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+Project Gutenberg's A Little Girl in Old Boston, by Amanda Millie Douglas
+
+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: A Little Girl in Old Boston
+
+Author: Amanda Millie Douglas
+
+Release Date: December 9, 2007 [EBook #23786]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD BOSTON ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, J.P.W. Fraser, Mary
+Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                     A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD BOSTON
+
+                        By AMANDA M. DOUGLAS
+
+
+
+
+A. L. BURT COMPANY
+PUBLISHERS NEW YORK
+
+COPYRIGHT, 1898,
+BY DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY.
+
+
+
+
+SALLIE BUFFUM:
+
+     To you, who have been a little girl in later Boston, I inscribe
+     this story of another little girl who lived almost a hundred years
+     ago, and found life busy and pleasant and full of affection, as I
+     hope it will prove to you.
+
+     AMANDA M. DOUGLAS.
+     NEWARK, N. J., 1898.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+        I. DORIS
+
+       II. IN A NEW HOME
+
+      III. AUNT PRISCILLA
+
+       IV. OUT TO TEA
+
+        V. A MORNING AT SCHOOL
+
+       VI. A BIRTHDAY PARTY
+
+      VII. ABOUT A GOWN
+
+     VIII. SINFUL OR NOT?
+
+       IX. WHAT WINTER BROUGHT
+
+        X. CONCERNING MANY THINGS
+
+       XI. A LITTLE CHRISTMAS
+
+      XII. A CHILDREN'S PARTY
+
+     XIII. VARIOUS OPINIONS OF LITTLE GIRLS
+
+      XIV. IN THE SPRING
+
+       XV. A FREEDOM SUIT
+
+      XVI. A SUMMER IN BOSTON
+
+    XVII. ANOTHER GIRL
+
+   XVIII. WINTER AND SORROW
+
+     XIX. THE HIGH RESOLVE OF YOUTH
+
+      XX. A VISITOR FOR DORIS
+
+     XXI. ELIZABETH AND--PEACE
+
+    XXII. CARY ADAMS
+
+   XXIII. THE COST OF WOMANHOOD
+
+    XXIV. THE BLOOM OF LIFE--LOVE
+
+
+
+
+A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD BOSTON
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+DORIS
+
+
+"I do suppose she is a Papist! The French generally are," said Aunt
+Priscilla, drawing her brows in a delicate sort of frown, and sipping
+her tea with a spoon that had the London crown mark, and had been buried
+early in revolutionary times.
+
+"Why, there were all the Huguenots who emigrated from France for the
+sake of worshiping God in their own way rather than that of the Pope. We
+Puritans did not take all the free-will," declared Betty spiritedly.
+
+"You are too flippant, Betty," returned Aunt Priscilla severely. "And I
+doubt if her father's people had much experimental religion. Then, she
+has been living in a very hot-bed of superstition!"
+
+"The cold, dreary Lincolnshire coast! I think it would take a good deal
+of zeal to warm me, even if it was superstition."
+
+"And she was in a convent after her mother died! Yes, she is pretty sure
+to be a Papist. It seems rather queer that second-cousin Charles should
+have remembered her in his will."
+
+"But Charles was his namesake and nephew, the child of his favorite
+sister," interposed Mrs. Leverett, glancing deprecatingly at Betty,
+pleading with the most beseeching eyes that she should not ruffle Aunt
+Priscilla up the wrong way.
+
+"But what is that old ma'shland good for, anyway?" asked Aunt Priscilla.
+
+"Why they are filling in and building docks," said Betty the
+irrepressible. "Father thinks by the time she is grown it will be a
+handsome fortune."
+
+Aunt Priscilla gave a queer sound that was not a sniff, but had a
+downward tendency, as if it was formed of inharmonious consonants. It
+expressed both doubt and disapproval.
+
+"But think of the expense and the taxes! You can't put a bit of
+improvement on anything but the taxes eat it up. I want my hall door
+painted, and the cornishes,"--Aunt Priscilla always would pronounce it
+that way,--"but I mean to wait until the assessor has been round. It's
+the best time to paint in cool weather, too. I can't afford to pay a man
+for painting and then pay the city for the privilege."
+
+No one controverted Mrs. Perkins. She broke off her bread in bits and
+sipped her tea.
+
+"Why didn't they give her some kind of a Christian name?" she began
+suddenly. "Don't you suppose it is French for the plain, old-fashioned,
+sensible name of Dorothy?"
+
+Betty laughed. "Oh, Aunt Priscilla, it's pure Greek. Doris and Phyllis
+and Chloe----"
+
+"Phyllis and Chloe are regular nigger names," with the utmost disdain.
+
+"But Greek, all the same. Ask Uncle Winthrop."
+
+"Well, I shall call her Dorothy. I'm neither Greek nor Latin nor a
+college professor. There's no law against my being sensible,
+fursisee"--which really meant "far as I see." "And the idea of
+appointing Winthrop Adams her guardian! I did think second-cousin
+Charles had more sense. Winthrop thinks of nothing but books and going
+back to the Creation of the World, just as if the Lord couldn't have
+made things straight in the beginning without his help. I dare say he
+will find out what language they talked before the dispersion of Babel.
+People are growing so wise nowadays, turning the Bible inside out!" and
+she gave her characteristic sniff. "I'll have another cup of tea,
+Elizabeth. Now that we're through with the war, and settled solid-like
+with a President at the helm, we can look forward to something
+permanent, and comfort ourselves that it was worth trying for. Still,
+I've often thought of that awful waste of tea in Boston harbor. Seems as
+though they might have done something else with it. Tea will keep a good
+long while. And all that wretched stuff we used to drink and call it
+Liberty tea!"
+
+"I don't know as we regret many of the sacrifices, though it came harder
+on the older people. We have a good deal to be proud of," said Mrs.
+Leverett.
+
+"And a grandfather who was at Bunker Hill," appended Betty.
+
+Aunt Priscilla never quite knew where she belonged. She had come over
+with the Puritans, at least her ancestors had, but then there had been a
+title in the English branch; and though she scoffed a little, she had
+great respect for royalty, and secretly regretted they had not called
+the head of the government by a more dignified appellation than
+President. Her mother had been a Church of England member, but rather
+austere Mr. Adams believed that wives were to submit themselves to their
+husbands in matters of belief as well as aught else. Then Priscilla
+Adams, at the age of nineteen, had wedded the man of her father's
+choice, Hatfield Perkins, who was a stanch upholder of the Puritan
+faith. Priscilla would have enjoyed a little foolish love-making, and
+she had a carnal hankering for fine gowns; and, oh, how she did long to
+dance in her youth, when she was slim and light-footed!
+
+In spite of all, she had been a true Puritan outwardly, and had a little
+misgiving that the prayers of the Church were vain repetitions, the
+organ wickedly frivolous, and the ringing of bells suggestive of popery.
+There had been no children, and a bad fall had lamed her husband so that
+volunteering for a soldier was out of the question, but he had assisted
+with his means; and some twelve years before this left his widow in
+comfortable circumstances for the times.
+
+She kept to her plain dress, although it was rich; and her housemaid was
+an elderly black woman who had been a slave in her childhood. She
+devoted a good deal of thought as to who should inherit her property
+when she was done with it. For those she held in the highest esteem were
+elderly like herself, and the young people were flighty and extravagant
+and despised the good old ways of prudence and thrift.
+
+They were having early tea at Mrs. Leverett's. Aunt Priscilla's mother
+had been half-sister to Mrs. Leverett's mother. In the old days of large
+families nearly everyone came to be related. It was always very cozy in
+Sudbury Street, and Foster Leverett was in the ship chandlery trade.
+Aunt Priscilla _did_ love a good cup of tea. Whether the quality was
+finer, or there was some peculiar art in brewing it, she could never
+quite decide; or whether the social cream of gentle Elizabeth Leverett,
+and the spice of Betty, added to the taste and heightened the flavor
+beyond her solitary cup.
+
+Early October had already brought chilling airs when evening set in. A
+century or so ago autumn had the sharpness of coming winter in the early
+morning and after sundown. There was a cheerful wood fire on the
+hearth, and its blaze lighted the room sufficiently, as the red light of
+the sunset poured through a large double window.
+
+The house had a wide hall through the center that was really the
+keeping-room. The chimney stood about halfway down, a great stone affair
+built out in the room, tiled about with Scriptural scenes, with two
+tiers of shelves above, whereon were ranged the family heirlooms--so
+high, indeed, that a stool had to be used to stand on when they were
+dusted. Just below this began a winding staircase with carved spindles
+and a mahogany rail and newel, considered quite an extravagance in that
+day.
+
+This lower end was the living part. In one of the corners was built the
+buffet, while a door opposite led into the wide kitchen. Across the back
+was a porch where shutters were hung in the winter to keep out the cold.
+
+The great dining table was pushed up against the wall. The round tea
+table was set out and the three ladies were having their tea, quite a
+common custom when there was a visitor, as the men folk were late coming
+in and a little uncertain.
+
+On one side the hall opened in two large, well-appointed rooms. On the
+other were the kitchen and "mother's room," where, when the children
+were little, there had been a cradle and a trundle bed. But one son and
+two daughters were married; one son was in his father's warehouse, and
+was now about twenty; the next baby boy had died; and Betty, the
+youngest, was sixteen, pretty, and a little spoiled, of course. Yet Aunt
+Priscilla had a curious fondness for her, which she insisted to herself
+was very reprehensible, since Betty was such a feather-brained girl.
+
+"It is to be hoped the ship did get in to-day," Aunt Priscilla began
+presently. "If there's anything I hate, it's being on tenterhooks."
+
+"She was spoken this morning. There's always more or less delay with
+pilots and tides and what not," replied Mrs. Leverett.
+
+"The idea of sending a child like that alone! The weather has been fine,
+but we don't know how it was on the ocean."
+
+"Captain Grier is a friend of Uncle Win's, you know," appended Betty.
+
+"Betty, do try and call your relatives by their proper names. An elderly
+man, too! It does sound so disrespectful! Young folks of to-day seem to
+have no regard for what is due other people. Oh----"
+
+There was a kind of stamping and shuffling on the porch, and the door
+was flung open, letting in a gust of autumnal air full of spicy odors
+from the trees and vines outside. Betty sprang up, while her mother
+followed more slowly. There were her father and her brother Warren, and
+the latter had by the hand the little girl who had crossed the ocean to
+come to the famous city of the New World, Boston. Almost two hundred
+years before an ancestor had crossed from old Boston, in the ship
+_Arabella_, and settled here, taking his share of pilgrim hardships.
+Doris' father, when a boy, had been sent back to England to be adopted
+as the heir of a long line. But the old relative married and had two
+sons of his own, though he did well by the boy, who went to France and
+married a pretty French girl. After seven years of unbroken happiness
+the sweet young wife had died. Then little Doris, six years of age, had
+spent two years in a convent. From there her father had taken her to
+Lincolnshire and placed her with two elderly relatives, while he was
+planning and arranging his affairs to come back to America with his
+little daughter. But one night, being out with a sailing party, a sudden
+storm had caught them and swept them out of life in an instant.
+
+Second-cousin Charles Adams had been in correspondence with him, and
+advised him to return. Being in feeble health, he had included him and
+his heirs in his will, appointing his nephew Winthrop Adams executor,
+and died before the news of the death of his distant relative had
+reached him. The Lincolnshire ladies were too old to have the care and
+rearing of a child, so Mr. Winthrop Adams had sent by Captain Grier to
+bring over the little girl. Her father's estate, not very large, was in
+money and easily managed. And now little Doris was nearing ten.
+
+"Oh!" cried Betty, hugging the slim figure in the red camlet cloak, and
+peering into the queer big hat tied down over her ears with broad
+ribbons that, what with the big bow and the wide rim, almost hid her
+face; but she saw two soft lovely eyes and cherry-red lips that she
+kissed at once, though kissing had not come in fashion to any great
+extent, and was still considered by many people rather dubious if not
+positively sinful.
+
+"Oh, little Doris, welcome to Boston and the United Colonies and the
+whole of America! Let me see how you look," and she untied the wide
+strings.
+
+The head that emerged was covered with fair curling hair; the complexion
+was clear, but a little wind-burned from her long trip; the eyes were
+very dark, but of the deepest, softest blue, that suggested twilight.
+There was a dimple in the dainty chin, and the mouth had a
+half-frightened, half-wistful smile.
+
+"Captain Grier will send up her boxes to-morrow. They got aground and
+were delayed. I began to think they would have to stay out all night.
+The captain will bring up a lot of papers for Winthrop, and everything,"
+explained Mr. Leverett. "Are you cold, little one?"
+
+Doris gave a great shiver as her cloak was taken off, but it was more
+nervousness than cold, and the glances of the strange faces. Then she
+walked straight to the fireplace.
+
+"Oh, what a beautiful fire!" she exclaimed. "No, I am not cold"--and the
+wistful expression wandered from one to the other.
+
+"This is my daughter Betty, and this is--why, you may as well begin by
+saying Aunt Elizabeth at once. How are you, Aunt Priscilla? This is our
+little French-English girl, but I hope she will turn into a stanch
+Boston girl. Now, mother, let's have a good supper. I'm hungry as a
+wolf."
+
+Doris caught Betty's hand again and pressed it to her cheek. The smiling
+face won her at once.
+
+"Did you have a pleasant voyage?" asked Mrs. Leverett, as she was piling
+up the cups and saucers, and paused to smile at the little stranger.
+
+"There were some storms, and I was afraid then. It made me think of
+papa. But there was a good deal of sunshine. And I was quite ill at
+first, but the captain was very nice, and Mrs. Jewett had two little
+girls, so after a while we played together. And then I think we forgot
+all about being at sea--it was so like a house, except there were no
+gardens or fields and trees."
+
+Mrs. Leverett went out to the kitchen, and soon there was the savory
+smell of frying sausage. Betty placed Doris in a chair by the chimney
+corner and began to rearrange the table. Warren went out to the kitchen
+and, as by the farthest window there was a sort of high bench with a tin
+basin, a pail of water, and a long roller towel, he began to wash his
+face and hands, telling his mother meanwhile the occurrences of the last
+two or three hours.
+
+Aunt Priscilla drew up her chair and surveyed the little traveler with
+some curiosity. She was rather shocked that the child was not dressed in
+mourning, and now she discovered, that her little gown was of brocaded
+silk and much furbelowed, at which she frowned severely.
+
+True, her father had been dead more than a year; but her being an orphan
+made it seem as if she should still be in the depths of woe. And she had
+earrings and a brooch in the lace tucker. She gave her sniff--it was
+very wintry and contemptuous.
+
+"I suppose that's the latest French fashion," she said sharply. "If I
+lived in England I should just despise French clothes."
+
+"Oh," said Doris, "do you mean my gown? Miss Arabella made it for me.
+When she was a young lady she went up to London to see the king crowned,
+and they had a grand ball, and this was one of the gowns she had--not
+the ball dress, for that was white satin with roses sprinkled over it.
+She's very old now, and she gave that to her cousin for a wedding dress.
+And she made this over for me. I got some tar on my blue stuff gown
+yesterday, and the others were so thin Mrs. Jewett thought I had better
+put on this, but it is my very best gown."
+
+The artless sincerity and the soft sweet voice quite nonplused Aunt
+Priscilla. Then Warren returned and dropped on a three-cornered stool
+standing there, and almost tilted over.
+
+"Now, if I had gone into the fire, like any other green log, how I
+should have sizzled!" he said laughingly.
+
+"Oh, I am so glad you didn't!" exclaimed Doris in affright. Then she
+smiled softly.
+
+"Does it seem queer to be on land again?"
+
+"Yes. I want to rock to and fro." She made a pretty movement with her
+slender body, and nodded her head.
+
+"Are you very tired?"
+
+"Oh, no."
+
+"You were out five weeks."
+
+"Is that a long while? I was homesick at first. I wanted to see Miss
+Arabella and Barby. Miss Henrietta is--is--not right in her mind, if you
+can understand. And she is very old. She just sits in her chair all day
+and mumbles. She was named for a queen--Henrietta Maria."
+
+Aunt Priscilla gave a disapproving sniff.
+
+"Supper's ready," said Mr. Leverett. "Come."
+
+Warren took the small stranger by the hand, and she made a little
+courtesy, quite as if she were a grown lady.
+
+"What an airy little piece of vanity!" thought Aunt Priscilla. "And
+whatever will Winthrop Adams do with her, and no woman about the house
+to train her!"
+
+Betty came and poured tea for her father and Warren. Mr. Leverett piled
+up her plate, but, although the viands had an appetizing fragrance,
+Doris was not hungry. Everything was so new and strange, and she could
+not get the motion of the ship out of her head. But the pumpkin pie was
+delicious. She had never tasted anything like it.
+
+"You'll soon be a genuine Yankee girl," declared Warren. "Pumpkin pie is
+the test."
+
+Mr. Leverett and his son did full justice to the supper. Then he had to
+go out to a meeting. There were some clouds drifting over the skies of
+the new country, and many discussions as to future policy.
+
+"So, Aunt Priscilla, I'll beau you home," said he; "unless you have a
+mind to stay all night, or want a young fellow like Warren."
+
+"You're plenty old enough to be sensible, Foster Leverett," she returned
+sharply. She would have enjoyed a longer stay and was curious about the
+newcomer, but when Betty brought her hat and shawl she said a stiff
+good-night to everybody and went out with her escort.
+
+Betty cleared away the tea things, wiped the dishes for her mother and
+then took a place beside Warren, who was very much interested in hearing
+the little girl talk. There was a good deal of going back and forth to
+England although the journey seemed so long, but it was startling to
+have a child sitting by the fireside, here in his father's house, who
+had lived in both France and England. She had an odd little accent, too,
+but it gave her an added daintiness. She remembered her convent life
+very well, and her stay in Paris with her father. It seemed strange to
+him that she could talk so tranquilly about her parents, but there had
+been so many changes in her short life, and her father had been away
+from her so much!
+
+"It always seemed to me as if he must come back again," she said with a
+serious little sigh, "as if he was over in France or down in London. It
+is so strange to have anyone go away forever that I think you can't take
+it in somehow. And Miss Arabella was always so good. She said if she had
+been younger she should never have agreed to my coming. And all papa's
+relatives were here, and someone who wrote to her and settled about the
+journey."
+
+She glanced up inquiringly.
+
+"Yes. That's Uncle Winthrop Adams. He isn't an own uncle, but it seems
+somehow more respectful to call him uncle. Mr. Adams would sound queer.
+And he will be your guardian."
+
+"A--guardian?"
+
+"Well, he has the care of the property left to your father. There is a
+house that is rented, and a great plot of ground. Cousin Charles owned
+so much land, and he never was married, so it had to go round to the
+cousins. He was very fond of your father as a little boy. And Uncle
+Winthrop seems the proper person to take charge of you."
+
+Doris sighed. She seemed always being handed from one to another.
+
+She was sitting on the stool now, and when Betty slipped into the vacant
+chair she put her arm over the child's shoulder in a caressing manner.
+
+"Do you mean--that I would have to go and live with him?" she asked
+slowly.
+
+Warren laughed. "I declare I don't know what Uncle Win would do with a
+little girl! Miss Recompense Gardiner keeps the house, and she's as prim
+as the crimped edge of an apple pie. And there is only Cary."
+
+"Cary is at Harvard--at college," explained Betty. "And, then, he is
+going to Europe for a tour. Uncle Win teaches some classes, and is a
+great Greek and Latin scholar, and translates from the poets, and reads
+and studies--is a regular bookworm. His wife has been dead ever since
+Cary was a baby."
+
+"I wish I could stay here," said Doris, and, reaching up, she clasped
+her arms around Betty's neck. "I like your father, and your mother has
+such a sweet voice, and you--and him," nodding her head over to Warren.
+"And since that--the other lady--doesn't live here----"
+
+"Aunt Priscilla," laughed Betty. "I think she improves on acquaintance.
+Her bark is worse than her bite. When I was a little girl I thought her
+just awful, and never wanted to go there. Now I quite like it. I spend
+whole days with her. But I shouldn't spend a night in praying that
+Providence would send her to live with us. I'd fifty times rather have
+you, you dear little midget. And, when everything is settled, I am of
+the opinion you will live with us, for a while at least."
+
+"I shall be so glad," in a joyous, relieved tone.
+
+"Then if Uncle Win should ask you, don't be afraid of anybody, but just
+say you want to stay here. That will settle it unless he thinks you
+ought to go to school. But there are nice enough schools in Boston. And
+I am glad you want to stay. I've wished a great many times that I had a
+little sister. I have two, married. One lives over at Salem and one ever
+so far away at Hartford. And I am Aunt Betty. I have five nephews and
+four nieces. And you never can have any, you solitary little girl!"
+
+"I think I don't mind if I can have you."
+
+"This is love at first sight. I've never been in love before, though I
+have some girl friends. And being in love means living with someone and
+wanting them all the time, and a lot of sweet, foolish stuff. What a
+silly girl I am! Well--you are to be my little sister."
+
+Oh, how sweet it was to find home and affection and welcome! Doris had
+not thought much about it, but now she was suddenly, unreasonably glad.
+She laid her head down on Betty's knee and looked at the dancing flames,
+the purples and misty grays, the scarlets and blues and greens, all
+mingling, then sending long arrowy darts that ran back and hid behind
+the logs before you could think.
+
+Mrs. Leverett kneaded her bread and stirred up her griddle cakes for
+morning. It was early in the season to start with them, but with the
+first cold whiff Mr. Leverett began to beg for them. Then she fixed her
+fire, turned down her sleeves, took off the big apron that covered all
+her skirt, and rejoined the three by the fireside.
+
+"That child has gone fast asleep," she exclaimed, looking at her. "Poor
+thing, I dare say she is all tired out! And, man-like, your father never
+thought of her nightgown or anything to put on in the morning, and
+that silk is nothing for a child to wear. I saw that it shocked Aunt
+Priscilla."
+
+"And she told the story of it so prettily. It is a lovely thing--and to
+think it has been to London to see the king!"
+
+"You must take her in your bed, Betty."
+
+"Oh, of course. Mother, don't you suppose Uncle Win will consent to her
+staying here? I want her."
+
+"It would be a good thing for you to have someone to look after, Betty.
+It would help steady you and give you some sense of responsibility. The
+youngest child always gets spoiled. Your father was speaking of it. I
+can't imagine a child in Uncle Winthrop's household."
+
+Betty laughed. "Nor in Aunt Priscilla's," she appended.
+
+"Poor little thing! How pretty she is. And what a long journey to
+take--and to come among strangers! Yes, she must go to bed at once."
+
+"I'll carry her upstairs," said Warren.
+
+"Nonsense!" protested his mother.
+
+But he did for all that, and when he laid her on Betty's cold bed she
+roused and smiled, and suffered herself to be made ready for slumber.
+Then she slipped down on her knees, and said "Our Father in Heaven" in
+soft, sleepy French. Her mother had taught her that. And in English she
+repeated:
+
+"Now I lay me down to sleep," in remembrance of her father, and kissed
+Betty. But she had hardly touched the pillow when she was asleep again
+in her new home, Boston.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+IN A NEW HOME
+
+
+The sun was shining when Doris opened her eyes, and she rubbed them to
+make sure she was not dreaming. There was no motion, and her bed was so
+soft and wide. She sat up straight, half-startled, and she seemed in a
+well of fluffy feathers. There were two white curtained windows and a
+straight splint chair at each one, with a queer little knob on the top
+of the post that suggested a sprite from some of the old legends she had
+been used to hearing.
+
+What enchantment had transported her thither? Oh, yes--she had been
+brought to Cousin Leverett's, she remembered now; and, oh, how sleepy
+she had been last night as she sat by the warm, crackling fire!
+
+"Well, little Doris!" exclaimed a fresh, wholesome voice, with a
+laughing sound back of it.
+
+"Oh, you are Betty! It is like a dream. I could not think where I was at
+first. And this bed is so high. It's like Miss Arabella's with the
+curtains around it. And at home I had a little pallet--just a low,
+straight bed almost like a bench, with no curtains. You slept here with
+me?"
+
+"Yes. It is my bed and my room. And it was delightful to have you last
+night. I think you never stirred. My niece Elizabeth was here in the
+summer from Salem, and after two nights I turned her out--she kicked
+unmercifully, and I couldn't endure it. Now, do you want to get up?"
+
+"Oh, yes. Must I jump out or just slip."
+
+"Here is a stool."
+
+But Doris had slipped and come down on a rug of woven rags almost as
+soft as Persian pile. Her nightdress fell about her in a train; it was
+Betty's, and she looked like a slim white wraith.
+
+"Now I will help you dress. Here is a gown of mine that I outgrew when I
+was a little girl, and it was so nice mother said it should be saved for
+Elizabeth. We call her that because my other sister Electa has a
+daughter she calls Bessy. They are both named after mother. And so am I,
+but I have always been called Betty. So many of one name are confusing.
+But yours is so pretty and odd. I never knew a girl called Doris."
+
+"I am glad you like it," said Doris simply. "It was papa's choice. My
+mother's name was Jacqueline."
+
+"That is very French."
+
+"And that is my name, too. But Doris is easier to say."
+
+Betty had been helping her dress. The blue woolen gown was not any too
+long, but, oh, it was worlds too wide! They both laughed.
+
+"_I_ wasn't such a slim little thing. See here, I will pin a plait over
+in front, and that will help it. Now that does nicely. And you must be
+choice of that beautiful brocade. What a pity that you will outgrow it!
+It would make such a splendid gown when you go to parties. I've never
+had a silk gown," and Betty sighed.
+
+They went downstairs. It would seem queer enough now to attend to one's
+toilet in the corner of the kitchen, but it was quite customary then. In
+Mrs. Leverett's room there were a washing stand with a white cloth, and
+a china bowl and ewer in dark blue flowers on a white ground, picked out
+with gilt edges. The bowl had scallops around the edge, and the ewer was
+tall and slim. There were a soap dish and a small pitcher, and they
+looked beautiful on the thick white cloth, that was fringed all around.
+It had been brought over from England by Mrs. Leverett's grandmother,
+and was esteemed very highly, and had been promised to Betty for her
+name. But Mrs. Leverett would have considered it sacrilege to use it.
+
+It is true, many houses now began to have wash rooms, which were very
+nice in summer, but of small account in winter, when the water froze so
+easily, unless you could have a fire.
+
+When people sigh for the good old times they forget the hardships and
+the inconveniences.
+
+Doris brushed out her hair and curled it in a twinkling; then she had
+some breakfast. Mrs. Leverett was baking bread and making pies and a
+large cake full of raisins that Betty had seeded, which went by the name
+of election cake.
+
+The kitchen was a great cheery place with some sunny windows and a big
+oven built at one side, a capacious working table, a dresser, some
+wooden chairs, and a yellow-painted floor. The kitchen opened into
+mother's room as well as the hall.
+
+Doris sat and watched both busy women. At Miss Arabella's they had an
+old serving maid and the kitchen was not a place of tidiness and beauty.
+It had a hard dirt floor, and Barby sat out of doors in the sunshine to
+do whatever work she could take out there, and often washed and dried
+her dishes when the weather was pleasant.
+
+But here the houses were close enough to smile at each other. After the
+great spaces these yards seemed small, but there were trees and vines,
+and Mrs. Leverett had quite a garden spot, where she raised all manner
+of sweet herbs and some vegetables. Mr. Leverett had a shop over on Ann
+Street, and attended steadily to his business, early and late, as men
+did at that time.
+
+The dining table was set out at noon, and soon after twelve o'clock the
+two men made their appearance.
+
+"Let me look at you," said Mr. Leverett, taking both of Doris' small
+hands. "I hardly saw you yesterday. You were buried in that big hat, and
+it was getting so dark. You have not much Adams about you, neither do
+you look French."
+
+"Miss Arabella always said I looked like papa. There is a picture of him
+in my box. He had dark-blue eyes."
+
+"Well, yours would pass for black. Do they snap when you get out of
+temper?"
+
+Doris colored and cast them down.
+
+"Don't tease her," interposed Mrs. Leverett. "She is not going to get
+angry. It is a bad thing for little girls."
+
+"I don't remember much of anything about your father. Both of your aunts
+are dead. You have one cousin somewhere--Margaret's husband married and
+went South--to Virginia, didn't he? Well, there is no end of Adams
+connection even if some of them have different names. Captain Grier
+dropped into the warehouse with a tin box of papers, and your things are
+to be sent this afternoon. He is coming up this evening, and I've sent
+for Uncle Win to come over to supper. Then I suppose the child's fate
+will be settled, and she'll be a regular Boston girl."
+
+"I do wonder if Uncle Win will let her stay here? Mother and I have
+decided that it is the best place."
+
+"Do _you_ think it a good place?"
+
+He turned so suddenly to Doris that her face was scarlet with
+embarrassment.
+
+"It's splendid," she said when she caught her breath. "I should like to
+stay. And Aunt Elizabeth will teach me to make pies."
+
+"Well, pies are pretty good things, according to my way of thinking.
+There's lots for little girls to learn, though I dare say Uncle Win will
+think it can all come out of a book."
+
+"Some of it might come out of a cookbook," said Betty demurely.
+
+"Your mother's the best cookbook I know about--good enough for anyone."
+
+"But we can't send mother all round the world."
+
+"We just don't want to," said Warren.
+
+Mrs. Leverett smiled. She was proud of her ability in the culinary line.
+
+Mr. Leverett looked at Doris presently. "Come, come," he began
+good-naturedly, "this will never do! You are not eating enough to keep a
+bird alive. No wonder you are so thin!"
+
+"But I ate a great deal of breakfast," explained Doris with naïve
+honesty.
+
+"And you are not homesick?"
+
+Doris thought a moment. "I don't want to go away, if that is what you
+mean."
+
+"Yes, that's about it," nodding humorously.
+
+Warren thought her the quaintest, prettiest child he had ever seen, but
+he hardly knew what to say to her.
+
+When the men had eaten and gone, the dishes were soon washed up, and
+then mother and daughter brought their sewing. Mrs. Leverett was mending
+Warren's coat. Betty darned a small pile of stockings, and then she took
+out some needlework. She had begun her next summer's white gown, and she
+meant to do it by odd spells, especially when Aunt Priscilla, who would
+lecture her on so much vanity, was not around.
+
+Mrs. Leverett gently questioned Doris--she was not an aggressive woman,
+nor unduly curious. No, Doris had not sewed much. Barby always darned
+the stockings, and Miss Easter had come to make whatever clothes she
+needed. She used to go to Father Langhorne and recite, and Mrs. Leverett
+wondered whether she and the father both were Roman Catholics. What did
+she study? Oh, French and a little Latin, and she was reading history
+and "Paradise Lost," but she didn't like sums, and she could make pillow
+lace. Miss Arabella made beautiful pillow lace, and sometimes the grand
+ladies came in carriages and paid her ever so much money for it.
+
+And presently dusk began to mingle with the golden touches of sunset,
+and Mrs. Leverett went to make biscuit and fry some chicken, and Uncle
+Winthrop came at the same moment that a man on a dray brought an
+old-fashioned chest and carried it upstairs to Betty's room. But Betty
+had already attired Doris in her silk gown.
+
+Doris liked Uncle Winthrop at once, although he was so different from
+Uncle Leverett, who wore all around his face a brownish-red beard that
+seemed to grow out of his neck, and had tumbled hair and a somewhat
+weather-beaten face. Mr. Winthrop Adams was two good inches taller and
+stood up very straight in spite of his being a bookworm. His complexion
+was fair and rather pale, his features were of the long, slender type,
+which his beard, worn in the Vandyke style, intensified. His hair was
+light and his eyes were a grayish blue, and he had a refined and gentle
+expression.
+
+"So this is our little traveler," he said. "Your father was somewhat
+older, perhaps, when we bade him good-by, but I have often thought of
+him. We corresponded a little off and on. And I am glad to be able to do
+all that I can for his child."
+
+Doris glanced up, feeling rather shy, and wondering what she ought to
+say, but in the next breath Betty had said it all, even to declaring
+laughingly that as Doris had come to them they meant to keep her.
+
+"Doris," he said softly. "Doris. You have a poetical name. And you are
+poetical-looking."
+
+She wondered what the comparison meant. "Paradise Lost" was so grand it
+tired her. Oh, there was the old volume of Percy's "Reliques." Did he
+mean like some of the sweet little things in that? Miss Arabella had
+said it wasn't quite the thing for a child to read, and had taken it
+away until she grew older.
+
+Uncle Winthrop took her hand again--a small, slim hand; and his was
+slender as well. No real physical work had hardened it. He dropped into
+the high-backed chair beside the fireplace, and, putting his arm about
+her, drew her near to his side. Uncle Leverett would have taken her on
+his knee if he had been moved by an impulse like that, but he was used
+to children and grandchildren, and the bookish man was not.
+
+"It is a great change to you," he said in his low tone, which had a
+fascination for her. "Was Miss Arabella--were there any young people in
+the old Lincolnshire house?"
+
+"Oh, no. Miss Henrietta was very, very old, but then she had lost her
+mind and forgotten everybody. And Miss Arabella had snowy white hair and
+a sweet wrinkled face."
+
+"Did you go to school?"
+
+"There wasn't any school except a dame's school for very little
+children. I used to go twice a week to Father Langhorne and read and
+write and do sums."
+
+"Then we will have to educate you. Do you think you would like to go to
+school?"
+
+"I don't know." She hung her head a little, and it gave her a still more
+winsome expression. There was an indescribable charm about her.
+
+"What did you read with this father?"
+
+"We read 'Paradise Lost' and some French. And I had begun Latin."
+
+Winthrop Adams gave a soft, surprised whistle. By the firelight he
+looked her over critically. Prodigies were not to his taste, and a girl
+prodigy would be an abhorrence. But her face had a sweet unconcern that
+reassured him.
+
+"And did you like it--'Paradise Lost'?"
+
+"I think I did--not," returned Doris with hesitating frankness. "I liked
+the verses in Percy's 'Reliques' better. I like verses that rhyme, that
+you can sing to yourself."
+
+"Ah! And how about the sums?"
+
+"I didn't like them at all. But Miss Arabella said the right things were
+often hard, and the easy things----"
+
+"Well, what is the fault of the easy things that we all like, and ought
+not to like?"
+
+"They were not so good for anyone--though I don't see why. They are
+often very pleasant."
+
+He laughed then, but some intuition told her he liked pleasant things as
+well.
+
+"What do you do in such a case?"
+
+"I did the sums. It was the right thing to do. And I studied Latin,
+though Miss Arabella said it was of no use to a girl."
+
+"And the French?"
+
+"Oh, I learned French when I was very little and had mamma, and when I
+was in the convent, too. But papa talked English, so I had them both.
+Isn't it strange that afterward you have to learn so much about them,
+and how to make right sentences, and why they are right. It seems as if
+there were a great many things in the world to learn. Betty doesn't know
+half of them, and she's as sweet as----Oh, I think the wisest person in
+the world couldn't be any sweeter."
+
+Winthrop Adams smiled at the eager reasoning. Betty was a bright, gay
+girl. What occult quality was sweetness? And Doris had been in a
+convent. That startled him the first moment. The old strict bitterness
+and narrowness of Puritanism had been softened and refined away. The
+people who had banished Quakers had for a long while tolerated Roman
+Catholics. He had known Father Matignon, and enjoyed the scholarly and
+well-trained John Cheverus, who had lately been consecrated bishop. The
+Protestants had even been generous to their brethren of another faith
+when they were building their church. As for himself he was a rather
+stiff Church of England man, if he could be called stiff about anything.
+
+"And--did you like the convent?" he asked, after a pause, in which he
+generously made up his mind he would not interfere with her religious
+belief.
+
+"It's so long ago"--with a half-sigh. "I was very sad at first, and
+missed mamma. Papa had to go away somewhere and couldn't take me. Yes, I
+liked sister Thérèse very much. Mamma was a Huguenot, you know."
+
+"You see, I really do not know anything about her, and have known very
+little about your father since he was a small boy."
+
+"A small boy! How queer that seems," and she gave a tender, rippling
+laugh. "Then you can tell me about him. He used to come to the convent
+once in a while, and when he was ready to go to England he took me. Yes,
+I was sorry to leave Sister Thérèse and Sister Clare. There were some
+little girls, too. And then we went to Lincolnshire. Miss Arabella was
+very nice, and Barby was so queer and funny--at first I could hardly
+understand her. And then we went to a pretty little church where they
+didn't count beads nor pray to the Virgin nor Saints. But it was a good
+deal like. It was the Church of England. I suppose it had to be
+different from the Church of France."
+
+"Yes." He drew her a little closer. That was a bond of sympathy between
+them. And just then Uncle Leverett and Warren came in, and there was a
+shaking of hands, and Uncle Leverett said:
+
+"Well, I declare! The sight of you, Win, is good for sore eyes--well
+ones, too."
+
+"I am rather remiss in a social way, I must confess. I'll try to do
+better. The years fly around so, I have always felt sorry that I saw so
+little of Cousin Charles until that last sad year."
+
+"It takes womenkind to keep up sociability. Charles and you might as
+well have been a couple of old bachelors."
+
+Uncle Win gave his soft half-smile, which was really more of an
+indication than a smile.
+
+"Come to supper now," said Mrs. Leverett.
+
+Doris kept hold of Uncle Win's hand until she reached her place. He went
+around to the other side of the table. She decided she liked him very
+much. She liked almost everybody: the captain had been so friendly, and
+Mrs. Jewett and some of the ladies on board the vessel so kind. But
+Betty and Uncle Win went to the very first place with her.
+
+The elders had all the conversation, and it seemed about some coming
+trouble to the country that she did not understand. She knew there had
+been war in France and various other European countries. Little girls
+were not very well up in geography in those days, but they did learn a
+good deal listening to their elders.
+
+They were hardly through supper when Captain Grier came with the very
+japanned box papa had brought over from France and placed in Miss
+Arabella's care. His name was on it--"Charles Winthrop Adams." Oh, and
+that was Uncle Win's name, too! Surely, they _were_ relations! Doris
+experienced a sense of gladness.
+
+Betty brought out a table standing against the wainscot. You touched a
+spring underneath, and the circular side came up and made a flat top.
+The captain took a small key out of a curious long leathern purse, and
+Uncle Win unlocked the box and spread out the papers. There was the
+marriage certificate of Jacqueline Marie de la Maur and Charles Winthrop
+Adams, and the birth and baptismal record of Doris Jacqueline de la Maur
+Adams, and ever so many other records and letters.
+
+Mr. Winthrop Adams gave the captain a receipt for them, and thanked him
+cordially for all his care and attention to his little niece.
+
+"She was a pretty fair sailor after the first week," said the captain
+with a twinkle in his eye. He was very much wrinkled and weather-beaten,
+but jolly and good-humored. "And now, sissy, I'm glad you're safe with
+your folks, and I hope you'll grow up into a nice clever woman. 'Taint
+no use wishin' you good looks, for you're purty as a pink now--one of
+them rather palish kind. But you'll soon have red cheeks."
+
+Doris had very red cheeks for a moment. Betty leaned over to her
+brother, and whispered:
+
+"What a splendid opportunity lost! Aunt Priscilla ought to be here to
+say, 'Handsome is as handsome does.'"
+
+Then Captain Grier shook hands all round and took his departure.
+
+Afterward the two men discussed business about the little girl. There
+must be another trustee, and papers must be taken out for guardianship.
+They would go to the court-house, say at eleven to-morrow, and put
+everything in train.
+
+Betty took out some knitting. It was a stocking of fine linen thread,
+and along the instep it had a pretty openwork pattern that was like lace
+work.
+
+"That is to wear with slippers," she explained to Doris. "But it's a
+sight of work. 'Lecty had six pairs when she was married. That's my
+second sister, Mrs. King. She lives in Hartford. I want to go and make
+her a visit this winter."
+
+Mrs. Leverett's stocking was of the more useful kind, blue-gray yarn,
+thick and warm, for her husband's winter wear. She did not have to count
+stitches and make throws, and take up two here and three there.
+
+"Warren," said his mother, when he had poked the fire until she was on
+'pins and needles,'--they didn't call it nervous then,--"Warren, I am
+'most out of corn. I wish you'd go shell some."
+
+"The hens do eat an awful lot, seems to me. Why, I shelled only a few
+nights ago."
+
+"I touched bottom when I gave them the last feed this afternoon. By
+spring we won't have so many," nodding in a half-humorous fashion.
+
+"Don't you want to come out and see me? You don't have any Indian corn
+growing in England, I've heard."
+
+"Did it belong to the Indians?" asked Doris.
+
+"I rather guess it did, in the first instance. But now we plant it for
+ourselves. _We_ don't, because father sold the two-acre lot, and they're
+bringing a street through. So now we have only the meadow."
+
+Doris looked at the uncles, but she couldn't understand a word they were
+saying.
+
+"Come!" Warren held out his hand.
+
+"Put the big kitchen apron round her, Warren," said Betty, thinking of
+her silk gown.
+
+He tied the apron round her neck and brought back the strings round her
+waist, so she was all covered. Then he found her a low chair, and poked
+the kitchen fire, putting on a pine log to make a nice blaze. He brought
+out from the shed a tub and a basket of ears of corn. Across the tub he
+laid the blade of an old saw and then sat on the end to keep it firm.
+
+"Now you'll see business. Maybe you've never seen any corn before?"
+
+She looked over in the basket, and then took up an ear with a mysterious
+expression.
+
+"It won't bite you," he said laughingly.
+
+"But how queer and hard, with all these little points," pinching them
+with her dainty fingers.
+
+"Grains," he explained. "And a husk grows on the outside to keep it
+warm. When the winter is going to be very cold the husk is very thick."
+
+"Will this winter be cold?"
+
+"Land alive! yes. Winters always _are_ cold."
+
+Warren settled himself and drew the ear across the blade. A shower of
+corn rattled down on the bottom of the tub.
+
+"Oh! is that the way you peel it off?"
+
+He threw his head back and laughed.
+
+"Oh, you Englisher! We _shell_ it off."
+
+"Well, it peels too. You peel a potato and an apple with a knife blade.
+Oh, what a pretty white core!"
+
+"Cob. We Americans are adding new words to the language. A core has
+seeds in it. There, see how soft it is."
+
+Doris took it in her hand and then laid her cheek against it. "Oh, how
+soft and fuzzy it is!" she cried. "And what do you do with it?"
+
+"We don't plant that part of it. That core has no seeds. You have to
+plant a grain like this. The little clear point we call a heart, and
+that sprouts and grows. This is a good use for the cob."
+
+He had finished another, which he tossed into the fire. A bright blaze
+seemed to run over it all at once and die down. Then the small end
+flamed out and the fire crept along in a doubtful manner until it was
+all covered again.
+
+"They're splendid to kindle the fire with. And pine cones. America has
+lots of useful things."
+
+"But they burn cones in France. I like the spicy smell. It's queer
+though," wrinkling her forehead. "Did the Indians know about corn the
+first?"
+
+"That is the general impression unless America was settled before the
+Indians. Uncle Win has his head full of these things and is writing a
+book. And there is tobacco that Sir Walter Raleigh carried home from
+Virginia."
+
+"Oh, I know about Sir Walter and Queen Elizabeth."
+
+"He was a splendid hero. I think people are growing tame now; there are
+no wars except Indian skirmishes."
+
+"Why, Napoleon is fighting all the time."
+
+"Oh, that doesn't count," declared the young man with a lofty air. "We
+had some magnificent heroes in the Revolution. There are lots of places
+for you to see. Bunker Hill and Lexington and Concord and the
+headquarters of Washington and Lafayette. The French were real good to
+us, though we have had some scrimmages with them. And now that you are
+to be a Boston girl----"
+
+"But I was in Old Boston before," and she laughed. "Very old Boston,
+that is so far back no one can remember, and it was called Ikanhoe,
+which means Boston. There is the old church and the abbey that St.
+Botolph founded. They came over somewhere in six hundred, and were
+missionaries from France--St. Botolph and his brother."
+
+"Whew!" ejaculated Warren with a long whistle, looking up at the little
+girl as if she were hundreds of years old.
+
+Betty opened the door. "Uncle Win is going," she announced. "Come and
+say good-by to him."
+
+He was standing up with the box of papers in his hand, and saying:
+
+"I must have you all over to tea some night, and Doris must come and see
+my old house. And I have a big boy like Warren. Yes, we must be a little
+more friendly, for life is short at the best. And you are to stay here a
+while with good Cousin Elizabeth, and I hope you will be content and
+happy."
+
+She pressed the hand Uncle Win held out in both of hers. In all the
+changes she had learned to be content, and she had a certain
+adaptiveness that kept her from being unhappy. She was very glad she was
+going to stay with Betty, and glanced up with a bright smile.
+
+They all said good-night to Cousin Adams. Mr. Leverett turned the great
+key in the hall door, and it gave a shriek.
+
+"I must oil that lock to-morrow. It groans enough to raise the dead,"
+said Mrs. Leverett.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+AUNT PRISCILLA
+
+
+There was quite a discussion about a school.
+
+Uncle Win had an idea Doris ought to begin high up in the scale. For
+really she was very well born on both sides. Her father had left
+considerable money, and in a few years second-cousin Charles' bequest
+might be quite valuable, if Aunt Priscilla did sniff over it. There was
+Mrs. Rawson's.
+
+"But that is mostly for young ladies, a kind of finishing school. And in
+some things Doris is quite behind, while in others far advanced. There
+will be time enough for accomplishments. And Mrs. Webb's is near by,
+which will be an object this cold winter."
+
+"I shouldn't like her to forget her French. And perhaps it would be as
+well to go on with Latin," Cousin Adams said.
+
+Mrs. Leverett was a very sensible woman, but she really did not see the
+need of Latin for a girl. There was a kind of sentiment about French; it
+had been her mother's native tongue, and one did now and then go to
+France.
+
+There had been a good deal of objection to even the medium education of
+women among certain classes. The three "R's" had been considered all
+that was necessary. And when the system of public education had been
+first inaugurated it was thought quite sufficient for girls to go from
+April to October. Good wives and good mothers was the ideal held up to
+girls. But people were beginning to understand that ignorance was not
+always goodness. Mrs. Rawson had done a great deal toward the
+enlightenment of this subject. The pioneer days were past, unless one
+was seized with a mania for the new countries.
+
+Mrs. Leverett was secretly proud of her two married daughters. Mrs.
+King's husband had gone to the State legislature, and was considered
+quite a rising politician. Mrs. Manning was a farmer's wife and held in
+high esteem for the management of her family. Betty was being inducted
+now into all household accomplishments with the hope that she would
+marry quite as well as her sisters. She was a good reader and speller;
+she had a really fine manuscript arithmetic, in which she had written
+the rules and copied the sums herself. She had a book of "elegant
+extracts"; she also wrote down the text of the Sunday morning sermon and
+what she could remember of it. She knew the difference between the
+Puritans and the Pilgrims; she also knew how the thirteen States were
+settled and by whom; she could answer almost any question about the
+French, the Indian, and the Revolutionary wars. She could do fine
+needlework and the fancy stitches of the day. She was extremely "handy"
+with her needle. Mrs. Leverett called her a very well-educated girl, and
+the Leveretts considered themselves some of the best old stock in
+Boston, if they were not much given to show.
+
+It might be different with Doris. But a good husband was the best thing
+a girl could have, in Mrs. Leverett's estimation, and knowing how to
+make a good home her greatest accomplishment.
+
+They looked over Doris' chest and found some simple gowns, mostly summer
+ones, pairs of fine stockings that had been cut down and made over by
+Miss Arabella's dainty fingers, and underclothes of a delicate quality.
+There were the miniatures of her parents--that of her mother very
+girlish indeed--and a few trinkets and books.
+
+"She must have two good woolen frocks for winter, and a coat," said Mrs.
+Leverett. "Cousin Winthrop said I should buy whatever was suitable."
+
+"And a little Puritan cap trimmed about with fur. I am sure I can make
+that. And a strip of fur on her coat. She would blow away in that big
+hat if a high wind took her," declared Betty.
+
+"And all the little girls wear them in winter. Still, I suppose Old
+Boston must have been cold and bleak in winter."
+
+"It was not so nearly an island."
+
+There was a good deal of work to do on Friday, so shopping was put off
+to the first of the week. Doris proved eagerly helpful and dusted very
+well. In the afternoon Aunt Priscilla came over for her cup of tea.
+
+"Dear me," she began with a great sigh, "I wish I had some nice young
+girl that I could train, and who would take an interest in things. Polly
+_is_ too old. And I don't like to send her away, for she was good enough
+when she had any sense. There's no place for her but the poorhouse, and
+I can't find it in my conscience to send her there. But I'm monstrous
+tired of her, and I do think I'd feel better with a cheerful young
+person around. You're just fortunate, 'Lizabeth, that you and Betty can
+do for yourselves."
+
+"It answers, now that the family is small. But last year I found it
+quite trying. And Betty must have her two or three years' training at
+housekeeping."
+
+"Oh, of course. I'm glad you're so sensible, 'Lizabeth. Girls are very
+flighty, nowadays, and are in the street half the time, and dancing and
+frolicking round at night. I really don't know what the young generation
+will be good for!"
+
+Mrs. Leverett smiled. She remembered she had heard some such comments
+when she was young, though the lines were more strictly drawn then.
+
+"Has Winthrop been over to see his charge? How does he feel about it?
+Now, if she had been a boy----"
+
+"He was up to tea last night, and he and Foster have been arranging the
+business this morning. Foster is to be joint trustee, but Winthrop will
+be her guardian."
+
+"What will he do with a girl! Why, she'll set Recompense crazy."
+
+"She is not going to live there. For the present she will stay here. She
+will go to Mrs. Webb's school this winter. He has an idea of sending
+her to boarding school later on."
+
+"Is she that rich?" asked Aunt Priscilla with a little sarcasm.
+
+"She will have a small income from what her father left. Then there is
+the rent of the house in School Street, and some stock. Winthrop thinks
+she ought to be well educated. And if she should ever have to depend on
+herself, teaching seems quite a good thing. Even Mrs. Webb makes a very
+comfortable living."
+
+"But we're going to educate the community for nothing, and tax the
+people who have no children to pay for it."
+
+"Well," said Mrs. Leverett with a smile, "that evens up matters. But the
+others, at least property owners, have to pay their share. I tell Foster
+that we ought not grudge our part, though we have no children to send."
+
+"How did people get along before?"
+
+"I went to school until I was fifteen."
+
+"And when I was twelve I was doing my day's work spinning. There's talk
+that we shall have to come back to it. Jonas Field is in a terrible
+taking. According to him war's bound to come. And this embargo is just
+ruining everything. It is to be hoped we will have a new President
+before everything goes."
+
+"Yes, it is making times hard. But we are learning to do a great deal
+more for ourselves."
+
+"It behooves us not to waste our money. But Winthrop Adams hasn't much
+real calculation. So long as he has money to buy books, I suppose he
+thinks the world will go on all right. It's to be hoped Foster will look
+out for the girl's interest a little. But you'll be foolish to take the
+brunt of the thing. Now it would be just like you 'Lizabeth Leverett, to
+take care of this child, without a penny, just as if she was some
+charity object thrown on your hands."
+
+Mrs. Leverett did give her soft laugh then.
+
+"You have just hit it, Aunt Priscilla," she said. "Winthrop wanted to
+pay her board, but Foster just wouldn't hear to it, this year at least.
+We have all taken a great liking to her, and she is to be our visitor
+from now until summer, when some other plans are to be made."
+
+"Well--if you have money to throw away----" gasped Aunt Priscilla.
+
+"She won't eat more than a chicken, and she'll sleep in Betty's bed. It
+will help steady Betty and be an interest to all of us. I really
+couldn't think of charging. It's like having one of the grandchildren
+here. And she needs a mother's care. Think of the poor little girl with
+not a near relative! Aunt Priscilla, there's a good many things money
+can't buy."
+
+Aunt Priscilla sniffed.
+
+"Take off your bonnet and have a cup of tea," Mrs. Leverett had asked
+her when she first came in. "It's such a long walk back to King Street
+on an empty stomach. The children are making cookies, but Betty shall
+brew a cup of tea at once, unless you'll wait till the men folks come
+in."
+
+Aunt Priscilla sat severe and undecided for a moment. The laughing
+voices in the other room piqued and vexed and interested her all in a
+breath. She had come over to hear about Doris. There was so little
+interest in her methodical old life. Mrs. Leverett sincerely pitied
+women who had no children and no grandchildren.
+
+"They're quite as queer as old maids without the real excuse," she said
+to her husband. "They've missed the best things out of their lives
+without really knowing they were the best."
+
+And perhaps at this era more respect was paid to age. There were certain
+trials and duties to life that men and women accepted and did not try to
+evade. A modern happy woman would have been bored at the call of a
+dissatisfied old woman every few days. But since the death of Mehitable
+Doule, Priscilla's own cousin, who had been married from her house, she
+had clung more to the Leveretts. Foster was too easy-going, otherwise
+she had not much fault to find with him. He had prospered and was
+forehanded, and his married son and daughters had been fairly
+successful.
+
+"Well, I don't care if I do," said Aunt Priscilla, with a
+half-reluctance. "Though I hadn't decided to when I came away, and
+Polly'll make a great hole in that cold roast pork, for I never said a
+word as to what she should have for supper. She's come to have no more
+sense than a child, and some things are bad to eat at night. But if she
+makes herself sick she'll have to suffer."
+
+"I'll have some tea made----"
+
+"No, 'Lizabeth, don't fuss. I shan't be in any hurry, if I do stay, and
+the men will be in before long. So Winthrop wasn't real put out when he
+saw the girl?"
+
+"I think he liked her. He's not much hand to make a fuss, you know. He
+feels she must be well brought up. Her mother, it seems, was quite
+quality."
+
+"Queer the mother's folks didn't look after her."
+
+"Her mother was an only child. Winthrop has the records back several
+generations. And when _she_ died the father was alive, you know."
+
+"Winthrop is a great stickler for such things. It's good to have folks
+you're not ashamed of, to be sure, but family isn't everything. Behaving
+counts."
+
+Aunt Priscilla took off her bonnet and shawl, and hung them in the
+"best" closet, where the Sunday coats and cloaks were kept.
+
+"You might just hand me that knitting, 'Lizabeth. I guess I knit a
+little tighter'n you do, on account of my hand being out. I've more than
+enough stockings to last my time out and some coarse ones for Polly.
+They spin yarn so much finer now. Footing many stockings this fall?"
+
+"No. I knit Foster new ones late in the spring. He's easy, too. Warren's
+the one to gnaw out heels, though young people are so much on the go."
+
+Aunt Priscilla took up the stocking and pinned the sheath on her side.
+How gay the voices sounded in the kitchen! Then the door opened.
+
+"Just look, Aunt Elizabeth! Aren't they lovely! Betty let me cut them
+out and put them in the pans. Oh----"
+
+Doris stood quite abashed, with a dish of tempting brown cookies in one
+hand. Her cheeks were like roses now, and Betty's kitchen apron made
+another frock over hers of gay chintz, that had been exhumed from the
+chest.
+
+"Good-afternoon," recovering herself.
+
+"The cookies look delightful. I must taste one," Mrs. Leverett said
+smilingly.
+
+She handed the plate to Aunt Priscilla.
+
+"It'll just spoil my supper if I eat one. But you may do up some in a
+paper, and I'll take them home. I'm glad to see you at something useful.
+Did you help about the house over there in England?"
+
+"Oh, no. We had Barby," answered the child simply.
+
+"Well, there's a deal for you to learn. I made bread just after I had
+turned ten years old. Girls in old times learned to work. It wasn't all
+cooky-making, by a long shot!"
+
+Doris made a little courtesy and disappeared.
+
+"I'd do something to that tousled hair, 'Lizabeth. Have her put it up
+or cut it off. It's good to cut a girl's hair; makes it thick and
+strong. And curls do look so flighty and frivolous."
+
+"The new fashion is a wig with all the front in little curls. It's so
+much less trouble if it is made of natural curly hair."
+
+"Are you going to set up for fashion in these hard times?" asked the
+visitor disdainfully.
+
+"Not quite. But Betty Pickering is to be married in great state next
+month, and we have been invited already. I suppose I ought to consider
+her in some sort a namesake."
+
+"I'm glad I haven't any fine relatives to be married," and the sniff was
+made to do duty.
+
+Mrs. Leverett put down her sewing. She had drawn the threads and basted
+the wristbands and gussets for Betty to stitch, as they had come to
+shirt-making. The new ones of thick cotton cloth would be good for
+winter wear. One had always to think ahead in this world if one wanted
+things to come out even.
+
+Then she went out to the kitchen, and there was a gay chattering, as if
+a colony of chimney swallows had met on a May morning. Aunt Priscilla
+pushed up nearer the window. She had good eyesight still, and only wore
+glasses when she read or was doing some extra-fine work.
+
+Betty came in and rolled out the table as she greeted her relative. Aunt
+Priscilla had a curiously lost feeling, as if somehow she had gone
+astray. No one ever would know about it, to be sure. There were times
+when it seemed as if there must be a third power, between God and the
+Evil One. There were things neither good nor bad. If they were good the
+Lord brought them to pass,--or ought to,--and if they were bad your
+conscience was troubled. Aunt Priscilla had been elated over her idea
+all day yesterday. It looked really generous to her. Of course Cousin
+Winthrop couldn't be bothered with this little foreign girl, and the
+Leveretts had a lot of grandchildren. She might take this Dorothy Adams,
+and bring her up in a virtuous, useful fashion. She would go to school,
+of course, but there would be nights and mornings and Saturdays. In two
+years, at the latest, she would be able to take a good deal of charge of
+the house. All this time her own little fortune could be augmenting,
+interest on interest. And if she turned out fair, she would do the
+handsome thing by her--leave her at least half of what she, Mrs.
+Perkins, possessed.
+
+And yet it was not achieved without a sort of mental wrestle. She was
+not quite sure it was spiritual enough to pray over; in fact, nothing
+just like this had come into her life before. She was not the kind of
+stuff out of which missionaries were made, and this wasn't just
+charitable work. She would expect the girl to do something for her
+board, but Polly would be good for a year or two more. Time did hang
+heavy on her hands, and this would be interest and employment, and a
+good turn. When matters were settled a little she would broach the
+subject to Elizabeth.
+
+If Winthrop Adams meant to make a great lady out of her--why, that was
+all there was to it! Times were hard and there might be war. Winthrop
+had a son of his own, and perhaps not so much money as people thought.
+And it did seem folly to waste the child's means. If she had so
+much--enough to go to boarding school--she oughtn't be living on the
+Leveretts. Foster was having pretty tight squeezing to get along.
+
+They all wondered what made Aunt Priscilla so unaggressive at supper
+time. She watched Doris furtively. All the household had a smile for
+her. Foster Leverett patted her soft hair, and Warren pinched her cheek
+in play. Betty gave her half a dozen hugs between times, and Mrs.
+Leverett smiled when Doris glanced her way.
+
+The quarter-moon was coming up when Priscilla Perkins opened the closet
+door for her things.
+
+"I'll walk over with Aunt Priscilla," said Warren. "It's my night for
+practice."
+
+"Oh, yes." His father nodded. Warren had lately joined the band, but his
+mother thought she couldn't stand the cornet round the house.
+
+"I aint a mite afraid in the moonlight. I come so often I ought not put
+anyone out."
+
+"Now that the evenings are cool it seems lonesomer," said Mr. Leverett,
+settling in his armchair by the fire, really glad his son could be
+attentive without any special sacrifice.
+
+Doris brought the queer little stool and sat down beside him. She looked
+as if she had always lived there.
+
+"You'll all spoil that child," Aunt Priscilla said to Warren when they
+had stepped off the stoop.
+
+"I don't believe there's any spoil to her," said Warren heartily. "She's
+the sweetest little thing I ever saw; so wise in some ways and so
+honestly ignorant in others. I never saw Uncle Win so taken--he never
+seems to quite know what to do with children. And he's asked us all over
+to tea some night next week. I was clear struck."
+
+Mrs. Perkins made no reply. About once a year he invited her over to tea
+with some of the old cousins, and he called on her New Year's Day, which
+was not specially kept in any fashionable way.
+
+Mrs. Perkins always said King Street, though in a burst of patriotism
+the name had been changed after the Revolution. It had dropped down very
+much and was being given over to business. There was a narrow hall floor
+set in a little distance, with a few steps, and the shop front with the
+plain sign of "Jonas Field, Flour, Grain, and Feed." The stairway led to
+an upper hall and a very comfortable suite of rooms, where Mrs. Perkins
+had come as a young wife, and where she meant to end her days. It was
+plenty good enough inside, and she "didn't live in the street."
+
+The best room occupied the whole front and had three windows. Priscilla
+had been barely nineteen when she was married, and Hatfield Perkins
+quite a bachelor. And, as no children had come to disturb their orderly
+habits, they had settled more securely in them year after year.
+
+Next to the parlor was the sleeping chamber. Now, it was the spare room,
+though no one came to stay all night who was fine enough to put in it.
+The smaller one adjoining she had used since her husband's death. There
+was a little tea room, and a big kitchen at the back. Downstairs the
+store part had been built out, and on the roof of this the clothes were
+dried. Polly always sat out here in pleasant weather, to prepare
+vegetables and do various chores. The lot was deep, and at the back were
+some fruit trees, and the patch of herbs every woman thought she must
+have, and a square of grass for bleaching.
+
+A lighted lamp stood at the head of the stairs. Polly was dozing in the
+kitchen. Mrs. Perkins sent her to bed in short order. There were two
+rooms and a storage closet upstairs in the gables. One was Polly's. The
+other was the guest chamber that was good enough "for the common run of
+folks."
+
+The moon was shining in the back windows. Priscilla snuffed out the
+candle; there was no use wasting candle light. She sat down in a low
+rocker, the only one she owned; and several list seats had been worn out
+in it besides the original one of rushes. She had never been really
+lonely in the sixty-five years of her life for she had kept busy, and
+was replete with old-fashioned methods that made work. She was very
+particular. Everything was scrubbed and scoured and swept and dusted and
+aired. The dishes were polished until they were lustrous. The knives and
+forks and spoons were speckless. There were napery and bedding that had
+been laid by for her marriage outfit, and not all worn out yet, though
+in the early years she had kept replenishing for possible children.
+There was plenty for twenty years to come, and though her people had
+been strong and healthy, they never went much over seventy. She was the
+youngest, and all the rest were gone. Her few real nieces and nephews
+were scattered about; she had made up her mind long ago she shouldn't
+ever have anyone hanging on her.
+
+No one wanted to. No one even leaned on her. Yet somehow the life had
+never seemed real solitary until now. She had comforted her years with
+the thought that children were a great deal of trouble and did not
+always turn out well. She could see the picture the little foreign girl
+made as she folded her arms on Foster Leverett's knee. She wouldn't have
+that mop of frowzly hair flying about, and she would like to fat her up
+a little--she was rather peaked. She had imagined her going about in
+this old place, sewing, learning to work properly, reading and studying,
+and going to church every Sabbath. She had really meant to do something
+for a human being day after day, not in a spasmodic fashion. And this
+was the end of it.
+
+She sprang up suddenly, lighted the candle again, went out to the
+kitchen to see that everything was right and there was no danger of
+fire. She opened the outside door and glanced around. There was an
+autumnal chill in the air, but there were no mysterious shadows creeping
+about in the yard below that might presage burglars. Then she bolted the
+door with a snap, and stood a moment in the middle of the floor.
+
+"You are an old fool, Priscilla Perkins! The idea of all Boston being
+turned upside down for the sake of one little girl! People have come
+over from England before, big and little, and there's been a war and
+there may be another, and no end of things to happen. To be sure, I'd
+done my duty by her if I'd had her; and if the others spoil her--I aint
+to blame, the Lord knows!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+OUT TO TEA
+
+
+"There! Does it look like Old Boston?"
+
+They were winding around Copp's Hill. Warren had been given part of a
+day off, and the use of the chaise and Jack, to show the little cousin
+something of Boston before they went to Uncle Winthrop's to tea.
+
+Doris had her new coat, which was a sort of fawn color, and the close
+Puritan cap to keep her neck and ears warm. For earache was quite a
+common complaint among children, and people were careful through the
+long cold winter. A strip of beaver fur edged the front, and went around
+the little cape at the back. Its soft grayish-brown framed in her fair
+face like a picture, and her eyes were almost the tint of the deep,
+unclouded blue sky.
+
+They had a fine view of Old Boston, but they could hardly dream of the
+Boston that was to be. There were still the three elevations of Beacon
+Hill, lowered somewhat, to be sure, but not taken away entirely. And
+there was Fort Hill in the distance.
+
+"Why, it looks like a chain of islands, and instead of a great sea the
+water runs round and round. At home the Witham comes down to the winding
+cove called The Wash. Boston is sort of set between two rivers, but it
+is fast of the mainland, and doesn't look so much like floating off. You
+can go over to the Norfolk shore, and you look out on the great North
+Sea. But it isn't as big as the Atlantic Ocean."
+
+"Well, I should say not!" with disdain. "Why, you can look over to
+Holland!"
+
+"You can't see Holland, but it's there, and Denmark."
+
+"And we shall have to be something like the Dutch, if ever we mean to
+have a grand city. We shall have to dike and fill in and bridge. I have
+a great regard for those sturdy old Dutchmen and the way they fought the
+Spanish as well as the sea."
+
+Doris didn't know much about Holland, even if she could make pillow lace
+and read French verses with a charming accent.
+
+"That's the Mill Pond. And all that is the back part of the bay. And
+over there a grand battle was fought--but you were not born before the
+Revolutionary War."
+
+"I guess you were not born yourself, Warren Leverett," said Betty, with
+unnecessary vigor.
+
+"Well, I am rather glad I wasn't; I shall have the longer to live. But
+grandfather and ever so many relatives were, and father knows all about
+it. I am proud, too, of having been named for General Warren."
+
+"And down there near the bay is Fort Hill. Boston wasn't built on seven
+hills like Rome, and though there are acres and acres of low ground, we
+are not likely to be overflowed, unless the Atlantic Ocean should rise
+and sweep us out of existence. And there is the old burying ground, full
+of queer names and curious epitaphs."
+
+The long peninsula stretched out in a sort of irregular pear-shape, and
+then was connected to another portion by a narrow neck. The little
+villages about had a rural aspect, and some of them were joined to the
+mainland by bridges. And cows were still pastured on the commons and in
+several tracts of meadow land in the city. Many people had their own
+milk and made butter. There were large gardens at the sides of the
+houses, many of them standing with the gable end to the street, and
+built mostly of wood. But nearly all the leaves had fallen now, and
+though the sun shone with a mellow softness, it was quite evident the
+reign of summer was ended.
+
+They drove slowly about, Warren rehearsing stories of this and that
+place, and wishing there was more time so they might go over to
+Charlestown.
+
+"But Doris is to stay, and there will be time enough next summer. It is
+confusing to see so many places at once. And mother said we must be at
+Uncle Win's about four," declared Betty.
+
+It _was_ rather confusing to Doris, who had heard so little of American
+history in her quiet home. War seemed a dreadful thing to her, and she
+could not take Warren's pride in battle and conquest.
+
+So they turned and went down through the winding streets.
+
+"Do you know why they are so crooked?" Warren asked.
+
+"No; why?" asked Doris innocently.
+
+"Well, William Blackstone's cows made the paths. He came here first of
+all and had an allotment. Then when people began to come over from
+Charlestown he sold out for thirty pounds English money. Grandfather
+used to go over to the old orchard for apples. But think of Boston being
+bought for thirty pounds!"
+
+"It wasn't _this_ Boston with the houses and churches and everything.
+Come, do get along, or else let me drive," said Betty.
+
+There was quite a descent as they came down. Streets seemed to stop
+suddenly, and you had to make a curve to get into the next one. From
+Main they turned into Fish Street, and here the wind from the harbor
+swept across to the Mill Pond.
+
+"That's Long Wharf, and it has lots of famous stories connected with it.
+And just down there is father's. And now we could cut across and go over
+home."
+
+"As if we meant to do any such foolish thing?" ejaculated Betty.
+
+"I said we _could_. There are a great many things possible that are not
+advisable," returned the oracular young man. "And I have heard the
+longest way round was the surest way home. We shall reach there about
+nine o'clock to-night."
+
+"Like the old woman and her pig. I should laugh if we found mother
+already at Uncle Win's."
+
+"She's going to wait for father, and something always happens to him."
+
+They crossed Market Square, and passed Faneuil Hall, that was to grow
+more famous as the years went on; then they took Cornhill and went over
+to Marlborough Street.
+
+"That's Fort Hill. It's lovely in summer, when the wind doesn't blow you
+to shreds. Now we will take Marlborough, and to-night you will be
+surprised to see how straight it is to Sudbury Street."
+
+They drove rapidly down, and made one turn. It was like a beautiful
+country road, over to Common Street, and there was the great tract of
+ground that would grow more beautiful with every decade. Tall,
+overarching trees; ways that were grassy a month ago, but now turning
+brown.
+
+"Here we are," and they turned up a driveway at the side of the long
+porch upheld with round columns. Betty sprang out on the stepping block
+and half-lifted Doris, while Warren drove up to the barn.
+
+Uncle Winthrop came out to welcome them, and smiled down into the little
+girl's face.
+
+"But where is your mother?" he asked.
+
+"Oh, she had some shopping to do and then she was to meet father. We
+have been driving up around Copp's Hill and giving Doris a peep at the
+country."
+
+"The wind begins to blow up sharply, though it was very pleasant. I am
+glad to see you, little Doris, and I hope you have not grown homesick
+sighing for Old Boston. For if you should reach the threescore-and-ten,
+things will have changed so much that this will be old Boston; and,
+Betty, you will be telling-your grandchildren what it was like."
+
+Betty laughed gayly.
+
+There was the same wide hall as at home, but it wasn't the keeping-room
+here. It had a great fireplace, and at one side a big square sofa. The
+floor was inlaid with different-colored woods, following geometric
+designs, much like those of to-day. Before the fire was a rug of
+generous dimensions, and a high-backed chair stood on each of the
+nearest corners. There was a bookcase with some busts ranged on the top;
+there were some portraits of ancestors in military attire, and women
+with enormous head-dresses; there was one in a Puritan cap, wide collar,
+and a long-sleeved gown, that quite spoiled the effect of her pretty
+hands. Over the mantel was a pair of very large deer's antlers. Down at
+one corner there were two swords crossed and some other firearms. Just
+under them was a cabinet with glass doors that contained many
+curiosities.
