Amarilly

“ Amarilly looked at him unperturbed.
"I kin scrub," she remarked calmly.
"I stand rebuked. Scrubbing is what they need. If you will come to-morrow morning and put these rooms in order, I will give you a dollar and your midday meal."
Amarilly, well satisfied with her new opening, closed the bargain instantly.
The next morning at seven o'clock she rang the studio bell. The artist, attired in a bathrobe and rubbing his eyes sleepily, opened the door. ”

“ All the difficulties of the cuisine having been smoothed over or victoriously met, Amarilly went to the theatre with a lightened heart. When Mr. Vedder came up to her and asked how she had enjoyed the performance, she felt emboldened to confide to him her professional aspirations.
The young ticket-seller did not smile. There was nothing about this diligent, ill-fed, little worker that appealed to his sense of humor.
"It will be a long time yet, Amarilly, before you can go on the stage," he counselled. "Besides, you know the first thing you must have is an education." ”

“ It isn't size and color that counts; it's shape, and from an artist's standpoint you have shapely hands. Now will you be good, and shake hands with me in a perfectly ladylike way? Thank you, Amarilly."
"Thank you, Mr. Derry. It's the beautifulest day I ever hed. Better'n the matinée or the Guild or—" she drew a quick breath and said in a scared whisper—"the church!"
"I am flattered, Amarilly. We shall have many ruby-lettered days like it."
CHAPTER X The next afternoon Amarilly called at the studio for the surplice. ”

“ Amarilly had been receiving instruction in domestic science, including table service, at the Guild school. Colette, interested in the studio work, had provided some minute muslin aprons and a little patch of linen for the head covering of the young waitress, advising her that she must wear them while serving breakfast. So when Derry emerged from his dressing-room, a trimly equipped little maid stood proudly and anxiously awaiting him.
"Why, bless your heart, Amarilly! I feel really domesticated. You look as natty as a new penny, and the little white cap is great on your hair. ”

“ Amarilly's form.
"You look real pretty in white, Amarilly. You shall have this dress for your own."
On the nuptial night Amarilly, clad in the white gown and with black velvet hair-ribbons, went forth at an early hour to the house of festivity.
Mrs. Hubbleston, resplendent in a glittering jetted gown, came into the kitchen to see that things were progressing properly.
"Ain't you flustered?" asked Amarilly, looking at her in awe.
"Land, no, child! I have been married four times before this, you see, so it comes natural. There goes the doorbell. It must be Mr. Jimmels and the minister." ”

“ The other boys followed with equal contributions, Bud generously donating a five-dollar bill he had received that day for a solo at a musicale given by Miss Lyte.
"Here's fifty cents from me," said the Boarder, who had remained very thoughtful during this transaction.
"Eleven dollars and forty-seven cents for Co," announced Amarilly.
The little girl's eyes shone through her tears.
"Seems too bad that Iry is the only one left out," said Mrs. Jenkins.
"When he gits old enough to work, he can come in," said Milt. "Add her up, Amarilly." ”

“ John, too, was strangely silent, his eyes resting often and adoringly upon Colette. Shrewdly Derry divined the situation and relieved it by rattling on with a surface banter that demanded no response.
"These refreshments," he observed, "are certainly the handiwork of my little maid. They have a flavor all her own. I am proud of Amarilly's English, too."
"I wonder," said Colette, "if you are doing quite right, Mr. Phillips, in improving Amarilly to such an extent? I am afraid she will grow beyond her family."
"No; even you, pardon me, Miss King, don't know Amarilly as I do. ”

“ We mustn't stack up the knife and fork and spoon on ends any more. The knife goes to the right, the fork to the left of the plate, and the spoon goes back of it and the tumbler and the napkin, when you has 'em, to the right."
"I do declare, Amarilly, if it ain't jest like a fairy story!" cried
Mrs. Jenkins enthusiastically. "You allers did strike luck."
"You bet!" cried Bobby admiringly. "Things go some where Amarilly is."
Amarilly was happier even than she had been on the night of the eventful matinée day. The electric brougham had seemed a veritable fairy godmother's coach to her. ”

