THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Rare Book Room GIFT OF John W. Beckman r% FRONTISPIKCK. Heautiful Berthn. CONTENTS, CHAPTER I. Honey-pot Brook, .,7 CHAPTER H. Miss Nancy, 34 CHAPTER m. Treasures Discovered, - - - - - - -21 CHAPTER IV. The Grotto, 33 CHAPTER V. The Fairies, 44 " CHAPTER VI. The Beauty and the Brook, 52 IV CONTENTS. PAGH CHAPTER VII. The wrong Pew, 6! CHAPTER VIII. Style m a Shandrydan, 76 CHAPTER IX. Patsy Gracy, 90 CHAPTER X. Work and Play, - 100 CHAPTER XL Love of the Beautiful, - - 106 CHAPTER XII. St. George and the Dragon, - - 117 CHAPTER XHI. Esther's Influence, 131 CHAPTER XIV. An unexpected Visitor, - - - - - - -138 CHAPTER XV. Mr. Perrit's Fancy Sketch, ----- 149 CONTENTS. V PACK CHAPTER XYI. A sad Farewell, - 161 CHAPTER XVIL The Beauty at School, 165 CHAPTER XVHI. A sudden change ot Scene, 173 CHAPTER XIX. Ivy Cottage Fireside, 173 CHAPTER XX. Who comes now ?-------- 185 CHAPTER XXI. Delicate Kindness, 206 CHAPTER XXII. A Letter to the Dead, - 213 CHAPTER XXIII. Grand Expectations, 226 CHAPTER XXTV. News from the Antipodes, 231 CHAPTER XXV. Under an Umbrella, - 235 VI CONTENTS. PAOE CHAPTER XXVI. An overwhelming Surprise, 243 CHAPTER XXVn. The Ivory Casket, 250 CHAPTER t XXYIII. Gratitude, - 259 CHAPTER XXIX. u Not expected to happen," 268 CHAPTER I HONEY-POT BROOK. Honey-pot!" exclaimed Mr. Perrit, with, boyish glee. Mr. Perrit and his daughters, Esther and Louisa, had left the railroad, over which they had traveled more than two hundred miles, and were driving in a one-horse wagon to the village of Sylvania. The sun was just sinking in the west as they came in sight of Honey-pot brook. " Brook ! Do you call this a brook ?" ex claimed Louisa. " Why, a brook is just a nar row stream that I could jump over." " Later in the season you will be able to jump over this brook. It is now swollen by the snow and rain. Many a time, when I was a boy, have I followed its winding course, and waded three or four miles in its waters." 8 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. " But what a queer name it has," remarked Esther. " I always liked its name," replied Mr. Per- rit ; " and the brook seemed perfectly contented with it, too, dancing over the smooth pebbles, and winding its shining way through groves and green meadows, and bounding over huge rocks, as merrily as any brook in the whole world." " It is awfully wide and deep now ; how are we to get over ?" anxiously demanded Louisa. " By going right through, to be sure ; come, old horse, jog along." So saying, Mr. Perrit snapped the whip, and the horse splashed in up to his knees, and then stood still to take a draught of cool water. c - Oh dear, dear, this is a deep river, I know it is; you have forgotten the road, papa, and the brook, too," said Louisa, with tears rushing over her cheeks. " Not remember Honey-pot brook ! I have forgotten many things, change has come over many more, but this brook is as familiar to me as the face of your mother. Those very wil lows, now so rough and gnarled, were then in HONEY-POT BKOOK. 9 their glorious prime, drooping gracefully over the brook. Just beyond that rock yonder there is a deep pool, where it was glorious fun to bathe and swim." "The willows already show that spring has come," said Esther. " Yes ; they are the last to put off their green ness in the autumn, and the first to put it on in the spring." " Green ! Why, papa, they are a bright yel low, and look like giant street-brooms," replied Esther. " Do let us get out of this deep water," en treated Louisa. " Well, come, old horse, you have had a very good draught, we will go on," said her father ; and soon they were on the other side of the brook. " What a feathery look the dark trees have what is that owing to, papa ?" asked Esther. "The buds are starting. A month earlier these trees were of a dull uniform color ; now they are a soft, rich brown, contrasting beauti fully with the clear March sky." " And there are as many shades of brown as 10 BEAUTIFUL BEETHA. we could find in Muller's worsted-shop," said . Louisa, who, now they were safely over the brook, had found her spirits as well as her tongue. " But who ever saw worsted of so pure and heavenly a blue as this country sky ? Look up, papa, the trees overhead form a brown net-work contrasting charmingly with the sky," said her sister. Esther had always lived in the crowded street of a large city, and had only seen the smoky sky over the tops of tall houses. " Oh ! do see that flock of white geese, fol lowing their leader in solemn procession, Indian file. Did you ever see anything so funny and so absurd ?" asked Louisa. "Yes, indeed, my child; it seems like the very same flock, thirty years ago, that marched home every evening. I hope you will love the country now as I did then. But here we are at the old homestead." As Mr. Perrit said this, he turned the horse's head towards an old pear tree, in front of a large log-house, almost cov ered with ivy. " Surely, papa, this was not your birth-place ; it is a log-house," said Louisa. HONEY-POT BROOK. 11 Mr. Perrit, without replying, sprang out of the wagon, and then, as he lifted the young girls out, they noticed that tears were filling his eyes. Beloved parents had gone to the grave since he had visited the place of his birth. So grief and joy were mingled like rain and sun shine. In front of the house was a court-yard filled with shrubbery. In the midst of it was a woman, whose face was hidden by a large sun- bonnet, and who was so vigorously pruning an old lilac bush that she had not noticed their approach. Suddenly she turned, came forward, and leaning over the gate, with her pruning- knife in hand, surveyed the travelers with a bewildered air, muttering to herself, "Why, they 've brought a carpet-bag !" Mr. Perrit fastened the horse, and then ad vanced to the gate ; smiling through his tears, he held out his hand, saying, " Don't you know me, Nancy ?" " There 's but one man in the world who has a right to call me Nancy, and that is Paul Per rit ; but you can't be he." " Why not ? I used to be Paul Perrit, and 12 BEAUTIFUL BEKTHA. you used to be my sister Nancy. These are your two nieces. Are you going to close your gate upon us ?" Why, they Ve brought a carpet-bag 1" again muttered Miss Nancy, gazing at the girls with a look of amazement, while she slowly opened the gate. " We hare taken you by surprise," said Mr. Perrit, kindly. Miss Nancy walked backward till she came to the large stone step before the door, and there she sat down, threw aside her pruning- knife, and resting her elbows on her knees, cov ered her face with both hands. Mr. Perrit advanced towards her, but the girls stood at the gate, Louisa giggling uncivil ly, so that she had to cram her handkerchief in her mouth, while Esther, who had the carpet bag in her hand, timidly whispered, " Why has she taken such a dislike to our carpet-bag ?" " I am sorry, sister, that we did not write to you, to tell you we were corning. After so long an absence, it was cruel for me to take you so completely by surprise." " It 's your own voice, Paul, and I am glad HONEY-POT BROOK. 13 to hear it once more," said Miss Nancy, rising and opening the door. " Come in." Mr. Perrit beckoned to the girls, and they advanced, but Esther left the offensive carpet bag outside the gate. CHAPTER H MISS NANCY. THE interior of the log-house was much more neat and comfortable than might have been ex pected from its rough exterior. It was two stories high. The small windows of all the front rooms were hung with white dimity cur tains, and deep fringe of Miss Nancy's handi work. Worsted work, of which the staring cats and monstrous roses were not copied from German patterns, covered the heavy mahogany chairs; patchwork of silk and chintz proved the industry, if not the taste, of Miss Nancy Perrit. Soon after the unexpected arrival of the trav elers, a small tea-table, supported by four slen der legs, was spread with a damask cloth of Miss Nancy's spinning, which had not been unfolded for many years. MISS NANCY. 15 Esther and Louisa watched with great inter est while an old woman-servant placed on the table cold ham, biscuit, honey, preserves, pickles -, cream, and hot corn bread. The long ride and the country air had given them keen appetites ; and though Louisa stared at the strange min gling of sweet and sour, the good things rapidly disappeared from the table. After taking several cups of tea, Mr. Perrit said, " Sister Nancy, I am going on a business excursion to the far West ; I shall take my wife with me, and I wish to leave my girls with you." " With me ! Paul, you must be crazy. You know I never liked children," exclaimed Miss Nancy, shaking her curls. Yes, curls gray curls adorned Miss Nancy's head. She never wore caps, and her hair, about two fingers' long, curled all over her head. " They have been at school all their lives, I may say, for they cannot remember the time when they did not go to school. Esther is about thirteen, and Louisa eleven years old; they have never before been in the country, and a long vacation will be of service to their health, both of body and mind." 16 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. " Poor things ! I dare say it would ; but I am not the person to take care of children, especially the city-born and city-bred," said Miss Nancy, somewhat contemptuously. " They will not need much care ; let them run and romp as much as they please. I want them to love the country just as we did, sister, when we were young." Somewhat softened, Miss Nancy replied, "But they can't romp all the while. How should I keep them busy ?" " They have brought plenty of work and books for rainy days ; and when they are dis posed to be industrious, they will assist you." " What, clothing, books, and work, all in that one carpet-bag! It frightened me, because I thought somebody had come to take up their quarters with me for the night." Louisa laughed outright, and Esther said, "I believe the unfortunate bag has not yet been brought in." " So you consent to let the poor girls, who know nothing of the country, stay with you for a few months?" continued Mr. Perrit. "If they won't pick my flowers, nor scare MISS NANCY. 17 my chickens, nor teaze my cats, nor bring any other children to my house." " We certainly will not gather your flowers without your consent," said Esther. "Then you will not gather them at all. My flowers bud, bloom, wither, and die, like their mistress, in the spot where they were born." " And the chickens, when they are dear little wee-wee things, may we not just take them in our hands ?" asked Louisa, coaxingly. "Not for the world!" replied Miss Nancy with a look of horror, and a fluttering such as the hen-mother would make at a hawk ready to pounce on her brood. She added, "That is just what I should have expected from a city girl." " Oh, excuse us. We will learn good coun try ways in time, if you will be so kind as to teach us," said Esther, soothingly. "Well, well, I must consult Orpy. It is a pity that you should be cooped up in the stifling air of the city all your lives, and never know how to do one useful thing." "I hope you will teach them many useful 18 BEAUTIFUL BEKTHA.^ things, and that they will be a great comfort to you," said Mr. Perrit. "Since you insist on it; but really I am afraid that one will be as idle and as saucy as my parrot ;" and Miss Nancy pointed at Louisa. 'Hold your tongue! hold your tongue!" screamed the parrot, as if to give a specimen of his sauciness. " Naughty Poll !" said Miss Nancy, shaking her curly head at him. The parrot, not in the least abashed, hopped to her shoulder, and pretending to kiss her, said, " Pretty Miss Nancy ! pretty Miss Nancy !" No wonder the girls were tempted to laugh, for Miss Nancy was anything but pretty. She was a tidy, active little body, busy as the bees that hummed all day long about the honey suckles of the front porch. The gray curls about her face and neck contrasted oddly with her wrinkled face. Her dress of brown merino fitted closely to her spare figure, making her look as straight and thin as one of her own bean poles. The green parrot was not her only pet. White rabbits might be seen hopping about among the grass and shrubs. Nine black cats MISS NANCY. 19 were daily fed with a bountiful meal from the kitchen. A flock of tame pigeons alighted to gather up the crumbs after them. Canary birds were the in-door favorites, and the parrot scold ed or flattered them all, in-doors and out, from morning till night. "When tea was over, the bright wood fire blazing and crackling in the wide flre-place, looked very inviting ; but the girls were tired and sleepy, and asked permission to go to bed. While Miss Nancy went to make some need ful preparations, Esther and Louisa stealthily brought in the carpet-bag, giggling together about Miss Nancy. " You must excuse your aunt's peculiarities," said their father ; " she has lived alone for the last eighteen years, and in all that time she probably has not had a guest to sleep in her house." And yet the house was as neat and clean as' a new pin, from garret to cellar, for twice a year the regular house-cleaning was performed, and after that the spare rooms were aired and dusted every week. Miss JSTancy loved neat ness for its own sake. 20 BEAUTIFUL BEKTHA. Long after Esther and Louisa were asleep, Mr. Perrit and his sister remained by the fire side, talking over the days of their childhood and youth, and forming plans for the future. CHAPTEE HI. TREASURES DISCOVERED. THE next morning, Esther and Louisa were awakened at an early hour by cackling and gobbling, and crowing and lowing, and a vari ety of noises perfectly amazing and incompre hensible to their city-bred ears. "Why, what is the matter?" exclaimed Lou isa, jumping out of bed and peeping through the white dimity curtains. Nothing was to be seen there but the quiet front yard, where the crocuses were dotting the grass, and the roses and lilacs showing their leaf-buds. Opposite the window was a high hill, which seemed to touch a rosy sky, while a few light clouds of a golden hue were floating above. " Oh, jump up quick, Etta dear," exclaimed Louisa ; " the sky in the country is pink, and 22 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. it actually comes down to a great hill in front of the house." Esther was soon by the side of her sister. " That must be the east," said she, " and we are now seeing what we never saw before in all our lives a sunrise." " So it is, so it is !" exclaimed Louisa, clap ping her hands, " for it begins to be so bright I can hardly look at it." " How beautiful !" whispered Esther, whose delight was mingled with religious reverence. "I do not wonder that heathens, who knew nothing of the great God, who is a Spirit, wor shiped the sun." A smart tap at the door startled them, fol lowed by Miss Nancy's voice. "Time to be up, children ; country folks are early risers." " We are up already, and will soon be down stairs," said Esther. When they entered the parlor they saw the breakfast-table spread for three. " Where is papa ?" asked Esther, as Miss Nancy seated herself at table, and motioned them to take their places. " Gone, long ago." TREASURES DISCOVERED, 23 "Gone!" exclaimed both at once; "gone where ?" " Gone home to your mother in the city. He found he must leave before dawn, in order to reach the first railroad train. He would not disturb you just to say good-bye. Here is a lit tle note he left for you." Tears were now streaming over faces which a moment before were bright with joy. " Come, don't cry. Here are your bowls of bread and milk, and fresh butter just churned, and green water cresses from the brook." They tried to eat, poor things, but could scarcely choke down the wholesome food. " Don't take on so, for pity's sake ; I can't stand it," said Miss Nancy. " What is the use of crying ?" " Pretty Miss Nancy ! Don't scold," said the parrot. "Hold your tongue, sauce-box," retorted Miss Nancy. " Hold your tongue ! hold your tongue !" clamored the parrot, a dozen times repeated. Louisa laughed in spite of her tears; and Esther, as soon as the parrot gave her a chance, 24 BEAUTIFUL BEKTHA. asked that slie might be excused, and went with Louisa to their room to read their father's note. The note was as follows : "I am sorry to leave you, my darlings, with out a parting kiss, but I would not disturb your sweet slumbers. Since we must be parted for a while, let us all bear it as cheerfully as possi ble. Be very kind and gentle to each other and to your aunt, and try to exert a good influence over her. She is now your sole guardian ; be obedient and respectful to her. Remember your loving parents in your daily prayers. God bless you, my dear children, and keep you under His special care. May He restore you, improved in health and character, to the arms of your devoted father." And now they gave free vent to the tears they had tried to suppress before Miss Nancy. They were aroused by the sound of wheels, and thinking their father might have returned, flew to the window. No ; it was their own lug gage, which had been brought from the depot. Box after box was taken off by two strong men, and placed in the court-yard, while Miss Nancy stood at the door, talking to herself. TREASURES DISCOVERED. 25 "One, two, three, four, five boxes, and two trunks big enough for chicken coops. Paul has played a nice trick on me ; he means his chil dren shall stay with me for ever." " What can be in all those boxes ?" thought the sisters, as they clattered down stairs and stood beside Miss Nancy at the door. " Why, in the name of common sense, have you brought all this stuff with you ?" demand ed Miss Nancy. " We don't know," was the only answer they could give. The men who brought the luggage began to open the mysterious boxes. Number one con tained a nice mahogany wardrobe for the girls' bedroom ; number two, a secretary and book case for the same purpose ; number three was filled with books ; number four contained a handsome mantel-clock for Miss Nancy ; num ber five, a China tea sett, and a silver milk jug and sugar bowl which had belonged to her mother. Miss Nancy was in ecstacies. That same silver had been the wonder of her child hood and the admiration of her youth, and all the gold of California would have been a trifie 26 BEAUTIFUL BEJJTHA. to her compared with that ancient milk jug and sugar bowl. " I always said I ought to have these things of my mother's, being the only girl of the fam ily. It has been a bone of contention between us for years, and now Paul at last has done just right ;" and Miss Nancy hugged the trea sures to her heart. It was sufficient occupation for the morning for the girls to arrange their wardrobe and book-case. They laughed long and loud over the clothing which they placed in their ward robe. The coarse frocks, stout shoes and stock ings, and woolen sacks, were well fitted for the racing and romping their father had spoken of. The large sun-bonnets, which would have been stared at contemptuously by their city school mates, were tried on amid perfect shouts of merriment. Then came the pleasant task of arranging their book-case and secretary. Many old favorites among the books were greeted cor dially, and many new ones placed by their side with great exultation. There were valuable works on botany, conchology, and other branch es of natural history, with colored plates. TKEASUKES DISCOVERED. 27 " And here is a beautiful book about birds," said Esther, " and exactly such a blue-bird in it as we saw in the pear tree this morning. Now we shall be able to know the names of all the flowers and birds in the country. How kind it was for dear papa and mamma to think of so many things for our pleasure." The " pigeon-holes " and the little drawers of the secretary delighted Louisa. The note paper, letter paper, foolscap, envelopes, &c., were ar ranged and rearranged in them, and were each and all pronounced lovely. The morning passed so rapidly, they could hardly believe their ears when summoned by Miss Nancy to dinner. They ran down stairs. " Dinner !" exclaimed Louisa ; " why it seems but two or three hours since breakfast." Miss Nancy pointed to the new clock on the mantel. It was twelve o'clock. "Do you dine at this early hour?" asked Louisa. "To be sure I do ; it is the hour intended by nature for dinner; just in the middle of the day. I consider it a sin to dine at any other hour." 28 BEAUTIFUL BEETIIA. " We must, then, have been great sinners all our lives," replied Louisa, laughing. " I know you haven't been brought up right, but I shall try to teach you true, natural ways. Everything in city life is turned upside down and hind-side foremost." " Sauce-box !" ' screamed the parrot, " hold your tongue." In the afternoon the weather was delightful ; the sun shone with summer warmth. Having dressed themselves in their new coarse gar ments, Esther and Louisa went out for a ramble. Miss Nancy advised them to go to the top of the hill in front of the house, which would give them a view of the country for miles and miles around. They scrambled over fences at the risk of breaking their necks, and laughed at their own awkwardness. They stumbled over stones, and caught their dresses in briar-bushes, and at last arrived at the top of the hill com pletely out of breath, and seated themselves on a flat rock. Distant mountains seemed to enclose them all around ; rivers and valleys, towns, villages, and scattered farm-houses were spread over the TREASURES DISCOVERED. 29 wide landscape; among forests of trees, and hanging above all, like a boundless dome, was the clear blue sky of March So new and wonderful was the scene that the sisters for some minutes remained in silent ad miration ; then Louisa exclaimed, " What an immense world !" " And how great and good must our heaven ly Father be, who made it so beautiful for us to enjoy," responded the elder sister " Don't it look like a big map ! I am sure I shall like geography better than ever now," said Louisa. After admiring the landscape awhile longer, they wandered about the hill, collecting mosses in their checked aprons, till the sun was setting, and beautiful clouds of purple and gold floated in the western sky. Suddenly a wind sprung up, and before they reached the foot of the hill, it blew a gale. Much ado had they to keep their sun-bonnets on their heads, and at the same time hold fast to the treasures in their aprons. Miss JSTancy was at the door, when they reached the gate, puffing and blowing like porpoises. SO BEAUTIFUL BEKTHA. " Come in quick. March is no fool," said Miss Nancy, with a contortion of features ap proaching to a laugh. Miss Nancy had almost forgotten how to laugh. "What does that mean?" asked Esther, as soon as she could get breath. " It means," replied Miss Nancy, shutting the door with great difficulty, "that March is just now playing us one of his lion tricks. He is pleasant and mild as a lamb at times, and then we believe spring has come in earnest ; and then again he shows his w T hite teeth, and roars and raves like a ramping lion. But this is his parting salutation, for to-morrow is the first of April." " You are quite poetical, Miss Nancy. See what a variety of beautiful mosses we have found on the hill. And here is a most curious plant, all white ; it looked as it grew like a Chinese umbrella. Oh, dear, the precious thing was so delicate that it is broken." So saying, Esther held out the pieces. " Gracious me ! It is nothing in the world but a dirty toadstool. What city ignorance !" " A toadstool ! Is that its name ? It was not TEEASUB-ES DISCOVERED. 31 dirty when I gathered it," replied Esther ; " it looked sweetly." " So it did, and I thought it was the funniest flower that ever grew," said Louisa, coming to her sister's aid. "Flower! It is poisonous to eat, and an ugly thing. And that moss of which you have brought home such lots, is that a treasure, too ?" " Certainly it is. TVe shall find it described in our books. ~W& called this trumpet moss, be cause it has tiny trumpets all over it ; and this extinguisher moss. Don't you see those little caps like extinguishers ? The moss covered the rocks like a beautiful soft carpet. It must be of some use, for God made it." " You are queer children," Miss Nancy said. " You must not carry this trash to your room ; I will show you where to put it in the wood- house." They did as they were bidden, but looked rather crest-fallen to find their precious collec tion so utterly despised. Their appetites, how ever, did not suffer in consequence. ~No food was ever relished better than that supper. This pleased Miss Nancy. 32 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. " I told your father it would be so," she said. " In a few months, instead of two thin, sallow, mincing city girls, I shall see two nice, plump, rosy-cheeked country girls, fit for a cattle- show." " That is too funny. What if we should be fit for nothing else ?" asked Louisa. " By that time you will begin to be good for something, for I am going to teach you to make bread, pies, cake, soap, pickles, preserves, and lots of other things." "If we succeed as well in making nice things as we do in eating them, you will be satisfied with us, I am sure," said Esther. According to the usage of Miss Nancy, they went to bed at an early hour. Though tired and sleepy, they did not forget their absent parents in their prayers. CHAPTER IV. THE GEOTTO. THE next morning at the table, Miss Nancy said, "You haven't seen my poultry-yard." " ]STo ; but we have heard the creatures ; they will not let us sleep after there is a ray of light," replied Louisa. " Certainly not ; instinct teaches them when it is time to wake. They follow nature, and I follow them. The sun never gets ahead of me in the morning." In the poultry-yard were slovenly bantams and dandy top-knots hens speckled and black, yellow and white ; but, alas for Miss Nancy, it was before the time for Shanghais and Chitta- gongs. Ducks, with glassy-green backs, white breasts, and red bills, paddled about in a small pond, which in the city would have been called 3 34: BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. a mud-puddle. The white geese were depart ing for their daily journey to the brook. The scarlet-throated turkeys commenced such a hor rible gobbling that Louisa was fairly frightened out of the poultry-yard. " What can you do with all this poultry ?" inquired Louisa. "Use what we want, and send the rest to market. I like to see things grow and thrive. Has not your father told you that his sister Nancy was a thrifty woman?" "Never; he said you were a good scholar when he went to school with you." " Did he indeed ! I have learned very little from books since. ]STow I never read anything but the Farmer's Almanac. When I was young I read too many novels, and became romantic." " Romantic ! I should never have suspected that." Miss Nancy shook her gray curls very grave ly as she replied, " Household learning is better for girls than book learning. We live in a very common-place world." "That depends very much on our way of seeing it," said Esther. "To me it seems a THE GROTTO. 35 glorious, beautiful world." My dear mother calls it c tlie vestibule to heaven. 7 " By this time the frightened Louisa ventured back, and peeping in at the gate, said, " Miss Nancy, will you show us the way to Honey-pot brook?" " Take the long path through my garden ; at the end of it you will find a gate opening into a large field. Go directly across the field, and you will find yourself by the side of the brook ; but take care you do not fall in, for the bank on this side is rocky and steep." And so to their surprise they found it, while the opposite bank was low and fringed with alders, which had just "hung out their tassels." A gentle slope, covered with trees, extended for some distance from the brook. They sat down on one of the rocks and deliberated how they were to descend through the rough pathway. " I dislike the name of this brook ; suppose we call it the Susquehannah," said Louisa. "The Susquehannah is a wide, wide river, and so near us too," objected Esther. " Well, then, the Juniata, that is a beautiful name the blue Juniata." 36 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. "There is the same objection to that; they are both too near. Suppose we call it the Del aware? There are so many historical associa tions connected with that name." "Historical associations," repeated Louisa with a puzzled look ; " you do use such big words." "You have read in your History of the Uni ted States about "Washington's crossing the Del aware, in the revolutionary war." " Oh, yes ; it was frozen over I remember now ; and Philadelphia is on the Delaware, and Trenton, too. There, I know something about geography, you see. Is Delaware an Indian name ?" " ISTo ; the river and State were named after Lord Delaware." "I like it for that. I admire of all things lords and ladies. But let us try to climb down these rocks, and come nearer to the Dela ware." They scrambled down the rocks until they came, at some distance from the place where they started, to the side of the brook, where it was strewn with scattered, broken rocks. These THE GROTTO. 37 rocks were thrown together in a variety of forms. " Oh, here is a grotto a real grotto, just such as I have read about in story-books !" exclaimed Esther. Four large rocks formed this grotto; three of them made the sides of an irregular enclo sure, and a fourth lay over the others, serving very well for a roof. The room or grotto thus formed was ]arge enough for the girls to stand in without stooping, and though irregular in shape, contained several square yards of floor or pavement, which was covered with loose stones. It was open in front towards the brook, and from it a smooth green bank sloped down to the water's edge. " The. first thing we do must be to clear away the loose stones," said Esther ; " then we will cover the pavement with moss, and ornament it with pebbles and shells ; then it will be a real fairy grotto." " Beautiful ! beautiful !" exclaimed Louisa, clapping her hands with delight ; " and we will be fairies, at least play we are. I will be Lady Delaware. 