 CHAPTER 1 OF WHAT KATIE DID NEXT This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. WHAT KATIE DID NEXT By Susan Coolidge CHAPTER 1 An Unexpected Guest The September sun was glinting cheerfully into a pretty bedroom furnished with blue. It danced on the glossy hair and bright eyes of two girls who sat together hemming ruffles for a white muslin dress. The half-finished skirt of the dress lay on the bed and as each crisp ruffle was completed the girls added it to the snowy heap which looked like a drift of transparent clouds or a pile of foamy white of egg beaten stiff enough to stand alone. These girls were Clover and Elsie Carr and it was Clover's first evening dress for which they were hemming ruffles. It was nearly two years since a certain visit made by Johnny to Incher Smilts of which some of you have read in nine little goslings and more than three since Clover and Katie had returned home from the boarding school at Hillsover. Clover was now 18. She was a very small Clover still but it would have been hard to find anywhere a prettier little maiden than she had grown to be. Her skin was so exquisitely fair that her arms and wrists and shoulders which were round and dimple like a baby's seemed cut out of daisies or white rose leaves. Her thick brown hair waved and coiled gracefully about her head. Her smile was peculiarly sweet and the eyes always Clover's chief beauty had still that pathetic look which made them irresistible to tender hearted people. Elsie who adored Clover considered her as beautiful as girls in books and was proud to be permitted to hemm ruffles for the dress in which she was to burst upon the world. Though as for that not much bursting was possible in Burnett where tea parties of a middle-aged description and now and then a mild little dance represented Katie and society. Girls came out very much as the sun comes out in the morning but slow degrees and gradual approaches with no particular one moment which could be fixed upon as having been the crisis of the joyful event. There said Elsie, adding another ruffle to the pile on the bed. There's the fifth done. It's going to be ever so pretty, I think. I'm glad you had it all white. It's a great deal nicer. Sessie wanted me to have a blue bodice and sash, said Clover, but I wouldn't. Then she tried to persuade me to get a long spray of pink roses for the skirt. I'm so glad you didn't. Sessie was always crazy about pink roses. I only wonder she didn't wear them when she was married. Yes, the excellent Sessie who had 13 had announced her intention to devote her whole life to teaching Sunday school, visiting the poor and setting a good example to her more worldly contemporaries had actually forgotten these fine resolutions and before she was 20 had become the wife of Sylvester Slack, a young lawyer in a neighboring town. Sessie's wedding and wedding clothes and Sessie's house furnishing had been the great excitement of the preceding year in Burnett and a fresh excitement had come since in the shape of Sessie's baby now about two months old and named Catherine Clover after her two friends. This made it natural that Sessie and her affairs would still be of interest in the car household and Johnny, at the time we write off, was making her a week's visit. She was rather wedded to them, went on Clover, pursuing the subject of the pink roses. She was almost vexed when I wouldn't buy the spray but it cost lots and I didn't want it in the least so I stood firm. Besides, I always said that my first party dress should be plain white. Pants and novels always wear white to their first balls and fresh flowers are a great deal prettier anyway than artificial. Katie says she'll give me some violets to wear. Oh, will she? That will be lovely! cried the adoring Elsie. Violets look just like you somehow. Oh, Clover, what sort of a dress do you think I shall have when I grow up and go to parties and things? Won't it be awfully interesting for you and I go out to choose it? Just then the noise of someone running upstairs quickly made the sisters look up from their work. Footsteps are very significant at times and these footsteps suggested hasten excitement. Another moment the door opened and Katie dashed in calling out, Papa, Elsie, Clover, where's Papa? He went over the river to see that son of Mr. Violets who broke his leg. Why? What's the matter? Asked Clover, is somebody hurt? Inquired Elsie startled at Katie's agitated looks. No, not hurt, but poor Mrs. Ash isn't such trouble. Mrs. Ash, it should be explained, was a widow who had come to burn it some months previously and had taken a pleasant house not far from the cars. She was a pretty, lady-like woman with a particularly graceful, appealing manner and very fond of her one child, a little girl. Katie and Papa both took a fancy to her at once and the families had grown neighbourly and intimate in a short time as people occasionally do when circumstances are favourable. I'll tell you all about it in a minute. Went on Katie, but first I must find Alexander and send him off to meet Papa and beg him to hurry home. She went to the head of the stairs as she spoke and called, Debbie, Debbie. Debbie answered. Katie gave her direction and then came back again to the room where the other two were sitting. Now, she said, speaking more collectively, I must explain as fast as I can for I have got to go back. You know that Mrs. Ash's little nephew is here for a visit, don't you? Yes, he came on Saturday. Well, he was ailing all day yesterday and today he is worse and she is afraid it is scarlet fever. Luckily, Amy was spending the day with the euphemists yesterday so she scarcely saw the boy at all and as soon as her mother became alarmed she sent her out into the garden to play and hasn't let her come indoors since. So she can't have been exposed to any particular danger yet. I went by the house on my way down the street and there sat the poor little thing all alone in the arbor with her dolly in her lap looking so disconsolate. I spoke to her over the fence and opened the upstairs window and called to me. She said Amy had never had the fever and that the very idea of her having it frightened her to death. She is such a delicate child, you know. Oh, poor Mrs. Ash. Quite clover. I am so sorry for her. Well, Katie, what did you do? I hope I didn't do wrong but I offered to bring Amy here. Papa won't object. I am almost sure. Why? Of course he won't. Well, I am going back now to fetch Amy. Mrs. Ash is to let Ellen, who hasn't been in the room with the little boy, pack a bag full of clothes and put it out on the steps and I shall send Alexander for it by and by. You can't think how troubled poor Mrs. Ash was. She couldn't help crying when she said that Amy was all she had left in the world. And I nearly cried to do. I was so sorry for her. She was so relieved when I said that we would take Amy. You know, she has a great deal of confidence in Papa. Yes, and in you too. Where will you put Amy to sleep, Katie? What do you think would be best in Dory's room? I think she'd better come in here with you and I'll go into Dory's room. She's used to sleeping with her mother, you know, and she would be lonely if she were left to herself. Perhaps that will be better. Only it is a great bother for you, clovey dear. I don't mind, responded clover cheerfully. I'd rather like to change about and try a new room once in a while. It's as good as going on a journey, almost. She pushed aside the half-finished dress as she spoke, opened her drawer, took out its contents, and began to carry them across the entry to Dory's room, doing everything with the orderly deliberation that was characteristic of whatever clover did. Her preparations were almost complete with her little Amy ash. Amy was a tall child of eight with a frank, happy face and long, light hair hanging down her back. She looked like the pictures of Alice in Wonderland, but just at that moment it was a very woeful little Alice indeed that she resembled for her cheeks were stained with tears and her eyes swollen with recent crying. Why, what is the matter? cried kind little clover taking Amy in her arms with a great hug. Aren't you glad that you are coming to make us a visit? We are. Mama didn't kiss me for goodbye, sobbed the little girl. She didn't come downstairs at all. She just put her head out of the window and said, Goodbye. Amy, be very good and don't make Miss Carr any trouble. And then she went away. I never went anywhere before without kissing Mama for goodbye. Mama was afraid to kiss you explained Katie, taking her turn as a comforter. It wasn't because she forgot. She felt worse about it than you did, I imagine. You know the thing she cares most for is that you shall not be ill as your cousin Walter is. She would rather do anything than have that happen. As soon as he gets well she will kiss you dozens of times see if she doesn't. Meanwhile, she says in this note that you must write her a little letter every day and she will hang a basket with a string out of the window and you and I will go and drop the letters into the basket and stand by the gate and see her pull it up. That will be funny, won't it? We will play that you are my little girl and that you have a real Mama and a make-believe Mama. Shall I sleep with you? Demanded Amy. Yes, in that bed over there. It's a pretty bed, pronounced Amy after examining it gravely for a moment. My story every morning. If you don't wake me up too early my stories are always sleepy till 7 o'clock. Let us see what Ellen has packed in that bag and then I'll give you some drawers of your own and we will put the things away. The bag was full of neat little frocks and underclothes stuffed hastily in altogether. Katie took them out smoothing the folds and crimping the tumbled ruffles with her fingers. As she lifted the last skirt a cry of joy pounced on something that lay beneath it. It is Maria Matilda, she said. I'm glad of that. I thought Ellen would forget her and the poor child wouldn't know what to do with me and her little sister not coming to see her for so long. She was having the measles on the back shelf of the closet, you know and nobody would have heard her if she had cried ever so loud. What a pretty face she has, said Katie taking the doll out of Amy's hands. Yes, but not so pretty as Mabel. Miss Eupham says that Mabel is the prettiest child she ever saw. Look, Miss Clover lifting the other doll from the table where she had laid it. Haven't she got sweet eyes? She's older than Maria Matilda and she knows a great deal more. She's bigger on French verbs. Not really. Which ones? Oh, only Jem, Douaime, Ilem, you know the same that our class is learning at school. She hasn't tried any but that. Sometimes she says it quite nicely but sometimes she's very stupid and I have to scold her. Amy had quite recovered her spirits by this time. Are these the only dolls you have? Oh, please don't call them that. Urged Amy. It hurts their feelings dreadfully. I never let them know that they are dolls. They think that they are real children only sometimes when they are very bad I use the word for punishment. I've got several other children. There's old Ragatza. My uncle named her and she's made of rag but she has such bad rheumatism that I don't play with her any longer. I just give her medicine. Then there's Effy Deans. She's got only one leg and Mopsa, the fairy. She's a tiny one made out of china and Peg of Lincoln, buddy but she don't count What very queer names your children have? said Elsie who had come in during the enumeration. Yes, Uncle Ned named them. He's a very funny uncle but he's nice. He's