The touch awoke Rose. She started to her feet, and tried to shrink away.
"Stop, you naughty, disobedient child!" cried the mother, seizing her by the shoulder. "You don"t deserve it; but see what a beautiful present Mr. Thrasher has brought you--coral and pure gold--for your arms and neck. There, Rosey posey, don"t it make your eyes dance?"
The little girl"s eyes did sparkle for a moment, but directly they filled with tears.
"No, mother; it"s very pretty, but I don"t want any thing," she said, timidly.
The mother frowned.
"Go to Mrs. Prior this instant," she said; "tell her to dress you in the India muslin frock that I gave out to be done up. Loop the sleeves with this coral. Mind and let Mr. Thrasher see it on your neck and arms. Oh, Mrs. Prior, I"m glad you"ve come! Please have this child properly dressed. There are the ornaments; go, Rose, I have no time to spare; be a good girl, and look pretty to please mother."
"I"ll--I"ll try," sobbed the child, "only don"t make me wear them."
"Hush, or you"ll make me angry, my dear. Mrs. Prior, if you would hurry with her, and help me a little, I really am so nervous."
"No wonder," answered Mrs. Prior, gravely, "the whole thing is so sudden."
"Not with me," was the cold answer. "The day was settled the last time Mr. Thrasher visited us; but I did not think it necessary to make it a subject of conversation with strangers."
"But we might have been better prepared," said Mrs. Prior.
"Not at all necessary, as we go away in an hour after the ceremony is performed."
"Go away, Mrs. Mason?"
"Certainly."
"And little Rose?"
The good woman"s voice trembled.
"Ah, she will stay with you, heaven only knows how long! that is, if you will keep her--say at the price we have been paying for both. She will have the piano for practice, and you can keep the furniture to remember me by."
"You are very kind."
"Not at all; I know you will be good to Rose."
"Indeed I will!"
"And give her every accomplishment. Remember, money is of no consequence."
"That which you offer is more than enough to pay for all the knowledge or accomplishments I can teach," said the little woman, conscientiously.
"If it isn"t, say so, and we"ll double it," answered Mrs. Mason, with reckless munificence. "There is gold enough in my work-box there to pay for three or four years, if we do not send for her before that. You can take box and all after we"re gone, for I shall leave all these things behind; it"s too much trouble to pack them up. Use what you like, and cut over the rest for Rose--the dresses, I mean. That brown silk for travelling will be all I shall care for after the ceremony is over."
"I hardly know how to receive this liberality," said the little woman, with tears in her eyes. "It don"t seem right to accept it."
"Oh, nonsense! Be a mother to Rose, and seem glad to see us when we come after her. You have been very kind to me, Mrs. Prior, and I feel it now, indeed I do."
There was a touch of genuine feeling in Mrs. Mason"s voice, as she bent forward and kissed Mrs. Prior on the cheek, with lips that were red and dewy as rose-buds. In her selfishness, she had not noticed Rose, who stood clinging to Mrs. Prior"s dress, growing paler and paler at each word.
"Mother, are you going to leave me all alone!"
There was so much of sorrow in the child"s voice that it reached even that vain heart.
"Never mind, Rosey, dear," said the mother, kissing the pale lips of her child. "It wont be long; besides, Mrs. Prior loves you dearly, and will be very kind."
"Indeed I will, darling," sobbed the little woman. "So now cheer up, Rose, and run off to be dressed," added the mother, beginning to tire of the scene; "do try and help me, Mrs. Prior, and see that your husband is ready; there must be no delay, for we have a long ride before us."
Mrs. Prior hurried off with Rose to her own private room, and in a marvellous short time the little girl came forth airy as a b.u.t.terfly.
The red coral glowing on her face and neck, the India muslin floating around her like a cloud.
Rose met Paul in the upper pa.s.sage. He was looking sadly troubled. She went toward him and laid her hand in his.
"You are going?" he said, interpreting the act from his fears.
"No, _they_ are going, Paul, but I am to be left behind."
The boy began to smile.
"And Mrs. Prior will be your mother?" he said.
"Yes."
"Ah! I"m so happy, so glad; let me go tell Jube."
He attempted to descend the stairs but came back again.
"One thing, Rose. I should like to see this gentleman, Captain Thrasher."
"Well, he"s in the parlor."
"But I don"t want him to see me."
"Oh, then I can"t help you, Paul--there"s no way."
Paul looked disappointed. That moment Mrs. Prior came toward them from Mrs. Mason"s room.
"What is the matter, Paul?" she inquired, kindly.
"Oh, nothing," answered Rose, "only he wants to see that hateful man."
"For shame, Rose!"
"Well, he wants to see Captain Thrasher, and he don"t want Captain Thrasher to see him!" persisted Rose, shaking her head with pretty defiance.
"He wants to see a marriage--is that it?" said Mrs. Prior, whose kind heart was always prompting her to the pleasure of others. "And you would like to have a peep at this wedding? Rose, you will go into the room; but it is to be very private, you know, and I can"t let you in, Paul."
"No, no, I do not wish--I only want to see," cried the boy, eagerly; "I and Jube--one little minute, that is all."