"But old Mrs. Croft isn"t a house; she"s moved into us, instead."
Jane smiled her customary smile of tranquil sweetness. "She has come to show us ourselves," she said, "and to bring us to some kind of better things. I know it."
Susan"s eyes altered to confidence. "Well, Sunshine Jane," she said, "I"ll try to believe that you know. I"ll try."
They went to bed early, and Jane slept on the dining-room sofa. In the night Mrs. Croft, calling, woke her. She jumped up and went to her at once.
"I"m hungry. You didn"t ask me here to starve me, did you? Oh, how hungry I am. I"ve never been so hungry before."
"I"ll get you anything you like," the girl said. "What shall it be?"
Mrs. Croft shook her head lugubriously. "Whatever I eat is sure to kill me. I wish I was home. You don"t know how good dear Katie is to me, Miss Grey. n.o.body could, unless they lived with her year in and year out as I do. Something told me never to leave my sweet child, and I disobeyed my conscience which won"t let me sleep for aching like a serpent"s tooth.
Oh, my little Katie, my pretty little Katie, my loving little Katie that I went and left at home! Take me to her."
"But she isn"t at home," said Jane. "She"s gone away on a little visit.
She went last evening."
"I shall never see her again," said Mrs. Croft mournfully. "I shall never see no one again. Oh, dear; oh, dear. My eyes. My eyes."
"What shall I get you? A gla.s.s of milk?"
"It doesn"t matter. Whatever you like. I was never one to make trouble.
Whatever you like."
When Jane returned with the milk and some hastily prepared bread and b.u.t.ter, Mrs. Croft was praying rapidly. "I think I"ve got religion,"
said she, in a bright, chatty tone; "if you"ll sit down, I"ll convert you. It"s never too late to mend, and so get your darning basket and come right here." She began to eat and drink very rapidly. "It"s going to kill me," she said, between bites, "but I don"t care a mite. What is life after all,--a vain fleeting shadow of vanity,--why, you ain"t put no jam on this bread!"
"Do you like jam? I"ll get you some at once."
"Oh, merciful heavens, waking me up in the dead of night to give me plain bread and no jam! I shall never see Katie again, and perhaps it"s just as well, for she"d not stand such doings. Oh, you idle, thriftless girl, take me home, take me home at once."
"In the morning," said Jane gently.
"Oh, my,--why did I ever come! Katie, my Katie, my long-loving Katie; my dear little Katie that"s gone to New York!"
Then, having swallowed the milk in great gulps and the bread in great bites, she shut her eyes and lay back again in bed.
"Shan"t I bring you anything else?" Jane asked.
"No," said the invalid, "not by no means, and I"ll trouble you to get out and keep out and don"t make a noise in the morning, for I want my last hours to be peaceful, and I"m going to take a screw-driver and fix my thoughts firmly to heaven at once."
Jane went softly out.
CHAPTER XI
SHE SLEEPS
THE next morning Susan felt perturbed. "She"ll take up a whole week of our happy visit, and I can"t bear to lose a minute. The time"s going too fast, anyhow."
Lorenzo Rath came in shortly after. He and Madeleine and Emily Mead were in and out daily to suit themselves by this time. "Do you know, Mrs.
Croft has gone off, n.o.body knows where," he said gravely; "she"s left no address, and people say she"ll never come back."
Susan threw up her hands with a wail. "Oh, Jane, she _has_ left that dreadful old woman on us for life; I"ll just bet anything folks knew exactly that she meant to do it when they talked to me so. What _will_ Matilda say when she comes back?"
Jane was silent a minute. "It"s no use doubting what one really believes," she said finally. "I do really believe that I came here for a good purpose, and I know that I had a good purpose in inviting Mrs.
Croft. I"m taught that to doubt is like pouring ink into the pure water of one"s good intentions, and I won"t doubt. I refuse to."
"But if you go back to where you come from and leave me with Matilda and old Mrs. Croft, I"ll be dead or I"ll wish I was dead,--it all comes to the same thing," cried poor Susan.
"Auntie," said Jane firmly, "I shan"t leave you alone with Aunt Matilda and Mrs. Croft, you needn"t fear."
"Oh," said Susan, her face undergoing a lightning transformation, "if you"ll stay here, I"ll keep Mrs. Croft or anybody else, with pleasure."
"What, even me?" laughed Lorenzo.
"I"d like to keep you," said Susan warmly. "I think you"re one of the nicest young men I ever knew."
"I"d like to stay," said Lorenzo, looking at Jane.
She lifted up her eyes and they had a peculiar expression.
Just then Emily Mead came in. "Only think," she said, directly greetings were over, "people say Mrs. Croft drew all their money out of the bank before she left. Everybody says she"s deserted her mother-in-law completely."
"Jane, it really is so," said Susan; "she really is gone."
Jane looked steadily into their three faces. "If I begin worrying and doubting, of course there"ll be a chance to worry and trouble, because I"m the strongest of you all," she said gravely, "but I won"t go down and live in the world of worry and trouble under any circ.u.mstances. I know that only good can come of Mrs. Croft"s being here. I _know_ it!"
"I wish that I could learn how you manage such faith," said the young artist. "I"d try it on myself,--yes, I would, for a fact."
"It"s not so easy," said Jane, looking earnestly at him. "It means just the same mental discipline that physical culture means for the muscles.
It takes time."
"But I"d like to learn," said Lorenzo.
"So would I!" said Emily Mead.
"I"ve begun already," said Susan; "every time I think of old Mrs. Croft I say: "She"s here for some good purpose, G.o.d help us.""
"Tell me," said Emily Mead, "what possessed you to have her, anyway?
Everybody"s wondering."
"Jane thought that it would be a nice thing to do. And so we did it."
"Do you always do things if you think of them?" Emily asked Jane.