even when you are very old, too old to care about playing games or racing with the cloud-shadows on the grass when the west wind is taking the big white ones that look like ships so gaily across the sky, even then your feel pretty good at the first beginning of spring.
long before the grass shows a tint of green down by the fence corners and along the brookside there is a new smell to the air, a smell that makes you want to jump up and down and shout. then come the pussy-willows, grey, demure, and fluffy, as if they had no notion how important they were. and after that—but we haven’t got farther than that just yet.
for that is where the spring stood when rose and ruth returned from their first ride of the season to the next ranch with marmie. a yellow and rose sky looked at them calmly from the west as they reached home and jumped off their ponies.
“wasn’t it a heavenly ride, marmie?” exclaimed rose, hauling off her saddle, the fine new saddle she was so proud of, and turning her horse into the corral. “just think, it will soon be summer 240and we can stay outdoors all day long, and go on camping trips again. jimminy-kingsy, it seems as if one couldn’t wait another minute!”
“what lots of waiting there is in life, isn’t there, marmie?” said ruth.
marmie laughed. “come to think of it, ruth, you’re right. and now it’s supper we’re waiting for, or at least dad is. will it cheer you up to know we are going to have waffles?”
“oh, marmie! umm—and just when we’re so hungry, too.”
“and after supper you two will have to amuse yourselves alone, for dad and i are going to be busy all evening.”
fortunately there were enough waffles, though rose and ruth had both doubted the possibility; they were so hungry that it seemed as though the world in all its length and breadth could hardly hold enough waffles to satisfy them. but when daddy dared them to eat another they only sighed.
and when they went into the living room while marmie and dad departed to the den, where they always worked over the new schemes for the ranch together, there was the fairy waiting for them!
of course they didn’t see her. but the room was full of a wavy kind of music, and they felt at once that she was dancing.
“is it you, fairy honeysqueak? and are you dancing?—what scrumptious music it is.”
“i’ve been chatting with spring,” answered honeysqueak, “and that always leaves me in a dancy mood. that music was the echo of her talk—it always lingers awhile. why, even you mortals dance to her.”
“is that what makes one feel so light and jumpy? but we never heard her before.”
“you mean you didn’t know you heard; but you did, all the same. and now, unless you don’t want the trouble, i’m going to take you to london to see a little girl who has never been anything else but just a little girl.”
“of course we want to go ... trouble! oh, fairykins!” that was rose. ruth wanted to know who the little girl was.
“she’s little nell, and i want you to be awfully nice to her, for she doesn’t get much fun, you know.”
you may be sure they would be nice to her, and mighty glad of the chance. so the fairy clasped their hands and led them once again through the magic gate. when they opened their shut eyes, after that well-remembered little jar of landing on the other side, they found themselves in a street.
it was a busy, crowded street, with carts rattling down the middle and people hurrying along the pavements, some with parcels and baskets, all with umbrellas, for a thin rain was falling. rose and ruth found themselves neatly clad in long waterproof cloaks of a circular pattern that fell almost to their feet, with little hoods framing their faces, and they also had an umbrella, a big one for the two of them. before them, smiling at them gently, was a little girl of a sweet and tender beauty, with a threadbare cloak of the same pattern as their own and a small and somewhat battered-looking umbrella. she carried a little basket on one arm.
“it’s nell,” said rose, “isn’t it? we’ve come to play with you, and we are going to have a lovely time.”
nell looked a bit startled.
“but i have work that must be done,” she said. “and my grandfather needs me, i fear. maybe you will come with me and see him?”
“later,” said rose. “but really this is a good-time day. the fairy said so, and we are going to be happy every minute. you don’t have any little girls to play with, nell. and now you are going to play with us.” rose was decidedly firm. she had always wanted nell to have some real fun, and here she was with a chance to give it her.
ruth, dodging from under the umbrella, caught little nell by the hand.
“come on, you sweet little thing,” she told her. “and first of all let’s get out of the rain. is there a place near here where we can get some ice-cream or something good to eat? i’m hungry.”
nell seemed to abandon her doubts. an expression of gaiety dawned in her serious blue eyes, and she squeezed ruth’s hand impulsively.
“there’s a bun-shop just round the corner,” she answered, “and we can find anything we want there. i’ve been doing a number of errands, and my feet are so wet—it will be pleasant to get to a fire.”
“then let’s hurry,” said rose, and the sisters, flanking nell on either side, with the rain dripping cheerily down their necks, hurried along the way she led them. as they went they chattered joyfully and laughed considerably. for it seemed exceedingly jolly to be scuttling along the shining pavement, with the roar of traffic in their ears, the passers-by smiling at them, and little nell looking shyly up, a flush on her cheeks and excitement all over her.
