Peggy-Alone Part 4

"Lazybones, I don't believe you ever saw one!"

"I'd love to see your book!" cried Alene; "and there are some beautiful sunsets looking from the Tower!"

Ivy glanced up toward the tower of the Big House that rose almost as high as a church spire from the top of the hill.

"I do believe one could see behind the hills over there in the west, to the other side of the world from those windows," she exclaimed.

"Well, you and Laura come up this evening and--"

"Won't your folks object?"

"There's no folks there but Uncle Fred and he's no objector. Promise to come and see how far we can see!"

"'Over the hills and far away.'"

"Yes, we promise," cried Laura.

CHAPTER IV

THE GARDEN OF GOOD INTENTIONS

"Oh, Lol, I could hardly keep my face straight! To think we were actually invited up to the Big House really and truly, and were right there where we had so often pretended to live, you as Countess Terilla and I the Lady Clare-Come-to-See; I could hardly make this face of mine behave."

"Your eyes just shook inside; little, s.h.i.+ning imps danced in them, wanting to come out. Yes, I saw them and--"

"And I was so glad of the chance to giggle out loud when you said something that wasn't at all funny but gave us a chance to pretend it was. I could have screamed!"

"After all, it wasn't near so fine as our palace, with its red room and its green room and its blue room with everything to match."

"But that library was beautiful. You couldn't help but see lovely things if you were writing there!"

"Alene is such a dear little thing! She never gave a thought to her home being so much finer than ours; she only thought of giving us a good time!" said Laura.

"She's no sn.o.b! She thinks people are what they are in themselves!"

"And thoughts are the most precious things--that's the reason she wanted to give you the pleasure of seeing His Gorgeous Lords.h.i.+p from the tower window!"

For a moment Ivy was silent; her gaze was far away; again she was looking from that little narrow window so close to the clouds.

"Do you know, Lol, if I owned the Big House I'd live in the tower when I wasn't in the library. But it wasn't me in particular, Lol, that Alene wanted. To her I'm only a lesser planet when you're near--it's hearts that count!"

"Yes, she's so good-hearted that you forget her pretty clothes and rich relations, and come to lock on her as just a little girl like the others!" Ivy smiled indulgently as Laura applied her remarks to Alene, and the unconscious Laura continued, "At first when I proposed that she should join the Happy-Go-Luckys, it was just because she looked so lonely with only the dog to play with, in that great house with its acres of grounds; and when she said her Uncle called her 'Peggy-Alone', I could see the tears back of her smile and it came to me, 'what if Nettie or Lois were to be left all alone?' They're so used to tagging after me all their lives, you know, and so I just asked her in, though I was dreadfully afraid you would all be against it."

"And so we were! Just because we knew she was rich and might be in the way when we wanted some fun, or would look down on us because we're poor. That," glancing at her crutches, "makes some people mild and sweet-tempered, they say, but it only makes me hatefuller and selfisher every day! Lol, I'm going to tell you something so you'll see what a selfish thing I am. I swallowed that gumdrop on purpose so I wouldn't have to vote! I didn't have the courage to vote against her because you were so eager to have her join."

"And then you got sorry as you always do."

"No, don't give me too much credit! I got ashamed when I compared my conduct with others; but you were unselfish--you didn't stop to consider the disadvantages to yourself. You only thought of her."

While Laura, with reddened cheeks, disclaimed this with as much earnestness as if taxed with a crime, Ivy went on unheeding:

"I thought it over this morning when I took out my Sunset Book, and instead of writing down what we saw from the tower window--which no one _could_ describe, no painter nor poet that ever lived, glimpses of glory that G.o.d lets s.h.i.+ne down, sometimes, when the Pearly Gate is opened just a narrow c.h.i.n.k (to let some little white angel in perhaps) and the clouds reflect it, just as the river does the trees, you know--well, I wrote this instead!"

Laura took the precious book and perused it seriously.

"May I keep it and read it to Alene? I know she'd enjoy it!"

Ivy demurred, but at last consented and on Laura's next meeting with Alene she brought forth a green paper-covered copy-book and, with a few preliminary remarks, proceeded to read:

"'Once upon a time--'"

"It begins all right, anyway," interrupted Alene, settling herself comfortably against a tree, and half closing her eyes, as if to hear the better.

"'Once upon a time,'" Laura's voice went on, "'I wandered far away until I came to a narrow path, on one side of which was a beautiful garden blooming with flowers and fruit, with gay birds skimming through the air, while on the other side the gra.s.s and flowers lay withered, the trees leaned over, leafless and dead, and perched in their branches were mute, broken-winged birds. I went on until I came to the Witch of the Woods, who stood leaning on her hazel staff, with her red cloak wrapped around her, and her long, silvery hair falling, tangled, en her shoulders.

"'What ails the little maiden that she looks so puzzled? Perhaps I can smooth the wrinkles from her brow!' she said in a harsh, cracked voice.

"'Oh, wise woman!' I cried, for I felt so badly about what I had seen that I never thought of being afraid--'please tell me the mystery of the blighted garden!'

"'My child, you have come through the Garden of Good Intentions--on one side are those which never came to blossom but died in the bud, whilst on the other are those which sprouted and grew and bloomed in beauty year after year, evergreen--'

"'And the voiceless birds?'

"'The mute birds of the broken wings are kind deeds, thought of, but left undone, while those performed multiply and fly, gay singing-birds, making many hearts glad!'"

The reader's voice ceased; the book fell in her lap; a silence followed; Prince lay blinking in the suns.h.i.+ne; the birds and insects gave no token of their presence--even the leaves of the trees hung motionless.

The girls, sitting in the shade side by side, vaguely realized the calm; the heat gave them only a sense of well-being; their thoughts were at first too shadowy for words.

Alene was thinking of Ivy's story. It reminded her of the text she had heard the previous Sunday in the little vine-covered church on the crest of the hill; "Be ye kind one to another, merciful, forgiving one another even as G.o.d hath forgiven you in Christ." She wished that she too might go through the Garden of Good Intentions whilst flowers sprang up and birds sang sweetly round about her. But what could she do, what deed of kindness perform, however small, that might perhaps bloom as a wild flower by the wayside to gladden the pa.s.ser-by?

She gave a start when with a sudden bark Prince leaped up and ran to chase some stray chickens; a breeze blew up till every leaf and blade of gra.s.s quivered with joy; a bird twittered softly and was answered by his mate and presently from each bush and tree came the voices of its lodgers in a song of praise.

Then Laura spoke, showing that her thoughts had divined Alene's in a sympathetic wave.

"Now, what do you think, Alene, of a 'Kind Deeds' article in the Happy-Go-Luckys' const.i.tution, pledging each member to the sending out of little birds with strong wings that can fly?"

"And planting seeds to spring up in fragrant flowers? Oh, Laura!"

cried Alene, "that would be beautiful!"

CHAPTER V