Elsie and Her Loved Ones

by Martha Finley

  CHAPTER XVIII

  “IT is a lovely morning, one of October’s fairest days!” exclaimedLucilla, glancing from the window of her dressing-room on the day aftertheir home-coming from their recent sojourn upon the banks of theHudson. “Oh, Chester, my dear, I wish you could just stay at home andspend the day with me!”

  “It would be very pleasant to do so, my love,” he returned, “butbusiness forbids; and besides,” he added laughingly, “I feel very sureyou would not be content to really stay at home all day.”

  “No,” she returned in mirthful tone, “but Woodburn seems to me only apart of my home—holding my dear father and the other loved ones—and Icannot be content to refrain from spending a part of every day withthem, or from having them spend a part here with me.”

  “Yes, dearest, I fully understand, and rejoice that you have theirloved companionship when I must be away from home, so that you mightbe lonely indeed without them,” returned Chester. He came close to herside and put an arm about her as he spoke.

  “My dear husband,” she murmured low and softly, “your companionship hasbecome more and sweeter to me than any or all other, even that of mydear father.”

  “Oh, thank you for those sweet words, dearest,” he returned withemotion. “Ah, I esteem myself a very fortunate man in having such awife. But it grows late and I must hasten with my preparations, forbreakfast first and business after.”

  “Do, my dear. I am just ready to go down, and I think the call tobreakfast will soon follow my entrance into the dining-room.”

  She met Max in the hall, and they exchanged a pleasant morning greeting.

  “How are wife and baby?” she asked.

  “They seem to be well, bright and happy.”

  “And you are looking so.”

  “Look as I feel, then, when I can refrain from thinking of Uncle Sam’scoming orders,” he returned with a rather rueful smile.

  “Oh, dear! I’d break loose from that old uncle if I were you. Won’t youand Eva come in and breakfast with us?”

  “No, thank you; we were with you last night, you know, so it’s yourturn to come to us. Take your breakfast with us this morning, you andChester, won’t you?”

  “Thank you, but Chester is so hurried in the mornings. I think he wouldprefer to join you at tea some of these evenings.”

  “Ah, yes, that will be better. And there! both breakfast bells areringing.”

  Those sounds brought both Evelyn and Chester into the hall. Morninggreetings were exchanged with them and the four descended to theirbreakfast rooms.

  Chester did not linger over his breakfast, but Max and Eva ateleisurely, as there was no necessity for haste with either of them atthat time.

  Lucilla saw her husband on his way, returned to the table, finishedher breakfast, had a pleasant little stroll about the grounds with herfather, then returned to the house and found them, baby and all, on theveranda, for it was a bright, warm morning. Eva sat with the babe inher arms, Max standing by her side, gazing in the direction of Woodburn.

  “Why didn’t father come in?” he asked, his tone expressingdisappointment and chagrin.

  “He said it was a little too late. Mamma Vi would be ready for herbreakfast, and he could not think of keeping her waiting. But he thinksthey will be here in an hour or so and convoy us all over there.”

  “All right, as father’s plans always are,” returned Max with a sigh ofsatisfaction.

  “Just as I think,” said Evelyn; “but I doubt if we can make alengthened stay, as I overheard occasional remarks yesterday at Ionindicating that we would be likely to receive a number of calls fromrelatives and friends to-day.”

  “But,” laughed Lucilla, “they will be calling upon the Woodburn folks,too, and it will be to them a saving of time and trouble to find us allin one house.”

  “So it will,” responded Max in laughing tone, “and I hope they willappreciate our kindness in so evidently consulting their convenience inregard to the matter.”

  “Ah, how sweet our little darling looks this morning!” exclaimedLucilla, stepping to Evelyn’s side and bending over the little one.“Precious pet, Aunt Lu loves to look at you.”

  “Tell Aunt Lu you will look much sweeter when you have had your bathand are dressed for the day,” said Evelyn, and the child seemed toanswer:

  “Let me have it soon, mamma, before my dear grandpa sees me.”

  “Yes, so you shall,” Eva replied, with a laughing look at her husband.“Baby dear, you should appreciate the blessing of having a fatherwho can talk for you until you can do it for yourself. Now,” sheadded, rising with the child in her arms, “we will go and make thecontemplated improvements.”

  “And I to attend to household affairs,” added Lucilla, and they passedinto the entrance hall together.

  The families at Woodburn and Ion sat down to their breakfast at verynearly the same time. At both places all were well and in good spirits,and as a consequence the chat was lively and pleasant.

  “What a lovely morning,” remarked Mrs. Dinsmore. “This is one of ourdelicious October days.”

  “Yes, and quite a good deal of it would be properly spent in walkingand driving,” said her husband. “Shall I take you and Elsie over toWoodburn and Sunnyside?”

