"I am sure of it," Elsie said with emotion, "for he is the unchangeable God; 'Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever'; as ready to be moved with compassion for a sin-sick soul to-day, as he was for the leper when on earth. And he has said, 'Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.'"
Clasping her hands and looking upward, "Bless the Lord, O my soul," she exclaimed; "'and all that is within me, bless his holy name!'"
CHAPTER XIII.
"Lu! Lu! five o'clock, time to get up!" called a harsh voice in loud, shrill tones.
"Who, who was calling?" asked Eva starting out of sleep.
"Only Polly," laughed Lulu.
"Get up, get up!" screamed the bird. "Time for breakfast. Polly wants her coffee. Polly wants a cracker."
"What a smart parrot! how plainly she talks," said Eva.
"Yes; but so loud. I'm afraid she will wake everybody in the house."
"How has she learned your name so soon?" asked Eva.
"I don't think she has," said Lulu. "Papa says there was a girl named Louisa in the place where Polly used to live, that everybody called Lu, and the parrot learned to call her so too."
"Happy New Year!" screamed Polly.
"Oh just hear her!" cried Lulu in delight. "Papa must have been teaching her that, or having somebody else do it, while we were away. I think she's going to make a great deal of fun for us all. Happy New Year to you, Eva dear," giving her friend a hug, as they lay side by side in the bed.
"The same to you, dear Lu," returned Eva. "How nice it is to be here with you lying on this easy couch with this down cover and these soft blankets over us. I never lay on a more delightful bed. Everything about it is beautiful and luxurious too."
"Papa was very particular to get the very best of springs and mattresses for all our beds," replied Lulu. "Oh but he is a dear, good father, always careful for the comfort and happiness of all his children!"
"And of his wife?"
"Oh yes indeed! I'm quite sure no man could take better care of his wife, or be more loving and kind to her, than papa is to Mamma Vi. And I'm pretty sure he was just the same to my mother; he says he loved her very dearly and loves his children—I mean Max and Gracie and me—because they were hers as well as because they are his very own."
"Lu! Lu! get up! Time for breakfast!" screamed Polly again.
"I suppose it is morning, or she wouldn't be making such a fuss," said
Lulu.
"Yes," said Eva, "I see a little light coming in at the window."
"I'll light the gas in the sitting-room, and give her a cracker to stop her screaming," said Lulu, getting out of bed and feeling about for her warm slippers and dressing gown. "Then I'll run and catch papa and Gracie."
"Lulu," said the captain's voice from Gracie's room.
"I'm here, papa. Oh a happy New Year to you!"
"Thank you, dear child. I wish you the same; but I want you to give Polly a cracker as quickly as you can to stop her screaming; for I fear she will wake both guests and babies."
"Yes, sir; I will. I was just going to," replied the little girl. "Then shall I stay up?"
"I think you may as well go back to bed and try to take another nap," he answered. "It is very early yet."
Lulu hurried into the sitting-room where Polly's cage was hanging, and struck a light.
"What you 'bout? Where you been?" demanded the parrot.
"Sleeping in my bed as I have a right to, Miss Saucebox," returned Lulu, laughing as she opened a cupboard door and brought out a paper of crackers. "There, take that and see if you can hold your tongue till folks are ready to get up."
The bird took the offered cracker and began eating it, standing on one foot, on its perch, and holding the food in the claws of the other, while it bit off a little at a time, Lulu looking on with interest.
"You'll have to behave better than this, or you'll get banished to the attic, or the kitchen, or some other far-off place," she said, shaking her finger threateningly at Poll.
Then, after turning down the light, she ran back to bed.
"Are you asleep, Eva?" she asked in a whisper.
"No dear; wide awake."
"Then let's talk; for I'm as wide awake as I can be."
"But didn't your father say you were to try for another nap?"
"I understood him to mean only that I might if I chose, not that I must; but perhaps he meant that he wanted me to; so I'll keep quiet and try."
She did so, saying to herself, "I just know it's no use, for I was never wider awake in my life," but to her great astonishment the next thing she knew it was broad daylight and Eva up and brushing out her hair before the mirror over the bureau.
"Why, I've been asleep and I hadn't the least idea of such a thing!" cried Lulu springing out upon the floor and beginning to dress in all haste.
"Oh, you've had a nice nap and will feel the better for it all day, I'm sure," returned Eva laughing in a kindly way; "and that is your reward for trying to do as your papa probably wished you to. But need you hurry so? isn't it a good while to breakfast time?"
"Yes, but I have to dress and say my prayers; and I always like so much to have a little time to chat with papa before the bell rings."
"Lu! Lu!" screamed the parrot, "time for breakfast! Polly wants her coffee."
"Just hear Polly," exclaimed Lulu; "it does seem as if she must have sense. I suppose she does think it's time for breakfast."
"Does she drink coffee?" asked Eva.
"Yes; she is very fond of it. She gets a cup every morning."
"She's a very amusing pet, I think," remarked Evelyn. "What fun it will be to teach her to say all sorts of cute things!"
"Yes," sighed Lulu, "but papa says if she should hear angry, passionate, or willful words from my lips she may learn and repeat them to my shame and sorrow. But oh I hope I never shall let her hear such!"
"I don't believe you ever will say such words any more, dear Lu," Eva said with an affectionate look into her friend's face. "I don't believe you have ever been in a passion since—since the time that little Elsie had that sad fall."
"No, I have not been in a rage, but I have said some angry words a few times, and oh—as you must remember that I told you—some very rebellious and insolent ones to my dear papa—not so long ago. Oh dear, I'm afraid my tongue can never be tamed!
