THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
A LIST OF THE ELSIE BOOKS AND
OTHER POPULAR BOOKS
BY
MARTHA FINLEY
ELSIE DINSMORE.
ELSIE'S HOLIDAYS AT ROSELANDS.
ELSIE'S GIRLHOOD.
ELSIE'S WOMANHOOD.
ELSIE'S MOTHERHOOD.
ELSIE'S CHILDREN.
ELSIE'S WIDOWHOOD.
GRANDMOTHER ELSIE.
ELSIE'S NEW RELATIONS.
ELSIE AT NANTUCKET.
THE TWO ELSIES.
ELSIE'S KITH AND KIN.
ELSIE'S FRIENDS AT WOODBURN.
CHRISTMAS WITH GRANDMA ELSIE.
ELSIE AND THE RAYMONDS.
ELSIE YACHTING WITH THE RAYMONDS.
ELSIE'S VACATION.
ELSIE AT VIAMEDE.
ELSIE AT ION.
ELSIE AT THE WORLD'S FAIR.
ELSIE'S JOURNEY ON INLAND WATERS.
ELSIE AT HOME.
ELSIE ON THE HUDSON.
ELSIE IN THE SOUTH.
ELSIE'S YOUNG FOLKS.
ELSIE'S WINTER TRIP.
ELSIE AND HER LOVED ONES.
MILDRED KEITH.
MILDRED AT ROSELANDS.
MILDRED'S MARRIED LIFE.
MILDRED AND ELSIE.
MILDRED AT HOME.
MILDRED'S BOYS AND GIRLS.
MILDRED'S NEW DAUGHTER.
CASELLA.
SIGNING THE CONTRACT AND WHAT IT COST.
THE TRAGEDY OF WILD RIVER VALLEY.
OUR FRED.
AN OLD-FASHIONED BOY.
WANTED, A PEDIGREE.
THE THORN IN THE NEST.
ELSIE AT ION
BY
MARTHA FINLEY
NEW YORK
DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
COPYRIGHT, 1893,
BY
DODD, MEAD & COMPART.
AU rights reserved.
ELSIE AT ION.
CHAPTER I.
VIOLET and Lnlu were still alone upon the
yeranda where the captain had left them while
he drove into the village on that first evening
after their home-coming from beautiful Via-
mede. They had now taken possession of two
easy-chairs standing close together, and were en
joying the quiet and an extended view of the
well-kept grounds and the green fields and
wooded hills that lay beyond.
For some moments neither had spoken ; then
Violet broke the silence. " Lulu, I have been
thinking of that poor Mrs. McAlpine and her
daughter whom you met when your father took
you and Max out to the far West. Tell me
something about them if you feel inclined."
" Yes, Mamma Vi ; they were refined, lovable
people and I like to think and talk of them ;
except that it makes me sad to think what a
hard, trying life they led and are yet leading, I
suppose."
1 1
2 ELSIE AT ION.
"Yes, my heart bleeds for them; the poor
mother especially," sighed Violet. "Foully
robbed of her husband's love, what charm has
life in this world left for her?"
"If I were in her place I'd just make up my
mind not to care for him or his love, and be
happy in loving my children and being loved
by them!" exclaimed Lulu in indignant tones.
"I'd never break my heart for such a
wretch!"
"He is certainly not worth it," was Violet's
response. "Ah, there is your father!" as a
carriage turned in at the great gates opening
upon the high-road.
It came swiftly up the drive, halted at the
front entrance, and the captain, quickly
alighting, handed out a girlish figure clad in
a plain, dark dress and hat.
"Miss McAlpine, my dear; Lulu, it is your
old friend Marian."
"Welcome, my poor dear girl," said Violet,
taking Marian's hand in a kindly pressure
and giving her a kiss.
"O Marian, Marian, what a delightful sur
prise!" was Lulu's greeting as she threw her
arms about her friend and kissed her again
and again.
"Just as I meant it should be," the captain
remarked with a pleased smile.
But Marian seemed speechless with emotion,
ELSIE AT ION. 3
clinging to Lulu and sobbing as if her heart
would break.
"0 you poor dear!" Lulu said, gently pat
ting and stroking her, "don't cry so bitterly;
we will do all we can to make you happy. You
must be very tired with your long journey, but
you can rest now in this sweet home of ours. "
" Yes, take her up to the spare room nearest
your own, Lulu," said the captain, "and see
that she has everything she needs."
''And we will have her tea sent up to her,"
added Violet.
" She took that in the village, my dear," said
the captain, " and as she is very weary had bet
ter get to bed as soon as she can. I see that her
trunk has already been carried up."
" sir, how kind, how kind you are to me!"
Marian exclaimed sobbingly, putting her hand
into his and lifting grateful eyes to his face.
" Ah, my poor child, it would be a great de
light to me could I but relieve all your sorrows,"
he returned in moved tones. " That is beyond
my power; but cast all your burdens on the
Lord and he will sustain you, fulfilling to you
his gracious promise, 'As thy days, so shall thy
strength be. ' You need rest ; do not lie awake
grieving, but try to obey the scriptural injunc
tion, 'casting all your care upon him, for he
careth for you.' "
4 ELSIE AT ION.
"O sir, I believe itJ" Marian responded in
deeply grateful tones; "for otherwise he would
never have raised up such a friend as you are
proving yourself to be. How shall I ever thank
one who shows himself far kinder than my own
father?"
"Yes, my dear girl, my good husband feels
for you very much as he does for his own chil
dren when they are in trouble," Violet said
feelingly, as Marian turned to say good-night to
her. " Lulu, dear," she added, " try to make
sure that your guest has everything that can
add to her comfort."
"I will, Mamma Vi," Lulu answered in
pleasant tones.
" And stay with Marian only long enough to
see to that," added the captain; "for her
journey has fatigued her greatly and she needs
rest more than anything else."
" Yes, sir; we can wait till to-morrow for our
talk," Lulu replied, looking smilingly up into
his face ; " and I'll come directly to you so that
you will know I have obeyed the order."
"That is right; you will find me here," he
returned.
"Oh, what a lovely home you have, Lulu!"
exclaimed Marian, glancing about her as they
went up the stairway.
" Yes, indeed, I think we have ; and I love it
ELSIE AT ION. 5
dearly ; hut not a thousandth part as much as
I do the dear father who made it for us and
makes us so happy in it. This is the room he
bade me bring you to, Marian," opening a
door and leading the way into a large, airy, and
beautifully furnished bedroom.
"Oh, how lovely, how lovely!" exclaimed
Marian. "Ah, it is much too grand for me
a poor girl who has not a dollar in the
world."
"Not a bit," said Lulu in reply; "those who
have nothing need help all the more; besides,
papa does not value people for their wealth and
has never taught his children to. Ah, there is
your trunk ! I see the men have unstrapped it.
Now if you are too tired to get out the things
you want for to-night, and will give me the
key, I will do so for you while you sit here in
this easy-chair and direct me."
"Oh, thank you! but I feel able to wait on
myself."
" Well, you shall do exactly as you please," re
turned Lulu with a smile. " I see the servants
have filled your pitchers, and if you should
want anything that is not here, you have only
to touch this knob which rings an electric bell
in the kitchen giving it one push for cold, or
two for hot water, or three for the chamber
maid to come to you."
C ELSIE AT ION.
"How very nice and convenient!" exclaimed
Marian.
Lulu then explained about the light, saying
she was welcome to put it out or leave it burn
ing just as she preferred, and bidding her a
kind good-night left the room. Hurrying
down to the veranda, she found her father and
Violet still there sitting side by side, convers
ing together in rather subdued tones.
"Here I am, papa," Lulu said, approaching
them.
" That is right," he responded and drew her
to a seat upon his knee. " You saw that your
guest had every want supplied?" he asked, ca
ressing her hair and cheek with his hand as he
spoke.
" Yes, sir. papa, tell me all about it,
please. "
"All about what?" he asked with a smile,
holding her close and pressing a kiss upon her
lips.
" About Marian, sir. Did you know she was
coming? and was it just to get her you drove
into the village?"
"One question at a time, my child," he re
turned with an amused look. "Yes, I knew
she was coming. I had found a letter from her
on my library table telling me so, and re
minding me of the invitation you heard nf
ELSIE AT ION. 7
give her just before leaving Minersville, to
apply to me for help should the time ever come
when she would need a friend able and willing
to aid her."
" Oh, yes, papa, I remember it, and I don't
think anybody could find a better friend than
my dear father when in need of one."
" Well, I found the letter, read it to your
Mamma Vi, then drove into the village for
Marian, leaving for you the pleasure of being
taken by surprise on seeing her return with me. "
" And a very pleasant surprise it was, papa.
Is she going to stay? and oh, what has become
of her poor mother and the boys? I suppose
she told you all about them as you drove back
from the village?"
" More than two questions at once this time,"
laughed her father. "I will try to answer
them in turn. She is likely to stay with us for
the present at least. Her mother and all the
younger children, except Sandy, are dead ; the
little ones dying of diphtheria, the mother of
grief and the fatigue from nursing them
through their illness. Sandy is working his
way with a farmer for the present; the father
attempted to force Marian into a match with a
Mormon thirty or forty years older than herself,
and she, by running away, barely escaped a fate
that she esteemed far worse than death. "
8 ELSIE AT ION.
"Oh, poor thing!" cried Lulu. "How glad
I am that I have a father who would never
force me to leave him for anybody else," cling
ing still closer to him as she spoke.
"Never, no, never, my own precious child!"
he returned with emotion. " But you are still
far too young even to be thinking of such a
thing."
" Yes, I know that, papa, and I'm glad of it.
I like to be a little girl that nobody wants to
get away from her father."
" Then we are both satisfied."
" Papa, is Marian going to live here with us?"
she asked.
" Nothing is decided yet," he replied, " but it
will depend upon circumstances. Would you
wish it, daughter?"
She hesitated a little, then said : " If you and
Mamma Vi want her here, papa, I would not
like to stand in the way of her having such a
sweet home, but it's so delightful to have our
dear home to ourselves ; just you and Mamma
Vi and us children."
"So your mamma and I think," he returned
with a gratified look; "and very possibly
Marian herself would prefer some other plan,
for I perceive she is of a very independent dis
position. I have learned that it is her desire
and purpose to earn her own living, and I think
ELSIE AT ION. . 9
the kindest thing I can do will be to help her
fit herself for whatever work she may think
best suited to her talents and inclination."
"0 papa, take her for one of your pupils,
won't you?" cried Lulu in her most eager,
coaxing tones.
" If she wishes it, and can be located in the
near neighborhood," he said.
"Oh, I have a thought!" exclaimed Lulu.
" Why can't she live with Mrs. Allen and Susie
at the cottage?"
" Ah, that strikes me as a very good sugges
tion," the captain replied. "What do you
think of it, Violet, my dear?"
" I highly approve," returned Violet, " unless
it may crowd them too much."
" Ah, in that case I can easily add another
room, or two of them if deemed desirable," he
said. " They might stand a little crowding for
a time, till they satisfy themselves as to their
congeniality of disposition for even good peo
ple sometimes find that they are more com
fortable apart than thrown constantly together;
and that having been satisfactorily proved, I
would make the addition. But we need decide
nothing in regard to these matters to-night.
There is the bell for prayers, after which Lulu
must go to her nest, and you and I, my dear,
will, I think, be ready for ours."
10 ELSIE AT ION.
When the short service was over, Lulu bade
Violet good-night ; then turning to her father,
asked, " Must I say it to you too now, papa?"
"No, daughter," he replied. "I will step in
your room for a moment when you are about
ready for bed. I suppose it would hardly do to
omit it on the first night after our return from
our wanderings," he added, smoothing her hair
caressingly as she stood by his side.
"No, indeed, sir," she returned with an
earnestness that made him smile ; " and please
do not think it will do at any time ; unless you
are sick or have some company yon cannot
leave to give me even a minute. Ah, how
thankful I ought to be, and am, that my father
is so different from poor Marian's!"
"Yes, indeed," said Violet. "Marian, poor
girl, is greatly to be pitied ; so let us all be as
kind to her as possible."
"Yes, Mamma Vi; and I think it will be
my place to stay with her to-morrow, though I
shall be very sorry to miss spending the after
noon and evening with the rest of you at Ion."
"You dear girl, you shall do no such thing,"
returned Violet with an affectionate smile into
Lulu's eyes. " I will speak to mamma through
the telephone to-morrow morning, and I am
sure she will give Marian a cordial invitation to
make one of the family party."
ELSIE AT ION. 11
"I do not doubt it, my dear," said Captain
Raymond, " but in her fatigue and grief Marian
would, I think, prefer to spend the day here in
rest and sleep ; nor will there be any occasion
for Lulu to deny herself the pleasure of going
with the rest of us to Ion, or us the pleasure
of having her along," again laying a caressing
hand upon her head and smiling down affec
tionately into the bright dark eyes lifted lov
ingly to his. " Now go, daughter, to your
room. I want you to have a good night's rest
that you may enjoy the pleasures of to-morrow
to the full."
CHAPTER II.
"An, how I wish poor dear Marian was
blessed with such a father as mine," Lulu said
to herself as she moved noiselessly about her
room getting ready for bed. " But I doubt if
there is another quite so dear and good
though Mamma Vi says hers was, and Grand
ma Elsie seems to think hers could not possibly
be excelled ! The idea ! I'm as glad as can be
that I wasn't born his child, though the older
he grows the better and kinder he seems to be.
And that's the way it ought to be with all of
us ; papa says so, and I know it's according to
Bible teachings. 'Grow in grace, and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ, ' it says. Ah me ! there's nobody needs
to do that more than you yourself, you bad-
tempered, wilful Lulu Eaymond. I am glad
you have a father who understands the business
of training you up in the way you should go,
as well as mine does," and presently, when he
came in, she turned to him with a remark to
that effect.
" If I have succeeded in training my children
12
ELSIE AT ION. 13
at all in the right way, it is only by the wisdom
given me of God in answer to earnest prayer
for it," he replied with grave earnestness.
"Now good-night, my dear little daughter,"
again laying a hand tenderly upon her head.
" * The Lord bless thee and keep thee ; the Lord
make his face to shine upon thee, and be gra
cious unto thee ; the Lord lift up his counte
nance upon thee, and give thee peace. ' '
" Dear papa, thank you," she said, lifting
dewy eyes to his ; " it is such a beautiful, beau
tiful blessing!"
" It is indeed ! the blessing which the Lord
directed Moses to give to Aaron and his sons to
use in blessing the children of Israel; adding
'and they shall put my name upon the children
of Israel, and I will bless them.' Now again
good-night, daughter. Get to bed and to sleep
as quickly as you can."