38 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. " That would not do for a fairy's name," said her wiser sister. " You know fairies were sup posed to live in flowers, and every fairy might take the name of her favorite flower. I choose the violet for my flower, and I will be the fairy Yioletta." "I like the rose best; besides, that is the queen of flowers. I will be queen of the fairies." " Yes ; Queen Rosamia, if you like." " Queen Eosamia ! Oh, that is charming !" " But there is work to be done," said Esther, as she tried to move a large stone, too heavy for her to lift. Louisa attempted to assist her, but their unit ed efforts were not sufficient to remove it from the grotto ; so, after tugging away for a while, they gave it up. " Well, we can cover this with moss and use it for a seat, and all the rest of the stones we can take outside and lay up for a wall or enclo sure round the front of our grotto." "Esther, you are the smartest girl I ever knew; you ought to be queen of the fairies. Let me see ; what are our names ?" THE GEOTTO. ' 39 " Yioletta and Rosamia." "Wouldn't it be too funny if some good fairy should take pity on us, and come and fit up our grotto?" said Louisa, as she seated her self near the opening, quite tired with tugging at the large stone. " No, indeed ; I think the fun is in doing it ourselves," replied her sister, bringing out an apronful of smaller stones, and commencing the enclosure or court-yard of the grotto. " I think Queen Rosamia must condescend to help poor Yioletta." They were still working busily, carrying out the stones, when they heard Miss ]STancy at a distance yelling with all her might, " Esther-r-r ! Louisa-a-a !" They shook the dust from their aprons, and ran and clambered up the rocks at the risk of their necks, frightened at the thought of having stayed beyond the natural dinner-hour. How ever, they got only a slight scolding. After dinner, Miss Nancy said, " I am going to take you to my kitchen, and teach you to make apple-pies." Esther and Louisa would have preferred going 4:0 BEAUTIFTJL EEETHA. again to the fairy grotto ; but no, Eosamia and Yioletta must condescend to make apple-pies. First they must pare the apples. This they did much after the fashion'of him who "pared his wits on both sides, and left nothing in the jiiddle ;" at least, after their awkward attempts, very little was left of the apples but the cores. Louisa cut a deep gash in her thumb while paring the third apple ; and while Miss ISTancy was binding it up, the parrot provokingly said, " No matter no matter ; try again." Old Orpy, Miss Nancy's only servant, was deaf as a post, and the parrot had caught a great many words from hearing them screamed into the poor woman's ears. It quite surprised the children that the parrot's sayings should so often be appropriate ; but they did not notice the thousand words that were not so ; and as the creature talked a great deal, it was not strange that she sometimes hit right. " You can't have any more apples this time, child, but you can grate a nutmeg, as it is your left thumb that you have so clumsily cut. Fie ! Esther," continued Miss Nancy, " you are wasting my apples shockingly." TIIE GKOTTO. 41 "Am I, indeed! How can I help it?" meekly inquired Esther, who was most vigor ously slashing away at them with a large knife. " You must pare them thin thin as a wafer. Apples are as scarce as gold-dust at this time of year, and almost as costly, especially these choice rusty-coats." Estjjer tried in vain to make the paring as thin as a wafer. In attempting it she left bits of brown skin scattered over them, at which Louisa laughed, and said, " Sister, your apples are pied already." "Have you not grated that nutmeg yet?" asked Miss Nancy, who did not understand Louisa's pun. " No ; but I have grated the skin off my fin gers," said Louisa, with a rueful face. " I declare, I could not have believed it pos sible that city girls of your age could have been so awkward in the kitchen. What on earth are you good for ?" " Miss Nancy, do you know how to play the piano ?" roguishly asked Louisa. " No, indeed." 4-2 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. " But why don't you know how ?" demanded Louisa. " Because I never learned, and never wished to learn to play the piano." "A very good reason, Miss Nancy. Now suppose we should give the same for not know ing how to make apple-pies?" retorted Louisa, giggling triumphantly. " Sister, sister !" said Esther, reprovingly, " I am sure it is very kind in Miss Nancy to try to teach two such awkward things as we are, and I am much obliged to her, for I wish to learn how to do useful things." " There is some hope of you, Esther, though you have cruelly wasted my apples. Now, you see, here is the paste for four apple-pies, but you have wasted the fruit, so that I shall have but two." "Well, I will go without," said Esther. " And so will I," said Louisa, " and that will make it just right one for you, and one for Orpy. ' " No, no ! I will make two custard pies, with thick crust, to use the paste." " Ah ! now you are very kind, Miss Nancy THE GKOTTO. 43 for I like custard a great deal better than apple pie. You said when we came that you did not love children; but I do believe you mean to love us, by and by," said Louisa, looking roguishly in Miss Nancy's grave face, and pat ting her on the shoulder. A pleasant smile stole over her rigid fea tures, but she said, " Go away, saucy child." CHAPTER Y. THE 5'AIRIES. Miss NANCY required of her visitors great neatness and order in their room, and to attend to it themselves. So the next morning the queen of the fairies was obliged to assist the more humble Yioletta in sweeping and dusting. The task was done not without some most un- fairylike grumbling from Rosamia. Then they started, carrying baskets on their arms, in which moss and pebbles were to be carried to the grotto. When they got there, behold it was already fitted up in a marvelous manner ! The loose stones had been all removed, and laid on the circular wall for the court-yard. The floor within the grotto was covered with bright green moss, as soft as velvet. This beautiful carpet was ornamented with a design formed THE FAIKIES. 45 of white pebbles. A circle of large pebbles, glistening like pearls, had the names Yioletta and Rosamia in the centre, formed of small pebbles. Esther and Louisa stood at the entrance in delighted astonishment. " How beautiful ! how beautiful !" exclaimed Esther ; " who has done this ?" " The fairies !" whispered Louisa, with almost breathless awe. "Fairies! human fairies like ourselves," said her wiser sister ; " but I wonder how they knew our fairy names." " A very mysterious thing ! How could they know them, for we were all alone ?" Just then Esther observed a small roll of paper near the entrance, and opening it, read aloud, " The name of the brook is Castalia." " Our fairy writes a bold hand," said Esther, showing the scroll to her sister. " "We will call the brook Castalia." Louisa peeped timidly into the grotto. In stead of the large stone, a neat green bench had been placed at one end for a seat. 46 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. " How strange !" she exclaimed, with her eyes staring wildly, while Esther stepped care fully over the moss carpet and sat down. Louisa heard the sound of voices, and quickly turned her head. Then she beckoned to her sister, whispering, " I never saw any creature so beautiful in all my life. Can that be our fairy ?" At a short distance, seated on a rock, was the object of Louisa's wild admiration, a young girl whose beauty was indeed wonderful. She had taken off her bonnet for the purpose of arranging the rich chestnut curls which the wind had discomposed. A waiting-maid stood beside her, holding a pink bonnet ornamented with white feathers. On perceiving Louisa she shook back the luxurious ringlets from a face which might well have been mistaken for that of a fairy : the delicate rosy hue of the cheeks melted into the purest white, and the dark blue eyes seemed mischievously hiding themselves beneath soft dark lashes, while the parted lips were as red as the berries of a honeysuckle. " Is it our fairy ?" whispered Louisa, with a half-way belief that it was nothing human. "Speak to it Esther." THE FAIRIES. 4? The beauty, after gazing a moment at the strangers, snatched the bonnet from her maid, placed it on her head, and pointing at Esther and Louisa with a contemptuous expression, said something in a language which they did not understand, and then walked rapidly away. " Who can she be ?" exclaimed Esther. " She is very beautiful; but her expression was not pleasing." " I believe it is the fairy who has ornamented our grotto, and that she was not pleased because we did not thank her for it," said Louisa. " Nonsense! there are no such beings as fairies, and never have been ; it is only a poeti cal fancy," replied Esther. Louisa shook her head, and seating herself on a large stone by the grotto, said, " I don't know what to believe about it, but I feel a kind of creeping and shuddering that is very queer." Esther again went within the grotto, and soon returned, and saying, "See! this is no fairy weapon," showed a pearl-handled pen knife, which was marked on a small silver plate, W. M." "Where did you find it?" 48 BEAUTIFUL BEKTHA. "Among the soft moss in the grotto. W. M ! Whose can it be ? Let us ask Miss Nan cy if she knows any one with these initials." " Oh, no ! for then we shall be obliged to tell her all about our grotto, you know, Esther, ana she might forbid our coming here." " I intend, of course, to tell her all about it, and shall try to restore the knife to the owner." When they reached Ivy Cottage, as they called the log-house, they found Miss Nancy in the garden. " Do you know any person whose name be gins with W. M. ?" asked Louisa, almost out of breath with eagerness. "That is a very strange question," replied Miss Nancy, reddening with anger and embar rassment. " Never ask me questions about people." Thus checked, Esther, who was about to show the penknife, slipped it into her pocket, and walked off with Louisa to the house. At night, after they had retired to their room, they consulted what they should do with the knife, and decided to place it the next day just where they found it. THE FAIKIES. 49 " One thing has struck me' as very remarka ble here," said Esther, as she took up her small Bible to read before going to rest. " There are a great many remarkable things here," replied her sister ; " which one do you mean ?" "It is a very serious matter. Miss Nancy never has family prayers." " Family prayers ! Who would she have to join her but cats, canaries, and deaf Orpy, with the parrot to say Amen ?" " Don't treat the matter so lightly, Louisa ; you know how sweet it was to unite with dear papa and mamma in family worship." " I know I often went to sleep at night during prayers." " And I hope you are sorry for it now. It does seem so heathenish and unthankful not to acknowledge our heavenly Father's goodness from day to day, and to ask together forgive ness for those faults and sins of which we have been guilty, especially towards each other. It is mournful to think that any person of Miss Nancy's age should live without reading the blessed Bible and praying to God." 50 BEAUTIFUL BEKTIIA. "Perhaps she reads and prays in secret," suggested Louisa. " Let us hope she does. She takes good care to provide for our bodily comfort ; but our dear mamma never forgot that we had souls as well as bodies, and that we are accountable to God for all that we are and all that we have. I intend to ask Miss Nancy if she would like to have us come to family prayers." "Now, Esther, you talk like a Methodist preacher. I wouldn't ask Miss Nancy that question for a silver dollar." " Do you not remember what papa said in his farewell note about influence f We are ex pected to exert a good influence on Miss Nancy, and we must consider how it is to be done." " Well, do as you like ; I should as soon think of asking her to give mw that hideous parrot, with its everlasting < Pretty Poll,' < Never mind,' 'Try again.' I declare I am so angry with it, I could twist off its neck." " Dear Louisa, that is a cruel, wicked thought. I am afraid you are angry with Miss ^ancy be cause she would not answer your question. She may have good reasons for it. Don't go to THE FAIRIES. 51 sleep so out of temper. Let us forgive as we hope to be forgiven, before we kneel down to say the Lord's Prayer. It would be a fearful thing to repeat those sacred words with anger burning in our hearts." Louisa pouted for a moment ; then she threw her arms around her sister's neck, and said, " I am a naughty child ; I wish I was better." Esther kissed her affectionately, and said in a sweet, low voice, " Ask, and ye shall receive. Jesus Christ was tempted even as we are, and yet without sin, that we may never despair of forgiveness when we ask it in His name. Good night!" CHAPTEE VI. THE BEAUTY AND THE BROOK. " SUCH a rainy day ! nothing but ^/)ur, pour, pour," exclaimed Louisa the next morning after breakfast, as she stood with her forehead pressed against the window-pane, while the rain fell in torrents. "A nice April shower!" said e Miss Nancy, who was washing up the breakfast things. " But it is very provoking when we want so much to take a walk," replied Louisa, pettishly. " We must not forget who it is that sends the rain to water the earth and make the flowers we love to bud and blossom." Miss Nancy stared at Esther as she made this remark, and Louisa made no reply. The grass in the court-yard looked fresh and green, the hyacinths and daffodils were already THE BEAUTY AND THE BEOOK. 53 in blossom, and the lilac buds had expanded wonderfully since the day before ; a horse-chest nut tree near the window was putting out its first tender green leaves from the varnished buds, where they had been sealed up all win ter ; and a^ blue-bird was singing in spite of the rain. Soon the drops of water were not all on the outside of the window. Tears streamed from the eyes of the affectionate but impulsive Lou isa as she thought, " God is good and kind to make all these beautiful things. I wish I was like Esther, who never forgets what is right. I am sorry one minute, and the very next, almost, I do the same thing again." " Come, Louisa," said Esther, affectionately taking her arm and leading her up stairs, "I have something to read to you." Then going to the secretary, Esther took out a book which looked like an album, but it was not, and said, " Shall I read my journal to you ?" " Yes, indeed. I haven't begun mine yet." " Perhaps it would have been better if I had not, for I am afraid it is very silly. This is the motto, 54 BEAUTIFUL BEKTHA. " Let love and truth indite Whatever here I write." " Poetry, to be sure !" exclaimed Louisa. " Who ever dreamed of your writing poetry ?" "It is a sort of rhyming jingle ; don't call it poetry," replied Esther, coloring rosy red. " The reign of old Winter was past, And Spring was rejoicing at last That delicate flowers were peeping From cold beds where they had been sleeping, And birds were so merrily singing, Where lately the tempests were ringing. Alas, in our home there was sorrow, For dear ones must part on the morrow ; Our parents are summoned away, And must not their parting delay. Oh, God of the land and the sea, I gladly entrust them to thee ! On, on with the speed of the .wind, We left the proud city behind, And glided by river and vale, By town and by mountain and dale, The car-whistle shrieking a wail, That went through my heart's very core Ah, what if we see them no more ! " At length we left the cars, and glad was I Another mode of traveling to try ; A cosy ride we had, papa and Lou, With me between, (the seat was made for two.) Through leafless woods we jogged a mile or so, And then we came to that sweet brook you know, THE BEAUTY AND THE BROOK. 55 Whose name, from Honey-pot to Delaware, Was changed one day, by damsel bright and fair ; The brook, with yellow willows by its side, Spread out its shining ripples deep and wide, And Lou, who thought a brook was but a ditch, Alarmed, cried out, " We all shall in it pitch !" \ "Now you know I didn't use that ugly word," interrupted Louisa. Esther went on " But yet we safely passed the mighty stream, Which our pupa a bosom friend would deem A friend whose every crook and turn he knew, Unchanged, while he from youth to manhood grew. The quiet woods of feath'ry brown we past, And reached the ancient house of logs so vast ; We wondered where such giant forests grew Tall shrubs (behold Miss Nancy peeping through !) The budding lilac, tall seringle, too, And roses soon to please with varied hue. Miss Nancy stares like one who walks in sleep, Then dear papa makes one tremendous leap ; Then places Lou and me upon the ground, And hastens to his sister with a bound Of heart that noble heart, so warm and good. Amazed, Miss Nancy stark and silent stood." " There now, that is enough for one day, and too much for your patience, Lou. Is it not ridiculous ?" " No, indeed," replied Louisa, warmly. u It is sweet. I wonder how you can write poetiy. 56 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. I could not make a single rhyme even if some one would tell me who fixed up our grotto, to pay for it." " Don't call this stuff poetry. Only think how beautifully Lucre tia Maria Davidson wrote before she was as old as I am." " Oh, good, good !" exclaimed Louisa, clap ping her hands, "there comes the blessed sun ; we shall have a sweet afternoon. What a fool I was to cry about an April shower !" After dinner the sisters started for the grotto. On approaching it, they saw the beautiful being who had excited such warm admiration tho day previous, standing within the enclosure of stones, looking eagerly at the inside of the grotto. Her maid was seated on a rail fence near by, knitting. " Is this yours?" said Esther, stepping quickly to the side of the young beauty and handing her the knife. She snatched it without replying, and ran off, laughing so loud that the rocks around seemed to ring with the shrill sound. Soon she stopped, and seating herself on a large stone, began to sing. THE BEAUTY AND THE BEOOK. 57 "1 do believe, after all, it is a fairy. I never heard any human voice sound like that," said Louisa, whose imagination was much excited. Soon the stranger started up, and walked off, followed by her German maid. "Let us see where she goes," said Louisa. They wandered along by the side of the brook until they came to a beautiful little waterfall. The lively stream dashed over high rocks, and then rushed on, foaming and whirl ing among the stones. Across the brook, just above this pretty cascade, was a light foot bridge. Esther was fond of drawing. She stood looking up, and wishing for pencil and paper to take a sketch of the charming scene, when splash came a stone into the brook, then another, spattering the water over the aston ished sisters. They heard that peculiar ringing laugh, and looking up, saw the beauty peeping over the railing of the bridge. " Could she have done it on purpose ?" ex claimed Esther. "The spiteful thing, of course she did!" re torted Louisa. And they hastened homeward, full speed. 58 BEATTHFDI, BERTHA. Miss J^Tancy was waiting tea for them. She looked uncommonly sad, and did not notice their spattered dresses. After they had been seated awhile at table, she said to herself, " I think she must have been poisoned." They did not venture to ask a question. " Yes, yes, it must have been poison." " Poison !" exclaimed Louisa. " Yes ; my poor parrot is dead dead ! I found her lying on her back in her cage, her claws held up, and her mouth wide open dead !" "Death takes away the most precious things. I am very sorry for your loss," said Esther, kindly. Louisa held her napkin to her mouth, and pretended to cough, to hide a laugh. "Was it possible that Louisa had anything to do with the death of the parrot ? As soon as they were together in their room, Esther said, " How could you laugh, Louisa, when poor Miss $"ancy was so grieved at the doath of poor Polly ?" " She looked so funny, and so did you ; in deed, I couldn't help laughing ; besides, I was glad the ugly thing was dead." THE BEAUTY ANT> THE BKOOK. 59 " Do you know how she came to die ?" " For want of breath, I suppose." "Had you given her anything that could poison her ?" "Nothing, unless it was the piece of my shoulder she snapped off the other day." " My dear sister, you hated the poor parrot, and wished her dead. You may pass too easily to hating human beings, and wishing them dead, too. The next step would be murder." " Murder ! Oh, you are severe on me. I do not know any more than you do what killed the creature." " I do not wish to be severe, my own darling sister, but we are just about to ask the protec tion of our heavenly Father and the forgive ness of our sins, and we ought to have a Kindly, loving spirit. We should remember that God is love, and that not a sparrow falls to the ground without his knowledge. It seems to me dreadful to hate anything He has created." "I am always wrong, and you are always right," said Louisa, throwing her arms about her sister's neck, and sobbing aloud. "No, no, darling, I am often wrong, too. 60 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. May God forgive us both," said her sister, kiss ing her again and again. . Poor Louisa ! her sorrow for the time was keen. Her feelings were all quick, but not lasting. Her penitence, though bright as the rainbow after a storm, was as transient, too. There was a strong probability that the same fault she had bitterly repented of, one day would be committed again, whenever a similar temptation occurred. CHAPTER VIL THE WKONG PEW. SUNDAY morning dawned bright and clear* Oh, how beautiful ! The birds sang their sweetest and tenderest notes. What business had the cocks to crow so merrily ? The cattle lowed ; the geese, ducks, and turkeys joined in the concert. " Why, they don't keep Sundays here," were Louisa's first thoughts on awaking. There was more truth in it than she suspect ed. Miss Nancy was already with her congre gation in the poultry-yard. " Where do you go to church, Miss Nancy," asked Esther at the breakfast table. " Nowhere," was the brief reply. There was silence for a minute, then Esther said, " But you will allow us to go." 62 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. " Yes, if you can walk two miles to the vil lage with old Orpy, who goes to church, though she can't hear a word. It is as good a place for her to rest in as any other." Esther might have said it was a better place than any other, because she there would have sympathy in her devotions; and from habit and long association the place had become sacred to her. * " Don't put on any of your city finery," said Miss Nancy. "We didn't bring anything fit to wear to church," said Louisa. "Yes, we did, quite good enough," replied Esther. In simple but neat attire the sisters walked arm-in-arm to church, that delightful spring morning, preceded by Orpy. A queer looking person was old Orpy. Bent almost double by age and hard labor, she hob bled away, leaning on a stout stick. Her gown of plaid linsey-woolsey had been her only go-to- meeting dress for a dozen years or more, and her little black satin bonnet had been its con stant companion. A spotted calico shawl com- THE WRONG PEW. 63 pleted her attire. Though her nose was hooked and approached her chin, and her face was wrinkled and puckered, its expression was not disagreeable. They had enjoyed the walk for a mile, when Orpy stopped, and pointing with her stick to the spire of the church, said, " It is a great privilege to take two sweet little ladies to the house of God. " ' I have been there, and still would go ; 'Tis like a little heaven below.' " " Dear old woman !" said Esther, " why have we never taken any notice of her before ? I do believe she is good. What an awful thing it would be if this poor old person were not re ligious." Again Orpy spoke: "This is as pretty a morning as I ever saw of an April. I've hearn tell of dimons. Sure the dew glistens on the grass brighter than any dimon-stone. I hope your young hearts are thankful to God for making such a nice pretty world for you to live in ; but, my little dears, heaven is a brighter world than this. You know about its golden streets and gates of pearl." 64 BEAUTIFUL BEKTHA. Esther's eyes filled with tears, and her heart bounded with fervent joy and gratitude. Lou isa was awed and silent. As they approached the church, the people from all directions, on foot, on horseback, and in wagons, were gathering to the place of wor ship. Just as the sisters reached tKe door, it occurred to them where they were to sit, and they stood a moment hesitating ; but Orpy led the way to the gallery stairs, which were inside the church, and taking her seat on one of the lower steps, motioned them to sit higher and near to the balustrade, that room might be left for others to pass up stairs. The services commenced, and Esther joined with true and earnest devotion. Louisa was peeping through the balusters at the beauty, who sat in a pew near the pulpit with a gaily dressed lady and a young lad. Poor Louisa's pride had to suffer. After a while the stran gers discovered her in her exalted position, and their eyes were often directed towards her and her sister. The beauty whispered to her mo ther, and then hid her face, laughing behind her book. THE WKONG TEW. 65 When the service was over> Orpy did not rise to go. The sisters, not knowing what to do, stood still while the people passed down the gallery stairs ; then Orpy beckoned them to be seated, and taking a small basket from under her calico shawl, she spread a clean napkin on Esther's lap, and placed on it shaved tongue, biscuit, and cakes, saying, "I always bring dinner, so that I can stay all day." " How provoking !" exclaimed Louisa, " I have been mortified enough already." Just then the clergyman came in at the side door, and walking to the gallery stairs, first shook hands kindly with Orpy, and then said, " I perceive, young ladies, you are going to re main for the afternoon service. You will find a more comfortable seat in the pew yonder." He pointed to the yellow-cushioned pew where the beauty had been seated, and continued, " The family rarely come in the afternoon. I beg you will not hesitate to sit there." " Thank you, sir," said Esther. He left them with a polite bow. " Exactly like good Mr. Nelton," said Orpy. " He always takes kind notice of poor me. You 5 6 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. had better sit there. I knew what he meant by his motions. I often know more than folks think I do. ISTow, when you have done your dinner, go and stroll about and take the air." Near the church was the graveyard not a nicely-kept and ornamented "God's acre," as the Germans call it, but a " neglected spot," " Where the rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep." " Yet e'en these bones from insult to protect, Some frail memorial, erected nigh, With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture deck'd, Implores the passing tribute of a sigh ; " Their name, their years, spelt by the unleiter'd muse, The place of fame and elegy supply, And many a holy text around she strews, To teach the rustic moralist to die." The young girls wandered about with solemn awe. Fragile anemones waved their graceful heads as the gentle breeze swept over the green graves. Violets, white and blue, and the sweet- briar, just putting forth its tender leaves, per fumed the air. Though man had neglected to adorn the sacred spot, God had not forgotten it. "May we gather these flowers?" said Louip' to the sexton. " As many as you please, Miss." THE WKONG PEW. 67 When the girls seated themselves in the yel low-cushioned pew to which the clergyman had directed them, Louisa held in her hand a large bouquet of wild flowers. As the service was about to commence, who BJould enter the church but tho beauty and her brother. She opened the pew door, and motioning to the surprised sisters to come out, whispered, "This is our pew." The tall boy, who was behind her, gave her a smart push, which sent her into the pew in haste. Esther and Louisa rose to let her pass to the end of the seat, but the boy shook his head and bowed for them to be seated. The beauty was anything but lovely now. She pouted her pretty lips, and turned up her pretty nose, and tossed back contemptuously her pretty head. She whispered to her bro ther, " They've brought a bushel of weeds into our nice pew." Louisa looked at her valued bouquet, and wondered if her saucy neighbor called those sweet flowers " weeds." She was ready to cry with vexation. The disdainful beauty drew away her silk 68 BEAUTIFUL BEKTHA. dress as far as possible from Louisa's mousseline de laine, and cast sneering glances at the coarse shoes which had been soiled that morn ing by a walk of two miles. Esther, who sat at the end of the seat, did not observe all this, but joined with her usual interest in the ser vices. When they were over, the beauty said aloud to her brother, " I wonder what business these country gawks have in our pew, scattering nasty weeds and mud all over it." Poor Louisa had dropped a few of her short- stemmed violets on the carpet. " Mr. K~elton told us to sit here, Miss," said she, pettishly. I am sorry if we have soiled the old carpet or hurt the yellow cushions." The beauty, quite astonished, walked out, while her brother held the pew door open for them all to pass. " Thank you, sir," said Esther, as she passed out. " You are welcome to sit here whenever you come to church," said he, with a very polite bow. They now joined Orpy, who was waiting for them at the church door. THE WKONG PEW. 69 When they had walked a short distance, " "W. M. ! the very owner ">' the pearl-handled penknife !" exclaimed Louisa. She was interrupted by Orpy : " Pretty creature ! very pretty creature ! but hasn't she anything in the world to do but just to be pretty, like a posey or a bird ? I am speaking of the -proud little Miss who was in the pew with you. Her silly mother is spoiling her for this world and for another. Why, she spends her whole time in taking pains with that girl to make and to keep her handsome. She bottles up May- dew and snow-water to wash her with. She wastes the milk of two cows every day for her to bathe in. She thinks roses grow and blos som on purpose to scent the linen of her dar ling. Does the proud woman ever think who made her child, and that He will one day ask what she has done for her soul ? I am afraid not." The sisters listened with astonishment. Lou isa asked her the name of the beauty in so loud a voice as to frighten her sister ; and Orpy, though she did not hear, seemed to understand what she wanted to know, for she continued, 70 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. "You had better say nothing to Miss Nancy about Bertha Maxwell; it is a sore subject. You must know, Mrs. Maxwell, when she was young, was called a beauty. She was poor and proud. Our Miss Nancy was going to be mar ried to Mr. Maxwell, but that woman stepped in, and by her arts drew him off. Miss Nancy has never been like the same person since. "Woeful day was it to poor Maxwell when he married that woman ! Miserable life he led ! She married, and teazed him to death with her extravagance and uppishness. Poor man! he has been in his grave several years." " There, I told you W. M. must be the beau ty's brother. He was very polite to us ; but, O, that Bertha Maxwell ! I am so angry with her, I could bite her," exclaimed Louisa, setting her teeth firmly together. " The day is too holy and beautiful for anger," replied her sister, mildly. "See those purple, gold-tipped clouds piled up in the west, looking like illuminated palaces and frowning castles, while those tiny floating clouds are fire-birds hovering over the magnificent scene. I won der if poor old Orpy is not reminded of the THE WKONG PEW. 71 heavenly city of which she spoke this morn- ing." " I can't think of anything but that insulting Bertha Maxwell, turning up her nose at my sweet flowers, and calling them nasty weeds !" " My dear sister, how unlike your spirit is to the one described by the clergyman in his ser mon this afternoon." " I didn't hear a word of the sermon." " You heard the text, surely c He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so opened he not his mouth.' Then he preached from it about a for giving spirit, and the virtue of meekness." "I tell you, Esther, it might as well have been Greek for me ; that silly girl was all the while provoking me. She poked out her small foot to show it in its silk stocking and purple kid shoe. Then she would draw off her long kid glove, and spread out her hand to exhibit her taper fingers and the rings on them. I was vexed because she was so beautiful and so proud." " The good clergyman said we should over come evil with good. Now, if you had listened 72 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. to the sermon and taken no notice of her, it would have been far better for you both." They were now silent. The quiet and peace ful spirit of the gentle Esther had been dis turbed awhile 'by the anger of her sister; but soon a sweet calm stole over her mind ; she en joyed the lovely evening, and lifted up her grateful heart to the Almighty Creator. When they were about a quarter of a mile from Ivy Cottage, Orpy exclaimed, " Goodness me! there comes Miss Nancy. She has not been as far as this from home in more than eighteen years. What can be the matter ? 