+
+A tall, thin woman entered from a door at the lower end of the hall and
+greeted Betty with a quiet dignity that would have seemed cold, if it
+had not been the usual manner of Recompense Gardiner, who could never
+have been effusive, and who took it for granted that anyone Mr. Winthrop
+Adams invited to the house was welcome. Her forehead was high and rather
+narrow, her brown hair was combed straight back and twisted in a little
+knot high on her head, in which in the afternoon, or on company
+occasions, she wore a large shell comb. Her features were rather long
+and spare, and she wore plain little gold hoops in her ears because her
+eyes had been weak in youth and it was believed this strengthened them.
+Anyhow, she could see well enough at five-and-forty to detect a bit of
+dust or dirt, or lint left on a plate from the towel, or a chair that
+was a trifle out of its rightful place. She was an excellent
+housekeeper, and suited her master exactly.
+
+"This is the little English girl I was telling you about,
+Recompense--Cousin Charles' grandniece, and my ward," announced Mr.
+Adams.
+
+"How do you do, child! Let me take off your hood and cloak. Why, she
+isn't very stout or rosy. She might have been born here in the east
+wind. And she is an Adams through and through."
+
+"Do you think so?" with an expression of pleasure, as Recompense held
+her off and looked her over.
+
+"Are her eyes black?" rather disapprovingly.
+
+"No, the very darkest blue you can imagine," said Mr. Adams.
+
+"Betty, run upstairs with these things. Your feet are younger than mine,
+and haven't done so much trotting round. Lay them on my bed. Why,
+where's your mother?" in a tone of surprise.
+
+Betty made the proper explanation and skipped lightly upstairs.
+
+Mr. Adams took one of the large chairs, drawing it closer to the fire.
+Recompense brought out a stool for the little girl. It was covered with
+thick crimson brocade, a good deal faded, but it had a warm, inviting
+aspect. Children were not expected to sit in chairs then, or to run
+about and ask what everything was for.
+
+There had been children, little girls of different relatives, sitting at
+the fireside before. His own small boy had dozed in the fascinating
+warmth of the fire and hated to go to bed, and he had weakly indulged
+him, as there had been no mother to exercise authority. But Doris was
+different. She was alone in the world, and had been sent to him by a
+mysterious providence. He knew the responsibility of a girl must be
+greater. He couldn't send her to the Latin school and then to Harvard,
+and he really wondered how much education a girl ought to have to fit
+her for the position Doris would be able to take.
+
+She was like a quaint picture sitting there. Betty had tied a cluster of
+curls high on her head with a blue ribbon, and just a few were left to
+cling about her neck over the lace tucker. Her slim hands lay in her
+lap. He glanced at his own--yes, they were Adams hands, and looked
+little like hard work. He was rather proud that Recompense should
+discern a family likeness.
+
+Betty came flying down the oaken staircase, and Warren entered from the
+back door. For a few moments there was quite a confusion of tongues, and
+Recompense wondered how mothers stood it all the time.
+
+"How queer not to have anyone know about Boston," began Warren with a
+teasing glance over at Doris. "We have been looking at it from Copp's
+Hill, and going through the odd places."
+
+"And I wondered if people came to be fed in White Bread Alley,"
+exclaimed Doris quickly.
+
+"And I dare say Warren didn't know."
+
+"Why, yes--a woman baked bread there."
+
+"Women have baked bread in a great many places," returned Uncle Win,
+with a quizzical smile.
+
+"Oh, I didn't mean just that."
+
+"It was John Tudor's mother," appended Betty.
+
+"Mrs. Tudor made the first penny rolls offered for sale in Boston, and
+little John, as he was then, took them around for sale."
+
+"And Mr. Benjamin Franklin didn't make them famous either," laughed
+Warren.
+
+"And Salutation Alley with its queer sign--its two old men with cocked
+hats and small clothes, bowing to each other," said Betty. "It always
+suggests a couplet I found in an old book:
+
+    "'O mortal man who lives by bread,
+    What is it makes your nose so red?
+    O mortal man with cheeks so pale,
+    'Tis drinking Levi Puncheon's ale!'"
+
+"It is said the resolutions for the destruction of the tea were drawn up
+in the old tavern. It was famous for being the rendezvous of the
+patriots."
+
+"It would be nice to drive all around Boston shore."
+
+"Let it be summer time, then," rejoined Betty. "Or, like the Hollanders,
+we might do it on skates. Of course you do not know how to skate,
+Doris?"
+
+Doris admitted with winsome frankness that she did not. But she could
+ride a pony, and she could row a little.
+
+"There are some delightful summer parties when we do go out rowing. At
+least, the boys row mostly, because
+
+    "'Satan finds some mischief still
+    For idle hands to do!'"
+
+and Betty laughed.
+
+"And the girls always take their knitting," appended Warren. "There's
+never any mischief for them to get into."
+
+"I suppose it doesn't look much like Old Boston," inquired Miss
+Recompense. "And what do the little girls do there, my dear?"
+
+Warren opened his eyes wide. The idea of Miss Recompense saying "my
+dear" to a child.
+
+It had slipped out in a curiously unpremeditated fashion. There was
+something about the little girl--perhaps it was the fact of her having
+come so far, and being an orphan--that moved Recompense Gardiner.
+
+"I didn't know any real little girls," answered Doris modestly, "except
+the farmer's children. They worked out of doors in the summer in the
+fields."
+
+"And I was the youngest of five sisters," said Miss Recompense. "There
+were three boys."
+
+"It would be so nice to have a sister of one's very own. There were
+Sallie and Helen Jewett on the vessel."
+
+"I think I like the sisters to be older," said Betty archly. "There are
+the weddings and the nieces and nephews. And they are always begging you
+to visit them."
+
+"And I had no sisters," said Uncle Win, as if he would fain console
+Doris for her loneliness.
+
+She glanced up with sympathetic sweetness. He was a little puzzled at
+the intuitive process.
+
+"Fix up the fire, Warren. Your mother and father will be cold when they
+get in."
+
+Warren gave the burned log a poke, and it fell in two ends, neither
+dropping over the andirons. Then he pushed them a little nearer and a
+shower of sparks flew about.
+
+"Oh, how beautiful!" and Doris leaned over intently.
+
+Warren placed a large log back of them, then he piled on some smaller
+split pieces. They began to blaze shortly. He picked up the turkey's
+wing and brushed around the stone hearth.
+
+"That was very well done," remarked Miss Recompense approvingly.
+
+"Warren knows how to make a fire," said his uncle, "and it is quite an
+art."
+
+"That is a sign he will make a good husband," commented Betty. "And I
+shall get a bad one, for my fires go out half the time."
+
+"You are too heedless," said Miss Recompense.
+
+"Now, we ought to tell some ghost stories," suggested Warren. "Or we
+could wait until it gets a little darker. The sun is going down, and the
+fire is coming up, and just see how they are fighting at the Spanish
+Armada. Uncle Win, when you break up housekeeping you can leave me that
+picture."
+
+They all turned to look at the picture in the cross light, with one of
+the wonderful fleet ablaze from the broadside of her enemy. It was a
+vigorous if somewhat crude painting by a Dutch artist.
+
+"Oh, Uncle Win," cried Betty; "do you really think there will be war
+when we have a new President?"
+
+"I sincerely hope not."
+
+"We ought to have an Armada. Well, I don't know either," continued
+Warren dubiously. "If it should go to pieces like that one," nodding his
+head over to the scene, growing more vivid by the reflection of the red
+light in the west. "Doris, do you know what happened to the Spanish
+Armada?"
+
+"Indeed I do," returned Doris spiritedly. "I may not know so much about
+America, except that you fought England, and were called rebels
+and--and----"
+
+"That we were the upper dog in the fight, and now we are citizens of a
+great and free Republic and rebels no longer."
+
+"But the Spanish did not conquer England. Some of the ships were
+destroyed by English men-of-war, and then a terrific storm wrecked them,
+and there were only a few to return to Spain."
+
+"Pretty good," said Uncle Win smilingly. "And now, Warren, maybe you can
+tell about the French Armada that was going to destroy Boston."
+
+"Why, the French--came and helped us. Oh, there was the French and
+English war, but did they have a real Armada?"
+
+"Why, after Louisburg was taken by the colonists--we were only Colonies
+in 1745. The French resolved to destroy all the towns the colonists had
+planted on the coast. You surely can't have forgotten?"
+
+"The Revolution seems so much greater to this generation," said Miss
+Recompense. "That is almost seventy years ago. My father was called out
+for the defense of Boston. Governor Shirley knew it would be the first
+town attacked."
+
+"And a real Armada!" said Warren, big-eyed.
+
+"They didn't call it that exactly. Perhaps they thought the name
+unlucky. But there were twenty transports and thirty-four frigates and
+eleven ships of the line. Quite a formidable array, you must admit. The
+Duc d'Anville left Brest with five battalions of veterans."
+
+"And then what happened? Warren, we do not know the history of our own
+city, after all. But surely they did not take it?"
+
+"No, it is safely anchored to a bit of mainland yet," said Uncle Win
+dryly. "Off Cape Sable they encountered a violent storm. The Duc
+succeeded in reaching the rendezvous, but in such a damaged condition
+that he felt a victory would be impossible. Conflans with several
+partly disabled ships returned to France, and some steered for friendly
+ports in the West Indies. The Duc died in less than a week, of poison it
+was said, unwilling to endure the misfortune. The Governor General of
+Canada ordered the Vice Admiral to proceed and strike one blow at least.
+But he saw so many difficulties in the way, that he worried himself ill
+with a fever and put himself to death with his own sword. Boston was so
+well prepared for them by this time, the fleet decided to attack
+Annapolis, but encountering another furious storm they returned to
+France with the remnant. So Armadas do not seem to meet with brilliant
+success."
+
+"Why, that is quite a romance, Uncle Win, and I must hunt it up. Curious
+that both should have shared so nearly the same fate."
+
+"That was a special interposition of Providence," said Miss Recompense.
+
+People believed quite strongly in such things then, and it certainly
+looked like it, since the storm was of no human agency.
+
+Miss Recompense began to light the candles, and the steps of the tardy
+ones were heard on the porch. Betty sprang up and opened the door.
+
+"I began to think I never should get here," exclaimed Mrs. Leverett. "I
+waited and waited for your father, and I thought something had surely
+happened."
+
+"And so it had. Captain Conklin is going to start for China in a few
+days, and there was so much to talk about I couldn't get away."
+
+"If I had been real sure he would have come on I would have started. It
+has blown off cold. Didn't you have a breezy ride? Were you warm enough,
+Doris?"
+
+"It was splendid," replied Doris, her eyes shining. "And I have seen so
+many things."
+
+"Now get good and warm and come out to supper."
+
+"If you call this cold I don't know what you will do at midwinter."
+
+"Well, it is chilly, and we are not used to it. But we must have our
+Indian summer yet."
+
+Betty had been carrying away her mother's hat and shawl, and now Uncle
+Win led the way to the dining room. The table was bountifully spread; it
+was a sort of high tea, and in those days people ate with a hearty
+relish and had not yet discovered the thousand dangers lurking in food.
+If it was good and well cooked no one asked any farther questions. At
+least, men did not. Women took recipes of this and that, and invented
+new ways of preparing some dish with as much elation as some of the
+greater discoveries have given.
+
+The men talked politics and the possibilities of war. There was an
+uneasy feeling all along the border, where Indian troubles were being
+fomented. There were some unsettled questions between us and England.
+Abroad, Napoleon was making such strides that it seemed as if he might
+conquer all Europe.
+
+Mrs. Leverett and Miss Recompense compared their successes in pickling
+and preserving, and discussed the high prices of dry goods and the newer
+scant skirts that would take so much less cloth and the improvement in
+home-made goods. Carpets of the higher grades were beginning to be
+manufactured in Philadelphia.
+
+Warren, with the appetite of a healthy young fellow, thought everything
+tasted uncommonly good, and really had nothing to say. Doris watched one
+and another, with soft dark eyes, and wondered if it would be right to
+like Uncle Win any better than she did Uncle Leverett, and why she had
+any desire to do so, which troubled her a little. Uncle Win _was_ the
+handsomest. She liked the something about him that she came to know
+afterward was culture and refinement. But she was a very loyal little
+girl, and Uncle Leverett had welcomed her so warmly, even on board the
+vessel.
+
+After supper they went into Uncle Winthrop's study a while. There were
+more bookcases, and such a quantity of books and pamphlets and papers.
+There were busts of some of the old Roman orators and emperors, and more
+paintings. There was a beautiful young woman with a head full of soft
+curls and two bands passed through them in Greek fashion. A scarf was
+loosely wound around her shoulders, showing her white, shapely throat,
+and her short sleeves displayed almost perfect arms that looked like
+sculpture. Later Doris came to know this was Uncle Winthrop's sweet
+young wife, who died when her little boy was scarcely a year old.
+
+There were many curiosities. The walls were wainscoted in panels, with
+moldings about them that looked like another frame for the pictures. The
+chimney piece was of wood, and exquisitely carved. There was an old
+escritoire that was both carved and gilded, and in the center of the
+room a large round table strewn with books and writing materials. At the
+windows were heavy red damask curtains, lined with yellow brocade. They
+were always put up the first of October and taken down punctually the
+first day of April. Uncle Win had a luxurious side to his nature, and
+there was a soft imported rug in the room as well.
+
+Carpets were not in general use. Many floors were polished, some in the
+finer houses inlaid. Rag carpets were used for warmth in winter, and
+some were beautifully made. Weaving them was quite a business, and
+numbers of women were experts at it. Sometimes it was in a hit-or-miss
+style, the rags sewed just as one happened to pick them up. Then they
+were made of the ribbon pattern, a broad stripe of black or dark, with
+narrower and wider colors alternating. The rags were often colored to
+get pretty effects.
+
+It was a long walk home, but in those days, when there were neither cars
+nor cabs, people were used to walking, and the two men would not mind
+it. Betty could drive Jack by night or day, as he was a sure-footed,
+steady-going animal, and for a distance the road was straight up Beacon
+Street.
+
+"Some day I will come up and take you out to see a little more of your
+new home," said Uncle Winthrop to Doris. "When does she go to school,
+Elizabeth?"
+
+"Why, I thought it would be as well for her to begin next week. From
+eight to twelve. And she is so young there is no real need of her
+beginning other things. Betty can teach her to sew and do embroidery."
+
+"There is her French. It would be a pity to drop that."
+
+"She might teach me French for the sake of the exercise," returned Betty
+laughingly when Uncle Win looked so perplexed.
+
+"To be sure. We will get it all settled presently." He felt rather
+helpless where a girl was concerned, yet when he glanced down into her
+soft, wistful eyes he wished somehow that she was living here. But it
+would be lonely for a child.
+
+Warren brought Jack around and helped in the womenkind when they had
+said all their good-nights, and Uncle Wrin added that he would be over
+some evening next week to supper.
+
+It was a clear night, but there was no moon. Jack tossed up his head and
+trotted along, with the common on one side of him.
+
+Boston had been improving very much in the last decade, and stretching
+herself out a little. But it was quite country-like where Uncle Win
+lived. He liked the quiet and the old house, the great trees and his
+garden that gave him all kinds of vegetables and some choice fruit,
+though he never did anything more arduous than to superintend it and
+enjoy the fruits of Jonas Starr's labor.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+A MORNING AT SCHOOL
+
+
+Our ancestors for some occult reason held early rising in high esteem.
+Why burning fire and candle light in the morning, when everything was
+cold and dreary, should look so much more virtuous and heroic than
+sitting up awhile at night when the house was warm and everything
+pleasant, is one of the mysteries to be solved only by the firm belief
+that the easy, comfortable moments were the seasons especially
+susceptible to temptation, and that sacrifice and austerity were the
+guide-posts on the narrow way to right living.
+
+Mr. and Mrs. Leverett had been reared in that manner. They had softened
+in many ways, and Betty was often told, "I had no such indulgences when
+I was a girl." But, mother-like, Mrs. Leverett "eased up" many things
+for Betty. Electa King half envied them, and yet she confessed in her
+secret heart that she had enjoyed her girlhood and her lover very much.
+She and Matthias King had been neighbors and played as children, went to
+church and to singing school together, and on visitors' night at the
+debating society she was sure to be the visitor. Girls did not have just
+that kind of boy friends now, she thought.
+
+The softening of religious prejudices was softening character as well.
+Yet the intensity of Puritanism had kindled a force of living that had
+done a needed work. People really discussed religious problems nowadays,
+while even twenty years before it was simply belief or disbelief, and
+the latter "was not to be suffered among you."
+
+Mrs. Leverett kept to her habit of early rising. True, dark and stormy
+mornings Mr. Leverett allowed himself a little latitude, for very few
+people came to buy his wares early in the morning. But breakfast was a
+little after six, except on Sunday morning, when it dropped down to
+seven.
+
+And Mrs. Webb's school began at eight from the first day of February to
+the first day of November. The intervening three months it was half-past
+eight and continued to half-past twelve.
+
+Doris came home quite sober. "Well," began Uncle Leverett, "how did
+school go?"
+
+"I didn't like it very much," she answered slowly.
+
+"What did you do?"
+
+"I read first. Four little girls and two boys read. We all stood in a
+row."
+
+"What then?"
+
+"We spelled. But I did not know where the lesson was, and I think Mrs.
+Webb gave me easy words."
+
+"And you did not enjoy that?" Uncle Leverett gave a short laugh.
+
+"I was glad not to miss," she replied gravely.
+
+"Mrs. Webb uses Dilworth's speller," said Mrs. Leverett, "and so I gave
+her Betty's. But she has a different reader. She thought Doris read
+uncommon well."
+
+"And what came next?"
+
+"They said tables all together. Why do they call them tables?"
+
+"Because a system of calculation would be too long a name," he answered
+dryly.
+
+Doris looked perplexed. "Then there was geography. What a large place
+America is!" and she sighed.
+
+"Yes, the world is a good-sized planet, when you come to consider. And
+America is only one side of it."
+
+"I don't see how it keeps going round."
+
+"That must be viewed with the eye of faith," commented Betty.
+
+"All that does very well. I am sorry you did not like it."
+
+"I did like all that," returned Doris slowly. "But the sums troubled
+me."
+
+"She's very backward in figures," said Mrs. Leverett. "Betty, you must
+take her in hand."
+
+"I must study all the afternoon," said Doris.
+
+"Oh, you'll soon get into the traces," said Uncle Leverett consolingly.
+
+It was Monday and wash-day in every well-ordered family. Mrs. Leverett
+and Betty had the washing out early, but it was not a brisk drying day,
+so no ironing could be done in the afternoon. Betty changed her gown and
+brought out her sewing, and Doris studied her lessons with great
+earnestness.
+
+"I wish I was sure I knew the spelling," she said wistfully.
+
+"Well, let me hear you." Betty laid the book on the wide window sill and
+gave out the words between the stitches, and Doris spelled every one
+rightly but "perceive."
+
+"Those i's and e's used to bother me," said Betty. "I made a list of
+them once and used to go over them until I could spell them in the
+dark."
+
+"Is it harder to spell in the dark?"
+
+"Oh, you innocent!" laughed Betty. "That means you could spell them
+anywhere."
+
+Spelling had been rather a mysterious art, but Mr. Dilworth, and now
+Mr. Noah Webster, had been regulating it according to a system.
+
+"Now you might go over some tables. You can add and multiply so much
+faster when you know them. Suppose we try them together."
+
+That was very entertaining and, Doris began to think, not as difficult
+as she had imagined in the morning.
+
+"Betty," said her mother, when there was a little lull, "what do you
+suppose has become of Aunt Priscilla? I do hope she did not come over
+the day we were at Cousin Winthrop's. But she never was here once last
+week."
+
+"There were two rainy days."
+
+"And she may be ill. I think you had better go down and see."
+
+"Yes. Don't you want to go, Doris? The walk will be quite fun."
+
+Doris could not resist the coaxing eyes, though she felt she ought to
+stay and study. But Betty promised to go over lessons with her when they
+came back. So in a few moments they were ready for the change. Mrs.
+Leverett sent a piece of cake and some fresh eggs, quite a rarity now.
+
+The houses and shops seemed so close together, Doris thought. And they
+met so many people. Doris had not lived directly in Old Boston town, but
+quite in the outskirts. And King Street was getting to be quite full of
+business.
+
+Black Polly came to the door. "Yes, missus was in but she had an awful
+cold, and been all stopped up so that she could hardly get the breath of
+life."
+
+Aunt Priscilla had a strip of red flannel pinned around her forehead,
+holding in place a piece of brown paper, moistened with vinegar, her
+unfailing remedy for headache. Another band was around her throat, and
+she had a well-worn old shawl about her shoulders, while her feet
+rested on a box on which was placed a warm brick.
+
+"Is it possible you have come? Why, one might be dead and buried and no
+one the wiser. I crawled out to church on Sunday, and took more cold,
+though I have heard people say you wouldn't catch cold going to church.
+Religion ought to keep one warm, I s'pose."
+
+"I'm sorry. Mother was afraid you were ill."
+
+"And I have all the visiting to do. It does seem as if once in an age
+some of you might come over. You went to Cousin Winthrop's!" in an
+aggrieved tone.
+
+"But mother had not been there since last summer, when 'Lecty was on
+making her visit. And we took all the family along, just as you can," in
+a merry tone. "But if you like to have mother come and spend the day,
+I'll keep house. You see, there's always meals to get for father and
+Warren."
+
+"Yes, I kept house before you were born, Betty Leverett, and had a man
+who needed three stout meals a day. But he want a mite of trouble. I
+never see a man easier to suit than Hatfield Perkins. And I didn't
+neglect him because he could be put off and find no fault. There are men
+in the world that it would take the grace of a saint to cook for, only
+in heaven among the saints if there aint any marryin' you can quite make
+up your mind there isn't any cooking either. Well--can't you get a
+chair? There's that little low one for Dorothy."
+
+"If you please," began Doris, with quiet dignity, "my name is not
+Dorothy."
+
+"Well, you ought to hear yourself called by a Christian name once in a
+while."
+
+"Still it isn't a Scriptural name," interposed Betty. "I looked over the
+list to see. And here are some nice fresh eggs. Mother has had several
+splendid layers this fall."
+
+"I'm obliged, I'm sure. I do wish I could keep a few hens. But Jonas
+Field wants so much room, and there's my garden herbs. I've just been
+dosing on sage tea and honey, and it has about broke up my cough. I
+generally do take one cold in autumn, and then I go to March before I
+get another. Well, I s'pose Recompense Gardiner stays at your uncle's?
+There was some talk I heard about some old fellow hanging round. After
+I'd lived so long single, I'd stay as I was."
+
+"I can't imagine Miss Recompense getting her wedding gown ready. What
+would it be, I wonder?"
+
+Betty laughed heartily.
+
+"She could buy the best in the market if she chose," said Aunt Priscilla
+sharply. "She must have a good bit of money laid by. Cousin Winthrop
+would be lost without her. Not but what there are as good housekeepers
+in the world as Recompense Gardiner."
+
+Then Aunt Priscilla had to stop and cough. Polly came in with some
+posset.
+
+"I'll have one of those eggs beaten up in some mulled cider, Polly," she
+said.
+
+Doris glanced curiously at the old colored woman. She was tall and still
+very straight, and, though kept in strict subjection all her life, had
+an air and bearing of dignity, as if she might have come from some royal
+race. Her hair was snowy white, and the little braided tails hung below
+her turban, which was of gay Madras, and the small shoulder shawl she
+wore was of red and black.
+
+"You're too old a woman to be fussed up in such gay things," Aunt
+Priscilla would exclaim severely every time she brought them home, for
+she purchased Polly's attire. "But you've always worn them, and I really
+don't know as you'd look natural in suitable colors."
+
+"I like cheerful goin' things, that make you feel as if the Lord had
+just let out a summer day stead'er November. An', missus, you don't like
+a gray fire burned half to ashes, nuther."
+
+Truth to tell, Aunt Priscilla did hanker after a bit of gayety, though
+she frowned on it to preserve a just balance with conscience. And no one
+knew the parcels done up in an old oaken chest in the storeroom, that
+had been indulged in at reprehensible moments.
+
+Just then there was a curious diversion to Doris. A beautiful sleek
+tiger cat entered the room, and, walking up to the fire, turned and
+looked at the child, waving his long tail majestically back and forth.
+He came nearer with his sleepy, translucent eyes studying her.
+
+"May I--touch him?" she asked hesitatingly.
+
+"Land, yes! That's Polly's Solomon. She talks to him till she's made him
+most a witch, and she thinks he knows everything."
+
+Solomon settled the question by putting two snowy white paws on Doris'
+knee, and stretching up indefinitely with a dainty sniffing movement of
+the whiskers, as if he wanted to understand whether advances would be
+favorably received.
+
+There was a cat at the Leveretts', but it haunted the cellar, the shed,
+and the stable, and was hustled out of the kitchen with no ceremony.
+Aunt Elizabeth was not fond of cats, and cat hairs were her abomination.
+Doris had uttered an ejaculation of delight when she saw it one morning,
+a big black fellow with white feet and a white choker.
+
+"Don't touch him--he'll scratch you like as not!" exclaimed Mrs.
+Leverett in a quick tone. "Get out, Tom! We don't allow him in the
+house. He's a good mouser, but it spoils cats to nurse them. And I never
+could abide a cat around under my feet."
+
+Doris had made one other attempt to win Tom's favor as she was walking
+about the garden. But Tom eyed her askance and discreetly declined her
+overture. There had always been cats at Miss Arabella's, and two great
+dogs as well as her pony, and birds so tame they would fly down for
+crumbs.
+
+"Oh, kitty!" She touched him with her dainty fingers. "Solomon. What a
+funny name! Oh, you beautiful great big cat!"
+
+Solomon rubbed his head on her arm and began to purr. He was sure of a
+welcome.
+
+"You can't get in her lap, for it isn't big enough," said Aunt
+Priscilla. "Polly's got him spoiled out of all reason, though I s'pose a
+cat's company when there's no one else."
+
+"If you would let me--sit on the rug," ventured Doris timidly. She had
+been rather precise of late in her new home.
+
+"Well, I declare! Sit on the floor if you want to. The floor was plenty
+good enough to sit on when I was a child. Me and my sisters had a corner
+of our own, and we'd sit there and sew."
+
+Betty had been about to interpose, but at Aunt Priscilla's concession
+Doris had slidden down and taken Solomon in her arms, and rubbed her
+soft cheek against his head. Polly came in with the egg and cider.
+
+"Why, little missy, you just done charm him! He's mighty afeared of the
+boys around, and there aint no little gals. Do just see him, Mis'
+Perkins. He acts as if he was rollin' in a bed of sweet catnip."
+
+"One is about as wise as the other," declared Aunt Priscilla, nodding
+her head. She was rather glad there was something in her house to be a
+rival to Cousin Winthrop and the Leveretts, since Doris Adams was to be
+held up on a high plane and spoiled with indulgence. She had not yet
+made up her mind whether she would like the child or not.
+
+"Yes, she had started at Mrs. Webb's school. Uncle Win was going to make
+some arrangement about her French and her writing when he came over.
+They'd had a letter from 'Lecty, and as the legislature was to meet in
+Hartford there would be quite gay times, and she did so hope she could
+go. Mary wasn't very well, and wanted mother to come on for a week or
+two presently," and Betty made big eyes at Aunt Priscilla, while that
+lady nodded as well as her bundled up head would admit, to signify that
+she understood.
+
+"I'm sure you ought to know enough to keep house for your father and
+Warren," was the comment.
+
+Then Betty said they must go, and Aunt Priscilla tartly rejoined that
+they might look in and see whether she was dead or alive.
+
+"Can I come and see Solomon again?" asked Doris.
+
+"Of course, since Solomon is head of the house."
+
+"Thank you," returned Doris simply, not understanding the sarcasm.
+
+"Wonderful how Solomon liked little missy," said Polly, straightening
+the chairs and restoring order.
+
+"My head aches with all the talking," said Aunt Priscilla. "I want to be
+alone."
+
+But she felt a little conscience-smitten as Polly stepped about in the
+kitchen getting supper and sang in a thick, soft, but rather quivering
+voice, her favorite hymn:
+
+    "'Hark, from the tombs a doleful sound,
+    Mine ears, attend the cry.'"
+
+Yes, Polly was a faithful old creature, only she had grown forgetful,
+and she was losing her strength, and black people gave out suddenly. But
+there, what was the use of borrowing trouble, and the idea of having a
+child around to train and stew over, and no doubt she would be getting
+married just the time when she, Mrs. Perkins, would need her the most.
+The Lord hadn't seen fit to give her any children to comfort her old
+age; after all, would she want a delicate little thing like this child
+with a heathenish name!
+
+It was quite chilly now, and Doris, holding Betty's hand tight, skipped
+along merrily, her heart strangely warm and gay.
+
+"She's very queer, and her voice sounds as if she couldn't get the scold
+out of it, doesn't it? And I felt afraid of the black woman first. I
+never saw any until we were on the ship. But the beautiful cat!" with a
+lingering emphasis on the adjective.
+
+"Well--cats are cats," replied Betty sagely. "I don't care much about
+them myself, though we should be overrun with rats and mice if it wasn't
+for them. I like a fine, big dog."
+
+"Oh, Betty!" and a girl caught her by the shoulder, turning her round
+and laughing heartily at her surprise.
+
+"Why, Jane! How you startled me."
+
+"And is this your little foreign girl--French or something?"
+
+"English, if you please, and her father was born here in Boston. And
+isn't it queer that she should have lived in another Boston? And her
+name is Doris Adams."
+
+"I'm sure the Adams are sown thickly enough about, but Doris sounds like
+verses. And, oh, Betty, I've been crazy to see you for two days. I am to
+have a real party next week. I shall be seventeen, and there will be
+just that number invited. The girls are to come in the afternoon and
+bring their sewing. There will be nine. And eight young men,"
+laughing--"boys that we know and have gone sledding with. They are to
+come to tea at seven sharp. Cousin Morris is to bring his black fiddler
+Joe, and we are going to dance, and play forfeits, and have just a grand
+time."
+
+"But I don't know how to dance--much."
+
+Betty's highest accomplishments were in the three R's. Her manuscript
+arithmetic was the pride of the family, but of grammar she candidly
+confessed she couldn't make beginning nor end.
+
+"I'm going to coax hard to go to dancing school this winter. Sam is
+going, and he says all the girls are learning to dance. Mother's coming
+round to-morrow. We want to be sure about the nine girls. Good-by, it's
+getting late."
+
+"Now, let's hurry home," exclaimed Betty.
+
+The table was laid, and Mrs. Leverett said:
+
+"Why didn't you stay all night?"
+
+"Aunt Priscilla has her autumn cold. She was quite cross at first. She
+was sick last week, and went to church yesterday, and is worse to-day.
+But she was glad about the eggs."
+
+"There comes your father. Be spry now."
+
+After supper Warren went out to look after Jack. Mr. Leverett took his
+chair in the corner of the wide chimney and pushed out the stool for the
+little girl. She smiled as she sat down and laid her hands on his knee.
+
+"So you didn't like the school," he began, after a long silence.
+
+"Yes--I liked--most of it," rather reluctantly.
+
+"What was it you didn't like--sitting still?"
+
+"No--not that."
+
+"The lessons? Were they too hard?"
+
+"She said I needn't mind this morning."
+
+"But the figuring bothered you."
+
+"Of course I didn't know," she said candidly.
+
+"You will get into it pretty soon. Betty'll train you. She's a master
+hand at figures, smarter than Warren."
+
+Doris made no comment, but there was an unconfessed puzzle in her large
+eyes.
+
+"Well, what is it?" The interest he took in her surprised himself.
+
+"She whipped a boy on his hands with a ruler very hard because he
+couldn't remember his lesson."
+
+"That's a good aid to memory. I've seen it tried when I was a boy."
+
+"But if I had tried and tried and studied I should have thought it very
+cruel."
+
+"I guess he didn't try or study. What did Miss Arabella do to you when
+you were careless and forgot things? Or were you never bad?"
+
+Doris hung her head, while a faint color mounted to her brow.
+
+"When I was naughty I couldn't go out on the pony nor take him a lump of
+sugar. And he loved sugar so. And sometimes I had to study a psalm."
+
+"And weren't children ever whipped in your country?"
+
+"The common people beat their children and their wives and their horses
+and dogs. But Miss Arabella was a lady. She couldn't have beaten a cat."
+
+There was a switch on the top of the closet in the kitchen that beat Tom
+out of doors when he ventured in. Doris' tender heart rather resented
+this.
+
+Foster Leverett smiled at this distinction.
+
+"I do suppose people might get along, but boys are often very trying."
+
+"Don't grown-up people ever do anything wrong? And when they scold
+dreadfully aren't they out of temper? Miss Arabella thought it very
+unladylike to get out of temper. And what is done to grown people?"
+
+Uncle Leverett laughed and squeezed the soft little hands on his knee.
+Yes, men and women flew into a rage every day. Their strict training had
+not given them control of their tempers. It had not made them all
+honest and truthful. Yet it might have been the best training for the
+times, for the heroic duties laid upon them.
+
+"She was very cross once, and her forehead all wrinkled up, and her eyes
+were so--so hard; and when she is pleasant she has beautiful brown eyes.
+I like beautiful people."
+
+"We can't all be beautiful or good-tempered."
+
+"But Miss Arabella said we could, and that beauty meant sweetness and
+grace and truth and kindliness, and that"--she lowered her voice
+mysteriously--"where one really tried to be good God gave them grace to
+help. I don't quite know about the grace, I'm so little. But I want to
+be good."
+
+Was there a beautiful side to goodness? Foster Leverett had been for
+some time weakening in the old faith.
+
+"Now I'm ready," exclaimed Betty briskly. "We can say tables without any
+book."
+
+Uncle Leverett laughed and squeezed the soft little stranger at his
+hearth. But affection was not demonstrative in those days, and it looked
+rather weak in a man.
+
+They had grand fun saying addition and multiplication tables. They went
+up to the fives, and Doris found that here was a wonderful bridge.
+
+"You could add clear up to a hundred without any trouble," the child
+declared gleefully. "But you couldn't multiply."
+
+"Why, yes," said Betty. "I had not exactly thought of it before. Five
+times thirteen would be sixty-five, and so on. Five times twenty would
+be a hundred. Why, we do it in a great many things, but I suppose
+they--whoever invented tables thought that was far enough to go."
+
+"Who did invent them?"
+
+"I really don't know. Doris, we will ask Uncle Win when he comes over.
+He knows about everything."
+
+"It would take a great many years to learn everything," said the child
+with a sigh.
+
+"But the knowledge goes round," said Betty with arch gayety. "One has a
+little and the other a little and they exchange, and then women don't
+have to know as much as men."
+
+"I'd like to see the man that knew enough to keep house," declared Mrs.
+Leverett. "And didn't Mrs. Abigail Adams farm and bring up her children
+and pay off debts while her husband was at congress and war and abroad?
+It isn't so much book learning as good common sense. Just think what the
+old Revolutionary women did! And now it is high time Doris went to bed.
+Come, child, you're so sleepy in the morning."
+
+Doris had her dress unbuttoned and untied her shoes to make sure there
+were no knots to pick out. Knots in shoe-strings were very perplexing at
+this period when no one had dreamed of button boots. I doubt, indeed, if
+anyone would have worn them. The shoes were made straight and changed
+every morning, so as to wear evenly and not get walked over at the side.
+And people had pretty feet then, with arched insteps, and walked with an
+air of dignity. Some of the gouty old men had to be measured for a
+tender place here or a protuberance there, or allowance made for bad
+corn.
+
+Doris said good-night and went upstairs. Miss Arabella had always kissed
+her. Betty did sometimes, and said "What a sweet little thing you are!"
+or "What a queer little thing you are!" She said her prayers, hung her
+clothes over a chair, put her little shoes just right for morning, and
+stepping on the chair round vaulted over to her side of the bed.
+
+What a long, long day it had been! The most beautiful thing in it was
+the big cat Solomon, and if she could nurse him she shouldn't be very
+much afraid of Aunt Priscilla. Oh, how soft his fur was, and how he
+purred, just as if he was glad she had come! Perhaps he sometimes tired
+of Aunt Priscilla and black Polly, and longed for a little girl who
+didn't mind sitting on the floor, and who knew how to play.
+
+Then there was the spelling, and she tried to think over the hard words,
+and the tables, and her small brain kept up such a riot that she was not
+a bit sleepy.
+
+Betty brought out her work after lighting another candle. Mr. Leverett
+sat and dozed and thought. When Warren had finished up the chores he
+went around to the other side of Betty's table, and was soon lost in a
+history of the French War. When the tall old clock struck nine it was
+time to prepare for bed.
+
+Betty was putting up some wisps of hair in tea leads, when Doris sat up.
+
+"Oh, you midget! Are you not asleep yet?" she exclaimed.
+
+"No. I've been thinking of everything. And, Betty, can you go to the
+party? I went to the May party when I was home, but that was out of
+doors, and we danced round the May pole."
+
+"The party----"
+
+"Yes, did you ask Aunt Elizabeth?" eagerly.
+
+"Oh, no. I wasn't going to be caught that way. She would have had time
+to think up ever so many excellent reasons why I shouldn't go. And now
+Mrs. Morse will take her by surprise, and she will not have any good
+excuse ready and so she will give in."
+
+"But wouldn't she want you to go?" Doris was rather confused by the
+reasoning.
+
+"I suppose she thinks I am young to begin with parties. But it isn't a
+regular grown-up affair. And I am just crazy to go. I'm so glad you did
+not blurt it out, Doris. I'll give you a dozen kisses for being so
+sensible. Now lie down and go to sleep this minute."
+
+The child gave a soft little laugh, and a moment later Betty was
+"cuddling" her in her arms.
+
+The result of Foster Leverett's cogitation over the fire led him to say
+the next morning to his son:
+
+"Warren, you run on. I have a little errand to do."
+
+He turned in another direction and went down two squares. There was Mrs.
+Webb sweeping off her front porch and plank path.
+
+"Good-morning," stopping and leaning on her broom as he halted.
+
+"I'm glad to see you, Mrs. Webb. I suppose the little girl wasn't much
+trouble yesterday. She's never been to school before."
+
+"Trouble! Bless you, no. If they were all as good as that I should feel
+frightened, I really should, thinking they wouldn't live long. She's a
+bit timid----"
+
+"She's backward in some things--figures, for instance. And a little
+strange, I suppose. So if you would be kind of easy-going with her until
+she gets settled to the work----"
+
+"Oh, you needn't be a mite afraid, Mr. Leverett. She's smart in some
+things, but, you see, she's been run on different lines, and we'll get
+straight presently. She's a nice obedient little thing, and I do like to
+see children mind at the first bidding."
+
+"Your school is so near we thought we would try it this winter. Yes, I
+think all will go right. Good-morning," and his heart lightened at the
+thought of smoothing the way for Doris.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+A BIRTHDAY PARTY
+
+
+Doris sat in the corner studying. Betty had gone over to Mme. Sheafe's
+to make sure she had her lace stitch just right. They had been ironing
+and baking all the morning, and now Mrs. Leverett had attacked her pile
+of shirts, when Mrs. Morse came in. She had her work as well. Everybody
+took work, for neighborly calls were an hour or two long.
+
+Doris had been presented first, a kind of attention paid to her because
+she was from across the ocean. Everybody's health had been inquired
+about.
+
+"I came over on a real errand," began Mrs. Morse presently. "And you
+mustn't make excuses. My Jane is going to have a little company week
+from Thursday night. She will be seventeen, and we are going to have
+seventeen young people. The girls will come in the afternoon, and the
+young men at seven to tea. Then they will have a little merrymaking. And
+we want Warren and Betty. We are going to ask those we want the most
+first, and if so happen anything serious stands in the way, we'll take
+the next row."
+
+"You're very kind, I'm sure. Warren does go out among young people, but
+I don't know about Betty. She's so young."
+
+"Well, she will have to start sometime. My mother was married at
+sixteen, but that is too young to begin life, though she never regretted
+it, and she had a baker's dozen of children."
+
+"I'm not in any hurry about Betty. She is the last girl home. And the
+others were past nineteen when they were married."
+
+"We feel there is no hurry about Jane. But I've had a happy life, and
+all six of us girls were married. Not an old maid among us."
+
+"Old maids do come in handy oftentimes," subjoined Mrs. Leverett.
+
+Yet in those days every mother secretly, often openly, counted on her
+girls being married. The single woman had no such meed of respect paid
+her as the "bachelor maids" of to-day. She often went out as housekeeper
+in a widower's family, and took him and his children for the sake of
+having a home of her own. Still, there were some fine unmarried women.
+
+"Yes, they're handy in sickness and times when work presses, but they do
+get queer and opinionated from having their own way, I suppose."
+
+Alas! what would the single woman, snubbed on every side, have said to
+that!
+
+Then they branched into a chatty discussion about some neighbors, and as
+neither was an ill-natured woman, it was simply gossip and not scandal.
+Mrs. Morse had a new recipe for making soap that rendered it clearer and
+lighter than the old one and made better soap, she thought. And
+to-morrow she was going at her best candles, so as to be sure they would
+be hard and nice for the company.
+
+"But you haven't said about Betty?"
+
+"I'll have to think it over," was the rather cautious reply.
+
+"Elizabeth Leverett! I feel real hurt that you should hesitate, when our
+children have grown up together!" exclaimed Mrs. Morse rather aggrieved.
+
+"It's only about putting Betty forward so much. Why, you know I don't
+mind her running in and out. She's at your house twice as often as Jane
+is here. And when girls begin to go to parties there's no telling just
+where to draw the line. It's very good of you to ask her. Yes, I do
+suppose she ought to go. The girls have been such friends."
+
+"Jane would feel dreadfully disappointed. She said: 'Now, mother, you
+run over to the Leveretts' first of all, because I want to be sure of
+Betty.'"
+
+"Well--I'll have to say yes. Next Thursday. There's nothing to prevent
+that I know of. I suppose it isn't to be a grand dress affair, for I
+hadn't counted on making Betty any real party gown this winter? I don't
+believe she's done growing. Who else did you have in your mind, if it
+isn't a secret?"
+
+"I'd trust it to you, anyhow. The two Stephens girls and Letty Rowe,
+Sally Prentiss and Agnes Green. That makes six, with Betty. We haven't
+quite decided on the others. I dare say some of the girls will be mad as
+hornets at being left out, but there can be only nine. Of course we do
+not count Jane."
+
+These were all very nice girls of well-to-do families. Mrs. Leverett did
+feel a little proud that Betty should head the list.
+
+"They are all to bring their sewing. I had half a mind to put on a
+quilt, but I knew there'd be a talk right away about Jane marrying, and
+she has no steady company. I tell her she can't have until she is
+eighteen."
+
+"That's plenty young enough. I don't suppose there will be any dancing?"
+
+"They've decided on proverbs and forfeits. Cousin Morris is coming round
+to help the boys plan it out. Are you real set against dancing,
+Elizabeth?"
+
+"Well--I'm afraid we are going on rather fast, and will get to be too
+trifling. I can't seem to make up my mind just what is right. Foster
+thinks we have been too strait-laced."
+
+"I danced when I was young, and I don't see as it hurt me any. And some
+of the best young people here-about are going to a dancing class this
+winter. Joseph has promised to join it, and his father said he was old
+enough to decide for himself."
+
+Mrs. Morse had finished her sewing and folded it, quilting her needle
+back and forth, putting her thimble and spool of cotton inside and
+slipping it in her work bag. Then she rose and wrapped her shawl about
+her and tied on her hood.
+
+"Then we may count on Warren and Betty? Give them my love and Jane's,
+and say we shall be happy to see them a week from Thursday, Betty at
+three and Warren at seven. Come over soon, do."
+
+When she had closed the door on her friend Mrs. Leverett glanced over to
+the corner where Doris sat with her book. She had half a mind to ask her
+not to mention the call to Betty, then she shrank from anything so
+small.
+
+Doris studied and she sewed. Then Betty came in flushed and pretty.
+
+"I didn't have the stitch quite right," she said to her mother. "And I
+have been telling her about Doris. She wants me to bring her over some
+afternoon. She is a little curious to see what kind of lace Doris makes.
+She has a pillow--I should call it a cushion."
+
+"Doris ought to learn plain sewing----"
+
+"Poor little mite! How your cares will increase. Can I take her over to
+Mme. Sheafe's some day?"
+
+"If there is ever any time," with a sigh.
+
+"Do you know your spelling?" She flew over to Doris and asked a question
+with her eyes, and Doris answered in the same fashion, though she had a
+fancy that she ought not. Betty took her book and found that Doris knew
+all but two words.
+
+"If I could only do sums as easily," she said, with a plaintive sound in
+her voice.
+
+"Oh, you will learn. You can't do everything in a moment, or your
+education would soon be finished."
+
+"What is Mme. Sheafe like?" she asked with some curiosity, thinking of
+Aunt Priscilla.
+
+"She is a very splendid, tall old lady. She ought to be a queen. And she
+was quite rich at one time, but she isn't now, and she lives in a little
+one-story cottage that is just like--well, full of curious and costly
+things. And now she gives lessons in embroidery and lace work, and
+hemstitching and fine sewing, and she wears the most beautiful gowns and
+laces and rings."
+
+"Your tongue runs like a mill race, Betty."
+
+"I think everybody in Boston is tall," said Doris with quaint
+consideration that made both mother and daughter laugh.
+
+"You see, there is plenty of room in the country to grow," explained
+Betty.
+
+"Can I do some sums?"
+
+"Oh, yes."
+
+Plainly, figures were a delusion and a snare to little Doris Adams. They
+went astray so easily, they would not add up in the right amounts. Mrs.
+Webb did not like the children to count their fingers, though some of
+them were very expert about it. When the child got in among the sevens,
+eights, and nines she was wild with helplessness.
+
+Supper time came. This was Warren's evening for the debating society,
+which even then was a great entertainment for the young men. There would
+be plenty of time to give them the invitation. Mrs. Leverett was sorry
+she had consented to Betty's going, but it would have made ill friends.
+
+The next day Mrs. Hollis Leverett, the eldest son's wife, came up to
+spend the day, with her two younger children. Doris was not much used to
+babies, but she liked the little girl. The husband came up after supper
+and took them home in a carryall. Doris was tired and sleepy, and
+couldn't stop to do any sums.
+
+Betty was folding up her work, and Warren yawning over his book, when
+Mrs. Leverett began in a rather jerky manner:
+
+"Mrs. Morse was in and invited you both to Jane's birthday party next
+Thursday night."
+
+"Yes, I saw Joe in the street to-day, and he told me," replied Warren.
+
+"I said I'd see about you, Betty. You are quite too young to begin
+party-going."
+
+"Why, I suppose it's just a girl's frolic," said her father, wincing
+suddenly. "They can't help having birthdays. Betty will be begging for a
+party next."
+
+"She won't get it this year," subjoined her mother dryly. "And, by the
+looks of things, we have no money to throw away."
+
+Betty looked a little startled. She had wanted so to really question
+Doris, but it did not seem quite the thing to do. And perhaps she was
+not to go, after all. She would coax her father and Warren, she would do
+almost anything.
+
+Warren settled it as they were going up to bed. His mother was in the
+kitchen, mixing pancakes for breakfast, and he caught Betty's hand.
+
+"Of course you are to go," he said. "Mother doesn't believe in dealing
+out all her good things at once. I wish you had something pretty to
+wear. It's going to be quite fine."
+
+"Oh, dear," sighed Betty. "Jane has such pretty gowns. But of course I
+have only been a little school-girl until this year, and somehow it is
+very hard for the mothers to think their girls are grown-up in any
+respect except that of work."
+
+Warren sighed as well, and secretly wished he had a regular salary, and
+could do what he liked with a little money. His father was training him
+to take charge of his own business later on. He gave him his board and
+clothing and half a dollar a week for spending money. When he was
+twenty-one there would be a new basis, of course. There was not much
+call for money unless one was rich enough to be self-indulgent. One
+couldn't spend five cents for a trolley ride, even if there was a
+downpour of rain. And as Mr. Leverett had never smoked, he had routed
+the first indications of any such indulgence on the part of his son.
+
+The amusements were still rather simple, neighborly affairs. The boys
+and girls "spent an evening" with each other and had hickory nuts,
+cider, and crullers that had found their way from Holland to Boston as
+well as New York. And when winter set in fairly there was sledding and
+skating and no end of jest and laughter. Many a decorous love affair
+sprang into shy existence, taking a year or two for the young man to be
+brave enough to "keep company," if there were no objections on either
+side. And this often happened to be a walk home from church and an
+hour's sitting by the family fireside taking part in the general
+conversation.
+
+To be sure, there was the theater. Since 1798, when the Federal Street
+Theater had burned down and been rebuilt and opened with a rather
+celebrated actress of that period, Mrs. Jones, theater-going was quite
+the stylish amusement of the quality. Mr. Leverett and his wife had gone
+to the old establishment, as it was beginning to be called, to see the
+tragedy of "Gustavus Vasa," that had set Boston in a furore. They were
+never quite settled on the point of the sinfulness of the pleasure.
+Indeed, Mr. Leverett evinced symptoms of straying away from the old
+landmarks of faith. He had even gone to the preaching of that
+reprehensible young man, Mr. Hosea Ballou, who had opened new worlds of
+thought for his consideration.
+
+"It's a beautiful belief," Mrs. Leverett admitted, "but whether you can
+quite square it with Bible truth----"
+
+"I'm not so sure you can square the Westminster Catechism either."
+
+"If you must doubt, Foster, do be careful before the children. I'm not
+sure but the old-fashioned religion is best. It made good men and
+women."
+
+"Maybe if you had been brought up a Quaker you wouldn't have seen the
+real goodness of it. Isn't belief largely a matter of habit and
+education? Mind, I don't say religion. That is really the man's life,
+his daily endeavor."
+
+"Well, we won't argue." She felt that she could not, and was ashamed
+that she was not more strongly fortified. "And do be careful before the
+children."
+
+Her husband was a good, honest, upright man--a steady churchgoer and
+zealous worker in many ways. The intangible change to liberalness
+puzzled her. If you gave up one point, would there not be a good reason
+for giving up another?
+
+Neither could she quite explain why she should feel more anxious about
+Betty than she had felt about the girlhood of the two elder daughters.
+
+Of course Warren accepted the invitations for himself and his sister. If
+her new white frock was only done! She had outgrown her last summer's
+gowns. There was a pretty embroidered India muslin that her sister
+Electa had given her. If she might put a ruffle around the bottom of the
+skirt.
+
+Aunt Priscilla came over and had her cup of tea so she could get back
+before dark. She was still afraid of the damp night air. Aunt Priscilla
+had a trunk full of pretty things she had worn in her early married
+life. If she, Betty, could be allowed to "rummage" through it!
+
+Saturday was magnificent with a summer softness in the air, and the
+doors could be left open. There were sweeping and scrubbing and scouring
+and baking. Doris was very anxious to help, and was allowed to seed some
+raisins. It wasn't hard, but "putterin'" work, and took a good deal of
+time.
+
+But after dinner Uncle Winthrop came in his chaise with his pretty
+spirited black mare Juno. It was such a nice day, and he had to go up to
+the North End on some business. There wouldn't be many such days, and
+Doris might like a ride.
+
+There was a flash of delight in the child's eyes. Betty went to help her
+get ready.
+
+"You had better put on her coat, for it's cooler riding," said Mrs.
+Leverett. "And by night it may turn off cold. A fall day like this is
+hardly to be trusted."
+
+"But it is good while it lasts," said Uncle Win, with his soft
+half-smile. "Elizabeth, don't pattern after Aunt Priscilla, who can't
+enjoy to-day because there may be a storm to-morrow."
+
+"I don't know but we are too ready to cross bridges before we come to
+them," she admitted.
+
+"A beautiful day goes to my inmost heart. I want to enjoy every moment
+of it."
+
+Doris came in with her eager eyes aglow, and Betty followed her to the
+chaise, and said:
+
+"Don't run away with her, Uncle Win; I can't spare her."
+
+That made Doris look up and laugh, she was so happy.
+
+They drove around into Hanover Street and then through Wing's Lane.
+There were some very nice lanes and alleys then that felt quite as
+dignified as the streets, and were oftentimes prettier. He was going to
+Dock Square to get a little business errand off his mind.
+
+"You won't be afraid to sit here alone? I will fasten Juno securely."
+
+"Oh, no," she replied, and she amused herself glancing about. People
+were mostly through with their business Saturday afternoon. It had a
+strange aspect to her, however--it was so different from the town across
+the seas. Some of the streets were so narrow she wondered how the horses
+and wagons made their way, and was amazed that they did not run over the
+pedestrians, who seemed to choose the middle of the street as well. Many
+of the houses had a second story overhanging the first, which made the
+streets look still narrower.
+
+"Now we will go around and see the queer old things," exclaimed Uncle
+Win, as he jumped into the chaise. "For we have some interesting points
+of view. A hundred years seems a good while to us new people. And
+already streets are changing, houses are being torn down. There are some
+curious things you will like to remember. Did Warren tell you about Paul
+Revere?"
+
+"Oh, yes. How he hung the lantern out of the church steeple."
+
+"And this was where he started from. More than thirty years ago that
+was, and I was a young fellow just arrived at man's estate. Still it was
+a splendid time to live through. We will have some talks about it in the
+years to come."
+
+"Did you fight, Uncle Win?"
+
+"I am not much of a war hero, though we were used for the defense of
+Boston. You are too young to understand all the struggle."
+
+Doris studied the old house. It was three stories, the upper windows
+seeming just under the roof. On the ground floor there was a store,
+with two large windows, where Paul Revere had carried on his trade of
+silver-smith and engraver on copper. There was a broken wire netting
+before one window, and quite an elaborate hallway for the private
+entrance, as many people lived over their shops.
+
+Long afterward Doris Adams was to be interested in a poet who told the
+story of Paul Revere's ride in such vivid, thrilling words that he was
+placed in the list of heroes that the world can never forget. But it had
+not seemed such a great deed then.
+
+Old North Square had many curious memories. It had been a very desirable
+place of residence, though it was dropping down even now. There were
+quaint warehouses and oddly constructed shops, taverns with queer names
+almost washed out of the signs by the storms of many winters. There were
+the "Red Lion" and the "King's Arms" and other names that smacked of
+London and had not been overturned in the Revolution. Here had stood the
+old Second Church that General Howe had caused to be pulled down for
+firewood during the siege of Boston, the spot rendered sacred by the
+sermon of many a celebrated Mather. And here had resided Governor Thomas
+Hutchinson, who would have been sacrificed to the fury of the mob for
+his Tory proclivities during the Stamp Act riot but for his
+brother-in-law, the Rev. Samuel Mather, who faced the mob and told them
+"he should protect the Governor with his life, even if their sentiments
+were totally dissimilar." And when he came to open court the next
+morning he had neither gown nor wig, very important articles in that
+day. For the wigs had long curling hair, and those who wore them had
+their hair cropped close, like malefactors.
+
+And here was the still stately Frankland House, whose romance was to
+interest Doris deeply a few years hence and to be a theme for poet and
+novelist. But now she was a good deal amused when her uncle told her of
+a Captain Kemble in the days of Puritan rule who, after a long sea
+voyage, was hurrying up the Square, when his wife, who had heard the
+vessel was sighted, started to go to the landing. As they met the
+captain took her in his arms and kissed her, and was punished for
+breaking the Sabbath day by being put in the stocks.
+
+"But did they think it so very wrong?" Her face grew suddenly grave.
+
+"I suppose they did. They had some queer ideas in those days. They
+thought all exhibitions of affection out of place."
+
+Doris looked thoughtfully out to the harbor. Perhaps that was the reason
+no one but Betty kissed her.
+
+Then they drove around to the Green Dragon. This had been a famous inn,
+where, in the early days, the patriots came to plan and confer and lay
+their far-reaching schemes. It was said they went from here to the
+famous Tea Party. Uncle Winthrop repeated an amusing rhyme:
+
+    "'Rally, Mohocks, bring out your axes,
+    And tell King George we'll pay no taxes
+        On his foreign tea.
+    His threats are vain, he need not think
+    To force our wives and girls to drink,
+        His vile Bohea.'"
+
+"I shouldn't like to be forced to drink it," said Doris, with a touch of
+repugnance in her small face.
+
+"It does better when people get old and queer," said Uncle Winthrop.
+"Then they want some comfort. They smoke--at least, the men do--and
+drink tea. Now you can see the veritable Green Dragon."
+
+The house was low, with small, old-time dormer windows. The dragon hung
+out over the doorway. He was made of copper painted green, his two hind
+feet resting on a bar that swung out of the house, his wings spread out
+as well as his front feet, and he looked as if he really could fly. Out
+of his mouth darted a red tongue.
+
+"He is dreadful!" exclaimed Doris.
+
+"Oh, he doesn't look as fierce now as I have seen him. A coat of paint
+inspires him with new courage."
+
+"Then I am glad they have not painted him up lately. Uncle Win, is there
+any such thing as a real dragon? Of course I've read about St. George
+and the dragon," and she raised her eyes with a perplexed light in them.
+
+"I think we shall have to relegate dragons to the mythical period, or
+the early ages. I have never seen one any nearer than that old fellow,
+or with any more life in him. There are many queer signs about, and
+queer corners, but I think now we will go over to Salem Street and look
+at some of the pretty old houses, and then along the Mill Pond. Warren
+took you up Copp's Hill?"
+
+"Oh, yes."
+
+"You see, you must know all about Boston. It will take a long while.
+Next summer we will have drives around here and there."
+
+"Oh, that will be delightful!" and she smiled with such a sweet grace
+that he began to count on it himself.
+
+The sun was going over westward in a soft haze that wrapped every
+leafless tree and seemed to caress the swaying vines into new life. The
+honeysuckles had not dropped all their leaves, and the evergreens were
+taking on their winter tint. On some of the wide lawns groups of
+children were playing, and their voices rang out full of mirth and
+merriment. Doris half wished she were with them. If Betty was only
+twelve instead of sixteen!
+
+The Mill Pond seemed like a great bay. The placid water (there was no
+wind to ruffle it) threw up marvelous reflections and glints of colors
+from the sky above, and the sun beyond that was now a globe of softened
+flame, raying out lance-like shapes of greater distinctness and then
+melting away to assume some new form or color.
+
+Doris glanced up at Uncle Winthrop. It was as if she felt it all too
+deeply for any words. He liked the silence and the wordless enjoyment in
+her face.
+
+"We won't go home just yet," he said. They were crossing Cold Lane and
+could have gone down Sudbury Street. "It is early and we will go along
+Green Lane and then down to Cambridge Street. You are not tired?"
+
+"Oh, no. I think I never should be tired with you, Uncle Winthrop," she
+returned with grave sweetness, quite unconscious of the delicate
+compliment implied.
+
+What was there about this little girl that went so to his heart?
+
+"Uncle Winthrop," she began presently, while a soft pink flush crept up
+to the edge of her hair, "I heard you and Uncle Leverett talking about
+some money the first night you were over--wasn't it _my_ money?"
+
+"Yes, I think so," with a little dryness in his tone. What made her
+think about money just now, and with that almost ethereal face!
+
+"Is it any that I could have--just a little of it?" hesitatingly.
+
+"Why? Haven't you all the things you want?"
+
+"I? Oh, yes. I shouldn't know what to wish for unless it was someone to
+talk French with," and there was a sweet sort of wistfulness in her
+tone.
+
+"I think I can supply that want. Why we might have been talking French
+half the afternoon. Do you want some French books? Is that it?"
+
+"No, sir." There was a lingering inflection in her tone that missed
+satisfaction.
+
+"Are you not happy at Cousin Leverett's?"
+
+"Happy? Oh, yes." She glanced up in a little surprise. "But the money
+would be to make someone else happy."
+
+"Ah!" He nodded encouragingly.
+
+"Betty is going to a party."
+
+"And she has been teasing her mother for some finery?"
+
+"She hasn't any pretty gown. I thought this all up myself, Uncle Win.
+Miss Arabella has such quantities of pretty clothes, and they are being
+saved up for me. If she was here I should ask her, but I couldn't get
+it, you know, by Thursday."
+
+She gave a soft laugh at the impossibility, as if it was quite
+ridiculous.
+
+"And you want it for her?"
+
+"She's so good to me, Uncle Win. For although I know some things quite
+well, there are others in which I am very stupid. A little girl in
+school said yesterday that I was 'dreadful dumb, dumber than a goose.'
+Aunt Elizabeth said a goose was so dumb that if it came in the garden
+through a hole in the fence it never could find it again to get out."
+
+"That is about the truth," laughed Uncle Win.
+
+"I couldn't get along in arithmetic if it wasn't for Betty. She's so
+kind and tells me over and over again. And I can't do anything for Aunt
+Elizabeth, because I don't know how, and it takes most of my time to
+study. But if I could give Betty a gown--Miss Arabella went to so many
+parties when she was young. If I was there I know she would consent to
+give Betty _one_ gown."
+
+Uncle Winthrop thought of a trunk full of pretty gowns that had been
+lying away many a long year. He couldn't offer any of those to Betty.
+And that wouldn't be a gift from Doris.
+
+"I wonder what would be nice? An old fellow like me would not know about
+a party gown."
+
+"Warren would. He and Betty talked a little about it last night. And
+that made me think--but it didn't come into my mind until a few moments
+ago that maybe there would be enough of my own money to buy one."
+
+Doris glanced at him with such wistful entreaty that he felt he could
+not have denied her a much greater thing. He remembered, too, that
+Elizabeth Leverett had refused to take any compensation for Doris, this
+winter at least, and he had been thinking how to make some return.
+
+"Yes, I will see Warren. And we will surprise Betty. But perhaps her
+mother would be a better judge."
+
+"I think Aunt Elizabeth doesn't quite want Betty to go, although she
+told Mrs. Morse she should."
+
+"Oh, it's at the Morses'? Well, they are very nice people. And young
+folks do go to parties. Yes, we will see about the gown."
+
+"Uncle Winthrop, you are like the uncles in fairy stories. I had such a
+beautiful fairy book at home, but it must have been mislaid."
+
+She put her white-mittened hand over his driving glove, but he felt the
+soft pressure with a curious thrill.
+
+They went through Cambridge Street and Hilier's Lane and there they were
+at home.
+
+"It has been lovely," she said with a happy sigh as he lifted her out.
+Then she reached up from the stepping-stone and kissed him.
+
+"It isn't Sunday," she said naïvely, "and it is because you are so good
+to me. And this isn't North Square."
+
+He laughed and gave her a squeeze. Cousin Elizabeth came out and wished
+him a pleasant good-night as he drove away.
+
+What a charming little child she was, so quaintly sensible, and with a
+simplicity and innocence that went to one's heart. How would Recompense
+Gardiner regard a little girl like that? He would have her over sometime
+for a day and they would chatter in French. Perhaps he had better brush
+up his French a little. Then he smiled, remembering she had called
+herself stupid, and he was indignant that anyone should pronounce her
+dumb.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+ABOUT A GOWN
+
+
+Saturday evening was already quiet at the Leveretts'. Elizabeth had been
+brought up to regard it as the beginning of the Sabbath instead of the
+end of the week. People were rather shocked then when you said Sunday,
+and quite forgot the beautiful significance of the Lord's Day. Aunt
+Priscilla still believed in the words of the Creation: that the evening
+and the morning were the first day. In Elizabeth's early married life
+she had kept it rigorously. All secular employments had been put by, and
+the children had studied and recited the catechism. But as they changed
+into men and women other things came between. Then Mr. Leverett grew
+"lax" and strayed off--after other gods, she thought at first.
+
+He softened noticeably. He had a pitiful side for the poor and all those
+in trouble. Elizabeth declared he used no judgment or discrimination.
+
+He opened the old Bible and put his finger on a verse: "While we have
+time let us do good unto all men; and especially unto them that are of
+the household of faith."
+
+"You see," he said gravely, "the household of faith isn't put first, it
+is 'all men.'"
+
+She was reading the Bible, not as a duty but a delight, skipping about
+for the sweetness of it. And she found many things that her duty reading
+had overlooked.
+
+The children did not repeat the catechism any more. She had been
+considering whether it was best to set Doris at it; but Doris knew her
+own catechism, and Cousin Winthrop was a Churchman, so perhaps it wasn't
+wise to meddle. She took Doris to church with her.
+
+Now, on Saturday evening work was put away. Warren was trying to read
+"Paradise Lost." He had parsed out of it at school. Now and then he
+dropped into the very heart of things, but he had not a poetical
+temperament. His father enjoyed it very much, and was quite a reader of
+Milton's prose works. Betty had strayed off into history. Doris sat
+beside Uncle Leverett with her arms on his knee, and looked into the
+fire. What were they doing back in Old Boston? Aunt Elizabeth had
+already condemned the fairy stories as untrue, and therefore falsehoods,
+so Doris never mentioned them. The child, with her many changes and
+gentle nature, had developed a certain tact or adaptiveness, and loved
+pleasantness. She was just a little afraid of Aunt Elizabeth's
+sharpness. It was like a biting wind. She always made comparisons in her
+mind, and saw things in pictured significance.
+
+It ran over many things now. The old house that had been patched and
+patched, and had one corner propped up from outside. The barn that was
+propped up all around and had a thatched roof that suggested an immense
+haystack. Old Barby crooning songs by the kitchen fire, sweet old Miss
+Arabella with her great high cap and her snowy little curls. Why did
+Aunt Priscilla think curls wrong? She had a feeling Aunt Elizabeth did
+not quite approve of hers, but Betty said the Lord curled them in the
+beginning. How sweet Miss Arabella must have been in her youth--yes, she
+must surely have been young--when she wore the pretty frocks and went to
+the king's palace! She always thought of her when she came to the verses
+in the Psalms about the king's daughters and their beautiful attire. If
+Betty could have had one of those!
+
+Her heart beat with unwonted joy as she remembered how readily Uncle
+Winthrop had consented to her wish. Oh, if the frock would be pretty!
+And if Betty would like it! She stole a glance or two at her. How queer
+to have a secret from Betty that concerned her so much. Of course people
+did not talk about clothes on Sunday, so there would be no temptation to
+tell, even if she had a desire, which she should not have. Monday
+morning everything would be in a hurry, for it was wash-day, and she
+would have to go over her lessons. Uncle Win said the gown would be at
+the house Monday noon.
+
+"What are you thinking of, little one?"
+
+Uncle Leverett put his hand over the small one and looked down at the
+face, which grew scarlet--or was it the warmth of the fire?
+
+She laughed with a sudden embarrassment.
+
+"I've been to Old Boston," she said, "and to new Boston. And I have seen
+such sights of things."
+
+"You had better go to bed. And you have almost burned up your face
+sitting so close by the fire. It is bad for the eyes, too," said Aunt
+Elizabeth.
+
+She rose with ready obedience.
+
+"I think I'll go too," said Betty with a yawn. The history of the
+Reformation was dull and prosy.
+
+When Doris had said her prayers, and was climbing into bed, Betty kissed
+her good-night.
+
+"I'm awfully afraid Uncle Win will want you some day," she said. "And I
+just couldn't let you go. I wish you were my little sister."
+
+There was a service in the morning and the afternoon on Sunday. Uncle
+Leverett accompanied them in the morning. He generally went out in the
+evening, and often some neighbor came in. It was quite a social time.
+
+When Doris came home from school Monday noon Aunt Elizabeth handed her a
+package addressed to "Miss Doris Adams, from Mr. Winthrop Adams."
+
+"It is a new frock, I know," cried Betty laughingly. "And it is very
+choice. I can tell by the way it is wrapped. Open it quick! I'm on pins
+and needles."
+
+"It is a nice cord; don't cut it," interposed Aunt Elizabeth.
+
+Betty picked out the knot. There was another wrapper inside, and this
+had on it "Miss Betty Leverett. From her little cousin, Doris Adams."
+
+Mr. Leverett came at Betty's exclamation and looked over her shoulder.
+
+"Are you sure it is for me? Here is a note from Uncle Win that is for
+you. Oh! oh! Doris, was this what you did Saturday?"
+
+A soft shimmering China silk slipped out of its folds and trailed on the
+floor. It was a lovely rather dullish blue, such as you see in old
+china, and sprays of flowers were outlined in white. Betty stood
+transfixed, and just glanced from one to the other.
+
+"Oh, do you like it?" cried Warren, impatient for the verdict. "Uncle
+Win asked me to go out and do an errand with him. I was clear amazed.
+But it's Doris' gift, and bought out of her own money. We looked over
+ever so many things. He said you wanted something young, not a
+grandmother gown. And we both settled upon this."
+
+Betty let it fall and clasped Doris in her arms.
+
+"Down on the dirty floor as if it was nothing worth while!" began Mrs.
+Leverett, while her husband picked up the slippery stuff and let it fall
+again until she took it out of his hands. "And do come to dinner!
+There's a potpie made of the cold meat, and it will all be cold
+together, for I took it up ever so long ago. And, Betty, you haven't put
+on any pickles. And get that quince sauce."
+
+"I don't know what to say." There were tears in Betty's eyes as she
+glanced at Doris.
+
+"Well, you can have all winter to say it in," rejoined her mother
+tartly. "And your father won't want to spend all winter waiting for his
+dinner."
+
+They had finished their washing early. By a little after ten everything
+was on the line, and now the mornings had grown shorter, although you
+could piece them out with candlelight. Betty had suggested the cold meat
+should be made into a potpie, and now Mrs. Leverett half wished she had
+kept to the usual wash-day dinner--cold meat and warmed-over vegetables.
+She felt undeniably cross. She had not cordially acquiesced in Betty's
+going to the party. The best gown she had to wear was her gray cloth,
+new in the spring. It had been let down in the skirt and trimmed with
+some wine-colored bands Aunt Priscilla had brought her. It would be a
+good discipline for Betty to wear it. When she saw the other young girls
+in gayer attire, she would be mortified if she had any pride. Just where
+proper pride began and improper pride ended she was not quite clear.
+Anyhow, it would check Betty's party-going this winter. And now all the
+nice-laid plans had come to grief.
+
+Doris stood still, feeling there was something not quite harmonious in
+the atmosphere.
