. "You've always been my favorite cousin, +you know. People can't <i>make</i> themselves care for each other; it has to +come in spite of them or not at all,—at least, that is what the novels +say. But you're not angry with me, are you, dear? We will be good friends +always, sha'n't we?" persuasively.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if we can," said Clarence, in a hopeless tone. "It doesn't seem +likely; but I don't know any more about it than you do. It's my first +offer as well as yours." Then, after a silence and a struggle, he added in +a more manful tone, "We'll try for it, at least. I can't afford to give +you up. You're the sweetest girl in the world. I always said so, and I say +so still. It will be hard at first, but perhaps it may grow easier with +time."</p> + +<p>"Oh, it will," cried Clover, hopefully. "It's only because you're so +lonely out here, and see so few people, that makes you suppose I am better +than the rest. One of these days you'll find a girl who is a great deal +nicer than I am, and then you'll be glad that I didn't say yes. There! the +rain is just stopping."</p> + +<p>"It's easy enough to talk," remarked Clarence, gloomily, as he gathered up +the bridles of the horses; "but I shall do nothing of the kind. I declare +I won't!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h3>NO. 13 PIUTE STREET.</h3> + + +<div class="figleft"> +<img alt="C" src="./images/c10.png" title="C" /></div> <p>lover did not see Clarence again for several days after this +conversation, the remembrance of which was uncomfortable to her. She +feared he was feeling hurt or "huffy," and would show it in his manner; +and she disliked very much the idea that Phil might suspect the reason, +or, worse still, Mr. Templestowe.</p> + +<p>But when he finally appeared he seemed much the same as usual. After all, +she reflected, it has only been a boyish impulse; he has already got over +it, or not meant all he said.</p> + +<p>In this she did Clarence an injustice. He had been very much in earnest +when he spoke; and it showed the good stuff which was in him and his real +regard for Clover that he should be making so manly a struggle with his +disappointment and pain. His life had been a lonely one in Colorado; he +could not afford to quarrel with his favorite cousin, and with him, as +with other lovers, there may have been, besides, some lurking hope that +she might yet change her mind. But perhaps Clover in a measure was right +in her conviction that Clarence was still too young and undeveloped to +have things go very deep with him. He seemed to her in many ways as boyish +and as undisciplined as Phil.</p> + +<p>With early September the summering of the Ute Park came to a close. The +cold begins early at that elevation, and light frosts and red leaves +warned the dwellers in tents and cabins to flee.</p> + +<p>Clover made her preparations for departure with real reluctance. She had +grown very fond of the place; but Phil was perfectly himself again, and +there seemed no reason for their staying longer.</p> + +<p>So back to St. Helen's they went and to Mrs. Marsh, who, in reply to +Clover's letter, had written that she must make room for them somehow, +though for the life of her she couldn't say how. It proved to be in two +small back rooms. An irruption of Eastern invalids had filled the house to +overflowing, and new faces met them at every turn. Two or three of the +last summer's inmates had died during their stay,—one of them the very +sick man whose room Mrs. Watson had coveted. His death took place "as if +on purpose," she told Clover, the very week after her removal to the +Shoshone.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Watson herself was preparing for return to the East. "I've seen the +West now," she said,—"all I want to see; and I'm quite ready to go back +to my own part of the country. Ellen writes that she thinks I'd better +start for home so as to get settled before the cold—And it's so cold here +that I can't realize that they're still in the middle of peaches at home. +Ellen always spices a great—They're better than preserves; and as for the +canned ones, why, peaches and water is what I call them. Well—my dear—" +(Distance lends enchantment, and Clover had become "My dear" again.) "I'm +glad I could come out and help you along; and now that you know so many +people here, you won't need me so much as you did at first. I shall tell +Mrs. Perkins to write to Mrs. Hall to tell your father how well your +brother is looking, and I know he'll be—And here's a little handkerchief +for a keepsake."</p> + +<p>It was a pretty handkerchief, of pale yellow silk with embroidered +corners, and Clover kissed the old lady as she thanked her, and they +parted good friends. But their intercourse had led her to make certain +firm resolutions.</p> + +<p>"I will try to keep my mind clear and my talk clear; to learn what I want +and what I have a right to want and what I mean to say, so as not to +puzzle and worry people when I grow old, by being vague and helpless and +fussy," she reflected. "I suppose if I don't form the habit now, I sha'n't +be able to then, and it would be dreadful to end by being like poor Mrs. +Watson."</p> + +<p>Altogether, Mrs. Marsh's house had lost its homelike character; and it was +not strange that under the circumstances Phil should flag a little. He was +not ill, but he was out of sorts and dismal, and disposed to consider the +presence of so many strangers as a personal wrong. Clover felt that it was +not a good atmosphere for him, and anxiously revolved in her mind what was +best to do. The Shoshone was much too expensive; good boarding-houses in +St. Helen's were few and far between, and all of them shared in a still +greater degree the disadvantages which had made themselves felt at Mrs. +Marsh's.</p> + +<p>The solution to her puzzle came—as solutions often do—unexpectedly. She +was walking down Piute Street on her way to call on Alice Blanchard, when +her attention was attracted to a small, shut-up house, on which was a +sign: "No. 13. To Let, Furnished." The sign was not printed, but written +on a half-sheet of foolscap, which was what led Clover to notice it.</p> + +<p>She studied the house a while, then opened the gate, and went in. Two or +three steps led to a little piazza. She seated herself on the top step, +and tried to peep in at the closed blinds of the nearest window.</p> + +<p>While she was doing so, a woman with a shawl over her head came hastily +down a narrow side street or alley, and approached her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, did you want the key?" she said.</p> + +<p>"The key?" replied Clover, surprised; "of this house, do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Mis Starkey left it with me when she went away, because, she said, +it was handy, and I could give it to anybody who wished to look at the +place. You're the first that has come; so when I see you setting here, I +just ran over. Did Mr. Beloit send you?"</p> + +<p>"No; nobody sent me. Is it Mr. Beloit who has the letting of the house?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; but I can let folks in. I told Mis Starkey I'd air and dust a little +now and then, if it wasn't took. Poor soul! she was anxious enough about +it; and it all had to be done on a sudden, and she in such a heap of +trouble that she didn't know which way to turn. It was just lock-up and +go!"</p> + +<p>"Tell me about her," said Clover, making room on the step for the woman to +sit down.</p> + +<p>"Well, she come out last year with her man, who had lung trouble, and he +wasn't no better at first, and then he seemed to pick up for a while; and +they took this house and fixed themselves to stay for a year, at least. +They made it real nice, too, and slicked up considerable. Mis Starkey +said, said she, 'I don't want to spend no more money on it than I can +help, but Mr. Starkey must be made comfortable,' says she, them was her +very words. He used to set out on this stoop all day long in the summer, +and she alongside him, except when she had to be indoors doing the work. +She didn't keep no regular help. I did the washing for her, and come in +now and then for a day to clean; so she managed very well.</p> + +<p>"Then,—Wednesday before last, it was,—he had a bleeding, and sank away +like all in a minute, and was gone before the doctor could be had. Mis +Starkey was all stunned like with the shock of it; and before she had got +her mind cleared up so's to order about anything, come a telegraph to say +her son was down with diphtheria, and his wife with a young baby, and both +was very low. And between one and the other she was pretty near out of her +wits. We packed her up as quick as we could, and he was sent off by +express; and she says to me, 'Mis Kenny, you see how 't is. I've got this +house on my hands till May. There's no time to see to anything, and I've +got no heart to care; but if any one'll take it for the winter, well and +good; and I'll leave the sheets and table-cloths and everything in it, +because it may make a difference, and I don't mind about them nohow. And +if no one does take it, I'll just have to bear the loss,' says she. Poor +soul! she was in a world of trouble, surely."</p> + +<p>"Do you know what rent she asks for the house?" said Clover, in whose mind +a vague plan was beginning to take shape.</p> + +<p>"Twenty-five a month was what she paid; and she said she'd throw the +furniture in for the rest of the time, just to get rid of the rent."</p> + +<p>Clover reflected. Twenty-five dollars a week was what they were paying at +Mrs. Marsh's. Could they take this house and live on the same sum, after +deducting the rent, and perhaps get this good-natured-looking woman to +come in for a certain number of hours and help do the work? She almost +fancied that they could if they kept no regular servant.</p> + +<p>"I think I <i>would</i> like to see the house," she said at last, after a +silent calculation and a scrutinizing look at Mrs. Kenny, who was a faded, +wiry, but withal kindly-looking person, shrewd and clean,—a North of +Ireland Protestant, as she afterward told Clover. In fact, her accent was +rather Scotch than Irish.</p> + +<p>They went in. The front door opened into a minute hall, from which another +door led into a back hall with a staircase. There was a tiny sitting-room, +an equally tiny dining-room, a small kitchen, and above, two bedrooms and +a sort of unplastered space, which would answer to put trunks in. That was +all, save a little woodshed. Everything was bare and scanty and rather +particularly ugly. The sitting-room had a frightful paper of mingled +mustard and molasses tint, and a matted floor; but there was a good-sized +open fireplace for the burning of wood, in which two bricks did duty for +andirons, three or four splint and cane bottomed chairs, a lounge, and a +table, while the pipe of the large "Morning-glory" stove in the +dining-room expanded into a sort of drum in the chamber above. This +secured a warm sleeping place for Phil. Clover began to think that they +could make it do.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Kenny, who evidently considered the house as a wonder of luxury and +convenience, opened various cupboards, and pointed admiringly to the glass +and china, the kitchen tins and utensils, and the cotton sheets and +pillow-cases which they respectively held.</p> + +<p>"There's water laid on," she said; "you don't have to pump any. Here's +the washtubs in the shed. That's a real nice tin boiler for the +clothes,—I never see a nicer. Mis Starkey had that heater in the +dining-room set the very week before she went away. 'Winter's coming on,' +she says, 'and I must see about keeping my husband warm;' never thinking, +poor thing, how 't was to be."</p> + +<p>"Does this chimney draw?" asked the practical Clover; "and does the +kitchen stove bake well?"</p> + +<p>"First-rate. I've seen Mis Starkey take her biscuits out many a time,—as +nice a brown as ever you'd want; and the chimney don't smoke a mite. They +kep' a wood fire here in May most all the time, so I know."</p> + +<p>Clover thought the matter over for a day or two, consulted with Dr. Hope, +and finally decided to try the experiment. No. 13 was taken, and Mrs. +Kenny engaged for two days' work each week, with such other occasional +assistance as Clover might require. She was a widow, it seemed, with one +son, who, being employed on the railroad, only came home for the nights. +She was glad of a regular engagement, and proved an excellent stand-by and +a great help to Clover, to whom she had taken a fancy from the start; and +many were the good turns which she did for love rather than hire for "my +little Miss," as she called her.</p> + +<p>To Phil the plan seemed altogether delightful. This was natural, as all +the fun fell to his share and none of the trouble; a fact of which Mrs. +Hope occasionally reminded him. Clover persisted, however, that it was all +fair, and that she got lots of fun out of it too, and didn't mind the +trouble. The house was so absurdly small that it seemed to strike every +one as a good joke; and Clover's friends set themselves to help in the +preparations, as if the establishment in Piute Street were a kind of +baby-house about which they could amuse themselves at will.</p> + +<p>It is a temptation always to make a house pretty, but Clover felt herself +on honor to spend no more than was necessary. Papa had trusted her, and +she was resolved to justify his trust. So she bravely withstood her +desire for several things which would have been great improvements so far +as looks went, and confined her purchases to articles of clear +necessity,—extra blankets, a bedside carpet for Phil's room, and a +chafing-dish over which she could prepare little impromptu dishes, and so +save fuel and fatigue. She allowed herself some cheap Madras curtains for +the parlor, and a few yards of deep-red flannel to cover sundry shelves +and corner brackets which Geoffrey Templestowe, who had a turn for +carpentry, put up for her. Various loans and gifts, too, appeared from +friendly attics and store-rooms to help out. Mrs. Hope hunted up some old +iron firedogs and a pair of bellows, Poppy contributed a pair of +brass-knobbed tongs, and Mrs. Marsh lent her a lamp. No. 13 began to look +attractive.</p> + +<p>They were nearly ready, but not yet moved in, when one day as Clover stood +in the queer little parlor, contemplating the effect of Geoff's last +effort,—an extra pine shelf above the narrow mantel-shelf,—a pair of +arms stole round her waist, and a cheek which had a sweet familiarity +about it was pressed against hers. She turned, and gave a great shriek of +amazement and joy, for it was her sister Katy's arms that held her. +Beyond, in the doorway, were Mrs. Ashe and Amy, with Phil between them.</p> + +<p>"Is it you; is it really you?" cried Clover, laughing and sobbing all at +once in her happy excitement. "How did it happen? I never knew that you +were coming."</p> + +<p>"Neither did we; it all happened suddenly," explained Katy. "The ship was +ordered to New York on three days' notice, and as soon as Ned sailed, +Polly and I made haste to follow. There would have been just time to get a +letter here if we had written at once, but I had the fancy to give you a +surprise."</p> + +<p>"Oh, it is <i>such</i> a nice surprise! But when did you come, and where are +you?"</p> + +<p>"At the Shoshone House,—at least our bags are there; but we only stayed a +minute, we were in such a hurry to get to you. We went to Mrs. Marsh's +and found Phil, who brought us here. Have you really taken this funny +little house, as Phil tells us?"</p> + +<p>"We really have. Oh, what a comfort it will be to tell you all about it, +and have you say if I have done right! Dear, dear Katy, I feel as if home +had just arrived by train. And Polly, too! You all look so well, and as if +California had agreed with you. Amy has grown so that I should scarcely +have known her."</p> + +<p>Four delightful days followed. Katy flung herself into all Clover's plans +with the full warmth of sisterly interest; and though the Hopes and other +kind friends made many hospitable overtures, and would gladly have turned +her short visit into a continuous <i>fête</i>, she persisted in keeping the +main part of her time free. She must see a little of St. Helen's, she +declared, so as to be able to tell her father about it, and she must help +Clover to get to housekeeping,—these were the important things, and +nothing else must interfere with them.</p> + +<p>Most effectual assistance did she render in the way of unpacking and +arranging. More than that, one day, when Clover, rather to her own +disgust, had been made to go with Polly and Amy to Denver while Katy +stayed behind, lo! on her return, a transformation had taken place, and +the ugly paper in the parlor of No. 13 was found replaced with one of +warm, sunny gold-brown.</p> + +<p>"Oh, why did you?" cried Clover. "It's only for a few months, and the +other would have answered perfectly well. Why did you, Katy?"</p> + +<p>"I suppose it <i>was</i> foolish," Katy admitted; "but somehow I couldn't bear +to have you sitting opposite that deplorable mustard-colored thing all +winter long. And really and truly it hardly cost anything. It was a +remnant reduced to ten cents a roll,—the whole thing was less than four +dollars. You can call it your Christmas present from me, if you like, and +I shall 'play' besides that the other paper had arsenic in it; I'm sure it +looked as if it had, and corrosive sublimate, too."</p> + +<p>Clover laughed outright. It was so funny to hear Katy's fertility of +excuse.</p> + +<p>"You dear, ridiculous darling!" she said, giving her sister a good hug; +"it was just like you, and though I scold I am perfectly delighted. I did +hate that paper with all my heart, and this is lovely. It makes the room +look like a different thing."</p> + +<p>Other benefactions followed. Polly, it appeared, had bought more Indian +curiosities in Denver than she knew what to do with, and begged permission +to leave a big bear-skin and two wolf-skins with Clover for the winter, +and a splendid striped Navajo blanket as a portière to keep off draughts +from the entry. Katy had set herself up in California blankets while they +were in San Francisco, and she now insisted on leaving a pair behind, and +loaning Clover besides one of two beautiful Japanese silk pictures which +Ned had given her, and which made a fine spot of color on the pretty new +wall. There were presents in her trunks for all at home, and Ned had sent +Clover a beautiful lacquered box.</p> + +<p>Somehow Clover seemed like a new and doubly-interesting Clover to Katy. +She was struck by the self-reliance which had grown upon her, by her +bright ways and the capacity and judgment which all her arrangements +exhibited; and she listened with delight to Mrs. Hope's praises of her +sister.</p> + +<p>"She really is a wonderful little creature; so wise and judgmatical, and +yet so pretty and full of fun. People are quite cracked about her out +here. I don't think you'll ever get her back at the East again, Mrs. +Worthington. There seems a strong determination on the part of several +persons to keep her here."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>But Mrs. Hope, who believed in the old proverb about not addling eggs by +meddling with them prematurely, refused to say another word. Clover, when +questioned, "could not imagine what Mrs. Hope meant;" and Katy had to go +away with her curiosity unsatisfied. Clarence came in once while she was +there, but she did not see Mr. Templestowe.</p> + +<p>Katy's last gift to Clover was a pretty tea-pot of Japanese ware. "I meant +it for Cecy," she explained. "But as you have none I'll give it to you +instead, and take her the fan I meant for you. It seems more appropriate."</p> + +<p>Phil and Clover moved into No. 13 the day before the Eastern party left, +so as to be able to celebrate the occasion by having them all to an +impromptu house-warming. There was not much to eat, and things were still +a little unsettled; but Clover scrambled some eggs on her little blazer +for them, the newly-lit fire burned cheerfully, and a good deal of quiet +fun went on about it. Amy was so charmed with the minute establishment +that she declared she meant to have one exactly like it for Mabel whenever +she got married.</p> + +<p>"And a spirit-lamp, too, just like Clover's, and a cunning, teeny-weeny +kitchen and a stove to boil things on. Mamma, when shall I be old enough +to have a house all of my own?"</p> + +<p>"Not till you are tired of playing with dolls, I am afraid."</p> + +<p>"Well, that will be never. If I thought I ever could be tired of Mabel, I +should be so ashamed of myself that I should not know what to do. You +oughtn't to say such things, Mamma; she might hear you, too, and have her +feelings hurt. And please don't call her <i>that</i>," said Amy, who had as +strong an objection to the word "doll" as mice are said to have to the +word "cat."</p> + +<p>Next morning the dear home people proceeded on their way, and Clover fell +to work resolutely on her housekeeping, glad to keep busy, for she had a +little fear of being homesick for Katy. Every small odd and end that she +had brought with her from Burnet came into play now. The photographs were +pinned on the wall, the few books and ornaments took their places on the +extemporized shelves and on the table, which, thanks to Mrs. Hope, was no +longer bare, but hidden by a big square of red canton flannel. There was +almost always a little bunch of flowers from the Wade greenhouses, which +were supposed to come from Mrs. Wade; and altogether the effect was cosey, +and the little interior looked absolutely pretty, though the result was +attained by such very simple means.</p> + +<p>Phil thought it heavenly to be by themselves and out of the reach of +strangers. Everything tasted delicious; all the arrangements pleased him; +never was boy so easily suited as he for those first few weeks at No. 13.</p> + +<p>"You're awfully good to me, Clover," he said one night rather suddenly, +from the depths of his rocking-chair.</p> + +<p>The remark was so little in Phil's line that it quite made her jump.</p> + +<p>"Why, Phil, what made you say that?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't know. I was thinking about it. We used to call Katy the +nicest, but you're just as good as she is. [This Clover justly considered +a tremendous compliment.] You always make a fellow feel like home, as +Geoff Templestowe says."</p> + +<p>"Did Geoff say that?" with a warm sense of gladness at her heart. "How +nice of him! What made him say it?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't know; it was up in the canyon one day when we got to +talking," replied Phil. "There are no flies on you, he considers. I asked +him once if he didn't think Miss Chase pretty, and he said not half so +pretty as you were."</p> + +<p>"Really! You seem to have been very confidential. And what is that about +flies? Phil, Phil, you really mustn't use such slang."</p> + +<p>"I suppose it is slang; but it's an awfully nice expression anyway."</p> + +<p>"But what <i>does</i> it mean?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, you must see just by the sound of it what it means,—that there's no +nonsense sticking out all over you like some of the girls. It's a great +compliment!"</p> + +<p>"Is it? Well, I'm glad to know. But Mr. Templestowe never used such a +phrase, I'm sure."</p> + +<p>"No, he didn't," admitted Phil; "but that's what he meant."</p> + +<p>So the winter drew on,—the strange, beautiful Colorado winter,—with +weeks of golden sunshine broken by occasional storms of wind and sand, or +by skurries of snow which made the plains white for a few hours and then +vanished, leaving them dry and firm as before. The nights were often +cold,—so cold that comfortables and blankets seemed all too few, and +Clover roused with a shiver to think that presently it would be her duty +to get up and start the fires so that Phil might find a warm house when he +came downstairs. Then, before she knew it, fires would seem oppressive; +first one window and then another would be thrown up, and Phil would be +sitting on the piazza in the balmy sunshine as comfortable as on a June +morning at home. It was a wonderful climate; and as Clover wrote her +father, the winter was better even than the summer, and was certainly +doing Phil more good. He was able to spend hours every day in the open +air, walking, or riding Dr. Hope's horse, and improved steadily. Clover +felt very happy about him.</p> + +<p>This early rising and fire-making were the hardest things she had to +encounter, though all the housekeeping proved more onerous than, in her +inexperience, she had expected it to be. After the first week or two, +however, she managed very well, and gradually learned the little +labor-saving ways which can only be learned by actual experiment. Getting +breakfast and tea she enjoyed, for they could be chiefly managed by the +use of the chafing-dish. Dinners were more difficult, till she hit on the +happy idea of having Mrs. Kenny roast a big piece of beef or mutton, or a +pair of fowls every Monday. These <i>pièces de résistance</i> in their +different stages of hot, cold, and warmed over, carried them well along +through the week, and, supplemented with an occasional chop or steak, +served very well. Fairly good soups could be bought in tins, which needed +only to be seasoned and heated for use on table. Oysters were easily +procurable there, as everywhere in the West; good brown-bread and rolls +came from the bakery; and Clover developed a hitherto dormant talent for +cookery and the making of Graham gems, corn-dodgers, hoe-cakes baked on a +barrel head before the parlor fire, and wonderful little flaky biscuits +raised all in a minute with Royal Baking Powder.</p> + +<p>She also became expert in that other fine art of condensing work, and +making it move in easy grooves. Her tea things she washed with her +breakfast things, just setting the cups and plates in the sink for the +night, pouring a dipper full of boiling water over them. There was no +silver to care for, no delicate glass or valuable china; the very +simplicity of apparatus made the house an easy one to keep. Clover was +kept busy, for simplify as you will, providing for the daily needs of two +persons does take time; but she liked her cares and rarely felt tired. The +elastic and vigorous air seemed to build up her forces from moment to +moment, and each day's fatigues were more than repaired by each night's +rest, which is the balance of true health in living.</p> + +<p>Little pleasures came from time to time. Christmas Day they spent with +the Hopes, who from first to last proved the kindest and most helpful of +friends to them. The young men from the High Valley were there also, and +the day was brightly kept,—from the home letters by the early mail to the +grand merry-making and dance with which it wound up. Everybody had some +little present for everybody else. Mrs. Wade sent Clover a tall +india-rubber plant in a china pot, which made a spire of green in the +south window for the rest of the winter; and Clover had spent many odd +moments and stitches in the fabrication of a gorgeous Mexican-worked +sideboard cloth for the Hopes.</p> + +<p>But of all Clover's offerings the one which pleased her most, as showing a +close observation of her needs, came from Geoff Templestowe. It was a +prosaic gift, being a wagon-load of piñon wood for the fire; but the +gnarled, oddly twisted sticks were heaped high with pine boughs and long +trails of red-fruited kinnikinnick to serve as a Christmas dressing, and +somehow the gift gave Clover a peculiar pleasure.</p> + +<p>"How dear of him!" she thought, lifting one of the big piñon logs with a +gentle touch; "and how like him to think of it! I wonder what makes him so +different from other people. He never says fine flourishing things like +Thurber Wade, or abrupt, rather rude things like Clarence, or +inconsiderate things like Phil, or satirical, funny things like the +doctor; but he's always doing something kind. He's a little bit like papa, +I think; and yet I don't know. I wish Katy could have seen him."</p> + +<p>Life at St. Helen's in the winter season is never dull; but the gayest +fortnight of all was when, late in January, the High Valley partners +deserted their duties and came in for a visit to the Hopes. All sorts of +small festivities had been saved for this special fortnight, and among the +rest, Clover and Phil gave a party.</p> + +<p>"If you can squeeze into the dining-room, and if you can do with just +cream-toast for tea," she explained, "it would be such fun to have you +come. I can't give you anything to eat to speak of, because I haven't any +cook, you know; but you can all eat a great deal of dinner, and then you +won't starve."</p> + +<p>Thurber Wade, the Hopes, Clarence, Geoff, Marian, and Alice made a party +of nine, and it was hard work indeed to squeeze so many into the tiny +dining-room of No. 13. The very difficulties, however, made it all the +jollier. Clover's cream-toast,—which she prepared before their eyes on +the blazer,—her little tarts made of crackers split, buttered, and +toasted brown with a spoonful of raspberry jam in each, and the big loaf +of hot ginger-bread to be eaten with thick cream from the High Valley, +were pronounced each in its way to be absolute perfection. Clarence and +Phil kindly volunteered to "shunt the dishes" into the kitchen after the +repast was concluded; and they gathered round the fire to play "twenty +questions" and "stage-coach," and all manner of what Clover called +"lead-pencil games,"—"crambo" and "criticism" and "anagrams" and +"consequences." There was immense laughter over some of these, as, for +instance, when Dr. Hope was reported as having met Mrs. Watson in the +North Cheyenne Canyon, and he said that knowledge is power; and she, that +when larks flew round ready roasted poor folks could stick a fork in; and +the consequence was that they eloped together to a Cannibal Island where +each suffered a process of disillusionation, and the world said it was the +natural result of osculation. This last sentence was Phil's, and I fear he +had peeped a little, or his context would not have been so apropos; but +altogether the "cream-toast swarry," as he called it, was a pronounced +success.</p> + +<p>It was not long after this that a mysterious little cloud of difference +seemed to fall on Thurber Wade. He ceased to call at No. 13, or to bring +flowers from his mother; and by-and-by it was learned that he had started +for a visit to the East. No one knew what had caused these phenomena, +though some people may have suspected. Later it was announced that he was +in Chicago and very attentive to a pretty Miss Somebody whose father had +made a great deal of money in Standard oil. Poppy arched her brows and +made great amused eyes at Clover, trying to entangle her into admissions +as to this or that, and Clarence experimented in the same direction; but +Clover was innocently impervious to these efforts, and no one ever knew +what had happened between her and Thurber,—if, indeed, anything had +happened.</p> + +<p>So May came to St. Helen's in due course, of time. The sand-storms and the +snow-storms were things of the past, the tawny yellow of the plains began +to flush with green, and every day the sun grew more warm and beautiful. +Phil seemed perfectly well and sound now; their occupancy of No. 13 was +drawing to a close; and Clover, as she reflected that Colorado would soon +be a thing of the past, and must be left behind, was sensible of a little +sinking of the heart even though she and Phil were going home.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<h3>THE LAST OF THE CLOVER-LEAVES.</h3> + + +<div class="figleft"> +<img alt="L" src="./images/c11.png" title="L" /></div> <p>ast days are very apt to be hard days. As the time drew near for quitting +No. 13, Clover was conscious of a growing reluctance.</p> + +<p>"I wonder why it is that I mind it so much?" she asked herself. "Phil has +got well here, to be sure; that would be enough of itself to make me fond +of the place, and we have had a happy winter in this little house. But +still, papa, Elsie, John,—it seems very queer that I am not gladder to go +back to them. I can't account for it. It isn't natural, and it seems wrong +in me."</p> + +<p>It was a rainy afternoon in which Clover made these reflections. Phil, +weary of being shut indoors, had donned ulster and overshoes, and gone up +to make a call on Mrs. Hope. Clover was quite alone in the house, as she +sat with her mending-basket beside the fireplace, in which was burning the +last but three of the piñon logs,—Geoff Templestowe's Christmas present.</p> + +<p>"They will just last us out," reflected Clover; "what a comfort they have +been! I would like to carry the very last of them home with me, and keep +it to look at; but I suppose it would be silly."</p> + +<p>She looked about the little room. Nothing as yet had been moved or +disturbed, though the next week would bring their term of occupancy to a +close.</p> + +<p>"This is a good evening to begin to take things down and pack them," she +thought. "No one is likely to come in, and Phil is away."</p> + +<p>She rose from her chair, moved restlessly to and fro, and at last leaned +forward and unpinned a corner of one of the photographs on the wall. She +stood for a moment irresolutely with the pin in her fingers, then she +jammed it determinedly back into the photograph again, and returned to +her sewing. I almost think there were tears in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"No," she said half aloud, "I won't spoil it yet. We'll have one more +pleasant night with everything just as it is, and then I'll go to work and +pull all to pieces at once. It's the easiest way."</p> + +<p>Just then a foot sounded on the steps, and a knock was heard. Clover +opened the door, and gave an exclamation of pleasure. It was Geoffrey +Templestowe, splashed and wet from a muddy ride down the pass, but wearing +a very bright face.</p> + +<p>"How nice and unexpected this is!" was Clover's greeting. "It is such a +bad day that I didn't suppose you or Clarence could possibly get in. Come +to the fire and warm yourself. Is he here too?"</p> + +<p>"No; he is out at the ranch. I came in to meet a man on business; but it +seems there's a wash-out somewhere between here and Santa Fé, and my man +telegraphs that he can't get through till to-morrow noon."</p> + +<p>"So you will spend the night in town."</p> + +<p>"Yes. I took Marigold to the stable, and spoke to Mrs. Marsh about a room, +and then I walked up to see you and Phil. How is he, by the way?"</p> + +<p>"Quite well. I never saw him so strong or so jolly. Papa will hardly +believe his eyes when we get back. He has gone up to the Hopes, but will +be in presently. You'll stay and take tea with us, of course."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, if you will have me; I was hoping to be asked."</p> + +<p>"Oh, we're only too glad to have you. Our time here is getting so short +that we want to make the very most of all our friends; and by good luck +there is a can of oysters in the house, so I can give you something hot."</p> + +<p>"Do you really go so soon?"</p> + +<p>"Our lease is out next week, you know."</p> + +<p>"Really; so soon as that?"</p> + +<p>"It isn't soon. We have lived here nearly eight months."</p> + +<p>"What a good time we have all had in this little house!" cried Geoff, +regretfully. "It has been a sort of warm little centre to us homeless +people all winter."</p> + +<p>"You don't count yourself among the homeless ones, I hope, with such a +pleasant place as the High Valley to live in."</p> + +<p>"Oh, the hut is all very well in its way, of course; but I don't look at +it as a home exactly. It answers to eat and sleep in, and for a shelter +when it rains; but you can't make much more of it than that. The only time +it ever seemed home-like in the least was when you and Mrs. Hope were +there. That week spoiled it for me for all time."</p> + +<p>"That's a pity, if it's true, but I hope it isn't. It was a delightful +week, though; and I think you do the valley an injustice. It's a beautiful +place. Now, if you will excuse me, I am going to get supper."</p> + +<p>"Let me help you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, there is almost nothing to do. I'd much rather you would sit still +and rest. You are tired from your ride, I'm sure; and if you don't mind, +I'll bring my blazer and cook the oysters here by the fire. I always did +like to 'kitch in the dining-room,' as Mrs. Whitney calls it."</p> + +<p>Clover had set the tea-table before she sat down to sew, so there really +was almost nothing to do. Geoff lay back in his chair and looked on with a +sort of dreamy pleasure as she went lightly to and fro, making her +arrangements, which, simple as they were, had a certain dainty quality +about them which seemed peculiar to all that Clover did,—twisted a trail +of kinnikinnick about the butter-plate, laid a garnish of fresh parsley on +the slices of cold beef, and set a glass full of wild crocuses in the +middle of the table. Then she returned to the parlor, put the kettle, +which had already begun to sing, on the fire, and began to stir and season +her oysters, which presently sent out a savory smell.</p> + +<p>"I have learned six ways of cooking oysters this winter," she announced +gleefully. "This is a dry-pan-roast. I wonder if you'll approve of it. And +I wonder why Phil doesn't come. I wish he would make haste, for these are +nearly done."</p> + +<p>"There he is now," remarked Geoff.</p> + +<p>But instead it was Dr. Hope's office-boy with a note.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>DEAR C.,—Mrs. Hope wants me for a fourth hand at whist, so I'm + staying, if you don't mind. She says if it didn't pour so she'd + ask you to come too. P.</p></div> + +<p>"Well, I'm glad," said Clover. "It's been a dull day for him, and now +he'll have a pleasant evening, only he'll miss you."</p> + +<p>"I call it very inconsiderate of the little scamp," observed Geoff. "He +doesn't know but that he's leaving you to spend the evening quite alone."</p> + +<p>"Oh, boys don't think of things like that."</p> + +<p>"Boys ought to, then. However, I can stand his absence, if you can!"</p> + +<p>It was a very merry little meal to which they presently sat down, full of +the charm which the unexpected brings with it. Clover had grown to regard +Geoff as one of her very best friends, and was perfectly at her ease with +him, while to him, poor lonely fellow, such a glimpse of cosey home-life +was like a peep at Paradise. He prolonged the pleasure as much as +possible, ate each oyster slowly, descanting on its flavor, and drank more +cups of tea than were at all good for him, for the pleasure of having +Clover pour them out. He made no further offers of help when supper was +ended, but looked on with fascinated eyes as she cleared away and made +things tidy.</p> + +<p>At last she finished and came back to the fire. There was a silence. Geoff +was first to break it. "It would seem like a prison to you, I am afraid," +he said abruptly.</p> + +<p>"What would?"</p> + +<p>"I was thinking of what you said about the High Valley."</p> + +<p>"Oh!"</p> + +<p>"You've only seen it in summer, you know. It's quite a different place in +the winter. I don't believe a—person—could live on the year round and be +contented."</p> + +<p>"It would depend upon the person, of course."</p> + +<p>"If it were a lady,—yourself, for instance,—could it be made anyway +tolerable, do you think? Of course, one might get away now and then—"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. It's not easy to tell beforehand how people are going to +feel; but I can't imagine the High Valley ever seeming like a prison," +replied Clover, vexed to find herself blushing, and yet unable to help it, +Geoff's manner had such an odd intensity in it.</p> + +<p>"If I were sure that you could realize what it would be—" he began +impetuously; then quieting himself, "but you don't. How could you? Ranch +life is well enough in summer for a short time by way of a frolic; but in +winter and spring with the Upper Canyon full of snow, and the road down +muddy and slippery, and the storms and short days, and the sense of being +shut in and lonely, it would be a dismal place for a lady. Nobody has a +right to expect a woman to undergo such a life."</p> + +<p>Clover absorbed herself in her sewing, she did not speak; but still that +deep uncomfortable blush burned on her cheeks.</p> + +<p>"What do you think?" persisted Geoff. "Wouldn't it be inexcusable +selfishness in a man to ask such a thing?"</p> + +<p>"I think;" said Clover, shyly and softly, "that a man has a right to ask +for whatever he wants, and—" she paused.</p> + +<p>"And—what?" urged Geoff, bending forward.</p> + +<p>"Well, a woman has always the right to say no, if she doesn't want to say +yes."</p> + +<p>"You tempt me awfully," cried Geoff, starting up. "When I think what this +place is going to seem like after you've gone, and what the ranch will be +with all the heart taken from it, and the loneliness made twice as lonely +by comparison, I grow desperate, and feel as if I could not let you go +without at least risking the question. But Clover,—let me call you so +this once,—no woman could consent to such a life unless she cared very +much for a man. Could you ever love me well enough for that, do you +think?"</p> + +<p>"It seems to me a very unfair sort of question to put," said Clover, with +a mischievous glint in her usually soft eyes. "Suppose I said I could, and +then you turned round and remarked that you were ever so sorry that you +couldn't reciprocate my feelings—"</p> + +<p>"Clover," catching her hand, "how can you torment me so? Is it necessary +that I should tell you that I love you with every bit of heart that is in +me, and need you and want you and long for you, but have never dared to +hope that you could want me? Loveliest, sweetest, I do, and I always +shall, whether it is yes or no."</p> + +<p>"Then, Geoff—if you feel like that—if you're quite sure you feel like +that, I think—"</p> + +<p>"What do you think, dearest?"</p> + +<p>"I think—that I could be very happy even in winter—in the High Valley."</p> + +<p>And papa and the children, and the lonely and far-away feelings? There was +never a mention of them in this frank acceptance. Oh, Clover, Clover, +circumstances <i>do</i> alter cases!</p> + +<p>Mrs. Hope's rubber of whist seemed a long one, for Phil did not get home +till a quarter before eleven, by which time the two by the fire had +settled the whole progress of their future lives, while the last logs of +the piñon wood crackled, smouldered, and at length broke apart into +flaming brands. In imagination the little ranch house had thrown out as +many wings and as easily as a newly-hatched dragon-fly, had been +beautified and made convenient in all sorts of ways,—a flower-garden had +sprouted round its base, plenty of room had been made for papa and the +children and Katy and Ned, who were to come out continually for visits in +the long lovely summers; they themselves also were to go to and fro,—to +Burnet, and still farther afield, over seas to the old Devonshire grange +which Geoff remembered so fondly.</p> + +<p>"How my mother and Isabel will delight in you," he said; "and the squire! +You are precisely the girl to take his fancy. We'll go over and see them +as soon as we can, won't we, Clover?"</p> + +<p>Clover listened delightedly to all these schemes, but through them all, +like that young Irish lady who went over the marriage service with her +lover adding at the end of every clause, "Provided my father gives his +consent," she interposed a little running thread of protest,—"If papa is +willing. You know, Geoff, I can't really promise anything till I've talked +with papa."</p> + +<p>It was settled that until Dr. Carr had been consulted, the affair was not +to be called an engagement, or spoken of to any one; only Clover asked +Geoff to tell Clarence all about it at once.