Head of the House

by Grace Livingston Hill

  “You’re just like my own wee girlie!” she said and brought a happy smile to Karen’s face.

  “I like to be like my sister Jennifer,” she said. “She’s a good sister!”

  “But listen, Kirsty!” said Jennifer suddenly. “I’ve got to tell you how we came to get here. We’ve run away! Daddy and Mother were killed in an airplane crash, and we found the relatives were going to try to separate us, so we just ran away till I would be of age and could have a right to manage them all and keep them together. We would have come right to you only I couldn’t remember where you lived, and we’ve only just found out.”

  “Rin away! And the blessed mither and feyther gane! You poor wee lambs! But wasn’t there a guardian?”

  “We don’t know,” said Jennifer, laughing. “We didn’t wait to find out. We were afraid it might be Aunt Petra, so we hurried off before they knew we were going, and they don’t know yet where we are. There’s only a little less than a month left now till I’m of age. Can you take us all in, Kirsty, until the time is up and we dare go back? We’ve got some money and we can pay our way, and we’ll work hard so you won’t find us a nuisance. But we do just long to be near someone we can trust and love. Would we be in your way?”

  “In me way! You blessed lambs! You couldn’t be a nuisance! But it’s only of you dear childer I’m thinking. I’ve such a wee little humble hoose, and you with your grand mansion! You couldn’t stand it, my dears! You’d have ta hev some braw place like you’re useta. Let me think what we cud dae.”

  Jennifer laughed. “You don’t know how we’ve been living in the last two months. The first days we spent on a small boat that Daddy owned, and then some people came down that we knew and we had to run away from there quickly before they saw us. And next we took an awful little dirty shack. You should have seen it! And when we left that we got a tiny house on a mountain, and Karen got lost, and Robin got very sick and almost died, and when we left there we were in a tiny cabin of two rooms. So, you see, we’re used to roughing it. But if we’d be a nuisance or you think it wouldn’t be good for your sick sister, we’ll get a tent and put it up out on the hillside somewhere till the time is up and we can go back.”

  “Oh, my dearie! But my poor dear sister is gane to live in heaven a the noo, just twa short weeks ago, so she’ll not be troubled by any noise anymore, and you’re welcome to all I hev, but there’s little and poor picking for the likes of you!”

  “And where do I come in?” asked a voice, and they all turned and there in the doorway stood the strange young man, Jack Valiant, smiling happily at them all. “I’d have you know that these are my friends, Kirsty!”

  “Oh, and away wi ye!” said the old Scotch woman with a happy smile. “And when did ye coom? Now you’re here all will be well, I suppose. I thocht ye was away ta Canada ta stay awhile.”

  “Yes, but I’ve come back, Kirsty. And what’s ta hinder me taking Jeremy and Tryon over ta my hoose? An’ then the rest of you girls can have a happy time thegither!”

  He said it with a perfect Scotch accent, and they all laughed.

  “Awa’ wi’ yes!” cried the old woman. “Ye’ll nae take my bairns away; I want them all mesel’.”

  But that was the way it worked out after all.

  Jack Valiant’s house was a stone’s throw up the hill, and there was plenty of room for the three boys. Kirsty had no trouble in getting the rest of them in her own little house, with Robin in a lovely little crib in which his sister Jennifer had slept so long ago when she stayed with Kirsty that summer.

  Jack Valiant was off here and there speaking occasionally, and when he went, usually he took Jerry and Tryon with him, much to the sorrow of Karen, who seemed to think she had special rights in the young man because she had discovered him one dark night when she was in trouble.

  But the days were wonderful golden autumn days, and the woods were turning crimson and gold. The nuts were falling, and apples in the orchard were ripe. They had wonderful times together going out up the mountain on delightful expeditions.

  And one day they went fishing, up where Jack Valiant had taken Jennifer so long ago. And while the rest roamed around here and there, Jack and Jennifer sat down on the great rock where they had sat to fish and began to talk of those other days just past when they had met, until Jack Valiant was possessed of the whole story and knew how they had found the Lord.