+
+"You were just royal to think of it," said Warren, clasping both arms
+around Doris. "Uncle Win told me about it. And I hope you like our
+choice. Betty had a blue and white cambric, I think they called it, last
+summer, and she looked so nice in it, but it didn't wash well. Silk
+doesn't have to be washed. Oh, you haven't read your letter."
+
+Uncle Leverett had been folding and rolling the silk and laid it on a
+chair. The dinner came in just as Doris had read two or three lines of
+her note.
+
+"Aunt Elizabeth,"--when there was a little lull,--"Uncle Winthrop says
+he will come up to supper to-night."
+
+"He seems very devoted, suddenly."
+
+"Well, why shouldn't he be devoted to the little stranger in his charge,
+if she isn't exactly within his gates? She is in ours."
+
+A flush crept up in Elizabeth Leverett's face. She did not look at
+Doris, but she felt the child's eyes were upon her--wondering eyes,
+asking the meaning of this unusual mood. It was unreasonable as well.
+Elizabeth had a kindly heart, and she knew she was doing not only
+herself but Doris an injustice. She checked her rising displeasure.
+
+"I should have enjoyed seeing you and Uncle Win shopping," she said
+rather jocosely to Warren.
+
+Betty glanced up at that. The sky was clearing and the storm blowing
+over. But, oh, she had her pretty gown, come what might!
+
+"I don't believe but what I would have been a better judge than either
+of them," said Uncle Leverett.
+
+"Uncle Win wasn't really any judge at all," rejoined Warren laughingly.
+"He would have chosen the very best there was, fine enough for a
+wedding gown. But I knew Betty liked blue, and that girls wanted
+something soft and delicate."
+
+"You couldn't have suited me any better," acknowledged Betty, giving the
+chair that held her treasure an admiring glance. "I shall have to study
+all the afternoon to know what to say to Uncle Win. As for Doris----"
+
+Doris was smiling now. If they were all pleased, that was enough.
+
+"I hope Uncle Win won't let you spend your money this way very often,"
+said Uncle Leverett, "or you will have nothing left to buy silk gowns
+for yourself when you are a young woman."
+
+"Maybe no one will ever ask me to a party," said Doris simply.
+
+"I will give one in your honor," declared Warren. "Let me see--in seven
+years you will be sixteen. I will save up a little money every year
+after I get my freedom suit."
+
+"Your freedom suit?" in a perplexed manner.
+
+"Yes--when I am twenty-one. That will be next July."
+
+"You will have to buy her a silk gown as well," said his father with a
+twinkle of humor in his eye.
+
+"Then I shall strike for higher wages."
+
+"We shall have a new President and we will see what that brings about.
+The present method is simply ruinous."
+
+The dinner was uncommonly good, if it had been made of cooked-over meat.
+And the pie was delicious. Any woman who could make a pie like that, and
+have the custard a perfect cream, ought to be the happiest woman alive.
+
+Mr. Leverett followed his wife out in the kitchen, and gave the door a
+push with his foot. But the three young people were so enthusiastic
+about the new gown, now that the restraint was removed, that they could
+not have listened.
+
+"Mother," he began, "don't spoil the little girl's good time and her
+pleasure in the gift."
+
+"Betty did not need a silk gown. The other girls didn't have one until
+they were married. If I had considered it proper, I should have bought
+it myself."
+
+"But Winthrop hadn't the heart to refuse Doris."
+
+"If he means to indulge every whim and fancy she'll spend everything she
+has before she is fairly grown. She's too young to understand and she
+has been brought up so far in an irresponsible fashion. Generosity is
+sometimes foolishness."
+
+"You wouldn't catch Hollis' little boy spending his money on anyone,"
+and Sam's grandfather laughed. Sam was bright and shrewd, smart at his
+books and good at a barter. He had a little money out at interest
+already. Mr. Leverett had put it in the business, and every six months
+Sam collected his interest on the mark.
+
+"Winthrop isn't as slack as you sometimes think. He could calculate
+compound interest to a fraction."
+
+"I'm glad someone has a little forethought," was the rather tart reply.
+
+"Winthrop isn't as slack as you sometimes think. He doesn't like
+business, but he has a good head for it. And he will look out for Doris.
+He is mightily interested in her too. But if you must scold anyone, save
+it for him to-night, and let Doris be happy in her gift."
+
+"Am I such a scold?"
+
+"You are my dear helpmeet." He put his arm over her shoulder and kissed
+her. People were not very demonstrative in those days, and their
+affection spoke oftener in deeds than words. In fact, they thought the
+words betrayed a strand of weakness. "There, I must be off," he added.
+"Come, Warren," opening the door. "Meade will think we have had a turkey
+dinner and stayed to polish the bones."
+
+Betty had been trying the effect of trailing silk and enjoying her
+brother's admiration. Now she folded it again decorously, and began to
+pile up the cups and plates, half afraid to venture into the kitchen
+lest her dream of delight should be overshadowed by a cloud.
+
+Mrs. Leverett was doing a sober bit of thinking. How much happiness
+ought one to allow one's self in this vale of tears? Something she had
+read last night recurred to her--"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the
+least of these----" Done what? Fed bodies and warmed and clothed them.
+And what of the hungry longing soul? All her life she had had a good
+tender husband. And now, when he had strayed from the faith a little, he
+seemed dearer and nearer than ever before. God had given her a great
+deal to be thankful for. Five fine children who had never strayed out of
+the paths of rectitude. Of course, she had always given the credit to
+their "bringing up." And here was a little girl reared quite
+differently, sweet, wholesome, generous, painstaking, and grateful for
+every little favor.
+
+Astute Betty sent Doris in as an advance guard.
+
+"You may take the dish of spoons, and I'll follow with the cups and
+saucers."
+
+Aunt Elizabeth looked up and half smiled.
+
+"You and Uncle Win have been very foolish," she began, but her tone was
+soft, as if she did not wholly believe what she was saying. "I shall
+save my scolding for him, and I think Betty will have to train you in
+figures all winter long to half repay for such a beautiful gift."
+
+"Oh, Aunt Elizabeth, I _thought_ of it, you know," she cried in sweet
+eagerness, "and if there is anything wrong----"
+
+"There isn't anything wrong, dear." Mrs. Leverett stooped and kissed
+her. "I don't know as Betty needed a silk gown, for many a girl doesn't
+have one until she is married. I shall have to keep a sharp eye on you
+and Uncle Win hereafter."
+
+Betty went back and forth. The dishes were washed and the kitchen set to
+rights, while the bits of talk flowed pleasantly.
+
+"I think I will iron this afternoon," announced Betty. "I see some of
+the clothes are dry. Didn't you mean to go and see about the carpet,
+mother?"
+
+"I had thought of it. I want to have my warp dyed blue and orange, and
+some of the rags colored. Mrs. Jett does it so well, and she's so needy
+I thought I would give her all the work. Your father said I had better.
+And she might dip over that brown frock of yours. The piece of new can
+go with it so it will all be alike."
+
+Betty wanted to lift up her heart in thanksgiving. The dyeing tub was
+her utter abomination--it took so long for the stain to wear out of your
+hands.
+
+"Well--if you like." This referred to the ironing. "I don't know how
+you'll get your gown done."
+
+"I might run over and get some patterns from Jane, if I get through in
+time," suggested Betty. For a horrible fear had entered her mind that
+her mother's acceptance of the fact foreboded some delay in the making.
+
+"Don't go until I get back."
+
+"Oh, no."
+
+Betty took down the clothes and folded them. They were just right to
+iron. She arranged her table, and Doris brought her books and sat at one
+end.
+
+"It would be so much nicer to talk about the party," she said gravely,
+"but the lessons are so hard. Oh, Betty, do you think I shall ever be
+smart like other girls? I feel ashamed sometimes. My figures are just
+dreadful. Robert Lane said this morning they looked like hen tracks. His
+are beautiful. And he is only seven years old. Oh, dear!"
+
+"Robbie has been at school three years. Wait until you have been a
+year!"
+
+"And writing. Oh, Betty, when will I be able to write a letter to Miss
+Arabella? Now, if you could talk across the ocean!"
+
+"The idea! One would have to scream pretty loud, and then it wouldn't go
+a mile." Betty threw her head back and laughed.
+
+But Doris was to live long enough to talk across the ocean, though no
+one really dreamed of it then; indeed, at first it was quite ridiculed.
+
+"It is a nice thing to know a good deal, but it is awful hard to learn,"
+said the little girl presently.
+
+"Now, it seems to me I never could learn French. And when you rattle it
+off in the way you do, I am dumb-founded."
+
+"What is that, Betty?"
+
+Betty flushed and laughed. "Surprised or anything like that," she
+returned.
+
+"But, you see, I learned to talk and read just as you do English. And
+then papa being English, why I had both languages. It was very easy."
+
+"Patience and perseverance will make this easy."
+
+"And I can't knit a stocking nor make a shirt. And I haven't pieced a
+bedspread nor worked a sampler. Mary Green has a beautiful one, with a
+border of strawberries around the edge and forget-me-nots in the corner.
+Her father is going to have it framed."
+
+"Oh, you must not chatter so much. Begin and say some tables."
+
+"I know 'three times' skipping all about. But when you get good and used
+one way you have to fly around some other way. I can say 'four times'
+straight, but I have to think a little."
+
+"Now begin," said Betty.
+
+They seemed to run races, until Doris' cheeks were like roses and she
+was all out of breath. At last she accomplished the baleful four,
+skipping about.
+
+"Mrs. Webb said I must learn four and five this week. And five is easy
+enough. Now, will you hear me do some sums in addition?"
+
+She added aloud, and did quite well, Betty thought.
+
+"When I can make nice figures and do sums that are worth while, I am to
+have a book to put them in, Mrs. Webb says. What is worth while, Betty?"
+
+"Why it's--it's--a thing that is really worth doing well. I don't know
+everything," with a half-laughing sigh.
+
+Betty had all her pieces ironed before the lessons were learned. Doris
+thought ironing was easier. It finished up of itself, and there was
+nothing to come after.
+
+"Well--there is mending," suggested Betty.
+
+"I know how to darn. I shall not have to learn that."
+
+"And you darn beautifully."
+
+While Mrs. Leverett was out she thought she would run down to Aunt
+Priscilla's a few moments, so it was rather late when she returned. But
+Betty had a pan of biscuits rising in the warmth of the fire. Then she
+was allowed to go over to the Morses' and tell Jane the wonderful news.
+Uncle Winthrop walked up, so there would be no trouble about the horse;
+then, he had been writing all day, and needed some exercise.
+
+"And how did the silk suit?" he asked as he took both of the child's
+hands in his.
+
+"It was just beautiful. Betty was delighted, and so surprised! Uncle
+Winthrop, isn't it a joyful thing to make people happy!"
+
+"Why--I suppose it is," with a curious hesitation in his voice, as he
+glanced down into the shining eyes. He had not thought much of making
+anyone happy latterly. Indeed, he believed he had laid all the real joys
+of life in his wife's grave. He was proud of his son, of course, and he
+did everything for his advancement. But a simple thing like this!
+
+"We have been studying all the afternoon, Betty and I. She is so good to
+me. And to think, Uncle Win, she had read the Bible all through when she
+was eight years old, and made a shirt. All the little girls make one for
+their father. And he gave her a silver half-dollar with a hole in it,
+and she put a blue ribbon through it and means to keep it always. But I
+haven't any father. And I began to read the Bible on Sunday. It will
+take me two years," with a long sigh. "I used to read the Psalms to Miss
+Arabella, and there was a portion for every day. They are just a month
+long, when the month has thirty days."
+
+Her chatter was so pleasant. Several times through the day her soft
+voice had haunted him.
+
+Aunt Elizabeth came in with her big kitchen apron tied over her best
+afternoon gown. She didn't scold very hard, but she thought Uncle Win
+might better be careful of the small fortune coming to Doris, since she
+had neither father nor brother to augment it. And they would make Betty
+as vain as a peacock in all her finery.
+
+Betty returned laden with patterns and her eyes as bright as stars. Jane
+Morse had promised to come over in the morning and help her cut her
+gown. Jane was a very "handy" girl, and prided herself on knowing enough
+about "mantua making" to get her living if she had need. At that period
+nearly every family did the sewing of all kinds except the outside wear
+for men. And fashions were as eagerly sought for and discussed among the
+younger people as in more modern times. The old Puritan attire was still
+in vogue. Not so many years before the Revolution the Royalists'
+fashions, both English and French, had been adopted. But the cocked hats
+and scarlet coats, the flowing wigs and embroidered waistcoats, had been
+swept away by the Continental style. For women, high heels and high caps
+had run riot, and hoops and flowing trains of brocades and velvets and
+glistening silks. And now the wife of the First Consul of France was the
+Empress Josephine, and the Empire style had swept away the pompadour and
+everything else. It had the advantage of being more simple, though quite
+as costly.
+
+Uncle Win and Uncle Leverett talked politics after supper, one sitting
+one side of the chimney and one the other. Doris had gone over to Uncle
+Winthrop's side, and she wished she could be two little girls just for
+the evening. She was trying very hard to understand what they meant by
+the Embargo and the Non-Intercourse Act, and she learned they were going
+to have a new President in March. She did not think politics very
+interesting--she liked better to hear about the war that had begun more
+than thirty years ago. Uncle Leverett was quite sure there would be
+another war before they were done with it; that all the old questions
+had not been fought out, and there could be no lasting peace until they
+were. Did men like war so much, she wondered?
+
+Betty stole around to Uncle Win's side before he went away and thanked
+him again for the interest he had taken in Doris' desire. Yes, she was a
+pretty girl; and how much cheer there seemed around the Leverett
+fireside! Warren was a fine young fellow, too, older by two years than
+his own son. He missed a certain cordial living that would have cheered
+his own life. When his boy came home he would have it different. And by
+that time he would have decided about Doris.
+
+Betty and Jane had plenty of discussions the next morning. Waists were
+short and full, and with a square neck and a flat band, over which there
+was a fall of lace, and short, puffed sleeves for evening wear.
+
+"But she isn't likely to go to another party this winter, and she will
+want it for a best dress all next summer," said Mrs. Leverett.
+
+"Oh, I should have long sleeves, as well, and just baste them in. And
+there's so much silk I should make a fichu to tie round in the back with
+two long ends. You can make that any time. And a scant ruffle not more
+than an inch wide when it is finished. A ruffle round the skirt about
+two inches when that is done. Letty Rowe has three ruffles around her
+changeable taffeta. 'Twas made for her cousin's wedding, and it is just
+elegant."
+
+"It is a shame to waste stuff that way," declared Mrs. Leverett.
+
+"But the frills are scant, and skirts are never more than two and a half
+yards round. Why, last summer mother said I might have that fine
+sprigged muslin of hers to make over, and I'm sure I have enough for
+another gown. Mrs. Leverett, it doesn't take half as much to make a gown
+for us as it did for our mothers," said Jane with arch humor.
+
+"She had better save the piece for a new waist and sleeves," declared
+the careful mother.
+
+"Well, maybe fichus and capes will go out before another summer. I would
+save the piece now, at any rate," agreed Jane.
+
+Jane was extremely clever. The girls had many amusing asides, for Mrs.
+Leverett was ironing in the kitchen. There was nothing harmful about
+them, but they were full of gay promise. Jane cut and basted and fitted.
+There were the bodice and the sleeves. "You can easily slip out the long
+ones," she whispered, "and there was the skirt with the lining all
+basted, and the ruffles cut and sewed together."
+
+"You'll have a nice job hemming them. I should do it over a cord. It
+makes them set out so much better. And if you get in the drag I'll come
+over to-morrow. I'm to help mother with the nut cake this afternoon. It
+cuts better to be a day or two old. We made the fruit cake a fortnight
+ago."
+
+"How good you are! I don't know what I should have done without you!"
+
+"And I don't know how Betty will ever repay you," said Mrs. Leverett.
+
+"I know," returned Jane laughingly. "I have planned to get every stitch
+out of her. I am going to quilt my 'Young Man's Ramble' this winter, and
+mother's said I might ask in two or three of the best quilters I
+know--Betty quilts so beautifully!"
+
+The "Young Man's Ramble" was patchwork of a most intricate design, in
+which it seemed that one might ramble about fruitlessly.
+
+"I am glad there is some way of your getting even," said the mother with
+a little pride.
+
+Jane took dinner with them and then ran off home. Warren went a short
+distance with her, as their way lay together.
+
+"I hope you didn't say anything about the dancing," he remarked. "Mother
+is rather set against it. But Sister Electa gives dancing parties, and
+Betty's going to Hartford this winter. She ought to know how to dance."
+
+"Trust me for not letting the cat out of the bag!"
+
+Betty sewed and sewed. She could hardly attend to Doris' lessons and
+sums. She hemmed the ruffle in the evening, and hurried with her work
+the next morning. Everything went smoothly, and Mrs. Leverett was more
+interested than she would have believed. And she was quite ready to take
+up the cudgel for her daughter's silken gown when Aunt Priscilla made
+her appearance. Of course she would find fault.
+
+But it is the unexpected that happens. Aunt Priscilla was in an
+extraordinary mood. Some money had been paid to her that morning that
+she had considered lost beyond a peradventure. And she said, "It was a
+great piece of foolishness, and Winthrop Adams at his time of life ought
+to have had more sense, but what could you expect of a man always
+browsing over books! And if she had thought Betty was dying for a silk
+frock, she had two laid away that would come in handy some time. She
+hadn't ever quite decided who should fall heir to them, but so many of
+the girls had grown up and had husbands to buy fine things for them, she
+supposed it would be Betty."
+
+"What is going round the neck and sleeves?" she asked presently.
+
+"Mother has promised to lend me some lace," answered Betty. "The other
+girls had a borrowed wear out of it."
+
+"I'll look round a bit. I never had much real finery, but husband always
+wanted me to dress well when we were first married. We went out a good
+deal for a while, before he was hurt. I'll see what I have."
+
+And the next morning old Polly brought over a box with "Missus' best
+compliments." There was some beautiful English thread lace about four
+inches wide, just as it had lain away for years, wrapped in soft white
+paper, with a cake of white wax to keep it from turning unduly yellow.
+
+"Betty, you are in wonderful luck," said her mother. "Something has
+stirred up Aunt Priscilla."
+
+Just at noon that eventful Thursday Mr. Manning came in from Salem for
+his mother-in-law. Mrs. Manning's little daughter had been born at eight
+that morning, and Mary wanted her mother at once. She had promised to
+go, but hardly expected the call so soon.
+
+There were so many charges to give Betty, who was to keep house for the
+next week. Nothing was quite ready. Mother fashion, she had counted on
+doing this and that before she went; and if Betty couldn't get along she
+must ask Aunt Priscilla to come, just as if Betty had not kept house a
+whole week last summer. There was advice to father and to Warren, and he
+was to try to bring Betty home by nine o'clock that evening. What Doris
+would do in the afternoon, she couldn't see.
+
+"Go off with an easy heart, mother," said Mr. Leverett; "I will come
+home early this afternoon."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+SINFUL OR NOT?
+
+
+"You should have seen me when Jane tied a white sash about my waist.
+Then I was just complete."
+
+"But you looked beautiful before--like a--well, a queen couldn't have
+looked prettier. Or the Empress Josephine."
+
+Betty laughed and kissed the little girl whose eyes were still full of
+admiration. She had not come home until ten, and found her father
+waiting at the fireside, but Doris was snuggled up in bed and soundly
+asleep. She had risen at her father's call, made the breakfast, and sent
+the men off in time; then heard the lesson Doris wasn't quite sure of,
+and sent her to school; and now the dinner was cleared away and they
+were sitting by the fire.
+
+The Empress Josephine was in her glory then, one of the notables of
+Europe.
+
+"And Mrs. Morse said such lace as that would be ten dollars a yard now.
+Think of that! Thirty dollars! But didn't you get lonesome waiting for
+father?"
+
+"He came just half an hour afterward. And, oh, we had such a grand,
+funny time getting supper. It was as good as a party. I poured the tea.
+And he called me Miss Adams, like a grown lady. And, then, what do you
+think? We played fox and geese! And do you know I thought the geese were
+dumb to let the fox get them all. And then he took the geese and soon
+penned my fox in a corner. Then he told me about the fox and the goose
+and the measure of corn and the man crossing the stream. It was just
+delightful. I wanted to stay up until you came home, but I did get so
+sleepy. And was the party splendid? I don't think anyone could have been
+prettier than you!"
+
+"Sally Prentiss had a pink silk frock, and the ruffles were fringed out,
+which made them fluffy. It was beautiful! Oh, I should have felt just
+awful in my gray cloth or my blue winter frock. And I owe most of the
+delight to you, little Doris. I've been thinking--sometime I will work
+you a beautiful white frock, fine India muslin."
+
+"And what did they do?"
+
+"We didn't sew much," Betty laughed. "We talked and talked. I knew all
+but one girl, and we were soon acquainted. Jane didn't have a thing to
+do, of course. Then the gentlemen came and we went out to supper. The
+table was like a picture. There was cold turkey and cold ham and cold
+baked pork. They were all delicious. And bread and biscuits and puffy
+little cakes quite new. Mrs. Morse's cousin brought the recipe, and she
+has promised it to mother. And there were jams and jellies and ever so
+many things, and then all the plates and meats were sent away, and the
+birthday cake with seventeen tiny candles was lighted up. And cake of
+every kind, and whipped cream and nuts and candies. Then we went back to
+the parlor and played "proverbs" and "What is my thought like?" and then
+black Joe came with his fiddle. First they danced the minuet. It was
+beautiful. And then they had what is called cotillions. I believe that
+is the new fashionable dance. It takes eight people, but you can have
+two or three at the same time. They dance in figures. And, oh, it is
+just delightful! I _do_ wonder if it is wrong?"
+
+"What would make it wrong?" asked Doris gravely.
+
+"That's what puzzles me. A great many people think it right and send
+their children to dancing-school. On all great occasions there seems to
+be dancing. It is stepping and floating around gracefully. You think of
+swallows flying and flowers swinging and grass waving in the summer
+sun."
+
+"But if there is so much of it in the world, and if God made the world
+gay and glad and rejoicing and full of butterflies and birds and ever so
+many things that don't do any real work but just have a lovely time----"
+
+Doris' wide-open eyes questioned her companion.
+
+"They haven't any souls. I don't know." Betty shook her head. "Let's ask
+father about it to-night. When you are little you play tag and
+puss-in-the-corner and other things, and run about full of fun. Dancing
+is more orderly and refined. And there's the delicious music! All the
+young men were so nice and polite,--so kind of elegant,--and it makes
+you feel of greater consequence. I don't mean vain, only as if it was
+worth while to behave prettily. It's like the parlor and the kitchen.
+You don't take your washing and scrubbing and scouring in the parlor,
+though that work is all necessary. So there are two sides to life. And
+my side just now is getting supper, while your side is studying tables.
+Oh, I do wonder if you will ever get to know them!"
+
+Doris sighed. She would so much rather talk about the party.
+
+"And your frock was--pretty?" she ventured timidly.
+
+"All the girls thought it lovely. And I told them it was a gift from my
+little cousin, who came from old Boston--and they were so interested in
+you. They thought Doris a beautiful name, but Sally said the family name
+ought to be grander to go with it. But Adams is a fine old name,
+too--the first name that was ever given. There was only one man then,
+and when there came to be such hosts of them they tacked the 's' on to
+make it a noun of multitude."
+
+"Did they really? Some of the children are learning about nouns. Oh,
+dear, how much there is to learn!" said the little girl with a sigh.
+
+Betty went at her supper. People ate three good stout meals in those
+days. It made a deal of cooking. It made a stout race of people as well,
+and one heard very little about nerves and indigestion. Betty was
+getting to be quite a practiced cook.
+
+Mr. Leverett took a good deal of interest hearing about the party.
+Warren had enjoyed it mightily. And then they besieged him for an
+opinion on the question of dancing. Warren presented his petition that
+he might be allowed to join a class of young men that was being formed.
+There were only a few vacancies.
+
+"I do not think I have a very decided opinion about it," he returned
+slowly. "Times have changed a good deal since I was young, and
+amusements have changed with them. A hundred or so years ago life was
+very strenuous, and prejudices of people very strong. Yet the young
+people skated and had out-of-door games, and indoor plays that we
+consider very rough now. And you remember that our ancestors were
+opposed to nearly everything their oppressors did. Their own lives were
+too serious to indulge in much pleasuring. The pioneers of a nation
+rarely do. But we have come to an era of more leisure as to social life.
+Whether it will make us as strong as a nation remains to be seen."
+
+"That doesn't answer my question," said Warren respectfully.
+
+"I am going to ask you to wait until you are of age, mostly for your
+mother's sake. I think she dreads leaving the old ways. And then Betty
+will have no excuse," with a shrewd little smile.
+
+Warren looked disappointed.
+
+"But I danced last night," said Betty. "And we used to dance last winter
+at school. Two or three of the girls were good enough to show us the new
+steps. And one of the amusing things was a draw cotillion. The girls
+drew out a slip of paper that had a young man's name on it, and then she
+had to pass it over to him, and he danced with her. And who do you think
+I had?" triumphantly.
+
+"I do not know the young men who were there," said her father.
+
+"I hope it was the very nicest and best," exclaimed Doris.
+
+"It just was! Jane's cousin, Morris Winslow. And he was quite the leader
+in everything, almost as if it was his party. And he is one of the real
+quality, you know. I was almost afraid to dance with him, but he was so
+nice and told me what to do every time, so I did not make any serious
+blunders. But it is a pleasure to feel that you know just how."
+
+"There will be years for you to learn," said her father. "Meanwhile the
+ghost of old Miles Standish may come back."
+
+"What would he do?" asked Doris, big-eyed.
+
+Warren laughed. "What he did in the flesh was this: The Royalists--you
+see, they were not all Puritans that came over--were going to keep an
+old-time festival at a place called Merry Mount. They erected a May pole
+and were going to dance around it."
+
+"That is what they do at home. And they have a merry time. Miss Arabella
+took me. And didn't Miles Standish like it?"
+
+"I guess not. He sent a force of men to tear it down, and marched Morton
+and his party into Plymouth, where they were severely reprimanded--fined
+as well, some people say."
+
+"We do not rule our neighbors quite as strictly now. But one must admire
+those stanch old fellows, after all."
+
+"I am glad the world has grown wider," said Warren. But he wished its
+wideness had taken in his mother, who had a great fear of the evils
+lying in wait for unwary youth. Still he would not go against her wishes
+while he was yet under age. Young people were considered children in
+their subjection to their parents until this period. And girls who
+stayed at home were often in subjection all their lives. There were men
+who ruled their families with a sort of iron sway, but Mr. Leverett had
+always been considered rather easy.
+
+Doris begged to come out and dry the dishes, but they said tables
+instead of talking of the seductive party. Mr. Leverett had to go out
+for an hour. Betty sat down and took up her knitting. She felt rather
+tired and sleepy, for she had gone on with the party the night before,
+after she was in bed. A modern girl would be just getting ready to go to
+her party at ten. But then she would not have to get up at half-past
+five the next morning, make a fire, and cook breakfast. Suddenly Betty
+found herself nodding.
+
+"Put up your book, Doris. I'll mix the cakes and we will go to bed. You
+can dream on the lessons."
+
+The party had demoralized Doris as well.
+
+Among the real quality young men came to inquire after the welfare of
+the ladies the next morning, or evening at the latest. But people in the
+middle classes were occupied with their employments, which were the main
+things of their lives.
+
+And though the lines were strongly drawn and the "quality" were
+aristocratic, there were pleasant gradations, marked by a fine breeding
+on the one side and a sense of fitness on the other, that met when there
+was occasion, and mingled and fused agreeably, then returned each to his
+proper sphere. The Morses were well connected and had some quite high-up
+relatives. For that matter, so were the Leveretts, but Foster Leverett
+was not ambitions for wealth or social distinction, and Mrs. Leverett
+clung to the safety of the good old ways.
+
+Jane ran over in the morning with a basket of some of the choicer kinds
+of cake, and some nuts, raisins, and mottoes for the little girl. There
+were so many nice things she was dying to tell Betty,--compliments,--and
+some from Cousin Morris. And didn't she think everything went off
+nicely?
+
+"It was splendid, all through," cried Betty enthusiastically. "I would
+like to go to a party--well, I suppose every week would be too often,
+but at least twice a month."
+
+"The Chauncey Winslows are going to have a party Thanksgiving night.
+They are Morris' cousins and not mine, but I've been there; and Morris
+said last night I should have an invitation. It will be just splendid,
+I know."
+
+"But you are seventeen. And mother thinks I am only a little girl,"
+returned Betty.
+
+"Oh, yes; I didn't go scarcely anywhere last winter. Being grown up is
+ever so much nicer. But it will come for you."
+
+"Electa wants me to visit her this winter. The assembly is to meet, you
+know, and she has plenty of good times, although she has three children.
+I _do_ hope I can go! And I have that lovely frock."
+
+"That would be delightful. I wish I had a sister married and living away
+somewhere--New York, for instance. They have such fine times. Oh, dear!
+how do you get along alone?"
+
+"It keeps me pretty busy."
+
+Jane had come out in the kitchen, so Betty could go on with her dinner
+preparations.
+
+"Mother thinks of keeping Cousin Nabby all winter. She likes Boston so,
+and it's lonely up in New Hampshire on the farm. That will ease me up
+wonderfully."
+
+"If I go away mother will have to get someone."
+
+"Although they do not think we young people are of much account,"
+laughed Jane. "Give your little girl a good big chunk of party cake and
+run over when you can."
+
+"But I can't now."
+
+"Then I will have to do the visiting."
+
+Dinner was ready on the mark, and Mr. Leverett praised it. Doris came
+home in high feather. She had not missed a word, and she had done all
+her sums.
+
+"I think I am growing smarter," she announced with a kind of grave
+exultation. "Don't you think Aunt Elizabeth will teach me how to knit
+when she comes back?"
+
+Not to have knit a pair of stockings was considered rather disgraceful
+for a little girl.
+
+Aunt Priscilla came over early Saturday afternoon. She found the house
+in very good order, and she glanced sharply about, too. They had not
+heard from Mary yet, but the elder lady said no news was good news. Then
+she insisted on looking over the clothes for the Monday's wash and
+mending up the rents. Tuesday she would come in and darn the stockings.
+When she was nine years old it was her business to do all the family
+darning, looking askance at Doris.
+
+"Now, if you had been an only child, Aunt Priscilla, and had no parents,
+what a small amount of darning would have fallen to your share!" said
+Betty.
+
+"Well, I suppose I would have been put out somewhere and trained to make
+myself useful. And if I'd had any money that would have been on
+interest, so that I could have some security against want in my old age.
+Anyway, it isn't likely I should have been allowed to fritter away my
+time."
+
+Betty wondered how Aunt Priscilla could content herself with doing such
+a very little now! Not but what she had earned a rest. And Foster
+Leverett, who managed some of her business, said _sub rosa_ that she was
+not spending all her income.
+
+"You can't come up to your mother making tea," she said at the supper
+table. "Your mother makes the best cup of tea I ever tasted."
+
+Taking it altogether they did get on passably well without Mrs. Leverett
+during the ten days. She brought little James, six years of age, who
+couldn't go the long distance to school in cold weather with the two
+older children, and so was treated to a visit at grandmother's.
+
+Mary was doing well and had a sweet little girl, as good as a kitten.
+Mr. Manning's Aunt Comfort had come to stay a spell through the winter.
+And now there was getting ready for Thanksgiving. There was no time to
+make mince pies, but then Mrs. Leverett didn't care so much for them
+early in the season. Hollis' family would come up, they would ask Aunt
+Priscilla, and maybe Cousin Winthrop would join them. So they were busy
+as possible.
+
+Little James took a great liking to his shy cousin Doris, and helped her
+say tables and spell. He had been at school all summer and was very
+bright and quick.
+
+"But, Uncle Foster," she declared, "the children in America are much
+smarter than English children. They understand everything so easily."
+
+Then came the first big snowstorm of the season. There had been two or
+three little dashes and squalls. It began at noon and snowed all night.
+The sky was so white in the early morning you could hardly tell where
+the snow line ended and where it began; but by and by there came a
+bluish, silvery streak that parted it like a band, and presently a pale
+sun ventured forth, hanging on the edge of yellowish clouds and growing
+stronger, until about noon it flooded everything with gold, and the
+heavens were one broad sheet of blue magnificence.
+
+Doris did not go to school in the morning. There were no broken paths,
+and boys and men were busy shoveling out or tracking down.
+
+"It is a heavy snow for so early in the season," declared Uncle
+Leverett. "We are not likely to see bare ground in a long while."
+
+Doris thought it wonderful. And when Uncle Winthrop came the next day
+and took them out in a big sleigh with a span of horses, her heart beat
+with unwonted enjoyment. But the familiarity little James evinced with
+it quite startled her.
+
+Thanksgiving Day was a great festival even then, and had been for a
+long while. Christmas was held of little account. New Year's Day had a
+greater social aspect. Commencement, election, and training days were in
+high favor, and every good housewife baked election cake, and every
+voter felt entitled to a half-holiday at least. Then there was an annual
+fast day, with church-going and solemnity quite different from its modern
+successor.
+
+The Hollis Leveretts, two grown people and four children, came up early.
+Sam, or little Sam as he was often called to distinguish him from his
+two uncles, was a nice well-grown and well-looking boy of about ten.
+Mrs. Hollis had lost her next child, a boy also, and Bessy was just
+beyond six. Charles and the baby completed the group.
+
+Uncle Leverett made a fire in the best room early in the morning. Doris
+was a little curious to see it with the shutters open. It was a large
+room, with a "boughten" ingrain carpet, stiff chairs, two great square
+ottomans, a big sofa, and some curious old paintings, besides a number
+of framed silhouettes of different members of the family.
+
+The most splendid thing of all was the great roaring fire in the wide
+chimney. The high shelf was adorned with two pitchers in curious
+glittering bronze, with odd designs in blue and white raised from the
+surface. The children brought their stools and sat around the fire.
+
+Adjoining this was the spare room, the guest chamber _par excellence_.
+Sometimes the old house had been full, when there were young people
+coming and going, and relatives from distant places visiting. Electa and
+Mary had both married young, though in the early years of her married
+life Electa had made long visits home. But her husband had prospered in
+business and gone into public life, and she entertained a good deal, and
+the journey home was long and tedious. Mary was much nearer, but she had
+a little family and many cares.
+
+Sam took the leadership of the children. He had seen Doris for a few
+minutes on several occasions and had not a very exalted opinion of a
+girl who could only cipher in addition, while he was over in interest
+and tare and tret. To be sure he could neither read nor talk French.
+This year he had gone to the Latin school. He hadn't a very high opinion
+of Latin, and he did not want to go to college. He was going to be a
+shipping merchant, and own vessels to go all over the world and bring
+cargoes back to Boston. He meant to be a rich man and own a fine big
+house like the Hancock House.
+
+Doris thought it would be very wonderful for a little boy to get rich.
+
+"And you might be lord mayor of Boston," she said, thinking of the
+renowned Whittington.
+
+"We don't have _lord_ mayors nor lord anything now, except occasionally
+a French or English nobleman. And we don't care much for them," said the
+uncompromising young republican. "I should like to be Governor or
+perhaps President, but I shouldn't want to waste my time on anything
+else."
+
+Grandfather Leverett smiled over these boyish ambitions, but he wished
+Sam's heart was not quite so set on making money.
+
+There were so few grown people that by bringing in one of the kitchen
+tables and placing it alongside they could make room for all. Betty was
+to be at the end, flanked on both sides by the children; Mrs. Hollis at
+the other end. There was a savory fragrance of turkey, sauces, and
+vegetables, and the table seemed literally piled up with good things.
+
+Just as they were about to sit down Uncle Winthrop came in for a moment
+to express his regrets again at not being able to make one of the
+family circle. Doris thought he looked very handsome in his best
+clothes, his elegant brocaded waistcoat, and fine double-ruffled
+shirt-front. He wore his hair brushed back and tied in a queue and
+slightly powdered.
+
+He was to go to a grand dinner with some of the city officials, a
+gathering that was not exactly to his taste, but one he could not well
+decline. And when Doris glanced up with such eager admiration and
+approval, his heart warmed tenderly toward her, as it recalled other
+appreciative eyes that had long ago closed for the last time.
+
+What a dinner it was! Sam studied hard and played hard in the brief
+while he could devote to play, and he ate accordingly. Doris was filled
+with amazement. No wonder he was round and rosy.
+
+"Doesn't that child ever eat any more?" asked Mrs. Hollis. "No wonder
+she is so slim and peaked. I'd give her some gentian, mother, or
+anything that would start her up a little."
+
+Doris turned scarlet.
+
+"She's always well," answered Mrs. Leverett. "She hasn't had a sick day
+since she came here. I think she hasn't much color naturally, and her
+skin is very fair."
+
+"I do hope she will stay well. I've had such excellent luck with my
+children, who certainly do give their keeping credit. I think she's been
+housed too much. I'm afraid she won't stand the cold winter very well."
+
+"You can't always go by looks," commented Aunt Priscilla.
+
+After the dinner was cleared away and the dishes washed (all the grown
+people helped and made short work of it), the kitchen was straightened,
+the chairs being put over in the corner, and the children who were
+large enough allowed a game of blindman's buff, Uncle Leverett watching
+to see that no untoward accidents happened, and presently allowing
+himself to be caught. And, oh, what a scattering and laughing there was
+then! His arms were so large that it seemed as if he must sweep
+everybody into them, but, strange to relate, no one was caught so
+easily. They dodged and tiptoed about and gave little half-giggles and
+thrilled with success. He did catch Sam presently, and the boy did not
+enjoy it a bit. Not that he minded being blindfolded, but he should have
+liked to boast that grandfather could not catch him.
+
+Sam could see under the blinder just the least bit. Doris had on red
+morocco boots, and they were barely up to her slim ankles. They were
+getting small, so Aunt Elizabeth thought she might take a little good
+out of them, as they were by far too light for school wear. Sam was sure
+he could tell by them, and he resolved to capture her. But every time he
+came near grandfather rushed before her, and he didn't want to catch
+back right away, neither did he want Bessy, whose half-shriek betrayed
+her whereabouts.
+
+Mrs. Leverett opened the door.
+
+"I think you have made noise enough," she said. People believed in the
+old adage then that children should "be seen and not heard," and that
+indoors was no place for a racket. "Aunt Priscilla thinks she must go,
+but she wants you to sing a little."
+
+This was for Mr. Leverett, but Sam had a very nice boy's voice and felt
+proud enough when he lifted it up in church.
+
+"I'll come, grandmother," he said with some elation, as if he alone had
+been asked. And as he tore off the blinder he put his head down close to
+Doris, and whispered:
+
+"It was mean of you to hide behind grandfather every time, and he didn't
+play fair a bit."
+
+But having a peep at the red shoes as they went dancing round was fair
+enough!
+
+Hollis Leverett sang in the choir. They had come to this innovation,
+though they drew the line at instrumental music. He had a really fine
+tenor voice. Mr. Leverett sang in a sort of natural, untrained tone,
+very sweet. Mrs. Hollis couldn't sing at all, but she was very proud to
+have the children take after their father. There were times when Aunt
+Priscilla sang for herself, but her voice had grown rather quivering and
+uncertain. So Betty and her mother had to do their best to keep from
+being drowned out. But the old hymns were touching, with here and there
+a line of rare sweetness.
+
+Hollis Leverett was going to take Aunt Priscilla home and then return
+for the others. Sam insisted upon going with them, so grandfather
+roasted some corn for Bessy and Doris. They had not the high art of
+popping it then and turning it inside out, although now and then a grain
+achieved such a success all by itself. Bessy thought Doris rather queer
+and not very smart.
+
+The two little ones were bundled up and made ready, and the sleigh came
+back with a jingle for warning. Mrs. Hollis took her baby in her arms,
+grandfather carried out little Foster, and they were all packed in
+snugly and covered up almost head and ears with the great fur robes,
+while little Sam shouted out the last good-night.
+
+Mrs. Leverett straightened things in the best room until all the
+company air had gone out of it. Doris felt the difference and was glad
+to come out to her own chimney corner. Then Betty spread the table and
+they had a light supper, for, what with dinner being a little late and
+very hearty, no one was hungry. But they sipped their tea and talked
+over the children and how finely Sam was getting along in his studies,
+and Mrs. Leverett brought up the Manning children, for much as she loved
+Hollis, her daughter Mary's children came in for a share of
+grandmotherly affection. And in her heart she felt that little James was
+quite as good as anybody.
+
+Warren had promised to spend the evening with some young friends. Betty
+wished she were a year older and could have the privilege of inviting in
+schoolmates and their brothers, and that she might have fire in the
+parlor on special occasions. But, to compensate, some of the neighbors
+dropped in. Doris and James played fox and geese until they were sleepy.
+James had a little cot in the corner of grandmother's room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+WHAT WINTER BROUGHT
+
+
+Oh, what a lovely white world it was! The low, sedgy places were frozen
+over and covered with snow; the edges of the bay, Charles River, and
+Mystic River were assuming their winter garments as well. And when, just
+a week after, another snowstorm came, there seemed a multitude of white
+peaks out in the harbor, and the hills were transformed into veritable
+snow-capped mountains. Winter had set in with a rigor unknown to-day.
+But people did not seem to mind it. Even the children had a good time
+sledding and snowballing and building snow forts and fighting battles.
+There were mighty struggles between the North Enders and the South
+Enders. Louisburg was retaken, 1775 was re-enacted, and Paul Revere
+again swung his lantern and roused his party to arms, and snowballs
+whitened instead of darkening the air with the smoke of firearms. Deeds
+of mighty prowess were done on both sides.
+
+But the boys had the best of it surely. The girls had too much to do.
+They were soon too large for romping and playing. There were stockings
+to knit and to darn. There were long overseams in sheets; there was no
+end of shirt-making for the men. They put the hems in their own frocks
+and aprons, they stitched gussets and bands and seams. People were still
+spinning and weaving, though the mills that were to lead the revolution
+in industries had come in. The Embargo was taxing the ingenuity of
+brains as well as hands, and as more of everything was needed for the
+increase of population, new methods were invented to shorten processes
+that were to make New England the manufacturing center of the new world.
+
+When the children had nothing else to do there was always a bag of
+carpet rags handy. There were braided rugs that were quite marvels of
+taste, and even the hit-or-miss ones were not bad.
+
+Still they were allowed out after supper on moonlight nights for an hour
+or so, and then they had grand good times. The father or elder brothers
+went along to see that no harm happened. Fort Hill was one of the
+favorite coasting places, and parties of a larger growth thronged here.
+But Beacon Hill had not been shorn of all its glory.
+
+Uncle Winthrop came over one day and took the children and Betty to see
+the battle at Fort Hill. The British had intrenched themselves with
+forts and breastworks and had their colors flying. It really had been
+hard work to enlist men or boys in this army. No one likes to go into a
+fight with the foregone conclusion that he is to be beaten. But they
+were to do their best, and they did it. The elders went out to see the
+fun. The rebels directed all their energies to the capture of one fort
+instead of opening fire all along the line, and by dusk they had
+succeeded in demolishing that, when the troops on both sides were
+summoned home to supper and to comfortable beds, an innovation not laid
+down in the rules of warfare.
+
+Little James had been fired with military ardor. Cousin Sam was the
+leader of one detachment of the rebel forces. Catch him anywhere but on
+the winning side!
+
+Doris had been much interested as well, and that evening Uncle Leverett
+told them stories about Boston thirty years before. He was a young man
+of three-and-twenty when Paul Revere swung his lantern to give the
+alarm. He could only touch lightly upon what had been such solemn
+earnest to the men of that time, the women as well.
+
+"I'm going to be a soldier," declared James, with all the fervor of his
+youthful years. "But you can't ever be, Doris."
+
+"No," answered Doris softly, squeezing Uncle Leverett's hand in both of
+hers. "But there isn't any war."
+
+"Yes there is--over in France and England, and ever so many places. My
+father was reading about it. And if there wasn't any war here, couldn't
+we go and fight for some other country?"
+
+"I hope there will never be war in your time, Jimmie, boy," said his
+grandmother. "And it is bedtime for little people."
+
+"Why does it come bedtime so soon?" in a deeply aggrieved tone. "When I
+am a big man I am going to sit up clear till morning. And I'll tell my
+grandchildren all night long how I fought in the wars."
+
+"That is looking a long way ahead," returned grandfather.
+
+Besides the lessons, Doris was writing a letter to Miss Arabella. That
+lady would have warmly welcomed any little scrawl in Doris' own hand.
+Uncle Winthrop had acknowledged her safe arrival in good health, and
+enlarged somewhat on the pleasant home she had found with her relatives.
+Betty had overlooked the little girl's letter and made numerous
+corrections, and she had copied and thought of some new things and
+copied it over again. She had added a little French verse also.
+
+"Dear me!" exclaimed Aunt Elizabeth, "when will the child ever learn
+anything useful! There doesn't seem any time. The idea of a girl of ten
+years old never having knit a stocking! And she will be full that and
+more!"
+
+"But everybody doesn't knit," said Betty.
+
+"Oh, yes, you can buy those flimsy French things that do not give you
+any wear. And presently we may not be able to buy either French or
+English. She is not going to be so rich either. It's nonsense to think
+of that marshy land ever being valuable. Whatever possessed anyone to
+buy it, I can't see! And if Doris was to be a queen I think she ought to
+know something useful."
+
+"I do not suppose I shall ever need to spin," Betty said rather archly.
+
+Mrs. Leverett had insisted that all her girls should learn to spin both
+wool and flax. Betty had rebelled a little two years ago, but she had
+learned nevertheless.
+
+"And there was a time when a premium was paid to the most skillful
+spinner. Your grandmother, Betty, was among those who spun on the
+Common. The women used to go out there with their wheels. And there were
+spinning schools. The better class had to pay, but a certain number of
+poor women were taught on condition that they would teach their children
+at home. And it is not a hundred years ago either. There was no cloth to
+be had, and Manufactory House was established."
+
+Betty had heard the story of spinning on the Commons, for her own
+grandmother had told it. But she had an idea that the world would go on
+rather than retrograde. For now they were turning out cotton cloth and
+printing calico and making canvas and duck, and it was the boast of the
+famous _Constitution_ that everything besides her armament was made in
+Massachusetts.
+
+Uncle Winthrop thought Doris' letter was quite a masterpiece for a
+little girl. At least, that was what he said. I think he was a good deal
+more interested in that than in the sampler she had begun. And he agreed
+privately with Betty that "useless" sometimes was misspelled into
+"useful."
+
+Another letter created quite a consternation. This was from Hartford.
+Mrs. King wrote that a friend, a Mr. Eastman, was going from Springfield
+to Boston on some business, and on his return he would bring Betty home
+with him. His wife was going on to Hartford a few days later and would
+be very pleased to have Betty's company. She did not know when another
+chance would offer, for not many people were journeying about in the
+winter.
+
+Betty was to bring her nicest gowns, and she needed a good thick pelisse
+and heavy woolen frock for outside wear. The new hats were very large,
+and young girls were wearing white or cream beaver. Some very handsome
+ones had come from New York recently. There was a big bow on the top,
+and two feathers if you could afford it, and ribbon of the same width
+tied under the chin. She was to bring her slippers and clocked
+stockings, her newest white frock, and if she had to buy a new one of
+any kind it need not be made until she came to Hartford.
+
+"I never heard of such a thing!" declared Mrs. Leverett, aghast. "She
+must think your father is made of money. And when 'Lecty and Matthias
+were married they went to housekeeping in three rooms in old Mrs.
+Morton's house, and 'Lecty was happy as a queen, and had to save at
+every turn. She wasn't talking then about white hats and wide ribbons
+and feathers and gewgaws. The idea!"
+
+"Of course I can't have the hat," returned Betty resignedly. "But my
+brown one will do. And, oh, isn't it lucky my silk is made and trimmed
+with that beautiful lace! If I only had my white skirt worked! And that
+India muslin might do with a little fixing up. If I had a lace ruffle to
+put around the bottom!"
+
+"I don't know how I can spare you, Betty. I can't put Doris to doing
+anything. When any of my girls were ten years old they could do quite a
+bit of housekeeping. If she wasn't so behind in her studies!"
+
+Betty had twenty plans in a moment, but she knew her mother would object
+to every one. She would be very discreet until she could talk the matter
+over with her father.
+
+"Everything about the journey is so nicely arranged," she began; "and,
+you see, Electa says it will not cost anything to Springfield. There may
+not be a chance again this whole winter."
+
+"The summer will be a good deal pleasanter."
+
+"But the Capital won't be nearly so"--"gay," she was about to say, but
+changed it to "interesting."
+
+"Betty, I do wish you were more serious-minded. To think you're sixteen,
+almost a woman, and in some things you're just a companion for Doris!"
+
+Betty thought it was rather hard to be between everything. She was not
+old enough for society, she was not a young lady, but she was too old to
+indulge in the frolics of girlhood. She couldn't be wise and sedate--at
+least, she did not want to be. And were the fun and the good times
+really wicked?
+
+She was on the lookout for her father that evening. Warren was going to
+the house of a friend to supper, as the debating society met there, and
+it saved him a long walk.
+
+"Father, Electa's letter has come," in a hurried whisper. "She's planned
+out my visit, but mother thinks--oh, do try and persuade her, and make
+it possible! I want to go so much."
+
+But Betty began to think the subject never would be mentioned. Supper
+was cleared away, Doris and James studied, and she sat and worked
+diligently on her white gown. Then she knew her mother did not mean to
+say a word before her and presently she went to bed.
+
+Mrs. Leverett handed the letter over to her husband. "From 'Lecty," she
+said briefly.
+
+He read it and re-read it, while she knit on her stocking.
+
+"Yes"--slowly. "Well--Betty might as well go. She has been promised the
+visit so long."
+
+"I can't spare her. Even if I sent James home, there's Doris. And I am
+not as spry as I was ten years ago. The work is heavy."
+
+"Oh, you must have someone. John Grant was in from Roxbury to-day. He
+has two girls quite anxious to go out this winter. I think the oldest
+means to marry next spring or summer, and wants to earn a little money."
+
+"We can't take in everyone who wants to earn a little money."
+
+"No," humorously. "It would bankrupt us these hard times. The keep would
+be the same as for Betty, and a few dollars wages wouldn't signify."
+
+"But Betty'll want no end of things. It does seem as if 'Lecty had
+turned into a fine lady. Whether it would be a good influence on Betty!
+She's never been serious yet."
+
+"And Electa joined the church at fourteen. I think you can trust Betty
+with her. To be sure, Mat's prospered beyond everything."
+
+Prosperity and every good gift came from the Lord, Mrs. Leverett fully
+believed. And yet David had seen the "ungodly in great prosperity." She
+had a mother's pride in Mr. and Mrs. King, but they were rather gay with
+dinner parties and everything.
+
+"She will have to take Betty just as she is. Her clothes are good
+enough."
+
+Mr. Leverett re-read the letter. He wasn't much judge of white hats and
+wide ribbons, and, since the time was short, perhaps Electa could help
+her to spend the money to better advantage, and there would be no worry.
+He would just slip a bill or two in Betty's hand toward the last.
+
+"Betty's a nice-looking girl," said her father.
+
+"I should be sorry to have her niceness all come out in looks," said
+Betty's mother.
+
+There was no reply to this.
+
+"I really do not think she ought to go. There will be other winters."
+
+"Well--we will sleep on the matter. We can't tell about next winter."
+
+Warren thought she ought to go. Aunt Priscilla came over a day or two
+after in Jonas Field's sleigh. He was out collecting, and would call for
+her at half-past five, though she still insisted she was pretty
+sure-footed in walking.
+
+Mr. Perkins in a moment of annoyance had once said to his wife:
+"Priscilla, you have one virtue, at least. One can always tell just
+where to find you. You are sure to be on the opposition side."
+
+She had a faculty of always seeing how the other side looked. She had a
+curious sympathy with it as well. And though she was not an irresolute
+woman, she did sometimes have a longing to go over to the enemy when it
+was very attractive.
+
+She listened now--and nodded at Mrs. Leverett's reasoning, adding the
+pungency of her sniff. Betty's heart dropped like lead. True, she had
+not really counted on Aunt Priscilla's influence.
+
+"I just do suppose if 'Lecty was ill and alone, and wanted Betty,
+there'd be no difficulty. It's the question between work and play. There
+wan't much time to play when I was young, and now I wish I had some of
+the work, since I'm too old to play. I do believe the thing ought to be
+evened up."
+
+This was rather non-committal, but the girl's heart rose a little.
+
+"Oh, if 'Lecty was ill--but you know, Aunt Priscilla, they keep a man
+beside the girl, and it seems to me she is always having a nurse when
+the children are ailing, or a woman in to sew, or some extra help. She
+doesn't _need_ Betty, and it seems as if I did."
+
+"Now, if that little young one was good for anything!"
+
+"She's at her lessons all the time, and she must learn to sew. I should
+have been ashamed of my girls if they had not known how to make one
+single garment by the time they were ten year old."
+
+"But Doris isn't ten," interposed Betty. "And here is Electa's letter,
+Aunt Priscilla."
+
+"No, I don't see how I can spare Betty," said Mrs. Leverett decisively.
+
+Aunt Priscilla took out her glasses and polished them and then adjusted
+them to her rather high nose.
+
+"Well, 'Lecty's got to be quite quality, hasn't she? And Matthias, too.
+I suppose it's proper to give folks their whole name when they're
+getting up in the world and going to legislatures. But land! I remember
+Mat King when he was a patched-up, barefooted little boy. He was always
+hanging after 'Lecty, and your uncle thought she might have done better.
+'Lecty was real good-looking. And now they're top of the heap with
+menservants and maidservants, and goodness knows what all."
+
+"Yes, they have prospered remarkably."
+
+"The Kings were a nice family. My, how Mis' King did keep them children,
+five of them, when their father died, and not a black sheep among them!
+Theron's a big sea captain, and Zenas in Washington building up the
+Capitol, and I dare say Mat is thinking of being sent to Congress. Joe
+is in the Army, and the young one keeps his mother a lady in New York,
+I've heard say. Mis' King deserves some reward."
+
+Betty glanced up in surprise. It was seldom Aunt Priscilla praised in
+this wholesale fashion.
+
+"And this about the hat is just queer, Betty. You should have seen old
+Madam Clarissa Bowdoin, who came to call yesterday, with a fine sleigh
+and driver and footman. She just holds on to this world's good things, I
+tell you, and she's past seventy. My, how she was trigged out in a black
+satin pelisse lined with fur! And she had a black beaver bonnet or hat,
+whatever you call it, with a big bow on top, and two black feathers
+flying. I should hate to have my feathers whip all out in such a windy
+day."
+
+"Oh, yes, that is the first style," said Betty. "Hartford can't keep it
+all."
+
+"Hartford can't hold a candle to Boston, even if Mat King is there.
+Stands to reason we can get fashions just as soon here, if theirs do
+come from New York. Madam was mighty fine. You see, I do have some
+grand friends, Betty. Your uncle was a man well thought of."
+
+"Madam Bowdoin holds her age wonderfully," said Mrs. Leverett.
+
+"Yes. But she's never done a day's work in her life, and I don't
+remember when I didn't work. Let me see--I've most forgot the thread of
+my discourse. Oh, you never would believe, Betty, that twenty year ago
+there was just such a fashion. I had a white beaver--what possessed me
+to get it I don't know. Everything was awful high. I had an idea that
+white would be rather plain, but when it had that great bow on top, and
+strings a full finger wide--well, I didn't even dare show it to your
+uncle! So I packed it away with white wax and in a linen towel, and when
+she'd gone yesterday I went and looked at it. 'Taint white now, but it's
+just the color of rich cream when it's stood twenty-four hours or so.
+Fursisee, they were just as much alike as two peas except as to color
+and the feathers. I declare I _was_ beat! Now, if you were going to be
+married, Betty, it might do for a wedding hat."
+
+"But I'm not going to be married," with a sigh.
+
+"I should hope not," said her mother--"at sixteen."
+
+"My sister Patty was married when she was sixteen, and Submit when she
+was seventeen. The oldest girls went off in a hurry, so the others had
+to fill their places. Well--it just amazes me reading about this bonnet.
+And whatever I'll do with mine except to give it away, I don't know. I
+did think once of having it dyed. But the bow on top was so handsome,
+and I've kept paper wadded up inside, and it hasn't flatted down a mite.
+Now, Elizabeth, she has that silk we all thought so foolish, and her
+brown frock and pelisse will be just the thing to travel in. And maybe I
+could find something else. The things will be scattered when I am dead
+and gone, and I might as well have the good of giving them away. Most
+of the girls are married off and have husbands to provide for them. I
+used to think I'd take some orphan body to train and sort of fill
+Polly's place, for she grows more unreliable every day. Yet I do suppose
+it's Christian charity to keep her. And young folks are so trifling."
+
+"Go make a cup of tea, Betty," said Mrs. Leverett.
+
+"Now, Elizabeth," when Betty had shut the door, "I don't see why you
+mightn't as well let Betty go as not. 'Tisn't as if it was among
+strangers. And there's really no telling what may happen next year. We
+haven't any promise of that."
+
+Mrs. Leverett looked up in surprise.
+
+"Tisn't every day such a chance comes to hand. She couldn't go alone on
+a journey like that. And 'Lecty seems quite lotting on it."
+
+"But Betty's just started in at housekeeping, and she would forget so
+much."
+
+"Betty started in full six months ago. And the world swings round so
+fast I dare say what she learns will be as old-fashioned as the hills in
+a few years. I didn't do the way my mother taught me--husband used to
+laugh me out of it. She'll have time enough to learn."
+
+The tea, a biscuit, and a piece of pie came in in tempting array. Aunt
+Priscilla was at her second cup when Jonas Field arrived, good ten
+minutes before the time.
+
+"You come over to-morrow, Betty," said Aunt Priscilla. "You and Dorothy
+just take a run; it'll do you good. That child will turn into a book
+next. She's got some of the Adams streaks in her. And girls don't need
+so much book learning. Solomon's wise, and he don't even know his
+letters."
+
+That made Doris laugh. She was getting quite used to Aunt Priscilla.
+She rose and made a pretty courtesy, and said she would like to come.
+
+Polly had forgotten to light the lamp. She had been nursing Solomon, and
+the fire had burned low. Aunt Priscilla scolded, to be sure. Polly was
+getting rather deaf as well.
+
+"It's warm out in the kitchen," said Polly.
+
+"I want it warm here. I aint going to begin to save on firing at my time
+of life! I have enough to last me out, and I don't suppose anybody will
+thank me for the rest. Bring in some logs."
+
+Aunt Priscilla sat with a shawl around her until the cheerful warmth
+began to diffuse itself and the blaze lightened up the room. Polly out
+in the kitchen was rehearsing her woes to Solomon.
+
+"It's my 'pinion if missus lives much longer she'll be queerer'n Dick's
+hatband. That just wouldn't lay anyhow, I've heerd tell, though I don't
+know who Dick was and what he'd been doing, but he was mighty queer.
+'Pears to me he must a-lived before the war when General Washington
+licked the English. And there's no suitin' missus. First it's too hot
+and you're 'stravagant, then it's too cold and she wants to burn up all
+the wood in creation!"
+
+Aunt Priscilla watched the flame of the dancing scarlet, blue, and
+leaping white-capped arrows that shot up, and out of the side of one eye
+she saw a picture on the end of the braided rug--a little girl with a
+cloud of light curls sitting there with a great gray cat in her lap. The
+room was so much less lonely then. Perhaps she was getting old, real
+old, with a weakness for human kind. Was that a sign? She did enjoy the
+runs over to the Leveretts'. What would happen if she should not be able
+to go out!
+
+She gave a little shudder over that. Of all the large family of sisters
+and brothers there was no one living very near or dear to her. She was
+next to the youngest. They had all married, some had died, one brother
+had gone to the Carolinas and found the climate so agreeable he had
+settled there. One sister had gone back to England. There were some
+nieces and nephews, but in the early part of her married life Mr.
+Perkins _had_ objected to any of them making a home at his house. "We
+have no children of our own," he said, "and I take it as a sign that if
+the Lord had meant us to care for any, he would have sent them direct to
+us, and not had us taking them in at second-hand."
+
+They had both grown selfish and only considered their own wants and
+comforts. But the years of solitude looked less and less inviting to the
+woman, who had been born with a large social side that had met with a
+pinch here, been lopped off there, and crowded in another person's
+measure. If the person had not been upright, scrupulously just in his
+dealings, and a good provider, that would have altered her respect for
+him. And wives were to obey their husbands, just as children were
+trained to obey their parents.
+
+But children were having ideas of their own now. Well, when she was
+sixteen she went to Marblehead and spent a summer with her sister
+Esther, who was having hard times then with her flock of little
+children, and who a few years after had given up the struggle. Mr. Green
+had married again and gone out to the lake countries and started a
+sawmill, where there were forests to his hand.
+
+But this long-ago summer had been an epoch in her life. She had baked
+and brewed, swept and scrubbed, cooked and put in her spare time
+spinning, while poor Esther sewed and took care of a very cross pair of
+twins and crawled about a little. There had been some merrymaking that
+would hardly have been allowed at home, and a young man who had sat on
+the doorstep and talked, who had taken her driving, and with whom she
+had wickedly and frivolously danced one afternoon when a party of young
+people had a merrymaking after the hay was in. It was the only time in
+her life she had ever danced, and it was a glimpse of fairy delight to
+her. But she was frightened half to death when she came home, and began
+to have two sides to her life, and she had never gotten rid of the other
+side.
+
+She had a vague idea that next summer she would go again. Meanwhile Mr.
+Perkins began to come. There was an older sister, and no one surmised it
+was Priscilla, until in March, when he spoke to Priscilla's father.
+
+"I declare I was clear beat," said the worthy parent. "Seems to me
+Martha would be more suitable, but his heart's set on Priscilla. He's a
+good, steady man, forehanded and all that, and will make her a good
+husband, and she'll keep growing older. There is nothing to say against
+it."
+
+The idea that Priscilla would say anything was not entertained for a
+moment. Mr. Perkins began to walk home from church with her and come to
+tea on Sunday evening, and it was soon noised about that they were
+keeping steady company. Martha went to Marblehead that summer and one of
+the twins died. In the fall Priscilla was married and went to
+housekeeping in King Street, over her husband's place of business. She
+was engrossed with her life, but she dreamed sometimes of the other side
+and the young man who had remarked upon the gowns she wore and put roses
+in her hair, and she had ideas of lace and ribbons and the vanities of
+the world in that early married period. Her attire was rich but severely
+plain; she was not stinted in anything. She was even allowed to "lay by"
+on her own account, which meant saving up a little money. She made a
+good, careful wife. And some months before he died, touched by her
+attentive care, her husband said:
+
+"Silla, I don't see but you might as well have all I'm worth, as to
+divide it round in the family. They will be disappointed, I suppose, but
+they haven't earned nor saved. You have been a good wife, and you just
+take your comfort on it when I'm gone. Then if you should feel minded to
+give back some of it--why, that's your affair."
+
+The Perkins family had _not_ liked it very well. They knew Aunt
+Priscilla would marry again, and all that money go to a second husband.
+But she had not married, though there had been opportunities. Later on
+she almost wished she had. She had entertained plans of taking a girl to
+bring up, and had considered this little orphaned Adams girl,--who she
+had imagined in a vague way would be glad of a good home with a prospect
+of some money,--if she behaved herself rightly. She had pictured a
+stout, red-cheeked girl who needed training, and not a fine little lady
+like Doris Adams.
+
+But she was glad Doris had sat there on the rug with the cat in her lap.
+And she was glad there had been the summer at Marblehead, and the young
+man who had said more with his eyes than with his lips. He had never
+married, and had been among the earliest to lay down his life for his
+country. She always felt that in a way he belonged to her. And if in
+youth she had had one good time, why shouldn't Betty? Perhaps Betty
+might marry in some sensible way that would be for the best, and this
+visit at Hartford would illume all her life.
+
+There were things about it she had never confessed. When her conscience
+upbraided her mightily she called them sins and prayed over them. There
+were other matters--the white bonnet had been one. She had purchased it
+of a friend who was going in mourning, who had made her try it on, and
+said:
+
+"Just look at yourself in the glass, Priscilla Perkins. You never had
+anything half so becoming. You look five years younger!"
+
+She did look in the glass. She could have pirouetted around the room in
+delight. She was in love with her pretty youthful face.
+
+So she bought the hat--at a bargain, of course. She put it away when it
+came home, and visited it surreptitiously, but somehow never had the
+courage to confess, or to propose wearing it, though other women of her
+age indulged in as much and more gayety. In the spring she bought a new
+silk gown, a gray with a kind of lilac tint, and cut off the breadths to
+make sure of it.
+
+Mr. Perkins viewed it critically.
+
+"I'm not quite certain, Priscilla, that it is appropriate. And a brown
+would give you so much more good wear. It looks too--too youthful."
+
+He never remembered there were fifteen years between himself and
+Priscilla.
+
+"I--I think I would change it."
+
+"Oh," with the best accent of regret she could assume, "I have cut off
+the breadths and begun to sew them up. It's the spring color. And summer
+is coming."
+
+"Uu--um----" with a reluctant nod.
+
+She wore it to a christening and a wedding, but the real delight in it
+had to be smothered. And when her husband proposed she should have it
+dyed she laid it away.
+
+There were other foolish indulgences. Bows and artificial flowers that
+she had put on bonnets and worn in her own room with locked doors, then
+pulled them off and laid them away. She was so fond of pretty things,
+gay things, the pleasures of life--and she was always relegated to the
+prose! Other people wore finery with a serene calmness, and went about
+their daily duties, to church, on missions of mercy, and were well
+thought of. Where was the sin? Her clothes cost quite as much. Mr.
+Perkins was a close manager but not stingy with his wife.
+
+She used to think she would confess to her mother about the dancing, but
+she never had. She ought to bring out these "sins of the eye" and lay
+them before her husband, but she never found the right moment and the
+courage. She had meant to deal them out to the Leverett girls,
+especially Electa--but Electa seemed to prosper so amazingly! She _must_
+do something with them, and clear up her life, sweep, and garnish before
+the summons came. She was getting to be old now, and if she went off
+suddenly someone would come in and take possession and scatter her
+treasures. Likely as not it would be the Perkinses, for she hadn't made
+any will.
+
+Why shouldn't Betty have some of them and go off on her good time. It
+wouldn't be housekeeping and spinning and looking after fractious
+children. But those evenings out on the stoop, and the timid invitations
+to take a walk, the pressure of the hand, the smile out of the eyes--oh,
+why----
+
+All her life she had been asking "Why?"--taking the hard and distasteful
+because she thought there was a virtue in it, not because she had been
+trained to believe goodness must have a severe side and that really
+pleasant things were wicked. The "Whys" had never been answered, much as
+she had prayed about them.
+
+She would never take the girl to bring up now. As for Doris
+Adams--Cousin Winthrop would be thinking presently that the ground
+wasn't good enough for her to walk on. So there was only Betty, unless
+she took up some of the Perkins girls. Abby was rather nice. But, after
+all, her father was only a half-brother to Aunt Priscilla's husband. And
+she must make that will.
+
+"Missus, aint you goin' to come to supper? I told you 'twas ready full
+five minutes ago," said an aggrieved voice.
+
+Aunt Priscilla sprang up and gave herself a kind of mental shaking. She
+stepped around to avoid the little girl on the rug with the cat in her
+lap. Polly went on grumbling. The toast was cold, the tea had drawn too
+long, and for once the mistress never said a word in dispraise.
+
+"She's goin' off," thought Polly. "That's a bad sign, though she does
+sit over the fire a good deal, and you can't tell by that. Land alive! I
+hope she'll live my time out, or I'll sure have to go to the poorhouse!"
+
+Aunt Priscilla went back to her fire and the vision of the little girl
+who had made a curious impression on her by a kind of sweetness quite
+new in her experience. It had disturbed her greatly. Nothing about the
+child had been as she supposed.
+
+Everybody went down to her, which meant that she had some subtle,
+indescribable charm, but Aunt Priscilla would have said she had no
+dictionary words to explain it, though there had been a speller and
+definer in her day.
+
+The little girl had come to "seven times" in the tables. She had studied
+an hour, when Betty said they had better go and get back by dark. Jamie
+boy gave a little "snicker" as she shut her book. The disdain of her
+young compeer was quite hard to bear, but she meekly accepted the fact
+that she "wasn't smart." If she had known how he longed to go with them,
+she would have felt quite even, but he kept that to himself.
+
+All Boston was still hooded in snow, for every few days there came a
+new fall. Oh, how beautiful it was! Everybody walked in the middle of
+the street,--it was so hard and smooth,--though you had to keep turning
+out for vehicles, but one didn't meet them very often.
+
+Boots were not made high for girls and women then, but everybody had a
+pair of thick woolen stockings, some of them with a leather sole on the
+outside, which was more durable. The children pulled them well up over
+their knees and kept good and warm. Some people had leather leggings,
+but rubber boots had not been invented.
+
+Boys were out snowballing--girls, too, for that matter. Someone sent a
+ball that flew all over Doris, but she only laughed. She snowballed with
+little James now and then.
+
+So they were bright and merry when they reached the sign of "Jonas
+Field," and Doris gave her pretty, rather formal greeting. She was never
+quite sure of Aunt Priscilla.
+
+"I suppose _you_ came to see Solomon!" exclaimed that lady.
+
+"Not altogether," replied Doris.
+
+"Well, he is out in the kitchen. And, Betty, what is the prospect
+to-day?"
+
+"Oh, Aunt Priscilla, I almost think I'll get off. Father is on my side,
+and mother did really promise 'Lecty last summer. Mother couldn't get
+along alone, you know, and Jimmie boy is doing so well at school that
+she would like to keep him all winter. Father knows of a girl who would
+be very glad to come in and work for three dollars a month, though he
+says everybody gives four or more. But Mr. Eastman will be here so soon.
+Father said I might get some things in Hartford."
+
+"We'll see what Boston has first," returned Aunt Priscilla with a little
+snort. "I've been hunting over _my_ things."
+
+People in those days thought it a great favor to have clothes left to
+them, as you will see by old wills. And occasionally the grandmothers
+brought out garments beforehand, and did not wait until they were dead
+and gone.
+
+"I have a silk gown that I never wore above half a dozen times. I could
+have it dyed, I suppose, but they're so apt to get stringy afterward.