</p> + +<p>The thought of Clarence was, in truth, the one cloud in her happiness just +then. It was impossible to calculate how he would take the news. If it +made him angry or very unhappy, if it broke up his friendship with Geoff, +and perhaps interfered with their partnership so that one or other of them +must leave the High Valley, Clover felt that it would grievously mar her +contentment. There was no use in planning anything till they knew how he +would feel and act. In any case, she realized that they were bound to +consider him before themselves, and make it as easy and as little painful +as possible. If he were vexatious, they must be patient; if sulky, they +must be forbearing.</p> + +<p>Phil opened his eyes very wide at the pair sitting so coseyly over the +fire when at last he came in.</p> + +<p>"I say, have <i>you</i> been here all the evening?" he cried. "Well, that's a +sell! I wouldn't have gone out if I'd known."</p> + +<p>"We've missed you very much," quoth Geoff; and then he laughed as at some +extremely good joke, and Clover laughed too.</p> + +<p>"You seem to have kept up your spirits pretty well, considering," remarked +Phil, dryly. Boys of eighteen are not apt to enjoy jokes which do not +originate with themselves; they are suspicious of them.</p> + +<p>"I suppose I must go now," said Geoff, looking at his watch; "but I shall +see you again before I leave. I'll come in to-morrow after I've met my +man."</p> + +<p>"All right," said Phil; "I won't go out till you come."</p> + +<p>"Oh, pray don't feel obliged to stay in. I can't at all tell when I shall +be able to get through with the fellow."</p> + +<p>"Come to dinner if you can," suggested Clover. "Phil is sure to be at home +then."</p> + +<p>Lovers are like ostriches. Geoff went away just shaking hands casually, +and was very particular to say "Miss Carr;" and he and Clover felt that +they had managed so skilfully and concealed their secret so well; yet the +first remark made by Phil as the door shut was, "Geoff seems queer +to-night, somehow, and so do you. What have you been talking about all the +evening?"</p> + +<p>An observant younger brother is a difficult factor in a love affair.</p> + +<p>Two days passed. Clover looked in vain for a note from the High Valley to +say how Clarence had borne the revelation; and she grew more nervous with +every hour. It was absolutely necessary now to dismantle the house, and +she found a certain relief in keeping exceedingly busy. Somehow the +break-up had lost its inexplicable pain, and a glad little voice sang all +the time at her heart, "I shall come back; I shall certainly come back. +Papa will let me, I am sure, when he knows Geoff, and how nice he is."</p> + +<p>She was at the dining-table wrapping a row of books in paper ready for +packing, when a step sounded, and glancing round she saw Clarence himself +standing in the doorway. He did not look angry, as she had feared he +might, or moody; and though he avoided her eye at first, his face was +resolute and kind.</p> + +<p>"Geoff has told me," were his first words. "I know from what he said that +you, and he too, are afraid that I shall make myself disagreeable; so I've +come in to say that I shall do nothing of the kind."</p> + +<p>"Dear Clarence, that wasn't what Geoff meant, or I either," said Clover, +with a rush of relief, and holding out both her hands to him; "what we +were afraid of was that you might be unhappy."</p> + +<p>"Well," in a husky tone, and holding the little hands very tight, "it +isn't easy, of course, to give up a hope. I've held on to mine all this +time, though I've told myself a hundred times that I was a fool for doing +so, and though I knew in my heart it was no use. Now I've had two days to +think it over and get past the first shock, and, Clover, I've decided. You +and Geoff are the best friends I've got in the world. I never seemed to +make friends, somehow. Till you came to Hillsover that time nobody liked +me much; I don't know why. I can't get along without you two; so I give +you up without any hard feeling, and I mean to be as jolly as I can about +it. After all, to have you at the High Valley will be a sort of happiness, +even if you don't come for my sake exactly," with an attempt at a laugh.</p> + +<p>"Clarence, you really are a dear boy! I can't tell you how I thank you, +and how I admire you for being so nice about this."</p> + +<p>"Then that's worth something, too. I'd do a good deal to win your +approval, Clover. So it's all settled. Don't worry about me, or be afraid +that I shall spoil your comfort with sour looks. If I find I can't stand +it, I'll go away for a while; but I don't think it'll come to that. You'll +make a real home out of the ranch house, and you'll let me have my share +of your life, and be a brother to you and Geoff; and I'll try to be a good +one."</p> + +<p>Clover was touched to the heart by these manful words so gently spoken.</p> + +<p>"You shall be our dear special brother always," she said. "Only this was +needed to make me quite happy. I am so glad you don't want to go away and +leave us, or to have us leave you. We'll make the ranch over into the +dearest little home in the world, and be so cosey there all together, and +papa and the others shall come out for visits; and you'll like them so +much, I know, Elsie especially."</p> + +<p>"Does she look like you?"</p> + +<p>"Not a bit; she's ever so much prettier."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe a word of that"</p> + +<p>Clover's heart being thus lightened of its only burden by this treaty of +mutual amity, she proceeded joyously with her packing. Mrs. Hope said she +was not half sorry enough to go away, and Poppy upbraided her as a gay +deceiver without any conscience or affections. She laughed and protested +and denied, but looked so radiantly satisfied the while as to give a fair +color for her friends' accusations, especially as she could not explain +the reasons of her contentment or hint at her hopes of return. Mrs. Hope +probably had her suspicions, for she was rather urgent with Clover to +leave this thing and that for safe keeping "in case you ever come back;" +but Clover declined these offers, and resolutely packed up everything with +a foolish little superstition that it was "better luck" to do so, and that +papa would like it better.</p> + +<p>Quite a little group of friends assembled at the railway station to see +her and Phil set off. They were laden with flowers and fruit and "natural +soda-water" with which to beguile the long journey, and with many good +wishes and affectionate hopes that they might return some day.</p> + +<p>"Something tells me that you will," Mrs. Hope declared. "I feel it in my +bones, and they hardly ever deceive me. My mother had the same kind; it's +in the family."</p> + +<p>"Something tells me that you must," cried Poppy, embracing Clover; "but +I'm afraid it isn't bones or anything prophetic, but only the fact that I +want you to so very much."</p> + +<p>From the midst of these farewells Clover's eyes crossed the valley and +sought out Mount Cheyenne.</p> + +<p>"How differently I should be feeling," she thought, "if this were going +away with no real hope of coming back! I could hardly have borne to look +at you had that been the case, you dear beautiful thing; but I <i>am</i> coming +back to live close beside you always, and oh, how glad I am!"</p> + +<p>"Is that good-by to Cheyenne?" asked Marian, catching the little wave of a +hand.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it <i>is</i> good-by; but I have promised him that it shall soon be +how-do-you-do again. Mount Cheyenne and I understand each other."</p> + +<p>"I know; you have always had a sentimental attachment to that mountain. +Now Pike's Peak is <i>my</i> affinity. We get on beautifully together."</p> + +<p>"Pike's Peak indeed! I am ashamed of you."</p> + +<p>Then the train moved away amid a flutter of handkerchiefs, but still +Clover and Phil were not left to themselves; for Dr. Hope, who had a +consultation in Denver, was to see them safely off in the night express, +and Geoff had some real or invented business which made it necessary for +him to go also.</p> + +<p>Clover carried with her through all the three days' ride the lingering +pressure of Geoff's hand, and his whispered promise to "come on soon." It +made the long way seem short. But when they arrived, amid all the kisses +and rejoicings, the exclamations over Phil's look of health and vigor, the +girls' intense interest in all that she had seen and done, papa's warm +approval of her management, her secret began to burn guiltily within her. +What <i>would</i> they all say when they knew?</p> + +<p>And what did they say? I think few of you will be at a loss to guess. +Life—real life as well as life in story-books—is full of such shocks and +surprises. They are half happy, half unhappy; but they have to be borne. +Younger sisters, till their own turns come, are apt to take a severe view +of marriage plans, and to feel that they cruelly interrupt a past order of +things which, so far as they are concerned, need no improvement. And +parents, who say less and understand better, suffer, perhaps, more. "To +bear, to rear, to lose," is the order of family history, generally +unexpected, always recurring.</p> + +<p>But true love is not selfish. In time it accustoms itself to anything +which secures happiness for its object. Dr. Carr did confide to Katy in a +moment of private explosion that he wished the Great West had never been +invented, and that such a prohibitory tax could be laid upon young +Englishmen as to make it impossible that another one should ever be landed +on our shores; but he had never in his life refused Clover anything upon +which she had set her heart, and he saw in her eyes that her heart was +very much set on this. John and Elsie scolded and cried, and then in time +began to talk of their future visits to High Valley till they grew to +anticipate them, and be rather in a hurry for them to begin. Geoff's +arrival completed their conversion.</p> + +<p>"Nicer than Ned," Johnnie pronounced him; and even Dr. Carr was forced to +confess that the sons-in-law with which Fate had provided him were of a +superior sort; only he wished that they didn't want to marry <i>his</i> girls!</p> + +<p>Phil, from first to last, was in favor of the plan, and a firm ally to the +lovers. He had grown extremely Western in his ideas, and was persuaded in +his mind that "this old East," as he termed it, with its puny +possibilities, did not amount to much, and that as soon as he was old +enough to shape his own destinies, he should return to the only section of +the country worthy the attention of a young man of parts. Meanwhile, he +was perfectly well again, and willing to comply with his father's desire +that before he made any positive arrangements for his future, he should +get a sound and thorough education.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"So you are actually going out to the wild and barbarous West, + to live on a ranch, milk cows, chase the wild buffalo to its + lair, and hold the tiger-cat by its favorite forelock," wrote + Rose Red. "What was that you were saying only the other day + about nice convenient husbands, who cruise off for 'good long + times,' and leave their wives comfortably at home with their own + families? And here you are planning to marry a man who, whenever + he isn't galloping after cattle, will be in your pocket at home! + Oh, Clover, Clover, how inconsistent a thing is woman,—not to + say girl,—and what havoc that queer deity named Cupid does make + with preconceived opinions! I did think I could rely on you; but + you are just as bad as the rest of us, and when a lad whistles, + go off after him wherever he happens to lead, and think it the + best thing possible to do so. It's a mad world, my masters; and + I'm thankful that Roslein is only four and a half years old."</p></div> + +<p>And Clover's answer was one line on a postal card,—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Guilty, but recommended to mercy!"</p></div> + +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CLOVER***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 15798-h.txt or 15798-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/7/9/15798">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/7/9/15798</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution.</p> + + + +<pre> +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +<a href="https://gutenberg.org/license">https://gutenberg.org/license)</a>. + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS,' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: +https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's +eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII, +compressed (zipped), HTML and others. + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over +the old filename and etext number. The replaced older file is renamed. +VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving +new filenames and etext numbers. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">https://www.gutenberg.org</a> + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000, +are filed in directories based on their release date. If you want to +download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular +search system you may utilize the following addresses and just +download by the etext year. + +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/">https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/</a> + + (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, + 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90) + +EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are +filed in a different way. The year of a release date is no longer part +of the directory path. The path is based on the etext number (which is +identical to the filename). The path to the file is made up of single +digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename. For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL">https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL</a> + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** +</pre> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/15798-h/images/155-tb.png b/15798-h/images/155-tb.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..30c5454 --- /dev/null +++ b/15798-h/images/155-tb.png diff --git a/15798-h/images/23-tb.png b/15798-h/images/23-tb.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..714066f --- /dev/null +++ b/15798-h/images/23-tb.png diff --git a/15798-h/images/67-tb.png b/15798-h/images/67-tb.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e560564 --- /dev/null +++ b/15798-h/images/67-tb.png diff --git a/15798-h/images/c1.png b/15798-h/images/c1.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f3701fe --- /dev/null +++ b/15798-h/images/c1.png diff --git a/15798-h/images/c10.png b/15798-h/images/c10.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..161b2ad --- /dev/null +++ b/15798-h/images/c10.png diff --git a/15798-h/images/c11.png b/15798-h/images/c11.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..357948b --- /dev/null +++ b/15798-h/images/c11.png diff --git a/15798-h/images/c2.png b/15798-h/images/c2.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5712e0f --- /dev/null +++ b/15798-h/images/c2.png diff --git a/15798-h/images/c3.png b/15798-h/images/c3.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ad44ab3 --- /dev/null +++ b/15798-h/images/c3.png diff --git a/15798-h/images/c4.png b/15798-h/images/c4.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a3e05e9 --- /dev/null +++ b/15798-h/images/c4.png diff --git a/15798-h/images/c5.png b/15798-h/images/c5.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..12d1475 --- /dev/null +++ b/15798-h/images/c5.png diff --git a/15798-h/images/c6.png b/15798-h/images/c6.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..80e5047 --- /dev/null +++ b/15798-h/images/c6.png diff --git a/15798-h/images/c7.png b/15798-h/images/c7.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8829016 --- /dev/null +++ b/15798-h/images/c7.png diff --git a/15798-h/images/c8.png b/15798-h/images/c8.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..587caa3 --- /dev/null +++ b/15798-h/images/c8.png diff --git a/15798-h/images/c9.png b/15798-h/images/c9.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c9289a9 --- /dev/null +++ b/15798-h/images/c9.png diff --git a/15798.txt b/15798.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9e4d8b3 --- /dev/null +++ b/15798.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5942 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Clover, by Susan Coolidge, Illustrated by +Jessie McDermot + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Clover + + +Author: Susan Coolidge + +Release Date: May 8, 2005 [eBook #15798] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CLOVER*** + + +E-text prepared by Rose Koven, Juliet Sutherland, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 15798-h.htm or 15798-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/7/9/15798/15798-h/15798-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/7/9/15798/15798-h.zip) + + + + + +CLOVER + +by + +SUSAN COOLIDGE + +Author of "What Katy Did," "Mischief's Thanksgiving," +"Nine Little Goslings," etc. + +Illustrated by JESSIE McDERMOT + +Boston +Little, Brown, and Company +Alfred Mudge & Son, Inc., Printers, +Boston, Mass., U.S.A. + +1907 + + + + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + I. A TALK ON THE DOORSTEPS + + II. THE DAY OF HAPPY LETTERS + + III. THE FIRST WEDDING IN THE FAMILY + + IV. TWO LONG YEARS IN ONE SHORT CHAPTER + + V. CAR FORTY-SEVEN + + VI. ST. HELEN'S + + VII. MAKING ACQUAINTANCE + +VIII. HIGH VALLEY + + IX. OVER A PASS + + X. NO. 13 PIUTE STREET + + XI. THE LAST OF THE CLOVER-LEAVES + + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +A TALK ON THE DOORSTEPS. + + +It was one of those afternoons in late April which are as mild and balmy +as any June day. The air was full of the chirps and twitters of +nest-building birds, and of sweet indefinable odors from half-developed +leaf-buds and cherry and pear blossoms. The wisterias overhead were +thickly starred with pointed pearl-colored sacs, growing purpler with each +hour, which would be flowers before long; the hedges were quickening into +life, the long pensile willow-boughs and the honey-locusts hung in a mist +of fine green against the sky, and delicious smells came with every puff +of wind from the bed of white violets under the parlor windows. + +Katy and Clover Carr, sitting with their sewing on the door-steps, drew in +with every breath the sense of spring. Who does not know the +delightfulness of that first sitting out of doors after a long winter's +confinement? It seems like flinging the gauntlet down to the powers of +cold. Hope and renovation are in the air. Life has conquered Death, and to +the happy hearts in love with life there is joy in the victory. The two +sisters talked busily as they sewed, but all the time an only +half-conscious rapture informed their senses,--the sympathy of that which +is immortal in human souls with the resurrection of natural things, which +is the sure pledge of immortality. + +It was nearly a year since Katy had come back from that too brief journey +to Europe with Mrs. Ashe and Amy, about which some of you have read, and +many things of interest to the Carr family had happened during the +interval. The "Natchitoches" had duly arrived in New York in October, and +presently afterward Burnet was convulsed by the appearance of a tall young +fellow in naval uniform, and the announcement of Katy's engagement to +Lieutenant Worthington. + +It was a piece of news which interested everybody in the little town, for +Dr. Carr was a universal friend and favorite. For a time he had been the +only physician in the place; and though with the gradual growth of +population two or three younger men had appeared to dispute the ground +with him, they were forced for the most part to content themselves with +doctoring the new arrivals, and with such fragments and leavings of +practice as Dr. Carr chose to intrust to them. None of the old established +families would consent to call in any one else if they could possibly get +the "old" doctor. + +A skilful practitioner, who is at the same time a wise adviser, a helpful +friend, and an agreeable man, must necessarily command a wide influence. +Dr. Carr was "by all odds and far away," as our English cousins would +express it, the most popular person in Burnet, wanted for all pleasant +occasions, and doubly wanted for all painful ones. + +So the news of Katy's engagement was made a matter of personal concern by +a great many people, and caused a general stir, partly because she was her +father's daughter, and partly because she was herself; for Katy had won +many friends by her own merit. So long as Ned Worthington stayed, a sort +of tide of congratulation and sympathy seemed to sweep through the house +all day long. Tea-roses and chrysanthemums, and baskets of pears and the +beautiful Burnet grapes flooded the premises, and the door-bell rang so +often that Clover threatened to leave the door open, with a card +attached,--"Walk straight in. _He_ is in the parlor!" + +Everybody wanted to see and know Katy's lover, and to have him as a guest. +Ten tea-drinkings a week would scarcely have contented Katy's +well-wishers, had the limitations of mortal weeks permitted such a thing; +and not a can of oysters would have been left in the place if Lieutenant +Worthington's leave had lasted three days longer. Clover and Elsie loudly +complained that they themselves never had a chance to see him; for +whenever he was not driving or walking with Katy, or having long +_tete-a-tetes_ in the library, he was eating muffins somewhere, or making +calls on old ladies whose feelings would be dreadfully hurt if he went +away without their seeing him. + +"Sisters seem to come off worst of all," protested Johnnie. But in spite +of their lamentations they all saw enough of their future brother-in-law +to grow fond of him; and notwithstanding some natural pangs of jealousy at +having to share Katy with an outsider, it was a happy visit, and every one +was sorry when the leave of absence ended, and Ned had to go away. + +A month later the "Natchitoches" sailed for the Bahamas. It was to be a +six months' cruise only; and on her return she was for a while to make +part of the home squadron. This furnished a good opportunity for her +first lieutenant to marry; so it was agreed that the wedding should take +place in June, and Katy set about her preparations in the leisurely and +simple fashion which was characteristic of her. She had no ambition for a +great _trousseau_, and desired to save her father expense; so her outfit, +as compared with that of most modern brides, was a very moderate one, but +being planned and mostly made at home, it necessarily involved thought, +time, and a good deal of personal exertion. + +Dear little Clover flung herself into the affair with even more interest +than if it had been her own. Many happy mornings that winter did the +sisters spend together over their dainty stitches and "white seam." Elsie +and Johnnie were good needle-women now, and could help in many ways. Mrs. +Ashe often joined them; even Amy could contribute aid in the plainer +sewing, and thread everybody's needles. But the most daring and +indefatigable of all was Clover, who never swerved in her determination +that Katy's "things" should be as nice and as pretty as love and industry +combined could make them. Her ideas as to decoration soared far beyond +Katy's. She hem-stitched, she cat-stitched, she feather-stitched, she +lace-stitched, she tucked and frilled and embroidered, and generally +worked her fingers off; while the bride vainly protested that all this +finery was quite unnecessary, and that simple hems and a little Hamburg +edging would answer just as well. Clover merely repeated the words, +"Hamburg edging!" with an accent of scorn, and went straight on in her +elected way. + +As each article received its last touch, and came from the laundry white +and immaculate, it was folded to perfection, tied with a narrow blue or +pale rose-colored ribbon, and laid aside in a sacred receptacle known as +"The Wedding Bureau." The handkerchiefs, grouped in dozens, were strewn +with dried violets and rose-leaves to make them sweet. Lavender-bags and +sachets of orris lay among the linen; and perfumes as of Araby were +discernible whenever a drawer in the bureau was pulled out. + +So the winter passed, and now spring was come; and the two girls on the +doorsteps were talking about the wedding, which seemed very near now. + +"Tell me just what sort of an affair you want it to be," said Clover. + +"It seems more your wedding than mine, you have worked so hard for it," +replied Katy. "You might give your ideas first." + +"My ideas are not very distinct. It's only lately that I have begun to +think about it at all, there has been so much to do. I'd like to have you +have a beautiful dress and a great many wedding-presents and everything as +pretty as can be, but not so many bridesmaids as Cecy, because there is +always such a fuss in getting them nicely up the aisle in church and out +again,--that is as far as I've got. But so long as you are pleased, and it +goes off well, I don't care exactly how it is managed." + +"Then, since you are in such an accommodating frame of mind, it seems a +good time to break my views to you. Don't be shocked, Clovy; but, do you +know, I don't want to be married in church at all, or to have any +bridesmaids, or anything arranged for beforehand particularly. I should +like things to be simple, and to just _happen_." + +"But, Katy, you can't do it like that. It will all get into a snarl if +there is no planning beforehand or rehearsals; it would be confused and +horrid." + +"I don't see why it would be confused if there were nothing to confuse. +Please not be vexed; but I always have hated the ordinary kind of wedding, +with its fuss and worry and so much of everything, and just like all the +other weddings, and the bride looking tired to death, and nobody enjoying +it a bit. I'd like mine to be different, and more--more--real. I don't +want any show or processing about, but just to have things nice and +pretty, and all the people I love and who love me to come to it, and +nothing cut and dried, and nobody tired, and to make it a sort of dear, +loving occasion, with leisure to realize how dear it is and what it all +means. Don't you think it would really be nicer in that way?" + +"Well, yes, as you put it, and 'viewed from the higher standard,' as Miss +Inches would say, perhaps it would. Still, bridesmaids and all that are +very pretty to look at; and folks will be surprised if you don't have +them." + +"Never mind folks," remarked the irreverent Katy. "I don't care a button +for that argument. Yes; bridesmaids and going up the aisle in a long +procession and all the rest _are_ pretty to look at,--or were before they +got to be so hackneyed. I can imagine the first bridal procession up the +aisle of some early cathedral as having been perfectly beautiful. But +nowadays, when the butcher and baker and candlestick-maker and everybody +else do it just alike, the custom seems to me to have lost its charm. I +never did enjoy having things exactly as every one else has them,--all +going in the same direction like a flock of sheep. I would like my little +wedding to be something especially my own. There was a poetical meaning in +those old customs; but now that the custom has swallowed up so much of +the meaning, it would please me better to retain the meaning and drop the +custom." + +"I see what you mean," said Clover, not quite convinced, but inclined as +usual to admire Katy and think that whatever she meant must be right. "But +tell me a little more. You mean to have a wedding-dress, don't you?" +doubtfully. + +"Yes, indeed!" + +"Have you thought what it shall be?" + +"Do you recollect that beautiful white crape shawl of mamma's which papa +gave me two years ago? It has a lovely wreath of embroidery round it; and +it came to me the other day that it would make a charming gown, with white +surah or something for the under-dress. I should like that better than +anything new, because mamma used to wear it, and it would seem as if she +were here still, helping me to get ready. Don't you think so?" + +"It is a lovely idea," said Clover, the ever-ready tears dimming her happy +blue eyes for a moment, "and just like you. Yes, that shall be the +dress,--dear mamma's shawl. It will please papa too, I think, to have you +choose it." + +"I thought perhaps it would," said Katy, soberly. "Then I have a wide +white watered sash which Aunt Izzy gave me, and I mean to have that worked +into the dress somehow. I should like to wear something of hers too, for +she was really good to us when we were little, and all that long time that +I was ill; and we were not always good to her, I am afraid. Poor Aunt +Izzy! What troublesome little wretches we were,--I most of all!" + +"Were you? Somehow I never can recollect the time when you were not a born +angel. I am afraid I don't remember Aunt Izzy well. I just have a vague +memory of somebody who was pretty strict and cross." + +"Ah, you never had a back, and needed to be waited on night and day, or +you would recollect a great deal more than that. Cousin Helen helped me to +appreciate what Aunt Izzy really was. By the way, one of the two things I +have set my heart on is to have Cousin Helen come to my wedding." + +"It would be lovely if she could. Do you suppose there is any chance?" + +"I wrote her week before last, but she hasn't answered yet. Of course it +depends on how she is; but the accounts from her have been pretty good +this year." + +"What is the other thing you have set your heart on? You said 'two.'" + +"The other is that Rose Red shall be here, and little Rose. I wrote to her +the other day also, and coaxed hard. Wouldn't it be too enchanting? You +know how we have always longed to have her in Burnet; and if she could +come now it would make everything twice as pleasant." + +"Katy, what an enchanting thought!" cried Clover, who had not seen Rose +since they all left Hillsover. "It would be the greatest lark that ever +was to have the Roses. When do you suppose we shall hear? I can hardly +wait, I am in such a hurry to have her say 'Yes.'" + +"But suppose she says 'No'?" + +"I won't think of such a possibility. Now go on. I suppose your principles +don't preclude a wedding-cake?" + +"On the contrary, they include a great deal of wedding-cake. I want to +send a box to everybody in Burnet,--all the poor people, I mean, and the +old people and the children at the Home and those forlorn creatures at the +poor-house and all papa's patients." + +"But, Katy, that will cost a lot," objected the thrifty Clover. + +"I know it; so we must do it in the cheapest way, and make the cake +ourselves. I have Aunt Izzy's recipe, which is a very good one; and if we +all take hold, it won't be such an immense piece of work. Debby has +quantities of raisins stoned already. She has been doing them in the +evenings a few at a time for the last month. Mrs. Ashe knows a factory +where you can get the little white boxes for ten dollars a thousand, and I +have commissioned her to send for five hundred." + +"Five hundred! What an immense quantity!" + +"Yes; but there are all the Hillsover girls to be remembered, and all our +kith and kin, and everybody at the wedding will want one. I don't think it +will be too many. Oh, I have arranged it all in my mind. Johnnie will +slice the citron, Elsie will wash the currants, Debby measure and bake, +Alexander mix, you and I will attend to the icing, and all of us will cut +it up." + +"Alexander!" + +"Alexander. He is quite pleased with the idea, and has constructed an +implement--a sort of spade, cut out of new pine wood--for the purpose. He +says it will be a sight easier than digging flower-beds. We will set about +it next week; for the cake improves by keeping, and as it is the heaviest +job we have to do, it will be well to get it out of the way early." + +"Sha'n't you have a floral bell, or a bower to stand in, or something of +that kind?" ventured Clover, timidly. + +"Indeed I shall not," replied Katy. "I particularly dislike floral bells +and bowers. They are next worst to anchors and harps and 'floral pillows' +and all the rest of the dreadful things that they have at funerals. No, we +will have plenty of fresh flowers, but not in stiff arrangements. I want +it all to seem easy and to _be_ easy. Don't look so disgusted, Clovy." + +"Oh, I'm not disgusted. It's your wedding. I want you to have everything +in your own way." + +"It's everybody's wedding, I think," said Katy, tenderly. "Everybody is so +kind about it. Did you see the thing that Polly sent this morning?" + +"No. It must have come after I went out. What was it?" + +"Seven yards of beautiful nun's lace which she bought in Florence. She +says it is to trim a morning dress; but it's really too pretty. How dear +Polly is! She sends me something almost every day. I seem to be in her +thoughts all the time. It is because she loves Ned so much, of course; +but it is just as kind of her." + +"I think she loves you almost as much as Ned," said Clover. + +"Oh, she couldn't do that; Ned is her only brother. There is Amy at the +gate now." + +It was a much taller Amy than had come home from Italy the year before who +was walking toward them under the budding locust-boughs. Roman fever had +seemed to quicken and stimulate all Amy's powers, and she had grown very +fast during the past year. Her face was as frank and childlike as ever, +and her eyes as blue; but she was prettier than when she went to Europe, +for her cheeks were pink, and the mane of waving hair which framed them in +was very becoming. The hair was just long enough now to touch her +shoulders; it was turning brown as it lengthened, but the ends of the +locks still shone with childish gold, and caught the sun in little shining +rings as it filtered down through the tree branches. + +She kissed Clover several times, and gave Katy a long, close hug; then +she produced a parcel daintily hid in silver paper. + +"Tanta," she said,--this was a pet name lately invented for Katy,--"here +is something for you from mamma. It's something quite particular, I think, +for mamma cried when she was writing the note; not a hard cry, you know, +but just two little teeny-weeny tears in her eyes. She kept smiling, +though, and she looked happy, so I guess it isn't anything very bad. She +said I was to give it to you with her best, _best_ love." + +Katy opened the parcel, and beheld a square veil of beautiful old blonde. +The note said: + + This was my wedding-veil, dearest Katy, and my mother wore it + before me. It has been laid aside all these years with the idea + that perhaps Amy might want it some day; but instead I send it + to you, without whom there would be no Amy to wear this or + anything else. I think it would please Ned to see it on your + head, and I know it would make me very happy; but if you don't + feel like using it, don't mind for a moment saying so to + + + Your loving + POLLY. + + +[Illustration: "Katy opened the parcel, and beheld a square veil of +beautiful old blonde."] + + +Katy handed the note silently to Clover, and laid her face for a little +while among the soft folds of the lace, about which a faint odor of roses +hung like the breath of old-time and unforgotten loves and affections. + +"Shall you?" queried Clover, softly. + +"Why, of course! Doesn't it seem too sweet? Both our mothers!" + +"There!" cried Amy, "you are going to cry too, Tanta! I thought weddings +were nice funny things. I never supposed they made people feel badly. I +sha'n't ever let Mabel get married, I think. But she'll have to stay a +little girl always in that case, for I certainly won't have her an old +maid." + +"What do you know about old maids, midget?" asked Clover. + +"Why, Miss Clover, I have seen lots of them. There was that one at the +Pension Suisse; you remember, Tanta? And the two on the steamer when we +came home. And there's Miss Fitz who made my blue frock; Ellen said she +was a regular old maid. I never mean to let Mabel be like that." + +"I don't think there's the least danger," remarked Katy, glancing at the +inseparable Mabel, who was perched on Amy's arm, and who did not look a +day older than she had done eighteen months previously. "Amy, we're going +to make wedding-cake next week,--heaps and heaps of wedding-cake. Don't +you want to come and help?" + +"Why, of course I do. What fun! Which day may I come?" + +The cake-making did really turn out fun. Many hands made light work of +what would have been a formidable job for one or two. It was all done +gradually. Johnnie cut the golden citron quarters into thin transparent +slices in the sitting-room one morning while the others were sewing, and +reading Tennyson aloud. Elsie and Amy made a regular frolic of the +currant-washing. Katy, with Debby's assistance, weighed and measured; and +the mixture was enthusiastically stirred by Alexander, with the "spade" +which he had invented, in a large new wash-tub. Then came the baking, +which for two days filled the house with spicy, plum-puddingy odors; then +the great feat of icing the big square loaves; and then the cutting up, in +which all took part. There was much careful measurement that the slices +might be an exact fit; and the kitchen rang with bright laughter and chat +as Katy and Clover wielded the sharp bread-knives, and the others fitted +the portions into their boxes, and tied the ribbons in crisp little bows. +Many delicious crumbs and odd corners and fragments fell to the share of +the younger workers; and altogether the occasion struck Amy as so +enjoyable that she announced--with her mouth full--that she had changed +her mind, and that Mabel might get married as often as she pleased, if she +would have cake like _that_ every time,--a liberality of permission which +Mabel listened to with her invariable waxen smile. + +When all was over, and the last ribbons tied, the hundreds of little boxes +were stacked in careful piles on a shelf of the inner closet of the +doctor's office to wait till they were wanted,--an arrangement which +naughty Clover pronounced eminently suitable, since there should always +be a doctor close at hand where there was so much wedding-cake. But before +all this was accomplished, came what Katy, in imitation of one of Miss +Edgeworth's heroines, called "The Day of Happy Letters." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE DAY OF HAPPY LETTERS. + + +The arrival of the morning boat with letters and newspapers from the East +was the great event of the day in Burnet. It was due at eleven o'clock; +and everybody, consciously or unconsciously, was on the lookout for it. +The gentlemen were at the office bright and early, and stood chatting with +each other, and fingering the keys of their little drawers till the rattle +of the shutter announced that the mail was distributed. Their wives and +daughters at home, meanwhile, were equally in a state of expectation, and +whatever they might be doing kept ears and eyes on the alert for the step +on the gravel and the click of the latch which betokened the arrival of +the family news-bringer. + +Doctors cannot command their time like other people, and Dr. Carr was +often detained by his patients, and made late for the mail, so it was all +the pleasanter a surprise when on the great day of the cake-baking he came +in earlier than usual, with his hands quite full of letters and parcels. +All the girls made a rush for him at once; but he fended them off with an +elbow, while with teasing slowness he read the addresses on the envelopes. + +"Miss Carr--Miss Carr--Miss Katherine Carr--Miss Carr again; four for you, +Katy. Dr. P. Carr,--a bill and a newspaper, I perceive; all that an old +country doctor with a daughter about to be married ought to expect, I +suppose. Miss Clover E. Carr,--one for the 'Confidante in white linen.' +Here, take it, Clovy. Miss Carr again. Katy, you have the lion's share. +Miss Joanna Carr,--in the unmistakable handwriting of Miss Inches. Miss +Katherine Carr, care Dr. Carr. That looks like a wedding present, Katy. +Miss Elsie Carr; Cecy's hand, I should say. Miss Carr once more,--from the +conquering hero, judging from the post-mark. Dr. Carr,--another +newspaper, and--hollo!