CHAPTER III.
“Oh, Gracie, Gracie, I’ve had the nicest, the most splendid time that ever was!” cried Lulu, rushing into their own little sitting-room where Grace lay on the sofa, having that moment waked from her afternoon nap.
“Oh, have you, Lu? I’m so glad,” she exclaimed, as her sister paused for breath: for Lulu had rushed up stairs so fast in her joyful eagerness to tell every thing to Grace, that she had not much breath left for talking.
“I’ve had a good time, too, looking at pictures and playing with baby, and hearing lovely stories that mamma and Aunt Elsie told me,” continued Gracie. “But tell me ’bout yours.”
“Oh, it would be a long story to tell you every thing,” said Lulu. “I enjoyed the drive ever so much, sitting close beside papa, with his arm round me, and he giving me such a loving look every once in a while, and asking me if I was quite warm and comfortable. Then we went to ever so many stores and bought lots of things, some handsome and some not worth much, but just to make fun (when we have the case, you know). And papa was, oh,sokind! he let mebuy every single thing I wanted to. And he says I may label the presents this evening—he helping me because it would be too much for me to do all alone—and decide which present is to be given to which person.”
“Oh, Lu, what fun!” cried Grace.
“Yes; and you shall have some say in it too, if you want to,” returned Lulu, generously, throwing off her coat as she spoke, then bending down to give Grace a loving kiss.
“I’m to make out the list of folks to be invited, too,” she ran on, “and write the notes, with papa’s help. He says this is to be all our own party—Max’s, and yours, and mine—and he wants us to get every bit of pleasure out of it we can. Isn’t he a dear, kind father?”
“Yes, indeed.”
“And, Oh Gracie, how nice it is to have him at home with us all the time and to live with him in this lovely home!”
“Yes, Lu, I think we ought to be ever such good children.”
“So do I. Oh, here comes papa!” as a manly step drew near the door.
It opened, and the captain came in and bending over Gracie kissed her several times, asking in tender tones how she was and if she had had a pleasant day.
“Yes, papa; oh, very! I’ve just had a nice nap and now I’d like to get up and siton your knee a little while, if you’re not too tired.”
“I’m not at all tired, my pet, and shall enjoy it perhaps as much as you will,” he said, seating himself and complying with her request.
“Lulu, daughter, put your hat and coat in their proper places, and make your hair neat.”
“Yes, sir,” Lulu returned, in bright, cheerful tones, and moving promptly to obey.
She was back again almost immediately. “Oh, Gracie,” she said, “I didn’t tell you about our dinner! Papa took us to Morse’s, the best and most expensive place in the city, and he let me choose just what I wanted from the bill of fare, and he paid for it.”
“And my wise little girl, who thinks it so delightful to have her own way, chose several dishes that she found she could not eat at all,” remarked the captain, with a humorous look and smile directed at Lulu, who was now standing close at his side.
“Yes,” she said, blushing, “you told me I wouldn’t like them, papa, and I found you knew best after all, but you and Aunt Zoe enjoyed them so that they weren’t lost.”
“Quite true,” he responded.
“And then, papa, let me choose again,” Lulu went on, addressing Grace, “and I took things I knew I liked.”
“You did have a splendid time,” remarked Gracie, rather wistfully.
“I hope you will be able to go with us next year, my pet,” her father said, caressing her tenderly.
“O, papa! are we to have another party next year?” queried Lulu, in almost breathless excitement.
“That depends,” he said; “if a certain little girl of mine should indulge in an outburst of passion while she is playing hostess to her young friends, I think the prospect of a party for her next year will not be a very brilliant one.”
“Oh, I hope I won’t, papa; please watch me all the time, and do every thing you can to help me keep from it,” Lulu murmured, her arm round his neck and her cheek laid to his.
“I certainly shall, my dear child,” he answered, putting his arm about her and drawing her into a close embrace; “and I am very hopeful in regard to it; you have been behaving so well of late. It gives me great pleasure to be able to say that.”
She lifted dewy eyes to his. “Thank you, papa. Oh, I do mean to try as hard as I can!”
“Suppose we decide now who are to be invited,” he said. “Gracie must have a say about that, as well as the rest of us.”
“I s’pose we’ll have all the relations—leastall that aren’t too old—won’t we papa?” she asked.
“Yes, I think so; the same company they had at the Oaks, for the whole time, and the grown people in the evenings, when we are to have tableaux or the magic cave or something else not too juvenile for them to enjoy.”
“Papa,” said Lulu, “I thought you said I was to have some choice.”
“Yes, daughter; mention any one else you may wish to invite.”
“I don’t care to have any body else, but—papa, please don’t be angry with me, but I’d rather not have Rosie Travilla here.” She hung her head and blushed, as she spoke in a low, hesitating way.
The captain looked a little surprised, but not angry. “Why not, my child?” he asked. “You ought to have a very good excuse for leaving her out.”
“Papa, its because—because I’m afraid she’ll get me in a passion.”
