"An" Ize doin" to wear my takker-hat," said Toddie. "An" my wed djuvs."
"That"s his ta.s.sel-hat an" his red gloves," continued the interpreter.
"Toddie, you can"t wear gloves such hot days as these," said I.
A look of inquiry was speedily followed by Toddie"s own unmistakable preparations for weeping; and as I did not want his eyes dimmed when his mother looked into them I hastily exclaimed:--
"Put them on, then--put on the mantle of rude Boreas, if you choose; but don"t go to crying."
"Don"t want no mantle-o"-wude-bawyusses," declared Toddie, following me phonetically, "wantsh my own pitty cozhesh, an" n.o.body eshesh."
"O Uncle Harry!" exclaimed Budge, "I want to bring mamma home in my goat-carriage!"
"The goat isn"t strong enough, Budge, to draw mamma and you."
"Well, then, let me drive down to the depot just to SHOW papa an" mamma I"ve got a goat-carriage--I"m sure mamma would be very unhappy when she found out I had one, and she hadn"t seen it first thing."
"Well, I guess you may follow me down, Budge, but you must drive very carefully."
"Oh, yes--I wouldn"t get us hurt when mamma was coming, for ANYthing."
"Now, boys," said I, "I want you to stay in the house and play this morning. If you go out of doors you"ll get yourselves dirty."
"I guess the sun"ll be disappointed if it don"t have us to look at,"
suggested Budge.
"Never mind," said I, "the sun"s old enough to have learned to be patient."
Breakfast over, the boys moved reluctantly away to the play-room, while I inspected the house and grounds pretty closely, to see that everything should at least fail to do my management discredit. A dollar given to Mike and another to Maggie were of material a.s.sistance in this work, so I felt free to adorn the parlors and Helen"s chamber with flowers. As I went into the latter room I heard some one at the wash-stand, which was in the alcove, and on looking I saw Toddie drinking the last of the contents of a goblet which contained a dark-colored mixture.
"Ize takin" black medshin," said Toddie; "I likes black medshin awfoo muts."
"What do you make it of?" I asked, with some sympathy, and tracing parental influence again. When Helen and I were children we spent hours in soaking liquorice in water and administering it as medicine.
"Makesh it out of shoda mitsture," said Toddie.
This was another medicine of our childhood days, but one prepared according to physician"s prescription, and not beneficial when taken ad libitum. As I took the vial--a two-ounce one--I asked:--
"How much did you take, Toddie?"
"Took whole bottoo full--twas nysh," said he.
Suddenly the label caught my eye--it read PAREGORIC. In a second I had s.n.a.t.c.hed a shawl, wrapped Toddie in it, tucked him under my arm, and was on my way to the barn. In a moment more I was on one of the horses and galloping furiously to the village, with Toddie under one arm, his yellow curls streaming in the breeze. People came out and stared as they did at John Gilpin, while one old farmer whom I met turned his team about, whipped up furiously, and followed me, shouting "Stop thief!" I afterward learned that he took me to be one of the abductors of Charley Ross, with the lost child under my arm, and that visions of the $20,000 reward floated before his eyes. In front of an apothecary"s I brought the horse suddenly upon his haunches, and dashed in, exclaiming:--
"Give this child a strong emetic--quick. He"s swallowed poison!"
The apothecary hurried to his prescription-desk, while a motherly-looking Irish woman upon whom he had been waiting, exclaimed, "Holy Mither! I"ll run an" fetch Father O"Kelley," and hurried out.
Meanwhile Toddie, upon whom the medicine had not commenced to take effect, had seized the apothecary"s cat by the tail, which operation resulted in a considerable vocal protest from that animal.
The experiences of the next few moments were more p.r.o.nounced and revolutionary than pleasing to relate in detail. It is sufficient to say that Toddie"s weight was materially diminished, and that his complexion was temporarily pallid. Father O"Kelley arrived at a brisk run, and was honestly glad to find that his services were not required, although I a.s.sured him that if Catholic baptism and a sprinkling of holy water would improve Toddie"s character, I thought there was excuse for several applications. We rode quietly back to the house, and while I was asking Maggie to try to coax Toddie into taking a nap, I heard the patient remark to his brother:--
"Budgie, down to the village I was a whay-al. I didn"t froe up Djonah, but I froed up a whole floor full of uvver fings." During the hour which pa.s.sed before it was time to start for the depot, my sole attention was devoted to keeping the children from soiling their clothes; but my success was so little, that I lost my temper entirely.
First they insisted upon playing on a part of the lawn which the sun had not yet reached. Then, while I had gone into the house for a match to light my cigar, Toddie had gone with his damp shoes into the middle of the road, where the dust was ankle deep. Then they got upon their hands and knees on the piazza and played bear. Each one wanted to pick a bouquet for his mother, and Toddie took the precaution to smell every flower he approached--an operation which caused him to get his nose covered with lily-pollen, so that he looked like a badly used prize-fighter. In one of their spasms of inaction, Budge asked:--
"What makes some of the men in church have no hair on the tops of their heads, Uncle Harry?"
"Because," said I, pausing long enough to shake Toddie for trying to get my watch out of my pocket, "because they have bad little boys to bother them all the time, so their hair drops out."
"I dess MY hairs is a-goin" to drop out pitty soon, then," remarked Toddie, with an injured air.
"Harness the horses, Mike," I shouted.
"An" the goat, too," added Budge.
