Aunt Penelope

“ Aunt Penelope never starved me and was never unkind to me. I love her very dearly, and I must ask you, father, please, not to speak against her to me."
"Well, I won't, child; I admire loyalty in others. Now then, leave those kidneys and bacon alone. Have some cold tongue. What! you have had enough? Have a kipper, then. No? What a small appetite my little girl has got! At least have some bread and butter and marmalade. No again? Dear, dear—why, the sky must be going to fall! ”

“ Aunt Penelope questioned.
But Evelyn would only say, “Let me alone!” between asserting that she was sure she was going to have hysterics, and gasping. And she told her mother that that flour paste on her hand was Adonis Cream! And then she began to moan. We had not realized that she would blame him, and we began to feel worried.
Well, they got her feet in hot water, and Aunt Penelope held the smelling-salts under her nose, and even Uncle Archie joined the crowd. And I think it is the only time that I ever saw aunt with him when she didn’t ask him for money. ”

“ Had Aunt Penelope seen me, she would not have recognised in the radiant girl to whose cheeks excitement had given a passing tinge of colour, to whose eyes excitement had lent the glow which comes straight from the heart, the Heather she had counselled to live the simple life, and walk worthy of her God. ”

“ God bless me!" said Aunt Penelope. "In my day a girl thought herself lucky if she found one man to care for her, but two! It doesn't sound proper."
"The other man is rich, and—oh, he's nice, he's awfully nice, only he is old—I won't tell you his name, there is no use—but Lady Helen wanted me to marry the rich old man, and to give up the young man whom I love, and—and father seemed to wish it, too—and somehow, auntie darling, I can't do it—I can't—so I have run away to you." ”

“ Cousin Penelope held her tight—tight enough almost to hurt her. Cousin Penelope kissed her, almost passionately.
“Penelope!” That was Aunt Eunice speaking, but in a voice unlike her own voice—stern and hard. “It is tea time. Jacqueline must wash her face and hands. Jacqueline, my dear! Run upstairs and make yourself tidy. Take your aunt’s letter with you, and read it before you come down to tea.”
Caroline obeyed, and no wonder, but Penelope—that was the real wonder!—let her obey without a word of protest. ”

“ Gordon Grayson.
"What do you mean to do?" I said to Aunt Penelope, as I laid the letter back again on her breakfast tray.
"Leave it to me," she said. "You're but a silly sort of child, and never half know what you ought to be doing. You want wiser heads than your own to guide you."
"But you won't tell him—you won't tell him?" I repeated.
Aunt Penelope made no remark, but began munching her toast with appetite.
"You do cook well, Heather," she said. "Although you are a society girl I can see that you'll never forget the lessons I imparted to you." ”

“ You will have two people to love instead—oh! I forgot—'mum's' the word. Now then, Heather, let's look at you. Why, you're a washed-out little ghost of a girl! Even Aunt Penelope would be shocked if she saw you now."
"Never mind Aunt Penelope just for the present," I said. "I have so much to say to you, and this is the very last evening."
"Not a bit of it; there are hundreds of other evenings to follow."
"Oh, no," I said; "this is the very last between you and me, quite to ourselves, Daddy." ”

“ I would not tell the dear old lady for fear of disappointing her. Your coming back of your own accord and without hearing anything is really most extraordinary, most astounding. But, there! you have come, and now it's all right."
"You may be certain, doctor," I replied, "that I will do my utmost for Aunt Penelope, and that she shall want for nothing as long as I can obtain it for her."
"Good girl; you are a good girl, Heather," he replied; "you are doing the right thing, and God will bless you. I may as well tell you that I was exceedingly anxious about your aunt this morning. ”

“ It was certainly a mild punishment that condemned Master Sam to the back nursery for the rest of the day. It had, however, this additional severity, that during the afternoon Aunt Penelope was expected to arrive.
AUNT PENELOPE.
Aunt Penelope was one of those dear, good souls who, single themselves, have, as real or adopted relatives, the interests of a dozen families, instead of one, at heart. There are few people whose youth has not owned the influence of at least one such friend. ”