“ But I never knew before that you had such beautiful hair!"
"It's 'cause it's fixed better," said Amarilly with a blush. "But who wants the surplus this time?"
"I do," he replied smiling. "I am invited to a sheet and pillow-case party. I thought this surplice would be more comfortable than a sheet. Here's a dollar for it."
"No," declined Amarilly firmly. "Not arter all you've done fer us. I won't take it."
"Amarilly," he said earnestly. "I have no one in the world to do anything for, and sometimes, when I get to thinking about it, I am very lonely. ”

“ But a waitress is such a trite subject. It would be what your friend, I mean, our friend, Miss King, calls bromidic. An artist, a real artist, with a soul, Amarilly, doesn't look for pretty subjects. It's the truth that he seeks. To paint things as they are is what he aims to do. A little scrub-girl appeals to the artistic temperament more than a little waitress, don't you think? But only you, Amarilly, could look the part of the Little Scrub-Girl as you did. And it would be incongruous— remember the word, please, Amarilly, in-con-gru-ous—to paint her with stylishly dressed hair. ”

“ While the Boarder was shifting the curtains to their former positions, and Mrs. Jenkins and Amarilly were busily engaged in divesting the choir of their costumes, the front door opened and disclosed a vision of loveliness in the form of Colette.
"I knocked," she explained apologetically to the Boarder, "but no one heard me. Are the family all away?"
"They are in the woodshed. Walk right out," he urged hospitably. ”

“ Jimmels had given her.
"I declar, Amarilly," exclaimed her mother, "I believe you're agrowin' purty!"
Amarilly's eyes danced, and she gave her mother a spontaneous and rewarding hug.
She didn't do her own ushering this time, and was consequently seated most inconspicuously near the entrance. Her heart beat rapturously at the sight of John Meredith in the pulpit.
"His vacation didn't freshen him up much," she thought, after a shrewd glance. "He's paler and don't look real peart. Sorter like Bud arter he got up from the fever." ”

“ She left two car tickets fer you."
"We air jest astubbin' our toes on luck," gasped Amarilly.
"The fust pay from the new washin's shall go fer a new hat and dress fer you, Amarilly. It's acomin' to you all right. 'Twas you as got this work fer us."
"No!" was the emphatic reply. "We'll git some more cheers, knives, spoons, plates, cups, and two more leaves fer the table, so's the chillern kin all set to table to onct."
"That'll be a hull lot more convenient," admitted Mrs. Jenkins hopefully. "Co spills things so, and the boys quarrel when you and the Boarder ain't here to keep peace. ”

“ When the luncheon was served, Amarilly, by reason of her good memory, was still at ease. The children at the Guild school had been given a few general rules in table deportment, but Amarilly had followed every movement of Colette's so faithfully at the eventful luncheon that she ate very slowly, used the proper forks and spoons, and won Derry's undisguised admiration.
"Mr. Vedder's, good," she thought. "Mr. St. John's grand, but this 'ere Mr. Derry's folksy. I'd be skeert settin' here eatin' with Mr. St. John, but this feller's only a kid, and I feel quite to hum with him." ”

“ This diagnosis proved correct, but it had not occurred to Amarilly in her prognostications that the question of the duration of the quarantine was not entirely dependent upon Iry's convalescence. Like a row of blocks the children, with the exception of Flamingus and Amarilly, in rapid succession came down with a mild form of the fever. Mrs. Jenkins and Amarilly divided the labors of cook and nurse, but the mainstay of the family was the Boarder. He aided in the housework, and as an entertainer of the sick he proved invaluable. ”

“ Amarilly's mien was lofty, her voice consequential, as she replied in dramatic dénouement:
"I'm goin' on the stage!"
The young teacher evinced a most eager interest in this declaration.
"Oh, Amarilly! We all have a stage-longing period. When did you first think of such a career?"
"I'm in the perfesshun now," replied Amarilly pompously.
"Really! Tell me what you do, Amarilly."
"I scrub at the Barlow Theatre, and I went to the matinee day afore yisterday. I hed a pass give to me." ”

