Evelyn Raymond

“ Proud it had always been, but not as now, proud with an unutterable tenderness, proud—even that paradox—in a new, sweet, and reverent humility, as the thin hands gently dropped upon the child’s curly head, and the tremulous lips found voice: “Steenie, Steenie! My brave, precious one! Hush! There is no reproach for you; there is nothing but love and obligation. You have humbled me as I have never been humbled in my life; and you have made me proud as I have never been proud. You have conquered your grandmother, now come to her.” ”

“ The tiny visitor was so unlike any crony captain or ragged newsboy that the dog was perplexed, yet as evidently pleased, for his eyes were shining, his mouth “laughing” and his stump of a tail doing its utmost to wag. As Glory appeared in the doorway, he cast one welcoming glance over his shoulder, then with the same intensity, returned to his contemplation of the child.
After all, it was not an “Angel” from a spiritual world, but a wonderfully fair and winning little human being. From whence she had come and why, she was too young to explain and Glory was too delighted to care. ”

“ In her pathways the dead faces stare into the sky as even yet, among the sandhills, lie and stare the unburied dead of the Fort Dearborn massacre. It is fate. It is nature. It is the game of life. To-day one wins, to-morrow another. In the end, for all—is death.”
For a while after that, Wahneenah neither moved nor spoke, and the Black Partridge lapsed into another profound silence. ”

“ Carlota was awakened by the sun shining upon her face and Connemara nibbling at her curls. She sprang up, confused by her new surroundings, then laughed aloud at the beauty of the morning. The loneliness of the last evening had vanished and she was ready for whatever might come. First, for a frolic with Carlos or Dennis.
These two yet lay sleeping, their feet toward the ashes of their bedtime fire and their heads almost touching the ring of prickly, horsehair ropes which marked out their tiny camp; and over which, the Pueblos had assured them, no reptile of delicate skin would crawl. ”

“ Aunt Betty had said, that very morning, drawing the slender little figure to her side. “We have all learned to love you dearly, Elsa. You are a daily blessing to us.”
“That’s because you love me—and let me love you. Love is the most beautiful thing in all the world, isn’t it? It’s your love has made me grow strong and oh! so happy!”
Indeed, it was love, even for such humble creatures as the monkeys, that had given her power over them. She had been the first, save Dorothy, to pity them for being caged; and she hadn’t been afraid, as Dorothy was, to let them out to freedom. ”

“ Lifting the ungainly brute in her arms, the girl now turned and surveyed the house beyond the gate, her heart far heavier with homesickness than seemed consistent with her outward, flippant bearing.
What she saw was a wide, rambling frame house; wherever they showed between the clambering vines which encircled it, its clapboards glistening white and its shutters vividly green. The few leaves still left upon the vines were scarlet, while behind the low roof rose maples in the full glory of their autumn reds and yellows. ”

“ My name is Mary Reese. If you saw me, you certainly didn't notice me, and I'm always mighty glad when folks don't turn for a second stare at my poor shoulders."
"Mary, nobody would, surely," cried Amy, and flung her arm protectingly across the deformity of her new friend.
"You dear, to think you'd do that when you know me so little. Well, there's many a body touches my hump 'for luck,' but I can't remember when anybody did for—love. I'm not going to forget it, either. Even a homely little hunchback has her own power among these people. There, we're here. ”

“ Mighty vines of pale yellow roses, intermingled with climbing fuchsias, cast shade and sweetness over them; the porch was bordered by a wide swath of calla lilies, also in full flower, while just beyond these a great shrub of poinsettia dazzled the sight with its gleaming blossoms.
When a momentary silence of the other’s nimble tongue allowed her to speak, Jessica exclaimed:
“Aunt Sally, you’re the only person I know who can do three things at once. You sew as fast as you rock, and talk faster than either. You’re a very clever woman.” ”

“ Talk is the most inexpensive thing in the world. I used to tell how good I would be, and then Paula would fix her big eyes on me and stare, every time I did any mean little thing. Even Fritzy Nunky would put me all out by taking me at my word. He’d look so surprised when I wasn’t a saint right away quick. Then I’d get mad, and the last state of that girl was worse than the first. If Content heard me quote that, she’d look at me in pious horror; and yet I mean it. No, Melville; take the advice of one who has had experience, don’t lay that sweet unction of ‘going to be’ to your soul. ”

“ Why, Mary Jane! You say it as if—as if—you didn’t care!”
Bonny-Gay began to cry, softly.
“Yes I did say that’s all, because that isn’t much. It’s a good job it wasn’t your head. A broken leg gets well quick; quicker’n ever if it’s only a little leg like yours. If it was your mother’s now, or your father’s, you might worry. But, my sake! I wouldn’t mind a little thing like that if I were you. To lie in this heavenly room, with all the pictures and pretty things, and folks to wait on you every minute, why—I’d think I was the best off little girl in the world if I were you.” ”

