Brentwood

by Grace Livingston Hill

  The children met her at the door, Sunny holding up a smeary face to be kissed and Bonnie clasping her arm and nestling against her. Betty came wearily from the kitchen, peering out into the hall at her with a relived look.

  “Oh, I’m glad you’ve come! I thought something dreadful had happened to you in the strange city—or else—” She stopped suddenly.

  “Or else what?” Marjorie looked at her with a sharp note in her voice, as if her answer meant a great deal.

  “Or else, maybe you had got tired of us and gone back to Chicago,” she said, with her eyes half averted.

  “Oh, and would you have cared?” asked Marjorie breathlessly. “Wouldn’t you have been rather glad to get rid of me?”

  “Well, I should say not!” said Betty with a catch in the last word like a sob.

  “I should say not!” echoed Sunny with a stamp of his foot and a funny little shake of his head, ending with a joyous peal of laughter.

  And Marjorie caught him in her arms and hugged and kissed him, while her heart gave a great throb of joy and her bundles flew this way and that. Bud had to rush from the dining room and pick them up, touching them with awe. New bundles! So many of them!

  Suddenly a flood of happiness rolled into Marjorie’s heart. This was her home, where she belonged! They loved her!

  Chapter 13

  It was such a pleasant homecoming. Everybody had something to tell her: how Sunny had slipped on the ice on the front step and bumped his head against the railing and a great blue lump had come on his forehead and Betty had to put iodine on it; how Bonnie had mended a hole in her apron all by herself so Mother wouldn’t have to do it—and the mended hole with its crooked stitches was proudly exhibited; how Bud’s cat had stood up against the neighbor’s dog, arched her back and spit at him bravely, with all her feathers on end, and then had scuttled into the house, jumped on the kitchen table, and eaten every drop of the cream off the tray Betty had ready for Mother; how Ted had a job evenings the rest of the week clerking in the ten-cent store and Betty was mending a shirt for him to wear tonight; how Mother ate all her egg for lunch and took a nice long nap afterward; how Father had been helping a man with his books all day and maybe it would last another two days; how Betty had been to the window every half-hour all the afternoon looking for her to come!

  And then came Ted with a happy face.

  “Great! You’ve got back!” he said with relief. “I was thinking maybe I’d have to go out and hunt you and be late to my new job if you didn’t come pretty soon!”

  So! They were all glad to see her!

  And then Mother rang the little call bell, and when Bonnie ran up to see what she wanted, it was Marjorie she asked for.

  So she went to her mother and had a sweet little talk with her about how much better she was and how she was going to sit up in bed tomorrow, and maybe in a chair the next day if she was good and very careful, and then perhaps the next, or the next, she might walk around her room. And the doctor had promised that if all went well she might come downstairs for dinner on Christmas.

  Marjorie unwrapped the little quilted pink bed jacket and put it about her mother’s shoulders, and they all trooped up joyously to see how pretty she looked in it.

  Then Marjorie went down to help Betty with the dinner. Not that she knew much about the actual dinner, but she could set the table and make everything dainty and ready for the food, and not forget a thing, even to water in the glasses and napkins at every place, though they were only paper ones. Tomorrow or the next day the new ones would come, she was glad of that.

  They gave Ted his dinner early and saw him off, excited and happy, so glad to be earning the pitiful sum the store would pay him for his work. Yet Marjorie reflected that she was proud of him that he did not want to lie back and let her take care of everybody. He was a manly fellow, a brother in whom she could rejoice. She had wanted to tell him about the house, but there hadn’t been any chance, and perhaps there wouldn’t be now until it came as a Christmas surprise.

  Mr. Gay came in a little after six, looking weary, but with a strange new content upon him, a new self-respect. Marjorie, looking at the light in his eyes, realized what a hard thing it must be for him that he could earn nothing to support his family, and wished with all her heart that something might come of her request to the lawyer about a position for him.

  That night after they had gone to their room, the sisters talked for a long time. Marjorie got little sidelights on various matters that Betty didn’t realize she was revealing.

  “Betty,” she said, “isn’t there going to be some way you and I can get out together shopping for a little while? If Father is going to be home tomorrow or the next day, or if Ted didn’t have to work all day, couldn’t he take care of the children, now that Mother is so much better? I’d like to have you with me. I really don’t know how to pick out Christmas gifts for them all. You know what they want and need.”

  “Christmas gifts!” said Betty excitedly. “You’ve already given us a fortune! What more do you want?”

  “Oh, little pretty things and surprises,” laughed Marjorie. “You and I could have a lot of fun shopping together!”

  Betty was still a minute and then she said decidedly, “I couldn’t! I haven’t anything fit to wear to go with you. After a while, when things get straightened around so I have time to get my clothes in shape, it will be different. I’ve got to get my coat cleaned and pressed and mended. You don’t realize. And besides, Father said he would be two days more on those books. I can see he’s very proud and happy about them, too. He wants to get Mother something for Christmas, I guess. He’s always made a lot of Christmas for us all when he had any money. And Ted will be out hunting jobs, too. No, I couldn’t leave now.”

