Aunt Jane's Nieces

by L. Frank Baum

  CHAPTER XVII.

  AUNT JANE'S HEIRESS.

  "Silas," said Aunt Jane to her lawyer, the next morning after herinterview with Patsy, "I'm ready to have you draw up my will."

  Mr. Watson gave a start of astonishment. In his own mind he hadarrived at the conclusion that the will would never be executed, andto have Miss Merrick thus suddenly declare her decision was enough tostartle even the lawyer's natural reserve.

  "Very well, Jane," he said, briefly.

  They were alone in the invalid's morning room, Phibbs having beenasked to retire.

  "There is no use disguising the fact, Silas, that I grow weaker everyday, and the numbness is creeping nearer and nearer to my heart," saidMiss Merrick, in her usual even tones. "It is folly for me to triflewith these few days of grace yet allowed me, and I have fully made upmy mind as to the disposition of my property."

  "Yes?" he said, enquiringly, and drew from his pocket a pencil andpaper.

  "I shall leave to my niece Louise five thousand dollars."

  "Yes, Jane," jotting down the memorandum.

  "And to Elizabeth a like sum."

  The lawyer seemed disappointed. He tapped the pencil against histeeth, musingly, for a moment, and then wrote down the amount.

  "Also to my brother, John Merrick, the sum of five thousand dollars,"she resumed.

  "To your brother?"

  "Yes. That should be enough to take care of him as long as he lives.He seems quite simple in his tastes, and he is an old man."

  The lawyer wrote it down.

  "All my other remaining property, both real and personal, I shallleave to my niece, Patricia Doyle."

  "Jane!"

  "Did you hear me?"

  "Yes."

  "Then do as I bid you, Silas Watson."

  He leaned back in his chair and looked at her thoughtfully.

  "I am not only your lawyer, Jane; I am also your friend andcounsellor. Do you realize what this bequest means?" he asked, gently.

  "It means that Patricia will inherit Elmhurst--and a fortune besides.Why not, Silas? I liked the child from the first. She's frank and openand brave, and will do credit to my judgment."

  "She is very young and unsophisticated," said the lawyer, "and of allyour nieces she will least appreciate your generosity."

  "You are to be my executor, and manage the estate until the girl comesof age. You will see that she is properly educated and fitted for herstation in life. As for appreciation, or gratitude, I don't care asnap of my finger for such fol-de-rol."

  The lawyer sighed.

  "But the boy, Jane? You seem to have forgotten him," he said.

  "Drat the boy! I've done enough for him already."

  "Wouldn't Tom like you to provide for Kenneth in some way, howeverhumbly?"

  She glared at him angrily.

  "How do you know what Tom would like, after all these years?" sheasked, sternly. "And how should I know, either? The money is mine, andthe boy is nothing to me. Let him shift for himself."

  "There is a great deal of money, Jane," declared the lawyer,impressively. "We have been fortunate in our investments, and you haveused but little of your ample income. To spare fifty thousand dollarsto Kenneth, who is Tom's sole remaining relative, would be no hardshipto Patricia. Indeed, she would scarcely miss it."

  "You remind me of something, Silas," she said, looking at him withfriendly eyes. "Make a memorandum of twenty thousand dollars to SilasWatson. You have been very faithful to my interests and have helpedmaterially to increase my fortune."

  "Thank you, Jane."

  He wrote down the amount as calmly as he had done the others.

  "And the boy?" he asked, persistently.

  Aunt Jane sighed wearily, and leaned against her pillows.

  "Give the boy two thousand," she said.

  "Make it ten, Jane."

  "I'll make it five, and not a penny more," she rejoined. "Now leaveme, and prepare the paper at once. I want to sign it today, ifpossible."

  He bowed gravely, and left the room.

  Toward evening the lawyer came again, bringing with him a notary fromthe village. Dr. Eliel, who had come to visit Patricia, was alsocalled into Jane Merrick's room, and after she had carefully read thepaper in their presence the mistress of Elmhurst affixed her signatureto the document which transferred the great estate to the little Irishgirl, and the notary and the doctor solemnly witnessed it and retired.

  "Now, Silas," said the old woman, with a sigh of intense relief, "Ican die in peace."

  Singularly enough, the signing of the will seemed not to be the endfor Jane Merrick, but the beginning of an era of unusual comfort. Onthe following morning she awakened brighter than usual, having passeda good night, freed from the worries and anxieties that had beset herfor weeks. She felt more like her old self than at any time since theparalysis had overtaken her, and passed the morning most enjoyablyin her sunshiney garden. Here Patricia was also brought in her wheelchair by Beth, who then left the two invalids together.

  They conversed genially enough, for a time, until an unfortunateremark of Aunt Jane's which seemed to asperse her father's characteraroused Patricia's ire. Then she loosened her tongue, and in hervoluable Irish way berated her aunt until poor Phibbs stood aghast atsuch temerity, and even Mr. Watson, who arrived to enquire after hisclient and friend, was filled with amazement.

  He cast a significant look at Miss Merrick, who answered it in herusual emphatic way.

  "Patricia is quite right, Silas," she declared, "and I deserve allthat she has said. If the girl were fond enough of me to defend me asheartily as she does her father, I would be very proud, indeed."

  Patricia cooled at once, and regarded her aunt with a sunny smile.

  "Forgive me!" she begged. "I know you did not mean it, and I was wrongto talk to you in such a way."