+Maybe you wouldn't like it because it's a kind of gray. You're free to
+leave it alone. I shan't be a mite put out."
+
+The old spirit of holding on reasserted itself. Of course, if Betty
+didn't like it, _her_ duty would be done.
+
+"Oh, Aunt Priscilla! It looks like moonlight over the harbor. It's
+beautiful."
+
+The elder woman had shaken it out and made ripples with it, and Betty
+stood in admiring wonderment. It looked to her like a wedding gown, but
+she knew Aunt Priscilla's had been Canton crape, dyed brown first and
+then black and then worn out. There was an old adage to the effect that
+one never could get rich until one's wedding clothes were worn out.
+
+"It's spotted some, I find--just a faint kind of yellow, but that may
+cut out. I never had any good of it," and she sighed. "It isn't what you
+might call gay; but, land alive! I might as well have bought bright red!
+There's plenty of it to make over. They weren't wearing such skimping
+skirts then, and I had an extra breadth put in so that it would all fade
+alike. Well----" And she gave a half-reluctant sigh.
+
+"Why, I feel as if it ought to be saved for a wedding gown," declared
+Betty, her eyes alight with pleasure. "It's the most beautiful thing.
+Oh, Aunt Priscilla!"
+
+A modern girl would have thrown her arms around Aunt Priscilla's neck
+and kissed her, if one could imagine a modern girl being grateful for a
+gown a quarter of a century old, except for masquerading purposes.
+People who could remember the great Jonathan Edwards awakening still
+classed all outward demonstrations of regard as carnal affections to be
+subdued. The poor old life hungered now for a little human love without
+understanding what its want really was, just as it had hungered for more
+than half a century.
+
+"Well, child, maybe 'Lecty can plan to make something out of it. You
+better just take it to her. And here's a box of ribbons, things I've had
+no use for this many a year. You see I had a way of saving up--I didn't
+have much call for wearing such."
+
+Aunt Priscilla felt that she was renouncing idols. How many times she
+had fingered these things with exquisite love and longing and a desire
+to wear them! Madam Bowdoin, almost ten years older, wore her fine
+ribbons and laces and her own snowy white hair in little rings about her
+forehead. No one accused her of aping youth. Aunt Priscilla had worn a
+false front under her cap for many a year that was now a rusty, faded
+brown. Her own white hair was cut off close.
+
+"Oh, Aunt Priscilla, I think my ship has come in from the Indies. I
+never can thank you enough. I'm so glad you saved them. You see, times
+_are_ hard, and if father had to pay a girl for taking my place at home,
+he wouldn't feel that he could afford me much finery. And the journey,
+too. But I have only to pay from Springfield to Boston, for Mr. Eastman
+has his own conveyance--a nice big covered sleigh. And now all these
+beautiful things! I feel as rich as a queen."
+
+Doris had been standing there big-eyed and never once asked for Solomon.
+
+Aunt Priscilla began to fold the gown. It still had a crackle and
+rustle delightful to hear. And there was a roll of new pieces.
+
+"Why, next summer I could have a lovely drawn bonnet--only it _does_
+cost so much to have one made. I wish I knew how," said Betty.
+
+"I suppose--you don't want to see my old thing?" rather contemptuously.
+
+"The hat, do you mean? Oh, I just should! I've thought so much about it,
+and how queer it is that old-fashioned articles should come round."
+
+"Every seven years, people say; but I don't believe it's quite as often
+as that."
+
+From the careful way it was pinned up, one would never imagine it had
+been out that very morning. The bows were filled with paper to keep them
+up, and bits of paper crumpled up around, so they could not be crushed.
+Its days of whiteness were over, but it was the loveliest, softest cream
+tint, and looked as if it had just come over from France. The beaver was
+almost like plush, and the puffed satin lining inside was as fresh as if
+its reverse plaits had just been laid in place.
+
+"Oh, do put it on!" cried Doris eagerly.
+
+Betty held the strings together under her fair round chin.
+
+"You look like a queen!" said the child admiringly.
+
+"Why it _is_ just as they are wearing them now, the tip-top style.
+'Lecty couldn't have described this hat any better if she had seen it.
+And if I can have it, Aunt Priscilla, I shall not care a bit about
+feathers. It's beautiful enough without."
+
+"Yes, yes, take them all and have a good time with them. Now you see if
+you can pack it up--you'll have to learn."
+
+Aunt Priscilla dropped into her chair. She had cast out her life's
+temptations, and it had been a great struggle.
+
+"Not that way--make the bow stand up. The bandbox is large enough. And
+give the strings a loose fold, so. Now put that white paper over. It's
+like making a gambrel roof. Then bring up the ends of the towel and pin
+them. Polly shall go along and carry it home for you."
+
+"I'm a thousand times obliged. I wish I knew what to do in return."
+
+"Have a good time, but don't forget that a good time is not all to life.
+Child--why do you look at me so?" for Doris had come close to Aunt
+Priscilla and seemed studying her.
+
+"Were you ever a little girl, and what was your good time like?"
+
+Doris' wondering eyes were soft and seemed more pitying than curious.
+
+"No, I never was a little girl. There were no little girls in my time."
+She jerked the words out in a spasmodic way, and put her hand to her
+heart as if there was a pain or pressure. "When I was three year old I
+had to take care of my little brother. I stood up on a bench to wash
+dishes when I was four, and scoured milk-pans and the pewter plates we
+used then. And at six I was spinning on the little wheel and knitting
+stockings. I went to school part of every year, and at thirteen I was
+doing a woman's work. No, I never was a little girl."
+
+Doris put her soft hand over the one that had been strained and made
+coarse and large in the joints, and roughened as to skin while yet it
+was in its tender youth. And all the pay there had been from her
+father's estate had been three hundred dollars to each girl, the
+remainder being divided evenly among the boys. She felt suddenly
+grateful to Hatfield Perkins for the easier times of her married life.
+
+"Now, both of you go out in the kitchen and get a piece of Polly's fresh
+gingerbread. She hasn't lost her art in that yet. Then you must run off
+home, for it will soon be dark, and Betty will be needed about the
+supper."
+
+The gingerbread was splendid. Doris broke off little crumbs and fed them
+to Solomon, and told him sometime she would come and spend the afternoon
+with him. She should be so lonesome when Betty went away.
+
+Polly carried the bandbox and bundle for them, and Betty took the box of
+ribbons. Aunt Priscilla brought out the light-stand and set her candle
+on it and turned over the leaves of her old Bible to read about the
+daughters of Zion with their tinkling feet and their cauls and their
+round tires like the moon, the chains and the bracelets and the bonnets,
+the earrings, the mantles, the wimples and the crisping pins, the fine
+linen and the hoods and the veils--and all these were to be done away
+with! To be sure she did not really know what they all were, but her few
+had been snares and a source of secret idolatry for years and years. She
+had nothing to do now but to consider the end of all things and prepare
+for it. But there was the dreaded will yet to make. If only there was
+someone who really cared about her!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+CONCERNING MANY THINGS
+
+
+When Providence overruled, in the early part of the century, people
+generally gave in. The stronger tide was called Providence. Perhaps
+there was a small degree of fatalism in it. So Mrs. Leverett acquiesced,
+and recalled the fact that she had promised Electa that Betty should
+come.
+
+Aunt Priscilla's generosity was astonishing. The silken gown would not
+be made over until Betty reached Hartford. She worked industriously on
+her white one, but her mother found so many things for her to do. Then
+Martha Grant came--a stout, hearty, pink-cheeked country girl who knew
+how to "take hold," and was glad of an opportunity to earn something
+toward a wedding gown. Doris was so interested that she hardly
+remembered how much she should miss Betty, though Warren promised to
+help her with her lessons.
+
+So the trunk was packed. Luckily the bandbox could go in it, for it was
+quite small. Most of the bandboxes were immense affairs in which you
+could stow a good many things besides the bonnet. Then they had a calico
+cover with a stout cord run through the hem.
+
+Mr. Eastman looked rather askance at the trunk--he had so many budgets
+of his own, and for his wife. However, they strapped it on the back
+securely, and the good-bys were uttered for a whole month.
+
+Doris had said hers in the morning. She could not divest herself of a
+vague presentiment that something would happen to keep Betty until
+to-morrow. But Martha was to sit in her place at the table.
+
+Now that the reign of slavery was over, the farmers' girls from the
+country often came in for a while. They were generally taken in as one
+of the family--indeed, few of them would have come to be put down to the
+level of a common servant. Many had their old slaves still living with
+them, and numbers of the quality preferred colored servants.
+
+Jamie boy went out to snowball after dinner. Doris worked a line across
+her sampler. She was going to begin the alphabet next. There were three
+kinds of letters. Ordinary capitals like printing, small letters, and
+writing capitals. These were very difficult, little girls thought.
+
+She put up her work presently, studied her spelling, and went over "nine
+times." She could say the ten and eleven perfectly, but that very day
+she had missed on "nine times," and Mrs. Webb told her she had better
+study it a little more.
+
+"I do wonder if you will ever get through with the multiplication
+tables!" said Aunt Elizabeth.
+
+Doris sighed. It was hard to be so slow at learning.
+
+"'Nine times' floored me pretty well, I remember," confessed Martha
+Grant. "There's great difference in children. Some have heads for
+figures and some don't. My sister Catharine could go all round me. But
+she's that dumb about sewing--I don't believe you ever saw the beat! She
+just hates it. She'd like to teach school!"
+
+Doris was very glad to hear that someone else had been slow.
+
+Betty had been out to tea occasionally, and Doris tried to make believe
+it was so now. They would have missed her more but Martha was a great
+talker. There were seven children at the Grants', and one son married.
+They had a big farm and a good deal of stock. Martha's lover had bought
+a farm also, with a small old house of two rooms. _He_ had to build a
+new barn, so they would wait for their house. She had a nice cow she had
+raised, a flock of twelve geese, and her father had promised her the old
+mare and another cow. She wanted to be married by planting time. She had
+a nice feather bed and two pairs of pillows and five quilts, beside two
+wool blankets.
+
+Mrs. Leverett was a good deal interested in all this. It took her back
+to her own early life. City girls _did_ come to have different ideas.
+There was something refreshing in this very homeliness.
+
+Martha knit and sewed as fast as she talked. Mrs. Leverett said "she
+didn't let the grass grow under her feet," and Doris wondered if she
+would tread it out in the summer. Of course, it couldn't grow in the
+winter.
+
+"Aunt Elizabeth," she said presently, in a sad little voice, "am I to
+sleep all alone?"
+
+"Oh dear, no. You would freeze to an icicle. Martha will take Betty's
+place."
+
+They wrapped up a piece of brick heated pretty well when Doris went to
+bed. For it was desperately cold. But the soft feathers came up all
+around one, and in a little while she was as warm as toast. She did not
+even wake when Martha came to bed. Sometimes Betty cuddled the dear
+little human ball, and only half awake Doris would return the hug and
+find a place to kiss, whether it was cheek or chin.
+
+"Aunt Elizabeth," when she came in from school one day, "do you know
+that Christmas will be here soon--next Tuesday?"
+
+"Well, yes," deliberately, "it is supposed to be Christmas."
+
+"But it really is," with child-like eagerness. "The day on which Christ
+was born."
+
+"The day that is kept in commemoration of the birth of Christ. But some
+people try to remember every day that Christ cams to redeem the world.
+So that one day is not any better than another."
+
+Doris looked puzzled. "At home we always kept it," she said slowly.
+"Miss Arabella made a Christmas cake and ever so many little ones. The
+boys came around to sing Noël, and they were given a cake and a penny,
+and we went to church."
+
+"Yes; it is quite an English fashion. When you are a larger girl and
+more used to our ways you will understand why we do not keep it."
+
+"Don't you really keep it?" in surprise.
+
+"No, my dear."
+
+The tone was kind, but not encouraging to further enlightenment. Doris
+experienced a great sense of disappointment. For a little while she was
+very homesick for Betty. To have her away a whole month! And a curious
+thing was that no one seemed really to miss her and wish her back. Mrs.
+Leverett scanned the weather and the almanac and hoped they would get
+safely to Springfield without a storm. Mr. Leverett counted up the time.
+It had not stormed yet.
+
+No Christmas and no Betty. Not even a wise old cat like Solomon, or a
+playful, amusing little kitten. The school children stared when she
+talked about Christmas.
+
+Two big tears fell on her book. She was frightened, for she had not
+meant to cry. And now a sense of desolation rushed over her. Oh, what
+could she do without Betty!
+
+Then a sleigh stopped at the door. She ran to the window, and when she
+saw that it was Uncle Winthrop she was out of the door like a flash.
+
+"Well, little one?" he said in pleasant inquiry, which seemed to
+comprehend a great deal. "How do you get along without Betty? Come in
+out of the cold. I've just been wondering if you would like to come over
+and keep Christmas with me. I believe they do not have any Christmas
+here."
+
+"No, they do not. Oh, Uncle Win, I should be so glad to come, if I
+wouldn't trouble you!"
+
+The eyes were full of entreating light.
+
+"I have been thinking about it a day or two. And Recompense is quite
+willing. The trouble really would be hers, you know."
+
+"I would try and not make any trouble."
+
+"Oh, it was where we should put you to sleep this cold weather. You
+would be lost in the great guest chamber. But Recompense arranged it
+all. She has put up a little cot in the corner of her room. I insisted
+last winter that she should keep a fire; she is a little troubled with
+rheumatism. And now she enjoys the warmth very much."
+
+"Oh, how good you are!"
+
+She was smiling now and dancing around on one foot. He smiled too.
+
+"Where's Aunt Elizabeth?" said Uncle Winthrop.
+
+Doris ran to the kitchen and, not seeing her, made the same inquiry.
+
+"She's gone up to the storeroom to find a lot of woolen patches for me,
+and I'm going to start another quilt. She said she'd never use them in
+the days of creation, and they wan't but six. She'll be down in a
+minute," said Martha.
+
+"Uncle Winthrop," going back to him beside the fire, and wrinkling up
+her brow a little, "is not Christmas truly Christmas? Has anyone made a
+mistake about it?"
+
+"My child, everybody does not keep it in the same manner. Sometime you
+will learn about the brave heroes who came over and settled in a strange
+land, fought Indians and wild beasts, and then fought again for liberty,
+and why they differed from their brethren. But I always keep it; and I
+thought now that Betty was gone you might like to come and go to church
+with me."
+
+"Oh, I shall be glad to!" with a joyful smile.
+
+Aunt Elizabeth entered. Cousin Winthrop presented his petition that he
+should take Doris over this afternoon and bring her back on Wednesday,
+unless there was to be no school all the week.
+
+"I'm afraid she will bother Recompense. You're so little used to
+children. I keep my hand in with grandchildren," smilingly.
+
+"No word from Betty yet? About Doris now--oh, you need not be afraid; I
+think Recompense is quite in the notion."
+
+"Well, if you think best. Doris isn't a mite of trouble, I will say
+that. No, we can't hear from Betty before to-morrow. Mr. Eastman thought
+likely he'd find someone coming right back from Springfield, and I
+charged Betty to send if she could. I'm glad there has been no snow so
+far."
+
+"Very fair winter weather. How is Foster and business?"
+
+"Desperately dull, both of them," and Mrs. Leverett gave a piquant nod
+that would have done Betty credit.
+
+"Go get your other clothes, Doris, and Martha will see to you. And two
+white aprons. Recompense keeps her house as clean as a pink, and you
+couldn't get soiled if you rolled round the floor. But dirt doesn't
+stick to Doris. There, run along, child."
+
+Martha scrubbed her rigorously, and then helped her dress. She came back
+bright as a new pin, with her two high-necked aprons in her hand, and
+her nightgown, which Aunt Elizabeth put in her big black camlet bag.
+
+"I wish you'd see that she studies a little, Winthrop. She is so behind
+in some things."
+
+He nodded. Then Doris put on her hood and cloak and said good-by to
+Martha, while she kissed Aunt Elizabeth and left a message for the rest.
+
+"It's early, so we will take a little ride around," he said, wrapping
+her up snug and warm.
+
+The plan had been in his mind for several days. The evening before he
+had broached it to Recompense. Not but what he was master in his own
+house, but he hardly knew how to plan for a child.
+
+"If Doris was a boy I could put him on the big sofa in my room. Still,
+Cato can look after a fire in the guest chamber. It would be too cruel
+to put a child alone in that great cold barn."
+
+There was a very obstinate impression that it was healthy to sleep in
+cold rooms, so people shut themselves up pretty close, and sometimes
+drew the bedclothes over their heads. But Winthrop Adams had a rather
+luxurious side to his nature; he called it a premonition of old age. He
+kept a fire in his dressing room, where he often sat and read a while at
+night. His sleeping room adjoined it.
+
+"Why, we might bring a cot in my room," she said. "I remember how the
+child delights in a fire. She's such a delicate-looking little thing."
+
+"She is standing our winter very well and goes to school every day. I'm
+afraid she might disturb you?"
+
+"Not if she has a bed by herself. And there is the corner jog; the cot
+will just fit into it."
+
+When they put it there in the morning it looked as if it must have taken
+root long ago. Then Recompense arranged a nice dressing table with a
+white cover and a pretty bowl and ewer, and a low chair beside it
+covered with chintz cushions. Her own high-post bedstead had curtains
+all around it of English damask, and the curiously carved high-back
+chairs had cushions tied in of the same material. There was no carpet on
+the painted floor, but a rug beside the bed and one at the stand, and a
+great braided square before the fire. It was a well-furnished room for
+the times, though that of Mr. Adams was rather more luxurious.
+
+He was very glad that Recompense had assented so readily, for he was
+beginning to feel that he ought to take a deeper interest in his little
+ward.
+
+There were numberless sleighs out on some of the favorite
+thoroughfares. For even now, in spite of the complaints of hard times,
+there was a good deal of real wealth in Boston, fine equipages with
+colored coachmen and footmen. There were handsome houses with lawns and
+gardens, some of them having orchards besides. There were rich
+furnishings as well, from France and England and from the East. There
+were china and plate and glass proud of their age, having come through
+several generations.
+
+And though there were shades and degrees of social position, there was a
+fine breeding among the richer people and a kind of pride among the
+poorer ones. There were occasions when they mingled with an agreeable
+courtesy, yet each side kept its proper and distinctive relations; real
+worth was respected and dignified living held in esteem. From a
+printer's boy, Benjamin Franklin had stood before kings and added luster
+to his country. From a farm at Braintree had come one of the famous
+Adamses and his not less notable wife, who had admirably filled the
+position of the first lady of the land.
+
+Yet the odd, narrow, crooked streets of a hundred years before were
+running everywhere, occasionally broadened and straightened. There were
+still wide spaces and pasture fields, declivities where the barberry
+bush and locust and May flower grew undisturbed. There were quaint nooks
+with legends, made famous since by eloquent pens; there were curious old
+shops designated by queer sign and symbols.
+
+But even the pleasures were taken in a leisurely, dignified way. There
+was no wild rush to stand at the head or to outdo a neighbor, or
+astonish those who might be looking on and could not participate.
+
+Doris enjoyed it wonderfully. She had a sudden accession of subtle pride
+when some fine old gentleman bowed to Uncle Win, or a sleigh full of
+elegantly attired ladies smiled and nodded. There were large hats
+framing in pretty faces, and bows and nodding plumes on the top such as
+Mrs. King had written about. Oh, how lovely Betty would look in hers!
+What was Hartford like; and New Haven, with its college; then, farther
+on, New York; and Washington, where the Presidents lived while they held
+office? She was learning so many things about this new home.
+
+Over here on the Common the boys were drawn up in two lines and
+snowballing as if it was all in dead earnest. And this was the rambling
+old house with its big porch and stepping block, and its delightful
+welcome.
+
+"Are you not most frozen?" asked Miss Recompense. "Here is the fire you
+like so much. Take off your cloak and hood. We are very glad to have you
+come and make us a visit."
+
+"Oh, are you?" Doris' face was a gleam of delight. "And I am glad to
+come. I was beginning to feel dreadfully lonesome without Betty. I ought
+not when there were so many left," and a bright color suffused her face.
+"Then there is little James."
+
+"And we have no small people."
+
+"I never had any over home, you know. And so many people here have such
+numbers of brothers and sisters. It must be delightful."
+
+"But they are not all little at once."
+
+"No," laughed Doris. "I should like to be somewhere in the middle.
+Babies are so cunning, when they don't cry."
+
+Miss Recompense smiled at that.
+
+There was a comfortable low chair for Doris, and Uncle Win found her
+seated there, the ruddy firelight throwing up her face like a painting.
+Miss Recompense went out to see about the supper. There was a
+good-natured black woman in the kitchen to do the cooking, and Cato, who
+did the outside work and waited on Dinah and Miss Recompense--a tall,
+sedate, rather pompous colored man.
+
+Some indefinable charm about the house appealed to Doris. The table was
+arranged in such an attractive manner. Nothing could be more delightful
+than Aunt Elizabeth's cooking, but she stopped short at an invisible
+something. The china was saved for company, though there was one pretty
+cup they always gave to Aunt Priscilla. The everyday dishes were
+earthen, such as ordinary people used, and being of rather poor glaze
+they soon checked. Doris knew these pretty plates and the tall cream jug
+and sugar dish had not been brought out especially for her, though she
+had supposed they were when they all came over to a company tea.
+
+She started so when Uncle Winthrop addressed her in French, and glanced
+at him in amaze; then turned to a pink glow and laughed as she collected
+her scattered wits to answer.
+
+What a soft, exquisite accent the child had! Miss Recompense paused in
+her pouring tea to listen.
+
+Uncle Win smiled and continued. They were around the pretty tea table in
+a sort of triangle. Uncle Win passed the thin, dainty slices of bread.
+Miss Recompense, when she was done with the tea, passed the cold
+chicken. Then there were cheese and two kinds of preserves, plain cake
+and fruit cake.
+
+Children rarely drank tea, so Doris had some milk in a glass which was
+cut with just a sparkle here and there that the light caught and made
+brilliant.
+
+"How you _can_ understand any such talk as that beats me," said Miss
+Recompense in a sort of helpless fashion as she glanced from one to the
+other.
+
+"And if we were abroad talking English the forsigners would say the same
+thing," replied Mr. Adams.
+
+"But there is some sense in English."
+
+He laughed a little. "And if we lived in China we would think there was
+a good deal of sense in Chinese, which is said to be one of the queerest
+languages in the world."
+
+We did not know very much about China in those days, and our knowledge
+was chiefly gleaned from rather rude maps and some old histories, and
+the wonderful tales of sea captains.
+
+"It would be a pity for you to fall back when you are such a good
+scholar," Uncle Win said, looking over to Doris. "One forgets quite
+easily. I find I am a little lame. But you like your school, and it is
+near by this cold weather. Perhaps you and I can keep up enough interest
+to exercise our memories. You have some French books?"
+
+"Two or three. I tried to read 'Paul and Virginia' to Betty, but it took
+so long to tell the story over that she didn't get interested. There
+were so many lessons, too."
+
+She did not say that Aunt Elizabeth had discountenanced it. People were
+horrified by French novels in those days. Rousseau and Voltaire had been
+held in some degree responsible for the terrible French Revolution. And
+people shuddered at the name of Tom Paine.
+
+At first the Colonies, as they were still largely called, had been very
+much interested in the new French Republic. Lafayette had been so
+impressed with the idea of a government of the people when he had lent
+his assistance to America, that he had joined heartily in a plan for the
+regeneration of France. But after the king was executed, Sunday
+abolished, and the government passed into the hands of tyrants who
+shouted "liberty" and yet brought about the slavery of terror, he and
+many others had stood aside--indeed, left their beloved city to the mob.
+Then had come the first strong and promising theories of Napoleon. He
+had been first Consul, then Consul for life, then Emperor, and was now
+the scourge of Europe.
+
+To Mrs. Leverett all French books were as actors and plays, to be
+shunned. That any little girl should have read a French story or be able
+to repeat French verses was quite horrifying. She had a feeling that it
+really belittled the Bible to appear in the French language.
+
+"Yes," returned Uncle Winthrop assentingly. He could understand the
+situation, for he knew Mrs. Leverett's prejudices were very strong, and
+continuous. That she was a thoroughly good and upright woman he readily
+admitted.
+
+The supper being finished they went to the cozy hall fire again. You had
+to sit near it to keep comfortable, for the rooms were large in those
+days and the outer edges chilly. Some people were putting up great
+stoves in their halls and the high pipes warmed the stairs and all
+around.
+
+Miss Recompense brought out some knitting. She was making a spread in
+small squares,--red, white, and blue,--and it would be very fine when it
+was done. Doris was very much interested when she laid down the squares
+to display the pattern.
+
+"I suppose you knit?" remarked Miss Recompense.
+
+"No. I don't know how. Betty showed me a little. And Aunt Elizabeth is
+going to teach me to make a stocking. It seems very easy when you see
+other people do it," and Doris sighed. "But I am afraid I am not very
+smart about a good many things besides tables."
+
+That honest admission rather annoyed Uncle Win. Elizabeth had said it as
+well. For his part he did not see that reading the Bible through by the
+time you were eight years old and knitting a pile of stockings was proof
+of extraordinary ability.
+
+"What kind of fancy work can you do?" asked Miss Recompense.
+
+"I've begun a sampler. That isn't hard. And Miss Arabella taught me to
+hem and to darn and to make lace."
+
+"Make lace! What kind of lace?"
+
+"Like the beautiful lace Madam Sheafe makes. Only I never did any so
+wide. But Miss Arabella used to. Betty took me there one afternoon.
+Madam Sheafe has such a lovely little house. And, oh, Uncle Win, she can
+talk French a little."
+
+He smiled and nodded.
+
+"You see," began Doris with sweet seriousness, "there was no one to make
+shirts for, and I suppose Miss Arabella thought it wasn't worth while.
+But I hemmed some on Uncle Leverett's, and Aunt Elizabeth said it was
+very nicely done."
+
+"I dare say." She looked as if anything she undertook would be nicely
+done, Miss Recompense thought.
+
+"Betty was learning housekeeping when she went to Hartford. I think that
+is very nice. To make pies and bread and cake, and roast chickens and
+turkeys and everything. But little girls have to go to school first. Six
+years is a long time, isn't it?"
+
+A half-smile crossed the grave face of Miss Recompense.
+
+"It seems a long time to a little girl, no doubt, but when you are older
+it passes very rapidly. There are years that prove all too short for the
+work crowded in them, and then they begin to lengthen again, though I
+suppose that is because we no longer hurry to get a certain amount of
+work done."
+
+"I wish the afternoons could be longer."
+
+"They will be in May. I like the long afternoons too, though the winter
+evenings by a cheerful fire are very enjoyable."
+
+"The world is so beautiful," said Doris, "that you can hardly tell which
+you do like best. Only the summer, with its flowers and the sweet, green
+out-of-doors, fills one with a kind of thanksgiving. Why did they not
+have Thanksgiving in the summer?"
+
+"Because we give thanks for a bountiful harvest."
+
+"Oh," Doris responded.
+
+Uncle Winthrop watched her as she chattered on, her voice like a soft,
+purling rill. Presently Dinah called Miss Recompense out in the kitchen
+to consult her about the breakfast, for she went to bed as soon as she
+had the kitchen set to rights. Then Doris glanced over to him in a shy,
+asking fashion, and brought her chair to his side. He inquired about
+Father Langhorne, and found he had been educated in Paris, and was
+really a Roman priest.
+
+Perhaps it was the province of childhood to see good in everybody. Or
+was it due to the simple life, the absence of that introspection, which
+had already done so much to make the New England conscience
+supersensitive and strenuous.
+
+When Miss Recompense returned she found them deep in French again. Doris
+laughed softly when Uncle Winthrop blundered a little, and perhaps he
+did it now and then purposely.
+
+The big old clock that said "Forever, never!" long before Longfellow's
+time, measured off nine hours.
+
+"It's funny," said Doris, "but I'm not a bit sleepy, and at Uncle
+Leverett's I almost nod, sometimes. Maybe it's the French."
+
+"I should not wonder," and Uncle Win smiled.
+
+"We will both go--it is about my time," remarked Miss Recompense. "Your
+uncle sits up all hours of the night."
+
+"And would like to sleep all hours of the morning," he returned
+humorously, "but Miss Recompense won't let me. If she raises her little
+finger the whole house moves."
+
+"Then she doesn't raise it very often," said that lady. "But it does
+seem a sin to sleep away good wholesome daylight."
+
+There were some candlesticks on a kind of secretary with a shelf-like
+top, and she lighted one, stepping out in the kitchen to see that all
+was safe and to bid Cato lock up. When she returned the candle was
+sending out its cheerful beam, so she nodded to Doris, who said
+good-night to Uncle Winthrop and followed her.
+
+Doris had an odd, company-like feeling. Her little bed was pretty, and
+the room had a fragrance of summer time, of roses and lavender. Miss
+Recompense stirred the fire and put on a big log. Then she sat down by
+the stand and read her nightly chapter, turning a little to give Doris a
+kind of privacy.
+
+"I hope you will sleep well. Your uncle thought you would be lonesome in
+the guest chamber."
+
+"I would ever so much rather be here. And the bed is so small and
+cunning, just the bed for a little girl. Thank you ever so many times."
+
+She said her prayers and breathed a soft good-night to the fire. And
+though she did not feel strange nor sleepy, and wondered about Betty and
+a dozen other things, one of the last remembrances was the glimmer of
+the candle on the wall, and the soft rustling of the blaze, that said
+"Snow, snow, snow."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+A LITTLE CHRISTMAS
+
+
+Sure enough, it snowed the next morning--one of the soft, clinging
+storms that loaded every branch with a furry aspect, made mounds of the
+shrubs, and wrapped the south sides of the houses with a mantle of
+dazzling whiteness. Now and then a patch fell off, and a long pendant
+would swing from the trees, and finally drop. It was a delight to see
+them.
+
+The breakfast was laid on the same small table in use last night, but
+Cato brought in everything hot, and "waited" as Barby used at home.
+Uncle Winthrop said she looked bright as a rose, and her cheeks had a
+delicate pink.
+
+Afterward he invited her in his study and told her she might look about
+and perhaps find a book to entertain herself with while he wrote some
+letters.
+
+"Thank you. I hope I shall not disturb you."
+
+"Oh, no." He felt somehow he could answer for her. She was so gentle in
+her movements, and he really wanted to see how he liked having a little
+girl about. There was a vague idea in his mind that he might decide to
+have her here some day, since Miss Recompense had taken a sort of fancy
+to her.
+
+Oh, what a luxury it was to wander softly about and read titles and look
+at bindings and speculate on what she would like! They had very few
+books at Uncle Leverett's. Some volume of sermons, a few biographies
+that she had found rather dreary, a history of the French-Canadian War,
+and some of Poor Richard's Almanacs, which she thought the most amusing
+of all.
+
+There was a circulating library that Warren patronized occasionally.
+There was also the nucleus of a free library, but so far people had been
+too busy to think much about reading, except the scholarly minds. Books
+were expensive, too, and very few persons accumulated any stock of them.
+Of Mr. Adams' collection some had come to him from his father, and
+Cousin Charles, who had been called a "queer stick," had some English,
+Latin, and Italian poets that he had bequeathed to the book lover.
+
+Winthrop Adams was a collector of several things beside books. Now and
+then at an auction sale on someone's death he picked up odd articles
+that were of value. And so his study was a kind of conglomerate. He had
+a cabinet of coins from different parts of the world and curios from
+India and Egypt. Napoleon's campaign in Egypt had awakened a good deal
+of interest in the country of the Pharaohs.
+
+Doris was so still he glanced around presently. She was curled up in the
+corner of the chimney, a book on her knees and her head bent over until
+the curls fell about her in a cloud. When Elizabeth had spoken of the
+benefit it might be to a growing child to have them cut he had protested
+at once. They were rarely beautiful, he decided now, gleaming gold in
+the firelight.
+
+She had a feeling presently that someone was looking at her, so she
+raised her head, shook away the curls, and smiled.
+
+"Did you find something?"
+
+"'The Vicar of Wakefield,' Uncle Winthrop. Oh, it is delightful! You
+said I might read anything!" with a touch of hesitation.
+
+"That was quite a wide permission," and he smiled. He couldn't see how
+that would hurt anyone, but he was not sure of a girl's reading.
+
+"I opened it at a picture--'Preparing Moses for the Fair.' It made me
+think of Betty going to Hartford. It was so interesting to wonder what
+you would do, and then to have things happen just right. Aunt Priscilla
+was so nice. I thought I couldn't like her at first, but I do now. You
+can't find out all about anyone in a minute, can you?"
+
+"I think not," rather humorously.
+
+"So then I turned to the first of the book. And the Vicar's wife must
+have known a good deal to read without much spelling. There are some
+awful hard words in the back of Betty's spelling book. Do you suppose
+she learned tables and all that?"
+
+"I don't believe she did."
+
+"And she could keep house."
+
+"They were a notable couple."
+
+He took up his pen again and she turned to her book.
+
+Suddenly a flood of golden sunshine poured across the floor, fairly
+dimming the fire.
+
+"Oh, Uncle Winthrop!" With her book pressed tightly against her body,
+she flew over to the window like a bird, disturbing nothing, and making
+only a soft flutter.
+
+"Isn't it glorious!"
+
+The edges of the snow everywhere were illumined with the prismatic rays
+in proper order. The tree branches caught them, the corners of the
+houses, the window hoods, the straggling bushes, the fences. Everywhere
+the sublime beauty was repeated until everything quivered with the
+excess.
+
+"It is like the New Jerusalem," she said.
+
+The air had softened a great deal. The sun on the window panes spoke of
+latent warmth. A slight breeze stirred the air, and down came the
+clinging snow in showers, leaving the trees bare and brown, except the
+few evergreens.
+
+"It is warmer," Mr. Adams said. "Though it is nearing noon, the warmest
+part of the day. And so far you have stood the cold weather very well,
+little Doris," smiling down in the eager face.
+
+"I've snowballed too, and it is real fun. I can slide ever so far, and
+I've ridden on Jimmie boy's sled. Betty thinks I would soon learn to
+skate. I would like to very much."
+
+"Then you must have some skates."
+
+"But I am afraid Betty may not come home in time to teach me."
+
+"Someone else might."
+
+"Do you skate?" in soft inquiry.
+
+"Not now; I used to. But I am not a young man, and not very energetic. I
+like warm firesides and a nice book. I am afraid I shall make an
+ease-loving old man."
+
+"But isn't it right to be"--what word would express it?--"happy,
+comfortable? For why should you try to make anyone happy if it was
+wrong?"
+
+"It is not wrong."
+
+The sky was very blue now, and the snow began to have an ethereal look.
+Cato came out to shovel and clear away some paths. He struck the young
+hemlocks and firs with a stick and beat the snow out of them.
+
+"The snow settles in the branches and sometimes freezes and that kills a
+little place," said Uncle Winthrop in answer to the questioning eyes.
+
+They walked back to the table, with his arm over her shoulder.
+
+"I am done my writing for to-day," he began. "I wonder if you would mind
+answering a few questions?"
+
+"Oh, no--if I knew the answers," smilingly.
+
+"Then tell me first of all how far you went in Latin. This is a
+grammar."
+
+She turned some leaves. "I didn't know it very well," skimming over the
+pages. "It was not like this book, and"--hanging her head a little--"I
+did not like it--that and the sums."
+
+"Who put you to studying it?"
+
+"Oh, the father did. He said Latin was the key to all other languages. I
+wonder how many I shall have to learn? Miss Arabella said it was
+foolishness, except the French."
+
+"Let me hear you read a little. This is not difficult."
+
+He was not sure there was any call for a girl to know Latin. French
+seemed quite necessary.
+
+She began in a hesitating manner and blundered somewhat at first, but as
+she went on gained courage, her voice growing firmer and clearer.
+
+"Why, that is very well. You ought to be at a higher school than Mrs.
+Webb's. And now let us consider these dreadful sums. The paper and a
+pencil will do."
+
+He put down quite a sum in addition. There were several nines and sevens
+in it.
+
+She drew a long breath.
+
+"It is a big sum. I haven't done any as large as that."
+
+"Well, begin. Add as I call them off."
+
+Alas! After three figures, in puzzling over an eight, the amount went
+out of her mind and she had to begin again. Uncle Winthrop made a mark
+at one figure and put down the amount beside it. After a while she
+reached the top of the column. Clearly heaven had not meant her for a
+mathematician. There was no rapport between her figures.
+
+Her eyes were limpid, almost as if there were tears in them.
+
+"Maybe that was pretty difficult for a little girl. I know most about
+big boys and young men."
+
+"Betty just guesses, this way--eight and nine, and it comes quite as
+easy as if I had said two and three are five."
+
+Uncle Win gave his gentle smile and it comforted her greatly.
+
+"This quickness comes by practice. When you have had six years' study
+you may know as much as Betty in arithmetic, and you will know more in
+some other branches."
+
+"If I can just know as much," she said wistfully.
+
+Cato gave a gentle rap on the open door.
+
+"Juno's ready," he announced. "Will master take little missy out, or
+shall I go for Master Cary?"
+
+"I had not thought. Would you like to go, Doris?"
+
+Her eyes answered him before she could speak.
+
+"You may put in the other seat, Cato, and drive."
+
+Cato bowed in a dignified manner.
+
+"Now run and bundle up well," said Uncle Win.
+
+Miss Recompense seemed to know a good deal about little girls, if she
+had none of her own. She tied a soft silk kerchief over Doris' ears
+before she put on her hood. Then she told Dinah to slip the soapstone in
+the foot-stove, and drew the long stockings up over her knees.
+
+"Now you could go up to Vermont and not get cold," she said pleasantly.
+
+But after all it was not so very cold. The sun shone in golden
+magnificence and almost dazzled your eyes out. Uncle Win had on his
+smoked glasses, and he looked very queer, but she saw other people with
+this protection. Some of the glasses were green.
+
+The streets were really merry. Children were out with sleds, and
+snowballing parties were in the field. They went over to State Street
+for the mail. Cato sprang out and returned with quite a budget. There
+was one English letter with a big black seal, but Mr. Adams covered it
+quickly with the papers and drew the package under the buffalo robe.
+
+There was a quaint old bookstore in Cornhill with the sign of Heart and
+Crown, that was quite a meeting place for students and bookish people,
+and they drove thither. A young lad came running out, making a bow and
+greeting his father politely. To have said "Hillo!" in those days would
+have been horrifying. And to have called one's father the "governor" or
+the "old gentleman" would have been little short of a crime.
+
+"This is the little English cousin, Doris Adams," said Uncle Win, "and
+this is my son Cary."
+
+Cary made a bow to her and said he was glad to meet her, then inquired
+after his father's health and stepped into the sleigh, picking up the
+reins and motioning Cato to the other side.
+
+Oh, how they spun along! Cary said one or two things, but the words were
+carried away by the wind. There were sleighs full of ladies and
+children, great family affairs with three seats; there were cutters with
+some portly man and a black driver; there were well-known people and
+unknown people who were to come to the fore in a few years and be
+famous.
+
+For Boston was throbbing even then with the mighty changes transforming
+her into a great city. Although she had suffered severely at the first
+of the war and held many priceless memories of it, the early evacuation
+of the town had left her free for domestic matters, which had prospered
+despite poverty and hard times and the great loss of population. Many of
+the old Tory families had returned to England, and the remnants of the
+provincial aristocracy were being lessened by death and absorbed by
+marriage. The squires and gentry of the small towns, most of them
+intense patriots, had filled their places and given tone to social life,
+that was still formal, if some of the old stateliness had slipped away.
+
+The French Revolution had brought about some other changes. The State
+possessed fine advantages for maritime commerce, and all the seaports
+were veritable hives of industry in the early part of the century. This
+laid a foundation of respect for fortunes acquired by energy rather than
+inheritance. The United States, being the only neutral nation in the
+fierce conflicts raging round the world, had been reaping a rich harvest
+for several years. Sea captains and merchants had been thriving
+splendidly until the last year or two, when seizures began to be made by
+the British Government that roused a ferment of warlike spirit again.
+
+But while men talked politics the women and those who thought it wiser
+to take neither side, still amused themselves with card parties, tea
+parties and dances, with now and then an evening at the theater, and
+driving. There were so many fine long roads not yet cut up into blocks
+that were great favorites on a day like this. Doris felt the
+exhilaration and her eyes shone like stars.
+
+Presently Cary turned, and here they were at Common Street.
+
+"That has been fine!" he began as he drew up to the door. "It sets your
+blood all a-sparkle. Have I taken your breath away, little cousin?"
+
+He came around and offered his hand to his father. Then he lifted Doris
+as if she had been a feather, and stood her on the broad porch. That
+recalled Warren Leverett to her mind.
+
+"It was splendid," answered Doris.
+
+They all walked in together, and Cary shook hands cordially with Miss
+Recompense.
+
+He was almost as tall as his father, with a fair, boyish face and thick
+light hair that did not curl, but tumbled about and was always falling
+over his forehead.
+
+Warren was stouter and had more color, and there was a kind of laughing
+expression to his face. Cary's had a certain resolution and that
+loftiness we are given to calling aristocratic.
+
+When Doris had carried the foot-stove to Dinah, and her own wraps
+upstairs, she stood for a moment uncertain. Cary and his father were
+talking eagerly in the study, so she sat down by the hall fire and began
+to think about the Vicar and Mrs. Primrose, and wanted to know what
+Moses did at the Fair. She had been at one town fair, but she could not
+recall much besides the rather quaintly and gayly dressed crowd. Then
+there was a summons to supper.
+
+"Oh," cried Cary, "sit still a moment. You look like a page of Mother
+Goose. You can't be Miss Muffet, for you have no curds and whey, and you
+are not Jack Horner----"
+
+She sprang up then and caught Uncle Winthrop's hand. "Nor Mother Goose,"
+she rejoined laughingly.
+
+The plates were moved just a little. Cary sat between her and his
+father.
+
+"I have heard quite a good deal about you," he began. "Are you French or
+English?"
+
+She caught a tiny gleam in Uncle Win's eye, and gravely answered in
+French.
+
+"How do you get along there in Sudbury Street? Who does the talking?" he
+asked in surprise.
+
+"We all talk," she answered.
+
+He flushed a little and then gave an amused nod.
+
+"Upon my word, you are not slow, if the weather is cold. And you
+_parlez-vous_ like a native. Now, if you and father want to say anything
+bad about me, you may hope to keep it a secret, but I warn you that I
+can understand French to some extent."
+
+"I shall not say anything bad," she returned naïvely. Adding, "Why, I
+don't know anything bad."
+
+"Oh, Miss Recompense, isn't it nice to be perfect in someone's eyes?" he
+laughed.
+
+"Wait until she has known you several years."
+
+"But you have known me several years," appealingly.
+
+"It is best to begin with an unbiased opinion."
+
+"I shall get Betty to speak a good word for me. You have confidence in
+Betty?"
+
+"I love Betty," Doris said simply.
+
+"And Boston. That begins with a B too. You must love Boston, and the
+State of Massachusetts, and the whole United States. And if there comes
+another war you must be true to the flag and the country. No skipping
+off to England, mind."
+
+"I couldn't skip across the whole Atlantic."
+
+"Then you would have to stay. Which is the nicest, Sudbury Street or
+this?"
+
+"Cary, you have teased enough," said his father.
+
+"I think the out-of-doors of this will be the prettiest in the summer,"
+replied Doris gravely, "and when I came off the ship I thought the
+indoors in Sudbury Street just delightful. There was such a splendid
+fire, and everybody was so kind."
+
+Cary glanced up at his father, who gave his soft half-smile.
+
+"You were a brave little girl not to be homesick."
+
+"I did want to see Miss Arabella, and the pony. I had such a darling
+pony."
+
+"Why, you can have a pony next summer," said Uncle Win. "I am very fond
+of riding."
+
+Doris' face was filled with speechless delight.
+
+After supper they sat round the fire and Cary asked her about the Old
+Boston. She had very good descriptive powers. Her life had been so
+circumscribed there that it had deepened impressions, and the young
+fellow listened quite surprised. Like his father he had known very
+little about girls in their childhood. She was so quaintly pretty, too,
+with the bow of dark ribbon high up on her head, amid the waving light
+hair.
+
+Some time after Uncle Winthrop said:
+
+"Doris, I have a letter from Miss Arabella. Would you not like to come
+in the study and read it?"
+
+"Oh, yes," and she sprang up with the lightness of a bird.
+
+He had cut around the great black seal. Sometime Doris might be glad to
+have the letter intact. There were no envelopes then besides those used
+for state purposes.
+
+"Dear and Respected Sir," it began in the formal, old-fashioned manner.
+She had been rejoiced to hear of Doris' safe arrival and continued good
+health, and every day she saw the wisdom of the change, though she had
+missed the child sorely. Her sister had passed peacefully away soon
+after the departure of Doris, a loss to be accepted with resignation,
+since her life on earth had long ceased to have any satisfaction to
+herself. Her own health was very much broken, and she knew it would not
+be long before she should join those who had preceded her in a better
+land. When this occurred there would be some articles forwarded to him
+for Doris, and again she commended the little girl to his affectionate
+interest and care, and hoped she would grow into a sweet and useful
+womanhood and be all her parents could wish if they had lived.
+
+"Dear Miss Arabella!" Doris wiped the tears from her eyes. How strange
+the little room must look without Miss Henrietta sitting at the window
+babbling of childish things! "And she is all alone with Barby. How sad
+it must be. I should not like to live alone."
+
+Unconsciously she drew nearer Uncle Winthrop. He put his arm over her
+shoulder in a caressing manner, and his heart was moved with sympathy
+for the solitary lady across the ocean.
+
+Doris thought of Aunt Priscilla and wondered whether she ever was
+lonesome.
+
+Sunday was still bright, and somehow felt warm when contrasted with the
+biting weather of the last ten days. The three went to old Trinity
+Church, that stood then on a corner of Summer Street--a plain wooden
+building with a gambrel roof, quite as old-fashioned inside as out, and
+even now three-quarters of a century old. Up to the Revolution the king
+and the queen, when there was one, had been prayed for most fervently.
+The Church conceded this point reluctantly, since there were many who
+doubted the success of the struggle. But the clergy had resigned from
+King's Chapel and Christ Church. For a long while afterward Dr. Mather
+Byles had kept himself before the people by his wit and readiness for
+controversy, and the two old ladies, his sisters, were well known for
+their adherence to Royalist costumes and the unction with which they
+prayed for the king in their own house--with open windows, in summer.
+
+In fact, even now Episcopalianism was considered rather foreign than of
+a home growth. But there had been such a divergence from the old-time
+faiths that people's prejudices were much softened.
+
+It seemed quite natural again to Doris, and she had no difficulty in
+finding her places, though Cary offered her his prayer book every time.
+And it sounded so hearty to say "Amen" to the prayers, to respond to the
+commandments, and sing some of the old chants.
+
+There was a short service in the afternoon, and in the evening she and
+Cary sang hymns. They were getting to be very good friends. Then on
+Christmas morning they all went again. There was a little "box and fir,"
+and a branch of hemlock in the corner, but the people of that day would
+have been horrified at the greenery and the flowers met to hail the
+birth of Christ to-day.
+
+They paused in the vestibule to give each other a cordial greeting, for
+the congregation was not very large.
+
+A fine-looking elderly lady shook hands with Mr. Adams and his son.
+
+"This is my little niece from abroad," announced the elder, "another of
+the Adams family. Her father was own nephew to Cousin Charles. Doris,
+this is Madam Royall."
+
+"Poor Charles. Yes, I remember him well. Our children spied out the
+little girl in the sleigh with you on Saturday, and made no end of
+guesses. Is it the child who attends Mrs. Webb's school? Dorcas Payne
+goes there this winter, and she has been teasing to have her name
+changed to Doris, which she admires beyond measure."
+
+"Yes," answered Doris timidly, as Madam Royall seemed addressing her. "I
+know Dorcas Payne."
+
+"Oh, Mr. Adams, I have just thought--our children are going to have a
+little time to-night--not anything as pretentious as a party, a sort of
+Christmas frolic. Will you not come around and bring Cary and the little
+girl? You shall have some Christmas cake and wine with us, Cary can take
+tea with Isabel and Alice, and the little girl can have a good romp.
+Please do not refuse."
+
+Cary flushed. Mr. Adams looked undecided.
+
+"No, you shall not hunt about for an excuse. Dorcas has talked so much
+about the little girl that we are all curious to see her. Shouldn't you
+like a frolic with other little girls, my dear?"
+
+Doris smiled with assenting eagerness.
+
+"We shall surely look for you. I shall tell them all that you are
+coming, and that I have captured little Doris Adams."
+
+"Very well," returned Mr. Adams.
+
+"At four, exactly. The children's supper is at five."
+
+Doris had tight hold of Uncle Winthrop's hand, and if she had not just
+come out of church she must have skipped for very gladness. For Dorcas
+Payne had talked about her cousins, the Royalls, and their charming
+grandmother, and the good times they had in their fine large house.
+
+Uncle Win looked her all over as she sat at the dinner table. She was a
+pretty child, with her hair gathered up high and falling in a golden
+shower. Her frock was some gray woolen stuff, and he wondered vaguely if
+blue or red would have been better. He had seen little girls in red
+frocks; they looked so warm and comfortable in winter. Elizabeth
+Leverett would be shocked at the color, he knew. What made so many women
+afraid of it, and why did they cling to dismal grays and browns? He
+wished he knew a little more about girls.
+
+They had a splendid young goose for the Christmas dinner, vegetables and
+pickles and jellies. Cider was used largely then; no hearty dinner would
+have been the thing without it. Even the Leveretts used that, while they
+frowned on all other beverages. And then the thick mince pie with a
+crust that fairly melted before you could chew it! One needed something
+to sustain him through the long cold winter, and the large rooms where
+you shivered if you went out of the chimney corner.
+
+Doris stole a little while for her enchanting Primrose people, though
+Cary kept teasing by saying: "Has Moses gone to the Fair? Just wait
+until you see the sort of bargains he makes!"
+
+Uncle Winthrop went out to Miss Recompense.
+
+"She looks very plain for a little--well, I suppose it _is_ a party, and
+I dare say there is another frock at the Leveretts'. I think the first
+time I saw her she had on something very pretty--silk, I believe it was.
+But there is no time to get it. Recompense, if you could find a ribbon
+or any suitable adornment to brighten her up. In that big bureau
+upstairs--I wish you would look."
+
+Years ago the pretty things had been laid away. Recompense went over
+them every spring during house-cleaning time, to see that moths had not
+disturbed them. Thieves were never thought of. She always touched them
+with a delicate regard for the young wife she had never known.
+
+She put a shawl about her now and went upstairs, unlocked the drawer of
+"trinkets," and peered into some of the boxes. Oh, here was a pretty bit
+of lace, simple enough for a child. White ribbons turned to cream,
+pale-blue grown paler with age, stiff brocaded ones, and down at the
+very bottom a rose color with just a simple silvery band crossing it at
+intervals. There was enough for a sash and a bow for the hair, and with
+the lace tucker it would be all right.
+
+"Doris," she called over the baluster.
+
+"Yes, ma'am," and Doris came tripping up, book in hand.
+
+"Your uncle wants you fixed up a bit," she said, "and as you have
+nothing here I have looked up a few things. Let me fasten the tucker in
+your frock. There, that does look better. Madam Royall is quite dressy,
+like all fashionable people who go out and have company. I'm not much of
+a hand to fix up children, seeing that for years I have had none of it
+to do. But I guess I can manage to tie the sash. There, I think that
+will do."
+
+"Oh, how lovely! How good of you, Miss Recompense."
+
+Recompense Gardiner hated to take the credit for anything she had not
+done, but she had to let it go now.
+
+"How to get this ribbon in your hair! I think it is too wide."
+
+"Oh, can I have that too? Well, you see, you take up the curls this way
+and put the ribbon under. Can it be folded? Then you tie it on the top."
+
+Miss Recompense did not make a very artistic bow, but Doris looked in
+the glass of the dressing table, and pulled and patted it a little, and
+said it was right and that she was a thousand times grateful.
+
+The sober-minded woman admitted within herself that the child was
+greatly improved. Perhaps gay attire _did_ foster vanity, yet it was
+pleasant for others to look upon.
+
+"Run down and ask your uncle if you will do," exclaimed Miss Recompense,
+feeling that by his approval she would discharge her conscience from the
+sin, if sin it were.
+
+She looked so dainty as she came and stood by him, and asked her
+question with such a bewitching flush, that he kissed her on the
+forehead for approval. But she put her soft young arms about his neck
+and kissed him back, and he held her there with a strange new warmth
+stirring his heart.
+
+The old Royall house in Summer Street went its way three-quarters of a
+century ago. No one dreams now of the beautiful garden that surrounded
+it, and the blossoming shrubbery and beds of flowers from which nosegays
+were sent to friends, and the fruit distributed later on. It was an old
+house then, a great square, two-story building with a cupola railed
+around a flat place at the point of the roof, or what would have been
+the point if carried up. There were some rooms built out at the back,
+and an arbor--a covered sort of _allée_ where the ladies sat and sewed
+at times and the children played. Thirty years before there had been
+many a meeting of friends to discuss the state of affairs. There had
+been disagreements, ruptures, quarrels made and healed. George Royall
+had gone back to England. Dwight Royall had fought on the side of the
+"Rebels." One daughter had married an English officer who had
+surrendered with Cornwallis and then returned to his native land. A
+younger son had married and died, and left two daughters to his mother's
+care, their own mother being dead. A widowed daughter had come home to
+live with her four children, the two youngest being girls. Dorcas Payne
+was a cousin to them on their father's side.
+
+There were often guests staying with them, and the old house was still
+the scene of good times, as they were then: friends dropping in and
+finding ready hospitality. For though Madam Royall had passed the three
+score and ten, she was still intelligent and had been in her earlier
+years accomplished. She could play on her old-fashioned spinet for the
+children to dance, and sometimes she sang the songs of her youth, though
+her voice had grown a trifle unsteady in singing.
+
+The sun was setting the west in a glow of magnificence as they walked up
+to the Royall house. Madam Royall and her daughter Mrs. Chapman were
+waiting to welcome them.
+
+In this hall was the tall stove that was beginning to do duty for the
+cheerful hearthfire, and it diffused a delightful atmosphere of warmth.
+But you could see the blaze in the parlor and the dining room, where
+some friends were already assembled and having a game of cards. The
+sideboard, as was the custom then, was set out with a decanter of
+Madeira and one of sherry and the glasses, besides a great silver basin
+filled with nuts and dried fruit and another dish of crullers.
+
+On the opposite side of the hall there was a hubbub of children's
+voices. Madam Royall ushered Mr. Adams into the dining room, left Cary
+to the attention of the two girls and their aunt, and took possession
+of Doris herself, removing her wraps and handing them to the maid. Then
+taking her hand she drew her into the room, kept mostly for dancing and
+party purposes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+A CHILDREN'S PARTY
+
+
+"This is Doris Adams, a little girl who came from England not long ago.
+You must make her welcome and show her what delightful children there
+are in Boston. These two girls are Helen and Eudora Chapman, my
+grandchildren, and the others are grandnieces and friends. Helen, you
+must do the honors."
+
+Dorcas Payne came forward. "She goes to the same school that I do." She
+had been entertaining the girls with nearly all she knew about Doris.
+That Mr. Winthrop Adams was her uncle and guardian raised her a good
+deal in the estimation of Dorcas, for even then a man was thought
+unusually well off to be able to live without doing any real business.
+
+"Would you like to play graces?" asked Eudora.
+
+"I don't know," admitted Doris.
+
+"We were playing. Grace and Molly, you go down that end of the room.
+Now, this is the way. When Betty tosses it you catch it on the sticks,
+so."
+
+It seemed very easy when Eudora caught it and tossed it back, and Betty
+threw it again.
+
+"Now you try," and she put the sticks in Doris' hands. "Oh, what tiny
+little hands you have, and as white as snow!"
+
+Doris blushed. She threw the hoop and it "wabbled," but Betty, a bright,
+black-eyed girl, made a lunge or two, and caught it on the tip of one
+stick, and back it came. Doris was looking at her and never moved her
+hand.
+
+"Pick it up and try again," said Eudora. "That isn't the right way, but
+we will excuse you this time."
+
+Alas! this time Doris ran and brandished her stick in the air to no
+purpose.
+
+"I would rather see you play," she said. "You are all doing it so
+beautifully."
+
+"Then you stand here and watch."
+
+It was very fascinating. There were three sets playing. Doris found that
+when a girl missed she gave up to some other companion. Her eyes could
+hardly move quickly enough to watch all the hoops. Now and then a girl
+was crowned,--that meant the hoops encircled her head,--and they all
+shouted.
+
+Then Helen said they had played that long enough, and now they would try
+"Hunt the slipper." The slipper was a pretty one, made of pink plush
+with a dainty heel and a shining buckle set in a small pink bow. Doris
+said "it looked like a Cinderella slipper."
+
+"Oh, do you know about Cinderella? Do you know many stories?"
+
+"Not a great many. Little Red Riding Hood and Beauty and the Beast, and
+a few in verses."
+
+"I wish you knew something quite new. Oh!"
+
+Eudora had forgotten to keep the slipper going. The girls were sitting
+in a ring, so she jumped up cheerfully and began to hunt. There were a
+great many little giggles and exclamations, and then someone said: "Oh,
+let's stop playing and tell riddles!"
+
+That was a never-failing amusement. There were some very bright ones,
+some very puzzling ones. One girl asked how many baskets of dirt there
+were in Copp's Hill.
+
+"Why, there can't anybody tell," said Helen. "You couldn't measure it
+that way."
+
+Everybody looked at everybody else, and the glances finally grew
+indignant.
+
+"There isn't any answer."
+
+"Give it up?"
+
+"Yes," cried the voices in unison.
+
+"Why, one--if the basket is big enough."
+
+"There couldn't be a basket made as large as that. You might as well ask
+how many drops of water there are in the sea, and then say only one
+because they all run together."
+
+The girls applauded that, and, before anyone had thought of another,
+Miranda,--tall, black, imposing, with a gay turban wound round her
+head,--announced:
+
+"De little misses were all disquested to walk out to de Christmas
+supper."
+
+Grandmamma did not know how to leave her guests, and she was in the
+middle of a game of loo, but she had promised to sit at the head of the
+table, so Mrs. Chapman took her place. No one felt troubled because
+there were no boys at the party: the only boy of the house had gone out
+skating with some other boys.
+
+It was quite a royal feast. There were thin bread and butter, dainty
+biscuits not much larger than the penny of that day, cold turkey and
+cold ham, and cake of every kind, it would seem, ranged around the iced
+Christmas cake that was surmounted by a wreath of some odd golden
+flowers that people dried and kept all winter for ornamental purposes.
+
+They puzzled grandmamma with the two riddles, but she thought that about
+the sea the better one. And she said no one would ever have an
+opportunity to measure Copp's Hill, but for all that they did, if they
+had cared to.
+
+The grown-up people had some tea and chocolate in the dining room, and
+seemed to be having as merry a time as the children. There was something
+infectious in the air or the house. Doris thought it very delightful.
+Her cheeks began to bloom in a wild-rose tint, and her eyes had a
+luminous look, as if happiness was shining through them.
+
+Afterward grandmamma played on the spinet and they danced several pretty
+simple figures, ending with the minuet. When the clock struck seven
+someone came in a sleigh for four of the girls who lived quite near
+together. Pompey, the Royalls' servant, was to escort the others, and
+Betty March lived just across in Winter Street. When children went out
+the hours were kept pretty strictly. Seven o'clock meant seven truly,
+and not eight or nine.
+
+Each child had a pretty paper box of candy, tied with a bright ribbon.
+Bonbons we should call them now. And they all expressed their thanks and
+made a courtesy as they reached the hall door.
+
+"Have you had a good time?" asked Madam Royall, taking Doris by the
+hand.
+
+"It's been just delightful, every moment," the child answered.
+
+"And she's only looked on, grandmamma," exclaimed Eudora. "Now, let's us
+get real acquainted. We will go in the parlor and have a good talk."
+
+"Very well," returned grandmamma. "I'll go and see what the _old_ people
+are about."
+
+"I am glad you don't have to go home so soon," began Helen. "Why don't
+you live with your Uncle Adams instead of in Sudbury Street? Are there
+any girls there?"
+
+"One real big one who is sixteen. She has gone to Hartford now. That's
+Betty Leverett. And I went there first, because--well, Uncle Leverett
+came for me when the vessel reached Boston."
+
+"Oh, he is your uncle, too! Did you come from another Boston, truly
+now?"
+
+"Yes, it was Boston."
+
+"And like this?"
+
+"Oh, no."
+
+"Did you know ever so many girls?"
+
+"No. We lived quite out of the town."
+
+"And, oh, were you not afraid to cross the ocean? Suppose there had been
+a pirate or something?"
+
+"I didn't know anything about pirates," said Doris. "But I was afraid at
+first, when you could not see any land for days and days. There were two
+little girls and they had a doll. We played together and grew used to
+the water. But it was worse when it stormed."
+
+"I should have been frightened out of my life. Grandmamma has been to
+England. We have some cousins there, but they are grown-up people and
+married. Which place do you like best?"
+
+"I had no real relatives there after papa died. Oh, I like this Boston
+best."
+
+Then they branched off into school matters. Eudora and her sister went
+to a Miss Parker, and to a writing school an hour in the afternoon.
+Eudora wished she was grown-up like Isabel and Alice, and could go out
+to real parties and have a silk frock. Grandmamma was going to give her
+one when she was fifteen.
+
+A feeling of delicacy kept Doris from confessing that she owned the
+coveted article. Some of the girls had worn very pretty frocks. Eudora's
+was a beautiful soft blue, and had bands of black velvet and short
+sleeves with lace around them. But Doris had forgotten about her own
+attire, though she recalled the fact that there was only one little
+girl in a gray frock, and it didn't seem very pretty.
+
+So they chattered on, and Eudora said they would have splendid times if
+she came in the summer. They had a big swing, and they went over on the
+Common and had no end of fun playing tag. The warm weather was the
+nicest, though there was great fun sledding and snowballing when the
+boys were not too rough. Oh, had she seen the forts and the great light
+out at Fort Hill? Wasn't it just grand?
+
+"But, you know, Walter said if the redoubts had been stone instead of
+snow, the Rebels never could have taken them. You know, they called _us_
+Rebels then. And now we are a nation."
+
+Doris wondered what a redoubt was, but she saved it to ask Uncle Win.
+She gave a sigh to think what an ignorant little girl she was.
+
+"I think it is a great deal finer to be a country all by yourself and
+govern your own people. The King of England is half crazy, you know. You
+don't mind, do you, when we talk about the English? We don't really mean
+every person, and our friends and--and all"--getting rather confused
+with distinctions.
+
+"We mean the government," interposed Helen. "It stands to reason people
+thousands of miles away wouldn't know what is best for us. Wouldn't it
+be ridiculous if someone in Virginia should pretend to instruct
+grandmamma what to do? Grandmamma knows so much. And she is one of the
+handsomest old ladies in Boston. Oh, listen!"
+
+A mysterious sound came from the kitchen. A fiddle was surely tuning up
+somewhere.
+
+"The big folks are going to dance, and that is black Joe, Mr. Winslow's
+man."
+
+Mr. Winslow and a young lady had arrived also. They tendered many
+apologies about their lateness.
+
+The people in the dining room left the table and came out in the hall.
+Cary Adams had been having a very nice time, for a young fellow. Isabel
+poured the chocolate, and on her right sat a Harvard senior. Alice
+poured the tea, and beside her sat Cary, who made himself useful handing
+it about. He liked Alice very much. A young married couple were over on
+the other side, and now this addition and the fiddle looked suspicious.
+
+"My dear Doris," exclaimed her uncle. He had been discussing Greek poets
+with the Harvard professor, and had really forgotten about her. "Are you
+tired? It's about time a young person like you, and an old person like
+me, went home."
+
+He didn't look a bit old. There was a tint of pink in his cheeks--he had
+been so roused and warmed with his argument and his tea.
+
+"Oh, do let Doris stay and see them dance, just one dance," pleaded
+Eudora. "We have been sitting here talking, and haven't tired ourselves
+out a bit."
+
+The fiddler and the dancers went to the room where the children had
+their frolic. That was Jane Morse's cousin Winslow. How odd she should
+see him and hear black Joe, who fiddled like the blind piper. The
+children kept time with their feet.
+
+The minuet was elegant. Then they had a cotillion in which there was a
+great deal of bowing. After that Mr. Adams said they must go home, and
+Madam Royall came and talked to Doris in a charming fashion, and then
+told Susan, the slim colored maid, to wrap her up head and ears, and in
+spite of Mr. Adams' protest Pompey came round with the sleigh.
+
+"I hope you had a nice time," said Madam Royall, as she put a Christmas
+box in the little girl's hand.
+
+"I'm just full of joy," she answered with shining eyes. "I couldn't hold
+any more unless I grew," laughingly.
+
+They made her promise to come again, and the children kissed her
+good-by. Then they were whisked off and set down at their own door in no
+time.
+
+"Now you must run to bed. Aunt Elizabeth would be horrified at your
+staying up so late."
+
+Miss Recompense was--almost. She had been nodding over the fire.
+
+They went upstairs together. She took a look at Doris, and suddenly the
+child clasped her round the waist.
+
+"Oh, dear Miss Recompense, I was so glad about the beautiful sash. Most
+of the frocks were prettier than mine. Some had tiny ruffles round the
+bottom and the sleeves. But the party was so nice I forgot all about
+that. Oh, Miss Recompense, were you ever brimful of happiness, and you
+wanted to sing for pure gladness? I think that is the way the birds must
+feel."
+
+No, Miss Recompense had never been that happy. A great joy, the delight
+of childhood, had been lost out of her life. She had been trained to
+believe that for every miserable day you spent bewailing your sins, a
+day in heaven would be intensified, and that happiness on earth was a
+snare of the Evil One to lead astray. She had gone out in the fields and
+bemoaned herself, and wondered how the birds _could_ sing when they had
+to die so soon, and how anyone could laugh when he had to answer for
+everything at the Day of Judgment.
+
+"Everybody was so delightful, though at first I felt strange. And I did
+not make out at all playing graces. That's just beautiful, and I'd like
+to know how. And now if you will untie the sash and put it away, and I
+am a hundred times obliged to you."
+
+Some of the children she had known would have begged for the sash.
+Doris' frank return touched her. Mr. Adams no doubt meant her to keep
+it--she would ask him.
+
+And then the happy little girl went to bed, while even in the dark the
+room seemed full of exquisite visions and voices that charmed her.
+
+Cary had to go away the next morning. Uncle Win said he couldn't spare
+her, and sent Cato over to tell Mrs. Leverett. A young man came in for
+some instruction, and Doris followed the fate of the Vicar's household a
+while, until she felt she ought to study, since there were so many
+things she did not know.
+
+Uncle Win found her in the chimney corner with a pile of books.
+
+"What is it now?" he asked.
+
+"I think I know _all_ my spelling. But I can't get some of the addition
+tables right when I ask myself questions. I wish there had not been any
+nine."
+
+"The world couldn't get along without the nine. It is very necessary."
+
+"Most of the good things _are_ hard," she said with a philosophic sigh.
+
+He laughed.
+
+"Eudora does not like tables either."
+
+"I will tell you a famous thing about nine that you can't do with any
+other figure. How much is ten and ten?"
+
+"Why, twenty, and ten more are thirty, and so on. It is easy as turning
+over your hand."
+
+"Ten and nine."
+
+Doris looked nonplused and began to draw her brow in perplexed lines.
+
+"Nine is only one less than ten. Now, if you can remember that----"
+
+"Nineteen! Why, that is splendid."
+
+"Now sixteen and nine?"
+
+"Twenty-five," rather hesitatingly.
+
+He nodded. "And nine more."
+
+"Thirty-four. Oh, we made a rhyme. Uncle Winthrop, is it very hard to
+write verses? They are so beautiful."
+
+"I think it is--rather," with his half-smile.
+
+People had not had the leisure to be very poetical as yet. But through
+these years some children were being born into the world whose verses
+were to find a place by every fireside before the little girl said her
+last good-night to it. So far there had been some bright witticisms and
+sarcasms in rhyme, and the clergy had penned verses for wedding and
+funeral occasions. The Rev. John Cotton had indulged in flowing
+versification, and even Governor Bradford had interspersed his severer
+cares with visions of softer strains. Anne Dudley, the wife of Governor
+Bradstreet, with her eight children, had found time for study and
+writing, and about 1650 had a volume of verse published in London
+entitled "The Tenth Muse. Several poems compiled with a great variety of
+wit and learning. By an American Gentlewoman." And she makes this
+protest even then:
+
+    I am obnoxious to each carping tongue,
+      Who says my hand a needle better fits;
+    A poet's pen all scorn I thus should wrong,
+      For such despite they cast on female wits:
+    If what I do prove well it won't advance,
+    They'll say it's stolen, or else it was by chance.
+
+There was also a Mrs. Murray and a Mercy Otis Warren, who evinced very
+fine intellectual ability; and Mrs. Adams had written letters that the
+world a hundred years later was to admire and esteem.
+
+On the parlor table in some houses you found a thin volume of poems
+with a romantic history. A Mrs. Wheatley bought a little girl at the
+slave market one day, mostly out of pity. She learned to read very
+rapidly, and was so modest and thoughtful that as a young woman she was
+held in high esteem by Dr. Sewall's flock at the Old South Church. She
+went abroad with her master's son before the breaking out of the war,
+and interested Londoners so much that her poems were published and she
+was the recipient of a good many attentions. Afterward they were
+reissued in Boston and met with warm commendations for the nobility of
+sentiment and smooth versification. So to Phillis Wheately belongs the
+honor of having been one of the first female poets in Boston.
+
+And young men even now celebrated their sweethearts' charms in rhyme.
+Gay gallants wrote their own valentines. Young collegians struggled with
+Latin verse, and sometimes scaled the heights of Thessaly from whence
+inspiration sprang. But, for the most part, the temperaments that
+inclined to the worship of the Muses sought solace in Chaucer,
+Shakspere, and Milton while the later ones were winning their way.
+
+Doris sighed over the doubtfulness in her uncle's tone. But it was music
+rather than poetry that floated through her brain.