“ She stood by the open window, and the trembling, marginal lights of a setting sun sent gleams and glints of gold through her loosened hair which fell like a flaming veil about her.
"Amarilly," exclaimed Derry rapturously, "I never saw anything quite so beautiful. Some day I'll paint you, not as a scrub-girl nor as a waitress, but as Sunset. You shall stand at this window with your hair as it is now, and you'll outshine the glory of descending Sol himself. I will get a filmy, white dress for you to pose in and present it to you afterward. ”

“ Let me see, I think lilies of the valley and pink roses would suit Lily Rose, don't you?"
"They will be beautiful," said Amarilly, beaming. "And we are going to have a real swell meal. I have learned to make salads and ices, and then we'll have coffee and sandwiches and bride's cake beside."
"Some one has to give the bride away, you know, Amarilly, in Episcopal weddings."
"I know it. But poor Lily Rose has no one that belongs to her. Her relations are all dead. That's another reason why the Boarder is so nice to her. So ma is going to give her away. ”

“ The switch remained open to the Boarder, and he was once more on duty, but he had as yet drawn no wages, one morning there was nothing for breakfast.
"I'll pawn my ticker at noon," promised the Boarder, "and bring home something for dinner."
"There is lots of folks as goes without breakfast allers, from choice," informed Amarilly. "Miss Vail, the teacher at the Guild, says it's hygeniack."
"It won't hurt us and the boys," said Mrs. Jenkins, "but Iry and Co is too young to go hungry even if it be hygeniack."
"They ain't agoin' hungry," declared Amarilly. "I'll pervide fer them." ”

“ Derry and Flamingus received the guests. Upstairs the Boarder and the brakeman were nervously awaiting the crucial moment. The door into the Annex was closed, for in the sitting-room was the little bride, her pale cheeks delicately tinted from excitement as Colette artistically adjusted the bridal veil, fastening it with real orange blossoms. Amarilly hovered near in an ecstasy which was perforce silent on account of her mouth being full of pins.
"There's Mr. St. John's carriage," she managed to murmur as she peered from the window. ”

“ Jenkins, "but we kin spank him up good as soon as we git thar, and then he'll understand he's to keep away."
"We kin git a good dog to keep track of Iry and the cattle," said the Boarder, and then he paused expectantly to listen to Amarilly's approbation. But she was strangely silent.
"It will be a fust class investment," he continued sagely.
"Why will it? We don't know anything about farming," objected Amarilly.
"We'll have to hire someone to run it."
"I was brought up on a farm," replied the Boarder. "Thar ain't a thing I don't know about farm work." ”

“ And you let Miss King and your minister come—"
"But you see," argued Amarilly, "it's diff'rent with them. A minister has to go everywhere, and he's used to seeing all kinds of houses; and then Miss King, she's a sort of a—settlement worker."
"I see," said Derry. "But, Amarilly, to be a true artist, or a writer, one must see all sorts and conditions of life. ”

“ So this once I thought I would have an Episcopal, because their white robe lends tone. And Rev. Mr. Woodthorn has come without his. He says he never brings it to the house weddings unless specially requested. He lives clear across the city, and the carriage has gone away."
"Oh, I have a surplus!" cried Amarilly enthusiastically. "I'll telephone our grocer. Milt's ahelpin' him to-night, and he can ride over here on the grocer's wheel and fetch it."
"Why, how in the world did you come by such a thing as a surplice?" asked the widow in surprise. ”

“ I'd rather be the poorest little speck here than to own and live on the biggest farm in the world."
He laughed delightedly.
"Oh, Amarilly, you little gamin! You have the right idea, though. We don't want anything, however perfect it may be, all the time. We want it just 'in patches'—as you say. You'll love the country with your whole heart and soul when you come to see it if you know that you can leave it. But this is a big change in your affairs, and we must talk it over. We'll go to Carter's again for luncheon. Take off your apron and cap. You won't have to fix your hair this time. ”

“ Colette colored and was silent a moment.
"He's right, Amarilly," she said impulsively. "I am selfish to everyone. All I have ever cared for is to be entertained and made to laugh. I have been as selfish to St. John as I have to you and—I'll tell you a secret, Amarilly, because I know that I can trust you. I've gone just a little bit too far with St. John. I told him he needn't ever come to see me again until he found what was in the pocket of the surplice, and he took me at my word."
"He did all he could to find it," said Amarilly, immediately on the defence for the rector. ”