Lulu obeyed, and her head had scarcely more
than touched the pillow before her senses were
lost in sound sleep, from which she did not
awake till just as the sun appeared above the
tree-tops.
" Oh, what a lovely morning ! everything
looking so beautiful within and without!" she
exclaimed to herself, glancing around the hand
somely furnished room, then out at the beauti
ful grounds. "Ah, I want a morning stroll
14 ELSIE AT ION.
with my dear father!" and with the words she
sprang from the bed and began a hasty but neat
toilet; but first she laid her Bible open on the
dressing-table that she might commit a verse or
more to memory as she worked.
Then a few moments were spent on her
knees giving thanks for God's protecting care
over her and hers during the silent watches of
the night, the many, many blessings of her lot
in life, and the hope of eternal life through the
righteousness and atoning blood of Christ, con
fessing her sins, asking forgiveness for Jesus'
sake, and help to love him more and serve him
better.
Grace still slept soundly, as Lulu discovered
on peeping in at the open door communicating
with her own room. Polly woke and called for
a cracker, according to her custom. Lulu gave
her one, told her to be silent and not disturb
tired sleepers, then passed quietly out to the
hall and to Marian's door, where she stood
listening till satisfied that no movement was
going on within that room; then seeing her
father passing out of his dressing-room into the
hall, she ran to him, was welcomed with a
smile and a kiss, slipped her hand into his, and
they went down the stairs together.
"Have you had anything to eat?" he asked,
adding, "It will be more than an hour yet
ELSIE AT ION. 15
before we are called to breakfast, and that will
make too long a fast from the time you must
have left your bed."
"No, sir, I haven't," she replied. "Shall I
call for a glass of milk for you and one for
myself?"
" Suppose instead we take a basket and go
out to the strawberry bed. How would you like
that?" he asked.
" Oh, ever so much, papa!" she exclaimed de
lightedly. "And might we not gather some
for breakfast too? Mamma Yi and the rest
will enjoy them as well as you and I."
"I entirely approve of the suggestion," he
returned, and they set off together for the straw
berry patch.
It was a large one supplied with an abun
dance of the finest varieties, the vines now loaded
with delicious fruit just in prime condition for
eating.
"Oh, how beautiful they are!" cried Lulu.
" So many too, and so nicely arranged and
trained that they don't get any sand at all on
them; and so large that it won't take long to
fill our basket, papa."
" No, not many minutes. Gather and eat all
you wish and we will fill the basket afterward. "
"Thank you, sir," she said, and hastened to
avail herse!* of the permission. For *ome
1 ELSIE AT ION.
minutes she was too busy to talk, but at length,
when the filling of the basket began, she broke
the silence with a question: "Papa, did
Marian tell you how she escaped from Miners-
rffle?"
"Yes," he replied; "and now you want me
to tell you, I suppose?"
" Oh, yes, sir, if you will. "
" I will tell you something about it, but let
yon get the particulars from Marian herself.
My agent, Mr. Short, was a good friend to the
poor girl, supplied her with funds and whatever
else she needed ; took her by night to a station
some miles distant on the railroad, bought her a
ticket, had her trunk checked, put her on board
an eastern train and watched it out of sight."
" And she travelled all the rest of the way
alone, papa?"
" Yes ; as far as Union, where I met her with
my carriage."
" I think she was very brave, papa; but any
thing was better than the fate she would have
had if she had stayed where that wicked, cruel
father of hers could have done what he pleased
with her. Oh, how glad and thankful I am
that God gave me such a good, kind father!"
" And I that you are mine," he returned with
a loving look into her beaming eyes. "It
speaks ill indeed for Mormon ism that it can so
ELSIE AT ION. 17
harden the heart against those who should be
regarded with the tenderest affection. There !
we have filled our basket and now we will go
back to the house."
The breakfast-bell rang just as they stepped
into the veranda. Violet was there with the
three younger children ; morning greetings were
exchanged, then all repaired to the breakfast-
rooin.
" I think our weary young guest is still sleep
ing," Violet said. "I knocked softly at her
door and listened for several minutes, but could
hear no sound ; so thought it best to let her
sleep on and give her her breakfast when she
wakes of herself."
" Quite right, my dear," returned the captain
as he lifted baby Ned to his high chair, then
seated himself.
He asked a blessing upon their food and the
meal began. They were the usual cheerful little
family party, chatting pleasantly among them
selves while they ate.
As they rose from the table Violet said : " I
think I will go to the telephone and have a
little chat with mamma while the servants are
eating."
" And may I go with you?" the captain asked
with a smile.
"I shall be happy to have you, sir," she re-
18 ELSIE AT ION.
turned with a laughing look up into his face.
" The children are welcome to come, too, if they
wish."
At Ion the family were about leaving the
breakfast-table when the telephone bell rang.
It was answered by Edward. " Hello ! who is
there? and what's wanted?"
"It is I. I wish to speak to mamma," was
the reply in Violet's own sweet tones. " No ob
jections to others hearing, though."
" Dear me, I hope she isn't going to say they
can't come to-day!" exclaimed Rosie, while Ed
ward stepped aside and their mother took the
place he vacated.
" What is it, Vi?" she asked, and all listened
intently for the reply.
"We have a guest, Marian McAlpine that
MinerEville young girl you have all heard my
husband, Max and Lu speak of."
" Ah ! then bring her with you to-day, if she
will come."
"Thank you, mamma; we will if she is able
and willing to accompany us; she was greatly
fatigued by her journey and seems to be still
sleeping."
"McAlpine?" exclaimed Mr. Lilburn, stand
ing near. " You and I have some distant rela
tives of that name, Cousin Elsie. Please ask
for the father's first name. "
ELSIE AT ION. 19
" I have heard the captain say his wife called
him Willie," Elsie answered.
"Ah, indeed!" exclaimed Mr. Lilburn, in a
tone of some excitement. "I must see the
lassie. Please say to Cousin Vi that I will be
over there an hour hence. And will you not
accompany me, cousin?"
"With pleasure," she replied, and turning to
her father, " Shall we not make up a party,
papa?" she asked.
" Yes," he said. " It is a lovely morning for
a drive and we may as well do so, all going who
have time and inclination."
" I wonder if our young guest is awake yet,"
Violet said to her husband as they turned away
from the telephone. " Shall I send a servant up
to see?"
"No, my dear, I think I wouldn't," the cap
tain replied. " I told her last night to lie and
sleep as late this morning as she would, ring for
her breakfast when she was ready to eat it, and
it should be carried up to her. Ah ! there is
her bell now. I will direct that it be taken
up at once, and then we will have family
worship."
On coming down nearly an hour later Marian
found the family gathered upon the front ve
randa. The captain rose on her appearance and
gallantly handed her to a seat, remarking that
80 ELSIE AT ION.
she was looking much better and brighter than
on her arrival the previous evening.
"Yes, sir," she said, "and I feel far better.
I was very weary with my long journey (what a
Tery big country America is!), but I slept well
and am almost rested now."
Just then a carriage was seen to turn in
at the gates opening upon the high-road.
Ned greeted its approach with a shout of de
light.
" Gan'ma tumin' ! gan'ma tumin'. Oh, I so
blad, I so blad!"
" Yes, Neddie boy, we are always glad to see
dear grandma," said his father. "Grandpa
Dinsrnore too, Cousin Eonald, Kosie and Walter.
They are all there, I see."
The next minute the carriage had drawn up
at the foot of the steps and the captain was as
sisting his guests to alight and bidding them
heartily welcome.
Cousin Ronald, waiting only to greet Violet,
turned to the young stranger guest, and grasp
ing her hand said with emotion : " I need ask no
questions, for that bonny, winsome face tells
plainer than any words that you are my Cousin
Janet's bairn."
Marian gazed at him for a moment in dumb
astonishment; then a glad surprise lighted up
her face.
ELSIE AT ION. 21
**A kinsman of my dear mother?" she ex
claimed.
" Yes, my bonny lass. Did yon never hear
her speak of her Cousin Eonald Lilburn?"
" Oh, I have, sir, I have! and you are he?"
"That I am, lassie; and old enough to be
your grandsire ; so dinna think it too great a
liberty I take," kissing her on cheek and lip.
* And my cousin Elsie here, and her children,
may claim kindred with you also, lassie," put
ting the hand he held into that of Mrs. Travilla.
" Yes, we must be permitted to claim you as
our own, dear girl," Grandma Elsie said in
tender tones and with an affectionate caress.
Then turning to her children, " Bosie and
Walter," she said, "this is your cousin, too."
" Then mine also, mamma," exclaimed Violet.
" Ah, Marian, I am glad to know there is such
a tie between us!" taking the young girl's hand
in hers and holding it for a moment in a kindly
pressure.
" I also, for if related to my wife you are to
me too," the captain said, laying a hand affec
tionately upon the young girl's shoulder.
Then the younger ones greeted her warmly in
turn. Mr. Dinsmore shook hands with her in a
kind, granclfatherly way, saying that she must
no longer feel herself a stranger in a strange
land, but that the God of her fathers had guided
22 ELSIE AT ION.
her to an abiding -place among her own kith
and kin.
Marian seemed well-nigh overwhelmed with
joy and gratitude by the sudden glad change in
her condition, laughing and crying hysterically
in turn; but under the kind ministrations of
her newly found relatives soon recovered her
composure and was able to answer coherently
the many questions Cousin Ronald had to ask
concerning her parents and brothers.
His manner increased in gentleness and ten
derness as he learned of her many and recent
bereavements and the cruel treatment received
at the hands of her unnatural father.
Mr. Lilburn's brow darkened as he listened.
" Ah, to think o' my ain bonny cousin throwing
hersel' awa upon sic a beast o' a mon!" he mut
tered between his set teeth ; then aloud to Ma
rian, "Dinna fash yersel', lassie; the Lord has
blessed your Cousin Ronald wi' abundance o'
this worl's gude; sons too, and one married
daughter, but no single one now the two that
were once the pride and joy o' his heart having
been long since called to the Father's house on
high, and if it so pleases you he will be glad
to take you in the place of one of them. "
"How very kind you are, sir!" she exclaimed
with starting tears. " I cannot consent to be a
burden to any one, but will gladly take help
ELSIE AT ION. 23
to fit myself for some useful employment by
which I can earn my daily bread."
"And that you shall have, my dear lass," he
said emphatically.
"But we need not settle anything to-day,"
their Cousin Elsie remarked, then told Marian
of the family gathering to be held at Ion that
afternoon, adding a warm invitation to her to
make one of the company.
Marian accepted with thanks; then, coloring
and hesitating, said she feared she had noth
ing to wear which would be suitable for such an
occasion.
" My dear girl, do not allow yourself to be
troubled with any such fears," Elsie replied in
gentie, reassuring accents. " It is only a family
gathering, and the dress you are now wearing
will be quite suitable."
"Surely, surely, lassie, it strikes me as far
from unbecoming," Cousin Konald said, regard
ing her and her apparel with critical eyes, " and
if any in the company think ill o'e dress, let
him or her forget it in gazing upon the bonny
face above it."
" I think you need not feel ashamed of it or
fear unfavorable criticism, my dear girl," added
Violet.
" No, dress is but a secondary matter in the
connection, so far as I know," said the captain,
24 ELSIE AT ION.
and Rosie and Lulu added their assurance to the
same effect.
" Then I shall go with pleasure and try not to
think of the dress at all," returned Marian with
a look of relief.
Walter, ever ready for a story, had been
eagerly watching his opportunity and now ear
nestly requested of Marian a detailed account
of her escape from Minersville. She complied
and gave the facts in a way that all her hearers
found exceedingly interesting.
At the conclusion of her narrative the Ion
callers departed, and after dinner the whole
Woodburn family, including their guest, fol
lowed.
Marian's eyes were bright with happiness in
the discovery that the captain and Lulu, both
of whom she had learned to dearly love in ~he
by-gone days of her acquaintance with them in
the far West, were in some sort connected with
her and disposed to treat her as a near and
valued relative ; also that through them she had
come upon others actually of her mother's kith
and kin and disposed to take her in among them
and treat her as one of themselves. Ah, what a
sudden and delightful change from the lonely
and forlorn condition which had been hers but
the day before !
She greatly enjoyed the short drive to Ion,
ELSIE AT ION. 25
the warm welcome received there by herself as
well as the others, the pleasant, kindly greetings
of the different members of the various family
connections, all of whom, though many of them
were not actually even distantly related to her,
met her with the greatest cordiality and seemed
deeply interested in the story of her past and
her prospects for the future.
It was a great pleasure to make acquaintance
with the young girls from the Oaks, with Lora
Howard also and Evelyn Leland, with all of
whom she spent the greater part of the after
noon in pleasant chat, while wandering about
the beautiful grounds and boating on the lovely
lakelet.
While the young people strolled over the
grounds the older ones sat conversing together
in the veranda. Much of the talk was of
Marian and what could be done to help her to
a happy and useful life. It soon became ap
parent that any one of them was ready to offer
her a home; Captain Raymond more than
willing to take her into the number of his
pupils, and Mr. Lilburn really anxious to bear
all the expense of her clothing and education.
" If she will accept me as her teacher the
education need cost but little," remarked Cap
tain Raymond.
"And I," said Mrs. Elsie Travilla, "must
26 ELSIE AT ION.
claim the privilege of supplying at least a part
of her clothing; for as my dear mother's rela
tive she seems very near to me."
" And vhat is left for me to do?" asked Mr.
Lilburn with a comical look of chagrin and
dismay.
" Why, sir, you might supply pocket-money,"
suggested Zoe.
" Or settle a few thousands upon her so that
she need not feel absolutely penniless," added
Edward.
"Ah ha! ah ha! um hm! that's no so bad
an idea, cousin," returned the old gentleman
with a humorous look and smile ; " and it is to
be hoped our bonny lassie may not be averse to
receiving it from 'a kinsman near, a clansman
true;' though the kin be not so near as one
might wish."
" Yet if you adopt her that need make but
little difference," Edward laughingly returned.
"Quite true, sir, and whether that is done or
no will rest wi' the sweet lassie hersel'," said
the old gentleman, relapsing into his Scottish
urogue. " She is one any man might be proud
to call his daughter."
"So we all think," said Elsie Leland, "and
Lester and I would be glad to give her a home
&t Fairview. She would make a desirable com
panion for Evelyn, we think."
ELSIE AT ION. 27
" She would do quite as well for Ella at the
Koselands; wouldn't she, Cal?" said Dr. Arthur
Conly with a humorous look at his elder brother.
"Not a doubt of it; for ourselves too, for
that matter," laughed Calhoun.