always so much interested in my children. There's Papa now cried Katie and she ran downstairs to meet him. Did I do right? She asked anxiously after she had told her story. Yes, my dear. Perfectly right. She replied Dr. Carr. I only hope Amy was taken away in time. I will go round at once to see Mrs. Ash and the boy. And Katie, keep away from me when I come back and keep the others away till I have changed my coat. It is odd how soon and how easily human beings accustomed themselves to a new condition of things. When sudden illness comes or a sudden sorrow or a house is burned up or blown down by a tornado, there are few hours of tension and bewilderment and then people gather up their wits and their courage and set to work to repair damages. They clear away ruins, plant, rebuilt, very much as ants whose hill has been trodden upon after running wildly about for a little while begin altogether to reconstruct the tiny cone of sand which is so important in their eyes. In a very short time the changes which at first seem so sad and strange become accustomed to their awkward surprises. It seemed to the cars after a few days as if they had always had Amy in the house with them. Papa's daily visit to the sick room their avoidance of him till after he had changed his coat, Amy's lessons and games of play, her dressing and undressing the walks with the make-believe mama the dropping of notes into the little basket seemed part of a system of things which had been going on for a long, long time and which everybody would miss but they by no means suddenly stopped. Little water Ash's case proved to be rather a severe one and after he had begun to mend he caught cold somehow and was taken worse again. There were some serious symptoms and for a few days Dr. Carr did not feel sure how things would turn. He did not speak of his anxiety at home but kept silence and a cheerful face as doctors know how to do. Only Katie was more intimate with her father than the rest guessed that things were going gravely at the other house and she was too well trained to ask questions. The threatening symptoms passed off however and little water slowly got better. But it was a long convulsions and Mrs. Ash grew thin and pale before he began to look rosy. There was no one in whom she could devolve the charge of the child. His mother was dead. His father an overworked businessman had time to run up once a week to see about him. There was no one at his home but a housekeeper in whom Mrs. Ash had not full confidence. So the good aunt denied herself the sight of her own child and devoted her strength and time to water. And nearly two months passed and still little Amy remained at Dr. Carr's. She was entirely happy there. She had grown very fond of Katie and was perfectly at home with the others. Phil and Johnny who had returned from her visit to Sassy were by no means too old or too proud to be playfellows to a child of eight. And with all the older members of the family, Amy was a chosen pet. Debbie baked turnovers and twisted cinnamon cakes into all sorts of fantastic shapes to please her. Alexander would let her drive if she happened to sit on the front seat of the carry-all. Dr. Carr was seldom so tired that he could not tell her a story. And nobody told such nice stories as Dr. Carr. Amy thought. Elsie invented all manner of charming games for the hour before bedtime. Clover made wonderful capes and bonnets for Mabel and Maria Matilda. And Katie Katie did all sorts of things. Katie had a peculiar gift with children which is not easy to define. Some people possess it and some do not. It cannot be learned, it comes by nature. She was bright and firm and equitable all at once. She both amused and influenced them. There was something about her which excited the childish imagination and always they felt her sympathy. Amy was a tractable child and intelligent beyond her age but she was never quite so good with anyone as with Katie. She followed her about like a little lover. She lavished upon her certain special words and caresses which she gave to no one else and would kneel on her lap holding Katie's shoulders with her soft hand and cooing up into her face like a happy dove for a half hour together. Katie laughed at these demonstrations but they pleased her very much. She loved to be loved as all affectionate people do but most of all to be loved by a child. At last the long convulsions ended. Walter was carried away to his father with every possible precaution against fatigue and exposure where people was turned into Mrs. Ash's house. Plaster was scraped and painted, wallpapers torn down, mattresses made over and clothing burned. At last Dr. Carr pronounced the premises in a sanitary condition and Mrs. Ash sent for her little girl to come home again. Amy was overjoyed at the prospect of seeing her mother but at the last moment she clung to Katie and cried as if her heart would break. I want you too she said. Oh if Dr. Carr would only let you come and live with me and Mama I should be so happy. I shall be so lonely. Nonsense cried Clover. Lonely with Mama and those poor children of yours who have been wondering all these weeks what has become of you. They'll want a great deal of attention at first I'm sure. Medicine and new clothes and whippings all manner of things. They're not of the blue and brown plate like Johnny's Balmoral. I mean to begin it tomorrow. Oh will you? Forgetting her grief. That will be lovely. The skirt needn't be very full you know. Effy doesn't walk much because of only having one leg. She will be so pleased for she hasn't had a new dress I don't know when. Consulted by the prospect of Effy's satisfaction Amy departed quite cheerfully and Mrs. Ash was spared the pain of seeing her only child in tears on the first evening of their reunion. But Amy talked so constantly of Katie and seemed to love her so much that it put a plan into her mother's head which led to important results as the next chapter will show. End of Chapter 1 Chapter 2 of What Katie Did Next This is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Ryan Gubbley What Katie Did Next by Susan Coolidge Chapter 2 In Invitation It is a curious fact and makes life very interesting that generally speaking none of us have any expectation that things are going to happen until the very moment when they do happen. We wake up some morning with no idea that a great happiness is at hand and before night it has come and all the world has changed for us or we wake bright and cheerful with never a guess that the clouds of sorrow are lowering in our sky to put all the sunshine out for a while and before noon all is dark nothing whispers of either the joy or the grief no instinct bids us to delay or to hasten the opening of the letter or telegram or the lifting of the latch of the door or ill. And because it may be and often is happy tidings that come and joyful things which happen each fresh day as it dawns upon us is like an unread story full of possible interest and adventure to be made ours as soon as we have cut the pages and begun to read. Nothing whispered to Katie Carr as she sat at the window mending a long rant in Johnny's school coat and saw Mrs. Ash come in at the side gate and ring the office bell Mrs. Ash often did come to the office to consult Dr. Carr Amy might not be quite well, Katie thought or there might be a letter with something about Walter in it or perhaps matters had gone wrong at the house where papers and painters were still at work. So she went calmly on with her darling drawing the ravelling with which her needle was threaded carefully in and out and taking nice even stitches without one prophetic thrill or tremor while if only she could have looked through the two walls and two doors which separated the room in which she sat from the office and have heard what Mrs. Ash was saying the school coat would have been thrown to the winds and for all her tall stature and propriety she would have been skipping with delight and astonishment for Mrs. Ash was asking Papa to let her do the very thing of all others that she most long to do she was asking him to let Katie go with her to Europe I'm not very well she told the doctor I got tired and run down while Walter was ill and I don't seem to throw it off as I hoped I should I feel as if this change would do me good don't you think so yourself yes I do Dr. Carr admitted this idea of Europe is not altogether a new one continued Mrs. Ash I've always meant to go some time and I've put it off partly because I dreaded going alone and I didn't have anybody with whom I exactly wanted to take with me but if you will let me have Katie Dr. Carr it will settle all my difficulties Amy loves her dearly and so do I she is just the companion I need if I have her with me I shan't be afraid of anything I do hope you will consent how long do you mean to be away? asked Dr. Carr, divided between pleasure at these compliments to Katie and dismay at the idea of losing her about a year I think my plans are rather vague as yet but my idea was to spend a few weeks in Scotland in England first I have some cousins in London who will be good to us and an old friend of mine married a gentleman who lives on the Isle of Wight perhaps we might go there but we'll see and a few other places and before it gets cold go down to Nice and from there to Italy Katie would like to see Italy don't you think so? I dare say she would said Dr. Carr with a smile she would be a queer girl if she didn't there is one reason why I thought Italy would be particularly pleasant this winter for me and her too one on Miss Ash and that is because my brother will be there he is lieutenant in the Navy you know he and Naples buy and buy and if we were there at the same time we should have Ned to go about with and he would take us to the receptions on the frigate and all that which would be a nice chance for Katie then towards spring I should like to go to Florence and Venice and visit the Italian lakes in Switzerland in the early summer but all this depends on your letting Katie go if you decide against it I should give the whole thing up but if you won't decide against it coaxingly you will be kinder than that I will take the best possible care of her I can to make her happy if only you will consent to lend her to me and I shall consider it's such a favor and it is to cost you nothing you understand doctor she used to be my guest all through that is a point I want to make clear in the outset before she goes at my sake and I cannot take her on any other conditions now Dr. Carr please please I am sure you won't deny me when I have so set my heart upon having her Mrs. Ash was very pretty and persuasive but still Dr. Carr hesitated and sent Katie for a year's pleasuring in Europe was a thing that had never occurred to his mind as possible the cost alone would have been prevented for country doctors with six children are not apt to be rich men even in the limited and old fashioned construction of the word wealth it seemed equally impossible to let her go at Mrs. Ash's expense at the same time the chance was such a good one and Mrs. Ash so much in earnest and so urgent that it was difficult to refuse point blank he finally consented to take time for consideration for making his decision I will talk it over with Katie he said the child ought to have a say in the matter and whatever we decide you must let me thank you and her name as well as my own for your great kindness in proposing it Dr. I'm not kind at all and I don't want to be thanked my desire to take Katie with me to Europe is purely selfish I am a lonely person she went on I have no mother or