"Oh, if I only _could_, Uncle Cliff. Gowns and slippers to match, and I"d thought of some pretty evening wraps, too. You see, we"re going to the theatre, and supper afterward, and the Lambs have such pretty ones.
We could afford it, couldn"t we? There"s no one to spend money on but poor little me."
Mr. Ashe laughed as he smoothed out a pucker in his niece"s brow.
"I don"t think you need worry about the expense," he said. "You are very fortunate in that respect, Blue Bonnet, and you know I always approve of spending money where it means happiness. Do you need a new frock, too,--and Carita, perhaps?"
"We could each use one," Blue Bonnet answered, "though I suppose Aunt Lucinda wouldn"t exactly think _I_ needed it."
"This isn"t Aunt Lucinda"s affair," Mr. Ashe replied quickly. "It"s mine, Honey. How would this do? We"ll take the We Are Sevens shopping with us to-morrow morning and when you and Carita have selected your gowns I will suggest that the others select too--a little gift from me--or from you, if you think best."
Blue Bonnet clapped her hands with delight.
"The very thing," she cried. "Then they can"t think it was planned.
They"ll be so delighted. Oh, Uncle Cliff, you are so dear, _so dear_!"
The last dear was emphasized with a resounding kiss. "I"m so happy; _so happy_ that it seems as if I couldn"t stand it. Isn"t this a beautiful old world? Now, we must hurry. I want to get you out to the hospital to see Gabriel the very first thing."
Blue Bonnet had explained at breakfast all about Gabriel, and Uncle Cliff had said little. But he was ready for further investigation.
"I"m not sure that I like the idea of you going about these hospitals, Honey--especially where patients are tubercular. You can contract these things, you know."
Blue Bonnet laughed her scorn.
"How perfectly ridiculous! I"m as healthy as ever I can be. Why, look at me! I"ve put on eight pounds in three months. That"s the very worst of boarding-school--- it"s bound to make you fat. Poor Wee Watts is discouraged to death."
At the hospital, although it was not visiting hour, they were allowed to see Gabriel.
"He"s not been so well the past week," Miss Warren, the nurse, said. "I think it is the confinement. It is beginning to tell upon him. He ought to be out in the country in the sunshine."
Blue Bonnet sat down on the bed and took hold of the little hand. It was hot and feverish.
"What"s the matter, Gabriel?" she said. "This won"t do. You promised me that you would get well."
"I will," the child maintained stoutly. "There ain"t nothing the matter." The bright eyes flashed a smile.
"We"re twins,--me and her," Gabriel announced, directing his remarks to Mr. Ashe. "Our birthdays are the same."
"So I understand."
"Are you her father?"
"Yes, and her uncle, too."
Gabriel seemed mystified.
"You see, I haven"t any father--or mother either, Gabriel. My uncle has to be both," Blue Bonnet explained.
"That"s like me, too. I"m a orphant!"
Blue Bonnet caught her breath quickly. To be an orphan--and ill; desperately poor, too! The world wasn"t such a cheerful place after all.
"I lent the soldiers to another feller," Gabriel said presently. "He"s sicker than I am."
"Then you shall have some more, Gabriel. It was fine of you to be so unselfish."
"I wasn"t. They made me!"
The nurse started to explain. Gabriel interrupted.
"I want my own--they can fight like--I didn"t say it, did I? I told you I wouldn"t never again, Miss Warren."
Miss Warren"s brow cleared.
"These children have some street expressions that are hard to break,"
she said. "Gabriel is trying very hard to be a gentleman. He got so excited over the soldiers, Miss Ashe, that we had to take them away."
"_She_ says--" Gabriel began, pointing to Blue Bonnet, "she says you got ponies where you live, an" you can ride "em. Can you?"
Mr. Ashe smiled.
"Yes. Lots of them. Would you like to ride a pony, Gabriel?"
"Bet yer!"
Mr. Ashe rose and took the nurse to one side.
"Just how ill is this child?" he asked, much moved. "Is there any chance for his recovery?"
"Yes--yes, indeed, under the right conditions. He has tuberculosis of the knee. If only a home could be found for him in the country! He"s an unusually bright child, and so lovable. I feel sure that he must come from excellent Jewish people, though he was brought here from the tenement district a few months ago--just after his mother died."
"And you think he"d have a chance in the country?"
"I"m very sure of it, sir."
Mr. Ashe turned away abruptly. Before his eyes swept a vision of the Blue Bonnet ranch--its vast roaming acres; its clear beautiful skies and warm sunshine; of old, lonely Benita, and Uncle Joe. There was ample room _there_--room that shamed him when he looked at this pitiful wasted bit of humanity dying for the need of what it offered.
He went back to the little cot and touched Blue Bonnet"s arm lightly.
"Come, Honey," he said. "I think it"s time we were going. We"ll see Gabriel again."
CHAPTER XVII
THE GATHERING OF THE CLANS
"Blue Bonnet! Do you really truly mean it?"