Then Katy came to life, and did that at the very thought of which she shuddered when a few months" experience had taught her the temerity of the act--she wound her arms impulsively around Mrs. Cameron"s neck, rumpling her point lace collar, and sadly displacing the coiffeur of the astonished lady, who had seldom received so genuine a greeting as that which Katy gave her, kissing her lips and whispering softly: "I love you now, because you are Wilford"s mother, but by and by because you are mine. And you will love me some because I am his wife."
Wilford was horrified, particularly when he saw how startled his mother looked as she tried to release herself and adjust her tumbled headgear.
It was not what he had hoped, nor what his mother had expected, for she was unaccustomed to such demonstrations; but under the circ.u.mstances Katy could not have done better. There was a tender spot in Mrs.
Cameron"s heart, and Katy touched it, making her feel a throb of affection for the childish creature suing for her love.
"Yes, darling, I love you now," she said, removing Katy"s clinging arms and taking care that they should not enfold her a second time. "You are tired and cold," she continued; "you had better go at once to your rooms. You will find them in order, and I will send Esther up. There is plenty of time to dress for dinner," and with a wave of her hand she dismissed Katy up the stairs, noticing as she went the exquisite softness of her fur cloak; but thinking it too heavy a garment for her slight figure, and noticing, too, the graceful ankle and foot which the little high-heeled gaiter showed to good advantage. "I did not see her face distinctly, but she has a well-turned instep and walks easily," was the report she carried to her daughters, who in their own room, over Katy"s, were dressing for dinner.
"She will undoubtedly make a good dancer, then, unless like Dr. Grant, she is too blue for that," Juno said, while Bell shrugged her shoulders, congratulating herself that she had a mind above such frivolous matters as dancing and well-turned insteps, and wondering if Katy cared in the least for books.
"Couldn"t you see her face at all, mother?" Juno asked.
"Scarcely; but the glimpse I did get was satisfactory. I think she is pretty."
And this was all the sisters could ascertain until their toilets were finished, and they went down into the library, where their brother waited for them. He had seen his father and Jamie, and now he arose to meet his sisters, kissing them both affectionately, and complimenting them on their good looks.
"I wish we could say the same of you," saucy Juno answered, playfully pulling his mustache; "but, upon my word, Will, you are fast settling down into an oldish married man, even turning gray," and she ran her fingers through his dark hair, where there was now and then a thread of silver. "Disappointed in your domestic relations, eh?" she continued, looking him archly in the face.
Wilford was rather proud of his good looks, and during his sojourn abroad, Katy had not helped him any in overcoming this weakness, but, on the contrary, had fed his vanity by constant flattery. And still he was himself conscious of not looking quite as well as usual just now, for the sea voyage had tired him as well as Katy, but he did not care to be told of it, and Juno"s ill-timed remarks aroused him at once, particularly as they reflected somewhat on Katy.
"I a.s.sure you I am not disappointed," he answered, "and the six months of my married life have been the happiest I ever knew. Katy is more than I expected her to be."
Juno elevated her eyebrows slightly, but made no direct reply, while Bell began to ask about Paris and the places he had visited.
Meanwhile Katy had been ushered into her room, which was directly over the library and separated from Mrs. Cameron"s only by a range of closets and presses, a portion of which were to be appropriated to her own use.
Great pains had been taken to make her rooms attractive, and as the large bay window in the library below extended to the third story, it was really the pleasantest chamber in the house. To Katy it was perfect, and her first exclamation was one of delight.
"Oh, how pleasant, how beautiful," she cried, skipping across the soft carpet to the warm fire blazing in the grate. "A bay window, too, when I like them so much, and such handsome curtains and furniture. I shall be happy here."
But happy as she was, Katy could not help feeling tired, and she sank into one of the luxurious easy-chairs, wishing she could stay there all the evening, instead of going down to that formidable dinner with her new relations. How she dreaded it, especially when she remembered that Mrs. Cameron had said there would be plenty of time to dress, a thing which Katy hated, the process was so tiresome, particularly to-night.
