Anne's House of Dreams
Page 34
CHAPTER 34
THE SHIP O'DREAMS COMES TO HARBOR
One morning, when a windy golden sunrise was billowing over the gulf inwaves of light, a certain weary stork flew over the bar of Four WindsHarbor on his way from the Land of Evening Stars. Under his wing wastucked a sleepy, starry-eyed, little creature. The stork was tired,and he looked wistfully about him. He knew he was somewhere near hisdestination, but he could not yet see it. The big, white light-houseon the red sandstone cliff had its good points; but no stork possessedof any gumption would leave a new, velvet baby there. An old grayhouse, surrounded by willows, in a blossomy brook valley, looked morepromising, but did not seem quite the thing either. The staring greenabode further on was manifestly out of the question. Then the storkbrightened up. He had caught sight of the very place--a little whitehouse nestled against a big, whispering firwood, with a spiral of bluesmoke winding up from its kitchen chimney--a house which just looked asif it were meant for babies. The stork gave a sigh of satisfaction,and softly alighted on the ridge-pole.
Half an hour later Gilbert ran down the hall and tapped on thespare-room door. A drowsy voice answered him and in a moment Marilla'spale, scared face peeped out from behind the door.
"Marilla, Anne has sent me to tell you that a certain young gentlemanhas arrived here. He hasn't brought much luggage with him, but heevidently means to stay."
"For pity's sake!" said Marilla blankly. "You don't mean to tell me,Gilbert, that it's all over. Why wasn't I called?"
"Anne wouldn't let us disturb you when there was no need. Nobody wascalled until about two hours ago. There was no 'passage perilous' thistime."
"And--and--Gilbert--will this baby live?"
"He certainly will. He weighs ten pounds and--why, listen to him.Nothing wrong with his lungs, is there? The nurse says his hair willbe red. Anne is furious with her, and I'm tickled to death."
That was a wonderful day in the little house of dreams.
"The best dream of all has come true," said Anne, pale and rapturous."Oh, Marilla, I hardly dare believe it, after that horrible day lastsummer. I have had a heartache ever since then--but it is gone now."
"This baby will take Joy's place," said Marilla.
"Oh, no, no, NO, Marilla. He can't--nothing can ever do that. He hashis own place, my dear, wee man-child. But little Joy has hers, andalways will have it. If she had lived she would have been over a yearold. She would have been toddling around on her tiny feet and lispinga few words. I can see her so plainly, Marilla. Oh, I know now thatCaptain Jim was right when he said God would manage better than that mybaby would seem a stranger to me when I found her Beyond. I've learnedTHAT this past year. I've followed her development day by day and weekby week--I always shall. I shall know just how she grows from year toyear--and when I meet her again I'll know her--she won't be a stranger.Oh, Marilla, LOOK at his dear, darling toes! Isn't it strange theyshould be so perfect?"
"It would be stranger if they weren't," said Marilla crisply. Now thatall was safely over, Marilla was herself again.
"Oh, I know--but it seems as if they couldn't be quite FINISHED, youknow--and they are, even to the tiny nails. And his hands--JUST lookat his hands, Marilla."
"They appear to be a good deal like hands," Marilla conceded.
"See how he clings to my finger. I'm sure he knows me already. Hecries when the nurse takes him away. Oh, Marilla, do you think--youdon't think, do you--that his hair is going to be red?"
"I don't see much hair of any color," said Marilla. "I wouldn't worryabout it, if I were you, until it becomes visible."
"Marilla, he HAS hair--look at that fine little down all over his head.Anyway, nurse says his eyes will be hazel and his forehead is exactlylike Gilbert's."
"And he has the nicest little ears, Mrs. Doctor, dear," said Susan."The first thing I did was to look at his ears. Hair is deceitful andnoses and eyes change, and you cannot tell what is going to come ofthem, but ears is ears from start to finish, and you always know whereyou are with them. Just look at their shape--and they are set rightback against his precious head. You will never need to be ashamed ofhis ears, Mrs. Doctor, dear."
Anne's convalescence was rapid and happy. Folks came and worshippedthe baby, as people have bowed before the kingship of the new-bornsince long before the Wise Men of the East knelt in homage to the RoyalBabe of the Bethlehem manger. Leslie, slowly finding herself amid thenew conditions of her life, hovered over it, like a beautiful,golden-crowned Madonna. Miss Cornelia nursed it as knackily as couldany mother in Israel. Captain Jim held the small creature in his bigbrown hands and gazed tenderly at it, with eyes that saw the childrenwho had never been born to him.