  “Well, why couldn’t I stay with the family and let you go out alone then, Betty? I want you to have some more money and go get things you want them all to have. You can wear my hat and coat if you like. I’m sure my things fit you, and we needn’t worry about clothes for you. I have plenty.”

  Betty’s hand stole over and gave hers a quick clasp and slipped back again.

  “You’re good!” she said. “You’re wonderful! It would be swell, but I couldn’t do it. I just couldn’t. Besides, there’s a lot to be done here. I’d better stay. Don’t bother about Christmas. It’s enough this year to have you and plenty to eat and a warm house and Mother getting well.”

  “Well,” said Marjorie thoughtfully, “I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable, of course, but we’re going to have a Christmas, if I have to get it myself. You see, I had to call up my lawyer in Chicago today and talk to him about some business that I hadn’t settled before I came away, tell him where I was, and all that, and he’s sending on some papers for me to sign. They’ll be at another lawyer’s office. I’ll have to go there day after tomorrow, likely. I thought that after I got that done, I’d get some trimmings for the tree. Would Ted know where to get a tree? I’d like a nice big one, wouldn’t you, to celebrate our having found each other? And I’ll buy ornaments and balls and things.”

  “Oh!” said Betty. “We haven’t had a tree like that since I was Bonnie’s age. Things were pretty hard up while Father was saving money and trying to buy the house at Brentwood. We used to have a tiny little tree that we got late Christmas Eve when they were cheap, and we trimmed it with bits of tin foil and strings of cranberries and popcorn and little paper things we cut from advertisements.”

  “I can imagine that would be fun,” said Marjorie. “Perhaps the children would like that best. Do you think they would?”

  “Oh, no! They don’t really know much about a Christmas tree, not the kind you mean. Mother has always had something for them, but we’ve always had to work hard to make everything. Christmas would be nice if one didn’t have to worry about it all the time.”

  “Yes, I can see how worry would spoil Christmas! Well, we’ll have one without worry this time, I hope, and whatever you say about a tree goes.”


  They lay and talked a long time, and Marjorie succeeded in getting Betty to say that she liked a tree all in silver with just colored lights. She had always wanted such a tree.

  “But I don’t want you to spend a lot more money on unnecessary things,” she finished.

  “Well,” said Marjorie thoughtfully, “I don’t want to flaunt my money in your faces. It isn’t my fault that I have a lot of money. I didn’t ask for it. I didn’t do a thing to get it. And it isn’t any pleasure to me unless I can share it. If we could only have a nice time together and not think whose money it is, that would be a real Christmas for me. I’ve always had everything done for me before this, but it would be wonderful to be allowed to do things for other people, if I was sure I knew what they wanted.”

  “Well then, have your own way!” cried Betty, and suddenly reached over and put a quick, shy kiss on her sister’s forehead. “I’ll enjoy every scrap of whatever you do. I’d like to be able to give you the earth on a gold platter, but I can’t, so I’ll just let you do the giving and be happy over what you do.”

  They fell asleep at last, hand clasping hand, a real sisterly love growing in their hearts.

  It was not until the second day later that Mr. Bryant sent Marjorie word that he had the papers ready for her. So Marjorie, amid a howl from the children, started off early in the morning again, having first set them to cutting out chains from silver paper for the Christmas tree. She had told them about the tree until their imaginations were on fire with joyous anticipation. She had bought silver and red paper, and two little pairs of pointless scissors and a bottle of paste at the drugstore, and given careful lessons on how to make chains, and the two youngest were established at the dining table with their tools before them with an order for many chains to be finished before she returned. Bud was acting as overseer and chief adviser.

  To Marjorie, the day was full of excitement. It was so good to know that the matter of the house was going through all right and that she would carry home with her that afternoon the deed which she might do up in grandest Christmas wrappings for her father and mother.

  Mr. Bryant told her that Mr. Melbourne had told him about her father, and he had been looking up several good openings that might materialize after Christmas. He didn’t tell her that he had been commissioned to look up Mr. Gay’s record and had found it absolutely unimpeachable, both as to ability and character, but she sensed that he spoke of her father with respect, and it cheered her heart. For more and more as the days went by, she yearned to lift that burden of worry and care from his shoulders and see his face calm and at peace.

  “Do you suppose it would be possible, if there were an opening, that it could come as an offer from somewhere and not have him know that I asked about it?” she asked the lawyer shyly. “I think he would feel better about it that way.”

  He seemed to understand, for he smiled and said, “I should think that might be arranged.”

  So she went on her way to complete her shopping in a very happy frame of mind.

  And then, right in the midst of the last few purchases, whom should she come square upon but the young minister from Brentwood, Gideon Reaver!

  “Oh!” she said, a quick color flying into her cheeks, “I didn’t expect to recognize anybody in this big, strange city.”

  He seemed as pleased as she was. He paused and talked to her a minute, told her how much he thought of Ted, and what a fine fellow he was going to be, and then he hesitated and looked down at her wistfully.

  “I was just going into the tea room to get a bit of lunch,” he said. “I wonder if you wouldn’t join me? It’s lonely eating all by myself, especially in the midst of these happy Christmas crowds. It seems to emphasize one’s loneliness.”

