"I guess you will think it is good to be home, when you know--everything," Patience announced, accompanying her sisters up-stairs, but on the outside of the banisters.
"Patty!" Pauline protested laughingly--"Was there ever such a child for letting things out!"
"I haven"t!" the child exclaimed, "only now--it can"t make any difference."
"There is mystery in the very air!" Hilary insisted. "Oh, what have you all been up to?"
"You"re not to go in there!" Patience cried, as Hilary stopped before the door of her own and Pauline"s room.
"Of course you"re not," Pauline told her. "It strikes me, for company--you"re making yourself very much at home! Walking into peoples" rooms." She led the way along the hall to the spare room, throwing the door wide open.
"Oh!" Hilary cried, then stood quite still on the threshold, looking about her with wide, wondering eyes.
The spare room was grim and gray no longer. Hilary felt as if she must be in some strange, delightful dream. The cool green of the wall paper, with the soft touch of pink in ceiling and border, the fresh white matting, the cozy corner opposite--with its delicate old-fashioned chintz drapery and big cushions, the new toilet covers--white over green, the fresh curtains at the windows, the cushioned window seats, the low table and sewing-chair, even her own narrow white bed, with its new ruffled spread, all went to make a room as strange to her, as it was charming and unexpected.
"Oh," she said again, turning to her mother, who had followed them up-stairs, and stood waiting just outside the door. "How perfectly lovely it all is--but it isn"t for me?"
"Of course it is," Patience said. "Aren"t you company--you aren"t just Hilary now, you"re "Miss Shaw" and you"re here on a visit; and there"s company asked to supper to-morrow night, and it"s going to be such fun!"
Hilary"s color came and went. It was something deeper and better than fun. She understood now why they had done this--why Pauline had said that--about her not going away; there was a sudden lump in the girl"s throat--she was glad, so glad, she had said that downstairs----about not wanting to go away.
And when her mother and Patience had gone down-stairs again and Pauline had begun to unpack the valise, as she had unpacked it a week ago at The Maples, Hilary sat in the low chair by one of the west windows, her hands folded in her lap, looking about this new room of hers.
"There," Pauline said presently, "I believe that"s all now--you"d better lie down, Hilary--I"m afraid you"re tired."
"No, I"m not; at any rate, not very. I"ll lie down if you like, only I know I shan"t be able to sleep."
Pauline lowered the pillow and threw a light cover over her. "There"s something in the top drawer of the dresser," she said, "but you"re not to look at it until you"ve lain down at least half an hour."
"I feel as if I were in an enchanted palace,", Hilary said, "with so many delightful surprises being sprung on me all the while." After Pauline had gone, she lay watching the slight swaying of the wild roses in the tall jar on the hearth. The wild roses ran rampant in the little lane leading from the back of the church down past the old cottage where s.e.xtoness Jane lived. Jane had brought these with her that morning, as her contribution to the new room.
To Hilary, as to Patience, it seemed as if a magic wand had been waved, transforming the old dull room into a place for a girl to live and dream in. But for her, the name of the wand was Love.
There must be no more impatient longings, no fretful repinings, she told herself now. She must not be slow to play her part in this new game that had been originated all for her.
The half-hour up, she slipped from the bed and began unb.u.t.toning her blue-print frock. Being company, it stood to reason she must dress for supper. But first, she must find out what was in the upper drawer.
The first glimpse of the little sh.e.l.l box, told her that. There were tears in Hilary"s gray eyes, as she stood slipping the gold beads slowly through her fingers. How good everyone was to her; for the first time some understanding of the bright side even of sickness--and she had not been really sick, only run-down--and, yes, she had been cross and horrid, lots of times--came to her.
"I"ll go over just as soon as I can and thank her," the girl thought, clasping the beads about her neck, "and I"ll keep them always and always."
A little later, she came down-stairs all in white, a spray of the pink and white wild roses in her belt, her soft, fair hair freshly brushed and braided. She had been rather neglectful of her hair lately.
There was no one on the front piazza but her father, and he looked up from his book with a smile of pleasure. "My dear, how well you are looking! It is certainly good to see you at home again, and quite your old self."
Hilary came to sit on the arm of his chair. "It is good to be at home again. I suppose you know all the wonderful surprises I found waiting me?"
"Supper"s ready," Patience proclaimed from the doorway. "Please come, because--" she caught herself up, putting a hand into Hilary"s, "I"ll show you where to sit, Miss Shaw."
Hilary laughed. "How old are you, my dear?" she asked, in the tone frequently used by visiting ministers.
"I"m a good deal older than I"m treated generally," Patience answered.
"Do you like Winton?"
"I am sure I shall like it very much." Hilary slipped into the chair Patience drew forward politely. "The company side of the table--sure enough," she laughed.
"It isn"t proper to say things to yourself sort of low down in your voice," Patience reproved her, then at a warning glance from her mother subsided into silence as the minister took his place.
For to-night, at least, Miranda had amply fulfilled Patience"s hopes, as to company suppers. And she, too, played her part in the new game, calling Hilary "Miss," and never by any chance intimating that she had seen her before.
"Did you go over to the manor to see Shirley?" Patience asked.
Hilary shook her head. "I promised her Pauline and I would be over soon. We may have f.a.n.n.y some afternoon, mayn"t we, father?"
Patience"s blue eyes danced. "They can"t have f.a.n.n.y, can they, father?" she nodded at him knowingly.
Hilary eyed her questioningly. "What is the matter, Patience?"
"Nothing is the matter with her," Pauline said hurriedly. "Don"t pay any attention to her."
"Only, if you would hurry," Patience implored. "I--I can"t wait much longer!"
"Wait!" Hilary asked. "For what?"
Patience pushed back her chair. "For--Well, if you just knew what for, Hilary Shaw, you"d do some pretty tall hustling!"
"Patience!" her father said reprovingly.
"May I be excused, mother?" Patience asked. "I"ll wait out on the porch."
And Mrs. Shaw replied most willingly that she might.
"Is there anything more--to see, I mean, not to eat?" Hilary asked. "I don"t see how there can be."
"Are you through?" Pauline answered. "Because, if you are, I"ll show you."
"It was sent to Paul," Patience called, from the hall door. "But she says, of course, it was meant for us all; and I think, myself, she"s right about that."
"Is it--alive?" Hilary asked.
""It" was--before supper," Pauline told her. "I certainly hope nothing has happened to--"it" since then."
"A dog?" Hilary suggested.
"Wait and see; by the way, where"s that kitten?"
"She"s to follow in a few days; she was a bit too young to leave home just yet."
"I"ve got the sugar!" Patience called.