Miss Fletcher pa.s.sed her arm around the child"s shoulders. "I want you to stay to supper with us to-morrow night, dear. Ask your uncle if you may."
"Thank you, I"d love to," returned the child, and was skipping off.
"Wait a minute." Miss Fletcher stooped and with her scissors cut a moss rose so full of sweetness that as she handed it to her guest, Hazel hugged her.
The following day was fresh and bright. Flossie"s best pink gown and hair ribbons made her look like a rose, herself, to Hazel, as the little girl, very fine in a white frock and ribbons, came skipping up the street. Miss Fletcher stood watching them as her niece ran toward the wheeled chair.
The l.u.s.tre in Flossie"s eyes made her heart glad; but the visitor stopped short in the midst of the garden and clasped her hands.
"Oh, aunt Hazel!" she cried, "the quest flower!"
Miss Fletcher nodded and slowly drew near. The stately lily looked like a queen among her subjects.
"Yes, it is to-day," she said softly, "to-day."
She could not settle to her sewing, but, leaving the children together for their work and play, walked up and down the garden paths. Later she went into the house and upstairs and put on her best black silk dress. An unusual color came into her cheeks while she dressed. "The bulb was humility," she murmured over and over, under her breath.
The afternoon was drawing to a close when Miss Fletcher at last moved out of doors and to the elm-tree. "I didn"t bring you any lunch to-day," she said to the children, "because I want you to be hungry for a good supper."
"Can we have the dishes just the same?" asked Flossie.
"The owner is going to have them to-night," replied Miss Fletcher, and both the little girls regarded her flushed face with eager curiosity.
"Why, have you asked her?" they cried together.
"Yes."
"Does she know she"s going to have the tea-set?"
"No."
"Oh, what fun!" exclaimed Flossie. "I didn"t know she was in town."
"Yes, she is in town." Miss Fletcher turned to Hazel and put her hand on the child"s shoulder. "We must do everything we can to celebrate taking the flower to the King."
Only then the children noticed that aunt Hazel had her bonnet on.
"Oh," cried the child, bewildered, "are you going to _do_ it?"
Miss Fletcher met her radiant eyes thoughtfully. "If I should take the flower of consecration to the King, Hazel, I know what would be the first errand He would give me to do. I am going to do it now. Go on playing. I shan"t be gone long."
She moved away down the garden path and out of the gate.
"What do you suppose it is?" asked Flossie.
"I don"t know," returned Hazel simply. "Something right;" and then they took up their dolls again.
Miss Fletcher did not return very soon. In fact, nearly an hour had slipped away before she came up the street, and then a man was with her. As they entered the gate Hazel looked up.
"Uncle d.i.c.k, uncle d.i.c.k!" she cried gladly, jumping up and running to meet him. He and Miss Fletcher both looked very happy, as they all moved over to Flossie"s chair. Mr. Badger"s kind eyes looked down into hers and he carried her into the house in his strong arms. Hazel followed, rolling the chair and having many happy thoughts; but she did not understand even a little of the situation until they all went into the dining-room and Flossie was carefully seated in the place the hostess indicated.
The white and gold tea-set was not in front of Flossie this time, but grouped about another place. Hazel"s quick eyes noted that there were four seats, but before she had time to speak of the expected child--happy owner of the tea-set--uncle d.i.c.k spoke:--
"Where do I go, aunt Hazel?"
The child"s eyes widened at such familiarity. "Why, uncle d.i.c.k!" she e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed.
He and the hostess both regarded her, smiling.
"She is my aunt," he said; and then he lifted Hazel into the chair before the pretty china. "I believe these are your dishes," he added.
The child leaned back in her chair and looked from one to another. Slowly, slowly, she understood. That was the aunt Hazel who gave her the silver spoon. It had been aunt Hazel all the time! She suddenly jumped down from her chair, and, running to Miss Fletcher, hugged her without a word.
Aunt Hazel embraced her very tenderly. "Yes, my lamb," she whispered, "error crept in, but it has crept out again, I hope forever;" and through the wide-open windows came the perfume of the quest flower: pure, strong, beautiful,--radiantly white in the evening glow.
Before Hazel went back to Boston, Flossie"s mother came to Miss Fletcher"s, and the change for the better in her little daughter filled her with wonder and joy. With new hope she followed the line of treatment suggested by a little girl, and by the time another summer came around, two happy children played again in aunt Hazel"s garden, both as free as the sweet air and sunshine, for Divine Love had made Flossie "every whit whole."
CHAPTER X
THE APPLE WOMAN"S STORY
Jewel told her grandfather all about it that day while they were having their late afternoon ride.
"And so the little girl got well," he commented.
"Yes, and could run and play and have the most _fun_!" returned Jewel joyously.
"And aunt Hazel made it up with her nephew."
"Yes. Why don"t people know that all they have to do is to put on more love to one another? Just supposing, grandpa, that you hadn"t loved me so much when I first came."
"H"m. It _is_ fortunate that I was such an affectionate old fellow!"
"Mother says we all have to tend the flower and carry it to the King before we"re really happy. Do you know it made us both think of the same thing when at last the man did it."
"What was that?"
"Our hymn:--
"My hope I cannot measure, My path in life is free, My Father has my treasure And He will walk with me!"
Don"t you begin to love mother very much, grandpa?"