Chapter 19

AUNT SUKEY'S STORY.

"It is a whole month since Aunt Zelie went away, and nearly a week since we had a letter. I wonder if Miss Lyons's brother is not well yet;" Bess sighed, for time was beginning to drag.

"Suppose Miss Lyons couldn't go back at all, would your aunt have to stay?" asked Dora, who had come in to spend the afternoon.

"Dear, no! Aunt Mary would have to get another companion; Aunt Zelie belongs to us," answered Carl, who sat on the floor showing Carie pictures.

There was one supposed to represent the drowning of Pharaoh and his host which interested her deeply, and her brother made it even more thrilling by singing in an explosive manner one of Sukey's songs:

"Oh! didn't old Pharaoh get drowned-- Oh! _didn't_ old Pharaoh got drowned-- Oh! DIDN'T old Pharaoh get drowned in the Red sea?"

"Is Carl here?" asked Louise, looking in; "here's Ikey."

"What are you boys going to do this afternoon? Don't you want to play something?" asked Bess.

"No, thanks, we have something else on hand," was the unsatisfactory reply.

"What?" said Louise.

"Never mind; little girls mustn't ask questions," responded Carl paternally, as he and Ikey left the room. A moment later he returned to call through the half-opened door, "I know something I'm not going to tell."

"Never mind, I can get it out of Ikey," responded Louise.

"Unfortunately he doesn't know it," came from the third-story stairs.

"Perhaps Mandy will let us make some candy; let's ask her, and not tell the boys," Louise suggested.

So while Joanna carried Carie off for a walk the others went down to the kitchen.

It was a large, bright room, and it was Mandy's pride to keep it shining. Aunt Sukey sat by one of the windows with the mending basket beside her, and the presiding genius stood at the spotless table rolling out croquettes.

"Mandy, we are so lonely without Auntie! mayn't we make some candy to amuse us?" Louise put on her most coaxing expression.

"The kitchen ain't the place for young ladies to get their dresses dirty in, and their fingers burned," said Sukey severely.

"But we aren't young ladies, mammy, and we will be careful," urged Bess.

"I don't think anyone _could_ get dirty in this kitchen," Dora added in honest admiration.

This compliment pleased Mandy, and furthermore it was her kitchen, so she said good-naturedly, "You can make all the candy you want, so long as you get through before dinner-time."

With this permission the sugar and molasses were soon simmering in a saucepan, sending forth a pleasant fragrance.

When it was well begun Bess sat down by Sukey, saying, "Now tell us a story, mammy."

"Oh, go 'long, I tole you all my stories long ago! You all's getting too big for stories. Looks like it was just yesterday that Miss Zelie was askin', 'Mammy, tell me a story,' same as you."

"Was Auntie pretty when she was a little girl?" asked Bess.

"There never was a child as good-looking from first to last. Louise favors her, and it looks like I forget sometimes that it ain't Miss Zelie; but pretty is as pretty does, that's the truth, and she was pretty in manners as well as face."

"Go on and tell us about her," begged Louise, for though they had heard it all many times there was nothing they liked so well to listen to. Nor was there anything Sukey liked so well to tell, so as she sorted and turned and rolled the stockings in a leisurely way, she began.

The sunshine came in at the window and rested on Louise's bright head and Dora's dark one, as they sat together in the same chair. Bess's seat was an upturned earthen jar, and the same sunlight fell on her small folded hands and on the brown wrinkled ones at work with the stockings.

"Well, you know how Miss Zelie's ma died when she wasn't as big as little Carie, and the last thing she said to me was, 'Sukey, you mind my baby.' Miss Elizabeth always set great store by me, and I 'lowed that freedom or nothin' could take me from old Master's family. It was powerful lonesome in this big house in those days. Your grandpa took your grandma's death mighty hard, and he had to travel a good deal for his health, so Miss Zelie didn't have any one to look after her but Mr. William and me. Mr. Frank, your pa, was away at college. Then Mr. William got married. Miss Marcia is a good woman and kind-hearted, but she ain't any gift at managin' children, and that's the truth. Miss Zelie was a smart, lively child with a temper of her own, and if I do say it she would have had a hard time if it had not been for her old mammy. When she was ten years old Mr. Frank--he had been home from college a year--come to me and says, 'Sukey, I'm goin' to be married.'