  “You may take me in either way that suits you best,” she returned witha pleased smile.

  “And you, Elsie?” he asked.

  “Thank you, father,” she said, her tone and look indicating a gratefulappreciation of his kindness in giving the invitation. “I last eveningaccepted an invitation from Walter; but we might make up a familyparty and all go. ‘The more the merrier,’ as I am sure the Woodburnfolk will think.”

  “Oh, do, do! Let us all go!” cried little Lily. “I want to see themonkeys again.”

  At that everybody laughed, and Grandpa Dinsmore said:

  “Very well, you can visit the monkeys, and the rest of us ourrelatives.”

  Lily hung her head and blushed.

  “I didn’t mean I cared more about the monkeys than about aunt and uncleand the cousins, for I don’t.”

  “No, dear, we all understand that,” said Grandma Elsie soothingly; “themonkeys are not the principal attraction, but merely an additional one.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” returned the child with a relieved sigh. “I don’t wantanybody to think I don’t love Aunt Vi and uncle and the rest, because Ido; but the monkeys are the funniest.”

  “Of course, they are,” said her Uncle Herbert; “and who doesn’t likefun?”

  “I know of no one in this house who objects to it in the right timeand place,” remarked her father, bestowing a reassuring smile upon thelittle girl.

  “We seem likely to have a gay time while our young naval officerremains in the neighborhood,” remarked Mr. Dinsmore.

  “Yes, sir,” said Edward; “so I understand, and I hope they—the variousparties planned—may prove enjoyable.”

  “I have no doubt that they will, my dear,” said Zoe.

  “I hope they will be in the daytime, so that we children can go,” saidLily.

  “But even if they do, the monkeys will surely not be present at all ofthem,” remarked Walter gravely.

  “But I’m not a monkey, Uncle Walter,” she returned in a slightlyresentful tone. “You wouldn’t have me for your niece if I was.”

  “No; and you haven’t the least look like one. So if you can do withouttheir companionship, I hope you will be permitted to go to all theparties talked of.”

  “If she is a good girl she shall go to all the parties she’s invitedto; all the daytime ones in the connection, I mean,” said her mother.

  “Oh, thank you, mamma!” exclaimed the little girl; “and I may go to-daywith you and papa, may I?”

  “You shall go somehow and with somebody; we will get it all arrangedpresently. There are conveyances enough for all to ride if they wish,and it is a delightful day for walking so short a distance if any oneprefers to do that.”

  Some did prefer
it, and in a few moments their plans in regard to thatwere all arranged.

  In the meantime Lucilla had made her housekeeping arrangements andtoilet for the day, the next-door neighbors had done likewise, thebaby, beautifully attired, was sleeping in her carriage, which Maxwas proud to draw with his own hands, and they set out on their tripacross the lawn to Woodburn.

  They received a joyous welcome there, and were told they were just intime to prevent the call from being made in the other direction.

  “We were just about to start for Sunnyside,” said Violet, “for we wereall hungry for a sight of my little granddaughter.”

  “Oh, mamma, she isn’t that, and you don’t look a bit like agrandmother!” exclaimed Elsie.

  “I’m her own grandfather’s wife,” laughed Violet, “and what’s myhusband’s is mine also. Isn’t it, my dear?” turning to him with apleased little laugh.

  “Yes,” he replied, “I consider you as having a right to a share in allmy possessions.”

  “That’s nice and kind in you, papa,” said Elsie, “but I don’t like mypretty young mamma to be thought old; and folks will think so if she’scalled grandma.”

  “Well, daughter, I should think a sight of her face would convinceanybody of the absurdity of that,” the captain said, drawing Elsie tohis side and smoothing her hair caressingly. Then bending over thebabe, which was waking, he said caressingly: “Grandpa’s pretty pet! thefirst grandchild, sweet and beautiful as a lily or a rose.”

  At that she looked up into his face and cooed.

  “That’s a pretty reply to grandpa, baby darling,” he said, softlytouching her cheek with his lips.

  Then she seemed to speak:

  “I love you, my dear grandpa.”

  “Oh, that’s nice for her to say,” cried Elsie, clapping her hands andlaughing merrily; “and I do believe she does, papa, for see how sweetlyshe looks at you. Oh, I think she’s just the dearest, prettiest babythat ever was made.”

  “That’s rather strong, isn’t it?” laughed Max; “but you are young andhave seen comparatively few of her age.”

  “I really think a brighter or prettier one would be hard to find,”said her grandfather.

  “And it wouldn’t be worth her father’s while to pretend to disagreewith me,” he added, glancing at Max with a twinkle of fun in his eye.

  “We are not disposed to contradict you, father,” Evelyn said with asmile, “but perhaps it is partly because she is our very own that shelooks so pretty to us.”

