CHAPTER V.
OVER by a little dormer window in the garret, they found the pile of books, and Mrs. Knight left them to make their examination by the fast waning light of the afternoon.
One by one, Mabel and Harold laid the books aside, after peeping inside the covers. They divided the lot, and each took a certain number to examine.
Mabel was about half way down the heap upon which she was at work, when, suddenly, she gave a little cry of joy: “Oh, Harold; here it is! It is, it is! Look; do look!”
O, HAROLD, HERE IT IS!“O, HAROLD, HERE IT IS!”
“O, HAROLD, HERE IT IS!”
“O, HAROLD, HERE IT IS!”
Harold dropped the musty volume he had just picked up, and came over towhere Mabel was, hardly willing to believe that she was right in making such an announcement.
“Well, I’ll be switched if it isn’t!” he said, after looking it over carefully.
“Oh, do let us hurry down with it to Mrs. Knight! Oh, Harold, do you suppose she will sell it to me?” Mabel said, eagerly.
“Of course, I think she will,” Harold answered from the stairs, down which he was going post-haste.
Mabel followed, holding tightly to the book, and they quite startled not only the old lady, but her cat, who was sitting in her lap.
Bobby fled under the sofa, with tail twice its usual size, as the children burst into the room, crying: “We’ve found it, we’ve found it!”
“Softly, my dears; softly. You havescared poor Bobby, who is so nervous after his late troubles; I think he is afraid his enemies are upon him again.”
“Poor Bobby,” said Mabel, gently, pausing in the centre of the room. “We wouldn’t hurt you for the world. See, Mrs. Knight; we did find the book. Will you sell it to me; I have five dollars to buy it with?”
“Five dollars? The whole lot wouldn’t bring that!” exclaimed Mrs. Knight.
“Oh, but it would,” returned Mabel, honestly; “for one of those books sold a day or two ago for fifteen.”
“Does thee really mean it? Well, my cat is worth more than that to me; so, take the book, and be welcome to it.”
Mabel could hardly believe her ears. “Oh,” she exclaimed; “do you really mean to give it to me?”
“I would scarce tell thee to take it,unless I meant it; and, in my opinion, it is very little to give. I cannot see why thee should consider it of any value.”
“But,” went on honest Mabel, “we know it is worth a great deal, for the man who bought the one we saw, said he wouldn’t take fifty dollars for it.”
“And I would not take a hundred dollars for my cat. Besides, I am an old woman, with neither kit nor kin, and when I die, what I have will go to charity; so, if the book is of any use to thee, take it, child; it is a very small thing to me in return for what thee has done.”
Mabel’s radiant face expressed her thanks, without her words. “Now, we must go,” she said, after she had repeated her words of appreciation, again and again. “Oh, see how dark it is getting. Mamma will be dreadfully worried, I’m afraid.”
“Then I’ll not keep thee a moment,”Mrs. Knight said. “Come again, if thee cares to visit an old, lame woman and her cat. I shall be glad to see you both at any time, and if there is anything I can do for either of you, it will give me pleasure to do it.”
They promised to come again, and made their farewells, then set out for the cars.
“Just think,” said Mabel, as they turned the corner, “if we hadn’t stopped to help Mrs. Knight to find her cat, we might never have been able to get the book.”
“That’s what they call ‘bread upon the waters,’” returned Harold, sagely.
Mabel was a little puzzled, until Harold explained what it meant.
“Oh, I suppose it is about the same as ‘one good turn deserves another,’” she decided.
“Dear me, how long the cars are coming,” said Harold. “Your mamma will think we are lost, and won’t believe I am taking very good care of you.”
They reached home at last, but not before Mrs. Ford had, indeed, begun to feel much worried at their long absence. But she did not scold, after she had heard their joyous voices at her door, and learned what had detained them.
Mabel concluded her story with: “So, you see, we couldn’t help it. Was it very wrong to stay, mamma?”
“Perhaps not; although it has given me an anxious hour. Still, it is worth that much to see my little girl relieved of her anxiety, and to know that she has well earned her right to be trusted again. And also, that she has proven, beyond question, that she is honest and faithful. Papa will be so very glad, dear.”
“May I go to him right away? Is he in the library?” Mabel asked.
“Yes, he is there; and you may go right away.”
Mabel turned, a little doubtfully, to where Harold had stood a moment before; but he had taken in the situation, and had left the room. “Oh, Harold isn’t here,” said the little girl. “Mamma, ought I to ask him to go with me to papa?”
“You would rather not?”
“Don’t you think I ought to, when he helped me so much about getting the book?”
“Not necessarily; and I think he has gone off on purpose, for I am sure he understands how you feel. If he comes back, I’ll tell him that you intended to ask him. Now, run along, dearie.”
It had been many weeks since Mabelhad crossed the threshold of the library, and her father looked up in surprise, as he saw her at the door.
“Mamma said I might come,” she began eagerly, “and oh, papa, I have the book; here it is.”