1 shouldn't wonder if our house was burnt down 1" Sure enough, there was Miss Nancy, wearing an antiquated silk dress, and a bonnet the fashion of which had passed away before Esther and Louisa were born. Esther hastened to meet her aunt, who greeted her with a smile. The loving girl threw her arms around Miss Nancy's neck, and kissed her cheek. Miss Nancy was surprised by this token of affection. Turning round and walking beside Esther she said, " The day has been long and THE WKONG PEW. 73 lonely. I have missed my poor parrot. She used to keep up a noise, and seemed to me almost like a human being." Esther slid her hand gently within her aunt's arm, and pressing it slightly, said, " And did you not miss us too? I missed you, and most earnestly longed to have you with us at church." " I suspect Orpy has been very talkative. She is apt to be when she gets a chance," re plied Miss Nancy, willing to turn off the con versation. "Poor old soul, she is getting childish." " She seems to be a good Christian woman is she?" asked Esther, earnestly. " After her fashion, she is ; somewhat super stitious, according to my notion ; yet she is faithful to her duty." Louisa was still in bad humor. "What ails you, child?" asked Miss Nancy. " I wish I had stayed home from church with you." "Why so?" " Because, in the first place, I didn't like my seat on the gallery stairs with a servant ; and I. 74 BEAUTIFUL BE.RTHA. did not like my seat in Mrs. Maxwell's pew much better." "In Mrs. Maxwell's pew!" exclaimed Miss Nancy. "Yes; the clergyman told us to sit there; but that proud beauty would have turned us out if her brother had not prevented it." Esther looked reprovingly at her sister, and she was silent. Not another word was spoken till they reached home; but Esther felt Miss Nancy's arm tremble, and saw that tears were in her eyes. The nice cold chicken and ham on the tea- table showed that Miss Nancy had not been unmindful of her nieces' comfort. Their light dinner and long walk rendered the wholesome meal quite relishing. After they had retired to their room, Louisa said, "I have a question that I want to ask you, Esther, but I am ashamed to ask it ; I know you will think me silly." " "What is it ? Don't be afraid." " Will you answer me candidly ?" "If lean." " Well, then, am I handsome?" THE WRONG PEW. 75 " I never thought much about it. You look very well to me." " Did you ever hear anybody call me pretty ?" " Never, that I remember." Louisa sighed, but questioned no farther. She looked in the glass and saw a pair of bright dark eyes, dark hair to match, a nose that turned a very little the wrong way that is, up ward, a smooth but dark complexion, and a pair of full red lips that were given to pouting. Surely she was not ugly. Her sister's eyes were blue, and her complexion fair. Was Evsther beautiful ? Louisa was in doubt. CHAPTEE VIE. STYLE IN A SHANDRYDAN. " IT is quite time for us to have letters from papa and mamma," said Esther, the next morn ing at the breakfast- table. " How shall we get them ?" " You can go to the post-office in the village ; you have learned the way. The post-office is near the church," replied Miss Nancy. Quite delighted, the girls started on their walk to the village. How glorious was that spring morning ! The velvet grass dotted with flowers; the tender leaves of the trees, just beginning to flutter in the stirring air; the yellow butterflies, like winged flowers hovering over the fields; all were sources of pleasure to the sisters. As they reached the small post-office they STYLE IN A SIIAJSDRYDAN. 77 saw a queer, old-fashioned vehicle standing in front of it, "What is that?" exclaimed Louisa; "chari ot, phseton, gig, or shandrydwi, as papa would say?" " Shandrydan I think it must be," replied Esther, much amused. It was a four-wheeled carriage, the body of it a dingy yellow, the wheels red, the top, which was thrown back, a faded green. Originally it was designed for a pair of horses ; now it was drawn by a single gray mule. In the carriage were seated Mrs. Maxwell and her daughter. The coachman had gone into the office. Coach man ! He was a mulatto boy, perhaps twelve years old, dressed in blue-striped linen, and yet a livery servant that is, his shiny black hat was ornamented with a gilt band and large brass buckle. With these insignia of office, " His feet, perchance, may lack a shoe, Yet he's a coachman through and through." Grand and stately sat Mrs. Maxwell and Ber tha in their carriage, as Esther and Louisa stood at the door of the post-office. 78 BEAUTIFUL UE.RTHA. "Mamma, them's the same country josies what set in our pew yesterday," said Bertha. " Indeed !" exclaimed the mother, motioning to the sisters to come nearer the carriage. Esther stepped forward, but Louisa stood still, indulging in a little private giggle. " Girl ! what business have you and that other girl to sit in genteel people's pews at church?" demanded the lady, throwing back her head proudly. "The Rev. Mr. ISTelton requested us to sit there," replied Esther, in a remarkably lady like manner, and a voice whose sweetness was equally remarkable. Mrs. Maxwell was puzzled. "Are you the children my daughter has several times seen by Honey-pot brook ?" " The very same," cried Louisa. " She dashed mud and water over us when we stood by the brook. She isn't very polite, if she does ride in a carriage." At that moment the mulatto boy came out of the office, and saying, " No letters, marm," jumped on the box, snapped his long whip at the mule, and drove off. STYLE IN A SHANDKYDAN. 79 " Style ! style !" exclaimed Louisa, looking after them, while Esther went into the office ; " style with a vengeance I" and then the laugh which had been suppressed bunt forth a com pletely girlish He ! he ! he ! This laugh was suddenly checked by the ap proach of two young lads, who smiled as they cast a glance at her, and walked leisurely on ward. One of them was the supposed brother of Bertha Maxwell. " Oh, but he couldn't know what I was laughing at," thought Louisa, quite troubled when, she remembered his politeness to them at church. Esther now came out with two letters, one for each. All other things were forgotten. So they walked along reading these precious epis tles from their beloved parents. " My letter is full of good advice," said Lou isa, " which, I am sorry to say, I am not likely to follow, unless I am better than I have been. You do not need as much advice, Esther ; per haps yours contains more news." "You may read it," said Esther, her eyes brimming with tears. The last lines from her 80 BEAUTIFUL BEKTHA, mother had touched her tenderly. They were as follows : "I know, my dear child, that you are go verned by Christian principles, and that wher ever you are your presence will be like a sun beam. I desire humbly to thank God that He has through His grace, rendered you an un speakable blessing to your father and myself." " You are a good girl, there is no doubt of it, Esther, and I love you dearly," said Louisa; " and yet, do you know, I sometimes wish you were not half as good as you are, because I should seem better if we were more alike." " I am afraid you all think me much better than I am," replied Esther, with unaffected humility " Suppose we go home by the way of Casta- lia" suggested Louisa. Esther cheerfully assented, and they followed the course of the brook. AVhen they reached the grotto, they found a beautiful fresh bouquet of green-house flowers lying on the rustic bench within. Around the bouquet was a slip of paper, on which was written the following rough stanza. Esther and STYLE IN A SHANDKYDAN. 81 her sister stood at the entrance of the grotto as they read it, Louisa holding the bouquet : " Farewell to the grotto, farewell to the brook, The haunt of the fairies, so beautiful ; Farewell, Violetta, with one parting look To Rosamia, good and dutiful." Damon and Pythias. Esther read the lines aloud, and at the close heard a sneering laugh. Raising her eyes, she saw Bertha Maxwell standing near, making up a contemptuous face. " Suddenly the beauty came forward and snatched at the flowers, exclaiming in an angry tone, " They are OUKS ; I know they came from our house, and I will have them." Louisa tried to lift the bouquet beyond her reach. Bertha snatched at it again, saying, " Dandelions are good enough for country josies." The passionate Louisa, exasperated by this second desperate attack, made a vigorous de* fence of her rights. She drew the nails of her left hand not very lightly over the beauty's face, leaving three long scratches on the beauty's rosy cheek. 6 82 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. Esther seized hold of Louisa's arm while the German maid took Bertha by the shoulder and drew her off, yelling most piteously, " She scratches like a wild-cat !" " You might better have let her have the bouquet than to fight for it," said Esther. " No indeed ; I shall not yield my rights to her." " Calm yourself, dear Louisa ; you have gained the victory, certainly." " And carried off the prize. The pretty flow ers are not injured, though the pretty face is," retorted Louisa, triumphantly. " Perhaps for life. That would be most un fortunate." " I don't think so. It might do her good. But, Esther dear, somebody thinks we are beau tiful, though you do not. Look at that poetry again." " I think you mistake ; it is the brook that is called beautiful." " No, no ; the haunt of ' the fairies so beauti ful ' that is, I and you" " I think it means the brook ; there is a com ma after fairies." STYLE IN A SHANDKYDAN. 83 " But you will confess that YOU are called ' good and dutiful. "That was only to make out the rhyme. You don't know, as you never try to make rhymes, how we adopt any word that rhymes when we are puzzled. There are very few words that rhyme with beautiful. Besides, you know this is a mere compliment, not meant for truth." Louisa shook her head doubtfully, wishing to believe that she was called " beautiful." As they reached Ivy Cottage they heard the sound of galloping on the road, and running through the house to the front gate, were just in time to see the liveried coachman spring off the gray mule. Puffing and stammering, he handed a note to Louisa, saying, " Misses sends this ere billet to the old woman what lives here." Louisa took the note, directed to "Nancy Perrit." " Do you wait for an answer ?" " Yes, I s'pose I does." Louisa and her sister found Miss Nancy, and handed her the note. 84: BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. " What does this mean ?" she inquired, after she had twice perused it. "Read it Esther." THE NOTE. " Two saucy girls, who, I hear, live with you as servants, have brewtally attacked my beau tiful Bertha, and infiicked a severe wound on her face, from which she may never recover. If these girls are bound out to you, I shall sew you for damages. Think of the lovely creach- ure coming home with the blood streaming over her face, where the lilly and the rose are Hen- ned in such marvellious beauty ! Oh, the cruel deed ! You or they shall pay for it. " FLOKINDA MAXWELL." Louisa was frightened, and yet she laughed convulsively. Esther looked very grave, and said, " Dear Aunt Nancy, this is a long story. Shall we let the messenger go home, and send an answer when we have had time to think about it ?" " Yes, by all means let him go." And the messenger on his gallant gray gal loped home. STYLE IN A SHANDRYDAN. 85 " Louisa, did you actually scratch Bertha Maxwell ?" " Aunt Nancy, I actually did ; and I am not a bit sorry for it, either." " Stay, Louisa ; let me tell the whole story, beginning at the beginning," said Esther. They sat down in the little parlor. Miss Nancy took up her knitting, and listened quiet ly while Esther related everything that had happened to them in connection with the Max wells, and ended by expressing extreme regret at what had just happened. It was doubtful what Miss Nancy would say or do. She remained silent for at least ten minutes, and then said, " Esther, go and bring pen, ink, and paper here." She did so. " Now write as I dictate, in a fair round hand, plain as print, these words : "Nancy Perrit informs Florinda Maxwell that the two girls whom she takes for servants are the daughters of Paul Perrit, Esq., and she may ; sew ' him for any damage done to the face of the bequty" " But, Aunt Nancy, would it not be well for 86 BEAUTIFUL BEKTHA. us to say we are sorry for the injury ?" gently urged Esther. " You may say what you please ; I have said my say." " Louisa dear, allow me to express some re gret on your part." " I can't say I am sorry when I am not. I only defended myself." " The flowers, you mean." " "Well, my property, then." Esther added to the note : " Esther Perrit regrets exceedingly that Miss Bertha Maxwell should have received a wound on her very pretty face, and hopes the consequences will not be lasting." The question now was, who should carry the note. It was at last settled that old Orpy, who now and then hobbled on week days to the vil lage, should, after dinner, be the bearer. Miss Nancy was amused at the astonishment of the poor deaf woman when she told her that she was to carry the note to the " big white house." "What is to come of all this!" exclaimed Orpy, who could not conjecture what it was all about. STYLE IN A SHANDEYDAN. 87 The sisters then read the kind messages in their letters from their parents to Miss Nancy, who seemed in unusually good spirits. While Orpy was absent they planted flower seeds with their aunt in the garden, and then assisted her to get tea. Louisa was in high spirits, and quite delighted Miss Nancy with lively little songs and funny stories. Esther waited with some anxiety for the re turn of the infirm messenger, regretting among other things that this affair had been the cause of trouble to her. She came just at sunset, laughing aloud as she entered the house. " What is the matter ?" they would all have asked, but Orpy saved them the trouble. " Marm Maxwell sent for me to come in. By the motion of her mouth and the shaking of her fist, I suppose she talked very loud. I was not the wiser for it, but I did not tell her I was hard of hearing. Then she pointed to her daughter and the three long scratches on her face, and shook her first at me again. I wasn't a bit frightened. Then the gal, she began, and she talked and talked, and grew red in the 88 BEAUTIFUL BEKTHA. face as a piny, stamped her small foot at me, and set a little dog to bark at me. Just then a nice young lad came in, who appeared to be all ready for a journey, but seeing me he stopped. Then he went to the sideboard and got out some very poor cake (that wasn't his fault) and a glass of wine, and handed it to me himself. Only think of that! to poor old Orpy! The nice young gentleman ! Then the marni held her tongue, and the gal pouted. The lad then shook hands with his mother, kissed his sister, and beckoned me out of the house. Then he gave rne this little billet, and jumped into the funny carriage, and the yallow boy drove off as fast as the old mule could trot. As I shut the gate I saw the marm standing in the door beck oning to me ; but I thought I might as well be blind as well as deaf just then, and so I hobbled off as fast as my old legs would carry me." The note was as follows : " William Maxwell regrets that the extreme rudeness of his sister should have given so much annoyance to the two young ladies who are visiting Miss Pen-it. lie assures them that the injury sustained by his sister is very STYLE IN A SHANDRYDAN. 89 slight, and need not give them the least un easiness." Miss Nancy evidently was much pleased with this polite note. Louisa was in ecstacies, which were somewhat abated when Esther told her she should give an account of the whole, affair to her lather and mother, and ask their advice. CHAPTER IX, PATSY GKACY. THE next day the girls went to the grotto, fearing lest they should meet Bertha Maxwell. The beloved grotto ! Some one had entirely destroyed its beauty. The pebbles were all scattered, the moss thrown out, the shells bro ken, and the rustic bench was floating in the brook. Louisa sat down and cried. Esther tried to console her with the prospect of restoring it to its former condition. "JSTo, no," she said; "it never will be the same. Only think how beautifully the names Rosamia and Yioletta looked in the green moss, with the circle of pure white pebbles around them 1" " Well, it was all a pretty little piece of ro- PATSY GKACY. 91 mance, and it is passed. We will not play we are fairies any longer. E"ow the weather is warmer we will fix up the grotto again, and come here sometimes with our books, and study botany. We can gather flowers, you know, and examine them here, and make this a kind of museum. Nobody will want our trea sures." " A museum ! Oh, yes, I should like that ; but I am afraid, now that hateful Bertha has begun to torment us, she will never leave our things alone." " We are not sure she was the person who did this mischief." "/ am quite sure, and I say it is a mean re venge." " All revenge is mean, my dear sister. Come, let us try a new walk to-day. We have never wandered far along the brook in that direction. We may find something curious for our mu seum." Louisa started up, brushed away the tears, and arm in arm the sisters walked on. When they were more than a mile from Ivy Cottage, a dark cloud suddenly rose. They ran some 92 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. distance in a green lane, without knowing whither it would lead, when the rain began to pour. Under a large pine tree, by the road-side, they saw a young girl seated, with a book on her lap. A cow and two sheep were feeding near her. The sisters took shelter under the tree. The girl started up. " Don't ]et us disturb you," said Esther ; " we have got caught in a shower, some distance from home." " Oh, April has not forgotten her old tricks," said the stranger. "We are going to have a pretty smart shower. If it should thunder and lighten, it wouldn't be a safe place under that tree. Run to our house yonder. You see the large red gate ; go through it and up to the house. Just knock at the door; mother will bid you come in. I will follow with Mincey and my other pets." So saying, the girl took up a long stick and hurried her " pets " homeward, while the sisters ran on as fast as they could. " Come in," said a voice in reply to their knock at the door of a small red house. PATSY GRACY. 93 A tidily-dressed woman was sitting by the fire in the neat carpeted kitchen. She was spooling woolen yarn. " Ah, you have been overtaken by an April shower. Take off your bonnets and sacks, and dry your feet." " Thank you," said Esther, " our sacks are so thick they shed off rain like ducks' wings." "Papa knew all about March winds and April showers when he bought us these coarse and ugly things," said Louisa, who was so much chagrined at being taken by Mrs. Maxwell for a servant, that she determined this person should know she was somebody. When the woman had put some dry wood on the fire, and placed chairs for the sisters, she inquired if they had seen a girl about their age on the road. " Here I am, mother dear," she answered for herself, "wet as a drowned rat; and what is worse, my poor book has fallen in the mud, and is thoroughly drenched." " Let me dry the book," said Esther ; " it looks like an old friend f Adams' Latin Gram- 94: BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. " So it is. Let it stand while I go and change myself from a drizzle-drazzle to something more decent." " Patsy is always just so cheerful," said the mother. " While she is looking after the cow and sheep, she finds plenty of time to study and read. She is fond of study, though she never has been to school a day in her life." "She recites to you, does she not?" asked Louisa, with a doubtful smile. " Yes, when her brother is absent at college. While he is at home during vacation, he makes her review all she has been over during his absence." Patsy now came in with a tray in her hands, on which were ginger-cakes and spring water. " Plain fare and a hearty welcome," said she, offering it to her guests. " This is my mother, Mrs. Gracy," continued she, " and I am Margaret, Peg, Peggy, or Pat sy Gracy, just which you please." "This is Louisa Perrit, and my name is Esther. We are staying with our aunt, Miss Nancy Perrit." " Indeed ! And how is Miss Nancy ? I be- PATSY GRACY. 95 lieve she seldom leaves Ivy Cottage," eagerly inquired Mrs. Gracy. " Seldom ! Never !" replied Louisa. " She is like a snail, always with its house over itself." "Nancy and I were schoolmates in our girl hood. A lively, pretty girl was she, as smart for study as for play. But times are sadly changed since then," said Mrs. Gracy, with a sigh. " But we have nice times now, mother, you. know we do, only when I drench my old Latin Grammar," Patsy said, as she tried to bend the warped cover of her book back to its original shape. The shower was now over. The girls thanked Mrs. Gracy and Patsy warmly for their hospi tality. Esther doubted if it would please Misa Nancy to have them invite company to Ivy Cottage ; indeed, it had been expressly forbid den ; but Louisa, delighted to find a lively com panion near her own age, said, " You must come and see us, Patsy, very soon." " Thank you," replied Mrs. Gracy ; " we are somewhat like your aunt, we seldom go beyond 96 BEAUTIFUL BEETHA. our own roof; but we shall be happy to see you here very frequently. Patsy has a fine col lection of sea-shells, which she will show you." " "We will come, certainly," replied Louisa. "If Aunt JSTancy will give us permission," said the more prudent Esther. " Give my kindest regards to her," said Mrs. Gracy. The rain had left diamond drops on every leaf and every blade of grass, the birds were singing their merriest songs, and the sun was peering out through curtains of gorgeous clouds on the fresh and beautiful earth. " What nice people those are !" exclaimed Louisa ; " and how funny to find them living in that small cottage, and working for their living." " So intelligent and well-bred, too !" respond ed her sister ; " such real hospitality !" "And so dreadfully funny to be studying Latin Grammar, and taking care of cows and sheep !" "I should have thought your love for the romantic would have made you admire a shep herdess." " Yes, if she wore a real shepherdess hat and PATSY GKACY. 97 carried a crook ornamented with blue ribbon, and had a little white dog, just as we see in pictures." " Ah, Louisa dear, you are not the only per son who prefers an imaginary picture to plain reality." Miss Nancy had been much troubled during the absence of her nieces. Again and again had she been to the door and looked out the windows, muttering, " Children are a great deal of trouble. Something dreadful will hap pen to those girls, and then what will Paul and their mother say ?" When they at last appeared, dancing along full of life and joy, she looked half provoked that she had given herself unnecessary anxiety about them. They ran to her, and each in turn threw her arms around Miss Nancy's neck and kissed her. She couldn't resist it ; her heart was be ginning to melt under their warm affection ; she actually kissed them in return, but at the same time said, " Naughty girls, where were you during the shower ?" " At Mrs. Gracy's," they both replied. y8 BEAUTIFUL BEKTHA. " Mrs. Gracy's, to be sure ! How came you there?" "Oh, Aunt Nancy, tea is all ready," said Louisa, and I am so hungry. Let us take off our things, and while we are at table we will tell you all about our afternoon's ad venture." "Yery well." They related every circumstance, and con cluded with Mrs. Gracy's " kindest regards." " Poor Mrs. Gracy !" exclaimed Miss Nancy. " She was the richest heiress in this part of the country. She married a gay man, who spent nearly all her property, and then left her with two children. Nobody knows whether he is living or dead. She sends her son Hamilton to college, you say. I wonder how, with her small means, she is able to do so." "She was winding yarn on spools," said Louisa. "For the carpet factory, I presume," con tinued Miss Nancy. " She owns the house where she lives, and a small farm. Her name was Margaret Hamilton, and little did any one dream that the rich heiress would over have to PATSY GRACY. 99 eke out her living by working with, her delicate hands." "I observed they were small and delicate, and that her manners were lady-like. May we ask Patsy to come and see us, Aunt Nancy ? r timidly urged Esther. Miss Nancy hesitated a moment, and then replied, " You can ask her to come to your fa vorite grotto and play with you there." " Oh, but Aunt Nancy, some cruel wretch has spoiled it entirely," passionately exclaimed Louisa ; and then she gave a glowing account of its present condition. " Just like them just like them," muttered Miss Nancy ; and then she quickly spoke, as though it cost her an effort, " Well, then, you may ask Patsy to come to the house. From what you. say, she must be a nice country girl, and not ashamed to work, though she does study Latin Grammar." CHAPTEK X. WORK AND PLAT. A FEW days after, the sisters went to pay an other visit to Patsy Gracy. As they approached the house, who should they see but Bertha Max well mounted on the second rail of the. red gate, and her maid, who always followed like a sha dow, standing near. Not far from the gate was a garden, and there was Patsy Gracy hoeing peas. After what had passed between Bertha and Louisa, the meeting was not likely to be a plea sant one. The gate must be passed, however, as it was the only entrance to the house. Esther stepped up to it, and said very gently, " Please, let me open this gate," while Louisa hung back, looking fiercely at her enemy. " No ; I shall not trouble myself to move for you," was the reply. WOKK AND PLAY. 101 Patsy threw down her hoe and came to the gate, exclaiming, " Oh, I am right glad to see you, girls. Get off, Miss, and stand back," she said impatiently to Bertha. But Bertha still clung to the gate. "Then I shall be forced to open it and give you a swing," said Patsy; and the gate swung in on its hinges, Bertha still clinging to it. Without taking any further notice of her, Patsy said, " Come in, girls, my mother will be very glad to see you." And they walked to the house without be stowing another glance on the beauty. Mrs. Gracy was ironing. She made no apol ogy, but continued her work, after having given a cordial welcome to the visitors. " Have you ever seen that hateful Bertha Maxwell before ?" asked Louisa. " Oh, yes, hundreds of times," replied Patsy. " She frequently comes and looks at me, when I am at work in the garden, for a whole hour at a time. I never take the least notice of her ; and as she has been forbidden to speak to any of us country folks, she does not trouble me." 102 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. "What flowers are you cultivating in your garden ?" "Papilionaceous ones," replied Patsy, with a merry laugh. " I do not understand that hard Latin word ; I have only just begun to study botany." "Well, my papilionaceous flowers are peas and beans. When brother was home he plant ed them, and now they need hoeing, and you found me hard at it. I hope, one of these days, you will come and eat some of them. It seems a wonderful mystery to Bertha Maxwell to see me doing all kinds of work, for I am told she never does anything. Poor thing, I pity her !" " So do I, most sincerely," replied Esther. Mrs. Gracy remarked that, in Bertha's case, it was a great misfortune to be beautiful, though it was not necessarily so. Beauty was like any other good gift, to be used as a loan from the giver. "My brother Hamilton admires Bertha ex ceedingly," replied Patsy. "He raves about her angelic beauty. I can't see that she is beautiful." "Angelic !" exclaimed Louisa, contemptuously. WORK AND PLAY. 103 " She is not very amiable, I believe," said Mrs. Gracy; "but Hamilton will not be con vinced of the fact until he has some other proof besides hearsay." Louisa was ready to give her opinion, but Esther interrupted her by inquiring if the young gentleman, Bertha's brother, were not very unlike his sister. "William Maxwell is a fine fellow; he is my son's most intimate friend at college. They have been like brothers in affection ever since they were little children." " Damon and Pythias !" whispered Louisa. Patsy now brought out apples and hickory nuts, over which the girls chatted for an hour, and then they took their leave, after inviting Patsy to come and spend the next afternoon with them. They had much to talk over on their way home. Many conjectures were made about Hamilton Gracy, and much delight expressed that they had made the acquaintance of Patsy. They went to the grotto, and decided to put it once more in order for their museum ; to clean it out neatly, and cover the floor again with moss. 104: BEAUTIFUL BEETHA. "I wonder how Patsy and her mother can work so cheerfully when they have not been used to it," remarked Louisa, as she was carry ing an apronful of moss and pebbles out of the grotto. Esther laughed, and said, " You work quite as cheerfully yourself." " Yes ; but then this is play." " Oh, you only work when you play ; perhaps Patsy only plays when she works." " How is that ?" "She may find as much pleasure in real work as you do in this which you call play." "Can that be possible?" " It would seem so from her merry face. The day we found her under the tree, she looked as happy and as independent as a queen ; and to day, the way she hoed those 'papilionaceous flowers ' was not like that of one who finds hard work a disagreeable task." " She was thinking, perhaps, how nicely the peas would taste when her brother came home to share them with her. It seems he can work, too, though he is a college student." When they had removed the rubbish from WOKK AKD PLAY. 105 the grotto, they swept it out with a broom made of young twigs a brush-broom, which Esther manufactured; then, finding the bench had floated ashore, they carried it to its former place, and went home quite satisfied with the task they had accomplished. "Work it was hard work, too ; and yet, so long as they called it play, it was charming. CHAPTER XL LOVE OF THE BEAUTIFUL. THE next day great preparations were going on at Ivy Cottage for the expected visitor. Miss Nancy even allowed some of her flow ers to be gathered. Jonquils, and pansies, and suow-drops, and lilac buds were placed in two large goblets on the mantel, each side of the French clock. The new China tea things were brought out, and the beloved silver cream jug and sugar bowl placed with them on the tea- table ; then all were covered over with a dam ask napkin. The baking that was done that day in the kitchen would have sufficed for a large tea party. A rare occurrence an event of great consequence in Miss Nancy's life was it to receive an invited guest. And Patsy came soon after dinner, looking LOVE OF THE BEAUTIFUL. 