There was no doubt but that the girl was in rather a dubious state of mind over it, but the silver dollar clinched her resolution, and she walked firmly off, without a backward glance in the direction of the gurgling Samuel Saul, which was the alliteral name of the yellow bundle.
Ethelwyn and Beth, after a further consultation, took him to the attic.
They considered it providential that Sierra Nevada was a.s.sisting in the laundry, and that the coast was therefore free from all observers.
Samuel Saul was rocked in the cradle in which the ancestors of the children, as well as themselves, had been rocked, and he, well contented with the motion and not ill pleased with his surroundings, presently fell into a delicious slumber.
""Rockabye baby on the tree top,"" came from the open attic window, and floated down to Joe currying Nink.u.m, and to "Vada, Mandy, and Aunt Sophie in the laundry.
Joe smiled at the cheerful refrain, and "Vada, sure that they were in no mischief, mopped her dripping brow, and went on with her work.
Watching Samuel Saul"s peaceful slumbers grew a little monotonous after a while, so Beth descended to the kitchen for a plate of cookies and a gla.s.s of water, and leaving this substantial luncheon beside their sleeping charge, they went down-stairs and for a while played on the piano with more strength than anything else. After that they took more cookies and went over to play with Bobby.
Bobby, making a chicken yard out of wire netting, was delighted to have a.s.sistance, and they telephoned for Nan, who speedily joined them.
"Mother"s gone to town to-day to see your grandfather, who owns a bank, Bobby," said Ethelwyn.
"I expect it"s on account of his losing a whole lot of money," rejoined Bobby, standing on tiptoe on a box to pound in a nail.
"Where did he lose it? Were there holes in his pockets?" asked Beth, unrolling the wire at Bobby"s order.
"On change," said Bobby, with his mouth full of nails.
"Our money is in your grandfather"s bank, and the Home money and Grandmother Van Stark"s. I hope he hasn"t lost anybody"s but his own,"
said Ethelwyn anxiously.
"You"re not very polite," said Nan.
"Well I do, but if he lost only change, prob"ly it"s his own, and mother"s gone to give him some more."
"Pooh!" said Bobby, "it"s not--"
But before he could say anything more, excited voices were heard, and four black and shining faces appeared over the top of the fence, while a guilty eye looked through a knot-hole farther down.
"Has you all seen anything of a low down black pickaninny which is los"?" This remark came from "Vada.
"Which is _stole_," corrected a mountain of flesh, quivering with wrath.
"Is it Samuel Saul?" asked Ethelwyn.
"It is so; will you projus him?" asked the mountain.
"He"s in the attic asleep; his sister sold him to us for a present to Bobby and Nan--"
"O let"s see him," cried Nan, with lively interest.
"You all is gwine to leab him alone--" began the mountain, when Mandy turned ponderously in her direction.
"Will you, Martha Jane Jenkins, please kindly rec"lect dat you is "sociatin" wid quality now, an" take a good care how you talk, though sholy it may be de fus time dat you has ebber been in good sa.s.sity--"
"Dat is sholy de trufe w"en I has been wid you," said Martha Jane Jenkins, wrathfully.
But now from the open attic windows were heard such piercing shrieks that they all with one consent turned in that direction.
"Americky, you go bring me you brudda," instructed Martha, cuffing soundly the girl with the guilty eye.
Presently America and the children returned with the wailing Samuel Saul to the place where Mandy, "Vada, and Aunt Sophie were standing, loftily ignoring the angry mother and making caustic remarks calculated to add to her discomfort.
In the capacious arms of his mother, Samuel Saul ceased his repining and contentedly gurgled again. As the united ones went off, Martha Jane Jenkins with her head in the air and America remorsefully weeping in the rear, Ethelwyn said, "Well, our dollar"s gone, and our baby too, and I thought we had made such a bargain. I don"t know what Mr. Smithers will say."
"And poor Joe too," said Beth.
"There comes Mr. Smithers now," exclaimed Bobby.
"Yes an" I ain"t got your puppies either, for when I got home I found my boy had sold two and given away two, so there wasn"t any left but what we wanted to keep."
"Well, I"m thankful," said Ethelwyn; "for we bought a baby instead, only its mother took it back, and we just had to use the rest of the money for something else. Thank you, Mr. Smithers."
"You"re entirely welcome," responded he.
_CHAPTER XIX_ _Bobby"s Grandfather_
And now let"s be glad, While everything"s bright.
Days that are sunny Are shadowed by night.
That evening there was considerable news to tell mother when she came from town, and she both laughed and lectured them a little over the baby episode. After the children told her what Bobby had said about his grandfather losing money, they asked anxiously, "Oh mother, did he lose anything of ours?"
For the first time in a long while the two straight worry lines came back between mother"s eyes, and the children immediately climbed in her lap to kiss them away.
"I can"t tell yet, dearest ones," she said after a while. "I have been very foolish to leave so much of our money in one bank, I am afraid, but I had such faith, too much, perhaps, and I fear--"
It was very comforting to have their dear warm cheeks against her own, and courage, almost vanquished during this trying day, came back. After awhile she laughed with them again, and told them stories until bedtime, promising them also that Joe"s sister would be sent to the Home as soon as she was able.
The next morning, however, the lines came back, and the children, seeing them, resolved that they would write Bobby"s grandfather a letter.
"If there"s anything I"m glad of, it"s that I know how to write," said Ethelwyn. "It was very hard to learn."
They went up-stairs to the nursery where their own small desks were and taking some of their beloved Kate Green a way paper with pictures of quaint little children on it, after much trouble, ink, and many sheets of paper, as well as consultations with Bobby and Nan, they finished and posted a very small envelope to Bobby"s grandfather, whose address they obtained from Bobby.
Bobby"s grandfather, on coming down the next morning to the bank, found this communication among the official-looking matter on the desk. The picture in the corner of the envelope was surrounded by these words:
"Little f.a.n.n.y wears a hat, Like her ancient granny; Tommy"s hoop was--think of that-- Given him by f.a.n.n.y."
The poke-bonneted pair with Tommy and his hoop looked curiously out of place among their official surroundings.
The lines of worry were thickly sown in the banker"s face, and as there were no round, rosy-cheeked children in his silent home to kiss them away, they stayed and grew deeper each day. He half smiled, however, as he picked up the Greenaway envelope and curiously broke the seal. This is what he read: