"I hear my children"s voices; I must not let them see their mother giving way to grief like this," she said, lifting her head and wiping away her tears.
They came in--the whole six--preceded by a servant bearing lights.
There was a subdued eagerness about the younger ones, as they hastened to their mother asking, "Mamma, is it really so--that we are going to Viamede?"
"Yes, dears, I believe it is quite settled. Grandpa approves, and I hope you are all pleased."
"Oh yes, yes!"
"If you are, mamma," the older girls said, noticing with affectionate concern the traces of tears on her face; "if not, we prefer to stay here."
"Thank you, my darlings," she answered, smiling affectionately upon them; "for several reasons I shall be glad to go, the princ.i.p.al being that our poor old grandfather needs the warm climate he will find there; and of course we could not think of letting him go alone."
"Oh no!" they said; "he could not do without grandpa, and neither could we."
"And neither could grandpa do without his eldest daughter, or her children," added Mr. Dinsmore playfully, sitting down and taking Walter upon one knee, Rosie upon the other. "So we will all go together, and I trust will have a happy time in that lovely land of fruits and flowers."
They had not seen it for several years, not since Walter was a babe and Rosie so young that she remembered but little about it. Both were delighted with the prospect before them, and plied their grandpa with many eager questions, while their mother looked on with growing cheerfulness, resolutely putting aside her grief that she might not mar their pleasure.
The other four had gathered about her, Vi on a cushion at her feet, Elsie seated close on one side, Herbert standing on the other, and Harold at the back of her chair, leaning fondly over her, now touching his lips to her cheek, now softly smoothing her shining hair.
"Dear mamma, how beautiful you are!" he whispered.
"You might as well say it out loud," remarked Herbert, overhearing the words, "because everybody knows it and n.o.body would want to contradict you."
"We are very apt to think those beautiful whom we love," their mother said with a pleased smile, "and the love of my children is very sweet to me."
"Yes, mamma, but you _are_ beautiful," insisted Harold; "it isn"t only my love that makes you look so to me, though I do love you dearly--dearly."
"Mamma knows we all do," said Violet; "we should be monsters of ingrat.i.tude if we did not."
"As I should be if I were not filled with thankfulness to G.o.d that he has blessed me with such dutiful and affectionate children," added the mother.
"Mamma, how soon will we go to Viamede?" asked Violet; and that question being answered, another quickly followed. "We will not leave Molly behind?"
"No, certainly not; nor Aunt Enna, if they will kindly consent to go with us."
"Consent, mamma! I"m sure they cannot help being delighted to go. May I run and tell them?"
"Yes, my child; I know you always enjoy being the bearer of pleasant news."
Molly heard it with great pleasure and grat.i.tude to her cousin; Enna with even childish delight. Neither had a thought of declining.
Isadore Conly, also, was very much pleased, and sure she should vastly enjoy the winter with her relations, spite of many an envious prognostication to the contrary on the part of her mother and Virginia.
They would not go on any account, they averred, and were glad they had been overlooked in the invitation--mean as it was in Elsie not to include them--for life at Viamede could not fail to be a very dull affair for that winter at least.
But Elsie, of course, heard none of these unkind remarks, and seeing the happiness she was conferring not only upon more distant relations but upon her children also, who showed increasing pleasure in the thought of the expected visit to their lovely southern home as the time drew near, she felt fully repaid for the sacrifice of feeling she was making.
CHAPTER VIII.
""Tis easier for the generous to forgive Than for offence to ask it."
--_Thomson._
The only noteworthy incident of the journey of our friends took place at New Orleans, where they halted for a few days of rest to all, and sight-seeing on the part of the young people.
Mr. Horace Dinsmore, who had some business matters to attend to in connection with Elsie"s property in the city, was hurrying back to his hotel one afternoon, when a beggar accosted him, asking for a little help, holding out a very forlorn hat to receive it.
There seemed something familiar in the voice, and Mr. Dinsmore stopped and looked earnestly at its owner.
A seamed, scarred face, thin, cadaverous, framed in with unkempt hair and scraggy beard--an attenuated form clothed in rags--these were what met his view, surely for the first time, for there was nothing familiar about either.
No, not for the first time; for, with a start of recognition and a muttered curse, the mendicant dropped his hat, then stooped, hastily s.n.a.t.c.hed it from the ground, and rushed away down an alley.
"Ah, I know you now!" cried Mr. Dinsmore, giving instant pursuit.
He could not be mistaken in the peculiarly maimed hand stretched out to regain the hat.
Its owner fled as if for his life, but, weak from disease and famine, could not distance his pursuer.
At last, finding the latter close at his heels, he stopped and faced him, leaning, panting and trembling, against a wall.
"George Boyd, is it you? reduced to such a condition as this!" exclaimed Mr. Dinsmore, eying him searchingly.
"You"ve mistaken your man, sir," panted the fugitive. "My name"s Brown--Sam Brown at your service."
"Then why did you run away from me?" coolly inquired the gentleman. "No, I cannot mistake that hand," pointing to the maimed member.
"And you"d like to hang me, I suppose," returned the other bitterly.
"But I don"t believe you could do it here. Beside, what"s the use? I"ll not c.u.mber the ground much longer, can"t you see that? Travilla himself," he added, with a fierce oath, "can hardly wish me anything worse than I"ve come to. I"m literally starving--can hardly get enough food to keep soul and body together from one day to another."
"Then come with me and I will feed you," Mr. Dinsmore said, his whole soul moved with pity for the miserable wretch. "Yonder is a restaurant; let us go there, and I will pay for all you can eat."
"You don"t mean it?" cried Boyd in incredulous surprise.
"I do; every word of it. Will you come?"
"A strange question to ask a starving man. Of course I will; only too gladly."
They crossed the street, entered the eating-house, and Mr. Dinsmore ordered a substantial meal set before Boyd. He devoured it with wolfish voracity, his entertainer watching him for a moment, then turning away in pained disgust.
Time after time plate and cup were filled and emptied, but at last he declared his appet.i.te fully satisfied. Mr. Dinsmore paid the reckoning, and they pa.s.sed out into the street together.
"Well, sir," said Boyd, "I"m a thousand times obliged. Shall be more so if you will accommodate me with a small loan--or gift if you like, for I haven"t a cent in the world."