andplanned, and hoped in her kind little heart, and now here waseverything coming out just as she hoped it would. "I'd ruther livehere than anywhere else in the world!" she said simply. "'Twas here Isaw Bijah first, and all; and you was real kind to me, Miss Bute, andI do love Brindle."
"Them cows has been treated scand'lous," said Bije, lifting up histestimony. "Whoever's had the doin' for 'em! All banged about, same asif the' was yaller dogs. I took a look at 'em as we come along, and Ifelt to pity 'em, now I tell you. I could take care of 'em, Miss Bute,jest as well as not, with what I had of my own, and they wouldn'tsuffer none. I think a sight of that red cow, and the other one,too."
"And I could do for both of you," cried Betsy, "all you'd wantdone--me and Bije together. I could run over every mornin' andafternoon, and clean up if you wasn't feelin' smart, and Bije could dothe chores. And--and there'd be Baby for company!" she added, with alittle downward look of heavenly pride,--the very look, I declare, ofa certain Bellini Madonna, who holds her lovely state in Venice. Butnow the baby thought his turn had come, and after a careful scrutinyof the two elderly women, he held out his arms and fairly shouted atMiss Resigned Elizabeth.
"You blessed creetur?" cried the poor woman, pouncing upon him withthe pathetic hunger of a woman who was meant for a mother. "Did hewant to come, bless his heart? Well, he should!" and she took thechild up, and hugged and cuddled it "real knowin'," as Betsy said toherself. Miss Duty looked on in amazement. She had not the mothernature. "Why, Resigned 'Liz, you're fairly childish. The idea!" Shepaused, feeling rebuked, she knew not why, by the joy in her sister'spinched and faded face. Miss Resigned Elizabeth had not had a joyouslife.
"Well, if 't is to be so," Miss Duty continued, after a pause, duringwhich Betsy and the younger sister held their breath and Bije thoughtabout the cows. "If 't is to be so, so it will be, I s'pose. I dono'but you can go right in, Betsy, if it's so you can stay. My sisterain't goin' to spend another night there. Perhaps you'll help her layher things together. And Bije, if you feel to milk the cowsto-night--I'm free to say I should like to send that John Peasleeabout his business, after the hectorin' he's give us this late. You'llfind the pails--"
But Bijah was already gone, whistling joyously. As if he didn't knowwhere the milk-pails were!
"Betsy," Miss Duty continued, turning back to instruct the new tenantas to her course of action. But Betsy was gone, too; flown into thehouse with her baby, like a bird into its nest. Only Miss ResignedElizabeth remained, looking at her with eyes that seemed to grow moreplaintive and more helpless every minute, as the burden ofresponsibility dropped from her tired shoulders.
"You go right in the house this minute, Resigned 'Liz!" said MissDuty, severely. "Gettin' your death out here in this night-air! Theidea!" And with a frown that was better than a smile, she went intothe house, driving her sister before her.
"A plague o' both your houses?" Nay! only joy on one side and theother of the white picket-fence. On the one side, content and peacefuldays, with ten years' gossip to talk over, and the sense of beingcared for, and of having "folks" once more. Happy old age comingsoftly, bringing with it grace and gentle words, and ways which theirgrim youth had never known; finally, the absolute rest which came fromBetsy's and Bijah's watchful love and care, and the strange pleasureof being called "aunt" by the baby, and the succeeding babies. Yes,the Bute girls were happy for the first time in their lives.
And on the other side of the fence? Ah! there it was not the calmpeace of evening, but the fresh joy of morning and of spring. Seeingthat there was no one in the world who could hold a candle to Bijah,and that Betsy was the best woman there was in these parts, let alonefurrin lands, why should they not have been happy? And beside allthis, had they not the most wonderful children, probably, that hadever been seen? There was not a doubt of it in Betsy's mind, nor inMiss Resigned Elizabeth's. Taking these things into consideration,together with the fact that their cows were most remarkable cows, andtheir hens the finest that had ever clucked in Verona, is it to bewondered at that our little friends were very happy, and the oldladies so good, and one of 'em an angel if she ever dared to call hersoul her own?
A blessing on both houses! Peace and good-will, and all loving andtender thoughts! And may the sun, as he rises over the greathill-shoulder, always cast his brightest beams on the Indiana road.
THE END.
_Books by Laura E. Richards._
=Melody.= The Story of a Child. 16mo, cloth, 50 cents.
Had there never been a "Captain January," "Melody" would easily take first place.--_Boston Times._
The quaintly pretty, touching, old-fashioned story is told with perfect grace, the few persons who belong to it are touched in with distinctness and with sympathy.--_Milwaukee Sentinel._
=Captain January.= Square 16mo, cloth (white back), 50 cents.
A charming idyl of New England coast life, whose success has been very remarkable. One reads it, is thoroughly charmed by it, tells others, and so its fame has been heralded by its readers, until to-day it is selling by the thousands, constantly enlarging the circle of its delighted admirers.
=Same.= _Illustrated Holiday Edition._ With thirty half-tone pictures from drawings by Frank T. Merrill. 4to, cloth, $1.25.
=Narcissa=, and a companion Story, =In Verona=. 16mo, cloth, 50 cents.
=When I was Your Age.= 4to, cloth, gilt top, $1.25.
The title most happily introduces the reader to the charming home life of Dr. Howe and Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, during the childhood of the author.
=Glimpses of the French Court.= Sketches from French History. Illustrated with a series of portraits in etching and photogravure. Square 12mo, cloth, $1.50.
With true literary touch, she gives us the story of some of the salient figures of this remarkable period.
=Marie.= Square 16mo, 50 cents.
_Estes & Lauriat, Publishers, Boston._
* * * * *
Transcriber's note:
Minor spelling inconsistencies, mainly hyphenated words, have been harmonized. Italic text has been marked with _underscores_. Bold text has been marked with =equal signs=. The Advertisement "Books by Laura E. Richards" was originally at the front of the book and has been moved to the end.
Narcissa, or the Road to Rome; In Verona Page 12