"Or for us at the Oaks," remarked the
younger Mr. Horace Dinsmore ; and his sister
Mrs. Lacey added, " Or for us at the Laurels."
" Evidently she is in no danger of finding her
self homeless," remarked the father of the last
two with a smile.
"No, indeed! not while her older Cousin
Elsie has one or more to offer her," added the
sweet voice of his eldest daughter. " I propose
that some of us take her into the city to
morrow morning and buy for her whatever may
be needed to supply her with a wardrobe equal
to that of any one of our own girls."
" A very good thought, cousin," said Mr. Lil-
burn, " and with your leave I shall make one of
that party. And might it not be well to take
the lass herself with us and consult her own
taste to supplement the good judgment of your-
ielf and any of the other ladies who may care
to accompany us?"
" And give her the pleasure of seeing the city
too," said Zoe, "if she is sufficiently rested
from her long and wearisome journey to enjoy
it."
28 ELSIE AT ION.
After a little more talk it was fully decided
that the trip to the city and the shopping should
be undertaken on the morrow, and Marian in
vited to accompany them or not, as might suit
her inclination.
CHAPTER HI.
THE tea-hour drew near and the young folk*
came trooping in and joined their elders on the
veranda. All had presently found seats and
were chatting gayly with their elders or among
themselves. Marian alone, occupying a chair
close by Mr. Lilburn's side, was a silent though
interested listener, until Captain Raymond,
turning to her, asked in his pleasant tones how
she liked Ion.
"O sir!" she exclaimed with enthusiasm,
" it is lovely ! lovely ! but not any more beauti
ful than Woodburn."
"Ah! I am glad you like Woodburn also,
because I want it to be one of your homes, and
its school-room one of the places where you may
get such an education as I know you want. Do
you think you could content yourself with me
for a tutor?"
" sir ! how kind you are to me !" she ex
claimed with tears of joy in her eyes. " If you
will accept me as a pupil I shall strive most
earnestly to do credit to your teaching. But ah!
I fear you will find me but a dull scholar, and
29
80 ELSIE AT ION.
teaching me much too heavy a tax upon your
time and patience."
"Never fear," he returned pleasantly. "I
incline to the opinion that I shall enjoy having
one or more pupils. I think it will add interest
to my work and take scarcely more of my time."
While this little conversation was being car
ried on, Cousin Eonald had caught a very wish
ful, entreating look from Walter, to which he
had nodded a smiling assent, and now the loud
warble of a bird, seemingly right in their midst,
caught every eye and ear and all eyes turned to
ward the spot from which the sound seemed to
come.
" Why, where is the birdie? I don't see it,"
exclaimed little Elsie as the sounds suddenly
ceased.
"I 'spect it flewed away," cried little Ned,
sending quick glances from side to side and
overhead.
Walter's face was full of suppressed delight,
but he dodged suddenly, putting up his hand to
drive away a bee that seemed to be circling
about his head, buzzing now at one ear, now at
the other; then recalling the probable cause, he
laughed aloud, others of the company joining
in with him.
Marian, too, had heard the buzzing and was
looking up and around for a bee, when a " Peep,
ELSIE AT ION. 31
peep, peep!" close at hand made her look down
and around upon the floor at her feet.
Her countenance expressed surprise and be
wilderment that no chick was in sight.
"Peep, peep, peep!" came again, seemingly
from her pocket or among the folds of her dress-
skirt. She rose hastily to her feet, shook her
skirts, then thrust her hand into her pocket.
" Why, where is it?" she asked, looking some
what alarmed.
"Why, it seems to have come to me!" Grace
Raymond exclaimed as the " Peep, peep, peep !
was heard again apparently from among her
skirts, and she too sprang to her feet and shook
herself with a downward glance at them and a
little nervous laugh. She was near hor father,
and he drew her to his knee, saying softly,
" Don't be alarmed, darling, for you know there
is really nothing there."
" Walter, can't you hunt up that chick?"
asked Edward, looking gravely at his little
brother. " Think how bad it would be for the
poor little thing if somebody should accident
ally tramp upon it. 1 '
"Why, I shan't need to hunt it!" exclaimed
Vv'a/ter. As the " Peep, peep, peep!" seemed to
eome from his pocket, he thrust his hand into
it and sprang to his feet as he spoke; but at
that instant a loud and furious barking just
82 ELSIE AT ION.
around the corner of the veranda attracted every
one's attention.
"Down, sir, down!" cried a rough voice.
"I'm neither thief nor tramp."
Another furious bark, then a low growl came
in response, and baby Ned ran to his father with
a frightened cry, " papa, I's 'fraid doggie
bite!"
"No, no, Neddie boy, papa won't let him
harm his baby," the captain said, taking the
little trembler in his arms, while Grace still
kept close at his side.
The barking suddenly ceased, nor was the
rough voice heard again, and Walter, running
to the corner whence the sounds had proceeded,
announced with a merry laugh that neither man
nor dog was in sight.
" The chicken and the bee seem to have gone
too," he added as he came running back, "and
there's the tea-bell."
With that all rose and repaired to the dining-
room. There Marian was seated beside Lulu,
the captain next, Grace on his other side, and
Violet and her two little ones opposite them.
A blessing was asked and the plates were filled;
then a lull in the conversation was broken by a
rough voice saying in a sarcastic tone, " Now ef
you folks was as perlite and hospitable as we are
out West, you'd invite this strange" 1 to take a
ELSIE AT ION. 33
seat among ye and have a cup o* coffee and
something to eat."
Almost every one looked startled and all eyes
turned in the direction of the sounds, which
seemed to come from behind Edward's chair.
" An invisible speaker, as might have been ex
pected," laughed Violet.
" Show yourself, sir, take a seat at the table,
and you shall be helped to all you wish of any
thing and everything upon it," said Edward,
glancing about as if in search of the unexpected
intruder.
" Show myself ? Humph ! keen-eyed you must
be if you can't see a man o' my size," returned
the voice.
" Perhaps so, sir," replied Edward, turning a
knowing and amused look upon Cousin Ronald,
" and I think I do see you very well. But have
you been neglected? Your plate and cup look
to me to be well filled."
" My plate and cup, sir?" exclaimed the voice
in tones of indignant surprise. " Pray where
are they?"
" Directly in front of Mr. Lilburn or Cousin-
Ronald, as we, his relatives, are accustomed to
call him."
" Why, laddie, I had thought you a hospitable
host ! and now would you rob me o' my supper
which you have just bestowed upon me, and
3
84 ELSIE AT ION.
give it to an unknown beggar-man?" exclaimed
Mr. Lilbnrn in well-feigned astonishment and
indignation.
" It does look very inhospitable, Ned ; some
thing to make me blush for my grandson," re
marked Mr. Dinsmore, with a slight smile.
"Well, well," cried the rough voice, " it shall
never be said of me that I set a family together
by the ears. So I'll leave. Good-by."
A shuffling sound followed as of some one
moving across the room in the direction of a
door opening upon the veranda, then all was
quiet. Every head turned in the direction of
the sound, and as they ceased there was a gen
eral laugh; but the expression of Marian's
countenance was perplexed and slightly alarmed.
" Who what was it?" she asked with a slight
tremble in her voice.
" Nothing alarming, my dear," replied Grand
ma Elsie in her sweet gentle tones ; " we have a
ventriloquist with us, that is all; and he not
infrequently kindly amuses us with an exhibi
tion of his skill."
"Ah! and it is Cousin Ronald?" Marian
returned inquiringly and with a half-smiling
glance into Mr. Lilburn's genial face.
Returning her smile, " Ah, little cousin, you
seem to be as good at guessing as if you were a
bom Yankee," he said pleasantly.
ELSIE AT ION. 35
" But it can hardly be that you are the only
one," she said, as with sudden recollection.
" Captain Raymond," turning to him, " I think
I understand now about some puzzling things
that occurred while you were at our house year
before last. You too are a ventriloquist, are
you not?"
" No, my dear girl, by no means," he replied.
" Then I have not, as I believed, found a solu
tion of the mystery," she remarked reflectively;
" but I think some one else who was there must
have been a ventriloquist ; for I know not how
else to account for some things that occurred at
Minersville when you were there : the beggar-
boy and dog heard by four of us, but not seen ;
the voice speaking from the tree and the porch
roof, that made Mr. Riggs so angry, and all
that occurred on the evening of the Fourth, as
you Americans call it."
" And that was doubtless the work of a ven
triloquist," acknowledged the captain in a
pleasant tone, " but I cannot, claim any talent in
that line."
" Then who could it have been?" she said
with a puzzled look. "Ah! perhaps the Eng
lish gentleman or his son. I remember they
were often there conversing with you and Mas
ter Max."
Captain Raymond did not think it necessary
86 ELSIE AT ION.
to reply to that remark, and other subjects of
conversation were presently introduced. At
the conclusion of the meal all repaired to the
veranda or the grounds, and Cousin Ronald
drew Marian aside for a little private chat.
" Tell me about your brother, lass," he said.
"Is he happy? suited with his employment,
think you?"
Marian hesitated for an instant, and then
said frankly : " Poor Sandy longs for a good edu
cation, sir, but is willing to work hard and
long for the means to pay his way in school and
college."
" He is a good, industrious lad?"
" Never a better one, sir ; he did all in his
power to make himself useful and helpful to our
dear mother and to me. He is as industrious
and painstaking a lad as ever was seen. I am
proud indeed of my brother the only one of
my mother's children, besides myself, that is
left."
"Ah, he should have, must have help," said
Cousin Ronald, leaning meditatively on his
gold-headed cane. "Marian, lass," turning in
quiringly to her, " he wouldna refuse it frae his
own auld kinsman?"
" Cousin Ronald, could you have you it
in your kind heart to help him to it? Bless
you for it, sir! It would be the making of the
ELSIE AT ION. 37
dear lad. And should it please the Lord to
spare his life I am very sure you may trust him
to repay every cent of your outlay for him 1"
Marian cried with starting tears, and clasping
her hands in an ecstasy of joy.
" Indeed could I and will I, lass," said the
old gentleman, taking note-book and pencil
from his pocket. " Give me his address and I
will write to him to-night."
He wrote it down at Marian's dictation,
then, restoring book and pencil to his pocket,
"Now tell me of the dear mother, lassie," he
said in low, feeling tones. "She loved the
Lord, served him, and died trusting in his aton
ing blood?"
" She did, she did, sir!" sobbed the bereaved
girl. " It was an awful sorrowful life she led
from the time that cruel Mormon missionary
deceived and cajoled my father into belief in
the wicked doctrines and practices of that faith
so contrary to the teachings of God's own
holy word but she trusted in Jesus and at the
last was full of joy that she was about to leave
this world to dwell forever with him in that
blessed land where sin and sorrow never enter.
It was a terrible loss to me, but not for worlds
would I bring her back, hard, hard though it
be to live without her dear love and companion
ship."
38 ELSIE AT ION.
" Yes, dear lass, but life is short, and if you
trust in the Lord and his righteousness, you
and she will spend a blessed eternity together
at his right hand. But I will leave for the
present," he added, "for evidently Cousin Elsie
is watching for an opportunity to have a bit of
private chat with you also."
"With that the old gentleman rose and moved
away and their lovely lady hostess took his place
by Marian's side. She talked to the young girl
in the kindliest manner, saying that she must
let her be as a mother to her now while she was
so young as to need a mother's loving care.
"And you must let us, your own relatives,
provide all needful things for you until you are
educated and fitted to take care of yourself;
which we will endeavor to do, remembering
that all we have is the Lord's, intrusted to us to
be used in his service, a part of which is helping
others to fit themselves for usefulness."
" cousin, how kind, how kind you and all
these new-found relatives are!" exclaimed the
young girl with emotion. "I cannot deny
that I am too proud to to enjoy, as perhaps I
ought being under such obligations; but I
will and do accept it, hoping that my heavenly
Father will some day enable me to repay not
the kindness, that could never be done but
the moneyed part of the obligation."
ELSIE AT ION. 39
"That is right, dear girl," Elsie said, press
ing tenderly the hancj, she had taken into hers,
" and to begin with, I want to see that you are
provided with clothing as good and abundant as
have the other young members of our family
connection. To-morrow Cousin Ronald and I,
and one or more of my daughters, expect to go
to the city and make purchases for you, and you
shall accompany us and let your own taste and
judgment be used in the selection of dresses
and other needed articles, or stay behind and
trust to our taste, as you may prefer. However,
you need not decide that question to-night.
The caDtain and Violet insist that you shall go
back to Woodburn with them, and we will call
at an early hour in the morning to hear what
your decision is and take you with us, if you
care to go."
" Dear Cousin Elsie, I don't know how to
thank you!" Marian exclaimed with emotion;
"you, and indeed all these new-found relatives,
are so wonderfully kind to me ; one who has
not the shadow of a claim upon them."
"No, that is a mistake of youre, dear gir],'
Elsie returned. " The Bible bids us those to
whom God has given more or less of this world's
goods ' that they do good, that they be rich in
good works, ready to distribute, willing to com
municate; laying up in store for themselves a
40 ELSIE AT ION.
good foundation against the time to come, that
they may lay hold on eternal life. ' But I will
not detain you longer, for I would have you
enjoy the company of our dear young folks to
the full."
" I enjoy it greatly, but not more than your
own, dear, sweet cousin," returned the young
girl, gazing into Grandma Elsie's beautiful eyes
with her own full of grateful, happy tears.
" You have enjoyed yourself to-day?" Grand
ma Elsie asked in tones of tender solicitude.
"Oh, very, very much!" was the quick, ear
nest rejoinder. " I never before had just such a
day in all my life ; though my mother used to
tell me of similar ones in hers, for her near
kith and kin were richer and of higher station
than my father's and were ill-pleased that she
married him," she ended with a sigh.
" She married for love, I suppose?" Elsie said
inquiringly.
"Yes," sighed Marian, "for love; but, as
time proved, far more than half the love was
on her side unless it may be that love may
turn to that which is little better than hatred."
"Ah, was it so bad as that?" Elsie asked
with a grieved look into the sad eyes of her
young relative. " If so, one cannot blame you
if you have well-nigh ceased to love one so
heartless as he has shown himself to be."
ELSIE AT ION. 41
" Jesus said, ' By their fruits ye shall know
them,' and such are the fruits of Mormonism,"
returned Marian ; " the fruits brought forth in
the lives of those who follow its hellish teach
ings. Is that too hard a word, cousin? It
teaches lying, polygamy, assassination their
unscriptural, horrible blood-atonement doctrine
not one of which is to be found anywhere in
God's own holy word. Oh, I thank the Lord
that I have escaped out of their hands!"
