Auntie Sue

“ You are mine, you know, no matter where you go.”
“But, Auntie Sue,” he protested, “I am not a gentleman of means that I can do nothing indefinitely; neither am I capable of living upon your hospitality for an extended period. I must earn my bread and butter.”
The final sentence came with such a lifting of his head, such a look of stern decision, and such an air of pride, that the gentle old school-teacher laughed until her eyes were filled with tears; and Judy, at the crack in the kitchen door, wondered if the mistress of the little log house by the river were losing her mind. ”

“ God could not let men be so cruel as to send Auntie Sue's Brian Kent to prison because that other Brian Kent, tormented by wrong environment, and driven by an evil combination of circumstances, had taken a few dollars of the bank's money! And Betty Jo—No, no! Auntie Sue's heart cried out in protest. There must be some way. She would find some way. The banker—Homer Ward! Auntie Sue's mind, alert and vigorous as the mind of a woman of half her years, caught at the thought of her old friend and pupil. ”

“ Burns, an' how you just naturally wouldn't let him die. An'—an'—I kin see, now, what hit is that makes Auntie Sue and him an' you-all so different from that there clubhouse gang an' pap an' me. An' I ain't a-wantin' ter be like I been, no more, ever. I'd a heap rather jump inter the river an' drown myself. 'Fore God, I would! An' I want ter come back an' help you-all take care of him; an' live with Auntie Sue; an'—an'—be a little might like youuns, if I kin. Will you let me, Miss Betty Jo? Will you? I most know Auntie Sue would, if she was here. ”

“ Thus it happened that Auntie Sue arrived at the nursery door in time to hear the two little girls discussing a serious question.
Auntie Sue did not want to eavesdrop. She would not have listened to the children if she could have helped herself. But the fact of the matter was that Auntie Sue became rooted to the floor, and she could not move.
For the first thing she heard was Jeanne's voice saying, "Oh, Margot! I hate all those silly clothes! I hate being a model. I want to be just a little girl." ”

“ I remember as well as though it were yesterday the first time I met Auntie Sue. ”

“ I don't know what has gotten into you girls lately, wanting to rush out like great, coarse men! Why can't you stay at home, doing all the little dainty, pretty things that only a woman can do, to make a home lovely?"
"Don't you suppose I'd much RATHER not work?" Susan demanded impatiently. "I can't have you supporting me, Auntie. That's it."
"Well, if that's it, that's nonsense, dear. As long as Auntie lives all she asks is to keep a comfortable home for her girls."
"Why, Sue, you'll be implying that we all ought to have taken horrid office positions," Virginia said, in smiling warning. ”

“ Lancaster felt indignantly that an injustice had been done Susan, was not at all sure that she herself would not call upon Miss Saunders and demand a full explanation. Susan combated this idea with surprising energy; she was very silent and unresponsive in these days, but at this suggestion she became suddenly her old vigorous self.
"I don't understand you lately, Sue," her aunt said disapprovingly, after this outburst. "You don't act like yourself at all! Sometimes you almost make auntie think that you've got something on your mind." ”

“ Auntie Sue and me have been friends for about twenty year, now. I always stop to see her whenever I'm passing through the Elbow Rock neighborhood, if I ain't in too big a hurry. Stayed with her a week, once, five years ago, when we was after that Lewis gang. She knows I'd jail any man on earth that would even touch one of her sunsets.”
Then, as if the jesting allusion to his office reminded him of his professional duties, he added: “I plumb forgot, Auntie Sue, this gentleman is Mr. Ross. He is one of William J. Burns's crack detectives. Don't be scared, though, he ain't after you.” ”

“ Brian laughed. “Judy is prophetic, Auntie Sue. She voices perfectly the sentiment of the world toward any book I might write.”
Auntie Sue detected a note of bitterness underlying the laughing comment, and wondered.
Judy spoke again as she arose to retire to her room for the night: “I reckon as how there's a right smart of things youuns talk that'd be mighty fine if a body only had the learnin' ter sense 'em. ”

“ Carroll, and the face she turned to Susan now was absolutely unclouded.
"What's all the news, Sue? Auntie's well, and Mary Lou? And what do they say now of Jinny? Don't tell me about Georgie until the girls are here! And what's this I hear of your throwing down Phil completely, and setting up a new young man?"
"Please'm, you never said I wasn'ter," Susan laughed.
"No, indeed I never did! You couldn't do a more sensible thing!"
"Oh, Aunt Jo!" The title was only by courtesy. "I thought you felt that every woman ought to have a profession!" ”