--one more for Miss Carr. Well, children, I hope for +once you are satisfied with the amount of your correspondence. My arm +fairly aches with the weight of it. I hope the letters are not so heavy +inside as out." + +"I am quite satisfied, Papa, thank you," said Katy, looking up with a +happy smile from Ned's letter, which she had torn open first of all. "Are +you going, dear?" She laid her packages down to help him on with his coat. +Katy never forgot her father. + +"Yes, I am going. Time and rheumatism wait for no man. You can tell me +your news when I come back." + +It is not fair to peep into love letters, so I will only say of Ned's that +it was very long, very entertaining,--Katy thought,--and contained the +pleasant information that the "Natchitoches" was to sail four days after +it was posted, and would reach New York a week sooner than any one had +dared to hope. The letter contained several other things as well, which +showed Katy how continually she had been in his thoughts,--a painting on +rice paper, a dried flower or two, a couple of little pen-and-ink sketches +of the harbor of Santa Lucia and the shipping, and a small cravat of an +odd convent lace folded very flat and smooth. Altogether it was a +delightful letter, and Katy read it, as it were, in leaps, her eyes +catching at the salient points, and leaving the details to be dwelt upon +when she should be alone. + +This done, she thrust the letter into her pocket, and proceeded to examine +the others. The first was in Cousin Helen's clear, beautiful +handwriting:-- + + DEAR KATY,--If any one had told us ten years ago that in this + particular year of grace you would be getting ready to be + married, and I preparing to come to your wedding, I think we + should have listened with some incredulity, as to an agreeable + fairy tale which could not possibly come true. We didn't look + much like it, did we,--you in your big chair and I on my sofa? + Yet here we are! When your letter first reached me it seemed a + sort of impossible thing that I should accept your invitation; + but the more I thought about it the more I felt as if I must, + and now things seem to be working round to that end quite + marvellously. I have had a good winter, but the doctor wishes me + to try the experiment of the water cure again which benefited me + so much the summer of your accident. This brings me in your + direction; and I don't see why I might not come a little earlier + than I otherwise should, and have the great pleasure of seeing + you married, and making acquaintance with Lieutenant + Worthington. That is, if you are perfectly sure that to have at + so busy a time a guest who, like the Queen of Spain, has the + disadvantage of being without legs, will not be more care than + enjoyment. Think seriously over this point, and don't send for + me unless you are certain. Meanwhile, I am making ready. Alex + and Emma and little Helen--who is a pretty big Helen now--are to + be my escorts as far as Buffalo on their way to Niagara. After + that is all plain sailing, and Jane Carter and I can manage very + well for ourselves. It seems like a dream to think that I may + see you all so soon; but it is such a pleasant one that I would + not wake up on any account. + + I have a little gift which I shall bring you myself, my Katy; + but I have a fancy also that you shall wear some trifling thing + on your wedding-day which comes from me, so for fear of being + forestalled I will say now, please don't buy any stockings for + the occasion, but wear the pair which go with this, for the sake + of your loving + + + COUSIN HELEN. + +"These must be they," cried Elsie, pouncing on one of the little packages. +"May I cut the string, Katy?" + +Permission was granted; and Elsie cut the string. It was indeed a pair of +beautiful white silk stockings embroidered in an open pattern, and far +finer than anything which Katy would have thought of choosing for herself. + +"Don't they look exactly like Cousin Helen?" she said, fondling them. "Her +things always are choicer and prettier than anybody's else, somehow. I +can't think how she does it, when she never by any chance goes into a +shop. Who can this be from, I wonder?" + +"This" was the second little package. It proved to contain a small volume +bound in white and gold, entitled, "Advice to Brides." On the fly-leaf +appeared this inscription:-- + + To Katherine Carr, on the occasion of her approaching bridal, + from her affectionate teacher, + + + MARIANNE NIPSON. + + 1 Timothy, ii. 11. + +Clover at once ran to fetch her Testament that she might verify the +quotation, and announced with a shriek of laughter that it was: "Let the +women learn in silence with all subjection;" while Katy, much diverted, +read extracts casually selected from the work, such as: "A wife should +receive her husband's decree without cavil or question, remembering that +the husband is the head of the wife, and that in all matters of dispute +his opinion naturally and scripturally outweighs her own." + +Or: "'A soft answer turneth away wrath.' If your husband comes home +fretted and impatient, do not answer him sharply, but soothe him with +gentle words and caresses. Strict attention to the minor details of +domestic management will often avail to secure peace." + +And again: "Keep in mind the epitaph raised in honor of an exemplary wife +of the last century,--'She never banged the door.' Qualify yourself for a +similar testimonial." + +"Tanta never does bang doors," remarked Amy, who had come in as this last +"elegant extract" was being read. + +"No, that's true; she doesn't," said Clover. "Her prevailing vice is to +leave them open. I like that truth about a good dinner 'availing' to +secure peace, and the advice to 'caress' your bear when he is at his +crossest. Ned never does issue 'decrees,' though, I fancy; and on the +whole, Katy, I don't believe Mrs. Nipson's present is going to be any +particular comfort in your future trials. Do read something else to take +the taste out of our mouths. We will listen in 'all subjection.'" + +Katy was already deep in a long epistle from Rose. + +"This is too delicious," she said; "do listen." And she began again at the +beginning:-- + + MY SWEETEST OF ALL OLD SWEETS,--Come to your wedding! Of course + I shall. It would never seem to me to have any legal sanction + whatever if I were not there to add my blessing. Only let me + know which day "early in June" it is to be, that I may make + ready. Deniston will fetch us on, and by a special piece of good + luck, a man in Chicago--whose name I shall always bless if only + I can remember what it is--has been instigated by our mutual + good angel to want him on business just about that time; so that + he would have to go West anyway, and would rather have me along + than not, and is perfectly resigned to his fate. I mean to come + three days before, and stay three days after the wedding, if I + may, and altogether it is going to be a lark of larks. Little + Rose can talk quite fluently now, and almost read; that is, she + knows six letters of her picture alphabet. She composes poems + also. The other day she suddenly announced,-- + + "Mamma, I have made up a sort of a im. May I say it to you?" + + I naturally consented, and this was the + + + IM. + + Jump in the parlor, + Jump in the hall, + God made us all! + + + Now did you ever hear of anything quite so dear as that, for a + baby only three years and five months old? I tell you she is a + wonder. You will all adore her, Clover particularly. Oh, my dear + little C.! To think I am going to see her! + + I met both Ellen Gray and Esther Dearborn the other day, and + where do you think it was? At Mary Silver's wedding! Yes, she is + actually married to the Rev. Charles Playfair Strothers, and + settled in a little parsonage somewhere in the Hoosac + Tunnel,--or near it,--and already immersed in "duties." I can't + think what arguments he used to screw her up to the rash act; + but there she is. + + It wasn't exactly what one would call a cheerful wedding. All + the connection took it very seriously; and Mary's uncle, who + married her, preached quite a lengthy funeral discourse to the + young couple, and got them nicely ready for death, burial, and + the next world, before he would consent to unite them for this. + He was a solemn-looking old person, who had been a missionary, + and "had laid away three dear wives in foreign lands," as he + confided to me afterward over a plate of ice-cream. He seemed + to me to be "taking notice," as they say of babies, and it is + barely possible that he mistook me for a single woman, for his + attentions were rather pronounced till I introduced my husband + prominently into conversation; after that he seemed more + attracted by Ellen Gray. + + Mary cried straight through the ceremony. In fact, I imagine she + cried straight through the engagement, for her eyes looked wept + out and had scarlet rims, and she was as white as her veil. In + fact, whiter, for that was made of beautiful _point de Venise_, + and was just a trifle yellowish. Everybody cried. Her mother and + sister sobbed aloud, so did several maiden aunts and a + grandmother or two and a few cousins. The church resounded with + guggles and gasps, like a great deal of bath-water running out + of an ill-constructed tub. Mr. Silver also wept, as a business + man may, in a series of sniffs interspersed with silk + handkerchief; you know the kind. Altogether it was a most + cheerless affair. I seemed to be the only person present who was + not in tears; but I really didn't see anything to cry about, so + far as I was concerned, though I felt very hard-hearted. + + I had to go alone, for Deniston was in New York. I got to the + church rather early, and my new spring bonnet--which is a + superior one--seemed to impress the ushers, so they put me in a + very distinguished front pew all by myself. I bore my honors + meekly, and found them quite agreeable, in fact,--you know I + always did like to be made much of,--so you can imagine my + disgust when presently three of the stoutest ladies you ever saw + came sailing up the aisle, and prepared to invade _my_ pew. + + "Please move up, Madam," said the fattest of all, who wore a + wonderful yellow hat. + + But I was not "raised" at Hillsover for nothing, and remembering + the success of our little ruse on the railroad train long ago, I + stepped out into the aisle, and with my sweetest smile made room + for them to pass. + + "Perhaps I would better keep the seat next the door," I murmured + to the yellow lady, "in case an attack should come on." + + "An attack!" she repeated in an accent of alarm. She whispered + to the others. All three eyed me suspiciously, while I stood + looking as pensive and suffering as I could. Then after + confabulating together for a little, they all swept into the + seat behind mine, and I heard them speculating in low tones as + to whether it was epilepsy or catalepsy or convulsions that I + was subject to. I presume they made signs to all the other + people who came in to steer clear of the lady with fits, for + nobody invaded my privacy, and I sat in lonely splendor with a + pew to myself, and was very comfortable indeed. + + Mary's dress was white satin, with a great deal of point lace + and pearl passementerie, and she wore a pair of diamond + ear-rings which her father gave her, and a bouquet almost but + not quite as large, which was the gift of the bridegroom. He has + a nice face, and I think Silvery Mary will be happy with him, + much happier than with her rather dismal family, though his + salary is only fifteen hundred a year, and pearl passementerie, + I believe, quite unknown and useless in the Hoosac region. She + had loads of the most beautiful presents you ever saw. All the + Silvers are rolling in riches, you know. One little thing made + me laugh, for it was so like her. When the clergyman said, + "Mary, wilt thou take this man to be thy wedded husband?" I + distinctly saw her put her fingers over her mouth in the old, + frightened way. It was only for a second, and after that I + rather think Mr. Strothers held her hand tight for fear she + might do it again. She sent her love to you, Katy. What sort of + a gown are _you_ going to have, by the way? + + I have kept my best news to the last, which is that Deniston has + at last given way, and we are to move into town in October. We + have taken a little house in West Cedar Street. It is quite + small and very dingy and I presume inconvenient, but I already + love it to distraction, and feel as if I should sit up all night + for the first month to enjoy the sensation of being no longer + that horrid thing, a resident of the suburbs. I hunt the paper + shops and collect samples of odd and occult pattern, and compare + them with carpets, and am altogether in my element, only longing + for the time to come when I may put together my pots and pans + and betake me across the mill-dam. Meantime, Roslein is living + in a state of quarantine. She is not permitted to speak with any + other children, or even to look out of window at one, for fear + she may contract some sort of contagious disease, and spoil our + beautiful visit to Burnet. She sends you a kiss, and so do I; + and mother and Sylvia and Deniston and grandmamma, particularly, + desire their love. + + + Your loving + + ROSE RED. + +"Oh," cried Clover, catching Katy round the waist, and waltzing wildly +about the room, "what a delicious letter! What fun we are going to have! +It seems too good to be true. Tum-ti-ti, tum-ti-ti. Keep step, Katy. I +forgive you for the first time for getting married. I never did before, +really and truly. Tum-ti-ti; I am so happy that I must dance!" + +"There go my letters," said Katy, as with the last rapid twirl, Rose's +many-sheeted epistle and the "Advice to Brides" flew to right and left. +"There go two of your hair-pins, Clover. Oh, do stop; we shall all be in +pieces." + +Clover brought her gyrations to a close by landing her unwilling partner +suddenly on the sofa. Then with a last squeeze and a rapid kiss she began +to pick up the scattered letters. + +"Now read the rest," she commanded, "though anything else will sound flat +after Rose's." + +"Hear this first," said Elsie, who had taken advantage of the pause to +open her own letter. "It is from Cecy, and she says she is coming to spend +a month with her mother on purpose to be here for Katy's wedding. She +sends heaps of love to you, Katy, and says she only hopes that Mr. +Worthington will prove as perfectly satisfactory in all respects as her +own dear Sylvester." + +"My gracious, I should hope he would," put in Clover, who was still in the +wildest spirits. "What a dear old goose Cecy is! I never hankered in the +least for Sylvester Slack, did you, Katy?" + +"Certainly not. It would be a most improper proceeding if I had," replied +Katy, with a laugh. "Whom do you think this letter is from, girls? Do +listen to it. It's written by that nice old Mr. Allen Beach, whom we met +in London. Don't you recollect my telling you about him?" + + MY DEAR MISS CARR,--Our friends in Harley Street have told me a + piece of news concerning you which came to them lately in a + letter from Mrs. Ashe, and I hope you will permit me to offer + you my most sincere congratulations and good wishes. I recollect + meeting Lieutenant Worthington when he was here two years ago, + and liking him very much. One is always glad in a foreign land + to be able to show so good a specimen of one's young countrymen + as he affords,--not that England need be counted as a foreign + country by any American, and least of all by myself, who have + found it a true home for so many years. + + As a little souvenir of our week of sight-seeing together, of + which I retain most agreeable remembrances, I have sent you by + my friends the Sawyers, who sail for America shortly, a copy of + Hare's "Walks in London," which a young _protegee_ of mine has + for the past year been illustrating with photographs of the many + curious old buildings described. You took so much interest in + them while here that I hope you may like to see them again. Will + you please accept with it my most cordial wishes for your + future, and believe me + + + Very faithfully your friend, + ALLEN BEACH. + +"What a nice letter!" said Clover. + +"Isn't it?" replied Katy, with shining eyes, "what a thing it is to be a +gentleman, and to know how to say and do things in the right way! I am so +surprised and pleased that Mr. Beach should remember me. I never supposed +he would, he sees so many people in London all the time, and it is quite a +long time since we were there, nearly two years. Was your letter from Miss +Inches, John?" + +"Yes, and Mamma Marian sends you her love; and there's a present coming by +express for you,--some sort of a book with a hard name. I can scarcely +make it out, the Ru--ru--something of Omar Kay--y--Well, anyway it's a +book, and she hopes you will read Emerson's 'Essay on Friendship' over +before you are married, because it's a helpful utterance, and adjusts the +mind to mutual conditions." + +"Worse than 1 Timothy, ii. 11," muttered Clover. "Well, Katy dear, what +next? What _are_ you laughing at?" + +"You will never guess, I am sure. This is a letter from Miss Jane! And she +has made me this pincushion!" + +The pincushion was of a familiar type, two circles of pasteboard covered +with gray silk, neatly over-handed together, and stuck with a row of +closely fitting pins. Miss Jane's note ran as follows:-- + + HILLSOVER, April 21. + + + DEAR KATY,--I hear from Mrs. Nipson that you are to be married + shortly, and I want to say that you have my best wishes for your + future. I think a man ought to be happy who has you for a wife. + I only hope the one you have chosen is worthy of you. Probably + he isn't, but perhaps you won't find it out. Life is a knotty + problem for most of us. May you solve it satisfactorily to + yourself and others! I have nothing to send but my good wishes + and a few pins. They are not an unlucky present, I believe, as + scissors are said to be. + + Remember me to your sister, and believe me to be with true + regard, + + + Yours, JANE A. BANGS. + +"Dear me, is that her name?" cried Clover. "I always supposed she was +baptized 'Miss Jane.' It never occurred to me that she had any other +title. What appropriate initials! How she used to J.A.B. with us!" + +"Now, Clovy, that's not kind. It's a very nice note indeed, and I am +touched by it. It's a beautiful compliment to say that the man ought to be +happy who has got me, I think. I never supposed that Miss Jane could pay a +compliment." + +"Or make a joke! That touch about the scissors is really jocose,--for Miss +Jane. Rose Red will shriek over the letter and that particularly rigid +pincushion. They are both of them so exactly like her. Dear me! only one +letter left. Who is that from, Katy? How fast one does eat up one's +pleasures!" + +"But you had a letter yourself. Surely papa said so. What was that? You +haven't read it to us." + +"No, for it contains a secret which you are not to hear just yet," replied +Clover. "Brides mustn't ask questions. Go on with yours." + +"Mine is from Louisa Agnew,--quite a long one, too. It's an age since we +heard from her, you know." + + ASHBURN, April 24. + + + DEAR KATY,--Your delightful letter and invitation came day + before yesterday, and thank you for both. There is nothing in + the world that would please me better than to come to your + wedding if it were possible, but it simply isn't. If you lived + in New Haven now, or even Boston,--but Burnet is so dreadfully + far off, it seems as inaccessible as Kamchatka to a person who, + like myself, has a house to keep and two babies to take care of. + + Don't look so alarmed. The house is the same house you saw when + you were here, and so is one of the babies; the other is a new + acquisition just two years old, and as great a darling as Daisy + was at the same age. My mother has been really better in health + since he came, but just now she is at a sort of Rest Cure in + Kentucky; and I have my hands full with papa and the children, + as you can imagine, so I can't go off two days' journey to a + wedding,--not even to yours, my dearest old Katy. I shall think + about you all day long on _the_ day, when I know which it is, + and try to imagine just how everything looks; and yet I don't + find that quite easy, for somehow I fancy that your wedding will + be a little different from the common run. You always were + different from other people to me, you know,--you and + Clover,--and I love you so much, and I always shall. + + Papa has taken a kit-kat portrait of me in oils,--and a blue + dress,--which he thinks is like, and which I am going to send + you as soon as it comes home from the framers. I hope you will + like it a little for my sake. Dear Katy, I send so much love + with it. + + I have only seen the Pages in the street since they came home + from Europe; but the last piece of news here is Lilly's + engagement to Comte Ernest de Conflans. He has something to do + with the French legation in Washington, I believe; and they + crossed in the same steamer. I saw him driving with her the + other day,--a little man, not handsome, and very dark. I do not + know when they are to be married. Your Cousin Clarence is in + Colorado. + + With two kisses apiece and a great hug for you, Katy, I am + always + + + Your affectionate friend, + LOUISA. + +"Dear me!" said the insatiable Clover, "is that the very last? I wish we +had another mail, and twelve more letters coming in at once. What a +blessed institution the post-office is!" + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE FIRST WEDDING IN THE FAMILY. + + +The great job of the cake-making over, a sense of leisure settled on the +house. There seemed nothing left to be done which need put any one out of +his or her way particularly. Katy had among her other qualities a great +deal of what is called "forehandedness." To leave things to be attended to +at the last moment in a flurry and a hurry would have been intolerable to +her. She firmly believed in the doctrine of a certain wise man of our own +day who says that to push your work before you is easy enough, but to pull +it after you is very hard indeed. + +All that winter, without saying much about it,--for Katy did not "do her +thinking outside her head,"--she had been gradually making ready for the +great event of the spring. Little by little, a touch here and a touch +there, matters had been put in train, and the result now appeared in a +surprising ease of mind and absence of confusion. The house had received +its spring cleaning a fortnight earlier than usual, and was in fair, nice +order, with freshly-beaten carpets and newly-washed curtains. Katy's +dresses were ordered betimes, and had come home, been tried on, and folded +away ten days before the wedding. They were not many in number, but all +were pretty and in good taste, for the frigate was to be in Bar Harbor and +Newport for a part of the summer, and Katy wanted to do Ned credit, and +look well in his eyes and those of his friends. + +All the arrangements, kept studiously simple, were beautifully +systematized; and their very simplicity made them easy to carry out. The +guest chambers were completely ready, one or two extra helpers were +engaged that the servants might not be overworked, the order of every meal +for the three busiest days was settled and written down. Each of the +younger sisters had some special charge committed to her. Elsie was to +wait on Cousin Helen, and see that she and her nurse had everything they +wanted. Clover was to care for the two Roses; Johnnie to oversee the table +arrangements, and make sure that all was right in that direction. Dear +little Amy was indefatigable as a doer of errands, and her quick feet were +at everybody's service to "save steps." Cecy arrived, and haunted the +house all day long, anxious to be of use to somebody; Mrs. Ashe put her +time at their disposal; there was such a superabundance of helpers, in +fact, that no one could feel over taxed. And Katy, while still serving as +main spring to the whole, had plenty of time to write her notes, open her +wedding presents, and enjoy her friends in a leisurely, unfatigued fashion +which was a standing wonderment to Cecy, whose own wedding had been of the +onerous sort, and had worn her to skin and bone. + +"I am only just beginning to recover from it now," she remarked +plaintively, "and there you sit, Katy, looking as fresh as a rose; not +tired a bit, and never seeming to have anything on your mind. I can't +think how you do it. I never was at a wedding before where everybody was +not perfectly worn out." + +"You never were at such a simple wedding before," explained Katy. "I'm not +ambitious, you see. I want to keep things pretty much as they are every +day, only with a little more of everything because of there being more +people to provide for. If I were attempting to make it a beautiful, +picturesque wedding, we should get as tired as anybody, I have no doubt." + +Katy's gifts were numerous enough to satisfy even Clover, and comprised +all manner of things, from a silver tray which came, with a rather stiff +note, from Mrs. Page and Lilly, to Mary's new flour-scoop, Debby's sifter, +and a bottle of home-made hair tonic from an old woman in the "County +Home." Each of the brothers and sisters had made her something, Katy +having expressed a preference for presents of home manufacture. Mrs. Ashe +gave her a beautiful sapphire ring, and Cecy Hall--as they still called +her inadvertently half the time--an elaborate sofa-pillow embroidered by +herself. Katy liked all her gifts, both large and small, both for what +they were and for what they meant, and took a good healthy, hearty +satisfaction in the fact that so many people cared for her, and had worked +to give her a pleasure. + +Cousin Helen was the first guest to arrive, five days before the wedding. +When Dr. Carr, who had gone to Buffalo to meet and escort her down, lifted +her from the carriage and carried her indoors, all of them could easily +have fancied that it was the first visit happening over again, for she +looked exactly as she did then, and scarcely a day older. She happened to +have on a soft gray travelling dress too, much like that which she wore on +the previous occasion, which made the illusion more complete. + +But there was no illusion to Cousin Helen herself. Everything to her +seemed changed and quite different. The ten years which had passed so +lightly over her head had made a vast alteration in the cousins whom she +remembered as children. The older ones were grown up, the younger ones in +a fair way to be so; even Phil, who had been in white frocks with curls +falling over his shoulders at the time of her former visit to Burnet, was +now fifteen and as tall as his father. He was very slight in build, and +looked delicate, she thought; but Katy assured her that he was perfectly +well, and thin only because he had outgrown his strength. + +It was one of the delightful results of Katy's "forehandedness" that she +could command time during those next two days to thoroughly enjoy Cousin +Helen. She sat beside her sofa for hours at a time, holding her hand and +talking with a freedom of confidence such as she could have shown to no +one else, except perhaps to Clover. She had the feeling that in so doing +she was rendering account to a sort of visible conscience of all the +events, the mistakes, the successes, the glad and the sorry of the long +interval that had passed since they met. It was a pleasure and relief to +her; and to Cousin Helen the recital was of equal interest, for though she +knew the main facts by letter, there was a satisfaction in collecting the +little details which seldom get fully put into letters. + +One subject only Katy touched rather guardedly; and that was Ned. She was +so desirous that her cousin should approve of him, and so anxious not to +raise her expectations and have her disappointed, that she would not half +say how very nice she herself thought him to be. But Cousin Helen could +"read between the lines," and out of Katy's very reserve she constructed +an idea of Ned which satisfied her pretty well. + +So the two happy days passed, and on the third arrived the other anxiously +expected guests, Rose Red and little Rose. + +They came early in the morning, when no one was particularly looking for +them, which made it all the pleasanter. Clover was on the porch twisting +the honeysuckle tendrils upon the trellis when the carriage drove up to +the gate, and Rose's sunny face popped out of the window. Clover +recognized her at once, and with a shriek which brought all the others +downstairs, flew down the path, and had little Rose in her arms before any +one else could get there. + +"You see before you a deserted wife," was Rose's first salutation. +"Deniston has just dumped us on the wharf, and gone on to Chicago in that +abominable boat, leaving me to your tender mercies. O Business, Business! +what crimes are committed in thy name, as Madame Roland would say!" + +"Never mind Deniston," cried Clover, with a rapturous squeeze. "Let us +play that he doesn't exist, for a little while. We have got you now, and +we mean to keep you." + +"How pleasant you look!" said Rose, glancing up the locust walk toward the +house, which wore a most inviting and hospitable air, with doors and +windows wide open, and the soft wind fluttering the vines and the white +curtains. "Ah, there comes Katy now." She ran forward to meet her while +Clover followed with little Rose. + +"Let me det down, pease," said that young lady,--the first remark she had +made. "I tan walk all by myself. I am not a baby any more." + +"_Will_ you hear her talk?" cried Katy, catching her up. "Isn't it +wonderful? Rosebud, who am I, do you think?" + +"My Aunt Taty, I dess, betause you is so big. Is you mawwied yet?" + +"No, indeed. Did you think I would get 'mawwied' without you? I have been +waiting for you and mamma to come and help me." + +"Well, we is here," in a tone of immense satisfaction. "Now you tan." + +The larger Rose meanwhile was making acquaintance with the others. She +needed no introductions, but seemed to know by instinct which was each boy +and each girl, and to fit the right names to them all. In five minutes she +seemed as much at home as though she had spent her life in Burnet. They +bore her into the house in a sort of triumph, and upstairs to the blue +bedroom, which Katy and Clover had vacated for her; and such a hubbub of +talk and laughter presently issued therefrom that Cousin Helen, on the +other side the entry, asked Jane to set her door open that she might enjoy +the sounds,--they were so merry. + +Rose's bright, rather high-pitched voice was easily distinguishable above +the rest. She was evidently relating some experience of her journey, with +an occasional splash by way of accompaniment, which suggested that she +might be washing her hands. + +"Yes, she really has grown awfully pretty; and she had on the loveliest +dark-brown suit you ever saw, with a fawn-colored hat, and was altogether +dazzling; and, do you know, I was really quite glad to see her. I can't +imagine why, but I was! I didn't stay glad long, however." + +"Why not? What did she do?" This in Clover's voice. + +"Well, she didn't do anything, but she was distant and disagreeable. I +scarcely observed it at first, I was so pleased to see one of the old +Hillsover girls; and I went on being very cordial. Then Lilly tried to put +me down by running over a list of her fine acquaintances, Lady this, and +the Marquis of that,--people whom she and her mother had known abroad. It +made me think of my old autograph book with Antonio de Vallombrosa, and +the rest. Do you remember?" + +"Of course we do. Well, go on." + +"At last she said something about Comte Ernest de Conflans,--I had heard +of him, perhaps? He crossed in the steamer with 'Mamma and me,' it seems; +and we have seen a great deal of him. This appeared a good opportunity to +show that I too have relations with the nobility, so I said yes, I had met +him in Boston, and my sister had seen a good deal of him in Washington +last winter. + +"'And what did she think of him?' demanded Lilly. + +"'Well,' said I, 'she didn't seem to think a great deal about him. She +says all the young men at the French legation seem more than usually +foolish, but Comte Ernest is the worst of the lot. He really _does_ look +like an absolute fool, you know,' I added pleasantly. Now, girls, what was +there in that to make her angry? Can you tell? She grew scarlet, and +glared as if she wanted to bite my head off; and then she turned her back +and would scarcely speak to me again. Does she always behave that way when +the aristocracy is lightly spoken of?" + +"Oh, Rose,--oh, Rose," cried Clover, in fits of laughter, "did you really +tell her that?" + +"I really did. Why shouldn't I? Is there any reason in particular?" + +"Only that she is engaged to him," replied Katy, in an extinguished voice. + +"Good gracious! No wonder she scowled! This is really dreadful. But then +why did she look so black when she asked where we were going, and I said +to your wedding? That didn't seem to please her any more than my little +remarks about the nobility." + +"I don't pretend to understand Lilly," said Katy, temperately; "she is an +odd girl." + +"I suppose an odd girl can't be expected to have an even temper," +remarked Rose, apparently speaking with a hairpin in her mouth. "Well, +I've done for myself, that is evident. I need never expect any notice in +future from the Comtesse de Conflans." + +Cousin Helen heard no more, but presently steps sounded outside her door, +and Katy looked in to ask if she were dressed, and if she might bring Rose +in, a request which was gladly granted. It was a pretty sight to see Rose +with Cousin Helen. She knew all about her already from Clover and Katy, +and fell at once under the gentle spell which seemed always to surround +that invalid sofa, begged leave to say "Cousin Helen" as the others did, +and was altogether at her best and sweetest when with her, full of +merriment, but full too of a deference and sympathy which made her +particularly charming. + +"I never did see anything so lovely in all my life before," she told +Clover in confidence. "To watch her lying there looking so radiant and so +peaceful and so interested in Katy's affairs, and never once seeming to +remember that except for that accident she too would have been a bride +and had a wedding! It's perfectly wonderful! Do you suppose she is never +sorry for herself? She seems the merriest of us all." + +"I don't think she remembers herself often enough to be sorry. She is +always thinking of some one else, it seems to me." + +"Well, I am glad to have seen her," added Rose, in a more serious tone +than was usual to her. "She and grandmamma are of a different order of +beings from the rest of the world. I don't wonder you and Katy always were +so good; you ought to be with such a Cousin Helen." + +"I don't think we were as good as you make us out, but Cousin Helen has +really been one of the strong influences of our lives. She was the making +of Katy, when she had that long illness; and Katy has made the rest of +us." + +Little Rose from the first moment became the delight of the household, and +especially of Amy Ashe, who could not do enough for her, and took her off +her mother's hands so entirely that Rose complained that she seemed to +have lost her child as well as her husband. She was a sedate little +maiden, and wonderfully wise for her years. Already, in some ways she +seemed older than her erratic little mother, of whom, in a droll fashion, +she assumed a sort of charge. She was a born housewife. + +"Mamma, you have fordotten your wings," Clover would hear her saying. +"Mamma, you has a wip in your seeve, you must mend it," or "Mamma, don't +fordet dat your teys is in the top dwawer,"--all these reminders and +advices being made particularly comical by the baby pronunciation. Rose's +theory was that little Rose was a messenger from heaven sent to buffet her +and correct her mistakes. + +"The bane and the antidote," she would say. "Think of my having a child +with powers of ratiocination!" + +Rose came down the night of her arrival after a long, freshening nap, +looking rested and bonny in a pretty blue dress, and saying that as +little Rose too had taken a good sleep, she might sit up to tea if the +family liked. The family were only too pleased to have her do so. After +tea Rose carried her off, ostensibly to go to bed, but Clover heard a +great deal of confabulating and giggling in the hall and on the stairs, +and soon after, Rose returned, the door-bell rang loudly, and there +entered an astonishing vision,--little Rose, costumed as a Cupid or a +carrier-pigeon, no one knew exactly which, with a pair of large white +wings fastened on her shoulders, and dragging behind her by a loop of +ribbon a sizeable basket quite full of parcels. + +Straight toward Katy she went, and with her small hands behind her back +and her blue eyes fixed full on Katy's face, repeated with the utmost +solemnity the following "poem:" + + "I'm a messender, you see, + Fwom Hymen's Expwess Tumpany. + All these little bundles are + For my Aunty Taty Tarr; + If she knows wot's dood for her + She will tiss the messender." + + +[Illustration: + + + "I'm a messender, you see, + Fwom Hymen's Expwess Tumpany."] + + +"You sweet thing!" cried Katy, "tissing the messender" with all her heart. +"I never heard such a dear little poem. Did you write it yourself, +Roslein?" + +"No. Mamma wote it, but she teached it to me so I tould say it." + +The bundles of course contained wedding gifts. Rose seemed to have brought +her trunk full of them. There were a pretty pair of salt-cellars from Mrs. +Redding, a charming paper-knife of silver, with an antique coin set in the +handle, from Sylvia, a hand-mirror mounted in brass from Esther Dearborn, +a long towel with fringed and embroidered ends from Ellen Gray, and from +dear old Mrs. Redding a beautiful lace-pin set with a moonstone. Next came +a little _repousse_ pitcher marked, "With love from Mary Silver," then a +parcel tied with pink ribbons, containing a card-case of Japanese leather, +which was little Rose's gift, and last of all Rose's own present, a +delightful case full of ivory brushes and combs. Altogether never was such +a satisfactory "fardel" brought by Hymen's or any other express company +before; and in opening the packages, reading the notes that came with them +and exclaiming and admiring, time flew so fast that Rose quite forgot the +hour, till little Rose, growing sleepy, reminded her of it by saying,-- + +"Mamma, I dess I'd better do to bed now, betause if I don't I shall be too +seepy to turn to Aunt Taty's wedding to-mowwow." + +"Dear me!" cried Rose, catching the child up. "This is simply dreadful! +what a mother I am! Things _are_ come to a pass indeed, if babes and +sucklings have to ask to be put to bed. Baby, you ought to have been +christened Nathan the Wise." + +She disappeared with Roslein's drowsy eyes looking over her shoulder. + +Next afternoon came Ned, and with him, to Katy's surprise and pleasure, +appeared the good old commodore who had played such a kind part in their +affairs in Italy the year before. It was a great compliment that he should +think it worth while to come so far to see one of his junior officers +married; and it showed so much real regard for Ned that everybody was +delighted. These guests were quartered with Mrs. Ashe, but they took most +of their meals with the Carrs; and it was arranged that they, with Polly +and Amy, should come to an early breakfast on the marriage morning. + +After Ned's arrival things did seem to grow a little fuller and busier, +for he naturally wanted Katy to himself, and she was too preoccupied to +keep her calm grasp on events; still all went smoothly, and Rose declared +that there never was such a wedding since the world was made,--no tears, +no worries, nobody looking tired, nothing disagreeable! + +Clover's one great subject of concern was the fear that it might rain. +There was a little haze about the sunset the night before, and she +expressed her intention to Cousin Helen of lying awake all night to see +how things looked. + +"I really feel as if I could not bear it if it should storm," she said, +"after all this fine weather too; and I know I shall not sleep a wink, +anyway." + +"I think we can trust God to take care of the weather even on Katy's +wedding-day," replied Cousin Helen, gently. + +And after all it was she who lay awake. Pain had made her a restless +sleeper, and as her bed commanded the great arch of western sky, she saw +the moon, a sharp-curved silver shape, descend and disappear a little +before midnight. She roused again when all was still, solemn darkness +except for a spangle of stars, and later, opened her eyes in time to catch +the faint rose flush of dawn reflected from the east. She raised herself +on her elbow to watch the light grow. + +"It is a fair day for the child," she whispered to herself. "How good God +is!" Then she slept again for a long, restful space, and woke refreshed, +so that Katy's secret fear that Cousin Helen might be ill from excitement, +and not able to come to her wedding, was not realized. + +Clover, meantime, had slept soundly all night. She and Katy shared the +same room, and waked almost at the same moment. It was early still; but +the sisters felt bright and rested and ready for work, so they rose at +once. + +They dressed in silence, after a little whispered rejoicing over the +beautiful morning, and in silence took their Bibles and sat down side by +side to read the daily portion which was their habit. Then hand in hand +they stole downstairs, disturbing nobody, softly opened doors and windows, +carried bowls and jars out on the porch, and proceeded to arrange a great +basket full of roses which had been brought the night before, and set in +the dew-cool shade of the willows to keep fresh. + +Before breakfast all the house had put on festal airs. Summer had come +early to Burnet that year; every garden was in bud and blossom, and every +one who had flowers had sent their best to grace Katy's wedding. The whole +world seemed full of delicious smells. Each table and chimney-piece bore a +fragrant load; a great bowl of Jacqueminots stood in the middle of the +breakfast-table, and two large jars of the same on the porch, where Clover +had arranged various seats and cushions that it might serve as a sort of +outdoor parlor. + +Nobody who came to that early breakfast ever forgot its peace and +pleasantness and the sweet atmosphere of affection which seemed to pervade +everything about it. After breakfast came family prayers as usual, Dr. +Carr reading the chapter, and the dear old commodore joining with a hearty +nautical voice in,-- + + "Awake my soul! and with the sun," + +which was a favorite hymn with all of them. Ned shared Katy's book, and +his face and hers alone would have been breakfast enough for the company +if everything else had failed, as Rose remarked to Clover in a whisper, +though nobody found any fault with the more substantial fare which Debby +had sent in previously. Somehow this little mutual service of prayer and +praise seemed to fit in with the spirit of the day, and give it its +keynote. + +"It's just the sweetest wedding," Mrs. Ashe told her brother. "And the +wonderful thing is that everything comes so naturally. Katy is precisely +her usual self,--only a little more so." + +"I'm under great obligations to Amy for having that fever," was Ned's +somewhat indirect answer; but his sister understood what he meant. + +Breakfast over, the guests discreetly removed themselves; and the whole +family joined in resetting the table for the luncheon, which was to be at +two, Katy and Ned departing in the boat at four. It was a simple but +abundant repast, with plenty of delicious home-cooked food,--oysters and +salads and cold chicken; fresh salmon from Lake Superior; a big Virginia +ham baked to perfection, red and translucent to its savory centre; hot +coffee, and quantities of Debby's perfect rolls. There were strawberries, +also, and ice-cream, and the best of home-made cake and jellies, and +everywhere vases of fresh roses to perfume the feast. When all was +arranged, there was still time for Katy to make Cousin Helen a visit, and +then go to her room for a quiet rest before dressing; and still that same +unhurried air pervaded the house. + +There had been a little discussion the night before as to just how the +bride should make her appearance at the decisive moment; but Katy had +settled it by saying simply that she should come downstairs, and Ned could +meet her at the foot of the staircase. + +"It is the simplest way," she said; "and you know I don't want any fuss. I +will just come down." + +"I dare say she's right," remarked Rose; "but it seems to me to require a +great deal of courage." + +And after all, it didn't. The simple and natural way of doing a thing +generally turns out the easiest. Clover helped Katy to put on the +wedding-gown of soft crape and creamy white silk. It was trimmed with old +lace and knots of ribbon, and Katy wore with it two or three white roses +which Ned had brought her, and a pearl pendant which was his gift. Then +Clover had to go downstairs to receive the guests, and see that Cousin +Helen's sofa was put in the right place; and Rose, who remained behind, +had the pleasure of arranging Katy's veil. The yellow-white of the old +blonde was very becoming, and altogether, the effect, though not +"stylish," was very sweet. Katy was a little pale, but otherwise exactly +like her usual self, with no tremors or self-consciousness. + +Presently little Rose came up with a message. + +"Aunty Tover says dat Dr. Tone has tum, and everything is weddy, and you'd +better tum down," she announced. + +Katy gave Rose a last kiss, and went down the hall. But little Rose was so +fascinated by the appearance of the white dress and veil that she kept +fast hold of Katy's hand, disregarding her mother's suggestion that she +should slip down the back staircase, as she herself proposed to do. + +"No, I want to do with my Aunt Taty," she persisted. + +So it chanced that Katy came downstairs with pretty little Rose clinging +to her like a sort of impromptu bridesmaid; and meeting Ned's eyes as he +stood at the foot waiting for her, she forgot herself, lost the little +sense of shyness which was creeping over her, and responded to his look +with a tender, brilliant smile. The light from the hall-door caught her +face and figure just then, the color flashed into her cheeks; and she +looked like a beautiful, happy picture of a bride, and all by +accident,--which was the best thing about it; for pre-arranged effects are +not always effective, and are apt to betray their pre-arrangement. + +Then Katy took Ned's arm, little Rose let go her hand, and they went into +the parlor and were married. + +Dr. Stone had an old-fashioned and very solemn wedding service which he +was accustomed to use on such occasions. He generally spoke of the bride +as "Thy handmaiden," which was a form that Clover particularly +deprecated. He had also been known to advert to the world where there is +neither marrying nor giving in marriage as a great improvement on this, +which seemed, to say the least, an unfortunate allusion under the +circumstances. But upon this occasion his feelings were warmed and +touched, and he called Katy "My dear child," which was much better than +"Thy handmaiden." + +When the ceremony was over, Ned kissed Katy, and her father kissed her, +and the girls and Dorry and Phil; and then, without waiting for any one +else, she left her place and went straight to where Cousin Helen lay on +her sofa, watching the scene with those clear, tender eyes in which no +shadow of past regrets could be detected. Katy knelt down beside her, and +they exchanged a long, silent embrace. There was no need for words between +hearts which knew each other so well. + +After that for a little while all was congratulations and good wishes. I +think no bride ever carried more hearty good-will into her new life than +did my Katy. All sorts of people took Ned off into corners to tell him +privately what a fortunate person he was in winning such a wife. Each +fresh confidence of this sort was a fresh delight to him, he so thoroughly +agreed with it. + +"She's a prize, sir!