107 as bright and as cheerful as a June morning. They hastened with her to their own room, to take off her bonnet and shawl. The doors of the book-case happened to be open. Patsy, be fore she had time to throw aside her bonnet, exclaimed, " Are all those your books ?" " Yes. Would you like to look at them ?" " Indeed I should ; I have but three books of my own, besides my school books and Bible." Patsy's exclamations of wonder and delight pleased the sisters exceedingly. She made but one objection to their library: "There is too much poetry in it." " Too much poetry ! Don't you love poetry ?" asked Esther, with surprise. " ~No ; I prefer prose. I knew you must be poetical and romantic." " How did you know that ?" eagerly demand ed Louisa. "Because of the grotto and the fairy names, replied Patsy, laughing. " Who told you about our grotto ?" "The same person who told me you called yourselves the*fairies Rosamia and Yioletta." "But who could it be?" 108 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. "My brother Hamilton. He and "William Maxwell were seated on a bank on the other side of the brook, behind some bushes, the day you found the grotto. They did not like to move for fear you would be frightened, and so they were obliged to hear all you said. They amused themselves with ornamenting the grot to, and they know you only by the names of Kosamia and Yioletta." , " They must have thought us very silly," said Esther. " And laughed at us, I dare say," added Louisa. "They did laugh, but good-naturedly. I don't think they are quite as common-place and prosy as I am." " Then they did laugh at us," continued Lou isa ; " that was too bad. I arn half angry with them ; are not you, too, Esther ?" " I am more ashamed than angry ; and yet, as it was merely for our own amusement, I don't know that we were so very ridiculous, after all." " Ridiculous ! By no means ; they only thought you had read fairy tales, and were ra ther romantic." LOVE OF THE BEAUTIFUL. 109 " No doubt we are. Aunt Nancy thinks so, too. By the way, we must go down and see her, or she may not like it," said Esther, leading the way down stairs. Miss Nancy was shy and awkward at first with her young visitor; but Patsy's habitual good nature and frank, cordial manners, soon made her feel at ease, and she inquired with much interest after Mrs. Gracy. " Now I want to see the famous grotto. Sup pose we take a run down to Honey-pot brook oh, I beg its pardon to the Delaware," said Patsy. "To Castalia; I won't be laughed out of it," rejoined Louisa. To the grotto they went, and the sisters told Patsy all about the beauty's spite against them. " We are going to have the grotto for a mu seum now," said Louisa, as they reached the favorite haunt of the fairies. "Why it is only four big rocks, just piled together!" exclaimed Patsy. "But the rocks make a grotto, and it was beautiful when the floor was covered with velvet moss and pearly pebbles." said Esther. 110 BEAUTIFUL BEKTHA. " And we have had so much pleasure here ; I never enjoyed any spot so much in my life," added Louisa, warmly. " It must be because you have always lived in the city ; the rocks are only rocks to me, and the moss is just a kind of common stuff that covers them," said Patsy. "But when you examine the moss through our pocket microscope you will not say so. Look here, how beautiful this specimen is, eveii without magnifying. Don't you see all those funny little caps with pointed crowns?" said Louisa, showing a bit of moss. " I have studied Botany, but have never exa mined plants. I have had too much hard work to do to spare time for it." " But don't you think you can spare an hour or two now and then to come to our museum and help us make a collection of shells, and stones, and flowers, and bees, and butterflies, and everything curious and beautiful ?" " I suspect I have no taste for the beautiful." " No taste for the beautiful ! is it possible !" exclaimed Esther ; " my mother is a dear lover of the beautiful, and she says God has made LOVE OF THE BEAUTIFUL. Ill beautiful things for us to admire, and given us a sense of beauty, which is a source of great pleasure to us, and ought to be cultivated." " I am very willing to cultivate it, if there is anything to begin with. Hush! there comes Beauty herself." "And Beauty's mother!" exclaimed Louisa*, as she perceived Mrs. Maxwell and Bertha ap proaching. " Let us retreat into the grotto," said Esther. " !No, no ; I shall not retreat," replied Louisa, seating herself on a rock ; " Sit by me, Patsy." " Yes, and stand ~by you, too," Patsy said, casting a look of defiance at the lady and her daughter. Esther in the mean while stood in front of the grotto, looking anxiously at her sister. " So ; you are the naughty children who trouble my Bertha," began Mrs. Maxwell. "You are mistaken, madam, entirely mis taken," interrupted Patsy; "I never spoke to* her but once in my life, and then she would not get off from our gate." " Oh, ma ! she is the farm-girl ; that one there is the saucy minx who scratched my face," said Bertha, pointing at Louisa. 112 BEAUTIFUL BERTH A. " She is indeed ! How dare you insult and injure my lovely Bertha, in such a shocking manner?" And Mrs. Maxwell waxed wrathy and red. Esther now came forward. " My sister has a hasty temper, Mrs. Maxwell, and your daughter was very rude, and very provoking. I see no marks of the scratches on her face." " 'No ; if there had been, I should have gone to law about it." " I had a letter from my father yesterday, and he wants to know whether you intend to sew him up in a bag or to mend his coat. He begs you will excuse him from the former, and he will excuse you from the latter," said Louisa. " "What is the saucy child talking about ? I said I would sue him for damages." " Ko ; you said you would s-e-w sew him. 1 sent him your note." " They pretend to be some pumpkins, don't they, ma?" said the beauty, contemptuously ; " and yet they keep company with the farm-girl, who digs, and rakes, and hoes, and drives cattle." " "Well, does it do you any harm?" demanded Patsy. LOVE OF THE BEAUTIFUL. 113 NO." " Neither does it harm me. It has afforded you some amusement, and I think you ought to be very much obliged to me, for you seem to be sadly in want of occupation." " Come, my dear, we are only wasting words on these vulgar persons," whispered Mrs. Max well to her daughter Bertha, but so loud as to be distinctly understood by the rest of the group. " I have heard my mother say nothing is vul gar but pretension " remarked Louisa, in a con temptuous tone. " She said plainness was not vulgarity poverty was not vulgarity igno rance, if it were not wilful ignorance, was a misfortune. Nothing else but pretension ought to be called vulgar." Mrs. Maxwell was astonished at the boldness of this speech. Patsy clapped her hands, ex claiming, "Good, good!" Bertha drew her mother along, saying, " That girl is the sauciest piece I ever see. Suppose we get out of her way as soon as we can." The three girls had the civility to refrain from laughter till mother and daughter were 114: BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. out of sight, and then peal on peal startled the fishes of Honey-pot brook. They soon after returned to Ivy Cottage, where Miss Nancy was waiting for them, and with keen appetites they partook of her boun tiful tea-supper. ME. PERRIT'S LETTER TO LOUISA. "Your most welcome letter, iny dear child, pleased and amused us, and yet it did not entirely meet your mother's and my appro bation. It is very funny, no doubt, that I am to be 'sewed' by Mrs. Maxwell. Will she sew me up in a bag, as they threaten to do naughty children? or will she mend my clothing? I beg she will excuse me from the first, and I will excuse her from the last. And you to. scratch Beauty's face! Really, my dear daughter, I cannot be funny nor witty about this matter, for I feel soberly, almost sadly. I fear there is some naughty envy in your young heart, and a spice of malice towards Bertha Maxwell. Ex amine well that warm and sometimes generous heart, and see if it be not so. Has not the un common beauty of your country neighbor ex- LOVE OF THE BEAUTIFUL. 115 cited other emotions beside admiration and pity? " A mistaken and injurious education has de veloped faults in Bertha which perhaps would never have come to full growth had she been under the charge of your own dear mother. You, who have been blessed with such careful nurture, ought to be more free from faults than you are. " Just by the window where I am sitting, a clematis is trained over a lattice. . Some care ful hand has trained it ; and yet, in its wild lux uriance, part of the vine trails on the ground ; large shoots branch out boldly from the lattice. It is not a well-behaved plant, growing in grace and beauty, as it ought ; but, alas, like my own Louisa, too independent of control. Away from us, and unchecked by your prudent mo ther, you are exhibiting faults that we never dreamed could spring up in our own darling. Check them now at the very outset, and pray to God to help you. " Beauty is a fearful gift fearful because of the harm it may do to the possessor, and for the power it confers of doing harm to others. To 116 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. the Giver we are responsible for every 'good and perfect gift.' There is a wonderful power in beauty, and no one would willingly relin quish the possession of it. A love of the beau tiful is elevating and refining to the whole cha racter. Without it, in nature and art, a woman is common-place, and, I had almost said, coarse, though otherwise endowed with most brilliant talents. " I would have my daughters strong-minded, and yet delicately feminine; courageous, but not coarse ; energetic, but not pushing and obtrusive ; efficient in action, but knowing and keeping their right place ; able to counsel, but willing to obey ; fit to command, yet willing to serve. I would have them particularly careful to maintain what is due to their own sex, and by the loveliness and excellence of their char acters, maintain that supremacy over the other sex which was granted to Eve in Eden; but not, alas ! to use their power like their unfortu nate alma mater. " God bless you, my darling. "PAUL PERRIT." CHAPTEE XII. ST. GEOEGE AND THE DKAGON. THE three friends often met at the grotto, at the red house, and at Ivy Cottage. Patsy found that her tasks were every day done, for Esther and Louisa were ready to help her when she was in a hurry in consequence of having played with them. " I wonder why Mrs. Gracy has no flowers about her house," said Louisa to Miss Nancy, as they were together training a woodbine over a lattice in the front yard. " Poor woman ! she has no time to cultivate flowers," replied the aunt. " But she and Patsy would find time if they loved flowers as we do. Patsy finds time to study Latin, and botany, and philosophy, and arithmetic, and ever so many other things. 118 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. Don't you think, if she really loved beautiful things, she would at least train a woodbine or a clematis over their ugly red house ?" " Patsy is a smart, hard-working girl ; I like her," said Miss Nancy ; " she is not ashamed of being a country girl." " Neither am I ashamed of being a city girl. We did not choose the places where we were born," replied Louisa, with spirit. Miss Nancy could not help smiling. "Now," continued Louisa, "I have heard papa talk a great deal about cultivating a love of the beautiful ; I am going to try what I can do for Patsy, and you must help me, Aunt Nancy." " I ! How ? pray tell me." " By sending Patsy a bouquet now and then. Why, there is not a flower to be seen about the house, excepting dandelions and daisies. Sup pose you send her some flower roots and seeds." " You are a bold child, and yet I like you." " Like me ! You love me, you know you do, aunty. Now, let me gather a nice nosegay for Patsy." " It is like drawing out my very teeth, but I ST. GEORGE AND THE DRAGON. 119 can't refuse you. Here, take my scissors and cut off the flowers carefully." " And just give me one root of woodbine and three or four rose bushes to ornament the rough red house." " You saucy girl !" was Miss Nancy's reply ; and yet she took up the woodbine and the rose bushes, and added a clematis of her own ac cord. Louisa tied up an immense bouquet with a blue ribbon, and placed the roots in a large basket. Miss Nancy was still among her flowers in the front yard, as the sisters started on their way to Mrs. Gracy's. " Thank you ! thank you ! a thousand times," said Louisa, kissing the bouquet and waving it towards her. Miss Nancy beckoned to her to come back, and going to the gate, leaned over it, and whis pered in her ear, " Tell Mrs. Gracy the boy who drives my cows to pasture every morning, can drive hers just as well as not. There is plenty of feed in my meadow-lot. Patsy will then have time to cultivate flowers." " Thank you a million times. You are kind, 120 BEAUTIFUL BEKTHA. in spite of yourself. "When I come back I'll give you a dozen kisses." "Yes, indeed, Aunt Nancy is very kind to us," said Esther, as they skipped along. " When we came here she seemed so stern and forbid ding I was afraid of her, and would not have believed she could become so indulgent. We were of all things not to pick her flowers. Do you know, she told me this morning I might buy a bonnet for her the next time we go to the village!" " What ! is she really going to give up that coal-scoop bonnet? I shouldn't wonder if in time she became quite like other folks." " And even went to church," added Esther. Thus they chatted as they went along till they came in sight of Mrs. Gracy's red gate. A stone wall separated a field from the road on which they were walking. Suddenly a large brown dog came furiously towards them, followed at some distance by men and boys armed with scythes and guns, raising the fearful cry, " Mad dog ! mad dog !" " Jump over the wall," said Esther, snatching the bouquet from Louisa, and throwing it over. ST. GEOKGE AND THE DKAvlON. 121 She then took the basket and helped her sister to clamber over the wall. When Louisa was safe, Esther attempted to follow, but catching one foot between the rough stones, the other hung dangling in the air. The dog seized the foot between his teeth and held it fast. Just at that moment a young man sprang upon the wall with a sharp pitchfork in his hand. Instantly the pitchfork came down with such force on the dog's neck, that his teeth loos ened their hold on Esther's foot, and with one bound she was over the wall. The. young man pressed his whole weight on the handle of the pitchfork, and held the struggling, foaming dog pinned to the ground, till the crowd came up and with a shower of stones despatched him. " Are you hurt, darling ?" exclaimed Louisa, in agony intense, as Esther sank down on the ground pale as death. " I don't know. Pray don't touch my shoe, it might harm you." But Louisa, without heeding this generous caution, untied the shoe all covered with froth, snatched it off, and then drew off the stocking. The delicate foot was red from the severe pres- 122 BEAUTIFUL BEKTHA. sure it had undergone ; but well was it for the dear girl that the shoe was of coarse, tough leather ; the teeth of the mad dog had not pen etrated to the flesh. Louisa sat down beside her sister, threw her arms around her neck, and began to cry vehemently. "My dear sister, let us thank God that we are safe," whispered Esther. " And you risked your life for mine !" sobbed out the weeping girl. The young man now sprang lightly over the wall, and stood beside them. He was in his shirt sleeves that is, while at work in the field he had thrown aside his coat and waistcoat, and his slender person in its homely guise looked even taller than usual, but neither awkward nor "I am afraid you are badly bitten, Miss," said he to Louisa. " I will run and call my mother." " No, no ! I am not hurt ; the horrid dog seized dear Esther's foot, not mine, and I am crying for joy." " Joy because it was your sister's foot instead of your own ! How selfish !" thought he ; then ST. GEORGE AND THE DRAGON. 123 turning quickly to Esther, he said, "Let me assist you; we must hurry to the house in stantly." "Thank you, I am not hurt; that is what makes Louisa cry. There comes Mrs. Gracy, followed by Patsy." " Hamilton, are you safe ?" was Mrs. Gracy's first inquiry. " All safe !" he replied, pointing over the wall, where the dog still lay, surrounded by a gazing crowd of men and boys. " Esther was the one most in danger. Just look at that shoe covered with foam from the dog's horrid mouth," said Louisa, and then she took off both her own shoes. Mrs. Gracy shuddered, and looked at Esther as if she thought she would go mad that in stant. " Oh, something must be done immedi ately," she exclaimed, taking hold of Esther's arm ; " let me help you into the house." " I am not hurt ; yet my heart beats so vio lently I can scarcely breathe," Esther replied, endeavoring to rise. " Put on one of my shoes," said Louisa. " See, she has held on to the basket all this time." 124: BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. Sure enough, Esther had kept hold of it ; and Louisa's feelings, always quick as lightning, were now changed from grief and terror to ex cessive mirth. She danced about like a wild creature, tossing her shoes up in the air and catching them as they fell, and performing other antics more extraordinary than graceful. "And where is the bouquet which came bounding over the wall and drew my attention to you ?" asked Hamilton Gracy. " Here it is," said Patsy, who had not before spoken a word. "I, too, can hardly breathe. I was on the top of the hill opposite, when I saw our Hamilton standing on the wall with a pitchfork, pinning the horrid dog to the ground, looking for all the world just like the picture of St. George and the Dragon. I did not see the girls." " We were then safely on the other side of the wall," responded Esther. "I owe my life to you, fiir, and the kind Providence that brought you to my aid." " Come, we must go into the house," said Mrs. Gracy, placing her arm round Esther's waist. ST. GEORGE AND THE DKAGON. 125 As they walked on, Louisa, who had attempt ed to put one of her shoes on Esther and found it too small, still carried them in her hand, and danced round the rest of the party. Suddenly she ran to Patsy, and kissing her, said, "I have come to cultivate your taste for the beautiful." " Beauty of motion?" asked Patsy, roguishly. " Now, Patsy, you ought to be ashamed to make fun of me. I have brought you a wood bine and a clematis to train over the front door, and rose bushes for the front yard. The bou quet you may place where you please." " Fairy gifts, worthy of Rosamia, the queen of the fairies," said Hamilton Gracy. "Ah, now you are mischievous, Damon or Pythias, whichever you are ; but set out these vines and bushes and I will forgive you," re plied Louisa, with perfect good humor. Louisa pointed out the spots where they should be placed, and Hamilton set them in the ground. The bouquet ornamented the mantel-piece. After partaking of cream and strawberries, the visitors started for Ivy Cottage, accompa nied by Patsy and her brother. 126 BEAUTIFUL BEETHA. On the way, Louisa told Patsy of her aunt's offer of pasture for the cow in the meadow-lot, and of the boy to drive the cow and the sheep. "But will he treat Mincey kindly?" she asked, with much anxiety. " Of course he will. Aunt Nancy wouldn't trust her cows with him if he did not drive them carefully." " You know Mincey is my beloved pet. We have reared her from a calf, and she is the sweetest, dearest little cow in the whole world." Louisa laughed at the idea of a pet cow, and Patsy defended her taste, saying, " I don't see why a pet cow is not as pretty and nice as a pet dog, a pet horse, or a pet donkey." " But flowers, Patsy, lovely flowers ! you will have time to attend to them, and I will help you cultivate a taste for the beautiful." " And I will cultivate yours for the useful." " Very well ; it's a bargain, Patsy dear. How came your brother to be at home just when he was most wanted ?" " He is home for vacation, and takes the time to aid us about farming and gardening." " Well, we must show him our museum, with ST. GEOKGE AND THE DKAGON. 127 its specimens to illustrate natural history, to prove to him that we, too, have a taste for the useful. Here is the place to turn from the road and take the walk by the brook." Esther and young Gracy were lagging be hind. He had offered her his arm, wishing as he did so that he had put on his coat. She took it gladly, for, in addition to her exhaustion and fatigue, she was shuffling along in one of Patsy's large shoes. She declined going to the grotto, and they kept the road. They had not gone far when they met Mrs. Maxwell and her daughter driving out in the vehicle which Lou isa called the shandrydan. Gracy saw only one object the beautiful face of Bertha Maxwell. The yellow boy m livery, the gray mule, the odd-looking carriage, passed by, and he saw but that beautiful face. As soon as they were out of sight, "Is she not perfectly lovely ?" exclaimed he, drawing a long breath, as though breath itself had been suspended while he gazed at the beauty. " ISTo, she is not lovely at all," replied Patsy ; "she is hateful." " I think she is very beautiful," said Esther. 128 BEAUTIFUL BEKTHA. " But very disagreeable, like that stramoni um there, with its delicate lilac flowers," re sponded Louisa, pointing to a plant by the roadside. " I cannot believe it possible that such a countenance as Miss Maxwell's could belong to one who was not angelic in character. She may be proud. I confess, she gave me a con temptuous glance," said Gracy, taking the old straw hat from his head and twirling it on his hand. " No doubt I appeared to her like a very respectable scarecrow." Esther thought, in spite of the hat an' a' that,' he was a fine young man, with his hair somewhat disarranged, his complexion bronzed, and his hands not as delicate as they would have been had he been playing the piano in stead of pitching hay. Patsy, in the most voluble and violent man ner, repeated the wrongs her friends had suffered from Bertha. Her brother shook his head doubtfully, as much as to say, "Impossible! It must have been some one else." As they approached Ivy Cottage, old Orpy hobbled forward to meet them. " Make haste, ST. GEOEGE AND THE DRAGON. 129 for marcy's sake," she cried ; " Miss Nancy is taken very bad, and I don't know what to do for her." They hastened onward. Esther found that her aunt had been violently seized with cramps, and was suffering intensely. Without asking per mission of the sufferer, she despatched Gracy for a physician, and Patsy ran home to sum mon her mother. Miss Nancy was still in great distress when they both arrived, and gladly accepted their services. The violence of the attack yielded to medicine, but she was left very feeble. Esther sat up with her all night, and nursed her with tenderness and gentle kindness. Ah, how many times that night did the grate ful girl thank God for the wonderful escape she had had from the very jaws of the infuriated dog. Time and again, as she sat in an arm chair beside Miss Nancy's bed, her weary eye lids would droop for a moment, and then she would see the horrid creature rushing towards her, with his wide red mouth open, and his great fiery eyes glaring upon her ; and starting wide awake with a chill of horror creeping over 130 BEAUTIFUL BEKTHA. her, she would fall on her knees in devout thanksgiving. Miss Nancy continued ill for some weeks. Mrs) Gracy came often to see her, and aided her young nurses in the care of their patient. Both the sisters had been much devoted to her, but Esther was peculiarly calculated for minis tering to the sick and suffering. Her patience, quietness, and gentleness were united with good judgment and good sense. She received the physician's orders with calm attention, and executed them with scrupulous fidelity. As Miss Nancy grew better, her heart warmed more and more towards her kind nieces; in deed, she loved them tenderly ; but, moreover, there was a higher emotion stirring in her heart, gratitude and love to God. The long- neglected Bible and a prayer-book were now placed on a table beside her bed, and Esther frequently selected portions of Scripture to read aloud, and then with Louisa knelt and performed morning and evening devotions in that sick room. CHAPTER XHL ESTHER'S INFLUENCE. so you have sat in the clergyman's pew ever since the first Sunday you went to cnureh here," remarked Miss Nancy one day, after she had entirely recovered her health. " Yes ; he invited us to sit in his pew, and there is room for you, too," replied Esther, quite delighted. " Eighteen years have passed since I have put my foot inside of a church-door ; and eighteen more might have come and gone in the same heathenish way with me, if it had not been for your influence, Esther. I think I will go to church next Sunday ; but you and Louisa must do some shopping for me in the village, and buy me suitable things to wear." Gladly did the sisters go to execute their aunt's commissions. 132 BEAUTIFUL BERTH A. " How nice Aunt Nancy will look in a fash ionable straw bonnet trimmed with white rib bon, and a lavender lawn dress, 5 ' said Louisa. " And the white erape shawl that dear papa Bont her, which she has never worn," added Esther. Just as they reached the village they heard quick footsteps behind them, and were startled by a voice which they had heard but once be fore, saying, " Excuse me, young ladies, for ad dressing you; I have a message for you from my friend, Hamilton Gracy. He sails for Eu rope in a few days, and as I was coming home, he requested me to say he was very sorry not to have seen you again before he left the country." " And Mrs. Gracy and Patsy, do they know that he is going ?" inquired Louisa. " Yes ; they went to the city this morning to take leave of him. A gentleman made Gracy an excellent offer to accompany his son as tutor, to make the tour of Europe ; and though his college course was not completed, he consented to go, not only because of the advantage to himself, but because he could thus do more for his mother and sister. My name is William ESTHER'S INFLUENCE. 133 Maxwell, and I have the honor to be Giacy's most intimate friend." " Damon and Pythias !" whispered Louisa. " Violetta and Eosamia !" Maxwell said, with a smile ; and then, making a formal polite bow, he bade them " Good morning," and hastened onward. " What will become of the corn and beans, the hay and the turnips, at the red house, with out their very respectable scarecrow?" ex claimed Louisa, laughing. Esther looked very seriously at her sister, and remarked, " You surely do not despise Hamil ton Gracy because he was raking hay without a coat, wore coarse boots and an old straw hat. Don't you know l the man's the man for a ; that, and for a' that,' as Burns says ?" " Yes ; but I had rather see him well dressed, neat and trim, like Maxwell." " Yet your neat and trim Maxwell is proud to have the respectable scarecrow for his inti mate friend. ISTo doubt Gracy holds a high standing in his class." " But Maxwell is a gentleman," continued Louisa. 134: BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. "So is Hamilton Gracy every inch a gentle man," warmly replied Esther, " Excepting the few inches of elbow which had poked themselves through his shirtsleeves,'* retorted Louisa, giggling. " Now, my dear sister, I am ashamed of you. 5 ' " You need not be ; I am a lover of the beau tiful." "Did you never hear of such a thing as moral beauty ?" " Yes ; and I see it before me now," sai</ Louisa, looking her sister lovingly in the face. One bonnet after another was tried on. This was too old that too young; but at length they chose a plain straw trimmed with white ribbon. " With a few flowers inside this will do nice ]y," said Louisa. " No, Louisa, not flowers for her; they would not become her at all." " But I shall buy some with my own money, and I know she will wear them to please me. Here are some lilies of the valley mingled with white rose buds ; put them in the bonnet,' 1 continued Louisa to the milliner. " They ESTHER'S mFLUENCE. 135 are beautiful, and Aunt Nancy dearly loves flowers." Miss Nancy, to the surprise of Esther, ac cepted Louisa's gift, and wore the flowers. 3f 4f X -X- * # * Poor old Orpy ! No one rejoiced more hear tily than she did when Miss Nancy Perrit ap peared in the church at Sylvania on that famous Sunday. There was staring among young and old as it was whispered from one to another that the queer old maid, who lived at Ivy Cottage, had actually come to church with the strangers who sat in the minister's pew. She did not look odd ; she did not look old ; she did not look ugly : she was a nice, highly-respectable looking person. Mrs. Maxwell inquired of the sexton as she passed out of church who the lady was in the minister's pew, and blushed deeply when he answered, " Miss Perrit." Miss Nancy saw and heard none of these things. She trembled as she walked up the aisle, and held tightly by Esther's arm ; but after the services commenced, she listened with devout attention, and united in the worship of God with a sincere and earnest heart. 136 BEAUTIFUL BEKTHA. Mrs. Gracy and Patsy joined Miss Nancy and her nieces on the way home. "We parted with Hamilton with keen re gret," said Mrs. Gracy ; " and yet I trust it was all for the best. Patsy bore it bravely." Large tears streamed down Patsy's face ; she could not speak. Her brother was so much to her play-fellow, friend, adviser, protector, teacher. And tears of sympathy were in Esther's eyes, for had he not saved her life ! It was a beautiful evening in the latter part of June. Earth had put on her most glorious attire. The air was perfumed with the mingled essence of hundreds of fresh flowers, and the song of birds and the hum of honey-laden bees floated upon it. The friends walked slowly home from the " house of God," taking sweet counsel together. A holy, happy Sunday was it to all. Three little months had effected a mighty change in the solitary misanthrope, Miss ISTancy Perrit. The affections which had lain dormant, or been lavished upon unresponsive animals, had been called out. She blessed the day ESTHER'S ESTFLTJENCE. 