CHAPTER II.
"There comesForever something between us and whatWe deem our happiness."
BYRON'S SARDANAPALUS.
It was quite late when the young party returned, and the next day allwere dull, and more than one peevish and fretful; so that Elsie, on whomfell, almost entirely, the burden of entertaining them, had quite atrying time.
She noticed at breakfast that Arthur seemed in an uncommonly bad humor,preserving a sullen and dogged silence, excepting once when a sly whisperfrom Harry Carrington drew from him an exclamation of fierce anger thatalmost frightened the children, but only made Harry laugh.
Presently after, as they were about dispersing, Arthur came to her sideand whispered that he had something to say to her in private.
Elsie started and looked extremely annoyed, but said at once that hemight come to her room, and that there they could be quite alone, asmammy would be down-stairs getting her breakfast.
She led the way and Arthur followed. He glanced hastily around onentering and then locked the door and stood with his back against it.
Elsie became very pale.
"You needn't be _afraid_" he said, sneeringly, "I'm not going to _hurt_you!"
"What do you want, Arthur? tell me quickly, please, because I must soongo to papa, and I have a lesson to look over first," she said, mildly.
"I want you to lend me some money," he replied, speaking in a rapid anddetermined manner; "I know you've got some, for I saw your purse theother day, and it hadn't less than five dollars in it, I'm sure, andthat's just the sum I want."
"What do you want it for, Arthur?" she asked in a troubled voice.
"That's none of your business," he answered, fiercely. "I want the money;I _must_ have it, and I'll pay it back next month, and that's all youneed to know."
"No, Arthur," she said gently, but very firmly, "unless you tell me allabout it, I cannot lend you a single cent, because papa has forbidden meto do so, and I cannot disobey him."
"Nonsense! that's nothing but an excuse because you don't choose to do mea favor," returned the boy angrily; "you weren't so particular aboutobeying last summer when he made you sit all the afternoon at the piano,because you didn't choose to play what he told you to."
"That was because it would have been breaking God's command; but this isvery different," replied Elsie, mildly.
"Well, if you _must_ know," said he, fiercely, "I want it to pay a debt;I've been owing Dick Percival a dollar or so for several weeks, and lastnight he won from me again, and he said if I didn't pay up he'd report meto papa, or Horace, and get the money from them; and I got off only bypromising to let him have the full amount to-day; but my pocket money'sall gone, and I can't get anything out of mamma, because she told me thelast time I went to her, that she couldn't give me any more without papafinding out all about it. So you see there is nobody to help me but you,Elsie, for there's never any use in asking my sisters; they never have acent to spare! Now be a good, obliging girl; come and let me have themoney."
"Oh! Arthur, you've been gambling; how _could_ you do so?" she exclaimedwith a horrified look. "It is so _very_ wicked! you'll go to ruin,Arthur, if you keep on in such bad ways; do go to grandpa and tell himall about it, and promise never to do so again, and I am sure he willforgive you, and pay your debts, and then you will feel a great dealhappier."
"Tell papa, indeed; never! I'd _die_ first! Elsie, you _must_ lend me themoney," he said, seizing her by the wrist.
"Let go of me, Arthur," she said, trying to free herself from his grasp."You are stronger than I am, but you know if you hurt me, papa will besure to find it out."
He threw her hand from him with a violence that made her stagger, andcatch at the furniture to save herself from falling.
"Will you give me the money then?" he asked angrily.
"If I should do so, I would have to put it down in my expense book, andtell papa all about it, because he does not allow me to spend one centwithout telling him just what it went for; and that would be much worsefor you, Arthur, than to go and confess it yourself--a _great deal_worse, I am sure."
"You could manage it well enough, if you wanted to," said he, sullenly;"it would be an easy matter to add a few yards to the flannel, and a fewpounds to the tobacco that you bought so much of for the old servants.Just give _me_ your book, and I'll fix it in a minute, and he'll neverfind it out."
"Arthur!" she exclaimed, "I could _never_ do such a wicked thing! I wouldnot deceive papa so for any money; and even if I did he would be sure tofind it out."
Some one tried the door.
Arthur put his hand on the lock; then, turning toward Elsie again, foran instant, shook his fist in her face, muttering, with an oath, that hewould be revenged, and make her sorry for her refusal to the last day ofher life. He then opened the door and went out, leaving poor Elsie pale,and trembling like a leaf.
The person, whoever it was, that had tried the door had gone away again,and Elsie had a few moments alone to recover herself, before Chloe cameto tell her that her father could not have her with him that morning, asa gentleman had called on business.
And much as Elsie had always enjoyed that hour, she was almost glad ofthe respite, so fearful was she that her papa would see that somethinghad agitated her, and insist upon knowing what it was. She was very muchtroubled that she had been made the repository of such a secret, andfearful that she ought to tell her father or grandfather, because itseemed so very important that Arthur should be stopped in his evilcourses. But remembering that he had said that her assistance was hisonly hope for escaping detection, she at length decided that she neednot speak about the matter to any one.