“The book? What book?” He took the package mechanically, while Mabel stood on tip-toe with her hands tightly clasped, and her eyes fixed on his face.
As Mr. Ford’s gaze rested on the old book with its dull covers, his surprise was evident. “Why, Mabel,” he exclaimed, “where did you get this? It is even an older edition than mine, and in quite as good, if not better condition than mine was originally. Tell me about it, little daughter.” And he drew her kindly to his knee.
Then Mabel poured forth her tale, beginning with her resolve to make good,if possible, the mischief she had done. “For you know, papa,” she concluded by saying, “you always have told me that one ought never to be in debt, and so— Are you pleased, papa? Do you trust me again?”
He kissed her and drew her closer. “Indeed I do, dear child,” he answered.
“And I may come into the library again?”
“Just as before.”
Mabel gave a little satisfied sigh. It was so good to have all restrictions taken away.
“Now I must go to work again, daughter,” said her father. “Thank you very much for getting me the book; and, yes, I think I shall have to give you the other one. Keep it on your shelves, and perhaps it will remind you of two or three things.”
“What?”
“Can you guess?”
“One is, not to meddle with what isn’t mine.”
“Yes, that is one.”
“And the other—I can’t guess, papa.”
“That ‘a wrong confessed is half redressed’, and that your father has very great respect for the honor and justice, and self-sacrifice his little daughter has shown.”
Then Mabel left him, and trudged upstairs feeling very happy. On her way down again her mother met her. “Mrs. Lewis was here this afternoon,” she said, “and she said we must all come to the lawn party. She told me there seemed to be some coolness between Marie and you, but she hoped that nothing serious was the matter.”
“Oh, mamma, do you think Marie has said anything about me to her mother?”
“Perhaps, but if she has, Mrs. Lewis does not seem to attach much importance to it. If mammas were to take seriously all the little fusses their children get into, I am afraid they would have a hard time of it.”
Mabel stood patting the baluster softly. She was thinking very soberly. Presently she looked up, “Mamma, do you mind if I give the five dollars to the Cuban orphans?” she asked.
“I have not the slightest objection.”
“Won’t the girls be surprised?”
“Do you want them to be?”
“Why, yes, I think so. They were very mean to me, to be sure, and we have scarcely spoken for weeks. Would you go to the lawn party if you were I, mamma? I don’t think you know howhateful they were,” and then she told her story.
“They were very unjust, I admit,” her mother told her, “but I think they will be very much ashamed of themselves when they see you willing to help them so generously. Yes, I think you and Alice and Harold should all go, even if the girls have been unkind. It will not be a social affair, remember, and if the cause is good the rest does not matter.”
“But about the money, mamma; I was going to ask you to send it for me.”
“Wouldn’t you rather spend it at the lawn party? You might give a part of it to the fund, but you’ll be doing just the same if you buy things from the girls, and, besides, it will be pleasant for them to feel that they have such a good customer.What was the reason you thought you would not spend it there?”
“Because—because—I didn’t want to show off,” Mabel answered, shyly.
Mrs. Ford put her arm around the child. “I think you have already sacrificed enough, dear,” she said. “No one doubts that you have the right feeling. Never mind what the girls think, but go and enjoy yourself. I promised Mrs. Lewis that I would send a contribution of biscuits and salad, and several of the neighbors have promised me something. So I shall probably send you and Harold off foraging to-morrow; at least, I’ll let you collect some of the articles for me.”
“Mamma, Mrs. Knight has such beautiful flowers; I wonder if she wouldn’t give us some? She said she would be glad to do anything she couldfor us, because we helped her to get Bobby.”
Mrs. Ford considered for a moment. “If you want to go and ask her, I see no harm in it, but you’d better wait till Friday morning, so the flowers will be fresh, if you get any.”
Therefore, Mrs. Knight received a second visit from the children, as she was busy making some of her famous cinnamon-bun, on Friday morning. Mabel explained their errand and met with a hearty response.
“Give you some flowers? To be sure, I will, gladly; and you can have every one in the garden, if you want them.”
“Oh, we couldn’t carry every one,” said Harold, in all seriousness. Mrs. Knight laughed. “Thee is literal enough for a Friend,” she said. “Then I will not give thee all my flowers, but how would theelike a loaf of my bun? I’ll warrant they’ll not have any like it at thy friend’s party, Mabel. But I give it to thee, and thee must donate it in thy name.”
“Oh, would that be fair?” asked the little girl.
“Does thee think a Friend would tell thee to do a thing unfair? Then if thy compunctions are even more tender than mine I will give it to thee to do with as thee chooses.”
“But, can you spare it, Mrs. Knight?”
“I can make more when I want it,” she returned. “I always keep it on hand, for I am fond of it myself, thee sees.”
Therefore, with their hands and arms laden, they returned to the city, and the exclamations of appreciation which met them when their donations were handed in, warmed their hearts mightily, andmade Mabel, at least, feel much more that she was a welcome guest.
Still, Marie and Ethel had not yet greeted her, and she rather anxiously waited to find out how they would act when they saw her there.