" You well may, and I am very thankful for
you, my poor, dear cousin," Elsie returned in
tones of heartfelt sympathy.
But just then Rosie came and asked if Marian
could not be spared to take part in some games
the young people were about to begin.
An hour later the Woodburn carriage was in
waiting at the veranda steps, and the captain
and his party entered it and were driven home.
On their arrival there Gracie and the little
ones went directly to bed, and while Violet was
engaged in attendance upon them, the captain,
Lulu, and Marian had the veranda to them
selves.
"Here, Marian, take this big rocking-chair,"
eaid Lulu, drawing one forward, "and give me
your hat. I'm going to hang mine on the rack
in the hall, and may just as well take yours too ;
and papa's," holding out her hand for his,
42 ELSIE AT ION.
which he gave her with an approving smile as
he seated himself upon a settee near the chair
she had given Marian.
The next minute she was with them again,
nestling close to his side, her arm around his
neck, his about her waist, her eyes gazing up
with ardent affection into his while her pretty
little white hand stroked his face lovingly and
toyed with his beard.
He was talking to Marian and hardly showed
consciousness of Lulu's caresses except that he
stroked her hair, patted her cheek, and pressed
his lips absently once or twice to it or her fore
head.
Marian's eyes filled at the sight, and she had
much ado to keep her voice steady while answer
ing his queries in regard to the growth and
prosperity of Minersville, its schools, churches,
and public works.
" Ah, what bliss to have such a father so
dear and kind!" was the thought in her heart.
She expressed that thought to Lulu when they
bade good-night after going upstairs.
"Indeed it is!" was Lulu's earnest rejoinder,
"and I wish yours and all fathers were like
mine. He isn't foolishly indulgent; all his
children know they must yield ready and cheer
ful obedience whenever he gives an order, but
it is always so evidently for our good, and so
ELSIE AT ION. 43
pleasantly spoken, unless we are showing our
selves wilful and stubborn, that it is not at all
hard for any but a very bad, contrary child
such I have sometimes been, I'm ashamed to
own to obey."
" How blessed you are, Lulu !" sighed Marian.
"But," she added with a look of surprise, "you
did not bid him good-night, and I could not
help wondering at the omission."
"Ah, that was because he will come presently
to my room for just a few minutes' chat and a
good-night kiss," Lulu said with a joyous smile.
" Mamma, my own mother, used to do it, but
ehe is gone now, and to our great joy papa takes
her place in that. I would not miss it for any
thing ; so good-night and pleasant dreams, for
I must go."
"Good-night, you dear, sweet girl," Marian
said, folding her arms about Lulu for an instant,
and kissing her with warmth of affection. " I
love you, and my now sainted mother loved you
too. But oh, what would I not give for such a
father as yours!"
CHAPTER IV.
** WELL, how many of yon would like to go to
the city to-day?" the captain asked in pleasant
tones the next morning at the breakfast-table.
"You, my dear?" looking at Violet.
" No, thank you, sir, I think not, as I have
a number of matters to attend to at home and
will not be needed to assist in the shopping, as
mamma and Sister Elsie are both going ; prob
ably Evelyn also, as some dresses are to be
bought for her."
"You will go, Marian?" he said inquiringly,
turning to her as he spoke. " You will want to
exercise your own taste and judgment in the
selection of articles of dress ; at least so I pre
sume, as such is the case with my eldest
daughter," he concluded with a smiling glance
at Lulu. " And she, I dare say, wants to be of
the party."
"If you are going, papa," Lulu replied;
"otherwise I'd rather stay at home, if I may."
" You may do exactly as you please, go or
stay; so may Gracie."
ELSIE AT ION. 45
" But you don't say whether you are going of
not, papa."
"I shall stay at home, as there are some
matters for me to attend to, perhaps nearly as
important as those which will keep my wife at
home," he said in a playful tone, turning
toward her again as he spoke.
"I am not sorry to hear it, my dear," Violet
responded.
"And I don't want to go," said Grace. "I
never do like to go to the city without my father
to take care of me," with an affectionate look
up into his face. " Besides, I've promised to
help Elsie arrange her doll-house and make
some new clothes for her dollies."
" Ah? and of course promises must be kept;
but as you do not want to go without papa you
will not feel it a hardship, I hope, to keep yours
to your little sisters."
" But I wouldn't want Gracie to stay at home
if she wanted to go," said little Elsie; "no
indeed I wouldn't, papa."
" No, my dear baby girl is not so selfish as
that, I am sure," he returned with a loving
look into the rosy, dimpled face. " But I feel
quite sure Gracie does not want to go."
" And somehow papa always knows what we
want, Elsie," Grace said with a contented little
laugh.
46 ELSIE AT ION.
" And as you will have Grandma Elsie, Aunt
Elsie, Rosie and Evelyn along to help you select
your dresses and other things, you won't miss
me if I stay at home, Marian," said Lulu. " I
want to get out our school-books Gracie's and
mine and arrange our desks ready for school ;
for papa says we are to begin lessons again to
morrow."
" I shall miss you, I know," Marian answered
with a smile ; " but of course it is by no means
necessary that you should go, and I should be
sorry to be a hindrance to you."
Half an hour later the carriages from Ion and
Fairview were seen coming up the drive. The
Raymonds and their guest were all on the
veranda, watching for them, Marian ready
dressed for the little jaunt.
"Well, here we are!" called out a cheery
voice as the foremost vehicle drew up in front
of the veranda. " How many of you are going
with us?"
" Only one our young guest," the captain re
plied, handing Marian in as he spoke. Cousin
Ronald, Grandma Elsie, and her daughter Rosie
were its occupants, and each gave Marian an
affectionate morning greeting. Then Violet
stepped forward for a moment's chat with her
mother, in which Rosie and the captain joined ;
thus leaving Marian and Mr. Lilburn the op-
ELSIE AT ION. 47
portunity for a bit of private chat of their
own.
" Lassie," he said with a kindly smile, " dinna
forget that you are a sort o' adopted child o*
my ain, and that I hae a father's right to at
least help provide you wi' a' things needful,"
slipping a roll of bank-notes into her hand.
"Oh," she exclaimed, half under her breath
and with starting tears, " how good and gener
ous you are to me ! I never had half as much
in all my life."
" Why, my bairnie, you have na counted it
yet!" he exclaimed with a low, gleeful laugh.
" No, sir; but such a roll so many bills!"
He laughed again. " It's clear enough, lass,
that you've had small acquaintance wi' bank
notes. One alone may be worth a thousand o'
another denomination. There are twenty there
ten tens and ten fives."
"A hundred and fifty dollars! Oh, how
much ! I feel myself a woman of wealth. But
what can I ever do to show my gratitude?"
she said low and tremulously, happy, grateful
tears shining in her eyes.
Then good-mornings were exchanged and the
carriage drove on.
Toward evening Marian returned with what
was to her an astonishing wealth of lovely ap
parel. She had a great dislike of mourning,
48 ELSIE AT ION.
tout had chosen quiet colors, such as met with
Grandma Elsie's cordial approval. Her pur
chases came to Woodburn in the carriage with
her; she took great delight in showing them to
Violet and the little girls, and they scarcely less
in looking at them.
" Now," said Violet, " we will get several per
sons to work to-morrow on your dresses and have
them ready as soon as possible for your wearing.
I am delighted with your choice, and feel sure
everything you have bought will prove very be
coming. "
" Oh, how good you are to me, dear Cousin
Vi!" exclaimed Marian with feeling. " But I
do think that after so much has been done for
me, to make up my dresses myself is the least
that ought to be asked of me."
"No, no, Marian," said the captain, " that
would never do. I could not think of allowing
it,because it would keep you so long out of the
echool-room. "
" Ah, my dear, it is easy to see that you are
in haste to get her where she will be subject
to your control," exclaimed Violet laughingly.
"Ah, Lu, don't look so indignant! that was
but a jest a sorry one perhaps for I appreciate
the kindness of your father's motives fully as
much, I think, as any one else can."
" Ah, I fear my dear eldest daughter is but a
ELSIE AT ION. *$
silly little girl as regards her father and the
respect paid him by others," remarked the cap
tain, laying a hand affectionately upon Lulu 'a
shoulder as she stood by his side.
" I'm afraid I am, papa," she returned, color
ing and smiling rather shamefacedly, " but I
just can't bear to have even Mamma Vi talk as
if you weren't quite perfect." At that the
captain laughed.
" It would never do coming from a daughter,"
he said, " but is entirely excusable in a wife. "
" Thank you, sir," laughed Vi, " I quite ap~
preciate the privilege you accord me."
"I'm afraid it is time for me to go to my
room and make myself neat for tea," said
Marian, pulling out a pretty little watch; at
which Lulu and Grace cried, "How lovely!"
" Yes; it is another of Cousin Eonald's gifts;
something I had hardly ever dared to hope to
possess. Was it not good and kind in him to
give it to me?"
Then she told of the roll of bank-notes he
had put into her hand that morning, and that
the price of the watch did not come out of that.
It was handed about from one to another,
admired by all, then returned to its owner, who
immediately gathered up a number of her
packages and, with Lulu and a servant carrying
the rest, hastened to her room.
4
50 ELSIE AT ION.
The two girls came down again presently in
answer to the tea-bell.
It was the usual tempting meal to which they
sat down, simple but daintily prepared, daintily
served, and made all the more palatable and
enjoyable by cheerful chat in which even the
little ones were allowed a share.
On leaving the table Marian was taken by
Lulu and Grace to see the school-room.
" Oh, what a lovely room ! what beautiful
desks and comfortable-looking chairs!" she ex
claimed. " And with your dear father for
teacher it must be only a pleasure, a great pleas
ure, to study here!"
" So Lu and I think, " said Grace, " though
I must own that there are times when I'm a
little lazy."
"I too," Baid Lulu, " of tener than Grade, I
think ; but though papa is always very patient
and kind, he insists that if we are well the
lessons must be learned."
"lam sure that is kind," said Marian; "a
good education is so, so valuable better than
wealth, because not so easily lost."
" And for other reasons quite as well worth
considering," added a manly voice behind
them, and turning in its direction they found
Captain Raymond standing near.
Marian's look was inquiring and he went on:
ELSIE AT ION 51
" Knowledge of the right kind brings more real
pleasure into one's life than can be found in
wealth, fits one for greater usefulness, and is, as
you just remarked, not so easily lost."
"Very true, sir," Marian responded thought
fully, " and if you help me to gain that you
will be a benefactor indeed."
" I am disposed to do all I can to help you,
my good girl," he said in a kindly tone; "and
I think your companionship with Lulu in her
studies will so interest and spur her on that I
shall feel more than repaid for the slight addi
tion to my labor."
"Papa," asked Grace thoughtfully, "doesn't
it say somewhere in the Bible that it is better
to get wisdom than gold?"
"Yes; in Proverbs Solomon exclaims, ' How
much better is it to get wisdom than gold ! and
to get understanding rather to be chosen than
silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold.
For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the
things that may be desired are not to be com
pared to it. ' But doubtless he there refers to
heavenly wisdom a saving faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is the wisdom by which God
established the heavens and founded the earth."
" When am I to begin school, captain?" asked
Marian presently.
" I think I will let you off until next week, if
62 ELSIE AT ION.
you wish it," he replied in a playful tone;
"or, as I go to Annapolis for a day or two
early the week after, perhaps you may as well
delay beginning your studies until my re
turn. "
" Marian, don't! do begin next Monday,"
urged Lulu. " I do so want to have you with
us in the school-room and for you to find out
what a good and kind teacher papa is."
"His eldest daughter being the judge," re
marked the captain with an amused look.
" And his second daughter being of exactly
the same opinion," added Grace, slipping a
hand into his as she stood close at his side.
He pressed it affectionately, then, still hold
ing it fast, proposed that they should return to
the veranda where they had been sitting before
the call to the tea-table.
He led the way with Grace, the others follow
ing, and presently the four were seated there,
Grace close to her father on one side, Lulu on
the other, and Marian near at hand.
" O Marian, do say you will begin lessons next
Monday," urged Lulu again. "I'm perfectly
sure your dresses can be fitted by that time, and
if there is any fitting not done, it can be at
tended to out of school hours ; or papa will let
you go for a little; for he's always reasonable
and kind ; if it is his own little girl that says so,"
ELSIE AT ION. 53
ehe concluded with a roguish look up into her
father's face.
" Ah, Marian, if you are wise you will not
put too much faith in the opinion of one who
evidently looks at the person under discussion
through rose-colored glasses," remarked the
captain in a gravely warning tone.
" It seems to be the way with every one who
knows you, sir," laughed Marian; "so I will
be on my guard till I have learned more of you
through my own observation."
"And do you mean to wait till you have
satisfied yourself upon that point before you
venture to become one of his pupils?" queried
Lulu.
a It would not be waiting very long, as I am
already satisfied that Captain Kaymond is to be
trusted; for I have had a report of his teaching
and government from both Rosie and Evelyn ;
a most favorable one from each," Marian said
in reply.
"And of course they wouldn't be as likely to
prove partial judges as his own daughters who
love him so dearly," remarked Grace, with her
arm about her father's neck, her eyes gazing
fondly into his.
"I think I shall venture," returned Marian.
''My intention is to be careful to keep rules
and to work very hard at the lessons; so doing
54 ELSIE AT ION.
I cannot think I shall run much risk of pun
ishment. The worst he could inflict (expelling
me) would only I was going to say, leave me
where it found me; it would be worse than that,
though real disgrace and disappointment ; but
I don't intend ever to be so idle, mischievous,
or rebellious as to bring it on myself."
" I have not the slightest fear that you will,"
said the captain, " and I think too that I know
you pretty thoroughly since the weeks spent
in the same house with you in Minersville. "
" And do you intend then to begin on Mon
day?" queried Lulu with, a look of joyous ex
pectancy.
" Yes, indeed ; if nothing happens to prevent.
I do not want to lose any time, for I wish to be
able to earn my own living as soon as possible."
" Why, what a very independent young wo
man you seem to be, Cousin Marian!" laughed
a sweet girlish voice close at hand, and Violet
tripped lightly from the doorway to a chair
which her husband, hastily putting Grace from
his knee, drew forward for her use.
"Thank you, my dear," she said, taking
possession. " You are intending to become one
of my husband's pupils, Marian?"
" He has invited me, and I have thankfully
accepted," Marian replied. " I think it a most
kind and generous offer."
ELSIE AT ION. 65
" I entirely agree with you in that opinion,"
Violet returned with a look of ardent, admiring
affection up into her husband's face, "hut can
assure you that kindness and generosity are
nothing new for him."