--she's a prize!" old Mr. Worrett kept repeating, +shaking Ned's hand with each repetition. Mrs. Worrett had not been able to +come. She never left home now on account of the prevailing weakness of +carryalls; but she sent Katy her best love and a gorgeous broom made of +the tails of her own peacocks. + +"Aren't you sorry you are not going to stay and have a nice time with us +all, and help eat up the rest of the cake?" demanded Clover, as she put +her head into the carriage for a last kiss, two hours later. + +"Very!" said Katy; but she didn't look sorry at all. + +"There's one comfort," Clover remarked valiantly, as she walked back to +the house with her arm round Rose's waist. "She's coming back in +December, when the ship sails, and as likely as not she will stay a year, +or perhaps two. That's what I like about the navy. You can eat your cake, +and have it too. Husbands go off for good long times, and leave their +wives behind them. I think it's delightful!" + +"I wonder if Katy will think it quite so delightful," remarked Rose. +"Girls are not always so anxious to ship their husbands off for what you +call 'good long times.'" + +"I think she ought. It seems to me perfectly unnatural that any one should +want to leave her own family and go away for always. I like Ned dearly, +but except for this blessed arrangement about going to sea, I don't see +how Katy could." + +"Clover, you are a goose. You'll be wiser one of these days, see if you +aren't," was Rose's only reply. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +TWO LONG YEARS IN ONE SHORT CHAPTER. + + +Katy's absence left a sad blank in the household. Every one missed her, +but nobody so much as Clover, who all her life long had been her +room-mate, confidante, and intimate friend. + +It was a great help that Rose was there for the first three lonely days. +Dulness and sadness were impossible with that vivacious little person at +hand; and so long as she stayed, Clover had small leisure to be mournful. +Rose was so bright and merry and affectionate that Elsie and John were +almost as much in love with her as Clover herself, and sat and sunned +themselves in her warmth, so to speak, all day long, while Phil and Dorry +fairly quarrelled as to which should have the pleasure of doing little +services for her and Baby Rose. + +If she could have remained the summer through, all would have seemed easy; +but that of course was impossible. Mr. Browne appeared with a provoking +punctuality on the morning of the fourth day, prepared to carry his family +away with him. He spent one night at Dr. Carr's, and they all liked him +very much. No one could help it, he was so cordial and friendly and +pleasant. Still, for all her liking, Clover could have found it in her +heart to quite detest him as the final moment drew near. + +"Let him go home without you," she urged coaxingly. "Stay with us all +summer,--you and little Rose! He can come back in September to fetch you, +and it would be so delightful to us." + +"My dear, I couldn't live without Deniston till September," said the +disappointing Rose. "It may not show itself to a casual observer, but I am +really quite foolish about Deniston. I shouldn't be happy away from him at +all. He's the only husband I've got,--a 'poor thing, but mine own,' as +the 'immortal William' puts it." + +"Oh, dear," groaned Clover. "That is the way that Katy is going to talk +about Ned, I suppose. Matrimony is the most aggravating condition of +things for outsiders that was ever invented. I wish nobody _had_ invented +it. Here it would be so nice for us to have you stay, and the moment that +provoking husband of yours appears, you can't think of any one else." + +"Too true--much too true. Now, Clovy, don't embitter our last moments with +reproaches. It's hard enough to leave you as it is, when I've just found +you again after all these years. I've had the most beautiful visit that +ever was, and you've all been awfully dear and nice. 'Kiss me quick and +let me go,' as the song says. I only wish Burnet was next door to West +Cedar Street!" + +Next day Mr. Browne sailed away with his "handful of Roses," as Elsie +sentimentally termed them (and indeed, Rose by herself would have been a +handful for almost any man); and Clover, like Lord Ullin, was "left +lamenting." Cousin Helen remained, however; and it was not till she too +departed, a week later, that Clover fully recognized what it meant to have +Katy married. Then indeed she could have found it in her heart to emulate +Eugenie de la Ferronayes, and shed tears over all the little inanimate +objects which her sister had left behind,--the worn-out gloves, the old +dressing slippers in the shoe-bag. But dear me, we get used to everything, +and it is fortunate that we do! Life is too full, and hearts too flexible, +and really sad things too sad, for the survival of sentimental regrets +over changes which do not involve real loss and the wide separation of +death. In time, Clover learned to live without Katy, and to be cheerful +still. + +Her cheerfulness was greatly helped by the letters which came regularly, +and showed how contented Katy herself was. She and Ned were having a +beautiful time, first in New York, and making visits near it, then in +Portsmouth and Portland, when the frigate moved on to these harbors, and +in Newport, which was full and gay and amusing to the last degree. Later, +in August, the letters came from Bar Harbor, where Katy had followed, in +company with the commodore's wife, who seemed as nice as her husband; and +Clover heard of all manner of delightful doings,--sails, excursions, +receptions on board ship, and long moonlight paddles with Ned, who was an +expert canoeist. Everybody was so wonderfully kind, Katy said; but Ned +wrote to his sister that Katy was a great favorite; every one liked her, +and his particular friends were all raging wildly round in quest of girls +just like her to marry. "But it's no use; for, as I tell them," he added, +"that sort isn't made in batches. There is only one Katy; and happily she +belongs to me, and the other fellows must get along as they can." + +This was all satisfactory and comforting; and Clover could endure a little +loneliness herself so long as her beloved Katy seemed so happy. She was +very busy besides, and there _were_ compensations, as she admitted to +herself. She liked the consequence of being at the head of domestic +affairs, and succeeding to Katy's position as papa's special +daughter,--the person to whom he came for all he wanted, and to whom he +told his little secrets. She and Elsie became more intimate than they had +ever been before; and Elsie in her turn enjoyed being Clover's lieutenant +as Clover had been Katy's. So the summer did not seem long to any of them; +and when September was once past, and they could begin to say, "month +after next," the time sped much faster. + +"Mrs. Hall asked me this morning when the Worthingtons were coming," said +Johnnie, one day. "It seems so funny to have Katy spoken of as 'the +Worthingtons.'" + +"I only wish the Worthingtons would write and say when," remarked Clover. +"It is more than a week since we heard from them." + +The next day brought the wished-for letter, and the good news that Ned had +a fortnight's leave, and meant to bring Katy home the middle of November, +and stay for Thanksgiving. After that the "Natchitoches" was to sail for +an eighteen months' cruise to China and Japan; and then Ned would probably +have two years ashore at the Torpedo Station or Naval Academy or +somewhere, and they would start a little home for themselves. + +"Meantime," wrote Katy, "I am coming to spend a year and a half with you, +if urged. Don't all speak at once, and don't mind saying so, if you don't +want me." + +The bitter drop in this pleasant intelligence--there generally is one, you +know--was that the fortnight of Ned's stay was to be spent at Mrs. Ashe's. +"It's her only chance to see Ned," said Katy; "so I know you won't mind, +for afterward you will have me for such a long visit." + +But they _did_ mind very much! + +"I don't think it's fair," cried Johnnie, hotly, while Clover and Elsie +exchanged disgusted looks; "Katy belongs to us." + +"Katy belongs to her husband, on the contrary," said Dr. Carr, +overhearing her; "you must learn that lesson once for all, children. +There's no escape from the melancholy fact; and it's quite right and +natural that Ned should wish to go to his sister, and she should want to +have him." + +"Ned! yes. But Katy--" + +"My dear, Katy _is_ Ned," answered Dr. Carr, with a twinkle. Then noticing +the extremely unconvinced expression of Johnnie's face, he added more +seriously, "Don't be cross, children, and spoil all Katy's pleasure in +coming home, with your foolish jealousies. Clover, I trust to you to take +these young mutineers in hand and make them listen to reason." + +Thus appealed to, Clover rallied her powers, and while laboring to bring +Elsie and John to a proper frame of mind, schooled herself as well, so as +to be able to treat Mrs. Ashe amiably when they met. Dear, unconscious +Polly meanwhile was devising all sorts of pleasant and hospitable plans +designed to make Ned's stay a sort of continuous fete to everybody. She +put on no airs over the preference shown her, and was altogether so kind +and friendly and sweet that no one could quarrel with her even in thought, +and Johnnie herself had to forgive her, and be contented with a little +whispered grumble to Dorry now and then over the inconvenience of +possessing "people-in-law." + +And then Katy came, the same Katy, only, as Clover thought, nicer, +brighter, dearer, and certainly better-looking than ever. Sea air had +tanned her a little, but the brown was becoming; and she had gained an +ease and polish of manner which her sisters admired very much. And after +all, it seemed to make little difference at which house they stayed, for +they were in and out of both all day long; and Mrs. Ashe threw her doors +open to the Carrs and wanted some or all of them for every meal, so that +except for the name of the thing, it was almost as satisfactory to have +Katy over the way as occupying her old quarters. + +The fortnight sped only too rapidly. Ned departed, and Katy settled +herself in the familiar corner to wait till he should come back again. +Navy wives have to learn the hard lesson of patience in the long +separations entailed by their husbands' profession. Katy missed Ned +sorely, but she was too unselfish to mope, or to let the others know how +hard to bear his loss seemed to her. She never told any one how she lay +awake in stormy nights, or when the wind blew,--and it seemed to blow +oftener than usual that winter,--imagining the frigate in a gale, and +whispering little prayers for Ned's safety. Then her good sense would come +back, and remind her that wind in Burnet did not necessarily mean wind in +Shanghai or Yokohama or wherever the "Natchitoches" might be; and she +would put herself to sleep with the repetition of that lovely verse of +Keble's "Evening Hymn," left out in most of the collections, but which was +particularly dear to her:-- + + "Thou Ruler of the light and dark, + Guide through the tempest Thine own Ark; + Amid the howling, wintry sea, + We are in port if we have Thee." + +So the winter passed, and the spring; and another summer came and went, +with little change to the quiet Burnet household, and Katy's brief life +with her husband began to seem dreamy and unreal, it lay so far behind. +And then, with the beginning of the second winter came a new anxiety. + +Phil, as we said in the last chapter, had grown too fast to be very +strong, and was the most delicate of the family in looks and health, +though full of spirit and fun. Going out to skate with some other boys the +week before Christmas, on a pond which was not so securely frozen as it +looked, the ice gave way; and though no one was drowned, the whole party +had a drenching, and were thoroughly chilled. None of the others minded it +much, but the exposure had a serious effect on Phil. He caught a bad cold +which rapidly increased into pneumonia; and Christmas Day, usually such a +bright one in the Carr household, was overshadowed by anxious forebodings, +for Phil was seriously ill, and the doctor felt by no means sure how +things would turn with him. The sisters nursed him devotedly, and by +March he was out again; but he did not get _well_ or lose the persistent +little cough, which kept him thin and weak. Dr. Carr tried this remedy and +that, but nothing seemed to do much good; and Katy thought that her father +looked graver and more anxious every time that he tested Phil's +temperature or listened at his chest. + +"It's not serious yet," he told her in private; "but I don't like the look +of things. The boy is just at a turning-point. Any little thing might set +him one way or the other. I wish I could send him away from this damp lake +climate." + +But sending a half-sick boy away is not such an easy thing, nor was it +quite clear where he ought to go. So matters drifted along for another +month, and then Phil settled the question for himself by having a slight +hemorrhage. It was evident that something must be done, and speedily--but +what? Dr. Carr wrote to various medical acquaintances, and in reply +pamphlets and letters poured in, each designed to prove that the +particular part of the country to which the pamphlet or the letter +referred was the only one to which it was at all worth while to consign an +invalid with delicate lungs. One recommended Florida, another Georgia, a +third South Carolina; a fourth and fifth recommended cold instead of heat, +and an open air life with the mercury at zero. It was hard to decide what +was best. + +"He ought not to go off alone either," said the puzzled father. "He is +neither old enough nor wise enough to manage by himself, but who to send +with him is the puzzle. It doubles the expense, too." + +"Perhaps I--" began Katy, but her father cut her short with a gesture. + +"No, Katy, I couldn't permit that. Your husband is due in a few weeks now. +You must be free to go to him wherever he is, not hampered with the care +of a sick brother. Besides, whoever takes charge of Phil must be prepared +for a long absence,--at least a year. It must be either Clover or myself; +and as it seems out of the question that I shall drop my practice for a +year, Clover is the person." + +"Phil is seventeen now," suggested Katy. "That is not so very young." + +"No, not if he were in full health. Plenty of boys no older than he have +gone out West by themselves, and fared perfectly well. But in Phil's +condition that would never answer. He has a tendency to be low-spirited +about himself too, and he needs incessant care and watchfulness." + +"Out West," repeated Katy. "Have you decided, then?" + +"Yes. The letter I had yesterday from Hope, makes me pretty sure that St. +Helen's is the best place we have heard of." + +"St. Helen's! Where is that?" + +"It is one of the new health-resorts in Colorado which has lately come +into notice for consumptives. It's very high up; nearly or quite six +thousand feet, and the air is said to be something remarkable." + +"Clover will manage beautifully, I think; she is such a sensible little +thing," said Katy. + +"She seems to me, and he too, about as fit to go off two thousand miles by +themselves as the Babes in the Wood," remarked Dr. Carr, who, like many +other fathers, found it hard to realize that his children had outgrown +their childhood. "However, there's no help for it. If I don't stay and +grind away at the mill, there is no one to pay for this long journey. +Clover will have to do her best." + +"And a very good best it will be you'll see," said Katy, consolingly. +"Does Dr. Hope tell you anything about the place?" she added, turning over +the letter which her father had handed her. + +"Oh, he says the scenery is fine, and the mean rain-fall is this, and the +mean precipitation that, and that boarding-places can be had. That is +pretty much all. So far as climate goes, it is the right place, but I +presume the accommodations are poor enough. The children must go prepared +to rough it. The town was only settled ten or eleven years ago; there +hasn't been time to make things comfortable," remarked Dr. Carr, with a +truly Eastern ignorance of the rapid way in which things march in the far +West. + +Clover's feelings when the decision was announced to her it would be hard +to explain in full. She was both confused and exhilarated by the sudden +weight of responsibility laid upon her. To leave everybody and everything +she had always been used to, and go away to such a distance alone with +Phil, made her gasp with a sense of dismay, while at the same time the +idea that for the first time in her life she was trusted with something +really important, roused her energies, and made her feel braced and +valiant, like a soldier to whom some difficult enterprise is intrusted on +the day of battle. + +Many consultations followed as to what the travellers should carry with +them, by what route they would best go, and how prepare for the journey. A +great deal of contradictory advice was offered, as is usually the case +when people are starting on a voyage or a long railway ride. One friend +wrote to recommend that they should provide themselves with a week's +provisions in advance, and enclosed a list of crackers, jam, potted meats, +tea, fruit, and hardware, which would have made a heavy load for a donkey +or mule to carry. How were poor Clover and Phil to transport such a weight +of things? Another advised against umbrellas and water-proof cloaks,--what +was the use of such things where it never rained?--while a second letter, +received the same day, assured them that thunder and hail storms were +things for which travellers in Colorado must live in a state of continual +preparation. "Who shall decide when doctors disagree?" In the end Clover +concluded that it was best to follow the leadings of commonsense and +rational precaution, do about a quarter of what people advised, and leave +the rest undone; and she found that this worked very well. + +As they knew so little of the resources of St. Helen's, and there was such +a strong impression prevailing in the family as to its being a rough sort +of newly-settled place, Clover and Katy judged it wise to pack a large +box of stores to go out by freight: oatmeal and arrowroot and beef-extract +and Albert biscuits,--things which Philly ought to have, and which in a +wild region might be hard to come by. Debby filled all the corners with +home-made dainties of various sorts; and Clover, besides a spirit-lamp and +a tea-pot, put into her trunks various small decorations,--Japanese fans +and pictures, photographs, a vase or two, books and a sofa-pillow,--things +which took little room, and which she thought would make their quarters +look more comfortable in case they were very bare and unfurnished. People +felt sorry for the probable hardships the brother and sister were to +undergo; and they had as many little gifts and notes of sympathy and +counsel as Katy herself when she was starting for Europe. + +But I am anticipating. Before the trunks were packed, Dr. Carr's anxieties +about his "Babes in the Wood" were greatly allayed by a visit from Mrs. +Hall. She came to tell him that she had heard of a possible "matron" for +Clover. + +"I am not acquainted with the lady myself," she said; "but my cousin, who +writes about her, knows her quite well, and says she is a highly +respectable person, and belongs to nice people. Her sister, or some one, +married a Phillips of Boston, and I've always heard that that family was +one of the best there. She's had some malarial trouble, and is at the West +now on account of it, staying with a friend in Omaha; but she wants to +spend the summer at St. Helen's. And as I know you have worried a good +deal over having Clover and Phil go off by themselves, I thought it might +be a comfort to you to hear of this Mrs. Watson." + +"You are very good. If she proves to be the right sort of person, it +_will_ be an immense comfort. Do you know when she wants to start?" + +"About the end of May,--just the right time, you see. She could join +Clover and Philip as they go through, which will work nicely for them +all." + +"So it will. Well, this is quite a relief. Please write to your cousin, +Mrs. Hall, and make the arrangement. I don't want Mrs. Watson to be +burdened with any real care of the children, of course; but if she can +arrange to go along with them, and give Clover a word of advice now and +then, should she need it, I shall be easier in my mind about them." + +Clover was only doubtfully grateful when she heard of this arrangement. + +"Papa always will persist in thinking that I am a baby still," she said to +Katy, drawing her little figure up to look as tall as possible. "I am +twenty-two, I would have him remember. How do we know what this Mrs. +Watson is like? She may be the most disagreeable person in the world for +all papa can tell." + +"I really can't find it in my heart to be sorry that it has happened, papa +looks so much relieved by it," Katy rejoined. + +But all dissatisfactions and worries and misgivings took wings and flew +away when, just ten days before the travellers were to start, a new and +delightful change was made in the programme. Ned telegraphed that the +ship, instead of coming to New York, was ordered to San Francisco to +refit, and he wanted Katy to join him there early in June, prepared to +spend the summer; while almost simultaneously came a letter from Mrs. +Ashe, who with Amy had been staying a couple of months in New York, to say +that hearing of Ned's plan had decided her also to take a trip to +California with some friends who had previously asked her to join them. +These friends were, it seemed, the Daytons of Albany. Mr. Dayton was a +railroad magnate, and had the control of a private car in which the party +were to travel; and Mrs. Ashe was authorized to invite Katy, and Clover +and Phil also, to go along with them,--the former all the way to +California, and the others as far as Denver, where the roads separated. + +This was truly delightful. Such an offer was surely worth a few days' +delay. The plan seemed to settle itself all in one minute. Mrs. Watson, +whom every one now regretted as a complication, was the only difficulty; +but a couple of telegrams settled that perplexity, and it was arranged +that she should join them on the same train, though in a different car. To +have Katy as a fellow-traveller, and Mrs. Ashe and Amy, made a different +thing of the long journey, and Clover proceeded with her preparations in +jubilant spirits. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +CAR FORTY-SEVEN. + + +It is they who stay behind who suffer most from leave-takings. Those who +go have the continual change of scenes and impressions to help them to +forget; those who remain must bear as best they may the dull heavy sense +of loss and separation. + +The parting at Burnet was not a cheerful one. Clover was oppressed with +the nearness of untried responsibilities; and though she kept up a brave +face, she was inwardly homesick. Phil slept badly the night before the +start, and looked so wan and thin as he stood on the steamer's deck beside +his sisters, waving good-by to the party on the wharf, that a new and +sharp thrill of anxiety shot through his father's heart. The boy looked so +young and helpless to be sent away ill among strangers, and round-faced +little Clover seemed such a fragile support! There was no help for it. The +thing was decided on, decided for the best, as they all hoped; but Dr. +Carr was not at all happy in his mind as he watched the steamer become a +gradually lessening speck in the distance, and he sighed heavily when at +last he turned away. + +Elsie echoed the sigh. She, too, had noticed Phil's looks and papa's +gravity, and her heart felt heavy within her. The house, when they reached +it, seemed lonely and empty. Papa went at once to his office, and they +heard him lock the door. This was such an unusual proceeding in the middle +of the morning that she and Johnnie opened wide eyes of dismay at each +other. + +"Is papa crying, do you suppose?" whispered John. + +"No, I don't think it can be _that_. Papa never does cry; but I'm afraid +he's feeling badly," responded Elsie, in the same hushed tone. "Oh, dear, +how horrid it is not even to have Clover at home! What _are_ we going to +do without her and Katy?" + +"I don't know I'm sure. You can't think how queer I feel, Elsie,--just as +if my heart had slipped out of its place, and was going down, down into my +boots. I think it must be the way people feel when they are homesick. I +had it once before when I was at Inches Mills, but never since then. How I +wish Philly had never gone to skate on that nasty pond!" and John burst +into a passion of tears. + +"Oh, don't, don't!" cried poor Elsie, for Johnnie's sobs were infectious, +and she felt an ominous lump coming into her own throat, "don't behave so, +Johnnie. Think if papa came out, and found us crying! Clover particularly +said that we must make the house bright for him. I'm going to sow the +mignonette seed [desperately]; come and help me. The trowel is on the back +porch, and you might get Dorry's jack-knife and cut some little sticks to +mark the places." + +This expedient was successful. Johnnie, who loved to "whittle" above all +things, dried her tears, and ran for her shade hat; and by the time the +tiny brown seeds were sprinkled into the brown earth of the borders, both +the girls were themselves again. Dr. Carr appeared from his retirement +half an hour later. A note had come for him meanwhile, but somehow no one +had quite liked to knock at the door and deliver it. + +Elsie handed it to him now, with a timid, anxious look, whose import +seemed to strike him, for he laughed a little, and pinched her cheek as he +read. + +"I've been writing to Dr. Hope about the children," he said; "that's all. +Don't wait dinner for me, chicks. I'm off for the Corners to see a boy +who's had a fall, and I'll get a bite there. Order something good for tea, +Elsie; and afterward we'll have a game of cribbage if I'm not called out. +We must be as jolly as we can, or Clover will scold us when she comes +back." + +Meanwhile the three travellers were faring through the first stage of +their journey very comfortably. The fresh air and change brightened Phil; +he ate a good dinner, and afterward took quite a long nap on a sofa, +Clover sitting by to keep him covered and see that he did not get cold. +Late in the evening they changed to the express train, and there again, +Phil, after being tucked up behind the curtains of his section, went to +sleep and passed a satisfactory night, so that he reached Chicago looking +so much better than when they left Burnet that his father's heart would +have been lightened could he have seen him. + +Mrs. Ashe came down to the station to meet them, together with Mr. +Dayton,--a kind, friendly man with a tired but particularly pleasant face. +All the necessary transfer of baggage, etc., was made easy, and they were +carried off at once to the hotel where rooms had been secured. There they +were rapturously received by Amy, and introduced to Mrs. Dayton, a sweet, +spirited little matron, with a face as kindly as her husband's, but not so +worn. Mr. Dayton looked as if for years he had been bearing the whole +weight of a railroad on his shoulders, as in one sense it may be said that +he had. + +"We have been here almost a whole day," said Amy, who had taken +possession, as a matter of course, of her old perch on Katy's knee. +"Chicago is the biggest place you ever saw, Tanta; but it isn't so pretty +as Burnet. And oh! don't you think Car Forty-seven is nice,--the one we +are going out West in, you know? And this morning Mr. Dayton took us to +see it. It's the cunningest place that ever was. There's one dear little +drawer in the wall that Mrs. Dayton says I may have to keep Mabel's things +in. I never saw a drawer in a car before. There's a lovely little bedroom +too, and such a nice washing-basin, and a kitchen, and all sorts of +things. I can hardly wait till I show them to you. Don't you think that +travelling is the most delightful thing in the world, Miss Clover?" + +"Yes--if only--people--don't get too tired," said Clover, with an anxious +glance at Phil, as he lay back in an easy-chair. She did not dare say, +"if Phil doesn't get too tired," for she had already discovered that +nothing annoyed him so much as being talked about as an invalid, and that +he was very apt to revenge himself by doing something imprudent +immediately afterward, to disguise from an observant world the fact that +he couldn't do it without running a risk. Like most boys, he resented +being "fussed over,"--a fact which made the care of him more difficult +than it would otherwise have been. + +The room which had been taken for Clover and Katy looked out on the lake, +which was not far away; and the reach of blue water would have made a +pretty view if trains of cars had not continually steamed between it and +the hotel, staining the sky and blurring the prospect with their smokes. +Katy wondered how it happened that the early settlers who laid out Chicago +had not bethought themselves to secure this fine water frontage as an +ornament to the future city; but Mr. Dayton explained that in the rapid +growth of Western towns, things arranged themselves rather than were +arranged for, and that the first pioneers had other things to think about +than what a New Englander would call "sightliness,"--and Katy could easily +believe this to be true. + +Car Forty-seven was on the track when they drove to the station at noon +next day. It was the end car of a long express train, which, Mr. Dayton +told them, is considered the place of honor, and generally assigned to +private cars. It was of an old-fashioned pattern, and did not compare, as +they were informed, with the palaces on wheels built nowadays for the use +of railroad presidents and directors. But though Katy heard of cars with +French beds, plunge baths, open fireplaces, and other incredible luxuries, +Car Forty-seven still seemed to her inexperienced eyes and Clover's a +marvel of comfort and convenience. + +A small kitchen, a store closet, and a sort of baggage-room, fitted with +berths for two servants, occupied the end of the car nearest the engine. +Then came a dressing-closet, with ample marble basins where hot water as +well as cold was always on tap; then a wide state-room, with a bed on +either side, and then a large compartment occupying the middle of the car, +where by day four nice little dining-tables could be set, with a seat on +either side, and by night six sleeping sections made up. The rest of the +car was arranged as a sitting-room, glassed all around, and furnished with +comfortable seats of various kinds, a writing-desk, two or three tables of +different sizes, and various small lockers and receptacles, fitted into +the partitions to serve as catch-alls for loose articles of all sorts. + +Bunches of lovely roses and baskets of strawberries stood on the tables; +and quite a number of the Daytons' friends had come down to see them off, +each bringing some sort of good-by gift for the travellers,--flowers, +hothouse grapes, early cherries, or home-made cake. They were all so +cordial and pleasant and so interested in Phil, that Katy and Clover lost +their hearts to each in turn, and forever afterward were ready to stand +up for Chicago as the kindest place that ever was seen. + +Then amid farewells and good wishes the train moved slowly out of the +station, and the inmates of Car Forty-seven proceeded to "go to +housekeeping," as Mrs. Dayton expressed it, and to settle themselves and +their belongings in these new quarters. Mrs. Ashe and Amy, it was decided, +should occupy the state-room, and the other ladies were to dress there +when it was convenient. Sections were assigned to everybody,--Clover's +opposite Phil's so that she might hear him if he needed anything in the +night; and Mr. Dayton called for all the bonnets and hats, and amid much +laughter proceeded to pin up each in thick folds of newspaper, and fasten +it on a hook not to be taken down till the end of the journey. Mabel's +feathered turban took its turn with the rest, at Amy's particular request. +Dust was the main thing to be guarded against, and Katy, having been duly +forewarned, had gone out in the morning, and bought for herself and Clover +soft hats of whity-gray felt and veils of the same color, like those +which Mrs. Dayton and Polly had provided for the journey, and which had +the advantage of being light as well as unspoilable. + +But there was no dust that first morning, as the train ran smoothly across +the fertile prairies of Illinois first, and then of Iowa, between fields +dazzling with the fresh green of wheat and rye, and waysides studded with +such wild-flowers as none of them had ever seen or dreamed of before. Pink +spikes and white and vivid blue spikes; masses of brown and orange cups, +like low-growing tulips; ranks of beautiful vetches and purple lupines; +escholtzias, like immense sweeps of golden sunlight; wild sweet peas; +trumpet-shaped blossoms whose name no one knew,--all flung broadcast over +the face of the land, and in such stintless quantities that it dazzled the +mind to think of as it did the eyes to behold them. The low-lying horizons +looked infinitely far off; the sense of space was confusing. Here and +there appeared a home-stead, backed with a "break-wind" of thickly-planted +trees; but the general impression was of vast, still distance, endless +reaches of sky, and uncounted flowers growing for their own pleasure and +with no regard for human observation. + +In studying Car Forty-seven, Katy was much impressed by the thoroughness +of Mrs. Dayton's preparations for the comfort of her party. Everything +that could possibly be needed seemed to have been thought of,--pins, +cologne, sewing materials, all sorts of softening washes for the skin, to +be used on the alkaline plains, sponges to wet and fasten into the crown +of hats, other sponges to breathe through, medicines of various kinds, +sticking-plaster, witch-hazel and arnica, whisk brooms, piles of magazines +and novels, telegraph blanks, stationery. Nothing seemed forgotten. Clover +said that it reminded her of the mother of the Swiss Family Robinson and +that wonderful bag out of which everything was produced that could be +thought of, from a grand piano to a bottle of pickles; and after that +"Mrs. Robinson" became Mrs. Dayton's pet name among her +fellow-travellers. She adopted it cheerfully; and her "wonderful bag" +proving quite as unfailing and trustworthy as that of her prototype, the +title seemed justified. + +Pretty soon after starting came their first dinner on the car. Such a nice +one!--soup, roast chicken and lamb, green peas, new potatoes, stewed +tomato; all as hot and as perfectly served as if they had been "on dry +land," as Amy phrased it. There was fresh curly lettuce too, with +mayonnaise dressing, and a dessert of strawberries and ice-cream,--the +latter made and frozen on the car, whose resources seemed inexhaustible. +The cook had been attached to Car Forty-seven for some years, and had a +celebrity on his own road for the preparation of certain dishes, which no +one else could do as well, however many markets and refrigerators and +kitchen ranges might be at command. One of these dishes was a peculiar +form of cracked wheat, made crisp and savory after some mysterious +fashion, and eaten with thick cream. Like most _chefs_, the cook liked to +do the things in which he excelled, and finding that it was admired, he +gave the party this delicious wheat every morning. + + "The car seems paved with bottles of Apollinaris and with + lemons," wrote Katy to her father. "There seems no limit to the + supply. Just as surely as it grows warm and dusty, and we begin + to remember that we are thirsty, a tinkle is heard, and Bayard + appears with a tray,--iced lemonade, if you please, made with + Apollinaris water with strawberries floating on top! What do you + think of that at thirty miles an hour? Bayard is the colored + butler. The cook is named Roland. We have a fine flavor of peers + and paladins among us, you perceive. + + "The first day out was cool and delicious, and we had no dust. + At six o'clock we stopped at a junction, and our car was + detached and run off on a siding. This was because Mr. Dayton + had business in the place, and we were to wait and be taken on + by the next express train soon after midnight. At first they ran + us down to a pretty place by the side of the river, where it was + cool, and we could look out on the water and a green bank + opposite, and we thought we were going to have such a nice + night; but the authorities changed their minds, and presently + to our deep disgust a locomotive came puffing down the road, + clawed us up, ran us back, and finally left us in the middle of + innumerable tracks and switches just where all the freight + trains came in and met. All night long they were arriving and + going out. Cars loaded with cattle, cars loaded with sheep, with + pigs! Such bleatings and mooings and gruntings, I never heard in + all my life before. I could think of nothing but that verse in + the Psalms, 'Strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round,' and + could only hope that the poor animals did not feel half as badly + as they sounded. + + "Then long before light, as we lay listening to these lamentable + roarings and grunts, and quite unable to sleep for heat and + noise, came the blessed express, and presently we were away out + of all the din, with the fresh air of the prairie blowing in; + and in no time at all we were so sound asleep that it seemed but + a minute before morning. Phil's slumbers lasted so long that we + had to breakfast without him, for Mrs. Dayton would not let us + wake him up. You can't think how kind she is, and Mr. Dayton + too; and this way of travelling is so easy and delightful that + it scarcely seems to tire one at all. Phil has borne the journey + wonderfully well so far." + +At Omaha, on the evening of the second day, Clover's future "matron" and +adviser, Mrs. Watson, was to join them. She had been telegraphed to from +Chicago, and had replied, so that they knew she was expecting them. +Clover's thoughts were so occupied with curiosity as to what she would +turn out to be, that she scarcely realized that she was crossing the +Mississippi for the first time, and she gave scant attention to the low +bluffs which bound the river, and on which the Indians used to hold their +councils in those dim days when there was still an "undiscovered West" set +down in geographies and atlases. + +As soon as they reached the Omaha side of the river, she and Katy jumped +down from the car, and immediately found themselves face to face with an +anxious-looking little old lady, with white hair frizzled and banged over +a puckered forehead, and a pair of watery blue eyes peering from beneath, +evidently in search of somebody. Her hands were quite full of bags and +parcels, and a little heap of similar articles lay on the platform near +her, of which she seemed afraid to lose sight for a moment. + +"Oh, is it Miss Carr?" was her first salutation. "I'm Mrs. Watson. I +thought it might be you, from the fact that you got out of that car, and +it seems rather different--I am quite relieved to see you. I didn't know +but something--My daughter she said to me as I was coming away, 'Now, +Mother, don't lose yourself, whatever you do. It seems quite wild to think +of you in Canyon this and Canyon that, and the Garden of the Gods! Do get +some one to keep an eye on you, or we shall never hear of you again. +You'll--' It's quite a comfort that you have got here. I supposed you +would, but the uncertainty--Oh, dear! that man is carrying off my trunks. +Please run after him and tell him to bring them back!" + +"It's all right; he's the porter," explained Mr. Dayton. "Did you get your +checks for Denver or St. Helen's?" + +"Oh, I haven't any checks yet. I didn't know which it ought to be, so I +waited till--Miss Carr and her brother would see to it for me I knew, and +I wrote my daughter--My friend, Mrs. Peters,--I've been staying with her, +you know,--was sick in bed, and I wouldn't let--Dear me! what has that +gentleman gone off for in such a hurry?" + +"He has gone to get your checks," said Clover, divided between diversion +and dismay at this specimen of her future "matron." "We only stay here a +few minutes, I believe. Do you know exactly when the train starts, Mrs. +Watson?" + +"No, dear, I don't. I never know anything about trains and things like +that. Somebody always has to tell me, and put me on the cars. I shall +trust to you and your brother to do that now. It's a great comfort to have +a gentleman to see to things for you." + +A gentleman! Poor Philly! + +Mr. Dayton now came back to them. It was lucky that he knew the station +and was used to the ways of railroads, for it appeared that Mrs. Watson +had made no arrangements whatever for her journey, but had blindly +devolved the care of herself and her belongings on her "young friends," as +she called Clover and Phil. She had no sleeping section secured and no +tickets, and they had to be procured at the last moment and in such a +scramble that the last of her parcels was handed on to the platform by a +porter, at full run, after the train was in motion. She was not at all +flurried by the commotion, though others were, and blandly repeated that +she knew from the beginning that all would be right as soon as Miss Carr +and her brother arrived. + +Mrs. Dayton had sent a courteous invitation to the old lady to come to Car +Forty-seven for tea, but Mrs. Watson did not at all like being left alone +meantime, and held fast to Clover when the others moved to go. + +"I'm used to being a good deal looked after," she explained. "All the +family know my ways, and they never do let me be alone much. I'm taken +faint sometimes; and the doctor says it's my heart or something that's +the cause of it, so my daughter she--You ain't going, my dear, are you?" + +"I must look after my brother," said poor Clover; "he's been ill, you +know, and this is the time for his medicine." + +"Dear me! is he ill?" said Mrs. Watson, in an aggrieved tone. "I wasn't +prepared for that. You'll have your hands pretty full with him and me +both, won't you?--for though I'm well enough just now, there's no knowing +what a day may bring forth, and you're all I have to depend upon. You're +sure you must go? It seems as if your sister--Mrs. Worthing, is that the +name?