And she was certain that Dorry must have been tinkering all the clocks,--they struck so often.
It was just after New Year that Dr. Carr walked in one day with a letter in his hand, and remarked: "Mr. and Mrs. Page are coming to stay with us."
"Mr. and Mrs. Page," repeated Katy; "who are they, papa? Did I ever see them?"
"Once, when you were four years old, and Elsie a baby. Of chouse you don"t remember it."
"But who are they, papa?"
"Mrs. Page was your dear mother"s second cousin; and at one time she lived in your grandfather"s family, and was like a sister to mamma and Uncle Charles. It is a good many years since I have seen her. Mr.
Page is a railroad engineer. He is coming this way on business, and they will stop for a few days with us. Your Cousin Olivia writes that she is anxious to see all you children. Have every thing as nice as you can, Katy."
"Of course, I will. What day are the coming?"
"Thursday,--no, Friday," replied Dr. Carr, consulting the letter, "Friday evening, at half-past six. Order something substantial for tea that night, Katy. They"ll be hungry after traveling."
Katy worked with a will for the next two days. Twenty times, at least, she went into the blue room to make sure that nothing was forgotten; repeating, as if it had been a lesson in geography: "Bath towels, face towels, matches, soap, candles, cologne, extra blanket, ink." A nice little fire was lighted in the bedroom on Friday afternoon, and a big, beautiful one in the parlor, which looked very pleasant with the lamp lit and Clover"s geraniums and china roses in the window. The tea- table was set with the best linen and the pink-and-white china.
Debby"s m.u.f.fins were very light. The crab-apple jelly came out of its mould clear and whole, and the cold chicken looked appetizing, with its green wreath of parsley. There was stewed potato, too, and, of course, oysters. Everybody in Burnet had oysters for tea when company was expected. They were counted a special treat; because they were rather dear, and could not always be procured. Burnet was a thousand miles from the sea, so the oysters were of the tin- can variety. The cans gave the oysters a curious taste,--tinny, or was it more like solder? At all events, Burnet people liked it, and always insisted that it was a striking improvement on the flavor which oysters have on their native sh.o.r.es. Every thing was as nice as could be, when Katy stood in the dining-room to take a last look at her arrangements; and she hoped papa would be pleased, and that mamma"s cousin would think her a good housekeeper.
"I don"t want to have on my other jacket," observed Phil, putting his head in at the door. "Need I? This is nice."
"Let me see," said Katy, gently turning him round. "Well, it does pretty well; but I think I"d rather you should put on the other, if you don"t mind much. We want every thing as nice as possible, you know; because this is papa"s company, and he hardly ever has any."
"Just one little sticky place isn"t much," said Phil, rather gloomily, wetting his finger a rubbing at a shiny place on his sleeve. "Do you really thing I"d better? Well, then I will."
"That"s a dear,"--kissing him. "Be quick, Philly, for it"s almost time they were here. And please tell Dorry to make haste. It"s ever so long since he went upstairs."
"Dorry"s an awful prink," remarked Phil, confidentially. "He looks in the gla.s.s, and makes faces if he can"t get his parting straight.
I wouldn"t care so much about my clothes for a good deal. It"s like a girl. Jim Slack says a boy who shines his hair up like that, never"ll get to be president, not if he lives a thousand years."
"Well," said Katy, laughing: "it"s something to be clean, even if you can"t be president." She was not at all alarmed by Dorry"s recent reaction in favor of personal adornment. He came down pretty soon, very spick and span in his best suit, and asked her to fasten the blue ribbon under his collar, which she did most obligingly; though he was very particular as to the size of the bows and length of the ends, and made her tie and retie more than once. She had just arranged it to suit him when a carriage stopped.
"There they are," she cried. "Run and open the door, Dorry."
Dorry did so; and Katy, following, found papa ushering in a tall gentleman, and a lady who was not tall, but whose Roman nose and long neck, and general air of style and fashion, made her look so.
Katy bent quite over to be kissed; but for all that she felt small and young and unformed, as the eyes of mamma"s cousin looked her over and over, and through and through, and Mrs. Page said,--
"Why, Philip! is it possible that this tall girl is one of yours?
Dear me! how time flies! I was thinking of the little creatures I saw when I was here last. And this other great creature can"t be Elsie? That mite of a baby! Impossible! I cannot realize it. I really cannot realize it in the least."
"Won"t you come to the fire, Mrs. Page?" said Katy, rather timidly.
"Don"t call me Mrs. Page, my dear. Call me Cousin Olivia." Then the new-comer rustled into the parlor, where Johnnie and Phil were waiting to be introduced; and again she remarked that she "couldn"t realize it." I don"t know why Mrs. Page"s not realizing it should have made Katy uncomfortable; but it did.
Supper went off well. The guests ate and praised; and Dr. Carr looked pleased, and said: "We think Katy an excellent housekeeper for her age;"
at which Katy blushed and was delighted, till she caught Mrs. Page"s eyes fixed upon her, with a look of scrutiny and amus.e.m.e.nt, whereupon she felt awkward and ill at ease. It was so all the evening. Mamma"s cousin was entertaining and bright, and told lively stories; but the children felt that she was watching them, and pa.s.sing judgment on their ways. Children are very quick to suspect when older people hold within themselves these little private courts of inquiry, and they always resent it.