137 which brought the sisters, with their carpet bag, to the gate of the log-house, which they had beautified with their presence, and adorned with the name of Ivy Cottage. CHAPTER XIV. A2T UNEXPECTED YISITOE. Two months more passed rapidly away 2 and they were to leave Ivy Cottage, Esther and Lou isa, who had given such a charm to it. A letter from Mr. Perrit summoned them to be ready to take their departure whenever he should come for them. With Patsy they went to pay a farewell visit to the beloved brook and the precious grotto. The brook, which in the spring Louisa had considered quite a river, was now so shallow in many places, that she could cross it without going over shoes, by stepping from stone to stone. The waterfall was a scanty rill, just one silvery streak in the midst of the green trees which hung over and around it. Yet it was Castalia still to the sisters, who loved it as well AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR. 139 as their father did before them, but with a more romantic affection. Patsy could scarcely understand their senti mental tears as they bid the brook farewell. To her it was a nice stream for Mincey to drink from and to stand in, when the weather was hot, and the cow chose to chew the cud and meditate. The grotto with its museum they bequeathed to Patsy. There they had of late collected shells and studied conchology, flowers and bot any, beetles, butterflies, bees, and entomology. "You must keep the museum in order till we come again," said Louisa, looking at the treasures it contained .with a sorrowful counte nance. " I will carry everything there is here to our house, and keep all till you make us another visit." " But the specimens would not look like any thing out of the grotto. They are only beauti ful here." " The snow would bury them all up in win ter, or mischievous boys or girls might steal them." 140 BEAUTIFUL BEKTHA. "ISTever inind; I would rather they should be left as they are, Patsy. I want to think of the fairy grotto when I am away, just as I leave it." " So do I," added Esther. "Well, you are very queer girls; I can't quite understand you," said Patsy, with a puz zled expression shading her honest face. "I confess we are too romantic," replied Esther; "but romance will wear away as the realities of life press upon us at least, so my mother says, and I have never known her to say anything that was not wise and true." Of late they had not met Bertha Maxwell in their rambles. She had been for some weeks absent from home with her mother. Just as they were leaving the grotto, Esther exclaimed, " There comes Beauty, floating along like a fairy-dove." Dressed in thin white muslin, with a floating blue sash, and blue ribbons on her white chip hat, she came tripping along the path, for once alone. " No wonder your brother calls her angelic," whispered Esther to Patsy. AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR. 141 Bertha walked directly up to the group, and said, " Ma and I have been to Saratoga. There we met the Hon. Paul Perrit and his lady. Who would ever have thought you girls be longed to such grand people ! Ma could hardly believe it, especially as you keep company with that are farm-girl." "Margaret Gracy is the sister of your brother's most intimate friend," replied Es- Uier, "More's the pity for our Bill for choosing such low companions. You must know, girls, I ran away from ma this morning. She is dressed to kill, and you see I have on my very best. She determined to call on you right away after we got home. Our carriage stood before the door ; but when I thought of the splendiferous coach that you ride in, with the grand black horses, I wouldn't come with our shabby concern, and a poor, miserable gray mule. So, you see, I ran away, and thought I might find you here." " What is the girl talking about ?" inquired Patsy. " I suppose she has seen father and mother 14:2 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. in OUT carriage, that's all," replied Louisa, with an effort to appear indifferent. " So I did, and it was the handsomest turn out at Saratoga not dashing, but elegant,' I heard a gentleman say. Only think of ma's calling you servants! She is so ashamed she don't know what to do, and she is going to make her apology. Good enough for her. I am glad to have her eat humble pie sometimes, she is so fussy proud." " Do you say that of your own mother ?" asked Patsy, indignantly, while Esther whis pered to Louisa : "What will poor Aunt Nancy do if Mrs. Maxwell calls ? "We had better hurry home." They started off, accompanied by the beauty. " I might have had nice fun with you if we had only known who you was," said Bertha. The girls made no reply ; she continued : " You would be astonished to see how every body stared at me at Saratoga. They thought I was just a piece of wax-work. I could hear people in the street and everywhere say, f How beautiful !' It is not strange if I am proud ; AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR. but I don't know what ma has got to be proud of but me." " And your brother," remarked Louisa. " No ; he is homely as a horse's head." " I don't think so," said Louisa. "Ma says he is. She don't care half as much for Bill as she does for me ;" and she tossed her pretty head with a silly conscious air. " Perhaps she spent her spoiling on you, and it has been all the better for him," said Patsy. " "Who are you to talk so to me ? I don't be lieve you ever wore anything better than a cali co frock since you was born ; and I never wear calico, morning, noon, nor night." 44 Well, your soul's made of calico if your body is silk. I would rather have a satin soul in a calico body," said Patsy, laughing. " I didn't come here to meet you, farm-girl. You'd better go home and hoe corn, or feed, your cow, than to be here with your betters." " Please to be more polite to my friend," said Esther, reddening with anger, while Louisa bit her tongue for fear she should say something dreadful. As they came in sight of the cottage, sure 14:4 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. enough there was the shandrydan before the door. Orpy was leaning over the gate, scream ing at the top of her voice, " Miss Nancy won't see you ; Miss Nancy won't see you." Mrs. Maxwell fairly yelled in return, " Tell Miss Perrit it is Mrs. Maxwell come to pay her respects to her and the young ladies." Orpy shook her head fiercely, repeating, " Miss Nancy won't see you ; sartain sure she won't." " I knew she wouldn't. I told her so before we started from home. Come, let's hide here," said Bertha, concealing herself behind some tall seringas and lilacs in the front yard. The girls followed her example, glad to escape an encounter. Mrs. Maxwell, after throwing her card to Orpy, drove off. The sisters were reluctantly compelled to ad- rait Bertha to the parlor. " What a little bit of a room !" said Bertha. " How odd it must seem to you who have lived in such a grand house." "It seems very pleasant to us," replied Esther. " My father was born in this house." " How strange ! In a log house !" AN UNEXPECTED VISITOK. 14:5 " There was once a better man than he born in a stable," said Patsy. " Was there ? I never heard of such a thing," Bertha replied, looking quite bewildered. Esther, feeling that the allusion was too sa cred and not in good taste, immediately added, " My father is devotedly attached to his birth place. You ought to hear with what enthusi asm he speaks of the beautiful scenery about Sylvania, and all the haunts of his boyhood." " I am sure I never should speak of Sylvania if I lived in the city. I hate the country." " And I adore it," exclaimed Patsy. " Shall I not see that queer woman, your aunt?" asked Bertha. " I believe she is engaged ; she is generally occupied in the morning," said Esther. " Making bread, I suppose." "Yes; she makes excellent bread. Would you like some ?" " No ; I should rather have some cake." " A broad hint," whispered Patsy to Louisa. Esther felt compelled to take the hint, and went to find her aunt. She hunted all over and about the house in vain. Then she thought she 10 146 BEAUTIFUL BEETHA. would go to tlie pantry and get some cake, as Miss JSTancy had told them always to help them selves. She shook, and pulled, and rattled at the pantry door for some time, and found it locked. Pausing a moment, she heard some one saying very softly, " Who's there ? * What do you want ?" " It is I. Is it you, Aunt Nancy ?" as softly responded Esther. " Yes ; I would not see those Maxwells in my house for a thousand dollars." Esther could not help being amused. She went back to the parlor, and said, " I beg you will excuse me, Miss Maxwell, the pantry is locked, and I cannot offer you a lunch." " That stingy old maid, I dare say, locks up everything from you. I don't doubt you are half starved." " You are greatly mistaken, Miss," replied Louisa, indignantly; "she gives us the nicest and best of sweet country fare, and we have grown so plump in five months that dear father and mother will hardly know us." " I ought to have been home long before this time," said Patsy. " Good bye ! I shall see AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR. 147 you again to-morrow. You have promised to come and take tea with me." " Yes ; meet us half way," said Esther, kiss ing Patsy. " Every one to their taste, as the old woman said when she kissed her cow," muttered Ber tha. Patsy had been gone but a moment when the others were startled by a loud rap at the front door. The girls all ran to the door. It was Mrs. Maxwell's yellow coachman. Mrs. Max well had returned. Seeing Bertha, she ex claimed, "Come here, you naughty thing! You have given me an awful fright. You said you were going to your room because you did not feel well enough to make a call." " So I did ; but I didn't say I was going to stay in my room." " Come here, you hussey ; you have been tramping through the fields and over the rocks with them new blue kid shoes and your fine muslin dress." Mrs. Maxwell in her anger quite forgot the presence of the daughters of the Hon. Paul Perrit ; suddenly it came to her mind : " I beg 14:8 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. your pardon, young ladies, my Bertha is very- contrary this morning. I had the pleasure to see your respected father and mother at Sarato ga lately, and I have left my card for your aunt this morning. I hope we shall see you soon at Linden Hall." Esther bowed, but Louisa and Bertha laughed. " Good bye, girls," said the beauty ; " I have had a mighty nice time. Don't you admire our carriage?" So saying she jumped in, and they drove off. Poor Miss Nancy ! Glad was she to escape from the " durance vile " of the pantry. CHAPTER XV. MB. PEKRIT'S FANCY SKETCH. THE next day Esther received a letter from her parents, informing her that before returning to the city they were to go to Niagara. As they were in great haste, they would only stop at Ivy Cottage for a short time, and Esther and Louisa must be ready to leave. All was now hurry and bustle, for they might leave that very day. " Niagara ! glorious Niagara !" exclaimed Esther ; " how kind it is in dear mother to take us with her." " I would rather see our sweet Castalia any day, than great Niagara," replied Louisa, with tears in her eyes. Miss Nancy came into their room while the girls were packing their trunks, and seating 150 BEAUTIFUL BEKTHA. herself on the side of the bed, covered her face with her hands, and waving backwards and forwards, said nothing, but now and then breathed a sigh, which was almost a groan. " Dear Aunt Nancy," said Esther, " we shall come and see you again. We are to take no thing away but our trunks ; all our books and country clothing we are to leave. Surely papa intends to have us come again next summer." " But the long winter." " Oh, I will send you a parrot, Aunt Fancy," said Louisa. She meant it for kindness ; but Miss Nancy had lost her love for parrots since she had felt the sweeter love for children. The offer sound ed cruel to her sorrowing heart, and she sobbed aloud. " Perhaps you will be so kind as to come and see us," timidly suggested Esther. "We will do all in our power to make you happy." " I know you would, my dear child ; I know you would. You have done me more good since you have been here than I can tell. If I should never see you again on earth, I shall hope to meet you in heaven." MK. PEEKIT'S FAUCY SKETCH. 151 The sound of wheels was heard. Esther and Louisa ran to the window, and there were Mr. and Mrs. Paul Perrit in the very same wagon that brought them first to Ivy Cottage. The girls were soon in the arms of their pa rents. Miss Nancy now, instead of shrinking from her brother, greeted him and his good lit tle wife in the most cordial manner, and showed them into her cosy parlor. A dear little woman was Mrs. Perrit. There was a calm repose in her manner, and her countenance was grave, but the sweetest, the most human of smiles gave a charm to it more pleasing than perfect beauty of feature. " These girls don't look much like fairies, sister," said Mr. Perrit. "The country air and your wholesome table has made them as chubby as cherubs and as rosy as milk maids." " Milk-maids ! That reminds me of our milk maid and shepherdess, Patsy Gracy. "We are engaged to take tea with her this afternoon," said Louisa. " You can keep your engagement, for we do not leave till early to-morrow morning that is, 152 BEAUTIFUL BEKTHA. if we are not encroaching on your hospitality, sister ISTancy." " Not at all ; I only wisb you could make a longer stay." The change in Miss fancy's manner was wonderful and delightful to her brother. The change in her dress was equally remarkable. A neat, becoming cap and a white morning-dress made her look ten years younger than she did in the spring. Esther proposed that they should pass a couple of hours at Mrs. Gracy's and return to tea, and bring Patsy with them. To this arrangement Louisa willingly agreed. " I shall go with you to Mrs. Gracy's," said Mr. Perrit, as his daughters, two hours after dinner, were ready to start. " I looked up to Margaret Hamilton with wonder and admira tion when I was a boy. She was a rich heiress, a bright, particular star. Fortunate for me that I did not fall in love with her," said he, casting a grateful glance at his little wife. "We must go by the grotto and the brook, of course the chosen haunt of the fairies so MR. FEEKIT'S FANCY SKETCH. 153 beautiful, and the inspiring fountain of romance and poetry." "Now, papa, indeed you are laughing at us; we will not take you there," said Louisa. " Then I shall go by myself after I have left you at Mrs. Gracy's, and perhaps I shall be in spired to write a poem or draw a picture. Don't you think I could coax Beauty to sit long enough on her favorite rock for me to take her portrait?" " You saw Bertha Maxwell at Saratoga ; do you not think her very beautiful?" asked Esther. " Yes, indeed, poor thing ! She was taken to be exhibited there, just as old Joyce Heth and the rhinoceros were, only the spectators were not charged twenty-five cents apiece. Come, we must be off. I shall perhaps introduce the shepherdess into my poem or picture." " There, papa, do you see that woodbine and that wild clematis growing over the small porch before that ugly red house?" asked Louisa, as they approached Mrs. Gracy's. "I carried them there, and Hamilton Gracy built the porch on purpose for them." 154: BEAUTIFUL BEETHA. " Is that Mrs. Gracy's house ?" he asked with surprise. " What a change for Margaret Ham ilton 1" Mrs. Gracy made no apologies for that change, but received Mr. Perrit with easy dignity. Patsy, too, was as easy and as unem barrassed as if she had welcomed her friends to a palace. Mr. Perrit did wander by Honey-pot brook on his return, and amused himself not a little by examining the contents of the grotto muse um. "Time well spent by those girls, and highly enjoyed," said he. He was inspired, perhaps by the gentle murmur of Castalia, to draw a picture,* though beautiful Bertha was not there to sit for her likeness. When Esther and Louisa returned to Ivy Cottage, they brought Patsy with them. On their way they overtook Mr. Perrit. " Here is a pencil-sketch, partly imaginary and partly true. I have named it c OUE BOU QUET,' " said he, exhibiting the drawing. In the background was the grotto and the rocky banks of the brook. In the foreground * Frontispiece. See page 81. ME. PERRIT'S FANCY SKETCH. 155 the fight for the bouquet between Louisa and Bertha, Esther looking on, her hands held up in amazement. In one corner was Patsy, under a tree, wearing a shepherdess hat, and holding a crook ornamented with flowers, a cow and two sheep feeding near by. "Now, papa, that is not at all like the reality. Where is the German maid?" asked Louisa. " She has not come in sight yet." " And the shepherdess, how came she there ?" "That is our little friend Patsy. Painters take licenses as well as poets. The old masters even brought in their own likenesses in scenes from the Bible." "JSTobody but the painters would recognize their likenesses if they did not look more like the originals than that does like me," said Lou isa, pettishly. " You don't look like yourself when you are angry, my child ; and you perceive even beau tiful Bertha is almost ugly when she fights for OUR BOUQUET." " And I look like a picture on a French fan," said Patsy. 156 BEAUTIFUL BEETHA. "And what do you intend to do with the drawing ?" asked Esther, laughing. "Have it engraved and framed, most cer tainly. But here we are at Ivy Cottage, as your romance has it." "Now, papa, I hope you don't dislike ro mance," remarked Esther. " I do not when it is regulated by common sense, and without dazzling the mental vision, sheds a halo round sober reality." "I don't quite understand you, papa," said Louisa. "Neither do I, at all," added Patsy. " Well, then, put the remark down in your note-books for future consideration and the re membering of after years. It is a very useful plan thus to write down scraps of poetry or prose, marked, 'for future consideration.'' ' 3 They found Miss Nancy's bountiful tea-table waiting their arrival. "No wonder I have a pair of dumpling daughters to carry away from Ivy Cottage," Mr. Perrit playfully remarked as he surveyed the loaded table. "Why, sister, you have la creme, de la creme, in the country." ME. PEKKIT'S FAJSTCY SKETCH. 157 " Oh, mamma, you must taste my preserved strawberries. I gathered them and made them all myself," said Louisa. " And my cake, too," added Esther. " I hope your knowledge of the culinary art is not confined to what may be called the em broidery or fancy work sweetmeats and cake," replied her father. " No, indeed, papa ; Aunt Nancy has taught us to make bread, biscuits, cake, custards, pud dings, pies, pickles, preserves, to bake, to stew, to roast, to fry, to broil, to fricasse, to boil, and to to make soap and smoke hams," rattled Louisa, quite out of breath. " What an array of accomplishments ! I am exceedingly obliged to her ; but have you actu ally put your dainty hands in dough ?" " I have," replied Esther ; " and the bread you are now eating will prove whether I am a mere amateur performer." " I, being a connoisseur in the matter, pro nounce you a capital performer. I am quite as well pleased with your skill in bread-making as I was with your splendid execution on the 158 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. piano at Madame Le Fevre's school concert ; and the butter is a chef d'ceuvre." "Ah, papa, I wish I ever could tell when you are jesting and when you are in earnest," exclaimed Louisa, while Esther's face glowed with pleasure. " The butter Patsy brought us ; she churned it herself," continued Louisa. "Isn't it elegant?" " It is as yellow as California gold, and sweet and rich as a nut ; but, my dear, it is not ele gant. That is an epithet we should rarely use. It implies the added grace of art to what is beautiful. A lady may be beautiful, but she is not elegant unless dressed with taste. Her manners may be pleasing, but not elegant un less they possess grace and refinement. A house may be large, expensive, and convenient, but not elegant unless art has decorated it. I think I have heard you speak of elegant chick ens, an elegant cow, and now of elegant but ter." " You are rather severe on poor Louisa," said Mrs. Perrit. " I do not intend to be ; I only wish her to use language properly." ME. PERRIT'S FANCY SKETCH. 159 " I shall be afraid to open my lips before you, sir," said Patsy. " What ! you who study Latin and under stand all the ologies ! You know what elegan- tin means, and would not send your butter to market labeled, < Elegant butter at twenty cents per pound.' " "I agree with Louisa; I don't know, sir, when you are in fun and when you are in ear nest," replied Patsy. "In sober earnest, I admire you and your golden butter, and rejoice that you have found time to study Latin and the ologies without ne glecting your appropriate duties." " Thank you, sir ; besides, through the beau tiful influence of Esther and Louisa, the utile cum dulce is beginning to dawn upon my pro saic mind," replied Patsy, with a mischievous smile. So anxious were the sisters that Patsy should make a favorable impression on their father and mother, that their lips actually and involunta rily moved like hers with every word she ut tered. When tea was over, the sisters, attended by 160 BEAUTIFUL BERTH A. their father, walked home with their young friend, and bade her a loving " Farewell." After the parting, they walked on in sad silence for a while. " A nice girl Patsy Gracy is a very nice girl indeed," said Mr. Perrit, as if soliloquizing. The sisters were quite satisfied with this opinion. Early next morning Mr. and Mrs. Perrit, with their daughters, bade adieu to Miss Nancy. They left her leaning over the gate with a sor rowful countenance, while poor old Orpy stood at the door with her apron to her weeping eyes, sobbing out, " Of such is the kingdom of hea ven !" "We must now bid farewell to our friends the Perrits for a long time. CHAPTEE XVI. A SAD FABEWELL. MKS. MAXWELL had been for several years keeping up appearances on very small means ; or, to be more plain, she endeavored to live like a rich person when she was not rich at all. She had been exceedingly extravagant during her married life, and after Mr. Maxwell's death all his property went to pay his debts, excepting what the law allowed to his widow. She still remained at Linden Hall, though the place was far too expensive for her, and every year she found herself getting deeper and deeper in debt. When "William Maxwell came home for the fall vacation he had just entered the Senior class in college, and expected to pass another year to complete his collegiate education. Sad- 11 162 BEAUTIFUL BEKTHA. ly disappointed was lie when his mother told him she could not possibly afford to have him return to college. " But what am I to do, mother ?" he anxious ly demanded. " Go and seek your fortune, as other young men do ; I have maintained you long enough," was the stern reply. "William was not his mother's favorite. He had not a friend in the world, excepting Ham ilton Gracy and a few other young class-mates. "Seek my fortune! Where, on the wide earth, am I to find it ?" exclaimed the inexperi enced boy of eighteen years, whose life had been that of a secluded student whose whole ambition had been to be distinguished as a scholar. He turned to Bertha : " Have you no word of sympathy to offer to your brother ?" " Sympathy ! ISTo ! I am sure, if I was a man, I should like of all things to go and seek my fortune, just like the brave fellows in story books." Poor boy ! He was anything but brave at that moment. His throat throbbed with intense emotion, and his large eyes were swimming in A SAD FAREWELL. 163 tears ; but he choked down feeling, and proudly dashed away the obtrusive tears. " When shall I go, mother?" " The sooner the better. I don't know what will become of Bertha and me, unless you can do something for us." " I hope you have enough for yourself and Bertha, if you have not for me." " No, I have not. We must give up Linden Hall." " And where are you going ?" " I shall place Bertha in a fashionable board ing-school for two or three years, to complete her education, and meantime I shall take cheap lodgings somewhere in the neighborhood of the school. She must have accomplishments, and then her beauty will make her fortune." A bitter smile passed over the expressive countenance of William Maxwell as he said, " Am I to be thrust upon the world without a dollar in my pocket ?" "To; I will pack up all your clothes for you, and give you ten dollars ; it is all the ready money I can possibly muster." " Mother !" It was all the boy could say ; 164: BEAUTIFUL BEETHA. he turned, flew to his room, and locked himself in for two long hours. In anticipation of the event, Mrs. Maxwell had made such arrangements as she deemed needful for her son's departure. His wardrobe was not very extensive, yet his clothing was neat and respectable. During the day every needful preparation was made, and in the eve ning a small black trunk and a carpet-bag were to be seen in the front entry of Linden Hall. The next morning the carriage with the gray mule was at the door, to take William Maxwell to the Sylvania station. He extended his hand to his mother; he could not speak. " Good-bye, "William ; I hope you will do well in the world. Let us hear from you ^ome- times." He kissed Bertha. " Don't cry, Bill," said she, " it is too girlish. Why, you almost make me cry, too." CHAPTEE XYIL THE BEAUTY AT SCHOOL. PETTED, unrestrained, and almost idolized by her mother, how was Bertha Maxwell to accom modate herself to the equality of a boarding- school ! Mrs. Maxwell chose a fashionable and expen sive school for her daughter in the city. In order to do this with her small means, she boarded with a very plain family about two miles out of town, and every Saturday walked into the city to a fashionable hotel. In the par lor of this hotel she received Bertha, having made an arrangement with the landlord of the Lamartine House for this purpose. It was sup posed, of course, by the companions whom Ber tha frequently brought with her, that Mrs. Max well was living at the Lamartine House. 166 BEAUTIFUL BEKTHA. The school girls were in raptures with the new scholar. Beautiful ! sweet ! glorious ! handsome ! lovely ! splendid ! magnificent ! They exhausted upon her their vocabulary of epithets in commendation of beauty. Her rich silk dresses (they were made over out of her mother's) were thought not quite fashionable ; but then they were so expensive, she must be wealthy. Her whole wardrobe was more expensive than had ever been seen be fore at Mrs. Hoppington's Seminary. These were great recommendations to the favor of silly girls, and yet they excited envy. Bertha must be very kind and sweet to gain their love, in spite of her superior advan tages. Her teachers soon found out her deplorable ignorance. She had had French maids and German maids, that she might speak French and German. She had caught a smattering of each, and mingled them strangely together. Moreover, these maids had been uneducated persons, who spoke their own language ungram matically and pronounced it abominably, so that Bertha had to unlearn all she had acquired THE BEAUTY AT SCHOOL. 167 of them. In English studies she was behind even the youngest scholars in school, and could hardly utter a correct sentence in her own lan guage. JSTot a week had passed before the beauty was pronounced by her school-mates proud and disagreeable. The airs she assumed were in tolerable. She expected from her room-mates entire submission to her will in everything. As she had always been waited upon, and never done anything for herself, her companions were frequently called upon : " Come and tie my shoe," "Hook my dress," "Hand me my books." At first they replied, " Ask us, if you please, instead of commanding us ;" but soon they said, " We are not your servants ; we did not come here to wait on you." She became home-sick, and begged her mo ther to take her home. But Mrs. Maxwell had given up Linden Hall, and had no home. Ber tha must stay where she was. For the first time in her life she was forced to submit to what was exceedingly against her own will. After some severe experience, and much 168 BEAUTIFUL BEKTHA. pouting and crying, Bertha Maxwell was bro ken in and obliged to conform to the rules ot the school, and to treat her companions with civility. Yet she was no favorite. After a while her silk dresses became greasy and shabby, and there were none to replace them. Her mother denied herself every luxury and almost every comfort in order to pay the large school bills as they became due. During the vacations Bertha was with her "in the country." She never mentioned at school that three weeks were passed under the humble roof where her mother boarded. Those vacations ! What patching and darn ing, what washing and starching and dyeing and furbishing over, to make Bertha's clothing look " almost as well as new." The Beauty complained bitterly because the girls asked if her things were to last forever ; they wondered why she never had anything fashionable. Poor, mistaken Mrs. Maxwell! "Would she had labored and spent her strength for better purposes. Bertha was not grateful for all the Sacrifices she made in her behalf. THE BEAUTY AT SCHOOL. 169 Nearly two years had thus passed, and Bertha had learned to play on the piano a little; enough, however, to give pleasure to any one. She had learned, in fact, a little of everything commonly taught at fashionable boarding-schools and to dance very well. She had, in fact, learned just enough of her various studies, to forget them with perfect ease. All this time not a word had been heard from "William Max well, since the day he left Linden Hall. Did not his mother think sometimes of her absent eon ? Often ; and with severe reproaches of conscience. * * * * * One Saturday, early in autumn, Bertha went as usual to the Lamartine House to see her mo ther. The teacher, who was out with a number of scholars, left her there for an hour, to call for her on returning from a walk. Mrs. Maxwell was not at the hotel herself, but there was a note from her, written in a hand that was scarcely legible, saying that she was ill, but begging Bertha not to be alarmed as she hoped soon to be better. Bertha was not alarm ed, but thought it very strange that her mother 170 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. should have written such a very careless, scrawl ed note. Alas ! Mrs. Maxwell had hardly strength to write at all. She was very violently attacked with fever, and was unwilling Bertha should be exposed to it by coming to see her. Another week passed, and Bertha, who was very much occupied in preparing for an exhi bition at the end of the term, scarcely thought of her mother's illness. She went the next Saturday to the hotel, wishing much to see her mother, because she must have a new dress for the exhibition, in which she was to play a conspicuous part. Instead of finding her mother at the Lamar- tine House, she met Mr. Hamden, the man with whom Mrs. Maxwell boarded ; he had come in a wagon to take her to her mother. Bertha was now exceedingly alarmed; she begged the man to take her immediately, and she would send an excuse afterwards to Mrs. Hoppington. He placed her in the wagon, and drove as rapidly as possible till he reached his own house. But alas ! when Bertha arrived Mrs. Maxwell THE BEAUTY AT SCHOOL. 