+
+"You might come and read a little Latin, and then we will have a talk in
+French. We will leave the prosaic part. What you will do in square root
+and cube root----"
+
+"I am afraid I shall not grow at all. I'll just wither up. Isn't there
+some round root?"
+
+"Yes, among vegetables."
+
+They both laughed at that.
+
+She did quite well in the Latin. Then she spelled some rather difficult
+words, and being in the high tide of French when dinner was announced,
+they kept on talking, to the great amusement of Miss Recompense, who
+could hardly convince herself that it really did mean anything
+reasonable.
+
+Uncle Winthrop said then they certainly deserved some indulgence, and if
+she was not afraid of blowing away they would go out riding again. They
+took the small sleigh and he drove, and they turned down toward the stem
+end of the pear, and if Boston had not held on good and strong in those
+early years it might in some high wind have been twisted off and left an
+island.
+
+It does not look, to-day, much as it did when Doris first saw it.
+Charles River has shrunken, Back Bay has been filled up. It has
+stretched out everywhere and made itself a marvelous city. The Common
+has changed as well, and is more beautiful than one could have imagined
+then, but a thousand old recollections cling to it.
+
+They left the streets behind. Sleigh riding was the great winter
+amusement then, but you had to take it in cold weather, for the salt air
+all about softened the snow the first mild day. There was no factory
+smoke or dust to mar it, and it lay in great unbroken sheets. There were
+people skating on Back Bay, and chairs on runners with ladies well
+wrapped up in furs, and sleds of every description.
+
+They came up around the other side and saw the wharves and the idle
+shipping and the white-capped islands in the harbor. Now the wind _did_
+nearly blow you away.
+
+The next day was very lowering and chilly. Uncle Winthrop had to go to a
+dinner among some notables. Miss Recompense always brushed his hair and
+tied the queue. Young men did not wear them, but some of the older
+people thought leaving them off was aping youthfulness. He put on his
+black velvet smallclothes, his silk stockings and low shoes with silver
+buckles, his flowered waistcoat, his high stock and fine French
+broadcloth coat. His shirt front had two full ruffles beautifully
+crimped. Miss Recompense did it with a penknife.
+
+"You look just like a picture, Uncle Winthrop," Doris exclaimed
+admiringly. "Party clothes _do_ make one handsomer. I suppose it isn't
+good for one to be handsome all the time."
+
+"We should grow too vain," he answered smilingly, yet he did enjoy the
+honest praise.
+
+"Perhaps if we were used to it all the time it would not seem so
+beautiful. It would get to be everyday-like, and you would not think
+about it."
+
+True enough. He had a fancy Madam Royall did not think half so much
+about her apparel as some of the more strenuous people who referred
+continually to conscience.
+
+"Good-by. Maybe you will be in bed when I come back."
+
+"Oh, will you be gone that late?" She stood upon a stool and reached
+over to give him a parting kiss, if she could not see him until
+to-morrow, and she did not even touch his immaculate ruffles.
+
+It was growing dusky, and Miss Recompense was in and out, and was in no
+hurry for candlelight herself. Doris sat in a kind of chaotic thinking.
+Someone came up the steps, stamped his feet quite too noisily for
+Cato,--even if he had returned so soon,--knocked at the door, and then
+opened it.
+
+"Oh, Uncle Leverett!" and she sprang up.
+
+"Well, well, little runaway! I was quite struck when mother told me you
+were going to stay all the week. I wanted to see my little girl. It's
+lonesome without you and Betty, I can tell you--lonesome as the woods in
+winter; and as I couldn't get to see her, I thought I would run around
+this way and see you. The longest way round is the surest way home, I
+have heard"--with a twinkle in his eye. "Where's Uncle Win? What are you
+doing in the dark alone?"
+
+"Uncle Win has gone to a grand dinner at the Exchange something. And he
+dressed all up. He looked splendid."
+
+"I dare say. He isn't bad-looking in his everyday gear. And you are
+having a good time?"
+
+"A most beautiful time, Uncle Leverett. I went to church Christmas
+morning. And a lady asked us both to a party--yes, it was a party. The
+grown people were by themselves, and the children--there were ten little
+girls--they had a grand supper and played games and told riddles, and we
+talked--"
+
+"Where was this fine affair?"
+
+"At Madam Royall's. And she was so kind and sweet and handsome."
+
+"Well, I declare! Right in amongst the quality! I don't know what mother
+would say to a party. What a pity you didn't have that pretty frock!"
+
+"I did wish for it at first, but we had such a nice time it made no
+difference. And then some more people came and Mr. Winslow and Black
+Joe, who was at Betty's party, and they danced. Cary went, too. He
+stayed after Uncle Win and I came home."
+
+"Great doings. I am glad you are happy. But I shall be doubly glad to
+get you back. And now I must run off home."
+
+Miss Recompense came in and lighted the candles. They were going to have
+supper in five minutes and he must take off his coat and stay.
+
+"I've sort of run away, and no one would know where I am. Wife would
+keep supper waiting. No, I must hustle back, thanking you for the
+asking. I wanted to see Doris. Somehow we have grown so used to her
+already that the house seems kind of lost without her, Betty being away.
+We haven't had any letter from Hartford, but I dare say she is there all
+safe."
+
+"Post teams do get delayed. Doris is well and satisfied. She and her
+uncle have great times studying."
+
+"That is good. Wife worried a little about school. Now I must go.
+Good-night. You will surely be home on Saturday."
+
+"Good-night," returned the soft voice.
+
+Somehow the supper was very quiet. Doris had begun to read aloud to Miss
+Recompense "The Story of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia." She did not
+like it as well as her dear Vicar, but Uncle Win said it was good. He
+was not quite sure of the Vicar for such a child. So she read along very
+well for a while, and then she yawned.
+
+"You were up late last night and you must go to bed," said the elder
+lady.
+
+Doris was ready. She _was_ sleepy, but somehow she did not drop asleep
+all in a minute. There was a grave subject to consider. All day she was
+thinking how splendid it would be if Uncle Win should ask her to come
+here and live. She liked him. She liked the books and the curiosities
+and the talks and the teaching. Uncle Win was so much more interesting
+than Mrs. Webb, who flung questions at you in a way that made you jump
+if you were not paying strict attention. There were other delights that
+she could not explain to herself. And the books, the leisure to sit and
+think. For careful Aunt Elizabeth said--"Have you hung up your cloak,
+Doris? Are you sure you know your spelling? I do wonder if you will ever
+get those tables perfect! The idea of such a big girl not knowing how to
+knit a stocking! Don't sit there looking into the fire and dreaming,
+Doris; attend to your book. Jimmie boy is away ahead of you in some
+things."
+
+And here she could sit and dream. Of course she was not going to school.
+Miss Recompense did not think of something all the time. She had learned
+a sort of graciousness since she had lived with Mr. Winthrop Adams.
+True, she had nothing to worry about--no children to advance in life, no
+husband whose business she must be anxiously considering. She had a snug
+little sum of money, and was adding to it all the time, and she was
+still a long way from old age. Doris could not have understood the
+difference in both position and demands, but she enjoyed the atmosphere
+of ease. And there was a certain aspect of luxury, a freedom from the
+grinding exactions of conscience that had been trained to keep
+continually on the alert lest one "fall into temptation."
+
+"He had wanted to see his little girl. He was lonesome without her."
+
+She could see the longing in Uncle Leverett's face and hear his wistful
+voice there in the dark. He had come to the ship and given her the first
+greeting and brought her home. Yes, she supposed she _was_ his little
+girl. Guardians were to take care of one's money; you did not have to
+live with them, of course. Uncle Leverett was something in a business
+way, too; and he loved her. She knew that without any explanation. She
+was quite sure Uncle Win loved her also, but her real place was in
+Sudbury Street.
+
+Friday afternoon she was curled up by the fire reading, looking like a
+big kitten, if you had seen only her gray frock. Uncle Win had glanced
+at her every now and then. He did not mind having her around--not as
+much, in fact, as Cary, who tumbled books about and moved chairs noisily
+and kept one's nerves astir all the time, as a big healthy fellow whose
+body has grown so fast that he hardly knows what to do with his long
+arms and legs is apt to do.
+
+Doris was like a little mouse. She never rattled the leaves when she
+turned them over, she never put books in the cases upside down, she did
+not finger papers or anything that lay on the table when she stood by
+it. He had a fancy that all children were meddlesome and curious and
+given to asking queer questions: these were the things he remembered
+about Cary in those first years of sorrow when he could hardly bear him
+out of his sight.
+
+Instead, Doris was restful with her quaint ways. She did not run against
+chairs nor move a stool so that the legs emitted a "screak" of agony,
+and she could sit still for an hour at a time if she had a book. Of
+course, being a girl she ought to sew instead.
+
+It was getting quite dusky. Uncle Winthrop came and stirred the fire and
+put on a pine log, then drew up his chair.
+
+"Put away your book, Doris. You will try your eyes."
+
+She shut it up and came and stood by him. He passed his arm around her.
+
+"Uncle Win, there was a time when people had to read and sew by the
+blaze of logs and torches. There were no candles."
+
+"They did it not so many years ago here. I dare say they are still doing
+it out in country places. They go to bed early."
+
+"What seems queer to me is that people are continually finding out
+things. They must at one time have been very ignorant. No, they could
+not have been either," reflectively. "For just think how Adam named the
+animals. And Miss Arabella said that Job knew all about the stars and
+called them by their names. But perhaps it was the little things like
+candles and such. Yet they had lamps ever and ever so long ago."
+
+"People seem to advance and then fall back. They emigrate and cannot
+take all their appliances with them, and they make simpler things to use
+until they have leisure and begin to accumulate wealth. You see, they
+could not bring a great deal from England or Holland in the vessels they
+had in early sixteen hundred. So they had to begin at the foundation in
+many things."
+
+"It is all so wonderful when you really come to learn about it," she
+said with a gentle sigh.
+
+The blaze was shining on her now, and bringing out the puzzles on the
+fair child's face. She was very intelligent, if she was slow at figures.
+
+"Doris,"--after a long pause,--"how would you like to live here?"
+
+"Oh, Uncle Win, it would be the most splendid thing----"
+
+"I fancied you might like to change. And there are some matters
+connected with your education--why, what is it, Doris?"
+
+She raised her eyes an instant, then they drooped and he saw the dark
+fringe beaded with tears. She took a long quivering inspiration.
+
+"Uncle Win--I don't believe I can." The words came very slowly. "You see
+Betty is away, and Uncle Leverett missed me very much. He said the other
+night I was his little girl, and he was lonesome----"
+
+"I shall be lonesome when you are gone."
+
+"But you have so many books and things, and people coming, and--I should
+like to stay. Oh, I do like you so." She put her slim arm around his
+neck and laid her cheek against his. "Sometimes it seems as if you were
+like what I remember of papa. I only saw such a little of him, you know,
+after I went to England. But Aunt Elizabeth says it is the hard things
+that are right always. She would have Jimmie boy, you know, if I stayed,
+but Uncle Leverett wants me. I can just feel how it is, but I don't know
+how to explain it. He has always been so good to me. And that day on the
+ship he said, 'Is this my little girl?' and I was so glad to really
+belong to someone again----"
+
+She was crying softly. He felt the tears on his cheek. Her simple
+heroism touched him.
+
+"Yes, dear," he said with a comforting sound in his voice. "Perhaps it
+would be best to wait a little, until Betty returns, or in the summer.
+You can come over Friday night and spend Sunday, and brush up on Latin,
+and brush me up on French, and we will have a nice visit."
+
+"Oh, thank you, thank you. Uncle Win--if I could be two little
+girls----"
+
+"I want you all, complete. We will keep it to think about."
+
+Then Miss Recompense said supper was ready, and Doris wiped the tears
+out of her eyes and smiled. But the pressure of her hand as they walked
+out confessed that she belonged to him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+VARIOUS OPINIONS OF LITTLE GIRLS
+
+
+"You have kept up wonderfully for being absent a whole week. You haven't
+fallen back a bit," said Mrs. Webb.
+
+Doris flushed with delight. The little training Uncle Winthrop had given
+her had borne fruit.
+
+But she was shocked that Jimmie boy was so bad he had to be punished
+with the ruler. He had been punished twice in the week before.
+
+"Don't you darst to tell grandmother," he said as they were turning into
+Sudbury Street. "If you do I'll--I'll"--she was a girl, and he couldn't
+punch her--"I won't take you on my sled."
+
+"No. I won't tell."
+
+"Honest and true? Hope to die?"
+
+"I'll say honest and true."
+
+"A little thing like that aint much, just two or three slaps. You ought
+to see the teacher at Salem? My brother Foster gets licked sometimes,
+and he makes us promise not to tell father."
+
+James had stood a little in awe of Doris on the point of good behavior.
+But Sam had been up, and James had gone down to Aunt Martha's, and he
+felt a great deal bigger now.
+
+Uncle Leverett was very glad to get his little girl back. They had heard
+from Betty, who had spent two delightful days with Mrs. Eastman, and
+then they had gone to Hartford together. Electa and the children were
+well, and she had a beautiful house with a Brussels carpet in the parlor
+and velvet furniture and vases and a table with a marble top. Betty sent
+love to everybody, and they were to tell Aunt Priscilla that the beaver
+bonnet was just the thing, and she was going to have the silk frock made
+over right away. Electa thought the India silk lovely, and she was so
+glad she had brought the extra piece along, for she was going to have
+the little cape with long tabs to tie behind, and she should use up
+every scrap putting a frill on it.
+
+Aunt Priscilla had not waited until March, but taken another cold and
+was confined to the house, so Aunt Elizabeth went over quite often.
+Martha Grant proved very efficient, and she was industry itself. She,
+too, was amazed that Doris wasn't "put to something useful."
+
+Doris had brought home a Latin book, but Aunt Elizabeth could not
+cordially indorse such a boyish study. Women were never meant to go to
+colleges. But she did not feel free to thwart Cousin Adams' plans for
+her.
+
+He came over on Saturday and took her out, and they had a nice laughing
+French talk, though he admitted he and Miss Recompense had missed her
+very much. She told him about Betty, and what Mrs. Webb had said, and
+seemed quite happy.
+
+Just at the last of the month they were all very much interested in a
+grand affair to which Uncle Winthrop was an invited guest. It was at the
+great Exchange Coffee House, and really in honor of the gallant struggle
+Spain had been making against the man who bid fair then to be the
+dictator of all Europe. On one throne after another he had placed the
+different members of his family. Joseph Bonaparte, who had been King of
+Naples, was summarily transferred to the throne of Spain, with small
+regard for the desires of her people. He found himself quite unable to
+cope with the insurgents rising on every hand. And America sent Spain
+her warmest sympathy.
+
+Uncle Leverett read the account aloud from his weekly paper. Now and
+then there appeared a daily paper for a brief while, and a tolerably
+successful semi-weekly, but the real substantial paper was the weekly.
+How they would have found time then to read a morning and an evening
+paper--two or three, perhaps--is beyond comprehension. And to have heard
+news from every quarter of the globe before it was more than a few hours
+old would have seemed witchcraft.
+
+Napoleon was now at the zenith of his fame. But the feeling of the
+country at his divorcing Josephine, who loved him deeply, was a thrill
+of indignation, for the tie of marriage was now considered irrevocable
+save for the gravest cause. That he should marry an Austrian princess
+for the sake of allying himself to a royal house and having an heir to
+the throne, which was nearly half of Europe now, was causing people even
+then to draw a parallel between him and our own hero, Washington. Both
+had started with an endeavor to free their respective countries from an
+intolerable yoke, and when this was achieved Washington had grandly and
+calmly laid down the burdens of state and retired to private life, while
+Napoleon was still bent upon conquest. The sympathies of America went
+out to all struggling nations.
+
+There had been an ode read, and toasts and songs; indeed, it had called
+together the notable men of the city, who had partaken of a grand feast.
+It was much talked of for weeks; and Doris questioned Uncle Winthrop and
+began to be interested in matters pertaining to her new country.
+
+She was learning a good deal about the city. Warren took her to Aunt
+Priscilla's one noon, and came for her when they had "shut up shop."
+Aunt Priscilla did not mend rapidly. She called it being "pudgicky," as
+if there was no name of a real disease to give it. A little fresh cold,
+a good deal of weakness--and she had always been so strong; some fever
+that would persist in coming back even when she had succeeded in
+breaking it up for a few days. The time hung heavily on her hands. She
+did miss Betty's freshness and bright, argumentative ways. So she was
+glad to see Doris, for Polly sat out in the kitchen half asleep most of
+the time.
+
+Solomon as well always seemed very glad to see Doris. He came and sat in
+her lap, and Aunt Priscilla told about the days when she was a little
+girl, more than fifty years ago. Doris thought life must have been very
+hard, and she was glad not to have lived then.
+
+She did like Miss Recompense the best, but she felt very sorry for Aunt
+Priscilla's loneliness.
+
+"She and Polly have grown old together, and they need some younger
+person to take care of them both," said Uncle Leverett. "She ought to
+take her comfort; she has money enough."
+
+"It is so difficult to find anyone to suit," and Aunt Elizabeth sighed.
+
+"I shall crawl out in the spring," declared Mrs. Perkins; but her tone
+was rather despondent.
+
+Doris wondered when the spring would come. The snow and ice had never
+been entirely off the ground.
+
+Besides going to Uncle Winthrop's,--and she went every other
+Saturday,--she had been asked to Madam Royall's to tea with the
+children. The elder lady had not forgotten her. Indeed, this was one of
+the houses that Mr. Adams thoroughly enjoyed, though he was not much of
+a hand to visit. But people felt then that they really owed their
+neighbors some social duty. There were not so many public amusements.
+
+The Chapman children had real dolls, not simply rag babies; and the
+clothes were made so you could take them off. Doris was quite charmed
+with them. Helen's had blue eyes and Eudora's brown, but both were
+red-cheeked and had black hair, which was not really hair at all, but
+shaped of the composition and curled and painted over.
+
+They had a grand long slide in their garden at the back. The servant
+would flood it over now and then and make it smooth as glass. Doris
+found it quite an art to stand up. Helen could go the whole length
+beautifully, and balance herself better than Eudora. But if you fell you
+generally tumbled over in the bank of snow and did not get hurt.
+
+Playing graces was a great delight to her and after several trials she
+became quite expert. Then on one occasion Madam Royall found that she
+had a very sweet voice.
+
+"You are old enough to learn some pretty songs, my child," she said. "I
+must speak to your uncle. When the weather gets pleasanter he must place
+you in a singing class."
+
+Singing was quite a great accomplishment then. Very few people had
+pianos. But young ladies and young men would sometimes spend a whole
+evening in singing beautiful old songs.
+
+In March there was a new President, Mr. Madison. Everybody was hoping
+for a new policy and better times, yet now and then there were quite
+sharp talks of war.
+
+One day Mrs. Manning and the baby came in and made quite a visit. The
+baby was very sweet and good, with pretty dark eyes, and Mrs. Manning
+looked very much like Aunt Elizabeth. Mrs. Hollis Leverett came and
+spent the day, and young married women who had been Mary Leverett's
+friends came to tea. Warren went over in the old chaise and brought Aunt
+Priscilla. Everybody seemed personally aggrieved that Betty should stay
+away so long.
+
+But Betty was having a grand time. Her letters to her mother were very
+staid and respectful, but there were accounts of dinners and evening
+parties and two or three weddings. Her brother King had given her a
+pretty pink silk, and that was made pompadour waist and had a full
+double plait at the back that hung down to the floor in a train. He had
+taken her and Electa to a grand affair where there were crowds of
+beautifully attired ladies. Betty did not call it a ball, for she knew
+they would all be shocked. And though her mother had written for her to
+come home, Mrs. King had begged for a little longer visit, as there
+seemed to be something special all the time.
+
+"What extravagance for a young girl!" exclaimed Mrs. Manning. "Pink silk
+indeed, and a train! Betty will be so flighty when she comes back there
+will be no getting along with her. 'Lecty has grown very worldly, I
+think. I have never found any occasion for a pink silk."
+
+Mrs. Leverett sighed. And Betty was not yet seventeen!
+
+Mrs. Manning took James home with her, for she said grandmother was
+spoiling him. She kept the children with a pretty strict hand at home,
+and they soon jumped over the traces when you gave them a little
+liberty. She was very glad to have him go to school all winter and hoped
+he had made some improvement.
+
+She was very brisk and energetic and was surprised to think they were
+letting Doris grow up into such a helpless, know-nothing sort of girl.
+And her daughter of nine was like a steady little woman.
+
+"Still it isn't wise to put too much on her," said Mrs. Leverett in mild
+protest. "Where one cannot help it, why, you must; but I think life is
+getting a little easier, and children ought to have their share of it."
+
+"I'm not asking anything of her that I did not do," returned Mrs.
+Manning. "And I am proud of my training and my housekeeping."
+
+"But it was so different then. Your father and I began life with only a
+few hundred dollars. Then there was his three years in the war, and
+people were doing everything for themselves--spinning and weaving and
+dyeing, and making clothes of every kind. To be sure I make soap and
+candles," laughing a little; "but we have only one cow now and give half
+the milk for her care. I really felt as if I ought not have Martha, but
+father insisted."
+
+"I don't see why Doris couldn't have done a good deal instead of poring
+over books so much."
+
+"Well--you see she isn't really our own. Cousin Winthrop has some ideas
+about her education. She will have a little money, too, if everything
+turns out right."
+
+"It's just the way to spoil girls. And you will find, mother, that Betty
+will be none the better for her visit to 'Lecty. Dear me! I don't see
+how 'Lecty can answer to her conscience, spending money that way. We
+couldn't. It's wrong and sinful. And it's wrong to bring up any child in
+a helpless, do-little fashion."
+
+They were sitting by the south window sewing, and Doris was at the other
+side of the chimney studying. Now and then she could not help catching a
+sentence. She wondered what little Elizabeth Manning was like, who could
+cook a meal, work butter, tend babies, and sew and knit stockings. She
+only went to school in the winter; there was too much work to do in the
+summer. She was not left alone now; one of the Manning aunts had been
+staying some time. This aunt was a tailoress and had been fitting out
+Mr. Manning, and now James must go home to have some clothes made.
+
+Jimmie boy privately admitted to Doris that he would rather stay at
+grandmother's. She was a good deal easier on him than his mother, and he
+didn't mind Mrs. Webb a bit. "But you just ought to see Mr. Green. He
+does lick the boys like fury! And there's such lots of errands to do
+home. Mother never gives you a chunk of cake either. I don't see why
+they couldn't all have been grandmothers instead of mothers."
+
+James was not the first boy who had wished such a thing. But he knew he
+had to go home, and that was all there was about it.
+
+Martha wanted to go also. She had bought a good stout English
+cambric--lively colored, as she called it--and a nice woolen or stuff
+frock, as goods of that kind was often called. She was going to do up
+her last summer's white frock to be married in. They would have a
+wedding supper at her father's and then go home, and begin housekeeping
+the next morning. Mrs. Leverett added a tablecloth to her store.
+
+Betty must be sent for imperatively. Her mother was afraid she would be
+quite spoiled. And she could not help wishing that Mrs. King would be a
+little more careful and not branch out so, and Mary take life a little
+easier, for Mr. Manning was putting by money and had his large farm
+clear.
+
+Then Aunt Priscilla was suddenly at sea. Jonas Field had bought a place
+of his own where he could live over the store. In spite of a changed
+name, King Street had dropped down and down, and was now largely given
+to taverns. The better class had kept moving out and a poorer class
+coming in, with colored people among them. No one had applied for the
+store, but a man who wanted to keep a tavern combined with a kind of
+sailor lodging house had made her a very good offer to buy the property.
+
+"I'm going to live my time out in this very house," declared Aunt
+Priscilla with some of her olden energy. "I came here when I was married
+and I'll stay to be buried. By the looks of things, it won't be a great
+many years. And I haven't made a sign of a will yet! Not that the
+Perkinses would get anything if I died in this state--that aint the
+word, but it means the same thing, not having your will made, and I aint
+quite sure after all that would be right. I worked and saved, and I had
+some when we were married, but husband had farsight, and knew how to
+turn it over. Some of his money ought to go back to his folks."
+
+This had been one of the decisions haunting Aunt Priscilla's conscience.
+Down at the bottom she had a strict sense of justice.
+
+"It is hardly nice to go there any more," said Aunt Elizabeth. "And I
+shall not enjoy a young girl like Betty running over there, if Aunt
+Priscilla shouldn't be very well, and she is breaking. Polly gets worse
+and really is not to be trusted."
+
+It was Polly after all who settled the matter, or the summons that came
+to Polly one night. For in the morning, quite late, after a good deal of
+calling and scolding, Aunt Priscilla found she had taken the last
+journey. It was a great shock. Jonas Field's errand boy was dispatched
+to the Leveretts'.
+
+The woman who came soon gave notice that she "couldn't stay in no such
+neighborhood for steady company."
+
+Mr. Leverett and Cousin Adams urged her to sell. If there should be war
+she might not have a chance in a long while again.
+
+"But I don't know the first thing in the world to do," she moaned. "I
+haven't a chick nor a child to care about me."
+
+"Come over and stop with us a bit until you can make some plans. There's
+two rooms upstairs in which you could housekeep if you wanted to. Our
+family gets smaller all the time. But if you liked to live with us a
+spell----" said Mr. Leverett.
+
+"I don't know how 'Lizabeth could stand an old woman and a young
+one"--hesitatingly.
+
+"If you mean Doris, she is going over to Winthrop's," he replied.
+
+"Ready to jump at the chance, I'll warrant. You can't count on
+children."
+
+"No, Aunt Priscilla, she didn't jump. She's a wise, fond little thing.
+Win asked her about Christmas, and she wouldn't consent until Betty came
+back, for fear we would be lonesome. It quite touched me when I heard of
+it. Win has some ideas about her education, and I guess he's nearer
+right. So that needn't trouble you. It would be so much better for you
+to sell."
+
+"I'll think it over," she said almost gruffly, for she was moved
+herself. "I never could get along with this Rachel Day. She doesn't
+allow that anyone in the world knows anything but herself, and I kept
+house before she was born. I don't like quite such smart people."
+
+Miss Hetty Perkins came in to offer her services as housekeeper. Every
+now and then she had "edged round," as Aunt Priscilla expressed it.
+Everybody said Hetty was closer than the skin, but then she had no one
+except herself to depend upon. And Amos Perkins called to see if Aunt
+Priscilla had anyone she could trust to do her business. He heard she
+was going to sell.
+
+"I haven't made up my mind," she answered tartly. She was not fond of
+Amos either.
+
+Then the would-be purchaser found he could have a place two doors below.
+He did not like it as well, but it would answer.
+
+"It seems as if I was bound to have a rum shop and a sailor's
+boarding-house under my nose. There'll be a crowd of men hanging round
+and fiddling and carousing half the night. I don't see what's getting
+into Boston! Places that were good enough twenty year ago are only fit
+for tramps, and decent people have to get out of the way, whether they
+will or no."
+
+Betty came home the last of March. She looked taller--perhaps it was
+because she wore her dresses so long and her hair so high. She had a
+pretty new frock--a rich warm brown ground, with little flowers in green
+and yellow and a kind of dull red sprinkled all over it. It had come
+from New York, and was called delaine. She had discarded her homespun
+woolen. And, oh, how stylishly pretty she was, quite like the young
+ladies at Madam Royall's!
+
+She held Doris to her heart and almost smothered her, kissing her
+fondly.
+
+"You have grown lovely by the minute!" she cried. "I was so afraid
+someone would cut your hair. 'Lecty said at first that I had only one
+idea, and that was Doris Adams, I talked about you so much. And she's
+wild to see you. She's quite grand and full of fun, altogether different
+from Mary. Mary holds onto every penny until I should think she'd pinch
+it thin. And I've had the most magnificent time, though Hartford is
+nothing compared to Boston. It is like a country place where you know
+everybody that is at all worth knowing. I have such lots of things to
+tell you."
+
+It came rather hard to take up the old routine of work, and get up early
+in the morning. She was dismayed by the news that Aunt Priscilla was
+coming and Doris going.
+
+"Though I don't know," she declared after reflecting a day or two on the
+subject. "I'll have such a good excuse to go to Uncle Win's, and we can
+have delightful talks. But Aunt Priscilla is certainly a dispensation of
+Providence equal to St. Paul's thorn in the flesh."
+
+"I've made her some visits this winter, and she has been real nice,"
+said Doris. "I shouldn't mind her at all now. And I told Uncle Win that
+I would like to be two little girls, so one _could_ stay here. I love
+Uncle Win very much. I love your father too."
+
+"Is there anybody in the whole wide world you do not love?"
+
+Doris flushed. She had not been able to feel very tenderly toward Mrs.
+Manning, and Mrs. Hollis Leverett talked about her being so backward,
+and such a "meachin" little thing.
+
+"I dare say if the truth was known, her mother died of consumption. And
+that great mop of hair is enough to take the strength out of any child.
+I wouldn't have it on Bessy's head for an hour," declared Mrs. Hollis.
+
+But Bessy told her in a confidential whisper that she thought her curls
+the sweetest thing in the world, and when she was a grown-up young lady
+she meant to curl her hair all over her head.
+
+Doris was glad Uncle Winthrop did not find any fault with them.
+
+Of course she should be sorry to go. It was curious how one could be
+glad and sorry in a breath.
+
+Mrs. Leverett went over to Aunt Priscilla's to help pack. Oh, the boxes
+and bundles and bags! They were tied up and labeled; some of them had
+not been opened for years. Gowns that she had outgrown, stockings she
+had knit, petticoats she had quilted--quite a fashion then.
+
+"It's lucky we have a big garret," said Mrs. Leverett. "And whatever
+will you do with them?"
+
+"There's that flax wheel--it was grandmother's. She was like Benjamin
+Franklin, who gave his sister Jane a spinning wheel on her wedding day:
+she gave me that. And Jane's gone, though I did hear someone bought the
+wheel for a sort of keepsake. Oh, Elizabeth, I don't know what _you_
+will do with all this old trumpery!"
+
+Elizabeth hardly knew either. It was good to have children and
+grandchildren to take some of these things just to keep one from
+hoarding up. Elizabeth, sweet soul, remembered the poor at her gates as
+well. But most people were fond of holding onto everything until their
+latest breath. There was some virtue in it, for the later generations
+had many priceless heirlooms.
+
+One of the south rooms was emptied, and after a great deal of argument
+Aunt Priscilla was prevailed upon to use her best chamber furniture for
+the rest of her life. She had not cared much for the housekeeping
+project, and decided she would rather board a while until she could get
+back some of her strength.
+
+"What are you going to do with Solomon?" asked Doris.
+
+"Well--I don't know. Aunt Elizabeth doesn't like cats very much. He's
+such a nice fellow, I should hate to leave him behind and have him
+neglected. But it's bad luck to move cats."
+
+"I should like to have him."
+
+"Would you, now? He's almost like a human. I've said that many a time;
+and he went round asking after Polly just as plain as anyone could. I
+declare, it made my heart ache. Polly had been a capable woman, and Mr.
+Perkins bought her, so I didn't feel free to turn her away when he was
+gone. And I'd grown used to a servant, too. I don't know what I should
+have done without her the two years he was ailing. Though when she came
+to be forgetful and lose her judgment it did use to try me. But I'm glad
+now I kept her to the end. I'd borrowed a sight of trouble thinking what
+I'd do if she fell sick, and I might just as well have trusted the Lord
+right straight along. When I come to have this other creetur ordering
+everything, and making tea her way,--she will boil it and you might as
+well give me senna,--then I knew Polly had some sense and memory, after
+all. You can't think how I miss her! I'm sorry for every bit of fault
+I've found these last two years."
+
+Aunt Priscilla stopped to take breath and wipe her eyes. Polly's death
+had opened her mind to many things.
+
+Doris sat and stroked Solomon and rubbed him under the throat. Now and
+then he looked up with an intent, asking gaze, and a solemn flick of one
+ear, as if he said, "Can't you tell me where Polly is gone?"
+
+"You'd have to ask Uncle Winthrop. And I don't know what Miss Recompense
+would say."
+
+"She likes cats."
+
+"Oh. Well, I'm afraid Uncle Winthrop doesn't."
+
+"If he _should_," tentatively.
+
+"I think I'd miss Solomon a good deal. But he'd be a bother to keep at
+the Leveretts'. I would like him to have a good home. And he is very
+fond of you."
+
+Uncle Win was over the very next day, and Doris laid the case before
+him.
+
+"I like the picture of comfort a nice cat makes before the fire. I
+haven't any objection to cats in themselves. But I dislike cat hairs."
+
+"Uncle Win, I could brush you off. And Solomon has been so well trained.
+He has a box with a cushion, so he never jumps up in chairs. And he has
+a piece of blanket on the rug where he lies. He loves me so, and Aunt
+Elizabeth can't bear cats. Oh, I wish I might have him."
+
+"I'll talk to Miss Recompense. She's having a little room fixed up for
+you just off of hers. It opens on the hall, and it has a window where
+you can see the sun rise. I think through the summer you need not go to
+school, but study at home as you did Christmas week."
+
+"That will be delightful! And I shall be so glad when it is truly
+spring."
+
+It had been a long cold winter, but now there were signs everywhere of a
+curious awakening among the maples. Some were already out in red bloom.
+The grass had begun to spring up in its soft green, though there were
+patches of ice in shady places and a broad skim along the edge of the
+Charles River marsh. But the bay and the harbor were clear and
+beautiful.
+
+Betty and Doris had confidential chats after they were in bed--in very
+low tones, lest they should be heard.
+
+"Everybody would be shocked to see how really gay Electa is. There are
+very religious people in Hartford, too, who begin on Saturday night. But
+the men insist upon parties and dinners, and they bring their fashions
+up from New York. Boston is just as gay in some places, and Jane Morse
+has had a splendid time this winter going to dances. The gentlemen who
+come to Mr. King's are so polite, some of them elegant. I envy 'Lecty.
+It's just the kind of world to live in."
+
+"And I want to hear about your pink silk."
+
+"I left it at 'Lecty's. It was too gay to bring home. It would have
+frightened everybody. And 'Lecty thinks of going to New York next
+winter, and if she does she will send for me. I should have had to
+rumple it all up bringing it home, and I don't believe I'd had a chance
+to wear it. I have the other two, and Mat thought the blue and white one
+very pretty. Mat laughs at what he calls Puritanism, and says the world
+is growing broader and more generous. He is a splendid man too, and
+though he is making a good deal of money he doesn't think all the time
+of saving, as Mary and her husband do. He is good to the poor, and
+generous and kind, and wants everyone to be happy. Of course they go to
+church, but there is a curious difference. I sometimes wonder who is
+right and if it _is_ a sin to be happy."
+
+Doris' mind had no especial theological bent, and her conscience had not
+been trained to keep on the alert.
+
+"It was very nice in him to give it to you. And you must have looked
+lovely in it."
+
+"Oh, the frock," Betty laughed. "Yes, I did. And when you know you look
+nice you stop feeling anxious about it. It was just so at Jane's party.
+But I should have been mortified in my gray woolen gown. Well--the
+mortification may be good, but it isn't pleasant. I wore the pink silk
+to the weddings and to some dinners. Dinners are quite grand things
+there, but they last so long I should call them suppers. And sometimes
+there is a grand march afterward, which is a kind of stately dancing. It
+has been just delightful. I don't know how I will settle down and wash
+and iron and scrub. But I would a great deal rather be in 'Lecty's place
+than in Mary's, and saving up money to buy farms isn't everything to
+life. I think the Mannings worship their farms and stock a good deal
+more than 'Lecty and Mat do their fine house and their money and all."
+
+Her admirers and her conquests she confided to Janie Morse. There was
+one very charming young man that she liked a great deal, but her sister
+said she was too young to keep company, and there might be next winter
+in New York.
+
+It spoke volumes for the wholesome, sensible nature of Betty Leverett
+that she could take her olden place in the household, assist her mother,
+and entertain her father with the many interesting events of her gay and
+happy winter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+IN THE SPRING
+
+
+The matter had settled itself so easily that Doris could not find much
+opportunity for sorrow, nor misgivings for her joy. She could not see
+the struggle there had been in Uncle Leverett's mind, and the sturdy
+common sense that had come to his assistance. He could recall habits of
+second-cousin Charles that were like a woman's for daintiness, and
+Winthrop Adams had the same touch of refinement and delicacy. It was in
+the Adams blood, doubtless. Aunt Priscilla had not a large share, but he
+had noted some of it in Elizabeth. It pervaded every atom of Doris'
+slender body and every cell of her brain. She never would take to the
+rougher, coarser things of life; indeed, why should she when there was
+no need? He had wandered so far from the orthodox faith that he began to
+question useless discipline.
+
+Winthrop could understand and care for her better. She would grow up in
+his house to the kind of girl nature had meant her to be. Here the
+useful, that might never come in use, would be mingled and confused with
+what was necessary. He had watched her trying to achieve the stocking
+that all little girls could knit at her age. It was as bad as Penelope's
+web. Aunt Elizabeth pulled it out after she had gone to bed, and knit
+two or three "rounds," so as not to utterly discourage her inapt pupil.
+But Doris had set up some lace on a "cushion," after Madam Sheafe's
+direction, and it grew a web of beauty under her dainty fingers.
+
+It was not as if Doris would be quite lost to them. They would see her
+every day or two. And when it was decided that Aunt Priscilla would
+come he was really glad. Aunt Priscilla's captious talk did not always
+proceed from an unkindly heart.
+
+Betty made a violent protest at first.
+
+"After all, it will not be quite so bad as I thought," she admitted
+presently. "I shall go to Uncle Win's twice as often, and I have always
+been so fond of him. And things _are_ prettier there, somehow. There is
+a great difference in the way people live, and I mean to change some
+things. It isn't because one is ashamed to be old-fashioned; some of the
+old ways are lovely. It is only when you tack hardness and commonness on
+them and think ugliness has a real virtue in it. We will have both sides
+to talk about. But if you were going back to England, it would break my
+heart, Doris."
+
+Doris winked some tears out of her eyes.
+
+She thought her room at Uncle Win's was like a picture. The wall was
+whitewashed: people thought then it was much healthier for sleeping
+chambers. The floor was painted a rather palish yellow. There was only
+one window, but the door was opposite, and a door that opened into the
+room of Miss Recompense. The window had white curtains with ruffled
+edges, made of rather coarse muslin, but it was clear, and looked very
+tidy. Miss Recompense had found a small bedstead among the stored-away
+articles. It had high posts and curtains and valance of pale-blue
+flowered chintz. There was a big bureau, a dressing table covered with
+white, and a looking glass prettily draped. At the top of this,
+surmounted by a gilt eagle, was a marvelous picture of a man with a blue
+coat and yellow smallclothes handing into a boat a lady who wore a skirt
+of purple and an overdress of scarlet, very much betrimmed, holding a
+green parasol over her head with one hand and placing a slippered foot
+on the edge of the boat. After a long while Doris thought she should be
+much relieved to have them sail off somewhere.
+
+There were two quaint rush-bottomed chairs and a yellow stool, such as
+we tie with ribbons and call a milking stool. A nice warm rug lay at the
+side of the bed, and a smaller one at the washing stand. These were
+woven like rag carpet, but made of woolen rags with plenty of ends
+standing up all over, like the surface of a Moquette carpet. They were
+considered quite handsome then, as they were more trouble than braided
+rugs, and so soft to the foot. Some strenuous housekeepers declared them
+terrible dust catchers.
+
+Doris' delight in the room amply repaid Miss Recompense. She had learned
+her way about, and could come down alone, now that the weather had grown
+pleasanter, and she was full of joy over everything. Occasionally Uncle
+Winthrop would be out, then she and Miss Recompense would have what they
+called a "nice talk."
+
+Miss Recompense Gardiner was quite sure she had never seen just such a
+child. Indeed at five-and-forty she was rather set in her ways, disliked
+noise and bustle, and could not bear to have a house "torn up," as she
+phrased it. Twelve years before she had come here to "housekeep," as the
+old phrase went. She had not lacked admirers, but she had been very
+particular. Her sisters said she was a born old maid. There was in her
+soul a great love of refinement and order.
+
+Mr. Winthrop Adams just suited her. He was quiet, neat, made no trouble,
+and did not smoke. That was a wretched habit in her estimation. Cousin
+Charles used to come over, and different branches of the family were
+invited in now and then to tea. Cary was a rather proper, well-ordered
+boy, trained by his mother's sister, who had married and gone away just
+before the advent of Miss Gardiner. There had been some talk that Mr.
+Winthrop might espouse Miss Harriet Cary in the course of time, but as
+there were no signs, and Miss Cary had an excellent offer of marriage,
+she accepted it.
+
+Cary went to the Latin School and then to Harvard. He was a fair average
+boy, a good student, and ready for his share of fun at any time. His
+father had marked out his course, which was to be law, and Cary was
+indifferent as to what he took up.
+
+So they had gone on year after year. It promised a pleasant break to
+have the little girl.
+
+The greatest trouble, Miss Recompense thought, would be making Solomon
+feel at home. Doris brought his cushion, and the box he slept in at
+night was sent. Warren brought him over in a bag and they put him in the
+closet for the night. He uttered some pathetic wails, and Doris talked
+to him until he quieted down. He was a good deal frightened the next
+morning, but he clung to Doris, who carried him about in her arms and
+introduced him to every place. He was afraid of Mr. Adams and Cato, his
+acquaintance with men having been rather limited. After several days he
+began to feel quite at home, and took cordially to his cushion in the
+corner.
+
+"He doesn't offer to run away," announced Doris to Aunt Priscilla. "He
+likes Miss Recompense. Uncle Winthrop thinks him the handsomest cat he
+has ever seen."
+
+"Poor old Polly! She set a great deal of store by Solomon. I never did
+care much for a cat, but I do think Solomon was most as wise as folks. I
+don't know what I should have done last winter when I was so miserable
+if it had not been for him. He seemed to take such comfort that it was
+almost as good as a sermon. And sometimes when he purred it was like the
+sound of a hymn with the up and down and the long notes. I don't believe
+he would have stayed with anyone else though. Child, what is there
+about you that just goes to the heart of even a dumb beast?"
+
+Doris looked amazed, then thoughtful. "I suppose it is because I love
+them," she said simply.
+
+There was a great stir everywhere, it seemed. The slow spring had really
+come at last. The streets were being cleared up, the gardens put in
+order, some of the houses had a fresh coat of paint; the stores put out
+their best array, the trees were misty-looking with tiny green shoots,
+and the maples Doris thought wonderful. There were four in the row on
+Common Street; one was full of soft dull-red blooms, one had little
+pale-green hoods on the end of every twig, another looked as if it held
+a tiny scarlet parasol over each baby bud, and the fourth dropped
+clusters of brownish-green fringe.
+
+"Oh, how beautiful they are!" cried Doris, her eyes alight with
+enthusiasm.
+
+And then all the great Common began to put on spring attire. The marsh
+grass over beyond sent up stiff green spikes and tussocks that looked
+like little islands, and there were water plants with large leaves that
+seemed continually nodding to their neighbors. The frog concerts at the
+pond were simply bewildering with the variety of voices, each one
+proclaiming that the reign of ice and snow was at an end and they were
+giving thanks.
+
+"They are so glad," declared Doris. "I shouldn't like to be frozen up
+all winter in a little hole."
+
+Miss Recompense smiled. Perhaps they _were_ grateful. She had never
+thought of it before.
+
+Doris did not go back to Mrs. Webb's school, though that lady said she
+was sorry to give her up. Uncle Win gave her some lessons, and she went
+to writing school for an hour every day. Miss Recompense instructed her
+how to keep her room tidy, but Uncle Win said there would be time enough
+for her to learn housekeeping.
+
+Then there were hunts for flowers. Betty came over; she knew some nooks
+where the trailing arbutus grew and bloomed. The swamp pinks and the
+violets of every shade and almost every size--from the wee little fellow
+who sheltered his head under his mother's leaf-green umbrella to the
+tall, sentinel-like fellow who seemed to fling out defiance. Doris used
+to come home with her hands full of blooms.
+
+The rides too were delightful. They went over the bridges to West Boston
+and South Boston and to Cambridge, going through the college
+buildings--small, indeed, compared with the magnificent pile of to-day.
+But Boston did seem almost like a collection of islands. The bays and
+rivers, the winding creeks that crept through the green marsh grass, the
+long low shores held no presentiment of the great city that was to be.
+
+Although people groaned over hard times and talked of war, still the
+town kept a thriving aspect. Men were at work leveling Beacon Hill.
+Boylston Street was being made something better than a lane, and Common
+Street was improved. Uncle Winthrop said next thing he supposed they
+would begin to improve him and order him to take up his house and walk.
+For houses were moved even then, when they stood in the way of a street.
+
+The earth from the hill, or rather hills, went to fill in the Mill Pond.
+Lord Lyndhurst had once owned a large part, but he had gone to England
+to live. Charles Street was partly laid out--as far as the flats were
+filled in. It was quite entertaining to watch the great patient oxen,
+which, when they were standing still, chewed their cud in solemn content
+and gazed around as though they could predict unutterable things.
+
+From the house down to Common Street was a kind of garden where Cato
+raised vegetables and Miss Recompense had her beds of sweet and
+medicinal herbs. For then the housekeeper concocted various household
+remedies, and made extracts by the use of a little still for flavoring
+and perfumery. She gathered all the rose leaves and lavender blossoms
+and sewed them up in thin muslin bags and laid them in the drawers and
+closets.
+
+And, oh, what roses she had then! Great sweet damask roses, pink and the
+loveliest deep red, twice as large as the Jack roses of to-day. And
+trailing pink and white roses climbing over everything. Aunt Elizabeth
+said Miss Recompense could make a dry stick grow and bloom.
+
+Uncle Winthrop found a new and charming interest in the little girl. She
+was so fond of taking walks and hearing the legends about the old
+places. She could see where the old beacon had stood when the place was
+called Sentry Hill, and she knew it had been blown down in a gale, and
+that on the spot had been erected a beautiful Doric column surmounted by
+an eagle, to commemorate "the train of events that led to the American
+Revolution and finally secured liberty and Independence."
+
+But the State House had made one great excavation, and the Mill Pond
+Corporation was making others, and they were planning to remove the
+monument.
+
+"We ought to have more regard for these old places," Uncle Win used to
+say with a sigh.
+
+Cary had not been a companionable child. He was a regular boy, and the
+great point of interest in Sentry Hill for him was batting a ball up the
+hill. It was a proud day for him when he carried it farther than any
+other boy. He was fond of games of all kinds, and was one of the
+fleetest runners and a fine oarsman, and could sail a boat equal to any
+old salt, he thought. He was a boy, of course, and Uncle Win did not
+want him to be a "Molly coddle," so he gave in, for he did not quite
+know what to do with a lad who could tumble more books around in five
+minutes than he could put in order in half an hour, and knew more about
+every corner in Old Boston than anyone else, and was much more confident
+of his knowledge.
+
+But this little girl, who soon learned the peculiarity of every tree,
+the song of the different birds, and the season of bloom for wild
+flowers, and could listen for hours to the incidents of the past, that
+seem of more vital importance to middle-aged people than the matters of
+every day, was a veritable treasure to Mr. Winthrop Adams. He did not
+mind if she could not knit a stocking, and he sometimes excused her
+deficiencies in arithmetic because she was so fond of hearing him read
+poetry. For Doris thought, of all the things in the world, being able to
+write verses was the most delightful, and that was her aim when she was
+a grown-up young lady. She did pick up a good deal of general knowledge
+that she would not have acquired at school, but Uncle Win wasn't quite
+sure how much a girl ought to be educated.
+
+She began to see considerable of the Chapman girls, and Madam Royall
+grew very fond of her. But she did not forget her dear friends in
+Sudbury Street. Sometimes when Uncle Win was going out to a supper or to
+stay away all the evening she would go up and spend the night with
+Betty, and sit in the old corner, for it was Uncle Leverett's favorite
+place whether there was fire or not. He was as fond as ever of listening
+to her chatter.
+
+She always brought a message to Aunt Priscilla about Solomon. Uncle
+Winthrop thought him the handsomest cat he had ever seen, and now
+Solomon was not even afraid of Cato, but would walk about the garden
+with him, and Miss Recompense said he was so much company when she,
+Doris, was out of the house.
+
+Indeed, he would look at her with inquiring eyes and a soft, questioning
+sound in his voice that was not quite a mew.
+
+"Yes," Miss Recompense would say, "Doris has gone up to Sudbury Street.
+We miss her, don't we, Solomon? It's a different house without her."
+
+Solomon would assent in a wise fashion.
+
+"I never did think to take comfort in talking to a cat," Miss Recompense
+would say to herself with a touch of sarcasm.
+
+About the middle of June, when roses and spice pinks and ten-weeks'
+stocks, and sweet-williams were at their best, Mr. Adams always gave a
+family gathering at which cousins to the third and fourth generation
+were invited. Everything was at its loveliest, and the Mall just across
+the street was resplendent in beauty. Even then it had magnificent trees
+and great stretches of grass, green and velvety. Already it was a
+favorite strolling place.
+
+Miss Recompense had sent a special request for Betty on that particular
+afternoon and evening. There was to be a high tea at five o'clock.
+
+"I shall have my new white frock all done," said Betty delightedly.
+"There is just a little needlework around the neck and the skirt to sew
+on."
+
+"But I wouldn't wear it," rejoined her mother. "You may get a fruit
+stain on it, or meet with some accident. Miss Recompense will expect you
+to work a little."
+
+"Have you anything new, Doris?"
+
+"Oh, yes," replied Doris. "A white India muslin, and a cambric with a
+tiny rosebud in it. Madam Royall chose them and ordered them made. And
+Betty, I have almost outgrown the silk already. Madam Royall is going
+to see about getting it altered. And in the autumn Helen Chapman will
+have a birthday company, and I am invited already, or my frock is," and
+Doris laughed. "She has made me promise to wear it then."
+
+"You go to the Royalls' a good deal," exclaimed Aunt Priscilla
+jealously. She was sitting in a high-backed chair, very straight and
+prim. She was not quite at home yet, and kept wondering if she wouldn't
+rather have her own house if she could get a reasonable sort of servant.
+Still, she did enjoy the sociable side of life, and it was pleasant here
+at Cousin Leverett's. They all tried to make her feel at home, and
+though Betty tormented her sometimes by a certain argumentativeness, she
+was very ready to wait on her. Aunt Priscilla did like to hear of the
+delightful entertainments her silk gown had gone to after being hidden
+away so many years. As for the hat, a young Englishman had said "She
+looked like a princess in it."
+
+"You are just eaten up with vanity, Betty Leverett," Aunt Priscilla
+tried to rejoin in her severest tone.
+
+Doris glanced over to her now.
+
+"Yes," she answered. "Uncle Winthrop thinks I ought to know something
+about little girls. Eudora is six months older than I am. They have such
+a magnificent swing, four girls can sit in it. Helen is studying French
+and the young ladies can talk a little. They do not see how I can talk
+so fast."
+
+Doris laughed gleefully. Aunt Priscilla sniffed. Winthrop Adams would
+make a flighty, useless girl out of her. And companying so much with
+rich people would fill her mind with vanity. Yes, the child would be
+ruined!
+
+"And we tell each other stories about _our_ Boston. This Boston," making
+a pretty gesture with her hand, "has the most splendid ones about the
+war and all, and the ships coming over here almost two hundred years
+ago. It is a long while to live one hundred years, even. But I knew
+about Mr. Cotton and the lady Arabella Johnston. They had not heard
+about the saint and how his body was carried around to make it rain."
+
+"To make it rain! Whose body was it, pray?" asked Aunt Priscilla
+sharply, scenting heresy. She was not quite sure but so much French
+would shut one out from final salvation. "Did you have saints in Old
+Boston?"
+
+"Oh, it was the old Saint of the Church--St. Botolph." Doris hesitated
+and glanced up at Uncle Leverett, who nodded. "He was a very, very good
+man," she resumed seriously. "And one summer there was a very long
+drought. The grass all dried up, the fruit began to fall off, and they
+were afraid there would be nothing for the cattle to feed upon. So they
+took up St. Botolph in his coffin and carried him all around the town,
+praying as they went. And it began to rain."
+
+"Stuff and nonsense! The idea of reasonable human beings believing
+that!"
+
+"But you know the prophet prayed for rain in the Bible."
+
+"But to take up his body! Are they doing it now in a dry time?" Aunt
+Priscilla asked sarcastically.
+
+"They don't now, but it was said they did it several times, and it
+always rained."
+
+"They wan't good orthodox Christians. No one ever heard of such a
+thing."
+
+"But our orthodox Christians believed in witches--even the descendants
+of this very John Cotton who came over to escape the Lords Bishops,"
+said Warren.
+
+"And, unlike Mr. Blacksone, stayed and had a hard time with the Lords
+Brethren," said Mr. Leverett. "I hardly know which was the
+worst"--smiling with a glint of humor. "And you more than half believe
+in witches yourself, Aunt Priscilla."
+
+"I am sure I have reason to. Grandmother Parker was a good woman if ever
+there was one, and she _was_ bewitched. And would it have said in the
+Bible--'Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live,' if there had not been
+any?"
+
+"They were telling stories at Madam Royall's one day. And sometime Uncle
+Winthrop is going to take us all to Marblehead, where Mammy Redd lived.
+Eudora said this:
+
+    "'Old Mammy Redd
+    Of Marblehead
+    Sweet milk could turn
+    To mold in churn.'
+
+And Uncle Winthrop has a big book about them."
+
+"He had better take you to Salem. That was the very hot-bed of it all,"
+said Warren.
+
+Doris came around to Aunt Priscilla. "Did your grandmother really see a
+witch?" she asked in a serious tone.
+
+"Well, perhaps she didn't exactly _see_ it. But she was living at Salem
+and had a queer neighbor. One day they had some words, and when
+grandmother went to churn her milk turned all moldy and spoiled the
+butter. Grandmother didn't even dare feed it to the pigs. So it went on
+several times. Then another neighbor said to her, 'The next time it
+happens you just throw a dipper-full over the back log.' And so
+grandmother did. It made an awful smell and smoke. Then she washed out
+her churn and put it away. She was barely through when someone came
+running in, and said, 'Have you any sweet oil, Mrs. Parker? Hetty Lane
+set herself afire cleaning the cinders out of her oven, and she's
+dreadfully burned. Come right over.' Grandmother was a little afraid,
+but she went, and, sure enough, it had happened just the moment she
+threw the milk in the fire. One side of her was burned, and one hand.
+And although the neighbors suspected her, they were all very kind to her
+while she was ill. But grandmother had no more trouble after that, and
+it was said Hetty Lane never bewitched anybody again."
+
+"It's something like the kelpies and brownies Barby used to tell about
+that were in England long time ago," said Doris, big-eyed. "They hid
+tools and ate up the food and spoiled the milk and the bread, turning it
+to stone. They went away--perhaps someone burned them up."
+
+Aunt Priscilla gave her sniff. To be compared with such childish stuff!
+
+"It was very curious," said Mrs. Leverett. "I have always been glad I
+was not alive at that time. Sometimes unaccountable things happen."
+
+"Did you ever see a truly witch yourself, Aunt Priscilla?" asked the
+child.
+
+"No, I never did," she answered honestly.
+
+"Then I guess they did go with the fairies and kelpies. Could I tell
+your story over sometime?" she inquired eagerly.
+
+Telling ghost stories and witch stories was quite an amusement at that
+period.
+
+"Why, yes--if you want to." She was rather pleased to have it go to the
+Royalls'.
+
+"The last stitch," and Betty folded up her work. "Come, Doris, say
+good-night, and let us go to bed."
+
+Doris put a little kiss on Aunt Priscilla's wrinkled hand.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+A FREEDOM SUIT
+
+
+Aunt Priscilla had a dozen changes of mind as to whether to go to Cousin
+Adams' or not. But Betty insisted. She trimmed her cap and altered the
+sleeves of her best black silk gown. The elderly people were wearing
+"leg-o'-mutton" sleeves now, while the young people had great puffs.
+Long straight Puritan sleeves were hardly considered stylish. And then
+Cousin Win sent the chaise up for her.
+
+Mrs. March, Cary's aunt, had come up to Boston to make a little visit.
+Mr. March was a ship builder at Plymouth. She was quite anxious to see
+this cousin that Cary had talked about so much, and she was almost
+jealous lest he should be crowded out of his rightful place. She had no
+children of her own, but her husband had four when they were married. So
+a kind of motherly sympathy still went out to Cary.
+
+Betty came over in the morning. She and Miss Recompense were always very
+friendly. They talked of jells and jams and preserves; it was too early
+for any fresh fruit except strawberries, and Cato always took a good
+deal of pains to have these of the very nicest.
+
+The wide fireplace was filled in with green boughs and the shining
+leaves of "bread and butter." The rugs were taken up and the floor had a
+coat of polish. The parlor was wide open, arrayed in the stately
+furnishings of a century ago. There were two Louis XIV. chairs that had
+really come from France. There were some square, heavy pieces of
+furniture that we should call Eastlake now. And the extravagant thing
+was a Brussels carpet with a scroll centerpiece and a border in
+arabesque.
+
+The guests began to come at two. Miss Recompense and Betty had been
+arranging the long table with its thick basket-work cloth that was
+fragrant with sweet scents. Betty wore her blue and white silk, as that
+had met with some mishaps at Hartford. Miss Recompense had on a brown
+silk with a choice bit of thread lace, and a thread lace cap. Many of
+the elderly society ladies wore immense headgears like turbans, with
+sometimes one or two marabou feathers, which were considered extremely
+elegant. But Miss Recompense kept to her small rather plain cap, and
+looked very ladylike, quite fit to do the honors of the house.
+
+Some of the cousins had driven in from Cambridge and South Boston. Miss
+Cragie, who admired her second-cousin Adams very much, and it was said
+would not have been averse to a marriage with him, came over from the
+old house that had once been Washington's headquarters and was to be
+more famous still as the home of one of America's finest poets. She took
+a great interest in Cary and made him a welcome guest.
+
+We should call it a kind of lawn party now. The guests flitted around
+the garden and lawn, inspected the promising fruit trees, and were
+enthusiastic over the roses. Then they wandered over to the Mall and
+discussed the impending changes in Boston, and said, as people nearly
+always do, that it would be ruined by improvements. It was sacrilegious
+to take away Beacon Hill. It was absurd to think of filling in the
+flats! Who would want to live on made ground? And where were all the
+people to come from to build houses on these wonderful streets? Why, it
+was simply ridiculous!
+
+There were some young men who felt rather awkward and kept in a little
+knot with Cary. There were a few young girls who envied Betty Leverett
+her at-homeness, and the fact that she had spent a winter in Hartford.
+Croquet would have been a boon then, to make a breach in the walls of
+deadly reserve.
+
+Elderly men smoked, walked about, and talked of the prospect of war.
+Most of them had high hopes of President Madison just now.
+
+Doris was a point of interest for everybody. Her charming simplicity
+went to all hearts. Betty had dressed her hair a dozen different ways,
+but found none so pretty as tying part of the curls on top with a
+ribbon. She had grown quite a little taller, but was still slim and
+fair.
+
+Miss Cragie took a great fancy to her and said she must come and spend
+the day with her and visit the notable points of Cambridge. And next
+year Cary would graduate, and she supposed they would have a grand time.
+
+The supper was quite imposing. Cato's nephew, a tidy young colored lad,
+came from one of the inns, and acquitted himself with superior elegance.
+It was indeed a feast, enlivened with bright conversation. People
+expected to talk then, not look bored and indifferent. Each one brought
+something besides appetite to the feast.
+
+Afterward they went out on the porch and sang, the ice being broken
+between the younger part of the company. There were some amusing
+patriotic songs with choruses that inspired even the older people.
+"Hail, Columbia!" was greeted with applause.
+
+There were sentimental songs as well, Scotch and old English ballads.
+Two of Cary's friends sang "Queen Mary's Escape" with a great deal of
+spirit. Then Uncle Win asked Doris if she could not sing a little French
+song that she sang for him quite often, and that was set to a very
+touching melody.
+
+She hung back and colored up, but she did want to please Uncle Win. She
+was standing beside him, so she straightened up and took a step out, and
+holding his hand sang with a grace that went to each heart. But she hid
+herself behind Uncle Win's shoulder when the compliments began. Cary
+came around, and said "She need not be afraid; it was just beautiful!"
+
+After that the company began to disperse. Everybody said "It always was
+delightful to come over here," and the women wondered how it happened
+that such an attractive man as Mr. Winthrop Adams had not married again
+and had someone to entertain regularly.
+
+There was a magnificent full moon, and the air was delicious with
+fragrance. One after another drove away, or taking the arm of a
+companion uttered a cordial good-night. Mr. Adams had sent some elderly
+friends home in a carriage, and begged the Leveretts to wait until it
+came back.
+
+Warren had not been very intimate with the young collegian; their walks
+in life lay quite far apart. But Cary came and joined them as they were
+all out on the porch.
+
+"I hope you had a pleasant time," he began. "If it had not been a family
+party I should have asked the club to come over and sing some of the
+college songs. Arthur Sprague has a fine voice. And you sing very well,
+Warren."
+
+"I have been in a singing class this winter, I like music so much."
+
+"You ought to hear half a dozen of our fellows together! But this little
+bird warbled melodiously," and he put his arm over the shoulder of
+Doris. "I did not know she could move an audience so deeply."
+
+"I was so frightened at first," began Doris with a long breath. "I don't
+mind singing for Uncle Win, and one day when there were some guests
+Madam Royall asked me to sing a little French song she had known in her
+youth. Isn't it queer a song should last so long?"
+
+"The fine songs ought to last forever. I hope we will have some national
+songs presently besides the ridiculous 'Yankee Doodle.' It doesn't seem
+quite so bad when it is played by the band and men are marching to it."
+
+Cary straightened himself up. Being slender he often allowed his
+shoulders to droop.
+
+"Now you look like a soldier," exclaimed Warren.
+
+"I'd like to be one, first-rate. I'd leave college now and go in the
+Navy if there was another boy to follow out father's plans. But I can't
+bear to disappoint him. It's hard to go against your father when you are
+all he has. So I suppose I will go on and study law, and some day you
+will hear of my being judge. But we are going to have a big war, and I
+would like to take a hand in it. I wish I was twenty-one."
+
+"I shall be next month. I am going to have a little company. I'd like
+you to come, Cary."
+
+"I just will, thank you. What are you going to do?"
+
+"I shall stay with father, of course. I have been learning the business.
+I think I shouldn't like to go to war unless the enemy really came to
+us. I should fight for my home."
+
+"There are larger questions even than homes," replied Cary.
+
+Betty came around the corner of the porch with Uncle Win, to whom she
+was talking in her bright, energetic fashion. Aunt Elizabeth said it was
+very pleasant to see so many of the relatives again.
+
+"The older generation is dropping out, and we shall soon be among the
+old people ourselves," Mr. Leverett said. "I was thinking to-night how
+many youngish people were here who have grown up in the last ten years."
+
+"We each have a young staff to lean upon," rejoined Mr. Adams proudly,
+glancing at the two boys.
+
+The carriage came round. Aunt Priscilla shook hands with Cousin
+Winthrop, and said, much moved:
+
+"I've had a pleasant time, and I had a good mind not to come. I'm
+getting old and queer and not fit for anything but to sit in the corner
+and grumble, instead of frolicking round."
+
+"Oh, don't grumble. Why, I believe I am going backward. I feel ten years
+younger, and you are not old enough to die of old age. Betty, you must
+keep prodding her up."
+
+He handed her in the carriage himself, and when they were all in Doris
+said:
+
+"It seems as if I ought to go, too."
+
+Uncle Win caught her hand, as if she might run away.
+
+"I do think Cousin Winthrop has improved of late," said Mrs. Leverett.
+"He has gained a little flesh and looks so bright and interested, and he
+talked to all the folks in such a cordial way, as if he was really glad
+to see them. And those strawberries did beat all for size. Betty, the
+table looked like a feast for a king, if they deserve anything better
+than common folks."
+
+"Any other child would be clear out of bonds and past redemption,"
+declared Aunt Priscilla. "Everybody made so much of her, as if it was
+her party. And how the little creetur does sing! I'd like to hear her
+praising the Lord with that voice instead of wasting it on French things
+that may be so bad you couldn't say them in good English."
+
+"That isn't," replied Betty. "It is a little good-night that her mother
+used to sing to her and taught her."
+
+Aunt Priscilla winked hard and subsided. A little orphan girl--well,
+Cousin Winthrop would be a good father to her. Perhaps no one would ever
+be quite tender enough for her mother.
+
+Everybody went home pleased. Yet nowadays such a family party would have
+been dull and formal, with no new books and theaters and plays and
+tennis and golf to talk about, and the last ball game, perhaps. There
+had been a kind of gracious courtesy in inquiries about each other's
+families--a true sympathy for the deaths and misfortunes, a kindly
+pleasure in the successes, a congratulation for the younger members of
+the family growing up, a little circling about religion and the recent
+rather broad doctrines the clergy were entertaining. For it was a time
+of ferment when the five strong points of Calvinism were being severely
+shaken, and the doctrine of election assaulted by the doctrine that,
+since Christ died for all, all might in some mysterious manner share the
+benefit without being ruled out by their neighbors.
+
+Winthrop Adams would hardly have dreamed that the presence of a little
+girl in the house was stirring every pulse in an unwonted fashion. He
+had brooded over books so long; now he took to nature and saw many
+things through the child's fresh, joyous sight. He brushed up his
+stories of half-forgotten knowledge for her; he recalled his boyhood's
+lore of birds and squirrels, bees and butterflies, and began to feast
+anew on the beauty of the world and all things in their season.
+
+It is true, in those days knowledge and literature were not widely
+diffused. A book or two of sermons, the "Pilgrim's Progress," perhaps
+"Fox's Book of Martyrs," and the Farmer's Almanac were the extent of
+literature in most families. Women had too much to do to spend their
+time reading except on Saturday evening and after second service on the
+Sabbath--then it must be religious reading.
+
+But Boston was beginning to stir in the education of its women. Mrs.
+Abigail Adams had said, "If we mean to have heroes, statesmen, and
+philosophers, we should have learned women." They started a circle of
+sociality that was to be above the newest pattern for a gown and the
+latest recipe for cake or preserves. A Mrs. Grant had written a volume
+called "Letters from the Mountains," which they interested themselves in
+having republished. Hannah Adams had written some valuable works, and
+was now braiding straw for a living; and Mrs. Josiah Quincy exerted
+herself to have so talented a woman placed above indigence. She also
+endeavored to have Miss Edgeworth's "Moral Tales" republished for young
+people. Scott was beginning to infuse new life with his wonderful tales,
+which could safely be put in the hands of younger readers. The first
+decade of the century was laying a foundation for the grand work to be
+done later on. And with nearly every vessel, or with the travelers from
+abroad, would come some new books from England. Though they were dear,
+yet there were a few "foolish" people who liked a book better than
+several dollars added to their savings.
+
+Warren's freedom suit and his freedom party interested Doris a great
+deal. Since Betty's return there had been several evening companies,
+with the parlor opened and the cake and lemonade set out on the table
+instead of being passed around. Betty and Jane Morse were fast friends.
+They went "uptown" of an afternoon and had a promenade, with now and
+then a nod from some of the quality. Betty was very much elated when
+Cary Adams walked home with her one afternoon and planned about the
+party. He would ask three of the young fellows, and with himself they
+would give some college songs. He knew Miss Morse's cousin, Morris
+Winslow, very well--he met him quite frequently at the Royalls'. Indeed,
+Cary knew he was a warm admirer of Isabel Royall.
+
+After all, the much-talked-of suit was only a best Sunday suit of black
+broadcloth. Doris looked disappointed.
+
+"Did you expect I would have red and white stripes down the sides and
+blue stars all over the coat?" Warren asked teasingly. "And an eagle on
+the buttons? I am afraid then I should be impressed and taken out to
+sea."
+
+"Betty," she said afterward, "will you have a freedom suit when you are
+twenty-one. And must it be a black gown?"
+
+"I think they never give girls that," answered Betty laughingly. "Theirs
+is a wedding gown. Though after you are twenty-one, if you go anywhere
+and earn money, you can keep it for yourself. Your parents cannot claim
+it."
+
+Warren had a holiday. His father said he did not want to see him near
+the store all day long. He went over to Uncle Win's, who was just having
+some late cherries picked to grace the feast, and he was asked into the
+library, where Uncle Win made him a very pleasant little birthday speech
+and gave him a silver watch to remember the occasion by. Warren was so
+surprised he hardly knew how to thank him.
+
+Betty was sorry there could be no dancing at the party, especially as
+Mr. Winslow had offered black Joe. But mother would be so opposed they
+did not even suggest it.
+
+The young people began to gather about seven. They congratulated the
+hero of the occasion, and one young fellow recited some amusing verses.
+They played games and forfeits and had a merry time. The Cambridge boys
+sang several beautiful songs, and others of the gay, rollicking order.
+The supper table looked very inviting, Betty thought. Altogether it was
+a great pleasure to the young people, who kept it up quite late, but
+then it was such a delightful summer night! Doris thought the singing
+the most beautiful part of all.
+
+Warren's great surprise occurred the next morning. There was a new sign
+up over the door in the place of the old weather-beaten one that his
+father had admitted was disgraceful. And on it in nice fresh lettering
+was:
+
+     F. LEVERETT & SON.
+
+"Oh, father!" was all he could say for a moment.
+
+"Hollis was a good, steady boy--I've been blest in my boys, and I thank
+God for it, so when Hollis was through with his trade, and had that good
+opportunity to go in business, I advanced him some money. He has been
+prospered and would have paid it back, but I told him to keep it for his
+part. This will be your offset to it. Cousin Winthrop is coming down
+presently, and Giles Thatcher, and we will have all the papers signed,
+so that if anything happens to me there will be no trouble. You've been
+a good son, Warren, and I hope you will make a good, honorable man."
+
+The tears sprang to Warren's eyes. He was very glad he had yielded some
+points to his father and accepted obedience as his due to be rendered
+cheerfully. For Mr. Leverett had never been an unreasonable man.
+
+Uncle Win congratulated him again. Betty and her mother went down in the
+afternoon to see the new sign. Aunt Priscilla thought it rather risky
+business, for being twenty-one didn't always bring good sense with it,
+and too much liberty was apt to spoil anyone with no more experience
+than Warren.
