Aunt Deborah

“ Winifred, hide, quick! Under the bed," she said, at the same moment giving Winifred a little push.
Aunt Deborah came in smiling and unsuspicious, with a well-filled bowl of porridge and a generous pitcher of milk on the tray. It had been a happy morning for Aunt Deborah. Hero was safe at home, none the worse for his adventures; and, best of all, Ruth of her own accord had declared herself to blame, and decided that her faults should be punished. It seemed to Aunt Deborah that after this she and her little niece would have no more misunderstandings. ”

“ I "take the good the gods provide" me, and so Cousin Dolly and I have become the best of friends, and we have been busy making wreaths and crosses and Christmas decorations under the superintendence of Aunt Deborah, in the most edifying and amicable way. This Aunt Deborah is the conventional upright, downright, good, opinionated, honest, sincere old Englishwoman, of whom there are dozens at every turn in the old country, but who here in America have the interest that appertains to the relics of a past age. ”

“ Pennell and Aunt Deborah both smiled their approval, thinking that the table for Betty, like Cecilia's chair, was to be made of pasteboard.
"Thee must bring thy doll to Barren Hill," said Aunt Deborah. "There are fine places to play in the big barn and in the pine woods, and thy doll will be company for thee."
"How soon may I visit Aunt Deborah, Mother?" Ruth asked eagerly. "May I not go with Farmer Withely next week?" ”

“ The house was haunted—agreeably, delightfully haunted by a golden light, a perfumed radiant light that could only have in my mind one origin, one creator—Titania—Titania, queen of the fairies, the guardian angel of my aged, my extremely aged relatives.
"Aunt Deborah," I said one morning, as I found her seated in the embrasure of the breakfast room window crocheting, "Aunt Deborah! You love the sunlight, do you not?" ”

“ Cousin John says all dark women are inclined to be cross; and I own I think we blondes have the best of it as far as good temper is concerned. My aunt is not altered in the slightest degree from what she was then. She dresses invariably in gray silks of the most delicate shades and texture; carries spectacles low down upon her nose, where they can be of no earthly use except for inspection of the carpet; and wears lavender kid gloves at all hours of the day and night—for Aunt Deborah is vain of her hand, and preserves its whiteness as a mark of her birth and parentage. ”

“ In marched Frank, who had never set eyes on my aunt in his life, and shook hands with me, and made her a very low bow, with a degree of effrontery that nothing but a man could ever have been capable of assuming. Aunt Deborah drew herself up—and she really is very formidable when she gets on her high horse—and looked first at me, and then at Frank, and then at me again; and I blushed like a fool, and hesitated, and introduced "Captain Lovell" to "My aunt, Miss Horsingham!" ”

“ Aunt Deborah’s gray eyes swept the circle of interested faces raised to her own.
“Why, of course I will, Virginia,” she said. “Where shall I begin?”
“At the very beginning,” suggested Carver and Jack together. “We want it all, please.”
“I’m glad William put marigolds on the table,” Aunt Deborah began. “They make it easy for me to get started. They take me back fifty years ago to the day before I was married back in Iowa. Robert came up that evening, and saw me with a brown dress on and marigolds at my waist. ‘Wear them to-morrow, Deborah,’ says he. ‘They’re so bright and sunny and a good omen. ”

“ Thy dinner is waiting. Go to thy room and make thyself tidy," commanded Aunt Deborah, "and take thy hat and package," she added.
Ruth obeyed rather reluctantly. "All Aunt Deborah thinks about is keeping 'tidy,'" she whispered rebelliously as she left the room. "I've washed my hands three times already to-day. She doesn't care if Hero is lost. Probably she's glad, because his paws are dirty."
But Ruth was mistaken; Aunt Deborah had [Pg 18] spent an hour that morning in going up and down the alley looking for the missing dog, and in a careful search of the house and garden. ”

“ That evening, much to my satisfaction, Aunt Deb had a bad headache, and could not make her appearance at dinner. This gave me an opportunity of speaking to Mr Butterfield.
“I should be happy to further your views, my lad, but I have promised your Aunt Deborah to take you into my counting-house, and I have only been waiting a day or two until a boy has left, whose place I intend you to fill. You’ll begin low down, but by perseverance and industry you will, in the course of a few years, rise to a respectable position. ”