171 was wandering, and she did not know the idol ized child who stood by her bed-side. Poor Bertha ! She cried, " Mamma, mamma ! it is your own darling ! Don't you see me ? " Then the thought of her sudden departure without Mrs. Hoppington's knowledge, and as that lady supposed Mrs. Maxwell was a lodger at the Lamartine House, how was she to unde ceive her ? "Oh what shall I do? What shall I do?" she exclaimed, again and again. "Haven't you some friend to send for?" in quired Mrs. Hamden. " JSTo, I cannot think of one ; but I must send word to Mrs. Hoppington that 'ma was taken suddenly ill in the country, and I was obliged to go to her." " Not suddenly ; the poor lady has been ail ing for some time, though she was careful not to let you know it." " Then do send word that 'ma is in the coun try very sick, and I am with her." Mrs. Hamden promised to do so, but before she succeeded there had been great alarm at Mrs. Hoppington's, and thousands of wild con- 172 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. jectures as to what had become of Bertha. Their exhibition would be spoiled without the Beauty ! Mrs. Maxwell, in the ravings of fever, called for William, and implored him to come to her. When Bertha attempted to speak to her sliQ would say, " Go away ! Go away ! I don't know you. You trouble me. Keep out of my sight." Every hour the poor lady grew worse ; the physician said there was no hope of her re covery. The very next day after Bertha arrived, Mrs. Maxwell died, without having recognized for a moment her darling child. CHAPTER XVHL A STJDDEN CHANGE OF SCENE. IT is a splendid library. Books on rich cases of oak. Marble statues on pedestals. Busts of the wise and good give an air of dignity and repose to the apartment. A bronze chandelier is suspended over a richly carved oak table, covered with green cloth ; the gas light falls on three young ladies seated at the table with books before them, over which they studiously bend their heads. Two years and some months have produced a change in the appearance of those three Esther and Louisa Perrit, and their friend Mar garet Gracy. All have grown taller. Esther, a slender, graceful girl, has entered her seventeenth year. Louisa is nearly as tall as her sister. Patsy is 174: BEAUTIFUL BEETIIA. neither tall nor graceful, and none of them would be called superlatively beautiful, and yet one might seek among thousands and not find faces more expressive and interesting than those three. There is sweet pensiveness in Esther's coun tenance, and deep thoughtfulness in her shaded eyes, "Wells of thought, in which the star of truth is shining," somebody once called those eyes. Wells sometimes reflect the stars, and truth is said to be hid in a well doubtless he who paid the compliment saw the heavenly soul beaming through those eyes. Louisa's face is as arch and smiling as for merly; but more intellectual and more pleas ing. Her vivacity is not subdued, but her temper is at least, it is under tolerably good control : now and then it breaks loose, and has the mastery over her for a brief space. Patsy is plump and rosy but what a bright, sparkling countenance ! Where could one find a happier face ? " Have you learned your lesson already, Patsy ? I see you have laid aside Whately and taken up Scott," remarked Louisa. A SUDDEN CHANGE OF SCENE. 175 " Yes ; I have learned rny rhetoric lesson per fectly and now am indulging myself in a few pages of the l Lady of the Lake.' " " So you do really enjoy poetry," said Esther, looking up playfully, from the book she was stud ( ying. " Indeed I do, Esther ; thanks to you." " And thanks to you, Patsy ; I have over come the mountains of difficulty in Day's Al gebra." And how came Patsy in that splendid library ? Mr. Perrit invited her to pass the winter in his family, and go to school with his daughters. Meantime, Mrs. Gracy, having left the care of her house to a farmer and his wife, who occupy it for the winter, has gone to Ivy Cottage to be with Miss Nancy. A knock at the library door. " Come in." A waiter enters : " Miss Perrit, there is a gentleman in the parlor who wishes to see you and Miss Louisa." " Did he not send up his name ? " " No, Miss." "Esther and Louisa wondering much who 176 BEAUTIFUL BEKTHA. the gentleman could be, followed to the parlor. A tall, young gentleman, with dark hair and dark whiskers, bowed politely as they entered, and simply bade them " Good evening." " My father and mother are not at home," said Esther, thinking the stranger must have called to see them. "Violetta and Rosamia have forgotten the Damon of Castalia." " Hamilton Gracy ! St. George and the Dra gon ! " exclaimed Louisa, recalling at once the mad-dog scene and Patsy's comparison. " The very same," he replied laughing, " or if you please, the respectable scare-crow." "I'll run and call Patsy," said Louisa, scam pering out of the room. " Patsy ! Is my sister here, Miss Perrit ? " " She is ; did you not know it ? " " I did not ; I arrived in the steamer from Europe to-day, and have not heard from my mother and sister for a long time. I am half afraid to ask for my mother." " She is well but here comes Patsy." " Do you know this person ? " said Louisa ; " He claims to be an old acquaintance." A SUDDEN CHANGE OF SCENE. 177 Patsy looked doubtfully at her brother for a moment, then ran to him, seized his arm, and burst into tears and shrieks of joy. He led her to a sofa, and hastily brushed the tears from his own eyes. " ~Now tell us how you are, and where you came from, and how you happened to be here," said Patsy. " I was at Gottingen when you heard from me ; that is, if you received my last letter." " We did ; and despaired of seeing you soon, you were then so charmed with that German University." " After travelling over Europe and exploring Egypt, I went with my friend and pupil, for he was both to me, to Gottingen, where we passed a year. I then thought it was better for us to return home, lest we should become too Ger manized for good and true American citizens. "We passed a short time in England and Scot land on our return ; and here I am, thank God, once more in my own beloved country. My mother, Miss Perrit says, is well. I shall go directly to Sylvania." " What, to-morrow ! " exclaimed Patsy. 178 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. " Yes ; to-morrow. Will you go with me ? " " I cannot leave school I am going on with my studies here, to fit myself for a teacher." " Indeed ! You are a brave girl." Esther and Louisa soon withdrew, leaving the happy brother and sister to enjoy a tete-a-tete. CHAPTER XIX. IVY COTTAGE FIRESIDE. THAI b<*:ne evening, it was dark and stormy in the country. Miss Nancy and her friend, Mrs. Gracy, were seated before a blazing wood fire at Ivy Cottage. A small, round table was between them OD which were two candles (of Miss Nancy's own making) in bright brass can dlesticks. Miss Nancy was knitting " a tidy" for an arm chair, Mrs. Gracy reading aloud from Dwight's " Germany." Of course Germany has great at tractions for her while her only son resides there, and Miss Nancy sympathizes with her in all her cares and interests. A large Maltese cat stretches its full length on the rug before the fire, looking the very picture of a petted favorite. 180 BEAUTIFUL EEETHA. " Stop a moment ; I thought I heard a knock at the front door," said Miss Nancy. A single faint, timid rap was heard. " Who can it be, this stormy night ? " said Mrs. Gracy, snatching up the candle and going to the door. The instant she opened it a gust blew out the light, but not before a glance had shown her that it was a woman. " Come in out of the storm, whoever you are," she exclaimed, holding the door wide open. Slowly the person stepped in, and Mrs. Gracy closed the door. " "Wipe your feet on the mat, and then come this way," Mrs. Gracy continued, as she opened the door of the little parlor. The stranger remained standing in the small entry without speaking a word. Mrs. Gracy relighted the candle and returned to the entry. Miss Nancy followed. A slight, stooping figure, dressed in black, was leaning on the post at the foot of the stair case ; the face was completely hidden by a bon net. On her arm was a small, black travelling bag. " Who, and what are you ? " demanded Miss Nancy, somewhat abruptly. IVY COTTAGE FIRESIDE. 181 A sob, almost a groan, was the only reply. " Come in by the fire," said Miss Nancy ; " you must be almost frozen." Mrs. Gracy took the stranger by the arm, led her in almost by force, and seated her on a chair, near the fire. She continued to weep aloud. " Your feet must be very cold," Mrs. Gracy said, as she observed a pair of small, thin shoes, much worn ; " let me rub them." As she took the shoes from the small, delicate feet, partially covered by silk stockings full of holes, she chafed them in her warm hands, and then shook her head, mournfully. Miss Nancy meantime went to the kitchen and put the tea-kettle on to make a cup of hot tea. " Take off your bonnet ; it is too stormy for you to go farther to night," continued Mrs. Gracy. " Oh ! I can't take off my bonnet ; I am not fit to be seen," sobbed out the stranger. " Never mind that ; it would be cruel to allow a dog to be out in such a night as this," thought kind Mrs. Gracy as she untied the black bonnet. 182 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. With some reluctance the stranger allowed the bonnet to be removed. Mrs. Gracy started as she saw a deathly pale young face, and a head from which the hair had all been shaven. "It must be a lunatic," thought she, shud dering. Miss Nancy now entered, and the same thought passed through her mind. "You don't know me, Miss Nancy Perrit," whispered the stranger, trembling like a leaf in the autumn wind. " No ; poor young creature, I never saw you before." " You have seen me at church I am Bertha Maxwell." " Bertha Maxwell ! Beautiful Bertha ! " "They used to call me beautiful," she at tempted to say, but the words died on her half- frozen lips and chattering teeth. " Poor child ! You shall have some hot tea soon, and then perhaps you will tell me how you happened to come here to me to me" Miss Nancy repeated the last words with start ling emphasis. "I know I poisoned your parrot, and was IVY COTTAGE FLRESIDE. 183 very rude to your nieces ; but I had nowhere else to go," said Bertha, bursting into violent weeping. "His child coming to me ? Mysterious Pro vidence ! In mourning, too ! Can it be that the woman is dead ? " said Miss Nancy to her self, as she left the room. Soon she returned with a tray, on which w r ere a smoking cup of tea, bread and butter, and boiled eggs. Placing the tray on the small, round table, she moved it close to Bertha, and begged her to help herself. The shivering girl swallowed the tea, but could not eat a morsel. The warmth was re viving. "You dont know that my mother is dead, and perhaps my brother is dead too," said she, with a violent effort. " We will not trouble you to tell us any more about your misfortunes to-night," said Mrs. Gracy, tenderly, her eyes overflowing with tears. Miss Nancy, who never forgot what was need ful for the comfort of the body, added, " No 184 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. indeed, we will not. Orpy shall make a fire in your room and warm your bed, and in the morn ing I hope you will feel a great deal better." Miss Nancy not only showed Bertha to her room, but helped her to undress, and tucked the bed-covering in all around, as snug and closely as the upper crust of one of her apple pies. The candles burnt out ; the clock warned them the lateness of the hour, and still Miss ^Nancy and Mrs. Gracy were sitting by the smouldering fire, talking of things past, present, and to come CHAPTEK XX. WHO COMES NOW? THE next morning Bertha felt unable to come down stairs, and Miss JSTancy sent up her break fast. Oipy set down the tray, stared at Bertha a moment, and then lifting up her hands and eyes, muttered, "Pride goeth before destruc tion, and a haughty spirit before a fall." Soon after Orpy left the room Mrs. Gracy went in and found Bertha earnestly regarding herself in a small looking-glass, which hung over the old-fashioned toilet-table. The beautiful curls, once so ornamental, were gone, and the short, bristly covering which re mained stood out " like quills upon the fretful porcupine ;" her eyes were red and swollen, her complexion sallow and mottled in short she was a complete fright. 186 BEAUTIFUL BEKTHA. She was repeating in a bitter tone the passage from Scripture which Orpy, half unconsciously, had dropped from her lips. " Pride goeth be fore destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." " What a horrid creature ! Poor 'ma would not have known me ;" and Bertha covered her face with her hands, and threw herself on the bed, weeping convulsively. " Excuse me," said Mrs. Gracy, whose pre sence Bertha had not before noticed; "I came to see if I could be of any service to you." " Nobody can do me any good. O, I am so miserable ! " " Poor child ! don't agitate yourself; you have been very ill." " I have ; who told you so ? " " I judge so from your appearance ; I hope you will soon be better." " I shall never be beautiful Bertha again." " Never mind that, if you recover your health. Where were you during your illness ? " " At Mr. Hamden's. I have been dreadfully ill. 'Ma died, you know, of fever. I took it from her, and came near dying. I was very WHO COMES NOW? 1ST sick a great many weeks. Those people were poor, plain folks, and I suppose did what they could for us. I don't think they meant to be hard with me, but they sold all ma's clothes and almost all mine, to pay the doctor, and for the funeral and nurses and medicine. Only think, Mrs. Gracy, I have now nothing in the world but the few things I brought with me." Bertha seeming much exhausted, Mrs. Gracy begged her to keep quiet, but Miss Nancy now coming in, she continued, " How can you and Miss Nancy Perrit be so kind to me ? I must tell you how I came here. I thought if I could only get to Linden Hall it would seem like home for I was so home-sick. I begged Mr. Hamden to let me have just money enough to get here, and I would leave my dear little watch with him till I could pay him. He said we owed him more than the watch was worth al ready, but he would buy me decent mourning and give me money enough to travel to Linden Hall. He did so ; but when I got here the money was all gone, for I came by the rail-road. Nobody spoke to me all the way. I walked to Linden Hall cold and desolate it was. I 188 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. sat down on the front steps and cried a long while. I did not know anybody in this neigh borhood. 'Ma never made acquaintances in the country. I remembered the two girls who stayed with Miss Nancy Perrit one summer, and thought how happy they always were, and what a sweet, gentle way one of them had. I remembered, too, when I was a very little girl my father said to me, as we passed this house he led me by the hand I remember, and he said, < Miss Nancy Perrit lives here ; she was once a very dear friend of mine.' I wonder how I ever could have forgotten it somehow I did till I sat on those cold steps, and the dark, stormy night was coming ; and then, when I thought of it, I said to myself, perhaps Miss Nancy will be kind to me for the sake of my father who has been so long dead and gone. I knew she could not for my own sake, for I poisoned her parrot. Oh dearj I have not a friend in the world." The tears were chasing each other down Miss Nancy's face ; she could not speak. " I am sorry to make you feel so badly," added Bertha ; "I will not talk to you any more now." WHO COMES NOW? 189 " Be quiet, then. We will leave yon to rest yourself as long as you please," said Mrs. Gra cy, tenderly. " Oh, I must say how sorry I am that I was rude to Patsy Gracy, too ; I was very haughty. I see it now." " Patsy would most heartily forgive you." Mrs. Gracy then went down stairs and found some lace to make Bertha a cap, to cover her frightful head, while Miss Nancy went to her own room and passed the rest of the morning alone. At dinner-time Bertha still pleaded fatigue and weariness and begged to be allowed to stay in her room. Miss Nancy was silent and thoughtful at din ner. She seemed to be revolving something in her mind, which at last shaped itself into ex pression : " Yes, yes ; I must teach her to work, poor thing, that she may be able to support her self." As this was rather thought aloud than ad dressed to Mrs. Gracy, she seemed not to no tice it. " I wonder what has become of the lad. Do you knowj Mrs. Gracy ?" 190 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. "Who? William Maxwell ? I haven't heard a word of him since he suddenly left col- lege." " Then she is alone in the world William's daughter ! a poor, helpless, spoiled child !" And Miss Nancy again relapsed into silence. Bertha was allowed to remain in her bed room all day. It was the same room Esther and Louisa had occupied. There was the ward robe, and there the pretty secretary and book case, with some of their books still standing on the shelves. Bertha looked them over with in terest, and almost for the first time in her life found pleasure in reading. Mrs. Gracy and Miss Nancy were again seated by the fire for one of their usual quiet evenings. Dwight's Germany was spread open on the table. Miss Nancy, instead of knitting, had in hand a piece of white flannel, making up garments for somebody she did not say for whom. Without, it was a clear,' cold night ; the stars were gleaming brightly in the dark sky. Within, too, it was cheery and bright ; the fire sending its flickering flames up the wide chim ney, and the candles (only when they wanted WHO COMES NOW? 191 snuffing) giving a pleasant light to the little parlor. "Mercy! there's another rapping at the door !" exclaimed Miss Nancy, starting up. There could be no mistake now. The old knocker was not lifted by a timid hand. Before Miss Nancy could reach the door, rap ! rap ! rap ! it went again. Mrs. Gracy followed and stood just behind her as she cautiously opened the door. " Who's there ?" demanded Miss Nancy, as she caught a glimpse of a man full six feet tall. " Is my mother here ?" was the reply. The question was answered by Mrs. Gracy springing forward and clasping the stranger to her heart. Oh, the unfathomable depth of a mother's love ! Such joy as hers found no ex pression in words. " Come in ! come in ! I suppose this must be the loy you have been talking about all win ter," said Miss Nancy, holding the light to the young man's face as she walked backward to the parlor. " Yes, this is my son Hamilton," she replied, proudly surveying him, from his broad, hand- 192 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. some forehead to his polished boot from top to toe, from toe to top. Miss Nancy under no circumstances forgot good cheer, and soon the little table, well filled with it, was placed before the traveler, who was ready enough to appreciate it. Hundreds of questions were to be asked and answered be tween mother and son, and Miss Nancy went to stay awhile with Bertha. Hamilton discussed his coffee and several other matters. " I saw Patsy last evening. How well she' is looking, and how her manners have softened. The elder Miss Perrit must have had a happy influence over her. Mother, you have not seen Miss Esther for a long time. She is perfectly lovely. I never saw a more beautiful counte nance. She resembles . the famous Dresden Madonna, my favorite among all Raphael's Madonnas ; yet she has more sweetness a more angelic expression than any picture I have seen abroad." " Hamilton, I remember you raved in this way about Bertha Maxwell's beauty. You called her angelic." " Did I ? It was a boyish fancy. Hers was WHO COMES NOW? 193 a different kind of beauty a wax-doll beauty mere color and form ; but, by the way, is beau tiful Bertha still at Linden Hall?" Mi's. Gracy was embarrassed, and seemed re luctant to reply. " Is she dead ?" exclaimed Hamilton. " ~No ; but her poor mother is dead. Bertha is here." " Here ! in this house ?" " In this very house, my son." Mrs. Gracy drew tears from the eager listener as she related Bertha's mournful story. It was late that night when Hamilton Gracy went over the well-known road to his mother's house, where he passed the night. As he lifted his eyes to the glittering stars which gemmed the heavens, he thanked the Almighty Creator for the kind care and love bestowed on one so humble and insignificant as himself. The next day Bertha was intending to come down stairs ; but when she heard that Hamil ton Gracy was there, she positively refused, and weeping, said, "He was my brother's dear friend. Oh, ask him if he knows what has be come of William Maxwell." 13 194: BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. Mrs. Gracy was obliged to confess that her son had not heard from his classmate since he left college. " Oh, such a horrid fright as I am ! I would not see Mr. Gracy for the world," exclaimed poor Bertha. "I have brought you a cap, Miss Bertha,' 1 said Mrs. Gracy ; " perhaps, as you have not had time since your recent illness to make any for yourself, you will do me the favor to wear it." Mrs. Gracy was extremely polite and delicate in her manner towards the poor girl, much more so than she would have been to the beau tiful Bertha of Linden Hall. "I shall be glad to wear it," was the reply. " I asked Mrs. Hamden to buy me some caps, but she did not. I brought but few things with me. Where am I to go, Mrs. Gracy ?" " I don't know. Can you not go back to Mrs. Hoppington as an assistant teacher ?" " Oh, no, indeed. She did not come to see me, and was very angry with poor ma. When Mrs. Hamden went there for my things she asked her that very question. She laughed, and said I could teach nothing but dancing. WHO COMES NOW? 195 Mrs. Hamden told me I must work for a living as she does. I don't know how to do one use ful thing. It would kill me to wash and iron, or to work out doors, like Patsy." " You must get quite well before you think of these matters, my poor child," said Mrs. Gracy, taking one of Bertha's thin, delicate hands, and thinking how utterly impossible it would be for the feeble girl yet to make any exertion, in her unselfishness forgetting that her own hands had once been equally delicate. Hamilton Gracy remained at home only one day ; a part of it he passed in solitary musing by the grotto and the brook-side, and there formed resolutions which he religiously kept in after years. His liberal allowance to his mother and sis ter had enabled them to transform the ugly red house to a neat white one, with honeysuckles, roses, and woodbines climbing about it. The old red gate had been displaced by a handsome white one, with stone posts, over which ivy was growing luxuriantly, transplanted from the parent vine at Ivy Cottage. The farm, too, was in fine order. 196 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. Hamilton dined at Miss Nancy's, but Bertha did not come down stairs. Little thought she, when she took a peep at him between the dirn- ity curtains of her window, as he was coming through the gate, what a shock, a shudder of horror, she gave him. It was but a glance, yet it revealed that emaciated visage, with the eyes starting from the head, the lips, once so red and full, thin and blue, the sallow cheeks, the shaven head. " And what are your-plans for the future, my son ?" asked Mrs. Gracy. Hamilton told her that the gentleman whose son he had traveled with had made him a gen erous offer to study law with him, and at the same time to continue his son's tutor. He would thus be able to maintain himself. He only wanted his mother's approval. Mrs. Gracy very naturally thought her son had sufficient talent to honor that profession, and readily approved of the plan. Although his visit was short, she was obliged to consent to his immediate return to the city, where he was to enter at once the lawyer's office. When taking leave of his mother, he slipped WHO COMES NOW? 197 a gold piece into her hand, and whispered, "Poor Bertha!" The next evening, when Hamilton Gracy re lated Bertha's sad story at Mr. Perrit's, various were the emotions of the little circle. When Louisa learned that Bertha had lost all her beauty, the first thought was, " I am glad of it I" The instantaneous one that followed was, " Oh, how wicked I am ! Poor unfortunate girl !" Mr. and Mrs. Perrit, with their usual benevo lence, began to devise ways and means for her comfort. Mr. Perrit said, " It will be a good thing for sister Nancy to have her sympathy and kindness called forth in Bertha's behalf." Esther covered her face and wept, without uttering a word. Patsy said, " "What a pity the poor child was never taught to work. How can she maintain herself?" Patsy had been taught that every person should, if need came, " earn their own living." * 4f -X- * * * -5f "How can she maintain herself?" was the question asked at Ivy Cottage by Mrs. Gracy. 198 BEAUTIFUL BEETHA. "We will teach her," was Miss Nancy's cheerful reply. Yet, day after day, Bertha sat cuddled up in an arm-chair by the fireside, and did nothing. Under the care of two such excellent nurses she rapidly recovered her health. " Here is some plain sewing for you," said Mrs. Gracy one morning to Bertha, after she had been a full month at Ivy Cottage. " I cannot do plain sewing ; I don't know how," said she. " But I can teach you." " Poor ma always did everything for me. It will spoil my lingers to sew ;" and she began to weep. " But, Bertha, you know you must now learn to do many things for yourself. It may seem hard at first ; but soon you will find more plea sure in being occupied than in idleness." " I wish I had a piano here." "A piano!" exclaimed Mrs. Gracy, almost hopeless. " You must learn something besides accomplishments." " I mean to teach dancing ; Mrs. Iloppington said I could." * WHO COMES NOW? 199 " But who will you teach here ? Surely not Miss Nancy, not me, nor Orpy," replied Mrs. Gracy, laughing at the ridiculous idea. " I don't know why you laugh. Every lady admired my dancing ; and if my face is changed, my figure and feet are not." Mrs. Gracy was puzzled. Is there no possi bility of vanity's dying out ? " It would be very disagreeable for you to appear among the people of the village under present circumstances. Have you any accfuaint- ance with them ?" "No; I never was allowed to speak to the country people. Now it would be mortifying. I suppose I must give up that notion. But, in deed, I shall prick my fingers dreadfully with that coarse work." "I hope not. It is only hemming. I will turn down and baste the hem for you." Bertha was awkward, but Mrs. Gracy was patient. True, there were little dots of blood from the delicate fingers all along the hem, and the delicate fingers smarted a little ; but Bertha was pleased to see what she had accomplished, and when Mrs. Gracy told her she had better 200 BEAUTIFUL BEKTHA. lay aside her work, she said, " Not till I show it to Miss Nancy." That good lady came in, bringing a checked apron, one that belonged to Esther. She praised the first effort at hemming. "Now," said she, " put on this apron, Bertha ; I am going to teach you to make pies, as I did my nieces." " Oh, now, Miss Nancy, you surely are not going to take me to the kitchen. I am afraid of old Orpy." " Orpy is the kindest of human beings ; she would not hurt a fly." " Oh, dear ! I don't know what I have got to come to next !" "I do," said Miss Nancy, good humoredly. " When you have learned to make pies, I will teach you to make bread. I intend taking you through a regular course of domestic learning." Poor Bertha was ready to faint from the heat and the smoke of the kitchen ; and her unskil- fulness in paring apples quite exceeded that of Miss Nancy's former pupils. Old Orpy whis pered loudly in Miss Nancy's ear, " Do take the poor little crittur out of the kitchen." WHO COMES NOW? 201 Miss Nancy did as Orpy requested. " The bird that we nurse is the bird that we love.' So kind had been Miss Nancy and Mrs. Gracy to the unfortunate Bertha, that they were becoming devotedly attached to her, in spite of her faults. The prospect of her being able to maintain herself was very doubtful. It was quite certain that she was unfit for hard work. Too tender early nurture had rendered her a fragile thing, no more able to encounter the storms of life than the drooping fucia of the greenhouse would be to encounter the wintry blasts which now beat harmlessly against its warm shelter. * ft * ft * LETTER FROM PATSY GRACY. "March 20, 18 . " DEAR MOTHER : "I begin already to count the days which must pass before I shall be with you. Much as I have enjoyed the winter, my heart bounds at the prospect of being once more in my own humble home. " I am right glad to hear that you and Miss 202 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. Nancy continue to be deeply interested in Ber tha Maxwell. Mrs. Perrit says Miss Nancy only wanted an occasion to open up the rich and sweet fountain of kindness in her generous heart. Esther and Louisa unsealed the fountain which is now flowing forth so abundantly. I don't think those were her exact words, but it was the idea. " I have something to tell you, dear mother, which will, I trust, give you pleasure. I am sure it has made me jump for joy. Mr. Perrit has found two pupils for me two nice little girls, whose mother is an invalid, and whom I am to take home with me and educate, with your permission and assistance. Now will you be a mother to them, too a dear, good mother, as you are to me ? You know how anxious I am to be independent, because yes, mother, we must think of these matters because I want you to be well provided for when you are older, and that you may not be obliged to work so hard now. "I have found myself able to keep a high standing in my classes at school, thanks to yor and Hamilton for your thorough elementary in- WHO COMES NOW? 203 struction, and hope it is not presumption for me to attempt teaching. " Hamilton must not be taxed for us. It will be as much as he can do to support himself while he is obtaining his profession. Then, you know, he must have a law library. Perhaps, if I am successful, I may be able to make him a present of Blackstone's Commentaries and some other law books. Wouldn't that be de lightful! " Then I Jiave another plan. Bertha must re ceive a good education. I can assist her. If she stays with Miss Nancy she can recite to me every day. What do you say to that, my dear, good mother? and what says generous Miss Nancy ? Poor petted Bertha ! Helpless or phan ! We must do all we can for her till she is able to help herself. Tell her not to be dis couraged. There is One above who < tempers the blast to the shorn lamb.' " The Perrits the noble Perrits, one and all, send love to the tenants of Ivy Cottage. " Devotedly your daughter, " PATSY. "P. S. We see Hamilton quite frequently. 