--might see to the medicine, and give you a little freedom. Don't let +your brother be too exacting, dear. It is the worst thing for a young man. +I'll sit here a little while, and then I'll--The conductor will help me, I +suppose, or perhaps that gentleman might--I hate to be left by myself." + +These were the last words which Clover heard as she escaped. She entered +Car Forty-seven with such a rueful and disgusted countenance that +everybody burst out laughing. + +"What is the matter, Miss Clover?" asked Mr. Dayton. "Has your old lady +left something after all?" + +"Don't call her _my_ old lady! I'm supposed to be her young lady, under +her charge," said Clover, trying to smile. But the moment she got Katy to +herself, she burst out with,-- + +"My dear, what _am_ I going to do? It's really too dreadful. Instead of +some one to help me, which is what papa meant, Mrs. Watson seems to depend +on me to take all the care of her; and she says she has fainting fits and +disease of the heart! How can I take care of her? Phil needs me all the +time, and a great deal more than she does; I don't see how I can." + +"You can't, of course. You are here to take care of Phil; and it is out of +the question that you should have another person to look after. But I +think you must mistake Mrs. Watson, Clovy. I know that Mrs. Hall wrote +plainly about Phil's illness, for she showed me the letter." + +"Just wait till you hear her talk," cried the exasperated Clover. "You +will find that I didn't mistake her at all. Oh, why did Mrs. Hall +interfere? It would all seem so easy in comparison--so perfectly easy--if +only Philly and I were alone together." + +Katy thought that Clover was fretted and disposed to exaggerate; but after +Mrs. Watson joined them a little later, she changed her opinion. The old +lady was an inveterate talker, and her habit of only half finishing her +sentences made it difficult to follow the meanderings of her rambling +discourse. It turned largely on her daughter, Mrs. Phillips, her husband, +children, house, furniture, habits, tastes, and the Phillips connection +generally. + +"She's the only one I've got," she informed Mrs. Dayton; "so of course +she's all-important to me. Jane Phillips--that's Henry's youngest +sister--often says that really of all the women she ever knew Ellen is the +most--And there's plenty to do always, of course, with three children and +such a large elegant house and company coming all the--It's lucky that +there's plenty to do with. Henry's very liberal. He likes to have things +nice, so Ellen she--Why, when I was packing up to come away he brought me +that _repousse_ fruit-knife there in my bag--Oh, it's in my other bag! +Never mind; I'll show it to you some other time--solid silver, you know. +Bigelow and Kennard--their things always good, though expensive; and my +son-in-law he said, 'You're going to a fruit country, and--' Mrs. Peters +doesn't think there is so much fruit, though. All sent on from California, +as I wrote,--and I guess Ellen and Henry were surprised to hear it." + +Katy held serious counsel with herself that night as to what she should do +about this extraordinary "guide, philosopher, and friend" whom the Fates +had provided for Clover. She saw that her father, from very over-anxiety, +had made a mistake, and complicated Clover's inevitable cares with a most +undesirable companion, who would add to rather than relieve them. She +could not decide what was best to do; and in fact the time was short for +doing anything, for the next evening would bring them to Denver, and poor +Clover must be left to face the situation by herself as best she might. + +Katy finally concluded to write her father plainly how things stood, and +beg him to set Clover's mind quite at rest as to any responsibility for +Mrs. Watson, and also to have a talk with that lady herself, and explain +matters as clearly as she could. It seemed all that was in her power. + +Next day the party woke to a wonderful sense of lightness and exhilaration +which no one could account for till the conductor told them that the +apparently level plain over which they were speeding was more than four +thousand feet above the sea. It seemed impossible to believe it. Hour by +hour they climbed; but the climb was imperceptible. Now four thousand six +hundred feet of elevation was reported, now four thousand eight hundred, +at last above five thousand; and still there seemed about them nothing +but a vast expanse of flat levels,--the table-lands of Nebraska. There was +little that was beautiful in the landscape, which was principally made up +of wide reaches of sand, dotted with cactus and grease-wood and with the +droll cone-shaped burrows of the prairie-dogs, who could be seen gravely +sitting on the roofs of their houses, or turning sudden somersaults in at +the holes on top as the train whizzed by. They passed and repassed long +links of a broad shallow river which the maps showed to be the Platte, and +which seemed to be made of two-thirds sand to one-third water. Now and +again mounted horsemen appeared in the distance whom Mr. Dayton said were +"cow-boys;" but no cows were visible, and the rapidly moving figures were +neither as picturesque nor as formidable as they had expected them to be. + +Flowers were still abundant, and their splendid masses gave the charm of +color to the rather arid landscape. Soon after noon dim blue outlines came +into view, which grew rapidly bolder and more distinct, and revealed +themselves as the Rocky Mountains,--the "backbone of the American +Continent," of which we have all heard so much in geographies and the +newspapers. It was delightful, in spite of dust and glare, to sit with +that sweep of magnificent air rushing into their lungs, and watch the +great ranges grow and grow and deepen in hue, till they seemed close at +hand. To Katy they were like enchanted land. Somewhere on the other side +of them, on the dim Pacific coast, her husband was waiting for her to +come, and the wheels seemed to revolve with a regular rhythmic beat to the +cadence of the old Scotch song,-- + + "And will I see his face again; + And will I hear him speak?" + +But to Clover the wheels sang something less jubilant, and she studied the +mountains on her little travelling-map, and measured their distance from +Burnet with a sigh. They were the walls of what seemed to her a sort of +prison, as she realized that presently she should be left alone among +them, Katy and Polly gone, and these new friends whom she had learned to +like so much,--left alone with Phil and, what was worse, with Mrs. Watson! +There was a comic side to the latter situation, undoubtedly, but at the +moment she could not enjoy it. + +Katy carried out her intention. She made a long call on Mrs. Watson in her +section, and listened patiently to her bemoanings over the noise of the +car which had kept her from sleeping; the "lady in gray over there" who +had taken such a long time to dress in the morning that she--Mrs. +Watson--could not get into the toilet-room at the precise moment that she +wished; the newspaper boy who would not let her "just glance over" the +Denver "Republican" unless she bought and paid for it ("and I only wanted +to see the Washington news, my dear, and something about a tin wedding in +East Dedham. My mother came from there, and I recognized one of the names +and--But he took it away quite rudely; and when I complained, the +conductor wouldn't attend to what I--"); and the bad piece of beefsteak +which had been brought for her breakfast at the eating-station. Katy +soothed and comforted to the best of her ability, and then plunged into +her subject, explaining Phil's very delicate condition and the necessity +for constant watchfulness on the part of Clover, and saying most +distinctly and in the plainest of English that Mrs. Watson must not expect +Clover to take care of her too. The old lady was not in the least +offended; but her replies were so incoherent that Katy was not sure that +she understood the matter any better for the explanation. + +"Certainly, my dear, certainly. Your brother doesn't appear so very sick; +but he must be looked after, of course. Boys always ought to be. I'll +remind your sister if she seems to be forgetting anything. I hope I shall +keep well myself, so as not to be a worry to her. And we can take little +excursions together, I dare say--Girls always like to go, and of course an +older person--Oh, no, your brother won't need her so much as you think. He +seems pretty strong to me, and--You mustn't worry about them, Mrs. +Worthing--We shall all get on very well, I'm sure, provided I don't break +down, and I guess I sha'n't, though they say almost every one does in this +air. Why, we shall be as high up as the top of Mount Washington." + +Katy went back to Forty-seven in despair, to comfort herself with a long +confidential chat with Clover in which she exhorted her not to let herself +be imposed upon. + +"Be good to her, and make her as happy as you can, but don't feel bound to +wait on her, and run her errands. I am sure papa would not wish it; and it +will half kill you if you attempt it. Phil, till he gets stronger, is all +you can manage. You not only have to nurse him, you know, but to keep him +happy. It's so bad for him to mope. You want all your time to read with +him, and take walks and drives; that is, if there are any carriages at St. +Helen's. Don't let Mrs. Watson seize upon you, Clover. I'm awfully afraid +that she means to, and I can see that she is a real old woman of the sea. +Once she gets on your back you will never be able to throw her off." + +"She shall not get on my back," said Clover, straightening her small +figure; "but doesn't it seem _unnecessary_ that I should have an old woman +of the sea to grapple with as well as Phil?" + +"Provoking things are apt to seem unnecessary, I fancy. You mustn't let +yourself get worried, dear Clovy. The old lady means kindly enough, I +think, only she's naturally tiresome, and has become helpless from habit. +Be nice to her, but hold your own. Self-preservation is the first law of +Nature." + +Just at dusk the train reached Denver, and the dreaded moment of parting +came. There were kisses and tearful good-byes, but not much time was +allowed for either. The last glimpse that Clover had of Katy was as the +train moved away, when she put her head far out of the window of Car +Forty-seven to kiss her hand once more, and call back, in a tone oracular +and solemn enough to suit King Charles the First, his own admonitory word, +"Remember!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +ST. HELEN'S. + + +Never in her life had Clover felt so small and incompetent and so very, +very young as when the train with Car Forty-seven attached vanished from +sight, and left her on the platform of the Denver station with her two +companions. There they stood, Phil on one side tired and drooping, Mrs. +Watson on the other blinking anxiously about, both evidently depending on +her for guidance and direction. For one moment a sort of pale +consternation swept over her. Then the sense of the inevitable and the +nobler sense of responsibility came to her aid. She rallied herself; the +color returned to her cheeks, and she said bravely to Mrs. Watson,-- + +"Now, if you and Phil will just sit down on that settee over there and +make yourselves comfortable, I will find out about the trains for St. +Helen's, and where we had better go for the night." + +Mrs. Watson and Phil seated themselves accordingly, and Clover stood for a +moment considering what she should do. Outside was a wilderness of tracks +up and down which trains were puffing, in obedience, doubtless, to some +law understood by themselves, but which looked to the uninitiated like the +direst confusion. Inside the station the scene was equally confused. +Travellers just arrived and just going away were rushing in and out; +porters and baggage-agents with their hands full hurried to and fro. No +one seemed at leisure to answer a question or even to listen to one. + +Just then she caught sight of a shrewd, yet good-natured face looking at +her from the window of the ticket-office; and without hesitation she went +up to the enclosure. It was the ticket-agent whose eye she had caught. He +was at liberty at the moment, and his answers to her inquiries, though +brief, were polite and kind. People generally did soften to Clover. There +was such an odd and pretty contrast between her girlish appealing look and +her dignified little manner, like a child trying to be stately but only +succeeding in being primly sweet. + +The next train for St. Helen's left at nine in the morning, it seemed, and +the ticket-agent recommended the Sherman House as a hotel where they would +be very comfortable for the night. + +"The omnibus is just outside," he said encouragingly. "You'll find it a +first-class house,--best there is west of Chicago. From the East? Just so. +You've not seen our opera-house yet, I suppose. Denver folks are rather +proud of it. Biggest in the country except the new one in New York. Hope +you'll find time to visit it." + +"I should like to," said Clover; "but we are here for only one night. My +brother's been ill, and we are going directly on to St. Helen's. I'm very +much obliged to you." + +Her look of pretty honest gratitude seemed to touch the heart of the +ticket-man. He opened the door of his fastness, and came out--actually +came out!--and with a long shrill whistle summoned a porter whom he +addressed as, "Here, you Pat," and bade, "Take this lady's things, and put +them into the 'bus for the Sherman; look sharp now, and see that she's all +right." Then to Clover,-- + +"You'll find it very comfortable at the Sherman, Miss, and I hope you'll +have a good night. If you'll come to me in the morning, I'll explain about +the baggage transfer." + +Clover thanked this obliging being again, and rejoined her party, who were +patiently sitting where she had left them. + +"Dear me!" said Mrs. Watson as the omnibus rolled off, "I had no idea that +Denver was such a large place. Street cars too! Well, I declare!" + +"And what nice shops!" said Clover, equally surprised. + +Her ideas had been rather vague as to what was to be expected in the close +neighborhood of the Rocky Mountains; but she knew that Denver had only +existed a few years, and was prepared to find everything looking rough and +unfinished. + +"Why, they have restaurants here and jewellers' shops!" she cried. "Look, +Phil, what a nice grocery! We needn't have packed all those oatmeal +biscuits if only we had known. And electric lights! How wonderful! But of +course St. Helen's is quite different." + +Their amazement increased when they reached the hotel, and were taken in a +large dining-room to order dinner from a bill of fare which seemed to +include every known luxury, from Oregon salmon and Lake Superior +white-fish to frozen sherbets and California peaches and apricots. But +wonderment yielded to fatigue, and again as Clover fell asleep she was +conscious of a deep depression. What had she undertaken to do? How could +she do it? + +But a night of sound sleep followed by such a morning of unclouded +brilliance as is seldom seen east of Colorado banished these misgivings. +Courage rose under the stimulus of such air and sunshine. + +"I must just live for each day as it comes," said little Clover to +herself, "do my best as things turn up, keep Phil happy, and satisfy Mrs. +Watson,--if I can,--and not worry about to-morrows or yesterdays. That is +the only safe way, and I won't forget if I can help it." + +With these wise resolves she ran down stairs, looking so blithe and bright +that Phil cheered at the sight of her, and lost the long morning face he +had got up with, while even Mrs. Watson caught the contagion, and became +fairly hopeful and content. A little leaven of good-will and good heart in +one often avails to lighten the heaviness of many. + +The distance between Denver and St. Helen's is less than a hundred miles, +but as the railroad has to climb and cross a range of hills between two +and three thousand feet high, the journey occupies several hours. As the +train gradually rose higher and higher, the travellers began to get wide +views, first of the magnificent panorama of mountains which lies to the +northwest of Denver, sixty miles away, with Long's Peak in the middle, and +after crossing the crest of the "Divide," where a blue little lake rimmed +with wild-flowers sparkled in the sun, of the more southern ranges. After +a while they found themselves running parallel to a mountain chain of +strange and beautiful forms, green almost to the top, and intersected with +deep ravines and cliffs which the conductor informed them were "canyons." +They seemed quite near at hand, for their bases sank into low rounded +hills covered with woods, these melted into undulating table-lands, and +those again into a narrow strip of park-like plain across which ran the +track. Flowers innumerable grew on this plain, mixed with grass of a tawny +brown-green. There were cactuses, red and yellow, scarlet and white +gillias, tall spikes of yucca in full bloom, and masses of a superb white +poppy with an orange-brown centre, whose blue-green foliage was prickly +like that of the thistle. Here and there on the higher uplands appeared +strange rock shapes of red and pink and pale yellow, which looked like +castles with towers and pinnacles, or like primitive fortifications. +Clover thought it all strangely beautiful, but Mrs. Watson found fault +with it as "queer." + +"It looks unnatural, somehow," she objected; "not a bit like the East. Red +never was a favorite color of mine. Ellen had a magenta bonnet once, and +it always worried--But Henry liked it, so of course--People can't see +things the same way. Now the green hat she had winter before last +was--Don't you think those mountains are dreadfully bright and distinct? I +don't like such high-colored rocks. Even the green looks red, somehow. I +like soft, hazy mountains like Blue Hill and Wachusett. Ellen spent a +summer up at Princeton once. It was when little Cynthia had +diphtheria--she's named after me, you know, and Henry he thought--But I +don't like the staring kind like these; and somehow those buildings, which +the conductor says are not buildings but rocks, make my flesh creep." + +"They'd be scrumptious places to repel attacks of Indians from," observed +Phil; "two or three scouts with breech-loaders up on that scarlet wall +there could keep off a hundred Piutes." + +"I don't feel that way a bit," Clover was saying to Mrs. Watson. "I like +the color, it's so rich; and I think the mountains are perfectly +beautiful. If St. Helen's is like this I am going to like it, I know." + +St. Helen's, when they reached it, proved to be very much "like this," +only more so, as Phil remarked. The little settlement was built on a low +plateau facing the mountains, and here the plain narrowed, and the +beautiful range, seen through the clear atmosphere, seemed only a mile or +two away, though in reality it was eight or ten. To the east the plain +widened again into great upland sweeps like the Kentish Downs, with here +and there a belt of black woodland, and here and there a line of low +bluffs. Viewed from a height, with the cloud-shadows sweeping across it, +it had the extent and splendor of the sea, and looked very much like it. + +The town, seen from below, seemed a larger place than Clover had expected, +and again she felt the creeping, nervous feeling come over her. But before +the train had fairly stopped, a brisk, active little man jumped on board, +and walking into the car, began to look about him with keen, observant +eyes. After one sweeping glance, he came straight to where Clover was +collecting her bags and parcels, held out his hand, and said in a pleasant +voice, "I think this must be Miss Carr." + +"I am Dr. Hope," he went on; "your father telegraphed when you were to +leave Chicago, and I have come down to two or three trains in the hope of +meeting you." + +"Have you, indeed?" said Clover, with a rush of relief. "How very kind of +you! And so papa telegraphed! I never thought of that. Phil, here is Dr. +Hope, papa's friend; Dr. Hope, Mrs. Watson." + +"This is really a very agreeable attention,--your coming to meet us," +said Mrs. Watson; "a very agreeable attention indeed. Well, I shall write +Ellen--that's my daughter, Mrs. Phillips, you know--that before we had got +out of the cars, a gentleman--And though I've always been in the habit of +going about a good deal, it's always been in the East, of course, and +things are--What are we going to do first, Dr. Hope? Miss Carr has a great +deal of energy for a girl, but naturally--I suppose there's an hotel at +St. Helen's. Ellen is rather particular where I stay. 'At your age, +Mother, you must be made comfortable, whatever it costs,' she says; and so +I--An only daughter, you know--but you'll attend to all those things for +us now, Doctor." + +"There's quite a good hotel," said Dr. Hope, his eyes twinkling a little; +"I'll show it to you as we drive up. You'll find it very comfortable if +you prefer to go there. But for these young people I've taken rooms at a +boarding-house, a quieter and less expensive place. I thought it was what +your father would prefer," he added in a lower tone to Clover. + +"I am sure he would," she replied; but Mrs. Watson broke in,-- + +"Oh, I shall go wherever Miss Carr goes. She's under my care, you +know--Though at the same time I must say that in the long run I have +generally found that the most expensive places turn out the cheapest. As +Ellen often says, get the best and--What do they charge at this hotel that +you speak of, Dr. Hope?" + +"The Shoshone House? About twenty-five dollars a week, I think, if you +make a permanent arrangement." + +"That _is_ a good deal," remarked Mrs. Watson, meditatively, while Clover +hastened to say,-- + +"It is a great deal more than Phil and I can spend, Dr. Hope; I am glad +you have chosen the other place for us." + +"I suppose it _is_ better," admitted Mm Watson; but when they gained the +top of the hill, and a picturesque, many-gabled, many-balconied structure +was pointed out as the Shoshone, her regrets returned, and she began again +to murmur that very often the most expensive places turned out the +cheapest in the end, and that it stood to reason that they must be the +best. Dr. Hope rather encouraged this view, and proposed that she should +stop and look at some rooms; but no, she could not desert her young +charges and would go on, though at the same time she must say that her +opinion as an older person who had seen more of the world was--She was +used to being consulted. Why, Addy Phillips wouldn't order that crushed +strawberry bengaline of hers till Mrs. Watson saw the sample, and--But +girls had their own ideas, and were bound to carry them out, Ellen always +said so, and for her part she knew her duty and meant to do it! + +Dr. Hope flashed one rapid, comical look at Clover. Western life sharpens +the wits, if it does nothing else, and Westerners as a general thing +become pretty good judges of character. It had not taken ten minutes for +the keen-witted little doctor to fathom the peculiarities of Clover's +"chaperone," and he would most willingly have planted her in the congenial +soil of the Shoshone House, which would have provided a wider field for +her restlessness and self-occupation, and many more people to listen to +her narratives and sympathize with her complaints. But it was no use. She +was resolved to abide by the fortunes of her "young friends." + +While this discussion was proceeding, the carriage had been rolling down a +wide street running along the edge of the plateau, opposite the mountain +range. Pretty houses stood on either side in green, shaded door-yards, +with roses and vine-hung piazzas and nicely-cut grass. + +"Why, it looks like a New England town," said Clover, amazed; "I thought +there were no trees here." + +"Yes, I know," said Dr. Hope smiling. "You came, like most Eastern people, +prepared to find us sitting in the middle of a sandy waste, on cactus +pincushions, picking our teeth with bowie-knives, and with no neighbors +but Indians and grizzly bears. Well; sixteen years ago we could have +filled the bill pretty well. Then there was not a single house in St. +Helen's,--not even a tent, and not one of the trees that you see here had +been planted. Now we have three railroads meeting at our depot, a +population of nearly seven thousand, electric lights, telephones, a good +opera-house, a system of works which brings first-rate spring water into +the town from six miles away,--in short, pretty much all the modern +conveniences." + +"But what _has_ made the place grow so fast?" asked Clover. + +"If I may be allowed a professional pun, it is built up on coughings. It +is a town for invalids. Half the people here came out for the benefit of +their lungs." + +"Isn't that rather depressing?" + +"It would be more so if most of them did not look so well that no one +would suspect them of being ill. Here we are." + +Clover looked out eagerly. There was nothing picturesque about the house +at whose gate the carriage had stopped. It was a large shabby structure, +with a piazza above as well as below, and on these piazzas various people +were sitting who looked unmistakably ill. The front of the house, however, +commanded the fine mountain view. + +"You see," explained Dr. Hope, drawing Clover aside, "boarding-places that +are both comfortable and reasonable are rather scarce at St. Helen's. I +know all about the table here and the drainage; and the view is desirable, +and Mrs. Marsh, who keeps the house, is one of the best women we have. +She's from down your way too,--Barnstable, Mass., I think." + +Clover privately wondered how Barnstable, Mass., could be classed as +"down" the same way with Burnet, not having learned as yet that to the +soaring Western mind that insignificant fraction of the whole country +known as "the East," means anywhere from Maine to Michigan, and that such +trivial geographical differences as exist between the different sections +seem scarcely worth consideration when compared with the vast spaces +which lie beyond toward the setting sun. But perhaps Dr. Hope was only +trying to tease her, for he twinkled amusedly at her puzzled face as he +went on,-- + +"I think you can make yourselves comfortable here. It was the best I could +do. But your old lady would be much better suited at the Shoshone, and I +wish she'd go there." + +Clover could not help laughing. "I wish that people wouldn't persist in +calling Mrs. Watson my old lady," she thought. + +Mrs. Marsh, a pleasant-looking person, came to meet them as they entered. +She showed Clover and Phil their rooms, which had been secured for them, +and then carried Mrs. Watson off to look at another which she could have +if she liked. + +The rooms were on the third floor. A big front one for Phil, with a sunny +south window and two others looking towards the west and the mountains, +and, opening from it, a smaller room for Clover. + +"Your brother ought to live in fresh air both in doors and out," said Dr. +Hope; "and I thought this large room would answer as a sort of sitting +place for both of you." + +"It's ever so nice; and we are both more obliged to you than we can say," +replied Clover, holding out her hand as the doctor rose to go. He gave a +pleased little laugh as he shook it. + +"That's all right," he said. "I owe your father's children any good turn +in my power, for he was a good friend to me when I was a poor boy just +beginning, and needed friends. That's my house with the red roof, Miss +Clover. You see how near it is; and please remember that besides the care +of this boy here, I'm in charge of you too, and have the inside track of +the rest of the friends you are going to make in Colorado. I expect to be +called on whenever you want anything, or feel lonesome, or are at a loss +in any way. My wife is coming to see you as soon as you have had your +dinner and got settled a little. She sent those to you," indicating a vase +on the table, filled with flowers. They were of a sort which Clover had +never seen before,--deep cup-shaped blossoms of beautiful pale purple and +white. + +"Oh, what are they?" she called after the doctor. + +"Anemones," he answered, and was gone. + +"What a dear, nice, kind man!" cried Clover. "Isn't it delightful to have +a friend right off who knows papa, and does things for us because we are +papa's children? You like him, don't you, Phil; and don't you like your +room?" + +"Yes; only it doesn't seem fair that I should have the largest." + +"Oh, yes; it is perfectly fair. I never shall want to be in mine except +when I am dressing or asleep. I shall sit here with you all the time; and +isn't it lovely that we have those enchanting mountains just before our +eyes? I never saw anything in my life that I liked so much as I do that +one." + +It was Cheyenne Mountain at which she pointed, the last of the chain, and +set a little apart, as it were, from the others. There is as much +difference between mountains as between people, as mountain-lovers know, +and like people they present characters and individualities of their own. +The noble lines of Mount Cheyenne are full of a strange dignity; but it is +dignity mixed with an indefinable charm. The canyons nestle about its +base, as children at a parent's knee; its cedar forests clothe it like +drapery; it lifts its head to the dawn and the sunset; and the sun seems +to love it best of all, and lies longer on it than on the other peaks. + +Clover did not analyze her impressions, but she fell in love with it at +first sight, and loved it better and better all the time that she stayed +at St. Helen's. "Dr. Hope and Mount Cheyenne were our first friends in the +place," she used to say in after-days. + +"How nice it is to be by ourselves!" said Phil, as he lay comfortably on +the sofa watching Clover unpack. "I get so tired of being all the time +with people. Dear me! the room looks quite homelike already." + +Clover had spread a pretty towel over the bare table, laid some books and +her writing-case upon it, and was now pinning up a photograph over the +mantel-piece. + +"We'll make it nice by-and-by," she said cheerfully; "and now that I've +tidied up a little, I think I'll go and see what has become of Mrs. +Watson. She'll think I have quite forgotten her. You'll lie quiet and rest +till dinner, won't you?" + +"Yes," said Phil, who looked very sleepy; "I'm all right for an hour to +come. Don't hurry back if the ancient female wants you." + +Clover spread a shawl over him before she went and shut one of the +windows. + + +[Illustration: "Clover spread a shawl over him before she left, and shut +one of the windows."] + + +"We won't have you catching cold the very first morning," she said. "That +would be a bad story to send back to papa." + +She found Mrs. Watson in very low spirits about her room. + +"It's not that it's small," she said. "I don't need a very big room; but I +don't like being poked away at the back so. I've always had a front room +all my life. And at Ellen's in the summer, I have a corner chamber, and +see the sea and everything--It's an elegant room, solid black walnut with +marble tops, and--Lighthouses too; I have three of them in view, and they +are really company for me on dark nights. I don't want to be fussy, but +really to look out on nothing but a side yard with some trees--and they +aren't elms or anything that I'm used to, but a new kind. There's a thing +out there, too, that I never saw before, which looks like one of the giant +ants' nests of Africa in 'Morse's Geography' that I used to read about +when I was--It makes me really nervous." + +Clover went to the window to look at the mysterious object. It was a +cone-shaped thing of white unburned clay, whose use she could not guess. +She found later that it was a receptacle for ashes. + +"I suppose _your_ rooms are front ones?" went on Mrs. Watson, querulously. + +"Mine isn't. It's quite a little one at the side. I think it must be just +under this. Phil's is in front, and is a nice large one with a view of +the mountains. I wish there were one just like it for you. The doctor says +that it's very important for him to have a great deal of air in his room." + +"Doctors always say that; and of course Dr. Hope, being a friend of yours +and all--It's quite natural he should give you the preference. Though the +Phillips's are accustomed--but there, it's no use; only, as I tell Ellen, +Boston is the place for me, where my family is known, and people realize +what I'm used to." + +"I'm so sorry," Clover said again. "Perhaps somebody will go away, and +Mrs. Marsh have a front room for you before long." + +"She did say that she might. I suppose she thinks some of her boarders +will be dying off. In fact, there is one--that tall man in gray in the +reclining-chair--who didn't seem to me likely to last long. Well, we will +hope for the best. I'm not one who likes to make difficulties." + +This prospect, together with dinner, which was presently announced, raised +Mrs. Watson's spirits a little, and Clover left her in the parlor, +exchanging experiences and discussing symptoms with some ladies who had +sat opposite them at table. Mrs. Hope came for a call; a pretty little +woman, as friendly and kind as her husband. Then Clover and Phil went out +for a stroll about the town. Their wonder increased at every turn; that a +place so well equipped and complete in its appointments could have been +created out of nothing in fifteen years was a marvel! + +After two or three turns they found themselves among shops, whose +plate-glass windows revealed all manner of wares,--confectionery, new +books, pretty glass and china, bonnets of the latest fashion. One or two +large pharmacies glittered with jars--purple and otherwise--enough to +tempt any number of Rosamonds. Handsome carriages drawn by fine horses +rolled past them, with well-dressed people inside. In short, St. Helen's +was exactly like a thriving Eastern town of double its size, with the +difference that here a great many more people seemed to ride than to +drive. Some one cantered past every moment,--a lady alone, two or three +girls together, or a party of rough-looking men in long boots, or a single +ranchman sitting loose in his stirrups, and swinging a stock whip. + +Clover and Phil were standing on a corner, looking at some "Rocky Mountain +Curiosities" displayed for sale,--minerals, Pueblo pottery, stuffed +animals, and Indian blankets; and Phil had just commented on the beauty of +a black horse which was tied to a post close by, when its rider emerged +from a shop, and prepared to mount. + +He was a rather good-looking young fellow, sunburnt and not very tall, but +with a lithe active figure, red-brown eyes and a long mustache of tawny +chestnut. He wore spurs and a broad-brimmed sombrero, and carried in his +hand a whip which seemed two-thirds lash. As he put his foot into the +stirrup, he turned for another look at Clover, whom he had rather stared +at while passing, and then changing his intention, took it out again, and +came toward them. + +"I beg your pardon," he said; "but aren't you--isn't it--Clover Carr?" + +"Yes," said Clover, wondering, but still without the least notion as to +whom the stranger might be. + +"You've forgotten me?" went on the young man, with a smile which made his +face very bright. "That's rather hard too; for I knew you at once. I +suppose I'm a good deal changed, though, and perhaps I shouldn't have made +you out except for your eyes; they're just the same. Why, Clover, I'm your +cousin, Clarence Page!" + +"Clarence Page!" cried Clover, joyfully; "not really! Why, Clarence, I +never should have known you in the world, and I can't think how you came +to know me. I was only fourteen when I saw you last, and you were quite a +little boy. What good luck that we should meet, and on our first day too! +Some one wrote that you were in Colorado, but I had no idea that you lived +at St. Helen's." + +"I don't; not much. I'm living on a ranch out that way," jerking his +elbow toward the northwest, "but I ride in often to get the mail. Have you +just come? You said the first day." + +"Yes; we only got here this morning. And this is my brother Phil. Don't +you recollect how I used to tell you about him at Ashburn?" + +"I should think you did," shaking hands cordially; "she used to talk about +you all the time, so that I felt intimately acquainted with all the +family. Well, I call this first rate luck. It's two years since I saw any +one from home." + +"Home?" + +"Well; the East, you know. It all seems like home when you're out here. +And I mean any one that I know, of course. People from the East come out +all the while. They are as thick as bumblebees at St. Helen's, but they +don't amount to much unless you know them. Have you seen anything of +mother and Lilly since they got back from Europe, Clover?" + +"No, indeed. I haven't seen them since we left Hillsover. Katy has, +though. She met them in Nice when she was there, and they sent her a +wedding present. You knew that she was married, didn't you?" + +"Yes, I got her cards. Pa sent them. He writes oftener than the others do; +and he came out once and stayed a month on the ranch with me. That was +while mother was in Europe. Where are you stopping? The Shoshone, I +suppose." + +"No, at a quieter place,--Mrs. Marsh's, on the same street." + +"Oh, I know Mother Marsh. I went there when I first came out, and had +caught the mountain fever, and she was ever so kind to me. I'm glad you +are there. She's a nice woman." + +"How far away is your ranch?" + +"About sixteen miles. Oh, I say, Clover, you and Phil must come out and +stay with us sometime this summer. We'll have a round-up for you if you +will." + +"What is a 'round-up' and who is 'us'?" said Clover, smiling. + +"Well, a round-up is a kind of general muster of the stock. All the +animals are driven in and counted, and the young ones branded. It's pretty +exciting sometimes, I can tell you, for the cattle get wild, and it's all +we can do to manage them. You should see some of our boys ride; it's +splendid, and there's one half-breed that's the best hand with the lasso I +ever saw. Phil will like it, I know. And 'us' is me and my partner." + +"Have you a partner?" + +"Yes, two, in fact; but one of them lives in New Mexico just now, so he +does not count. That's Bert Talcott. He's a New York fellow. The other's +English, a Devonshire man. Geoff Templestowe is his name." + +"Is he nice?" + +"You can just bet your pile that he is," said Clarence, who seemed to have +assimilated Western slang with the rest of the West. "Wait till I bring +him to see you. We'll come in on purpose some day soon. Well, I must be +going. Good-by, Clover; good-by, Phil. It's awfully jolly to have you +here." + +"I never should have guessed who it was," remarked Clover, as they watched +the active figure canter down the street and turn for a last flourish of +the hat. "He was the roughest, scrubbiest boy when we last met. What a +fine-looking fellow he has grown to be, and how well he rides!" + +"No wonder; a fellow who can have a horse whenever he has a mind to," said +Phil, enviously. "Life on a ranch must be great fun, I think." + +"Yes; in one way, but pretty rough and lonely too, sometimes. It will be +nice to go out and see Clarence's, if we can get some lady to go with us, +won't it?" + +"Well, just don't let it be Mrs. Watson, whoever else it is. She would +spoil it all if she went." + +"Now, Philly, don't. We're supposed to be leaning on her for support." + +"Oh, come now, lean on that old thing! Why she couldn't support a postage +stamp standing edgewise, as the man says in the play. Do you suppose I +don't know how you have to look out for her and do everything? She's not a +bit of use." + +"Yes; but you and I have got to be polite to her, Philly. We mustn't +forget that." + +"Oh, I'll be polite enough, if she will just leave us alone," retorted +Phil. + +Promising! + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +MAKING ACQUAINTANCE. + + +Phil was better than his word. He was never uncivil to Mrs. Watson, and +his distant manners, which really signified distaste, were set down by +that lady to boyish shyness. + +"They often are like that when they are young," she told Clover; "but they +get bravely over it after a while. He'll outgrow it, dear, and you mustn't +let it worry you a bit." + +Meanwhile, Mrs. Watson's own flow of conversation was so ample that there +was never any danger of awkward silences when she was present, which was a +comfort. She had taken Clover into high favor now, and Clover deserved +it,--for though she protected herself against encroachments, and +resolutely kept the greater part of her time free for Phil, she was +always considerate, and sweet in manner to the older lady, and she found +spare half-hours every day in which to sit and go out with her, so that +she should not feel neglected. Mrs. Watson grew quite fond of her "young +friend," though she stood a little in awe of her too, and was disposed to +be jealous if any one showed more attention to Clover than to herself. + +An early outburst of this feeling came on the third day after their +arrival, when Mrs. Hope asked Phil and Clover to dinner, and did _not_ ask +Mrs. Watson. She had discussed the point with her husband, but the doctor +"jumped on" the idea forcibly, and protested that if that old thing was to +come too, he would "have a consultation in Pueblo, and be off in the five +thirty train, sure as fate." + +"It's not that I care," Mrs. Watson assured Clover plaintively. "I've had +so much done for me all my life that of course--But I _do_ like to be +properly treated. It isn't as if I were just anybody. I don't suppose Mrs. +Hope knows much about Boston society anyway, but still--And I should +think a girl from South Framingham (didn't you say she was from South +Framingham?) would at least know who the Abraham Peabodys are, and they're +Henry's--But I don't imagine she was much of anybody before she was +married; and out here it's all hail fellow and well met, they say, though +in that case I don't see--Well, well, it's no matter, only it seems queer +to me; and I think you'd better drop a hint about it when you're there, +and just explain that my daughter lives next door to the +Lieutenant-Governor when she is in the country, and opposite the +Assistant-Bishop in town, and has one of the Harvard Overseers for a near +neighbor, and is distantly related to the Reveres! You'd think even a +South Framingham girl must know about the lantern and the Old South, and +how much they've always been respected at home." + +Clover pacified her as well as she could, by assurances that it was not a +dinner-party, and they were only asked to meet one girl whom Mrs. Hope +wanted her to know. + +"If it were a large affair, I am sure you would have been asked too," she +said, and so left her "old woman of the sea" partly consoled. + +It was the most lovely evening possible, as Clover and Phil walked down +the street toward Dr. Hope's. Soft shadows lay over the lower spurs of the +ranges. The canyons looked black and deep, but the peaks still glittered +in rosy light. The mesa was in shadow, but the nearer plain lay in full +sunshine, hot and yellow, and the west wind was full of mountain +fragrance. + +Phil gave little skips as he went along. Already he seemed like a +different boy. All the droop and languor had gone, and given place to an +exhilaration which half frightened Clover, who had constant trouble in +keeping him from doing things which she knew to be imprudent. Dr. Hope had +warned her that invalids often harmed themselves by over-exertion under +the first stimulus of the high air. + +"Why, how queer!" she exclaimed, stopping suddenly before one of the +pretty places just above Mrs. Marsh's boarding-house. + +"What?" + +"Don't you see? That yard! When we came by here yesterday it was all green +grass and rose-bushes, and girls were playing croquet; and now, look, it's +a pond!" + +Sure enough! There were the rose-bushes still, and the croquet arches; but +they were standing, so to speak, up to their knees in pools of water, +which seemed several inches deep, and covered the whole place, with the +exception of the flagged walks which ran from the gates to the front and +side doors of the house. Clover noticed now, for the first time, that +these walks were several inches higher than the grass-beds on either side. +She wondered if they were made so on purpose, and resolved to notice if +the next place had the same arrangement. + +But as they reached the next place and the next, lo! the phenomenon was +repeated and Dr. Hope's lawn too was in the same condition,--everything +was overlaid with water. They began to suspect what it must mean, and +Mrs. Hope confirmed the suspicion. It was irrigation day in Mountain +Avenue, it seemed. Every street in the town had its appointed period when +the invaluable water, brought from a long distance for the purpose, was +"laid on" and kept at a certain depth for a prescribed number of hours. + +"We owe our grass and shrubs and flower-beds