“ Your father is not the sort of man who would do any girl the slightest good."
"You had better not speak against him to me," I said.
"I have taken great pains with you," said Aunt Penelope, "and have brought you up entirely out of my own very slender means. You are, for your age, fairly well educated, you understand household duties. You can light a fire as quickly and deftly as any girl I ever met, and you understand the proper method of dusting a room. You can also do plain cooking, and you can make your own clothes. ”

“ I could not help laughing with glee, and then I was sorry, for Aunt Penelope had been as kind as kind could be after her fashion, and I did wrong not to feel some regret at leaving her. But when a girl has only her father, and that father has been away for ten long years, surely she is to be excused for wishing to be with him again. ”

“ I passed my own tiny bedroom, and there was Aunt Penelope's room, facing the stairs. I opened the door very softly and stood for a second on the threshold.
"Now, what is it?" said a cantankerous voice. "Jonas, you're off your head. It's just because I admitted you to my bedroom to-day to sweep and dust. But come in, don't be shy. There is nothing against your coming into the room with an old lady. You can lay the tray on the table and walk out again without looking at me."
"It isn't Jonas," I said, standing half-hidden by the door, "it's—it's—Heather. I have come back, auntie." ”

“ We have explained the situation in which Penelope was placed. But as every condition of humanity is more or less of a mixed nature, so in her state there were some alleviations. Her kind-hearted and benevolent uncle, so considerate and so gentle in his manner towards her, partly counterbalanced the pain which she experienced from the behaviour of her aunt. He was constantly endeavouring to encourage her with hopes that her situation was not destined to be for ever a state of dependence. ”

“ People who do that sort of thing invariably are. Aunt Penelope says so, and she ought to know."
"Your Aunt Penelope must be a very wise woman. I should like to meet her; and that is a most brilliant idea. I wonder if it could be carried into effect?"
"Surely there is nothing to prevent it."
"Then, little Heather Grayson, will you help me to carry it into effect?"
"I wish I could; but how can I? I am such a very young girl."
I began to find him less interesting than I had done a minute ago. I pushed a big sofa-pillow between my back and the edge of the sofa ”

“ Anastasia was not coming back at all, and father had gone to India. Aunt Penelope was rather restrained and rather queer when she spoke of father. She told me also that she had the entire charge of me, and that I was being brought up at her expense, as father had no money to spend on me. She gave me to understand that she was a very poor woman, and could not afford any servant except Buttons, or Jonas, as she called him. She said she preferred a boy in the house to a woman, for he was smarter at going messages and a greater protection at night. ”

“ Aunt Penelope believed the story, but I would never believe it unless I heard it from my father's lips, and if it was true, then of course I must give Vernon up. He should not marry a girl whose father had done something to make her ashamed. ”

“ Would you care to come? Aunt Penelope will be so pleased if you and Betsey will dine with us, Mrs. Bunce, and she can go in our party. Aunt Matilda is going. You will meet all your St. Euphrase friends, Betsey. Mdlle. Rouget will be there, I understand."
"I scarcely know the girl, and she don't want to know me, so that is no inducement. However, we'll go, auntie? I think we had better go. It's home to St. Euphrase tomorrow, you know, with lots of time for sedateness and parish duties. Let's enjoy ourselves all we can while we're here." ”

“ When I got up the next morning Aunt Penelope said, “Thank Heaven you look as if you felt well. I’ll need your help. This will be an awful day; it always is. . . . There are so many things to do that I don’t know where to start. . . . Ito, was that the bell? Yes, it was--what was it?” and then she stopped, and I looked up and gave a little cry, for Uncle Frank stood in the doorway, peering over his glasses at me and blinking. ”

“ Aunt Penelope's name was Penelope Despard, and she lived in a pretty little place outside a pretty little town about fifty miles away from Southampton. We got out at the station, which was called Cherton, and there a cab awaited us, which had evidently been sent by order, and some luggage was put on the roof. I was too excited by then to make any comment with regard to the luggage, although I noticed it afterwards and observed that it was all marked "H. G.," and there was nothing marked "G. G.," for father's name was Gordon Grayson. ”