204: BEAUTIFUL EEBTHA. He is a great favorite here, I assure you. 1 hope- our farmer takes good care of Mincey." A Mrs. Gracy read the letter to Miss Nancy and Bertha. " And that is the farm-girl whom I used to despise !" exclaimed the latter. " How can she be so generous to me?" After musing awhile, Bertha asked Mrs. Gracy how Patsy, who was only a little older than herself, could be her teacher. "Because for years she has been preparing herself for the employment," answered Mrs. Gracy. " Many a time has she stood at the ironing-table with a book on the corner of it, studying her lesson while she w r as ironing. You have seen her sitting by the road-side with her book in hand, while our cow was feeding." "That I have, again and again, and I won dered what funny story-books they were that charmed her so much that she did not notice me at all. Mrs. Gracy, it seems to me the strangest thing in the world that you should be so much more kind to me now than you were then." WHO COMES NOW? 205 Mrs. Gracy might have told Bertha that the reason was because she more needed kindness now than she did then ; but she simply said, " We are all glad if we can do you any good." Alas ! the sun of prosperity had withered and shrivelled the heart of Bertha Maxwell, and it was still too contracted to comprehend the length, and breadth, and depth of Christian charity. CHAPTER XXI. DELICATE KINDNESS. BEKTHA had now been some months at ivy Cottage, and yet had never been off the grounds. They urged her to go to church. She would not for the world, she said, have those country folks make fun of her. "You stayed home from church yourself for ever so many years," said she to Miss IsTancy. " Sorry arn I that such is the fact. Those were lost years to me. But you should follow good examples, and not bad ones like mine," was the humble reply. These words were scarcely uttered when a carriage drove up to the door, and out of it sprang Hamilton Gracy, who then handed out Esther, Louisa, and Patsy. Bertha fled to her room and locked herself in. The new comers were welcomed at the gate by DELICATE KINDNESS. 207 a feu-de-joie of kisses from Miss Nancy and Mrs. Gracy. The little party had just left Mr. and Mrs. Perrit, who, after dropping them at the Sylvania station, continued their route westward. Mrs. Gracy went home with her son and daughter. In spite of the urgent entreaties of Miss Nancy, Bertha would not leave her room. The evening was passed in pleasant chat by the party below. The misses were surprised to find how tenderly and affectionately their aunt felt to wards her unfortunate guest. Louisa still found it difficult to repress a wicked joy that Bertha was no longer beautiful. Esther, full of sym pathy and pity, seemed entirely to have forgot ten the grievances they had suffered during their former visit. The next morning Miss Nancy sent up Ber tha's breakfast, instead of following Louisa's ad vice, half in jest, and half in naughty earnest: " Starve her out." Bertha refused to admit Orpy with the well filled tray, though she had taken no supper. Soon after breakfast Esther went and knocked gently at the door of Bertha's room. 208 BEAUTIFUL BEETHA. No answer. She knocked more loudly, with no better suc cess ; then, in a gentle voice she said, " It is I ; Esther Perrit. Will Miss Maxwell please let me come in ? I wish to tell her how deeply I am interested in her." The sweet voice of Esther was an "open sesame." Bertha unlocked the door and admitted her to the well-known apart ment. The shutters were closed and the cur tains down. They sat in darkness, but Esther's conversation was sunshine to the overshadowed soul of Bertha ; she drew her on to relate her trials, and wept with the unfortunate and erring girl. " I have lost everything. Is n't it a shame ? " said Bertha, as she ended her painful story. "I have lost my beauty, and my money, and my home, and my mother, and I never shall be happy again as long as I live. I wish I could die." " Oh Bertha, Bertha I don't say that ; think what a mercy it is that your life was spared, that you might have better feelings towards God, your Maker, before you go into his pre sence in another world and be judged according to the works done in the body." DELICATE KINDNESS. 209 " Why I never have done anything very bad that I should be punished so severely in this world. To be sure I was proud, but I had a great deal to be proud of, and I was rude to you and your sister. I coaxed Groschen, my German maid, to poison Miss Nancy's parrot, because she said 'Hold your tongue' to me. We gave the creature arsenic one day when she was sitting on the fence yonder. I am sorry for that, because Miss ISTancy is very kind to me now." " It is a good beginning, Bertha ; we ought to be sorry for all the wrong we have done to our fellow-creatures. Can we help feeling sorry, too, when we think how we have treated our best Friend ? God gave you beauty and many other things perhaps you never loved Him nor thanked Him for those gifts, and yet you are very angry, and think it hard because He takes them away from you. Bertha, your Heavenly Father may be trying a different course to bring you to Him. You know when the Prodigal Son, in the beautiful parable, had spent all his living and began to be in want, he remembered his father's house and resolved to go to him and say, ' Father, I have sinned against heaven and 14 210 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son, make me as one of thy hired servants.' Now, you know his father met him while he was yet a great way off ; he was on his return, however, with love in his heart towards that kind father. So we must all return to our Hea venly Father, and He will forgive our sins, and make us his dear children through Jesus Christ, and give us a better inheritance than beauty or wealth. There is no perfect happiness in this world, but there is i pleasantness ' and there is c peace ' for those who walk in ' wisdom's ways,' and after death perfect happiness through eternity. But I am afraid I have wearied you, Bertha ; I will bid you good morning." " No, you have not ; tell Miss Nancy I will come down to dinner." When the clock struck twelve, Bertha slowly descended the stairs, but when she reached the door of the little parlor she stood irresolute, with her hand on the lock. She heard Esther's sweet voice, and it wooed her onward. As soon as Louisa saw her, all malicious, un kind feeling passed away like chaff before the wind. Bertha had lost her uncommon beauty ; DELICATE KINDNESS. 211 but her hair was now grown longer, her com plexion was less sallow, and she was much less emaciated. She was pale, and her eyes swol len and red with weeping. It was not the change in appearance that touched the gen erous heart of Louisa. It was the shyness the painful consciousness of wrong-doing which Ber tha exhibited which quite subdued Louisa ; she went forward to meet her, held out her hand cordially and led her to a seat at table be side her, but Louisa could not speak a word. Perhaps the large drops that chased each other over her cheeks were a most acceptable expres sion of sympathy. What made Miss Nancy nudge her knuckles into her own eyes so indignantly ? She had no reason to be ashamed of those tears that would cor^e in spite of herself. It would have been an awkward and painful meal throughout, but for Esther. She talked with Miss Nancy about Patsy's plans. The two pupils were to arrive in a few days. There was to be a room fitted up for the little school. Patsy hoped for a third pupil. "Margaret Gracy," said she, " was the first scholar in her 212 BEAUTIFUL BEETHA. classes at school. She has besides been taking lessons in music all winter and has made won derful progress, so that she will be able to teach the little girls, who are beginners. Papa has given her a piano, and Bertha can practice if she wishes to keep up her music." Bertha's eyes brightened and her face flushed with pleasure. Such delicate consideration for her w r as more than she could possibly understand, and it was long, long before she fully appreciated all their kindness. CHAPTER XXIL A LETTER TO THE DEAD. THE two little pupils arrived, and the day came for opening Patsy's school. One expected scholar was very reluctant to make her appearance. Bertha had not yet been beyond Miss Nancy's grounds, though she had of late frequently seen Patsy at Ivy Cottage. " Come Bertha, Louisa and I will walk with you this morning," said Esther, handing her a neat white sun-bonnet, the making of which had employed many an hour in Esther's room ; " please wear this bonnet, because it is just like Louisa's and mine." " I am afraid we shall meet Hamilton Gracy." " He has returned to the city "But we shall meet a great many other people." 214: BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. " They will do us no harm. It is a charming morning, and the walk to Mrs. Gracy's a de lightful one." " But, Miss Perrit, are you not afraid of mad dogs?" Esther shuddered, but replied, " It is not the season for mad dogs." "Here are your books, Bertha; I will put them in your dinner-basket," said Louisa, cut ting short the deliberation by walking off with the basket on her arm. " Dinner-basket ! " exclaimed Bertha, looking at the well-filled basket with as much horror as a fashionable dandy would at a huge market- basket, if requested to carry it home. "Din ner basket ! Am I expected to carry my din ner?" " You may call it a lunch if you please, Ber tha," said Miss Nancy ; " you know, my clear, you are to stay all day on account of your mu sic and Frenchj so at noon you will need some refreshment, and if you choose, ask Patsy to join you ; or perhaps you will prefer going to Mrs. Gracy's table ; if so, the pie (for it is a pretty large one), and other things can go on her table A LETTER TO THE DEAD. 215 without looking oddly. Do just as you please, darling." As Mrs. Gracy predicted, Miss Nancy was in danger of over-indulgence to her present pet. " Louisa is running away from us, we must walk fast to come up with her." As soon as they started, Louisa skipped "back to them and went on chatting in her gayest mood, in spite of the big dinner-basket which she now and then changed from one arm to the other. When they arrived, there sat Patsy (beg par don ! Miss Gracy !) in an arm chair, as grave and as dignified as the President of a College on Commencement Day. Her two young pu pils were seated at their desks. Patsy motioned Bertha to take her seat at another desk, and then with a wave of the hand to Esther and Louisa, unceremoniously dismissed them. The fact was, she saw a mischievous twinkle in Louisa's eye, and was afraid her own gravity would be disturbed. The sisters wandered homeward by the grotto and the brook, calling up memories of the past at every step. They were not as romantic and 216 BEAUTIFUL -BERTHA. sentimental as formerly, but they had keener appreciation, and more intense love of the beau tiful. In the grotto they could not stand up right, but they sat on the old rustic bench, and chatted a full hour. " Suppose we go now to the Post Office, we ought by this time to have letters from papa and mamma," said Louisa. " A bright thought ! " exclaimed Esther, start ing up suddenly, and thumping her head against the rock-roof hard enough to knock all bright thoughts out for the next minute. At the Post Office they found letters for them selves, and then the Post-master said, " Here is a letter for Mrs. Maxwell, who used to live at Linden Hall. I understand the lady is dead. It is a foreign letter, that has been long on the way." " Her daughter is with my aunt, Miss ISTancy Perrit. Shall I take the letter to her \ " " Yes ; if you will pay the postage." " Certainly." Many were the conjectures formed about that letter as they wended their way to Ivy Cottage. They wished to go immediately and carry it to A LETTER TO THE DEAD. 217 Bertha, but Miss Nancy thought it better to wait for her return in the afternoon. Mrs. Gracy walked home from school with Bertha, to whom the day had been the most pleasant she had passed in a long time. Miss Nancy took Mrs. Gracy aside, and tell ing her of the letter, asked her to hand it to Bertha. Mrs. Gracy followed Bertha to her own room, and there broke it to her as gently as possible that the letter she held in her hand was ad dressed to her deceased mother. Bertha held it in her hand, turning it this way and that, study ing the various postmarks, and then asked, in a mournful tone, what she should do with it. " You can open and read it, if you please." " 'Ma never allowed me to open her letters." " It may relate to business of importance." " Please call Miss Nancy." Mrs. Gracy did so. " O, Miss Nancy, only think ! this letter ought to have come to my poor 'ma, who is now in in the grave. I am afraid to open it please just see who it comes from." Miss Nancy shuddered at the thought of open- 218 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. ing one of Mrs. Maxwell's letters, but not liking to refuse, with trembling hands she broke the seal, and glancing her eye at the closing page, read aloud, "William Maxwell," and placed the letter on Bertha's lap. " From my brother ! It cannot be. Do read it. I can't see one word." "Wait awhile till you are more composed. We will leave you to take your own time," said Mrs. Gracy, as they left the room. THE LETTER. " CANTON, June 14, 18 . "Mr DEAR MOTHER: " I have written to you several times since I left home, but my letters may not have reached you, as I have not received any in return. " After leaving Linden Hall, I made my way to New York as rapidly as possible, hoping to find there my friend Hamilton Gracy, who, 1 knew, was about to sail for Europe. He had sailed the very day before. I had been accus tomed to consult him and to rely upon his supe rior judgment. Now, I was alone in a strange city, and without a dollar in my purse. I took A LETTER TO THE DEAD. 219 up a newspaper and saw an advertisement 4 Hands wanted on board ship Columbus, Capt. Micker, up for Canton,' &c. &c. " ~Not knowing what to do with myself, 1 went on board the Columbus and engaged my self as a sailor before the mast. I, a fresh-water lubber, who had never before been on board any craft larger than a boat on Honey-pot Brook ! We had a stormy passage. Of course I suffered severely from sea-sickness and the hardships incident to a sailor's life. We were seven months on the passage. " For some reason, which I cannot explain, I gained the good-will of Captain Micker and his first mate. Finding that I was reduced in health and strength, and was really unable to do duty on deck, the Captain, who had no clerk, took me into his cabin to act in that capacity. Before we reached Macao he was seized with dangerous illness. I was his nurse. Through the mercy of God he recovered. During his convalescence I frequently read to him from the Bible and other good books, with which our ship had been supplied by the New York Ma rine Bible Society. He never to my knowledge 220 BEAUTIFUL BEKTHA. has used profane language since (unfortunately lie had been terribly addicted to swearing) ; and he has given up < grog ' entirely. I do hope he is a Christian man. < Works' seem to have fol lowed fast after ' Faith.' " He has since treated me like a brother. Being well acquainted with merchants at Can ton, he inquired among them for a clerkship for a ' liberally educated young man.' He found a very lucrative position for me, which I still occupy. " And now, my dear mother, though it was a severe trial for me to leave home, I trust God meant it for good. I shall now be able to do much more for you and Bertha than I could have done in a long time had 1 completed my college course. You wished my pretty sister to enjoy better advantages for her education than she could have at Linden Hall. I hope you have been able to afford them to her. It is highly important that she should be thoroughly educated. Such are the vicissitudes of life, that every person in our country should be prepared as far as possible to meet them. " I herewith send you a draft on < Homer, A LETTER TO THE DEAD. 221 Milburn & Co.,' of New York, for dhe hundred dollars, which they will cash at sight. You perceive that it is payable 'to bearer,' so that you have only to send it by mail. This is my first present to Bertha. I hope others will soon follow. Address the letters you write to me to the care of the same house, and they will for ward them to me. " I have thought of many things which I did at home which I ought not to have done, and many others which I left undone. I am deeply sorry for all the sins and follies of my childhood and youth. I beg you will forgive me, dear mother, for any wrongs I may have done to you in times past. "Give my best love to dear Bertha. Tell her to study faithfully, and to learn besides, to be a domestic, useful woman not a fine lady. Life is a stern, sober reality, my dear mother, but I hope, through God's assistance, to battle it through manfully. The flowers which lay in my morning path were crushed before noon, yet their perfume lingers in memory. " Give my best love to my pretty Bertha, and heg her to write to me. I am extremely anx- 222 BEAUTIFUL UERTHA. ious to hear from you. Alas ! how many things may have happened to you since I left home. God bless and protect you from harm. Fare well. " Your only son, "WILLIAM MAXWELL." About an hour after Mrs. Gracy and Miss Nancy had left Bertha to read her letter, they returned, and found she had, childlike, cried herself to sleep. Their entiance awoke her. " Was it a dream ? Was it a dream ?" she exclaimed, on waking. " O no ; here is the blessed letter. Now, now I can have my dear little watch back again ! Head it aloud, Mrs. Gracy." Mrs. Gracy's eyes were dim with tears, and her voice faltered ; but she read it all through. Miss Nancy immediately after left the room. Could it be that Bertha's first thought was of her watch? Ah ! bad habits of thought and feeling are iron-rust stains on the soul. By sharp and bitter means must they be removed, or they will eat in to its very core. "Tell me, Mrs. Gracy, how I can get the A LETTER TO THE DEAD. 223 money my brother sends me ? It was kind in Bill to think of me," added Bertha. " There will be no difficulty about obtaining the money," said Mrs. Gracy, coldly. "I shouldn't wonder, now, with your singular notions, if you objected to my sending my own money for my beloved watch. It is such a dear little watch, with a blue enamelled back." "Your generous brother's money was no doubt hardly earned, and ought to be judi ciously spent." " Well, I can have the watch for eighty dol lars, and besides can pay Miss Gracy for my schooling, if you wish." "That is too unkind. Now, Bertha, I am really angry with you. I can stay no longer ;" and Mrs. Gracy hastily left the room. She was too generous to tell Miss Nancy of this indelicate and cruel speech, but she did tell her about the watch, and Esther and Louisa were present. There was a general exclamation of astonishment. But tea was ready, and no more at that time was said about it. Bertha remained perfectly silent at the table, quite shamefaced. 224 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. After tea she called Miss ISTancy aside, and had a conversation with her, the result of which Miss Nancy soon after communicated to the little circle. " Of her own accord, she came to me and thanked me for all I have done for her, and offered me half the money she is to receive," said the kind-hearted Miss Nancy, exultingly. " You accepted it, of course ; it is the first symptom of moral recovery Bertha has yet shown," remarked Mrs. Gracy. " I told the poor child I was much obliged to her, and I would take the matter into con sideration. I will accept her offer, if you think best, but I shall send for the watch and keep it for her till some future time. You know I am a thrifty woman, and can well afford this small indulgence to myself." " You may indulge yourself as much as you please, but beware of indulging Bertha; she needs strict, steady watchfulness, and tight reins. You remember the fable of Sysiphus, and how the great stone he was rolling up hill pressed back upon him if he relaxed his efforts one moment. Just such will be your experi- A LETTEK TO THE DEAD. 225 ence; you will find it up-hill work with Bertha." Miss ISTancy sighed, and was sorrowful. ''Take courage, dear aunt Nancy," said Es ther, cheeringly, " I do believe the first impulse upward has been given to poor Bertha, and I trust God will give her strength to keep onward and upward, and true to the line." 15 CHAPTER XXIII. GRAND EXPECTATIONS. u Miss GRACY, please write a letter for me to my brother," said Bertha, the next morning, as she sat at her school-desk, with a sheet of paper "before her, biting the end of her pen. " By no means ; you will write it better your self." " 1 have tried and tried, and I can't do it. Well, if you will not write for me, just read Bill's letter, and tell me what to say." Patsy read the letter, and her tears fell like rain over the touching pages. It was, she ac knowledged, very trying for Bertha to communi cate the news of her mother's sickness and death, and she would write that part of the letter for her. Difficult indeed did Patsy find the task thus imposed upon her ; she wrote and rewrote it, GRAND EXPECTATIONS. 227 and at last was quite dissatisfied with her effort, and sorry to be obliged to sign her name at the close. Eelieved from that part of the letter, Bertha wrote as follows : u DEAR BILL : " You will wonder who Margaret Gracy is, who wrote what goes before this. Don't you remember the farm-girl, who used to drive a cow, and hoe, and do all sorts of work ? Well, she has got to be quite like a lady, and keeps school, and I go to her. She has only two scholars besides me, and she gives me my schooling for nothing. I live with Miss Nancy Perrit. She is very kind to me. You remem ber the queer old maid who lives in a log-house. Them two girls that you used to call fairies are now here on a visit. Esther is a very religious girl Louisa not so much so. They both take a great deal of notice of me, though they are immensely rich, and I should be poor as pov erty, if it was not for the money you sent. I am much obliged to you for it, and I hope you will be able to make a great deal more. The 228 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. worst news of all I have got to tell you is, I have lost my beauty. My hair had to be cut off, and it is growing out stiff and straight, and I don't think I shall ever get my true color again, But my form is the same, only rather better, and Miss Nancy says I look as well now as most folks. Who would tiave thought that Miss Nancy and these other people would be so kind to me when I came here sick, and with nothing but what I carried in my traveling bag ! O Bill, I am really beginning almost to love Miss Nancy. Is n't it strange ? I mean to study, because you want me to ; and because it is lady-like to know something. I am glad you are so pious, because you wont get dissi pated, and spend all your money. When do you expect to come home? I wish you was here now, for I do miss poor 'ma dreadfully ; it makes me cry so to think of her, that I can't write another word, only that I am always your affectionate sister, "BEKTHA MAXWELL." This letter, and the draft, were sent to Horner, Minturn & Co., New York, and by return of GRAND EXPECTATIONS. 229 mail, Bortlia received one hundred dollars. Half of it she handed to Miss Nancy, who whis pered in her ear, " Darling, I will keep it for you." Never having had fifty dollars in her posses sion before, Bertha felt quite rich, and on her way to school with Esther and Louisa, she talked of the handsome mourning she should buy, and formed bright plans for the future when her brother should come home, rich as Croesus. "I do hope in all conscience," said she, "I shall never be obliged to earn my own living as Patsy does." " Patsy is not obliged to do it ; it is her free choice," replied Louisa with spirit ; " and you, Bertha Maxwell, ought to be the last person in the world to speak contemptuously of your gene rous benefactress." " I don't mean to, but O dear me ! I find it so hard to keep down my pride. I can't, some how, remember that I don't live at Linden Hall, with a maid to wait on me, and everybody call ing me Beautiful Bertha ; yet I have had enough to make me remember it." 230 BEAUTIFUL BEETHA. Esther sighed as she thought how much more discipline the poor girl still needed. The next Monday Mr. and Mrs. Perrit arrived at Ivy Cottage, and the day following left for home with their daughters. CHAPTEE XXIY. NEWS FROM THE ANTIPODES. MONTH after month passed away with very little change at Ivy Cottage and at Mrs. Gracy's, with one exception. Patsy's school had gradu ally increased, and now numbered ten all day scholars but the first two pupils, who were still in the house with her. Bertha had become an industrious scholar, and was slowly improving in character. It was nearly seven months since the recep tion of William Maxwell's letter, and none had been since received by Bertha. Day after day she went to the Post-office before going to school, and her heart sickened as every day she heard the same reply to her eager inquiry, " No letter." At length it came, early in the month of May, 232 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. and with joy amounting to rapture, Bertha seized it and walked out of the office. She ran till she came to a retired place in a little grove, and seating herself under a tree, tore it open and read as follows : " CANTON, January 21, 18 . "Gone! Our poor mother gone, and you left alone, my dear Bertha ! Delicately and ten derly as the information was conveyed, by your excellent friend Miss Gracy, it was a great shock to me. "You, Bertha, our mother's petted darling who will take care of you ? The Father of the fatherless, who has opened the heart of Miss Nancy Perrit to receive you so kindly to her own house. May He bless and reward her ! "I must write you a very short letter, my dear Bertha, for I am just recovering from severe illness, and can scarcely hold my pen. This climate does not agree with me, and I shall be obliged to return to my own country. For your sake I wish to return, and I trust it is on every account for the best. " Through Messrs. Homer, Minturn & Co., I NEWS FROM THE ANTIPODES. 233 send Miss Nancy Perrit a chest of tea, and a few articles for you, my dear sister. The ivory fan I wish you would present in your own name, to Miss Gracy. I am grieved not to be able to send you another draft ; my long illness has drawn largely on my funds, and at present I have not a dollar to spare. Indeed I should have been troubled for money, had not an Ame rican gentleman kindly loaned me enough to render me comfortable. Do assure Miss Nancy Perrit that if my life and health are spared I will repay her, so far as pecuniary payment is concerned, and yet I shall remain her debtor for life. Kindness, such as hers and Miss Giacy's, calls forth the deepest gratitude ; and thanks seem poor and mean when I endeavor to express them. Should I not be permitted to return home but that is too sad a thought. " What a privilege it is to you, dear Bertha, to be able to continue your education under such peculiarly favorable circumstances. Make the best use of your time at school, and at home assist good Miss Nancy in her domestic affairs. I hope you will become a discreet, useful woman. Above all, read your Bible, and pray to God to 234: BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. impress its sacred truths on your heart. It has been a blessed consolation to me in a foreign land, far away from Christian society and the services of the Church, and above all during the long, lonely hours of a slow convalescence. Please give my sincere regards and warmest thanks to Miss Nancy and all the Perrits, and my profound respects to Mrs. Gracy and her daughter. " I am so much exhausted by the effort to write, that I have hardly strength left to sub scribe myself " Your loving brother, " WILLIAM." Bertha covered her face with her hands, and sobbed aloud. For the first time in her life she breathed a heartfelt prayer; few were the words, but the flame of devotion was kindled, and though but a feeble spark, it proved like "the morning light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day." CHAPTEK XXV. TJNDEK AN UMBEELLA. IT was a warm day in the month of July. Bertha, at Miss Nancy's urgent entreaty, carried a large umbrella to shield her from the burning heat of the sun, as she walked to school. A small basket hung on her arm, and in one hand she held an open book in which she was dili gently studying her lesson. As she thus walked slowly along, suddenly she almost stumbled over some one on the ground by the roadside, and stopped. A young man, who might possibly have seen two and twenty summers, lay on the grass be neath a large elm tree, soundly asleep. By his side was a small bundle, tied up in a white silk handkerchief. A stout stick lay by it. His coarse straw hat h'ad fallen off, and his 236 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. dark hair fell over a face as bronzed as an In dian's ; dark whiskers and moustache rendered his appearance still more dusky. His dress was worn and soiled, and yet had a certain air of respectability, " almost of gentility," thought Bertha, as she gazed wonderingly at the sleep ing stranger. " I am afraid this is not a safe place for a per son to sleep," thought she. " Over the other side of the fence he would do better. It would be kind to tell him so." " Ahem ! ahem !" said Bertha. He did not wake. " I will put his bundle the other side of the fence, at any rate, for fear some rogue might steal it. I have a great mind to set my umbrel la up so that it will shade his face, for the sun comes through this thin elm," said she to her self; and kneeling down beside him she en deavored so to place the umbrella as to afford him security from the scorching rays of the sun. Just as she had succeeded in placing it to her satisfaction, and while still on her knees bending over him, he suddenly awoke. " Is this the good $ngel I have been dreaming of?" said he, gazing wistfully in her face. TINKER AN UMBRELLA. 237 " Oh, no, I am not a good angel. I never heard of angels carrying umbrellas. I was just trying to fix mine in such a way that you would not melt in the sun ;" and Bertha started to her feet. The young man did the same, and then said, " You are very kind, Miss. I was much fa tigued with a long journey, and must have slept here for some hours." Then looking round anxiously, he said, " I had a small parcel with me of great value ; I am afraid some one has robbed me of it before you came along." " There now, you acknowledge it was careless of you to leave it exposed to the passers-by." "I do; but excessive fatigue overcame me. This is the crowning-point of my misfortunes." Bertha, with a merry laugh that shrill ring ing laugh drew the bundle from the other side of the fence. He started, and exclaimed, "There can be but one laugh like that. It must be Bertha's." " Yes, I am Bertha Maxwell, and it is quite time I was at school ; but I don't know you, sir." " Not know your own brother ! Then, in deed, 1 must be changed." 