"Papa made me learn that third chapter of James that says 'the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity and that no man can tame it.' Then he talked to me so nicely and kindly about learning to rule my tongue and make it always speak as it ought—wise, kind, pleasant words. And he told me the only way to do it was by getting my heart right—by God's help—because, as the Bible tells us in another place, it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaketh."
"Your father takes a great deal of pains to teach and help you, dear Lu, doesn't he?" said Eva.
"Yes, yes, indeed!" returned Lulu, with warmth; "all his children, but especially me, I think, because I'm the naughtiest and have the hardest work trying to be good. I'm often surprised at papa's patience with me and the trouble he takes to help me in my hard fight with my passionate, wilful temper."
Just then Grace's voice was heard at the door, "Happy New Year, Eva and
Lu! May I come in?"
"Yes, come. Happy New Year to you," cried both girls, Lulu running and taking her sister in her arms to hug and kiss her.
"You darling child! You look bright and well. Are you?"
"Yes, you old woman," laughed Gracie, returning the hug and kisses; "and
I'm all ready for breakfast. Are you?"
"No, not quite."
"I am," said Eva. "Shall we go into the sitting-room, Gracie, and wait there for Lu?"
"Yes," answered Grace, leading the way; "and I'll be learning my Bible verse while we wait for her and papa and the breakfast bell."
Lulu and her father joined them at the same moment.
The captain kissed the little girls all around and presented each with a pretty little portemonnaie.
Eva thanked him with smiles, blushes and appreciative words; his own two with hugs and kisses in addition to the thanks given in words.
"Mine's ever so pretty, papa," Lulu said, turning it about in her hands.
"I am glad you are pleased with it," he said, smiling, "but are you going to be satisfied with looking at the outside? don't you want to examine the lining also?"
"Why, yes, sir?" opening it. "Oh, oh, it isn't empty!" she laughed, beginning to take out the contents—two clean, crisp one dollar notes, and a handful of bright new quarters, dimes and five cent pieces. "Papa, how kind and generous you are to me!"
Grace had her purse open by this time and found it lined in like manner with Lulu's. "Dear papa, thank you ever so much," she said, looking up into his face with eyes full of love and gratitude. "It's a great deal for me to have beside all the rest you gave me."
"You are both as welcome as possible, my darlings; only make good use of it, remembering that money is one of the talents for which we must give account to God at last," he answered to both.
"Eva, my dear," turning to her, "you will find the same in yours, and I hope will accept it from me as though you were one of my daughters. Do me the kindness to let me be in some respects, a father to you; since your own is absent in the happy home to which I trust we are all traveling."
She was standing near, the present he had given her in her hand. She had been looking from it to Lulu and Grace, thinking the while how good it was in the captain to treat her so much like one of his own, and now at these kind words spoken in tender fatherly tones, both heart and eyes grew full to overflowing.
He saw that she could not speak for emotion, and taking her hand, drew her to his knee and kissed her, saying, "Don't try to thank me in words, my dear; your speaking countenance tells me all you would say."
"What you 'bout?" screamed Polly at that instant, just as if she were calling the captain to account for his actions.
That made them all laugh; even Evelyn, who had been just ready to cry.
Then the breakfast bell rang and everybody hastened to obey its summons.
Many a "Happy New Year," was exchanged among them as they gathered—a bright faced, cheerful set—in the pleasant breakfast-room and about its bountiful table.
Each had a gift to show, for all had been remembered in that way by either the captain or Violet, some by both, and each one had received or did now receive, something from Grandma Elsie—a book, toy or game.
The gifts seemed to give universal satisfaction and all were in gayest spirits.
Shortly after breakfast—almost before the children had done with comparing and talking about their presents—the other guests began to arrive, and by ten o'clock everybody who had been invited was there.
Then began the fun of arranging themselves in groups and having photographs taken; after that the acting of the charades.
The picture suggested by Violet was taken first. In it Grandma Elsie was seated between her father on one side, and her namesake daughter on the other, Mrs. Leland having her babe in her arms, while little Ned leaned confidingly against his great-grandfather's knee.
The captain and Violet, with their two little ones, made another pretty picture. Then the captain was taken again with his older three grouped about him. Then Grandma Elsie again with her son Edward and his Zoe, standing behind her, Rosie and Walter one on each side.
She thought this quite enough, but her college boys insisted on having her taken again, seated between them.
It was then proposed that the other members of the company should be taken in turn—singly or in groups;—but all declined, expressing a decided preference for spending the time in a more amusing manner, such as forming tableaux and acting charades.
The older people took possession of a large parlor and sat there conversing, while the younger ones consulted together and made their arrangements in the library.
Misconstrue was the first word chosen. Presently Evelyn walked into the parlor, followed almost immediately by Harold with a book in his hand.
"You are here, Miss?" he said glancing at Evelyn. "And you, Miss?" as
Sydney Dinsmore came tripping in from the hall.
"Yes; and here comes another Miss;" she replied, as Lulu appeared in the open doorway.
"I too, am a miss; there are four of us here now," said Rosie, coming up behind Lulu.
"I am a miss," proclaimed Maud Dinsmore, stepping in after Rosie.
"And I am a miss," echoed Lora Howard, coming after her.
"Well, stand up in a row and let us see if you can say your lesson without a miss," said Harold.
"Oh it's a spelling school—all of girls!" remarked Grace in a low aside to her little friend Rosie Lacey; they two having chosen a place among the spectators rather than with the actors on this occasion.
"Yes," returned Rosie; "I wonder why they don't have some of the boys in the class too."
"When did Columbus discover America, Miss Maud?" asked Harold.
"In 1942," returned Maud with the air of one who is quite confident of the correctness of her reply.
"A miss for you," said Harold. "Next. When did Columbus discover
America?"