"What are you going to call him?" asked Miss Cornelia.
"Anne has settled his name," answered Gilbert.
"James Matthew--after the two finest gentlemen I've ever known--noteven saving your presence," said Anne with a saucy glance at Gilbert.
Gilbert smiled.
"I never knew Matthew very well; he was so shy we boys couldn't getacquainted with him--but I quite agree with you that Captain Jim is oneof the rarest and finest souls God ever clothed in clay. He is sodelighted over the fact that we have given his name to our small lad.It seems he has no other namesake."
"Well, James Matthew is a name that will wear well and not fade in thewashing," said Miss Cornelia. "I'm glad you didn't load him down withsome highfalutin, romantic name that he'd be ashamed of when he gets tobe a grandfather. Mrs. William Drew at the Glen has called her babyBertie Shakespeare. Quite a combination, isn't it? And I'm glad youhaven't had much trouble picking on a name. Some folks have an awfultime. When the Stanley Flaggs' first boy was born there was so muchrivalry as to who the child should be named for that the poor littlesoul had to go for two years without a name. Then a brother came alongand there it was--'Big Baby' and 'Little Baby.' Finally they called BigBaby Peter and Little Baby Isaac, after the two grandfathers, and hadthem both christened together. And each tried to see if it couldn'thowl the other down. You know that Highland Scotch family of MacNabsback of the Glen? They've got twelve boys and the oldest and theyoungest are both called Neil--Big Neil and Little Neil in the samefamily. Well, I s'pose they ran out of names."
"I have read somewhere," laughed Anne, "that the first child is a poembut the tenth is very prosy prose. Perhaps Mrs. MacNab thought thatthe twelfth was merely an old tale re-told."
"Well, there's something to be said for large families," said MissCornelia, with a sigh. "I was an only child for eight years and I didlong for a brother and sister. Mother told me to pray for one--andpray I did, believe ME. Well, one day Aunt Nellie came to me and said,'Cornelia, there is a little brother for you upstairs in your ma'sroom. You can go up and see him.' I was so excited and delighted Ijust flew upstairs. And old Mrs. Flagg lifted up the baby for me tosee. Lord, Anne, dearie, I never was so disappointed in my life. Yousee, I'd been praying for A BROTHER TWO YEARS OLDER THAN MYSELF."
"How long did it take you to get over your disappointment?" asked Anne,amid her laughter.
"Well, I had a spite at Providence for a good spell, and for weeks Iwouldn't even look at the baby. Nobody knew why, for I never told.Then he began to get real cute, and held out his wee hands to me and Ibegan to get fond of him. But I didn't get really reconciled to himuntil one day a school chum came to see him and said she thought he wasawful small for his age. I just got boiling mad, and I sailed rightinto her, and told her she didn't know a nice baby when she saw one,and ours was the nicest baby in the world. And after that I justworshipped him. Mother died before he was three years old and I wassister and mother to him both. Poor little lad, he was never strong,and he died when he wasn't much over twenty. Seems to me I'd havegiven anything on earth, Anne, dearie, if he'd only lived."
Miss Cornelia sighed. Gilbert had gone down and Leslie, who had beencrooning over the small James Matthew in the dormer window, laid himasleep in hi
s basket and went her way. As soon as she was safely outof earshot, Miss Cornelia bent forward and said in a conspirator'swhisper:
"Anne, dearie, I'd a letter from Owen Ford yesterday. He's inVancouver just now, but he wants to know if I can board him for a monthlater on. YOU know what that means. Well, I hope we're doing right."
"We've nothing to do with it--we couldn't prevent him from coming toFour Winds if he wanted to," said Anne quickly. She did not like thefeeling of match-making Miss Cornelia's whispers gave her; and then sheweakly succumbed herself.
"Don't let Leslie know he is coming until he is here," she said. "Ifshe found out I feel sure she would go away at once. She intends to goin the fall anyhow--she told me so the other day. She is going toMontreal to take up nursing and make what she can of her life."
"Oh, well, Anne, dearie," said Miss Cornelia, nodding sagely "that isall as it may be. You and I have done our part and we must leave therest to Higher Hands."