"Oh, Phronsie, he"s too big," expostulated Mr. King, in dismay.
"I can hold him just as easy, Grandpapa dear," said Phronsie, her lips drooping mournfully. "See." And she sat down on a big coil of rope near by and smoothed out her brown gown. "Please, Grandpapa dear."
"He"ll cry," said Mr. King, quickly. "Oh, no, Phronsie, it wouldn"t do to take him away from his mother. You see it would be dreadful to set that child to roaring--very dreadful indeed." Yet he hung over her in distress at the drooping little face.
"He won"t cry." The mother"s stolid face lighted up a moment. "And if the little lady wants to hold him, he"ll sit there."
"May I, Grandpapa?" cried Phronsie, her red lips curling into a happy smile. "Oh, please say I may, Grandpapa dear," clasping her hands.
"The family seems unusually clean," observed Mr. King to himself. "And the doctor says there"s no sickness on board, and it"s a very different lot of steerage folks going this way from coming out, all of which I"ve settled before coming down here," he reflected. "Well, Phronsie--yes--I see no reason why you may not hold the baby if you want to." And before the words were hardly out of his mouth, the chubby-faced woman had set the fat baby in the middle of the brown gown smoothed out to receive him. He clung to his pear with both hands and ate away with great satisfaction, regardless of his new resting-place.
"Just come here!" Mrs. Griswold, in immaculately fitting garments, evidently made up freshly for steamer use, beckoned with a hasty hand to her husband. "It"s worth getting up to see." He flung down his novel and tumbled out of his steamer chair. "Look down there!"
"_Whew!_" whistled Mr. Griswold; "that _is_ a sight!"
"And that is the great Horatio King!" exclaimed Mrs. Griswold under her breath; "down there in that dirty steerage--and look at that child--Reginald, did you ever see such a sight in your life?"
"On my honour, I never have," declared Mr. Griswold, solemnly, and wanting to whistle again.
"Sh!--don"t speak so loud," warned Mrs. Griswold, who was doing most of the talking herself. And plucking his sleeve, she emphasised every word with fearful distinctness close to his ear. "She"s got a dirty steerage baby in her lap, and Mr. King is laughing. Well, I never! O dear me, here come the young people!"
Polly and Jasper came on a brisk trot up the deck length. "Fifteen times around make a mile, don"t they, Jasper?" she cried.
"I believe they do," said Jasper, "but it isn"t like home miles, is it, Polly?"--laughing gaily--"or dear old Badgertown?"
"I should think not," replied Polly, with a little pang at her heart whenever Badgertown was mentioned. "We used to run around the little brown house, and see how many times we could do it without stopping."
"And how many did you, Polly?" asked Jasper,--"the largest number, I mean."
"Oh, I don"t know," said Polly, with a little laugh; "Joel beat us always, I remember that."
"Yes, Joe would get over the ground, you may be sure," said Jasper, "if anybody could."
Polly"s laugh suddenly died away and her face fell. "Jasper, you don"t know," she said, "how I do want to see those boys."
"I know," said Jasper, sympathisingly, "but you"ll get a letter, you know, most as soon as we reach port, for they were going to mail it before we left."
"And I have one every day in my mail-bag," said Polly, "but I want to _see_ them so, Jasper, I don"t know what to do." She went up to the rail at a remove from the Griswolds and leaned over it.
"Polly," said Jasper, taking her hand, "you know your mother will feel dreadfully if she knows you are worrying about it."
"I know it," said Polly, bravely, raising her head; "and I won"t--why Jasper Elyot King!" for then she saw Grandpapa and Phronsie and the steerage baby.
Jasper gave a halloo, and waved his hand, and Polly danced up and down and called, and waved her hands too. And Phronsie gave a little crow of delight. "See, Grandpapa, there they are; I want Polly--and Jasper, too." And old Mr. King whirled around. "O dear me! Come down, both of you," which command it did not take them long to obey.
"Well, I never did in all my life," e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Mrs. Griswold, "see anything like that. Now if some people"--she didn"t say "we"--"should do anything like that, "twould be dreadfully erratic and queer. But those Kings can do anything," she added, with venom.
"It"s pretty much so," a.s.sented Mr. Griswold, giving a lazy shake.