"In 1620, just after the landing of the pilgrims," answered Sydney.
"Another miss," said Harold. "Next."
"Something happened in 1775," said Eva meditatively.
"Oh!" cried Rosie, "Columbus' discovery was long before that—somewhere about the year 1000, was it not, Mr. Travilla?"
"A miss for each of you," replied Harold, shaking his head. "What year was it, Lulu?"
"It must have been before I was born," she answered slowly, as if not entirely certain—"Yes, I'm quite sure it was, and I can't remember before I was born."
"A miss for you too," said Harold. "You have every one missed and will have to con your task over again."
At that each girl opened a book which she held in her hand, and for several minutes they all seemed to be studying diligently.
"Ah, ha! ah ha! um h'm! mis-con," murmured Cousin Ronald, half-aloud; "vara weel done, lads and lasses. What's the next syllable? strue? Ah ha, um h'm! we shall see presently," as the books were closed and the young actors vanished through the door into the hall.
They were hardly gone when Zoe entered, carrying a small basket filled with flowers which she began to strew here and there over the floor.
"Ah ha! ah ha! um h'm!" cried Cousin Ronald, "she strews the flowers; misconstrue is the word na doot."
"Ah Cousin Ronald, somebody must have told you," laughed Zoe, tripping from the room.
"Oh!" cried Rosie Lacey, "I see now why the boys didn't take part this time; because they couldn't be miss."
"Here they come now, boys and girls too," exclaimed Grace. "Why how they're laughing! I wonder what's the joke?"
They were all laughing as at something very amusing, and after entering the room did nothing but sit or stand about laughing all the time; fairly shaking with laughter, laughing, laughing till the tears came into their eyes, and the older people joined in without in the least knowing the exciting cause of so much mirth.
"Come, children, tell us the joke," said Mr. Dinsmore at length.
"O grandpa, can't you see?" asked Rosie Travilla, and they all hurried from the room, to return presently in a procession, each carrying something in his or her hand.
Harold had a log of wood, Herbert a post, Max a block, Frank the wooden part of an old musket, while Chester, though empty-handed, wore an old fashioned stock or cravat and held his head very stiffly.
Maud, dressed as a huckster, had a basket filled with apples, oranges, nuts and candies. Sydney, wearing an old cloak and straw hat, had a basket on her arm in which were needles, tapes, buttons, pins, and other small wares such as are often hawked about the streets.
Lulu and Eva brought up the rear, carrying the parrot and Gracie's kitten.
Maud and Sydney made the circuit of the room, the one crying, "Apples and Oranges! buy any apples and oranges?" the other asking, "Want any pins to-day? needles, buttons, shoe-strings?"
"No," said Grandma Rose, "Have you nothing else to offer?"
"No, ma'am, this is my whole stock in trade," replied Sydney.
"I laid in a fresh stock of fruit this morning, ma'am, and it's good enough for anybody," sniffed Maud, with indignant air.
"Do you call that a musket, sir?" asked Chester of Frank.
"No, sir; I called it the stock of one."
"Lulu and Eva, why bring those creatures in here?" asked Herbert, elevating his eyebrows as in astonishment.
"Because they're our live stock," replied Lulu.
Now Frank began to play the part of a clown or buffoon, acting in a very silly and stupid manner, while the others looked on laughing and pointing their fingers at him in derision.
"Frank, can't you behave yourself?" exclaimed Maud. "It mortifies me to see you making yourself the laughing-stock of the whole company."
"Laughing-stock—laughing-stock," said several voices among the spectators, the captain adding, "Very well done indeed!"
"Thank you, sir," said Harold. "If the company are not tired we will give them one more."
"Let us have it," said his grandfather.
Some of the girls now joined the spectators, while Harold drew out a little stand, and he, Chester, and Herbert seated themselves about it with paper and pencils before them, assuming a very business-like air.
Frank had stepped out to the hall. In a minute or two he returned and walked up to the others, hat in hand.
Bowing low, but awkwardly, "You're the school committee I understand, gents?" he remarked inquiringly.
"Yes," said Harold, "and we want a teacher for the school at Sharon.
Have you come to apply for the situation?"
"Yes, sir; I heered tell ye was wantin' a superior kind o' male man to take the school fer the winter, and bein' as I was out o' a job, I thought I mout as well try my hand at that as enny thin' else."
"Take a seat and let us inquire into your qualifications," said Herbert, waving his hand in the direction of a vacant chair. "But first tell us your name and where you are from."
"My name, sir, is Peter Bones, and I come from the town o' Hardtack in the next county; jest beyant the hill yander. I've a good eddication o' me own, too, though I never rubbed my back agin a college," remarked the applicant, sitting down and tilting his chair back on its hind legs, retaining his balance by holding on to the one occupied by Herbert. "I kin spell the spellin' book right straight through, sir, from kiver to kiver."
"But spelling is not the only branch to be taught in the Sharon school," said Chester. "What else do you know."
"The three r's, sir; reading, 'ritin,' and 'rithmetic."
"You are acquainted with mathematics!"
"Well, no, not so much with Mathy as with his brother Bill; but I know him like a book; fact I might say like several books."
"Like several books, eh?" echoed Chester in a sarcastic tone; "but how well may you be acquainted with the books? What's the meaning of pathology?"
"The science of road making of course, sir; enny fool could answer such a question as that."
"Could he, indeed? Well you've made a miss, for your answer is wide of the mark."
"How wide is the Atlantic ocean?" asked Herbert.
"'Bout a thousand miles."
"Another miss; it's three thousand."
"I know it useter to be, years ago, but they've got to crossin' it so quick now that you needn't tell me it's more'n a thousand."
"In what year was the Declaration of Independence signed?" asked Harold.