sister and no cousins of my own age my brother's profession keeps him at sea I scarcely ever see him I have no one but a couple of old aunts who are feeble and health to travel with me or to be counted on in case of any emergency you see I am a real case for pity Mrs. Ash spoke gaily but her brown eyes were dim with tears as she ended her little appeal Dr. Carr who was soft-hearted where women were concerned was touched perhaps his face showed it for Mrs. Ash added in a more helpful tone but I won't tease anymore I know you will not refuse me unless you think it right and necessary and she continued misjuviously I have great faith in Katie I am an ally I am pretty sure that she will say that she wants to go and indeed Katie's cry of delight when the plan was proposed to her said that sufficiently without need of further explanation to go to Europe for a year with Mrs. Ash and Amy seemed simply too delightful to be true all the things she had heard and read about cathedrals pictures alpine peaks famous places famous people came rushing to her mind in a sort of burglaring tide as dazzling as it were overwhelming Dr. Carr's objections his reluctance to part with her melted before the radiance of her satisfaction he had no idea that Katie would care so much about it after all it was a great chance perhaps the only one of the sort that she would ever have Mrs. Ash could well afford to give Katie this treat he knew and it was quite true what she said that it was a favor to her as well as to Katie this train of reasoning led to its natural results Dr. Carr began to waver in his mind but the first excitement over Katie's second thoughts were more ones how could Papa manage without her for a whole year she asked herself he would miss her she well knew and might not charge of the house be too much for Clover the preserves were almost all made that was one comfort but there were the winter close to be seen to Dory needed new flannels Elsie's dress must be altered over a Johnny there were cucumbers to pick the coal to order a host of house widely cares began to troop through Katie's mind and a little pucker came into her forehead and a worried look across the face which had been so bright a few minutes before strange to say it was that little pucker and that look of worry which decided Dr. Carr she is only 21 he reflected hardly out of childhood I don't want her to settle into an anxious dredging state and lose her youth with caring for us all she shall go though how we are to manage without her I don't see little Clover will have to come to the fore and show what sort of stuff is in her little Clover came gallantly to the fore when the first shock of surprise was over and she had relieved her mind with one long private cry over having to do without Katie for a year then she wiped her eyes and began to revel unselfishly in the idea of her sisters having so great a treat anything and everything seemed possible to secure it for her and she made light of all Katie's many anxieties and apprehensions my dear child I know a flannel undershirt when I see one just as well as you do she declared tux in Johnny's dress for sooth why of course ripping out a tuck doesn't require any superhuman ingenuity give me your scissors and I'll show you at once Quince Marmalade Debbie can make that hers is about as good as yours and if it wasn't what should we care as long as you are sending Mont Blanc and hobnobbing with Michelangelo and the crowned heads of Europe I'll make the spiced peaches I'll order the kindling and if there ever comes a time when I feel lost and can't manage without advice I'll go across to Mrs. Hall don't worry about us we shall get on happily and easily in fact I shouldn't be surprised if I develop such a turn for housekeeping that when you come back the family refuse to change and you had just sit down for the rest of your life and twirl your thumbs and watch me do it wouldn't that be fine and clover left merely so Katie darling cast that shadow from your brow and look as a girl ought to look who's going to Europe why if it were I who were going I should simply stand on my head every moment of the time not a very convenient position for packing said Katie smiling I guess it is if you just turn your trunk upside down when I think of all the delightful things you are going to do I can hardly sit still I love Mrs. Ash for inviting you so do I said Katie soberly it was the kindest thing I can't think why she did it well I can replied clover always ready to defend Katie even against herself she did it because she wanted you and she wanted you because you are the dearest old thing in the world and the nicest to have about you needn't say you're not for you are I placed another thought on such miserable things as pickles and undershirts we shall get along perfectly well I do assure you just fix your mind instead on the dome of St. Peter's or try to fancy how you'll feel the first time you step into a gondola or see the Mediterranean there will be a moment I feel a 40 horsepower of housekeeping developing within me and what fun it will be to get your letters we shall fetch out the encyclopedia and the big atlas and the history of modern Europe and read all about everything you see and all about the places you go to and it will be a good lesson in geography and history and political economy all combined only a great deal more interesting we shall stick out all over with knowledge before you come back and this makes it a plain duty to go if it were only for our sakes with these zealous promises Katie was forced to be content indeed contentment was not difficult with such a prospect of delight before her when once her little anxieties had been laid aside the idea of the coming journey of pleasantness every moment night after night she and Papa and the children poured over the maps and made out schemes for travel and sightseeing every one of which was likely to be discarded as soon as the real journey began but they didn't know that and it made no real difference such schemes are the preliminary joys of travel and it really doesn't signify that they come to nothing after they have served their purpose Katie learned a great deal while thus talking over what she was to see and do she read every scrap she could lay her hands on which related to Rome or Florence or Venice or London the driest details had a charm for her now that she was likely to see the real places she went about with scraps of paper in her pocket on which were written such things as these Forum, when built by whom built, more than one what does Senacola mean Sencelia Metella who was she? find out about St. Catherine of Siena who was Beatrice Kensie how she wished that she had studied harder and more carefully before this wonderful chance came to her people always wish this when they are starting for Europe and they wish it more and more after they get there and realize of what value, exact ideas and information and a fuller knowledge of the foreign language are to all travelers how they add to the charm of everything seen and enhance the ease of everything done all Burnett took an interest in Katie's plans and almost everybody had some sort of advice or help or some little gift to offer old Mrs. Warratt, who though fatter than ever still retained the power of locomotion drove in from Connick's section in her roomy cariol with the present of a rather obsolete copy of Murray's Guide in faded red covers which her father had used in his youth and which she was sure Katie would find convenient also a bottle of Brown's Jamaica ginger in case of seasickness Debbie's sister-in-law brought a bundle of dried chamomile for the same purpose someone had told her it was the hardest thing in the world to take along with you on them steamboats C.C. sent a wonderful old and scarlet contrivance to hang on the wall of the state room there were pockets for watches and pockets for the medicines and pockets for handkerchief and hairpins in short, there were pockets for everything besides a pincushion with bon voyage and rows of shining pins a bottle of Audu cologne a cake of soap and a hammer and tax to nail the hole up with Mrs. Hall's gift was a warm and very pretty woollen wrapper of dark blue flannel with a pair of soft knitted slippers to match Mr. Ward sent a note of advice recommending Katie to take a quinine pill every day that she was away never to stay out late because the dews over there were said to be unwholesome and on no account to drink a drop of water which had not been boiled from cousin Helen came a delightful traveling bag light and strong at the once and fitted up with all manner of nice little conveniences Ms. Inches sent a history of Europe in five fat volumes which were so heavy that it had to be left at home in fact, a good many of Katie's presents had to be left at home including a bronze paperweight in the shape of a griffin a large pair of brass screw candlesticks and an Ormaloo ink stand with a pen rest attached which weighed at least a pound and a half these Katie laid aside to enjoy after her return Mrs. Ash and cousin Helen had both warned her of the inconvenient consequences of weight in baggage and by their advice she had limited herself to a single trunk of moderate size besides a little flat of the lies for use in her state room Clover's gift was a set of blank books for notes journals, etc. in one of these Katie made out a list of things I must see, things I must do things I would like to see, things I would like to do another she devoted to various good shopping addresses which had been given her for though she did not expect to do any shopping herself she thought Mrs. Ash might find them useful Katie's ideas were still so simple and unworldly and her experience of life so small that had not occurred to her how very tantalizing it might be to stand in front of a shop window full of delightful things and not be able to buy any of them she was accordingly overpowered with surprise, gratitude and a sense of sudden wealth when about a week before the start her father gave her three little thin strips of paper which she told her were circular notes and worth a hundred dollars a piece he also gave her five English sovereigns those are for immediate use he said, put the notes away carefully and don't lose them you had better have them cashed one of the times you require them Mrs. Ash will explain how you will need a gown or so before you come back and you'll want to buy some photographs and so on and there will be fees but pop up, protested Katie opening wide her candid eyes I didn't expect you to give me any money and I'm afraid you are giving me too much do you think I can afford it? really and truly, I don't want to buy things I shall see everything you know and that's enough her father only laughed you'll be wiser and greedier before the year is out my dear he replied so far as you'll find but it's all I can spare and I trust you to keep within it not come home with any long bills for me to pay Papa, I should think not cried Katie with unsophisticated horror one very interesting thing was to happen before they sailed the thought of which helped both Katie and Clover through the last hard days when the preparations were nearly complete and the family had leisure to feel dull and out of spirits Katie was to make Rose read a visit Rose had by no means been idle during the three years and a half which had elapsed since they all partied at Hillsover and during which the girls had not seen her in fact, she had made more out of the time than any of the rest of them for she had been engaged for 18 months, had been married and was now