Julia Cloud

“ It was the first time in her long life of self-sacrifice that Julia Cloud had been able to rise above her anxiety about her sister’s tantrums and go calmly on her way. It is scarcely likely that she would have managed it now if it hadn’t been that she felt that Allison and Leslie ought not to be sacrificed.
She never did anything just for herself. ”

“ Julia bustled around happily, putting the rooms into charming order, hunting up a little picture of the child Samuel kneeling in the temple, that Allison used to like, going to the bottom of an old hair trunk for the 21 rag doll she had made for Leslie to cuddle when she went to sleep at night.
Mrs. Ambrose Perkins across the way looked uneasily out of her bedroom window at half-past nine, and said to her husband:
“Seems like Julia Cloud is staying up awful late to-night. She’s got a light in both front rooms, too. There can’t be company. ”

“ Julia Cloud drew the girl down beside her on the bed, and nestled her lovingly and close.
“It’s nothing, dear. It’s only that I had to hurt a good man. It always makes me sorry to have to hurt any one.”
Leslie nestled closer, smoothed her aunt’s hair, and tried to think what to say; but nothing came. She felt shy about it. Finally she put her lips up, and touched her aunt’s cheek, and whispered, “Don’t cry, Cloudy dear!” and just then she heard Allison’s key in the lock. She sprang up, drew her bath-robe about her, and ran down to whisper to him on the stairs what had happened. ”

“ Luddington was a typical business man, elderly and kind, with wise eyes and a great smile. He turned his eyes keenly on Julia Cloud for an instant at their first meeting, then let his full smile envelop her, and she was somehow made aware of the fact that he had set his seal of approval to the contract already made by his two enthusiastic wards. All the forebodings she had entertained in the little intervals when Leslie and Allison allowed her to think at all were swept aside by his kind look and big, serious tone when he first took her hand and scanned her true face. ”

“ Is that a bargain, Cloudy?”
“But I’m afraid I wouldn’t be wise enough to explain,” faltered Julia Cloud, distress in her voice. “I could maybe find something to read to you about it.”
“Oh, preserve us, Cloudy! We don’t want any old dissertations out of a book. If we can’t have your own thoughts that make you live it the way you do, we haven’t any use for any of it. See?”
Julia Cloud forced a trembling little smile, and said 131 she saw, and would do her best; but her heart sank at the prospect. What a responsibility to be put upon her ignorant shoulders. ”

“ And, when they all rode home through the moonlight, Julia Cloud nestled under the soft, thick robes of the car, and listened to the pleasant talk between the young people and their guardian with a sense of peace. If this strong, wise business man thought the arrangement was all right, why, then she need not fear any longer. ”

“ A quick intuition presented a possible solution. Cloudy would not leave them while they were in college, and had bid him wait, or perhaps turned him down altogether! How dear of her! And yet with quick revulsion of spirit she began to pity the poor, lonely man who could not have Cloudy when he loved her.
A moment later Julia Cloud came softly up the stairs and tiptoed into her own room, and, horror of horrors! Leslie could hear her catch her breath like soft sobbing! Did Cloudy care, then, and had she turned down a man she loved in order to stick to them and keep her promise to their guardian? ”

“ The next morning dawned with a dull, dreary drizzle coming noisily down on the red and yellow leaves of the maple by the window; but the three rose joyously and their ardor was not damped.
“Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work,” quoted Allison at the breakfast-table. “Cloudy, we’ve got to hustle. Do you mind if it does rain? We’ve got our car.”
But Julia Cloud smiled unconcernedly. ”

“ By this time the young people had begun to bring their college mates to the house, and everybody up there was crazy for an invitation to the little lunches and dinners and pleasant evening gatherings that had begun to be so popular. There were not wanting the usual “boy-crazy” girls, who went eagerly trailing Allison, literally begging him for rides and attention, and making up to Julia Cloud and Leslie in the most sickening of silly girl fashions. ”

“ Of course there’s a clause in there about reasonable notice if there is dissatisfaction on either side; that lets you out at any time you get tired of it. Only give me a chance to look after these youngsters properly.”
Julia Cloud took the pen eagerly, tremblingly, a sense of wonder in her pounding heart, and signed her name just as Ellen’s heavy footsteps could be heard pounding down the back stairs. Leslie seized Julia, and gave her a great hug as the last letter was finished, and then threw open the parlor door in the nick of time to save her Aunt Ellen from seeming to be deserted. ”