"Wall now, I don't jist remember," returned the applicant, thrusting both hands deep into his pockets and gazing down meditatively at the carpet, "somewheres 'bout 1860, wuzn't it? no, come to think, I guess 'twas '63."
"No, no, no! you are thinking of the proclamation of emancipation. Another miss. We don't find you qualified for the situation; so wish you good day, sir."
"Ah, ah! ah, ah! um h'm, um h'm! so I should say," soliloquized Mr. Lilburn, leaning on his goldheaded cane and watching the four lads as they scattered and left the room; "and so this is the end of act the first, I suppose. Miss, miss, miss, ah that's the syllable that begins the new word."
Evelyn now came in with an umbrella in her hand, Grace and Rose Lacey walking a little in her rear. Evelyn raised the umbrella and turning to the little girls, said pleasantly, "Come under, children, I can't keep the rain off you unless you are under the umbrella." They accepted the invitation and the three moved slowly back and forth across the room several times.
"It's a nice sort of shelter to be under when it rains," remarked Rose
Lacey.
"Yes, I like to be under it," said Grace.
"But it is wearisome to walk all the time; let us stand still for a little," proposed Evelyn.
"Yes; by that stand yonder," said Grace.
They went to it and stationed themselves there for a moment; then Grace stepped from under the umbrella and seated herself on the carpet under the stand.
"Look, look!" laughed Rose Lacey, "there's Miss Grace Raymond under the stand; a miss-under-stand."
A storm of applause, and cries of "Well done, little ones! Very prettily done indeed!" and Gracie, rosy with blushes, came out from her retreat and ran to hide her face on her father's shoulder, while he held her close with one arm, softly smoothing her curls with the other hand.
"Don't be disturbed, darling," he said; "it is only kind commendation of the way in which Rosie and you have acted your parts."
"Why you should feel proud and happy, Gracie," said Zoe, drawing near. "We are going to have that tableau now in which you are to be a little flower girl. So come, won't you? and let me help you dress."
Tableaux filled up the rest of the morning.
After dinner Harold and Herbert gave an exhibition of tricks of legerdemain, which even the older people found interesting and amusing. The little ones were particularly delighted with a marvellous shower of candy that ended the performance.
Some of Cousin Ronald's stories of the heroes of Scottish history and song made the evening pass delightfully.
But at an early hour the whole company, led by Grandpa Dinsmore, united in a short service of prayer, praise, and the reading of the scriptures, and at its close the guests bade good-bye and scattered to their homes.
"Well," said Max, following the rest of the family into the parlor, after they had seen the last guest depart, "I never had a pleasanter New Year's day."
"Nor I either," said Lulu; "and we had such a delightful time last year too, that I really don't know which I enjoyed the most."
"And we have good times all the time since we have a home of our own with our dear father in it," remarked Grace, taking his hand and carrying it to her lips, while her sweet azure eyes looked up lovingly into his face.
An emphatic endorsement of that sentiment from both Max and Lulu. Then the captain, smiling tenderly upon them, said, "I dearly love to give you pleasure, my darlings, my heart's desire is for my children's happiness in this world and the next; but life can not be all play; so lessons must be taken up again to-morrow morning, and I hope to find you all in an industrious and tractable mood."
"I should hope so indeed, papa," returned Max; "if we are not both obedient and industrious we will deserve to be called an ungrateful set."
CHAPTER XIV.
The weather the next day was so mild and pleasant that Max and Lulu asked and obtained permission to take a ride of several miles on their ponies.
They went alone, their father and Violet having driven out in the family carriage, taking the three younger children with them.
On their return Max and his sister approached the house from a rear entrance to the grounds, passing through the bit of woods belonging to the estate, the garden and shrubbery, and across the lawn.
In traversing the wood they came upon a man leaning idly against a tree, in a lounging attitude, with his hands in his pockets, a half consumed cigar in his mouth.
He was a stranger to the children, and from, his shabby, soiled clothing, unkempt locks, and unshaven face, it was evident he belonged to the order of tramps.
He stood directly in the path the children were pursuing, just where it made a sudden turn, and Lulu's pony had almost trodden upon his foot before they were aware of his vicinity.
Fairy shied, snorting with fright, and almost unseated her young rider.
"Look out there, and don't ride a fellow down!" growled the man, catching hold of Fairy's bridle and scowling into the face of her rider.
Lulu did not seem to be frightened. Her quick temper rose at the man's insolence, and she exclaimed authoritatively, "Let go of my bridle this instant, and get out of the path."
"I will when I get ready, and no sooner," returned the man insolently.
"What are you doing in these grounds, sir?" demanded Max, adding, "You have no call to be here. Let go of that bridle and step out of the path at once."
"I'm not under your orders, bubby," said the tramp with a disagreeable, mocking laugh.
"These are my father's grounds," said Max, drawing himself up with a determined air, "and we don't allow tramps and loafers here; so if you don't let go of that bridle and be off I'll set my dog on you. Here, Prince, Prince!"
At the sound of the call, answered by a loud bark, and the sight of Prince's huge form making rapid bounds in his direction, the tramp released Fairy's bridle, and growling out an oath, turned and made his way with all celerity toward the public road, leaping the fence that separated it from Capt. Raymond's grounds, barely in time to escape Prince's teeth, as he made a dash to seize him by the leg.
"Oh," cried Lulu, drawing a long breath of relief, "what a happy thing that Prince came running out to meet us!"
"Yes," said Max, "and I hope he has given that fellow a fright that will keep him from ever coming into these grounds again. If he isn't a scoundrel his looks certainly belie him very much."
They had held their ponies in check while watching the race between man and dog, but now urged them forward in haste to reach the house; for the short winter day was fast closing in.