  “Oh, there are some folks coming up the driveway!” exclaimed Ned. “Why,they are grandma and Uncle Herbert and—Uncle Walter, I do believe!”

  “And I think you are right,” said his father, then hurried forth tomeet and welcome the approaching guests. Violet followed closely in hisfootsteps, the others a little more slowly.

  Warm greetings were exchanged, then came a gathering about thecarriage, and Evelyn and Max were gratified by hearing Walter say hereally thought it the prettiest young baby he had ever seen.

  “And so far she’s as good as she is pretty,” said Lucilla; “a bitbairnie to be proud of.”

  “There’s nobody here who will contradict you in that,” said Violet,gazing admiringly upon the sweet baby face.

  “She seems a fortunate little one—has come to the right place, Ithink,” remarked Herbert.

  “Yes, the right place to be loved and petted,” said Violet. “I supposepartly because we have had no baby among us for some years.”

  “I’m glad we have one now, and that she’s my little niece, the dearest,prettiest baby in the land!” cried Elsie, bending over the child andregarding it with loving admiration.

  “Where’s Harold?” asked Violet. “I wonder he didn’t come with hismother and brothers.”

  “Gone to visit some patients who have been longing for his return,”replied Herbert; adding laughingly: “They actually appear to think hima better physician than either Cousin Arthur or myself. I presume hewill be in after a little, though. And yonder, I see, come grandpa andgrandma, with Ed and his family.”

  “Ah, that is well,” said the captain; “the more the merrier.”

  The new arrivals met a hearty welcome, spent a delightful half hour,then returned to Ion; but had scarcely left Woodburn when a servantcame to tell the Sunnyside folk that callers were there awaiting thereturn of its owners.

  “Who are they?” asked Max.

  “The folks from the Oaks and Beechwood,” was the reply.

  “Oh, just our own connections,” said Lucilla; “so, father, you, GrandmaElsie, Mamma Vi and the rest, you will accompany us, won’t you? I thinkit would be pleasant for us all.”

  Evelyn and Max added their urgent invitation, and all accepted exceptHerbert, who excused himself on the plea that there were patients whomhe ought to call upon promptly.

  Max and his wife and sister found their callers seated upon the verandaat Sunnyside, enjoying a view of the beautiful grounds, and chattingcosily together while awaiting their coming.

  Cordial greetings were exchanged, the baby was noticed and admired, andsome one asked if she could still talk as well as she did yesterday.

  “Can’t you, my pet?” asked her father, leaning over her, and an answerseemed to come from her lips:

  “I’ll try, papa, if you will help me.”

  “I really think she can talk now quite as well as she did yesterday,”Max said with becoming gravity.

  “And I presume she will be able to whenever her father is with her,”laughed Violet.

  “And when he is gone, perhaps she may succeed when Cousin Ronald isby,” said the captain. “I shall certainly not be surprised if shedoes.”

  “It probably will not be so very long before she can use her owntongue,” said Mr. Lilburn.

  “And we will hope she will use it aright as she grows up to girlhood,and then to womanhood,” remarked her grandfather, gazing affectionatelyupon the little one now nestling in her mother’s arms.

  “Your first grandchild, is it not, sir?” asked Mr. Lilburn, addressingthe captain.

  “Yes,” he replied, “and her coming has given me some serious thoughtsabout my increasing years. I believe I am growing an old man.”

  “Not so very,” laughed Cousin Ronald, shaking his head. “I have been agrandsire for years, and when I began the business I was older than youare now.”

  “And to me he doesn’t seem so very old even yet,” Annis said with anaffectionate smile.

  “That sounds pleasant, coming from the lips of my bonny young wife,”Mr. Lilburn said, returning her smile.

  There was a momentary silence, then the old gentleman went on in ameditative tone:

  “Life in this world has many blessings and many trials, but the Bibletells us, ‘As thy days, so shall thy strength be,’ and in my experiencethat promise has been fulfilled many, many times. Friends, the dayafter to-morrow is the Sabbath. Suppose we meet together, as we werewont to do in the past, and have ‘strength’ as the subject for theBible lesson. I invite you all to come to Beechwood for that purpose.”

  “Thank you, sir,” said Captain Raymond, speaking for all, “but allowme to offer Woodburn as the place for meeting, it being more centraland—so near this—better suited to the entertainment of my littlegranddaughter, whose parents would hardly like to go leaving herbehind.”

  Cousin Ronald laughed at that.

  “No; and that would be a bad lesson to begin her education with—thekeepin’ her oot o’ the Bible class. I’m not particular where our classshall meet, and Woodburn will suit me as well as any ither place.”

  Just then there were arrivals from Fairview and the Laurels, whichcaused the subject to be dropped for the time. But it was taken upagain after a little, and Woodburn finally settled upon as the placefor the next Sunday’s Bible class.