mary’s plan, which developed itself the next day, turned out to be a project for taking the children, in their new clothes, to visit their sister at the hospital. she had stipulated that nothing should be said to berty, though she had taken care to give tim warning that he might be on hand to enjoy the surprise. it was a beautiful, bright autumn day, and everything worked to mary’s satisfaction. grandmamma seemed to enjoy it as much as she; and even tom, who had grumbled a good deal at bringing his horses so often into such “ojus” streets, could not resist a contagious grin as he lifted the happy children, one by one, into the carriage.
it was indeed a wonderful delight to berty’s little family. driving through the[pg 120] gay streets, where mrs. grey took care that tom should go, in the handsome, easy carriage, would have been pleasure enough, but going in such a way to see berty, whom they had missed so much, was almost more than they could bear. then the wide lawn of the hospital, where the little pale children were playing in the sunshine, was a new surprise; and the children’s ward, with its lofty walls and little white beds, in one of which sister berty lay, looking so placid and happy, seemed like a glimpse of paradise.
you will guess, of course, how joyfully berty received them; how she hugged little fritz with her one arm, and set him on the bed beside her, while she made the others stand off, one by one, that she might admire them in the comfortable new clothing; how she thanked mrs. grey and the doctor and mary; how tim grinned from ear to ear, and dr. john rubbed his hands, and polly clapped hers, and the nurse and old mrs. grey both cried, and the hospital children sat up in bed and laughed at the merry hubbub, until the matron came up and chided them all for making such a noise[pg 121] and threatened dr. john with a policeman if he did not keep his party quiet.
yes, it was a happy time; and happy, too, though in a different way, was the long quiet time which followed, when, under the doctor’s kind care, berty was growing better and stronger every day, and learning every day to love more and more dearly the pleasant room, the lively prints upon the walls, the happy little sick children, the gentle nurses, the good rector who stopped to talk with her so often, and the dear, dear dr. john, to whom she owed it all.
the christmas-time to which she had looked forward in her dreary attic on that dismal night—how far away the attic seemed, how long ago the night—was drawing near, was close at hand. tim told her of the laurel-wreaths which they were hanging in the chapel. her dearest wish was to get strong enough to go down there with tim and keep the christmas feast, and afterwards, perhaps, to have the children come to her again. it would be treat enough for them, she knew, and joy enough for her; but when she asked the doctor, she got no answer but a smile.
[pg 122]
the doctor was so busy nowadays, perhaps he had no time for anything but smiles. and very busy, too, was little mary; it was wonderful what a deal of shopping those two found it necessary to do together, and what piles upon piles of parcels, of all shapes and sizes, they brought home at night, and stowed away in that mysterious parlor which no one else was allowed to enter. if polly paid for all those goods, i think she must have made a requisition upon dr. john’s newfound pocket-book; for i am sure no little girl’s purse could have been half long enough.
but at last there came a day, the 24th of december it was, when polly’s purchases seemed to be all made. she did not go down-town at all that day, but spent all the morning closeted with dr. john in the mysterious room. and, altogether, that seemed to be quite a mysterious day at mrs. grey’s; for all day long there came such mysterious noises from the mysterious parlor, and mrs. grey and the housekeeper and nurse evans went about with such mysterious smiles upon their faces, that even jenny and jemmy seemed to have a notion that something was[pg 123] the matter, and no amount of coaxing could keep them in the nursery. then, towards evening, there came a mysterious ring at the door, and a mysterious stranger was ushered in, whose arrival seemed to fill dr. grey and mary with the most mysterious surprise and delight; and finally the doctor and tom took the carriage and went off upon some mysterious errand.
if you could have peeped into the hospital just about that time, you would have seen that the mystery had penetrated even there; for berty sat, wrapped in cloaks, in a great arm-chair, with a strangely excited expression upon her thin, pale face. she had received that morning a note, in a little white envelope, addressed to fräulein bertha weisser. this note of course she could not read, but mrs. gantz read it for her. it was an invitation, in good set terms, to spend the evening with miss mary kendall, at her grandmother’s house; and accompanying this note was a new dress and other very comfortable things for berty to wear. and so our little berty sat there, very happy and eager, though a little frightened and shy, waiting for the carriage.
