But Mrs. Livingstone did not notice. She went through the rest of that interview in a dazed, ecstatic wonder. She only knew at its conclusion that she was to go up to Vermont to care for His house, to live in the rooms that He had lived in, to rest where He had rested, to walk where He had walked, to see what He had seen. And she was to receive pay--money for this blissful privilege. Incredible!
It did not take Mrs. Livingstone long to make all necessary arrangements. The shabby-genteel house in Boston was rented by the month, all furnished, and the good lady promptly gave her notice and packed her trunks for departure. The first day of the month found her and her daughter whirling away from the city toward their destination.
As they stepped from the train to the platform at the little country station, Mrs. Livingstone looked about her with awed interest. He had been here! The jouncing yellow stage coach became a hallowed golden chariot, and the ride to the house a sacred pilgrimage. She quoted His poetry on the doorstep, and entered the hall with a reverent obeisance; whereupon the man who brought the trunks ever after referred to her with a significant tap on his forehead and the single word "cracked."
"Only think, Mabel, He walked here, and sat here," said the woman adoringly, suiting the action to the word and sinking into a great Morris chair.
Mabel sniffed her disdain.
"I presume so; but I should like to know where he ate--maybe he left something!"
Mrs. Livingstone rose in despairing resignation.
"Just like your father, child. No conception of anything but the material things of life. I did hope my daughter would have some sympathy with me; but it seems she has n"t. Bring me my bag--the black one; the lunch is in that. Of course we can"t have a warm supper until we get started."
The next few days were a dream of bliss to Mrs. Livingstone. The house was a handsome mansion set well back from the street, and surrounded by beautiful grounds which were kept in order by a man who came two or three times a week to attend to them. Mrs. Livingstone had but herself and Mabel to care for, and she performed the work of the house as a high-priestess might have attended upon the altars of her G.o.ds. It was on the fifth day that a growing wonder in the mind of Mrs. Livingstone found voice.
"Mabel, there is n"t one of His works in the house--not one. I "ve been everywhere!" said "the woman plaintively.
"Well, mother," laughed the girl saucily, "that"s the most sensible thing I ever knew of the man. I don"t wonder he did n"t want them round--I should n"t!"
"Mabel!"
"Well, I shouldn"t!" And Mabel laughed wickedly while her mother sighed at the out-spoken heresy. It was plain that Mabel had no soul.
Mrs. Livingstone was furthermore surprised at her idol"s taste in art; some of the pictures on the wall were a distinct shock to her. And if the absence of the Inimitable One"s works astonished her, the presence of some others" books certainly did more than that.
The house was to be sold completely furnished, with the exception of the books and pictures. The price was high, and there were but few prospective purchasers. Occasionally people came to see the property; such Mrs. Livingstone conducted about the house with reverent impressiveness, displaying its various charms much as a young mother would "show off" her baby.
"It is something to buy a house owned by so famous a man," she insinuated gently one day, after vainly trying to awaken a proper enthusiasm in a prim little woman who was talking of purchasing.
"Indeed!" replied the other, frigidly. "Do you think so? I must confess it is somewhat of a drawback to me." And from that time Mrs.
Livingstone wore an injured air--the young mother"s baby had been snubbed--grievously snubbed.
There were times when Mrs. Livingstone was lonely. Only one of her neighbors had called, and that one had not repeated the visit. Perhaps the lady"s report--together with that of the trunkman--was not conducive to further acquaintance. It would appear so.
Toward the last of the summer a wild plan entered Mrs. Livingstone"s brain; and after some days of trembling consideration, she determined to carry it out. The morning mail bore a letter from her to the Inimitable One through his publishers. She had learned that he was to be in Boston, and she had written to beg him to come up to his old home and see if it was being cared for to his satisfaction. The moments dragged as though weighted with lead until the answer came. When at last it was in her hands, she twisted a hairpin under the flap of the envelope and tore out the letter with shaking fingers.
It was from the Inimitable One"s private secretary. The Inimitable One did not understand her letter--he was the owner of no house in Vermont; there was doubtless some mistake. That was all. The communication was wholly enigmatic.
The letter fluttered to the floor, and Mrs. Livingstone"s dazed eyes rested on the gardener in the lawn below. In a moment she was at his side.