Surely, her handsome traveling dress, made in Paris, was good enough, and she was about settling in her own mind to venture upon wearing it, when Esther demolished her castle at once.
"Wear your traveling habit!" she exclaimed, "when the young ladies, especially Miss Juno, are so particular about their dinner costume?
There would be no end to the scolding I should get for suffering it. So there"s no help, you see," and she began good-naturedly to remove her mistress" collar and pin, while Katy, standing up, sighed as she said; "I wish I was in Silverton to-night. I could wear anything there. What must I put on? How I dread it!" and she began to shiver again.
Fortunately for Katy, Esther had been in the family long enough to know just what they regarded as proper, as by this means the dress selected, a delicate pearl-colored silk was sure to please. It was very becoming to Katy, and having been made in Paris, was not open to criticism.
Esther"s taste was perfect, so that Katy was never over-dressed, and she was very simple and pretty this night, with the rich, soft lace around her neck and around her white, plump arms, where the golden bands were shining.
"Very pretty, indeed," was Mrs. Cameron"s verdict when at half-past five she knocked at the door and then came in to see her daughter, kissing her cheek and stroking her head, wholly unadorned, except by the short, silken curls which could not be coaxed to grow faster than they chose, and which had sometimes annoyed Wilford. They made his wife seem so young beside him. Mrs. Cameron was annoyed, too, for she had no idea of a head, except as it was connected with a hairdresser, and her annoyance showed itself as she asked:
"Did you have your hair cut on purpose?"
But when Katy explained, she answered, pleasantly:
"Never mind; it is a fault which will mend every day, only it makes you look like a child."
"I am eighteen and a half," Katy said, feeling a lump rising in her throat, for she guessed that her mother-in-law was not quite pleased with her hair.
For herself, she liked it; it was so easy to brush and fix. She should go wild if she had to submit to all Esther had told her of hairdressing and what it involved.
Mrs. Cameron had asked if she would not like to see Mr. Cameron, the elder, before going down to dinner, and Katy had answered that she would; so as soon as Esther had smoothed a refractory fold and brought her handkerchief, she followed to the room where Wilford"s father was sitting. He might not have felt complimented could he have known that something in his appearance reminded Katy of Uncle Ephraim. He was not nearly as old or as tall, nor was his hair as white, but the resemblance, if there were any, lay in the smile with which he greeted Katy, calling her his youngest child, and drawing her closely to him.
It was remarked of Mr. Cameron that since their babyhood he had never kissed one of his own children; but when Katy, who looked upon such a salutation as a matter of course, put up her rosy lips, making the first advance, he could not resist them, and he kissed her twice. Hearty, honest kisses they were, for the man was strongly drawn toward the young girl, who said to him, timidly:
"I am glad to have a father--mine died before I could remember him. May I call you so?"
"Yes, yes; G.o.d bless you, my child," and Mr. Cameron"s voice shook as he said it, for neither Bell nor Juno were wont to address him just as Katy did--Katy, standing close to him, with her hand upon his shoulder and her kiss yet fresh upon his lips.
She had already crept a long way into his heart, and he took her hand from his shoulder and holding it between his own, said to her:
"I did not think you were so small or young. You are my little daughter, my baby, instead of my son"s wife. How do you ever expect to fulfill the duties of Mrs. Wilford Cameron?"
"It"s my short hair, sir. I am not so young," Katy answered, her eyes filling with tears as she began to wish back the heavy braids which Helen cut away when the fever was at its height.
"Never mind, child," Mr. Cameron rejoined, playfully. "Youth is no reproach; there"s many a one would give their right hand to be young like you. Juno, for instance, who is--"
"Hus-band!" came reprovingly from Mrs. Cameron, spoken as only she could speak it, with a prolonged buzzing sound on the first syllable, and warning the husband that he was venturing too far.