" Ah, I knew that much ahout him before he
left Minersville," returned Marian. "Many
there can testify to his great kzndnes? and gen
erosity. "
Just then a carriage was seen coining up the
drive and the captain rose with a sigh of relief
to meet and welcome his guests, who proved to
be callers from one of the neighboring planta
tions.
The next morning, while the other young
folks resumed the duties of the school-room,
Marian was, with Alma's assistance, busied
with planning, cutting, and fitting the new
dresses. Each had heard something of the
other's story. Alma had many questions to ask
about life among the Mormons, and the more
she heard from Marian in reply, the more did
she rejoice in the narrow escape of herself and
sister from their toils.
The moment they were dismissed from the
school-room, Eosie, Evelyn, and Lulu came in
search of Marian. Rosie had some news to tell.
" Mamma had a letter this morning from my
brothers Harold and Herbert, begging and en-
56 ELSIE AT ION.
treating her to come to the commencement at
Princeton. I suppose you all know that they
are to graduate, and they think they must have
mamma there; to enjoy their triumph, I pre
sume," she added laughingly.
" And will she go?" asked Marian.
"I think she will," replied Rosie, "and that
grandpa and grandma will go with her. They
both have relatives in and about Philadelphia
and will take the opportunity to visit them too. "
" On which side is the relationship with
Cousin Elsie?" asked Marian, with a look of
interest.
" Oh, they are none of them her mother's rel
atives," said Eosie. " But grandpa's half-sister
Aunt Adelaide married a brother of Grand
ma Rose ; so she and her children are related to
both sides of our house, and Grandma Rose has
other brothers and sisters in that neighborhood
besides her old father and mother. So she likes
to visit there frequently."
"And they of course must always be de
lighted to have her with them ; such a sweet,
lovely lady as Cousin Elsie is!"
"But she will go first to Max's commence
ment, won't she, Rosie? I mean the com
mencement at the Naval Academy at Annapo
lis," said Lulu.
"She says she wants and intends to," replied
ELSIE AT ION. 57
Rosie ; " that is, if she is well enough, and she
certainly seems very well indeed just now."
" I am so glad of it!" exclaimed Lulu. "We
are all going, in the Dolphin, if nothing hap
pens to prevent, and I hope all of you girls will
be with us. It is so lovely there and I think
we are likely to have a delightful time."
" It will all be new to you, Marian," observed
Rosie pleasantly.
" Oh, I do not expect to make one of the
party," returned Marian quickly and with a
blush.
" Papa said you were to go if you wanted to,"
said Lulu, " and I am sure you would if you
could realize what a delightful trip it will be."
"I thank both you and your father, Lulu,
very much indeed," Marian returned with a
blush and a smile, " but I have little or nothing
fit to wear at such a place and in such company,
and it would be entirely impossible for me to
get ready in season. "
" Yes, I suppose so," said Lulu, looking some
what disappointed ; " but there will probably be
other times when you can go," she added,
brightening up.
At that moment Grace looked in at the
door with an announcement : " Grandma Elsie,
Grandpa Dinsmore, and Cousin Ronald are in
the veranda, talking with papa and mamma. "
58 ELSIE AT ION.
"And are we invited to join the conference?"
queried Rosie in a merry, jesting tone.
" I don't think it's a secret conference," re
plied Grace, " and I suppose we can all join it if
we want to."
" I should like to do so if I could leave my
work," Marian said, "but I must stay and at
tend to it unless they say I am wanted for
some particular reason."
" In that case we'll let you know, Marian,"
said Lulu as she and the others hastened from
the room together.
They found the older people arranging plans
for attending the Annapolis and Princeton
commencements; it was already decided that to
the first all would go from Woodburn and Ion
who cared to, some of them by rail, the others
in the Dolphin, then Mr. and Mrs. Dinsmore
and Grandma Elsie to the other; and also,
before returning, they would spend some weeks
in visiting friends and relatives in and about
Philadelphia.
The young folks listened quietly but with
intense interest, now and then exchanging
glances which told plainly how delighted they
were with the prospect of having a share in the
expedition to Annapolis; even Grace, who usu
ally thought home the most desirable place for
her, being no exception.
ELSIE AT ION. 59
She presently stole to her father's side,
slipped her hand into his, and looked up into
his face with a bright, glad smile.
"I am to go too, papa?" she asked in a low
tone, meant only for his ear.
" Unless you prefer to stay at home, daugh
ter," he said, putting an arm around her and
drawing her closer to him, smoothing her hair
with the other hand and smiling fondly down
into the fair young face.
" Oh, no, sir ! I want to go, 'specially as
Mamma Vi and Elsie and baby Ned will all go
along; and we'll be in the Dolphin and not in
the tiresome cars."
" Yes, I think the Dolphin is far more com
fortable than the cars, and I trust the little trip
will prove very enjoyable to us all," he replied,
by no means ill-pleased that his little girl was
so happy in the prospect.
CHAPTER V.
TIME moved on swiftly enough to the older
people, busily engaged in preparations for the
contemplated trip to Annapolis, yet with rather
laggard step to the younger ones, who were in
haste to experience its pleasures and excite
ments. But in the performance of school
duties they one and all acquitted themselves
quite to the captain's satisfaction; even excit
able Lulu finding it not nearly so difficult to
concentrate her thoughts upon the business in
hand as it had been when first her father began
to act as tutor to his children. Also Marian's
companionship in her lessons during the second
week was an assistance to renewed and increased
interest in them.
But at length the appointed day for the sailing
of the Dolphin came. Marian adhered to her
decision to remain behind, attending to the
preparation of her summer wardrobe, but the
others, all in good health and spirits, were
ready and eager for the trip.
The weather was charming, making their
drive to the city delightful ; the rest of the
60
ELSIE AT ION. 61
short journey on board the Dolphin which
they found awaiting them at the wharf and in
the most beautiful order, everything about her
deck and above and below looking spick and span
as though she had but just come from the hands
of her builders and decorators.
They arrived the day before that on which
the graduating exercises were to be held, drop
ping anchor in the Severn just as the afternoon
artillery drill began. They witnessed it from
the deck and could see that Max was a prominent
figure therein. He seemed to go into it most
enthusiastically, and they all, his father espe
cially, watched his every movement with pride
and delight.
He had purposely left the lad in ignorance of
the exact time of the expected arrival, and Max
discovered the near vicinity of the Dolphin
only when the exercises had come to an end.
At the same instant a message from the com
mandant reached him, giving permission for
him to go aboard the yacht and remain there
until half-past nine that evening, and the Dol-
phiii's row-boat was seen to leave her side with
the captain in it.
In a very few moments more Max was on the
deck of the yacht, surrounded by those nearest
and dearest to him, his father looking on with
beaming eyes while they crowded around the
2 ELSIE AT ION.
lad with their joyful and affectionate greet
ings.
" Now, Max, sit down here among us and give
a full account of yourself, your doings and ex
periences since we saw you last," said Grandma
Elsie with an affectionate smile into the bright
young face, and making room for him by her
side as she spoke.
Max gave his father an inquiring look, and re
ceiving an approving nod in reply, took the seat
and did his best to answer satisfactorily the
questions which were showered upon him from
all sides: queries as to the progress he was mak
ing in his studies, great-gun exercise, field
artillery, infantry tactics, etc. , and in regard to
various other matters.
But a joyous bark suddenly interrupted the
talk, and Max's dog Prince bounded into the
midst of the group, raised himself upon his hind
legs, put his fore-paws on his young master's
shoulders, his tail wagging fast with delight,
and tried to lick Max's face.
" Why, hello, Prince, I'm glad to see you, old
fellow!" cried the lad, patting and stroking him,
but avoiding the caress. " There, that will do ;
you try to kiss harder and longer than any other
of my friends. "
" P'raps that's because I love you harder,"
Prince seemed to say. " And it's longer since
ELSIE AT ION. 63
I saw you last. The captain never invited me
to come along before."
He didn't?" laughed Max. " Well, I don't
believe you asked him ; but I'm right glad to
see you here at last. Also to find you haven't
forgotten how to talk."
" No, my young master, but it's the first time
I've done anything in that line since you left
me at Woodburn."
By this time everybody was laughing.
" Oh, Max, who is making Prince talk you
or Cousin Ronald?" asked Lulu.
"See if you can't find out for yourself, Lu,"
laughed Max. " Suppose you ask Prince ; surely
he should know."
"Well, I'll try it," she returned merrily.
"Prince, who helped you to do that talking
just now?"
" Why, who helps you to talk, Miss Lu?" came
promptly in return, apparently from the dog's
lips.
"Oh, I don't need any help in that line,"
she returned laughingly, " and never have since
I first learned how in my babyhood."
"Do you never tire of talking, Miss Lu?"
The query seemed to come from Prince's lips as
he looked up gravely into her face.
"No, I can't say that I do," she laughed.
"Do you?"
64 ELSIE AT ION.
" I am of tener tired of not being able to ex
press my thoughts and feelings," was the reply.
Then the call to tea put an end to the conversa
tion for the time.
Prince followed the others to the table and
when all were seated laid himself down at Max's
feet. There he lay looking up into the lad's
face, and when the plates had been filled a low
whine seemed to say he too would be glad to
have a share of the savory viands.
"Just wait a bit, old fellow, and your turn
will come," said Max. "You never starve
where my father is master, I'm sure."
" No, that's true enough ; but it is not always
so easy to wait when one's hungry and sees other
folks with plates heaped with savory victuals
right before them. Why shouldn't dogs be
helped at once as well as men, women, and chil
dren?"
Prince's tail swept the floor and his hungry
eyes looked up wistfully into those of his young
master as the words seemed to come from his
lips.
"Well done, Prince! Buch efforts at speech
ought to be duly rewarded," remarked the cap
tain gravely; then he directed a servant to take
the dog out and feed him well.
" What is the programme for this evening?"
asked Violet; " a trip up the river again?''
ELSIE AT ION. 65
"If you and the others wish it, my dear,"
replied her husband, to whom her query seemed
to be addressed. " I had thought, however, of
going down the river and bay, as we went up on
our last visit here. We will put it to the vote
of those present. I am quite indifferent per
sonally as to which course we pursue." It soon
appeared that the majority were in favor of
moving toward the bay, and on leaving the table
the captain issued his orders, the Dolphin
weighed anchor, and the wind being favorable,
they sailed down the river and out into the bay.
"Annapolis is a very old town, is it not,
Brother Levis?" asked Walter.
"Yes," was the reply; "it was founded by
the Puritans under Captain William Clay borne.
He first settled over yonder on Kent Island in
1631, but was expelled from there he and his
adherents in 1638, for refusing to acknowledge
allegiance to the newly established government
of Lord Baltimore. In 1642 some Puritans,
expelled from Virginia for non-conformity, set
tled where now stands Annapolis, founded a
town there and called it Providence. In 1691
it became the capital of the State and the name
was changed to Annapolis."
" You have gone farther back in its history
than you ever did in telling us about it before,
papa," remarked Lulu.
5
M ELSIE AT ION.
"Ah? how far back did I go before?" he
asked pleasantly.
" To the time when they heard of the resist
ance to the passing of the Stamp Act by the
people of Massachusetts, sir," she replied.
<J Don't you remember that when we were sailing
from Newport to Annapolis, to bring Max here to
enter the Academy, we young folks all gathered
round you, just as we have to-night, and asked
for revolutionary happenings in Maryland?"
"Ah, yes, I do remember it now, though it
was nearly a year ago," he returned, looking
with a humorous smile down into her eyes.
"Why, just think," exclaimed Max, "the
town was then more than a hundred years old.
What a venerable old place it is now!"
" Ah, no wonder you grow manly so fast, young
sir, living in such a grand old place," remarked
a strange voice apparently coming from the rear
of the little party seated pretty close together
on the deck.
Naturally every head turned in the direction
of the sound, but the speaker was not to be
seen.
"Who and where are you, sir?" queried the
captain. " Step forward and take a seat with
the rest of us. "
" Thank you, sir ; but I do not want to in
trude. You must excuse me for coming aboard,
ELSIE AT ION. 67
but I wanted a sail and thought my weight
wouldn't retard the boat. I'll pay for my pas
sage if you say so. "
The speaker continued invisible, though every
word was distinctly heard.
" Then do so by giving us a sight of your
face," returned Captain Kaymond.
" It is not covered, sir, and you are all welcome
to look your fill," was the reply.
" Where is de mans, papa?" asked little Ned,
gazing wonderingly about.
"Sitting in Cousin Ronald's chair, I think,"
replied his father, smoothing the curls of the
little prattler, who was seated upon his knee.
" No, papa, dat Tousin Eonald. "
" Well, then, perhaps it was Brother Max. "
" No, papa, Bruver Maxie not talk dat way.
Does oo, Maxie?"
"I think not, Neddie boy," returned Max,
smiling on the baby boy and giving his round
rosy cheek an affectionate pat.
"No, no, little chap, I'm not Brother Max,"
said the voice, sounding somewhat farther away
than before, " or any such callow chicken, but
a full-grown man."
"Ah, ha, I know now that it is Cousin
Ronald," laughed Lulu, "for Max would never
call himself a callow chicken."
" I shouldn't think Cousin Ronald would call
8 ELSIE AT ION.
him so either," said Grace in a hurt tone;
"chickens are cowardly and I'm sure Max is
not."
" Better not be too sure, but wait till you see
him tried, miss," said a squeaky little voice,
coming seemingly from another part of the
vessel.
" Now that's you, Max, I know, because it is
the very same voice we heard at Minersville on
the evening of the glorious Fourth," remarked
Lulu with a merry laugh.
Max neither acknowledged nor denied that
she was right. Looking up and catching
sight of the Stars and Stripes floating from the
masthead, "0 Lu," he asked, "do you know
who invented our flag ' old glory, ' as we love
to call her?"
"Why, no; who did?"
** A little woman named Betty Eoss, a Phil
adelphia Quakeress. She had a great deal of
taste, was particularly fond of red, white, and
blue, and adorned many of the apartments we
read .of in colonial history; the halls of Con
gress, the governor's reception-room in Phila
delphia, among others. She was acquainted
with a number of the great men of the time
Morris, Franklin, Eittenhouse, Adams, and best
and greatest of all our Washington. And she
had a brother-in-law, Colonel Ross, who was a
ELSIE AT ION. 69
gallant American officer in the Revolutionary
War.
"On the 14th of June, 1777, Congress was
considering about a design for a national flag,
and it was at once proposed that Betsy Eoss
should be requested to design one. The com
mittee asked Colonel Eoss, Dr. Franklin, and
Eobert Morris to call upon her. They went
and General Washington with them. Mrs. Eoss
consented, drew the design, and made the first
American flag with her own hands. General
Washington had showed her a rough design
which she said was wrong the stars having six
corners when the right number was but five.