and when the carriage came, and tom took her up in his strong arms and bore her down to it, a new surprise was waiting for berty; for there were her little ones all peeping out to greet her with shouts of delight. berty thought this was all that was needed to make her perfectly happy.
miss mary received them with a joyous welcome, and kind mrs. grey had a sofa ready furnished with pillows for berty to rest upon, which dr. john insisted that she should occupy at once, though she did not feel in the least tired.
the children were very shy at first, but fritz and the twins soon made friends. tim took upon himself to entertain gottlieb, and as for rosa and lina, it was entertainment enough for them to look about them. berty wondered at tim; he seemed, she thought, quite as much at home in mrs. grey’s handsome house as at biddy flanagan’s, always the same-merry, good-natured fellow, never shy, and never too forward; she wondered, too, at her little ones, so clean and bright and wholesome; and when she heard fritzy’s happy laugh, she thought this was even[pg 125] better than the christmas tree for which she had longed.
presently, little mary, who had been flitting in and out in a most extraordinary manner, came in once more, and made a significant motion to dr. grey, seeing which, the doctor, with a merry look, took her hand and led her up in front of berty’s couch.
“berty,” said he, “you were wishing for a fairy godmother, i hear. mrs. flanagan was right about one thing, the fairies do not emigrate; but she was wrong about the other, for there is a tribe of them in america, wild as it is; and as fast as you little people come over they adopt you, because there are not yankee children enough to keep them busy. so you see everybody has a fairy godmother, and all is right. hearing, from mrs. flanagan, that you were in need of yours, i have been at some pains to find her, and here she is, very happy to make your acquaintance.”
berty was quite puzzled by this speech, but polly seemed to think it great fun; her eyes fairly danced with glee as she dropped berty a queer little courtesy, and said, “dr.[pg 126] grey has summoned me, and i have come. you were wishing for a christmas tree, he tells me. ah, well; my children have but to wish, and, presto! it is here!” saying which she stamped with her little foot upon the floor, and, lo! the folding-doors of the mysterious parlor glided swiftly back and disclosed a wondrous sight,—a christmas tree indeed, whose blazing tapers far outshone those which had lighted berty’s dreams, whose graceful branches bent beneath their weight of generous fruit! while the children’s eyes were still dazzled with the burst of light, dr. grey and mary stepped forward and took their stations on either side the tree. then mary turned to the wondering children, and pointing to it, said: “this, children, is berty’s christmas gift to her little family.”
berty was too happy, too thankful for words; she could only cast a grateful look at dr. john, who, she felt sure, was at the bottom of it somehow; and dr. john looked back at her with a merry twinkle in his eye, which she did not quite understand. the children, meanwhile, were pressing round the[pg 127] tree, and devouring it with eager, wondering eyes.
“it is finer than the westermann’s, lina,” said gottlieb, at last.
“but where is the christ-child, lieb?” said little rosa. “i don’t see him at all.”
“but he is here, rosa,” said dr. john. “he is here, though you do not see him. it is he who put it into the heart of berty’s fairy godmother here to give you this pleasure.”
“now,” said mary, who seemed somehow to be in a great hurry, “if you have gazed your fill, perhaps you would like me to gather you some fruit;” and she took a long, hooked stick which leaned against the wall beside her, and began to take off the presents from the tree.
i shall not trouble myself to describe those presents. christmas trees, i am happy to say, are getting very common. a bountiful crop of them springs up every year all over the land, and i dare say there are none of you who have not assisted in stripping at least one. so i shall only tell you that every one of the children got a very satisfactory[pg 128] share of the magical fruit,—every one except berty. strange to say there seemed to be no present for berty. she never thought of wishing for one; it was all just as she had planned it herself, and she was heartily satisfied; but so were not the others. tim especially, who had gotten a bountiful share himself, was greatly concerned about berty; and at last, when the branches were nearly bare, and nothing was yet forthcoming, he bethought himself of speaking to dr. grey. it might have been forgotten, though tim did not see how that could be. at any rate, he knew dr. john would never be content to have berty neglected, any more than he. so he made his way through the children to where the doctor still stood beside the tree.
“dr. grey,” he whispered, “has miss mary forgotten berty, d’ye think—or what?”
“berty!” cried the doctor, speaking very loud, and pretending to be quite astonished. “sure enough! the tree is quite stripped, and berty has nothing! that’s a great oversight of yours, my good fairy; it will never do at all. couldn’t you manage to spirit us in a present for berty yet?”