keeping house near Boston with a little Rose of her own who she wrote to Clover was a perfect angel and more delicious than words could say Mrs. Ash had taken patches in the Spartacus sailing from Boston and it was arranged that Katie should spend the last two days before sailing with Rose while Mrs. Ash and Amy visited an old aunt in Hingham to see Rose in her own home and Rose's husband and Rose's baby was only next in interest to seeing Europe none of the changes in her lot seem to have changed her particularly to judge by the letters she sent and replies to Katie's announcing her plans which ran as follows Longwood September 20th my dearest child, your note made me dance with delight I stood on my head waving my heels wildly to the breeze till Deniston thought I must be taken suddenly mad when I explained he did the same it is too enchanting the whole of it I put it at the head of all the nice things that ever happened except my baby write the moment you get this by what train you expect to reach Boston and when you roll into the station you will behold two forms one tall and stalwart the other short and fat some waiting for you they will be those of Deniston and myself Deniston is not beautiful but he is good and he is prepared to adore you the baby is both good and beautiful for her I am neither but you know all about me and I always did adore you and always shall I am going out this moment to the butchers to order a calf fatted for your special behoof and he shall be slain and made into the cutlets the moment I hear from you my funny little house which is quite a dear little house too assumes a new interest in my eyes from the fact that you so soon are to see it it is somewhat queer as you might know my house would be but I think you will like it I saw Silvery Mary the other day in the house as ever I shall ask her and some of the other girls to come out to lunch on one of your days goodbye with a hundred and fifty kisses to Clovie and the rest your loving Rose Red she never signs herself brown I observe said Clover as she finished the letter oh Rose Red Brown would sound too funny Rose Red she must say till the end of the chapter no other name could suit her half so well and I can't imagine her being called anything else what fun it will be to see her in little Rose and Denniston Brown put in Clover somehow I find it rather hard to take in the fact that there is a Denniston Brown observed Katie it will be easier after you've seen him perhaps the last day came as last day's will Katie's trunk most carefully and exactly packed by the united efforts of the family stood in the hall locked and strapped not to be opened till the party reached London this fact gave it a certain awful interest in the eyes of Phil and Johnny and even else he gazed upon it with respect the little Valise was also ready and dory and the neat handed had painted a red star on both ends of it and in the trunk that they might easily be picked from among a heap of luggage he now proceeded to prepare and paste on two square cards labeled respectively hold and state room Mrs. Hall had told them that this was the correct thing to do Mrs. Ash had also been full of business likewise and putting her house to rights for a family who had rented it for the time of her absence Katie and Clover had taken a good many hours from their own preparations to help her all was done at last and one bright morning in October Katie stood on the wharf with her family about her and a lump in her throat which made it difficult to speak for any of them she stood so very still and said so very little that a bystander not acquainted with the circumstances might have dubbed her unfeeling while the fact was that she was feeling too much the first bell rang Katie kissed everybody quietly and went on board with her father her parting from him hardest of all took place in the midst of a crowd of people then he had to leave her and as the wheels began to revolve she went out on the side deck to have a last glimpse of the home faces there they were Elsie crying tumultuously with her head on Papa's coat sleeve John laughing or trying to laugh with big tears running down her cheeks the while and brave little Clover waving her handkerchief encouragingly but with a very sober look on her face Katie's heart went out to the little group with a sudden passion of regret and yearning why had she said she would go what was all Europe in comparison with what she was leaving life was so short how could she take a whole year out of it to spend away from the people she loved best if it had been left to her to choose I think she would have flown back to the shore then and there and given up the journey I also think she would have been heartily sorry a little later had she done so but it was not left for her to choose already the throb of engines was growing more regular and the distant widening the great boat and the wharf gradually the deer faces faded into the distance and after watching till the flutter of Clover's handkerchief became an undistinguishable speck Katie went to the cabin with a heavy heart but there were Mrs. Ash and Amy inclined to be homesick also in the need of cheering and Katie as she tried to brighten them gradually grew bright herself and recovered her hopeful spirits Burnett pulled less strongly as it got further away and Europe back in more brilliantly now that they were fairly on their journey the sun shone the lake was beautiful dazzling blue and Katie said to herself after all a year is not very long and how happy I am going to be end of chapter two an invitation recording by Ryan Goobely Seattle Washington Ryan at Goobely.net Chapter three of what Katie did next this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Linda Ferguson what Katie did next by Susan Coolidge Chapter three Rose and Rosebud 36 hours later the Albany train running smoothly across the green levels beyond the Mill Dam brought the travellers to Boston Katie looked eagerly from the window for her first glimpse of the city of which she had heard so much dear little Boston how nice it is to see it again she heard a lady behind her say but why it should be called little Boston she could not imagine seen from the train it looked large imposing and very picturesque after flat Burnett with its one bank down to the edge of the lake she studied the towers, steeples and red roofs crowding each other up the slopes of the tri-mountain and big state house dome all and made up her mind that she liked the looks of it better than any other city she had ever seen the train slackened at speed ran for a few moments between rows of tall shabby brick walls and with a long final screech of its whistle came to halt in the station house everyone made a simultaneous rush for the door and Katie and Mrs. Ash waiting to collect their books and bags found themselves wedged into their seats and unable to get out was a confusing moment and not comfortable such moments never are but the discomfort brightened into a sense of relief as looking out of the window Katie caught sight of her face exactly opposite which had evidently caught sight of her a fresh pretty face with light waving hair pink cheeks all a dimple and eyes which shone with laughter and welcome it was Rose herself not a bit changed during the years since they parted a tall young man stood beside her and forced to be her husband, Dennis and Brown there is Rose red cried Katie to Mrs. Ash, oh doesn't she look dear and natural do wait and let me introduce you I want you to know her but the train had come in a little behind time and Mrs. Ash was afraid of missing the Hingham boat so she only took a hasty peek from the window at Rose, pronounced her to be charming looking kissed Katie hurriedly reminded her that they must be on the steamer punctually at twelve o'clock the following Saturday and was gone with Amy beside her so that Katie following last of all the slow moving line of passengers stepped all alone down from the platform into the arms of Rose red you darling was Rose's first greeting I began to think you meant to spend the night in the car you were so long in getting out well how perfectly lovely this is Deniston here is Katie Katie this is my husband Rose looked about fifteen as she spoke and so absurdly young to have a husband that Katie could not help laughing as she shook hands with Deniston and his own eyes twinkled with fun and evident recognition of the same joke he was tall young man with a pleasant steady face and seemed to be infinitely amused in a quiet way with everything which his wife said and did let us make haste and get out of this hole went on Rose I can scarcely see for the smoke Deniston dear please find the cab and have Katie's luggage put on it I'm wild to get a home and exhibit baby before she chews up her new sash or does something else that is dreadful to spoil her looks I left her sitting in state Katie with all her best clothes on waiting to be made known to you my large trunk is to go straight to the steamer explained Katie as she gave her checks to Mr. Brown I only want the little one taken out to Longwood please now this is Cosy remarked Rose when they were seated in the cab with Katie's bag on her feet Deniston my love I wish you were going out with us there's a nice little bench here already in vacant which is just suited to a man of your inches you won't well come in the early train then don't forget now isn't he just as nice as I told you he was she demanded the moment the cab began to move he looks very nice indeed as far as I can judge in three minutes at a quarter my dear it ought not to take anybody of ordinary discernment a minute and a quarter to believe that he's simply the dearest fellow that ever lived said Rose I discovered it three seconds after I first beheld him and was desperately in love with him before he had fairly finished his first bow after introduction and was he equally prompt asked Katie he says so replied Rose with a pretty blush but then you know he could hardly say less after such a frank confession on my part it is no more than decent of him to make believe even if it is not true now Katie look at Boston and see if you don't love it the cab had now turned into bolston street and on the right hand lay the common green as summer after the autumn rains with the Elm archers leafy still long slant beams of afternoon sun were filtering through the bowels and falling across the turf in the paths where people were walking and sitting and children and babies playing together it was a delightful scene and Katie received an impression of space and cheer and air and freshness which ever after was associated with her recollection of Boston Rose was quite satisfied with her raptures as they drove through trial street between the common and the public garden all ablaze with the autumn flowers and down the length of Beacon Street with the blue bay shining between the handsome houses on the water side every vestibule and bay window was gay with potted plants and flower boxes and a concourse of happy looking people on foot on horseback and in carriages was surging to and fro like an equal prosperous tide while the sunlight glorified all Boston shows a soft Venetian side, quoted Katie after a while I know now what Mr. Lowell meant when he wrote that I don't believe there is a more beautiful place in the world Why of course there isn't retorted Rose who was a most devoted little Bostonian in spite of the fact that she had lived in Washington nearly all her life I've not seen much beside to be sure but that is no matter I know it is true it is the dream of my life to come into the