238 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. "Brother!" exclaimed Bertha, still looking doubtfully at the dark stranger. He threw his arms around her, and kissed hei again and again, while she struggled to escape, crying, " I can't believe it ; no, I can't believe it.' 3 " Yes, Bertha, I am your poor shipwrecked brother. Will you not own me ?" "I wonder I did not know your voice be fore," said Bertha, tenderly. "I should, only it was so mournful, somehow so grief-stricken." " Let us sit down under this tree awhile," said William, " for although I have had a long nap, I am still very weary." They seated themselves together under the tree, and under the umbrella, too, Bertha say ing, "I know Miss Gracy will excuse me for playing truant to-day, when she knows the rea son. Bill, did you say you had been ship wrecked ?" " I did. If you received my last letter, you will remember that I was then recovering from a long and severe illness. After that I had an other relapse, and my employers decided to send me home. I suffered much on the long UNDER AN UMBRELLA. 239 voyage during the first two months ; after that I was better, and had almost recovered my health as we were drawing near our own dear country. "We had just come in sight of the Neversink Hills of New Jersey, at the close of a hot, sultry day, when a violent gale suddenly sprang up. The ship was under full sail. Be fore there was time to take in sail, the masts w r ere all carried away with. one fell swoop, and our gallant ship was on her beam ends. The sailors succeeded in cutting loose the masts, and she righted ; but six of the crew and two pas sengers had been swept overboard, and we never saw them again. The night came on dark as Egypt, and the storm raged more and more furious, driving our helpless vessel directly to wards the coast. " The captain said there was no help for us. We should soon be dashed either on the rocks or a sand bank. I took the most precious thing I had in my keeping, and secured it about my waist. The ship had sprung a leak, and was filling so fast I could not go down to the cabin to my trunk. At last the shock came. The vessel struck on a sand bar, and the captain en- 240 BEAUTIFUL BEETHA. treated us to keep up courage till morning, when boats might be sent to our relief. " Morning came, but no human beings were in sight. A low sandy beach extended along at no great distance from the ship, and all who could swim prepared to go on shore. I was among them ; and with a fervent prayer to an Almighty Protector, threw myself from the sinking vessel into the sea, and swam some dis tance. But the waves were running high, and my strength failed. I was sinking, while the near shore was before my eyes, and almost within my grasp. As I sank in the water my whole past life came before me, and an agony indescribable, that I should no more see my poor, desolate sister. That was the last thought I remember, till I found myself in a shanty with two or three rough-looking men around me, rolling and tumbling me about, and punch ing and rubbing me with their hard hands. The operation was harsh, but successful. I had been washed ashore by a huge wave, and then had been seized by these wreckers, who by their efforts had rescued and recuscitated me." Here the narrator seemed quite exhausted. UNDER AST tJMBKELLA. 241 Bertha, who had listened without once inter rupting him, exclaimed, " Don't tell me a word more till you have refreshed yourself with some cold ham and biscuit." Suiting the action to the word, she took a napkin from her dinner basket, spread it on her brother's lap, and laid on it some of Miss Nan cy's famous biscuit, cold ham, and a saucer of freshly-gathered raspberries. " I shall rob you of your dinner," said he, looking wishfully at it. "And suppose you do; there are lots more where this came from. Miss Nancy doesn't eat much herself, but I really believe she thinks it a virtue in other people to relish her good fare." Thus urged, "William gladly partook of what was before him. Poor fellow, he had not eaten a morsel for twenty-four hours. "While he was thus refreshing himself, Bertha talked as fast as her tongue could wag about Hiss Nancy and all the Perrits, Mrs. Gracy and Patsy, and their several sayings and doings. " Now tell me," she ended by saying " now tell me how you reached this spot where I stum bled upon you ?" 16 24:2 BEAUTIFUL BEKTHA. " "Walked, Bertha ; I walked all the way, for I had too little money to bear the expense of railroad traveling. I will not pain you by re lating the particulars ; I have had a rough jour ney, but, thank God, I have arrived and my precious parcel is safe." " And where were you going this morning ?" "To Mrs. Gracy's." "Mrs. Gracy's! That is just where I was going," said Bertha, starting up. " Come, 1 will be the good angel who carries an um brella.'- CHAPTER XXYI. AN OVERWHELMING STJRPKISE. As Bertha and her brother entered the gate at Mrs. Gracy's, William said, " You must in troduce me, Bertha ; although Hamilton Gracy was my most intimate friend, I did not know the other members of the family." " Miss Gracy is in school ; I will take you to Mrs. Gracy's room, and leave you there." Mrs. Gracy's room that day was the kitchen, for the good lady was baking. Bertha rushed in without knocking, and not waiting to know if her brother followed, ex claimed, " Here is my brother Bill ; he looks as shabby as ever Hamilton did, and yet I was de lighted to see him." Mrs. Gracy, who was clearing the hot oven, stopped and leaned on the large kitchen shovel, 244 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. dumb with surprise at the sudden announce ment. Bertha ran off to the school-room, and 'William entered the kitchen. "William Maxwell ! Is it possible !" He bowed, saying, " Even my sister did not know me." Mrs. Gracy saw that he was fatigued, and handed him a chair, saying, " If you will ex cuse me, I will put my bread and pies in the oven, and then I will take you to a cooler room." William involuntarily turned his eyes from Mrs. Gracy while she put the light loaves and the nice cherry pies in the oven. It was per haps polite so to do, yet Mrs. Gracy was not in the least ashamed of her occupation, and con tinued chatting about the weather and ordinary topics till the oven was filled, and then she led the way to her "sitting room," as the best apartment in the house was called. Placing her guest in a comfortable rocking-chair, she took up her knitting and sat down near him. " I hardly know how to begin the sad story I have to tell you, Madam," said William. " I perceive you. are not well ; you had been very ill when you wrote to Bertha." AN OVERWHELMING SURPRISE. 24:5 " It is not of myself I am about to speak ; my sufferings and shipwreck I will relate to you another time." " Hamilton ! Has anything happened to him ?" inquired Mrs. Gracy, with alarm. "I hope not. I have not seen him. You probably know that I resided for some time in Canton. "While there I was able to render essential service to an American gentleman. We became well acquainted, and during my long illness he was kind to me. I recovered ; but he, in the mysterious providence of God, was seized with a fever, which in a few days terminated fatally." Here William Maxwell paused, and seemed much embarrassed. Mrs. Gracy regarded him with surprise and said, "you are fatiguing yourself; perhaps you had better omit the remainder of your story till another time." " By no means. It is difficult for me, Madam, to convey to you tidings so sad, and yet so min gled with cause for gratitude." < Was the gentleman acquainted with with 24:6 BEAUTIFUL BEKTHA. Mr. Gracy '4 " inquired she, in a voice almost inarticulate. " The gentleman was " ""Was acquainted with him since he left home," she hastily interrupted. " The gentleman was himself " " My husband ! " Mrs. Gracy grew deadly pale, but did not faint. William untied the white silk handkerchief, saying, " Here is a letter from Mr. Gracy, and a casket containing some articles of value, and his last will." Mrs. Gracy covered her face with her hands, and groaned aloud, while he placed them on her lap. Gently saying, " God bless you," he left the house. There was an outer door to Patsy's school, opening into the front yard ; William stepped to that door and knocked ; it was opened by Patsy. Without waiting for an introduction she grasped his hand, and in her own frank manner gave him a cordial welcome. As he was thanking her, Bertha rushed by him with the umbrella and dinner-basket, crying, " Good bye, Miss Gracy, I can't study to-day." AN OVERWHELMING SUKPKISE. 247 As the brother and sister approached Ivy Cottage, Bertha said, "Miss Nancy does not like to be taken by surprise ; I will run round to the back door, and tell her you have come home." Springing lightly over a rail-fence, she ran across a field to the house, while he walked on ward till he came to Ivy Cottage, and there leaned wearily over the front fence. Miss Nancy, who was in the front-yard gathering chick-weed for her canaries, started up, and found herself face to face with the stranger. " Gracious Heaven ! Who are you ? " ex claimed she. " William Maxwell." " Have you come from the spiri t- world ?" " Not quite," replied he, supposing Miss Nancy had inferred from his last letter that his illness had proved fatal. " Not quite ; but I have been on its borders." " Oh, Miss Nancy ! " cried Bertha, rushing out of the house, " I meant to prepare you to see my brother, and so I ran to the back door; I see he has introduced himself. Come in, both of you ; the sun is broiling hot." 24:8 BEAUTIFUL BEETHA. William waited for an invitation from Miss Nancy, who stood gazing wildly at him. Ber tha put her arm around Miss Nancy's waist, and said playfully, " He mistook me for a good angel ; I am afraid you mistake him for a bad one. He is rather dark-looking." " Are you sure it is your brother ? " eagerly inquired the still bewildered Miss Nancy. " "Why who else can he be ? Come in." " Yes ; come in William Maxwell. It is twen ty years and more since you came to me the last time ; yet, you are heartily welcome. " Now, Miss Nancy, you needn't pretend to be crazy ; you are the oddest, kindest body in the world." So saying Bertha drew Miss Nancy towards the house, and beckoned William to follow. William had a long story to tell, but Miss Nancy, who had fully come to her senses, in sisted that he should wait till after dinner. Bertha, who seemed perfectly at home, showed him to a neat bed-room, and then insisted on brushing his coat, and left him to enjoy the luxury of plenty of cold water. When she brought back the coat there were AIT OVERWHELMING- SURPRISE. 24:9 with it a plain linen collar of her own, and two nice pocket handkerchiefs. " Now Bill, put on the collar, and one of those handkerchiefs for a cravat, and you will look quite like a young clergyman." This simple act of kindness touched the bro ther tenderly, and though he that saw she was no longer beautiful, he admired her countenance, beaming with kindness, more than he ever had the proud Bertha. CHAPTEK xxyn. THE IVOEY CASKET. How different are the allotments of an all- wise Providence from the expectations of short sighted man ! Bertha Maxwell had expected her brother to return home "rich as Croesus," and he came penniless. Mrs. Gracy, who had humbly reconciled her self to comparative poverty, suddenly became the possessor of a large fortune. For many years she had believed Mr. Gracy to be no longer among the living, and never spoke of him even to her children. Having nearly squandered the rich inherit ance of his wife, he left her and wandered from place to place, at times in great poverty. Wish ing to place himself as far as possible from all who had ever known him, he at last went to China. In Canton he found employment, at THE IVOEY CASKET. 251 first of a very humble kind, but at length va rious opportunities of making money offered, and Mr. Gracy resolved to regain what he had extravagantly spent, and restore it to his wife. To this purpose he devoted all his thoughts and actions, and as " extremes beget extremes," in his eager pursuit of wealth he became a com plete miser. He dressed meanly and lived by himself, but his banking-house, or broker's office, was fitted up in an elegant, attractive style, and it was bruited abroad that he was immensely rich. One night as he was going home from his office, and passing along a narrow street, he was suddenly attacked by two strong men, one of whom knocked him down and held him fast, while the other searched for the money he was supposed to have about him. Mr. Gracy strug gled violently to release himself; the robber who. held him down drew a long knife, and was just about to thrust it in his throat when he was arrested by a sudden and violent blow on the side of the head. He reeled for a moment, but soon found his feet, and both the robbers ran off at full speed. 252 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. Mr. Gracy sprang up, and by the dim light of a street-lantern perceived a young man with a stout rattan in his hand, who had been his brave deliverer. "Are you hurt, sir?" eagerly inquired the stranger. " Not much ; you have saved my money my life, I mean ; I saw the glittering knife at my throat. "Who are you ? " " My name is Maxwell ; I am an American." " A Yankee ! Well, you are a brave one ; come to my office to-morrow (here is my card), and I will talk over this matter with you." " I will see you safely home, sir." " Thank you ; there is no need of it ; the cowards will not molest me again. I am near my lodgings," Those mean lodgings Mr. Gracy did not like to* expose to a stranger. William Maxwell called the next day, as re quested, at the office of Mr. Gracy. Much sur prised was the latter to learn who had thus been brought to his notice. After the strictest injunction to secresy, he told William his whole history. THE IVORY CASKET. 253 Not long after this event William was seized with the illness which he mentioned in his let ter to Bertha. This illness was severe and pro tracted. The expenses incident upon it ex hausted his funds, and Mr. Gracy offered to lend him money; that was his kindness. He would not willingly have abstracted a dollar from what he believed belonged to his wife. So rigid was he in his economy, that a Chinaman living on rats and mice, and a handful of rice a day, could scarcely have exceeded him. From William Mr. Gracy received the most glowing account which partial friendship could give of his son Hamilton. When he saw the letter Patsy wrote for Bertha to William, the first tears which had moistened his eyes for many years fell on the paper as he exclaimed : "My own little Patsy! How beautifully the child writes P Indeed, he seemed quite to have forgotten that Time, in its rapid flight, had brought Patsy to the verge of womanhood. He now resolved to return to his family as soon as he could settle up his business advanta geously. About this time he made his will, had it legally attested, and a copy of it placed 254: BEAUTIFUL BEETHA. in the hands of the American consul, wha, to gether with William, were the witnesses. By this will Mr. Gracy gave the whole of the large fortune which he had accumulated through years of toil and deprivation, to his wife. His ample funds had from time to time been safely invested in New York. 'Man appoints, and God disappoints.' Mr. Gracy had named the very day for leaving Canton, and had taken passage in a ship for New York ; but it was not so to be. He was suddenly attacked by a disease which from the first threatened to be fatal. He sent for Wil liam Maxwell and entrusted to him an ivory casket containing the will, a number of busi ness certificates, and two small parcels ; a doll and a few Chinese toys were in one, for " little Patsy;" in the other, for his son Hamilton, were a valuable watch and a miniature of Margaret Hamilton before she became Mrs. Gracy, which her husband had kept through seasons of extreme want, as mementoes of other days. To Mrs. Gracy he wrote a few lines with a feeble, trembling hand, as follows : TIIE IVOKY CASKET. 255 DEAK, MY LONG-NEGLECTED WlFE : " I am on the very verge of the unknown world (God have mercy on my soul !) Can you forgive all the wrong I have done you ? The fortune which I now restore to you I feel to be a miserable compensation for the long years of labor and trial to which my extravagance and desertion have subjected you. I implore your forgiveness with my dying breath. " From young Maxwell I learn that Hamilton is like his good mother, and an honor to her ; and that Patsy is a cheerful, industrious little girl. God bless them ! Do not let them despise the memory of their erring father. "I owe much to Maxwell life itself, and more than life. His Christian example has been a light to my path, and his Christian pray ers will ascend when I pass through the dark valley of the shadow of death. " He owes me nothing. Be very kind to him for the sake of your penitent husband, who now bids you and his dear children farewell. God grant it may not be eternal ! "JAMES GKACY." 16 256 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. The day after Mr. Gracy had written this letter, he handed a purse to William Maxwell, saying, "Take this and use it for your return to your own country. My passage is now taken for another world. I too am going home." After this, Mr. Gracy's mind wandered, and the next morning, while "William was reading by his bed-side the prayer for the dying, his spirit passed to the world of retribution. Mr. Gracy, with the habitual carefulness he had of late practiced with regard to pecuniary matters, had only reserved from his funds enough for his expenses till he reached home. When William had paid the physician's bill, and other bills incurred by sickness and death, the remainder was barely sufficient for passage- money. Poor William had only a small sum of his own in addition. Yet all he asked of his employers in Canton was a letter of introduc tion to the house of Horner, Minturn & Co. Nobly did he perform the sacred duty en trusted to him. On the long passage, instead of repining at the misfortunes which had be fallen him, he gratefully dwelt on the opportu nities for doing good which had been presented THE IVOEY CASKET. 257 to him, and was thankful to be relieved from pecuniary obligations to Mr. Gracy. lie re gained his health during the voyage, and made himself useful to his fellow passengers and the rough sailors, among whom he was a special favorite. This latter information, however, he did not vouchsafe to his auditors, Miss Nancy and Bertha, but he told them the substance of what has just been related. Miss Nancy, when he had finished the mourn ful account of his shipwreck and subsequent journey, called Bertha out of the parlor, and leading the way to her own bed-room, which Bertha had never before been permitted to enter, she locked the door, and then opening an old-fashioned chest, she took out a huge red morocco pocket-book. " Bertha, darling, take your brother's money to him," said she, handing out a fifty dollar note. " My brother's money !" " Yes, to be sure ; you know we have not spent all his money, only half of it ; hand this to him and tell him it is his own." 258 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. Bertha was delighted to be the bearer of such a communication, and flew down stairs. " There now, Bill, what a nice thing it was to put your money in Miss Nancy's bank here it is. I owe you fifty more, which I mean to pay one of these days." It was some time before "William could be induced to take the whole ; a part of it, he said, he should need but he had in his wallet a letter of introduction to Horner, Minturn & Co., which he thought would secure to him a place in their counting-house. " But you. must make yourself presentable, Bill. You don't know what an expert seam stress I have become. I will go to the village and buy lots of things to make up for you, and Miss Nancy will cut them out. Isn't she the queerest, dearest old maid that ever was known ? Besides, you are sick and forlorn, and Miss Nancy says you must recruit." CHAPTEE XXVHL GRATITUDE. IT was some days before Mrs. Gracy commu nicated the startling intelligence which she had received to her son Hamilton. After the mel ancholy story had been briefly told, she con cluded her letter as follows : . * * -x- * * "And now, my dear son, relax not your efforts. The riches which have once taken wings may find them again. By their removal you have been urged by a sufficient motive to strenuous exertion, and God only knows from how much temptation you have thus been de livered. " An immense weight of responsibility now devolves on us ; we are to be the almoners of God's bounty. "We are to seek out the means for doing good most judiciously and effectively. 260 BEAUTIFUL BEKTHA. " Patsy and I have been much surprised and pleased with Bertha Maxwell's late conduct. Thinking that Patsy would not be able to go on with her school as usual, she came and eagerly begged to take her place. Patsy al lowed her to do so ? knowing she was well qual ified to teach. When the week ended, Patsy told Bertha she should be able to resume her duties on Monday morning. Bertha colored hesitated, and at length in a very humble man ner entreated as the greatest possible favor, that Patsy would give up the school entirely, and allow her to take it. "After consulting me, Patsy granted this most unexpected request. William Maxwell's health was so much impaired that Miss Nancy will not yet allow him to leave her house. " Hasten to us, my son, for there are business matters whjch require your attention, and we long for your sympathy. " Most devotedly, YOUR MOTHEE." A part of Hamilton Gracy's reply was as follows : GRATITUDE. 261 * * " The matter about which 1 consulted you in a former letter, my dear mother, has been decided. I confessed to Mr. Perrit my attachment to his daughter Esther, and honestly stated to him that I had no expectations except ing what must arise from my own exertions in my profession. I therefore did not think it right to make a proposal, or even allow Esther to discover how deeply and entirely I was de voted to her. Moreover, I had no reason to be certain that this affection was reciprocated. Mr. Perrit pleasantly replied that I must learn that from herself, and heartily wished me suc cess. Emboldened by his generous approval, I revealed to my gentle Esther the hopes and fears which had long agitated me, and thank God, she consented to unite herself for weal or for woe with your portionless son ; rich only in love and hope. Rejoice withjne, dear mo ther, that this avowal was made before the re ception of the astonishing news. " And my friend, my noble friend, William Maxwell, what can we do for him ? Such ser vices as his can never be repaid. More than ever may we now call ourselves Damon and 262 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA, Pythias, excepting that the debt of gratitude is all on my side. He is the chosen brother of my soul, and I cannot be entirely happy till I have walked arm-in-arm by the brook-side, and confided to him, as I did in boyhood, all that is in my heart. " I hope to be with you in the course of the week ; imperative duty detains me at present. "I sincerely rejoice with you in Bertha's im provement. I have no doubt her countenance is now more truly ' angelic ' than it was when I raved about it in days of youthful folly. Give my kindest regards to her and to good Miss Nancy. Your grateful and loving son, "HAMILTON GRACY." In a few days Hamilton was with his mother and sister, entering earnestly into all their joys and sorrows. But his more immediate personal interests did not prevent him from feeling the deepest sympathy with his friend, William Maxwell, who was yet unable to leave for New York. The first walk that the invalid took was with Hamilton to the grotto and the brook. There GRATITUDE. 263 they talked long of other days and of the changes which had since taken place. "Without a particle of envious feeling did William listen to the fair prospects which his friend Hamilton opened up like a long glorious vista into the future, although a dark curtain seemed to vail his own prospects, and almost shut out every ray of hope. " Cheer up, "William," said Gracy, " you are still the same man. With health, energy and courage will return. A man is wrecked indeed who loses his character his reputation. True, you have to begin anew, but your experience o life, its hardships and its vicissitudes, is a lesson of inestimable value, which, although it has cost you dear, has tried your very soul and found it true metal pure gold." " You are too partial, Hamilton. I am every way vastly your inferior." " Come, now, we will not make comparisons, nor compliments, either, unless the fairies, Yio- letta and Rosamia, should suddenly start out of the ruinous grotto. Those days of romance and poetry were delightful." u Like a glorious morning in June which 264 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. heralds a coming thunder storm," replied Wil liam, mournfully. "Which storm ends in a brilliant sunset and a splendid bow of promise," replied his friend, cheeringly. x- # * * * * * Miss Bertha Maxwell's first experience of school teaching was not without its trials. What useful occupation ever is ? Idleness surely has greater trials. It was, however, an excellent discipline, exactly what Bertha needed. Although several years older than the other pupils, she had been their school-fellow, and when she took the arm-chair and assumed the dignity becoming that elevated situation, they were disposed to view it in a ludicrous light; smiles and suppressed sneers greeted her from several rosy lips, and winks and nods that por tended mischief. The first day she was so much discouraged and annoyed, that she was ready to give up, and several times turned to the black-board and wrote or drew diagrams, to conceal tears of vex ation. But she persevered from day to day and week to week, and at the end of the first quar- GRATITUDE. 265 ter the peculiar difficulties in her path were vanquished. Ordinary trials she had the cour age thenceforth bravely to encounter, because she had gained the respect and love of her pupils. "Miss Nancy, I am so happy," said she; " I never was so happy in all my life. I am going to pay off my debts. You needn't look so doubtful, dear, I am. Not to you, because you pay yourself all the way with the pleasure of doing good ; and so would brother "William if he did not need something more material. I am going to send him the fifty dollars. I wish it could be doubled and doubled again: and it shall be if my life and health are spared. You know he will want to begin business him self one of these days, instead of being a mere clerk, and I must help him along. I never was so delighted with any money as I am with this that I have earned for myself. I cannot help laughing when I remember my silly contempt for the vulgar people, as I considered them, who Lad to work. To be sure, mine is head work, thanks to you, dear little busy bee, who saved 266 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. me from the labor for which I had not sufficient strength." "To go farther back ; you are indebted to Esther Perrit and Louisa for being here at all." "How is that?" "If you had not remembered how happy they appeared to be with me, you would not have come to the old maid in the log-house. If Esther had not exerted a blessed influence over me while here, I should not have been willing to receive and retain you when you did come." " Especially with a carpet-bag ! Often have I laughed with Louisa over your fearful alarm at the sight of their carpet-bag on their first arrival." " Ah, that visit was one of the greatest bless ings Providence ever granted to me. Without it I might to this day have been living in gloomy solitude !" "Instead of having been tormented by the freaks and follies of a silly, wayward girl, who, after all your trouble and care, has nothing to return for it but grateful love." Miss Nancy left the room with her eyes swim- ming in tears, and soon returned. "Here, Ber- GRATITUDE. 267 tha, is your dear little watch. I sent for it long ago, but I solemnly promised Mrs. Gracy I would not give it to you till your gratitude to me was deep and sincere." Bertha's eyes sparkled with delight for a mo ment ; then a deep shade of sadness flitted over her face. Painful associations were summoned up by that watch. After a few minutes' silence, she threw her arms around Miss Nancy's neck, and sobbing like a child, cried, " Oh, Miss Nancy, I would rather be Bertha the loved than Bertha the beautiful !" CHAPTER XXIX. "NOT EXPECTED TO HAPPEN." LETTER FEOM LOUISA PEEEIT TO BEETHA MAXWELL. " December Z$, 18. "Mr DEAE BEETHA: " Pack up your trunks, aunty and you, and come to us immediately. We want you for the Christmas holidays. Mrs. Gracy and Patsy are already with us. I have a grand secret to tell, and I am permitted to have the pleasure of telling it, because why ? That I will not tell. " You know Hamilton has been engaged more than two years, and is now established in his profession. "Well, 'the consummation devoutly to be wished ' (trite quotation, that !), is appoint ed for New Year's Day. You know, moreover, that Mr. William Maxwell is now the junior partner in the house of Horncr, Minturn & Co. NOT EXPECTED TO HAPPEN. 261) " All these things you know, but you don't know that we are to have a double wedding ! There now, exercise your Yankee faculties, and guess who are the parties. " William Maxwell and Louisa Perrit. " No ; guess again. " Who are to be bridesmaids ? " Miss Nancy Perrit, Miss Bertha Maxwell, and Miss Louisa Perrit. "Bride and bridegroom, Mr. Maxwell and Miss Gracy. "There, you have it. William wished to tell you himself, but I begged it as a special favor. ^ Marriages do take place in real life, as in romances, as the winding up of youthful history; but, in real life, not exactly as they are expected to happen. " Papa and mamma so urgently insisted Da mon and Pythias should have but one wedding, that there was no refusing them. " Tell good old Orpy this wedding would be incomplete without a bride's-loaf of her famous fruit cake ; her favorite, Esther, says so. " The brides give dresses, gloves, &c. to us, so you need make no preparations of that kind. 270 BEAUTIFUL BERTHA. "Write at what hour we may expect yon, and papa will meet you in the carriage at the station. " In the hurly-burly of the approaching nup tials, I, bridesmaid to be, write in a flutter and in haste. Patsy and Esther, brides to be, are as solemn and sedate as daguerreotypes. " Yours truly, " LOUISA PEKKIT." When Bertha had finished reading this letter aloud, she exclaimed, " This is astonishing news ! I always thought William would marry Louisa Perrit ; but Patsy will make him a better wife than anybody else in the whole world. Will you go to the wedding, Miss Nancy? Will you go ? " " Yes, I will ; but not to be bridesmaid ; that would render the whole ceremony ridiculous. 1 will set Orpy immediately about making the cake. You, Bertha, dismiss school for a fort night, and write to Louisa that we shall leave home in the morning train, day after to-morrow.'- It was a brilliant, and yet a sensible wedding, for the guests were all near and dear friends. NOT EXPECTED TO HAPPEN. 27- The solemn ceremony was performed by the Eev. Mr. Helton, of Sylvania, and felt in a suit able manner by the young persons who were taking those momentous vows, which nothing but veligious principles, aided by the grace of Gud would enable them faithfully to fulfil.