The captain was standing on the veranda as they rode up.
"You are a trifle late, children," he said, as he stepped to the side of
Fairy and lifted Lulu from the saddle, but his tone was not stern.
"Yes, papa," said Max; "I'm afraid we went a little farther than we ought; at any rate it took us longer than we expected to reach home again; and we were detained a minute or two just now, out here in the grove, by a tramp that caught hold of Fairy's bridle and wouldn't let go till I called Prince and he showed his teeth."
"What! can it be possible?" cried the captain closing his fingers more firmly over the hand Lulu had slipped into his, and gazing down into her face with a look of mingled concern and relief. "It is well indeed that Lulu was not alone, and that Prince was at hand. Come into the library and tell me all about it."
He led Lulu in as he spoke, Max following, while a servant took the ponies to their stable.
Capt. Raymond sat down and drew Lulu to his side, putting an arm protectingly around her, while Max, standing near, went on to give the particulars of their encounter with the tramp, Lulu now and then putting in a word.
"Now, daughter," the captain said at the conclusion of the story, "I hope you are quite convinced of the wisdom and kindness of your father's prohibition of solitary rides and walks for you?"
"Yes, papa, I am, and do not intend ever to disobey you again by taking them. I wasn't much frightened, but I know it would have been very dangerous for me if I'd been alone."
"No doubt of it," he said, caressing her with grave tenderness, "it almost makes me shudder to think of what might have happened had you been without a protector."
"And I doubt if I could have protected her without Prince's help, papa," said Max. "I think he's a valuable fellow, and pays for his keep."
"Yes; I am very glad I selected him as a Christmas gift to you," said his father. "But now I must warn you both to say nothing to, or before Gracie, about this occurrence; for timid as she is, it would be apt to cause her much suffering from apprehension."
"We will try to keep it a secret from her, papa," replied both children.
"And in order to succeed in that you will have to be on your guard and give no hint of the matter in presence of any of the servants."
"We will try to remember, papa," they promised with evident intention to do so.
"That is right," he said. "I think I can trust you not to forget or disobey. I know you would be loath to have your little sister tortured with nervous terrors. Now go and get yourselves ready for tea."
Lulu was full of excitement over her adventure, and through the evening found it difficult to refrain from speaking of it before Grace; but equally desirous to obey her father and to save her little sister from needless suffering, she resolutely put a curb upon her tongue till she found herself alone with him at bedtime.
Then she must needs go over the whole scene again, and seeing that it was a relief to her excitement, he let her run on about it to her heart's content.
"Has it made you feel at all timid to-night, daughter?" he asked kindly.
"No, papa," she answered promptly; "I don't think the man could get into the house; do you?"
"I think it most probable he has walked on till he is miles away from here by this time," the captain answered. "But even did we know him to be prowling round outside, we might rest and sleep in peace and security, assured that nothing can harm us without the will of our heavenly Father who loves us more than any earthly parent loves his child."
He drew her very close to his heart and imprinted a tender kiss upon her lips as he spoke.
"Yes, papa, it makes me feel very safe to remember that, thinking how dearly you love me; so that I know you would never let anything harm me if you could help it," she returned, putting an arm round his neck and hugging him tight. "Oh I am so glad that the Bible tells us that about God's love to us!"
"So am I; and that my children have early learned to love and trust in him.
"'Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.' That is not a promise that God's faithful followers shall be rich in this world's goods, but faith in God's loving care makes life happy even in the midst of poverty and pain. Riches have not the power to make us happy, but the love of God has.
"And those who begin to serve God in the morning of life and press onward and upward all their days, keeping near to Jesus and growing more and more like him, will be happier in heaven—because of their greater capacity for the enjoyment of God and holiness—than the saved ones who sought him late in life, or were less earnest in their endeavors to live in constant communion with him, and to bear more and more resemblance to him.
"The Bible speaks of some who are 'scarcely saved,' and of others to whom 'an entrance shall be ministered abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.'"
"Papa," said Lulu earnestly, "I want to be one of those; I want to live near to Jesus and grow every day more like him. (Oh I am so little like him now; sometimes I fear not at all). Won't you help me all you can?"
"I will, my darling," he replied, speaking with emotion. "Every day I ask wisdom from on high for that very work;—the work of helping you and all my dear children to be earnest, faithful servants of God."
The talk with her father had done much to quiet Lulu's excitement, and she fell asleep very soon after laying her head on her pillow.
It was still night when she awoke suddenly with the feeling that something unusual was going on in the house.
She sat up in the bed and listened. She thought she heard a faint sound coming from the room below, and slipping from the bed she stole softly across the floor to the chimney, where there was a hot air flue beside the open fireplace.
Dropping down on her hands and knees, she put her ear close to the register and listened again, almost holding her breath in the effort to hear.
The chimney ran up between her bedroom and the little tower room opening into it; the library was under her bedroom, and opening from it was the ground floor room of the tower, which was very strongly built, had only the one door and very narrow slits of windows set high up in the thick stone walls.
In a safe in that small room were kept the family plate, jewelry, and money; though no very great amount of the last named, as the captain considered it far wiser to deposit it in the nearest bank.
The door of the strong room, as it was called, was of thick oak plank crossed with iron bars, and had a ponderous bolt and stout lock whose key was carried up stairs every night by the captain.
Listening with bated breath, Lulu's ear presently caught again a faint sound as of a file moving cautiously to and fro on metal.
"Burglars! I do believe it's burglars trying to steal the money and silver and Mamma Vi's jewelry that are in the safe," she said to herself with a thrill of mingled fear and excitement.
With that she crept into the tower room, softly opened the register there, and applied her ear to it. The sound of the file seemed a trifle louder and presently she was sure she heard gruff voices, though she could not distinguish the words.
