"Are you really and truly very glad, Polly?" she asked.
"Really and truly I am so glad I don"t know what to do," said Polly, kneeling down by the chair-side. "Don"t you see we are so much the richer, Phronsie? We have lost nothing, and we gain Dr. Fisher. Dear splendid Dr. Fisher!"
"You"ve always wanted to repay Dr. Fisher for his kindness," said Mr.
King, "and now"s your chance, Polly."
"I guess he"ll get his pay back for his stove," cried Joel in a burst; "Polly will wait on him, and kill herself doing things for him."
"And for your new eyes," sang Phronsie in a pleased way. "Oh, Polly!"
She jumped out of the old gentleman"s lap, and began to dance around the room, softly clapping her hands and exclaiming, "Oh, Polly!"
"Well, now, children," said Mr. King, as the excitement ran low, "you just run and tell your mother, every one of you, how happy she will make you by bringing Dr. Fisher here as your father. Scamper, now!"
No need to urge them. On the wings of the wind ran the five Peppers up into Mamsie"s own room. Mrs. Pepper for once turning aside from the claim of her pressing duties, was standing by the work table. Here stood the mending basket before her, piled to the brim with the weekly installment of stockings big and little, clamoring for attention. But the usually busy needle lay idle, and the busier hands were folded, as the mother-heart went over the words she knew were being rehea.r.s.ed downstairs by the kind friend who had made a home for them. He was pleading her cause with her children.
"They shall be happy, anyway," she said softly to herself, "bless their hearts!" as they burst in.
"Mother," said Ben--How the boy"s cheek glowed! And what a world of joy rang in the usually quiet tones!--"we want to thank you for giving us Dr. Fisher for a father."
"Mamsie," Polly hid her happy face on the dear neck, "I"ve always loved him, you know; oh! I"m so glad."
Joel whooped out something incoherent, but his face told the words, while Davie clasped one of the firm, closely folded hands.
"If you"ll take me in your lap as much as ever," said Phronsie deliberately, and patting the other hand, "why I shall be really and truly glad, Mamsie."
"Bless your dear heart!" cried Mother Pepper, clasping her tightly, "and you children, all of you," and she drew them all within her arms.
"Now I want you to understand, once for all, that it isn"t to be unless you all wish it. You are sure Mr. King hasn"t persuaded you to like it?"
"Look at us," cried Ben, throwing back his head to see her eyes. "Do we act as if we had been talked over?"
At that, Polly burst into a merry laugh; and the others joining, Mother Pepper laughing as heartily as the rest, the big room became the jolliest place imaginable.
"No, I don"t really think you do," said Mrs. Pepper, wiping her eyes.
"Dear me!" cried Jasper, putting his head in the doorway, "what good fun is going on? I"m not going to be left out."
"Come in, Jasper," they all called.
"And we"ve a piece of news that will make your hair stand on end," said Joel gaily.
"Joe, don"t announce it so," cried Polly in dismay, who dearly enjoyed being elegant. "Ben must tell it; he is the oldest."
"No, no; let Polly," protested Ben.
"Polly shall," said Jasper, hurrying in to stand the picture of patience before the group. "Hurry, do, for I must say my curiosity is hard to keep within bounds."
So Polly was gently pushed into the center of the circle. "Go on," said Joel, "and hurry up, or I shall tell myself."
"Jasper," said Polly, her breath coming fast, "oh! you can"t think; we are so glad"--But she got no further, for Phronsie, rushing out of Mother Pepper"s arms, piped out suddenly:
"Dr. Fisher is coming here to live always and forever, and I"m going to ride in his gig, and Mamsie likes him, and I"m going to call him father; now, Jasper, I told you!"
"I should think you did," exclaimed Ben.
"Whew!" cried Jasper, "that is a piece of news all in one breath. Well, Mrs. Pepper, I"m glad of it, too. I congratulate you." With that, he marched up to her, Phronsie hanging to his arm, and shook her hand heartily.
And in two days everybody in the King set knew that the mother of the five little Peppers was going to be married.
"I should think you"d want to be condoled with, Ben," said Pickering Dodge, clapping him on the shoulder as he rushed down the aisle of the store occupied by Cabot & Van Meter.
"Halloo!" said Ben, "can"t stop," rushing past.
"I suppose not," said Pickering carelessly, and striding after, "so I"ll whisper my gentle congratulations in your ear "on the wing." But I"m awfully sorry for you, Ben," he added, as he came up to him.
"You needn"t be," said Ben brightly, "we are all as glad as can be."
"Sweet innocent, you don"t know a stepfather," said Pickering lugubriously.
"I know Dr. Fisher," said Ben, "that"s enough."
"Well, when you want comfort, come to me," said Pickering, "or your uncle!"
"Don"t you fill Ben"s ears with your foolishness," said the Senior Partner, coming out of the counting-room. "Take yourself off, Pickering; you"re hindering Ben."
Pickering laughed. "I"m caught in the very act. Now, Ben, remember I"m your friend when you get into trouble with your dear pa. Good-by, Uncle," with a bright nod, and a lazy shake of his long figure. "Trade always demoralizes me. I"ll get back to my books," and he vanished as quickly as he came.
"Back to your books," said his uncle grimly, "hum, I wish you would.
See here, Ben," he put a controlling hand on the boy"s shoulder, "one word with you," marching him into the private office of the firm.
"Don"t you follow Pickering too closely, my boy," he said abruptly; "he"s a good lad in the main, but if he is my nephew, I must give you warning. He"s losing ground."
Ben lifted his head in sudden alarm. "Oh! I hope not, sir," he said.
"It"s a fact. Master Nelson says he could be first scholar in the grammar, but for the last six months he"s failed steadily. There"s no particular reason, only ambition"s gone. And when you say that, you mean there"s a general collapse of all my hopes concerning him."
"Oh! no, sir," Ben kept on protesting, his ruddy cheek losing its color. "He"ll take hold by and by and give a pull at his books again."
"It isn"t a pull now and then that gets a man up hill," observed Mr.
Cabot, leaning back in his revolving chair to look into the blue eyes, "that you know as well as I. Now, Ben, I"m not going to see you throw away your prospects, too. Don"t let him influence you in the wrong way.
He"s bright and attractive, but don"t pay attention to his ridicule of good things."
"I"ve a mother," said Ben proudly, "and I don"t believe any boy could say much to me, that I"d think of twice, if she didn"t like it."
"You always tell her everything, do you, Ben?" asked Mr. Cabot with a curious glance.
"I should think so, sir," said Ben, with a short laugh.
"You"ll do, then," said Mr. Cabot, bringing his palm down on a pile of unread letters awaiting him. "Go ahead. I don"t promise anything, but I will say this. If you work on as you have done these two years since you came in here as errand boy, Ben, I"ll make you a power in the house. Understand I don"t expect you to do brilliant things; that isn"t in your line. You will be a success only as a steady, faithful worker.
But keep at it, and hang on to Cabot & Van Meter, and we"ll hang on to you."