Long before all this Jeremy Todd had returned from the city to report that he had delivered the violin safely into the hands of Mr. Barstow, who would keep it till Reed Marshall came back to claim it. A royal time Jeremy had had with his old friend. “That visit has just made me over,” declared the good old man. “You remember that line in one of Richard Watson Gilder’s poems: ‘Now who can take from us what has been ours?’ That often comforts when the dark days are upon us. No one can ever take from me the joy of those days I have had with Peter Barstow.”
“Did he seem chagrined that I kept his gift such a little while,—that I was ready to part with it so soon?” Ellen asked wistfully.
“Not he. Don Pedro is a very understanding person, you know. I told him what you said about selfish sentimentality and he was much struck with the phrase.”
“It was borrowed from Cousin Rindy; don’t give me the credit for it.”
“Sounds like her. Well, my dear, sometimes our sacrifices come back to us in the form of joys. One never knows what flower may spring from a chance seed. These are pretty dark days for you, but the spring is on its way.”
And truly the spring was bringing the flower of a happy surprise to Ellen, for one day, when she was gathering some sprays of forsythia with which to adorn the table, she saw Jeremy Todd limping up the street toward her, and by his side walked a girl whose face and form looked very familiar.
Ellen dropped her flowers on the grass and ran down to the gate to meet the two. “It is, it is Mabel Wickham!” she cried. “How do you happen to be in Marshville?”
“Ask Mr. Todd,” replied Mabel laughing. “I hope I have not come because of vain imaginings. May we come in and tell you all about it?”
“Indeed you may.” Ellen opened the gate. “You don’t know how glad I am to see you.”
“And I am overjoyed to see you, but I want to see your cousin, too. May I? Is she able to receive strangers? Can she leave her room?”
“She not only leaves her room but gets all over the house on crutches. She is the pluckiest thing ever, and scorns being an invalid. Come in and I will call her.”
“Such a dear, quaint little old house as it is; I just love little houses,” said Mabel enthusiastically as she entered the hall; but she laughed when Ellen tragically indicated the ornaments on the mantel and the pictures on the walls.
“You can steep your soul in the beauties of our art treasures while I go to hunt up Cousin Rindy,” she remarked with a twist of a smile as she left the room, wondering meanwhile just what had brought Mabel to Marshville, and why she was in such a hurry to see Miss Rindy.
She was not long left in ignorance, for, as soon as Miss Rindy had clumped into the room and the usual forms of introduction were over, Mabel plunged into her subject.
“Please, Miss Crump,” she began, “put your mind in a receptive attitude, for if you don’t fall in with my plan I shall faint on the spot. To begin away back at the beginning: my grandmother loves to plan things months ahead, and so she commenced as soon as Christmas was over to talk about her summer plans. Year after year she has gone to a very fashionable, but deadly stupid, watering place where she could sit on the porch of a big hotel all day, do fancy work, and gossip with the other guests while they all rocked placidly. Well, I have stood it just about as long as I can, and this year, being of age, I made up my mind to rebel. My grandmother is neither old nor decrepit, and doesn’t need me in the least, for she will have hosts of friends in the same house, so I want to go off where I can enjoy myself in my own way. Last year one of my great-aunts died and left me a little cottage on an island off the Maine coast, and that is where I am crazy to go. Now this is where you come in.”
“Where we come in?” exclaimed Ellen excitedly.
“Exactly. Just hold your horses till my tale is told. Of course Gran held up her hands in holy horror when I suggested such a thing. The simple life has no appeal for her, and you would suppose the fisherfolk on the island went around in goatskins and armed with spears. Well, when I found she was deaf to all my blandishments I posted off to New York to my aunt, Mrs. Everleigh, who has more influence over Granny than any one else. Like the dear thing that she is, she listened to my tale of woe and promised to stand by me, so we planned out a course of action which promises to be successful if you will cooperate.”
“I may be very stupid, but I still fail to see our part in it,” Miss Rindy spoke.
“You will see in a minute, dear lady. There were two or three points to be settled before we could approach Granny again. We must have counter-arguments to meet hers. First, there must be some one provided to take my place, and we decided that a pretty, beguiling, and foolish little cousin, a débutante of next winter’s vintage, would be just the one, and we knew she would jump at the chance. Next, it would never do for me to go off into forest jungles and deserts wild without a proper chaperon; a cave man might grab me up at any moment and make off with me in a birch-bark canoe. Granny is still so unmodern as to believe in chaperons, you see, and she is mighty particular as to their quality. Well, we were mulling over this question when we happened to go to Mr. Barstow’s studio one afternoon. I was so full of my subject that I was ready to talk about it to every one, and I told my troubles to dear Mr. Barstow.”
“Dear Don Pedro, he would be just the one you would tell them to,” commented Ellen. “I haven’t a doubt but he could point to some way out.”
“He certainly did, so now it is up to you two. Oh, won’t you go with me? We could have such heavenly times, Ellen, and I am sure that invigorating air would do you a world of good, Miss Crump, make you over in fact. Please, please, don’t turn me down. I don’t mean that you are to decide at once. I shall be here till to-morrow, and you can sleep on it.”
“Do tell me what Mr. Barstow said,” Ellen urged.
“He sat thinking over the question when I put it to him, and all at once he looked up with that quizzical smile of his and asked: ‘What’s the matter with Ellen North and that fine cousin of hers? Why wouldn’t they be just the ones?’ I nearly fell on his neck. Then I rushed over and dragged Aunt Nell away from the people she was sitting with, and we all talked so fast that we had to begin all over again; but finally Mr. Barstow had the floor, and he proposed that I come down here and talk it over with you. He thought Mr. and Mrs. Todd might take me in for a day or two, which they have very kindly done, and that Mr. Todd would meet me, so here I am, thanks to the two blessed men.”
“But are you sure your grandmother will agree?” inquired Miss Rindy with caution.
“Oh, yes, I know she will, for Aunt Nell came back with me to Baltimore and we talked it all over. I think Gran is rather looking forward to watching Fan’s flirtations. The only thing that is uncertain is the matter of a cook, that is, provided you go. We could take our meals at a boarding-house, but it would be more fun to have them at home, don’t you think? I wouldn’t mind a course in domestic science myself, and it would be rather jolly to go to the store and ............