The Staying Guest

by Carolyn Wells

  CHAPTER XX HALF-SISTERS

  The next day Chester Humphreys and Stella Russell sat talking together.They were sitting on the ground under a certain historic apple-tree, andthe young man held the girl's very pretty hand in both his own.

  "Stella mine," he said, "I don't like the idea of that new Lavinia takingthe place of our Ladybird."

  "She doesn't take her place," said Stella; "anybody can see that Ladybirdhas her own place with the Flint ladies, and nobody can put her out ofit."

  "I understand all that," said Chester, in his decided way; "but all thesame, this new girl is the Flint heiress, and will eventually be theowner of Primrose Farm--that dear old place that has belonged to theFlints for generations."

  "So she will," said Stella; "and it's perfectly horrid! I think MissPriscilla ought to deed the place to Ladybird. That child loves everynook and corner of it. In the short time she has been here she has madeherself a part of it, and I can no more think of Primrose Hall withoutLadybird, than without Miss Priscilla and Miss Dorinda."

  "But in a few years," said Chester, musingly, "there will be no MissPriscilla and Miss Dorinda."

  "Of course," said Stella, "that's what I often think. And after they'regone, that place must belong to Ladybird."

  "But it can't, dear," said Chester. "You see, Lavinia is the rightfulheir, and of course, after the death of the old ladies, the farm mustbelong to her. But they aren't dead yet," he went on, cheerfully, "andmeantime I have troubles of my own. Little girl, when are you going tomarry me?"

  "Is that one of your troubles?" said Stella, smiling straight into hisbrown eyes.

  "It will be a trouble," said Chester, "until you tell me the day when mytroubles shall end."

  "Then you'll be troubled for a good while," said Stella, still smiling,"because I'm not going to marry you for ever and ever so long."

  "You're not! Well, I just guess you are, miss!"

  "Indeed!" said Stella. "And, pray, what have _you_ to say about it?"

  "Oh, I haven't anything to say," responded young Humphreys, airily; "butI can scream for help; I'll call in Ladybird."

  "Here she is now," called Ladybird's cheery voice. "What do you want ofher?"

  "Nothing," called back Stella, quickly; "nothing but your delightfulsociety. Come and sit with us."

  "Thank you, we will," said Ladybird, who was accompanied by Lavinia; andthe two children came and seated themselves on the grass under the oldapple-tree.

  "We're getting acquainted with each other," said Ladybird, as, drawing along sigh, she settled herself in a comfortable position, and rolledCloppy into a small ball in her lap.

  "How do you like the process?" said Stella, turning to Lavinia with apleasant smile.

  "She doesn't like it a bit," said Ladybird; "but she's too polite to sayso. You see," she went on, "we're half-sisters, Lavinia and I, and so weonly half like each other. She only likes half the things I like. Shelikes me, but she doesn't like Cloppy. She likes my aunts,--her aunts, Imean,--but she doesn't like Primrose Hall."

  "Well, then, what of us?" said Chester, indicating himself and Stella. "Isuppose she likes only one."

  "I suppose so," said Ladybird, her eyes dancing; "but I don't know whichone."

  "Never mind," said Stella, hastily. "We don't want to know which one.We're both vain enough now. But tell me, Lavinia, don't you like PrimroseHall?"

  "No," said Lavinia, who was of a straightforward, not to say blunt,nature, "I don't. It's not like England, and though my aunts are verykind, they're not like my grandmother."

  "You mean your grandmother Lovell, I suppose?" said Chester.

  "Yes," said Lavinia--"my father's mother."

  "My father's mother, too," said Ladybird. "But I don't care a cent abouther; I'd rather have my aunties, who are no relation to me, than all themothers my father ever had."

  "Ah, but you don't know Grandma Lovell!" said Lavinia.

  "No, I don't," said Ladybird, "and I don't want to."

  "But she's such a dear!" said Lavinia, with almost the first spark ofenthusiasm she had shown since coming to America.

  "Why is she?" said Ladybird. "What does she do?"

  "Oh, she has such a jolly place in London, and we go out driving, andshopping, and even calling. I sit in the carriage while she goes in. Oh,we had beautiful times, and it's very different from this dull, stupid,farmy old place!"

  "Yes, it _is_ different," said Ladybird, seriously, "I know. I know allabout shopping, and calling, and all those things. I did it in India, butI didn't like it one bit; and I think it's a thousand times nicer to beat Primrose Hall, with orchards and brooks and trees and birds andsunshine, and my aunts."

  "Oh, _do_ you?" said Lavinia. "Well, I'd rather have one year of Londonlife than a thousand years of Primrose Hall."

  "Well, then, you're all right," said Ladybird, "for probably you can getone year of London life again before you die."

  "I hope so, I'm sure," said Lavinia, so earnestly that they all laughed.

  "And if I can help you in any way," said Ladybird, "I shall be very gladto."

