Temple Bailey

“ It is well to draw a veil over the tragic fate of the kettleful of blue crabs, but when Anne next saw them they were beautifully boiled, and red—red as the scarlet of her bathing-suit.
All the afternoon the little girls, under Perkins' skilful guidance learned a lesson in expert cookery, and at last, as a dozen perfectly browned and parsley-decorated beauties were laid on a platter, Judy breathed an ecstatic sigh. "Aren't they beautiful?" she murmured.
"Yes, Miss, that they are," and Perkins surveyed them as an artist lets his glance linger on a finished masterpiece. ”

“ When Launcelot came, Anne was almost in tears.
"She must be here somewhere," she said. "It's too bad. We shall be late."
"No, we won't," said Launcelot, who had listened without a word to the tale of Judy's shortcomings and final disappearance. "We will not be late, Anne, for if Judy doesn't come in just three minutes, we will go without her."
"Oh, no, no, no," protested Anne, all her grievances against Judy forgotten in the face of such a calamity. "We can't leave her behind."
"She will leave herself behind," said Launcelot, "for mother can't miss the boat. ”

“ Not any one, Anne—not a single soul—"
"But you are so clever," said little Anne.
"But people don't love you just because you are clever, and it isn't clever people that make others the happiest," and Judy dropped her book and gazed deep into the flames as if seeking there an answer to the problems of life.
"People love you, Judy."
"Sometimes they do, and some people—but my awful temper, Anne," and
Judy sighed.
"You don't flare up half as much as you used." Anne's tone was consoling. ”

“ So Anne and Belinda and Becky Sharp went down the path to meet the carriage.
On each side of the path the spring blossoms were coming up, tulips and crocuses and hyacinths. Against the background of the gray house, an almond bush flung its branches of pink and white, and the grass was violet-starred.
"Isn't that a picture, Judy," said the Judge to the girl beside him, as they drove up, "that little old house, with the flowers and Anne and her pets?"
But Judy was looking at Anne with an uplifting of her dark, straight eyebrows.
"She must be a queer girl," she said. ”

“ Even Launcelot was in the group, and Judy and the Judge stood alone.
"How they love her," said Judy, with a little ache of envy in her heart.
"How she loves them," said the wise old Judge. "That is the secret,
Judy."
Amelia had brought Anne a box of fudge, Nannie a handkerchief made by her own stubby and patient fingers, and Launcelot made her happy with a book of fairy-tales, worn as to cover, but with rich things within—a book of his that she had long coveted. ”

“ Anne and Launcelot laughed. "Well, you see," said Anne, "in the poem Elaine is in love with a knight named Lancelot, and he doesn't love her, and she dies, and when she is dead they put her on a barge and send her to the court of King Arthur, where Lancelot is one of the knights, and there is a letter to him in her hand, and a lily, and it's lovely," she finished breathlessly.
"We shall have a hard time to build a barge," said Launcelot, with a shake of his head. ”

“ Home is the sailor—home from the sea,
And the hunter home from the hill."'"
"'Home is the sailor, home from the sea—'" echoed Judy, under her breath. "How fine that he could say it like that, Anne. Tell me about him."
All the discontent had gone from her face, and she lay back among the cushions of the window-seat quietly, while Anne told her of the young life that had ended in a land of exile. Of a singer whose song had been stilled so soon, but who would not be forgotten as long as men honor a brave heart and a gentle spirit. ”

“ Her first sketch of him was very clever—a sketch in which the stately butler posed as "The Neptune of the Kitchen." He sat on a great turtle, with a toasting-fork instead of a trident, with a necklace of oyster crackers, a crown of pickles, and a smile that was truly Perkins's own.
That sketch taught Judy her niche in the temple of art. She was not destined to be a great artist, but she had a keen wit, and a knack of discovering fun in everything, and in later years it was in caricature, not unkind, but truly humorous, that Judy made her greatest successes, and achieved some little fame. ”