city to live I don't care what part I live in West End, South End, North End it's all one to me so long as it is Boston but don't you like Longwood asked Katie looking out admiringly at the pretty places set amid vines and troperies which they were now passing it looks so very pretty and pleasant Yes it's well enough for anyone who has taste for natural beauties cried Rose I haven't, I never had there is nothing I hate so much as nature I'm a born cockney I'd rather live in one room over Jordan and marshes and see the world wag past than be the owner of the most romantic villa that ever was built I don't care where it may be situated the cab now turned in at a gate and followed a curving drive bordered with trees to a pretty stone house with a porch embellished with Virginia Creepers before which it stopped cried Rose springing out now Katie you mustn't even take time to sit down before I show you the dearest baby that ever was sent to this sinful earth here let me take your bag come straight upstairs and I will exhibit her to you they ran up accordingly and Rose took Katie into a large sunny nursery where tied with a pink ribbon into a little basket chair and watched over by a pretty young nurse sat a dear fat fair baby so exactly like Rose in miniature that no one could possibly have mistaken the relationship the baby began to laugh and coo as soon as it caught sight of its gay little mother and exhibited just such another dimple as hers in the middle of a pink cheek Katie was enchanted oh you darling she said would she come to me do you think Rose why of course she shall replied Rose picking up the baby as if she had been a pillow and stuffing her into Katie's arms head first now just look at her and tell me if you ever saw anything so enchanting in the whole course of your life before isn't she big isn't she beautiful isn't she good just see her little hands and her hair she never cries except when it's clearly her duty to cry see her turn her head to look at me oh you angel and seizing the long suffering baby she smothered it with kisses I never never never did see anything so sweet smell her Katie doesn't she smell like heaven little Rose was indeed a delicious baby all dimples and good humor and violet powder with a skin as soft as a lily's leaf and a happy capacity for allowing herself to be petted and cuddled without remonstrance Katie wanted to hold her all the time but this Rose would by no means permit in fact I may as well say at once that the two girls spent a great part of their time during the visit in fighting for the possession of the baby who looked on at the struggle and smiled on the victor whichever it happened to be with all the philosophical composure of Helen of Troy she was so soft and sunny and equitable that it was no more trouble to care for and amuse her than if she'd been a bird or a kitten and as Rose remarked it was ten times better fun I was never allowed as much doll as I wanted in my infancy, she said I suppose I tore them to pieces too soon and they couldn't give me tin ones to play with as they did wash bowls when I broke the china ones were you such a very bad child asked Katie oh utterly depraved I believe you wouldn't think so now would you I recollect some dreadful occasions at school once I had my head pinned up in my apron because I would make faces at the other scholars and they laughed but I promptly bit a bay window through the apron and ran my tongue out of it till they laughed worse than ever the teacher used to send me home with notes fast into my pinafore with things like this written in them little Frisk has been more trouble than usual today she has pinched all the younger children and bent the bonnets of all the older ones we hope to see an amendment soon or we do not know what we shall do why did they call you little Frisk inquired Katie after she had recovered from the laugh which Rose's reminiscence called forth it was a term of endearment I suppose but somehow my family never seemed to enjoy it as they ought I cannot understand she went on reflectively it would have been sense enough to suppress those awful little notes it would have been so easy to lose them on the way home but somehow it never occurred to me little Rose will be wiser than that won't she my angel she will tear up the horrid notes Mammy will show her how all the time that Katie was washing her face and brushing the dust of the railway from her dress Rose sat by with little Rose in her lap entertaining her thus when she was ready the droll little mama tucked her baby under her arm and led the way downstairs to a large square parlor with a bay window through which the western sun was shining it was a pretty room and had a flavour about it just like Rose Katie declared no one else would have hung the pictures or looped back the curtains in exactly that way or have hit upon the happy device of filling the grates with great bunches of marigolds pale brown gold and an orange to simulate the fire which would have been quite too warm on so mild an evening Morris papers and shinses and artistic shades of colour were in their infancy at that date but Rose's taste was in advance of her time and with a foreshadowing of the coming reaction she had chosen a greenery yellowery paper for her walls against which hung various articles which looked a great deal queerer than they would today there was a mandolin picked up at some eastern sale a warming pan in shining brass from her mother's attic two old samplers worked in faded silks and a quantity of gaily-tinted Japanese fans and embroideries she had also begged from an old aunt at Beverly Farms a couple of droll little armchairs in white painted wood with covers of antique needlework one had chit embroidered on the middle of its cushion the other chat these stood suggestively at the corners of the hearth now Katie said Rose, seating herself in chit pull up chat and let us begin so they did begin and went on, interrupted only by baby Rose's coos and splutters till the dusk fell till appetizing smells floated through from the rear of the house and the click of a latch key announced Mr. Brown come home just in time for dinner the two days visit went only too quickly there is nothing more fascinating to a girl the manage of a young couple of her own age it is a sort of play at real life without the cares and senses of responsibility that real life is sure to bring Rose was an adventurous housekeeper she was still new to the position she found it very entertaining and she delighted in experiments of all sorts if they turned out well it was good fun if not, that was funny as still her husband, for all his serious manner had a real boy's love of a lark and he aided and abetted her in all sorts of whimsical devices they owned a dog who was only less dear than the baby a cat only less dear than the dog the house seemed to stir with young life all over the only elderly thing in it was the cook who had the reputation of a dreadful temper only, unfortunately, Rose made her laugh so much that she never found time to be cross Katie felt quite an old experienced person amid all this movement and liveliness and cheer it seemed to her that nobody in the house had ever seen her in the house it seemed to her that it seemed to her that nobody in the world could possibly be having such a good time as Rose but Rose did not take the same view of the situation it's all very well now she said while the warm weather lasts but in winter longwood is simply gruesome the wind never stops blowing day nor night it howls and it roars and it screams till I feel as if every nerve in my body were on the point of snapping in two and the snow and the wind and burglars every night of our lives they come or I think they come and I lie awake and hear them sharpening their tools and forcing the locks and murdering the cook and kidnapping baby till I long to die and have done with them forever oh nature is the most unpleasant thing burglars are not nature objected Katie what are they then art high art well whatever they are I do not like them oh if ever the happy day comes I have no sense to move into town I never wish to set my eyes on the country again as long as I live unless well yes I should like to come out just once more in the horse cars and kick that elm tree by the fence the number of times that I have lain awake at night listening to its creaking you might kick it without waiting to have a house in town oh I shouldn't dare as long as we are living here you never know what nature may do she has ways of her own getting even with people remarked her friend solemnly no time must be lost in showing Boston to Katie Rose said so the morning after her arrival she was taken in bright and early to see the sights there were not quite so many sights to be seen then as there are today the art museum had not got much above its foundations the new Trinity church was still in the future but the big organ and the bronze statue of Beethoven were in their glory and every day at high noon a small sparkling audience wandered into music hall to hear the instrument played to this extemporary concert Katie was taken and to Fanele Hall and the Atheneum to Dolan Richards where was an exhibition of pictures to the Grainery Graveyard and the Old South then the girls did a little shopping and by that time they were quite tired enough to make an idea of lunch and agreeable so they took the path across the common to the Joy Street Mall Katie was charmed by all she had seen the delightful nearness of so many interesting things surprised her she perceived what is one of Boston's chief charms that the common and its surrounding streets make a natural centre and rallying point for the whole city as the heart is the centre of the body and keeps up a quick correspondence and regulates the life of all its extremities the stately old houses on Beacon Street with their rounded fronts deep window casements and here and there a mauve or lilac pane stashers took her fancy greatly and so did the State House whose situation made it sufficiently imposing even before the gilding of the dome up the steep steps of the Joy Street Mall they went to the house on Mountain Vernon Street which the Reddings had taken on their return from Washington nearly three years before Rose had previously shown Katie the site of the old family house on Summer Street where she was born now given over wholly to warehouses and shops their present residence was one of those wide old-fashioned brick houses on the crest of the hill whose upper windows command the views across to the Boston Highlands in the rear was a spacious yard almost large enough to be called a garden walled in with ivies and grapevines under which were long beds full of roses and chrysanthemums and marigolds and minnets Rose carried a latch key in her pocket which she said had been one of her wedding gifts with this she unlocked the front door and let Katie into a roomy white painted hall we will go straight through to the back steps she said Mum is sure to be sitting there she always sits there till the first frost she says it makes her think of the country how different people are I don't want to think of the country but I'm never allowed to forget it for a moment Mum is so fond of those steps in the garden there to be sure Mrs. Redding was found sitting in a wicker work chair under the shade of the grapevines a big basket of mending at her side it looks so homely and country-like to find a person thus occupied in the middle of a busy city that Katie's heart warmed to her at once Mrs. Redding was a fair little woman scarcely taller than Rose and very much