“Ah,” he said with an involuntary sigh, “I remember now that she was mixed up in some way with that unfortunate affair of a few weeks ago. But can you not forgive her for that?”
“Yes, papa, if I only could be sure she wouldn’t say horrid things to me that—but, oh, I didn’t mean to tell tales!”
“And I certainly don’t want to hear any; yet I should be far from willing to have your hard task of controlling your temper made harder for you.”
“I don’t want to be a tell-tale either,” Grace said timidly, “and I do like Rosie; but sometimes she isn’t very good to Lu. Sometimes she teases her so that I think its ’most more her fault than Lu’s when Lu gets in a passion.”
“Ah, that is news to me; and perhaps I have been too hard on my quick-tempered little daughter,” he said in a remorseful tone, drawing Lulu into a closer embrace, and pressing a tender kiss upon her forehead.
Lulu looked up with a flash of joy in her eyes, then dropping her head on his shoulder so that her face was half hidden there, “I’ll invite Rosie if you want me to, papa,” she said, “and if she teases me I’ll try to be patient.”
“That’s my own dear child,” was his kindly response. “I should not like to have her left out considering how very kind her mother and grandfather have been to my children, and that she is your mamma’s sister; and I hardly think she will do or say unkind, trying things to you when she is your guest in your father’s house. I feel quite sure she will not in my presence, and I shall arrange matters so that I can be with you almost all the time while your guests are here.”
“O, papa, thank you!” cried Lulu, drawing a long breath of relief; “then I’m quite willing to have Rosie here. I shouldn’t like to hurt Grandma Elsie’s feelings, or Mamma Vi’s or even Rosie’s own, by leaving her out.”
“I am rejoiced to hear you say that; I trust there is little or no malice in your nature,” he said, repeating his caresses.
“Papa, I think Lu’s very good ’cept her temper,” said Grace, putting an arm affectionately round her sister’s neck.
“No,” said Lulu, “I’m willful, too; I’ve disobeyed papa more than once because I liked my own way best; and I’m bad other ways, sometimes. But I do love our dear father, and I am trying to be a better girl,” she added, lifting her head to look affectionately into his face.
“Yes, daughter, I see that you are, and it makes me very happy,” he said.
“Now, I have something to tell you, two, that will please you, I think. We are all invited to spend to-morrow afternoon at the Oaks to see some tableaux they are getting up there, and I hope even my little Grace will be able to go.”
“Oh, how nice!” cried Lulu, while Grace asked, “Will you go and take us, papa?”
“I hope to,” he answered, smiling fondly down upon her. “Ah, there is the tea-bell! Will you travel down to the table in papa’s arms?”
“Yes, sir; if you like to carry me, and it won’t make you tired.”
“It won’t tire me at all, my pet. I only wish you were heavy enough to be something of a burden,” he said, as he rose with her in his arms and moved on toward the door, Lulu following.
“Oh, Lu, don’t you wish you were in my place?” Grace asked with a gleeful laugh, looking down at her sister over their father’s shoulder.
“No; I’m so big and heavy that it must tire papa to carry me.”
“Hardly,” he said; “you remember it is not many weeks since I did carry you quite a distance?”
“But didn’t it tire you, papa?”
“Very little; I was scarcely sensible of fatigue.”
“Oh, its nice as nice can be to have such a big strong papa!” cried Grace, giving him a hug.
It was quite a party, and a merry one that gathered about the tea-table, enlarged, since breakfast by the addition of Violet’s mother and her two college boys.
The talk ran principally upon the holiday amusements going on at the Oaks and those in course of preparation at Woodburn.
“They boast of being able to get up somevery fine tableaux at the Oaks,” remarked Harold, “and expect to quite astonish us to-morrow.”
“I hope you are going, captain, and will take Lulu and Gracie with you,” Grandma Elsie said, half inquiringly, smiling kindly upon the two little girls as she spoke.
“Yes,” he said, smiling also into the eager young faces, “I shall certainly take them both, unless something unforeseen happens to prevent; my wife having promised to go with us,” he added, with an affectionate glance at Violet.
“Yes, indeed! I shouldn’t like to miss it,” she said gayly; “I believe Zoe and I are about as eager over these holiday doings as either of the children.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” he responded; “a man enjoys having a young wife even when not young himself.”
“And the older he is, the younger he wants his wife to be,” remarked Zoe in a lively tone: “at least so I have heard people say.”
“But papa isn’t old, aunt Zoe!” exclaimed Lulu, indignantly.
“My dear child,” laughed her father, “it’s no sin to be old, so you need not be so ready to take up the cudgels for me.”
“Have you sent out your invitations, Lulu?” asked Zoe.
“No, ma’am, not yet.”
“You will have an opportunity to give themverbally to-morrow afternoon, if you like,” remarked her father.
“But I—I don’t think I want to, papa,” she said. “I’d like to send nice little notes—only it’s a good deal of trouble to write them.”