“ You are rather old for school except as parlor boarders, and I do not like that way of living. What do you say, niece? You look like a sensible, steady young woman—tell me what you think of the matter."
"Why should we not remain as we are, madam—"
"Don't say madam, say Aunt Deborah," interrupted the lady.
"Why should we not stay as we are, Aunt Deborah? Mrs. Thorpe is very kind and looks after us well, and she has put us in the way of improving ourselves, as you see. Why should we not stay here?" ”

“ Father, son, and daughters, all came in together to-night.
"Girls," said Ralph, advancing first into the dining-room and getting a peep into the back parlour, "is this our house? Everything is trimmed up, and there sits a lady by the fire."
Wreaths festooned the archway between the parlours, there were vases of flowers, and hanging-baskets of trailing vines, and a canary in a gilded cage, a bright fire in the grate lighting it up cheerily; Aunt Deborah smiling and knitting on one side, "mother" on the other. ”

“ Aunt Deborah was so overcome by the accident, and so intent upon watching the retreating boys to whom she desired to teach a lesson, that she did not at first notice a barefooted lad standing under the window on the pavement below, holding a battered old hat in his hand, and looking up at her with a scared face and tearful eyes. ”

“ CHAPTER III RUTH VISITS GENERAL HOWE
Aunt Deborah was unusually quiet in her manner toward her little niece when Ruth came home with the cardboard ready to be covered. She did not ask Ruth to set the table for supper, but began to spread the cloth herself.
"I will do that, Aunt Deborah. You know I always do," Ruth said, laying down the parts for the dolls' chair, and coming toward the table.
"I will do it. Thou mayst go to thy room, Ruth; I will call thee when supper is ready," Aunt Deborah replied, without a glance at the little girl. ”

“ Hunter came around the corner of the porch.
“John,” cried Aunt Deborah gayly, “don’t let’s 115 worry one bit about this old world! With these young folks to write the books, and teach the schools, and take care of the homeless babies, we’re safe for years to come! Come and tell me all about the wheat.”
So the morning passed, and at noon Malcolm and Donald, Jack and Carver rode over for dinner, and for Aunt Deborah’s stories, which Virginia had promised them. Aunt Deborah’s talent for listening won them also, and they told her their ambitions quite as eagerly as the Vigilantes had done. ”

“ Aunt Deborah was for reclamation, the apparition for anything that would give her a glimpse of a real, live 'comber' in his native lair. David's plantation sank into insignificance beside him, simply because the plantation was all that it should be, and the river comber not. There is nothing a woman detests like perfection ”

“ He longed for a profession for which he had a decided turn; he longed to see the world as personified by the city of cities, the unparagoned London; and he longed more than either to get away from Aunt Deborah, the storm of whose vituperation seemed ringing in his ears so long as he continued within sight of her dwelling. One would think the clack of the mill and the prattle of his pretty cousin Cicely might have drowned it, but it did not. ”

“ Deborah.
I knew well enough, but nobody likes to have their news forestalled, so I did not say a word, but left the answer to Amabel, who was as innocent as a babe.
"Nothing bad, I hope, aunt; nothing to Mrs. Philippa," said she.
"Something to Mrs. Philippa, but nothing bad," said Mrs. Deborah, trying to keep the corners of her mouth in order. "Nieces, your Aunt Philippa is married!"
And here Mrs. Deborah broke down into a hearty laugh, while Mrs. Chloe sobbed afresh, and murmured, "Sister Deborah, how can you?"
"Why, one may as well laugh as cry, child," said Mrs. Deborah. ”

“ Mrs. Deborah was the only daughter of old Simon Thornby, of Chalcott great farm; she had had one brother, who having married the rosy-cheeked daughter of the parish clerk, a girl with no portion except her modesty, her good-nature, and her prettiness, had been discarded by his father, and after trying various ways to gain a living, and failing in all, had finally died broken-hearted, leaving the unfortunate clerk's daughter, rosy-cheeked no longer, and one little boy, to the tender mercy of his family. ”