like her she gave Katie a kind welcome you do not seem like a stranger she said Rose has told us so much about you and your sister Sylvia will be very disappointed not to see you she was off to make some visits when we broke up in the country and is not to be home for three weeks yet Katie was disappointed too for she had heard a great deal about Sylvia and had wished very much to meet her she was shown a picture from which she gathered that she did not look in the least like Rose for though equally fair her fairness was of a tall aquiline type quite different from Rose's dimpled prettiness in fact Rose resembled her mother and Sylvia her father like in little peculiarities a voice and manner of which a portrait did not enable Katie to judge the two girls had a cozy little luncheon with Mrs. Redding after which Rose carried Katie off to see the house and everything in it which was in any way connected with her own personal history the room where she used to sleep the high chair in which she sat as a baby and which was presently to be made over to little Rose the sofa where Deniston offered himself and the exact spot on the carpet and which she had stood while they were being married last of all now you shall see the best and dearest thing in the whole house she said opening the door of a room in the second story Grandma Ma, here is my friend Katie Carr whom you have so often heard me tell about it was a large pleasant room with a little wood fire blazing in a grate by which in an armchair full of cushions with a solitaire board on a little table beside her sat a sweet old lady this was Rose's father's mother she was nearly eighty but she was beautiful still and her manner had a gracious old fashioned courtesy which was full of charm she had been thrown from a carriage the year before and had never since been able to come downstairs or to mingle in the family life they come to me instead she told Katie there is no lack of pleasant company she added everyone is very good to me for two hours a day and I read to myself a little and play patience and solitaire and never lack entertainment there was something restful in the sight of such a lovely specimen of old age Katie realised as she looked at her what a loss it had been to her own life that she had never known either of her grandparents she sat and gazed at old Mrs. Redding with a mixture of regret and fascination she longed to hold her hand and kiss her with her beautiful silvery hair as Rose did Rose was evidently the old lady's peculiar darling they were on the most intimate terms and Rose dimpled and twinkled and made saucy speeches and told all her little adventures and the baby's achievements and made jests and talked nonsense as freely as to a person of her own age it was a delightful relation Grandma Ma has taken a fancy to you I can see she told Katie as they drove back to Longwood she always wants to know my friends and she has her own opinions about them I can tell you do you really think she liked me said Katie warmly I am so glad if she did for I loved her I never saw a really beautiful old person before oh there's nobody like her rejoined Rose I can't imagine what it would be not to have her her merry little face was quite sad and serious as she spoke I wish she were not so old she added with a sigh if we could only put her back twenty years then perhaps she would live as long as I do but alas there is no putting back the hands on the dial of time no matter how much we may desire it the second day of Katie's visit was devoted to the luncheon party of which Rose had written in her letter and which was meant to be a reunion or side-chapter of the SSUC Rose had asked every old hill's over girl who was within reach there was Mary Silver of course and Esther Dearborn both of whom lived in Boston and by good luck Alice Gibbons happened to be making Esther a visit and Ellen Gray came in from Walton where her father had recently been settled over a parish so altogether they made six of the original nine of the society and Quaker Rowe itself never heard a merry confusion of tongues than resounded through Rose's pretty parlour for the first hour after the arrival of the guests there was everybody to ask after and everything to tell the girls all seemed wonderfully unchanged to Katie but they professed to find her very grown up and dignified I wonder if I am she said Clover never told me so but perhaps she has grown dignified too nonsense cried Rose Clover could be no more dignified than my baby could Mary Silver give me that child this moment I never saw such a greedy thing as you are you have kept her to yourself at least a quarter of an hour and it isn't fair oh I beg your pardon said Mary laughing and covering her mouth with her hand exactly in her old shy half frightened way we only need Mrs. Nipson to make our little party complete went on Rose or dear Miss Jane what has become of Miss Jane by the way do any of you know oh she is still teaching at Hill server and waiting for her missionary to come back Barry Searle says that when he goes out to walk he always walks away from the United States for fear of diminishing the distance between them what a shame said Katie though she could not help laughing Miss Jane was really quite nice no not nice exactly but she had good things about her had she remarked Rose satirically I never observed them it required eyes like yours real double million magnifying glasses of the extra power to find them out she was all teeth and talons as far as I was concerned but I think she really did have a soft dish spot in her old heart for you Katie and it's only good thing I ever knew about her what has become of Lily Page asked Ellen she's in Europe with her mother I dare say you'll meet Katie and what a pleasure that will be and have you heard about Bella she's teaching school in the Indian territory just fancy that scrap teaching school isn't it dangerous asked Mary Silver dangerous how to her scholars do you mean oh the Indians well her scalp will be easy to identify if she has adhered to her favorite pomatum that's one comfort put in naughty Rose it was a merry lunch and indeed as little Rose seemed to think for she laughed and cooed incessantly the girls were enchanted with her and voted her by acclamation an honorary member of the SSUC her health was drunk in a pollinaris water with all the honors and Rose returned thanks in a drilled speech the friends told each other their histories for the past three years but it was curious how little on the whole most of them had to tell though perhaps that was because they did not tell all for Alice Gibbons confided to Katie in a whisper that she strongly suspected Esther of being engaged and at the same moment Ellen Gray was convulsing Rose by the intelligence that a theological student from Andover was very attentive to Mary Silphur my dear I don't believe it Rose said not even a theological student would dare and if he did I'm quite sure Mary would consider it most improper you must be mistaken Ellen no I'm not mistaken for the theological student is my second cousin and his sister told me all about it they're not engaged exactly but she hasn't said no so he hopes she will say yes oh she'll never say no but then she will never say yes either he would better take silence as consent well I never did think I should live to see Silver Mary married I should as soon have expected to find the 39 articles engaged in a flotation she's a dear old thing though and as good as gold and I shall consider your second cousin a lucky man if he persuades her I wonder where we shall all be when you come back Katie said Esther when she departed at the gate a year is a long time all sorts of things may happen in a year these words rang in Katie's ears as she fell asleep that night all sorts of things may happen in a year she thought and they may not be all happy things either almost she wished that the journey to Europe had never been thought of but when she waked the next morning to the brightest of October's suns shining out of a clear blue sky there could not have been a more beautiful day for their start she and Rose went early into town for old Mrs. Redding had made Katie promise to come for a few minutes to say goodbye they found her sitting by the fire as usual though her windows were open to admit the sun warmed air a little basket of grapes stood on the table beside her with a nosegay of tea roses on top these were from Rose's mother for a Katie to take on board the steamer and there was something else a small parcel twisted up in thin white paper it is my goodbye gift said the dear old lady don't open it now keep it till you are well out at sea and get some little thing with it as a keepsake from me grateful and wondering Katie put the little parcel in her pocket with kisses and good wishes she parted from these new made friends and she and Rose drove to the steamer stopping for Mr. Brown by the way they were a little late there was much time for farewells after they arrived but Rose snatched a moment for a private interview with the stewardess unnoticed by Katie who was busy with Mrs. Ash and Amy the bell rang and the great steam vessel slowly backed into the stream then her head was turned to sea and down the bay she went leaving Rose and her husband still waving their handkerchiefs on the pier Katie watched them to the last and when she could no longer distinguish them felt that her final link with home was broken it was not till she had settled her things in the little cabin which was to be her home for the next ten days had put her bonnet and dress for safekeeping in the upper berth nailed up her red and yellow bag and donned the woollen gown Ulster and soft felt hat which were to do service during the voyage that she found time to examine the mysterious parcel behold it was a large beautiful gold piece twenty dollars what a darling old lady said Katie and she gave the gold piece a kiss how did she come to think of such a thing I wonder if there is anything in Europe good enough to buy with it End of Rose and Rosebud Recording by Linda Ferguson Chapter 4 On the Spartacus The Ulster and the felt hat soon came off again for a headwind lay waiting in the offing and the Spartacus began to pitch and toss in a manner which made all her unseasoned passengers glad to be take themselves to their berths Mrs. Ash and Amy were among the earliest victims of seasickness and Katie, after helping them to settle in their state rooms found herself too dizzy and ill to sit up a moment longer and thankfully resorted to her own as the night came on the wind grew stronger and the motion worse the Spartacus had the reputation of being a dreadful roller and seemed bound to justify it on this particular voyage down, down, down the great hull would slide till Katie would hold her breath with fear lest it might never ride itself again then slowly, slowly the turn would be made and up, up, up it would go till the cant on the other side was equally alarming On the hull Katie preferred to have her own side of the ship the downward one for it was less difficult to keep herself in the berth from which she was in continual danger of being thrown the night seemed endless for she was too frightened to sleep except in broken snatches and when day dawned and she looked through the little round pane of glass in the port hull and flying spray and rain met her view oh dear why do people ever go to see unless they must, she thought feebly to herself she wanted to get up and see how Mrs. Ash had lived through the night but the attempt to move made her so miserably ill that she was glad to sink again on