Clover

by Susan Coolidge

  CHAPTER IV.

  TWO LONG YEARS IN ONE SHORT CHAPTER.

  Katy's absence left a sad blank in the household. Every one missed her,but nobody so much as Clover, who all her life long had been herroom-mate, confidante, and intimate friend.

  It was a great help that Rose was there for the first three lonely days.Dulness and sadness were impossible with that vivacious little person athand; and so long as she stayed, Clover had small leisure to be mournful.Rose was so bright and merry and affectionate that Elsie and John werealmost as much in love with her as Clover herself, and sat and sunnedthemselves in her warmth, so to speak, all day long, while Phil and Dorryfairly quarrelled as to which should have the pleasure of doing littleservices for her and Baby Rose.

  If she could have remained the summer through, all would have seemed easy;but that of course was impossible. Mr. Browne appeared with a provokingpunctuality on the morning of the fourth day, prepared to carry his familyaway with him. He spent one night at Dr. Carr's, and they all liked himvery much. No one could help it, he was so cordial and friendly andpleasant. Still, for all her liking, Clover could have found it in herheart to quite detest him as the final moment drew near.

  "Let him go home without you," she urged coaxingly. "Stay with us allsummer,--you and little Rose! He can come back in September to fetch you,and it would be so delightful to us."

  "My dear, I couldn't live without Deniston till September," said thedisappointing Rose. "It may not show itself to a casual observer, but I amreally quite foolish about Deniston. I shouldn't be happy away from him atall. He's the only husband I've got,--a 'poor thing, but mine own,' asthe 'immortal William' puts it."

  "Oh, dear," groaned Clover. "That is the way that Katy is going to talkabout Ned, I suppose. Matrimony is the most aggravating condition ofthings for outsiders that was ever invented. I wish nobody _had_ inventedit. Here it would be so nice for us to have you stay, and the moment thatprovoking husband of yours appears, you can't think of any one else."

  "Too true--much too true. Now, Clovy, don't embitter our last moments withreproaches. It's hard enough to leave you as it is, when I've just foundyou again after all these years. I've had the most beautiful visit thatever was, and you've all been awfully dear and nice. 'Kiss me quick andlet me go,' as the song says. I only wish Burnet was next door to WestCedar Street!"

  Next day Mr. Browne sailed away with his "handful of Roses," as Elsiesentimentally termed them (and indeed, Rose by herself would have been ahandful for almost any man); and Clover, like Lord Ullin, was "leftlamenting." Cousin Helen remained, however; and it was not till she toodeparted, a week later, that Clover fully recognized what it meant to haveKaty married. Then indeed she could have found it in her heart to emulateEugenie de la Ferronayes, and shed tears over all the little inanimateobjects which her sister had left behind,--the worn-out gloves, the olddressing slippers in the shoe-bag. But dear me, we get used to everything,and it is fortunate that we do! Life is too full, and hearts too flexible,and really sad things too sad, for the survival of sentimental regretsover changes which do not involve real loss and the wide separation ofdeath. In time, Clover learned to live without Katy, and to be cheerfulstill.

  Her cheerfulness was greatly helped by the letters which came regularly,and showed how contented Katy herself was. She and Ned were having abeautiful time, first in New York, and making visits near it, then inPortsmouth and Portland, when the frigate moved on to these harbors, andin Newport, which was full and gay and amusing to the last degree. Later,in August, the letters came from Bar Harbor, where Katy had followed, incompany with the commodore's wife, who seemed as nice as her husband; andClover heard of all manner of delightful doings,--sails, excursions,receptions on board ship, and long moonlight paddles with Ned, who was anexpert canoeist. Everybody was so wonderfully kind, Katy said; but Nedwrote to his sister that Katy was a great favorite; every one liked her,and his particular friends were all raging wildly round in quest of girlsjust like her to marry. "But it's no use; for, as I tell them," he added,"that sort isn't made in batches. There is only one Katy; and happily shebelongs to me, and the other fellows must get along as they can."

  This was all satisfactory and comforting; and Clover could endure a littleloneliness herself so long as her beloved Katy seemed so happy. She wasvery busy besides, and there _were_ compensations, as she admitted toherself. She liked the consequence of being at the head of domesticaffairs, and succeeding to Katy's position as papa's specialdaughter,--the person to whom he came for all he wanted, and to whom hetold his little secrets. She and Elsie became more intimate than they hadever been before; and Elsie in her turn enjoyed being Clover's lieutenantas Clover had been Katy's. So the summer did not seem long to any of them;and when September was once past, and they could begin to say, "monthafter next," the time sped much faster.