+
+Betty said Aunt Priscilla must have something to worry about, which was
+true enough. She had come to the Leveretts' to see how she could stand
+"being without a home," as she phrased it. But she found herself quite
+feeble, and with a cough, and she admitted she never had quite gotten
+over the winter's cold which she took going to church that bitter
+Sunday. As just the right person to keep her house had not come to hand,
+and as it really was cheaper to live this way, and gave one a secure
+feeling in case of illness, she thought it best to go on. Elizabeth
+Leverett made her feel very much at home. She could go down in the
+kitchen and do a bit of work when she wanted to, she could weed a little
+out in the garden, she could mend and knit and pass away the time, and
+it was a pleasure to have someone to converse with, to argue with.
+
+She had been in great trouble at first about black Polly. That she had
+really entertained the thought of getting rid of her in a helpless old
+age seemed a great sin now.
+
+"And the poor old thing had been so faithful until she began to lose her
+memory. How could I have resolved to do such a thing!" she would
+exclaim.
+
+"You never did resolve to do it, Aunt Priscilla," Mr. Leverett said one
+day. "I am quite sure you could not have done it when it came to the
+pinch. It was one of the temptations only."
+
+"But I never struggled against it. That is what troubles me."
+
+"God knew just how it would end. He did not mean the poor creature to
+become a trouble to anyone. If he had wanted to try you further, no
+doubt he would have done it. Now, why can't you accept the release as
+he sent it? It seems almost as if you couldn't resign yourself to his
+wisdom."
+
+"You make religion so comfortable, Foster Leverett, that I hardly know
+whether to take it that way. It isn't the old-fashioned way in which I
+was brought up."
+
+"There was just one Doubting Thomas among the Twelve," he replied
+smilingly.
+
+There was little need of people going away for a summering then, though
+they did try to visit their relatives in the country places about.
+People came up from the more southern States for the cool breezes and
+the pleasant excursions everywhere. There were delightful parties going
+out almost every day, to the islands lying off the city, to the little
+towns farther away, to some places where it was necessary to remain all
+night. Madam Royall insisted upon taking Doris with the girls for a
+week's excursion, and she had a happy time. Cary went to Plymouth to his
+aunt's, and was fascinated with sea-going matters and the naval wars in
+progress. Josiah March was a stanch patriot, and said the thing would
+never be settled until we had taught England to let our men and our
+vessels alone.
+
+Only a few years before our commerce had extended over the world.
+Boston--with her eighty wharves and quays, her merchants of shrewd and
+sound judgment, ability of a high order and comprehensive as well as
+authentic information--at that time stood at the head of the maritime
+world. The West Indies, China,--though Canton was the only port to which
+foreigners were admitted,--and all the ports of Europe had been open to
+her. The coastwise trade was also enormous. From seventy to eighty sail
+of vessels had cleared in one day. Long Wharf, at the foot of State
+Street, was one of the most interesting and busy places.
+
+The treaty between France and America had agreed that "free bottoms
+made free ships," but during the wars of Napoleon this had been so
+abridged that trade was now practically destroyed. Then England had
+insisted upon the right of search, which left every ship at her mercy,
+and hundreds of our sailors were being taken prisoners. There was a
+great deal of war talk already. Trade was seriously disturbed.
+
+There was a very strong party opposed to war. What could so young a
+country, unprepared in every way, do? The government temporized--tried
+various methods in the hope of averting the storm.
+
+People began to economize; still there was a good deal of money in
+Boston. Pleasures took on a rather more economical aspect and grew
+simpler. But business was at a standstill. The Leveretts were among the
+first to suffer, but Mr. Leverett's equable temperament and serene
+philosophy kept his family from undue anxiety.
+
+"It's rather a hard beginning for you, my boy," he said, "but you will
+have years enough to recover. Only I sometimes wish it could come to a
+crisis and be over, so that we could begin again. It can never be quite
+as bad as the old war."
+
+Doris commenced school with the Chapman girls at Miss Parker's. Uncle
+Win had a great fancy for sending her to Mrs. Rowson.
+
+"Wait a year or so," counseled Madam Royall. "Children grow up fast
+enough without pushing them ahead. Little girlhood is the sweetest time
+of life for the elderly people, whatever it may be for the girls. I
+should like Helen and Eudora to stand still for a few years, and Doris
+is too perfect a little bud to be lured into blossoming. There is
+something unusual about the child."
+
+When anyone praised Doris, Uncle Win experienced a thrill of delight.
+
+Miss Parker's school was much more aristocratic than Mrs. Webb's. There
+were no boys and no very small children. Some of the accomplishments
+were taught. French, drawing and painting, and what was called the "use
+of the globe," which meant a large globe with all the countries of the
+world upon it, arranged to turn around on an axis. This was a new thing.
+Doris was quite fascinated by it, and when she found the North Sea and
+the Devonshire coast and the "Wash" the girls looked on eagerly and
+straightway she became a heroine.
+
+But one unlucky recess when she had won in the game of graces a girl
+said:
+
+"I don't care! That isn't anything! We beat your old English in the
+Revolutionary War, and if there's another war we'll beat you again. My
+father says so. I wouldn't be English for all the gold on the Guinea
+coast!"
+
+"I am not English," Doris protested. "My father was born in this very
+Boston. And I was born in France."
+
+"Well, the French are just as bad. They are not to be depended upon. You
+are a mean little foreign girl, and I shall not speak to you again,
+there now!"
+
+Doris looked very sober. Helen Chapman comforted her and said Faith
+Dunscomb was not worth minding.
+
+She told it over to Uncle Win that evening.
+
+"I suppose I can never be a real Boston girl," she said sorrowfully.
+
+"I think you are a pretty good one now, and of good old Boston stock,"
+he replied smilingly. "Sometime you will be proud that you came from the
+other Boston. Oddly enough most of us came from England in the
+beginning. And the Faneuils came from France, and they are proud enough
+of their old Huguenot blood."
+
+She had been to Faneuil Hall and the Market with Uncle Winthrop. They
+raised all their vegetables and fruit, unless it was something quite
+rare, and Cato did the family marketing.
+
+Only a few years before the Market had been enlarged and improved. Fifty
+years earlier the building had burned down and been replaced, but even
+the old building had been identified with liberty of thought, and had a
+well-known portrait painter of that day, John Smibert, for its
+architect. In the later improvements it had been much enlarged, and the
+beautiful open arches of the ground floor were closed by doors and
+windows, which rendered it less picturesque. It was the marketplace _par
+excellence_ then, as Quincy Market came in with the enterprise of the
+real city. But even then it rejoiced in the appellation of "The Cradle
+of Liberty," and the hall over the market-space was used for political
+gatherings.
+
+Huckster and market wagons from the country farms congregated in Dock
+Square. The mornings were the most interesting time for a visit. The
+"quality" came in their carriages with their servant man to run to and
+fro; or some young lady on horseback rode up through the busy throng to
+leave an order, and then the women whose servant carried a basket, or
+those having no servant carried their own baskets, and who went about
+cheapening everything.
+
+So Doris was quite comforted to know that Peter Faneuil, who was held in
+such esteem, had not even been born in Boston, and was of French
+extraction.
+
+But girls soon get over their tiffs and disputes. Play is the great
+leveler. Then Doris was so obliging about the French exercises that the
+girls could not stay away very long at a time.
+
+Miss Parker's typified the conventional idea of a girl's education
+prevalent at that time: that it should be largely accomplishment. So
+Doris was allowed considerable latitude in the commoner branches. Mrs.
+Webb had been exacting in the few things she taught, especially
+arithmetic. And Uncle Win admitted to himself that Doris had a poor head
+for figures. When she came to fractions it was heartrending. Common
+multiples and least and greatest common divisors had such a way of
+getting mixed up in her brain, that he felt very sorry for her.
+
+She brought over Betty's book in which all her sums in the more
+difficult rules had been worked out and copied beautifully. There were
+banking and equation of payments and all the "roots" and progression and
+alligation and mensuration.
+
+"I don't know what good they will really be to Betty," said Uncle Win
+gravely. Then, as his face relaxed into a half-smile, he added: "Perhaps
+Mary Manning's fifty pairs of stockings she had when she was married may
+be more useful. Betty has a good head and "twinkling feet." Did you know
+a poet said that? And another one wrote:
+
+    "'Her feet beneath her petticoat,
+    Like little mice stole in and out
+      As if they feared the light;
+    But, oh, she dances such a way!
+    No sun upon an Easter day
+      Is half so fair a sight.'"
+
+"Oh, Uncle Win, that's just delightful! Did your poet write any more
+such dainty things, and can I read them? Betty would just go wild over
+that."
+
+"Yes, I will find it for you. And we won't worry now about the hard
+knots over in the back of the arithmetic."
+
+"Nor about the stockings. Miss Isabel is knitting some beautiful silk
+ones, blossom color."
+
+Ladies and girls danced in slippers then and wore them for evening
+company, and stockings were quite a feature in attire.
+
+Uncle Win was too indulgent, of course. Miss Recompense said she had
+never known a girl to be brought up just that way, and shook her head
+doubtfully.
+
+Early in the new year an event happened, or rather the tidings came to
+them that seemed to have a bearing on both of these points. An old sea
+captain one day brought a curious oaken chest, brass bound, and with
+three brass initials on the top. The key, which was tied up in a small
+leathern bag, and a letter stowed away in an enormous well-worn wallet,
+he delivered to "Mr. Winthrop Adams, Esq."
+
+It contained an unfinished letter from Miss Arabella, beginning "Dear
+and Honored Sir," and another from the borough justice. Miss Arabella
+was dead. The care of her sister had worn her so much that she had
+dropped into a gentle decline, and knowing herself near the end had
+packed the chest with some table linen that belonged to the mother of
+Doris, some clothing, two dresses of her own, several petticoats, two
+pairs of satin slippers she had worn in her youth and outgrown, and six
+pairs of silk stockings. Doris would grow into them all presently.
+
+Then inclosed was a bank note for one hundred pounds sterling, and much
+love and fond remembrances.
+
+The other note announced the death of Miss Arabella Sophia Roulstone,
+aged eighty-one years and three months, and the time of her burial. Her
+will had been read and the bequests were being paid. Mr. Millington
+requested a release before a notary, and an acknowledgment of the safe
+arrival of the goods and the legacy, to be returned by the captain.
+
+Mr. Adams went out with the captain and attended to the business.
+
+Doris had a little cry over Miss Arabella. It did not seem as if she
+could be eighty years old. She could recall the sweet, placid face under
+the snowy cap, and almost hear the soft voice.
+
+"That is quite a legacy," said Uncle Win. "Doris, can you compute it in
+dollars?"
+
+We had come to have a currency of our own--"decimal" it was called,
+because computed by tens.
+
+We still reckoned a good deal in pounds, shillings, and pence, but ours
+were not pounds sterling.
+
+Doris considered and knit her delicate brows. Then a soft light
+illumined her face.
+
+"Why, Uncle Win, it is five hundred dollars! Isn't that a great deal of
+money for a little girl like me? And must it not be saved up some way?"
+
+"Yes, I think for your wedding day."
+
+"And then suppose I should not get married?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+A SUMMER IN BOSTON
+
+
+The Leveretts rejoiced heartily over Doris' good fortune. Aunt Priscilla
+began to trouble herself again about her will. She had taken the usual
+autumnal cold, but recovered from it with good nursing. Certainly
+Elizabeth Leverett was very kind. Aunt Priscilla had eased up Betty
+while her mother spent a fortnight at Salem, helping with the fall
+sewing and making comfortables. And this time she brought home little
+Ruth, who was thin and peevish, and who had not gotten well over the
+measles, that had affected her eyes badly. Ruth was past four.
+
+"I wish Mary did not take life so hard," said Mrs. Leverett with a
+sigh. "They have been buying a new twenty-acre pasture lot and two new
+cows, and it is just drive all the time. That poor little Elizabeth will
+be all worn out before she is grown up. And Ruth wouldn't have lived the
+winter through there."
+
+Ruth was extremely troublesome at first. But grandmothers have a
+soothing art, and after a few weeks she began to improve. The visits of
+Doris fairly transported her, and she amused grandpa by asking every
+morning "if Doris would come to-day," having implicit faith in his
+knowledge of everything.
+
+Aunt Priscilla counted on the visits as well. She kept her room a good
+deal. Ruth's chatter disturbed her. Pattern children brought up on the
+strictest rules did not seem quite so agreeable to her as the little
+flower growing up in its own sweetness.
+
+Betty used to walk a short distance home with her, as she declared it
+was the only chance she had for a bit of Doris. She was very fond of
+hearing about the Royalls, and now Miss Isabel's engagement to Mr.
+Morris Winslow was announced.
+
+Warren declared Jane was quite "top-loftical" about it. She had been
+introduced to Miss Isabel at an evening company, and then they had met
+at Thayer's dry goods store, where she and Mrs. Chapman had been
+shopping, and had quite a little chat. They bowed in the street, and
+Jane was much pleased at the prospect of being indirectly related.
+
+But Betty had taken tea at Uncle Winthrop's with Miss Alice Royall, who
+had come over with the two little girls to return some of the visits
+Doris had made. The girls fell in love with bright, versatile Betty, and
+Alice was much interested in her visit to Hartford, and thought her
+quite charming.
+
+Then it was quite fascinating to compare notes about Mr. Adams with one
+of his own kin. Alice made no secret of her admiration for him; the
+whole family joined in, for that matter. Young girls could be a little
+free and friendly with elderly gentlemen without exciting comment or
+having to be so precise.
+
+When Jane said "Cousin Morris told me such or such a thing," Betty was
+delighted to reply, "Yes, Doris was speaking of it." The girls were the
+best of friends, but this half-unconscious rivalry was natural.
+
+Mrs. Leverett had no objections to the intimacy now. Betty was older and
+more sensible, and now she was really a young lady receiving
+invitations, and going out to walk or to shop with the girls. For hard
+as the times were, a little finery had to be bought, or a gown now and
+then.
+
+Mrs. King had not gone to New York, though her husband had been there on
+business. She would have been very glad of Betty's company; but with
+little Ruth and Aunt Priscilla, Betty felt she ought not leave her
+mother. And, then, she was having a young girl's good time at home.
+
+Mrs. Leverett half wished Jane might "fancy Warren." She was a smart,
+attractive, and withal sensible girl. But Warren was not thinking of
+girls just now, or of marrying. The debating society was a source of
+great interest and nearly every "talk" turned on some aspect of the
+possible war. His singing class occupied him one evening, and one
+evening was devoted to dancing. He liked Jane very much in a friendly
+fashion, and they went on calling each other by their first names, but
+if he happened to drop in there was almost sure to be other company.
+
+The "Son" on the business sign over the doorway gave him a great sense
+of responsibility, especially now when everything was so dull, and
+money, as people said, "came like drawing teeth," a painful enough
+process in those days.
+
+Finally Miss Isabel Royall's wedding day was set for early in June. The
+shopping was quite an undertaking. There were Thayer's dry-goods store
+and Daniel Simpson's and Mr. Bromfield's, the greater and the lesser
+shops on Washington and School streets. It was quite a risk now ordering
+things from abroad, vessels were interfered with so much. But there were
+China silks and Canton crape,--a beautiful material,--and French and
+English goods that escaped the enemy; so if you had the money you could
+find enough for an extensive wedding outfit. At home we had also begun
+to make some very nice woolen goods.
+
+May came out full of bloom and beauty. Such a shower of blossoms from
+cherry, peach, pear, and apple would be difficult now to imagine. For
+almost every house had a yard or a garden. Colonnade Row was among the
+earliest places to be built up compactly of brick and was considered
+very handsome for the time.
+
+But people strolled around then to see the beautiful unfolding of
+nature. There was the old Hancock House on Beacon Street. The old hero
+had gone his way, and his wife was now Madam Scott, and lived in the
+same house, and though the garden and nursery had been shorn of much of
+their glory, there were numerous foreign trees that were curiously
+beautiful, and people used to make at least one pilgrimage to see these
+immense mulberry trees in bloom.
+
+The old Bowdoin garden was another remarkable place, and the air around
+was sweet for weeks with the bloom of fruit trees and later on the
+grapes that were raised in great profusion. You sometimes saw elegant
+old Madam Bowdoin walking up and down the garden paths and the
+grandchildren skipping rope or playing tag.
+
+But Summer Street, with its crown of beauty, held its head as high as
+any of its neighbors.
+
+"I don't see why May should be considered unlucky for weddings," Isabel
+protested. "I should like to be married in a bower of apple blossoms."
+
+"But isn't a bower of roses as beautiful?"
+
+"And the snow of the cherries and pears! Think of it--fragrant snow!"
+
+But Isabel gave parties to her friends, and they took tea out under the
+great apple tree and were snowed on with every soft wave of wind.
+
+It was not necessary then to go into seclusion. The bride-elect took
+pleasure in showing her gowns and her finery to her dearest friends. She
+was to be married in grandmother's brocade. Her own mother had it lent
+to her for the occasion. It was very handsome and could almost "stand
+alone." There were great flowers that looked as if they were embroidered
+on it, and now it had assumed an ivory tint. Two breadths had been taken
+out of the skirt, people were so slim at present. But the court train
+was left. The bertha, as we should call it now, was as a cobweb, and the
+lace from the puff sleeve falling over the arm of the same elegant
+material.
+
+It was good luck to borrow something to be married in, and good luck to
+have something old as well as the something new.
+
+Morris Winslow had been quite a beau about town. He was thirty now, ten
+years older than Isabel. He had a big house over in Dorchester and
+almost a farm. He owned another in Boston, where a tavern of the higher
+sort was kept and rooms rented to bachelors. He had an apartment here
+and kept his servant Joe and his handsome team, besides his saddle
+horse. He was rather gay, but of good moral character. No one else
+would have been accepted as a lover at the Royalls'.
+
+Jane was invited to one of the teas. People had not come to calling them
+"Dove" parties yet, nor had breakfasts or luncheon parties come in vogue
+for such occasions. There were about a dozen girls. They inspected the
+wedding outfit, they played graces, they sang songs, and had tea in
+Madam Royall's old china that had come to America almost a hundred years
+before.
+
+Afterward several young gentlemen called, and they walked up and down in
+the moonlight. A young lady could invite her own escort, especially if
+she was "keeping company." Sometimes the mothers sent a servant to fetch
+home their daughters.
+
+Of course Jane had an invitation to the wedding. Alice and a friend were
+to be bridesmaids, and the children were to be gowned in simple white
+muslin, with bows and streamers of pink satin ribbon and strew roses in
+the bride's path. They were flower maidens. Dorcas Payne was asked, and
+Madam Royall begged Mr. Adams to allow his niece to join them. They
+would all take it as a great favor.
+
+"The idea!" cried Aunt Priscilla; "and she no relation! If the queen was
+to come to Boston I dare say Doris Adams would be asked to turn out to
+meet her! Well, I hope her pretty face won't ever get her into trouble."
+
+It was a beautiful wedding, everybody said. The great rooms and the
+halls were full of guests, but they kept a way open for the bride, who
+came downstairs on her lover's arm, and he looked very proud and manly.
+The bridesmaids and groomsmen stood one couple at each side. The little
+girls strewed their flowers and then stood in a circle, and the bride
+swept gracefully to the open space and turned to face the guests. The
+maid was a little excited when she pulled off the bride's glove, but
+all went well, and Isabel Royall was at her very best.
+
+While the kissing and congratulations were going on, four violins struck
+up melodious strains. It was just six o'clock then. The bride and groom
+stood for a while in the center of the room, then marched around and
+smiled and talked, and finally went out to the dining room, where the
+feast was spread, and where the bride had to cut the cake.
+
+Cary Adams was among the young people. He was a great favorite with
+Alice, and a welcome guest, if he did not come quite as often as his
+father.
+
+One of the prettiest things afterward was the minuet danced by the four
+little girls, and after that two or three cotillions were formed. The
+bride danced with both of the groomsmen, and the new husband with both
+of the bridesmaids. Then their duty was done.
+
+They were to drive over to Dorchester that night, so presently they
+started. Two or three old slippers were thrown for good luck. Several of
+the younger men were quite nonplused at this arrangement, for they had
+planned some rather rough fun in a serenade, thinking the bridal couple
+would stay in town.
+
+There were some amusements, jesting and laughter, some card-playing and
+health-drinking among the elders. The guests congratulated Madam Royall
+nearly as much as they had the bride. Then one after another came and
+bade her good-night, and took away their parcel of wedding cake to dream
+on.
+
+"Oh," cried Doris on the way home,--the night was so pleasant they were
+walking,--"oh, wasn't it splendid! I wish Betty could have been there.
+Cary, how old must you be before you can get married?"
+
+"Well--I should have to look up a girl."
+
+"Oh, take Miss Alice. She likes you ever so much--I heard her say so.
+But you haven't any house like Mr. Winslow. Uncle Win, couldn't he bring
+her home to live with us?"
+
+Cary's cheeks were in a red flame. Uncle Win laughed.
+
+"My dear," he began, "a young man must have some business or some money
+to take care of his wife. She wouldn't like to be dependent on his
+relatives. Cary is going to study law, which will take some years, then
+he must get established, and so we will have to wait a long while. He is
+too young. Mr. Winslow is thirty; Cary isn't twenty yet."
+
+"Oh, dear! Well, perhaps Betty will get married. The girl doesn't have
+to be so old?"
+
+"No," said Uncle Win.
+
+Betty came over the next morning to spend the day and help Miss
+Recompense to distill. She wanted to hear the first account from Doris
+and Uncle Win, to take off the edge of Jane's triumphant news.
+
+They made rose water and a concoction from the spice pinks. Then they
+preserved cherries. Uncle Win took them driving toward night and said
+some day they would go over to Dorchester. He had several friends there.
+
+The next excitement for Doris was the college commencement. Mr. Adams
+was disappointed that his son should not stand at the head of almost
+everything. He had taken one prize and made some excellent examinations,
+but there were many ranking as high and some higher.
+
+There were no ball games, no college regattas to share honors then. Not
+that these things were tabooed. There were some splendid rowing matches
+and games, but then young men had a desire to stand high intellectually.
+
+A long while before Judge Sewall had expressed his disapproval of the
+excesses at dinners, the wine-drinking and conviviality, and had set
+Friday for commencement so that there would be less time for frolicking.
+The war, with its long train of economies, and the greater seriousness
+of life in general, had tempered all things, but there was gayety enough
+now, with dinners given to the prize winners and a very general
+jollification.
+
+Doris went with Uncle Winthrop. Commencement was one of the great
+occasions of the year. All the orations were in Latin, and the young men
+might have been haranguing a Roman army, so vigorous were they. Many of
+the graduates were very young; boys really studied at that time.
+
+The remainder of the day and the one following were given over to
+festivities. Booths were everywhere on the ground; colors flying,
+flowers wreathed in every fashion, and so much merriment that they quite
+needed Judge Sewall back again to restrain the excesses.
+
+Mr. Adams and Doris went to dine at the Cragie House, and Doris would
+have felt quite lost among judges and professors but for Miss Cragie,
+who took her in charge. When they went home in the early evening the
+shouts and songs and boisterousness seemed like a perfect orgy.
+
+Someone has said, with a kind of dry wit, "Wherever an Englishman goes
+courts and litigation are sure to prevail." Certainly our New England
+forefathers, who set out with the highest aims, soon found it necessary
+to establish law courts. In the early days every man pleaded his own
+cause, and was especially versed in the "quirks of the law." Jeremy
+Gridley, a graduate of Harvard, interested himself in forming a law club
+in the early part of the previous century to pursue the study enough "to
+keep out of the briars." And to Justice Dana is ascribed the credit of
+administering to Mr. Secretary Oliver, standing under the Liberty Tree
+in a great assemblage of angry townspeople, an oath that he would take
+no measures to enforce the odius Stamp Act of the British Parliament or
+distribute it among the people.
+
+And now the bar had a rank of its own, and Winthrop Adams had a strong
+desire to see his son one of the shining lights in the profession. Cary
+had a fine voice and was a good speaker. More than once he had
+distinguished himself in an argument at some of the debates. To be
+admitted to the office of Governor Gore was considered a high honor
+then, and this Mr. Adams gained for his son. Cary had another vague
+dream, but parental authority in well-bred families was not to be
+disputed at that period, and Cary acquiesced in his father's decision,
+since he knew his own must bring about much discussion and probably a
+refusal.
+
+Mrs. King came to visit her mother this summer. She left all her
+children at home, as she wanted to visit round, and was afraid they
+might be an annoyance to Aunt Priscilla. Little Ruth had gone home very
+much improved, her eyes quite restored.
+
+Uncle Winthrop enjoyed Mrs. King's society very much. She was
+intelligent and had cultivated her natural abilities, she also had a
+certain society suavity that made her an agreeable companion. Doris
+thought her a good deal like Betty, she was so pleasant and ready for
+all kinds of enjoyment. Aunt Priscilla considered her very frivolous,
+and there was so much going and coming that she wondered Elizabeth did
+not get crazy over it.
+
+They were to remove to New York in the fall, Mr. King having perfected
+his business arrangements. So Betty would have her winter in the gay
+city after all.
+
+There were many delightful excursions with pleasure parties up and down
+the bay. The Embargo had been repealed, and the sails of merchant ships
+were again whitening the harbor, and business people breathed more
+freely.
+
+There were Castle Island, with its fortifications and its waving flag,
+and queer old dreary-looking Noddle's Island, also little towns and
+settlements where one could spend a day delightfully. Every place, it
+seemed to Doris, had some queer, interesting story, and she possessed an
+insatiable appetite for them. There was the great beautiful sweep of
+Boston Bay, with its inlets running around the towns and its green
+islands everywhere--places that had been famous and had suffered in the
+war, and were soon to suffer again.
+
+Mrs. King had a friend at Hingham, and one day they went there in a sort
+of family party. Uncle Winthrop obtained a carriage and drove them
+around. It was still famous for its wooden-ware factories, and Uncle Win
+said in the time of Governor Andros, when money was scarce among the
+early settlers, Hingham had paid its taxes in milk pails, but they
+decided the taxes could not have been very high, or the fame of the milk
+pails must have been very great.
+
+Mrs. Gerry said in the early season forget-me-nots grew wild all about,
+and the ground was blue with them.
+
+"Oh, Uncle Win, let us come and see them next year," cried Doris.
+
+Then they hunted up the old church that had been nearly rent asunder by
+the bringing in of a bass viol to assist the singers. Party spirit had
+run very high. The musical people had quoted the harps and sacbuts of
+King David's time, the trumpets and cymbals. At last the big bass viol
+won the victory and was there. And the hymn was:
+
+    "Oh, may my heart in tune be found,
+    Like David's harp of solemn sound."
+
+But the old minister was not to be outdone. The hymn was lined off in
+this fashion:
+
+    "Oh, may my heart go diddle, diddle,
+    Like Uncle David's sacred fiddle."
+
+There were still a great many people opposed to instrumental music and
+who could see no reverence in the organ's solemn sound.
+
+Uncle Winthrop smiled over the story, and Betty said it would do to tell
+to Aunt Priscilla.
+
+Betty begged that they might take Doris to Salem with them. Doris
+thought she should like to see the smart little Elizabeth, who was like
+a woman already, and her old playfellow James, as well as Ruth, who
+seemed to her hardly beyond babyhood. And there were all the weird old
+stories--she had read some of them in Cotton Mather's "Magnalia," and
+begged others from Miss Recompense, who did not quite know whether she
+believed them or not, but she said emphatically that people had been
+mistaken and there was no such thing as witches.
+
+"A whole week!" said Uncle Winthrop. "Whatever shall I do without a
+little girl that length of time?"
+
+"But you have Cary now," she returned archly.
+
+Cary was a good deal occupied with young friends and college associates.
+Now and then he went over to Charlestown and stayed all night with one
+of his chums.
+
+"I suppose I ought to learn how it will be without you when you want to
+go away in real earnest."
+
+"I am never going away."
+
+"Suppose Mrs. King should invite you to New York? She has some little
+girls."
+
+"You might like to go," she returned with a touch of hesitation.
+
+"To see the little girls?" smilingly.
+
+"To see a great city. Do you suppose they are very queer--and Dutch?"
+
+He laughed at that.
+
+"But the Dutch people went there and settled, just as the Puritans came
+here. And I think I like the Dutch because they have such a merry time
+at Christmas. We read about them in history at school."
+
+"And then the English came, you know. I think now there is not much that
+would suggest Holland. I have been there."
+
+Then Doris was eager to know what it was like, and Uncle Winthrop was
+interested in telling her. They forgot all about Salem--at least, Doris
+did until she was going to bed.
+
+"If you _do_ go you must be very careful a witch does not catch you, for
+I couldn't spare my little girl altogether."
+
+"Uncle Winthrop, I am going to stay with you always. When Miss
+Recompense gets real old and cannot look after things I shall be your
+housekeeper."
+
+"When Miss Recompense reaches old age I am afraid I shall be quaking for
+very fear."
+
+"But it takes a long while for people to get very old," she returned
+decisively.
+
+Betty came over the next day to tell her they would start on Thursday
+morning, and were going in a sloop to Marblehead with a friend of her
+father's, Captain Morton.
+
+It was almost like going to sea, Doris thought. They had to thread their
+way through the islands and round Winthrop Head. There was Grover's
+Cliff, and then they went out past Nahant into the broad, beautiful bay,
+where you could see the ocean. It seemed ages ago since she had crossed
+it. They kept quite in to the green shores and could see Lynn and
+Swampscott, then they rounded one more point and came to Marblehead,
+where Captain Morton stopped to unload his cargo, while they went on to
+Salem.
+
+At the old dock they were met by a big boy and a country wagon. This was
+Foster Manning, the eldest grandson of the family.
+
+"Oh," cried Betty in amazement, "how you have grown! It _is_ Foster?"
+
+He smiled and blushed under the sunburn--a thin, angular boy, tall for
+his age, with rather large features and light-brown hair with tawny
+streaks in it. But his gray-blue eyes were bright and honest-looking.
+
+"Yes, 'm," staring at the others, for he had at the moment forgotten his
+aunt's looks.
+
+Betty introduced them.
+
+"I should not have known you," said Aunt Electa. "But boys change a good
+deal in two years or so."
+
+They were helped in the wagon, more by Betty than Foster, who was
+evidently very bashful. They drove up past the old Court House, through
+the main part of the town, which even then presented a thriving
+appearance with its home industries. But the seaport trade had been
+sadly interfered with by the rumors and apprehensions of war. At that
+time it was quaint and country-looking, with few pretensions to
+architectural beauty. There was old Gallows Hill at one end, with its
+haunting stories of witchcraft days.
+
+The irregular road wandered out to the farming districts. Many small
+towns had been set off from the original Salem in the century before,
+and the boundaries were marked mostly by the farms.
+
+Betty inquired after everybody, but most of the answers were "Yes, 'm"
+and "No, 'm." When they came in sight of the house Mrs. Manning and
+little Ruth ran out to welcome the guests, followed by Elizabeth, who
+was almost as good as a woman.
+
+The house itself was a plain two-story with the hall door in the middle
+and a window on each side. The roof had a rather steep pitch in front
+with overhanging eaves. From this pitch it wandered off in a slow curve
+at the back and seemed stretched out to cover the kitchen and the sheds.
+
+A grassy plot in front was divided by a trodden path. On one side of the
+small stoop was a great patch of hollyhocks that were tolerated because
+they needed no special care. Mrs. Manning had no time to waste upon
+flowers. The aspect was neat enough, but rather dreary, as Doris
+contrasted it with the bloom at home.
+
+But the greetings were cordial, only Mrs. Manning asked Betty "If she
+had been waiting for someone to come and show her the way?" Ruth ran to
+Doris at once and caught her round the waist, nestling her head fondly
+on the bosom of the guest. Elizabeth stood awkwardly distant, and only
+stared when Betty presented her to Doris.
+
+They were ushered into the first room, which was the guest chamber. The
+floor was painted, and in summer the rugs were put away. A large
+bedstead with faded chintz hangings, a bureau, a table, and two chairs
+completed the furniture. The ornaments were two brass candlesticks and a
+snuffers tray on the high mantel.
+
+Here they took off their hats and laid down their budgets, and then went
+through to mother's room, where there were a bed and a cradle, a bureau,
+a big chest, a table piled up with work, a smaller candlestand, and a
+curious old desk. Next to this was the living-room, where the main work
+of life went on. Beyond this were a kitchen and some sheds.
+
+Baby Hester sat on the floor and looked amazed at the irruption, then
+began to whimper. Her mother hushed her up sharply, and she crept out to
+the living-room.
+
+"We may as well all go out," said Mrs. Manning. "I must see about
+supper, for that creature we have doesn't know when the kettle boils,"
+and she led the way.
+
+Elizabeth began to spread the tea table. A youngish woman was working in
+the kitchen. The Mannings had taken one of the town's poor, who at this
+period were farmed out. Sarah Lewis was not mentally bright, and
+required close watching, which she certainly received at the Mannings'.
+Doris stood by the window with Ruth, until the baby cried, when her
+mother told her to take Hester out in the kitchen and give her some
+supper and put her to bed. And then Doris could do nothing but watch
+Elizabeth while the elders discussed family affairs, the conversation a
+good deal interrupted by rather sharp orders to Sarah in the kitchen,
+and some not quite so sharp to Elizabeth.
+
+Supper was all on the table when the men came in. There were Mr.
+Manning, Foster and James, and two hired men.
+
+"You must wait, James," said his mother--"you and Elizabeth."
+
+The guests were ranged at one end of the table, the hired men and Foster
+at the other. Elizabeth took some knitting and sat down by the window.
+The two younger children remained in the kitchen.
+
+Doris was curiously interested, though she felt a little strange. Her
+eyes wandered to Elizabeth, and met the other eyes, as curious as hers.
+Elizabeth had straight light hair, cut square across the neck, and
+across her forehead in what we should call a bang. "It was time to let
+it grow long," her mother admitted, "but it was such a bother, falling
+in her eyes." Her frock, whatever color it had been, was now faded to a
+hopeless, depressing gray, and her brown gingham apron tied at the waist
+betrayed the result of many washings. She was thin and pale, too, and
+tired-looking. Times had not been good, and some of the crops were not
+turning out well, so every nerve had to be strained to pay for the new
+lot, in order that the interest on the amount should not eat up
+everything.
+
+Afterward the men went to look to the cattle, and Mrs. Manning, when she
+had given orders a while in the kitchen, took her guests out on the
+front porch. She sat and knit as she talked to them, as the moon was
+shining and gave her light enough to see.
+
+When the old clock struck nine, Mr. Manning came through the hall and
+stood in the doorway.
+
+"Be you goin' to sit up all night, mother?" he inquired.
+
+"Dear, no. And I expect you're all tired. We're up so early in the
+morning here that we go to bed early. And I was thinking--Ruth needn't
+have gone upstairs, and Doris could have slept with Elizabeth----"
+
+"I'll go upstairs with Doris, and 'Lecty may have the room to herself,"
+exclaimed Betty.
+
+Grandmother Manning had a room downstairs, back of the parlor, and one
+of the large rooms upstairs, that the family had the privilege of using,
+though it was stored nearly full with a motley collection of articles
+and furniture. This was her right in the house left by her husband. But
+she spent most of her time between her daughter at Danvers and another
+in the heart of the town, where there were neighbors to look at, if
+nothing else.
+
+Doris peered in the corners of the room by the dim candlelight.
+
+"It's very queer," she said with a half-smile at Betty, glancing
+around. For there were lines across on which hung clothes and bags of
+dried herbs that gave the room an aromatic fragrance, and parcels in one
+corner piled almost up to the wall. But the space to the bed was clear,
+and there were a stand for the candle and two chairs.
+
+"The children are in the next room, and the boys and men sleep at the
+back. The other rooms have sloping roofs. And then there's a queer
+little garret. Grandmother Manning is real old, and some time Mary will
+have all the house to herself. Josiah bought out his sisters' share, and
+Mrs. Manning's runs only as long as she lives."
+
+"I shouldn't want to sleep with Elizabeth. I love you, Betty."
+
+Betty laughed wholesomely. "You will get acquainted with her to-morrow,"
+she said.
+
+Doris laid awake some time, wondering if she really liked visiting, and
+recalling the delightful Christmas visit at Uncle Winthrop's. The
+indefinable something that she came to understand was not only leisure
+and refinement, but the certain harmonious satisfactions that make up
+the keynote of life from whence melody diffuses itself, were wanting
+here.
+
+They had their breakfast by themselves the next morning. Friday was a
+busy day, but all the household except the baby were astir at five, and
+often earlier. There were churning and the working of butter and packing
+it down for customers. Of course, June butter had the royal mark, but
+there were plenty of people glad to get any "grass" butter.
+
+Betty took Doris out for a walk and to show her what a farm was like.
+There was the herd of cows, and in a field by themselves the young ones
+from three months to a year. There were two pretty colts Mr. Manning
+was raising. And there was a flock of sheep on a stony pasture lot,
+with some long-legged, awkward-looking lambs who had outgrown their
+babyhood. Then they espied James weeding out the garden beds.
+
+Betty sat down on a stone at the edge of the fence and took out some
+needlework she carried around in her pocket. Doris stood patting down
+the soft earth with her foot.
+
+"Do you like to do that?" she asked presently.
+
+"No, I don't," in a short tone.
+
+"I think I should not either."
+
+"'Taint the things you like, it's what has to be done," the boy flung
+out impatiently. "I'm not going to be a farmer. I just hate it. When I'm
+big enough I'm coming to Boston."
+
+"When will you be big enough?"
+
+"Well--when I'm twenty-one. You're of age then, you see, and your own
+master. But I might run away before that. Don't tell anyone that, Doris.
+Gewhilliker! didn't I have a splendid time at grandmother's that winter!
+I wish I could live there always. And grandpop is just the nicest man I
+know! I just hate a farm."
+
+Doris felt very sorry for him. She thought she would not like to work
+that way with her bare hands. Miss Recompense always wore gloves when
+she gardened.
+
+"I'd like to be you, with nothing to do."
+
+That was a great admission. The winter at Uncle Leverett's he had rather
+despised girls. Cousin Sam was the one to be envied then. And it seemed
+to her that she kept quite busy at home, but it was a pleasant kind of
+business.
+
+She did not see Elizabeth until dinner time. James took the men's dinner
+out to the field. They could not spend the time to come in. And after
+dinner Betty harnessed the old mare Jinny, and took Electa, Doris, and
+little Ruth out driving. The sun had gone under a cloud and the breeze
+was blowing over from the ocean. Electa chose to see the old town, even
+if there were but few changes and trade had fallen off. Several
+slender-masted merchantmen were lying idly at the quays, half afraid to
+venture with a cargo lest they might fall into the hands of privateers.
+The stores too had a depressed aspect. Men sat outside gossiping in a
+languid sort of way, and here and there a woman was tending her baby on
+the porch or doing a bit of sewing.
+
+"What a sleepy old place!" said Mrs. King. "It would drive me to
+distraction."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+ANOTHER GIRL
+
+
+Saturday afternoon the work was finished up and the children washed. The
+supper was eaten early, and at sundown the Sabbath had begun. The parlor
+was opened, but the children were allowed out on the porch. Ruth sprang
+up a time or two rather impatiently.
+
+"Sit still," said Elizabeth, "or you will have to go to bed at once."
+
+"Couldn't I take her a little walk?" asked Doris.
+
+"A walk! Why it is part of Sunday!"
+
+"But I walk on Sunday with Uncle Winthrop."
+
+"It's very wicked. We _do_ walk to church, but that isn't anything for
+pleasure."
+
+"But uncle thinks one ought to be happy and joyous on Sunday. It is the
+day the Lord rose from the dead."
+
+"It's the Sabbath. And you are to remember the Sabbath to keep it holy."
+
+"What is the difference between Sabbath and Sunday?"
+
+"There aint any," said James. "There's six days to work, and I wish
+there was two Sundays--one in the middle of the week. The best time of
+all is Sunday night. You don't have to keep so very still, and you don't
+have to work neither."
+
+Elizabeth sighed. Then she said severely, "Do you know your catechism,
+James?"
+
+"Well--I always have to study it Sunday morning," was the rather sullen
+reply.
+
+"Maybe you had better go in and look it over."
+
+"You never do want a fellow to take any comfort. Yes, I know it."
+
+"Ruth, if you are getting sleepy go to bed."
+
+Ruth had leaned her head down on Doris' shoulder.
+
+"She's wide awake," and Doris gave her a little squeeze that made her
+smile. She would have laughed outright but for fear.
+
+Elizabeth leaned her head against the door jamb.
+
+"You look so tired," said Doris pityingly.
+
+"I am tired through and through. I am always glad to have Saturday night
+come and no knitting or anything. Don't you knit when you are home?"
+
+"I haven't knit--much." Doris flushed up to the roots of her fair hair,
+remembering her unfortunate attempts at achieving a stocking.
+
+"What do you do?"
+
+"Study, and read to Uncle Winthrop, and go to school and to writing
+school, and walk and take little journeys and drives and do drawing.
+Next year I shall learn to paint flowers."
+
+"But you do some kind of work?"
+
+"I keep my room in order and Uncle Win trusts me to dust his books. And
+I sew a little and make lace. But, you see, there is Miss Recompense and
+Dinah and Cato."
+
+"Oh, what a lot of help! What does Miss Recompense do?"
+
+"She is the housekeeper."
+
+"Is Uncle Winthrop very rich?"
+
+"I--I don't know."
+
+"But there are no children and boys to wear out their clothes and
+stockings. There's so much knitting to be done. I go to school in
+winter, but there is too much work in summer. Doris Adams, you are a
+lucky girl if your fortune doesn't spoil you."
+
+"Fortune!" exclaimed Doris in surprise.
+
+"Yes. I heard father talk about it. And all that from England! Then
+someone died in Boston and left you ever so much. I suppose you will be
+a grand lady!"
+
+"I'd like to be a lovely old lady like Madam Royall."
+
+"And who is she?"
+
+Doris was in the full tide of narration when Mrs. Manning came to the
+hall door. She caught some description of a party.
+
+"Elizabeth, put Ruth to bed at once and go yourself. Doris, talking of
+parties isn't a very good preparation for the Sabbath. Elizabeth, when
+you say your prayers think of your sins and shortcomings for the week,
+and repent of them earnestly."
+
+Ruth had fallen asleep and gave a little whine. Her mother slapped her.
+
+"Hush, not a word. You deserve the same and more, Elizabeth! James, go
+in and study your catechism over three times, then go to bed."
+
+Doris sat alone on the doorstep, confused and amazed. She was quite sure
+now she did not like Mrs. Manning, and she felt very sorry for
+Elizabeth. Then Betty came out and told her some odd Salem stories.
+
+They all went to church Sabbath morning, in the old Puritan parlance.
+Doris found it hard to comprehend the sermon. Many of the people from
+the farms brought their luncheons, and wandered about the graveyard or
+sat under the shady trees. At two the children were catechised, at three
+service began again.
+
+Mrs. King took Doris and Betty to dine with a friend of her youth, and
+then went back to the service out of respect to her sister and
+brother-in-law. Little Ruth fell asleep and was punished for it when she
+reached home. The children were all fractious and their mother scolded.
+When the sun went down there was a general sense of relief. The younger
+ones began to wander around. The two mothers sauntered off together,
+talking of matters they preferred not to have fall on the ears of small
+listeners.
+
+Betty attracted the boys. Foster could talk to her, though he was much
+afraid of girls in general.
+
+Doris and Elizabeth sat on the steps. Ruth was running small races with
+herself.
+
+"Would you rather go and walk?" inquired Elizabeth timidly.
+
+"Oh, no. Not if you like to sit still," cheerfully.
+
+"I just do. I'm always tired. You are so pretty, I was afraid of you at
+first. And you have such beautiful clothes. That blue ribbon on your hat
+is like a bit of the sky. And God made the sky."
+
+The voice died away in admiration.
+
+"That isn't my best hat," returned Doris simply. "Cousin Betty thought
+the damp of the ocean and running out in the dust would ruin it. It has
+some beautiful pink roses and ever so much gauzy stuff and a great bow
+of pink satin. Then I have a pink muslin frock with tiny green and brown
+sprigs all over it, and a great sash of the muslin that comes down to
+the hem. The Chapman girls have satin ribbon sashes, but Miss Recompense
+said she liked the muslin better."
+
+"Do you have to wear just what she says?"
+
+"Oh, no. Madam Royall chooses some things, and Betty. And Cousin King
+brought me an elegant sash, white, with flowers all over it. I have ever
+so many pretty things."
+
+"Oh, how proud you must feel!" said the Puritan maid half enviously.
+
+"I don't know"--hesitatingly. "I think I feel just nice, and that is all
+there is about it. Uncle Win likes what they get for me--men can't buy
+clothes, you know, and if he is pleased and thinks I look well, that is
+the end of it."
+
+"Oh, how good it must feel to be happy just like that. But are you quite
+sure," lowering her voice to a touch of awe, "that you will not be
+punished in the next world?"
+
+"What for? Doesn't God mean us to be happy?"
+
+"Well--not in this world, perhaps," answered the young theologian. "But
+you don't have anything in heaven except a white robe, and if you
+haven't had any pretty things in this world----"
+
+"I wish I could give you some of mine." Doris slipped her soft warm hand
+over the other, beginning to grow bony and strained already.
+
+"They wouldn't do me any good," was the almost apathetical reply. "I
+only go to church, and mother wouldn't let me wear them."
+
+"Do you like to go to church?"
+
+"I hate the long sermons and the prayers. Oh, that is dreadful wicked,
+isn't it? But I like to see the people and hear the talk, and they do
+have some new clothes; and the sitting still. When you've run and run
+all the week and are tired all over, it's just good to sit still. And
+it's different. I get so tired of the same things all the time and the
+hurry. Do you know what I am going to do when I am a woman?"
+
+"No," replied Doris with a look of interested inquiry.
+
+"I'm going to have one room like grandmother Manning, and live by
+myself. I shan't have any husband or children. I don't want to be sewing
+and knitting and patching continually, and babies are an awful sight of
+trouble, and husbands are just thinking of work, work all the time. Then
+I shall go visiting when I like, and though I shall read the Bible I
+won't mind about remembering the sermons. I'll just have a good time by
+myself."
+
+Doris felt strangely puzzled. She always wanted a good time with
+someone. The great pleasure to her was having another share a joy. And
+to live alone was almost like being imprisoned in some dreary cell.
+Neither could she think of Helen or Eudora living alone--indeed, any of
+the girls she knew.
+
+"Now you can go on about the wedding party," said Elizabeth after a
+pause. "And you really danced! And you were not afraid the ground would
+open and swallow you?"
+
+"Why, no," returned Doris. "There are earthquakes that swallow up whole
+towns, but, you see, the good and the bad go together. And I never heard
+of anyone being swallowed up----"
+
+"Why, yes--in the Bible--Korah, Dathan, and Abiram."
+
+"But they were not dancing. I think,"--hesitatingly,--"they were finding
+fault with Moses and Aaron, and wanting to be leaders in some manner."
+
+"Well--I am glad it wasn't dancing. And now go on quick before they come
+back."
+
+Elizabeth had never read a fairy story or any vivid description. She had
+no time and there were no books of that kind about the house. She fairly
+reveled in Doris' brilliant narrative. She had seen one middle-aged
+couple stand up to be married after the Sunday afternoon service, and
+she had heard of two or three younger people being married with a kind
+of wedding supper. But that Doris should have witnessed all this
+herself! That she should have worn a wedding gown and scattered flowers
+before the bride!
+
+Ruth was tired of running. "I'm sleepy," she said. "Unfasten my dress, I
+want to go to bed."
+
+Betty and the boys were coming up the path, with the shadowy forms of
+the grown people behind them. Mr. Manning had been taking a nap on the
+rude kitchen settee, his Sunday evening indulgence. Now he came through
+the hall.
+
+"Boys, children, it's time to go to bed. You are all sleepy enough in
+the mornin', but you would sit up half the night if someone did not
+drive you off."
+
+"Oh, I wish you lived here, Aunt Betty," said Foster for a good-night.
+
+Betty and Doris were almost ready for bed when there was a little sound
+at the door, pushed open by Elizabeth, who stood there in her plain,
+scant nightgown with a distraught expression, as if she had seen a
+ghost.
+
+"Oh, Aunt Betty or Doris, _can_ you remember the text and what the
+sermon was about? We always say it to mother after tea Sabbath evening,
+and she'll be sure to ask me to-morrow morning. And I can't think! I
+never scarcely do forget. Oh, what shall I do!"
+
+Her distress was so genuine that Betty folded her in her arms. Elizabeth
+began to cry at the tender touch.
+
+"There, little Bessy, don't cry. Let me see--I remember I was preaching
+another sermon to myself. It was--'Do this and ye shall live.' And
+instead of all the hard things he put in, I thought of the kindly things
+father was always doing, and Uncle Win, and mother, and the pleasant
+things instead of the severe laws. And when he reached his lastly he
+said no one could keep all the laws, and because they could not the
+Saviour came and died, but he seemed to preach as if the old laws were
+still in force, and that the Saviour's death really had not changed
+anything. That was in the morning. And the afternoon was the miracle of
+the loaves and fishes."
+
+"Yes--I could recall that. But I was sure mother would ask me the one I
+had forgotten. It always happens that way. Oh, I am so glad. Dear Aunt
+Betty! And if I was sometimes called Bessy, as you called me just now,
+or Betty, or anything besides the everlasting 'Lisbeth. Oh, Doris, how
+happy you must be----"
+
+"There, dear," said Betty soothingly, "don't cry so. I will write out
+what I can recall on a slip of paper and you can look it over in the
+morning. I just wish you could come and make me a visit, and go over to
+Uncle Win's. Yes, Doris _is_ a happy little girl."
+
+"But I have everything in the world," said Doris with a long breath. "I
+am afraid I could not be so happy here. Oh, can't we take Elizabeth home
+with us? Betty, coax her mother."
+
+"It wouldn't do a bit of good. You can't coax mother. And there is
+always so much work in the summer. I am afraid she wouldn't like
+it--even if you asked her."
+
+"But James came, and little Ruth----"
+
+"They were too young to work. Oh, it would be like going to heaven!"
+
+"It may be sometime, little Bessy. You can dream over it."
+
+"Good-night. Would you kiss me, Doris?"
+
+The happy girl kissed her a dozen times instead of once. But her deep
+eyes were full of tears as she turned to Betty when the small figure had
+slipped away.
+
+"Yes, it is a hard life," said Betty. "It seems as if children's lives
+ought to be happier. I don't know what makes Mary so hard. I'm sure she
+does not get it from father or mother. She appears to think all the
+virtue of the world lies in work. I wonder what such people will do in
+heaven!"
+
+"Oh, Betty, do try to have her come to Boston. I know Uncle Win will
+feel sorry for her."
+
+Those years in the early part of the century were not happy ones for
+childhood in general. Too much happiness was considered demoralizing in
+this world and a poor preparation for the next. Work was the great
+panacea for all sorts of evils. It was seldom work for one's neighbors,
+though people were ready to go in sickness and trouble. It was adding
+field to field and interest to interest, to strive and save and wear
+one's self out and die.
+
+Elizabeth was up betimes the next morning, and there lay the paper with
+chapter and verse and some "remarks." Her heart swelled with gratitude
+as she ran downstairs. Sarah had made the "shed" fire and the big wash
+kettle had been put over it. She was rubbing out the first clothes, the
+nicest pieces.
+
+"Now fly round, 'Lisbeth," said her mother. "You've dawdled enough these
+few days back, and there'll be an account to settle presently. I suppose
+your head was so full of that bunch of vanity you never remembered a
+word of the sermon yesterday. What was the text in the morning?"
+
+Elizabeth's pale face turned scarlet and her lip quivered; her slight
+frame seemed to shrink a moment, then in a gasping sort of way she gave
+chapter and verse and repeated the words.
+
+"I don't think that was it," said her mother sharply. "Ruth was in a
+fidget just as the text was given out. Wasn't that last Sunday's text?"
+
+"Some of the others may remember," the child said in her usual
+apathetical voice.
+
+"Well, you needn't act as if you were going to have a hysteric! Hand me
+that dish of beans. Your father likes them warmed over. Quick, there he
+comes now. You stir them."
+
+A trivet stood on the glowing coals, and the pan soon warmed through.
+Father and the men took their places. Foster came in sleepily.
+
+"Where's James?" inquired his mother.
+
+"I don't want him in the field to-day. He can weed in the garden. You
+send him with the dinners."
+
+"Where was yesterday morning's text, Foster?" Mrs. Manning asked
+sharply.
+
+The boy looked up blankly. As there was no Sunday evening examination it
+had slipped out of his mind.
+
+"It was something about--keeping the law--doing----"
+
+James entered at that moment and had heard the question and hesitating
+reply.
+
+"I can't remember chapter and verse, but it was short, and I just rammed
+the words down in my memory box. 'Do this and ye shall live.'"
+
+"James, no such irreverence," exclaimed his father.
+
+Elizabeth in the kitchen drew a long breath of relief. She wondered
+whether his mother would have taken Aunt Betty's word.
+
+Monday morning was always a hard time. Sarah required looking after, for
+her memory lapses were frequent. Mr. Manning said a good birch switch
+was the best remedy he knew. But though a hundred years before people
+had thought nothing of whipping their servants, public opinion was
+against it now. Mrs. Manning did sometimes box her ears when she was
+over-much tired. But she was a very faithful worker.
+
+Elizabeth gave Ruth and baby Hester their breakfast. Then Betty came
+down, and insisted upon getting the next breakfast while Mrs. Manning
+hung up her first clothes. She had been scolding to Betty about people
+having no thought or care as to how they put back the work with their
+late breakfast. But when Betty cooked and served it, and insisted upon
+washing up the dishes; and Doris amused the baby, who was not well, and
+helped Ruth shell the pease for dinner; when the washing and churning
+were out of the way long before noon, and Elizabeth was folding down the
+clothes for ironing while Sarah and her mother prepared the dinner and
+sent it out to the men--the child couldn't see that things were at all
+behindhand.
+
+Sarah and Elizabeth ironed in the afternoon. Mrs. Manning brought out
+her sewing and Betty helped on some frocks for the children. Two old
+neighbors came in to supper, bringing two little girls who were
+wonderfully attracted by Doris and delighted to be amused in quite a new
+fashion. But Elizabeth was too busy to be spared.
+
+After supper was cleared away and the visitors had gone Elizabeth
+brought her knitting and sat on the stoop step in the moonlight.
+
+"Oh, don't knit!" cried Doris. "You look so tired."
+
+"I'd like to go to bed this minute," said the child. "But last week I
+fell behind. You see, there are so many to wear stockings, and the boys
+do rattle them out so fast. We try to get most of the new knitting done
+in the summer, for autumn brings so much work. And if you will talk to
+me--I like so to hear about Boston and Madam Royall's beautiful house
+and your Uncle Win. It must be like reading some interesting book. Oh,
+I wish I could come and stay a whole week with you!"
+
+"A week!" Doris laughed. "Why, you couldn't see it all in a month, or a
+year. Every day I am finding something new about Boston, and Miss
+Recompense remembers so many queer stories. I'm going to tell her all
+about you. I know she'll be real nice about your coming. Everything is
+as Uncle Win says, but he always asks her."
+
+Doris could make her little descriptions very vivid and attractive. At
+first Elizabeth replied by exclamations, then there was quite a silence.
+Doris looked at her. She was leaning against the post of the porch and
+her needles no longer clicked, though she held the stocking in its
+place. The poor child had fallen fast asleep. The moonlight made her
+look so ghostly pale that at first Doris was startled.
+
+The three ladies came out, but Elizabeth never stirred. When her mother
+spied her she shook her sharply by the shoulder.
+
+"Poor child!" exclaimed Mrs. King. "Elizabeth, put up your work and go
+to bed."
+
+"If you are too sleepy to knit, put up your work and go out and knead on
+the bread a spell. Sarah always gets it lumpy if you don't watch her,"
+said Mrs. Manning.
+
+Elizabeth gathered up her ball and went without a word.
+
+"I'll knit for you," said Betty, intercepting her, and taking the work.
+
+"Mary, you will kill that child presently, and when you have buried her
+I hope you will be satisfied to give Ruth a chance for her life,"
+exclaimed Mrs. King indignantly.
+
+"I can't afford to bring my children up in idleness, and if I could, I
+hope I have too great a sense of responsibility and my duty toward them.
+I was trained to work, and I've been thankful many a time that _I_
+didn't have to waste grown-up years in learning."
+
+"We didn't work like that. Then father had given some years to his
+country and we _were_ poor. You have no need, and it is cruel to make
+such a slave of a child. She does a woman's work."
+
+"I am quite capable of governing my own family, Electa, and I think I
+know what is best and right for them. We can't afford to bring up fine
+ladies and teach them French and other trumpery. If Elizabeth is fitted
+for a plain farmer's wife, that is all I ask. She won't be likely to
+marry a President or a foreign lord, and if we have a few hundred
+dollars to start her in life, maybe she won't object."
+
+"You had better give her a little comfort now instead of adding farm to
+farm, and saving up so much for the woman who will come in here when you
+are dead and gone. Think of the men who have second and third wives and
+whose children are often turned adrift to look out for themselves.
+Hundreds of poor women are living hard and joyless lives just to save up
+money. And it is a shame to grind their children to the lowest ebb."
+
+Mrs. Manning was very angry. She had no argument at hand, so she turned
+in an arrogant manner and said austerely:
+
+"I had better go and look after my daughter, to see that she doesn't
+work herself quite to death. But I don't know what we should do without
+bread."
+
+"Now you have done it!" cried Betty. "I only hope she won't vent her
+anger on the poor child."
+
+"It is a curious thing," said Mrs. King reflectively, "that women--well,
+men too--make such a point of church-going on Sunday, and hardly allow
+the poor children to draw a comfortable breath, and on Monday act like
+fiends. Women especially seem to think they have a right to indulge in
+dreadful tempers on washing day, and drive all before them. Think of the
+work that has been done in this house to-day, and the picture of
+Elizabeth, worn out, falling asleep over her knitting. I should have
+sent her to bed with the chickens. I'd like to take her home with me,
+but it would spoil her for the farm."
+
+Betty knit away on the stocking. "I can't see what makes Mary so hard
+and grasping," she said. "It troubles mother a good deal."
+
+When they went in the house was quiet and the kitchen dark. Mrs. Manning
+sat sewing. Their candles were on the table. Betty and Mrs. King said a
+cordial good-night.
+
+The sisters-in-law were to come the next day, and grandmother Manning,
+with an addition of four children. The Salem sister, Mrs. Gates, was
+stout and pleasant; the farmer sister thin and with a troublesome cough,
+and she had a young baby besides her little girl of six. She was to make
+a visit in Salem, and doctor somewhat, to see if she could not get over
+her cough before cold weather.
+
+The children were turned out of doors on the grassy roadside, where they
+couldn't hurt anything. Mrs. Gates and Betty helped in the kitchen, and
+after the dinner was cleared away Elizabeth was allowed to put on her
+second-best gingham and go out with the children. They ran and played
+and screamed and laughed.
+
+"I'd a hundred times rather sit still and hear you talk," she said to
+Doris. "And I'm awful sorry to have you go to-morrow. Even when I am
+busy it is so nice just to look at you, with your beautiful hair and
+your dark eyes, and your skin that is like velvet and doesn't seem to
+tan or freckle. Foster hates freckles so."
+
+Doris flushed at the compliment.
+
+"I wonder how it would seem to be as pretty as you are? And you're not
+a bit set up about your fine clothes and all. I s'pose when you're born
+that way you're so used to it, and there aint anything to wish for. I'm
+so glad you could come. And I do hope you will come again."
+
+They parted very good friends. Mrs. King had been quite generous to the
+small people, and Mrs. Manning really loved her sister, although she
+considered her very lax and extravagant. No one could tell what was
+before him, and thrift and prudence were the great virtues of those
+days. True, they often degenerated into penuriousness and labor that was
+early and late--so severe, indeed, it cost many a life; and the people
+who came after reaped the benefit.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+WINTER AND SORROW
+
+
+"Oh, Uncle Win," exclaimed Doris, "I can't be sorry that I went to
+Salem, and I've had a queer, delightful time seeing so many strange
+things and hearing stories about them! But I am very, very glad to get
+back to Boston, and gladdest of all to be your little girl. There isn't
+anybody in the whole wide world I'd change you for!"
+
+Her arms were about him. He was so tall that she could not quite reach
+up to his neck when he stood straight, but he had a way of bending over,
+and she was growing, and the clasp gave him a thrill of exquisite
+pleasure.
+
+"I've missed my little girl a great deal," he said. "I am afraid I shall
+never want you to go away again."
+
+"The next time you must go with me. Though Betty was delightful and Mrs.
+King is just splendid."
+
+They had famous talks about Salem afterward, and the little towns
+around. Miss Recompense said now she shouldn't know how to live without
+a child in the house. Mrs. King went home to her husband and little
+ones, and Doris imagined the joy in greeting such a fond mother. Uncle
+Win half promised he would visit New York sometime. Even Aunt Priscilla
+was pleased when Doris came up to Sudbury Street, and wanted her full
+share of every visit. And they were all amazed when she went over to
+Uncle Win's to spend a day and was very cordial with Miss Recompense.
+They had a nice chat about the old times and the Salem witches and the
+dead and gone Governors--even Governor and Lady Gage, who had been very
+gay in her day; and both women had seen her riding about in her elegant
+carriage, often with a handsome young girl at her side.
+
+She had some business, too, with Uncle Win. They were in the study a
+long while together.
+
+"Living with the Leveretts has certainly changed Aunt Priscilla very
+much," he said later in the evening to Miss Recompense. "I begin to
+think it is not good for people to live so much alone when they are
+going down the shady side of life. Or perhaps it would not be so shady
+if they would allow a little sun to shine in it."
+
+Solomon was full of purring content and growing lazier every day.
+Latterly he had courted Uncle Win's society. There was a wide ledge in
+one of the southern windows, and Doris made a cushion to fit one end. He
+loved to lie here and bask in the sunshine. When there was a fire on the
+hearth he had another cushion in the corner. Sometimes he sauntered
+around and interviewed the books quite as if he was aware of their
+contents. He considered that he had a supreme right to Doris' lap, and
+he sometimes had half a mind to spring up on Uncle Win's knee, but the
+invitation did not seem sufficiently pressing.
+
+Cary was at home regularly now, except that he spent one night every
+week with a friend at Charlestown, and went frequently to the Cragies'
+to meet some of his old chums. He had not appeared to care much for
+Doris at first, and she was rather shy. Latterly they had become quite
+friends.
+
+But it seemed to Doris that he was so much gayer and brighter at Madam
+Royall's, where he certainly was a great favorite. Miss Alice was very
+brilliant and charming. They were always having hosts of company. Mr.
+and Mrs. Winslow were at the head of one circle in society. And this
+autumn Miss Jane Morse was married and went to live in Sheaffe Street in
+handsome style. She had done very well indeed. Betty was one of the
+bridesmaids and wore a white India silk in which she looked quite a
+beauty.
+
+Miss Helen Chapman was transferred to Mrs. Rowson's school to be
+finished. Doris and Eudora still attended Miss Parker's. But Madam
+Royall had treated the girls to the new instrument coming into vogue,
+the pianoforte. It's tone was so much richer and deeper than the old
+spinet. She liked it very much herself. Doris was quite wild over it.
+Madam Royal begged that she might be allowed to take lessons on it with
+the girls. Uncle Winthrop said in a year or two she might have one if
+she liked it and could learn to play.
+
+She and Betty used to talk about Elizabeth Manning. There was a new baby
+now, another little boy. Mrs. Leverett made a visit and brought home
+Hester, to ease up things for the winter. Elizabeth couldn't go to
+school any more, there was so much to do. She wrote Doris quite a long
+letter and sent it by grandmother. Postage was high then, and people did
+not write much for pure pleasure.
+
+And just before the new year, when Betty was planning to go to New York
+for her visit to Mrs. King, a great sorrow came to all of them. Uncle
+Leverett had not seemed well all the fall, though he was for the most
+part his usual happy self, but business anxieties pressed deeply upon
+him and Warren. He used to drop in now and then and take tea with Cousin
+Winthrop, and as they sat round the cheerful fire Doris would bring her
+stool to his side and slip her hand in his as she had that first winter.
+She was growing tall quite rapidly now, and pretty by the minute, Uncle
+Leverett said.
+
+There was no end of disquieting rumors. American shipping was greatly
+interfered with and American seamen impressed aboard British ships by
+the hundreds, often to desert at the first opportunity. Merchantmen were
+deprived of the best of their crews for the British navy, as that
+country was carrying on several wars; and now Wellington had gone to the
+assistance of the Spanish, and all Europe was trying to break the power
+of Napoleon, who had set out since the birth of his son, now crowned
+King of Rome, to subdue all the nations.
+
+The _Leopard-Chesapeake_ affair had nearly plunged us into war, but it
+was promptly disavowed by the British Government and some indemnity
+paid. There was a powerful sentiment opposed to war in New York and New
+England, but the people were becoming much inflamed under repeated
+outrages. Young men were training in companies and studying up naval
+matters. The country had so few ships then that to rush into a struggle
+was considered madness.
+
+Mr. Winthrop Adams was among those bitterly opposed to war. Cary was
+strongly imbued with a young man's patriotic enthusiasm. There was a
+good deal of talk at Madam Royall's, and a young lieutenant had been
+quite a frequent visitor and was an admirer also of the fair Miss Alice.
+Then Alfred Barron, his friend at Charlestown, had entered the naval
+service. Studying law seemed dry and tiresome to the young fellow when
+such stirring events were happening on every side.
+
+Uncle Leverett took a hard cold early in the new year. He was indoors
+several days, then some business difficulties seemed to demand his
+attention and he went out again. A fever set in, and though at first it
+did not appear serious, after a week the doctor began to look very
+grave. Betty stopped her preparations and wrote a rather apprehensive
+letter to Mrs. King.
+
+One day Uncle Win was sent for, and remained all the afternoon and
+evening. The next morning he went down to the store.
+
+"I'm afraid father's worse," said Warren. "His fever was very high
+through the night, and he was flighty, and now he seems to be in a sort
+of stupor, with a very feeble pulse. Oh, Uncle Win, I haven't once
+thought of his dying, and now I am awfully afraid. Business is in such a
+dreadful way. That has worried him."
+
+Mr. Adams went up to Sudbury Street at once. The doctor was there.
+
+"There has been a great change since yesterday," he said gravely. "We
+must prepare for the worst. It has taken me by surprise, for he bid fair
+to pull through."
+
+Alas, the fears were only too true! By night they had all given up hope
+and watched tearfully for the next twenty-four hours, when the kindly,
+upright life that had blessed so many went to its own reward.
+
+To Doris is seemed incredible. That poor Miss Henrietta Maria should
+slip out of life was only a release, and that Miss Arabella in the
+ripeness of age should follow had awakened in her heart no real sorrow,
+but a gentle sense of their having gained something in another world.
+But Uncle Leverett had so much here, so many to love him and to need
+him.
+
+Death, the mystery to all of us, is doubly so to the young. When Doris
+looked on Uncle Leverett's placid face she was very sure he could not be
+really gone, but mysteriously asleep.
+
+Yes, little Doris--the active, loving, thinking man had "fallen on
+sleep," and the soul had gone to its reward.
+
+Foster Leverett had been very much respected, and there were many
+friends to follow him to his grave in the old Granary burying ground,
+where the Fosters and Leveretts rested from their labors. There on the
+walk stood the noble row of elms that Captain Adino Paddock had imported
+from England a dozen years before the Revolutionary War broke out, in
+their very pride of strength and grandeur now, even if they were
+leafless.
+
+It seemed very hard and cruel to leave him here in the bleakness of
+midwinter, Doris thought. And he was not really dead to her until the
+bearers turned away with empty hands, and the friends with sorrowful
+greeting passed out of the inclosure and left him alone to the coming
+evening and the requiem of the wind soughing through the trees.
+
+Doris sat by Miss Recompense that evening with Solomon on her lap. She
+could not study, she did not want to read or sew or make lace. Uncle
+Winthrop had gone up to Sudbury Street. All the family were to be there.
+The Kings had come from New York and the Mannings from Salem.
+
+"Oh," said Doris, after a long silence, "how can Aunt Elizabeth live,
+and Betty and Warren, when they cannot see uncle Leverett any more! And
+there are so many things to talk about, only they can never ask him any
+questions, and he was so--so comforting. He was the first one that came
+to me on the vessel, you know, and he said to Captain Grier, 'Have you a
+little girl who has come from Old Boston to New Boston?' Then he put
+his arm around me, and I liked him right away. And the great fire in the
+hall was so lovely. I liked everybody but Aunt Priscilla, and now I feel
+sorry for her and like her a good deal. Sometimes she gets queer and
+what she calls 'pudgicky.' But she is real good to Betty."
+
+"She's a sensible, clear-headed woman, and she has good solid
+principles. I do suppose we all get a little queer. I can see it in
+myself."
+
+"Oh, dear Miss Recompense, you are not queer," protested Doris, seizing
+her hand. "When I first came I was a little afraid--you were so very
+nice. And then I remembered that Miss Arabella had all these nice ways,
+and could not bear a cloth askew nor towels wrinkled instead of being
+laid straight, nor anything spilled at the table, nor an untidy room,
+and she was very sweet and nice. And then I tried to be as neat as I
+could."
+
+"I knew you had been well brought up." Miss Recompense was pleased
+always to be compared to her "dear Miss Arabella." There was something
+grateful to her woman's heart, that had long ago held a longing for a
+child of her own, in the ardent tone Doris always uttered this
+endearment.
+
+"Miss Recompense, don't you think there is something in people loving
+you? You want to love them in return. You want to do the things they
+like. And when they smile and are glad, your whole heart is light with a
+kind of inward sunshine. And I think if Mrs. Manning would smile on
+Elizabeth once in a while, and tell her what she did was nice, and that
+she was smart,--for she is very, very smart,--I know it would comfort
+her."
+
+"You see, people haven't thought it was best to praise children. They
+rarely did in my day."
+
+"But Uncle Leverett praised Warren and Betty, and always said what Aunt
+Elizabeth cooked and did was delightful."
+
+"Foster Leverett was one man out of a thousand. They will all miss him
+dreadfully."