  How his face lit as Jennifer told him the story of their week at the conference after he left. And suddenly he put out his hand and laid it on hers, as it rested on the rock beside him.

  “Little Jennifer,” he said, “I can’t tell you how happy that makes me. You don’t know it, but I’ve never forgotten you, the little girl that went with me fishing. I’ve prayed for you all these years since you went away again out of my life. Oh, I know you were only a child, and so was I for that matter. But I was a lonely boy, and you were a sweet little companion, and I prayed for you. What do you think of that? It was while my mother was with me that I began to pray for you. Do you remember my mother?”

  “A little,” said Jennifer. “I thought she was very sweet. She gave me cookies sometimes. I used to think my mother would like her.”

  “Well, I asked her one day after you had gone away if she thought it would be all right if I were to pray for you, and she said yes, of course. So I kept it up. And after she left me and went to heaven, I somehow kept it up because it was one of the sweet things connected with my mother and my childhood. I didn’t know where you were, but I knew God did, so I prayed for you!”

  “Oh, I think that is very beautiful!” said Jennifer, and she let her hand lie still under that other strong hand that covered hers for just a minute. It seemed a very sacred time, and not at all like the times other boys—including Peter Willis—had carelessly caught her hand and caressed it.

  When the others drew near and he lifted his hand to adjust his rod, their glances met and he smiled, and it seemed that a ray of sunshine had gone through her soul.

  And one day, when he was going away for a few days and it was almost at the end of their stay, he took her for a walk up the hill to a little grove far behind his own house, where his mother and father were buried beneath softly growing hemlock trees. There they sat down and he told her that he loved her.

  “Perhaps I’ve no right to say this now, when you have not known me very long,” he said. “Perhaps I should wait till we are better acquainted and know each other’s background better. But somehow I feel I cannot go away, nor let you go away, without telling you of my great love for you. There may be no opportunity like this again, ever. And so I thought I might tell you of this love and let you take the knowledge of it with you when you go back to your home, to let you see how it will fit into your life. Then if you want me I can come to you when you send me word. But, on the other hand, Kirsty tells me that you are very wealthy and live in a grand house, and I am only a poor man. Perhaps I should not even have told you of my love. You perhaps belong in another world than mine. A social world that would not recognize me.”

  Jennifer was still for a minute and then she looked up.

  “That would make no difference,” she said, “for I have been born again and belong to the same royal family with you. Classes and wealth of this world do not matter. We mustn’t think about that. In fact, I don’t know yet whether we have much or little. But I am very glad you have told me you love me, for it has given me great joy. I love you, too. I think I have loved you since you were a boy and I was just a little girl. I used to find, when I was growing up, that I was comparing all the boys I met with you—and none of them came up to your standards.”

  “Dear!” he said. “Dear!” And put his arm around her, drawing her gently, reverently, close to him.

  “But, listen,” she said, drawing back a little. “There is something else. I must not let this get possession of me, much as I want to, because, you see, I am the oldest. I am the head of this house and have the responsibility of bringing up my bro
thers and sisters. I could not desert that for the dearest love on earth. It is something God has given to me, and I cannot run away from it for my own happiness.”

  “Dear!” he said and drew her closer. “Of course not!” And he stooped and laid his lips on hers. “If in the future days you should ever see your way clear to trusting me enough, and loving me enough to let me share in your beautiful task, I should be the happiest man on earth! I would love them as if they were my own. I do love them now very dearly!” And then their lips met, and it seemed as if heaven itself had come down to seal their love.

  “But—I would have to see how they felt about it,” said Jennifer after a little. “I couldn’t do anything that would make them feel unhappy.”

  “No, you couldn’t,” said Valiant gently. “We’ll just ask our heavenly Father to work that out for us in His own way, shall we?”

  “Oh, you are wonderful!” murmured Jennifer softly as he looked down into her eyes, and she smiled. “It would be such a wonderful thing for us all to have a head of the house like you! If it’s right to do, I should be very happy.”