  "Mrs. Hall asked me this morning when the Worthingtons were coming," saidJohnnie, one day. "It seems so funny to have Katy spoken of as 'theWorthingtons.'"

  "I only wish the Worthingtons would write and say when," remarked Clover."It is more than a week since we heard from them."

  The next day brought the wished-for letter, and the good news that Ned hada fortnight's leave, and meant to bring Katy home the middle of November,and stay for Thanksgiving. After that the "Natchitoches" was to sail foran eighteen months' cruise to China and Japan; and then Ned would probablyhave two years ashore at the Torpedo Station or Naval Academy orsomewhere, and they would start a little home for themselves.

  "Meantime," wrote Katy, "I am coming to spend a year and a half with you,if urged. Don't all speak at once, and don't mind saying so, if you don'twant me."

  The bitter drop in this pleasant intelligence--there generally is one, youknow--was that the fortnight of Ned's stay was to be spent at Mrs. Ashe's."It's her only chance to see Ned," said Katy; "so I know you won't mind,for afterward you will have me for such a long visit."

  But they _did_ mind very much!

  "I don't think it's fair," cried Johnnie, hotly, while Clover and Elsieexchanged disgusted looks; "Katy belongs to us."

  "Katy belongs to her husband, on the contrary," said Dr. Carr,overhearing her; "you must learn that lesson once for all, children.There's no escape from the melancholy fact; and it's quite right andnatural that Ned should wish to go to his sister, and she should want tohave him."

  "Ned! yes. But Katy--"

  "My dear, Katy _is_ Ned," answered Dr. Carr, with a twinkle. Then noticingthe extremely unconvinced expression of Johnnie's face, he added moreseriously, "Don't be cross, children, and spoil all Katy's pleasure incoming home, with your foolish jealousies. Clover, I trust to you to takethese young mutineers in hand and make them listen to reason."

  Thus appealed to, Clover rallied her powers, and while laboring to bringElsie and John to a proper frame of mind, schooled herself as well, so asto be able to treat Mrs. Ashe amiably when they met. Dear, unconsciousPolly meanwhile was devising all sorts of pleasant and hospitable plansdesigned to make Ned's stay a sort of continuous fete to everybody. Sheput on no airs over the preference shown her, and was altogether so kindand friendly and sweet that no one could quarrel with her even in thought,and Johnnie herself had to forgive her, and be contented with a littlewhispered grumble to Dorry now and then over the inconvenience ofpossessing "people-in-law."

  And then Katy came, the same Katy, only, as Clover thought, nicer,brighter, dearer, and certainly better-looking than ever. Sea air hadtanned her a little, but the brown was becoming; and she had gained anease and polish of manner which her sisters admired very much. And afterall, it seemed to make little difference at which house they stayed, forthey were in and out of both all day long; and Mrs. Ashe threw her doorsopen to the Carrs and wanted some or all of them for every meal, so thatexcept for the name of the thing, it was almost as satisfactory to haveKaty over the way as occupying her old quarters.

  The fortnight sped only too rapidly. Ned departed, and Katy settledherself in the familiar corner to
wait till he should come back again.Navy wives have to learn the hard lesson of patience in the longseparations entailed by their husbands' profession. Katy missed Nedsorely, but she was too unselfish to mope, or to let the others know howhard to bear his loss seemed to her. She never told any one how she layawake in stormy nights, or when the wind blew,--and it seemed to blowoftener than usual that winter,--imagining the frigate in a gale, andwhispering little prayers for Ned's safety. Then her good sense would comeback, and remind her that wind in Burnet did not necessarily mean wind inShanghai or Yokohama or wherever the "Natchitoches" might be; and shewould put herself to sleep with the repetition of that lovely verse ofKeble's "Evening Hymn," left out in most of the collections, but which wasparticularly dear to her:--

  "Thou Ruler of the light and dark, Guide through the tempest Thine own Ark; Amid the howling, wintry sea, We are in port if we have Thee."

  So the winter passed, and the spring; and another summer came and went,with little change to the quiet Burnet household, and Katy's brief lifewith her husband began to seem dreamy and unreal, it lay so far behind.And then, with the beginning of the second winter came a new anxiety.