Her first impulse was to hurry to her father and tell him of her discovery; the second thought, "If I do, papa will go down there and maybe they'll kill him; and that would be a great, great deal worse than if they should carry off everything in the house. I wish I could catch them myself and lock them in there before I wake papa. Why couldn't I?" starting to her feet in extreme excitement; "they're in the strong room, the bolt's on the library side of the door, and probably they've left the key there, too, in the lock. If I'm going to try to do it, the sooner the better. I'll ask God to show me how and help me."
She knelt on the carpet for a moment, sending up her petition in a few earnest words, then rising, stood for an instant thinking very fast.
She could gain the library by a door opening into a back hall and very near that into the strong room, whose door, if open, would be in a position to conceal her approach from the burglars till she could step behind it; so that her scheme seemed not impracticable.
She hastily put on a dark dressing-gown over her white night dress, and thick felt slippers on her feet.
Her heart beat very fast as the thought occurred to her that there might be an accomplice in the library or hall, or that the door from the one into the other might creak and bring the miscreants rushing out upon her before she could accomplish the task she had set herself.
"Well what if they should, Lulu Raymond?" she asked, shutting her teeth hard together, "'twouldn't be half so bad as if they should harm your father. You could be very well spared, but he couldn't; Mamma Vi, Max and Gracie would break their hearts if anything dreadful happened to him, and so would you too; I'll try, trusting to God to take care of me."
With swift, noiseless steps she passed out of her room, down a back stairway into the hall just spoken of, and gained the library door, finding it, to her great joy, wide enough open for her to slip in without touching it.
She could see nothing there; the room was quite dark; but the sounds she had heard were still going in the strong room, seeming a little louder now. The men must be in there at work on the safe; with the door ajar, for a streak of light at the back between it and the jamb, told her it was not quite shut.
She crept to it and peeping in at that crack, saw a man down on his knees working at the lock of the safe, while another stood close beside him, holding a dark lantern, open, so that the rays of light fell full and strongly upon the lock his confederate was trying to break.
Lulu could not see the face of the latter, his back being toward her, but as the other bent forward for a moment, to watch the progress of the work, the light fell on his face, and she instantly recognized him as the tramp who had seized Fairy's bridle in the wood.
Trembling like a leaf she put up her hand and cautiously felt for the bolt; holding tight to it and exerting all her strength, she suddenly slammed the door to and shot it into its socket. She heard the villains drop their tools, spring toward and try the door with muttered oaths and curses; but she waited to feel for the key and turn it in the lock; even to pull it out and thrust it into the pocket of her gown, as a swift thought came to her, that there might be an accomplice lurking about who would release them if she left it there.
Then she ran as fast as her feet could carry her, through the library and hall, up the stairs and on through the rooms, never stopping until she stood panting for breath beside her sleeping father.
She could not speak for a moment, but laid her face on the pillow beside his and put her arm round his neck.
The touch roused him and he asked, "Who is it? you, Lulu?"
"Yes, papa," she panted; "I—I've locked some burglars into the strong room and—"
"You? you have locked them in there?" he exclaimed in astonishment starting up and drawing her into his arms. "Surely, my child, you have been dreaming."
"No, papa, not a bit; I've locked them in there and here's the key," putting it into his hand. "I slammed the door to on them. I shot the bolt too, and I don't think they can get out. But what will we do? Papa, can you get somebody to help you take them to jail?"
"Yes; I shall telephone at once to the sheriff at Union."
"Who is it? What's the matter?" asked Violet waking.
"I can not wait at this moment to explain matters my love," the captain said hastily picking up Lulu and putting her in the place in the bed which he had just vacated. "I must act, leaving Lulu to tell you her story."
With the last word he hurried from the room and the next moment they heard the telephone bell.
CHAPTER XV.
"What is it, Lu?" Violet asked in trepidation. "Oh what is the meaning of those sounds coming from below? Are burglars trying to break in?"
"No, Mamma Vi," returned Lulu with a little nervous laugh, "they are trying to break out."
"Break out? what can you mean, child?"
"They are locked into the strong room, Mamma Vi, and papa is calling for help to take them to jail. Hark! don't you hear him?"
They sat up in the bed, listening intently.
"Hello!" the captain called: then in another moment, "Capt. Raymond of Woodburn, wants the sheriff," they heard him say. "Ah are you there Mr. Wright? Burglars in the house. Burglars here. We have them fast, locked into the room with the safe they were trying to break open. Send a constable and several men to help him, as promptly as you can."
The reply was of course inaudible to the listeners in the bedroom, but the next moment the captain spoke again.
"Yes, I can hold them till you can get here; unless some outside accomplice should come to their aid."
He seemed to listen to a response, then a tinkle of his bell told that the conversation was at an end.
He turned at once to a private telephone connecting the dwelling house with the outside cabins in which his men-servants lodged, and called them to come to his assistance.
Then back he went to his bedroom to reassure Violet and send Lulu to Grace, who had waked and was calling in affright to know what was the matter.
"Do not be alarmed, my dear," he said, as he hastily threw on his clothes: "I really think there is no cause for apprehension, but I must hurry down to admit the servants (whether the burglars have left a door open or not, I do not know), see in what condition things are in the lower rooms, and keep guard over my prisoners till the sheriff or constable and his men arrive."
"What can I do?" asked Violet.
"Stay here out of harm's way, and ready to soothe and quiet the children should they wake in affright," he answered as he again hastened away.
Violet sprang from the bed and went with swift, noiseless steps into the nursery. All was quiet there, children and nurse soundly sleeping. She retraced her steps and went on into Grace's room, where the two little girls were lying together in the bed, locked in each other's arms. Grace trembling with fear, Lulu bravely struggling with her own excitement and trying to calm and soothe her little sister.