  "I never saw anybody you couldn't help," said Stella; whereupon, for somereason, Chester kissed Ladybird, and they all went back to Primrose Hallfor dinner.

  After dinner, the Flint ladies asked Stella and Mr. Humphreys into thedrawing-room for a conference, from which Ladybird and Lavinia wereexcluded.

  "I have had a letter," began Miss Priscilla, "from London--from Mrs.Lovell, the mother of Jack Lovell, who married our sister Lavinia. In itshe says that she is old and alone, and that she wants one of her son'sdaughters to live with her. She suggests that Ladybird should come,because, she says, we will naturally want to keep our own nieceourselves. She seems so positive of this that she takes the situationquite for granted and says that we are to send Ladybird over to her atthe first opportunity. Now, of course, she is quite right in stating, asshe does, that Lavinia is our own blood-niece, while Ladybird is norelation to us whatever; but she is not right in assuming that for thosereasons we love Lavinia best."

  "Lavinia seems to be a very sweet girl," said Stella.

  And Miss Dorinda said: "She is indeed a sweet, modest, amiable younggirl."

  "She is all of that," said Miss Priscilla; "and, on the other hand,Ladybird is a fiery, mischievous little scamp; and yet I suppose it'sbecause I've known her longer, but somehow I love Ladybird a thousandtimes the most."

  The portieres at the doorway parted and Ladybird came in. Calmly walkingtoward the open piano, she seated herself on the keyboard of thatinstrument with her feet on the piano-stool. This position she took andkept in such a serene, gentle way that it seemed, after all, the onlycorrect place for her to sit.

  "No, aunty," she said placidly, resting her chin on her little, thinbrown hand, "it isn't because you've known me longer than Lavinia thatyou love me more; it's because I suit you better. Lavinia is a dear girl,and I like her--pretty well; but she isn't our sort; and somehow shehasn't any gumption about fun."

  Ladybird was not familiar with the phrase "sense of humor," or she wouldhave used it right here.

  "And so," she went on cheerfully, "I hear you've had a letter from oldMrs. Lovell."

  "Your grandmother, Ladybird," said Miss Priscilla, a little severely."And how did you hear it?"

  "Yes, my grandmother," said Ladybird. "And I heard it by listening at thehall door."

  "You're a naughty girl," said Miss Dorinda.

  "I am," said Ladybird, serenely; "no nice old lady in London would wantsuch a naughty girl as I am, would she?"

  "That doesn't matter, Ladybird," said Miss Priscilla. "And you must stopyour nonsense now; for your grandmother Lovell has really sent for you,and you must go to her."

  "Indeed!" said Ladybird, with a most derisive accent. "_In_deed!"

  "Be quiet, Ladybird," went on Miss Flint; "I am in earnest now--very muchin earnest. Mrs. Lovell has sent for you; for naturally she wants one ofher gra
ndchildren with her, and Lavinia, being our niece, and therightful heir to the Flint estates, must, of course, stay with us. By theway, where is the child?"

  "She's up in her room," said Ladybird; "and she's crying her eyes outbecause she can't go back to England and live with her grandmotherLovell. But she'll get over it. Oh, yes, she'll get over it! She'llchange her mind, and she'll love to live with her Primrose aunties; andshe'll forget all about her London grandmother! Oh, yes! _Oh, yes!_ Oh,yes!"

  Ladybird had bounded down from the piano-stool, and with her eyesflashing, and her voice rising to a higher pitch at each word, she flewout of the room, and was heard stamping up the stairs.

  "Something must be done, Clops!" she said, shaking her dog almostviciously as she reached her own room. "Something must be done, and itmust be done right away! Right here and now, and we're the ones to do it,Cloppy-dog!"

  Apparently the thing to be done was to write a letter, for Ladybird, withthe force and flutter of a small cyclone, flew to her desk and began towrite. She blotted and tore up many sheets of paper. She made Cloppy'sexistence an exceedingly uncomfortable one. She reduced her smallpocket-handkerchief to a damp string; but she finally achieved a resultwhich seemed to her successful, and this was it:

  To my Grandmother Lovell, My dear Grandmother:

  I am Ladybird Lovell, the daughter of your son Jack's second wife.Perhaps you think I'm a nice child, but I am not, and this letter is towarn you. I am very, _very_ bad; in fact, I am a turmigant of all thevices. Only to-day my Aunt Dorinda, who is sweetness itself, said I wasthe naughtiest child she ever saw. I think she has never seen any other,except Lavinia Lovell, my lovely and amiable half-sister and your belovedgranddaughter. Which is the reason I am writing this to say I am quitesure you would prefer the gentle, charming, and delicious Lavinia, to thebad, naughty, and altogether disreputable Me.

  And I am, my dear madam, Your disobedient servant, Ladybird Lovell.

  P. S. Lavinia wants to go back to you just fearfully; she's crying aboutit.