“i was so happy when i knew you were coming,” she confided, “only i really did not see how i could take so much time just to be a little girl in. but i feel i can, somehow, and it’s such a wonderful feeling.”
“do you know, i think you are too good,” said rose. “i never knew any girl on earth so good as you, nell. you’re what marmie calls conscientious, and that makes you work too hard. don’t you think so, ruth?”
“yes, i do,” answered ruth. “you know, if we are good very long marmie thinks we can’t be feeling quite well. i don’t mean that we are bad, you know, but just kind of—oh, enterprising.”
nell shook her solemn little head. and she looked so sweet and old-fashioned and lovely as she did that the sisters both wanted to hug her, but the umbrellas prevented.
“life has always seemed rather a stern and difficult business, and all i can do is to hope that i shall not prove entirely useless in carrying out my share of it,” she replied, quaintly. “you speak as though it were something to play through—and you almost make me feel that you are right.” she added this with a tiny sigh and a downward look, as though half frightened by the boldness of her conclusion.
“you bet we’re right,” said rose. “is this the bun-shop?”
it was. a window displayed cakes and pastries, and a sign invited those who felt the pangs of hunger to step inside.
indoors a door led them into a neat, pretty room with a bright fire at one end, some pots of geranium blazing quite as brilliantly on the window board, a red carpet with huge bunches of yellow and green posies, and snowy curtains. a couple of tables and a number of wide-armed, comfortable chairs, with a dresser, completed the furniture of the place. at one of these tables a young man was sitting, with a pot of tea and some muffins before him.
“what a dandy room,” exclaimed the sisters,squeezing nell’s hands in rapture. “come close to the fire, nell, and dry yourself, or you’ll catch an awful cold. my, you are wet!”
and they busied themselves in helping her out of her cloak and bonnet, and in sitting her before the blaze with her feet stretched out on the fender. a motherly woman came in while they were busy with this and asked them smiling, “would they have tea?”
nothing could be better, they said, though they felt daring, because marmie only allowed them to have it on their birthdays, as an immense treat. but they thought the present occasion warranted a real spree.
so tea came, with buns and toasted crumpets, which had been timidly suggested by little nell. the motherly woman helped them draw one table close to the fire, in which she was assisted by the young man, who sprang forward, asserting loudly that lovely woman should not overburden her strength when he was present. the landlady laughed, calling him mr. richard.
“it’s an odd fish you are, mr. richard,” she said, “and no mistake. there, i think that will do nicely for the young ladies.”
“thanks ever so much,” supplemented rose. “wouldn’t you like to sit nearer the fire too?” she added, addressing the youth. “there’s plenty of room.”
“room and to spare at the board,” announced this personage, with a flourish of the hand, “so, ladies, i will accept your kind, nay, your princely offer. let us sit together, and let us drink confusion—in this tea—confusion to dire destiny.”
“what’s that?” said ruth.
“the providence that shapes our ends, roughhew them how we will!” and carrying his cup, plate and pot of tea, the young man made the transfer to the circle by the fire. “your health, young ladies, though this is not the ruby,” he finished, lifting his cup high before setting it to his lips.
the girls, including nell, giggled.
“you’re funny,” said rose. “what’s your name?”
“richard swiveller, at your service. and yours, fair ones?”
they introduced each other gravely. and then began to make away with the delicious provender before them.
“we have met,” said dick, buttering a muffin, “we have encountered each other in this singular spot for a reason—but what that reason may be, that indeed ’twere difficult to say. unless you know?”
“we’ve come to give nell a good time,” declared ruth, who felt a strong liking for the dauntless richard. “you see, she is so good and so helpful and so busy that she has no time to play, and we want to play—after we’ve eaten.” and she bit into her bun.
nell laughed. she began to look rosy, what with the comfort of the fire and the glow imparted by the tea.
“how shall we begin?” she asked.
“on with the dance, let joy be unconfined,” proclaimed mr. swiveller. with the words he drew from the bosom of his bottle-green coat a fife. “here is linked sweetness, long drawn out, or shall be. and now, if you have finished eating, let us push aside the tables and begin.”
suiting the action to the word, and gladly assisted by the three girls, he cleared the centre of the room, and sitting in an easy and careless position on one corner of the table, he set his instrument to his lips, beginning at once to pipe a melody, somewhat jerky, to be sure, but certainly lively and provocative.
with much laughter, the two sisters set to work to teach nell the one-step. she was apt enough, and graceful as a kitten at play, once the newness of the experience wore off. dick himself insisted upon joining the dancers, playing the while as well as might be, and more discordantly than ever, but with a sense of time that made up for the rest of his defects as a musician. presently he showed them a jig, and in this ruth soon became expert, distancing the two other girls, and evoking from her instructor the most rapturous praise.
but at last, exhausted by the vigour of their efforts, they all sank laughing into chairs, unable to take another step.