"O Mamma Vi, I'm so glad you've come!" she exclaimed, as Violet drew near, then seated herself on the side of the bed, and bent down to kiss first the one and then the other, "for Gracie is so frightened."
"I'm so afraid those wicked men will hurt papa," sobbed Grace.
"God will take care of him, dear child," Violet said, repeating her caress. "Beside your papa just told me he thought there was no cause for apprehension.
"But, Lulu, I have not heard yet how the burglars came to be locked into the strong room. Tell me about it."
"Something waked me, Mamma Vi, and I heard them, and by listening a little I made sure where they were. At first I thought I'd run and call papa; but then I thought there are two of them if not more and papa is only one, so he would hardly have a chance in trying to fight them; but if I should slip quietly down and slam the door to and lock them in, it would save risking papa's life; and if they should catch me and kill me it wouldn't be half so bad as if they hurt papa.
"So I asked God to help me and take care of me. Then I ran down the back stairs to the library.
"The door into the back hall was far enough open to let me slip in without touching it, so that I did so without making any noise to attract their attention; then seeing by the light coming from the crack at the back of the strong room door, that they were in there, I crept close up and peeped in, and there they were; one down on his knees working at the lock of the safe, the other holding a lantern to give him light.
"When I had watched them for a minute, I asked God again to help me; then I felt for the bolt and kept my hand on it while I, all of a sudden, pushed against the door with all my might and slammed it to, and shot the bolt in.
"I'd hardly done it when I heard the men drop their tools and run to the door and try to get it open; saying dreadful words too, that frightened me. So I only waited to lock the door also before I started to run upstairs and on through the rooms till I got to papa.
"He was asleep and I was so out of breath, and my heart beating so fast I couldn't speak for a minute. But I put my arm round his neck and my cheek on the pillow close to his and he woke."
"And it was you who locked the burglars in?" exclaimed Violet in astonishment. "I've heard before now of women doing such things, but never of a little girl like you attempting it. You dear, brave, unselfish child! I am very, very proud of you!" and she bent down again and kissed Lulu several times.
The burglars, quite aware that their presence in the house was known, were making desperate efforts to escape, trying to force the lock or break down the door, at the same time cursing, and swearing in tones of concentrated fury.
The captain drew near and spoke to them.
"Men," he said sternly, "you are caught in a trap you have laid for yourselves, and escape is impossible; both lock and door are strong enough to resist your utmost efforts; therefore you may as well take matters quietly."
"That we won't. Let us out or it'll be the worse for you!" growled one of the villians, grinding his teeth with rage.
"Have a little patience," returned the captain; "you shall be taken out presently, and off the premises; you are by no means desirable inmates in the home of any honest, law-abiding citizen."
The response to that was a threat of vengeance to be taken sooner or later, should he dare to deliver them up to justice.
Finding their threats disregarded, they tried persuasion, appeals to his compassion—asserting that it was their first attempt to rob, and that they were driven to it by necessity—they and their families being in sore straits from extreme poverty—and promises to lead honest lives in future.
One voice the captain recognized as that of the groom he had dismissed some months before because of his cruelty to Thunderer.
"Ajax," he said sternly, "you are lying to me! I know that your family are not in distress, and that you can make an honest living if you choose to be industrious and faithful to your employers. You were well paid here but lost your situation by inexcusable cruelty to dumb animals.
"Since discharging you I have more than once supplied the wants of your wife and children; and this is your grateful return;—coming to rob me, bringing with you another, and perhaps more desperate villain than yourself."
The men-servants had followed their master into the library and stood listening to the colloquy in open-mouthed astonishment.
"How dey git locked up in dar, cap'in?" asked one.
"Miss Lulu slammed the door to on them and locked and bolted it," he replied, his eyes shining at thought of the unselfish bravery of his child.
"Ki, cap'n! you's jokin', fo' shuah, dat little Miss Lu lock up de bugglars? how she gwine do dat? she one small chile an' dey two big men?"
"She undoubtedly did it," returned the captain, smiling at the man's evident amazement. "She heard them at work with their tools, on the safe door, came softly down into this room, peeped at them through the crack behind the door there, and before they were aware of her vicinity, slammed it to and bolted and locked it on them."
"Hurrah for little Miss Lu!" cried the men; one of them adding, "Dey mus' hab her fo' a kunnel in de nex' wah."
"No, sah; higher'n dat; fo' brigandine gineral at de berry leas'!" said another.
Seeing no hope of escape, the prisoners had ceased their efforts and awaited their fate in sullen silence.
They did not know who had been their captor, and in telling the story of Lulu's exploit the captain purposely so lowered his tones that scarce a word reached their ears.
At this moment Max appeared at the door opening from the library into the front hall; only half dressed and asking in much excitement, what was the matter? what was the meaning of the lights and the noises that had waked him?
His father explained in a few words, and as he finished a loud knocking at the front entrance told of the arrival of the sheriff and his posse.
They were promptly admitted, filed into the library and formed a semi-circle about the door of the strong room—each man with a revolver in his hand, cocked and ready for instant use.
The door was then unfastened and the burglars stepped out only to be immediately handcuffed and carried away to prison, sullenly submitting to their arrest because they saw that resistance was useless.
But before being taken from the house they were searched and the captain's watch found upon Ajax. He had evidently visited the dressing-room of his late master to obtain the key to the strong room door, and appropriated the watch at the same time.
The lock of the safe was also examined and found but little injured. The scoundrels had not succeeded in getting at the valuables there.
They had collected together some from other parts of the house and made them into bundles ready to carry away, but they were uninjured and had only to be restored to their places.