She had a trying time that day, endeavoring to keep the children amused;and her ingenuity and patience were taxed to the utmost to think ofstories and games that would please them all.
It was still early in the afternoon when she seemed to have got quite tothe end of her list. She was trying to amuse Enna's set, while her threecompanions and Herbert were taking care of themselves. They had sat downon the floor, and were playing jack-stones.
"Let us play jack-stones, too," said Flora. "I don't know how; but Elsie,you can teach me, can't you?"
"No, Flora, I cannot indeed, for papa says I must not play that game,because he does not like to have me sit down on the floor," repliedElsie. "We must try to think of something else."
"We needn't sit on the floor, need we? Couldn't we play it on the table?"asked Flora.
"I don't know; perhaps we could; but papa said I mustn't play it,"replied Elsie, shaking her head doubtfully.
"But maybe he'd let you, if we don't sit on the floor," persisted thelittle girl.
Several other little ones joined their entreaties to Flora's, and atlength Elsie said, "Well, I will go and ask papa; perhaps he may let me,if I tell him we are not going to sit on the floor."
She went to his dressing-room, but he was not there. Next she tried thelibrary, and was more successful; he was in an easy chair by the fire,reading.
But now that she had found him, Elsie, remembering how often he had toldher never to ask a second time to do what he had once forbidden, was morethan half afraid to prefer her request, and very much inclined to go backwithout doing so.
But as she stood a moment irresolute, he looked up from his book, andseeing who it was, smiled and held out his hand.
She went to him then, and said timidly, "Papa, some of the little oneswant me to play jack-stones, to teach them how; may I, if we don't sit onthe floor?"
"Elsie," he replied, in a tone of great displeasure, "it was only theother day that I positively forbade you to play that game, and, after allthat I have said to you about not asking a second time, it surprises mevery much that you would dare to do it. Go to my dressing-room, and shutyourself into the closet there."
Elsie burst into tears, as she turned to obey, then, hesitatingly, asked,"May I go down first, papa, and tell the children that I can't come toplay with them?"
> "Elsie!" he exclaimed, in his sternest tone; and not daring to utteranother word, trembling and weeping, she hastened from the room, and shutherself up as he had bidden her.
The closet was large, and there was a stool she could sit on; but whenshe had shut the door, it was both dark and cold. It was a dismal placeto be in, and poor Elsie wondered how long she would have to stay there.
It seemed a long, long time; so long that she began to think it must benight, and to fear that perhaps her papa had forgotten all about havingsent her there, or that he considered her so very naughty as to deserveto stay there all night.
But at last she heard his step, and then he opened the door and called,"Elsie!"
"Yes, papa, I am here," she replied in a trembling voice, full of tears.
"Come to me," he said; and then, as he took her hand, "Why, how cold youare, child," he exclaimed; "I am really sorry you have been so long inthat dismal place. I did not intend to punish you so severely, and shouldnot have kept you there more than half an hour, at the _very longest_;but company came in, and I quite forgot you."
While speaking thus he had led her up to the fire and sat down with heron his knee. "My poor darling!" he said, "these little hands are verycold, let papa rub them; and are your feet cold too?"
"Yes sir," she replied, and he pulled off her shoes and stockings, andmoving his chair closer to the fire, held her feet out toward the blaze,and rubbed them in his warm hands.
"You have been crying a good deal," he said, looking keenly into herface.
"Yes, papa," she replied, dropping her face on his breast and burstinginto tears; "I thought you were going to leave me there all night."
"Did you? and were you afraid?"
"No, papa, not _afraid_, because I know you would be sleeping in the nextroom; and besides, God could take care of me as well in the closet asanywhere else. Is it getting night, papa, or morning?"
"It is beginning to grow dark," he said. "But tell me why you cried, ifyou were not afraid."
"Partly because I was uncomfortable, papa, but more because I was sorryI had been naughty, and displeased you, and afraid that I can never learnto be good."
"It is very strange," he remarked, "that you cannot learn not to ask todo what I have forbidden. I shall have to punish you every time you doit; for you _must_ learn that no _means no_, and that you are never tocoax or tease after papa has once said it. I love my little girl verydearly, and want to do all I can to make her happy, but I must have herentirely submissive and obedient to me. But stop crying now," he added,wiping her eyes with his handkerchief. "Kiss me, and tell me you aregoing to be a good girl, and I will forgive you this time."
"I will try, papa," she said, holding up her face for the kiss; "and Iwould not have asked to play that, but the children begged me so, andI thought you only said I mustn't, because you didn't want me to sit onthe floor; and we were going to try it on the table."
"Did I give that reason?" he asked gravely.
"No, papa," she replied, hanging her head.
"Then you had no right to think so. That _was one_ reason, but not the_only_ one. I have heard it said that that play enlarges the knuckles,and I don't choose to have these little hands of mine robbed of theirbeauty," he added, playfully raising them to his lips.