  “My dear, I feel most unworthy for such an exalted position. How would it be if we made Christ the head? We’ll pray about it, little Jennifer, and if God wills, we’ll work it out together, with Christ, our Head.”

  Her eyes lit then with a great joy. “Oh yes!” she said.

  “My precious one, it is so wonderful to have you feel that way! I’m afraid I’ve rushed you too much to speak about this yet, but this spot seemed almost sacred to us, because it was the beginning of our friendship and because you are going away so soon now. And I had to have your permission to come and see you soon, you know.”

  Jennifer’s face was radiant.

  “Oh, you will come soon, won’t you?” she pleaded.

  He drew her close again as he answered. “I’m going to bring Kirsty down as soon as she has finished packing up, you know.”

  “Oh, I’m so glad! I didn’t know you had promised her that. I’ve been worrying about how she was going to get along on the train. She isn’t used to traveling alone, you know.”

  “Of course! I couldn’t let her go off alone! She’s been a second mother to me since my mother died. She and Mother were very close. And now since her sister has gone she’s bound to feel these last days here are very forlorn. I’m so glad that it should have been just now, in the beginning of her loneliness, that you should have come and asked her to go home with you.”

  “Ah, but you don’t know how glad I am that she is free to go. I had it in the back of my mind when I came off here searching, but I didn’t even know whether she was living herself, nor whether she would ever be free to come to us if she was. It seems too good to believe that she is willing to come. It’s going to be great for the children. I can’t think of anything better that could have happened for them. I know what she was to me when I was a child, and I crave that for them!”

  “You’re being a great little mother to them,” said Valiant tenderly. “If I thought I should ever in any least little way interfere with that in you, I’d run to the ends of the earth and never see you again!”

  “Oh—” cried Jennifer. “Don’t do that, please!”

  And then Jeremy walked into the scene and flung himself down at their feet.

  “I’ve been over the earth to find you two,” he said. “What’s the idea of coming off here toward dark? You haven’t got fishing rods along, and anyway, you’re not togged out for fishing. I should think you could find cheerfuller places. There’s a gorgeous sunset over in the front of the house. Why don’t you come back and see it?”

  “Perhaps we will,” said Valiant thoughtfully. “How about it, Jennifer?”

  “Lovely!” said Jennifer, and Valiant reached out his hand and caught hers, lifting her to her feet.

  “Well, I like that!” said Jeremy crossly. “I come out here to find you two, and you get up and go off and leave me. Oh, I say, Jack, I wish you’d go home with us. I don’t see how we’re going to get along without you. You’re just what we need. I wish you lived at our house.”

  “Well, now that’s a wish I’ve had myself a number of times. I’d certainly appreciate it if you would intercede with your sister for me, Jerry. I understand that she is head of the house, or will be on the fifth, about the time that you get home.”

  Jeremy frowned at his sister and looked from one to the other.

  “Well,” said Jeremy, “all I’ve got to say is she is a fool if she doesn’t see it that way. I certainly wish you’d come. It might drive away some of the undesirables that flood the land occasionally. There’s one name Pete that gets my goat. He’s too rich and too pretty and too stuck on himself. He thinks he owns my sister, and it gives me a pain in the neck!”

  Valiant gave Jennifer a quick deep look, and she flamed up scarlet with an annoyed look at her brother. “Jerry! For sweet pity’s sake, don’t bring up that again. I should think after the experience we had down at the boat you would know he’ll not be likely to come around again.”

  “Oh, won’t he? My sweet little sister, just wait till we get home and dear Aunt Petunia gets in a little of her nice work. He’ll be around as engaging as ever with a cart load of orchids and a few diamonds and things. Just wait! Jack, I’d give you almost anything if you’d cut him out. I don’t see how I’m going to remain a Christian if that chump keeps coming around.”

  “Well now, Jerry, I might consider your proposition if you would offer me inducement enough,” twinkled the young man.