  So harmony was restored, and Mr. Watson wondered more and more atthis strange perversion of the old woman's character. Heretofore anyopposition had aroused in her intense rage and a fierce antagonism,but now she seemed delighted to have Patsy fly at her, and excused thegirl's temper instead of resenting it.

  But Patsy was a little ashamed of herself this morning, realizingperhaps that Aunt Jane had been trying to vex her, just to enjoy herindignant speeches; and she also realized the fact that her aunt wasold and suffering, and not wholly responsible for her aggravating andsomewhat malicious observations. So she firmly resolved not to be soreadily entrapped again, and was so bright and cheery during the nexthour that Aunt Jane smiled more than once, and at one time actuallylaughed at her niece's witty repartee.

  After that it became the daily program for Patsy to spend her morningsin Aunt Jane's little garden, and although they sometimes clashed,and, as Phibbs told Beth, "had dreadful fights," they both enjoyedthese hours very much.

  The two girls became rather uneasy during the days their cousin spentin the society of Aunt Jane. Even the dreadful accounts they receivedfrom Phibbs failed wholly to reassure them, and Louise redoubled hersolicitious attentions to her aunt in order to offset the influencePatricia seemed to be gaining over her.

  Louise had also become, by this time, the managing housekeeper ofthe establishment, and it was certain that Aunt Jane looked upon hereldest and most competent niece with much favor.

  Beth, with all her friends to sing her praises, seemed to make lessheadway with her aunt than either of the others, and gradually shesank into a state of real despondency.

  "I've done the best I could," she wrote her mother, "but I'm not asclever as Louise nor as amusing as Patricia; so Aunt Jane pays littleattention to me. She's a dreadful old woman, and I can't bring myselfto appear to like her. That probably accounts for my failure; but Imay as well stay on here until something happens."

  In a fortnight more Patricia abandoned her chair and took to crutches,on which she hobbled everywhere as actively as the others walked. Sheaffected her cousins' society more, from this time, and Aunt Jane'ssociety less, for she had come to be fond o
f the two girls who hadnursed her so tenderly, and it was natural that a young girl wouldprefer to be with those of her own age rather than a crabbed old womanlike Aunt Jane.

  Kenneth also now became Patsy's faithful companion, for the boy hadlost his former bashfulness and fear of girls, and had grown to feelat ease even in the society of Beth and Louise. The four had manyexcursions and picnics into the country together; but Kenneth andPatsy were recognized as especial chums, and the other girls did notinterfere in their friendship except to tease them, occasionally, in agood natured way.

  The boy's old acquaintances could hardly recognize him as the sameperson they had known before Patricia's adventure on the plank. Hisfits of gloomy abstraction and violent bursts of temper had alikevanished, or only prevailed at brief intervals. Nor was he longer rudeand unmannerly to those with whom he came in contact. Awkward he stillwas, and lacking in many graces that education and good society canalone confer; but he was trying hard to be, as he confided to oldUncle John, "like other people," and succeeded in adapting himselfvery well to his new circumstances.

  Although he had no teacher, as yet, he had begun to understand colora little, and succeeded in finishing one or two water-color sketcheswhich Patsy, who knew nothing at all of such things, pronounced"wonderfully fine." Of course the boy blushed with pleasure and wasencouraged to still greater effort.

  The girl was also responsible for Kenneth's sudden advancement in thehousehold at Elmhurst.

  One day she said calmly to Aunt Jane:

  "I've invited Kenneth to dinner this evening."

  The woman flew angry in an instant.

  "Who gave you such authority?" she demanded.

  "No one. I just took it," said Patsy, saucily.

  "He shall not come," declared Aunt Jane, sternly. "I'll have nointerference from you, Miss, with my household arrangements. Phibbs,call Louise!"

  Patsy's brow grew dark. Presently Louise appeared.

  "Instruct the servants to forbid that boy to enter my dining room thisevening," she said to Louise.

  "Also, Louise," said Patsy, "tell them not to lay a plate for me, andask Oscar to be ready with the wagon at five o'clock. I'm going home."

  Louise hesitated, and looked from Miss Jane to Patsy, and back again.They were glaring upon each other like two gorgons.

  Then she burst into laughter; she could not help it, the sight was tooridiculous. A moment later Patsy was laughing, too, and then Aunt Janeallowed a grim smile to cross her features.

  "Never mind, Louise," she said, with remarkable cheerfulness; "We'llcompromise matters."

  "How?" asked Patsy.

  "By putting a plate for Kenneth," said her aunt, cooly. "I imagine Ican stand his society for one evening."

  So the matter was arranged to Patricia's satisfaction, and the boycame to dinner, trembling and unhappy at first, but soon placed atease by the encouragements of the three girls. Indeed, he behaved sowell, in the main, and was so gentle and unobstrusive, that Aunt Janelooked at him with surprise, and favored him with one or two speecheswhich he answered modestly and well.

  Patsy was radiant with delight, and the next day Aunt Jane remarkedcasually that she did not object to the boy's presence at dinner, atall, and he could come whenever he liked.

  This arrangement gave great pleasure to both Uncle John and Mr.Watson, the latter of whom was often present at the "state dinner,"and both men congratulated Patsy upon the distinct victory she hadwon. No more was said about her leaving Elmhurst. The Major wrote thathe was having a splendid time with the colonel, and begged for anextension of his vacation, to which Patsy readily agreed, she beingstill unable on account of her limb to return to her work at MadamBorne's.

  And so the days glided pleasantly by, and August came to find a happycompany of young folks at old Elmhurst, with Aunt Jane wonderfullyimproved in health and Uncle John beaming complacently upon everyonehe chanced to meet.