She said she didn't know whether she could
make the flag, but would try ; which, as I have
just said, she did, and succeeded so well that
Congress was satisfied with it; and it was the
first star-spangled banner that ever floated on
the breeze."
" There was an eagle on that flag, Max, was
there not?" asked the captain as the lad paused
in his story.
"Yes, sir; a spread eagle with the thirteen
stars in a circle of rays of glory. It is said that
many eminent men visited Mrs. Eoss' shop while
she was at work on the flag and were deeply in
terested in it."
"Well," remarked Lulu thoughtfully, "if
70 ELSIE AT ION.
that flag was flung to the breeze in June of
1777, it is a mistake for people to say that the
rough flag made and floated at Fort Schuyler
the next fall was the first."
" Quite true," said her father, "though prob
ably they the makers of the Fort Schuyler
flag had not heard of the other and believed
theirs to be the first. It is stated that Wash
ington had displayed at Cambridge, Massa
chusetts, on January 2d, 1776, what might be
called the original of our present banner. It
had thirteen stripes of red and white with a St.
Andrew cross instead of the stars."
"Was there not another called the rattle
snake flag?" asked Eosie.
"Yes, in two forms: in one the figure was
left complete, and under it were the words,
* Don't tread on me.' In the other the snake
was in thirteen pieces in some cases with thir
teen rattles and the legend was 'Join or die. ' "
The captain paused a moment, then went on :
" I was reading lately an account taken from an
English paper of what was probably the first
floating of the American flag in British waters.
It was on February 3d, 1783, that the ship
Bedford, a Massachusetts vessel commanded by
Captain Moore, passed Gravesend, and on the
6th she was reported at the custom-house. The
Lords of Council and the Commissioners of the
ELSIE AT ION. 71
Customs held a consultation, because of the
many acts of Parliament still in force against
the ' rebels ' of America as our British cousins
were wont to style us before allowing her
regular entry. She was American built, manned
wholly by American seamen, and belonged to
Nantucket, Massachusetts.
" The article goes on to say she carried the
4 rebel ' colors and was the first to display the
' rebellious stripes of America in any British
port. '
" But before that the Stars and Stripes had
appeared on British soil. A noted philanthro
pist and sturdy patriot of Philadelphia, named
Elkannah Watson, had at the close of the Revo
lutionary War received four hundred guineas
as a wager, and on the same day was dining with
the painter Copley, whom he engaged to paint
his portrait for the sum of money just obtained
from the wager. The portrait was all finished
but the background, which they had agreed
should represent a ship bearing to America the
news of the acknowledgment by the British
government of our independence the Stars and
Stripes floating from her gaff and gilded by the
rays of the rising sun was still wanting, the
painter considering it imprudent to put it there
at that time, as his gallery was the resort of
royalty and the nobility. Watson speaks of
72 ELSIE AT ION.
1 the glorious 5th of December, 1782,' on which
he and Copley listened to the speech of the king
in which he formally received and recognized
the United States of America as one of the
nations of the earth. After that Watson went
home with the artist to dinner; but before sit
ting down to the table Copley finished his pic
ture, inviting his company to be present in his
studio while 'with a bold hand, master touch,
and American heart ' he attached to the ship
the Stars and Stripes. "
" That was displaying what the British had
called the rebel colors very promptly upon the
king's acknowledgment, and very near his pal
ace," remarked Mr. Dinsmore with a smile of
grim satisfaction.
"Yes; doubtless a bitter pill for his majesty
to swalloAV," laughed Rosie.
" Well, he needn't have had it to swallow if
he hadn't been so tyrannical and obstinate,"
remarked Walter. " I remember that Bancroft
says, ' The American struggle was avowedly a
war in defence of the common rights of man
kind.'"
"That is very true, Walter," returned his
grandfather. " They the leading men of the
time were a noble band of patriots and lovers
of their kind. We have a right to be proud of
them."
ELSIE AT ION. 73
"And I am proud of them, sir," returned the
lad, his cheeks glowing and his eyes sparkling.
"That's right, my little man; everybody
should love his country and feel proud of all its
people who resist tyranny and stand up boldly
for the principle that 'all men are created
equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain inalienable rights; that among
these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi
ness,'" said a strange voice which seemed to
come from their rear.
Every one turned to see the speaker; then
finding he was not visible, laughed pleasantly.
" I am glad to learn that you are so well ac
quainted with our glorious Declaration of In
dependence, Cousin Eonald, and seem to ap
preciate it so highly," remarked Grandma Elsie,
with a smiling look into the pleasant face of
her kinsman.
"Ah, indeed, cousin! are you entirely sure
that I am deserving of that compliment?"
queried Mr. Lilburn gravely.
" Quite sure," she returned. " I could hardly
have quoted it so correctly myself."
"But was that my voice, cousin?" he asked.
"One of your voices, I have no doubt," she
replied laughingly.
"Mr. Lilburn," said Max, "I have been tell
ing some of my comrades of your ventriloquial
74 ELSIE AT ION.
powers and they are extremely desirous to wit
ness their exercise. Will you not kindly
gratify them while here?"
" Why, laddie, I am hardly more capable in
that line than yourself," laughed the old gen
tleman.
" But you, sir, are not under authority as I
am and so liable to be called to account for
your doings."
" Eh ! perhaps not. Well, well, we will be on
the lookout for opportunities, you and I. I own
I am not averse to gratifying the young folks
when I can do so without displeasing their
elders. "
CHAPTER VI.
A MOMENTARY silence following upon Mr.
Lilburn's remark was broken by a question
from Grace. "We are away out in the bay
now, aren't we, papa?" she asked.
"Yes, daughter, and must turn presently,
for Max's leave of absence will be over by the
time I can take him back to the Academy."
" But I may hope to be with you all again to
morrow and the next day, when the graduating
exercises are over, may I not, papa?" asked Max.
" I think so ; provided you keep out of
scrapes," his father replied, laying a hand affec
tionately on the lad's shoulder as he spoke, for
Max was now close to his side. "And one
evening or the other both if you like you
may bring some of your mates with you, and
perhaps Cousin Ronald and you yourself may
be able to entertain them with some exertion of
your ventriloquial powers."
" Oh, thank you, papa," said Max delightedly ;
" nothing could be better. Cousin Ronald will,
I dare say, make great sport for them, and per
haps I could do a little myself. But whom
75
76 ELSIE AT ION.
shall I invite? I am very sure any of them
would be delighted to come. "
"Heave the selection to you, my son," re
plied the captain. " Choose any whom you
think the right sort of company for yourself
and us and likely to enjoy being here."
" Thank you, sir. How many shall I ask?"
" Well, my boy, as we are not expecting to
keep them over night, six or eight would not, I
think, be more than we can accommodate com
fortably."
" And that will be as many as I care to ask
at one time," Max said with satisfaction.
" Hunt will be glad to come, I know, and he's a
nice fellow."
" You'll want to ask those who are anxious
to make Cousin Ronald's acquaintance, I pre
sume," said his father.
" Yes, sir, some of them ; if I asked all it
would include my whole class besides a good
many belonging to the others," laughed Max.
"Very well," said his father, "you know
about how many we can accommodate, and I
leave the selection to you, feeling quite sure
that my boy will prefer those of good character
for his intimate associates."
"Yes, indeed, papa, and I thank you very
much for trusting me."
The Dolphin was presently at her wharf
ELSIE AT ION. 77
again and the good-nights had to be said ; but,
expecting to have Max with them the next day
and the day after, even his sisters were not sad
over the parting, while the lad himself was
jubilant in the pleasant prospect of entertain
ing his boy friends and comrades on board the
yacht. He hurried to his room and filled up
the few remaining minutes of the half -hour al
lowed for recreation before retiring for the
night, with giving Hunt, his room-mate, a glow
ing account of his visit to his father's vessel,
and extending the invitation for the next af
ternoon and eveuing, which Hunt accepted
promptly and with evident delight.
The next day was spent by most of the party
from Woodburn and Ion in walks and drives
about the city and its vicinity, varied by some
attendance upon the exercises at the Naval
Academy; but before tea-time all were on board
the yacht again, where they were presently
joined by Max and his party.
The lads were all evidently in high good
humor and on the tiptoe of expectation, know
ing that they were about to make the acquaint
ance of the ventriloquist of whose tricks Max
had told them many an exciting tale.
The introductions were over, all had been
comfortably seated, and some few minutes spent
in desultory chat, when Hunt, addressing
78 ELSIE AT ION.
Max, who happened to be his nearest neighbor,
asked in a low tone when the show was to
beign.
Max smiled and there was a roguish twinkle
in his eyes, while at the same instant a voice
spoke from behind Hunt, " I say, young fellers
in blue, what's brung so many o' ye aboard here
to oncet?"
There was a simultaneous sudden start and
turning of faces and eyes in the direction from
which the sounds had come. But the speaker
seemed to have instantly disappeared, and the
momentary start was followed by a general
hearty laugh.
"The captain's invitation," replied Hunt,
while his eyes and those of the other lads turned
upon Mr. Lilburn.
"All right then," responded the same voice,
seeming now to come from a more distant part of
the deck ; " he owns the yacht and kin ask any
body he's mind to."
"Of course," said Hunt, "and it was very
kind in him to ask us. Did he invite you also,
sir?"
"None o' your business," came in reply in a
surly tone.
"Truly a gentlemanly reply," laughed Hunt.
" One might readily infer from it that you were
not here by invitation. "
ELSIE AI ION. 79
"What do yon mean by that, sir?" demanded
the invisible speaker, in loud, angry tones.
" That your conduct and speech proclaim you
no gentleman, while Captain Raymond is de
cidedly such."
"Come, come, friends, don't let us have any
quarrelling here," came in pleasant tones from
the other side of the vessel.
"Now who are you, sir? This isn't your
fight, and you'd better keep out of it," re
turned the first voice ; " your interference will
be asked for when it's wanted."
The lads exchanged looks of surprise and one
of them asked :
"Are you doing it all, Mr. Lilburn, sir?"
" Ah ha, ah ha! um h'm, ah ha! so you think
'twas I, young sirs!" exclaimed the old gentle
man in pretended astonishment. "And why
so? Did the voices issue from my lips?"
"I cannot assert positively that they did,
sir," returned Hunt, "but they seemed to come
from an invisible speaker, and knowing you to
be a ventriloquist, we think it can all be ac
counted for in that way."
"Knowing me to be a ventriloquist, eh,
laddie ! And may I ask how you came by that
same knowledge?"
" Through our friend, a naval cadet like our
selves, Mr. Max Raymond, sir. Do not be
80 ELSIE AT ION.
vexed with him for telling us. It has excited
onr admiration and desire to make your ac
quaintance. "
" Ah, Master Max, so you have been letting
these young gentlemen into my secrets?" Mr.
Lilburn said, turning toward Max in pretended
wrath.
"Yes, sir," replied Max in cheerful tones,
" and the more you show them of your skill in
that line the better they will be pleased."
Just then Max's dog Prince joined the
group, wagging his tail and lifting joyful eyes
to his young master's face.
"Ah, how d'ye do, Prince?" said Max, strok
ing and patting him. " Are you glad to see me
here again?"
" Yes, sir, indeed I am," were the words that
seemed to come in reply from the dog's lips;
"and I wish you : d go back with us when we
steam away in this vessel for home."
"Why, Prince, you talk well indeed for a
dog," laughed Hunt, stroking and patting
Prince's head.
At that instant there was a frightened cry,
"Oh, sic' a fall as I shall hae!" followed in
stantly by a sound as of the plunge of a heavy
body from the side of the vessel into the water.
All started to their feet, several of the men
and boys shouting in tones of alarm, " A man
ELSIE AT ION. 81
orerboard!" and Captain Raymond was about
to issue an order for the launching of a boat,
when a glance at Mr. Lilburn deterred him.
"No occasion, captain," laughed the old
gentleman ; " you could never find that poor un
fortunate fellow." ,
"No, I presume not," returned the captain,
echoing the laugh as he and the others reseated
themselves.
" Huh ! that's an old trick o' yours, old
feller," cried the very same voice that had been
heard behind Hunt's chair. " If I couldn't in
vent suthin' new I'd give up the business."
"So I think I shall for to-night, at least,"
returned Cousin Ronald, but in a disguised
voice that seemed to come from a distance.
Then Walter went to his side and whispered
in his ear.
Mr. Lilburn smiled and seemed to assent,
but at that instant the call to the supper-table
put an end to the sport for the time.
There was some of the same sort of diversion
at the table, however, a roast fowl resenting,
with a loud squawk, the captain's attempt to
carve it; Prince asking audibly for a share
when the plates were filled, and the voice that
had been heard talking on deck to the " young
fellers in blue " preferring the same request.
These tricks, though old to the others, wer
6
62 ELSIE AT ION.
new to the cadets and caused a good deal of
merriment ; as did the buzzing bees, peeping
chick, barking pups, and squealing pigs that
seemed to have taken possession of the deck on
their return thither.
At length these sounds were replied to by a
loud and furious barking coming apparently
from some remote part of the deck, and to
which Prince immediately made response in
kind, at the same time rushing away in search
of the intruder.
"A pretty time you'll have finding that new
comer, Prince," Walter called after him.
But the words were hardly spoken when a
third loud bark was heard coming apparently
from yet another quarter, and Prince, repeating
his, rushed in that direction; then three or
four dogs seemed, from the sounds, to be bark
ing, snarling, yelping as though a furious ca
nine fight was in progress; though nothing
could be seen of the combatants except the huge
form of Prince as he searched in vain for the
intruders of his race.
But the noise woke the little ones who had
been put to bed in the cabin below, and a fright
ened wail from them brought a sudden hush,
while Violet rose hastily and hurried down the
companionway to sooth and reassure her dar
lings.
ELSIE AT ION. 83
That put an end to the ventriloquial sport,
and the remainder of the short time allowed for
the visit of the cadets was spent in more quiet
fashion, desultory talk and the singing of songs-
They had been steaming down the river and
bay and back again while they talked and
sang ; the wharf was reached shortly after nine
o'clock and the lads returned safely and in good
season to the Academy.
They one and all expressed themselves as
highly delighted with their visit to the yacht
and were very enthusiastic in their praises of
the ladies; particularly Grandma Elsie and
Violet, whom they pronounced the sweetest,
most beautiful and charming women of their
acquaintance.
They felt acquainted with them now, they
said, for after Cousin Ronald and Max had
ceased theii ventriloquial performances they
had had an opportunity to talk with the ladies
as well as to listen to the music with which
they kindly entertained them.