entirely to this +arrangement," Mrs. Hope told them. "Nothing could live through our dry +summers if we did not have the irrigating system." + +"Are the summers so dry?" asked Clover. "It seems to me that we have had a +thunder-storm almost every day since we came." + +"We do have a good many thunderstorms," Mrs. Hope admitted; "but we can't +depend on them for the gardens." + +"And did you ever hear such magnificent thunder?" asked Dr. Hope. +"Colorado thunder beats the world." + +"Wait till you see our magnificent Colorado hail," put in Mrs. Hope, +wickedly. "That beats the world, too. It cuts our flowers to pieces, and +sometimes kills the sheep on the plains. We are very proud of it. The +doctor thinks everything in Colorado perfection." + +"I have always pitied places which had to be irrigated," remarked Clover, +with her eyes fixed on the little twin-lakes which yesterday were lawns. +"But I begin to think I was mistaken. It's very superior, of course, to +have rains; but then at the East we sometimes don't have rain when we want +it, and the grass gets dreadfully yellow. Don't you remember, Phil, how +hard Katy and I worked last summer to keep the geraniums and fuschias +alive in that long drought? Now, if we had had water like this to come +once a week, and make a nice deep pond for us, how different it would have +been!" + +"Oh, you must come out West for real comfort," said Dr. Hope. "The East is +a dreadfully one-horse little place, anyhow." + +"But you don't mean New York and Boston when you say 'one-horse little +place,' surely?" + +"Don't I?" said the undaunted doctor. "Wait till you see more of us out +here." + +"Here's Poppy, at last," cried Mrs. Hope, as a girl came hurriedly up the +walk. "You're late, dear." + +"Poppy," whose real name was Marian Chase, was the girl who had been asked +to meet them. She was a tall, rosy creature, to whom Clover took an +instant fancy, and seemed in perfect health; yet she told them that when +she came out to Colorado three years before, she had travelled on a +mattress, with a doctor and a trained nurse in attendance. + +"Your brother will be as strong, or stronger than I at the end of a year," +she said; "or if he doesn't get well as fast as he ought, you must take +him up to the Ute Valley. That's where I made my first gain." + +"Where is the valley?" + +"Thirty miles away to the northwest,--up there among the mountains. It is +a great deal higher than this, and such a lovely peaceful place. I hope +you'll go there." + +"We shall, of course, if Phil needs it; but I like St. Helen's so much +that I would rather stay here if we can." + +Dinner was now announced, and Mrs. Hope led the way into a pretty room +hung with engravings and old plates after the modern fashion, where a +white-spread table stood decorated with wild-flowers, candle-sticks with +little red-shaded tapers, and a pyramid of plums and apricots. There was +the usual succession of soup and fish and roast and salad which one looks +for at a dinner on the sea-level, winding up with ice-cream of a highly +civilized description, but Clover could scarcely eat for wondering how all +these things had come there so soon, so very soon. It seemed like +magic,--one minute the solemn peaks and passes, the prairie-dogs and the +thorny plain, the next all these portieres and rugs and etchings and down +pillows and pretty devices in glass and china, as if some enchanter's wand +had tapped the wilderness, and hey, presto! modern civilization had sprung +up like Jonah's gourd all in a minute, or like the palace which Aladdin +summoned into being in a single night for the occupation of the Princess +of China, by the rubbing of his wonderful lamp. And then, just as the +fruit-plates were put on the table, came a call, and the doctor was out in +the hall, "holloing" and conducting with some distant patient one of those +mysterious telephonic conversations which to those who overhear seem all +replies and no questions. It was most remarkable, and quite unlike her +preconceived ideas of what was likely to take place at the base of the +Rocky Mountains. + +A pleasant evening followed. "Poppy" played delightfully on the piano; +later came a rubber of whist. It was like home. + +"Before these children go, let us settle about the drive," said Dr. Hope +to his wife. + +"Oh, yes! Miss Carr--" + +"Oh, please, won't you call me Clover?" + +"Indeed I will,--Clover, then,--we want to take you for a good long drive +to-morrow, and show you something; but the trouble is, the doctor and I +are at variance as to what the something shall be. I want you to see +Odin's Garden; and the doctor insists that you ought to go to the Cheyenne +canyons first, because those are his favorites. Now, which shall it be? We +will leave it to you." + +"But how can I choose? I don't know either of them. What a queer +name,--Odin's Garden!" + +"I'll tell you how to settle it," cried Marian Chase, whose nickname it +seemed had been given her because when she first came to St. Helen's she +wore a bunch of poppies in her hat. "Take them to Cheyenne to-morrow; and +the next day--or Thursday--let me get up a picnic for Odin's Garden; just +a few of our special cronies,--the Allans and the Blanchards and Mary +Pelham and Will Amory. Will you, dear Mrs. Hope, and be our matron? That +would be lovely." + +Mrs. Hope consented, and Clover walked home as if treading on air. Was +this the St. Helen's to which she had looked forward with so much +dread,--this gay, delightful place, where such pleasant things happened, +and people were so kind? How she wished that she could get at Katy and +papa for five minutes--on a wishing carpet or something--to tell them how +different everything was from what she had expected. + +One thing only marred her anticipations for the morrow, which was the fear +that Mrs. Watson might be hurt, and make a scene. Happily, Mrs. Hope's +thoughts took the same direction; and by some occult process of influence, +the use of which good wives understand, she prevailed on her refractory +doctor to allow the old lady to be asked to join the party. + +So early next morning came a very polite note; and it was proposed that +Phil should ride the doctor's horse, and act as escort to Miss Chase, who +was to go on horseback likewise. No proposal could have been more +agreeable to Phil, who adored horses, and seldom had the chance to mount +one; so every one was pleased, and Mrs. Watson preened her ancestral +feathers with great satisfaction. + +"You see, dear, how well it was to give that little hint about the +Reveres and the Abraham Peabodys," she said. Clover felt dreadfully +dishonest; but she dared not confess that she had forgotten all about the +hint, still less that she had never meant to give one. "The better part of +valor is discretion," she remembered; so she held her peace, though her +cheeks glowed guiltily. + +At three o'clock they set forth in a light roomy carriage,--not exactly a +carryall, but of the carryall family,--with a pair of fast horses, Miss +Chase and Phil cantering happily alongside, or before or behind, just as +it happened. The sun was very hot; but there was a delicious breeze, and +the dryness and elasticity of the air made the heat easy to bear. + +The way lay across and down the southern slope of the plateau on which the +town was built. Then they came to splendid fields of grain and +"afalfa,"--a cereal quite new to them, with broad, very green leaves. The +roadside was gay with flowers,--gillias and mountain balm; high pink and +purple spikes, like foxgloves, which they were told were pentstemons; +painters' brush, whose green tips seemed dipped in liquid vermilion, and +masses of the splendid wild poppies. They crossed a foaming little river; +and a sharp turn brought them into a narrower and wilder road, which ran +straight toward the mountain side. This was overhung by trees, whose shade +was grateful after the hot sun. + +Narrower and narrower grew the road, more and more sharp the turns. They +were at the entrance of a deep defile, up which the road wound and wound, +following the links of the river, which they crossed and recrossed +repeatedly. Such a wonderful and perfect little river, with water clear as +air and cold as ice, flowing over a bed of smooth granite, here slipping +noiselessly down long slopes of rock like thin films of glass, there +deepening into pools of translucent blue-green like aqua-marine or beryl, +again plunging down in mimic waterfalls, a sheet of iridescent foam. The +sound of its rush and its ripple was like a laugh. Never was such happy +water, Clover thought, as it curved and bent and swayed this way and that +on its downward course as if moved by some merry, capricious instinct, +like a child dancing as it goes. Regiments or great ferns grew along its +banks, and immense thickets of wild roses of all shades, from deep +Jacqueminot red to pale blush-white. Here and there rose a lonely spike of +yucca, and in the little ravines to right and left grew in the crevices of +the rocks clumps of superb straw-colored columbines four feet high. + +Looking up, Clover saw above the tree-tops strange pinnacles and spires +and obelisks which seemed air-hung, of purple-red and orange-tawny and +pale pinkish gray and terra cotta, in which the sunshine and the +cloud-shadows broke in a multiplicity of wonderful half-tints. Above them +was the dazzling blue of the Colorado sky. She drew a long, long breath. + +"So this is a canyon," she said. "How glad I am that I have lived to see +one." + +"Yes, this is a canyon," Dr. Hope replied. "Some of us think it _the_ +canyon; but there are dozens of others, and no two of them are alike. I'm +glad you are pleased with this, for it's my favorite. I wish your father +could see it." + +Clover hardly understood what he said she was so fascinated and absorbed. +She looked up at the bright pinnacles, down at the flowers and the sheen +of the river-pools and the mad rush of its cascades, and felt as though +she were in a dream. Through the dream she caught half-comprehended +fragments of conversation from the seat behind. Mrs. Watson was giving her +impressions of the scenery. + +"It's pretty, I suppose," she remarked; "but it's so very queer, and I'm +not used to queer things. And this road is frightfully narrow. If a load +of hay or a big Concord coach should come along, I can't think what we +should do. I see that Dr. Hope drives carefully, but yet--You don't think +we shall meet anything of the kind to-day, do you, Doctor?" + +"Not a Concord coach, and certainly not a hay-wagon, for they don't make +hay up here in the mountains." + +"Well, that is a relief. I didn't know. Ellen she always says, 'Mother, +you're a real fidget;' but when one grows old, and has valves in the heart +as I have, you never--We might meet one of those big pedler's wagons, +though, and they frighten horses worse than anything. Oh, what's that +coming now? Let us get out, Dr. Hope; pray, let us all get out." + +"Sit still, ma'am," said the doctor, sternly, for Mrs. Watson was wildly +fumbling at the fastening of the door. "Mary, put your arm round Mrs. +Watson, and hold her tight. There'll be a real accident, sure as fate, if +you don't." Then in a gentler tone, "It's only a buggy, ma'am; there's +plenty of room. There's no possible risk of a pedler's wagon. What on +earth should a pedler be doing up here on the side of Cheyenne! +Prairie-dogs don't use pomatum or tin-ware." + +"Oh, I didn't know," repeated poor Mrs. Watson, nervously. She watched the +buggy timorously till it was safely past; then her spirits revived. + +"Well," she cried, "we're safe this time; but I call it tempting +Providence to drive so fast on such a rough road. If all canyons are as +wild as this, I sha'n't ever venture to go into another." + +"Bless me! this is one of our mildest specimens," said Dr. Hope, who +seemed to have a perverse desire to give Mrs. Watson a distaste for +canyons. "This is a smooth one; but some canyons are really rough. Do you +remember, Mary, the day we got stuck up at the top of the Westmoreland, +and had to unhitch the horses, and how I stood in the middle of the creek +and yanked the carriage round while you held them? That was the day we +heard the mountain lion, and there were fresh bear-tracks all over the +mud, you remember." + +"Good gracious!" cried Mrs. Watson, quite pale; "what an awful place! +Bears and lions! What on earth did you go there for?" + +"Oh, purely for pleasure," replied the doctor, lightly. "We don't mind +such little matters out West. We try to accustom ourselves to wild beasts, +and make friends of them." + +"John, don't talk such nonsense," cried his wife, quite angrily. "Mrs. +Watson, you mustn't believe a word the doctor says. I've lived in Colorado +nine years; and I've never once seen a mountain lion, or a bear either, +except the stuffed ones in the shops. Don't let the doctor frighten you." + +But Dr. Hope's wicked work was done. Mrs. Watson, quite unconvinced by +these well-meant assurances, sat pale and awe-struck, repeating under her +breath,-- + +"Dreadful! What _will_ Ellen say? Bears and lions! Oh, dear me!" + +"Look, look!" cried Clover, who had not listened to a word of this +conversation; "did you ever see anything so lovely?" She referred to what +she was looking at,--a small point of pale straw-colored rock some +hundreds of feet in height, which a turn in the road had just revealed, +soaring above the tops of the trees. + +"I don't see that it's lovely at all," said Mrs. Watson, testily. "It's +unnatural, if that's what you mean. Rocks ought not to be that color. +They never are at the East. It looks to me exactly like an enormous unripe +banana standing on end." + +This simile nearly "finished" the party. "It's big enough to disagree with +all the Sunday-schools in creation at once," remarked the doctor, between +his shouts, while even Clover shook with laughter. Mrs. Watson felt that +she had made a hit, and grew complacent again. + +"See what your brother picked for me," cried Poppy, riding alongside, and +exhibiting a great sheaf of columbine tied to the pommel of her saddle. +"And how do you like North Cheyenne? Isn't it an exquisite place?" + +"Perfectly lovely; I feel as if I must come here every day." + +"Yes, I know; but there are so many other places out here about which you +have that feeling." + +"Now we will show you the other Cheyenne Canyon,--the twin of this," said +Dr. Hope; "but you must prepare your mind to find it entirely different." + +After rather a rough mile or two through woods, they came to a wooden +shed, or shanty, at the mouth of a gorge, and here Dr. Hope drew up his +horses, and helped them all out. + +"Is it much of a walk?" asked Mrs. Watson. + +"It is rather long and rather steep," said Mrs. Hope; "but it is lovely if +you only go a little way in, and you and I will sit down the moment you +feel tired, and let the others go forward." + +South Cheyenne Canyon was indeed "entirely different." Instead of a +green-floored, vine-hung ravine, it is a wild mountain gorge, walled with +precipitous cliffs of great height; and its river--every canyon has a +river--comes from a source at the top of the gorge in a series of mad +leaps, forming seven waterfalls, which plunge into circular basins of +rock, worn smooth by the action of the stream. These pools are curiously +various in shape, and the color of the water, as it pauses a moment to +rest in each before taking its next plunge, is beautiful. Little plank +walks are laid along the river-side, and rude staircases for the steepest +pitches. Up these the party went, leaving Mrs. Watson and Mrs. Hope far +behind,--Poppy with her habit over her arm, Clover stopping every other +moment to pick some new flower, Phil shying stones into the rapids as he +passed,--till the top of the topmost cascade was reached, and looking back +they could see the whole wonderful way by which they had climbed, and down +which the river made its turbulent rush. Clover gathered a great mat of +green scarlet-berried vine like glorified cranberry, which Dr. Hope told +her was the famous kinnikinnick, and was just remarking on the cool +water-sounds which filled the place, when all of a sudden these sounds +seemed to grow angry, the defile of precipices turned a frowning blue, and +looking up they saw a great thunder-cloud gathering overhead. + +"We must run," cried Dr. Hope, and down they flew, racing at full speed +along the long flights of steps and the plank walks, which echoed to the +sound of their flying feet. Far below they could see two fast-moving +specks which they guessed to be Mrs. Hope and Mrs. Watson, hurrying to a +place of shelter. Nearer and nearer came the storm, louder the growl of +the thunder, and great hail-stones pattered on their heads before they +gained the cabin; none too soon, for in another moment the cloud broke, +and the air was full of a dizzy whirl of sleet and rain. + +Others besides themselves had been surprised in the ravine, and every few +minutes another and another wet figure would come flying down the path, so +that the little refuge was soon full. The storm lasted half an hour, then +it scattered as rapidly as it had come, the sun broke out brilliantly, and +the drive home would have been delightful if it had not been for the sad +fact that Mrs. Watson had left her parasol in the carriage, and it had +been wet, and somewhat stained by the india-rubber blanket which had been +thrown over it for protection. Her lamentations were pathetic. + +"Jane Phillips gave it to me,--she was a Sampson, you know,--and I +thought ever so much of it. It was at Hovey's--We were there together, and +I admired it; and she said, 'Mrs. Watson, you must let me--' Six dollars +was the price of it. That's a good deal for a parasol, you know, unless +it's really a nice one; but Hovey's things are always--I had the handle +shortened a little just before I came away, too, so that it would go into +my trunk; it had to be mended anyhow, so that it seemed a good--Dear, +dear! and now it's spoiled! What a pity I left it in the carriage! I shall +know better another time, but this climate is so different. It never rains +in this way at home. It takes a little while about it, and gives notice; +and we say that there's going to be a northeaster, or that it looks like a +thunder-storm, and we put on our second-best clothes or we stay at home. +It's a great deal nicer, I think." + +"I am so sorry," said kind little Mrs. Hope. "Our storms out here do come +up very suddenly. I wish I had noticed that you had left your parasol. +Well, Clover, you've had a chance now to see the doctor's beautiful +Colorado hail and thunder to perfection. How do you like them?" + +"I like everything in Colorado, I believe," replied Clover, laughing. "I +won't even except the hail." + +"She's the girl for this part of the world," cried Dr. Hope, approvingly. +"She'd make a first-rate pioneer. We'll keep her out here, Mary, and never +let her go home. She was born to live at the West." + +"Was I? It seems queer then that I should have been born to live in +Burnet." + +"Oh, we'll change all that." + +"I'm sure I don't see how." + +"There are ways and means," oracularly. + +Mrs. Watson was so cast down by the misadventure to her parasol that she +expressed no regret at not being asked to join in the picnic next day, +especially as she understood that it consisted of young people. Mrs. Hope +very rightly decided that a whole day out of doors, in a rough place, +would give pain rather than pleasure to a person who was both so feeble +and so fussy, and did not suggest her going. Clover and Phil waked up +quite fresh and untired after a sound night's sleep. There seemed no limit +to what might be done and enjoyed in that inexhaustibly renovating air. + +Odin's Garden proved to be a wonderful assemblage of rocky shapes rising +from the grass and flowers of a lonely little plain on the far side of the +mesa, four or five miles from St. Helen's. The name of the place came +probably from something suggestive in the forms of the rocks, which +reminded Clover of pictures she had seen of Assyrian and Egyptian rock +carvings. There were lion shapes and bull shapes like the rudely chiselled +gods of some heathen worship; there were slender, points and obelisks +three hundred feet high; and something suggesting a cat-faced deity, and +queer similitudes of crocodiles and apes,--all in the strange orange and +red and pale yellow formations of the region. It was a wonderful rather +than a beautiful place; but the day was spent very happily under those +mysterious stones, which, as the long afternoon shadows gathered over the +plain, and the sky glowed with sunset crimson which seemed like a +reflection from the rocks themselves, became more mysterious still. Of the +merry young party which made up the picnic, seven out of nine had come to +Colorado for health; but no one would have guessed it, they seemed so well +and so full of the enjoyment of life. Altogether, it was a day to be +marked; not with a white stone,--that would not have seemed appropriate to +Colorado,--but with a red one. Clover, writing about it afterward to +Elsie, felt that her descriptions to sober stay-at-homes might easily +sound overdrawn and exaggerated, and wound up her letter thus:-- + + "Perhaps you think that I am romancing; but I am not a bit. + Every word I say is perfectly true, only I have not made the + colors half bright or the things half beautiful enough. Colorado + is the most beautiful place in the world. [N.B.--Clover had seen + but a limited portion of the world so far.] I only wish you + could all come out to observe for yourselves that I am not + fibbing, though it sounds like it!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +HIGH VALLEY. + + +Clover was putting Phil's chamber to rights, and turning it into a +sitting-room for the day, which was always her first task in the morning. +They had been at St. Helen's nearly three weeks now, and the place had +taken on a very homelike appearance. All the books and the photographs +were unpacked, the washstand had vanished behind a screen made of a +three-leaved clothes-frame draped with chintz, while a ruffled cover of +the same gay chintz, on which bunches of crimson and pink geraniums +straggled over a cream-colored ground, gave to the narrow bed the air of a +respectable wide sofa. + +"There! those look very nice, I think," she said, giving the last touch to +a bowl full of beautiful garden roses. "How sweet they are!" + +"Your young man seems rather clever about roses," remarked Phil, who, +boy-like, dearly loved to tease his sister. + +"My young man, as you call him, has a father with a gardener," replied +Clover, calmly; "no very brilliant cleverness is required for that." + +In a cordial, kindly place, like St. Helen's, people soon make +acquaintances, and Clover and Phil felt as if they already knew half the +people in the town. Every one had come to see them and deluged them with +flowers, and invitations to dine, to drive, to take tea. Among the rest +came Mr. Thurber Wade, whom Phil was pleased to call Clover's young +man,--the son of a rich New York banker, whose ill-health had brought him +to live in St. Helen's, and who had built a handsome house on the +principal street. This gilded youth had several times sent roses to +Clover,--a fact which Phil had noticed, and upon which he was fond of +commenting. + +"Speaking of young men," went on Clover, "what do you suppose has become +of Clarence Page? He said he should come in to see us soon; but that was +ever so long ago." + +"He's a fraud, I suspect," replied Phil, lazily, from his seat in the +window. He had a geometry on his knees, and was supposed to be going on +with his education, but in reality he was looking at the mountains. "I +suppose people are pretty busy on ranches, though," he added. "Perhaps +they're sheep-shearing." + +"Oh, it isn't a sheep ranch. Don't you remember his saying that the cattle +got very wild, and they had to ride after them? They wouldn't ride after +sheep. I hope he hasn't forgotten about us. I was so glad to see him." + +While this talk went on, Clarence was cantering down the lower end of the +Ute Pass on his way to St. Helen's. Three hours later his name was brought +up to them. + +"How nice!" cried Clover. "I think as he's a relative we might let him +come here, Phil. It's so much pleasanter than the parlor." + +Clarence, who had passed the interval of waiting in noting the different +varieties of cough among the sick people in the parlor, was quite of her +opinion. + +"How jolly you look!" was almost his first remark. "I'm glad you've got a +little place of your own, and don't have to sit with those poor creatures +downstairs all the time." + +"It is much nicer. Some of them are getting better, though." + +"Some of them aren't. There's one poor fellow in a reclining-chair who +looks badly." + +"That's the one whose room Mrs. Watson has marked for her own. She asks +him three times a day how he feels, with all the solicitude of a mother," +said Phil. + +"Who's Mrs. Watson?" + +"Well, she's an old lady who is somehow fastened to us, and who considers +herself our chaperone," replied Clover, with a little laugh. "I must +introduce you by-and-by, but first we want a good talk all by ourselves. +Now tell us why you haven't come to see us before. We have been hoping +for you every day." + +"Well, I've wanted to come badly enough, but there has been a combination +of hindrances. Two of our men got sick, so there was more to do than +usual; then Geoff had to be away four days, and almost as soon as he got +back he had bad news from home, and I hated to leave him alone." + +"What sort of bad news?" + +"His sister's dead." + +"Poor fellow! In England too! You said he was English, didn't you?" + +"Yes. She was married. Her husband was a clergyman down in Cornwall +somewhere. She was older than Geoff a good deal; but he was very fond of +her, and the news cut him up dreadfully." + +"No wonder. It is horrible to hear such a thing when one is far from +home," observed Clover. She tried to realize how she should feel if word +came to St. Helen's of Katy's death, or Elsie's, or Johnnie's; but her +mind refused to accept the question. The very idea made her shiver. + +"Poor fellow!" she said again; "what could you do for him, Clarence?" + +"Not much. I'm a poor hand at comforting any one,--men generally are, I +guess. Geoff knows I'm sorry for him; but it takes a woman to say the +right thing at such times. We sit and smoke when the work's done, and I +know what he's thinking about; but we don't say anything to each other. +Now let's speak of something else. I want to settle about your coming to +High Valley." + +"High Valley? Is that the name of your place?" + +"Yes. I want you to see it. It's an awfully pretty place to my +thinking,--not so very much higher than this, but you have to climb a good +deal to get there. Can't you come? This is just the time,--raspberries +ripe, and lots of flowers wherever the beasts don't get at them. Phil can +have all the riding he wants, and it'll do poor Geoff lots of good to see +some one." + +"It would be very nice indeed," doubtfully; "but who could we get to go +with us?" + +"I thought of that. We don't take much stock in Mrs. Grundy out here; but +I supposed you'd want another lady. How would it be if I asked Mrs. Hope? +The doctor's got to come out anyway to see one of our herders who's put +his shoulder out in a fall. If he would drive you out, and Mrs. Hope would +stay on, would you come for a week? I guess you'll like it." + +"I 'guess' we should," exclaimed Clover, her face lighting up. "Clarence, +how delightful it sounds! It will be lovely to come if Mrs. Hope says +yes." + +"Then that's all right," replied Clarence, looking extremely pleased. +"I'll ride up to the doctor's as soon as dinner's over." + +"You'll dine with us, of course?" + +"Oh, I always come to Mother Marsh for a bite whenever I stay over the +day. She likes to have me. We've been great chums ever since I had fever +here, and she took care of me." + +Clover was amused at dinner to watch the cool deliberation with which +Clarence studied Mrs. Watson and her tortuous conversation, and, as he +would have expressed it, "took stock of her." The result was not +favorable, apparently. + +"What on earth did they send that old thing with you for?" he asked as +soon as they went upstairs. "She's as much out of her element here as a +canary-bird would be in a cyclone. She can't be any use to you, Clover." + +"Well, no; I don't think she is. It was a sort of mistake; I'll tell you +about it sometime. But she likes to imagine that she's taking care of me; +and as it does no harm, I let her." + +"Taking care of you! Great thunder! I wouldn't trust her to take care of a +blue-eyed kitten," observed the irreverent Clarence. "Well, I'll ride up +and settle with the Hopes, and stop and let you know as I come back." + +Mrs. Hope and the doctor were not hard to persuade. In Colorado, people +keep their lamps of enjoyment filled and trimmed, so to speak, and their +travelling energies ready girt about them, and easily adopt any plan which +promises pleasure. The following day was fixed for the start, and Clover +packed her valise and Phil's bag, with a sense of exhilaration and escape. +She was, in truth, getting very tired of the exactions of Mrs. Watson. +Mrs. Watson, on her part, did not at all approve of the excursion. + +"I think," she said, swelling with offended dignity, "that your cousin +didn't know much about politeness when he left me out of his invitation +and asked Mrs. Hope instead. Yes, I know; the doctor had to go up anyway. +That may be true, and it may not; but it doesn't alter the case. What am I +to do, I should like to know, if the valves of my heart don't open, or +don't shut--whichever it is--while I'm left all alone here among +strangers?" + +"Send for Dr. Hope," suggested Phil. "He'll only be gone one night. Clover +doesn't know anything about valves." + +"My cousin lives in a rather rough way, I imagine," interposed Clover, +with a reproving look at Phil. "He would hardly like to ask a stranger and +an invalid to his house, when he might not be able to make her +comfortable. Mrs. Hope has been there before, and she's an old friend." + +"Oh, I dare say! There are always reasons. I don't say that I should have +felt like going, but he ought to have asked me. Ellen will be surprised, +and so will--He's from Ashburn too, and he must know the Parmenters, and +Mrs. Parmenter's brother's son is partner to Henry's brother-in-law. It's +of no consequence, of course,--still, respect--older people--Boston--not +used to--Phillips--" Mrs. Watson's voice died away into fragmentary and +inaudible lamentings. + +Clover attempted no further excuse. Her good sense told her that she had a +perfect right to accept this little pleasure; that Mrs. Watson's plans for +Western travel had been formed quite independently of their own, and that +papa would not wish her to sacrifice herself and Phil to such unreasonable +humors. Still, it was not pleasant; and I am sorry to say that from this +time dated a change of feeling on Mrs. Watson's part toward her "young +friends." She took up a chronic position of grievance toward them, +confided her wrongs to all new-comers, and met Clover with an offended air +which, though Clover ignored it, did not add to the happiness of her life +at Mrs. Marsh's. + +It was early in the afternoon when they started, and the sun was just +dipping behind the mountain wall when they drove into the High Valley. It +was one of those natural parks, four miles long, which lie like +heaven-planted gardens among the Colorado ranges. The richest of grass +clothed it; fine trees grew in clumps and clusters here and there; and the +spaces about the house where fences of barbed wire defended the grass from +the cattle, seemed a carpet of wild-flowers. + +Clover exclaimed with delight at the view. The ranges which lapped and +held the high, sheltered upland in embrace opened toward the south, and +revealed a splendid lonely peak, on whose summit a drift of freshly-fallen +snow was lying. The contrast with the verdure and bloom below was +charming. + +The cabin--it was little more--stood facing this view, and was backed by a +group of noble red cedars. It was built of logs, long and low, with a rude +porch in front supported on unbarked tree trunks. Two fine collies rushed +to meet them, barking vociferously; and at the sound Clarence hurried to +the door. He met them with great enthusiasm, lifted out Mrs. Hope, then +Clover, and then began shouting for his chum, who was inside. + +"Hollo, Geoff! where are you? Hurry up; they've come." Then, as he +appeared, "Ladies and gentleman, my partner!" + +Geoffrey Templestowe was a tall, sinewy young Englishman, with ruddy hair +and beard, grave blue eyes, and an unmistakable air of good breeding. He +wore a blue flannel shirt and high boots like Clarence's, yet somehow he +made Clarence look a little rough and undistinguished. He was quiet in +speech, reserved in manner, and seemed depressed and under a cloud; but +Clover liked his face at once. He looked both strong and kind, she +thought. + +The house consisted of one large square room in the middle, which served +as parlor and dining-room both, and on either side two bedrooms. The +kitchen was in a separate building. There was no lack of comfort, though +things were rather rude, and the place had a bare, masculine look. The +floor was strewn with coyote and fox skins. Two or three easy-chairs stood +around the fireplace, in which, July as it was, a big log was blazing. +Their covers were shabby and worn; but they looked comfortable, and were +evidently in constant use. There was not the least attempt at prettiness +anywhere. Pipes and books and old newspapers littered the chairs and +tables; when an extra seat was needed Clarence simply tipped a great pile +of these on to the floor. A gun-rack hung upon the wall, together with +sundry long stock-whips and two or three pairs of spurs, and a smell of +tobacco pervaded the place. + +Clover's eyes wandered to a corner where stood a small parlor organ, and +over it a shelf of books. She rose to examine them. To her surprise they +were all hymnals and Church of England prayer-books. There were no others. +She wondered what it meant. + +Clarence had given up his own bedroom to Phil, and was to chum with his +friend. Some little attempt had been made to adorn the rooms which were +meant for the ladies. Clean towels had been spread over the pine shelves +which did duty for dressing-tables, and on each stood a tumbler stuffed as +full as it could hold with purple pentstemons. Clover could not help +laughing, yet there was something pathetic to her in the clumsy, man-like +arrangement. She relieved the tumbler by putting a few of the flowers in +her dress, and went out again to the parlor, where Mrs. Hope sat by the +fire, quizzing the two partners, who were hard at work setting their +tea-table. + +It was rather a droll spectacle,--the two muscular young fellows creaking +to and fro in their heavy boots, and taking such an infinitude of pains +with their operations. One would set a plate on the table, and the other +would forthwith alter its position slightly, or lift and scrutinize a +tumbler and dust it sedulously with a glass-towel. Each spoon was polished +with the greatest particularity before it was laid on the tray; each knife +passed under inspection. Visitors were not an every-day luxury in the High +Valley, and too much care could not be taken for their entertainment, it +seemed. + +Supper was brought in by a Chinese cook in a pigtail, wooden shoes, and a +blue Mother Hubbard, Choo Loo by name. He was evidently a good cook, for +the corn-bread and fresh mountain trout and the ham and eggs were savory +to the last degree, and the flapjacks, with which the meal concluded, and +which were eaten with a sauce of melted raspberry jelly, deserved even +higher encomium. + +"We are willing to be treated as company this first night," observed Mrs. +Hope; "but if you are going to keep us a week, you must let us make +ourselves useful, and set the table and arrange the rooms for you." + +"We will begin to-morrow morning," added Clover. "May we, Clarence? May we +play that it is our house, and do what we like, and change about and +arrange things? It will be such fun." + +"Fire away!" said her cousin, calmly. "The more you change the more we +shall like it. Geoff and I aren't set in our ways, and are glad enough to +be let off duty for a week. The hut is yours just as long as you will +stay; do just what you like with it. Though we're pretty good housekeepers +too, considering; don't you think so?" + +"Do you believe he meant it?" asked Clover, confidentially afterward of +Mrs. Hope. "Do you think they really wouldn't mind being tidied up a +little? I should so like to give that room a good dusting, if it wouldn't +vex them." + +"My dear, they will probably never know the difference except by a vague +sense of improved comfort. Men are dreadfully untidy, as a general thing, +when left to themselves; but they like very well to have other people make +things neat." + +"Mr. Templestowe told Phil that they go off early in the morning and don't +come back till breakfast at half-past seven; so if I wake early enough I +shall try to do a little setting to rights before they come in." + +"And I'll come and help if I don't over-sleep," declared Mrs. Hope; "but +this air makes me feel dreadfully as if I should." + +"I sha'n't call you," said Clover; "but it will be nice to have you, if +you come." + +She stood at her window after Mrs. Hope had gone, for a last look at the +peak which glittered sharply in the light of the moon. The air was like +scented wine. She drew a long breath. + +"How lovely it is!" she said to herself, and kissed her hand to the +mountain. "Good-night, you beautiful thing." + +She woke with the first beam of yellow sun, after eight hours of dreamless +sleep, with a keen sense of renovation and refreshment. A great splashing +was going on in the opposite wing, and manly voices hushed to suppressed +tones were audible. Then came a sound of boots on the porch; and peeping +from behind her curtain, she saw Clarence and his friend striding across +the grass in the direction of the stock-huts. She glanced at her watch. It +was a quarter past five. + +"Now is my chance," she thought; and dressing rapidly, she put on a little +cambric jacket, knotted her hair up, tied a handkerchief over it, and +hurried into the sitting-room. Her first act was to throw open all the +windows to let out the smell of stale tobacco, her next to hunt for a +broom. She found one at last, hanging on the door of a sort of +store-closet, and moving the furniture as noiselessly as she could, she +gave the room a rapid but effectual sweeping. + +While the dust settled, she stole out to a place on the hillside where the +night before she had noticed some mariposa lilies growing, and gathered a +large bunch. Then she proceeded to dust and straighten, sorted out the +newspapers, wiped the woodwork with a damp cloth, arranged the disorderly +books, and set the breakfast-table. When all this was done, there was +still time to finish her toilet and put her pretty hair in its accustomed +coils and waves; so that Clarence and Mr. Templestowe came in to find the +fire blazing, the room bright and neat, Mrs. Hope sitting at the table in +a pretty violet gingham ready to pour the coffee which Choo Loo had +brought in, and Clover, the good fairy of this transformation scene, in a +fresh blue muslin, with a ribbon to match in her hair, just setting the +mariposas in the middle of the table. Their lilac-streaked bells nodded +from a tall vase of ground glass. + +"Oh, I say," cried Clarence, "this _is_ something like! Isn't it +scrumptious, Geoff? The hut never looked like this before. It's wonderful +what a woman--no, two women," with a bow to Mrs. Hope--"can do toward +making things pleasant. Where did that vase come from, Clover? We never +owned anything so fine as that, I'm sure." + +"It came from my bag; and it's a present for you and Mr. Templestowe. I +saw it in a shop-window yesterday; and it occurred to me that it might be +just the thing for High Valley, and fill a gap. And Mrs. Hope has brought +you each a pretty coffee-cup." + +It was a merry meal. The pleasant look of the room, the little surprises, +and the refreshment of seeing new and kindly faces, raised Mr. +Templestowe's spirits, and warmed him out of his reserve. He grew cheerful +and friendly. Clarence was in uproarious spirits, and Phil even worse. It +seemed as if the air of the High Valley had got into his head. + +Dr. Hope left at noon, after making a second visit to the lame herder, and +Mrs. Hope and Clover settled themselves for a week of enjoyment. They were +alone for hours every day, while their young hosts were off on the ranch, +and they devoted part of this time to various useful and decorative arts. +They took all manner of liberties, poked about and rummaged, mended, +sponged, assorted, and felt themselves completely mistresses of the +situation. A note to Marian Chase brought up a big parcel by stage to the +Ute Valley, four miles away, from which it was fetched over by a cow-boy +on horseback; and Clover worked away busily at scrim curtains for the +windows, while Mrs. Hope shaped a slip cover of gay chintz for the +shabbiest of the armchairs, hemmed a great square of gold-colored canton +flannel for the bare, unsightly table, and made a bright red pincushion +apiece for the bachelor quarters. The sitting-room took on quite a new +aspect, and every added touch gave immense satisfaction to "the boys," as +Mrs. Hope called them, who thoroughly enjoyed the effect of these +ministrations, though they had not the least idea how to produce it +themselves. + +Creature comforts were not forgotten. The two ladies amused themselves +with experiments in cookery. The herders brought a basket of wild +raspberries, and Clover turned them into jam for winter use. Clarence +gloated over the little white pots, and was never tired of counting them. +They looked so like New England, he declared, that he felt as if he must +get a girl at once, and go and walk in the graveyard,--a pastime which he +remembered as universal in his native town. Various cakes and puddings +appeared to attest the industry of the housekeepers; and on the only wet +evening, when a wild thunder-gust was sweeping down the valley, they had a +wonderful candy-pull, and made enough to give all the cow-boys a treat. + +It must not be supposed that all their time went in these domestic +pursuits. No, indeed. Mrs. Hope had brought her own side-saddle, and had +borrowed one for Clover; the place was full of horses, and not a day +passed without a long ride up or down the valley, and into the charming +little side canyons which opened from it. A spirited broncho, named +Sorrel, had been made over to Phil's use for the time of his stay, and he +was never out of the saddle when he could help it, except to eat and +sleep. He shared in the herders' wild gallops after stock, and though +Clover felt nervous about the risks he ran, whenever she took time to +think them over, he was so very happy that she had not the heart to +interfere or check his pleasure. + +She and Mrs. Hope rode out with the gentlemen on the great day of the +round-up, and, stationed at a safe point a little way up the hillside, +watched the spectacle,--the plunging, excited herd, the cow-boys madly +galloping, swinging their long whips and lassos, darting to and fro to +head off refractory beasts or check the tendency to stampede. Both +Clarence and Geoffrey Templestowe were bold and expert riders; but the +Mexican and Texan herders in their employ far surpassed them. The ladies +had never seen anything like it. Phil and his broncho were in the midst of +things, of course, and had one or two tumbles, but nothing to hurt them; +only Clover was very thankful when it was all safely over. + +In their rides and scrambling walks it generally happened that Clarence +took possession of Clover, and left Geoff in charge of Mrs. Hope. +Cousinship and old friendship gave him a right, he considered, and he +certainly took full advantage of it. Clover liked Clarence; but there were +moments when she felt that she would rather enjoy the chance to talk more +with Mr. Templestowe, and there was a look in his eyes now and then which +seemed to say that he might enjoy it too. But Clarence did not observe +this look, and he had no idea of sharing his favorite cousin with any one, +if he could help it. + +Sunday brought the explanation of the shelf full of prayer-books which had +puzzled them on their first arrival. There was no church within reach; and +it was Geoff's regular custom, it seemed, to hold a little service for the +men in the valley. Almost all of them came, except the few Mexicans, who +were Roman Catholics, and the room was quite full. Geoff read the service +well and reverently, gave out the hymns, and played the accompaniments for +them, closing with a brief bit of a sermon by the elder Arnold. It was all +done simply and as a matter of course, and Clarence seemed to join in it +with much good-will; but Clover privately wondered whether the idea of +doing such a thing would have entered into his head had he been left +alone, or, if so, whether he would have cared enough about it to carry it +out regularly. She doubted. Whatever the shortcomings of the Church of +England may be, she certainly trains her children into a devout observance +of Sunday. + +The next day, Monday, was to be their last,--a fact lamented by every one, +particularly Phil, who regarded the High Valley as a paradise, and would +gladly have remained there for the rest of his natural life. Clover hated +to take him away; but Dr. Hope had warned her privately that a week would +be enough of it, and that with Phil's tendency to overdo, too long a stay +would be undesirable. So she stood firm, though Clarence urged a delay, +and Phil seconded the proposal with all his might. + +The very pleasantest moment of the visit perhaps came on that last +afternoon, when Geoff got her to himself for once, and took her up a +trail where she had not yet been, in search of scarlet pentstemons to +carry back to St. Helen's. They found great sheaves of the slender stems +threaded, as it were, with jewel-like blossoms; but what was better still, +they had a talk, and Clover felt that she had now a new friend. Geoff told +her of his people at home, and a little about the sister who had lately +died; only a little,--he could not yet trust himself to talk long about +her. Clover listened with frank and gentle interest. She liked to hear +about the old grange at the head of a chine above Clovelley, where Geoff +was born, and which had once been full of boys and girls, now scattered in +the English fashion to all parts of the world. There was Ralph with his +regiment in India,--he was the heir, it seemed,--and Jim and Jack in +Australia, and Oliver with his wife and children in New Zealand, and Allen +at Harrow, and another boy fitting for the civil service. There was a +married sister in Scotland, and another in London; and Isabel, the +youngest of all, still at home,--the light of the house, and the special +pet of the old squire and of Geoff's mother, who, he told Clover, had been +a great beauty in her youth, and though nearly seventy, was in his eyes +beautiful still. + +"It's pretty quiet there for Isabel," he said; "but she has my sister +Helen's two children to care for, and that will keep her busy. I used to +think she'd come out to me one of these years for a twelvemonth; but +there's little chance of her being spared now." + +Clover's sympathy did not take the form of words. It looked out of her +eyes, and spoke in the hushed tones of her soft voice. Geoff felt that it +was there, and it comforted him. The poor fellow was very lonely in those +days, and inclined to be homesick, as even a manly man sometimes is. + +"What an awful time Adam must have had of it before Eve came!" growled +Clarence, that evening, as they sat around the fire. + +"He had a pretty bad time after she came, if I remember," said Clover, +laughing. + +"Ah, but he had _her_!" + +"Stuff and nonsense! He was a long shot happier without her and her old +apple, I think," put in Phil. "You fellows don't know when you're well +off." + +Everybody laughed. + +"Phil's notion of Paradise is the High Valley and Sorrel, and no girls +about to bother and tell him not to get too tired," remarked Clover. "It's +a fair vision; but like all fair visions it must end." + +And end it did next day, when Dr. Hope appeared with the carriage, and the +bags and saddles were put in, and the great bundle of wild-flowers, with +their stems tied in wet moss; and Phil, torn from his beloved broncho, on +whose back he had passed so many happy hours, was forced to accompany the +others back to civilization. + +"I shall see you very soon," said Clarence, tucking the lap-robe round +Clover. "There's the mail to fetch, and other things. I shall be riding in +every day or two." + +"I shall see you very soon," said Geoff, on the other side. "Clarence is +not coming without me, I can assure you." + +Then the carriage drove away; and the two partners went back into the +house, which looked suddenly empty and deserted. + +"I'll tell you what!" began Clarence. + +"And I'll tell _you_ what!" rejoined Geoff. + +"A house isn't worth a red cent which hasn't a woman in it." + +"You might ride down and ask Miss Perkins to step up and adorn our lives," +said his friend, grimly. Miss Perkins was a particularly rigid spinster +who taught a school six miles distant, and for whom Clarence entertained a +particular distaste. + +"You be hanged! I don't mean that kind. I mean--" + +"The nice kind, like Mrs. Hope and your cousin. Well, I'm agreed." + +"I shall go down after the mail to-morrow," remarked Clarence, between the +puffs of his pipe. + +"So shall I." + +"All right; come along!" But though the words sounded hearty, the tone +rather belied them. Clarence was a little puzzled by and did not quite +like this newborn enthusiasm on the part of his comrade. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +OVER A PASS. + + +True to their resolve, the young heads of the High Valley Ranch rode +together to St. Helen's next day,--ostensibly to get their letters; in +reality to call on their late departed guests. They talked amicably as +they went; but unconsciously each was watching the other's mood and +speech. To like the same girl makes young men curiously observant of each +other. + +A disappointment was in store for them. They had taken it for granted that +Clover would be as disengaged and as much at their service as she had been +in the valley; and lo! she sat on the piazza with a knot of girls about +her, and a young man in an extremely "fetching" costume of snow-white +duck, with a flower in his button-hole, was bending over her chair, and +talking in a low voice of something which seemed of interest. He looked +provokingly cool and comfortable to the dusty horsemen, and very much at +home. Phil, who lounged against the piazza-rail opposite, dispensed an +enormous and meaning wink at his two friends as they came up the steps. + +Clover jumped up from her chair, and gave them a most cordial reception. + +"How delightful to see you again so soon!" she said. Then she introduced +them to a girl in pink and a girl in blue as Miss Perham and Miss +Blanchard, and they shook hands with Marian Chase, whom they already knew, +and lastly were presented to Mr. Wade, the youth in white. The three young +men eyed one another with a not very friendly scrutiny, just veiled by the +necessary outward politeness. + +"Then you will be all ready for Thursday,--and your brother too, of +course,--and my mother will stop for you at half-past ten on her way +down," they heard him say. "Miss Chase will go with the Hopes. Oh, yes; +there will be plenty of room. No danger about that. We're almost sure to +have good weather too. Good-morning. I'm so glad you enjoyed the roses." + +There was a splendid cluster of Jacqueminot buds in Clover's dress, at +which Clarence glared wrathfully as he caught these words. The only +consolation was that the creature in duck was going. He was making his +last bows; and one of the girls went with him, which still farther reduced +the number of what in his heart Clarence stigmatized as "a crowd." + +"I must go too," said the girl in blue. "Good-by, Clover. I shall run in a +minute to-morrow to talk over the last arrangements for Thursday." + +"What's going to happen on Thursday?" growled Clarence as soon as she had +departed. + +"Oh, such a delightful thing," cried Clover, sparkling and dimpling. "Old +Mr. Wade, the father of young Mr. Wade, whom you saw just now, is a +director on the railroad, you know; and they have given him the +director's car to take a party over the Marshall Pass, and he has asked +Phil and me to go. It is _such_ a surprise. Ever since we came to St. +Helen's, people have been telling us what a beautiful journey it is; but I +never supposed we should have the chance to take it. Mrs. Hope is going +too, and the doctor, and Miss Chase and Miss Perham,--all the people we +know best, in fact. Isn't it nice?" + +"Oh, certainly; very nice," replied Clarence, in a tone of deep offence. +He was most unreasonably in the sulks. Clover glanced at him with +surprise, and then at Geoff, who was talking to Marian. He looked a little +serious, and not so bright as in the valley; but he was making himself +very pleasant, notwithstanding. Surely he had the same causes for +annoyance as Clarence; but his breeding forbade him to show whatever +inward vexation he may have felt,--certainly not to allow it to influence +his manners. Clover drew a mental contrast between the two which was not +to Clarence's advantage. + +"Who's that fellow anyway?" demanded Clarence. "How long have you known +him? What business has he to be bringing you roses, and making up parties +to take you off on private cars?" + +Something in Clover's usually soft eyes made him stop suddenly. + +"I beg your pardon," he said in an altered tone. + +"I really think you should," replied Clover, with pretty dignity. + +Then she moved away, and began to talk to Geoff, whose grave courtesy at +once warmed into cheer and sun. + +Clarence, thus left a prey to remorse, was wretched. He tried to catch +Clover's eye, but she wouldn't look at him. He leaned against the +balustrade moody and miserable. Phil, who had watched these various +interludes with interest, indicated his condition to Clover with another +telegraphic wink. She glanced across, relented, and made Clarence a little +signal to come and sit by her. + +After that all went happily. Clover was honestly delighted to see her two +friends again. And now that Clarence had recovered from his ill-temper, +there was nothing to mar their enjoyment. Geoff's horse had cast a shoe on +the way down, it seemed, and must be taken to the blacksmith's, so they +did not stay very long; but it was arranged that they should come back to +dinner at Mrs. Marsh's. + +"What a raving belle you are!" remarked Marian Chase, as the young men +rode away. "Three is a good many at a time, though, isn't it?" + +"Three what?" + +"Three--hem! leaves--to one Clover!" + +"It's the usual allowance, I believe. If there were four, now--" + +"Oh, I dare say there will be. They seem to collect round you like wasps +round honey. It's some natural law, I presume,--gravitation or levitation, +which is it?" + +"I'm sure I don't know, and don't try to tease me, Poppy. People out here +are so kind that it's enough to spoil anybody." + +"Kind, forsooth! Do you consider it all pure kindness? Really, for such a +belle, you're very innocent." + +"I wish you wouldn't," protested Clover, laughing and coloring. "I never +was a belle in my life, and that's the second time you've called me that. +Nobody ever said such things to me in Burnet." + +"Ah, you had to come to Colorado to find out how attractive you could be. +Burnet must be a very quiet place. Never mind; you sha'n't be teased, +Clover dear. Only don't let this trefoil of yours get to fighting with one +another. That good-looking cousin of yours was casting quite murderous +glances at poor Thurber Wade just now." + +"Clarence is a dear boy; but he's rather spoiled and not quite grown up +yet, I think." + +"When are you coming back from the Marshall Pass?" inquired Geoff, after +dinner, when Clarence had gone for the horses. + +"On Saturday. We shall only be gone two days." + +"Then I will ride in on Thursday morning, if you will permit, with my +field-glass. It is a particularly good one, and you may find it useful for +the distant views." + +"When are you coming back?" demanded Clarence, a little later. "Saturday? +Then I sha'n't be in again before Monday." + +"Won't you want your letters?" + +"Oh, I guess there won't be any worth coming for till then." + +"Not a letter from your mother?" + +"She only writes once in a while. Most of what I get comes from pa." + +"Cousin Olivia never did seem to care much for Clarence," remarked Clover, +after they were gone. "He would have been a great deal nicer if he had had +a pleasanter time at home. It makes such a difference with boys. Now Mr. +Templestowe has a lovely mother, I'm sure." + +"Oh!" was all the reply that Phil would vouchsafe. + +"How queer people are!" thought little Clover to herself afterward. +"Neither of those boys quite liked our going on this expedition, I +think,--though I'm sure I can't imagine why; but they behaved so +differently. Mr. Templestowe thought of us and something which might give +us pleasure; and Clarence only thought about himself. Poor Clarence! he +never had half a chance till he came here. It isn't all his fault." + +The party in the director's car proved a merry one. Mrs. Wade, a jolly, +motherly woman, fond of the good things of life, and delighting in making +people comfortable, had spared no pains of preparation. There were +quantities of easy-chairs and fans and eau-de-cologne; the larder was +stocked with all imaginable dainties,--iced tea, lemonade, and champagne +cup flowed on the least provocation for all the hot moments, and each +table was a bank of flowers. Each lady had a superb bouquet; and on the +second day a great tin box of freshly-cut roses met them at Pueblo, so +that they came back as gayly furnished forth as they went. Having the +privilege of the road, the car was attached or detached to suit their +convenience, and this enabled them to command daylight for all the finest +points of the excursion. + +First of these was the Royal Gorge, where the Arkansas River pours through +a magnificent canyon, between precipices so steep and with curves so sharp +that only engineering genius of the most daring order could, it would +seem, have devised a way through. Then, after a pause at the pretty town +of Salida, with the magnificent range of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in +full sight, they began to mount the pass over long loops of rail, which +doubled and re-doubled on themselves again and again on their way to the +summit. The train had been divided; and the first half with its two +engines was seen at times puffing and snorting directly overhead of the +second half on the lower curve. + +With each hundred feet of elevation, the view changed and widened. Now it +was of over-lapping hills set with little mesas, like folds of green +velvet flung over the rocks; now of dim-seen valley depths with winding +links of silver rivers; and again of countless mountain peaks sharp-cut +against the sunset sky,--some rosy pink, some shining with snow. + +The flowers were a continual marvel. At the top of the pass, eleven +thousand feet and more above the sea, their colors and their abundance +were more profuse and splendid than on the lower levels. There were whole +fields of pentstemons, pink, blue, royal purple, or the rare scarlet +variety, like stems of asparagus strung with rubies. There were masses of +gillias, and of wonderful coreopsis, enormous cream-colored stars with +deep-orange centres, and deep yellow ones with scarlet centres; thickets +of snowy-cupped mentzelia and of wild rose; while here and there a tall +red lily burned like a little lonely flame in the green, or regiments of +convolvuli waved their stately heads. + +From below came now and again the tinkle of distant cow-bells. These, and +the plaintive coo of mourning-doves in the branches, and the rush of the +wind, which was like cool flower-scented wine, was all that broke the +stillness of the high places. + + "To think I'm so much nearer heaven + Than when I was a boy," + +misquoted Clover, as she sat on the rear platform of the car, with Poppy, +and Thurber Wade. + +"Are you sure your head doesn't ache? This elevation plays the mischief +with some people. My mother has taken to her berth with ice on her +temples." + +"Headache! No, indeed. This air is too delicious. I feel as though I could +dance all the way from here to the Black Canyon." + +"You don't look as if your head ached, or anything," said Mr. Wade, +staring at Clover admiringly. Her cheeks were pink with excitement, her +eyes full of light and exhilaration. + +"Oh dear! we are beginning to go down," she cried, watching one of the +beautiful peaks of the Sangre de Cristos as it dipped out of sight. "I +think I could find it in my heart to cry, if it were not that to-morrow +we are coming up again." + +So down, down, down they went. Dusk slowly gathered about them; and the +white-gloved butler set the little tables, and brought in broiled chicken +and grilled salmon and salad and hot rolls and peaches, and they were all +very hungry. And Clover did not cry, but fell to work on her supper with +an excellent appetite, quite unconscious that they were speeding through +another wonderful gorge without seeing one of its beauties. Then the car +was detached from the train; and when she awoke next morning they were at +the little station called Cimmaro, at the head of the famous Black Canyon, +with three hours to spare before the train from Utah should arrive to take +them back to St. Helen's. + +Early as it was, the small settlement was awake. Lights glanced from the +eating-house, where cooks were preparing breakfast for the "through" +passengers, and smokes curled from the chimneys. Close to the car was a +large brick structure which seemed to be a sort of hotel for locomotives. +A number of the enormous creatures had evidently passed the night there, +and just waked up. Clover now watched their antics with great amusement +from her window as their engineers ran them in and out, rubbed them down +like horses, and fed them with oil and coal, while they snorted and backed +and sidled a good deal as real horses do. Clover could not at all +understand what all these manoeuvres were for,--they seemed only designed +to show the paces of the iron steeds, and what they were good for. + +"Miss Clover," whispered a voice outside her curtains, "I've got hold of a +hand-car and a couple of men; and don't you want to take a spin down the +canyon and see the view with no smoke to spoil it? Just you and me and +Miss Chase. She says she'll go if you will. Hurry, and don't make a noise. +We won't wake the others." + +Of course Clover wanted to. She finished her dressing at top-speed, +hurried on her hat and jacket, stole softly out to where the others +awaited her, and in five minutes they were smoothly running down the +gorge, over high trestle-work bridges and round sharp curves which made +her draw her breath a little faster. There was no danger, the men who +managed the hand-car assured them; it was a couple of hours yet before the +next train came in; there was plenty of time to go three or four miles +down and return. + +Anything more delicious than the early morning air in the Black Canyon it +would be difficult to imagine. Cool, odorous with pines and with the +breath of the mountains, it was like a zestful draught of iced summer. +Close beside the track ran a wondrous river which seemed made of melted +jewels, so curiously brilliant were its waters and mixed of so many hues. +Its course among the rocks was a flash of foaming rapids, broken here and +there by pools of exquisite blue-green, deepening into inky-violet under +the shadow of the cliffs. And such cliffs!--one, two, three thousand feet +high; not deep-colored like those about St. Helen's, but of steadfast +mountain hues and of magnificent forms,--buttresses and spires; crags +whose bases were lost in untrodden forests; needle-sharp pinnacles like +the Swiss Aiguilles. The morning was just making its way into the canyon; +and the loftier tops flashed with yellow sun, while the rest were still in +cold shadow. + +Breakfast was just ready when the hand-car arrived again at the upper end +of the gorge, and loud were the reproaches which met the happy three as +they alighted from it. Phil was particularly afflicted. + +"I call it mean not to wake a fellow," he said. + +"But a fellow was _so_ sound asleep," said Clover, "I really hadn't the +heart. I did peep in at your curtain, and if you had moved so much as a +finger, _perhaps_ I should have called you; but you didn't." + +The return journey was equally fortunate, and the party reached St. +Helen's late in the evening of the second day, in what Mr. Wade called +"excellent form." Monday brought the young men from the ranch in again; +and another fortnight passed happily, Clover's three "leaves" being most +faithfully attentive to their central point of attraction. "Three is a +good many," as Marian Chase had said, but all girls like to be liked, and +Clover did not find this, her first little experience of the kind, at all +disagreeable. + +The excursion to the Marshall Pass, however, had an after effect which was +not so pleasant. Either the high elevation had disagreed with Phil, or he +had taken a little cold; at all events, he was distinctly less well. With +the lowering of his physical forces came a corresponding depression of +spirits. Mrs. Watson worried him, the sick people troubled him, the sound +of coughing depressed him, his appetite nagged, and his sleep was broken. +Clover felt that he must have a change, and consulted Dr. Hope, who +advised their going to the Ute Valley for a month. + +This involved giving up their rooms at Mrs. Marsh's, which was a pity, as +it was by no means certain that they would be able to get them again +later. Clover regretted this; but Fate, as Fate often does, brought a +compensation. Mrs. Watson had no mind whatever for the Ute Valley. + +"It's a dull place, they tell me, and there's nothing to do there but ride +on horseback, and as I don't ride on horseback, I really don't see what +use there would be in my going," she said to Clover. "If I were young, and +there were young men ready to ride with me all the time, it would be +different; though Ellen never did care to, except with Henry of course, +after they--And I really can't see that your brother's much different from +what he was, though if Dr. Hope says so, naturally you--He's a queer kind +of doctor, it seems to me, to send lung patients up higher than +this,--which is high already, gracious knows. No; if you decide to go, I +shall just move over to the Shoshone for the rest of the time that I'm +here. I'm sure that Dr. Carr couldn't expect me to stay on here alone, +just for the chance that you may want to come back, when as like as not, +Mrs. Marsh won't be able to take you again." + +"Oh, no; I'm quite sure he wouldn't. Only I thought," doubtfully, "that as +you've always admired Phil's room so much, you might like to secure it now +that we have to go." + +"Well, yes. If you were to be here, I might. If that man who's so sick had +got better, or gone away, or something, I dare say I should have settled +down in his room and been comfortable enough. But he seems just about as +he was when we came, so there's no use waiting; and I'd rather go to the +Shoshone anyway. I always said it was a mistake that we didn't go there in +the first place. It was Dr. Hope's doing, and I have not the least +confidence in him. He hasn't osculated me once since I came." + +"Hasn't he?" said Clover, feeling her voice tremble, and perfectly aware +of the shaking of Phil's shoulders behind her. + +"No; and I don't call just putting his ear to my chest, listening. Dr. +Bangs, at home, would be ashamed to come to the house without his +stethoscope. I mean to move this afternoon. I've given Mrs. Marsh +notice." + +So Mrs. Watson and her belongings went to the Shoshone, and Clover packed +the trunks with a lighter heart for her departure. + +The last day of July found Clover and Phil settled in the Ute Park. It was +a wild and beautiful valley, some hundreds of feet higher than St. +Helen's, and seemed the very home of peace. A Sunday-like quiet pervaded +the place, whose stillness was never broken except by bird-songs and the +rustle of the pine branches. + +The sides of the valley near its opening were dotted here and there with +huts and cabins belonging to parties who had fled from the heat of the +plains for the summer. At the upper end stood the ranch house,--a large, +rather rudely built structure,--and about it were a number of cabins and +cottages, in which two, four, or six people could be accommodated. Clover +and Phil were lodged in one of these. The tiny structure contained only a +sitting and two sleeping rooms, and was very plain and bare. But there was +a fireplace; wood was abundant, so that a cheerful blaze could be had for +cool evenings; and the little piazza faced the south, and made a sheltered +sitting place on windy days. + +One pleasant feature of the spot was its nearness to the High Valley. +Clarence and Geoff Templestowe thought nothing of riding four miles; and +scarcely a day passed when one or both did not come over. They brought +wild-flowers, or cream, or freshly-churned butter, as offerings from the +ranch; and, what Clover valued as a greater kindness yet, they brought +Phil's beloved broncho, Sorrel, and arranged with the owner of the Ute +ranch that it should remain as long as Phil was there. This gave Phil +hours of delightful exercise every day; and though sometimes he set out +early in the morning for the High Valley, and stayed later in the +afternoon than his sister thought prudent, she had not the heart to chide, +so long as he was visibly getting better hour by hour. + +Sundays the friends spent together, as a matter of course. Geoff waited +till his little home service for the ranchmen was over, and then would +gallop across with Clarence to pass the rest of the day. There was no lack +of kind people at the main house and in the cottages to take an interest +in the delicate boy and his sweet, motherly sister; so Clover had an +abundance of volunteer matrons, and plenty of pleasant ways in which to +spend those occasional days on which the High Valley attaches failed to +appear. + +It was a simple, healthful life, the happiest on the whole which they had +led since leaving home. Once or twice Mr. Thurber Wade made his +appearance, gallantly mounted, and freighted with flowers and kind +messages from his mother to Miss Carr; but Clover was never sorry when he +rode away again. Somehow he did not seem to belong to the Happy Valley, as +in her heart she denominated the place. + +There was a remarkable deal of full moon that month, as it seemed; at +least, the fact served as an excuse for a good many late transits between +the valley and the park. Now and then either Clarence or Geoff would lead +over a saddle-horse and give Clover a good gallop up or down the valley, +which she always enjoyed. The habit which she had extemporized for her +visit to the High Valley answered very well, and Mrs. Hope had lent her a +hat. + +On one of these occasions she and Clarence had ridden farther than usual, +quite down to the end of the pass, where the road dipped, and descended to +the little watering-place of Canyon Creek,--a Swiss-like village of hotels +and lodging-houses and shops for the sale of minerals and mineral waters, +set along the steep sides of a narrow green valley. They were chatting +gayly, and had just agreed that it was time to turn their horses' heads +homeward, when a sudden darkening made them aware that one of the +unexpected thunder-gusts peculiar to the region was upon them. + +They were still a mile above the village; but as no nearer place of +shelter presented itself, they decided to proceed. But the storm moved +more rapidly than they; and long before the first houses came in sight the +heavy drops began to pelt down. A brown young fellow, lying flat on his +back under a thick bush, with his horse standing over him, shouted to them +to "try the cave," waving his hand in its direction; and hurrying on, they +saw in another moment a shelving brow of rock in the cliff, under which +was a deep recess. + +To this Clarence directed the horses. He lifted Clover down. She half sat, +half leaned on the slope of the rock, well under cover, while he stretched +himself at full length on a higher ledge, and held the bridles fast. The +horses' heads and the saddles were fairly well protected, but the +hindquarters of the animals were presently streaming with water. + +"This isn't half-bad, is it?" Clarence said. His mouth was so close to +Clover's ear that she could catch his words in spite of the noisy thunder +and the roar of the descending rain. + +"No; I call it fun." + +"You look awfully pretty, do you know?" was the next and very unexpected +remark. + +"Nonsense." + +"Not nonsense at all." + +At that moment a carriage dashed rapidly by, the driver guiding the horses +as well as he could between the points of an umbrella, which constantly +menaced his eyes. Other travellers in the pass had evidently been +surprised by the storm besides themselves. The lady who held the umbrella +looked out, and caught the picture of the group under the cliff. It was a +suggestive one. Clover's hat was a little pushed forward by the rock +against which she leaned, which in its turn pushed forward the waving +rings of hair which shaded her forehead, but did not hide her laughing +eyes, or the dimples in her pink cheeks. The fair, slender girl, the dark, +stalwart young fellow so close to her, the rain, the half-sheltered +horses,--it was easy enough to construct a little romance. + +The lady evidently did so. It was what photographers call an +"instantaneous effect," caught in three seconds, as the carriage whirled +past; but in that fraction of a minute the lady had nodded and flashed a +brilliant, sympathetic smile in their direction, and Clover had nodded in +return, and laughed back. + +"A good many people seem to have been caught as we have," she said, as +another streaming vehicle dashed by. + +"I wish it would rain for a week," observed Clarence. + +"My gracious, what a wish! What would become of us if it did?" + +"We should stay here just where we are, and I should have you all to +myself for once, and nobody could come in to interfere with me." + +"Thank you extremely! How hungry we should be! How can you be so absurd, +Clarence?" + +"I'm not absurd at all. I'm perfectly in earnest." + +"Do you mean that you really want to stay a week under this rock with +nothing to eat?" + +"Well, no; not exactly that perhaps,--though if you could, I would. But I +mean that I would like to get you for a whole solid week to myself. There +is such a gang of people about always, and they all want you. Clover," he +went on, for, puzzled at his tone, she made no answer, "couldn't you like +me a little?" + +"I like you a great deal. You come next to Phil and Dorry with me." + +"Hang Phil and Dorry! Who wants to come next to them? I want you to like +me a great deal more than that. I want you to love me. Couldn't you, +Clover?" + +"How strangely you talk! I do love you, of course. You're my cousin." + +"I don't care to be loved 'of course.' I want to be loved for myself. +Clover, you know what I mean; you must know. I can afford to marry now; +won't you stay in Colorado and be my wife?" + +"I don't think you know what you are saying, Clarence. I'm older than you +are. I thought you looked upon me as a sort of mother or older sister." + +"Only fifteen months older," retorted Clarence. "I never heard of any +one's being a mother at that age. I'm a man now, I would have you +remember, though I am a little younger than you, and know my own mind as +well as if I were fifty. Dear Clovy," coaxingly, "couldn't you? You liked +the High Valley, didn't you? I'd do anything possible to make it nice and +pleasant for you." + +"I do like the High Valley very much," said Clover, still with the feeling +that Clarence must be half in joke, or she half in dream. "But, my dear +boy, it isn't my home. I couldn't leave papa and the children, and stay +out here, even with you. It would seem so strange and far away." + +"You could if you cared for me," replied Clarence, dejectedly; Clover's +kind, argumentative, elder-sisterly tone was precisely that which is most +discouraging to a lover. + +"Oh, dear," cried poor Clover, not far from tears herself; "this is +dreadful!" + +"What?" moodily. "Having an offer? You must have had lots of them before +now." + +"Indeed I never did. People don't do such things in Burnet. Please don't +say any more, Clarence. I'm very fond of you, just as I am of the boys; +but--" + +"But what? Go on." + +"How can I?" Clover was fairly crying. + +"You mean that you can't love me in the other way." + +"Yes." The word came out half as a sob, but the sincerity of the accent +was unmistakable. + +"Well," said poor Clarence, after a long bitter pause; "it isn't your +fault, I suppose. I'm not good enough for you. Still, I'd have done my +best, if you would have taken me, Clover." + +"I am sure you would," eagerly. "You've always been my favorite cousin, +you know. People can't _make_ themselves care for each other; it has to +come in spite of them or not at all,--at least, that is what the novels +say. But you're not angry with me, are you, dear? We will be good friends +always, sha'n't we?" persuasively. + +"I wonder if we can," said Clarence, in a hopeless tone. "It doesn't seem +likely; but I don't know any more about it than you do. It's my first +offer as well as yours." Then, after a silence and a struggle, he added in +a more manful tone, "We'll try for it, at least. I can't afford to give +you up. You're the sweetest girl in the world. I always said so, and I say +so still. It will be hard at first, but perhaps it may grow easier with +time." + +"Oh, it will," cried Clover, hopefully. "It's only because you're so +lonely out here, and see so few people, that makes you suppose I am better +than the rest. One of these days you'll find a girl who is a great deal +nicer than I am, and then you'll be glad that I didn't say yes. There! the +rain is just stopping." + +"It's easy enough to talk," remarked Clarence, gloomily, as he gathered up +the bridles of the horses; "but I shall do nothing of the kind. I declare +I won't!" + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +NO. 13 PIUTE STREET. + + +Clover did not see Clarence again for several days after this +conversation, the remembrance of which was uncomfortable to her. She +feared he was feeling hurt or "huffy," and would show it in his manner; +and she disliked very much the idea that Phil might suspect the reason, +or, worse still, Mr. Templestowe. + +But when he finally appeared he seemed much the same as usual. After all, +she reflected, it has only been a boyish impulse; he has already got over +it, or not meant all he said. + +In this she did Clarence an injustice. He had been very much in earnest +when he spoke; and it showed the good stuff which was in him and his real +regard for Clover that he should be making so manly a struggle with his +disappointment and pain. His life had been a lonely one in Colorado; he +could not afford to quarrel with his favorite cousin, and with him, as +with other lovers, there may have been, besides, some lurking hope that +she might yet change her mind. But perhaps Clover in a measure was right +in her conviction that Clarence was still too young and undeveloped to +have things go very deep with him. He seemed to her in many ways as boyish +and as undisciplined as Phil. + +With early September the summering of the Ute Park came to a close. The +cold begins early at that elevation, and light frosts and red leaves +warned the dwellers in tents and cabins to flee. + +Clover made her preparations for departure with real reluctance. She had +grown very fond of the place; but Phil was perfectly himself again, and +there seemed no reason for their staying longer. + +So back to St. Helen's they went and to Mrs. Marsh, who, in reply to +Clover's letter, had written that she must make room for them somehow, +though for the life of her she couldn't say how. It proved to be in two +small back rooms. An irruption of Eastern invalids had filled the house to +overflowing, and new faces met them at every turn. Two or three of the +last summer's inmates had died during their stay,--one of them the very +sick man whose room Mrs. Watson had coveted. His death took place "as if +on purpose," she told Clover, the very week after her removal to the +Shoshone. + +Mrs. Watson herself was preparing for return to the East. "I've seen the +West now," she said,--"all I want to see; and I'm quite ready to go back +to my own part of the country. Ellen writes that she thinks I'd better +start for home so as to get settled before the cold--And it's so cold here +that I can't realize that they're still in the middle of peaches at home. +Ellen always spices a great--They're better than preserves; and as for the +canned ones, why, peaches and water is what I call them. Well--my dear--" +(Distance lends enchantment, and Clover had become "My dear" again.) "I'm +glad I could come out and help you along; and now that you know so many +people here, you won't need me so much as you did at first. I shall tell +Mrs. Perkins to write to Mrs. Hall to tell your father how well your +brother is looking, and I know he'll be--And here's a little handkerchief +for a keepsake." + +It was a pretty handkerchief, of pale yellow silk with embroidered +corners, and Clover kissed the old lady as she thanked her, and they +parted good friends. But their intercourse had led her to make certain +firm resolutions. + +"I will try to keep my mind clear and my talk clear; to learn what I want +and what I have a right to want and what I mean to say, so as not to +puzzle and worry people when I grow old, by being vague and helpless and +fussy," she reflected. "I suppose if I don't form the habit now, I sha'n't +be able to then, and it would be dreadful to end by being like poor Mrs. +Watson." + +Altogether, Mrs. Marsh's house had lost its homelike character; and it was +not strange that under the circumstances Phil should flag a little. He was +not ill, but he was out of sorts and dismal, and disposed to consider the +presence of so many strangers as a personal wrong. Clover felt that it was +not a good atmosphere for him, and anxiously revolved in her mind what was +best to do. The Shoshone was much too expensive; good boarding-houses in +St. Helen's were few and far between, and all of them shared in a still +greater degree the disadvantages which had made themselves felt at Mrs. +Marsh's. + +The solution to her puzzle came--as solutions often do--unexpectedly. She +was walking down Piute Street on her way to call on Alice Blanchard, when +her attention was attracted to a small, shut-up house, on which was a +sign: "No. 13. To Let, Furnished." The sign was not printed, but written +on a half-sheet of foolscap, which was what led Clover to notice it. + +She studied the house a while, then opened the gate, and went in. Two or +three steps led to a little piazza. She seated herself on the top step, +and tried to peep in at the closed blinds of the nearest window. + +While she was doing so, a woman with a shawl over her head came hastily +down a narrow side street or alley, and approached her. + +"Oh, did you want the key?" she said. + +"The key?" replied Clover, surprised; "of this house, do you mean?" + +"Yes. Mis Starkey left it with me when she went away, because, she said, +it was handy, and I could give it to anybody who wished to look at the +place. You're the first that has come; so when I see you setting here, I +just ran over. Did Mr. Beloit send you?" + +"No; nobody sent me. Is it Mr. Beloit who has the letting of the house?" + +"Yes; but I can let folks in. I told Mis Starkey I'd air and dust a little +now and then, if it wasn't took. Poor soul! she was anxious enough about +it; and it all had to be done on a sudden, and she in such a heap of +trouble that she didn't know which way to turn. It was just lock-up and +go!" + +"Tell me about her," said Clover, making room on the step for the woman to +sit down. + +"Well, she come out last year with her man, who had lung trouble, and he +wasn't no better at first, and then he seemed to pick up for a while; and +they took this house and fixed themselves to stay for a year, at least. +They made it real nice, too, and slicked up considerable. Mis Starkey +said, said she, 'I don't want to spend no more money on it than I can +help, but Mr. Starkey must be made comfortable,' says she, them was her +very words. He used to set out on this stoop all day long in the summer, +and she alongside him, except when she had to be indoors doing the work. +She didn't keep no regular help. I did the washing for her, and come in +now and then for a day to clean; so she managed very well. + +"Then,--Wednesday before last, it was,--he had a bleeding, and sank away +like all in a minute, and was gone before the doctor could be had. Mis +Starkey was all stunned like with the shock of it; and before she had got +her mind cleared up so's to order about anything, come a telegraph to say +her son was down with diphtheria, and his wife with a young baby, and both +was very low. And between one and the other she was pretty near out of her +wits. We packed her up as quick as we could, and he was sent off by +express; and she says to me, 'Mis Kenny, you see how 't is. I've got this +house on my hands till May. There's no time to see to anything, and I've +got no heart to care; but if any one'll take it for the winter, well and +good; and I'll leave the sheets and table-cloths and everything in it, +because it may make a difference, and I don't mind about them nohow. And +if no one does take it, I'll just have to bear the loss,' says she. Poor +soul! she was in a world of trouble, surely." + +"Do you know what rent she asks for the house?" said Clover, in whose mind +a vague plan was beginning to take shape. + +"Twenty-five a month was what she paid; and she said she'd throw the +furniture in for the rest of the time, just to get rid of the rent." + +Clover reflected. Twenty-five dollars a week was what they were paying at +Mrs. Marsh's. Could they take this house and live on the same sum, after +deducting the rent, and perhaps get this good-natured-looking woman to +come in for a certain number of hours and help do the work? She almost +fancied that they could if they kept no regular servant. + +"I think I _would_ like to see the house," she said at last, after a +silent calculation and a scrutinizing look at Mrs. Kenny, who was a faded, +wiry, but withal kindly-looking person, shrewd and clean,--a North of +Ireland Protestant, as she afterward told Clover. In fact, her accent was +rather Scotch than Irish. + +They went in. The front door opened into a minute hall, from which another +door led into a back hall with a staircase. There was a tiny sitting-room, +an equally tiny dining-room, a small kitchen, and above, two bedrooms and +a sort of unplastered space, which would answer to put trunks in. That was +all, save a little woodshed. Everything was bare and scanty and rather +particularly ugly. The sitting-room had a frightful paper of mingled +mustard and molasses tint, and a matted floor; but there was a good-sized +open fireplace for the burning of wood, in which two bricks did duty for +andirons, three or four splint and cane bottomed chairs, a lounge, and a +table, while the pipe of the large "Morning-glory" stove in the +dining-room expanded into a sort of drum in the chamber above. This +secured a warm sleeping place for Phil. Clover began to think that they +could make it do. + +Mrs. Kenny, who evidently considered the house as a wonder of luxury and +convenience, opened various cupboards, and pointed admiringly to the glass +and china, the kitchen tins and utensils, and the cotton sheets and +pillow-cases which they respectively held. + +"There's water laid on," she said; "you don't have to pump any. Here's +the washtubs in the shed. That's a real nice tin boiler for the +clothes,--I never see a nicer. Mis Starkey had that heater in the +dining-room set the very week before she went away. 