Five minutes later I was seated in the carriage, or rather in Tom"s two-seated open wagon. "Mike," I shouted, "I forgot to tell Maggie to have some lunch ready for the folks when they get here--run, tell her, quick, won"t you?"
"Oye, oye, sur," said Mike, and off he went.
"Are you all ready, boys?" I asked.
"In a minute," said Budge; "soon as I fix this. Now," he continued, getting into his seat, and taking the reins and whip, "go ahead."
"Wait a moment, Budge--put down that whip, and don"t touch the goat with it once on the way. I"m going to drive very slowly--there"s plenty of time, and all you need to do is to hold your reins."
"All right," said Budge, "but I like to look like mans when I drive."
"You may do that when somebody can run beside you. Now!"
The horses started at a gentle trot, and the goat followed very closely. When within a minute of the depot, however, the train swept in. I had intended to be on the platform to meet Tom and Helen, but my watch was evidently slow. I gave the horses the whip, looked behind and saw the boys were close upon me, and I was so near the platform when I turned my head that nothing but the sharpest of turns saved me from a severe accident. The n.o.ble animals saw the danger as quickly as I did, however, and turned in marvelously small s.p.a.ce; as they did so, I heard two hard thumps upon the wooden wall of the little depot, heard also two frightful howls, saw both my nephews considerably mixed up on the platform, while the driver of the Bloom-Park stage growled in my ear:--
"What in thunder did you let "em hitch that goat to your axle-tree for?"
I looked, and saw the man spoke with just cause. How the goat"s head and shoulders had maintained their normal connection during the last minute of my drive, I leave for naturalists to explain. I had no time to meditate on the matter just then, for the train had stopped.
Fortunately the children had struck on their heads, and the Lawrence-Burton skull is a marvel of solidity. I set them upon their feet, brushed them off with my hands, promised them all the candy they could eat for a week, wiped their eyes, and hurried them to the other side of the depot. Budge rushed at Tom, exclaiming:--
"See my goat, papa!"
Helen opened her arms, and Toddie threw himself into them, sobbing:--
"Mam--MA! shing "Toddie one-boy-day!""
How uncomfortable a man CAN feel in the society of a dearly-loved sister and an incomparable brother-in-law I never imagined until that short drive. Helen was somewhat concerned about the children, but she found time to look at me with so much of sympathy, humor, affection, and condescension that I really felt relieved when we reached the house. I hastily retired to my own room, but before I had shut the door Helen was with me, and her arms were about my neck; before the dear old girl removed them we had grown far nearer to each other than we had ever been before.
And how gloriously the rest of the day pa.s.sed off. We had a delightful little lunch, and Tom brought up a bottle of Roederer, and Helen didn"t remonstrate when he insisted on its being drank from her finest gla.s.ses, and there were toasts drank to "Her" and "Her Mother," and to the Benedict that was to be. And then Helen proposed "the makers of the match--Budge and Toddie!" which was honored with b.u.mpers. The gentlemen toasted did not respond, but they stared so curiously that I sprang from my chair and kissed them soundly, upon which Tom and Helen exchanged significant glances.
Then Helen walked down to Mrs. Clarkson"s boarding-house, all for the purpose of showing a lady there with a skirt to make over just how she had seen a similar garment rearranged exquisitely. And Alice strolled down to the gate with her to say good-by; and they had so much to talk about that Helen walked Alice nearly to our house, and then insisted on her coming the rest of the way so she might be driven home. And then Mike was sent back with a note to say to Mrs. Mayton that her daughter had been prevailed upon to stay to evening dinner, but would be sent home under capable escort. And after dinner was over and the children put to bed, Tom groaned that he MUST attend a road-board meeting, and Helen begged us to excuse her just a minute while she ran into the doctor"s to ask how poor Mrs. Brown had been doing, and she consumed three hours and twenty-five minutes in asking, bless her sympathetic soul!
The dreaded ending of my vacation did not cause me as many pangs as I had expected. Helen wanted to know one evening why, if her poor, dear Tom could go back and forth to the city to business every day, her lazy big brother couldn"t go back and forth to Hillcrest daily, if she were to want him as a boarder for the remainder of the season. Although I had for years inveighed against the folly of cultivated people leaving the city to find residences, Helen"s argument was unanswerable and I submitted. I did even more; I purchased a lovely bit of ground (though the deed stands in Tom"s name for the present), and Tom has brought up several plans of cottage-houses, and every evening they are spread on the dining-room table, and there gather round them four people, among whom are a white-goods salesman, and a young lady with the brightest of eyes and cheeks full of roses and lilies. This latter-named personage has her own opinions of the merits of all plans suggested, and insisted that whatever plan IS adopted MUST have a lovely room to be set apart as the exclusive property of Helen"s boys. Young as these gentlemen are I find frequent occasions to be frightfully jealous of them, but they are unmoved by either my frowns or persuasions--artifice alone is able to prevent their monopolizing the time of an adorable being of whose society I cannot possibly have too much. She insists that when the ceremony takes place in December, they shall officiate as groomsmen, and I have not the slightest doubt that she will carry her point. In fact, I confess to frequent affectionate advances toward them myself, and when I retire without first seeking their room and putting a grateful kiss upon their unconscious lips, my conscience upbraids me with base ingrat.i.tude. To think I might yet be a hopeless bachelor had it not been for them, is to overflow with thankfulness to the giver of HELEN"S BABIES.