“ When the children reached home, they rode up in the elevator with Henry, and Sue found her aunt in the library with Mother Brown. [210]
"Aunt Lu," began Sue, "have you got lots of cake and jam tarts and jelly tarts in the house?"
"Why, I think Mary baked a cake to-day," Sue. "What did you ask that for?"
"And can you buy real ice-cream at a store near here, or make it?" Sue wanted to know.
"Why, yes, child, but what for?" Aunt Lu was puzzled.
"Then it's all right," Sue went on. "You're going to give a real play-party to a lot of ragged children here to-morrow afternoon. I invited them. ”

“ It was what May wanted, or Gordon wanted, or Father wanted, or even what Katy and Mary in the kitchen wanted! Her time, her thoughts, her wishes—they had been as nothing compared to the time, thoughts, and wishes of everybody else in the house. Why, it had got so that they all thought nobody could do anything for them but Sister Sue. They had just got into the habit of thinking that Sister Sue must do everything. Even outside, among their friends, she was known as "Sister Sue," and was often called so.
And it was not right. It was a shame. Was she never to have a chance to live her own life? ”

“ I went home all in tears, and my poor aunt encouraged me not to yield, and she would try to place me elsewhere. Yes—but it was impossible; the factories were all full. Misfortunes never come single; my aunt fell ill, and there was not a sou in the house; I plucked up my courage, and returned to entreat the mercy of the clerk at the factory. Nothing would do. 'So much the worse,' said he; 'you are throwing away your luck. If you had been more complying, I should perhaps have married you.' What could I do, Mother Arsene?—misery was staring me in the face; I had no work; my aunt was ill ”

“ Walk all that way alone!”
“I shall ride Phœbe. I can saddle her myself. Father taught me how. I must go, Sue. I can’t let aunt lie here and die, and never try to save her. It’s hard to leave you alone, but it won’t take long. Baby hasn’t waked up once. What a mercy! Don’t say a word, Sue: I must go.”
“O, Fayette!” cried Sue, helplessly; but she made no further objection, and Mrs. Ford had not heard the hurried consultation. ”

“ It would be a funny world if we did; wouldn't it?
"It must be nice to cook real sausages," said Sue. "I wish I could do it. But will all of you children come to my party to-morrow?" she asked.
"Are you goin' to have a party?" inquired the big girl.
"Yes," nodded Sue. "We're going to have a party at our Aunt Lu's house; aren't we, Bunny? We are, 'cause I'm going to ask her to have one, as soon as we get back," Sue [207] whispered to her brother. "So you say 'yes.' We are going to have a party; aren't we, Bunny?" Sue spoke out loud this time. ”

“ Bunny said. "I'll tell a policeman you're going up to my Aunt Lu's. She's got lots to eat."
And so Bunny and the ragged man began the long climb up the stairs, while Sue rode in the elevator. She, of course, was the first to reach her aunt's rooms. Wopsie let Sue in.
"Oh, Aunt Lu!" cried Sue. "The hungry, ragged man's coming. He ate bread out of the ash can, and he hasn't had any breakfast, dinner or supper. ”

“ AUNT SUE'S STORIES
Aunt Sue has a head full of stories.
Aunt Sue has a whole heart full of stories.
Summer nights on the front porch
Aunt Sue cuddles a brown-faced child to her bosom
And tells him stories.
Black slaves
Working in the hot sun,
And black slaves
Walking in the dewy night,
And black slaves
Singing sorrow songs on the banks of a mighty river
Mingle themselves softly
In the flow of old Aunt Sue's voice,
Mingle themselves softly
In the dark shadows that cross and recross
Aunt Sue's stories. ”

“ If this combines nature and art and mysticism in one, too bewilderingly to reproduce any definite impression, it is the fault of that face,—as animate in my memory as it is still in my dreams.
In spite of an innate austerity of the senses, my Aunt had lovers, like Browning's roses—"all the way"—to the end; men of varied profession and attainment who wrote to her and came to see her, and whose letters she burned with a chivalry not all of them requited in kind. "Sister Sue" was her confidante and ally, from whose lips we heard many a hot or quaint tale when time had made them no perfidy. ”

