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Andrea stuck to his big brother like a leech, and insisted upon crossingto The Camp in the same canoe with him and Cecily. To Andrea thepossibility of newly engaged persons wishing to be by themselves wasnegligible. Princess Oducalchi, an old hand on inland waters, tookcharge of the other canoe, and, like Arthur, in spite of a look ofresigned horror on her husband's face, paddled standing up.
Arthur, too happy to make speed, was rapidly distanced by his mother,whose long, graceful figure and charming little, round head he regardedfrom time to time with great admiration.
"She might be one of my sisters!" he exclaimed to Cecily.
"If she only was," said Cecily, "and the others were only exactly likeher, then I shouldn't be a bit frightened."
"Frightened?"
"Wouldn't you be frightened if I had six great angry brothers and youwere just going to meet them for the first time?"
Arthur smiled steadily and shook his head.
"I'm too happy to be afraid of anything."
"I'm not. The happier I feel the more frightened I feel. And I can feelyour sisters picking me all to pieces, and saying what a horrid littlething I am!"
"Little? Haven't I told you that you are exactly the right size?"
"No, you haven't."
"Then I tell you now. I leave it to Andrea. Isn't she exactly the rightsize, Andrea?"
"Then mamma is too tall."
"No, mamma is exactly the right size for a mamma. In fact, Andrea,"exulted Arthur, "on this particular morning of this particular year ofgrace everything in the world is exactly the right size, except me. I'mnot half big enough to contain my feelings. So here goes!"
And the sedate Arthur put back his head, which resembled that of theyoung Galahad, and opened his mouth, and let forth the mostblood-curdling war-whoop that has been sounded during the Christian era.
Cecily clapped her hands to her ears, and Andrea gazed upon his bigbrother with redoubled admiration.
"Is that like Indians do?" he asked.
"Not at all," said Arthur; "that's what studious and domesticated youngmen do when they've overslept, and wake up to find the sky blue and theforest green." And once more he whooped terrifically. And Wow, the dog,heard him, and thought he had gone mad; and Uncas, the chipmunk, ran tothe top of a tall tree at full speed, down it even faster, and into adeep and safe hole among the roots.
Gay alone was at the float to receive the Oducalchis; but now word oftheir coming had gone about The Camp, and the remaining Darlings couldbe seen hurrying up from various directions.
From embracing her mother, Gay turned with characteristic swiftness andsweetness to Cecily, who had just stepped from Arthur's canoe to thefloat, flung her arms around her, and kissed her.
"I'm not quite sure of your name," she said; "but I love you very much,and you're prettier than all outdoors."
Then Maud came, followed by Eve and Mary, with Lee next and Phyllislast, and they all talked at once, and made much of their mother andCecily and little Andrea. And they all teased Arthur at once, andshowered Oducalchi with polite and hospitable speeches. And he wasgreatly moved, because he knew very well that these beautiful maidenshad loved their own brilliant scapegrace father to distraction, and thatit was hard for them to look with kindness upon his successor.
Never, I think, did a mere float, an affair of planks supported by thedisplacing power of empty casks, have gathered upon it at one time somuch beauty, so many delighted and delightful faces.
And now came guides, servants, and camp helpers, to whom PrincessOducalchi had been a kind and understanding mistress in the old days,and then, shyly and hanging back, hoping they were wanted and not sure,Sam Langham, Renier, Herring, the Carolinians, and others, until thefloat began to sink and there was a laughter panic and a general rush upthe gangway to the shore. Here Wow, the dog, did a great deal of swiftwagging and loud barking, and Uncas, the chipmunk, from the top of atree said: "I'm not really angry, but I'm scolding because I'm afraid tocome down, and nobody loves me or makes much of me--ever!"
To Arthur, standing a little aside, beaming with pride and happiness,and recording in his heart every pleasant thing which his sisters saidto Cecily and every pleasant look they gave her, came Gay presently, andslipped an arm through his.
"I'm so glad," she said.
But there was something in her voice that was not glad, and with oneswift glance he read her wistful heart. He pressed her arm, and said:
"I know one poor little kid that's left out in the cold for the moment;one little lion that feels as if it wasn't going to get any martyr; onelittle sister that a big brother loves and understands a little bitbetter than any of the others-- So there! At the moment every _chacune_has her _chacun_, except one. Moments are fleeting, my dear, and othermoments are ahead. I, too, have lived bad, empty, unhappy moments."
"But you always knew that she cared."
"And don't you know about him?"
"I only know that I've seen so many people appear to be idioticallyhappy at the same time, and it makes me want to cry."
"And for that very reason," said Arthur, "the moments that are aheadwill be the happier."
"I wonder," said Gay, and, "I know," said Arthur.
The Seven Darlings Page 30