“what shall it be?” asked mary, paying no attention to berty’s exclamations and assurances that the tree itself was present enough for her.
“since you have kept her waiting so long,” said the doctor, “i think it should be something very nice,—something, for instance, from over the sea.”
mary nodded, and, tapping her stick three times upon the floor, sang, in a queer little piping voice, which made all the children laugh,—
“come, fairies, good fairies, bring swiftly to me
a present for berty from over the sea!”
then she stood quite still for a moment, and looked towards the door, as if expecting some one; and at last nodded and waved her hand, and, dropping a courtesy to the doctor, said, “my good doctor, your bidding is done. you will find a present for berty there at your right hand. if my elves have been somewhat dilatory, you must excuse them; for the package, you perceive, was rather heavy.”
the doctor sprang quickly aside, and, sure enough, there at his right hand, half hidden[pg 130] by the spreading branches, was a heavy oaken chest, strongly bound with iron, which everybody stared at as if it had fallen from the sky.
“upon me word, miss mary,” said tim, “if ye’d hire out yer elves down at the docks there, ye’d make yer fortin in no time. they’re stronger than any derrick they have there, certain sure.”
“well, tim,” answered polly, laughing, “i’ll think of it.”
“somebody’ll have to open it for bert,” said prudent gottlieb, looking appealingly to dr. john; “she never can.”
“sure enough. shall we want a hammer, think you, or is it locked?” said dr. grey, bending over the chest with a puzzled look. “ah, yes, here’s a lock,” he added, fumbling at the side towards the wall. “have your elves brought the key, madam fairy?”
polly fumbled in her pocket a little, and brought out a huge bunch of keys, one of which dr. john, with great jingling, applied to the lock. tim had a shrewd suspicion that the chest was not locked at all, nor even fairly closed; but, before he had time to[pg 131] assure himself by nearer inspection, the cover flew up with a bang, and out sprang—what? a genie? all the children thought so at first, and shrank away, while berty covered her eyes with her hands.
but the strange being, whatever it was, went straight to berty’s couch, and bending down, whispered some german words close in her ear. berty could not help peeping out between her fingers. surely, it was no genie. would a genie call her his darling, his goddaughter, his dear, dear child? would a genie look at her with blue eyes so like her mother’s? ah no, this was no genie, though he had come to her as strangely as any genie could. it was, it could be, no one in the world but the dear, dear uncle gottlieb, from the blessed old fatherland.
so berty let the stranger take her in his arms, and gave him kiss for kiss, and answered his caresses with her own, and called the children to her, one by one, to show this dear uncle who had come so far to see them all. it was so sweet to little berty to feel that strong arm round her, and to know that it was ready to shield her from all care and[pg 132] harm; it was so sweet to hear him call her children his, and to know that he would care for them as she, with all her efforts, never could have done.
yes, it was uncle gottlieb, to whom dr. grey had written as soon as he heard of him from berty, and who, hearing thus, for the first time, of his sister’s death, (for madame hansmann’s letter had miscarried,) had hastened to the orphans, and arrived just in time to be put into polly’s strong box. he had entered heartily into the joke, though he declared that he had nearly smothered in carrying it out; and dr. john averred that he had chuckled so much as nearly to discover himself to the children before the time. polly produced from the chest a whole bundle of presents for berty, which she had hidden there the better to carry out her scheme; but, though berty was properly grateful, it was easy to see that uncle gottlieb’s niece thought him the best present of all. there is no need that i should tell you they spent a merry evening,—what could prevent them? uncle gottlieb informed them next morning, for they all spent the night with hospitable[pg 133] mrs. grey, that he had risen in the world,—become a composer of music and leader of the band; and also that some old relative in frankfort had left him a little house. he had been thinking, he said, of getting a wife to keep house for him; but he should take the children all back with him, and berty should keep house: it would be much better, and leave him more time for his music.
and so berty and her little ones went back to the dear fatherland. it was hard parting from the doctor and mary and tim; but dr. grey promised to bring mary to see them at frankfort, which promise he has kept. and as for tim, i have a shrewd suspicion that that young gentleman has by this time paid uncle gottlieb off in his own coin, and taken berty another sea-voyage; but then lina must be quite big enough for a housekeeper now.
the end.