"Peter, isn"t this house owned by a very famous man?"
"Indade it is, ma"am."
"Who is he?" she demanded shortly, holding her breath until that familiar name borne by the Inimitable One pa.s.sed the other"s lips.
"Well, Peter, is n"t he the writer? What does he do for a living?" she faltered, still mystified.
"Do? He fights, ma"am. He "s the big prize-fighter that won--" He was talking to empty air. The woman had fled.
When Polly Ann Played Santa Claus
The Great Idea and What Came of It
Margaret Brackett turned her head petulantly from side to side on the pillow. "I"m sure I don"t see why this had to come to me now," she moaned.
Polly Ann Brackett, who had been hastily summoned to care for her stricken relative, patted the pillow hopefully.
"Sho! now, Aunt Margaret, don"t take on so. Just lie still and rest.
You "re all beat out. That"s what"s the matter."
The sick woman gave an impatient sigh.
"But, Polly Ann, it"s only the 22d. I ought not to be that--yet! It never comes until the 26th, and I "m prepared for it then. Sarah Bird comes Christmas Day, you know."
Polly Ann"s jaw dropped. Her eyes stared frankly.
"Sarah Bird!" she cried. "You don"t mean you engaged her beforehand--a _nurse_! That you knew you "d need her!"
"Of course. I do every year. Polly Ann, don"t stare so! As if Christmas did n"t use every one up--what with the shopping and all the planning and care it takes!"
"But I thought Christmas was a--a pleasure," argued Polly Ann feebly; "something to enjoy. Not to--to get sick over."
"Enjoy--yes, though not to be taken lightly, understand," returned the elder woman with dignity. "It is no light thing to select and buy suitable, appropriate gifts. And now, with half of them to be yet tied up and labeled, here I am, flat on my back," she finished with a groan.
"Can"t I do it? Of course I can!" cried Polly Ann confidently.
The sick woman turned with troubled eyes.
"Why, I suppose you"ll have to do it," she sighed, "as long as I can"t.
Part of them are done up, anyway; but there"s John"s family and Mary and the children left. John"s are in the middle drawer of the bureau in the attic hall, and Mary"s are in the big box near it. You"ll know them right away when you see them. There"s paper and strings and ribbons, and cards for the names, besides the big boxes to send them in. Seems as if you ought to do it right, only--well, you know how utterly irresponsible and absent-minded you are sometimes."
"Nonsense!" scoffed Polly Ann. "As if I could n"t do up a parcel of presents as well as you! And I"ll prove it, too. I"ll go right up now," she declared, rising to her feet and marching out of the room.
In the attic hall Polly Ann found the presents easily. She knew which was for which, too; she knew Margaret and her presents of old. She did not need the little bits of paper marked, "For Mary," "For Tom," "For John," "For Julia," to tell her that the woolen gloves and thick socks went into Mary"s box, and the handsomely bound books and the fine lace-edged handkerchief into John"s.
Mary, as all the Bracketts knew, was the poor relation that had married shiftless Joe Hemenway, who had died after a time, leaving behind him a little Joe and three younger girls and a boy. John, if possible even better known to the Brackett family, was the millionaire Congressman to whom no Brackett ever failed to claim relationship with a proudly careless "He"s a cousin of ours, you know, Congressman Brackett is."
At once Polly Ann began her task. And then--
It was the French doll that did it. Polly Ann was sure of that, as she thought it over afterward. From the middle drawer where were John"s presents the doll fell somehow into the box where were Mary"s. There the fluffy gold of the doll"s hair rioted gloriously across a pair of black woolen socks, and the blue satin of its gown swept glistening folds of sumptuousness across a red flannel petticoat. One rose-tipped waxen hand, outflung, pointed, almost as if in scorn, to the corner of the box where lay another doll, a doll in a brown delaine dress, a doll whose every line from her worsted-capped head to her black-painted feet spelled durability and lack of charm.
Polly Ann saw this, and sighed. She was thinking of Mary"s little crippled Nellie for whom the brown delaine doll was designed; and she was remembering what that same Nellie had said one day, when they had paused before a window wherein stood another just such a little satin-clad lady as this interloper from the middle bureau drawer.