“ And you mean to call yourself her aunt, and say that you would sanction such conduct?' 'All right,' says I to myself; 'you are falling into the trap as neat as ninepence, you miserly old hunks, and if I do not saddle you with Cecily, my name is not what it is!' 'Yes,' cried I, in a discontented voice, 'I'm her aunt, sure enough, and worse luck to me for having such an encumbrance; I have difficulty enough to earn my bread, without having a great overgrown girl like that, to take it out of my mouth ”

“ I had no reason to dread such an interview, and yet I felt a great weight at my heart. I hastened to my aunt's room; she was seated beside her work-table, on which I noticed an open letter; I noticed also that she had been weeping.
"My friend," she said, "there are very wicked and very infamous people in this world. Read this." Then she handed me the letter, and replaced her handkerchief over her eyes.
I read. It was an anonymous and "friendly" warning to Hélène's mother, charitably informing her that my familiar intimacy with her daughter had brought irreparable ruin to her reputation. ”

“ The princess looked angrily at her niece. The doctor raised his eyes to heaven, and clasped his hands over his waistcoat with a sanctimonious sigh.
"Madame," said Abbe d'Aigrigny, "such fits of laughter are highly unbecoming. Your aunt's words are serious, and deserve a different reception."
"Oh, sir!" said Adrienne, recovering herself, "it is not my fault if I laugh. How can I maintain my gravity, when I hear my aunt talking of blind submission to her orders? Is the swallow, accustomed to fly upwards and enjoy the sunshine, fledged to live with the mole in darkness?" ”

“ Susan said, fearfully.
"I don't see how," he reassured her. "Ella naturally can't give it to them, for she will think you are at your aunt's. Your aunt---"
"Oh, I shall write the truth to Auntie," Susan said, soberly. "Write her from Honolulu, probably. And wild horses wouldn't get it out of HER. But if the slightest thing should go wrong---"
"Nothing will, dear. We'll drift about the world awhile, and the first thing you know you'll find yourself married hard and tight, and being invited to dinners and lunches and things in New York!"
Susan's dimples came into view. ”

“ Her sister May clasped her hands to her breast and drew an ecstatic sigh with her gaze on the ceiling as she cried: "Oh, Sister Sue, how perfectly lovely! And you'll have a church wedding, of course, and I'll be maid of honor! What shall I wear? Oh, you lucky girl! I think Martin Kent is positively the handsomest man I ever saw, and so do all the girls. They're simply crazy over him! Sue, Sister Sue, what shall I wear?" But Sister Sue was already halfway down the stairway: Gordon's clear whistle of the latest bit of ragtime had sounded from the hall below. ”

“ And it was such a nice, kind, jolly laugh that Sue could not help joining in. So she was really laughing and crying at the same time, which is funny, I suppose you think.
"Well, I'm glad you are so happy to see me, dear," said Aunt Lu. "Oh, don't mind about your dress," she went on, as she saw Sue trying to rub away some of the muddy spots with her tiny handkerchief. "Your mother will know you couldn't help it."
"I'll tell her it wasn't Sue's fault," cried Bunny. "The railroad oughtn't to have puddles where people will fall into 'em!"
"That's right," chimed in Bunker Blue. ”

“ In December, when Sister Sue and her father were again alone in the old house, came the unexpected from Gordon. Sister Sue had to read the letter twice before she got its full meaning. Then from the incoherent, rhapsodic tangle of blue eyes, golden hair, moonlight, darlings, and sweethearts, she unraveled this information:
He was going to leave college. He had fallen in love. The dearest girl in all the world had promised to be his wife. ”

“ I'm not used to being a tramp, and begging, either," he said. "But I've been sick, and I can't get any work, and I don't want to beg." [150]
"Aunt Lu likes to help people," said Bunny, "and so does my mother. You come on up stairs with me and I'll get you something to eat. Sue, you go in first, and get Henry to take you up in the elevator. Then Henry won't see me and this man come in, and he can't stop us."
"All right," agreed Sue. So, while Bunny stayed outside, with the ragged man, Sue went into the hall, and rang the elevator bell. ”

“ That shell was the make-believe dish of ice-cream, you see.
"Say, dis suah am a funny party," whispered Wopsie to Sue. "I—I don't see nuffin to eat!"
"Hush!" whispered Sue. "You never have anything to eat at a play-party; do you, Bunny?"
"Nope. But when we have one we always go in the house afterward, and mother gives us something."
"Let's watch them play," whispered Sue.
And so, not having found Bunny's kite, he and his sister Sue, and Wopsie, stood by the stoop, and watched the poor, ragged children at their play-party. ”