“ Judy shrugged an impatient shoulder. "I am never going to marry," she declared.
"Why not?"
"Because I want my own way," said wilful Judy.
"Oh," said "bossy" Launcelot.
The waves were twinkling in the gold of the morning sun when the tired party sighted the beach below The Breakers.
Judy standing up in the boat with her dark hair blowing around her spied a little waiting group.
"There's Anne—dear Anne—and, why, Launcelot, there's a dog."
"Is there?"
"Yes, and—and—a man—"
"Yes." Launcelot's voice was calm, but his hand on the tiller trembled. ”

“ But Judy was standing by the window, watching a figure that slipped from the boat-house to the wharf with a bundle on his shoulder, the figure of a small boy, with his cap pulled low.
"Such things are like lightning; they never strike twice in the same place," she said, indifferently. "Don't go, Lutie."
"Oh, I must," gushed Lutie. "I was just dying to see you, Anne, for a minute, so I came with Judy. But I must go. They will think I am dead."
But she stopped to ask a giggling question. "Tell me about Launcelot Bart, Anne," she begged. ”

“ Judy had taken off her hat and coat, and she sat a slender white figure in the old rocker. Around her eyes were dark shadows of weariness, and she was very pale.
"How good the air feels," she murmured, and laid her head back against the cushion with a sigh.
Anne's heart smote her. "Aren't you feeling well, Judy?" she asked, timidly.
"I'm never well," Judy said, slowly. "I'm tired, tired to death, Anne."
Anne set the little blue bowls at the places, softly. She had never felt tired in her life, nor sick. "Wouldn't you like a glass of milk?" she asked, "and not wait until lunch is ready? ”

“ Launcelot was a Prince that set all the little girls' hearts a-flutter, as he knelt beside the couch, with a great bunch of dewy roses in his arms, which, in the next picture, lay all scattered over Judy, when she waked and gazed at him dreamily. Jimmie came out strongly at this point, with a prodigious yawn that almost broke him in two, and was so expressive of great weariness that little Bobbie Green, his bosom friend, was carried away by the realism of it, and asked in awe, "Did he really sleep a hundred years?" ”

“ Judy never did anything by halves, and after her introduction to books that she liked, she outread Anne. And as time went on it was her books that soothed her in her restless moods, and because there were in her father's library the writings of the greatest men and the best men who have given their thoughts to the world, Judy was gradually molded into finer girlhood, finer womanhood, than could have come to her by any other association. ”

“ When the big gate was reached, Nannie and Amelia and Tommy went on, and as Judy and Anne went into the old garden, they found the Judge and the Captain, both still semi-invalids, sitting there, amid a riot of late summer blossoms.
As he greeted them, Captain Jameson's eyes went from the rosy, fair face of little Anne to the pale but happy one of his daughter. "Father is right," he thought, "Anne does her good." ”

“ Nannie May was thirteen and looked about eleven. She was red-haired and fiery-tempered, and she loved Anne with all the strength of her loyal heart. As yet she did not like Judy. It was all very well to look like a princess, but that was no reason why one should be as stiff as a poker. She hoped Anne would not love Judy better than she did her, and she noted jealously the rapt attention with which Anne observed the newcomer and listened to all she said. ”

“ She slipped out of the hammock and picked up her hat. There was a tired droop to her slender young figure. "No, I am not going to let you alone," said Launcelot quietly. "You poor little thing."
She looked at him, startled.
"Why?" she breathed.
"You are lonely. That's why. You've got to do something. You just think and think and think—and get miserable—I know—I've been there."
It came out haltingly, the boyish expression of sympathy and understanding. And the sympathy combined with a hitherto unmet masterfulness conquered Judy. ”

“ There had been the early start, the meeting of the queer boy at the crossroads—the boy with the lazy air and the alert eyes; the crowding of the big carriage with two rather dowdy little country girls, one of whom was, in Judy's opinion, exceedingly pert, and the other exasperatingly placid; the laughter and the light-heartedness, the beauty of the blossoming spring world, the restfulness of the dim forest aisles, the excitement of the arrival on the banks of the stream, and the arrangement of the camp for the day. ”