+
+Aunt Priscilla would have been amazed to know that Mr. Leverett had been
+in the estimation of Miss Recompense an ideal husband. Years ago she had
+compared other men with him and found them wanting.
+
+Uncle Win was much surprised to find them sitting there talking when he
+came home, for it was ten o'clock. Cary returned shortly after, and the
+two men retired to the study. But there was a curious half-dread of some
+intangible influence that kept Doris awake a long while. The wind moaned
+outside and now and then raised to a somber gust sweeping across the
+wide Common. Oh, how lonely it must be in the old burying ground!
+
+Mr. Leverett's will had been read that evening. The business was left to
+Warren, as Hollis had most of his share years before. To the married
+daughters a small remembrance, to Betty and her mother the house in
+Sudbury Street, to be kept or sold as they should elect; if sold, they
+were to share equally.
+
+Mrs. King was very well satisfied. In the present state of affairs
+Warren's part was very uncertain, and his married sisters were to be
+paid out of that. The building was old, and though the lot was in a good
+business location, the value at that time was not great.
+
+"It seems to me the estate ought to be worth more," said Mrs. Manning.
+"I did suppose father was quite well off, and had considerable ready
+money."
+
+"So he did two years ago," answered Warren. "But it has been spent in
+the effort to keep afloat. If the times should ever get better----"
+
+"You'll pull through," said Hollis encouragingly.
+
+He had not suffered so much from the hard times, and was prospering.
+
+The will had been remade six months before, after a good deal of
+consideration.
+
+When Mrs. King went home, a few days after, she said privately to
+Warren: "Do not trouble about my legacy, and if you come to hard places
+I am sure Matt will help you out if he possibly can."
+
+Warren thanked her in a broken voice.
+
+Mr. King said nearly the same thing as he grasped the young fellow's
+hand.
+
+They were a very lonely household. Of course, Betty could not think of
+going away. And now that they knew what a struggle it had been for some
+time to keep matters going comfortably, they cast about to see what
+retrenchment could be made. Even if they wanted to, this would be no
+time to sell. The house seemed much too large for them, yet it was not
+planned so that any could be rented out.
+
+"If you're set upon that," said Aunt Priscilla, "I'll take the spare
+rooms, whether I need them or not. And we will just go on together.
+Strange though that Foster, who was so much needed, should be taken, and
+I, without a chick or a child, and so much older, be left behind."
+
+There was a new trustee to be looked up for Doris. A much younger man
+was needed. If Cary were five or six years older! Foster Leverett's
+death was a great shock to Winthrop Adams. Sometimes it seemed as if a
+shadowy form hovered over his shoulder, warning him that middle life was
+passing. He had a keen disappointment, too, in his son. He had hoped to
+find in him an intellectual companion as the years went on, but he could
+plainly see that his heart was not in his profession. The young fellow's
+ardor had been aroused on other lines that brought him in direct
+opposition to the elder's views. He had gone so far as to ask his
+father's permission to enlist in the navy, which had been refused, not
+only with prompt decision, but with a feeling of amazement that a son of
+his should have proposed such a step.
+
+Cary had the larger love of country and the enthusiasm of youth. His
+father was deeply interested in the welfare and standing of the city,
+and he desired it to keep at the head. He had hoped to see his son one
+of the rising men of the coming generation. War horrified him: it called
+forth the cruel and brutal side of most men, and was to be undertaken
+only for extremely urgent reasons as the last hope and salvation of
+one's country. We had gained a right to stand among the nations of the
+world; it was time now that we should take upon ourselves something
+higher--the cultivation of literature and the fine arts. To plunge the
+country into war again would be setting it back decades.
+
+He had taken a great deal of pleasure in the meetings, of the Anthology
+Club and the effort they had made to keep afloat a _Magazine of Polite
+Literature_. The little supper, which was very plain; the literary chat;
+the discussions of English poets and essayists, several of which were
+reprinted at this era; and the encouragement of native writers, of whom
+there were but few except in the line of sermons and orations. By 1793
+there had been two American novels published, and though we should smile
+over them now we can find their compeers in several of the old English
+novels that crop out now and then, exhumed from what was meant to be a
+kindly oblivion.
+
+The magazine had been given up, and the life somehow had gone out of the
+club. There was a plan to form a reading room and library to take its
+place. Men like Mr. Adams were anxious to advance the intellectual
+reputation of the town, though few people found sufficient leisure to
+devote to the idea of a national literature. Others said: "What need,
+when we have the world of brilliant English thinkers that we can never
+excel, the poets, and novelists! Let us study those and be content."
+
+The incidents of the winter had been quite depressing to Mr. Adams. Cary
+was around to the Royalls' nearly every evening, sometimes to other
+places, and at discussions that would have alarmed his father still more
+if he had known it. The young fellow's conscience gave him many twinges.
+"Children, obey your parents" had been instilled into every generation
+and until a boy was of age he had no lawful right to think for himself.
+
+So it happened that Doris became more of a companion to Uncle Win. They
+rambled about as the spring opened and noted the improvements. Old Frog
+Lane was being changed into Boylston Street. Every year the historic
+Common took on some new charm. There was the Old Elm, that dated back to
+tradition, for no one could remember its youth. She was interested in
+the conflicts that had ushered in the freedom of the American Colonies.
+Here the British waited behind their earthworks for Washington to attack
+them, just as every winter boys congregated behind their snowy walls and
+fought mimic battles. Indeed, during General Gage's administration the
+soldiers had driven the boys off their coasting place on the Common, and
+in a body they had gone to the Governor and demanded their rights, which
+were restored to them. Many a famous celebration had occurred here, and
+here the militia met on training days and had their banquets in tents.
+At the first training all the colored population was allowed to throng
+the Common; but at the second, when the Ancient and Honorable Artillery
+chose its new officers, they were strictly prohibited.
+
+Many of the ropewalks up at the northern end were silent now. Indeed,
+everybody seemed waiting with bated breath for something to happen, but
+all nature went on its usual way and made the town a little world of
+beauty with wild flowers and shrubs and the gardens coming into bloom,
+and the myriads of fruit trees with their crowns of snowy white and pink
+in all gradations.
+
+"I think the world never was so beautiful," said Doris to Uncle
+Winthrop.
+
+It was so delightful to have such an appreciative companion, even if she
+was only a little girl.
+
+Cary's birthday was the last of May, and it was decided to have the
+family party at the same time. Cary's young friends would be invited in
+the evening, but for the elders there would be the regular supper.
+
+"You will have your freedom suit, and afterward you can do just as you
+like," said Doris laughingly. She and Cary had been quite friendly of
+late, young-mannish reserve having given place to a brotherly regard.
+
+"Do you suppose I _can_ do just as I like?" He studied the eager face.
+
+"Of course you wouldn't want to do anything Uncle Win would not like."
+
+Cary flushed. "I wonder if fathers always know what is best? And when
+you are a man----" he began.
+
+"Don't you want to study law?"
+
+"Under some circumstances I should like it."
+
+"Would you like keeping a store or having a factory, or building
+beautiful houses--architecture, I believe, the fine part is called. Or
+painting portraits like Copley and Stuart and the young Mr. Allston up
+in Court Street."
+
+"No, I can't aspire to that kind of genius, and I am sure I shouldn't
+like shop-keeping. I am just an ordinary young fellow and I am afraid I
+shall always be a disappointment to the kindest of fathers. I wish there
+were three or four other children."
+
+"How strange it would seem," returned Doris musingly.
+
+"I am glad he has you, little Doris."
+
+"Are you really glad?" Her face was alight with joy. "Sometimes I have
+almost wondered----"
+
+"Don't wonder any more. You are like a dear little sister. During the
+last six months it has been a great pleasure to me to see father so fond
+of you. I hope you will never go away."
+
+"I don't mean to. I love Uncle Win dearly. It used to trouble me
+sometimes when Uncle Leverett was alive, lest I couldn't love quite
+even, you know," and a tiny line came in her smooth brow.
+
+"What an idea!" with a soft smile that suggested his father.
+
+"It's curious how you can love so many people," she said reflectively.
+
+At first the Leveretts thought they could not come to the party, but
+Uncle Winthrop insisted strongly. Some of the other relatives had lost
+members from their households. All the gayety would be reserved for the
+evening. But Cary said they would miss Betty very much.
+
+They had a pleasant afternoon, and Betty was finally prevailed upon to
+stay a little while in the evening. Cary was congratulated by the elder
+relatives, who said many pleasant things and gave him good wishes as to
+his future success. One of the cousins proposed his health, and Cary
+replied in a very entertaining manner. There was a birthday cake that he
+had to cut and pass around.
+
+"I think Cary has been real delightful," said Betty. "I've never felt
+intimately acquainted with him, because he has always seemed rather
+distant, and went with the quality and all that, and we are rather plain
+people. Oh, how proud of him Uncle Win must be!"
+
+He certainly was proud of his gracious attentions to the elders and his
+pleasant way of taking the rather tiresome compliments of a few of the
+old ladies who had known his Grandfather Cary as well as his Grandfather
+Adams.
+
+Aunt Elizabeth and Aunt Priscilla sat up in the room of Miss Recompense
+with a few of the guests who wanted to see the young people gather.
+There were four colored musicians, and they began to tune their
+instruments out on the rustic settee at the side of the front garden,
+where the beautiful drooping honey locusts hid them from sight and made
+even the tuning seem enchanting. Girls in white gowns trooped up the
+path, young men in the height of fashion carried fans and nosegays for
+them; there was laughing and chattering and floating back and forth to
+the dressing rooms.
+
+Madam Royall came with Miss Alice and Helen, who was allowed to go out
+occasionally under her wing. Eudora had been permitted just to look on a
+while and to return with grandmamma.
+
+The large parlor was cleared of the small and dainty tables and articles
+likely to be in the way of the dancers. The first was to be a new march
+to a patriotic air, and the guests stood on the stairs to watch them
+come out of the lower door of the long room, march through the hall, and
+enter the parlor at the other door. Oh, what a pretty crowd they were!
+The old Continental styles had not all gone out, but were toned down a
+little. There were pretty embroidered satin petticoats and sheer gowns
+falling away at the sides, with a train one had to tuck up under the
+belt when one really danced. Hair of all shades done high on the head
+with a comb of silver or brilliants, or tortoise shell so clear that you
+could see the limpid variations. Pompadour rolls, short curls, dainty
+puffs, many of the dark heads powdered, laces and frills and ribbons,
+and dainty feet in satin slippers and silken hose.
+
+After that they formed quadrilles in the parlor. There was space for
+three and one in the hall. Eudora and Doris patted their feet on the
+stairs in unison, and clasping each other's hands smiled and moved their
+heads in perfect time.
+
+Aunt Priscilla admitted that it was a beautiful sight, but she had her
+doubts about it. Betty was sorry there was such a sad cause for her not
+being among them. Even Cary had expressed regrets about it.
+
+Then the Leveretts and Madam Royall went home. A few of the elders had a
+game of loo, and Mr. Adams played chess with Morris Winslow, whose
+pretty wife still enjoyed dancing, though he was growing stout and
+begged to be excused on a warm night.
+
+They played forfeits afterward and had a merry time. Then there was
+supper, and they drank toasts and made bright speeches, and there was a
+great deal of jesting and gay laughter, and much wishing of success, a
+judgeship in the future, a mission abroad perhaps, a pretty and loving
+wife, a happy and honorable old age.
+
+They drank the health of Mr. Winthrop as well, and congratulated him on
+his promising son. He was very proud and happy that night, and planned
+within his heart what he would do for his boy.
+
+Doris kept begging to stay up a little longer. The music was so
+fascinating, for the band was playing soft strains out on the front
+porch while the guests were at supper. She sat on the stairs quite
+enchanted with the gay scene.
+
+The guests wandered about the hall and parlor and chatted joyously. Then
+there was a movement toward breaking up.
+
+Miss Alice espied her.
+
+"Oh, you midget, are you up here at midnight?" she cried. "Have we done
+Cary ample honor on his arrival at man's estate?"
+
+"You were all so beautiful!" said Doris breathlessly. "And the dancing
+and the music: It was splendid!"
+
+Helen kissed her good-night with girlish effusion. Some of the other
+ladies spoke to her, and Mrs. Winslow said: "No doubt you will have a
+party in this old house. But you will have a girl's advantage. You need
+not wait until you are twenty-one."
+
+When the last good-nights were said, and the lights put out, Cary Adams
+wondered whether he would have the determination to avow his plans.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+THE HIGH RESOLVE OF YOUTH
+
+
+War was declared. The President, James Madison, proclaimed it June 18,
+1812. Hostilities opened promptly. True, England's navy was largely
+engaged with France in the tremendous effort to keep Napoleon confined
+within the boundaries that he had at one time assented to by treaty, but
+at that period she had over a thousand vessels afloat, while America had
+only seventeen warships in her navy to brave them.
+
+There was a call for men and money. The Indian troubles had been
+fomented largely by England. There had been fighting on the borders, but
+the battle of Tippecanoe had broken the power of Tecumseh--for the time,
+at least. But now the hopes of the Indian chieftain revived, and the
+country was beset by both land and naval warfare.
+
+The town had been all along opposed to war. It had been said of Boston a
+few years before that she was like Tyre of old, and that her ships
+whitened every sea. Still, now that the fiat had gone forth, the latent
+enthusiasm came to the surface, and men were eager to enlist. A company
+had been studying naval tactics at Charlestown, and most of them offered
+their services, filled with the enthusiasm of youth and brimming with
+indignation at the treatment our sailors were continually receiving.
+
+Still, the little navy had proudly distinguished itself in the
+Mediterranean, and the _Constitution_ had gained for herself the
+sobriquet of "Old Ironsides"--a Boston-built vessel, though the live
+oak, the red cedar, and the pitch pine had come from South Carolina. But
+Paul Revere had furnished the copper bolts and spikes, and when the ship
+was recoppered, later on, that came from the same place. Ephraim Thayer,
+at the South End, had made her gun carriages, and her sails were
+manufactured in the Old Granary building.
+
+"A bunch of pine boards with a bit of striped bunting" had been the
+enemy's disdainful description of our youthful navy. And now they were
+to try their prowess with the Mistress of the Seas, who had defeated the
+combined navies of Europe. No wonder the country stood astounded over
+its own daring.
+
+Everything afloat was hurriedly equipped as a war vessel. The solid,
+far-sighted men of New York and New England shook their heads over the
+great mistake Congress and the President had made.
+
+Warren Leverett began to talk about enlisting. Business had been running
+behind. True, he could appeal to his brother-in-law King. He had sounded
+Hollis, who declared he had all he could do to keep afloat himself.
+
+Mrs. Leverett besought him to take no hasty step. What could they do
+without him? They might break up the home. Electa would be glad to have
+Betty--there were some things she could do, but Aunt Priscilla--whose
+health was really poor----
+
+Aunt Priscilla understood the drift presently, and the perplexity.
+Warren admitted that if he had some money to tide him over he would
+fight through. The war couldn't last forever.
+
+"And you never thought of me!" declared Aunt Priscilla, pretending to be
+quite indignant. "See here, Warren Leverett, when I made my will I
+looked out for you and Betty. Mary Manning shan't hoard up any of my
+money, and 'Lecty King, thank the Lord, doesn't want it. So if you're to
+have it in the end you may as well take some of it now, fursisee. I
+shall have enough to last my time out. And I'm settled and comfortable
+here and don't want to be routed out and set down elsewhere."
+
+Warren and his mother were surprised and overcome by the offer. He would
+take it only on condition that he should pay Aunt Priscilla the
+interest.
+
+But his business stirred up wonderfully. Still, they all felt it was
+very generous in Aunt Priscilla, whose money had really been her idol.
+
+Doris had gone over from her music lesson one afternoon. They were
+always so glad to see her. Aunt Priscilla thought a piano in such times
+as these was almost defying Providence. But even the promise of that did
+not spoil Doris, and they were always glad to see her drop in and hear
+her dainty bits of news.
+
+They wanted very much to keep her to supper.
+
+"Why, they"--which meant the family at home--"will be sure you have
+stayed here or at the Royalls'. Mr. Winslow has given ever so much money
+toward the fitting out of a vessel. They are all very patriotic. And
+Cary's uncle, Mr. March, has gone in heart and hand. I don't know which
+is right," said Betty with a sigh, "but now that we are in it I hope we
+will win."
+
+But Doris was afraid Miss Recompense would feel anxious, and she
+promised to come in a few days and stay to supper.
+
+It was very odd that just as she reached the corner Cousin Cary should
+cross the street and join her.
+
+"I have been down having a talk with Warren," he said as if in
+explanation. "I wish I had a good, plodding business head like that, and
+Warren isn't lacking in the higher qualities, either. If there was money
+enough to keep the house going, he would enlist. He had almost resolved
+to when this stir in business came."
+
+"Oh, I don't know what his mother would have done! If Uncle Leverett was
+alive----"
+
+"He would have consented in a minute. Someone's sons must go," Cary said
+decisively. "No, don't go straight home--come over to the Common. Doris,
+you are only a little girl, but I want to talk to you. There is no one
+else----"
+
+Doris glanced at him in amazement. He was quite generally grave, though
+he sometimes teased her, and occasionally read with her and explained
+any difficult point. But she always felt so like a very little girl with
+him.
+
+They went on in silence, however, until they crossed Common Street and
+passed on under the magnificent elms. Clumps of shrubbery were blooming.
+Vines ran riotously over supports, and roses and honeysuckle made the
+air sweet.
+
+"Doris,"--his voice had a little huskiness in it,--"you are very fond of
+father, and he loves you quite as if you were his own child. Oh, I wish
+you were! I wish he had half a dozen sons and daughters. If mother had
+lived----"
+
+"Yes," Doris said at length, in the long silence broken only by the song
+and whistle of myriad birds.
+
+"I don't know how to tell you. I can't soften things, incidents, or
+explanations. I am so apt to go straight to the point, and though it may
+be honorable, it is not always wisest or best. But I can't help it now.
+I have enlisted in the navy. We start for Annapolis this evening."
+
+"Oh, Cary! And Uncle Win----"
+
+"That is it. That gives me a heartache, I must confess. For, you see, I
+can't go and tell him in a manly way, as I would like. We have had some
+talks over it. I asked him before I was of age, and he refused in the
+most decisive manner to consider it. He said if I went I would have to
+choose between the country and him, which meant--a separation for years,
+maybe. It is strange, too, for he is noble and just and patriotic on
+certain lines. I do think he would spend any money on me, give me
+everything I could possibly want, but he feels in some way that I am his
+and it is my duty to do with my life what he desires, not what I like. I
+am talking over your head, you are such a little girl, and so
+simple-hearted. And I have really come to love you a great deal, Doris."
+
+She looked up with a soft smile, but there were tears in her eyes.
+
+"You see, a big boy who has no sisters doesn't get used to little girls.
+And when he really begins to admire them they are generally older. Then,
+I have always been with boys and young men. I was glad when you came,
+because father was so interested in you. And I thought he had begun to
+love you so much that he wouldn't really mind if I went away. But, you
+see, his heart would be big enough for a houseful of children."
+
+"Oh, why do you go? He will be--broken-hearted."
+
+"Little Doris, I shall be broken-hearted if I stay. I shall begin to
+hate law--maybe I shall take to drink--young fellows do at times. I know
+I shall be just good for nothing. I should like best to talk it over
+dispassionately with him, but that can't be done. We should both say
+things that would hurt each other and that we should regret all our
+lives. I have written him a long letter, but I wanted to tell someone. I
+thought of Betty first, and Madam Royall, but no one can comfort him
+like you. Then I wanted you to feel, Doris, that I was not an
+ungrateful, disobedient son. I wish we could think alike about the war,
+but it seems that we cannot. And because you are here,--and, Doris, you
+are a very sweet little girl, and you will love him always, I know,--I
+give him in your charge. I hope to come back, but the chances of war are
+of a fearful sort, and if I should not, will you keep to him always,
+Doris? Will you be son and daughter to him as you grow up--oh, Doris,
+don't cry! People die every day, you know, staying at home. I have often
+thought how sad it was that my mother and both your parents should die
+so young----"
+
+His voice broke then. They came to a rustic seat and sat down. He took
+her hand and pressed it to his lips.
+
+"If I shouldn't ever come back"--tremulously--"I should like to feel at
+the last moment there was someone who would tell him that my very latest
+thought was of him and his tender love all my twenty-one years. I want
+you to make him feel that it was no disrespect to him, but love for my
+country, that impelled me to the step. You will understand it better
+when you grow older, and I can trust you to do me full justice and to
+be tender to him. And at first, Doris, when I can, I shall write to
+you. If he doesn't forbid you, I want you to answer if I can get
+letters. This is a sad, sad talk for a little girl----"
+
+Doris tried very hard not to sob. She seemed to understand intuitively
+how it was, and that to make any appeal could only pain him without
+persuading. If she were as wise and bright as Betty!
+
+"That is all--or if I said any more it would be a repetition, and it is
+awfully hard on you. But you will love him and comfort him."
+
+"I shall love him and stay with him all my life," said Doris with tender
+solemnity.
+
+They were both too young to understand all that such a promise implied.
+
+"My dear little sister!" He rose and stooping over kissed her on the
+fair forehead. "I will walk back to the house with you," he added as she
+rose.
+
+Neither of them said a word until they reached the corner. Then he took
+both hands and, kissing her again, turned away, feeling that he could
+not even utter a good-by.
+
+Doris stood quite still, as if she was stunned. She was not crying in
+any positive fashion, but the tears dropped silently. She could not go
+indoors, so she went down to the big apple tree that had a seat all
+around the trunk. Was Uncle Win at home? Then she heard voices. Miss
+Recompense had a visitor, and she was very glad.
+
+The lady, an old friend, stayed to supper. Uncle Win did not make his
+appearance. Doris took a book afterward and sat out on the stoop, but
+reading was only a pretense. She was frightened now at having a secret,
+and it seemed such a solemn thing as she recalled what she had promised.
+She would like to spend all her life with Uncle Win; but could she care
+for him and make him happy, when the one great love of his life was
+gone?
+
+Miss Recompense walked out to the gate with her visitor, and they had a
+great many last bits to say, and then she watched her going down the
+street.
+
+"Child, you can't see to read," she said to Doris. "I think it is damp.
+You had better come in. Mr. Adams will not be home before ten."
+
+Doris entered the lighted hall and stood a moment uncertain.
+
+"How pale and heavy-eyed you look!" exclaimed Miss Recompense. "Does
+your head ache? Have they some new trouble in Sudbury Street?"
+
+"Oh, no. But I am tired. I think I will go to bed. Good-night, dear Miss
+Recompense," and she gave her a gentle hug.
+
+She cried a little softly to her pillow. Had Cary gone? When Uncle Win
+came home he would find the letter. She dreaded to-morrow.
+
+Cary had one more errand before he started. He had said good-by to them
+at Madam Royall's and announced his enlistment, but he had asked Alice
+to meet him at the foot of the garden. They were not lovers, though he
+was perhaps quite in love. And he knew that he had only to speak to gain
+his father's consent and have his way to matrimony made easy, since it
+was Alice Royall. But he had never been quite sure that she cared for
+him with her whole soul, as Isabel had cared for Morris Winslow. And if
+he won her--would he, could he go away?
+
+He used to wonder later on how much was pure patriotism and how much a
+desire to stand well with Alice Royall. She was proudly patriotic and
+had stirred his blood many a time with her wishes and desires for the
+country. Grandmamma Royall had laughed a little at her vehemence, and
+said it was fortunate she was not a boy.
+
+"I should enlist at once. Or what would be better yet, I would beg
+brother Morris to fit out a war ship, and look up the men to command it,
+and go in _any_ capacity. I should not wait for a high-up appointment."
+
+When Cary confessed his step first to her, she caught his hands in hers
+so soft and delicate.
+
+"I knew you were the stuff out of which heroes were made!" she cried
+exultantly. "Oh, Cary, I shall pray for you day and night, and you will
+come back crowned with honors."
+
+"If I come back----"
+
+"You will. Take my word for your guerdon. I can't tell you _how_ I know
+it, but I am sure you will return. I can see you and the future----"
+
+She paused, flushed with excitement, her eyes intense, her rosy lips
+tremulous, and looked, indeed, as if she might be inspired.
+
+So she met him again at the garden gate for a last good-by. Young people
+who had been well brought up did not play at love-making in those days,
+though they might be warm friends. A girl seldom gave or received
+caresses until the elders had signified assent. An engagement was quite
+a solemn thing, not lightly to be entered into. And even to himself Cary
+seemed very young. All his instincts were those of a gentleman, and in
+his father he had had an example of the most punctilious honor.
+
+They walked up and down a few moments. He pressed tender kisses on her
+fair hand, about which there always seemed to cling the odor of roses.
+And then he tore himself away with a passionate sorrow that his father,
+the nearest in human ties of love, could not bid him Godspeed.
+
+The next morning Doris wondered what had happened. There was a
+loneliness in the very air, as there had been when Uncle Leverett died.
+The sky was overcast, not exactly promising a storm, but soft and
+penetrative, as if presaging sorrow.
+
+Oh, yes, she remembered now. She dressed herself and went quietly
+downstairs.
+
+"You may as well come and have your breakfast," exclaimed Miss
+Recompense. "Your uncle sent down word that he had a headache and begged
+not to be disturbed. He was up a long while after he came home last
+night; it must have been past midnight when he went to bed. I wish he
+did not get so deeply interested in improvements and everything. And if
+we are to be bombarded and destroyed I don't see any sense in laying out
+new streets and filling up ponds and wasting the money of the town."
+
+It seemed to Doris as if she could not swallow a mouthful. She tried
+heroically. Then she went out and gathered a bunch of roses for Uncle
+Win's study. She generally read French and Latin a while with him in the
+morning. Then she made her bed, dusted her room, put her books in her
+satchel and went to school in an unwilling sort of fashion. How long the
+morning seemed! Then there was a half-hour in deportment--we should call
+it physical culture at present. All the girls were gay and chatty.
+Eudora told her about a new lace stitch. Grandmamma had been out
+yesterday where there was such an elegant Spanish woman with coal-black
+eyes and hair. Her family had fled to this country to escape the horrors
+of war. They had been rich, but were now quite poor, and she was
+thinking of having a needlework class.
+
+Did Eudora know Cary had gone away?
+
+Uncle Win came out to dinner. She was a little late. He glanced up and
+gave a faint half-smile, but, oh, how deadly pale he was!
+
+"Dear Uncle Winthrop--is your headache better?" she asked with gentle
+solicitude.
+
+"A little," he said gravely.
+
+It was a very quiet meal. Although Mr. Winthrop Adams had a delicate
+appearance, he was rarely ill. Now there were deep rings under his eyes,
+and the utter depression was sad indeed to behold.
+
+Doris nearly always ran in the study and gossiped girlishly about the
+morning's employments. Now she sauntered out on the porch. There was
+neither music nor writing class. She wondered if she had better sew. She
+was learning to do that quite nicely, but the stocking still remained a
+puzzle.
+
+"Doris," said a gentle voice through the open window; and the sadness
+pierced her heart.
+
+She rose and went in. Solomon lay on his cushion in the corner, and even
+he, she thought, had a troubled look in his eyes. Uncle Win sat by the
+table, and there lay Cary's letter.
+
+She put her arms about his neck and pressed her soft warm cheek against
+his, so cool that it startled her.
+
+"My clear little Doris," he began. "I am childless. I have no son. Cary
+has gone away, against my wishes, in the face of my prohibition. I do
+not suppose he will ever return alive. And so I have given him up,
+Doris"--his voice failed him. He had meant to say, "You are all I have."
+
+"Uncle Win--may I tell you--I saw him yesterday in the afternoon. And he
+told me he had enlisted----"
+
+"Oh, then, you know!" The tone somehow grew harder.
+
+"Dear Uncle Win, I think he could not help going. He was very brave.
+And he was sorry, too. His eyes were full of tears while he was talking.
+And he asked me----"
+
+"To intercede for him?"
+
+"No--to stay here with you always. He said I was like a little sister.
+And I promised. Uncle Win, if you will keep me I will be your little
+girl all my life long. I will never leave you. I love you very dearly.
+For since Uncle Leverett went away I have given you both loves."
+
+She stood there in silence many minutes. Oh, how comforting was the
+clasp of the soft arms about his neck, how consoling the dear, assuring
+voice!
+
+"Will you tell me about it?" he said at length.
+
+She was a wise little thing, though I think her chief wisdom lay in her
+desire not to give anyone pain. Some few sentences she left out, others
+she softened.
+
+"Oh," she said beseechingly, "you will not be angry with him, Uncle
+Winthrop? I think it is very brave and heroic in him. It is like some of
+the old soldiers in the Latin stories. I shall study hard now, so I can
+read about them all. And I shall pray all the time that the war will
+come to an end. We shall be so proud and glad when he returns. And then
+you will have two children again."
+
+"Yes--we will hope for the war to end speedily. It ought never to have
+begun. What can we do against an enemy that has a hundred arms ready to
+destroy us? Little Doris, I am glad to have you."
+
+Winthrop Adams was not a man to talk over his sorrows. He had been
+wounded to the quick. He had not dreamed that his son would disregard
+his wishes. His fatherly pride was up in arms. But he did not turn his
+wounded side to the world. He quietly admitted that his son had gone to
+Annapolis, and received the congratulations of friends who sincerely
+believed it was time to strike.
+
+Salem was busy at her wharves, where peaceable merchantmen were being
+transformed into war vessels. Charlestown was all astir, and sailors
+donned the uniform proudly. New York and Baltimore joined in the general
+activity. The _Constellation_ was fitting out at Norfolk. The
+_Chesapeake_, the _United States_, and the _President_ were to be made
+famous on history's page. Privateers without number were hurried to the
+fore.
+
+The _Constitution_ had quite a reception in New York, and she started
+out with high endeavors. She had not gone far, however, before she found
+herself followed by three British frigates, and among them the
+_Guerriere_, whose captain Commodore Hull had met in New York. To be
+captured in this manner--for fighting against such odds would be of no
+avail--was not to be thought of, so there was nothing but a race before
+him. If he could reach Boston he would save his ship and his men, and
+somewhere perhaps gain a victory.
+
+Ah, what a race it was! The men put forth all their strength, all their
+ingenuity. At times it seemed as if capture was imminent. By night and
+by day, trying every experiment, working until they dropped from sheer
+fatigue, and after an hour or two of rest going at it again--Captain
+Hull kept her well to the windward, and with various maneuverings
+puzzled the pursuers. Then Providence favored them with a fine, driving
+rain, and she flew along in the darkness of the night, hardly daring to
+hope, but at dawn, after a three days' race, Boston was in sight, and
+her enemies were left behind.
+
+But that was not in any sense a complete victory, and she started out
+again to face her enemy and conquer if she could, for her captain knew
+the British ship _Guerriere_ was lying somewhere in wait for her.
+Everybody prayed and hoped. Firing was heard, but at such a distance
+from the harbor nothing could be decided.
+
+The frontier losses had been depressing in the extreme. Boston had hung
+her flags at half-mast for the brave dead. But suddenly a report came
+that the _Constitution_ had been victorious, and that the _Guerriere_
+after having been disabled beyond any power of restoration, had been
+sent to a watery grave.
+
+In a moment it seemed as if the whole town was in a transport of joy.
+Flags were waving everywhere, and a gayly decorated flotilla went out in
+the harbor to greet the brave battle-scarred veteran. And when the tale
+of the great victory ran from lip to lip the rejoicing was unbounded. A
+national salute was fired, which was returned from the ship. The streets
+were in festive array and crowded with people who could not restrain
+their wild rejoicing. The _Guerriere_, which was to drive the insolent
+striped bunting from the face of the seas, had been swept away in a
+brief hour and a half, and the bunting waved above her grave. That night
+the story was told over in many a home. The loss of the _Constitution_
+had been very small compared to that of the _Guerriere_, which had
+twenty-three dead and fifty-six wounded; and Captain Dacres headed the
+list of prisoners.
+
+There was a grand banquet at the Exchange Coffee House. The freedom of
+the city was presented to Captain Hull, and New York sent him a handsome
+sword. Congress voted him a gold medal, and Philadelphia a service of
+plate.
+
+At one blow the prestige of invincibility claimed for the British navy
+was shattered. And now the _Constitution's_ earlier escape from the hot
+chase of the three British frigates was understood to be a great race
+for the nation's honor and welfare, as well as for their own lives, and
+at last the baffled pursuers, out-sailed, out-maneuvered, dropped
+behind with no story of success to tell, and were to gnaw their hearts
+in bitterness when they heard of this glorious achievement.
+
+Uncle Winthrop took Doris and Betty out in the carriage that they might
+see the great rejoicing from all points. Everywhere one heard bits of
+the splendid action and the intrepidity of Captain Hull and his men.
+
+"I only wish Cary had been in it," said Betty with sparkling eyes.
+
+Warren told them that when Lieutenant Read came on deck with Captain
+Hull's "compliments, and wished to know if they had struck their flag,"
+Captain Dacres replied:
+
+"Well--I don't know. Our mizzenmast is gone, our mainmast is gone, and I
+think you may say on the whole that we have struck our flag."
+
+One of the points that pleased Mr. Adams very much was the official
+report of Captain Dacres, who "wished to acknowledge, as a matter of
+courtesy, that the conduct of Captain Hull and his officers to our men
+had been that of a brave enemy; the greatest care being taken to prevent
+our losing the smallest trifle, and the kindest attention being paid to
+the wounded."
+
+More than one officer was to admit the same fact before the war ended,
+even if we did not receive the like consideration from our enemies.
+
+"I only wish Cary had been on the _Constitution_," said Betty eagerly.
+"I should be proud of the fact to my dying day, and tell it over to my
+grandchildren."
+
+A tint of color wavered over Uncle Winthrop's pale face. No one
+mentioned Cary, out of a sincere regard for his father, except people
+outside who did not know the truth of his sudden departure; though many
+of his young personal friends were aware of his interest and his study
+on the subject.
+
+Old Boston had a gala time surely. The flags floated for days, and
+everyone wore a kind of triumphant aspect. That her own ship, built with
+so much native work and equipments, should be the first to which a
+British frigate should strike her colors was indeed a triumph. Though
+there were not wanting voices across the sea to say the _Guerriere_
+should have gone down with flying colors, but even that would have been
+impossible.
+
+Miss Recompense and Uncle Winthrop began to discuss Revolutionary times,
+and Doris listened with a great deal of interest. She delighted to
+identify herself strongly with her adopted country, and in her secret
+heart she was proud of Cary, though she could not be quite sure he was
+right in the step he had taken. They missed him so much. She tried in
+many ways to make up the loss, and her devotion went to her uncle's
+heart.
+
+If they could only hear! Not to know where he was seemed so hard to
+bear.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+A VISITOR FOR DORIS
+
+
+Doris was in the little still-room, as it was called--a large sort of
+pantry shelved on one side, and with numerous drawers and a kind of
+dresser with glass doors on another. By the window there were a table
+and the dainty little still where Miss Recompense made perfumes and
+extracts. There were boxes of sweet herbs, useful ones, bottles of
+medicinal cordials and salves. Miss Recompense was a "master hand" at
+such things, and the neighbors around thought her as good as a doctor.
+
+It was so fragrant in this little room that Doris always had a vague
+impression of a beautiful country. She had a kind of poetical
+temperament, and she hoped some day to be able to write verses. Helen
+Chapman had written a pretty song for a friend's birthday and had it set
+to music. The quartette sang it so well that the leading paper had
+praised it. There was no one she could confess her secret ambition to,
+but if she ever _did_ achieve anything she would confide in Uncle
+Winthrop. So she sat here with all manner of vague, delightful ideas
+floating through her brain, steeped with the fragrance of balms and
+odors.
+
+"Please, 'm," and Dinah stood in the door in all the glory of her gay
+afternoon turban, which seemed to make her face more black and
+shining--"Please, 'm, dere's a young sojer man jus' come. He got a
+bundle an' he say he got strict d'rections to gib it to missy. An'
+here's de ticket."
+
+"Oh, for me!" Doris took it eagerly and read aloud, "Lieutenant E. D.
+Hawthorne." "Oh, Miss Recompense, it's from Cary, I know," and for a
+moment she looked undecided.
+
+Miss Recompense had on her morning gown, rather faded, though she had
+changed it for dinner. Her sleeves were pushed above the elbow, her
+hands were a little stained, and just now she could not leave her
+concoction without great injury to it, though it was evidently improper
+for a child like Doris, or indeed a young lady, to see a strange
+gentleman alone. And Mr. Adams was out.
+
+Doris cut the Gordian knot by flashing through the kitchen and entering
+the lower end of the hall. The young man stood viewing "The Destruction
+of the Spanish Armada." But he turned at the sort of bird-like flutter
+and glanced at the vision that all his life long he thought the
+prettiest sight he had ever beheld.
+
+She had on a simple white frock, though it was one of her best, with a
+narrow embroidered ruffle around the bottom that Madam Royall had given
+her. When it was a little crumpled she put it on for afternoon wear. The
+neck was cut a small square with a bit of edging around it, gathered
+with a pink ribbon tied in a bow in front. She still wore her hair in
+ringlets; it did not seem to grow very fast, but she had been promoted
+to a pompadour, the front hair being brushed up over a cushion. That
+left innumerable short ends to curl in tiny tendrils about her forehead.
+Oddly enough, too, she had on a pink apron Betty had made out of the
+best breadth of a pink India lawn frock she had worn out. It had pretty
+pockets with a bow of the same.
+
+"Miss Doris Adams," exclaimed the young lieutenant. "I should have known
+you in a minute, although you are----" He paused and flushed, for Cary
+had said, "She isn't exactly handsome, but very sweet-looking with
+pretty, eager eyes and fair hair." He checked himself suddenly,
+understanding the impropriety of paying her the compliment on the end of
+his tongue, but he thought her an enchanting picture. "You are larger
+than I supposed. Adams always said 'My little cousin.'"
+
+"I was little when I first came. And I have grown ever so much this
+summer--since Cary went away. Oh, have you seen him? How is he? Where is
+he?"
+
+Doris had a soft and curiously musical voice, the sound that lingered
+with a sort of cadence. Her eyes shone in eager expectation, her curved
+red lips were dewy sweet.
+
+"He is well. He has sailed on the _United States_ as midshipman. I saw
+him at Annapolis--indeed, we came quite near being on the same vessel.
+He is a fine young fellow, but he doesn't look a day over eighteen. And
+there _is_ a family resemblance," but he thought Doris would make a much
+handsomer young woman than Cary would a young man. "And I have a small
+packet for you that I was to deliver to no one else."
+
+He held it out to her with a smile. It was sealed, and was also secured
+with a bit of cord, which, of course, should have been a thread of silk,
+but we saved our refinements of chivalry for other purposes.
+
+"He is going to make a fine, earnest, patriotic sailor. You will never
+hear anything about him that you need be ashamed of. He told me his
+father wasn't quite reconciled to the step, but after this splendid
+victory in Boston harbor--to strain a little point," laughingly, "the
+town may well be proud of the courageous navy. And I hope you will hear
+good news of him. One thing you may be sure of--he will never show the
+white feather."
+
+Oh, how her eyes glistened! There were tears in them as well.
+
+"He described the house to me, and the town. I have never been in Boston
+before, and have come from Washington on important business. I return
+this evening. I don't know when I shall see him again, and letters to
+vessels are so uncertain. That seems the hardest part of it all. But he
+may happen in this very port before a great while. One never knows.
+Believe that I am very glad to have the opportunity of coming myself,
+and if in the future I should run across him on the high seas or the
+shore even,"--smiling again,--"I shall feel better acquainted and more
+than ever interested in him. There is one great favor I should like to
+ask--could you show me the study? Adams talked so much about that and
+his father."
+
+"It is here." Doris made a pretty gesture with her hand, and he walked
+to the door, glancing around. There was the high backed chair by the
+table with its covering of Cordovan leather, and he could imagine the
+father sitting there.
+
+"One would want a year to journey around these four walls," he said with
+a soft sigh. "A library like this is an uncommon sight. And you study
+here? Adams said you had been such a comfort and pleasure to his father.
+Oh, what a magnificent cat!"
+
+"Kitty is mine," said Doris. She crossed over to the window, and Solomon
+rose to his fullest extent, gave a comfortable stretch, and rubbed the
+cheek of his young mistress, then arched his back, studied the visitor
+out of sleepy green eyes and began to turn around him three times in cat
+fashion.
+
+They both laughed at that. Did Doris know what a pretty picture she made
+of herself in her girlish grace?
+
+"Thank you. What a splendid old hall! I should like to spend a day
+looking round. But I had only the briefest while, and I was afraid I
+should not get here. So I must be satisfied with my glimpse. I shall
+hope that fate will send me this way again when I have more leisure. May
+I pay a visit here?"
+
+"Oh, yes," returned Doris impulsively. "And I can never tell you how
+glad I am for this," touching the little packet caressingly to her
+cheek. "There isn't any word with enough thanks and gratitude in it."
+
+"I am glad to have earned your gratitude. And now I must say farewell,
+for I know you are impatient to read your letter."
+
+He stepped out on the porch and bowed with a kind of courtly grace.
+Doris realized then that he was a very handsome young man.
+
+"Miss Doris,"--he paused halfway down the steps,--"I wonder if I might
+be so bold as to ask for yonder rose--the last on its parent stem?"
+
+Thomas Moore had not yet immortalized "The Last Rose of Summer" and
+given it such pathetic possibilities.
+
+"Oh, yes," she said. "That is a late-blooming rose--indeed, it blooms
+twice in the season." Only this morning she had gathered a bowl of rose
+leaves for Miss Recompense, and this one had opened since. She broke
+the stem and handed it to him. "It is a very little gift for all you
+have brought me," she added in a soft, heart-felt tone.
+
+"Thank you. I shall cherish it sacredly."
+
+Miss Recompense had hurried and donned a gingham gown and a fresh cap.
+She had come just in time to see the gift, and the manner in which the
+young man received it alarmed her. And when he had walked down to the
+street he turned and bowed and made a farewell gesture with his hand.
+
+Doris had nothing to cut the cord around the packet, so she bit it with
+her pretty teeth and tore off the wrapper, coming up the steps. Then
+raising her eyes she sprang forward.
+
+"Oh, dear Miss Recompense, letters, see! A letter from Cary all to
+myself, and one for Uncle Win! I'll just put that on his table to be a
+joyful surprise. And may I come and read mine to you? He was in such a
+hurry, though really I did not ask him to stay. Was that impolite?"
+
+"No--under the circumstances." She cleared her throat a little, but the
+lecture on propriety would not materialize.
+
+"'Dear little Doris.' Think of that--wouldn't Cary be surprised to see
+how much I have grown! May I sit here?"
+
+Miss Recompense was about to decant some of her preparations. Doris took
+the high stool and read eagerly, though now and then a little break came
+in her voice. The journey to Annapolis with half a dozen college chums
+bent on the same errand, the being mustered into the country's service
+and assigned to positions, meeting famous people and hearing some
+thrilling news, and at last the order for sailing, were vivid as a
+picture. She was to let Madam Royall and the household read all this,
+and he sent respectful regard to them all, and real love to all the
+Leveretts. There had been moments when he was wild to see them again,
+but after all he was prouder than ever to be of service to his country,
+who needed her bravest sons as much now as in her seven years' struggle.
+
+There was a loose page beginning "For your eyes alone, Doris," and she
+laid it by, for she felt even now that she wanted to cry over her brave
+cousin. Then he spoke of Lieutenant Hawthorne, who had been instrumental
+in getting him his appointment, and who had undertaken to see that this
+would reach her safely. And so many farewells, as if he could hardly say
+the very last one.
+
+Miss Recompense wiped her eyes and stepped about softly, as if her whole
+body was pervaded with a new tenderness. She made little comments to
+restore the equilibrium, so that neither would give way to undue
+emotion.
+
+"Miss Recompense, do you think I might run up to Aunt Elizabeth's with
+my letter? They will all want to hear."
+
+"Why--I see no objections, child. And then if you wanted to go to Madam
+Royall's--but I think they will keep you to tea at Sudbury Street. Let
+Betty or Warren walk home with you. Take off your apron."
+
+Doris read half a dozen lines of her own personal letter and laid it in
+the bottom of her workbox, that had come from India, and had a subtle
+fragrance. She did not want to cry in real earnest, as she felt she
+should, with all these references to Uncle Win. She tied on her hat and
+said "Good-afternoon," and really did run part of the way.
+
+They were just overflowing with joy to hear, only Betty said, "What a
+shame Cary had to go before the glorious news of the _Constitution_!
+There was a chance of two days after he had written his letter, so he
+might have heard." Postage was high at that time and mails uncertain, so
+letters and important matters were often trusted to private hands. Then
+Lieutenant Hawthorne had not gone to Boston as soon as he expected.
+
+Betty had some news too. Mr. and Mrs. King were going to Washington,
+perhaps for the greater part of the winter.
+
+As they walked home Betty rehearsed her perplexities to Doris. It was
+odd how many matters were confided to this girl of thirteen, but she
+seemed so wise and sensible and sympathetic.
+
+"If it wasn't quite such hard times, and if Warren could marry and bring
+Mercy home! She's an excellent housekeeper, just the wife for a
+struggling young man, mother admits. But whether _she_ would like it,
+and whether Aunt Priscilla would feel comfortable, are the great
+questions. She's been so good to Warren. Mary badgered him dreadfully
+about her part. If Mary was a little more like Electa!"
+
+Warren had been keeping company with Mercy Gilman for the last year. She
+was a bright, cheerful, industrious girl, well brought up, and the
+engagement was acceptable to both families. Young people paid more
+deference to their elders then. Warren felt that he could not go away
+from home, and surely there was room enough if they could all agree.
+
+"It's odd how many splendid things come to Electa, though it may be
+because she is always willing to take advantage of them. They have
+rented their house in New York and are to take some rooms in Washington.
+Bessy and Leverett are to be put in school, and she takes the two little
+ones. Their meals are to be sent in from a cook shop. Of course she
+can't be very gay, being in mourning. Everybody says Mrs. Madison is so
+charming."
+
+"Oh, I wish you could go," sighed Doris.
+
+"And Mary is always wondering why I do not come and stay with her, and
+sew and help along. Oh, Doris, what if I should be the old maid aunt and
+go visiting round! For there hasn't a soul asked me to keep company
+yet," and Betty laughed. But she was not very anxious on the subject.
+
+They reached the corner and kissed each other good-night. Miss
+Recompense sat on the stoop with a little shawl about her shoulders. She
+drew Doris down beside her and inquired about her visit.
+
+While there was much that was stern and hard and reticent in the Puritan
+character, there was also an innate delicacy concerning the inward life.
+They made few appeals to each other's sympathies. Perhaps this very
+reserve gave them strength to endure trials heroically and not burden
+others.
+
+Miss Recompense had judged wisely that Mr. Adams would prefer to receive
+his missive alone. His first remark had been the usual question:
+
+"Where is Doris?"
+
+"Oh, we have had quite an adventure--a call from a young naval officer.
+Here is his card. He brought letters to you and Doris, and she was eager
+to take hers over to Betty. She will stay to supper."
+
+He scrutinized the card while his breath came in strangling gasps, but
+he preserved his composure outwardly.
+
+"Did you--did he----" pausing confusedly.
+
+"I did not see him," returned Miss Recompense quietly. "I was not in
+company trim, and he asked for Doris. I dare say he thought her a young
+lady."
+
+"Is he staying in Boston?" fingering the card irresolutely.
+
+"He was to return to Washington at once. He had come on some urgent
+business."
+
+Mr. Adams went through to his study. He looked at the address some
+moments before he broke the seal, but he found the first lines
+reassuring.
+
+"Will you have supper now?" asked Miss Recompense from the doorway.
+
+"If convenient, yes." He laid down his letter and came out in the hall.
+"Doris told you all her news, I suppose?"
+
+"She read me her letter. Cary seems to be in good spirits and position.
+He spoke very highly of Lieutenant Hawthorne."
+
+"The accounts seem very satisfactory."
+
+Then they went out to the quiet supper. A meal was not the same without
+Doris.
+
+All the evening he had remained in his room, reading his son's letter
+more than once and lapsing into deep thought over it. He heard the
+greetings now, and came out, inquiring after the folks in Sudbury
+Street, sitting down on the step and listening with evident pleasure to
+Doris' eager chat. It was bedtime when they dispersed.
+
+"Uncle Win," Doris said the next morning, "there is a page in my letter
+I would like you to read. And do you think I might go home with Eudora
+and take dinner at Madam Royall's? Cary sent them some messages."
+
+"Yes, child," he made answer.
+
+They were indeed very glad, but like Betty they could not help wishing
+he had been on the famous _Constitution_. Alice was particularly
+interested, and said she should watch the career of the _United States_.
+
+After that the ice seemed broken and no one hesitated to mention Cary.
+But Mr. Winthrop said to Doris:
+
+"My dear child, will you give me this leaf of your letter. I know Cary
+did not mean it for my eyes, but it is very precious to me. Doris, how
+comes it that you find the way to everybody's heart?"
+
+"And you will forgive him, Uncle Win? He was so brave----" Her voice
+trembled.
+
+"I have forgiven him, Doris. If I should never see him again,--you are
+young and most likely will,--assure him there never was a moment that I
+ceased to love him. Perhaps I have not taken as much pains to understand
+him as I might have. I suppose different influences act upon the new
+generation. If we should both live to welcome him back----"
+
+"Oh, we must, Uncle Win."
+
+"If he has you----" Oh, what was he saying?
+
+"You will both have me. I shall stay here always."
+
+He stooped and kissed her.
+
+The other alternative, that Cary might not return, they banished
+resolutely. But it drew them nearer together in unspoken sympathy.
+
+Everybody noted how thin and frail-looking Mr. Adams had grown. Doris
+became his constant companion. She had a well-trained horse now, and
+they rode a good deal. Or they walked down Washington street, where
+there were some pretty shops, and met promenaders. They sauntered about
+Cornhill, where Uncle Win picked up now and then an odd book, and they
+discovered strange things that had belonged to the Old Boston of a
+hundred years agone. There was quite an art gallery in Cornhill kept by
+Dogget & Williams--the nucleus of great things to come. It was quite the
+fashion for young ladies to drop in and exercise their powers of budding
+criticism or love of art. Now and then someone lent a portrait of
+Smibert's or Copley's, or you found some fine German or English
+engravings. An elder person generally accompanied the younger people.
+The law students, released from their labors, or the young society men,
+would walk home beside the chaperone, but talk to the maidens.
+
+Then Uncle Winthrop committed a piece of great extravagance, everybody
+said--especially in such times as these, when the British might take and
+destroy Boston. This was buying a pianoforte. Madam Royall approved, for
+Doris was learning to play very nicely. An old German musician, Gottlieb
+Graupner, who was quite a visitor at the Royall house, had imported it
+for a friend who had been nearly ruined by war troubles and was
+compelled to part with it. Mr. Graupner and a knot of musical friends
+used to meet Saturday evenings in old Pond Street, and with a few
+instruments made a sort of orchestra. As a very great favor, friends
+were occasionally invited in.
+
+There was a new organist at Trinity Church, a Mr. Jackson, who was
+trying to bring in the higher class cathedral music. The choir of Park
+Street Church, some fifty in number, was considered one of the great
+successes of the day, and people flocked to hear it. Puritan music had
+been rather doleful and depressing.
+
+There was quite a discussion as to where the piano should stand. They
+had very little call to use the parlor in winter. Uncle Winthrop's
+friends generally visited him in the study. The spacious hall was the
+ordinary living-room, and Doris begged that it might be kept here--for
+the winter, at least.
+
+Oh, what a cheerful sound the music made in the old house! Uncle Win
+would bring out a book of poems, often Milton's "L'Allegro" and half
+read, half listen, to the entrancing combination. Dinah declared "It
+was like de w'ice ob de Angel Gabriel hisself." Miss Recompense enjoyed
+the grand old hymns that brought back her childhood.
+
+Solomon at first made a vigorous protest. He seemed jealous of the
+pretty fingers gliding over the keys, and would spring up to cover them
+or rest on her arms. But when he found he was banished to the kitchen
+every evening, he began to consider and presently gave in. He would sit
+beside Uncle Win in dignified protest, looking very "dour," as a
+Scotchman would say.
+
+And then the country was electrified with the news of another great
+victory. Off the Canary Islands, Captain Decatur, with the frigate
+_United States_, met the _Macedonian_, one of the finest of the British
+fleet. The fight had been at close quarters with terrific broadsides.
+After an hour and a half, with her fighting force disabled, the
+_Macedonian_ struck her colors. Her loss in men killed and wounded was
+over one hundred, and the _United States_ lost five killed and seven
+wounded.
+
+The American vessel brought her prize and prisoners into port amid
+general acclaim. The _Macedonian_ was repaired and added to the
+fast-increasing navy, that was rapidly winning a world-wide reputation.
+And when she came up to New York early in January with "The compliments
+of the season," there was great rejoicing. Samuel Woodworth, printer and
+poet, wrote the song of the occasion, and Calvert, another poet,
+celebrated the event in an ode.
+
+Captain Carden was severely censured by his own government, as Captain
+Dacres had been, for not going down with flying colors instead of
+allowing his flag to be captured and his ship turned to the enemy's
+advantage. Instead of jeering at the navy of "pine boards and striped
+bunting," it was claimed the American vessels were of superior size and
+armament and met the British at unfair advantage, and that they were
+largely manned by English sailors.
+
+There was an enthusiastic note from Cary. He was well, and it had been a
+glorious action. Captain Carden had been a brave gentleman, and he said
+regretfully, "Oh, why do we have to fight these heroic men!"
+
+But Betty had the letter of triumph this time. Mrs. King was a
+delightful correspondent, though she was always imploring Betty to join
+her.
+
+There had been a ball and reception given to several naval officers who
+were soon to go away. The President, engaged with some weighty affairs,
+had not come in yet, but the Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Hamilton, and no
+end of military and naval men, in gold lace and epaulettes and gleaming
+swords, were present, and beautiful, enthusiastic women in shimmering
+silks and laces. One did not have to get a new gown for every occasion
+in those days.
+
+There was a little lull in the dancing. Mrs. Madison, who was charmingly
+affable, was seated with a group of men about her, when there was a stir
+in the hall, and a sudden thrill of expectancy quivered through the
+apartment. Ensign Hamilton, son of the Secretary, and several midshipmen
+entered, and the young man went straight to his father with the captured
+flag of the _Macedonian_. Such a cheer as rent the air! Ladies wiped
+their eyes and then waved their handkerchiefs in the wild burst of joy.
+They held the flag over the heads of the chief officer while the band
+played "Hail, Columbia!" Then it was laid at the feet of Mrs. Madison,
+who accepted it in the name of the country with a charming and graceful
+speech. Afterward it was festooned on the wall with the flag of the
+_Guerriere_.
+
+"So, you see, Cary has been the hero of a great victory," said Betty
+enthusiastically; "but we all wish it had been 'off Boston Light'
+instead of on the distant ocean. And it is a shame not to be in
+Washington. Electa seems to be going everywhere and seeing everything,
+'in spite of her being the mother of four children,' as Aunt Priscilla
+says. And the ladies dress so beautifully. We shall come to be known as
+'plain Boston' presently."
+
+There was no Worth or Pingat to charge enormous prices. Patterns were
+passed around. Ladies went visiting and took their sleeves along to
+make, or their ruffles to plait, and altered over their brocades and
+paduasoys and crapes, and some darned Brussels "footing" until it was
+transformed into really handsome lace. They could clean their feathers
+and ribbons, and one wonders how they found time for so many things.
+They were very good letter writers too. Dolly Madison and Mrs. Adams are
+fresh and interesting to-day.
+
+But Boston could rejoice, nevertheless. To the little girl Cary was
+invested with the attributes of a hero. He even looked different to her
+enchanted eyes.
+
+Uncle Win used to smile with grave softness when she chattered about
+him. At first it had given him a heartache to hear Cary's name
+mentioned, but now it was like a strain of comforting music. Only he
+wondered how he ever would have lived without the little girl from Old
+Boston.
+
+She used to play and sing "Hail, Columbia!"--for people were patriotic
+then. But the sweetest of all were the old-fashioned ones that his wife
+had sung as a young girl, daintily tender love songs. Sometimes he tried
+them with her, but his voice sounded to himself like a pale ghost out of
+the past, yet it still had a mournful sweetness.
+
+But with the rejoicing we had many sorrows. Our northern frontier
+warfare had been full of defeats; 1813 opened with various misfortunes.
+Ports were blockaded, business dropped lower and lower. Still social
+life went on, and in a tentative way intellectual life was making some
+progress.
+
+The drama was not neglected either. The old Boston Theater gave several
+stirring representations that to-day would be called quite realistic.
+One was the capture of the _Guerriere_ with officers, sailors and
+marines, and songs that aroused drooping patriotism. Perhaps the young
+people of that time enjoyed it as much as their grandchildren did "H. M.
+S. Pinafore."
+
+Doris liked the rare musical entertainments. People grew quite used to
+seeing Mr. Winthrop Adams with the pretty, bright, growing girl, who
+might have been his daughter. It was a delight to her when anyone made
+the mistake. Occasionally an old gentleman remembered her grandfather,
+and the little boy Charles who went to England.
+
+Then in the early summer Mrs. King came on for a visit, and brought her
+eldest child Bessy, a bright, well-trained little girl.
+
+There had been a good deal of trouble at the Mannings', and grandmother
+had gone back and forth, making it very confining for Betty. Crops had
+proved poor in the autumn; the children had the measles and Mrs. Manning
+a run of fever. Elizabeth had taken a cold in the early fall and had a
+troublesome cough all winter. Mrs. Leverett wanted to bring her home for
+a rest, but Mrs. Manning could not spare her, with all the summer work,
+and the warm weather would set her up, she was quite sure.
+
+The country was drawing a brief breath of relief. There had been the
+magnificent victories on the Lakes and some on the land, and now and
+then came cheering news of naval successes. Everybody was in better
+spirits. Mrs. King seemed to bring a waft of hope from the Capital
+itself, and the Leverett house was quite enlivened with callers.
+Invitations came in for dinners and suppers and evening parties. Madam
+Royall quite claimed her on the strength of the Adams relation, and also
+Doris, who was such a favorite. Doris and little Bessy fraternized at
+once, and practiced a duet for the entertainment of Uncle Winthrop, who
+praised them warmly.
+
+She planned to take Betty back to New York with her.
+
+"But I can't go," declared Betty. "Warren must not be taxed any more
+heavily, so there would be no hope of having help, and mother cannot be
+left alone."
+
+"Is there any objection to Mercy coming? Why doesn't Warren marry? That
+would relieve you all. I suppose it _is_ best for young people to have a
+home by themselves, but if it isn't possible--and I'd like to know how
+we are going to get along in heaven if we can't agree with each other
+here on earth!" Mrs. King inquired.
+
+"That sounds like father," said Betty laughingly, yet the tears came to
+her eyes. "Poor father! He did not suppose we would have such hard
+times. If the war would only end. You see,"--after a pause,--"we are not
+quite sure of Aunt Priscilla. She's changed and softened wonderfully,
+and she and mother get along so well. She insisted upon paying a
+generous board, and she was good to Warren."
+
+"I must talk it over with mother. There is no need of having your life
+spoiled, Betty."
+
+For Betty was a very well-looking girl, arch and vivacious, and her
+harvest time of youth must not be wasted. Mrs. King was really glad she
+had no entanglement.
+
+Mrs. Leverett had no objections to a speedy marriage If Mercy could be
+content. Warren had thought if he could be prosperous he would like to
+buy out Betty's share if she married. "And my share will be mine as
+long as I live," added the mother. "But Warren is fond of the old house,
+and Hollis has a home of his own. You girls will never want it."
+
+Warren was delighted with what he called "Lecty's spunk." For Aunt
+Priscilla agreed quite readily. It was dull for Betty with two old
+people. Mercy would have her husband.
+
+So the wedding day was appointed. Mercy had been a year getting ready.
+Girls began soon after they were engaged. Mrs. Gilman was rather afraid
+the thing wouldn't work, but she was sure Mercy was good tempered, and
+she had been a good daughter.
+
+They made quite a "turning round." Mrs. Leverett went upstairs to
+Betty's room, which adjoined Aunt Priscilla's, and she gave some of her
+furniture for the adornment of the bridal chamber.
+
+It was a very quiet wedding with a few friends and a supper. At nine
+o'clock the new wife went to Sudbury Street. Mrs. Gilman had some rather
+strict ideas, and declared it was no time for frolicking when war was at
+our very door, and no one knew what might happen, and hundreds of
+families were in pinching want.
+
+Mercy was up the next morning betimes and assisted her new mother with
+the breakfast. Warren went down to his shop. But they had quite an
+elaborate tea drinking at the Leveretts', and some songs and games in
+the evening. Mercy _did_ enjoy the wider life.
+
+Mrs. Manning had come in for the wedding and a few days' stay, though
+she didn't see how she could be spared just now, and things would get
+dreadfully behindhand. Mrs. King was to go home with her and make a
+little visit. Bessy thought she would rather stay with Doris, and she
+was captivated with the Royall House and Eudora. The children never
+seemed in the way of the grown people there, and if elderly men talked
+politics and city improvements,--quite visionary, some thought
+them,--the young people with Alice and Helen had the garden walks and
+the wide porch, and discussed the enjoyments of the time with the zest
+of enthusiastic inexperience but keen delight.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+ELIZABETH AND--PEACE
+
+
+Mrs. King brought back Elizabeth Manning, a pale, slim ghost of a girl,
+tall for her age--indeed, really grown up, her mother said. Of the three
+girls Bessy King had the most indications of the traditional country
+girl. A fine clear skin, pink cheeks and a plump figure, and an
+inexhausible flow of spirits, ready for any fun or frolic.
+
+Doris was always well, but she had the Adams complexion, which was
+rather pale, with color when she was warm, or enthusiastic or indignant.
+The pink came and went like a swift summer cloud.
+
+"I do declare," exclaimed Aunt Priscilla, "if 'Lecty King doesn't beat
+all about getting what she wants, and making other people believe they
+want it, too! Warren might as well have been married in the winter, and
+Mercy would have been company for Betty. She never liked to run out and
+leave me alone. Mercy seems a nice, promising body, and Warren might as
+well be happy and settled as not. And 'Lecty's been to Washington and
+dined with the President and Mrs. Madison, and I'll venture to say there
+was something the President's wife consulted her about. And all the big
+captains and generals, and what not! And here's the quality of Boston
+running after her and asking her out just as if we had nothing to feed
+her on at home. She don't do anything, fursisee, but just look smiling
+and talk. But my opinion is that Elizabeth Manning hasn't a very long
+journey to the graveyard. I don't see what Mary's been thinking about."
+
+Mrs. King took her niece to Dr. Jackson, one of the best medical
+authorities of that day, and he looked the young girl over with his keen
+eyes.
+
+"If you want the real truth," said the doctor, "she has had too much
+east wind and too much hard work. The children of this generation are
+not going to stand what their mothers did. A bad cold or two next winter
+will finish her, but with care and no undue exposure she may live
+several years. But she will never reach the three score and ten that
+every human being has a right to."
+
+Uncle Winthrop sent the carriage around every day to the Leveretts'.
+They had given up theirs before Mr. Leverett's death. He and Doris took
+their morning horseback rides and scoured the beautiful country places
+for miles around, until Doris knew every magnificent tree or unusual
+shrub or queer old house and its history. These hours were a great
+delight to him.
+
+Elizabeth had often gone down to Salem town, but her time was so brief
+and there was so much to do that she "couldn't bother." And she wondered
+how Doris knew about the shops in Essex Street and Federal Street and
+Miss Rust's pretty millinery show, and Mr. John Innes' delicate French
+rolls and braided bread, and Molly Saunders' gingerbread that the school
+children devoured, and the old Forrester House with its legends and fine
+old pictures and the lovely gardens, the wharves with their idle fleets
+that dared not put out to sea for fear of being swallowed up by the
+enemy.
+
+Uncle Winthrop had taken her several times when some business had called
+him thither. But, truth to tell, she had never cared to repeat her
+visit to Mrs. Manning's.
+
+The piano was like a bit of heaven, Elizabeth thought, the first time
+she came over to visit Doris.
+
+"Oh," she said, with a long sigh, pressing her hand on her heart, for
+the deep breaths always hurt her, "if I was only prepared to go to
+heaven I shouldn't want to stay here a day longer. When they sing about
+'eternal rest' it seems such a lovely thing, and to 'lay your burdens
+down.' But then there's 'the terrors of the law,' and the 'judgments to
+come,' and the great searching of the hearts and reins--do you know just
+what the reins are?"
+
+No, Doris didn't. Heaven had always seemed a lovely place to her and God
+like a father, only grander and tenderer than any human father could be.
+
+Then they talked about praying, and it came out that Doris said her
+mother's prayers still in French and her father's in English.
+
+"Oh," exclaimed Elizabeth, horrified, "I shouldn't dare to pray to God
+in French--it would seem like a mockery. And 'Now I lay me down to
+sleep' is just a baby prayer, and really isn't pouring out your own soul
+to God."
+
+Doris asked Uncle Winthrop about it.
+
+"My child," he said with grave sweetness, "you can never say any better
+prayers of your own. The Saviour himself gave us the comprehensive
+Lord's Prayer. And are all the nations of the earth who cannot pray in
+English offering God vain petitions? You will find as you grow older
+that no earnest soul ever worships God in vain, and that religion is a
+life-long work. I am learning something new about it every day. And I
+think God means us to be happy here on earth. He doesn't save all the
+joys for heaven. He has given me one," and he stooped and kissed Doris
+on the forehead. "Poor Elizabeth," he added--"make her as happy as you
+can!"
+
+When Mrs. King proposed to take Betty to New York for the whole of the
+coming winter there was consternation, but no one could find a valid
+objection. It was a somewhat expensive journey, and winter was a very
+enjoyable season in the city. Then another year something new might
+happen to prevent--there was no time like the present.
+
+No one had the courage to object, though they did not know how to spare
+her. Aunt Priscilla sighed and brought out some beautiful long-laid-away
+articles that Electa declared would make over admirably.
+
+"Where do you suppose Aunt Priscilla picked up all these elegant
+things?" asked Electa. "I never remember seeing her wear them, though
+she always dressed well, but severely plain. And Uncle Perkins was quite
+strict about the pomps and vanities of the world."
+
+And so Aunt Priscilla put away the last of her idols and the life she
+had coveted and never had. But perhaps the best of all was her
+consideration for others, the certainty that it was quite as well to
+begin some of the virtues of the heavenly world here on earth that they
+might not seem strange to one.
+
+Mrs. Manning sent in for Elizabeth.
+
+"Well--you do seem like a different girl," her father declared, looking
+her over from head to foot. "You've had a good rest now, and you'll have
+to turn in strong and hearty, for Sarah's gone, and Ruth isn't big
+enough to take hold of everything. So hunt up your things while I'm
+doing some trading."
+
+Elizabeth only had time for the very briefest farewells. Mrs. King sent
+a little note containing the doctor's verdict, but Mrs. Manning was
+indignant rather than alarmed.
+
+It was lonesome when they were all gone. Eudora Chapman went to a
+"finishing school" this autumn, and Doris accompanied her--poor Doris,
+who had not mastered fractions, and whose written arithmetic could not
+compare with Betty's. She had achieved a pair of stockings after
+infinite labor and trouble. They _did_ look rowy, being knit tighter and
+looser. But Aunt Priscilla gave her a pair of fine merino that she had
+kept from the ravages of the moths. Miss Recompense declared that she
+had no one else to knit for.
+
+There were expert knitters who made beautiful silk stockings, and Uncle
+Winthrop said buying helped along trade, so why should Doris worry when
+there were so many more important matters?
+
+The little girl and her uncle kept track of what was going on in the
+great world. Napoleon the invincible had been driven back from Russia by
+cold and famine, forced to yield by the great coalition and losing step
+by step until he was compelled to accept banishment. Then England
+redoubled her efforts, prepared to carry on the war with us vigorously.
+Towns on the Chesapeake were plundered and burned, and General Ross
+entered Washington, from which Congress and the President's family had
+fled for their lives. America was again horror stricken, but gathering
+all her energies she made such a vigorous defense as to convince her
+antagonist that though cast down she could never be wholly defeated.
+
+But this attack gave us the inspiration of one of our finest deathless
+songs. A Mr. Francis S. Key, a resident of Georgetown, had gone down
+from Baltimore with a flag of truce to procure the release of a friend
+held as prisoner of war, when the bombardment of Fort McHenry began. All
+day long he watched the flag as it floated above the ramparts. Night
+came on and it was still there. And at midnight he could see it only by
+"the rockets' red glare," while he and his friends tremulously inquired
+if the "flag still waved o'er the Land of the Free." Oh, what joy must
+have been his when it "caught the gleam of the morning's first beam." He
+had put the night watch and the dawn in a song that is still an
+inspiration.
+
+And now convinced, the enemy withdrew. There were talks of peace, though
+we did not abate our energies. And the indications of a settlement
+brought about another wedding at the Royall house.
+
+Miss Alice had been a great favorite with the young men, and her ardent
+patriotism had inspired more than one, as it had Cary Adams, with a
+desire to rush to his country's defense. There were admirers too, but
+most of them had been kept at an intangible distance. At last she had
+yielded to the eloquence of young Oliver Sargent, who was in every way
+acceptable. Grandmother Royall expected to give her an elegant wedding
+along in the winter.
+
+The Government was to send out another commissioner to consult with
+those already at Ghent, and Mr. Sargent had been offered the post of
+private secretary. He was to sail from New York, but he obtained leave
+to spend a few days in Boston to attend to some affairs. He went at once
+to Madam Royall and laid his plans before her. He wanted to marry Alice
+and take her with him, as he might be gone a long while. Alice was
+nothing loath, for the journey abroad was extremely tempting.
+
+But what could one do in such a few days? And wedding clothes----
+
+"Save the wedding gear until we come back," said the impatient young
+lover. "Alice can get clothes enough abroad."
+
+It was quite a new departure in a wedding. Invitations were always sent
+out by hand, even for small evening parties, and often verbally given. A
+private marriage would not have suited old Madam Royall. So the house
+was crowded at eleven in the morning, and the bride came through the
+wide hall in a mulberry-colored satin gown and pelisse that had been
+made two weeks before for ordinary autumn wear. But her bonnet was white
+with long streamers, and her gloves were white, and she made a very
+attractive bride, while young Sargent was manly and looked proud enough
+for a king. At twelve they went away with no end of good wishes, and an
+old slipper was thrown after the carriage.