Max was greatly excited. "Papa," he said, when the sheriff had departed with his prisoners, and doors and windows were again secured, "we have had a narrow escape from serious loss; perhaps worse than that; for who knows but those fellows meant to murder us in our beds?"
"I think not, my son," replied the captain. "I presume their only object was plunder, and that if they had succeeded in rifling the safe without discovery, they would have gone quietly away with their booty.
"Had they desired to kill any of us, they would have been likely to attempt it when upstairs in search of the key to the strong room."
"And it was Lu who spoiled their plans! Just think of it! I'd like to have had her chance. Papa, I think Lu's splendid!"
"She has certainly shown herself very brave and unselfish on this, and several other occasions," the captain said with a happy look in his eyes.
"But come, we will do well now to go back to our beds, for it is scarcely four o'clock," he added, consulting his recovered watch.
The men servants had returned to their quarters, and father and son were alone.
Violet, in dressing-gown and slippers, met them at the head of the stairway.
"You have not been able to sleep, my love?" the captain said with a glance of concern at her pale, excited face. "But of course that was not to be expected."
"No; we have all been too much excited to close an eye," she answered."
They are gone? Do tell me all about it!"
"O papa, please come in here and tell it where Gracie and I can hear," called Lulu entreatingly, from the inner room, and the bed where they still lay clasped in each other's arms.
"I will; I think you deserve the indulgence," he said going to them,
Violet and Max following, the latter asking, "May I come in too, papa?"
"Yes," replied his father, placing a chair for Violet. "I presume it will be a relief to you all to talk the matter over together with your mamma and me, and you will perhaps be more inclined for sleep afterward."
"Papa, won't you sit down and take me on your knee, and hug me up close, while you tell it?" entreated Grace.
"I will," he said, doing as she requested. Then catching a longing look in Lulu's eyes, "You may come too, daughter," he said. "Slip on your dressing-gown and stand here by my side. I have an arm for you as well as one for Gracie."
Lulu promptly and joyfully availed herself of the permission.
"Lu," said Max, "you're a real heroine! brave as a lion! I'm proud to own you for my sister. I'm afraid I mightn't have been half so brave."
"Oh yes, Max, I'm sure you would have done just the same," she returned, blushing with pleasure. "And you see I preferred to do it, because I thought they might kill papa, and that would have been oh so much worse than being killed myself!" clinging lovingly to her father, and hiding her face on his shoulder as she spoke.
"Dear child!" he said in moved tones and clasping her close, "you have a very strong and unselfish love for me."
"Papa, it would have broken my heart, and Mamma Vi's, and Max's and
Gracie's too, if anything dreadful had happened to you."
"And what about papa's heart if he should lose his dear little daughter
Lulu, or anything dreadful should happen to her?"
"I didn't have time to think about that, papa. I know you love me very much, and would be sorry to lose me—naughty as I often am—but you have other children, and I have only one father; so of course it would be a great deal worse for me to lose you, and all the rest to lose you too."
"The worst thing that could befall us," said Violet; "but Lulu, dear, we all love you and would feel it a terrible thing to have you killed or badly injured in any way."
"Indeed we would!" exclaimed Max, with a slight tremble in his voice.
"Oh I couldn't ever, ever bear it!" sobbed Gracie, throwing an arm round her sister's neck.
"Well," said the captain cheerfully, hugging both at once, "we have escaped all the evils we have been talking of; our heavenly Father has taken care of us and has not suffered us to even lose our worldly goods, much less our lives; and we may well trust Him for the future and not fear what man can do unto us."
"Yes," said Violet, "we know that He has all power in heaven and earth and will never suffer any real evil to befall one of His people.
"'He will not suffer thy foot to be moved; he, that keepth thee will not slumber.'
"Levis, did you know those men?"
"One of them is Ajax."
"Is it possible?" she exclaimed. "What a return for all the kindness you have shown to him and his!"
"Ajax! There, I was sure I heard Ajax's voice in the hall while the sheriff was here," cried Lulu. "He must have been the one who was down on his knees trying to break the safe lock when I peeped in at the crack. I didn't see his face; but the other was a white man."
"Yes," said Max; "a man we'd seen before."
"The tramp you saw when out riding?" asked his father.
"Yes, sir."
"I recognized him too," said Lulu. "Papa, what will be done with him and Ajax?"
"They will have to be tried for burglary and if convicted, will be sent to the penitentiary for a term of years."
"Papa, will we have to appear as witnesses on the trial?" asked Max.
"Yes."
"The men did not attempt any resistance to the arrest?" Violet said inquiringly.
"No; they saw it would be quite useless."
After a little more talk the captain said, "Now I think it will be best for us all to go to our beds again and try to sleep till the usual hour for rising."
"Papa, I feel so afraid," said Grace, holding tight to him as he would have laid her in the bed.
"My darling, try not to feel so," he said, caressing her; "try to believe that God will take care of you."
"Please ask him again, papa," she pleaded.
Then they all knelt while the captain asked in a few simple, earnest words that He who neither slumbers nor sleeps would be their shield, defending them from all evil, and that trusting in His protecting care they might be able to banish every fear and lay them down in peace and sleep.
"I am not afraid now, papa," Grace said, as they rose from their knees. "You may please put me in my bed, and I think I'll go to sleep directly, for I'm very tired."
"You will allow them to sleep past the usual hour, my dear, will you not?" asked Violet.
"Yes," he said, "I wish you, children, to sleep on as long as you can, and if possible make up all you have lost by the visit of the burglars; it will not matter if you take your breakfast later than usual by even so much as an hour or two."
"But that will make us late for lessons, papa," suggested Max.
"Which I will excuse for once," returned his father with an indulgent smile.