Friends I Have Made Part 23

"Sally was our housemaid, parlour-maid, and nursemaid all in one; and it used to seem to me that she spent all her leisure time in quarrelling with the cook and snubbing us; but, for all that, one of my princ.i.p.al recollections, during the fever I had so long, was waking at all times to see Sally's red face watching by my bedside; and I know she did all cook's work for six weeks as well as her own, when the poor thing had such a sad accident and cut her hand.

"We three--Lil, Cissy, and I--had a long discussion about cousin Kate and her visit; and we all felt what dreadful little ragam.u.f.fins we should seem to her, for I'm afraid we had been running wild; though papa only used to laugh about it, and would come into the school-room when mamma was busy with us over our lessons, whenever it was a fine morning, and cry, `Now then, girls, the sun s.h.i.+nes and the birds are calling.

Out with you! Learn lessons when it rains.'

"I knew afterwards why this was. Papa had a horrible nervous dread of our growing up weak and sickly, for his was a delicate family; and I had heard that our cousins were often very ill.

"`I can guess why cousin Kate's coming to stay with us,' said Lil.

"`I _know_ why she's coming,' I said.

"`It's because she's ill,' shouted Lil, for fear I should show my knowledge first.

"`Sally will take her up new warm milk and an egg in it before she gets out of bed in the morning,' said Cissy solemnly; `that will soon make her well.'

"`She shall have all the eggs Speckle lays,' said Lil, `and Mary will take her every morning to the old garden-seat under the trees. She's sure to get well there.'

"And so we did, for cousin Kate came that afternoon--a tall, pale girl, with a sad weary look in her face, as she gazed wistfully from one to the other.

"We three girls stood back, quite in awe of the well-dressed, fas.h.i.+onable-looking body, who was so different from what we had expected, while mamma went up to welcome her, and took her in her arms in a tender affectionate way, saying, `My dear child, we are so glad to see you.'

"Cousin Kate threw her arms round mamma's neck and burst into a fit of sobbing, hiding her face from our sight.

We girls did not see any more of our cousin Kate that day; but our young interest was deeply excited, and somehow, perhaps, fostered by dark hints dropped by Sally--who was a blighted flower, having been crossed in a love affair with the horse-keeper at a neighbouring farm--we girls got to think of our cousin's illness as a kind of mystery connected in some way, how we did not know, with the heart.

"Our awe of the sweet gentle cousin fell off the very next day, when we took possession of her, and led her round our dear old country home, with its wilderness of an orchard, great garden, shrubberies, and pleasant meadow.

"Her coming seemed to mark an epoch in our young lives, for, seeing how weak and delicate she was, we used to vie one with the other in being quiet and gentle, waiting upon her in the most unnecessary way, like slaves, and always ready to rush off most willing messengers to forestall any little wants she expressed.

"This came natural to us; but on my part it was increased by a few words which I heard pa.s.s between mamma and papa, mamma saying that she did not think poor Kate would ever grow strong again, but slowly wither away. I gave a great gulp as I heard those words, and then burst out sobbing violently.

"`You here, Mary!' said mamma. `Well, my dear, as you have heard what we said, it must be your secret too. Never let your poor cousin know what we think, and never behave to her as if you thought she could not recover.'

"I promised readily, and at fourteen the possession of that secret seemed to make me more womanly than my sisters, as I redoubled my tenderness to the suffering girl.

"The invalid was twenty-one--a great age in our estimation--and I used to look up to her with veneration, gazing in her soft sweet face and wistful eyes, wondering why she was so ill, and what was the great sorrow that had come upon her like a blight upon one of the roses round our porch.

"Cousin Kate came to us in the spring, and the months flew by till it was the height of summer; and many and many a night had I turned my face to the wall, so that Lil should not know, and cried silently till my pillow was wet. For I knew so well that Kate was weaker, much weaker than when she came, a walk across the lawn to the old garden-seat in the shade being as much now as she could bear.

"`Cousin Kate,' I said, one day when we were alone, Lil and Cissy having rushed off to get some flowers, `couldn't any doctor make you well?'

"She looked at me with a wild strange gaze which almost startled me, before she replied, and then in a way that made my heart beat she sobbed out--

"`Only one--only one!' and then as if to herself, in a low whisper, she added, `and before he can come I shall be dead--dead!'

"She did not know I heard her last words, and I sat chilled and frightened, gazing at her till my sisters came back, when, as we frequently did, we sat down about her; Lil got upon the seat, Cissy sat on the gra.s.s with her head against one of Kate's hands, which hung listlessly from the corner where she leaned, and I threw myself on the gra.s.s at her feet, so as to look up in her gentle face, which had now become calm with its old weary look.

