"Don't do anything!"cried Shelley."The house is all right.
There's no need to work and worry into a sweat.He won't notice or care how things look.""I miss my guess if he doesn't notice and care very much indeed,"said mother emphatically."Men are not blind.No one need think they don't see when things are not as they should be,just because they're not cattish enough to let you know it,like a woman always does.Shelley,wouldn't you like to ride over and spend the afternoon with the Princess?""Nope!"said Shelley."It's her turn to come to see me.
Besides,you don't get me out of the way like that.I know what you'll do here,and I intend to help.""Do you need one of the boys at the house?"asked father,and if you'll believe it,both of them wanted to stay.
Father said he must have one to help wash the carriage and do a little fixing around the barn;so he took Leon,but he didn't like to go.He said:"I don't see what all this fuss is about,anyway.Probably he'll be another Peter."Shelley looked at him:"Oh Mr.Paget isn't nearly so large as Peter,"she said,"and his hair is whiter than yours,while his eyes are not so blue.""Saints preserve us!"cried Leon."Come on,father,let's only dust the carriage!He's not worth washing it for.""Is he like that?"asked mother anxiously.
"Wait and see!"said Shelley."Looks don't make a man.He has proved what he can do."Then all of us went to work.Before night we were hunting over the yard,and beside the road,to see if we could find anything to pick up.Six chickens were in the cellar,father was to bring meat and a long list of groceries from town in the morning.He was to start early,get them before train time,put them under the back seat,and take them out after he drove into the lane,when he came back.That made a little more trouble for father,but there was not the slightest necessity for making Mr.Paget feel that he had ridden in a delivery wagon.
Next morning I wakened laughing softly,because some one was fussing with my hair,patting my face,and kissing me,so I put up my arms and pulled that loving person down on my pillow,and gave back little half-asleep kisses,and slept on;but it was Shelley,and she gently shook me and began repeating that fool old thing I have been waked up with half the mornings of my life:
"Get up,Little Sister,the morning is bright,The birds are all singing to welcome the light,Get up;for when all things are merry and glad,Good children should never be lazy and sad;For God gives us daylight,dear sister,that we May rejoice like the lark and work like the bee."Usually I'd have gone on sleeping,but Shelley was so sweet and lovely,and she kissed me so hard,that I remembered it was going to be a most exciting day,so I came to quick as snap and jumped right up,for I didn't want to miss a single thing that might happen.
The carriage was shining when it came to the gate,so was father.
I thought there was going to be a vacant seat beside him,and I asked if I might go along.He said:"Yes,if mother says so."He always would stick that in.So I ran to ask her,and she didn't care,if Shelley made no objections.I was just starting to find her,when here she came,all shining too,but Laddie was with her.I hadn't known that he was going,and I was so disappointed I couldn't help crying.
"What's the matter?"asked Shelley.
"Father and mother both said I might go,if you didn't care.""Why,I'm dreadfully sorry,"said Shelley,"but I have several things I want Laddie to do for me."Laddie stooped down to kiss me good-bye and he said:"Don't cry,Little Sister.The way to be happy is to be good."Then they drove to Groveville,and we had to wait.But there was so much to do,it made us fly to get all of it finished.So mother sent Leon after Mrs.Freshett to help in the kitchen,while Candace wore her white dress,and waited on the table.
Mother cut flowers for the dining table,and all through the house.She left the blinds down to keep the rooms cool,chilled buttermilk to drink,and if she didn't think of every single,least little thing,I couldn't see what it was.Then all of us put on our best dresses.Mother looked as glad and sweet as any girl,when she sat to rest a little while.I didn't dare climb the catalpa in my white dress,so I watched from the horse block,and when I saw the grays come over the top of the hill,I ran to tell.As mother went to the gate,she told May and me to walk behind,to stay back until we were spoken to,and then to keep our heads level,and remember our manners.I don't know where Leon went.He said he lost all interest when he found there was to be another weak-eyed towhead in the family,and I guess he was in earnest about it,because he wasn't even curious enough to be at the gate when Mr.Paget came.
Father stopped with a flourish,Laddie hurried around and helped Shelley,and then Mr.Paget stepped down.Goodness,gracious,sakes alive!Little?Towhead?He was taller than Laddie.His hair was most as black as ink,and wavy.His eyes were big and dark;he was broad and strong and there was the cleanest,freshest look about him.He put his arm spang around Shelley,right there in the road,and mother said:"Hold there!Not so fast,young man!I haven't given my consent to that."He laughed,and he said:"Yes,but you'ah going to!"And he put his other arm around mother,so May and I crowded up,and we had a family reunion right between the day lilies and the snowball bush.We went into the house,and he LIKED us,his room,and everything went exactly right.He was crazy about the cold buttermilk,and while he was drinking it Leon walked into the dining-room,because he thought of course Mr.Paget and Shelley would be on the davenport in the parlour.When he saw Robert he said lowlike to Shelley:"Didn't Mr.Paget come?Who's that?"Shelley looked so funny for a minute,then she remembered what she had told him and she just laughed as she said:"Mr.Paget,this is my brother."Robert went to shake hands,and Leon said right to his teeth:
"Well a divil of a towhead you are!"
"Towhead?"said Robert,bewildered-like.
