"You think you do," answered Rose, with a mischievous sparkle in her eye.
"If it isn"t Pem, I give it up. He is the best-bred fellow I know."
"Oh, dear, no! far superior to Mr. Pemberton, and many years older,"
said Rose, with so much respect that Charlie looked perplexed as well as anxious.
"Some apostolic minister, I fancy. You pious creatures always like to adore a parson. But all we know are married."
"He isn"t."
"Give a name, for pity"s sake: I"m suffering tortures of suspense,"
begged Charlie.
"Alexander Campbell."
"Uncle? Well, upon my word, that"s a relief, but mighty absurd all the same. So, when you find a young saint of that sort, you intend to marry him, do you?" demanded Charlie, much amused and rather disappointed.
"When I find any man half as honest, good, and n.o.ble as uncle, I shall be proud to marry him, if he asks me," answered Rose, decidedly.
"What odd tastes women have!" And Charlie leaned his chin on his hand, to muse pensively for a moment over the blindness of one woman who could admire an excellent old uncle more than a dashing young cousin.
Rose, meanwhile, tied up her parcels industriously, hoping she had not been too severe; for it was very hard to lecture Charlie, though he seemed to like it sometimes, and came to confession voluntarily, knowing that women love to forgive when the sinners are of his sort.
"It will be mail-time before you are done," she said presently; for silence was less pleasant than his rattle.
Charlie took the hint, and dashed off several notes in his best manner. Coming to the business-letter, he glanced at it, and asked, with a puzzled expression,--
"What is all this? Cost of repairs, &c., from a man named Buffum?"
"Never mind that: I"ll see to it by and by."
"But I do mind, for I"m interested in all your affairs; and, though you think I"ve no head for business, you"ll find I have, if you"ll try me."
"This is only about my two old houses in the city, which are being repaired and altered so that the rooms can be let singly."
"Going to make tenement-houses of them? Well, that"s not a bad idea: such places pay well, I"ve heard."
"That is just what I"m _not_ going to do. I wouldn"t have a tenement-house on my conscience for a million of dollars,--not as they are now," said Rose, decidedly.
"Why, what do _you_ know about it, except that poor people live in them, and the owners turn a penny on the rents?"
"I know a good deal about them; for I"ve seen many such, both here and abroad. It was not all pleasure with us, I a.s.sure you. Uncle was interested in hospitals and prisons, and I sometimes went with him: but they made me sad; so he suggested other charities, that I could help about when we came home. I visited Infant Schools, Working-women"s Homes, Orphan Asylums, and places of that sort. You don"t know how much good it did me, and how glad I am that I have the means of lightening a little some of the misery in the world."
"But, my dear girl, you needn"t make ducks and drakes of your fortune trying to feed and cure and clothe all the poor wretches you see.
Give, of course: every one should do something in that line, and no one likes it better than I. But don"t, for mercy"s sake, go at it as some women do, and get so desperately earnest, practical, and charity-mad that there is no living in peace with you," protested Charlie, looking alarmed at the prospect.
"You can do as you please. _I_ intend to do all the good I can by asking the advice and following the example of the most "earnest,"
"practical," and "charitable" people I know: so, if you don"t approve, you can drop my acquaintance," answered Rose, emphasizing the obnoxious words, and a.s.suming the resolute air she always wore when defending her hobbies.
"You"ll be laughed at."
"I"m used to that."
"And criticised and shunned."
"Not by people whose opinion I value."
"Women shouldn"t go poking into such places."
"I"ve been taught that they should."
"Well, you"ll get some dreadful disease and lose your beauty, and then where are you?" added Charlie, thinking that might daunt the young philanthropist.
But it did not; for Rose answered, with a sudden kindling of the eyes as she remembered her talk with Uncle Alec,--
"I shouldn"t like it: but there would be one satisfaction in it; for, when I"d lost my beauty and given away my money, I should know who really cared for me."
Charlie nibbled his pen in silence for a moment, then asked, meekly,--
"Could I respectfully inquire what great reform is to be carried on in the old houses which their amiable owner is repairing?"
"I am merely going to make them comfortable homes for poor but respectable women to live in. There is a cla.s.s who cannot afford to pay much, yet suffer a great deal from being obliged to stay in noisy, dirty, crowded places like tenement-houses and cheap lodgings. I can help a few of them, and I"m going to try."
"May I humbly ask if these decayed gentlewomen are to inhabit their palatial retreat rent-free?"
"That was my first plan; but uncle showed me that it was wiser not to make genteel paupers of them, but let them pay a small rent and feel independent. I don"t want the money of course, and shall use it in keeping the houses tidy, or helping other women in like case," said Rose, entirely ignoring her cousin"s covert ridicule.
"Don"t expect any grat.i.tude, for you won"t get it; nor much comfort with a lot of forlornities on your hands; and be sure that when it is too late you will tire of it all, and wish you had done as other people do."
"Thanks for your cheerful prophecies; but I think I"ll venture."
She looked so undaunted that Charlie was a little nettled, and fired his last shot rather recklessly,--
"Well, one thing I do know: you"ll never get a husband if you go on in this absurd way; and, by Jove! you need one to take care of you and keep the property together!"
Rose had a temper, but seldom let it get the better of her; now, however, it flashed up for a moment. Those last words were peculiarly unfortunate, because Aunt Clara had used them more than once, when warning her against impecunious suitors and generous projects. She was disappointed in her cousin, annoyed at having her little plans laughed at, and indignant with him for his final suggestion.
"I"ll never have one, if I must give up the liberty of doing what I know is right; and I"d rather go into the poor-house to-morrow than "keep the property together" in the selfish way you mean!"
That was all: but Charlie saw that he had gone too far, and hastened to make his peace with the skill of a lover; for, turning to the little cabinet piano behind him, he sung in his best style the sweet old song,--
"Oh were thou in the cauld blast,"
dwelling with great effect, not only upon the tender a.s.surance that
"My plaid should shelter thee,"
but also that, even if a king,