Jewel: A Chapter in Her Life Part 16

"Yes'm, I always do."

The child cuddled down under the covers with her face to the wall, lest Mrs. Forbes should see a further duty and do it.

"You ought to say them on your knees," continued the housekeeper.

"I'd just as lief," replied Jewel, "but I don't believe G.o.d cares."

"Well," returned Mrs. Forbes solemnly, "it is a matter for your own conscience, Julia, if your mother didn't train you to it. Good-night."

"Good-night," came faintly from beneath the bedclothes.

Mrs. Forbes turned off the light and went out, closing the door behind her.

"If she'd always speak when she's spoken to, and be quiet and modest as she is with me, she'd be a very well-behaved child," she soliloquized.

"I could train her. I shouldn't wonder at all if her mother should see a great difference in her when she comes back."

The housekeeper went heavily downstairs. Jewel, pus.h.i.+ng off the bedclothes, listened attentively to the retiring steps, and when they could no longer be heard, she jumped out of bed nimbly, and feeling for the electric switch, turned on the light. Her breath was coming rather unevenly, and she ran over the soft carpet to where her doll lay.

Catching her up, she pressed her to her breast, then sitting down in the big chair, she began to undress her, crossing one little bare foot over the other knee to make a lap.

"Darling Anna Belle, did you think I'd forgotten you?" she asked breathlessly. "Did you think you weren't going to have any one to kiss you good-night? It's hard not to have any one you love kiss you good-night." Jewel dashed her hand across her eyes quickly, then went swiftly on with her work. "You might have known that I was only waiting until that--that giantess went away. She wouldn't let me bring you down to dinner, dearie, but you didn't miss anything. Poor grandpa, I don't wonder any longer that he doesn't look happy. He has the sorriest people all around him that you ever saw. He lives in a big, beautiful castle, but it's Castle Discord. I named it that at dinner. n.o.body loves one another. Of course grandpa loves me, because I'm his own little grandchild, but he's too sorry to show it. The beautiful enchanted maiden, and the Error fairy, and the giantess, are all making discord around him. A little flat is better than a big castle, isn't it? We know a flat--let's call it Harmony Flat, Anna Belle. Perhaps if we're very, _very_, good, we'll get back there some time." Jewel suddenly pressed the doll's nightdress against her wet eyes. "Don't, don't, dearie! I know it does seem a year since--since the boat this morning. If all the days were as long as this, we'd be very, very old when father and mother come home." The soft voice broke in a sob. "I don't know what I should do if you weren't a Christian Scientist, Anna Belle. We'll help each other all we can. Now come--come into bed and say your prayers."

"Say your--your prayer first, dearie," she whispered, sobbing:--

"'Father, Mother, G.o.d, Loving me,-- Guard me when I sleep; Guide my little feet Up to Thee.'

"Now you'll feel--better, dearie. In a minute you won't be so--homesick for--for--father and mother. Hush, while I say mine."

Jewel repeated the Lord's Prayer. When she had finished, her breath still caught convulsively, so she continued:--

"Dear Father, Mother, G.o.d, loving me, help me to know that I am close to Thee. Help me to remember that things that are unhappy aren't real things. Help me to know that everything is good and harmonious, and that the people in this castle are Thy children, even if they do seem to have eyes like fishes. Help me to love one another, even the giantess, and please show grandpa how to meet error. Please let Dr. Ballard come to see me soon, because he has kind eyes, and I'm sure he doesn't know it's wrong to believe in materia medica. Please take more care of father and mother than anything, and say 'Peace be still' if the wind blows the sea. I know, dear Father in Heaven, that Thou dost not forget anything, but I say it to make me feel better. I am Thy little Jewel, and Anna Belle loves Thee, too. Take us into the everlasting arms of Love while we go to sleep. Amen."

Jewel brushed away the tears as she ceased, and with her usual quickness of motion, jumped out of bed to get a handkerchief. Turning on the electric light, she went to the chair over which hung the dotted dress.

She remembered having slipped a clean handkerchief into its pocket before going to dinner.

In reaching for it her fingers encountered a sc.r.a.p of paper in the depths of the pocket. She drew it forth. It was folded. She opened it and found it written over in a clear round hand.

"Is my little darling loving every one around her? People do not always seem lovely at first, but remember that every one is lovable because he is a thought of G.o.d. Those who seem unlovely are always unhappy, too, in their hearts. We must help them, and the best way to help is to love.