"It is time to go down if Mrs. Cameron sees the young ladies before dinner," she said, a little stiffly; whereupon her better half startled Katy with the exclamation:
"Mrs. Cameron! Thunder and lightning, wife, call her Katy, and don"t go into any nonsense of that kind."
The lady reddened, but said nothing until she reached the hall, when she whispered to Katy, apologetically:
"Don"t mind it. He is rather irritable since his illness, and sometimes makes use of coa.r.s.e language."
Katy had been a little frightened at the outburst, but she liked Mr.
Cameron, notwithstanding, and her heart was lighter as she went down to the library, where Wilford met her at the door, and taking her on his arm led her in to his sisters, holding her back as he presented her, lest she should a.s.sault them as she had his mother. But Katy felt no desire to hug the tall, queenly girl whom Wilford introduced as Juno, and whose large, black eyes seemed to read her through as she offered her hand and very daintily kissed her forehead, murmuring something about a welcome to New York. Bell came next, broad-faced, plainer-looking Bell, who yet had many pretentions to beauty, but whose manner, if possible, was frostier, cooler, than her sister"s. Of the two, Katy liked Juno best, for there was about her a flash and sparkle very fascinating to one who had never seen anything of the kind and did not know that much of this vivacity was the result of patient study and practice. Katy would have known they were high-bred, as the world defines high breeding, and something in their manner reminded her of the ladies she had seen abroad, ladies in whose veins lordly blood was flowing. She could not help feeling uncomfortable in their presence, especially as she felt that Juno"s black eyes were on her constantly.
Not that she could ever meet them looking at her, for they darted away the instant hers were raised, but she knew just when they returned to her again, and how closely they were scanning her.
"Your wife looks tired, Will. Let her sit down," Bell said, herself wheeling the easy-chair nearer to the fire, while Wilford placed Katy in it; then, thinking she would get on better if he were not there, he left the room, and Katy was alone with her new sisters.
Juno had examined her dress and found no fault with it, simply because it was Parisian make; while Bell had examined her head, deciding that there might be something in it, though she doubted it, but that, at all events, short hair was very becoming to it, showing all its fine proportions, and half deciding to have her own locks cut away. Juno had a similar thought, wondering if it were the Paris fashion, and if she would look as young in proportion as Katy did were her hair worn on her neck.
With their brother"s departure, the tongues of both the girls were loosened, and standing near to Katy, they began to question her of what she had seen, Juno asking if she did not hate to leave Italy, and did not wish herself back again. Wholly truthful, Katy answered: "Oh, yes, I was very sorry, I would rather be there than here."
"Complimentary to us, very," Bell murmured audibly in French, blushing as Katy"s eyes were lifted quickly to hers, and she knew she was understood.
If there was anything which Katy liked more than another in the way of study, it was French. She had excelled in it at Canandaigua, and while abroad had taken great pains to acquire a pure p.r.o.nunciation, so that she spoke it with a good deal of fluency, and readily comprehended Bell.
"I did not mean to be rude," she said, earnestly. "I liked Italy so much, and we expected to stay longer; but that does not hinder my liking to be here. I hope I did not offend you."
"Certainly not; you are an honest little puss," Bell replied, placing her hand caressingly upon the curly head laying back so wearily on the chair. "Here in New York we have a bad way of not telling the whole truth, but you will soon be used to it."
"Used to not telling the truth! Oh, I hope not!" and this time the blue eyes lifted so wonderingly to Bell"s face had in them a startled look.
"Simpleton," was Juno"s comment, while Bell"s was: "I rather like the child," as she continued to smooth the golden curls and wound them around her finger, wondering if Katy had a taste for metaphysics, that being the last branch of science which she had taken up.
"I suppose you will find Will a pattern husband," Juno said, after a moment"s pause, and Katy replied: "There never could be a better, I am sure, and I have been very happy."