her pillows the stewardess looked in with offers of tea and toast the very idea of which was simply dreadful and pronounced the other lady oredly ill worse than you are miss and the little girl taken on dreadful and the upper berth of this fact Katie soon had audible proof for as her dizzy senses rallied a little she could hear Amy in the opposite state room crying and sobbing pitifully she seemed to be angry as well as sick for she was scolding her poor mother in the most vehement fashion I hate being at sea Katie heard her say I won't stay in this nasty old ship Mama Mama do you hear me don't stay in this ship it wasn't a bit kind of you to bring me to such a hard place it was very unkind it was cruel I want to go back Mama tell the captain to take me back to the land Mama why don't you speak to me oh I am so sick and so very unhappy don't you wish you were dead I do and then came another storm of sobs but never a sound from Mrs. Ash who Katie suspected was too ill to speak she felt very sorry for poor little Amy raging there in her high birth like some imprisoned creature but she was powerless to help her she could only resign herself to her own discomforts and try to believe that somehow some time this state of things must mend either they should all get to land or all go to the bottom and be drowned and at that moment she didn't care very much which it turned out to be the gale increased as the day wore on and the vessel pitched dreadfully twice Katie was thrown out of her birth on the floor then the stewardess came and fixed a sort of movable side to the birth which held her in but made her feel like a child fastened into a railed crib at intervals she could still hear Amy crying and scolding her mother and conjectured that they were having a dreadful time of it in the other state room it was all like a bad dream and they call this traveling for pleasure thought poor Katie one droll thing happened in the course of the second night at least it seemed to droll afterward at the time Katie was too uncomfortable to enjoy it amid the rush of the wind the creaking of the ship's timbers and the shrill buzz of the screw she heard a sound of queer little footsteps in the entry outside of her open door hopping and leaping together in an odd irregular way like a regiment of mice or toy soldiers nearer and nearer they came and Katie opening her eyes saw a procession of boots and shoes sizes and shapes which had evidently been left on the floors or at the doors of various state rooms and which in obedience to the lurchings of the vessel had collected in the cabin they now seemed to be acting in concert with one another and really looked alive as they bumped and trotted side by side and two by two in at the door and up close to her bedside there they remained for several moments executing what looked like a dance then the leading shoe turned on its heel as if giving a signal to the others and they all hopped slowly again into the passageway and disappeared it was exactly like one of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales Katie wrote to Clover afterward she heard them going down the cabin but how it ended or whether the owners of the boots and shoes ever got their own particular pairs again she never knew toward morning the gale abated the sea became smoother and she dropped asleep when she woke the sun was struggling through the clouds and she felt better the stewardess opened the porthole to freshen the air and helped her to wash her face and smooth her tangled hair then she produced a little basin of gruel and a triangular bit of toast and Katie found that her appetite was come again and she could eat and here's a letter, ma'am, which has come for you by post this morning, said the nice old stewardess producing an envelope from her pocket and eyeing her patient with great satisfaction by post, cried Katie in amazement why how can that be then catching sight of Rose's handwriting on the envelope she understood and smiled at her own simplicity the stewardess beamed at her as she opened it then saying again yes, and by post, and withdrew and left Katie to enjoy the little surprise the letter was not long but it was very like its writer Rose drew a picture of what Katie would probably be doing at the time it reached her a picture so near the truth that Katie felt as if Rose must have the spirit of prophecy especially as she kindly illustrated the situation with a series of pan and ink drawings in which Katie was depicted as prone in her birth refusing with horror to go to dinner looking longingly backward toward the quarter where the United States was supposed to be and fishing out of her porthole with a crooked pin in hopes of grappling the submarine cable and sending a message to her family once and take her home it ended with this short poem over which Katie laughed till Mrs. Ash called feebly across the entry to ask what was the matter break, break, break and misbehave, O.C., and I wish that my tongue could utter the hatred I feel for thee O well for the fisherman's child on the sandy beach at his play O well for all the sensible folk who are safe at home today but this horrible ship keeps on and I yearn for the touch of the nice dry land where I needn't feel so ill break, break, break there is no good left in me for the dinner I ate on the shore so late has vanished into the sea laughter is very restorative after the forlornity of seasickness and Katie was so stimulated by her letter that she managed to struggle into her dressing gown and slippers and across the entry into Mrs. Ash's state room Amy had fallen asleep at last and must not be waked up so their interview was conducted in whispers Mrs. Ash had by no means got to the tea and toast stage yet and was feeling miserable enough I've had the most dreadful time with Amy, she said all day yesterday when she wasn't sick she was raging at me from the upper berth and I too ill to say a word and reply I never knew her so naughty and it seemed very neglectful not to come to see after you poor dear child but really I couldn't raise my head neither could I and I felt just as guilty not to be taking care of you said Katie well the worst is over with all of us I hope the vessel doesn't pitch have so much now and the stewardess says we shall feel a great deal better as soon as we get on deck she is coming presently to help me up and when Amy wakes won't you let her be dressed and I will take care of her while Mrs. Barrett attends to you I don't think I can be dressed side poor Mrs. Ash I feel as if I should just lie here until we get to Liverpool oh no indeed mom no you won't put in Mrs. Barrett who at that moment appeared gruel cup in hand I don't never let my ladies lie in their berths a moment longer than there is need of I always get some on deck as soon as possible to get the hair it's the best medicine you can have ma'am the fresh hair, indeed it is stewardesses are all powerful on board ship and Mrs. Barrett was so persuasive as well as positive that it was not possible to resist her she got Katie into her dress and wraps and seated her on deck in a chair with a great rug wrapped about her feet with very little effort on Katie's part then she dived down the companion way again and in the course of an hour appeared escorting a big burly steward who carried poor little pale Amy in his arms as easily as though she had been a kitten Amy gave a scream of joy at the sight of Katie and cuddled down in her lap under the warm rug with a sigh of relief and satisfaction I thought I was never going to see you again she said with a little squeeze oh Mrs. Katie it has been so horrid I never thought that going to Europe meant such dreadful things as this this is only the beginning we shall get across the sea in a few days and then we shall find out what going to Europe really means but what made you behave so Amy and cry and scold poor Mama when she was sick I could hear you all the way across the entry could you then why didn't you come to me I wanted to but I was sick too so sick that I couldn't move but why were you so naughty you didn't tell me I didn't mean to be naughty but I couldn't help crying you would have cried too and so would Johnny if you had been cooped up with a little berth at the top of the wall that you couldn't get out of and hadn't had anything to eat and nobody to bring you any water when you wanted some and Mama wouldn't answer when I called to her she couldn't answer she was too ill explained Katie well my pet it was pretty hard for you I hope we shan't have any more such days the sea is a great deal smoother now Mabel looks quite pale she was sick too said Amy regarding the doll in her arms anxious air I hope the fresh hair will do her good is she going to have any fresh hair asked Katie willfully misunderstanding that was what that woman called it the fat one who made me come up here but I'm glad she did for I feel heaps better already only I keep thinking of poor little Maria Matilda shut up in the trunk in that dark place and wondering if she's sick there's nobody to explain it to her down there they say that you don't feel the most laugh so much in the bottom of the ship said Katie perhaps she hasn't noticed it at all dear me how good something smells I wish they would bring us something to eat a good many passengers had come up by this time and Robert the deck steward was going about tray in hand taking orders for lunch Amy and Katie both felt suddenly ravenous and when Mrs. Ash a while later was helped up the stairs she was amazed to find them eating cold beef and roasted potatoes with the most appetites in the world they had served out their apprenticeships the kindly old captain told them and were made free of the nautical guild from that time on so it proved for after these two bad days none of the party were sick again during the voyage Amy had a clamorous appetite for stories as well as for cold beef and to appease this craving Katie started a sort of ocean serial called the history of Violet and Emma they went to make last until they got to Liverpool but which in reality lasted much longer it might with equal propriety have been called the adventures of two little girls who didn't have any adventures for nothing in particular happened to either Violet or Emma during the whole course of their long drawn out history Amy however found them perfectly enchanting and was never weary of hearing how they went to school and came home again how they got into scrapes and got out of them how they made good resolutions and broke them about their Christmas presents and birthday treats and what they said and how they felt the first installment of this unexciting romance was given that first afternoon on deck and after that Amy claimed a new chapter daily and it was a chief ingredient of her pleasure during the voyage on the third morning Katie woke and dressed so early that she gained the deck before the sailors had finished their scrubbing and holy stoning she took refuge within the companion way and sat down on the top step of the ladder to wait till the deck was dry enough to venture upon it there the captain found her and drew near for a talk Captain Bryce was exactly the kind of sea captain that is found in story books but not always in real life he was stout and grizzled and brown and kind he had a bluff weather beaten face lit up with a pair of shrewd blue eyes which twinkled when he was pleased and his manner though it was full but of command was quiet and pleasant he was a martinet on board his ship not a sailor under him would have dared dispute his orders for a moment but he was very popular with them