248“let’s play something quiet,” said rose. “do you know up jenkins, mr. swiveller?”
“no, princess,” returned dick, sadly. “in some respects my education has been shamefully neglected. i never so much as heard of mr. up jenkins.”
so they laughed at that, and then the sister instructed nell and dick in the mysteries of the game. seated at the table, rose and nell on one side and dick and ruth at the other, they brought out a nice new shilling from rose’s reticule. the business of the game was for the side holding the shilling to bring it down, concealed in one of the four hands, flat upon the table at the command “down jenkins” from the captain of the opposing side. his business it was, or hers, to order up one by one the four out-spread hands, saying sternly “up jenkins,” to each. the one under which the shilling lay to be the last. if the captain, consulting freely with the other member of his side, guessed accurately, the shilling changed over; if not, it remained in the possession of the foe. but if the enemy made the mistake of obeying the command of any one but the captain, or lifted a hand when it was simply pointed to, without waiting for the command, or broke several other rules, why the shilling was lost to them. it was a good, noisy game and, played with the fervour devoted to it by this little party, afforded endless amusement. dick in especial proved a wonder, for his sly methods of causing the opposing captain to think the shilling was under his hand when it really lay cosily with ruth, his extraordinary flow of language, his quick, stern commands when he was not the captain, these and numerous other tricks kept his new friends in an almost unbroken storm of laughter.
suddenly a gleam of sunlight fell across the table, and looking out the four saw that the rain had passed. the motherly landlady entering the room at the same moment, they told her they must go. but first rose had her fill the little basket with a variety of good things to eat, which were to be taken to nell’s grandfather. then, bidding dick good-bye, though he placed his hand on his heart and declared solemnly that he should not be able to support life unless he were allowed to play up jenkins at least twice a day with them in future, they walked out into the sunlight, which gleamed from low in the west, for evening was approaching.
cheerily, with their umbrellas under their arms, the three threaded the crowded streets, where hucksters were calling their wares, where donkeys, drawing funny little carts, disputed the way with immense dray horses, and sprightly-looking hansoms dashed by the huge busses, top-heavy with their loads of passengers. the pavements were gay with gentlemen in wide-bottomed, full-skirted coats of brilliant blues, greens and snuff browns, with curly-brimmed high hats atop of whiskered faces, and striped, tight-fitting trousers on their legs, as well as with ladies in hoop-skirts and shawls and bonnets, demure as pansies when they were young and slight, but resembling overblown peonies or immense inverted cabbages of the purple variety when they were elderly and fat.
everybody seemed to know every one, and there was much nodding and greeting to and fro. several nodded kindly to the little nell, having seen her pass the same way often before. one or two stopped to speak a word, and complimented her on her rosy cheeks and bright eyes.
“you look blooming as a wild rose, child,” said one. “and your friends too. it does an old woman good to see such happy faces.”
“she often speaks to me,” said nell, “but i know not who she is, except that she hath, so she has told me, a daughter barbara. she is a kind soul.”
and now they reached the door of the queer old shop where nell and her grandfather lived. there he stood, peering out under his hand, waiting. when he saw the three girls coming toward him, he smiled gently.
“we’ve had such a good time,” said rose, when nell had introduced her and ruth. “we’ve been playing together all the afternoon. and see, we’ve brought a little basketful of good things for you, too.”
so they went in and unpacked the goodies. then the old man took them all over his shop, showing them numerous things, some queer, some beautiful, all old. then it was time to say good-bye, for it was growing dark. the two sisters shook hands with nell’s grandfather, and then turned to nell herself, clasping her warmly in their arms.
“you are a dear little thing, and as pretty as a picture,” ruth told her. “we have loved being with you.”
rose kissed her, saying that she would never forget their jolly afternoon, and little nell, serious once more, embraced them tenderly, murmuring that no one had a right to be sad in a world that held such persons as rose and ruth, not to speak of dick.
with which the two sisters found themselves once more safe and sound at home—after the properest good-bye they’d ever taken, as ruth remarked.
“it’s usually just ‘swish,’ and we’re off. but this time we really took leave.”
“and how much fun we had!” sighed rose contentedly.