“ But now, with Lady Gray’s dear presence among them and the master’s hand at the helm, there was nothing but happiness for all at San Leon: until, all suddenly it seemed, the three months of their stay had passed and the parting came. If there was sadness in their hearts that morning, when they mounted the buckboards for their journey back to Denver, there was also anticipation and delight; for, to quote the words of their genial host:
“The world is but a little place. We have met and loved each other—we shall meet and love again.” ”

“ Hale turned his head and uttered a cry of regret. But Jessica, likewise turning, felt nothing but joy as she flung herself upon Ephraim Marsh, standing “at attention,” as composed and at ease as if he were waiting his mistress’s commands upon the porch at Sobrante.
“Why, Marsh! you—here?” cried the lawyer. “We—Miss Jessica feared she had lost you.”
“She needn’t have. She couldn’t. She’ll never lose me till the grave covers me,” answered the sharpshooter, solemnly.
“O Ephy! don’t speak of graves, right here at the beginning of things! And oh! how glad I am to have you, how glad, how glad! ”

“ In the seat behind them Joe still carefully held the old-fashioned shawl and bonnet, which Angelique had decided her young traveler should—but never would—wear. Her hair was out of that decorous plait which had been commanded, and there had been neither time nor friend to substitute new clothes for old. Therefore, it was just as she looked in the woodland that Margot looked now when she was first to meet her father’s eyes; and neither she, nor even Adrian, cared one whit for the curious glances which scrutinized her unusual, comfortable attire. ”

“ It hardly seems right, does it, Aunty,” asked Dorothy.
“You know, Dorothy, that Herr has a very bad cold, and such a cough, I am quite worried about him. He would have come in spite of all that but Frau would not let him. I think Frau Deichenberg did a wise thing in keeping him home,” replied Aunt Betty.
“Seems as if I am not going to have a very happy start,” lamented Dorothy. “I wanted Herr to hear me play and criticise.”
“Dorothy, girl, cheer up. That’s no way to be when you are about to start on a career,” sternly admonished Jim. “You have every reason to be happy.” ”

“ Those who were sliding down that icy incline could not stop to see, and those who were on the ground below covered their eyes that they might not. Yet opened them again to stare helplessly at the dangling figure of a girl outside that terrible slide. For in a moment, when the clutching fingers must unclose, the poor child must drop to destruction. That was inevitable.
Then they saw it was Dorothy, who hung thus, suspended between life and death. Dorothy in her white and pink, the daintiest darling of them all, who had so enjoyed her first—and last!—day at this sport. ”

“ It was then, on that happy return, that Dorothy had found the telegram awaiting, and had caught it up with a loving thought of her indulgent Aunt Betty. Then her happiness dashed as by cold water she had flown out of the room and shut herself in her pretty chamber to cry and feel herself the most unhappy girl in all the world.
Twice had Norah come to her door to summon her to supper before she felt composed enough to go below among her guests. ”

“ I love a circus. Father John used to take mother Martha and me to one once every summer. Why, what a perfectly wild and giddy creature I shall be! To a circus with you, a camp-picnic with Herbert and Helena, and this splendid farmers' 'Bee'—Hurray!"
Jim's countenance fell. "I didn't know 'bout that other picnic," said he. "When's it comin' off? And what is a picnic, anyway?"
"You'll see when we get home to Skyrie. A picnic is the jolliest thing there is—except a circus. Except a circus. When it's to come off I don't know, but when it does I mean you shall be in it, too, Jim Barlow. ”

“ Another instant and Benoni would have been off over the plain for a wild gallop with the now rising wind. He, too, was young and full of caprice as these other children—golden-haired [18] and gray. None of the four knew any other home than Refugio, that cluster of venerable adobe buildings, nor much further restraint than the needs of nature imposed.
To live always in the open, save when hunger or drowsiness drove them indoors, to love all men and fear none—such was their habit. As yet, of things deeper than habit only Marta ever thought, and she but seldom. ”

“ But Molly waxed indignant over his disparagement of her native land and exclaimed:
“I wish you’d not talk that way! We’re Americans. I don’t like it!”
“American, be you? So’m I.”
“Oh! well. Course it’s all America, but I mean we’re from—from the States,” as she chanced to recall an expression she had heard.
“From the States, hey? So be I.”
“Yet you say you’ve lived here all your life. If you hadn’t you’d have been more—more liberal—like travel makes people. If you’d once seen New York you wouldn’t think that little Yarmouth was so mighty pretty. A right smart you know about it, anyway!” ”

“ The shadow of a building that had sheltered them from the hot sunshine passed gradually and left them exposed to the full glare from the sky. Both Jessica and the burro were used to heat, however, and did not greatly suffer from it. But this motionless waiting became almost intolerable to active Lady Jess, and the sharpness of her hunger changed into faintness. The sidewalks seemed to be rising up to strike her and her head felt queer; so she pulled the hot Tam from her curls, leaned her cheek against Scruff’s neck, and, to clear her dizzy vision, closed her eyes. ”