"`Cousin Kate,' said Lil, `tell us another story.'

"`No, no,' I said, `don't ask; she isn't so well to-day.'

"`Yes,' she said quietly, raising her head and looking at me, `I am better to-day.'

"`Tell us one, then,' cried Cissy eagerly,--`one you've never told us before.'

"There was silence then for a few minutes, and as I gazed up in Kate's face I saw her eyes close, and a sort of spasm twitch her lips; but the next minute she was quite calm, and then with the leaves whispering round us, and the twittering of the birds coming now and again from the distance, she said in a low, sweet, musical voice--

"`Once upon a time, in the days of long ago, when people were very, very happy on this earth, there lived a prince who was young, and handsome, and true. Nearly every one loved him, he was so manly and yet so gentle.'

"`And he loved a beautiful princess,' put in Cissy.

"I saw the spasm cross cousin Kate's face again, but it was calm directly after, and she went on.

"`No, dear,' she said, `he did not love a beautiful princess, but a poor simple girl who loved him too, with all her heart, and they were so, so happy. When the flowers blossomed they seemed to blossom only for them, and the birds sang their sweetest songs for them in the bright suns.h.i.+ny days.'

"`Yes, and they were married, and lived happy ever after,' cried Cissy.

`Go on.'

"There was once more that piteous look upon cousin Kate's face, seen only by me; but it pa.s.sed off, and she went on.

"`No, Cissy, they were not, for the poor, handsome young prince had enemies--cruel, bitter enemies--who slandered him, and said that he had made false keys, and opened the treasure-chests of a great man, and stolen away his gold and precious stones.'

"`Oh!' whispered Cissy, now deeply interested.

"`And,' continued Kate, `they took the poor prince, and there was a great trial, and though he declared he was innocent, the wicked people who slandered him and bare false witness against him prevailed; and the great judge said that he was to be cast into prison, and wear heavy chains, and be kept there for long and weary years.'

"`Oh!' cried Lil.

"`Yes,' said Cissy, `I know, and then the simple young girl, who loved him, went and unlocked the prison gates, and struck off his chains and set him free.'

"`No--no,' cried cousin Kate, and her voice altered terribly, so that I was alarmed, though I could do nothing but gaze up in the wild face before me, for now a change came over it. `No,' she cried, `the poor girl could do nothing but sit and weep, and feel her broken heart beat-- beat--beat, in its own prison, wearing itself out till--till she died, and--Oh, Frank! Frank! what have we done that we should suffer this?'

"I leaped up to throw my arms round her, while my sisters shrank away alarmed; for cousin Kate turned from us with a bitter wail, buried her face in her hands, and threw herself half over the arm of the old garden-seat, sobbing in a wild hysterical way, such as I had never seen before. `Kate, dear cousin Kate,' I sobbed; but even as I spoke there was a hasty step on the gravel, the bushes were dashed aside, and the shadow of a tall man was cast over us.

"`Kate--darling!' he cried, catching her in his arms, as I was thrust rudely aside, `I am innocent and free.'

"She did not hear him, for she gave a faint gasp and sank back insensible.

"We three girls were almost stunned; but we saw the tall, thin, pale-looking stranger hastily lift poor Kate from the seat, and literally run with her to the house, while we followed more slowly.

"As we reached the porch it was to meet papa running out, and in a very short time he returned with the doctor. But this doctor was the wrong one; the right one had come to us at the garden-seat, and it was his words that brought dear cousin Kate back to life, and in the course of a few months to health.

"For Frank Roberts was reinstated in the Government offices from which he fell--in a higher post, one which gave him the confidence of the chief officials; while the man through whose treachery poor Frank had suffered a year and a half before, died confessing that he had been the guilty party alone.

"Oh! those happy days when the roses were coming back day by day into cousin Kate's cheek, and when Frank, who was down at the old place every Sat.u.r.day to stay till Monday, used to be sent to play and romp with us girls. I can hardly believe that twenty years have glided by since then, but so it is; and to this day we call dear old grey-whiskered Frank, `Kate's Prince.'"

"You never told me, Mary," I said, "how it was that you came to be with Madame."

"Did I not?" she said. "Oh, it was the old story--misfortunes at home, and the determination to go out into the world and try to earn my own living, so as to cease to be a burden upon my parents. It is a good thing that efforts are being made to find work for women."