“ Ambrose Perkins, who hadn’t been able to eat her supper properly for watching the house to see what would happen next. Who could that young man be?
She simply couldn’t get a clew; for, when she went over for the soda, though she knocked several times, and heard voices up-stairs, and altogether unseemly laughter for a house where there had just been a funeral, not a soul came to the door! Could it be that Julia Cloud heard her and stayed up-stairs on purpose? She felt that as the nearest neighbor and a great friend, of Ellen’s it would be rather expected of her to find out what was going on. ”

“ Perkins say disagreeable things that would make it unpleasant for your aunt.”
“Of course!” said Leslie, nestling closer, her eyes dancing with some secret plans of her own. “That’s all right, Cloudy. How dear and sort of ‘understanding’ you are, just like a real mother.”
And somehow Julia Cloud felt as if she was entering into a new world.
Allison seemed to know by intuition just where to find the right kind of tea-room. He ushered them into the place, and found a table in a secluded nook, with a fountain playing nearby over ferns, and ivy climbing over a mimic pergola. ”

“ Ellen Robinson appeared on the scene just in time 72 to witness the hearty hand-shake that Guardy Lud gave Julia Cloud as he picked up the papers and went up-stairs for his suitcase while Allison went after the car to take him to the train.
“Is that man married? Because, if he isn’t, I don’t think it’s respectable for you to go and live near him!” declared Ellen in a penetrating voice to the intense distress of Julia Cloud, who was happily hurrying the dishes from the breakfast table. ”

“ Play house and you be mother. Will you do it, Cloudy Jewel? It means a whole lot to us, and we’ll try to play fair and make you have a good time.”
Julia Cloud put her hand on her heart, and lifted her bewildered eyes to the boy’s eager face.
“Me!” she said wonderingly. “You want me!”
“We sure do!” said Allison.
“Indeed we do, Cloudy, dear! That’s just what we do want!” cried Leslie, jumping up and running around to her aunt’s chair to embrace her excitedly. “And you promised, you know, that you would do what we wanted if you possibly, possibly could.” ”

“ This is a matter of conscience.”
“That’s all right, Cloudy,” put in Allison. “You have your say in things like that. We aren’t so selfish as all that. And besides, if it’s wrong for you, who knows but it’s wrong for us, too? We’ll look into it.”
Julia Cloud went smiling through the rest of the evening, but underneath was a tugging of strange dread and fear at her heart. It was all so new, this having responsibility with souls. She had always so quietly trusted her Bible and tried to follow her Lord. She had never had to guide others. ”

“ I’m sorry, because you wanted to go out in the car, didn’t you?”
“We’re going!” said Allison, again with a commanding twinkle in his eye. “We can’t waste all that time; and, besides, don’t you see if she comes here, she’ll likely stay all the afternoon and argue? If we go there, we can come away when we like; and she’ll feel we’re more polite to come to her, anyhow, won’t she, Cloudy?”
Julia Cloud looked into the boy’s convincing eyes, and her trouble cleared away. Perhaps he was right. Anyhow, why should they spoil a whole day to conciliate Ellen? ”

“ The young people looked at her, and were silent. There was a long, quiet pause in which the sounds of the falling nuts and the whispering of the hemlocks closed in about them, and made the day and hour a sacred time. At last Leslie broke the silence.
“Well, Cloudy, suppose we go to church and Christian Endeavor. What can we do the rest of the day? We don’t have to go to church every minute, do we? I don’t really see how it’s going to do me any good. I don’t, indeed.”
Julia Cloud smiled at her wistfully. ”

“ Down on the couch, with Allison stirring up the dying embers and Leslie nestled close to her, Julia Cloud heard bits about the evening.
“It wasn’t bad, Cloudy, ’deed it wasn’t. They dance a lot nicer in colleges than they do other places. I know, for I’ve been to lots of dances, and I never let men get too familiar. Allison taught me that when I was little. That’s why what you said made me so mad. I’ve always been a lot carefuller than you’d think, and I never dance with anybody the second time if I don’t like the way he does it the first time. ”