“Oh!” said Zoe, “you can have plenty of help in it; I’ll volunteer for one.”
“I, too, am at your service,” said Grandma Elsie; and her offer was followed by several others.
“‘Many hands make light work,’” said Zoe, “and we’ll have the thing done in a few minutes after leaving the table. Then there’ll be plenty of time for the selection of subjects for our tableaux, which I intend shall outshine those at the Oaks.”
“Don’t make rash promises,” said Edward, laughingly, “you have not seen those at the Oaks yet.”
“Are we who abode by the stuff to-day, to see your purchases now?” asked Mrs. Leland, lightly, as they left the table.
“Why, no; of course not,” cried Zoe, with emphasis; “half the fun will be in the surprises when the Peri hands out her gifts. O, captain,” turning hastily to him, “is it to be decided beforehand who is to have what?”
“I think that would be the better plan,” he answered, “and I propose that you and Lulushare that privilege, if privilege you consider it.”
“That I do,” she returned, quite delightedly; “and if you like I’ll help label them, so there need be no mistake in the distribution.”
“Suppose you three attend to that business, in the children’s sitting-room, while the rest of us repair to the library and write the invitations,” suggested Violet; adding “then you can join us and help in the selections for the tableaux.”
“An excellent arrangement, my dear,” said her husband. “Shall we carry out our part of it, Madam Zoe?”
“With all my heart, Sir Captain,” rejoined Zoe, merrily.
“Then I will order our purchases carried up to the appointed place. Gracie, shall I take you up there to oversee us at our work?”
“O, papa, mayn’t I help, too?” asked the little girl, with a very wistful, coaxing look in her sweet blue eyes, as she lifted them to his face.
“Help, darling? What could such a feeble little one as you do?”
“I mean help say whose the things are to be,” she said.
“Ah, I did not understand! Yes, my pet, you may; the gifts are to be from you as much as from your brother and sister; so no one hasa better right to a voice in the matter of distribution.”
He was rewarded by a very bright, glad look and smile as she held up her arms to be taken.
He held her while giving his order to a servant whom he had summoned, then carried her up, settled her comfortably in an easy chair, and wheeled it up beside a table whereon the day’s purchases were presently piled.
Zoe and Lulu had followed. The captain politely placed a chair for each, then seated himself, and the work began; he writing the labels and they affixing them.
It was all done very harmoniously; there seemed to be but little difference of opinion, and Lulu behaved as well as could have been desired, gracefully yielding her wishes now and again to those of Zoe or her little sister.
That pleased her father very much, and she felt amply rewarded by his smile of approval.
“There, that job is done!” announced Zoe at length.
“Why,” exclaimed Grace, in a tone of mingled surprise and dismay, “there’s nothing for papa! No, nor for you, Aunt Zoe; nor Lu either!”
“Oh, that is all right, little girlie!” laughed Zoe, “for of course if we provided our own gifts we should miss the surprise, which is more than half the fun.”
“Oh, yes!” she said, “I forgot that.”
“You and I will contrive to find something for Aunt Zoe and Lu,” her father said to her in a low aside; at which she clapped her hands and laughed gleefully.
“Now we are going down to the library,” he continued, aloud, “shall I carry you there?”
“I’m afraid it will make you too tired, papa, to carry me up and down so often,” she answered, but with a longing, wistful look that plainly told her desire to be with others.
So, with the assurance that she was a very light burden and he enjoyed carrying her, he picked her up and bore her on after Zoe, while Lulu brought up the rear.
“We’ll soon have to make this journey again,” he said, “for it will be your bedtime in about half an hour.”
“O papa, can’t I stay up a while longer tonight?” she pleaded.
“If you were well and strong I should say yes without any hesitation,” he answered; “but I think you will find yourself weary enough to be glad to go to bed at the usual hour.”
And he was right; for though much interested at first in the talk that was going on among the older people, her eyelids presently began to droop, and her head dropped on her father’s shoulder, for she was sitting in her favorite place upon his knee.
“Ah, birdie, you are ready for your nest, Isee,” he said, passing his hand softly over her golden curls; “papa will carry you up and put you in it.”
“Yes,” she murmured sleepily. “Lulu, won’t you come too?”
Lulu hesitated, and looked half inquiringly, half entreatingly at her father. She was very loath to leave the room while the interesting discussions in regard to arrangements for the anticipated amusements were going on, questions of drapery, scenery, costumes, and who should be given this part and who that, were being settled.
“You are free to go or stay, as you choose,” the captain answered to the look, speaking in a very kind tone.
He waited a moment for her decision. There was evidently a struggle in her mind for a brief space, but love for her little feeble sister conquered.
“I’ll go, papa,” she said. “I’ve been away from Gracie all day, and it would be too bad to refuse her.”
“That is right and kind, daughter,” he returned with an approving smile, as he rose with the little sleeper in his arms, for Gracie was already too far on the way to the land of dreams to be aware of the sacrifice of inclination Lulu was making for her sake.