“ That was not a bit like the voice in which Cousin Penelope had spoken to Nellie and it came from a Cousin Penelope who must be kneeling on the ground (Cousin Penelope kneeling!) in order to throw the voice into the hen-house. “Are you in there, dear? Please come out! I understand—I’m not angry with you. We’ve all suffered enough—some of us deserved it.” (Could it be that Cousin Penelope was crying just a little?) “Come out, dear, please! We’ve come to see you, Aunt Eunice and I. You’re not afraid of Aunt Eunice, I know. ”

“ Atlas: “Great Jove, what a concession! I wish I could find a woman—an unmarried woman (with a low bow to Mrs. Jack) —that would produce that effect upon me. So you all like her?”
Aunt Celia: “She is not what I consider a well-informed girl.”
Penelope: “Now don’t carp, Miss Van Tyck. You love her as much as we all do. ‘Like her,’ indeed! ”

“ Cousin Penelope answered. “She has manner. But of course,” she added proudly, “blood will always tell.”
The nicest party that ever was, the seven little girls said, when they bade Aunt Eunice and Cousin Penelope and Caroline good-night and asked Caroline to come soon and play with them. But in Longmeadow annals that red-letter day of Caroline’s life was to be remembered, not as the date of Mrs. William Gildersleeve’s grandniece’s party, but as the date of the worst tempest that had swept through the township in years.
“Jacqueline! It’s I. Cousin Penelope. Don’t be frightened.” ”

“ It was a radiant little face, under the brown and orange hat, that Jacqueline showed to Aunt Eunice, as she waved farewell to The Chimnies and to Longmeadow, and it was with a little half-smile that Aunt Eunice, on the broad porch, turned to Cousin Penelope.
“I’m glad she’s gone off happy,” said Aunt Eunice. “She’s a bright little thing, and you must admit it was plucky of her to stick it out at the farm, and let the other child have a happy summer here. Fine of her, too, with every one condemning, to take the whole blame on herself. ”

“ Her first interview with her aunt, the Duchess of Goring, was positively so shocking to Titania, who was mid-Victorian, and never got over it, that the poor thing almost fainted when Penelope, a shining brat of three, damned her eyes with terrific vigour. Goring, who was that very curious and absurd survival of a thousand ages, known as a sportsman, roared with laughter. There was humanity in him. There was none in Titania, though there might have been if she had married any one but a duke. ”

“ She had married a man even then well to do in the world, but now rich and almost mighty; a Member of Parliament, a Lord of this and that board, a man who had a house in Eaton Square, and a park in the north of England; and in this way her course of life had been very much divided from that of our Miss Le Smyrger. But the Lord of the Government board had been blessed with various children, and perhaps it was now thought expedient to look after Aunt Penelope's Devonshire acres. Aunt Penelope was empowered to leave them to whom she pleased ”

“ Penelope herself was very much pleased; for though she had often endeavoured to persuade herself that she did not heed Mrs Greendale’s ill-humours, yet she could not help feeling the difference between good-humour and moroseness. It is not pleasant to be always within hearing even of the snarling of a dog, or the creaking of a rusty hinge, and far less pleasant is the language and [Pg 46] tone of human censoriousness. The young lady was not only pleased with her aunt, but she also regarded Lord Spoonbill with some degree of approbation. ”

“ Go your own way, Penelope. If you think you can injure us you are very much mistaken.” 9
Penelope shook her fat back, and resumed her peregrinations round and round the lawn.
“Really she is quite an uncomfortable child,” said Pauline, returning to her other sisters. “What do you think she is doing now? Picking grasses to put in Aunt Sophia’s room.”
“Oh, let her alone,” said Verena; “it’s only her funny little way. By the way, I wonder if Padre has any idea that Aunt Sophia is coming to-day.”
“Let’s invade him,” said Patty. “The old dear wants his exercise; he hasn’t had any to-day.” ”

“ Now what is the matter, Penelope?”
“Please, please, Aunt Sophy,” said that young person, rushing up at the moment.
“Hold yourself erect, my dear; don’t run quite so fast. There! you have got a rent already in your new frock. Now what do you want?”
“May I be a schoolroom little girl in the future?”
“What are you now?”
“Nursey says I’m nursery. But I don’t want to be nursery; I want to stay always with my own good Aunty Sophy. That is what I want. May I be a schoolroom child?”
“In the first place, you are not to call me ‘aunty.’ I am Aunt Sophia to you. ”