"I have always thought you a fortunate
fellow, Max," remarked Hunt as they were pre
paring for bed, "and since seeing the yacht
and that young grandmother and stepmother of
yours, I am more fully convinced of it than
ever. I was just going to say I wondered at so
young and lovely a creature as Mrs. Raymond
84 ELSIE AT ION.
marrying a man with a son of your age, and
two other children not young enough to be her
own ; but remembering what your father is so
handsome, noble-looking, so entirely everything
any one could ask or desire I do not wonder
at all at her choice. In fact, she may consider
herself quite as fortunate as he in the selection
of a partner for life."
" So I think," responded Max heartily; "for
to me it. seems that my father's superior in
deed, I might say his equal is not to be found
anywhere ; and I know Mamma Vi would agree
with me. I have never known him speak a
hasty, sharp, or unkind word to her, and he
waits upon her as gallantly as he could possibly
have done in the days of their courtship.
"As to the children left him by my own
mother my father promised before marrying
Mamma Vi that she should have no care or
trouble in regard to them; that he would take
all that upon himself; and so he has and does;
when he has been at home with us we have al
ways felt that he did. So it is no wonder if we
esteem him the dearest and best of fathers;
while Mamma Vi is hardly a mother, but more
like an older sister to us unless it may be to
Grace, the youngest of our set."
Here the signal for the extinguishing of lights
and retiring to rest put a stop to the conversa-
ELSIE AT ION. 85
tion, and in a very few minutes the lads were
soundly sleeping.
One more day was spent at Annapolis by the
Woodburn and Ion people; then an early even
ing train carried the latter party northward,
and an hour later the Dolphin steamed away
with the others.
Walter and Rosie would have been glad to go
with their mother, but she and their grand
father had decided that it would be better for
them to continue their studies for the present,
as the time for the summer holidays was not
distant; and like the well-trained, affectionate
children they were, they submitted cheerfully
to her decision, determining to make the best
possible use of their opportunity for education.
Their mother expected to be at home again in
a fortnight, or sooner, but they had rarely been
separated from her for even a day, and the part
ing was a trial to both. They bore it bravely,
however, slept well that night on board the
yacht, and rose the next morning apparently as
gay and light-hearted as their wont.
They were both early on deck, where they
found the captain and Lulu together, watching
the sun just peeping above the wave? far away
to the east.
" Good-morning, brother Levis and Lu,"
called Rcsie, tripping across the deck in their
86 ELSIE AT ION.
direction. " I thought Walter and I were ex
tremely early, but there is no use in anybody
trying to get ahead of you two in early rising. "
"Good-morning, little sister," responded the
captain, turning toward her with his pleasant
smile. "There was no occasion for you and
Walter to leave your couches quite so early this
morning, or for either of you to do so. I be
lieve Lulu and I happen to be of the kind who
need a little less sleep than do many others."
"Yes," said Lulu, with a loving look up into
her father's face, " papa would let me sleep an
other hour if I wanted to, but I almost always
wake early and do so enjoy the little time that
it gives me with him before the others are up and
wanting some of his attention for themselves."
"I don't wonder," said Walter, "for I like
to be with mamma the first thing in the morn
ing dearly well."
The boy's voice sounded a little choked at
(he last, and he dropped his eyes lest the others
should see the sudden tears welling up in them.
The captain laid a kind hand on the lad's
shoulder. " If our dear mother is awake now
she is doubtless thinking lovingly of her young
est son and asking God to bless and keep him
from all evil. You may hope to see her again
in about two weeks, which will pass very quickly,
and in the mean time let us think of all we can
ELSIE AT ION. 87
accomplish to give her pleasure on her return,"
he said. " Shall we not, little brother?"
"Yes, oh, yes, sir!" replied Walter, looking
up brightly into the pleasant face above him.
" I mean to study hard and keep all your rules
carefully, so that you can give her a good ac
count of my conduct and recitations. Oh,
there's the sun just entirely up out of the
water! What a grand sight it is!"
"One that I never weary of," said Captain
Raymond in a meditative tone and gazing east
ward upon the newly risen luminary as he spoke.
" It reminds me of Him who is called the Sun
of righteousness, because He is the quickener,
comforter, and illuminator of His people."
" Papa, didn't people in the Old Testament
times worship the sun?" asked Lulu.
"Yes," replied her father, "it is thought
that the Moloch of the Ammonites, the Chem-
osh of the Moabites, and the Baal of the Phoeni
cians was the sun."
" I remember that the Israelites also some
times wandered away from the true God and wor
shipped Baal," remarked Walter; "that Elijah
the prophet slew of Baal's prophets four hun
dred and fifty men ; and that afterward Jehu
filled a house with Baal's prophets, priests, and
worshippers and had them all put to death."
"Yes," the captain said, " that was in accord-
88 ELSIE AT ION.
ance with the command of God given in Deuter
onomy, seventeenth chapter. I will read it to
you," he added, taking a small Bible from his
pocket. Turning to the passage he read :
" If there be found among you, within any of
thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee,
man or woman that hath wrought wickedness
in the sight of the Lord thy God, in transgress
ing his covenant, and hath gone and served
other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun
or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I
have not commanded, and it be told thee and
thou hast heard of it, and inquired diligently,
and behold it be true, and the thing certain
that such abomination is wrought in Israel;
then shalt thou bring forth that man or that
woman, which have committed that wicked
thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that
woman, and shalt stone them with stones till
they die."
" That gives us some insight into God's hatred
of idolatry," remarked the captain, closing the
book.
"Yes, sir," said Eosie. "I am reading Deu
teronomy just now in my regular course. I was
at the fourth chapter yesterday, and was struck
with what is said there about the worship of
images. Won't you turn to the chapter and
read it aloud to us, brother Levis?"
ELSIE AT ION. 89
"Certainly," he replied, opening the book
again and turning to the passage to which she
had referred. Beginning at the fifteenth verse
he read :
"Take ye therefore good heed unto your
selves; for ye saw no similitude on the day that
the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the
midst of the fire; lest ye corrupt yourselves,
and make you a graven image, the similitude of
any figure, the likeness of male or female, the
likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the
likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the
air, the likeness of anything that creepeth on
the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in
the waters beneath the earth : and lest thou lift
tip thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest
the sun and the moon, and the stars, even all
the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to wor
ship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy
God hath divided unto all nations under the
whole heaven. . . . Take heed unto yourselves,
lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your
God, which he made with yon, and make you a
graven image, or the likeness of anything which
the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee. For
the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a
jealous God. When thou shalt beget children
and children's children, and ye shall have re
mained long in the land, and shall corrupt your-
90 ELSIE AT ION.
selves, and make a graven image or the likeness
of anything, and shall do evil in the sight of
the Lord thy God, to provoke him to anger; I
call heaven and earth to witness against you
this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from
off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to
possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon
it but shall utterly be destroyed."
"I would have you all notice," the captain
said, again closing the book and speaking with
earnestness, "how plainly and repeatedly God
forbids the worship of images, likenesses, or of
any of the creatures or things he hath made ;
how repeatedly and expressly he commands us to
worship him and him alone."
" Ah, no wonder that the popish priests forbid
their people to read the Bible for themselves,"
said Eosie, " for from it they would soon learn
the wickedness of bowing down to and worship
ping images, crucifixes, and pictures."
"Yes," replied Captain Raymond, "and I
would far sooner lay my children in the grave,
dearly, dearly as I love them, than to see them
bowing down to images and pictures; serving
'gods the work of men's hands, wood and stone,
which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. '
How precious is the promise that follows in
that same chapter, 'But if from thence thou
shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find
ELSIE AT ION. 91
him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and
with all thy soul. When thou art in tribula
tion and all these things are come upon thee,
even in the latter days, if thon turn to the Lord
thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice
(for the Lord thy God is a merciful God), he
will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee nor
forget the covenant of thy fathers which he
sware unto them. '
" Verily I believe that we of the Anglo-Saxon
nations are the literal descendants of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob God's own chosen people so
that we have the strongest claim to these pre
cious promises; but let us never forget that they
are ours only as we fulfil the prescribed condi
tions; without true repentance and true faith
we shall no more be saved than those of other
nations who do not seek the Lord while he may
be found and call upon him while he is near."
Just then little feet came pit-pat across the
deck, a sweet child voice calling out, " Good-
morning, papa, dear papa, I's an early bird too,
isn't. I?"
t^uite an early bird for such a wee one," the
captain answered, holding out his arms, then
as she sprang into them clasping her close and
kissing her fondly again and again; the next
moment doing the same by Grace, who had fol
lowed closely in Elsie's wake.
92 ELSIE AT ION.
The rest of their party soon joined them>
then came breakfast and family worship; after
those an hour or two on deck ; then the vessel
steamed into the harbor, her passengers landed
and found the Woodburn carriage in waiting,
with those from Fairview and Ion ; Edward and
Zoe with their twin babies in the one, Lester and
Elsie Leland, with their two boys, in the other.
Affectionate greetings were exchanged, and
soon all were on their homeward way. They
found the drive delightful, the roads in excel
lent condition, gardens, fields,and woods arrayed
in all the luxuriant verdure and bloom of the
month of roses.
The children in the Woodburn carriage
seemed full of mirth and jollity.
"Eeally I don't believe anyone of you is
sorry to be nearing home again," their father
said, regarding them with eyes full of paternal
affection and pleasure in their evident enjoy
ment.
"No, indeed, papa," cried the little girls in
chorus, while Ned said in his baby fashion:
"I's blad, papa; my home is a dood place;
me 'ikes it, me does."
"Mamma echoes that sentiment, baby boy,"
laughed Violet, giving the little fellow a hug.
"There's no place like home; home with deal
papa and all the dear sieiers in it."
ELSIE AT ION. 93
"Braver Maxie too?" returned the little fel
low in a tone between inquiry and assertion.
"Ah, no; not just now," Violet answered
with a slight sigh, for she loved Max and missed
his cheery presence in the house.
"Ah, here we are!" the captain exclaimed
presently as the carriage turned into the drive
way.
"And everything is looking oh, so lovely!"
cried Lulu, clapping her hands with delight.
" And there is Marian on the veranda, waiting
for us."
The other two carriages were not far behind.
It had been arranged that all should dine to
gether at Woodburn ; so they also turned in at
the gates, and presently all had alighted and
were one after the other warmly greeting
Marian. She was glad to learn that Mr. Lil-
burn had been invited to make Woodburn his
home for some weeks and had accepted the in
vitation, so that she would see much of him
for a time at least and become better acquainted.
He had been so kind to her that she felt already
a warm affection for him as a near and dear
relative.
CHAPTER VII.
MR. AND MRS. DINSMORE and Mrs. Travilla
reached Philadelphia safely, without accident or
detention, spent a few days with their relatives
there, then, being urgently invited to pay a
visit to the family of their cousin Donald Keith
the brother of our old friend Mildred, wife
of Dr. Landreth, of Pleasant Plains, and father
of Mary Keith, with whom Edward and Violet
spent some time in a cottage at Ocean Beach
in the summer after the death of their father
they did so.
About six years had passed since then. Some
of Mary's younger brothers and sisters had
grown up and married, so that her burdens
were much lightened, but she herself was still
single and at home in her father's house.
Time seemed to have stood still with her.
They found her the same bright, cheery girl,
looking scarcely older than she had looked six
years ago.
She was delighted to see again these relatives
whom she had met and learned to love during
that ever-to-be-remembered summer in the cot-
94
ELSIE AT ION. 95
tage by the sea, and very glad to hear all they
had to tell of the cousins who had helped to
make enjoyable her effort at housekeeping then
and there. She had many questions to ask
about them and the little ones, and expressed
an ardent desire to see them all again, to which
her cousin Elsie replied : " We are expecting to
return home in a fortnight, or a little sooner,
and will be glad to take you with us if you
will go, Mary; will you not, dear girl?"
"Cousin Elsie, how very kind in you!" ex
claimed Mary, both tone and look full of delight.
" But," she added with a doubtful glance at her
mother, " I fear I could hardly be spared from
home."
"Now don't be so conceited, Mary Keith,"
laughed that lady, with a mischievous glance
into the flushed, eager face of her eldest
daughter. " I think I am quite capable of keep
ing house and attending to all family affairs with
out a particle of aid from you. So if Cousin Elsie
wants you and you want to go, I advise you to
set to work at once at your preparations put
ting your wardrobe in perfect order and adding
to it whatever may be needed. Oh, you needn't
look doubtful and troubled ! Your father has
been greatly prospered of late, and I know will
not feel any necessity or inclination to deny
anything desirable to the good daughter who
96 ELSIE AT ION.
has been a very great help and comfort to him
and me through years of toil and struggle. "
Mary was affected even to tears. " mother,
how good and kind in you to say all that!" she
faltered. " I have done no more than my duty
hardly even so much, I fear."
" Possibly your father and I may be as capa
ble of judging of that as yourself," returned
Mrs. Keith in the same tone of careless gayety
she had used before; "and we think for we
were talking the matter over only the other day
that our eldest daughter deserves and needs
some weeks of recreation this summer. We
were discussing the comparative merits of sea
and mountain air, but finally decided to leave
the selection to yourself; and now doubtless
Cousin Elsie's kind invitation will decide you
in favor of a trip to the South, even in spite of
its climate being less suitable for the warm
weather than our own."
"It will be a change for her, at all events,"
Elsie said, " and when we come North again, as
we expect to do in a few weeks, we may, I
think, hope to return her to you rested and in
vigorated. Or, still better, we will hope to take
her, with your consent, with us to the sea-shore
for a good rest there before returning her to you. "
Mrs. Keith and Mary returned warm thanks
for this second invitation, but it was not at
ELSIE AT ION. 97
that time definitely settled whether or not it
could or would be finally accepted.
" Ah, mother dear, I see now why you insisted
this spring on my buying and having made up
more and handsomer dresses than ever I had in
one season before," Mary said presently with an
affectionate look and smile into Mrs. Keith'a
pleasant and still comely face.
" Yes, it is always wise to be ready for sudden
emergencies," returned the mother playfully,
" and I think you can easily be ready for a visit
to Ion by the time Cousin Elsie will be on her
way home from Princeton."
" Our plan is to start for home in about a
week," Elsie said, "as the commencement will
be over by that time, and my boys, Harold and
Herbert, ready to accompany us."
"You are making us a very short visit,
Cousin Elsie," remarked Mrs. Keith. " I hope
when you come up North again you will piece
it out with a much longer one."
" Thank you," returned Elsie. " I should en*
joy doing so, and perhaps may be able to ; but
our plans for the season are not arranged."
Then turning to Mary, " Our party is to pass
through Philadelphia on our return after the
commencement. Can you not arrange to meet
us there so that we may travel the rest of the
way to Ion in company?"