"I didn't know whether to be glad or sorry, but I wished him good luck, an' he went back up North for his wife."

"That was Mamma, you know," Louise explained to Dora.

"I remember how Miss Zelie come to me, and says she, 'Mammy, do you think she will love me?'

"About that time Miss Marcia took it into her head to go to Europe. She said something about taking Miss Zelie along, but I up an' tole her that where my child went I went too, an' she 'lowed she didn't want me.

"It was the prettiest kind of a day when they came home, and we was out on the porch watchin' for them. They drove up presently with your grandpa, and Miss Elinor she came up the walk ahead of Mr. Frank, smiling as sweet us could be, an' she says, 'So this is my little sister.' I knew that minute they'd be friends.

"Your ma was dreadful fond of children, and she made a great pet of Miss Zelie, and she was as happy as a bird."

"Isn't it interesting to think of Aunt Zelie being a little girl?" said Bess; "but go on, Sukey, and tell about when Carl was born."

"Well, it did seem like she was just too happy when the baby came. He was a fine child, and Miss Elinor said Miss Zelie might name him. Well, she and your grandpa would sit and argue about that name, and after I don't know how long they settled on William Carleton. That was the name of Miss Elinor's only brother, and William was old Master's name too. Mr. Carl used to come down right often, and he and Miss Zelie was great friends, though he was eight years older. Well, when--"

Just at this moment the kitchen door opened; the children had their backs to it, but Sukey sat facing it, and her story came to a sudden stop. Bess, turning to look, was clasped from behind. Could it possibly be? Yes, it certainly was Aunt Zelie herself.

"You darling! When did you come?" asked Louise, holding her fast.

"This very minute. I wrote to Frank that I would be home to-morrow, and then found that I could get off to-day."

"And is Miss Lyons's brother well?" inquired Bess.

"Almost, and she sent her thanks to you for letting me take her place."

"She is welcome, now you are at home again," laughed Louise, with another hug.

The candy was almost forgotten in the delight at Aunt Zelie's return, and would have been spoiled if Mandy had not taken it in hand.

When the traveller went to change her dress Louise had a little triumph over Carl which pleased her exceedingly.

Going up to the star chamber, she called, "Well, I have found out your secret, Mr. Carl. It is that Auntie is coming home to-morrow."

"Who told you?" he demanded.

"Never mind, I told you I'd find out," and she ran away without giving him a chance to ask any more questions.

An hour later, when the boys came downstairs, there was Aunt Zelie looking as if she had never, never been away, and the girls quite consumed with delight at their surprise.

"Louise, that was mean!" Carl cried. "How long have you been here, I'd like to know?" with one of his bearlike hugs.

"I did not _mean_ to be mean, really, and you and Ikey can have all the candy you want," said Louise generously.

Mrs. Howard had certainly no reason to doubt her popularity. The news of her arrival spread, and the next day in the afternoon she held an impromptu reception.

One after another the boys and girls dropped in, till the whole eleven were there. The first to arrive was Jim, with a great bunch of roses, at which extravagance Aunt Zelie shook her head, though she could not help appreciating their beauty and Jim's thoughtfulness.

Ikey wished that he could do magnificent things like that,--he sometimes dreamed of it,--but alas! he was in a chronically penniless state. He had nothing for her but a message from his mother, but when he screwed up sufficient courage to deliver it it seemed to please her as much as the roses. The message was: "Thank Mrs. Howard for being so good to my boy. Some day I hope to see her and tell her how I love her for it." Ikey's heart fairly glowed when Aunt Zelie said that it was only a pleasure to be good to such a nice boy.

Last of all came Cousin Helen and Aleck, who stayed and spent a merry evening.

"It is so nice to have Aunt Zelie back, I am almost glad she went," Bess was heard to say.

And that lady herself thought that such a welcome quite made up for the four rather lonely weeks in the country with her invalid aunt.