  Phil, as we said in the last chapter, had grown too fast to be verystrong, and was the most delicate of the family in looks and health,though full of spirit and fun. Going out to skate with some other boys theweek before Christmas, on a pond which was not so securely frozen as itlooked, the ice gave way; and though no one was drowned, the whole partyhad a drenching, and were thoroughly chilled. None of the others minded itmuch, but the exposure had a serious effect on Phil. He caught a bad coldwhich rapidly increased into pneumonia; and Christmas Day, usually such abright one in the Carr household, was overshadowed by anxious forebodings,for Phil was seriously ill, and the doctor felt by no means sure howthings would turn with him. The sisters nursed him devotedly, and byMarch he was out again; but he did not get _well_ or lose the persistentlittle cough, which kept him thin and weak. Dr. Carr tried this remedy andthat, but nothing seemed to do much good; and Katy thought that her fatherlooked graver and more anxious every time that he tested Phil'stemperature or listened at his chest.

  "It's not serious yet," he told her in private; "but I don't like the lookof things. The boy is just at a turning-point. Any little thing might sethim one way or the other. I wish I could send him away from this damp lakeclimate."

  But sending a half-sick boy away is not such an easy thing, nor was itquite clear where he ought to go. So matters drifted along for anothermonth, and then Phil settled the question for himself by having a slighthemorrhage. It was evident that something must be done, and speedily--butwhat? Dr. Carr wrote to various medical acquaintances, and in replypamphlets and letters poured in, each designed to prove that theparticular part of the country to which the pamphlet or the letterreferred was the only one to which it was at all worth while to consign aninvalid with delicate lungs. One recommended Florida, another Georgia, athird South Carolina; a fourth and fifth recommended cold instead of heat,and an open air life with the mercury at zero. It was hard to decide whatwas best.

  "He ought not to go off alone either," said the puzzled father. "He isneither old enough nor wise enough to manage by himself, but who to sendwith him is the puzzle. It doubles the expense, too."

  "Perhaps I--" began Katy, but her father cut her short with a gesture.

  "No, Katy, I couldn't permit that. Your husband is due in a few weeks now.You must be free to go to him wherever he is, not hampered with the careof a sick brother. Besides, whoever takes charge of Phil must be preparedfor a long absence,--at least a year. It must be either Clover or myself;and as it seems out of the question that I shall drop my practice for ayear, Clover is the person."

  "Phil is seventeen now," suggested Katy. "That is not so very young."

  "No, not if he were in full health. Plenty of boys no older than he havegone out West by themselves, and fared perfectly well. But in Phil'scondition that would never answer. He has a tendency to be low-spiritedabout himself too, and he needs incessant care and watchfulness."

  "Out West," repeated Katy. "Have you decided, then?"

  "Yes. The letter I had yesterday from Hope, makes me pretty sure that St.Helen's is the best place we have heard of."

  "St. Helen's! Where is that?"

  "It is one of the new health-resorts in Colorado which has lately comeinto notice for consumptives. It's very high up; nearly or quite sixthousand feet, and the air is said to be something remarkable."

  "Clover will manage beautifully, I think; she is such a sensible littlething," said Katy.

  "She seems to me, and he too, about as fit to go off two thousand miles bythemselves as the Babes in the Wood," remarked Dr. Carr, who, like manyother fathers, found it hard to realize that his children had outgrowntheir childhood. "However, there's no help for it. If I don't stay andgrind away at the mill, there is no one to pay for this long journey.Clover will have to do her best."

  "And a very good best it will be you'll see," said Katy, consolingly."Does Dr. Hope tell you anything about the place?" she added, turning overthe letter which her father had handed her.

  "Oh, he says the scenery is fine, and the mean rain-fall is this, and themean precipitation that, and that boarding-places can be had. That ispretty much all. So far as climate goes, it is the right place, but Ipresume the accommodations are poor enough. The children must go preparedto rough it. The town was only settled ten or eleven years ago; therehasn't been time to make things comfortable," remarked Dr. Carr, with atruly Eastern ignorance of the rapid way in which things march in the farWest.

  Clover's feelings when the decision was announced to her it would be hardto explain in full. She was both confused and exhilarated by the suddenweight of responsibility laid upon her. To leave everybody and everythingshe had always been used to, and go away to such a distance alone withPhil, made her gasp with a sense of dismay, while at the same time theidea that for the first time in her life she was trusted with somethingreally important, roused her energies, and made her feel braced andvaliant, like a soldier to whom some difficult enterprise is intrusted onthe day of battle.