“ Leslie gave her one glance of hurt dismay, whirled back to her glass, and examined herself critically.
“Why, Cloudy!” Her voice was almost trembling, and her cheeks were rosier than the tulle with disappointment. “Why, Cloudy, I thought it was lovely! It’s just like everybody’s else. I thought you would think I looked nice!” The child drooped, and Julia Cloud went up to her gently.
“It is beautiful, darling, and you are––exquisite! But, dear! It seems terrible for my little girl to go among young men so sort of nakedly. I’m sure if you understood life better, you wouldn’t do it. ”

“ Julia Cloud reached over and patted the young hand that lay near her on the seat.
“Why, no, dear! I’m not mad, and I don’t care for black myself. I don’t believe in wearing black for the people who have left us and gone to heaven. It seems to me white would be a great deal better. But I put on these things to please Ellen. ”

“ The young people were bubbling over with life and spirits and kindliness, and Julia Cloud in her silvery robes and her white hair made a pleasant picture. But they were so wholly wrapped up in their own housekeeping plans that they were utterly unaware of the interest they excited in their fellow-boarders. Just at present they had no time to spare on other people. They were playing a game, just as they used to play house when they were little, with their aunt ”

“ One can’t do a thing that’s nice. But I’ll tell you what we can do!” her eyes growing bright with eagerness again. “We’ll measure and cut all the curtains, and turn the hems up. And, Allison, you can put up the fixtures. If only the machine could have been sent up to-day, we could have had the curtains all done, couldn’t we, Cloudy?”
But Julia Cloud’s lips were white and trembling, and her sweet eyes had suddenly gone dark with trouble and apprehension.
“O Leslie, darling child!” she gasped again. “You don’t mean you would work on the Sabbath day!” ”

“ Allison turned around, and drove slowly by the college grounds again.
“There are tennis-courts at the back,” said Leslie, “and that looks like a gym over there. Do you suppose that’s the athletic field over at the back?”
They drove slowly around the block, and Julia Cloud sat silently, trying to think of herself in this strange environment, and feeling suddenly chilly and alone. There would be a lot of strange people to meet, and the children would be off at college all day. ”

“ Luddington down to the office for Guardy, how she squeaked every time another car 105 went by, and cautioned me to be careful and go slow, and asked me how many times I had ever driven before, and if I wasn’t exceeding the speed-limit, and no end of things? But Cloudy hasn’t batted an eye. She just sits there as if she was riding a cloud and enjoyed it.”
“Well, I do,” said Julia Cloud, laughing; “and I never thought of being afraid. I didn’t know enough to. Ought I to? Because I’m having such a good time that I’m afraid I’d forget to be frightened.”
“That’s what I said. You’re a good sport. ”

“ And there was Julia Cloud, her white hair awry, and her face rosy with mirth, an ear of corn in one hand and a knife in the other, being carried––yes, actually carried––across the dining-room in the arms of a tall young man and deposited firmly on the big old couch.
“There, Cloudy Jewel! You’ll lie right there and rest while Leslie and I get lunch. You’re all tired out; I can see it in your eyes; and we can’t afford to let you stay so. No, we don’t need any succotash for lunch or dinner, either. I know it’s good ”

“ Men are awful hard on each other, Ambrose. I always knew that.”
Julia Cloud meanwhile, with a last look at the neat rooms, put out her lights, and went to bed, but not to sleep. She was so excited that the darkness seemed luminous about her. She was trying to think how 22 those two children would look grown up. Allison was nineteen and Leslie nearly seventeen now. Their mother had been dead five years, and they had been in boarding-schools. Their guardian was an old gentleman, a friend of their mother’s. ”

“ It isn’t a bit right. It distresses me to have you think it’s right to answer back that way and take vengeance on people.”
“Well, there, Cloudy, let’s lay that subject on the table for some of our night talks; and you can scold us all you like. We have a lot of work to do now, and let’s forget the old pry. Now you lie down on that couch where I put you, and Leslie and I’ll wash these dishes.”
Julia Cloud lay obediently on the couch, but her mind was not at rest. She was in a tumult of indignation at her prying neighbor and an uncertainty of anxiety about Ellen and what she might do next. ”