'Winter's coming on,' +she says, 'and I must see about keeping my husband warm;' never thinking, +poor thing, how 't was to be." + +"Does this chimney draw?" asked the practical Clover; "and does the +kitchen stove bake well?" + +"First-rate. I've seen Mis Starkey take her biscuits out many a time,--as +nice a brown as ever you'd want; and the chimney don't smoke a mite. They +kep' a wood fire here in May most all the time, so I know." + +Clover thought the matter over for a day or two, consulted with Dr. Hope, +and finally decided to try the experiment. No. 13 was taken, and Mrs. +Kenny engaged for two days' work each week, with such other occasional +assistance as Clover might require. She was a widow, it seemed, with one +son, who, being employed on the railroad, only came home for the nights. +She was glad of a regular engagement, and proved an excellent stand-by and +a great help to Clover, to whom she had taken a fancy from the start; and +many were the good turns which she did for love rather than hire for "my +little Miss," as she called her. + +To Phil the plan seemed altogether delightful. This was natural, as all +the fun fell to his share and none of the trouble; a fact of which Mrs. +Hope occasionally reminded him. Clover persisted, however, that it was all +fair, and that she got lots of fun out of it too, and didn't mind the +trouble. The house was so absurdly small that it seemed to strike every +one as a good joke; and Clover's friends set themselves to help in the +preparations, as if the establishment in Piute Street were a kind of +baby-house about which they could amuse themselves at will. + +It is a temptation always to make a house pretty, but Clover felt herself +on honor to spend no more than was necessary. Papa had trusted her, and +she was resolved to justify his trust. So she bravely withstood her +desire for several things which would have been great improvements so far +as looks went, and confined her purchases to articles of clear +necessity,--extra blankets, a bedside carpet for Phil's room, and a +chafing-dish over which she could prepare little impromptu dishes, and so +save fuel and fatigue. She allowed herself some cheap Madras curtains for +the parlor, and a few yards of deep-red flannel to cover sundry shelves +and corner brackets which Geoffrey Templestowe, who had a turn for +carpentry, put up for her. Various loans and gifts, too, appeared from +friendly attics and store-rooms to help out. Mrs. Hope hunted up some old +iron firedogs and a pair of bellows, Poppy contributed a pair of +brass-knobbed tongs, and Mrs. Marsh lent her a lamp. No. 13 began to look +attractive. + +They were nearly ready, but not yet moved in, when one day as Clover stood +in the queer little parlor, contemplating the effect of Geoff's last +effort,--an extra pine shelf above the narrow mantel-shelf,--a pair of +arms stole round her waist, and a cheek which had a sweet familiarity +about it was pressed against hers. She turned, and gave a great shriek of +amazement and joy, for it was her sister Katy's arms that held her. +Beyond, in the doorway, were Mrs. Ashe and Amy, with Phil between them. + +"Is it you; is it really you?" cried Clover, laughing and sobbing all at +once in her happy excitement. "How did it happen? I never knew that you +were coming." + +"Neither did we; it all happened suddenly," explained Katy. "The ship was +ordered to New York on three days' notice, and as soon as Ned sailed, +Polly and I made haste to follow. There would have been just time to get a +letter here if we had written at once, but I had the fancy to give you a +surprise." + +"Oh, it is _such_ a nice surprise! But when did you come, and where are +you?" + +"At the Shoshone House,--at least our bags are there; but we only stayed a +minute, we were in such a hurry to get to you. We went to Mrs. Marsh's +and found Phil, who brought us here. Have you really taken this funny +little house, as Phil tells us?" + +"We really have. Oh, what a comfort it will be to tell you all about it, +and have you say if I have done right! Dear, dear Katy, I feel as if home +had just arrived by train. And Polly, too! You all look so well, and as if +California had agreed with you. Amy has grown so that I should scarcely +have known her." + +Four delightful days followed. Katy flung herself into all Clover's plans +with the full warmth of sisterly interest; and though the Hopes and other +kind friends made many hospitable overtures, and would gladly have turned +her short visit into a continuous _fete_, she persisted in keeping the +main part of her time free. She must see a little of St. Helen's, she +declared, so as to be able to tell her father about it, and she must help +Clover to get to housekeeping,--these were the important things, and +nothing else must interfere with them. + +Most effectual assistance did she render in the way of unpacking and +arranging. More than that, one day, when Clover, rather to her own +disgust, had been made to go with Polly and Amy to Denver while Katy +stayed behind, lo! on her return, a transformation had taken place, and +the ugly paper in the parlor of No. 13 was found replaced with one of +warm, sunny gold-brown. + +"Oh, why did you?" cried Clover. "It's only for a few months, and the +other would have answered perfectly well. Why did you, Katy?" + +"I suppose it _was_ foolish," Katy admitted; "but somehow I couldn't bear +to have you sitting opposite that deplorable mustard-colored thing all +winter long. And really and truly it hardly cost anything. It was a +remnant reduced to ten cents a roll,--the whole thing was less than four +dollars. You can call it your Christmas present from me, if you like, and +I shall 'play' besides that the other paper had arsenic in it; I'm sure it +looked as if it had, and corrosive sublimate, too." + +Clover laughed outright. It was so funny to hear Katy's fertility of +excuse. + +"You dear, ridiculous darling!" she said, giving her sister a good hug; +"it was just like you, and though I scold I am perfectly delighted. I did +hate that paper with all my heart, and this is lovely. It makes the room +look like a different thing." + +Other benefactions followed. Polly, it appeared, had bought more Indian +curiosities in Denver than she knew what to do with, and begged permission +to leave a big bear-skin and two wolf-skins with Clover for the winter, +and a splendid striped Navajo blanket as a portiere to keep off draughts +from the entry. Katy had set herself up in California blankets while they +were in San Francisco, and she now insisted on leaving a pair behind, and +loaning Clover besides one of two beautiful Japanese silk pictures which +Ned had given her, and which made a fine spot of color on the pretty new +wall. There were presents in her trunks for all at home, and Ned had sent +Clover a beautiful lacquered box. + +Somehow Clover seemed like a new and doubly-interesting Clover to Katy. +She was struck by the self-reliance which had grown upon her, by her +bright ways and the capacity and judgment which all her arrangements +exhibited; and she listened with delight to Mrs. Hope's praises of her +sister. + +"She really is a wonderful little creature; so wise and judgmatical, and +yet so pretty and full of fun. People are quite cracked about her out +here. I don't think you'll ever get her back at the East again, Mrs. +Worthington. There seems a strong determination on the part of several +persons to keep her here." + +"What do you mean?" + +But Mrs. Hope, who believed in the old proverb about not addling eggs by +meddling with them prematurely, refused to say another word. Clover, when +questioned, "could not imagine what Mrs. Hope meant;" and Katy had to go +away with her curiosity unsatisfied. Clarence came in once while she was +there, but she did not see Mr. Templestowe. + +Katy's last gift to Clover was a pretty tea-pot of Japanese ware. "I meant +it for Cecy," she explained. "But as you have none I'll give it to you +instead, and take her the fan I meant for you. It seems more appropriate." + +Phil and Clover moved into No. 13 the day before the Eastern party left, +so as to be able to celebrate the occasion by having them all to an +impromptu house-warming. There was not much to eat, and things were still +a little unsettled; but Clover scrambled some eggs on her little blazer +for them, the newly-lit fire burned cheerfully, and a good deal of quiet +fun went on about it. Amy was so charmed with the minute establishment +that she declared she meant to have one exactly like it for Mabel whenever +she got married. + +"And a spirit-lamp, too, just like Clover's, and a cunning, teeny-weeny +kitchen and a stove to boil things on. Mamma, when shall I be old enough +to have a house all of my own?" + +"Not till you are tired of playing with dolls, I am afraid." + +"Well, that will be never. If I thought I ever could be tired of Mabel, I +should be so ashamed of myself that I should not know what to do. You +oughtn't to say such things, Mamma; she might hear you, too, and have her +feelings hurt. And please don't call her _that_," said Amy, who had as +strong an objection to the word "doll" as mice are said to have to the +word "cat." + +Next morning the dear home people proceeded on their way, and Clover fell +to work resolutely on her housekeeping, glad to keep busy, for she had a +little fear of being homesick for Katy. Every small odd and end that she +had brought with her from Burnet came into play now. The photographs were +pinned on the wall, the few books and ornaments took their places on the +extemporized shelves and on the table, which, thanks to Mrs. Hope, was no +longer bare, but hidden by a big square of red canton flannel. There was +almost always a little bunch of flowers from the Wade greenhouses, which +were supposed to come from Mrs. Wade; and altogether the effect was cosey, +and the little interior looked absolutely pretty, though the result was +attained by such very simple means. + +Phil thought it heavenly to be by themselves and out of the reach of +strangers. Everything tasted delicious; all the arrangements pleased him; +never was boy so easily suited as he for those first few weeks at No. 13. + +"You're awfully good to me, Clover," he said one night rather suddenly, +from the depths of his rocking-chair. + +The remark was so little in Phil's line that it quite made her jump. + +"Why, Phil, what made you say that?" she asked. + +"Oh, I don't know. I was thinking about it. We used to call Katy the +nicest, but you're just as good as she is. [This Clover justly considered +a tremendous compliment.] You always make a fellow feel like home, as +Geoff Templestowe says." + +"Did Geoff say that?" with a warm sense of gladness at her heart. "How +nice of him! What made him say it?" + +"Oh, I don't know; it was up in the canyon one day when we got to +talking," replied Phil. "There are no flies on you, he considers. I asked +him once if he didn't think Miss Chase pretty, and he said not half so +pretty as you were." + +"Really! You seem to have been very confidential. And what is that about +flies? Phil, Phil, you really mustn't use such slang." + +"I suppose it is slang; but it's an awfully nice expression anyway." + +"But what _does_ it mean?" + +"Oh, you must see just by the sound of it what it means,--that there's no +nonsense sticking out all over you like some of the girls. It's a great +compliment!" + +"Is it? Well, I'm glad to know. But Mr. Templestowe never used such a +phrase, I'm sure." + +"No, he didn't," admitted Phil; "but that's what he meant." + +So the winter drew on,--the strange, beautiful Colorado winter,--with +weeks of golden sunshine broken by occasional storms of wind and sand, or +by skurries of snow which made the plains white for a few hours and then +vanished, leaving them dry and firm as before. The nights were often +cold,--so cold that comfortables and blankets seemed all too few, and +Clover roused with a shiver to think that presently it would be her duty +to get up and start the fires so that Phil might find a warm house when he +came downstairs. Then, before she knew it, fires would seem oppressive; +first one window and then another would be thrown up, and Phil would be +sitting on the piazza in the balmy sunshine as comfortable as on a June +morning at home. It was a wonderful climate; and as Clover wrote her +father, the winter was better even than the summer, and was certainly +doing Phil more good. He was able to spend hours every day in the open +air, walking, or riding Dr. Hope's horse, and improved steadily. Clover +felt very happy about him. + +This early rising and fire-making were the hardest things she had to +encounter, though all the housekeeping proved more onerous than, in her +inexperience, she had expected it to be. After the first week or two, +however, she managed very well, and gradually learned the little +labor-saving ways which can only be learned by actual experiment. Getting +breakfast and tea she enjoyed, for they could be chiefly managed by the +use of the chafing-dish. Dinners were more difficult, till she hit on the +happy idea of having Mrs. Kenny roast a big piece of beef or mutton, or a +pair of fowls every Monday. These _pieces de resistance_ in their +different stages of hot, cold, and warmed over, carried them well along +through the week, and, supplemented with an occasional chop or steak, +served very well. Fairly good soups could be bought in tins, which needed +only to be seasoned and heated for use on table. Oysters were easily +procurable there, as everywhere in the West; good brown-bread and rolls +came from the bakery; and Clover developed a hitherto dormant talent for +cookery and the making of Graham gems, corn-dodgers, hoe-cakes baked on a +barrel head before the parlor fire, and wonderful little flaky biscuits +raised all in a minute with Royal Baking Powder. + +She also became expert in that other fine art of condensing work, and +making it move in easy grooves. Her tea things she washed with her +breakfast things, just setting the cups and plates in the sink for the +night, pouring a dipper full of boiling water over them. There was no +silver to care for, no delicate glass or valuable china; the very +simplicity of apparatus made the house an easy one to keep. Clover was +kept busy, for simplify as you will, providing for the daily needs of two +persons does take time; but she liked her cares and rarely felt tired. The +elastic and vigorous air seemed to build up her forces from moment to +moment, and each day's fatigues were more than repaired by each night's +rest, which is the balance of true health in living. + +Little pleasures came from time to time. Christmas Day they spent with +the Hopes, who from first to last proved the kindest and most helpful of +friends to them. The young men from the High Valley were there also, and +the day was brightly kept,--from the home letters by the early mail to the +grand merry-making and dance with which it wound up. Everybody had some +little present for everybody else. Mrs. Wade sent Clover a tall +india-rubber plant in a china pot, which made a spire of green in the +south window for the rest of the winter; and Clover had spent many odd +moments and stitches in the fabrication of a gorgeous Mexican-worked +sideboard cloth for the Hopes. + +But of all Clover's offerings the one which pleased her most, as showing a +close observation of her needs, came from Geoff Templestowe. It was a +prosaic gift, being a wagon-load of pinon wood for the fire; but the +gnarled, oddly twisted sticks were heaped high with pine boughs and long +trails of red-fruited kinnikinnick to serve as a Christmas dressing, and +somehow the gift gave Clover a peculiar pleasure. + +"How dear of him!" she thought, lifting one of the big pinon logs with a +gentle touch; "and how like him to think of it! I wonder what makes him so +different from other people. He never says fine flourishing things like +Thurber Wade, or abrupt, rather rude things like Clarence, or +inconsiderate things like Phil, or satirical, funny things like the +doctor; but he's always doing something kind. He's a little bit like papa, +I think; and yet I don't know. I wish Katy could have seen him." + +Life at St. Helen's in the winter season is never dull; but the gayest +fortnight of all was when, late in January, the High Valley partners +deserted their duties and came in for a visit to the Hopes. All sorts of +small festivities had been saved for this special fortnight, and among the +rest, Clover and Phil gave a party. + +"If you can squeeze into the dining-room, and if you can do with just +cream-toast for tea," she explained, "it would be such fun to have you +come. I can't give you anything to eat to speak of, because I haven't any +cook, you know; but you can all eat a great deal of dinner, and then you +won't starve." + +Thurber Wade, the Hopes, Clarence, Geoff, Marian, and Alice made a party +of nine, and it was hard work indeed to squeeze so many into the tiny +dining-room of No. 13. The very difficulties, however, made it all the +jollier. Clover's cream-toast,--which she prepared before their eyes on +the blazer,--her little tarts made of crackers split, buttered, and +toasted brown with a spoonful of raspberry jam in each, and the big loaf +of hot ginger-bread to be eaten with thick cream from the High Valley, +were pronounced each in its way to be absolute perfection. Clarence and +Phil kindly volunteered to "shunt the dishes" into the kitchen after the +repast was concluded; and they gathered round the fire to play "twenty +questions" and "stage-coach," and all manner of what Clover called +"lead-pencil games,"--"crambo" and "criticism" and "anagrams" and +"consequences." There was immense laughter over some of these, as, for +instance, when Dr. Hope was reported as having met Mrs. Watson in the +North Cheyenne Canyon, and he said that knowledge is power; and she, that +when larks flew round ready roasted poor folks could stick a fork in; and +the consequence was that they eloped together to a Cannibal Island where +each suffered a process of disillusionation, and the world said it was the +natural result of osculation. This last sentence was Phil's, and I fear he +had peeped a little, or his context would not have been so apropos; but +altogether the "cream-toast swarry," as he called it, was a pronounced +success. + +It was not long after this that a mysterious little cloud of difference +seemed to fall on Thurber Wade. He ceased to call at No. 13, or to bring +flowers from his mother; and by-and-by it was learned that he had started +for a visit to the East. No one knew what had caused these phenomena, +though some people may have suspected. Later it was announced that he was +in Chicago and very attentive to a pretty Miss Somebody whose father had +made a great deal of money in Standard oil. Poppy arched her brows and +made great amused eyes at Clover, trying to entangle her into admissions +as to this or that, and Clarence experimented in the same direction; but +Clover was innocently impervious to these efforts, and no one ever knew +what had happened between her and Thurber,--if, indeed, anything had +happened. + +So May came to St. Helen's in due course, of time. The sand-storms and the +snow-storms were things of the past, the tawny yellow of the plains began +to flush with green, and every day the sun grew more warm and beautiful. +Phil seemed perfectly well and sound now; their occupancy of No. 13 was +drawing to a close; and Clover, as she reflected that Colorado would soon +be a thing of the past, and must be left behind, was sensible of a little +sinking of the heart even though she and Phil were going home. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE LAST OF THE CLOVER-LEAVES. + + +Last days are very apt to be hard days. As the time drew near for quitting +No. 13, Clover was conscious of a growing reluctance. + +"I wonder why it is that I mind it so much?" she asked herself. "Phil has +got well here, to be sure; that would be enough of itself to make me fond +of the place, and we have had a happy winter in this little house. But +still, papa, Elsie, John,--it seems very queer that I am not gladder to go +back to them. I can't account for it. It isn't natural, and it seems wrong +in me." + +It was a rainy afternoon in which Clover made these reflections. Phil, +weary of being shut indoors, had donned ulster and overshoes, and gone up +to make a call on Mrs. Hope. Clover was quite alone in the house, as she +sat with her mending-basket beside the fireplace, in which was burning the +last but three of the pinon logs,--Geoff Templestowe's Christmas present. + +"They will just last us out," reflected Clover; "what a comfort they have +been! I would like to carry the very last of them home with me, and keep +it to look at; but I suppose it would be silly." + +She looked about the little room. Nothing as yet had been moved or +disturbed, though the next week would bring their term of occupancy to a +close. + +"This is a good evening to begin to take things down and pack them," she +thought. "No one is likely to come in, and Phil is away." + +She rose from her chair, moved restlessly to and fro, and at last leaned +forward and unpinned a corner of one of the photographs on the wall. She +stood for a moment irresolutely with the pin in her fingers, then she +jammed it determinedly back into the photograph again, and returned to +her sewing. I almost think there were tears in her eyes. + +"No," she said half aloud, "I won't spoil it yet. We'll have one more +pleasant night with everything just as it is, and then I'll go to work and +pull all to pieces at once. It's the easiest way." + +Just then a foot sounded on the steps, and a knock was heard. Clover +opened the door, and gave an exclamation of pleasure. It was Geoffrey +Templestowe, splashed and wet from a muddy ride down the pass, but wearing +a very bright face. + +"How nice and unexpected this is!" was Clover's greeting. "It is such a +bad day that I didn't suppose you or Clarence could possibly get in. Come +to the fire and warm yourself. Is he here too?" + +"No; he is out at the ranch. I came in to meet a man on business; but it +seems there's a wash-out somewhere between here and Santa Fe, and my man +telegraphs that he can't get through till to-morrow noon." + +"So you will spend the night in town." + +"Yes. I took Marigold to the stable, and spoke to Mrs. Marsh about a room, +and then I walked up to see you and Phil. How is he, by the way?" + +"Quite well. I never saw him so strong or so jolly. Papa will hardly +believe his eyes when we get back. He has gone up to the Hopes, but will +be in presently. You'll stay and take tea with us, of course." + +"Thanks, if you will have me; I was hoping to be asked." + +"Oh, we're only too glad to have you. Our time here is getting so short +that we want to make the very most of all our friends; and by good luck +there is a can of oysters in the house, so I can give you something hot." + +"Do you really go so soon?" + +"Our lease is out next week, you know." + +"Really; so soon as that?" + +"It isn't soon. We have lived here nearly eight months." + +"What a good time we have all had in this little house!" cried Geoff, +regretfully. "It has been a sort of warm little centre to us homeless +people all winter." + +"You don't count yourself among the homeless ones, I hope, with such a +pleasant place as the High Valley to live in." + +"Oh, the hut is all very well in its way, of course; but I don't look at +it as a home exactly. It answers to eat and sleep in, and for a shelter +when it rains; but you can't make much more of it than that. The only time +it ever seemed home-like in the least was when you and Mrs. Hope were +there. That week spoiled it for me for all time." + +"That's a pity, if it's true, but I hope it isn't. It was a delightful +week, though; and I think you do the valley an injustice. It's a beautiful +place. Now, if you will excuse me, I am going to get supper." + +"Let me help you." + +"Oh, there is almost nothing to do. I'd much rather you would sit still +and rest. You are tired from your ride, I'm sure; and if you don't mind, +I'll bring my blazer and cook the oysters here by the fire. I always did +like to 'kitch in the dining-room,' as Mrs. Whitney calls it." + +Clover had set the tea-table before she sat down to sew, so there really +was almost nothing to do. Geoff lay back in his chair and looked on with a +sort of dreamy pleasure as she went lightly to and fro, making her +arrangements, which, simple as they were, had a certain dainty quality +about them which seemed peculiar to all that Clover did,--twisted a trail +of kinnikinnick about the butter-plate, laid a garnish of fresh parsley on +the slices of cold beef, and set a glass full of wild crocuses in the +middle of the table. Then she returned to the parlor, put the kettle, +which had already begun to sing, on the fire, and began to stir and season +her oysters, which presently sent out a savory smell. + +"I have learned six ways of cooking oysters this winter," she announced +gleefully. "This is a dry-pan-roast. I wonder if you'll approve of it. And +I wonder why Phil doesn't come. I wish he would make haste, for these are +nearly done." + +"There he is now," remarked Geoff. + +But instead it was Dr. Hope's office-boy with a note. + + DEAR C.,--Mrs. Hope wants me for a fourth hand at whist, so I'm + staying, if you don't mind. She says if it didn't pour so she'd + ask you to come too. P. + +"Well, I'm glad," said Clover. "It's been a dull day for him, and now +he'll have a pleasant evening, only he'll miss you." + +"I call it very inconsiderate of the little scamp," observed Geoff. "He +doesn't know but that he's leaving you to spend the evening quite alone." + +"Oh, boys don't think of things like that." + +"Boys ought to, then. However, I can stand his absence, if you can!" + +It was a very merry little meal to which they presently sat down, full of +the charm which the unexpected brings with it. Clover had grown to regard +Geoff as one of her very best friends, and was perfectly at her ease with +him, while to him, poor lonely fellow, such a glimpse of cosey home-life +was like a peep at Paradise. He prolonged the pleasure as much as +possible, ate each oyster slowly, descanting on its flavor, and drank more +cups of tea than were at all good for him, for the pleasure of having +Clover pour them out. He made no further offers of help when supper was +ended, but looked on with fascinated eyes as she cleared away and made +things tidy. + +At last she finished and came back to the fire. There was a silence. Geoff +was first to break it. "It would seem like a prison to you, I am afraid," +he said abruptly. + +"What would?" + +"I was thinking of what you said about the High Valley." + +"Oh!" + +"You've only seen it in summer, you know. It's quite a different place in +the winter. I don't believe a--person--could live on the year round and be +contented." + +"It would depend upon the person, of course." + +"If it were a lady,--yourself, for instance,--could it be made anyway +tolerable, do you think? Of course, one might get away now and then--" + +"I don't know. It's not easy to tell beforehand how people are going to +feel; but I can't imagine the High Valley ever seeming like a prison," +replied Clover, vexed to find herself blushing, and yet unable to help it, +Geoff's manner had such an odd intensity in it. + +"If I were sure that you could realize what it would be--" he began +impetuously; then quieting himself, "but you don't. How could you? Ranch +life is well enough in summer for a short time by way of a frolic; but in +winter and spring with the Upper Canyon full of snow, and the road down +muddy and slippery, and the storms and short days, and the sense of being +shut in and lonely, it would be a dismal place for a lady. Nobody has a +right to expect a woman to undergo such a life." + +Clover absorbed herself in her sewing, she did not speak; but still that +deep uncomfortable blush burned on her cheeks. + +"What do you think?" persisted Geoff. "Wouldn't it be inexcusable +selfishness in a man to ask such a thing?" + +"I think;" said Clover, shyly and softly, "that a man has a right to ask +for whatever he wants, and--" she paused. + +"And--what?" urged Geoff, bending forward. + +"Well, a woman has always the right to say no, if she doesn't want to say +yes." + +"You tempt me awfully," cried Geoff, starting up. "When I think what this +place is going to seem like after you've gone, and what the ranch will be +with all the heart taken from it, and the loneliness made twice as lonely +by comparison, I grow desperate, and feel as if I could not let you go +without at least risking the question. But Clover,--let me call you so +this once,--no woman could consent to such a life unless she cared very +much for a man. Could you ever love me well enough for that, do you +think?" + +"It seems to me a very unfair sort of question to put," said Clover, with +a mischievous glint in her usually soft eyes. "Suppose I said I could, and +then you turned round and remarked that you were ever so sorry that you +couldn't reciprocate my feelings--" + +"Clover," catching her hand, "how can you torment me so? Is it necessary +that I should tell you that I love you with every bit of heart that is in +me, and need you and want you and long for you, but have never dared to +hope that you could want me? Loveliest, sweetest, I do, and I always +shall, whether it is yes or no." + +"Then, Geoff--if you feel like that--if you're quite sure you feel like +that, I think--" + +"What do you think, dearest?" + +"I think--that I could be very happy even in winter--in the High Valley." + +And papa and the children, and the lonely and far-away feelings? There was +never a mention of them in this frank acceptance. Oh, Clover, Clover, +circumstances _do_ alter cases! + +Mrs. Hope's rubber of whist seemed a long one, for Phil did not get home +till a quarter before eleven, by which time the two by the fire had +settled the whole progress of their future lives, while the last logs of +the pinon wood crackled, smouldered, and at length broke apart into +flaming brands. In imagination the little ranch house had thrown out as +many wings and as easily as a newly-hatched dragon-fly, had been +beautified and made convenient in all sorts of ways,--a flower-garden had +sprouted round its base, plenty of room had been made for papa and the +children and Katy and Ned, who were to come out continually for visits in +the long lovely summers; they themselves also were to go to and fro,--to +Burnet, and still farther afield, over seas to the old Devonshire grange +which Geoff remembered so fondly. + +"How my mother and Isabel will delight in you," he said; "and the squire! +You are precisely the girl to take his fancy. We'll go over and see them +as soon as we can, won't we, Clover?" + +Clover listened delightedly to all these schemes, but through them all, +like that young Irish lady who went over the marriage service with her +lover adding at the end of every clause, "Provided my father gives his +consent," she interposed a little running thread of protest,--"If papa is +willing. You know, Geoff, I can't really promise anything till I've talked +with papa." + +It was settled that until Dr. Carr had been consulted, the affair was not +to be called an engagement, or spoken of to any one; only Clover asked +Geoff to tell Clarence all about it at once. + +The thought of Clarence was, in truth, the one cloud in her happiness just +then. It was impossible to calculate how he would take the news. If it +made him angry or very unhappy, if it broke up his friendship with Geoff, +and perhaps interfered with their partnership so that one or other of them +must leave the High Valley, Clover felt that it would grievously mar her +contentment. There was no use in planning anything till they knew how he +would feel and act. In any case, she realized that they were bound to +consider him before themselves, and make it as easy and as little painful +as possible. If he were vexatious, they must be patient; if sulky, they +must be forbearing. + +Phil opened his eyes very wide at the pair sitting so coseyly over the +fire when at last he came in. + +"I say, have _you_ been here all the evening?" he cried. "Well, that's a +sell! I wouldn't have gone out if I'd known." + +"We've missed you very much," quoth Geoff; and then he laughed as at some +extremely good joke, and Clover laughed too. + +"You seem to have kept up your spirits pretty well, considering," remarked +Phil, dryly. Boys of eighteen are not apt to enjoy jokes which do not +originate with themselves; they are suspicious of them. + +"I suppose I must go now," said Geoff, looking at his watch; "but I shall +see you again before I leave. I'll come in to-morrow after I've met my +man." + +"All right," said Phil; "I won't go out till you come." + +"Oh, pray don't feel obliged to stay in. I can't at all tell when I shall +be able to get through with the fellow." + +"Come to dinner if you can," suggested Clover. "Phil is sure to be at home +then." + +Lovers are like ostriches. Geoff went away just shaking hands casually, +and was very particular to say "Miss Carr;" and he and Clover felt that +they had managed so skilfully and concealed their secret so well; yet the +first remark made by Phil as the door shut was, "Geoff seems queer +to-night, somehow, and so do you. What have you been talking about all the +evening?" + +An observant younger brother is a difficult factor in a love affair. + +Two days passed. Clover looked in vain for a note from the High Valley to +say how Clarence had borne the revelation; and she grew more nervous with +every hour. It was absolutely necessary now to dismantle the house, and +she found a certain relief in keeping exceedingly busy. Somehow the +break-up had lost its inexplicable pain, and a glad little voice sang all +the time at her heart, "I shall come back; I shall certainly come back. +Papa will let me, I am sure, when he knows Geoff, and how nice he is." + +She was at the dining-table wrapping a row of books in paper ready for +packing, when a step sounded, and glancing round she saw Clarence himself +standing in the doorway. He did not look angry, as she had feared he +might, or moody; and though he avoided her eye at first, his face was +resolute and kind. + +"Geoff has told me," were his first words. "I know from what he said that +you, and he too, are afraid that I shall make myself disagreeable; so I've +come in to say that I shall do nothing of the kind." + +"Dear Clarence, that wasn't what Geoff meant, or I either," said Clover, +with a rush of relief, and holding out both her hands to him; "what we +were afraid of was that you might be unhappy." + +"Well," in a husky tone, and holding the little hands very tight, "it +isn't easy, of course, to give up a hope. I've held on to mine all this +time, though I've told myself a hundred times that I was a fool for doing +so, and though I knew in my heart it was no use. Now I've had two days to +think it over and get past the first shock, and, Clover, I've decided. You +and Geoff are the best friends I've got in the world. I never seemed to +make friends, somehow. Till you came to Hillsover that time nobody liked +me much; I don't know why. I can't get along without you two; so I give +you up without any hard feeling, and I mean to be as jolly as I can about +it. After all, to have you at the High Valley will be a sort of happiness, +even if you don't come for my sake exactly," with an attempt at a laugh. + +"Clarence, you really are a dear boy! I can't tell you how I thank you, +and how I admire you for being so nice about this." + +"Then that's worth something, too. I'd do a good deal to win your +approval, Clover. So it's all settled. Don't worry about me, or be afraid +that I shall spoil your comfort with sour looks. If I find I can't stand +it, I'll go away for a while; but I don't think it'll come to that. You'll +make a real home out of the ranch house, and you'll let me have my share +of your life, and be a brother to you and Geoff; and I'll try to be a good +one." + +Clover was touched to the heart by these manful words so gently spoken. + +"You shall be our dear special brother always," she said. "Only this was +needed to make me quite happy. I am so glad you don't want to go away and +leave us, or to have us leave you. We'll make the ranch over into the +dearest little home in the world, and be so cosey there all together, and +papa and the others shall come out for visits; and you'll like them so +much, I know, Elsie especially." + +"Does she look like you?" + +"Not a bit; she's ever so much prettier." + +"I don't believe a word of that" + +Clover's heart being thus lightened of its only burden by this treaty of +mutual amity, she proceeded joyously with her packing. Mrs. Hope said she +was not half sorry enough to go away, and Poppy upbraided her as a gay +deceiver without any conscience or affections. She laughed and protested +and denied, but looked so radiantly satisfied the while as to give a fair +color for her friends' accusations, especially as she could not explain +the reasons of her contentment or hint at her hopes of return. Mrs. Hope +probably had her suspicions, for she was rather urgent with Clover to +leave this thing and that for safe keeping "in case you ever come back;" +but Clover declined these offers, and resolutely packed up everything with +a foolish little superstition that it was "better luck" to do so, and that +papa would like it better. + +Quite a little group of friends assembled at the railway station to see +her and Phil set off. They were laden with flowers and fruit and "natural +soda-water" with which to beguile the long journey, and with many good +wishes and affectionate hopes that they might return some day. + +"Something tells me that you will," Mrs. Hope declared. "I feel it in my +bones, and they hardly ever deceive me. My mother had the same kind; it's +in the family." + +"Something tells me that you must," cried Poppy, embracing Clover; "but +I'm afraid it isn't bones or anything prophetic, but only the fact that I +want you to so very much." + +From the midst of these farewells Clover's eyes crossed the valley and +sought out Mount Cheyenne. + +"How differently I should be feeling," she thought, "if this were going +away with no real hope of coming back! I could hardly have borne to look +at you had that been the case, you dear beautiful thing; but I _am_ coming +back to live close beside you always, and oh, how glad I am!" + +"Is that good-by to Cheyenne?" asked Marian, catching the little wave of a +hand. + +"Yes, it _is_ good-by; but I have promised him that it shall soon be +how-do-you-do again. Mount Cheyenne and I understand each other." + +"I know; you have always had a sentimental attachment to that mountain. +Now Pike's Peak is _my_ affinity. We get on beautifully together." + +"Pike's Peak indeed! I am ashamed of you." + +Then the train moved away amid a flutter of handkerchiefs, but still +Clover and Phil were not left to themselves; for Dr. Hope, who had a +consultation in Denver, was to see them safely off in the night express, +and Geoff had some real or invented business which made it necessary for +him to go also. + +Clover carried with her through all the three days' ride the lingering +pressure of Geoff's hand, and his whispered promise to "come on soon." It +made the long way seem short. But when they arrived, amid all the kisses +and rejoicings, the exclamations over Phil's look of health and vigor, the +girls' intense interest in all that she had seen and done, papa's warm +approval of her management, her secret began to burn guiltily within her. +What _would_ they all say when they knew? + +And what did they say? I think few of you will be at a loss to guess. +Life--real life as well as life in story-books--is full of such shocks and +surprises. They are half happy, half unhappy; but they have to be borne. +Younger sisters, till their own turns come, are apt to take a severe view +of marriage plans, and to feel that they cruelly interrupt a past order of +things which, so far as they are concerned, need no improvement. And +parents, who say less and understand better, suffer, perhaps, more. "To +bear, to rear, to lose," is the order of family history, generally +unexpected, always recurring. + +But true love is not selfish. In time it accustoms itself to anything +which secures happiness for its object. Dr. Carr did confide to Katy in a +moment of private explosion that he wished the Great West had never been +invented, and that such a prohibitory tax could be laid upon young +Englishmen as to make it impossible that another one should ever be landed +on our shores; but he had never in his life refused Clover anything upon +which she had set her heart, and he saw in her eyes that her heart was +very much set on this. John and Elsie scolded and cried, and then in time +began to talk of their future visits to High Valley till they grew to +anticipate them, and be rather in a hurry for them to begin. Geoff's +arrival completed their conversion. + +"Nicer than Ned," Johnnie pronounced him; and even Dr. Carr was forced to +confess that the sons-in-law with which Fate had provided him were of a +superior sort; only he wished that they didn't want to marry _his_ girls! + +Phil, from first to last, was in favor of the plan, and a firm ally to the +lovers. He had grown extremely Western in his ideas, and was persuaded in +his mind that "this old East," as he termed it, with its puny +possibilities, did not amount to much, and that as soon as he was old +enough to shape his own destinies, he should return to the only section of +the country worthy the attention of a young man of parts. Meanwhile, he +was perfectly well again, and willing to comply with his father's desire +that before he made any positive arrangements for his future, he should +get a sound and thorough education. + + "So you are actually going out to the wild and barbarous West, + to live on a ranch, milk cows, chase the wild buffalo to its + lair, and hold the tiger-cat by its favorite forelock," wrote + Rose Red. "What was that you were saying only the other day + about nice convenient husbands, who cruise off for 'good long + times,' and leave their wives comfortably at home with their own + families? And here you are planning to marry a man who, whenever + he isn't galloping after cattle, will be in your pocket at home! + Oh, Clover, Clover, how inconsistent a thing is woman,--not to + say girl,--and what havoc that queer deity named Cupid does make + with preconceived opinions! I did think I could rely on you; but + you are just as bad as the rest of us, and when a lad whistles, + go off after him wherever he happens to lead, and think it the + best thing possible to do so. It's a mad world, my masters; and + I'm thankful that Roslein is only four and a half years old." + +And Clover's answer was one line on a postal card,-- + + "Guilty, but recommended to mercy!" + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CLOVER*** + + +******* This file should be named 15798.txt or 15798.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/7/9/15798 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: +https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/15798.zip b/15798.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3b6d646 --- /dev/null +++ b/15798.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a3ad002 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #15798 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15798) |