Next morning Mrs. Page sat by while Katy washed the breakfast things, fed the birds, and did various odd jobs about the room and house. "My dear," she said at last, "what a solemn girl you are! I should think from your face that you were at least five and thirty. Don"t you ever laugh or frolic, like other girls your age? Why, my Lilly, who is four months older than you, is a perfect child still; impulsive as a baby, bubbling over with fun from morning till night."
"I"ve been shut up a good deal," said Katy, trying to defend herself; "but I didn"t know I was solemn."
"My dear, that"s the very thing I complain of: you don"t know it!
You are altogether ahead of your age. It"s very bad for you, in my opinion. All this housekeeping and care, for young girls like you and Clover, is wrong and unnatural. I don"t like it; indeed I don"t."
"Oh! housekeeping doesn"t hurt me a bit," protested Katy, trying to smile. "We have lovely times; indeed we do, Cousin Olivia."
Cousin Olivia only pursed up her mouth, and repeated: "It"s wrong, my dear. It"s unnatural. It"s not the thing for you. Depend upon it, it"s not the thing."
This was unpleasant; but what was worse had Katy known it, Mrs. Page attacked Dr. Carr upon the subject. He was quite troubled to learn that she considered Katy grave and careworn, and unlike what girls of her age should be. Katy caught him looking at her with a puzzled expression.
"What is it, dear papa? Do you want anything?"
"No, child, nothing. What are you doing there? Mending the parlor curtain, eh? Can"t old Mary attend to that, and give you a chance to frisk about with the other girls?"
"Papa! As if I wanted to frisk! I declare you"re as bad as Cousin Olivia. She"s always telling me that I ought to bubble over with mirth. I don"t wish to bubble. I don"t know how."
"I"m afraid you don"t," said Dr. Carr, with an odd sigh, which set Katy to wondering. What should papa sigh for? Had she done any thing wrong? She began to rack her brains and memory as to whether it could be this or that; or, if not, what could it be? Such needless self-examination does no good. Katy looked more "solemn" than ever after it.
Altogether, Mrs. Page was not a favorite in the family. She had every intention of being kind to her cousin"s children, "so dreadfully in want of a mother, poor things!" but she could not hide the fact that their ways puzzled and did not please her; and the children detected this, as children always will. She and Mr. Page were very polite.
They praised the housekeeping, and the excellent order or every thing, and said there never were better children in the world than John and Dorry and Phil. But, through all, Katy perceived the hidden disapproval; and she couldn"t help feeling glad when the visit ended, and they went away.
With their departure, matters went back to their old train, and Katy forgot her disagreeable feelings. Papa seemed a little grave and preoccupied; but the doctors often are when they have bad cases to think of, and n.o.body noticed it particularly, or remarked that several letters came from Mrs. Page, and nothing was heard of their contents, except that "Cousin Olivia sent her love." So it was a shock, when one day papa called Katy into the study to tell of a new plan. She knew at once that it was something important when she heard his voice: it sounded so grave. Beside, he said "My daughter," he began, "I want to talk to you about something which I have been thinking of. How would you and Clover like going away to school together?"
"To school? To Mrs. Knight"s?"
"No, not to Mrs. Knight"s. To a boarding-school at the East, where Lilly Page has been for two years. Didn"t you hear Cousin Olivia speak of it when she was here?"
"I believe I did. But, papa, you won"t really?"
"Yes, I think so," said Dr. Carr, gently. "Listen, Katy, and don"t feel so badly, my dear child. I"ve thought the plan over carefully; and it seems to me a good one, though I hate to part from you. It is pretty much as your cousin says: these home-cares, which I can"t take from you while you are at home, are making you old before your time. Heaven knows I don"t want to turn you into a silly giggling miss; but I should like you to enjoy your youth while you have it, and not grow middle-aged before you are twenty."
"What is the name of the school?" asked Katy. Her voice sound a good deal like a sob.
"The girls call it "The Nunnery." It is at Hillsover, on the Connecticut River, pretty cold, I fancy; but the air is sure to be good and bracing. That is one thing which has inclined me to the plan. The climate is just what you need."
"Hillsover? Isn"t there a college there too?"
"Yes: Arrowmouth College. I believe there is always a college where there is a boarding-school; though why, I can"t for the life of me imagine. That"s neither here nor there, however. I"m not afraid of your getting into silly sc.r.a.pes, as girls sometimes do."
"College sc.r.a.pes? Why, how could I. We don"t have any thing to do with the college, do we?" said Katy, opening her candid eyes with such a wondering stare that Dr. Carr laughed and replied: "No, my dear, not a thing."
"The term opens the third week in April," he went on. "You must begin to get ready at once. Mrs. Hall has just fitted out Cecy: so she can tell you what you will need. You"d better consult her, to-morrow."
"But, papa," cried Katy, beginning to realize it, "what are _you_ going to do? Elsie"s a darling, but she"s so very little. I don"t see how you can possibly manage. I"m sure you"ll miss us, and so will the children."
"I rather think we shall," said Dr. Carr, with a smile, which ended in a sigh; "but we shall do very well, Katy; never fear. Miss Finch will see to us."
"Miss Finch? Do you mean Mrs. Knight"s sister-in-law?"