“ Still, it was not altogether dignity which made Aunt Deborah scorn the support of the cushions which Alec had placed behind her. A great part of it was eagerness.
It had been a long time since she had left her ranch even for a day. No one there could attend to things quite so well as she herself, she always insisted. But now, between shearing and threshing, 110 she had chosen a day upon which to accept Virginia’s and her father’s oft-repeated invitation, and it was a festive occasion for her. Truth to tell, she needed one day a year, she said, “to meet folks.” ”

“ Deborah's remarks of late; and to-day especially I was so moved by her treatment of my salad—ah, madame! Such noble salade des écrevisses! That I fear I forgot myself. Alas, it is too easy to wound the heart of an exile and a childless mother."
And here Jeanne wept in her turn, and Deborah began to look rather ashamed, and to mutter some thing about "not meaning."
"I see how it is," said my aunt, who with all her easiness of disposition was not a person to be despised. "Deborah has allowed herself to be prejudiced, and to believe her mistress capable of the most unworthy conduct." ”

“ If English soldiers came marching that way Ruth knew well that their purpose would be to capture American scouting parties, and she became more eager than ever to go to Valley Forge, and again asked Aunt Deborah if she could not go. But Aunt Deborah promptly responded that such a visit was impossible.
"Tis a ride of over ten miles, and a ford to cross," she said. "Farmer Withely has no spare time at present to take thee; besides that, General Washington does not care for visitors."
Ruth looked so disappointed that Aunt Deborah added: "And who knows what day Lafayette may ride this way again? ”

“ Both sank, and amidst the confusion that ensued, the shrieks and sobs of the women, the oaths and exclamations of the men, the danger was so imminent that both might have been drowned, had not Edward Thornly, hastily flinging off his coat and hat, plunged in and rescued Mrs. Deborah, whilst good John Stokes, running round the head of the pond as nimbly as a boy, did the same kind office for his prime aversion, the attorney's clerk. What a sound kernel is sometimes hidden under a rough and rugged rind! ”

“ Aunt Debby's chubby countenance was all aglow, and Aunt Meg's peevish visage, having apparently caught the reflex of her smile, looked very fair and sweet as the invalid turned it brightly towards the youthful visitor.
"A thousand welcomes, child!" cried Miss Deborah delightedly, drawing Winnie to her ample bosom, and treating the girl to a hearty hug (the word, though not eloquent, is singularly expressive) ; "it is good to see your pretty face again. This is Aunt Meg," pointing to the invalid. "I do not think you have ever met her before." ”

“ Light sketches and illuminated texts adorned the delicately tinted walls, and on a small table stood an antique vase filled with fairest autumn flowers.
"Are you pleased with your little bedroom, Nellie?" asked Aunt Debby, noting the girl's look of genuine admiration; "there's not much to be seen in the way of grandeur, but it's clean," and practical Miss Deborah emphasized her words by nodding her head vigorously.
"Pleased, Aunt Debby! Why, everything is beautiful. ”

“ Nothing could be more unlike our friend Edward than the stranger. Fair, freckled, light-haired, light-eyed, with invisible eye-brows and eye-lashes, insignificant in feature, pert and perking in expression, and in figure so dwarfed and stunted, that though in point of age he had evidently attained his full growth, (if one may use the expression to such a he-doll,) Robert at fifteen would have made two of him,—such was the new favourite. So far as appearance went, for certain Mrs. Deborah had not changed for the better. ”

“ It does not prove thy liking to cry because thy dog is lost; to fix thy thoughts on thy own feelings and leave thy tasks for me to do. It does not help bring Hero back. Now, put on thy hat and cape and we will walk toward the river. I have an errand to do," and Aunt Deborah got up and went to her own room to put on her long gray cape and the gray bonnet that she always wore on the street.
She was waiting in the front hall when Ruth came slowly down the stairs. She had put on [Pg 22] her brown straw hat, whose ribbons tied beneath her chin, and the pretty cape of blue cloth ”

“ Deborah, not at all displeased, as I had half-feared she would be by my question. "Thanks to the near coal mine, and our own woods, great fires are among our cheapest enjoyments. I am glad to see, niece, that you can think of the cost of things. I wish some other people were as considerate. But come, we will go up stairs, and then you must pay your respects to your Aunt Philippa."
"How I shall like to sit by this work-table, and think that my dear mother sat here before me!" said Amabel, lingering a moment by the table, and taking up a little prayer-book that lay upon it. ”