Chapter 12
"My boy, I am afraid you must give up your chickens. There will be no place for them in the new home."
"Must we?" Jack gave a little gulp, but went on manfully, "Well, never mind, we'll find something else that we can do."
"Mr. Ashurst says Jack is the 'handiest' boy he ever saw, Papa," put in Arthur eagerly.
"Well, handiness is a capital stock-in-trade. Now, dears, one thing,--be as good and gentle as possible with Mamma, and don't trouble her a bit more than you can help."
"We will, we will," promised the little flock. Mrs. Frisbie was quite right in saying that the children took after their father. Their brave, bright natures were as unlike hers as possible.
It is sad to see what short time it requires to pull down and destroy a home which has taken years to build. The Frisbies' handsome, luxurious house seemed to change and empty all in a moment. Carriages were sold, servants dismissed. Furniture was packed and carried away. In a few days nothing remained but a fine empty shell, with a staring advertisement of "For Sale" pasted on it. The familiar look was all gone, and everybody was glad to get away from the place. It took some time to find the "little house," and some time longer to put it to rights. Papa attended to all that, the children remaining meanwhile with Grandmamma. Mamma had taken to her bed with a nervous attack, and cried day and night. Everybody was sorry; they all waited on her, and did their best to raise her spirits.
At last the new home was ready. It was evening when the carriage set them down at the gate, and they could only see that there were trees and shrubs in the tiny front yard, and a cheerful light streaming from the door, where Dinah stood to welcome them,--dear old Di, who had insisted on following their fortunes as maid of all work. As they drew nearer, they perceived that she stood in a small, carpeted entry, with a room on either side. The room on the right was a sitting-room; the room on the left, a kitchen. There were three bedrooms upstairs, and a small coop in the attic for Dinah. That was all; for it was indeed a "really little house," as Papa had said.
"Oh, how pretty!" cried Lulu, as she caught sight of the freshly papered parlor, with its cheerful carpet, and table laid for tea, and on the other hand of the glowing kitchen stove and steaming kettle. "Such a nice parlor, and the dearest kitchen. Why, it's smaller than Susie Brown's house, which we used to wish we lived in. Don't you like it, Mamma? I think it's _sweet_."
Mrs. Frisbie only sighed by way of reply. But the children's pleasure was a comfort to Papa. He and Dinah had worked hard to make the little home look attractive. They had papered the walls themselves, put up shelves and hooks, arranged the furniture, and even set a few late flowers in the beds, that the garden might not seem bare and neglected.
The next day was a very busy one, for there were all the trunks to unpack, and the bureau drawers to fill, and places to be settled for this thing and that. By night they were in pretty good order, and began to feel at home, as people always do when their belongings are comfortably arranged about them.
Mrs. Frisbie was growing less doleful. Her husband, who was very tired, lay back in a big arm-chair. The evening was chilly, so Dinah had lighted a small fire of chips, which flickered and made the room bright. The glow danced on Bertha's glossy curls as she sat at Mamma's knee, and on the rosy faces of the two boys. All looked cheerful and cosy; a smell of toast came across the entry from the kitchen.
"Bertha, your hair is very nicely curled to-night," said Mrs. Frisbie. "I don't know how Dinah found time to do it."
"Dinah didn't do it, Mamma. May did it. She did Lulu's too, and Lulu did hers. We're always going to dress each other now."
Just then May came in with a plate of hot toast in her hand. Lulu followed with the teapot.
"It's so nice having the kitchen close by," said May, "instead of way off as it was in the other house. This toast is as warm as--toast"--she concluded, not knowing exactly how to end her simile.
"Your face looks as warm as toast, too," remarked her Father.
"Yes, Papa, that's because I toasted to-night. Dinah was bringing the clothes from the lines, so she let me."
"I stamped the butter, Papa," added Lulu. "Look, isn't it a pretty little pat?"
"And I sifted the sugar for the blackberries," put in Bertha from her place at Mamma's knee.
"You don't mind, do you Mamma?" observed Mary anxiously. "Di pinned a big apron over my frock. See, it hasn't got a spot on it."
"I'm glad she did," said Mrs. Frisbie, surprised. "But it doesn't matter so much how you dress here, you know. It was in the other house I was so particular."
"But I like to please you, Mamma, and you always want us to look nice, you know. We mean to be very careful now, because if we don't we shall worry you all the time."
Mrs. Frisbie put her arm round Mary and kissed her.
"I declare," she said, half-laughing, half-crying. "This house _is_ pleasant. It seems snugger somehow, as if we were closer together than we ever were before. I guess I shall like it after all."
"Hurrah!" cried Prince John, rousing from his fatigue at these comfortable words. "That's right, Molly, dear! You don't know what good it does me to hear you say so. If only you can look bright and the chicks keep well and happy, I shall go to work with a will, and the world will come right yet." He smiled with a look of conscious power as he spoke; his eyes were keen and eager.
I think that just then, as the children gathered round the table, as Mrs. Frisbie took up the teapot and began to pour the tea, and her husband pushed back his chair,--that just then, at that very moment, the Fairy entered the room. Nobody saw her, but there she was! She smiled on the group; then she took from her pocket another bubble, more splendid than the one she had brought before, and tossed it into the air above Prince John's head. "There," she said, "catch that. You'll have it this time, and it won't break and go to pieces as the first one did. Look at it sailing up, up, up,--this bubble has wings, but it sails toward and not away from you. Catch it, as I say, and make it yours. But even when it _is_ yours, when you hold it in your hand and are sure of it, you'll be no luckier and no happier, my lucky Prince, than you are at this moment, in this small house, with love about you, hope in your heart, and all these precious little people to work for, and to reward you when work is done."
* * * * *
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Transcriber's Notes:
Varied hyphenation was retained when there was an equal number of each, as in doorway and door-way.
Obvious punctuation errors corrected.
Page 33, "o" changed to "of" (The game of)
Page 158, "what" changed to "when" (said so when)