  Many consultations followed as to what the travellers should carry withthem, by what route they would best go, and how prepare for the journey. Agreat deal of contradictory advice was offered, as is usually the casewhen people are starting on a voyage or a long railway ride. One friendwrote to recommend that they should provide themselves with a week'sprovisions in advance, and enclosed a list of crackers, jam, potted meats,tea, fruit, and hardware, which would have made a heavy load for a donkeyor mule to carry. How were poor Clover and Phil to transport such a weightof things? Another advised against umbrellas and water-proof cloaks,--whatwas the use of such things where it never rained?--while a second letter,received the same day, assured them that thunder and hail storms werethings for which travellers in Colorado must live in a state of continualpreparation. "Who shall decide when doctors disagree?" In the end Cloverconcluded that it was best to follow the leadings of commonsense andrational precaution, do about a quarter of what people advised, and leavethe rest undone; and she found that this worked very well.

  As they knew so little of the resources of St. Helen's, and there was sucha strong impression prevailing in the family as to its being a rough sortof newly-settled place, Clover and Katy judged it wise to pack a largebox of stores to go out by freight: oatmeal and arrowroot and beef-extractand Albert biscuits,--things which Philly ought to have, and which in awild region might be hard to come by. Debby filled all the corners withhome-made dainties of various sorts; and Clover, besides a spirit-lamp anda tea-pot, put into her trunks various small decorations,--Japanese fansand pictures, photographs, a vase or two, books and a sofa-pillow,--thingswhich took little room, and which she thought would make their quarterslook more comfortable in case they were very bare and unfurnished. Peoplefelt sorry for the probable hardships the brother and sister were toundergo; and they had as many little gifts
and notes of sympathy andcounsel as Katy herself when she was starting for Europe.

  But I am anticipating. Before the trunks were packed, Dr. Carr's anxietiesabout his "Babes in the Wood" were greatly allayed by a visit from Mrs.Hall. She came to tell him that she had heard of a possible "matron" forClover.

  "I am not acquainted with the lady myself," she said; "but my cousin, whowrites about her, knows her quite well, and says she is a highlyrespectable person, and belongs to nice people. Her sister, or some one,married a Phillips of Boston, and I've always heard that that family wasone of the best there. She's had some malarial trouble, and is at the Westnow on account of it, staying with a friend in Omaha; but she wants tospend the summer at St. Helen's. And as I know you have worried a gooddeal over having Clover and Phil go off by themselves, I thought it mightbe a comfort to you to hear of this Mrs. Watson."

  "You are very good. If she proves to be the right sort of person, it_will_ be an immense comfort. Do you know when she wants to start?"

  "About the end of May,--just the right time, you see. She could joinClover and Philip as they go through, which will work nicely for themall."

  "So it will. Well, this is quite a relief. Please write to your cousin,Mrs. Hall, and make the arrangement. I don't want Mrs. Watson to beburdened with any real care of the children, of course; but if she canarrange to go along with them, and give Clover a word of advice now andthen, should she need it, I shall be easier in my mind about them."

  Clover was only doubtfully grateful when she heard of this arrangement.

  "Papa always will persist in thinking that I am a baby still," she said toKaty, drawing her little figure up to look as tall as possible. "I amtwenty-two, I would have him remember. How do we know what this Mrs.Watson is like? She may be the most disagreeable person in the world forall papa can tell."

  "I really can't find it in my heart to be sorry that it has happened, papalooks so much relieved by it," Katy rejoined.

  But all dissatisfactions and worries and misgivings took wings and flewaway when, just ten days before the travellers were to start, a new anddelightful change was made in the programme. Ned telegraphed that theship, instead of coming to New York, was ordered to San Francisco torefit, and he wanted Katy to join him there early in June, prepared tospend the summer; while almost simultaneously came a letter from Mrs.Ashe, who with Amy had been staying a couple of months in New York, to saythat hearing of Ned's plan had decided her also to take a trip toCalifornia with some friends who had previously asked her to join them.These friends were, it seemed, the Daytons of Albany. Mr. Dayton was arailroad magnate, and had the control of a private car in which the partywere to travel; and Mrs. Ashe was authorized to invite Katy, and Cloverand Phil also, to go along with them,--the former all the way toCalifornia, and the others as far as Denver, where the roads separated.

  This was truly delightful. Such an offer was surely worth a few days'delay. The plan seemed to settle itself all in one minute. Mrs. Watson,whom every one now regretted as a complication, was the only difficulty;but a couple of telegrams settled that perplexity, and it was arrangedthat she should join them on the same train, though in a different car. Tohave Katy as a fellow-traveller, and Mrs. Ashe and Amy, made a differentthing of the long journey, and Clover proceeded with her preparations injubilant spirits.