  “Why, I’d love to!” said Marjorie, with a sudden unreasoning feeling of having been crowned. She followed him through the Christmas throngs to a table in a corner where there was comparative quiet.

  Marjorie, of course, had often been out to lunch with her young men friends, but somehow this seemed the rare experience of a lifetime. How silly she was! This man was an utter stranger. All she knew about him was that he could preach an interesting sermon and her brother adored him. Well, he was perfectly respectable, and nice and pleasant. Also, there would perhaps be opportunity to ask him a few questions that had been going over in her mind ever since Sunday. Meantime, she was tired, and it was nice to have found a friend in this strange city.

  So she relaxed and enjoyed her lunch and the pleasant talk that went with it.

  “I have been wanting to ask you something,” she said at last as the dessert was placed before them and the waitress hurried away again. “Perhaps this isn’t the place to talk about such things, but I would like to know something.”

  “I’ll certainly be glad to help in any way I can,” he said.

  “Well, then would you tell me please, how can you tell whether you’re saved or not? My brother Ted asked me if I was saved, and I didn’t know what to tell him. I never was asked a question like that before. I didn’t suppose it was a thing you could be sure about. I’m a church member, of course. But is there a way to be sure one is saved?”

  “There surely is!” said Gideon, his eyes lighting eagerly.

  She met his gaze earnestly.

  “Sunday in your sermon you talked a lot about the new birth, and I don’t understand it at all. I’ve always been taught that if I was good, I would go to heaven when I die.”

  “So was I,” said Gideon, smiling, “but that is not true.”

  Marjorie gave him a startled look.

  “No, because the law must be kept perfectly to be a means of salvation, and no one but Christ ever has or ever could be perfectly good, so it would be hopeless for us if that were the only way to heaven. But thank God it isn’t. We have His own word for it! Do you believe the Bible?”

  “Oh, yes, of course. I don’t know so very much about it, I suppose, but, yes, I believe it.”

  “Do you believe its Gospel, that Jesus was nailed to a cross for you, taking all the penalty of your sins by enduring God’s righteous judgment upon Himself?”

  “Yes, of course, I believe that.”

  “Well, do you believe that because He did that, God raised Him from the dead and exalted Him in the highest heavens?”

  “Yes, indeed, I believe that, although I never heard it stated in just that way before.”

  “You believe, then, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God?”

  “Why, certainly.”

  “Well, then listen to what this says.”

  He took a small testament out of his pocket and opened to 1 John 5:1.

  “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.”

  The astonishment on her face changed slowly into illumination as she took in the wonderful truth.

  “Then I am saved!” she exclaimed, her eyes softening with the wonder of it. “I am born again! Just because I believe, all that comes to me! I never knew it was as simple as that! I didn’t know ordinary mortals who had not studied theology could ever quite comprehend it. Born of God! What a wonderful thing to happen to me! I am so glad you have made me understand it.”

  “Yes, it is simple as that,” said Gideon, his eyes drinking in her eagerness. “God said it and that makes it true, whatever your feelings are. And if you are born of God, that makes you His child! If you are born of God, you have His life! If you are born of God, you are possessed of the divine nature. Just as you are born of your father, Mr. Gay. That makes you have his life in you.”

  Marjorie looked up, her eyes filled with wonder.

  “You don’t understand how very apt that illustration is,” she said gravely. “You see, I’ve only known my own earthly father a little over a week. I was adopted by some very lovely people who rather took advantage of my parents when they had been unfortunate, because they took a fancy to me when I was very young. I never knew anything about my birth parents until after my adoptive parents died, leaving me a le
tter telling about it, and so I came to find my family. But you know, while my adoptive father and mother were precious people and loved me dearly, there is something about being an own child that is wonderful! I’ve found that out already, although I only know my birth father a very little yet.”

  “Ah! That is truly wonderful! The analogy is perfect. And you will find out more and more of what it is to be an own child every day if you continue to live with your parents, just as you will find out more and more of the love and beauty of your heavenly Father if you abide in Him and walk with Him and come into a deeper and deeper knowledge of His word. There has to be intimacy to understand the relationship between father and child. What you have told me is most interesting, the testimony of a child who has come to find and know its earthly father, and is thrilled by the precious bond of relationship between them. But suppose now you should go back to Chicago and live. You would grow away from your newly found father again and perhaps become as indifferent as you were before. It must be a daily walk with God to make beautiful the relationship. Do you see?”

  “Oh, I see! You have made it wonderfully clear! Why! I feel as I did when I first found out I had a family of my own! Thank you so much! I shall never forget what you have done for me.”

  Suddenly Gideon glanced at his watch and looked startled.

  “Excuse me,” he said, “I have a wedding in half an hour and I’ve barely time to make it. I didn’t realize how the time was going. May I talk with you again sometime about this?”

  “Oh, I should love to talk to you,” said Marjorie. “I know almost nothing about the Bible!”

  “You’ll have to begin to study it now.” He smiled as he turned to the waitress to get the check. “I’d love to help if I may. I have a little book that may help at the start. I’ll send it over to you. Good-bye, I wish I didn’t have to rush away. You’ve given me a wonderfully pleasant hour.”