Mother is thinking about her little Jewel, and no seas can divide us."

A slow smile gladdened the child's tear-stained face. She read the message again, then turned out the light for the last time and cuddled down in bed, her warm cheek pressing the sc.r.a.p of paper in her hand, her breath still catching.

"Mother has spoken to us, Anna Belle," she whispered, clasping the doll close. "Wasn't it just like G.o.d to let her!" Then she fell asleep smiling.

CHAPTER VIII

A HAPPY BREAKFAST

Mrs. Forbes was on the porch next morning when Mr. Evringham returned from his canter.

"Fine morning, Mrs. Forbes," he said, as he gave Ess.e.x Maid into Zeke's hands.

"Very fine. A regular weather breeder. It'll most probably rain to-morrow, and what I wanted to speak to you about, Mr. Evringham, is, that the child hasn't any rubbers."

"Indeed? What else does she need?"

"Well, nothing that I can see. Her things are all good, and she's got enough of them. The trouble is she says she has never worn rubbers and doesn't want to, and if she gets sick I shall have to take care of her; so I hope, sir, you'll say that she must have them."

"Not wear them? Of course she must wear them," returned Mr. Evringham brusquely. "Get them to-day, if convenient, Mrs. Forbes."

The housekeeper looked relieved.

"I hope she's not making you any trouble, eh?" added Mr. Evringham.

"Not any more than she can help, I suppose," was the grudging reply.

"She's a smart child, and being an only one, she's some notional. She won't eat this and that, and doesn't want to wear rubbers, but she's handy and neat, and is used to doing for herself; her mother hasn't had time to fuss with her, of course, and that's lucky for me. She seems very well behaved, considering."

Jewel had made heroic efforts while Mrs. Forbes a.s.sisted at her morning toilet, and this was her reward.

"Well, we mustn't have you imposed upon," returned Mr. Evringham, feeling guilty of the situation. "The child must obey you implicitly, implicitly."

So saying he pa.s.sed into the house, and after making a change in his toilet, entered the dining-room. There he was seated, deep in his newspaper and waiting for his coffee, when the door opened, light feet ran to him, and an arm was thrown around his neck. He looked up to meet a happy smile, and before he could realize who had captured him, Jewel pressed a fervent kiss upon his cheek.

"Oh, grandpa, how nice and cold your cheek feels! Have you been out doors already?"

Mr. Evringham could feel the said cheek grow hot in surprise at this onslaught. He held himself stiffly and uncomfortably in the encircling arm.

"Yes, I've been out on horseback," he returned shortly. "I go every morning."

Jewel's eyes sparkled. "Oh, I'm so glad. Then I can watch you. I love to see anybody ride. When I see a beautiful horse something inside me gets warm. Father says I like just the same things he does. I must let you read your paper, grandpa, but may I say one thing more?"

"Yes."

"I didn't come last evening to kiss you good-night because you had somebody with you in the library, and, the giant--and Mrs. Forbes wouldn't let me; but I wanted to. You know I wanted to, don't you? I felt all sorry inside because I couldn't. You know you're the only real relation I have in the castle"--Here Mrs. Forbes's entrance with the coffee interrupted the confidence, and Jewel, with a last surrept.i.tious squeeze of Mr. Evringham's neck, intended to finish her sentence eloquently, left him and went to her chair.

"You're to sit here this morning," said Mrs. Forbes, indicating the place opposite her employer. "Mrs. Evringham and her daughter don't come down to breakfast."

Jewel looked up eagerly. "Not ever?" she asked.

"Never."

The child shot a radiant glance across at her grandfather which he caught, the thread of his business calculations having been hopelessly broken. "Oh, grandpa, we're always going to have breakfast alone together!" she said joyously. Noting Mrs. Forbes's set countenance, she added apologetically, "They're so pretty, cousin Eloise and aunt Madge, I love to look at them, but they aren't my real relations, and," her face gladdening again, "to think of having breakfast alone with you, grandpa, makes me feel as if--as if I had a birthday!"

Mr. Evringham cleared his throat. The situation might have been a little easier if Mrs. Forbes had not been present, but as it was, he had never felt so embarra.s.sed in his life.

"Now eat your oatmeal, Julia," said the housekeeper repressively. "Mr.

Evringham always reads his paper at breakfast."