  And then deliberately Jack slid his hand within Jennifer’s arm and drew her close to him and walked along with Jerry on the other side, whistling softly one of the choruses they had sung at the conference.

  As the song came to an end they heard from the little front porch a sigh of relief and a shout of contentment from Karen and Robin. It was Robin who put their joy into words quaintly.

  “Oh, zere tum zose free dears!” he said “Aren’t ve glad!”

  Valiant and Jennifer looked at each other suddenly, and his hand grew closer on her arm.

  “There are only three more to be heard from,” he said in a low jubilant tone.

  And then from down by the gate where Hazel and Heather were swinging gently back and forth, Heather called out: “There they come, Tryon! Go on an ask Jack if he won’t come home with us, and everything will be just perfect!”

  And Hazel added, “Yes, Try, why don’t you? He likes you, and he’ll do what you ask. It will be heaps of fun.”

  “That settles it,” said Valiant, with a wide grin at Jerry, as Tryon came toward them through the dusk and all the others came flocking.

  The evening ended in a general time of joy and laughter, and then Jennifer herded the little ones to bed, for they were planning to start quite early in the morning.

  And when the morning came, with a clear sky and good roads ahead and a hearty breakfast inside, they kissed Kirsty good-bye and went on their way. But it was generally understood that Jack Valiant would be coming to them soon, and they went away quite happy, because he seemed a part of them all now, and he was going to bring Kirsty with him. None of them noticed the glad look that passed between Jennifer and Jack, as they shouted themselves hoarse with good-byes and waved as long as they could see the two beloved people standing there together at the little white gate.

  It was in the first little town they came to that they stopped at the drugstore to telephone Uncle Blake. They had been putting encouragement into the personals of the New York paper for the last three weeks, so Uncle Blake was prepared for their voices as they sounded out over the wire. Every voice of the whole seven was represented in a sentence, even down to Robin’s “Uncle Bwake! Ve have had a svell time, and ve are tuming home! Aren’t you glad, Uncle Bwake?”

  Then they got back into the car and started on their happy way home, for their exile was over and Jennifer would be of age tomorrow. She was now head of the house and could decide what they all should do, and th
ey were not going to be separated!

  Chapter 21

  The Graeme children had been home a whole day and two nights before Aunt Petra found it out, and then it was only by accident that it came to her knowledge.

  They arrived quite a little after dark and telephoned Uncle Blake, who came over post haste and welcomed them with open arms. They sat late and talked, and Uncle Blake had real tears in his eyes. Tears of joy, as he sat in a big chair and cuddled the sleeping Robin in his arms. But he hadn’t said a word to the aunts yet.

  “Let ’em find it out themselves,” he chuckled. “It will do them good.”

  So he said nothing to them. But just a little after dinner time that second night, a curious neighbor hustled herself over to Petra Holbrook’s to call, and almost the first word she said was, “Well, it’s good to see the Graeme house lighted up again, isn’t it! I declare I have missed the brightness of that house more than you’d imagine.”

  And Petra Holbrook never batted an eye, though she did catch her breath a little before she replied calmly, “Yes, I suppose you would miss them. All that time. It was ridiculous! They had no business to be gone so long! That’s all a part of making an old man their guardian. If Miriam had asked my advice I surely would have urged against it. But John was so set in his ways, you know, and having things his own way.”

  The woman stayed and stayed, hoping to get what Tryon would have called “a rise” out of Aunt Petra, but Petra Holbrook never let anybody get a rise out of her.

  It was too late when the neighbor went home to go right over and give those impudent renegades a piece of her mind, but she lost no time the next morning.

  Jennifer caught a glimpse of her driving in at the gate as she sat at the dining room table peeling a pear for Robin, and she said in a low voice, “There comes Aunt Petra, children, and you’ll have to behave wonderfully, do you hear?”

  They looked at her aghast. The tone she was using was the same tone with which she had warned them to close the curtains on the boat when Peter came in sight.