It was a somewhat imposing mansion, with a row of graceful columns across the front, and a broad flight of steps leading to the entrance.
It stood in the midst of a beautiful green lawn on which were a few fine old trees and shrubs.
"Just wait till you see the inside," said Emma, delightedly, as they stood before the stately door; but alas! when it was opened the hall was seen all dismantled; evidently house-cleaning was going on.
After some hesitation the servant showed them into a room which was, like the hall, in disorder. It seemed to be a library, but the furniture was all covered, the floor was bare, and the sun streamed in through uncurtained windows. The most prominent object in the room was a picture which hung over the mantel, and this at once caught Frances" attention.
It was the portrait of a girl apparently about her own age, whose sunny eyes smiled down in the friendliest way. Her brown hair curled loosely over her shoulders; her dress, of some soft, silken brocade of warm, rich colors, was quaintly made and fell almost to her feet; her neck and arms were bare, and her dimpled hands clasped lightly before her. There was a grace and buoyancy in the pose which was very charming; Frances was enchanted.
"Isn"t she lovely! Who is she, do you suppose?" she asked; but Emma could tell her nothing about it, she had never been in this room before.
"I believe she is like you, Frances," she said, looking critically at the picture.
"I am sure I am not half so pretty as that! She makes me think of something-- I don"t know exactly what," and Frances wrinkled her brow in a puzzled way. She was completely fascinated, and continued to gaze at the portrait all the while Emma was talking to the woman who came to see her about the work, hearing nothing till her own name caught her ear.
"It is some relative of Miss Frances," was what she heard, evidently in reply to a question from Emma.
As soon as they were on the street she inquired who Miss Frances was, and Emma said she thought she was Mrs. Marvin, the lady who owned the house. "She is coming home before long, and they are getting ready for her," she added.
"I should like to have that picture," said Frances, with a sigh. "Emma, do you know what a Bohemian is?"
"I know what the "Bohemian Girl" is; it is music."
"It can"t be that, for mother said father wouldn"t like it if I turned into one."
As Frances was unb.u.t.toning her shoes that night she suddenly exclaimed, "Why, it is the little girl in the golden doorway!
"What is?" her mother asked.
"I mean that is what the portrait reminded me of. It has just come into my head. Isn"t it funny?"
"Almost any portrait of a little girl might suggest it, I should think,"
said Mrs. Morrison.
"I wish you could see her, mother. Do you think I can go again with Emma sometime? I do want to see her once more."
"I don"t know, dear."
"Mother, is it being a Bohemian to want to go?"
Mrs. Morrison laughed. "Not exactly, Wink. It is difficult to explain, but a Bohemian is perhaps a person who habitually does what is not "the thing.""
"That must be fun," said Frances.
There was silence for a long time, then she asked, "Mother, aren"t you glad a certain person is abroad?"
Mrs. Morrison looked at her in surprise. "What do you mean?" she said.
"Oh, I was just thinking!"
"But what put it into your head to think of a certain person?"
"Well, the girl in the golden doorway always makes me think of him; and you know, mother, father said he didn"t mind leaving us here because he was abroad."
"You have been drawing on your imagination, Wink, you can"t have understood father; but now you must go to bed and not talk any more."
CHAPTER EIGHTH.
THE STORY OF THE BRIDGE.
An atmosphere of great sociability pervaded the quaint room that the Spectacle Man called his study, when on Friday evening, two weeks after the candy pulling, his expected guests arrived.
He had closed his shop an hour earlier than usual, and spent the time in getting out certain treasures of china and silver, and placing them where they could be seen to the best advantage. When the lamps were lighted, the hearth brushed, and the big j.a.panese bowl heaped up with apples and grapes, he paused and looked around him with satisfaction.
He was reflecting how pleasant it was to be giving a party, when the hall door opened to let in Peterkin and closed again in what might have seemed a mysterious manner but for the sound of stifled laughter on the outside. On the inside Peterkin stood looking cross-eyed in a vain endeavor to see the frill that adorned his neck.
"So they have dressed you for the occasion, my friend," remarked his master; "it must recall the days when Mark was at home."
A few minutes later Emma and Frances appeared, looking very demure and bringing with them Gladys, who, happening in in the afternoon, had been invited to stay and hear the story. The rest of the party soon followed, and Mr. Clark"s face beamed with pleasure as he stepped briskly about getting every one seated. The children chose the sofa at the side of the fireplace, where they sat, three in a row with Frances in the middle, until Miss Moore begged to know if there was not room for her, and of course there was.
"I am afraid you are trying to excite our envy, Mr. Clark," Mrs.
Morrison said, touching a little dish of old Wedgwood.
"I have a few odds and ends of things," was his reply; "but most of what you see belongs to my nephew, Mark Osborne. A great-aunt left him her property when she died, this house, and a good deal of what Mark himself disrespectfully calls plunder."
"You have never told us about the Toby jug," put in Frances. "Does that belong to Mark?"
"No, that is my own, and sometime I"ll tell you all I know about it; but now we want to hear Miss Sherwin"s story. That is the first business of the evening;" and, his guests being seated to his satisfaction, the Spectacle Man crossed his knees and prepared to listen.
"I am not sure that it is at all interesting," said the young lady, as all eyes turned toward her. "Shall I read it or tell it?"
"Tell it, please," cried the children in a chorus.
So she began, at first a little timidly, and with a glance now and then at her paper, but gaining courage as she went on.
"I have called it," she said, ""The Story of the Missing Bridge."
"Once upon a time a young man set out on a journey. The tender beauty of the springtime was upon the gra.s.s and trees, the wheat fields were turning from gold to rose, and the sky was a soft, deep blue.
"He was a st.u.r.dy young fellow and carried a light heart, as one could tell from the smile in his eyes and the merry tune he whistled as he strode along. And he had reason to be happy, for on the next day at sunset he was to be married to the fairest girl in all the country round.
"After a time the path he followed left the open fields and entered the cool, dim forest, where all was so still and peaceful that involuntarily he changed his tune to one more grave.
"A truly happy heart is certain to be a kind one, and, eager though he was to reach his journey"s end, he paused once and again to lend a helping hand. Now it was to a peddler who was vainly trying to piece together the broken strap that had held his pack, again to restore a young bird to its nest, and then to release a white rabbit which had caught its foot in a trap and was moaning piteously.