“ Why, Monty, darling, splendid Monty! Don't! Don't! You ought to be the gladdest boy who ever lived. See. Look at your grandmother. She isn't saying anything, and there is sorrow in her face, but there's wonderful pride in it, too. Why, think, boy, think! If for years and years you had thought somebody you loved was bad and then suddenly found they were good, after all, would you cry? No, indeed. Anyhow, I shouldn't. I should just hip-hip-hurrah! Three cheers for your father, that all can talk of and love now, and was, Uncle Moses says, one of the splendidest boys ever grew up in Marsden. ”

“ At last, when her brooding thought forced utterance, she inquired:
“Can not the wisdom of the Black Partridge hinder these days of calamity? If the great Gomo, and Winnemeg, and those white braves who have lived among us, as the Sauganash, take counsel together, and compel their tribes to keep the peace, and to copy of the pale-faces the arts which have made them so powerful—will not this avert the evil? Why may there not in some time and place, a mighty grave be digged in which may be buried all the guns that kill and the knives that scalp, with the arrows which fly more swiftly than a bird? ”

“ It was one of the loveliest spots in the world where Glory sat that morning, with its view of field and mountain and the wonderful river winding placidly between; but the outcast child would have exchanged it all for just one glimpse of a squalid alley, and a tiny familiar doorway, wherein an old seaman should be sitting carving a bit of wood. ”

“ The "new hand" smiled into the eager face of her willing helper, and the poor hunchback's heart glowed. That so bright a creature should ever come to be a worker in that busy mill, side by side with her own self, was stranger than the strangest of the cheap novels she read so constantly.
"It beats all, don't it?" demanded Mary, clasping Amy's little brown hand.
"What, dear? What beats what? Have I done that one better? Do you think I'll ever, ever be able to keep up my side of the 'frame' after this other one leaves me?" ”

“ Sutro unfastened his buckskin vest, and opened a leathern bag which depended from his swarthy neck. “Believest thou now?”
“I believe what I see, always. But that this came from Santa Trinidad, how am I to know that?”
“Humph! A caballero may lie, yes; but not where he loves as I love Doña Steenie. Sawest thou ever a child like her? Eyes of such clear truthfulness? Lips so loving and so sweet? Face so bonny? Ways so—not-to-be-resisted? And heart so pure? No, a thousand times. She is one—alone. She is under the especial charge of Heaven. She is worth all—all. ”

“ The professor’s tone had become grave, and of the truth of his conviction there could be no doubt. Octave looked at him in astonishment.
“Why, Professor von Holsneck! If you are not wise, who in this world is?”
“The more we learn the greater is the vista of knowledge which opens before us. What I have gained in understanding is as nothing, nothing, to that I could desire, and, being almost at the end of life, that I must leave unknown; unless, indeed, in that other life I shall be permitted to advance forever.” ”

“ Winifred was no whit behind. Away flung her jacket and then her hat. Off flew the farmer’s smock, always worn for a coat and to protect the homespun suit beneath. The pace grew mad and madder, following the movement of the old fiddle which Dorothy played to its swiftest. Robin’s blue eyes grew big with wonder and he whistled his liveliest, to keep up with the wild antics he could see in the outer room. ”

“ To a loving child there is no more piteous sight than a mother weeping. It was more than Dorothy could bear, and, with a little cry of distress, she threw herself at Mrs. Chester's knees and hid her own wet eyes upon them. Then she lifted her head and begged:
"Don't cry, mother! Dearest mother Martha, please, please, don't cry! You've never done it, never; in all my life I haven't seen you, no matter what happened. If you cry we can't do anything, and I'm going to help you. Maybe we won't have to go away. Maybe something perfectly splendid will happen to prevent. ”

“ Queer how you can recognize a snake, no matter how far off! That’s Ferd, the dwarf; and if I was near enough to touch him I couldn’t keep my fingers off his dirty throat, nohow, till I’d choked the life out of him! Ugh! When I think––– But I mustn’t think. I must just get up and jog on till I see a prettier sight than that. If I can spy the hunchback at one mile off I can see my little captain’s bonny head at ten. Home, old ‘Forty-niner’! Home’s the word!”
As if the thought of Jessica had put new strength into his body Ephraim again shouldered his pack and started forward ”

“ So many such beautiful things have happened beside all the funny ones. The Stillwells finding out about each other, and Mr. Corny ‘turning over a new leaf’ to take better care of his folks; Gerald and Aurora learning to be gentle to everybody; those Manor House people making up; and darling Elsa growing happy, just like other girls. None of these things would have happened if the dear old Water Lily hadn’t brought them all together. I’d like Elsa and her father to be the real heads of it, with that sweet Lucetta and her babies next. ”

“ Eunice, you are positively as childish as Katharine herself. But do as you please, do as you please. All the world is welcome to the Mansion now that it's honor has come home! And, servantless almost as I am, I can comfortably feel that there is no room, nor closet even, in the old place that is not fit for the inspection of every Marsden housewife. Yes, thank God! I have never felt myself demeaned by any household task that presented, and cleanliness is part of pure religion. ”