"And you won"t miss your uncles at all," he returned half sadly, yet with a faint smile, and laying a hand caressingly upon her shoulder as she sat on the sofa by his side.
"Oh, uncle, yes; yes, indeed!" she answered earnestly, tears springing to her eyes, "you have been so very, very good to us. And oh, I shall be sorry to leave Dorothy, who nursed Nannette so kindly and has been such a lovely comforter and helper to us in all our sorrow and cares."
"Yes, Dorothy is a good, kind-hearted, helpful girl," he responded, "almost as dear to me as my own nieces; even the two who have no father to love and care for them."
"Dear uncle, it makes me feel very happy to hear you say you love Ethel and me. I don"t remember that ever you told me so before, though I always thought you did--at least a little bit," Blanche returned, her eyes shining, while she ventured to put an arm about his neck and touch his cheek with her lips.
"A good big bit, my dear child," he said in reply, putting an arm about her and returning her caress with interest. "I hope you will be very happy in the new home which that young man is getting ready for you, but that you won"t entirely forget your old uncles who have loved and tried to provide for their dead brother"s children."
"Not dead, uncle dear, but only gone before to the better land," Ethel said in tones tremulous with emotion. "No, no, indeed; we could not possibly forget you or Uncle Albert, who has been so very kind to us; if we could we ought to be considered the basest of ingrates."
"I agree with you there, Ethel," said Harry. "And Uncle George, I am delighted with the idea you have advanced. I think I should like nothing better; and in case you decide to try the experiment I promise to do my very best to make it a success."
"Well, my boy, I will talk to my brother about it. Ah, here he is," as at that moment Mr. Albert Eldon entered the room.
"What was that you were talking of as I came in?" he asked when he had exchanged greetings with his nieces and taken an offered armchair.
At that his brother told of the suggestion he had made to Harry, concluding by asking his opinion of the matter.
"I think it might be very well to try it," returned Mr. Albert, "but we will be better able to decide that question after learning more about the place from Percy and Stuart; their fathers too, who will probably be the better judges of the wisdom of such an undertaking."
"Very well, then, we will take the thing into consideration; and in the meantime let you, Harry, make the needed enquiries," said Mr. George; then turned the talk upon other topics, asking his nieces what was the time fixed upon for the weddings.
"It is not fixed yet, uncle," replied Ethel with a blush and smile, "but we talk of some day early in June."
"The month of roses!" he said. "There is no lovelier time in the year to my thinking, and I hope weather and everything else may prove propitious. But what about the trousseau for each of you? Your Uncle Albert and I wish to provide that."
"Thank you very, very much, uncles!" exclaimed both the girls in a breath; "but we think you have already done more than we had any right or reason to expect."
"Not more by any means than we are disposed to do for our dead brother"s children," he replied, Mr. Albert adding, "No, nor nearly so much. I will give each a hundred dollars to be laid out in that way."
"And I will do the same," added their Uncle George, "and I want the double wedding to take place in my parlor, Albert and I dividing the expense between us. We have talked it all over calculating the probable cost."
"Oh, how kind and generous you are, uncles!" exclaimed Ethel, her eyes full of grateful tears; "but it will make so much work for----"
"No matter for that," interrupted her Uncle George with simulated gruffness. "Mrs. Wood and Dorothy will be only too glad of the opportunity to make a grand display of refreshments and so forth, and will enjoy seeing how the brides are dressed, how pretty they look, and how they behave--with what modest grace they carry off their honors.
Besides your Aunt Sarah wants to see the ceremony and cannot well get out to look upon it in any other place."
"And there is no place that I should like better, uncle," said Blanche, her face beaming with pleasure. "It is my old home, where I was always so kindly treated by you, and no other place could be more like a father"s house for me to be married from."
"But mine I hope would not be less like a father"s house to you, Blanche?" remarked Mr. Albert Eldon, looking affectionately into her eyes.
"No, uncle, dear, yours would be just about the same, for I cannot make up my mind which of you I love the best," returned Blanche, giving to him also a look of ardent affection. "I have only one regret in going away to my new home--that I must leave you two, and other dear relatives behind."
"That is my case also," said Ethel, "but we will hope for many a good visit from the dear ones we must part from for a time when we go."
"And the visits must be returned," said Uncle Albert, "and you two being so much younger than my good brother and I, must expect to give two to one."
"Yes, that would be only fair," said his brother. "Ah, Ethel, I hear that my prospective nephews are making ready some pretty cages for their birds."