"Well, I"m going back to my chair if you"ve got through with me, Louisa." And he sauntered off.
"Don"t go, Reginald," begged his wife; "I haven"t got a soul to talk to."
"Oh, well, you can talk to yourself," said her husband, "any woman can." But he paused a moment.
"Haven"t those Pepper children got a good berth?" exclaimed Mrs.
Griswold, unable to keep her eyes off from the small group below. "And their Mother Pepper, or Fisher, or whatever her name is--I declare it"s just like a novel, the way I heard the story from Mrs. Vanderburgh about it all."
"And I wish you"d let me get back to my book, Louisa," exclaimed Mr.
Griswold, tartly, at the mention of the word "novel," beginning to look longingly at his deserted steamer chair, "for it"s precious little time I get to read on sh.o.r.e. Seems as if I might have a little peace at sea."
"Do go back and read, then," said his wife, impatiently; "that"s just like a man,--he can"t talk of anything but business, or he must have his nose in a book."
"We men want to talk sense," growled her husband, turning off. But Mrs.
Griswold was engrossed in her survey of Mr. King and the doings of his party, and either didn"t hear or didn"t care what was remarked outside of that interest.
Tom Selwyn just then ran up against some one as clumsily as ever. It proved to be the ship"s doctor, who surveyed him coldly and pa.s.sed on.
Tom gave a start and swallowed hard, then plunged after him. "Oh, I say."
"What is it?" asked Dr. Jones, pausing.
"Can I--I"d like--to see my Grandfather, don"t you know?"
Dr. Jones scanned him coolly from top to toe. Tom took it without wincing, but inwardly he felt as if he must shake to pieces.
"If you can so conduct yourself that your Grandfather will not be excited," at last said the doctor,--what an age it seemed to Tom,--"I see no reason why you shouldn"t see your Grandfather, and go back to your state-room. But let me tell you, young man, it was a pretty close shave for him the other day. Had he slipped away, you"d have had that on your conscience that would have lasted you for many a day." With this, and a parting keen glance, he turned on his heel and strode off.
Tom gave a great gasp, clenched his big hands tightly together, took a long look at the wide expanse of water, then disappeared within.
In about half an hour, the steerage baby having gone to sleep in Phronsie"s arms, the brothers and sisters, finding, after the closest inspection, nothing more to eat in the basket, gathered around the centre of attraction in a small bunch.
"I hope they won"t wake up the baby," said Phronsie, in gentle alarm.
"Never you fear," said old Mr. King, quite comfortable now in the camp-chair one of the sailors had brought in response to a request from Jasper; "that child knows very well by this time, I should imagine, what noise is."
But after a little, the edge of their curiosity having been worn off, the small group began to get restive, and to clamour and pull at their mother for want of something better to do.
"O dear me!" said Phronsie, in distress.
"Dear, dear!" echoed Polly, vainly trying to induce the child next to the baby to get into her lap; "something must be done. Oh, don"t you want to hear about a funny cat, children? I"m going to tell them about Grandma Bascom"s, Jasper," she said, seeing the piteous look in Phronsie"s eyes.
"Yes, we do," said one of the boys, as spokesman, and he solemnly bobbed his tow head, whereat all the children then bobbed theirs.
"Sit down, then," said Polly, socially making way for them, "all of you in a circle, and I"ll tell you of that very funny cat." So the whole bunch of tow-headed children sat down in a ring, and solemnly folded their hands in their laps. Jasper threw himself down where he could edge himself in. Old Mr. King leaned back and surveyed them with great satisfaction. So Polly launched out in her gayest mood, and the big blue eyes in the round faces before her widened, and the mouths flew open, showing the white teeth; and the stolid mother leaned forward, and her eyes and mouth looked just like those of her children, only they were bigger; and at last Polly drew a long breath and wound up with a flourish, "And that"s all."
"Tell another," said one of the round-eyed, open-mouthed children, without moving a muscle. All the rest sat perfectly still.
"O dear me," said Polly, with a little laugh, "that was such a good long one, you can"t want another."
"I think you"ve gotten yourself into business, Polly," said Jasper, with a laugh. "Hadn"t we better go?"