+
+Mrs. Morris Winslow had two babies, and was already growing stout. But
+the departure of Alice made a great break.
+
+"But it is the way of the world and the way of God that young people
+should marry," said Madam Royall. "I was very happy myself."
+
+"Oh," exclaimed Doris eagerly that evening, her eyes aglow and her
+cheeks pink with excitement--"oh, Uncle Win, do you think there will be
+peace?"
+
+"My little girl, it is my prayer day and night."
+
+"And then Cary will come home."
+
+It had been a long while since they had heard. Cary had been transferred
+from the _United States_, that had lain blockaded in a harbor many weary
+weeks. But where he was now no one could tell.
+
+People began to take heart though the fighting had not ceased. And it
+was odd that a dozen years before everybody had looked askance at
+dancing, and now no one hesitated to give a dancing party. The
+contra-dance and cotillions were all the rage. Sometimes there was great
+amusement when it was a draw dance, for then you had to accept your
+partner whether or no.
+
+Whole families went, grandmothers and grandchildren. There were cards
+and conversation circles for those who did not care to join the mazy
+whirls. And the suppers were quite elegant, with brilliant lamps and
+flowers, plate and glass that had come through generations. Fruits and
+melons were preserved as long as possible, and a Turkish band in fine
+Oriental costume was often a feature of the entertainment.
+
+Doris had charming letters from Betty, a little stilted we should call
+them now, but very interesting. Mr. King was confident of peace. Doris
+used to read them to Aunt Priscilla, who said Betty was very frivolous,
+but that she always had a good time, and perhaps good times were not as
+wicked as people used to think.
+
+Mrs. Leverett went to Salem in November. Her namesake had taken a cold
+and had some fever, and she asked for grandmother continually. Mercy did
+finely at housekeeping, and so the weeks ran along, the invalid being
+better, then worse, and just before Christmas the frail little life
+floated out to the Land of Rest.
+
+"Oh, poor little Elizabeth!" cried Doris. "If she could have been real
+happy! But there never seemed any time. Uncle Win, they are not so poor
+that they have to work so hard, are they?"
+
+"No, dear. Mr. Manning has money out at interest, besides his handsome
+farm. But a great many people think there is solid virtue in working and
+saving. I suppose it makes them happy."
+
+Doris was puzzled. She said the same thing to Aunt Priscilla, who took
+off her glasses, rubbed them with a bit of old silk and wiped the tears
+out of her eyes.
+
+"I think we haven't had quite the right end of it," she began after a
+pause. "I was brought up that way. But then people had to spin and weave
+for themselves, and help the men with the out-of-doors work. The
+children dropped corn, and potatoes, and there was always weeding. There
+was so much spring work and fall work, and folks couldn't be
+comfortable if they saw a child playing 'cat's cradle.' They did think
+Satan was going about continually to catch up idle hands. Well maybe if
+I'd had children I'd 'a' done the same way."
+
+"Oh, you wouldn't, Aunt Priscilla, I know," said Doris with the sweetest
+faith shining in her eyes. "Elizabeth thought you such a comfortable old
+lady. She said you never worried at anyone."
+
+"That is because I have come to believe the worrying wrong. The Lord
+didn't worry at people. He told them what to do and then he let them
+alone. And Foster Leverett was about the best man I ever knew. He didn't
+even worry when times were so bad. Everybody said his children would be
+spoiled. They were out sledding and sliding and skating, and playing tag
+in summer. They've made nice men and women."
+
+"Oh, I remember how friendly he looked that day he came on the vessel.
+And how he said to Captain Grier, 'Is there a little girl for me that
+has come from Old Boston?' He might have said something else, you know.
+'A little girl for me' was such a sweet welcome, I have never forgotten
+it."
+
+"Yes--I was here the night you came. We had been waiting. And the red
+cloak and big bonnet with the great bow under your chin, and a silk
+frock----"
+
+"Did I look very queer?" Doris laughed softly.
+
+"You looked like a picture, though that wan't my idea of what children
+should be."
+
+"Miss Recompense has them put away to keep. I outgrew them, you know.
+What would you have done with me?"
+
+Aunt Priscilla's pale face wrinkled up and then smoothed out.
+
+"I've come to the conclusion the Lord knows his business best and is
+capable of attending to it. When we meddle we make a rather poor fist
+of it. Betty has a lot of morning-glories out there," nodding her head,
+"and I said to her 'They're poor frail things: why not put out a hop
+vine or red beans? They can't stand a bit of sun, like Jonah's gourd.'
+But she only laughed--her father had that way when he didn't want to
+argue. When they came to bloom they were sights to behold, like the
+early morning when the sun is rising, and you see such beautiful colors.
+They used to nod to each other and swing back and forth, like people
+coming to call, then they said good-by and were off. The Lord meant 'em
+just to look pretty and they did."
+
+"Uncle Win likes them so much. Miss Recompense had a whole lattice full
+of them. Oh, did you mean I was like a morning glory? Haven't I some
+other uses?"
+
+"You're always fresh and blossoming every day. That's a use. You come in
+with a little greeting that warms one's heart. You were a great delight
+to Uncle Leverett, and I don't know what Uncle Winthrop would have done
+without you, Cary being away. And how Solomon took to you, when he was
+awful shy of strangers! He must have liked you uncommon to be willing to
+stay in a strange place, for cats cannot bear to be moved about. Maybe
+'twould been the same if you had not been so pretty to look at, but the
+Lord made you the way he wanted you, and you haven't spoiled yourself a
+bit."
+
+Doris blushed. Compliments were quite a new thing with Aunt Priscilla.
+
+"What would you have done with me?" Doris asked again, after a long
+pause.
+
+"You won't like to hear it. I ought to confess it because it was a sin,
+a sort of meddling with the Lord's plans. You see, I'd taken it in my
+head that someone would have to give you a home. It didn't seem as if
+that old ma'shland would be good for anything, and I knew your father
+wasn't rich. Winthrop Adams was one of the finicky kind and quite put
+about to know what to do with you. So I thought if there didn't any
+place open, for Elizabeth Leverett was quite wrapped up in her
+grandchildren, that"--hesitatingly--"when things were straightened out a
+bit, I'd offer----"
+
+"That would have been good of you----"
+
+"No, it wasn't goodness," interrupted Aunt Priscilla. "I thought I
+should want someone, with Polly getting old. I'd have expected you to
+work, though I'd have done the fair thing by you, and left you some
+money in the end. I was a little jealous when everybody took to you so.
+I was sure you'd be spoiled. And, though you've got that music thing and
+go among the quality, and are pretty as a pink, and Winthrop Adams
+thinks you a nonesuch, you come in here in plain everyday fashion and
+talk and read and make it sunshiny for everybody. So, you see, the Lord
+knew, and it is just as if he said, 'Priscilla Perkins, your way doesn't
+suit at all. There's something in the world besides work and saving
+money. There's room enough in the world for a hill of potatoes and a
+morning-glory made of silk and dew if it doesn't bloom but just one
+morning. It's a smile, and there are others to follow, and it is a
+thousand times better than frowns.'"
+
+"And if there had been no money, and I had wanted a home, would you have
+given me one?" she asked in a soft, tremulous tone.
+
+"Yes, child. And I couldn't have worked you quite like poor little
+Elizabeth was worked. I didn't think there _was_ so much money, or that
+that lady in England would have left you a legacy or that Winthrop Adams
+would come to believing that he couldn't live without you."
+
+"Then you were kind to have a plan about it, and I am glad to know it."
+
+She had been sitting on Aunt Priscilla's footstool, but she rose and
+twined her arms about the shrunken neck, and kissed the wrinkled
+forehead. She saw a homeless little girl going to sheltering care, with
+a kindly remembrance at the last. Someone else might have thought of the
+exactions.
+
+"You make the thing look better than it was," Aunt Priscilla cried with
+true humility. "But the Lord put you in the right place."
+
+She saw the mean and selfish desire, the wish to get rid of a faithful
+old woman who might prove a burden. It was a sin like the finery she had
+longed for and bought and laid away. She had not worn the finery, she
+had not sent away the poor black soul, she had not been a hard
+taskmistress to the child, but early training had added the weight of
+possible sins to the actual ones.
+
+Christmas morning Doris was surprised by a lovely gift. In a small box
+by her plate, with best wishes from Uncle Winthrop, lay a watch and
+chain, a dainty thing with just "Doris" on the plain space in the center
+that overlay another name that had once been there. It had undergone
+some renovation at the jeweler's hands, after lying untouched more than
+twenty years. Winthrop Adams had kept it for a possible granddaughter,
+but he knew now no one could cherish it more tenderly than Doris.
+
+January, 1815, came in. People counted the days. But it was not until
+the middle of February that Boston town was one morning electrified by
+the ringing of bells and the shouts of men and boys, who ran along the
+streets crying "Peace! Peace! Peace!" Windows were raised; people ran
+out, so eager were they. Of all glorious words ever uttered none fell
+with such music on the air. Could it be true?
+
+Uncle Winthrop put on his surtout with the great fur collar. Then he
+looked at Doris.
+
+"Wrap yourself up and come along," he said huskily.
+
+Already people were hanging flags out of the windows and stringing them
+across the streets. Every sled and sleigh had some sort of banner, if
+nothing more than white or brown paper with the five welcome letters,
+and everybody was shouting. Some men were carrying high banners with the
+words in blue or red on a white ground. When they came to State Street
+it was impassable. Cornhill was jammed. The _Evening Gazette_ office had
+the announcement, thirty-two hours from New York (there was no telegraph
+or railroad train then):
+
+     "Sir: I hasten to acquaint you for the information of the public of
+     the arrival here this afternoon of H. Br. M. sloop of war
+     _Favorite_, in which has come passenger Mr. Carroll, American
+     Messenger, having in his possession A Treaty of Peace."
+
+They passed that word from the nearest, standing by the bulletin, to the
+farther circles, and in five minutes the crowd knew it by heart. On the
+Commons the drums were beating, the cannons firing, and people shouting
+themselves hoarse.
+
+Mr. Adams went around to the Royall house, and that looked like a hotel
+on a gala day, and was nearly as full of people. The treaty had been
+signed on Christmas Eve. The President had now to issue a decree
+suspending hostilities. But one of the most brilliant battles had been
+fought on the 8th of January at New Orleans, under General Jackson--a
+farewell shot.
+
+For a week no one could think or talk of anything else. Then the
+official accounts having been received from Washington, there were plans
+for a grand procession. An oratorio was given at the Stone Chapel in the
+morning. Madam Royall had managed to obtain seats for Mr. Winthrop and
+Doris with her party. The church was crowded. American and British
+officers in full uniform were side by side,--as happy to be at peace as
+the rulers themselves,--chatting cordially with each other.
+
+The State House was decorated with transparencies, and there were to be
+fireworks in the evening. The procession marched around the Common, with
+the different trades drawn on sleds. Printers struck off hand-bills with
+the word "Peace!" printed on them and distributed them among the crowd.
+The carpenters were erecting a Temple of Peace. The papermakers had long
+strips of red, white, and blue: every trade had hit upon some
+signification of the general joy.
+
+Uncle Win sent Cato round for Mercy and Warren Leverett to come to tea,
+and then they went out to see the illumination and the fireworks. Old
+Boston had suffered a great deal from the war, and her rejoicing was as
+broad as her sorrow had been deep.
+
+As if that was not enough, there was to be a grand Peace Ball. The
+gentry did not so often patronize public balls, but this was an
+exception. Uncle Winthrop procured a ticket for Warren and his wife.
+Mrs. Gilman was shocked, and Mercy like a modern woman declared she had
+nothing to wear. But Aunt Priscilla brought out her last remnant of
+gorgeousness, a gray satin that looked very youthful draped with sheer
+white.
+
+"I feel just as if I was going to be married over again," Mercy declared
+laughingly; and Warren said she had never looked so beautiful.
+
+Uncle Winthrop left Doris' adornments to Madam Royall and Mrs. Chapman.
+She and Eudora had the same kind of gowns--sheer, dotted muslin trimmed
+with rows of white satin ribbon, and the bodice with frills of lace and
+bows of ribbon.
+
+The hairdresser did her hair in a multitude of puffs and curls that made
+her look quite like a young lady. She was still very slim, but growing
+tall rapidly. In fact, as Uncle Winthrop looked at her he realized that
+she could not always remain a little girl.
+
+Concert Hall was brilliantly illuminated and decorated with flags and
+flowers. A platform surrounded the floor, and many people preferred to
+be spectators or just join in the march. There were some naval as well
+as military officers, and Doris kept a sharp watch, for it almost seemed
+as if she might come upon Cary. Oh, where would he hear the declaration
+of peace!
+
+The dancing was quite delightful to most of the young people. Even those
+who just walked about, looked happy, and little knots chatted and
+smiled, adding a certain interest to the scene. The supper was very
+fine, and after that many of the quality retired, leaving the floor to
+those who had come to dance.
+
+Doris looked bright the next morning as she came to breakfast in her
+blue flannel frock and lace tucker, and her hair tied up high with a red
+ribbon, which with her white skin "made the American colors," Helen
+Chapman said.
+
+"I am glad to get back my little girl," Uncle Winthrop exclaimed, as he
+placed his hands lightly on her shoulders. "You looked strange to me
+last night. Doris, how tall you are growing!" in half-surprise.
+
+"That is an Adams trait, Aunt Priscilla would say. And do you remember
+that I am fifteen?"
+
+"Isn't there some way that girls can be set back?" he asked with feigned
+anxiety.
+
+"I've heard of their being set back after they reached thirty or forty,"
+said Miss Recompense.
+
+"I don't want to wait so long," returned Uncle Winthrop with a smile.
+
+"There were some beautiful old ladies there last night," said Doris.
+"The one with black velvet and diamonds--Madam Bowdoin. Is that Aunt
+Priscilla's friend?"
+
+"I suppose so. Mr. Perkins was held in high esteem, and Aunt Priscilla
+used to go about in her carriage then."
+
+"And Madam Scott! Uncle Win, to think she was John Hancock's wife, and
+he signed the Declaration of Independence!"
+
+"And after that I wouldn't have married anybody," declared Miss
+Recompense with haughty stiffness.
+
+The enthusiasm did not die out at once. When men or women met they had
+to talk over the good news. Warren Leverett declared that business was
+reviving. Mercy told Uncle Winthrop that she had never expected to see
+so many famous people under such grand conditions as a Peace Ball, and
+that it would be something to talk about when she was an old lady. Aunt
+Priscilla listened to the accounts with deep interest.
+
+"And I looked like a real young lady," said Doris. "I was frightened
+when I came to think about it. I would like to stay a little girl for
+years and years. But I would not have missed the ball for anything. I do
+not believe there will ever be such a grand occasion again."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+CARY ADAMS
+
+
+It took a good while in those days for the news of peace to go around
+the world. But there was a general reign of peace. The European
+countries had mostly settled their difficulties; there was royalty
+proper again on the throne of France. Napoleon swept through his hundred
+brilliant days, and was banished for life to the rocky isle of St.
+Helena; the young King of Rome was a virtual prisoner to Austria, and
+Russia and Prussia began to breathe freely once more.
+
+The United States had won a standing among the nations. Her indomitable
+courage, her successes against tremendous odds, had impressed Europe
+with her vitality and determination.
+
+One by one the ships came back to home ports. Mr. Adams and Doris
+watched and listened to every bit of news eagerly.
+
+The old apothecary's shop on Washington Street, to begin a famous
+history a decade later as "The Old Corner Bookstore," was even then a
+rendezvous for the news of the day. People paused going up and down, and
+each one added his bit to the general fund, or took with him the
+knowledge he was eagerly seeking.
+
+And when someone said, "Heard from your son yet, Mr. Adams?" he could
+only make a negative gesture.
+
+"If there isn't some word of Cary Adams soon, his father will never live
+to welcome him home," said Madam Royall to her daughter. "He grows
+thinner every day. What a perfect Godsend Doris has been!"
+
+Madam Royall was hale and hearty though she had lived through many
+sorrows.
+
+The coveted news came first from Betty. She had written a letter to send
+by a private messenger, and opened it to add this postscript:
+
+"Mr. Bowen is waiting for this letter. Mr. King has just come in with
+the news that two ships have arrived at Portsmouth. Among the officers
+is 'Lieutenant Cary Adams.' That is all we know."
+
+"Oh, Uncle Win!" Doris' eyes swam in tears of joy. "Read Betty's
+postscript." Then she ran out of the room and had a good cry by herself,
+though why anyone should want to cry over such joyful news she could not
+quite understand.
+
+Afterward she tied on her hat and ran over to Madam Royall's and then up
+to Sudbury Street. For in those days people were wont to say to their
+neighbors, "Come, rejoice with me!"
+
+When she returned home the house was very quiet. Solomon came and rubbed
+against her in mute inquiry. No one was in the study. She went out to
+the kitchen.
+
+"Don't disturb your uncle, Doris," said Miss Recompense. "The news quite
+overcame him. He has gone to lie down."
+
+After dinner she went out again for some lessons. Oh, how bright the
+world looked, though it was a day in later March, but the wind had a
+Southern softness. Soon the wild flowers would be out. There was a very
+interesting new study, botany, that the previous autumn had taken groups
+of girls out in the lanes and fields, and some had ventured to visit the
+Botanic Gardens at Harvard University. Doris was much interested in it.
+
+Uncle Winthrop came to supper, and Doris played and sang for him during
+the evening. For though Cary was the uppermost thought in both hearts,
+they could not talk about him.
+
+It was a tedious post journey from Washington to Boston. One had to
+possess one's soul in patience. But the letter came at length.
+
+Cary had to go to Washington, as there was some prize money and claims
+to be inquired into. He had handed in his resignation, and should
+hereafter be a private citizen of dear old Boston. There was much more
+that gladdened his father's heart and betrayed a manly spirit.
+
+Betty returned home, though Mrs. King declared she only lent her for a
+visit. She was very stylish now, and was studying French, for it might
+be possible that Mr. King would go abroad and take his wife and Betty.
+
+"I do wonder if you will ever settle down?" exclaimed Mrs. Leverett
+anxiously. That meant marriage and housekeeping.
+
+Betty laughed. "You know I have settled to be the old maid aunt," she
+returned. "But I am going to have a good young time first. And, mother,
+you can hardly realize what a fine, generous, broad-minded man Mat King
+has made."
+
+There were lovely odds and ends of attire, dainty slippers, long gloves
+that came to your very shoulders, vandyke capes of beautiful lace,
+buckles that looked like diamonds, ribbons and belts and sashes. Mercy
+said Betty could go down to Washington Street and open a fancy-goods
+store. And, oh, the delightful things she had seen and done, the skating
+parties in the winter, the sleigh rides when one stopped at a cozy,
+well-kept tavern and had a dainty supper and a dance. The drives down
+around the Battery and Bowling Green, and the promenades. There were
+still a good many military men in New York, but it had not suffered as
+much from the war as Boston.
+
+But Boston was growing beautiful by the hour, with her pretty private
+gardens and hundreds of fruit trees blooming everywhere, and the great
+Common where people went for walks on sunny afternoons.
+
+Miss Recompense had a gorgeous tulip bed and some lilies of the valley,
+which were quite a new thing. Cato trimmed and trained the roses and
+vines, and the old Adams house was quite a bower of beauty.
+
+One April afternoon Doris sat by the study window doing some lace work,
+while Solomon lay curled up on the sill. She kept glancing out. People
+were quite given to going around this corner to get into Common Street.
+She liked to see them. Now and then a friend nodded. Uncle Win had been
+reading aloud from "Jerusalem Delivered," but Doris thought it rather
+prosy, and strayed off into her own thoughts.
+
+A tall, soldierly fellow came up the street, looked, hesitated, opened
+the gate softly, and glanced down at the tulips. He was quite imposing
+as to figure, and his complexion was bronzed, the ends of his brown hair
+rather long and curling. He was in citizen clothes, and Doris wondered
+why she should think of Lieutenant Hawthorne. She had expected Cary in
+all the glory of a naval uniform--a slim, fair, boyish person with a
+light springy walk. It never could be Cary!
+
+"Oh, Uncle Win, quick!" as the step sounded on the porch. "It
+is--someone----" She was so little certain she could not utter a name.
+
+Uncle Winthrop went out, opened the door, and his son put his arms about
+the father's neck. If there had been need of words neither could have
+uttered them for many minutes.
+
+When Miss Recompense cleaned house a week or two before the piano had
+been moved into the parlor. The door stood open so that it could have
+the warmth of the hall fire. The two entered it when they had found
+their voices.
+
+"It _is_ Cary," thought Doris with a sense of disappointment, though why
+she could not have told.
+
+Half an hour afterward they came out to the study.
+
+"Oh, Doris!" Cary cried, "how you have changed and grown. I shouldn't
+have known you! I've been carrying about with me the remembrance of a
+little girl. In my mind you have been no taller, no older, and yet I
+might have known--why, we shall have to get acquainted all over again."
+
+Doris blushed. "I am sure I have not changed as much as you. I did not
+think it could be you."
+
+"Someone at Annapolis before we went out designated me as 'That
+consumptive-looking young fellow.' But I have grown strong and hearty,
+and no doubt I shall come to fourscore. I do not mean that it shall be
+all labor and sorrow, either."
+
+Then Cary made the rounds of the house. Miss Recompense was as much
+amazed as Doris had been. Cato and Dinah were overjoyed. He had hardly
+dared dream that nothing would be changed, that more than the old love
+would be given back. He had gone away a boy, nurtured in the restraints
+of wise Puritanism that made a lasting mark on New England character; he
+had come home a man of experience, of deeper thought, of higher
+understanding and stronger affection. He was proud that he had done his
+duty as a citizen of the republic, but he knew now that neither naval or
+military life was to his taste. Henceforth he was to be a son in the old
+home.
+
+Doris left them talking when she went to bed, a little hurt and jealous
+that she was no longer first, that she could not be all to Uncle Win. It
+gave her a kind of solitary feeling.
+
+The old house took on an aspect of intense interest. There was a
+continual going and coming and enough congratulations for a wedding
+feast. All Cary's friends vied with each other in warm welcomes, and
+Madam Royall claimed him with the old time cordiality.
+
+Was there any disappointment about Alice?
+
+He had a boy's thought the first few months about winning glory for her,
+of coming back to her, and perhaps laying his triumphs at her feet. But
+the real work, the anxieties, the solemn fact of taking one's life in
+one's hands and realizing how near death might be, had changed him month
+by month, until he had only one prayer left--that he might see his
+father again. If she was happy--she surely had her heart's choice--he
+was satisfied. They had never really been lovers.
+
+When the first excitement of welcome was over there were many things to
+think about. His interrupted career was one. Governor Gore had been
+chosen United States Senator the year before, but he still kept his
+office, and very kindly greeted the return of his student, offering him
+still greater advantages. Here the young Daniel Webster, a lad fresh
+from the country, had won the friendship of his master, and after a
+brief trial in New Hampshire had returned to Boston.
+
+Boston town began to experience the beneficent power of peace.
+Languishing industries revived. Commerce had been crippled by the war,
+but the inhabitants of New England had learned the value of their own
+ingenuity and industry to supply needs, and now they were roused to the
+fact there was an outside world to supply as well.
+
+Improvements started up on every side. There was even talk of
+transforming the town into a city. Indeed, it had never been a formally
+incorporated town. The Court of Assistants one hundred and seventy years
+before had changed the name from Tri-Mountain to Boston, and it had
+taken the privileges of a town. But there were many grave questions
+coming to the front.
+
+The family party at the Adams house this year seemed to include half of
+Boston. One by one the old relatives had dropped out. Some of the
+younger ones had gone to other cities.
+
+Madam Royall came over to be mistress of ceremonies. For besides the
+ovation to the returned lieutenant, Miss Doris Adams was to be presented
+as a full-fledged young lady, and she wore her pretty gown made for the
+Peace Ball, and pink roses. Miss Betty Leverett was quite a star as
+well. Miss Helen Chapman was engaged, and Eudora was a favorite with the
+young gentlemen.
+
+"I shall be so sorry when they are all gone," declared Madam Royall. "I
+do love young people, but I am afraid my fourth generation will not grow
+up in time for me to enjoy them. You must keep good watch over Doris
+lest some wolf enters the fold and carries off the sweet child."
+
+Uncle Win smiled and then looked grave. Doris carried off--oh, no, he
+could never spare her!
+
+Cary Adams had not forgotten how to dance, and every girl he asked was
+delighted with the opportunity. It seemed rather queer to Doris to
+accept or decline on her own responsibility.
+
+A week or two later, when they had settled to quite regular living, Cary
+came out and sat on the step one evening.
+
+"Doris," he began, "do you remember the letter I sent you by a
+Lieutenant Hawthorne--that first letter----" What a flood of
+remembrances it brought!
+
+"Oh, yes." She had begun to feel very much at home with Cary--his little
+sister, as he called her. "And I must tell you a queer thing--the day
+you came home--when I looked down the path--I thought of him. You had
+changed so. I don't know what sent him to my mind."
+
+"That was odd. He is in town. He called on me to-day. For the last year
+he has been Captain Hawthorne, and he is a splendid fellow. He has been
+sent to the Charlestown Navy Yard, and may be here the next three
+months, for now the Government is considering a navy. Well--we did some
+splendid fighting with the old ships. But oh, Doris, you can't imagine
+how homesick I was. I had half a mind to show the white feather and
+come home."
+
+"Oh, you couldn't have done it, Cary!"
+
+"No, I couldn't when it came to the pinch. But if I had gone with
+father's consent! I understood then what it would be never to see him
+again. I think I shall be a better son all my life for the lesson."
+
+"Yes," in her gentle approving fashion.
+
+"Hawthorne wants to come over here," Cary said presently. "I think my
+father would like him, though I notice he has an aversion to military or
+naval men. But I shall never go away again unless the country is in
+great danger."
+
+"I should like to see him. I wonder if he has changed as much as you?"
+
+"I think not," and Cary laughed. "He was twenty-four then, and sort of
+settled into manhood, while I was a rather green stripling."
+
+"You are losing some of the 'sea tan,' as Madam Royall calls it. I am
+glad of it. I like you best fair."
+
+"Captain Hawthorne is a very handsome man. I ought to feel flattered to
+be mistaken for him."
+
+"Is he?" returned Doris simply.
+
+"Don't you remember him?"
+
+"I remember that he asked me for a rose and I gave it to him. It was the
+last one on the bush. I was so glad to get the letter I couldn't think
+of anything else."
+
+So Cary brought him over to tea one afternoon. Doris noted then that he
+was extremely good-looking and very entertaining. Besides, he had a fine
+tenor voice and they sang songs together.
+
+Uncle Winthrop was troubled at first. Captain Hawthorne's enthusiasm for
+his profession was so ardent that Mr. Adams was alarmed lest it might
+turn Cary's thoughts seaward again. But he found presently that Cary's
+enlisting had been that of a patriotic, high-spirited boy, and that he
+had no real desire for the life.
+
+What a summer it was! Betty was over often, Eudora was enchanted with
+the Adams house, and there was a bevy of girls who brought their sewing
+and spent the afternoon on the stoop. Sometimes Uncle Win came out and
+read to them. There were several new English poets. A Lord Byron was
+writing the cantos of a beautiful and stirring poem entitled "Childe
+Harold" that abounded in fine descriptions. There were "The Lady ol the
+Lake" and "Marmion," and there was a queer Scotchy poet by the name of
+Burns, who had a dry wit--and few could master the tongue. A whole
+harvest of delight was coming over from England.
+
+There were so many curious and lovely places within a few hours sail or
+drive. Captain Hawthorne had spent most of his life in Maryland, and
+this scenery was new. They made up parties for the day, or Betty, Doris,
+and Uncle Winthrop and the captain went in a quartette.
+
+"I don't know," Uncle Win said one day with a grave shake of the head.
+"Do you not think I am rather an old fellow to go careering round with
+you young people?"
+
+"But, you see, someone would have to go," explained Doris. "Young ladies
+can't go out with a young man alone. It would have to be Aunt Elizabeth,
+or Mrs. Chapman, and I would so much rather have you. It's nice to be
+just by ourselves."
+
+"The captain seems to like Betty very much."
+
+"Indeed he does," answered Doris warmly.
+
+Occasionally Cary would get off and join them. But he was trying hard to
+catch up. He had gotten out of study habits, and some days he found it
+quite irksome, for he was fond of pleasure, and it seemed to him that
+Betty was extremely charming, and Doris quaint, and Eudora vivacious to
+the point of wit.
+
+One warm August afternoon he sat alone, having resolved to master a
+knotty point. What were the others doing? he wondered.
+
+There was a step, and he glanced up.
+
+"Oh," nodding to Captain Hawthorne, "I was just envying you and all the
+others, and wondering where you were on pleasure bound."
+
+"It was not pleasure, but hard work over at the yard to-day. However, I
+have the evening, and feel like inviting myself to partake of a cup of
+the comforting tea Miss Recompense brews."
+
+"Come along then. I have put in a good day and am conscience-clear."
+
+Cary began to pile up his books.
+
+"I have only about a fortnight more," Captain Hawthorne said slowly.
+
+Cary changed his coat and locked his desk. "Well?" as the caller was
+watching him earnestly.
+
+"Adams, do you mean--do you expect to marry your cousin?" Hawthorne
+asked abruptly.
+
+"My cousin? Betty or Doris?"
+
+"Doris."
+
+"Why--no, I never thought of it. And I have a sight of work to do before
+I marry."
+
+"Then--I suppose you never suspected such a thing--but I am in love with
+her."
+
+"In love with Doris! Why, she's just a child."
+
+"I dare say I shall have to serve seven years before I can get your
+father's consent. She will be older then. I was listening to a romantic
+story about an old house where a handsome girl leaned out of a window
+and her beauty attracted an English officer passing by, who said to
+himself that was the one woman for him, and long afterward he went back,
+found her, and married her."
+
+"A handsome Miss Sheafe. Yes." Cary smiled.
+
+"See here, Cary Adams." Hawthorne took a small leather case out of his
+pocket. Between two cards was a pressed rose. "When I took your packet
+to Miss Doris Adams almost four years ago, I gave it into the hands of
+the sweetest little girl I ever saw. If I had been less of a gentleman I
+must have kissed her. I espied one rose in the garden and asked her for
+it. This is the rose she gave me. I meant to come North and find her,
+and when I asked for leave of absence to visit Boston this business was
+put in my charge. Then I said, 'I will look up the little girl, who must
+be a large girl now, and woo her with the sincerest regard.' It shall go
+hard indeed with me if I cannot win her. But I have fancied of late that
+you----"
+
+"She is very dear to me and to my father. But I had not thought----"
+
+"Then I take my chances. As I said, I will wait for her. She is still
+very young, and I should feel conscience-smitten to rob your father.
+Sometime you may want to bring the woman you love to the old home, and
+then it will not be so hard. I could keep true to her the whole world
+over; and if she promises, she will keep true to me."
+
+Cary Adams was deeply moved. Such devotion ought to win a reward. How
+blind he and his father had been, thinking of Betty Leverett.
+
+Oh, how could they let Doris go! Yet a lover like this was not to be
+curtly refused.
+
+"I shall not stand in your way," quietly.
+
+"Thank you a thousand times. But if she had been for you, as I feared, I
+should have proved man enough to keep silent and go my way. It has been
+a happy summer, and in two weeks more it will end. Still, I may be able
+to get an appointment here. I shall try for it and return."
+
+"Come," said Cary Adams, and he went out feeling there had been a great
+change in the world, and he was wrapped about with some mysterious
+influence.
+
+Doris had thought of Captain Hawthorne on the day of his, Cary's,
+return. How many times besides had she thought of him? And she had
+recalled giving him the rose.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+THE COST OF WOMANHOOD
+
+
+A happy fortnight. It was worth all the after-pain to have it to
+remember. When Boston was a great city half a century later, and there
+had been another war, and Captain Hawthorne had risen in the ranks and
+been put on the retired list, he came a grizzled old man to find the
+place that had always lived in his remembrance. But the old house had
+been swept away by the march of improvement, the rounding corner
+straightened and given over to business, and the Common was magnificent
+in beauty. The tall, thin, scholarly man had gone to the wife of his
+youth. Doris, little Doris, was very happy. So what did it matter?
+
+There was a succession of lovely days. One morning, early, Captain
+Hawthorne joined Doris and her uncle in a long ride over on Boston Neck.
+They found an odd old tavern kept by a sailor who had been round the
+world and taken a hand in the "scrimmage," as he called it, and with his
+small prize money bought out the place. There was some delightful bread
+and cold chicken, wine and bottled cider equal to champagne. There was
+another long lovely day when with Betty they went up to Salem and drove
+around the quaint streets and watched the signs of awakening business.
+There was Fort Pickering, the lighthouse out on the island, the pretty
+Common, the East India Marine Society's hall with its curiosities (quite
+wonderful even then), and the clean streets with their tidy shops, the
+children coming from school, the housewives going about on errands.
+Foster Manning drove his grandmother down to join them; and he was
+almost a young man now. He told Doris they all missed Elizabeth so much,
+but he was glad she had had that nice visit to Boston.
+
+So the days drifted on; Doris unconsciously sweet in her simplicity, yet
+so innocent that the lover began to fear while he hoped.
+
+Uncle Winthrop had gone to a meeting of the Historical Society. Miss
+Recompense had a neighbor in great trouble that she was trying to
+console out in the supper room, where they could talk unreservedly. Cary
+was in the study, and the two were sauntering around the fragrant walks
+where the grassy beds had recently been cut. There was no moon, and the
+whole world seemed soft and still, as if it was listening to the story
+Captain Hawthorne had to tell, as if it was in love with itself.
+
+"Oh," interrupted Doris with a sharp, pained cry, "do not, please do
+not! I never dreamed--I--shall never go away from Uncle Winthrop. I do
+not want any other love. I thought it was--Betty. Oh, forgive me for the
+pain and disappointment. I seem even to myself such a little girl----"
+
+"But I can wait years. I wanted you to know. Oh, Doris, as the years go
+on can you not learn to love me? I will be patient and live in the
+sweet, grand hope that some day----"
+
+"No, no; do not hope. I cannot promise. Oh, you are so noble and
+upright, can you not accept this truth from me? For it would only be
+pain and disappointment in the end."
+
+No, she did not love him. Her sweet soul was still asleep within her
+fair body. He was too really honorable to persist.
+
+"Doris," he said,--what a sweet girl's name it was!--"five years from
+this time I shall come back. You will be a woman then, you are still a
+child. And if no other lover has won you, I shall ask again."
+
+He pressed her hand to his lips. Then he led her around to the porch,
+and bade her a tender good-night. He would not embarrass her by any
+longer stay.
+
+She ran up the steps. Cary intercepted her in the hall.
+
+"Has he gone? Doris----"
+
+"Oh, _did_ you know? How could you let him!" she cried in anguish. "How
+could you!"
+
+"Doris--my dear little sister, he loved you so. But I wish it had been
+Betty. Oh, don't cry. You have done nothing. I am sorry, but he would
+not have been satisfied if he had not spoken. He wanted to ask father
+first, but I hated to have _him_ pained if it was not necessary----"
+
+"Thank you for that, Cary. Do not tell him. You will not?" she pleaded,
+thinking of the other first.
+
+"No, dear. We must shield him all we can."
+
+Yes, they would try always. There was a little rift in the cloud of
+pain.
+
+The next evening Captain Hawthorne came over to bid them a formal
+good-by. Helen Chapman and her lover and Eudora were there, so it was an
+unembarrassing affair with many good wishes on both sides.
+
+Doris thought she would like to run away and hide. It seemed as if the
+whole story was written in her face. Betty suspected, but she loved her
+too well to tease. And almost immediately Helen announced her
+arrangements. She was to be married in October. Doris and Cary must
+stand with her, and one of the Chapman cousins with Eudora. Another warm
+girl friend and her lover would complete the party. Grandmamma had
+stipulated that Mr. Harrison Gray should cast in his lot with them for a
+year. Mr. Sargent had been attached to the embassy at London and they
+would remain two years longer at least. Madam Royall could not bear to
+have the family shrink so rapidly.
+
+Betty was to go away again. Mr. and Mrs. Matthias King came together
+this time to see old friends and Boston, that Mr. King found wonderfully
+changed. He was to go to France on business for the firm of which he was
+a member, and be absent a year at least. It would be such a splendid
+chance for Betty. They were to take their own little Bessy and leave the
+three younger children with a friend who had a school for small people
+and who would give them a mother's care.
+
+There was a little grandson in Sudbury Street, and Mercy had proved a
+very agreeable daughter-in-law. Warren had begun to prosper again, and
+was full of hope. The children at Hollis Leverett's were growing
+rapidly. They no longer said "little Sam." He was almost a young man. He
+had taken the Franklin prize at the Latin School and was now apprenticed
+to an architect and builder, and would set up for himself when he came
+of age, as Boston had begun to build up rapidly. But he couldn't help
+envying Cousin Cary Adams his prize money and wondering what he meant to
+do with it.
+
+An invitation to go to Paris was not to be lightly declined then, any
+more than it would be now. Mrs. Manning did not see "how Betty could
+leave mother for so long," but Mrs. Leverett was in good health, and
+though she hated to have her go so far away, there really could be no
+objection, when Matthias King was so generous.
+
+"I am going to have some of my good times while we are together and able
+to enjoy them," he said to Mrs. Leverett. "I shall have to leave Electa
+alone every now and then while I am about business, and it will be such
+a comfort to her to have Betty. No doubt, we shall marry her to a French
+count."
+
+"Oh, no, bring her back to me," said Betty's mother.
+
+There was quite a stir among Betty's compeers. She was congratulated and
+envied, and they begged her to write everything she could about French
+fashions. How lucky that she had been studying French!
+
+Aunt Priscilla had a hard struggle with conscience about a matter that
+she felt to be quite a duty. Giving away finery that you would never
+wear was one thing, but your money was quite another.
+
+"Betty," she said, "I'm going to make you a little gift. If you
+shouldn't want to use it maybe Mat will see some way to invest it for
+you. When the trouble came to Warren, I said he might as well have his
+part as to wait until I was dead and gone. I have been paid over and
+over again in comfort. He grows so much like your father, Betty. And
+he's weathered through the storm and stress. So I'll do the same by you,
+and if you never get any more you must be content."
+
+It was an order for five hundred dollars. Winthrop Adams would see it
+paid.
+
+Betty was quite overwhelmed. "I ought to give half of it to mother!" she
+cried.
+
+"No, no. Your mother will have all she needs. The Mannings would borrow
+it of her to buy more ground with. I've no patience with all their
+scrimping, and sometimes I give thanks that poor Elizabeth is out of it
+all. Don't have an anxious thought about money where you mother is
+concerned."
+
+"What a comfort you are, Aunt Priscilla."
+
+"Well, it took years enough to teach me that anybody needed comforting."
+
+As for Doris, she was so busy that she could hardly think about herself
+or Captain Hawthorne. She did wish he had not loved her. If she had
+known about the rose her heart would have been still more sore and
+pitiful.
+
+Betty went before the wedding. They took a sloop to New York and were to
+leave there for Havre.
+
+Madam Royall had this wedding just to her fancy, and it was quite a fine
+affair. Cary looked very nice, Doris thought, for the sea tan had nearly
+all bleached out. His figure was compact, and he had a rather soldierly
+bearing. He was quite a hero, too, to his old college mates, some of
+whom had not considered him possessed of really strong characteristics.
+
+But the young ladies were proud of his notice and attention, and there
+was no end of invitations from their mothers when they were going to
+have evening companies.
+
+The cold weather came on apace. Mr. Adams seemed to feel it more and
+gave up his horseback rides. He interested himself very much in the
+library plans, but he grew fonder of staying at home, and Doris was such
+a pleasant companion. Cary had never been fond of poetry, and now he
+threw himself into his profession with a resolve to stand high.
+Manhood's ambition was so different from the lukewarm endeavors of the
+boy.
+
+His father did enjoy his earnestness very much. Sometimes he roused
+himself to argue a point when two or three young men dropped in, and the
+old fire flashed up, though he liked best his ease and his poets, or
+Doris reading or singing some old song. But he did not lose his interest
+in the world's progress or that of his beloved city.
+
+Doris was very happy in a young girl's way. One did not expect to fill
+every moment with pleasure, or go to parties or the theater every
+evening. There were other duties and purposes to life. As Aunt Priscilla
+did not go out after the cold weather set in, she ran up there nearly
+every day with some cheerful bit of gossip. Madam Royall had grown very
+fond of her as well. There was the dancing class; and the sewing class,
+when they made garments for poor people; and shopping--even if one did
+not buy much, for now such pretty French and English goods were shown
+again. Then one stopped in the confectioner's on Newberry Street and had
+a cup of hot coffee or tea if it was a cold day; or strolled down
+Cornhill to see what new books had come over from London, for the
+Waverley novels had just begun, and everybody was wondering about the
+author. Or you went to Faneuil Hall to see Trumbull's Declaration of
+Independence, which was considered a very remarkable work. There were
+the sleigh-rides, when you went out in style and had a supper and a
+dance; and the sledding parties, that were really the most fun of all,
+when you almost forgot you were grown-up.
+
+Cary was always ready to attend his cousin, though she quite as often
+went out with Mr. and Mrs. Gray and Eudora. When he thought of it, it
+did seem a little curious that Doris had no special company.
+
+But a girl was not allowed to keep special company until the family had
+consented and she was regularly engaged. Young men and girls came to
+sing, for a piano was a rarity; there were parties going here and there,
+but Doris never evinced any particular preference.
+
+So spring came again and gardening engrossed Doris. She had been
+learning housekeeping in all its branches under the experienced tuition
+of Miss Recompense and Dinah. A girl who did not know everything from
+the roasting of a turkey to the making of sack-posset, and through all
+the gradations of pickling and preserving, was not considered
+"finished."
+
+Doris was very fond of the wide out-of-doors. She often took her work,
+and Uncle Winthrop his book, and sat out on a rustic seat at the edge of
+the Common, which was beginning to be beautiful, though it was twenty
+years later that the Botanic Garden was started. But now that our ships
+were going everywhere, curious bulbs and plants were brought from
+Holland and from the East Indies by sea captains. And they found
+wonderful wild flowers that developed under cultivation. Brookline was a
+great resort on pleasant days, with its meadows and wooded hillsides and
+beautiful gardens. Colonel Perkins had all manner of foreign fruits and
+flowers that he had brought home from abroad, and had a greenhouse where
+you could often find the grandmother of the family, who was most
+generous in her gifts. There were people who thought you "flew in the
+face of Providence" when you made flowers bloom in winter, but
+Providence seemed to smile on them.
+
+Over on the Foster estate at Cambridge there was a genuine hawthorn.
+People made pilgrimages to see it when it was white with bloom and
+diffusing its peculiar odor all about. There were the sweet blossoms of
+the mulberry and the honey locust, and the air everywhere was fragrant,
+for there were so few factories, and people had not learned to turn
+waste materials into every sort of product and make vile smells.
+
+Cary sometimes left his books early in the afternoon and went driving
+with them. If he did not appreciate poetry so much, he was on the
+lookout for every fine tree and curious flower, and twenty years later
+he was deep in the Horticultural Society.
+
+Uncle Winthrop bought a new low carriage this summer. For anyone else
+but a grave gentleman it would have looked rather pronounced, but it was
+so much easier to get in and out. And Doris in her sweet unconsciousness
+never made any bid for attention, but people would turn and look at them
+as one looks at a picture.
+
+Thirty years or so afterward old ladies would sometimes say to the
+daughters of Doris:
+
+"My dear, I knew your mother when she was a sweet, fresh young girl and
+used to go out driving with her uncle. Mr. Winthrop Adams was one of the
+high-bred, delicate-looking men that would have graced a court. There
+wasn't a prettier sight in Boston--and, dear me! that was way back in
+'16 or '17. How time flies!"
+
+They heard from Betty occasionally. The letters were long and "writ
+fine," though happily not crossed. They should have been saved for a
+book, they were so chatty. In August one came to Doris that stirred up a
+mighty excitement. Betty had a way of being quite dramatic and leading
+up to a climax.
+
+A month before they had met a delightful Frenchman, a M. Henri de la
+Maur, twenty-five or thereabouts, and found him an excellent cicerone to
+some remarkable things they had not seen. He was much interested in
+America and its chief cities, especially Boston, when he found that was
+Betty's native town.
+
+And one day he told them of a search he had been making for a little
+girl. The De la Maurs had suffered considerably under the Napoleonic
+_régime_, and had now been restored to some of their rights. There was
+one estate that could not be settled until they found a missing member.
+They had traced the mother, who had died and left a husband and a little
+girl--Jacqueline. "That is such a common name in France," explained
+Betty. She had been placed in a convent, and that was such a common
+occurrence, too. Then she had been taken to the North of England. He had
+gone to the old town, but the child's father had died and some elderly
+relatives had passed away, and the child herself had been sent to the
+United States. Everybody who had known her was dead or had forgotten.
+
+"And I never thought until one day he said Old Boston," confessed Betty,
+"when I remembered suddenly that your mother's name was Jacqueline Marie
+de la Maur in the old marriage certificate. We had been talking of it a
+week or more, but one hears so many family stories here in Paris, and
+lost and found inheritances. But I almost screamed with surprise, and
+added the sequel; and he was just overjoyed, and brought the family
+papers. He and your mother are second- and third-cousins. It is queer
+you should have so many far-off relations, and so few near-by ones, and
+be mixed up in so many romances.
+
+"The fortune sounds quite grand in francs, but if we enumerated our
+money by quarters of dollars, we might all be rich. It is a snug little
+sum, however, and they are anxious to get it settled before the next
+turn in the dynasty, lest it might be confiscated again. So M. Henri is
+coming home with us, and we shall start the first day of September, as
+Mr. King has finished his business and Electa is wild to see her
+children. I think I shall give 'talks' all winter and invite you over to
+Sudbury Street, with your sewing, for I never shall be talked out."
+
+It was wonderful. Doris had to read the letter over and over. It had
+listeners at the Royall house who said it was a perfect romance, and at
+the Leveretts' they rejoiced greatly.
+
+"I declare!" exclaimed Aunt Priscilla, "if you should live to be fifty
+or sixty, and everybody go on leaving you fortunes, you won't know what
+to do with your money. They're filling up the Mill Pond and the big
+ma'sh and going to lay out streets. I wouldn't have believed it! Foster
+Leverett held on to his legacy because he couldn't sell it, and now
+Warren has been offered a good sum. Mary Manning will pinch herself blue
+to think she sold out when she did. I'm just glad for Warren. And
+Cary'll know so much law that he will look out for you."
+
+It was a beautiful autumn, for a wonder. Summer seemed loath to depart
+or allow the flame-colored finger of Fall to place her seal on the
+glowing foliage. But it was the last of October when Betty reached
+Boston, convoyed by a very old-time New England woman going on to
+Newburyport.
+
+"For you know," said Betty, "the French are very particular about a
+young woman traveling alone, but we did have a hunt to find someone
+coming to Boston. Otherwise M'sieur Henri--you see how apt I am in
+French--could not have accompanied me."
+
+M. de la Maur was a very nice-looking young man, not as tall as Cary,
+but with a graceful and manly figure, soft dark eyes, and hair that just
+missed being black, a clear complexion and fine color, and a small line
+of mustache. As to manners he was really charming, and so well-read that
+Mr. Winthrop Adams took to him at once. He was conversant with Voltaire
+and Rousseau, the plays of Racine and Molière, and the causes that had
+led to the French Revolution, and had been in Paris through the famous
+"Hundred Days." Of course he was bitter against Napoleon.
+
+The inheritance part was soon settled. Doris would have about three
+thousand dollars. But De la Maur took a great fancy to Boston, and the
+Royall family approved of him. Mr. and Mrs. Sargent had returned this
+fall and the old house was a center of attractive gayeties.
+
+"Do you know, I think Cousin Henri is in love with Betty," said Doris,
+with a feminine habit of guessing at love matters. "But she insists she
+will never live abroad, and Cousin Henri thinks Paris is the center of
+the world."
+
+"How will they manage?"
+
+Doris laughed. She did not just see herself.
+
+But Betty's romance came to light presently. It had begun during her
+winter in New York, but it had not run smoothly. Betty had a rather
+quick wit and was fond of teasing, and there had been "differences" not
+easily settled. Mr. Harman Gaynor had risen to the distinction of a
+partnership in the King firm, and on meeting Betty again, with the young
+Frenchman at her elbow, had presented his claim in such a way that Betty
+yielded. When Mr. Gaynor came to Boston to have a conference with Mrs.
+Leverett--for fathers and mothers still had authority in such
+matters--Betty's engagement was announced and the marriage set for
+spring.
+
+Somehow it was a delightful winter. But after a little one person began
+to feel strangely apprehensive, and this was Cary Adams.
+
+"I suppose Doris and her third- or fourth-cousin will make a match?"
+Madam Royall said one evening when they had been playing morris and she
+had won the rubber. "How can you let her go away?"
+
+"She will never leave father," exclaimed Cary confidently.
+
+There was a sudden stricture all over his body. It seemed as if some
+cold hand had clutched both heart and brain.
+
+He walked home in the bright, fresh air. It was barely ten. He passed De
+la Maur on the way and they greeted each other. The parlor windows were
+darkened, his father was alone in the study, and everyone else had gone
+to bed.
+
+"I wish you had been home," said his father glancing up. "De la Maur has
+been reciting Racine, and I have never heard anything finer! I wish he
+could read Shakspere. He certainly is a delightful person, so cultured
+and appreciative. It makes me feel that we really are a new people."
+
+Could no one see the danger? How happened it his father was so blind?
+Did Doris really care? She had not loved Captain Hawthorne, a man worthy
+of any woman's love. Cary had a confident feeling that in five years
+they would see him again. But he would be too old for Doris--thirteen
+years between them. Yet his father had been fifteen years older than his
+mother. Doris was so guileless, so simply honest, and if she loved--how
+curiously she had kept from friendships or intimacies with young men!
+Eudora had a train of admirers. So had Helen and Alice in their day.
+
+When he had met Mrs. Sargent he knew it had only been a boyish fancy for
+Alice Royall, and it had merely shaped and strengthened the ardent
+desire of youth to go to his country's defense. He was a man now, and
+capable of loving with supreme tenderness and strength. Yet he had seen
+no woman to whom he cared to pour out the first sweet draught of a man's
+regard.
+
+But Doris must not go away, she could not.
+
+Morning, noon, and night he watched her. She prepared his father's
+toast, she chatted with him and often coaxed him to taste this or that,
+for his appetite was slender. On sunny mornings they went to drive, or
+if not she brought her sewing and sat in the study, listened and
+discussed the subjects he loved, and was enthusiastic about the Boston
+that was to be, that they both saw with the eye of faith. While he took
+his siesta she ran up to Sudbury Street, or did an errand. Later in the
+afternoon there would be calls. There was a sideboard at the end of the
+hall where a bottle or two of wine were kept, as was the custom then,
+and a plate of cake.
+
+Doris brought in a fashion of offering tea or sometimes mulled cider on
+a cold day. But Miss Recompense made delicious tea, and some of the
+gentlemen took it just to see Doris drop in the lump of sugar so
+daintily.
+
+If they were at home there was always company in the evening, unless the
+night was very stormy. De la Maur generally made one of the guests. If
+they were alone they had a charming evening in the study.
+
+The young Frenchman was most punctilious. He might take a few cousinly
+freedoms, but he never offered any that were lover-like. So it was the
+more easy for Doris to persuade herself that it was merely relationship.
+Occasionally the eloquence of his eyes quite unnerved her. She cunningly
+sheltered herself beside Eudora when it was possible.
+
+But De la Maur's regard grew apace. It would not be honorable to come
+without declaring his intentions. And the American fashion of being
+engaged was extremely fascinating to him. He wanted the more than
+cousinly privileges.
+
+So it happened one night Betty and Warren came over with a piece of
+music Mrs. King had sent, a song by Moore, the Irish poet. Doris went to
+the parlor to try it. That was De la Maur's golden opportunity, and he
+could not allow it to slip. In a most deferential manner he laid his
+case before her relative and guardian and begged permission to address
+Miss Doris.
+
+Winthrop Adams was utterly amazed at the first moment. Then he recovered
+himself. Doris _was_ a young lady. One friend and another was being
+given in marriage, and Doris naturally would have lovers. There was one
+that he had hoped--but he had never seen any real indication.
+
+"It is true that I like my own Paris best, but if Miss Doris longed to
+stay here a few years, I would make myself content. But you will
+understand--I could not come any longer without explaining; and this
+time you allow young people--betrothment--looks so attractive. May I ask
+and learn her sentiments, since young ladies choose for themselves?"
+
+What could he do but consent? If Doris should not love him----
+
+"Good-night Uncle Win," cried Betty from the hall. "Good-night, M. De la
+Maur."
+
+Doris was replacing some music in the portfolio. Cousin Henri crossed
+the room and she saw a mysterious sweetness in his face as he took her
+hand.
+
+"_Ma chère amie_ Cousin Doris, I have just explained to your uncle my
+sentiments concerning you, and have his permission to ask for your
+regard. I love you very dearly. Will you be my wife?"
+
+Doris drew her hand away and was pale and red by turns, while her throat
+constricted and her breath came in great bounds.
+
+"I am so sorry. I tried not to be--I did not want anything like this to
+happen--but sometimes I felt afraid," she stammered in her
+embarrassment. "I like you very much. But I do not want to marry or to
+be engaged. I shall stay with my uncle. I shall never go away from the
+country of my adoption."
+
+"But if I were willing to remain a while--so long as your uncle lived? I
+do not wonder you love him very much. He is a charming gentleman. I have
+no parents to bid me stay at home, I need consult only you and myself."
+
+"Oh, no, no! Do not compel me to pain you by continued refusals. I
+cannot consent. I will always be friend and cousin--I do not love
+anyone----"
+
+"Then if you do not love anyone this friendship might ripen into a sweet
+regard. Oh, Doris, I had hardly thought so deep a love possible."
+
+His imploring tone touched her. But she drew back farther and said in a
+more decisive tone: "Oh, no, no! I cannot promise."
+
+He was too gentlemanly to persist in his pleading. But he was confident
+he had Mr. Adams on his side. And at home the desires of parents and
+guardians counted for a great deal.
+
+"My dear cousin, will you talk this matter over with your uncle? You may
+look at it in a different light. And I shall remain your ardent admirer
+until I am convinced. Since you have no lover----"
+
+Doris Adams suddenly straightened her pliant young figure. Some dignity
+was born in her face and in the clear eyes she raised, too pure to doubt
+anything or to fear anything, sure for a moment that she possessed every
+pulse and thought and knowledge of her own soul, then beset by a strange
+shadowy misgiving that she had reached a curious crisis in her life that
+she did not know of an instant ago.
+
+But she said bravely, though there was a quiver in her breath that she
+tried to keep from her voice:
+
+"Let us remain cousins merely. My duty is here. My love is here
+also--to the best of fathers, the tenderest of friends. I cannot share
+it with anyone."
+
+De la Maur bowed and went slowly out of the apartment.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+THE BLOOM OF LIFE--LOVE
+
+
+Doris flew to the study. Uncle Winthrop's eyes were bent on his book and
+his face partly turned aside. He had been making a brave fight. A man of
+a less fine strain of honor would not have answered the brave young
+lover as he had done. He could not have answered him thus if he had not
+liked Henri de la Maur so well, and loved Doris with such singleness of
+heart.
+
+He heard her step and put out his hand without moving. His tone was very
+low.
+
+"Is it--France?"
+
+"France! Oh, Uncle Win! When I belong to you and Boston?"
+
+Her arms were around his neck. His heart, his whole body, seemed to give
+one great throb of joy as he drew her down to his knee. There had been
+only one other experience in life as sweet.
+
+"And you would have sent me away!" with a soft, broken upbraiding in
+which love was uppermost.
+
+"No, child, no. God forbid, Doris, now that you are _not_ going, I will
+confess--I think I should have died before the parting came. But, my
+little girl, I must say this in memory of two sweet years of wedded
+life--there is no happiness comparable to it. And to accept your youth,
+your golden period that never dawns but once on any human being, to
+gladden my declining years would be a selfish sin. I once had a
+dream--but it came to naught"--he drew a long breath as if the
+remembrance pained him. "You must be quite free, dear, to love and to
+marry. All these years with you have been so precious, but sometime I
+shall go my way, and I could not bear the thought of your being left
+alone!"
+
+"I shall stay with you. I--there can never be any home like this--any
+love like yours----"
+
+The hall door opened and shut slowly. That was Cary's step. She could
+not meet him here. She kissed Uncle Win vehemently and flashed past the
+young man standing there almost in the doorway with a white, strained
+face. The great armchair was in her way and she half stumbled over it.
+Then some other arms caught her and she had no strength to struggle. Did
+she want to?
+
+"Doris! Doris! Was it true what you said just now--that no home could be
+like this, and your love for him, which has been that of a tender
+daughter--his love for you--is there room for another regard still? for,
+Doris, I love you! I want you. I have been wild and jealous since I have
+suspected, since I have really known or guessed your cousin's
+intentions. I did not suspect at first--there were Betty and Eudora--and
+an old regard waiting for you, but now I can think of only one thing,
+that has been in my mind day and night for the last fortnight, that I
+love you as well as the others; only it seems a small and ignoble matter
+to appeal to your affection for my father and the old home. But I want
+your love, your sweetness, your precious faith, the trust of your coming
+womanhood, your own sweet self. I'm not a handsome fellow like Captain
+Hawthorne, nor accomplished like De la Maur, but I shall love you to my
+life's end, Doris!"
+
+They sat down on the step of the old staircase and he could feel the
+tremble in every pulse of her slim young figure. Was it the strange
+mystery that had come to her half an hour ago in the parlor opposite, a
+something that was not knowledge, but a vague consciousness that there
+was a person in the world who could say the words that would thrill her
+with delight instead of bringing sorrow and regret!
+
+"All that is a very illogical and incoherent presentation. I must do
+better when I come to argue my first case," and he gave a joyous little
+laugh. For he knew if Doris meant to say him "Nay," she would not let
+her head droop on his shoulder, or yield to the clasp of his arm. And
+suddenly his soul was filled with infinite pity for Hawthorne,
+and--yes--he felt sorry for De la Maur.
+
+"Doris--is it a little for my own sake?"
+
+A breath of happy content swept over her like a summer wind coming from
+some mysterious world.
+
+"You have been an angel of comfort to both of us. I don't know what I
+should have done in that unhappy time if it had not been for you. But
+Hawthorne's regard made it a point of honor with me. Could you have
+loved him, Doris? He is such a fine fellow."
+
+He noted the little shrinking, he was holding her so close.
+
+"Not in that way," and her reply was a soft whisper.
+
+"Thank Heaven! But I want to hear you say--oh, my darling, I want the
+assurance that I shall be dear to you, that it is not all because----"
+
+"I should stay for Uncle Win's sake. I think Miss Recompense finds a
+great many sources of happiness in a single life. But if I promised you,
+it would be because--because--I loved you."
+
+"Then promise me," he cried enraptured. "I love you dearly, if I haven't
+been much of a lover. I have said to myself that I was waiting for
+Hawthorne's five years to end, or to do something worthy of you. And
+now, Doris, I know what fighting means, and I would fight to the death
+for you. I am afraid I shall be selfish and exigent to the last degree."
+
+He felt the delicate revelation in the warmth of her cheek, the tremble
+of the soft hands, the relaxation of her whole body. And a kind of
+solemn exultation filled his soul. Except the youthful episode with
+Alice Royall, he had never sincerely cared for any woman, and he was
+very glad he could give Doris the first offering of a man's love as he
+understood it now.
+
+And then for a long while neither spoke, except in kisses--love's own
+language. Every moment the mystery seemed to grow upon Doris, to unfold
+as well, to pass the line of girlhood, to accept the crown of a woman's
+life. It had been very simply sweet. Some other woman might have made a
+rather tragic episode of her two lovers. Doris pitied them sincerely,
+but they both had the deepest sympathy from Cary Adams.
+
+"Let us go to him," Cary exclaimed presently, rising, with his arm still
+about her.
+
+There were two wax candles burning in their sconces that had been made
+over forty years ago in Paul Revere's foundry. By the softened light
+Cary glanced at the flushed face, downcast eyes and dewy, tremulous
+lips. Half the sweet story was still untold, but there would be years
+and years. Oh, Heaven grant they might have them together! And at this
+instant he was filled with a profound sympathy for his father's loss and
+lonely life.
+
+They walked slowly through the hall and paused a moment in the doorway.
+Winthrop Adams was leaning his head on his hand, and the lamp a little
+at the side threw up his thin, finely cut features, as if they had been
+done in marble, and he was almost as pale. The exultation went out of
+the soul of the young lover, and a rush of tenderness such as he had
+never experienced before swept through him.
+
+"Father," he said softly, touching him on the shoulder, "father--will
+you give me Doris, for your claim is first? Will you accept me as her
+lover, sometime to be her husband, always to be your son, and your
+daughter?"
+
+Winthrop Adams rose half-bewildered. Had the secret hope of his soul
+unfolded in blessed fruition? He looked from one to the other, then his
+glance rested on his son--their eyes met, and in that instant they came
+to know each other as they never had before, to understand, to
+comprehend all that was in the tie of nature. He laid one hand on his
+son's shoulder, the other clasped the slim virginal figure, no longer a
+little girl, but whose girlhood and affectionate devotion would always
+fill both hearts.
+
+"Doris, my child--you are quite sure----" He could not have his son
+defrauded of any sweetness.
+
+Doris raised her downcast eyes and smiled, while the pink flush was like
+a rosy gleam of sunrise. Then she laid her hand over both of the others'
+in a tender, caressing fashion. But she was too deeply moved for words.
+
+Winthrop Adams kissed her fair brow, but her lover kissed her on the
+sweet, rosy lips.
+
+They announced the engagement almost at once. It was done partly for De
+la Maur's sake, though after the first he took it quite philosophically.
+There were three people supremely happy over it. Miss Recompense, Madam
+Royall,--who declared she would have been disappointed in Providence if
+it had been any other way,--and Cousin Betty, who was happy as a queen
+in her own life, though why we should make royalty a synonym for
+happiness I do not know.
+
+"You never could have left Uncle Win," wrote Betty, "and Cary could not
+have gone away, neither could he have brought home a strange woman. This
+was the only satisfactory ending. But I hope you will be awfully in
+love with each other and sweet--and silly and all that. I am sorry for
+Captain Hawthorne, for, Doris, he loved you sincerely, but your French
+cousin can console himself with an English rhyme:
+
+    "'If she be not fair for me,
+    What care I how fair she be?'"
+
+And oddly enough a few months later he did console himself with Eudora
+Chapman.
+
+Just a few years afterward there was a great time in Boston. For she had
+adopted a charter and become a real city, after long and earnest
+discussion. There was a grand celebration and no end of dinners, and
+young Cary Adams made one of the addresses. Mr. Winthrop Adams insisted
+that his life work was done, but he lived to be interested in many more
+improvements, and some charming grandchildren.
+
+"But after all," Doris would declare, "splendid as it is going to be, I
+am glad to belong to Old Boston with her lanes and byways and rough
+hills and marsh lands, with their billowy grasses and wild flowers, and
+great gardens full of fruit trees, and the little old shops and people
+sitting on front stoops sewing or reading or chatting cozily. And what a
+pleasure it will be by and by to tell the children that I was a little
+girl in Old Boston."
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Other Books Published by A. L. BURT COMPANY
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The "Little Girl" Series
+
+By AMANDA M. DOUGLAS
+
+
+    A Little Girl in Old New York
+
+    A Little Girl of Long Ago
+      A sequel to "A Little Girl in Old New York"
+
+    A Little Girl in Old Boston
+
+    A Little Girl in Old Philadelphia
+
+    A Little Girl in Old Washington
+
+    A Little Girl in Old New Orleans
+
+    A Little Girl in Old Detroit
+
+    A Little Girl in Old St. Louis
+
+    A Little Girl in Old Chicago
+
+    A Little Girl in Old San Francisco
+
+    A Little Girl in Old Quebec
+
+    A Little Girl in Old Baltimore
+
+    A Little Girl in Old Salem
+
+    A Little Girl in Old Pittsburg
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Camp Fire Girls Series
+
+By HILDEGARD G. FREY.
+
+
+THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS IN THE MAINE WOODS; or, The Winnebagos go Camping.
+
+     This lively Camp Fire group and their Guardian go back to Nature in
+     a camp in the wilds of Maine and pile up more adventures in one
+     summer than they have had in all their previous vacations put
+     together.
+
+THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT SCHOOL; or, The Wohelo Weavers.
+
+     How these seven live wire girls strive to infuse into their school
+     life the spirit of Work, Health and Love and yet manage to get into
+     more than their share of mischief, is told in this story.
+
+THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT ONOWAY HOUSE; or, The Magic Garden.
+
+     Migwan is determined to go to college, and not being strong enough
+     to work indoors earns the money by raising fruits and vegetables.
+     The Winnebagos all turn a hand to help the cause along and the
+     "goingson" at Onoway House that summer make the foundation shake
+     with laughter.
+
+THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS GO MOTORING; or, Along the Road That Leads the Way.
+
+     In which the Winnebagos take a thousand mile auto trip.
+
+THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS' LARKS AND PRANKS; or, The House of the Open Door.
+
+THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS ON ELLEN'S ISLE; or, The Trail of the Seven Cedars.
+
+THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS ON THE OPEN ROAD; or, Glorify Work.
+
+THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS DO THEIR BIT; or, Over the Top with the Winnebagos.
+
+THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS SOLVE A MYSTERY; or, The Christmas Adventure at
+Carver House.
+
+THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT CAMP KEEWAYDIN; or, Down Paddles.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Girl Chums Series
+
+
+A carefully selected series of books for girls, written by popular
+authors. These are charming stories for young girls, well told and full
+of interest. Their simplicity tenderness, healthy, interesting motives
+vigorous action, and character painting will please all girl readers.
+
+
+    BENHURST, CLUB, THE. By Howe Benning.
+
+    BERTHA'S SUMMER BOARDERS. By Linnie S. Harris
+
+    BILLOW PRAIRIE. A Story of Life in the Great West By Joy Allison.
+
+    DUXBERRY DOINGS. A New England Story. By Caroline B. Le Row.
+
+    FUSSBUDGET'S FOLKS. A Story For Young Girls. By Anna F. Burnham.
+
+    HAPPY DISCIPLINE, A. By Elizabeth Cummings.
+
+    JOLLY TEN, THE; and Their Year of Stories. By Agnes Carr Sage.
+
+    KATIE ROBERTSON. A Girl's Story of Factory Life By M. E. Winslow.
+
+    LONELY HILL. A Story For Girls. By M. L. Thornton-Wilder.
+
+    MAJORIBANKS. A Girl's Story. By Elvirton Wright.
+
+    MISS CHARITY'S HOUSE. By Howe Benning.
+
+    MISS ELLIOT'S GIRLS. A Story For Young Girls. By Mary Spring Corning.
+
+    MISS MALCOLM'S TEN. A Story For Girls. By Margaret E. Winslow.
+
+    ONE GIRL'S WAY OUT. By Howe Benning.
+
+    PEN'S VENTURE. By Elvirton Wright.
+
+    RUTH PRENTICE. A Story For Girls. By Marion Thorne.
+
+    THREE YEARS AT GLENWOOD. A Story of School Life. By M. E. Winslow.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Girl Comrade's Series
+
+A carefully selected series of books for girls, written by popular
+authors. These are charming stories for young girls, well told and full
+of interest. Their simplicity tenderness, healthy, interesting motives,
+vigorous action, and character painting will please all girl readers.
+
+    A BACHELOR MAID AND HER BROTHER. By I. T. Thurston.
+
+    ALL ABOARD. A Story For Girls. By Fannie E. Newberry.
+
+    ALMOST A GENIUS. A Story For Girls. By Adelaide L. Rouse.
+
+    ANNICE WYNKOOP, Artist. Story of a Country Girl. By Adelaide L. Rouse.
+
+    BUBBLES. A Girl's Story. By Fannie E. Newberry.
+
+    COMRADES. By Fannie E. Newberry.
+
+    DEANE GIRLS, THE. A Home Story. By Adelaide L. Rouse.
+
+    HELEN BEATON, COLLEGE WOMAN. By Adelaide L. Rouse.
+
+    JOYCE'S INVESTMENTS. A Story For Girls. By Fannie E. Newberry.
+
+    MELLICENT RAYMOND. A Story For Girls. By Fannie E. Newberry.
+
+    MISS ASHTON'S NEW PUPIL. A School Girl's Story. By Mrs. S. S. Robbins.
+
+    NOT FOR PROFIT. A Story For Girls. By Fannie E. Newberry.
+
+    ODD ONE, THE. A Story For Girls. By Fannie E. Newberry.
+
+    SARA, A PRINCESS. A Story For Girls. By Fannie E. Newberry.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Blue Grass Seminary Girls Series
+
+By CAROLYN JUDSON BURNETT
+
+_Splendid Stories of the Adventures of a Group of Charming Girls_
+
+    THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS' VACATION ADVENTURES;
+      or, Shirley Willing to the Rescue.
+
+    THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS' CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS;
+      or, A Four Weeks' Tour with the Glee Club.
+
+    THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS IN THE MOUNTAINS;
+      or, Shirley Willing on a Mission of Peace.
+
+    THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS ON THE WATER;
+      or, Exciting Adventures on a Summer's Cruise Through the Panama Canal.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THE MILDRED SERIES
+
+By MARTHA FINLEY
+
+
+_A Companion Series to the famous "Elsie" Books by the Same Author_
+
+    MILDRED KEITH
+
+    MILDRED AT ROSELANDS
+
+    MILDRED AND ELSIE
+
+    MILDRED'S MARRIED LIFE
+
+    MILDRED AT HOME
+
+    MILDRED'S BOYS AND GIRLS
+
+    MILDRED'S NEW DAUGHTER
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Little Girl in Old Boston, by 
+Amanda Millie Douglas
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD BOSTON ***
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