DEAR AUNTIE: We have so much to tell you that we are going to divide it between us. Aunt Marcia has just been here and has asked Father to let Helen go with her to Florida. Isn"t that lovely? Uncle William said he wished he could take us all, but I don"t believe Aunt Marcia does. Louise and I wish we could go.
Aleck wants Helen to bring him an alligator. Another thing we have to tell you is that Louise went to hear Patti sing, with Mr.
Caruth. He was going to take Cousin Helen, but she was sick, so he came and asked Louise if she would go instead. Aunt Marcia said it was a great compliment to such a little girl, and that she must wear her white silk dress. I couldn"t help wanting to go, because we always go together, and she was sorry too. Mr.
Caruth brought her some flowers just as if she was a young lady, and I heard him tell Father she was a beautiful child. She had a lovely time, but she was sleepy next day. Now Louise is going to tell you about the meeting of the Order.
Your devoted niece,
ELIZABETH HAZELTINE.
DARLING AUNT ZeLIE: Bess says I must tell you about the O.B.F.D.
It met yesterday afternoon. We trimmed the star chamber with our flags, and Carl cut some big letters out of gilt paper,--O.B.F.D."s I mean,--and put them on the wall. Everybody came, and we had a nice time. Carl made a speech of welcome; and Jim played on the banjo, and then we had reports. We each wrote on a piece of paper how we were trying to help, and Will read them. We didn"t put our names, because Bess said it would seem as if we were proud of ourselves. Connie said some poetry and Aleck sang a funny song. Ikey and Will both had to pay fines. We are each going to pay ten cents a month and give the money to the Children"s Hospital. When we thought it was all over Jim got up and said he had a present for us, and what do you think it was?
Our motto painted in colors. Father says it is illuminated, and little John did it. Jim had it framed. We hung it on the wall, and we think perhaps we will ask John to belong to the Order. I liked Patti very much, but I wished Bess could go.
With a great many kisses and lots of love,
LOUISE HAZELTINE.
CHAPTER XIX.
AUNT SUKEY"S STORY.
"It is a whole month since Aunt Zelie went away, and nearly a week since we had a letter. I wonder if Miss Lyons"s brother is not well yet;" Bess sighed, for time was beginning to drag.
"Suppose Miss Lyons couldn"t go back at all, would your aunt have to stay?" asked Dora, who had come in to spend the afternoon.
"Dear, no! Aunt Mary would have to get another companion; Aunt Zelie belongs to us," answered Carl, who sat on the floor showing Carie pictures.
There was one supposed to represent the drowning of Pharaoh and his host which interested her deeply, and her brother made it even more thrilling by singing in an explosive manner one of Sukey"s songs:
"Oh! didn"t old Pharaoh get drowned-- Oh! _didn"t_ old Pharaoh got drowned-- Oh! DIDN"T old Pharaoh get drowned in the Red sea?"
"Is Carl here?" asked Louise, looking in; "here"s Ikey."
"What are you boys going to do this afternoon? Don"t you want to play something?" asked Bess.
"No, thanks, we have something else on hand," was the unsatisfactory reply.
"What?" said Louise.
"Never mind; little girls mustn"t ask questions," responded Carl paternally, as he and Ikey left the room. A moment later he returned to call through the half-opened door, "I know something I"m not going to tell."
"Never mind, I can get it out of Ikey," responded Louise.
"Unfortunately he doesn"t know it," came from the third-story stairs.
"Perhaps Mandy will let us make some candy; let"s ask her, and not tell the boys," Louise suggested.
So while Joanna carried Carie off for a walk the others went down to the kitchen.
It was a large, bright room, and it was Mandy"s pride to keep it shining. Aunt Sukey sat by one of the windows with the mending basket beside her, and the presiding genius stood at the spotless table rolling out croquettes.
"Mandy, we are so lonely without Auntie! mayn"t we make some candy to amuse us?" Louise put on her most coaxing expression.
"The kitchen ain"t the place for young ladies to get their dresses dirty in, and their fingers burned," said Sukey severely.
"But we aren"t young ladies, mammy, and we will be careful," urged Bess.
"I don"t think anyone _could_ get dirty in this kitchen," Dora added in honest admiration.
This compliment pleased Mandy, and furthermore it was her kitchen, so she said good-naturedly, "You can make all the candy you want, so long as you get through before dinner-time."
With this permission the sugar and mola.s.ses were soon simmering in a saucepan, sending forth a pleasant fragrance.
When it was well begun Bess sat down by Sukey, saying, "Now tell us a story, mammy."
"Oh, go "long, I tole you all my stories long ago! You all"s getting too big for stories. Looks like it was just yesterday that Miss Zelie was askin", "Mammy, tell me a story," same as you."
"Was Auntie pretty when she was a little girl?" asked Bess.
"There never was a child as good-looking from first to last. Louise favors her, and it looks like I forget sometimes that it ain"t Miss Zelie; but pretty is as pretty does, that"s the truth, and she was pretty in manners as well as face."
"Go on and tell us about her," begged Louise, for though they had heard it all many times there was nothing they liked so well to listen to. Nor was there anything Sukey liked so well to tell, so as she sorted and turned and rolled the stockings in a leisurely way, she began.
The sunshine came in at the window and rested on Louise"s bright head and Dora"s dark one, as they sat together in the same chair. Bess"s seat was an upturned earthen jar, and the same sunlight fell on her small folded hands and on the brown wrinkled ones at work with the stockings.
"Well, you know how Miss Zelie"s ma died when she wasn"t as big as little Carie, and the last thing she said to me was, "Sukey, you mind my baby." Miss Elizabeth always set great store by me, and I "lowed that freedom or nothin" could take me from old Master"s family. It was powerful lonesome in this big house in those days. Your grandpa took your grandma"s death mighty hard, and he had to travel a good deal for his health, so Miss Zelie didn"t have any one to look after her but Mr. William and me. Mr. Frank, your pa, was away at college. Then Mr.
William got married. Miss Marcia is a good woman and kind-hearted, but she ain"t any gift at managin" children, and that"s the truth. Miss Zelie was a smart, lively child with a temper of her own, and if I do say it she would have had a hard time if it had not been for her old mammy. When she was ten years old Mr. Frank--he had been home from college a year--come to me and says, "Sukey, I"m goin" to be married."
"I didn"t know whether to be glad or sorry, but I wished him good luck, an" he went back up North for his wife."
"That was Mamma, you know," Louise explained to Dora.
"I remember how Miss Zelie come to me, and says she, "Mammy, do you think she will love me?"
"About that time Miss Marcia took it into her head to go to Europe.
She said something about taking Miss Zelie along, but I up an" tole her that where my child went I went too, an" she "lowed she didn"t want me.
"It was the prettiest kind of a day when they came home, and we was out on the porch watchin" for them. They drove up presently with your grandpa, and Miss Elinor she came up the walk ahead of Mr. Frank, smiling as sweet us could be, an" she says, "So this is my little sister." I knew that minute they"d be friends.
"Your ma was dreadful fond of children, and she made a great pet of Miss Zelie, and she was as happy as a bird."
"Isn"t it interesting to think of Aunt Zelie being a little girl?"
said Bess; "but go on, Sukey, and tell about when Carl was born."
"Well, it did seem like she was just too happy when the baby came. He was a fine child, and Miss Elinor said Miss Zelie might name him.