notwithstanding they liked him as much as they feared him for they knew him to be their best friend if it came to sickness or trouble with any of them Katie and he grew quite intimate during their long morning talk the captain liked girls he had one of his own he was about Katie's age and was fond of talking about her Lucy was his mainstay at home he told Katie her mother had been weekly now this long time back and Bess and Nanny were but children yet so Lucy had to take command and keep things ship-shaped when he was away she'll be on the lookout when the steamer comes in said the captain there's a signal we've arranged which means all's well and when we get up the river a little way the towel hung from a particular window and when I see it I say to myself thank God another voyage safely done and no harm come of it it's a sad kind of work for a man to go off for a 24 days cruise leaving a sick wife on shore behind him if it wasn't that I have Lucy to look after things I should have thrown up my command long ago indeed I'm glad you have Lucy she must be a great comfort to you said Katie sympathetically for the captain's hearty voice trembled a little as he spoke she made him tell her the colour of Lucy's hair and eyes and exactly how tall she was and what she had studied and what sort of books she liked she seemed such a very nice girl and Katie thought she should like to know her the deck had dried fast in the fresh sea wind and the captain had just arranged Katie in her chair and was wrapping the rug about her feet in a fatherly way when Mrs. Barrett, all smiles, appeared from below oh here you are miss I couldn't think what had come to you so early and you're looking ever so well again I'm pleased to see and here's a bundle just arrived missed by the parcel's delivery what? cried simple Katie then she laughed at her own foolishness and took the bundle which was directed in Rose's unmistakable hand it contained a pretty little green bound copy of Emerson's poems with Katie's name and to be read at sea written on the flyleaf somehow the little gift seemed to bridge the long misty distance which stretched between the vessel's stern and Boston Bay and to bring home and friends a great deal nearer with a half happy half tearful pleasure Katie recognized the fact that distance counts for little if people love one another and that hearts have a telegraph of their own whose messages are as sure and swift as any of those sent over the material lines which link continent to continent and shore with shore later in the morning Katie, going down to her state room for something came across a pallid exhausted looking lady who lay stretched on one of the long sofas in the cabin with a baby in her arms and a little girl sitting at her feet quite still with a pair of small hands folded in her lap the little girl did not seem to be more than four years old she had two pigtails of thick flaxen hair hanging over her shoulders and at Katie's approach raised a pair of long blue eyes which had so much appeal in them though she said nothing that Katie stopped at once can I do anything for you she asked I'm afraid you have been very ill at the sound of her voice the lady on the sofa opened her eyes she tried to speak but to Katie's dismay began to cry instead and when the words came they were strangled with sobs you are so kind to ask she said my little girl something to eat she has had nothing since yesterday and I have been so ill and nobody has come near us oh cried Katie with horror nothing to eat since yesterday how did it happen everybody has been sick on our side the ship explained the poor lady and I suppose the stewardess thought as I had a maid with me that I needed her less than the others but my maid has been sick too so selfish she wouldn't even take the baby into the birth with her and I have had all I could do to manage with him when I couldn't lift up my head little Gretchen has had to go without anything and she's been so good and patient Katie lost no time but ran for Mrs. Barrett whose indignation knew no bounds when she heard how the helpless party had been neglected it's a new person that stewardess ma'am she explained I told the captain when she come aboard that I didn't have much opinion of her and now he'll see how it is I'm ashamed that such a thing should happen on the Spartacus ma'am I am indeed it never would have been so under Eliza ma'am she's the one that went half and got herself married the trip before last when this person came to take her place all the time that she talked Mrs. Barrett was busy in making Mrs. Ware for that it seemed was the sick lady's name and Katie was feeding Gretchen out of a big bowl full of bread and milk which one of the stewards had brought the little un-complaining thing was evidently half-starved but with the mouthfuls the pink began to steal back into her cheeks and lips and the dark circles lessened under the blue eyes by the time the bottom of the bowl was reached she could smile but still she had not said a word except a whispered her mother explained that she had been born in Germany and all now had been cared for by a German nurse so that she knew that language better than English Gretchen was a great amusement to Katie and Amy during the rest of the voyage they kept her on deck with them a great deal and she was perfectly content with them and very good though always solemn and quiet pleasant people turned up among the passengers as always happens on an ocean steamship and others not so pleasant perhaps who were rather curious and interesting to watch Katie grew to feel as if she knew a great deal about her fellow travellers as time went on there was the young girl going out to join her parents under the care of a severe governess whom everybody on board rather pitied there was the other girl on her way to study art who was travelling quite alone and seemed to have nobody to meet her or to go to except a fellow student of her own age already in Paris but who seemed quite unconscious of her lonely position or anything or anybody there was the queer old gentleman who had crossed eleven times before and had advice and experience to spare for anyone who would listen to them and the other gentleman not so old but even more queer who had frozen his stomach eight years before by indulging on a hot summer's day in sixteen successive ice creams alternated with ten glasses of equally cold soda water and who related this exciting experience and turned to everybody on board there was the bad little boy whose parents were powerless to oppose him and who carried terror to the hearts of all beholders whenever he appeared and the pretty widow who filled the role of reigning bell and the other widow not quite so pretty or so much a bell who had a good deal to say in a voice made discreetly low about what a pity it was that dear mrs. so-and-so should do this or that and doesn't it strike you as very unfortunate that she should not consider the other thing a great sea-going steamer is a little world in itself and gives one a glimpse of all sorts and conditions of people and characters on the whole there was no one on the Spartacus whom Katie liked so well as sedate little Gretchen except the dear old captain with whom she was a prime favourite he gave mrs. Ash and herself the seats next to him at table looked after their comfort in every possible way and each night at dinner sent Katie one of the apple dumplings made specially for him by the cook who had gone many voyages with the captain and knew his fancies Katie did not care particularly for the dumpling but she valued it as a mark of regard and always ate it when she could meanwhile every morning brought a fresh surprise from that dear painstaking rose who had evidently worked hard and thought harder in contriving pleasures for Katie's first voyage at sea mrs. Barrett was enlisted in the plot there could be no doubt of that and enjoyed the joke as much as anyone as she presented herself each day with the invariable formula a letter for you ma'am or a bundle miss come by the parcels delivery on the fourth morning it was a photograph of baby rose in a little flat Morocco case the fifth brought a wonderful epistle full of startling pieces of news none of them true on the sixth appeared a long narrow box containing a fountain pen then came Mr. Houses a foregone conclusion which Katie had never seen then a box of quinine pills then a sachet for her trunk then another burlesque poem last of all a cake of delicious violet soap to wash the sea smell from her hands the label said it grew to be one of the little excitement of ship life to watch for the arrival of these daily gifts and what did the mail bring for you this time miss car was a question frequently asked each arrival Katie must be the final one but roses forethought had gone so far even as to provide an extra parcel in case the voyage was a day longer than usual and miss cars mail continued to come in till the very last morning Katie never forgot the thrill that went through her when after so many days of sea her eyes first caught sight of the dim line of the Irish coast an exciting and interesting day followed as after stopping at Queenstown to leave the mails they entered between shores which grew more distinct and beautiful with every hour on one side Ireland on the other the bold mountain lines of the Welsh coast it was late afternoon when they entered the Mersey and dusk had fallen before the captain got out his glass to look for the white fluttering speck in his own window which meant so much to him long he studied before he made quite sure that it was there at last he shut the glass with a satisfied air it's all right she said to Katie who stood near almost as much interested as he Lucy never forgets bless her well there's another voyage over and done with thank God and my Mary is where she was it's a load taken from my mind the moon had risen and was shining softly on the river as the crowded tender landed the passengers from the Spartacus at the Liverpool docks we shall meet again in London or in Paris said one to another and cards and addresses were exchanged then after a brief delay at the custom house they separated each to his own particular destination and as a general thing none of them ever saw any of the others again it is often thus with those who have been fellow voyagers at sea and it is always a surprise and perplexity to inexperienced travellers that it can be so and that those who have been so much to each other for ten days can melt away into space and disappear as though the brief intimacy had never existed four wheeler or handsome ma'am said a porter to Mrs. Ash which Katie oh let us have a handsome I never saw one and they look so nice in punch so a handsome cab was called the two ladies got in Amy cuddled down between them the folding doors were shut over their knees like a laprobe and away they drove up the solidly paved streets to the hotel where they were to pass the night I feel late to sea or do anything but enjoy the sense of being on firm land once more how lovely it will be to sleep in a bed that doesn't tip or roll from side to side said Mrs. Ash yes and that is wide enough and long enough and soft enough to be comfortable replied Katie I feel as if I could sleep for a fortnight to make up for the bad nights at sea everything seemed delightful to her the space for undressing the great tub of fresh water looking wash stand with its ample basin and ewer the chins curtained bed the coolness, the silence and she closed her eyes with the pleasant thought in her mind it is really England and we are really here End of Chapter 4