The children"s thanks were cut short by the click of a latch-key in the hall-door.
"There"s Papa!" cried Bertha; and, like three arrows dismissed from the string, the children were off to greet him. It was always a joy to have Papa come home.
He was looking grave as he opened the door, but his face lit up at once at the sight of his little girls. Papa"s face without a smile upon it would have seemed a strange sight indeed to that household. It did cross May"s mind that evening that the smiles were not so merry as usual, and that Papa seemed tired; but no one else noticed it, either then or on the days that followed.
Bubbles are pretty things, but the keeping them in air grows wearisome after a while. About this time the rainbow bubble set afloat by the kind Fairy for the sleeping Prince began to misbehave itself. Contrary winds seized it; it flew wildly, now here, now there; and, instead of sailing steadily, it was first up, then down, then up again, but more down than up. Prince John blew his hardest and did his best to keep it from sinking; for he knew, as we all do, that once let a bubble touch the earth, and all is over,--its glittering wings collapse,--they fly no more.
So the weeks went on. Unconscious of trouble, the children dug and planted in their little gardens. Each new leaf and shoot was a wonder and a delight to them. Bertha"s plants flourished less than the others, because of a habit she had of digging them all up daily to see how the roots were coming on; but, except for that, all went well, and the bluest of skies stretched itself over the heads of the small gardeners.
In the City, where Papa"s office was, the sky was not blue at all. High winds were blowing, stormy black clouds shut out the sun. Bubbles were sinking and bursting on every side, and men"s hearts were heavy and anxious. Prince John did his best. He watched his bubble anxiously, and followed it far. It was fairy-blessed, as I said, and its wings were stronger than bubble"s wings usually are; but at last the day came when it could soar no longer. The pretty shining sphere hovered, sank, touched a rock, and in a minute--hey! presto!--there was no bubble there; it had utterly disappeared, and Prince Frisbie, with a very sober face, walked home to tell his wife that he had lost every thing they had in the world. This was not a pleasant or an easy thing to do, as you can readily imagine.
The children never forgot this evening. They used to vaguely refer to it among themselves as "That time, you know." Papa came in very quiet and pale, and shut himself up with Mamma. She--poor soul!--was much distressed, and sobbed and cried. They heard her as they came downstairs dressed for the evening, and it frightened them. Papa, coming out after a while, found them huddled together in a dismayed little group in the corner of the entry.
"O Papa! is it any thing dreadful?" asked May. "Is Mamma sick?"
"No, not sick, darling, but very much troubled about something. Come with me and I will explain it to you." Then Papa led them into the dining-room; and, with Bertha on his knee and the others close to him, he told them that he had lost a great deal of money (almost all he had), and they would have to sell the place, and go and live in a little house somewhere,--he didn"t yet know exactly where.
The children had looked downcast enough when Papa commenced, but at this point their faces brightened.
"A really little house?" exclaimed May. "O Papa! do you know, I"m glad.
Little houses are so pretty and cunning, I always wanted to live in one.
Susie Brown"s Papa does, and Susie can go into the kitchen whenever she likes, and she toasts the bread for tea, and does all sorts of things.
Do you suppose that I may toast the bread when we go to live in our little house, Papa?"
"I daresay Mamma will be glad of your help in a great many ways,"
replied Papa.
"Shall we be poor, very poor indeed?" demanded Bertha anxiously.
"Pretty poor for the present, I am afraid," replied her Father.
"Goody! goody!" cried May, hopping up and down on her toes. "I always wanted to be poor, it"s so nice! We"ll have the _best_ times, Papa; see if we don"t!"
Papa actually laughed, May"s happy, eager face amused him so much.
"I know what we"ll do," said Jack, who had been considering the matter in silence. "We"ll raise lots of chickens, and give you all the money, Papa."
"My boy, I am afraid you must give up your chickens. There will be no place for them in the new home."
"Must we?" Jack gave a little gulp, but went on manfully, "Well, never mind, we"ll find something else that we can do."
"Mr. Ashurst says Jack is the "handiest" boy he ever saw, Papa," put in Arthur eagerly.
"Well, handiness is a capital stock-in-trade. Now, dears, one thing,--be as good and gentle as possible with Mamma, and don"t trouble her a bit more than you can help."
"We will, we will," promised the little flock. Mrs. Frisbie was quite right in saying that the children took after their father. Their brave, bright natures were as unlike hers as possible.
It is sad to see what short time it requires to pull down and destroy a home which has taken years to build. The Frisbies" handsome, luxurious house seemed to change and empty all in a moment. Carriages were sold, servants dismissed. Furniture was packed and carried away. In a few days nothing remained but a fine empty sh.e.l.l, with a staring advertis.e.m.e.nt of "For Sale" pasted on it. The familiar look was all gone, and everybody was glad to get away from the place. It took some time to find the "little house," and some time longer to put it to rights. Papa attended to all that, the children remaining meanwhile with Grandmamma. Mamma had taken to her bed with a nervous attack, and cried day and night.