Elsie smiled faintly, then drew a deep sigh.
"Is it so very hard to give up jack-stones?" he asked.
"No, papa; I don't care anything about _that_, but I was just thinkinghow very naughty I must be growing; for you have had to punish me twicein one week; and then I have had such a hard day of it--it was sodifficult to amuse the children. I think being up so late last nightmade them feel cross."
"Ah!" he said, in a sympathizing tone; "and had you all the burden ofentertaining them? Where were Louise and Lora?"
"They are hardly ever with us, papa; we are too little to play with them,they say, and Enna won't do anything her little friends want her to,and"--she paused, and the color rushed over her face with the suddenthought--"I am afraid I am telling tales."
"And so they put upon you all the trouble of entertaining both your owncompany and theirs, eh? It is shameful! a downright imposition, and Ishall not put up with it!" he exclaimed indignantly. "I shall speak toLora and Louise, and tell them they must do their share of the work."
"Please, papa, _don't_," Elsie begged in a frightened tone. "I would agreat deal rather just go on as we have been; they will be so vexed."
"And suppose they are! they shall not hurt you," he said, drawing hercloser to him; "and they have no reason to be. I think the children willall want to go to bed early to-night," he added, "and then you can comehere and sit by me while you copy your letter; shall you like that?"
"Very much, papa, thank you."
"Well, then we will put on the shoes and stockings again," he saidpleasantly, "and then you must bathe your eyes, and go to your supper;and, as soon as the others retire, you may come back to me."
Elsie had to make haste, for the tea-bell rang almost immediately.
The others were just taking their places at the table when she enteredthe room, and thus, their attention being occupied with the business inhand, she escaped the battery of questions and looks of curiosity whichshe had feared.
Flora did turn round after a little, to ask: "Why didn't you come back,Elsie; wouldn't your papa let you play?" But Elsie's quiet "no" seemed tosatisfy her, and she made no further remark about it.
As Mr. Dinsmore had expected, the children were all ready for beddirectly after tea; and then Elsie went to him, and had another quietevening, which she enjoyed so much that she thought it almost made up forall the troubles and trials of the day; for her father, feeling a littleremorseful on account of her long imprisonment in the closet, was, ifpossible, even more than usually tender and affectionate in his mannertoward her.
The next morning Mr. Dinsmore found an opportunity to remonstrate withhis sisters on their neglect of the little guests, but did it in such away that they had no idea that Elsie had been complaining of them--as,indeed, she had not--but supposed that he had himself noticed theirremissness; and feeling somewhat ashamed of their want of politeness,they went into the children's room after breakfast, and exertedthemselves for an hour or two, for the entertainment of the little ones.It was but a spasmodic effort, however, and they soon grew weary of theexertion, and again let the burden fall upon Elsie. She did the best shecould, poor child, but these were tiresome and trying days from thatuntil New Year's.
One afternoon Mr. Horace Dinsmore was sitting in his own room, buried inan interesting book, when the door opened and closed again very quietly,and his little girl stole softly to his side, and laying her head on hisshoulder, stood there without uttering a word.
For hours she had been exerting herself to the utmost to amuse theyoung guests, her efforts thwarted again and again by the petulanceand unreasonableness of Walter and Enna; she had also borne much teasingfrom Arthur, and fault-finding from Mrs. Dinsmore, to whom Enna wascontinually carrying tales, until, at length, no longer able to endureit, she had stolen away to her father to seek for comfort.
"My little girl is tired," he said, passing his arm affectionately aroundher, and pressing his lips on her forehead.
She burst into tears, and sobbed quite violently.
"Why, what is it, darling? what troubles my own sweet child?" he asked,in a tone of mingled surprise and alarm, as he hastily laid aside hisbook and drew her to his knee.
"Nothing, papa; at least, nothing very bad; I believe I am very silly,"she replied, trying to smile through her tears.
"It must have been something, Elsie," he said, very gravely; "somethingquite serious, I think, to affect you so; tell me what it was, daughter."
"Please don't ask me, papa," she begged imploringly.
"I hate concealments, Elsie, and shall be very much displeased if you trythem with me," he answered, almost sternly.
"Dear papa, _don't_ be angry," she pleaded, in a tremulous tone; "I don't
want to have any concealments from you, but you know I ought not to telltales. You won't _make_ me do it?"
"Is that it?" he said, kissing her. "No, I shall not ask you to telltales, but I am not going to have you abused by anybody, and shall takecare to find out from some one else who it is that annoys you."
"Oh, papa, please don't trouble yourself about it. I do not mind it atall, now."
"But _I_ do," replied her father, "and I shall take care that you are notannoyed in the same way again."
The tears rose in Elsie's eyes again, and she reproached herself severelyfor allowing her father to see how troubled she had been; but she saidnot another word, for she well knew from his look and tone that it wouldbe worse than useless.
Holidays at Roselands Page 2