“ Adams had provided, and with that he proceeded on the spot to make an omelette—puffy, fluffy, and perfect.
It was a cozy scene—the old butler in his white coat bending over the shining silver dish with the blue flame underneath. The polished mahogany of the table giving out rich reflections as the ruddy light of the fire played over it. The sparkling glass, the quaint old silver, Judy's violets all fragrant and dewy in the center, and at the head of the table the Judge in a great armchair, and on each side the two girls, the dark-haired and the fair-haired, in white gowns and crisp ribbons. ”

“ To little country Anne, Judy seemed like a being from another world; she had never seen anything like the white hat with its wreath of violets, the straight white linen frock, the white cloth coat, and the low ribbon-tied shoes, and the unconscious air with which all these beautiful things were worn filled her with wonder. Why, a new ribbon on her own hat always set her happy heart a-flutter! ”

“ Over in the field."
"Come on, Anne, come on. Oh, isn't this glorious. I love the wind. I love it, I love it." Judy's cry became almost a chant as she led the way across the little bridge and through the fast-darkening bit of woodland. The wind fluttered her white garments around her, her long hair streamed out behind, and her flying feet seemed scarcely to touch the ground.
Behind her came Anne, less like a wood-nymph, perhaps, but fresh and fair, and not at all breathless, then Nannie, bareheaded and with her best hat wrapped carefully in her short skirts, then Amelia, plunging heavily. ”

“ Nannie.
"Don't be silly," said Nannie, and gave her a little shake.
"We shall have to run for it," said Launcelot, gathering up wraps and hats, as a sudden gust of wind picked up the ends of the tablecloth and sent the napkins fluttering across the ground like a flock of white geese.
"You'd better get the young ladies to the carriage, sir," said Perkins, packing things into hampers in a hurry.
"They will get wet. It's going to be a heavy wind storm," said the
Judge with an anxious look at Judy.
"Let's run for the Cutter barn," cried Anne, with sudden inspiration. ”

“ Judy sat up rubbing her eyes. "Oh, it won't hurt Launcelot to wait a little. He thinks he can manage everybody—but he can't dictate to me, Anne. I am not as meek as you are."
"I'm not meek," flared Anne, whose usually sweet temper had been somewhat ruffled in her efforts to wake Judy. "But Launcelot is a very sensible boy."
"Oh, sensible," groaned Judy. "I hate sensible people."
"What kind of people do you like?" demanded Anne, indignantly. ”

“ You'll be an old maid, Judy."
"That's what I intend to be," said that independent young lady. "I am going to be an artist."
"Oh, Judy," said little Anne, "you know you won't. You will marry Prince Charming and live happy ever after, as the fairy books say, and it will be lovely."
But Judy shrugged her shoulders, as they all laughed.
"We will see," she said, "and anyhow I am too young to think about such things," and at that the little grandmother nodded approval. ”

“ Anne has fought out many little fights of temper and wilfulness right here in this little room—she is a dear child."
"Indeed she is," agreed Judy, glancing at the serene face on the pillow.
"But Anne has learned to think for others. That is the secret, dearie. Think of your grandfather, think of your friends, and it will be wonderful how little time you will have to think of Judy Jameson." ”

“ Launcelot waited while the minister stared wistfully down the shining track.
"Look here, Launcelot," he asked, suddenly, "do you remember that
Spanish coin of Judy's?"
"Well, I should say I did," replied the boy.
"It's the strangest thing—the strangest thing—oh, I'm going to tell you all about it, and see if you can help me out. Is there any place that we can be quite alone? I want to read this letter to you."
"There isn't a soul in the waiting-room," said Lancelot, "we can go in there. You'd better run on without me, Tommy," he called, "the doctor wants me. ”

“ Most of the children had read parts of "Elaine" at school, and they
"Oh-ed" and "Ah-ed" as the fair-haired heroine appeared.
Anne was very sweet, very appealing, as she went through the sad little scenes, and when at last she sat at the window. Dr. Grennell did not read Elaine's song, but Anne sang it, to Judy's accompaniment, played softly behind the scenes.
"Sweet is true love, tho' given in vain, in vain;
And sweet is death who puts an end to pain:
I know not which is sweeter, no, not I."
And all the little girls wept into their handkerchiefs, while the boys sniffed audibly. ”