Everybody was sorry; they all waited on her, and did their best to raise her spirits.
At last the new home was ready. It was evening when the carriage set them down at the gate, and they could only see that there were trees and shrubs in the tiny front yard, and a cheerful light streaming from the door, where Dinah stood to welcome them,--dear old Di, who had insisted on following their fortunes as maid of all work. As they drew nearer, they perceived that she stood in a small, carpeted entry, with a room on either side. The room on the right was a sitting-room; the room on the left, a kitchen. There were three bedrooms upstairs, and a small coop in the attic for Dinah. That was all; for it was indeed a "really little house," as Papa had said.
"Oh, how pretty!" cried Lulu, as she caught sight of the freshly papered parlor, with its cheerful carpet, and table laid for tea, and on the other hand of the glowing kitchen stove and steaming kettle. "Such a nice parlor, and the dearest kitchen. Why, it"s smaller than Susie Brown"s house, which we used to wish we lived in. Don"t you like it, Mamma? I think it"s _sweet_."
Mrs. Frisbie only sighed by way of reply. But the children"s pleasure was a comfort to Papa. He and Dinah had worked hard to make the little home look attractive. They had papered the walls themselves, put up shelves and hooks, arranged the furniture, and even set a few late flowers in the beds, that the garden might not seem bare and neglected.
The next day was a very busy one, for there were all the trunks to unpack, and the bureau drawers to fill, and places to be settled for this thing and that. By night they were in pretty good order, and began to feel at home, as people always do when their belongings are comfortably arranged about them.
Mrs. Frisbie was growing less doleful. Her husband, who was very tired, lay back in a big arm-chair. The evening was chilly, so Dinah had lighted a small fire of chips, which flickered and made the room bright.
The glow danced on Bertha"s glossy curls as she sat at Mamma"s knee, and on the rosy faces of the two boys. All looked cheerful and cosy; a smell of toast came across the entry from the kitchen.
"Bertha, your hair is very nicely curled to-night," said Mrs. Frisbie.
"I don"t know how Dinah found time to do it."
"Dinah didn"t do it, Mamma. May did it. She did Lulu"s too, and Lulu did hers. We"re always going to dress each other now."
Just then May came in with a plate of hot toast in her hand. Lulu followed with the teapot.
"It"s so nice having the kitchen close by," said May, "instead of way off as it was in the other house. This toast is as warm as--toast"--she concluded, not knowing exactly how to end her simile.
"Your face looks as warm as toast, too," remarked her Father.
"Yes, Papa, that"s because I toasted to-night. Dinah was bringing the clothes from the lines, so she let me."
"I stamped the b.u.t.ter, Papa," added Lulu. "Look, isn"t it a pretty little pat?"
"And I sifted the sugar for the blackberries," put in Bertha from her place at Mamma"s knee.
"You don"t mind, do you Mamma?" observed Mary anxiously. "Di pinned a big ap.r.o.n over my frock. See, it hasn"t got a spot on it."
"I"m glad she did," said Mrs. Frisbie, surprised. "But it doesn"t matter so much how you dress here, you know. It was in the other house I was so particular."
"But I like to please you, Mamma, and you always want us to look nice, you know. We mean to be very careful now, because if we don"t we shall worry you all the time."
Mrs. Frisbie put her arm round Mary and kissed her.
"I declare," she said, half-laughing, half-crying. "This house _is_ pleasant. It seems snugger somehow, as if we were closer together than we ever were before. I guess I shall like it after all."
"Hurrah!" cried Prince John, rousing from his fatigue at these comfortable words. "That"s right, Molly, dear! You don"t know what good it does me to hear you say so. If only you can look bright and the chicks keep well and happy, I shall go to work with a will, and the world will come right yet." He smiled with a look of conscious power as he spoke; his eyes were keen and eager.
I think that just then, as the children gathered round the table, as Mrs. Frisbie took up the teapot and began to pour the tea, and her husband pushed back his chair,--that just then, at that very moment, the Fairy entered the room. n.o.body saw her, but there she was! She smiled on the group; then she took from her pocket another bubble, more splendid than the one she had brought before, and tossed it into the air above Prince John"s head. "There," she said, "catch that. You"ll have it this time, and it won"t break and go to pieces as the first one did. Look at it sailing up, up, up,--this bubble has wings, but it sails toward and not away from you. Catch it, as I say, and make it yours. But even when it _is_ yours, when you hold it in your hand and are sure of it, you"ll be no luckier and no happier, my lucky Prince, than you are at this moment, in this small house, with love about you, hope in your heart, and all these precious little people to work for, and to reward you when work is done."