"They are both building, sir," replied Ethel with a smile and a blush; "but the cages are to accommodate themselves as well as their mates, and each is to be a gift from the father of the future owner. They have sent us the plans, and we are delighted with them."
"They are submitted to us for any alteration we may desire to suggest,"
added Blanche, "but we can think of scarcely any improvement. They are to be side by side, the gardens running together, and face the river, which we are told is a beautiful stream of clear, rapidly flowing water, the banks green to its very edge. And the houses of the parents of the male birds," she added with a merry laugh, "are less than a square away.
Would you like to see the plans, uncles?"
The reply was a pleased a.s.sent from both, and she brought them. They examined them with evident interest, making favorable comments, asking some questions, and suggesting a few slight alterations which they thought would be improvements.
"Very desirable residences they seem likely to be," was Mr. George Eldon"s comment when they had finished their inspection, "and I trust they will prove happy homes to my nieces."
"Ethel and I mean to try to make them such to their owners," remarked Blanche with an arch look and smile. "Of course, having never seen the place ourselves, we can only take the word of those who have as to the beauty of the surroundings; but I feel sure I shall better enjoy gazing upon a beautiful, clear, swiftly flowing river, gra.s.s, flowers, and trees, than upon brick pavements and white shutters, white marble doorsteps and the like, so trying to the eyes."
"No doubt of it," said her Uncle Albert, "but life will have its troubles and trials, whether it be pa.s.sed in city or country. You must not expect paradise, even in a snug little home of your own with a kind husband indoors, and clear flowing waters, flowers, and other lovely things outside."
"No, I do not, uncle," she said laughingly, "yet I cannot divest myself of the idea--the hope--that the contemplated change will be for the better, even if I have the troublesome charge of a man"s happiness committed to my care; his happiness at least so far as a neat, well-kept home and well-spread table can secure it."
"Well, my dear child, though not everything, they are a great deal to a man, and if you add a cheerful, sunny temper, and all needed care and attention to his comfort in other matters, I think he will be blessed with a happy home and a wife whom he can respect and love, probably with increasing affection as the years roll by, your own love for him increasing also."
"You are looking very grave, Ethel," he added, turning to her, "do you not agree with me in the sentiments I have expressed?"
"Oh, yes, sir; yes, indeed!" she answered in earnest tones, "and I have a very ardent desire, a very determined purpose to do all in my power to make a happy home for Percy--to be as good a wife and housekeeper as his mother is. I think there could not be a better, judging from all I have heard from him and the relatives we were with this summer--and I am resolved to learn all I can on those subjects from her. I wish you and Uncle George knew her, she is so lovely, so dear and good and kind. Oh, I think it will be delightful to be numbered among her daughters--especially after having been so long motherless."
"Yes; I am glad for you, my dear," he said, then turning to her sister, "But you, Blanche, it seems have not seen your future mother-in-law yet?"
"No, sir; but I am willing to risk the danger of finding her disagreeable, for Stuart has a.s.sured me she is no less lovable than his aunt, whom I like fully as much as Ethel does. Indeed _like_ is hardly a strong enough word to express my feelings for either her or her daughters. I love them--all three of them--dearly."
"That is right," he said. "When do you give up here?" he asked, turning to Ethel. "Your year is out in April, is it not?"
"Yes, sir."
"And the wedding is to be in June. I want you to come to my house to spend the weeks that intervene. You can make your preparations there, having all the help you want from dressmakers and seamstresses."
"Don"t take more than your fair share, Albert," said his brother; "a part of their time should be spent with us."
"But you are going to give the wedding. Ah, well! they may come and go between the two houses as may suit their convenience and inclination, and you must let me bear my share of all the expenses."
"Yes, brother, we will have an amicable settlement when all is over,"
returned Mr. George as he rose to take leave, for it was nearing bedtime; and with an affectionate good-night to the nieces and nephew the two took their departure.
"Who has kinder uncles than ours?" exclaimed Blanche, as the door closed upon them. "It fairly gives me a heartache to think of going where I shall perhaps never see them again!" and she heaved a sigh which seemed to come from the bottom of her heart.
"Yes," sighed Ethel, "how few earthly pleasures there are that do not bring some sorrow with them. But oh! it will not be so in the better land, for the Bible tells us there shall be no more death, sorrow, crying, or pain."
"And Nan is there; dear, dear Nan, so peaceful and happy! Oh, I am sure she would not come back to earth if she could," said Blanche softly, and wiping away a tear.