7
98 ELSIE AT ION.
"I think so," was the reply. "Can I not,
mamma?"
"I see nothing to prevent," said her mother.
"We will have you there in season if our
cousins will let us know what train you are to
meet."
Mr. Dinsmore came in at that moment, and
with his good help the arrangements were pres
ently satisfactorily completed.
To the great delight of Harold and Herbert,
their grandfather and mother arrived safely in
Princeton on the evening of the day before
commencement.
The young men, though looking somewhat
overworked, yet seemed in good health and good
spirits. They had passed successfully through
their examination and the next day were grad
uated with high honors.
Both grandfather and mother showed by their
looks, manner, and words of commendation and
congratulation that they were highly gratified
and not a little proud of their bright, intelli
gent, industrious lads.
" And now, my sons, I suppose you are quite
ready for home?" their grandfather said when
the congratulations were over.
"Almost ready to start for it, grandpa,"
Harold replied with a joyous laugh. Then
turning to his mother, " Mamma, I have a re-
ELSIE AT ION. 99
quest to make, and I do not think you or
grandpa will object to its being granted."
" Not if it is anything reasonable, my dear
boy," she returned. "Are you desirous to in
vite some friend to accompany us to Ion?"
"Ah, mother mine," he laughed, "you cer
tainly are good at guessing. Yes, I should like
to give a warm invitation from grandpa, you,
and ourselves to a classmate whose home is
closed at present, his parents being in Europe
for the health of his mother, who is a sad in
valid, William Crolyis his name Will we call
him and he is as good, bright, and lovable a
fellow as could be found anywhere."
" He is indeed, mamma, " said Herbert. " I
esteem him as highly as Harold does."
" Then I think he will be a very welcome guest
at Ion," Mrs. Travilla returned with a look of
iaquiry at her father, as if she would consult his
wishes as well as her own and those of her sons.
"I should ask him by all means," said Mr.
Dinsmore. " I judge from the recommenda
tion just given that he will prove a pleasant
guest; besides, the Bible bids us 'use hospital
ity without grudging. ' '
" And that is one thing I am sure you and
mother love to do, grandpa," returned Herbert,
giving a look of affectionate admiration to first
one, then the other.
300 ELSIE AT ION.
" Yes, it is a great pleasure, therefore hardly
meritorious," his grandfather said with a smile.
" Then I may bring Croly and introduce him,
may I not?" asked Harold.
A ready assent was given in reply. Harold
hurried away and presently returned, bringing
with him a young man who had a very pleasant,
bright face and refined, gentlemanly manners.
Mr. Dinsmore and his daughter gave him a
pleasant greeting and kindly shake of the hand
as Harold introduced him, and after a little a
cordial invitation to accompany them on their
return to Ion and remain until they should all
come North again for the summer.
Croly was evidently delighted with the in
vitation, and it did not take much urging to
induce him to accept it.
That evening they all journeyed to Philadel
phia, where they were joined by Mrs. Dinsmore
and Mary Keith, and the next morning the
whole party started southward, a pleasant, jovial
company.
They met with no accident or detention,
and were greeted with the warmest of welcomes
on their arrival at Ion at an early hour on the
second day.
They took some hours of rest and sleep, then
were able to enjoy the family gathering which
had been planned by Elsie's sons and daughters
ELSIE AT ION. 101
to celebrate the safe retnrn of their loved
mother and grandparents from their visit to
the North and the home-coming of the young
graduates.
The children and young people were included
in the invitation, and not a single one failed
to be present. From Woodburn, the Oaks, Pine-
grove, Roselands, the Laurels, and Fairview they
came, forming of themselves alone a goodly
company, full of mirth and jollity, which was
in no way checked by any of their elders, with
whom they remained for a time, hanging about
those who had been absent from home, particu
larly Grandma Elsie, and next to her the young
uncles, who had been away so long that they
seemed almost as strangers to the very little
ones ; pleasant and attractive strangers, however,
inclined to make much of their little nieces
and nephews, a business in which their college
friend, Will Croly, took an active part.
Almost every one presently forsook the rooms
and verandas to sit beneath the trees or wander
here and there about the beautiful, well-kept
grounds, visiting the gardens, hot-houses, and
the lovely little lakelet.
A handsome rowboat was there and the young
men invited the older girls to take a row around
the pretty little sheet of water. Marian McAl-
pine, Evelyn Leland, Rosie Travilla, and the two
102 ELSIE AT ION.
Dinsmore girls from the Oaks accepted, but
Lulu Raymond, who was with them, regretfully
declined, saying she knew papa would be dis
pleased if she went without his knowledge and
consent.
" Why, Lu, you are growing remarkably good
and obedient," laughed Sidney Dmsmore.
"For which we should all honor her," said
Harold. " The captain is one of the best and
kindest of fathers and his requirements are
never unreasonable."
"Oh, of course not," laughed Sidney; "only
I'm glad he hasn't the care of me and control
of my actions."
" I'm glad that he has of me and mine," re
turned Lulu rather hotly as the boat pushed
out into the water, leaving her standing alone
on the shore gazing wistfully after it. " How
delightful it looks," she sighed to herself. "I
wish I had thought of the possibility of such an
invitation and got papa's permission before
hand."
"You did right, little girl, and I am very
sure that when your papa hears of it he will
commend you in a way that will give you far
more pleasure than the row could have aone if
taken without his permission," said a voice from
behind her, and turning to look for the speaker,
she found Mr. Lilburn close at hand.
ELSIE AT ION. 103
" Thank you, sir," she replied with a pleasant
smile. " I wanted badly to go, yet I know I
couldn't have enjoyed it without papa's per
mission."
"I should hope not indeed," returned the
old gentleman.
"Oh, Mr. Lilburn," cried Lulu, struck with
a sudden thought, " there are several in our com
pany here this afternoon who know nothing of
your ventriloquial powers. Can't you think of
some way of using them that will puzzle the
strangers and furnish amusement for us all?"
" Suppose we consider that question you and
I," he returned with a smile. " Have you any
suggestion to make?"
" How would it do to make them hear trum
pets or bugles or something of that kind in
the woods near by, as you did to the Ku Klux
years ago?" she asked in eager tones, adding:
" Grandma Elsie has told us the story of their at
tack on this place when Mamma Vi was quite a
little girl."
"Ah, yes, I remember," he said with a slight
smile. " Let us sit down here," leading her to
a rustic seat near at hand, " and I will see what
I can do to excite the curiosity of the strangers."
"Oh, I'm glad now I was left behind!" Lulu
exclaimed as she took the offered seat and turned
an excited,expectant face toward her companion.
i04 ELSIE AT ION.
For a minute or more he seemed buried in
thought, then suddenly the clear notes of a
bugle seemed to come from behind a clump of
trees a few rods distant from where they sat.
Lulu was startled for an instant and turned
in that direction, half expecting to catch a
glimpse of the bugler. Then she laughed and
clapped her hands softly.
"Oh, that's lovely!" she said. "They'll be
sure there's somebody there and wonder who it
can be. Yes, see how they are turning their
heads in that direction."
" Can you see the expression o' ony o' their
countenances, bit lassie? I canna, for my eyes
are growing old. "
" Yes, sir. I can see that Miss Keith looks
startled and astonished and seems to be ques
tioning Uncle Harold, and that Mr. Croly is
laughing and trying his best to catch a peep at
the trumpeter. The others I think look as if
they are trying to keep from laughing. I dare
say they see you here, sir, and can guess what
it means. Oh, there's our Prince! He seems
to be in search of the trumpeter."
Even as Lulu spoke she was startled by an
other bugle-blast seemingly directly behind
them, or from the branches of the tree under
which they sat.
"Oh!" she exclaimed, turning quickly to
ELSIE AT ION. 105
look behind her; then with a merry laugh, "I
wasn't expecting your bugler to come so very
near, sir."
But the concluding words were almost
drowned in Prince's loud bark as he came
bounding toward them, evidently in search of
the intruding bugler.
"Find him, Prince, find him as fast as you
can and teach him not to intrude into the Ion
grounds," laughed Lulu.
But the bugler's notes had already died away
and Prince's bark changed to a low growl as he
searched for him here and there, but vainly.
"So you have a bugler on the estate, eh?"
Croly was saying, with an inquiring glance at
Harold. " One of your darkies, I presume?
They are a musical race, I know."
" They are," Harold replied with unmoved
countenance.
41 1 thought the notes musical and pleasant,"
observed Miss Keith, " but they do not seem to
have taken the fancy of your dog."
" Prince a fine fellow, by the way is not
our dog, but belongs to Max Kaymond," said
Herbert. " No, he does not seem to fancy the
intruder, whoever he may be."'
"Hark!" cried Rosie, "the bugler is at it
again."
" And this time it is a Scotch air," remarked
106 ELSIE AT ION.
Mary Keith. " How soft and sweet it sounds'.
But it comes from quite another quarter ; yet I
do not know how the bugler can have change**
his position so entirely without any of us catch
ing sight of him as he went."
"It does seem odd," said Croly. But his
words were nearly drowned in the loud bark of
Prince as he rushed in the new direction, with
evident intent to oust the intruder this time.
His effort was, however, as complete a failure
as the former one. The notes of the bugle died
softly away, the dog sniffed about the tree from
which they had seemed to come, but finally
gave it up and trotted away in the direction of
the house. " Point out that bugler to me when
we come across him, won't you, Harold?"
" Really I never knew that we had a bugler
among our servants," returned Harold evasively.
"Nor I," said Herbert. "But," taking out
his watch, " it is nearing tea-time, and as we are
likely to find plenty of opportunities for this
kind of sport, I think we had better now return
to the house."
No one objected, the boat was immediately
headed for the wharf, and all had presently
landed and were sauntering along by the way
that they had come, Mr. Lilburn and Lulu ac
companying them.
CHAPTER VIII.
<; WHAT in the world has become of that
bugler?" queried Croly, peering among the
trees and shrubs."
"Were you wanting to speak to him, Mr.
Croly?" asked Rosie, gravely but with some
difficulty restraining a desire to laugh.
"No, not particularly, but I have a slight
curiosity to see him and ask for another speci
men or so of his skill."
" He seems to be skilful in making his disap
pearance, doesn't he?" laughed Rosie.
" He does, and I suppose I shall have to give
up the hope of making his acquaintance," re
turned Croly. " But it is really singular that
no one of us has been able to get sight of him."
" It is indeed," assented Mary Keith. " I
have been watching closely, but without obtain
ing so much as a glimpse of him."
"Well, cousin, don't despair; perhaps it will
be better luck next time," Herbert said laugh
ingly. " Ah, we are just in time, for I see they
are setting the tables beneath the trees. "
"Oh, that's good," cried Lulu. "I think it
107
108 ELSIE AT ION.
is such good fun to eat out of doors. " Then
aside to Mr. Lilburn, " Cousin Konald, can't
you do some of those things you did at Cousin
Betty's wedding? It would be such fun."
"Wait and see, bit lassie," the old gentleman
returned with a smile.
Just then Walter came bounding to meet
them. " I'm glad to see you," he said half
breathlessly. " I've been hunting all around for
you, because tea is nearly ready and Zoe was
afraid you might not be here in season."
"Eh, laddie," laughed his brother Herbert,
"so you forgot, did you, that we had appetites
and watches? the first to remind us of our
need of food, the second to tell us when it was
likely to be served."
" I thought it kinder to hunt you up than to
trust to appetites and watches to bring you in
good season to get everything at its best," re
turned Walter good-humoredly.
Then stepping close to Mr. Lilburn's side, he
asked in an undertone, " Cousin Konald, please
won't you make some of the same kind of fun
for us that you did at Cousin Betty's wedding?"
At that Mr. Lilburn laughed, saying: "Well,
well, laddie, you and your niece here (you're
Lulu's uncle, aren't you?) seem to be of one
mind in regard to that matter. We'll see what
can be done."
ELSIE AT ION. 109
"Walter's niece!" laughed Luln. "He's
younger than I am and would be a little uncle
for me."
"So I would," laughed Walter in turn, "but
if your father is my brother I suppose you must
be my niece, and you'd better mind what I say
to you."
"I will when it suits me," she replied in
merry retort.
They were now nearing that part of the lawn
where they had left the older members of the
party and the little ones.
" Ah, I am glad to see you," said Zoe, coming
forward to meet them, " for it is nearly time for
the summons to tea."
"Yes; we hope we have not kept you wait
ing?" returned several voices.
"Oh, no," she replied cheerily, "you are just
in good season. I heard your father inquiring
where you were only a moment since, Lulu."
"Oh, did you, Aunt Zoe? Well, I'll tell
him," replied Lulu, hurrying away in his direc-
tiou, for she could see him seated under a tree
at some little distance, with Mr. and Mrs. Dins-
more, Grandma Elsie, Mamma Vi, and several
others. Lulu stole up behind him, put her
arms round his neck, and laid her cheek to his.
"Ah!" he said, taking hold of the small
white hands, drawing her around in front of
110 ELSIE AT ION.
him, and seating her on his knee, " where has
this eldest daughter of mine been for the last
hour or so?"
" Down by the lake with the older ones, papa,"
ehe replied, softly stroking his beard witn one
hand and smiling archly into the eyes gazing
so fondly upon her. " I thought you were al
ways willing that I should go about the grounds
here without asking special permission."
"Yes, so I am, provided you do not go on
the water without my knowledge and consent."
"I wanted to, but I didn't," was her reply.
"You didn't think I would, papa, when j'ou
had forbidden me?"
" Certainly not, daughter. It would be a sad
thing indeed if I could not trust you out of my
sight."
Their conversation had been carried on in an
undertone and the others were not listening,
but chatting among themselves.
In the mean while Cousin Konald had drawn
Zoe aside and held a moment's low-toned con
versation with her, which seemed to interest
and amuse her. Then Edward joined them, Zoe
seemed to repeat to him what the old gentleman
had said, Edward responded with a smile, then
the three separated, and the young host antf
hostess the mother having resigned to then
her duties in that line for the evening pro-
ELSIE AT ION. Ill
ceeded to seat their guests at the tables, and
servants appeared bearing the viands prepared
for their entertainment.
Mary Keith, Marian Me Alpine, and Will
Croly were all three at one and the same table,
Mr. Lilburn, Harold, Herbert, Eosie, and
Evelyn Leland sharing it with them. The last
two and the brothers exchanged furtive glances
of amused expectancy. Mr. and Mrs. Dins-
more, Grandma Elsie, Walter, and the Ray
monds occupied the next two; the rest of the
company others not far distant.
Almost every one seemed in gay spirits and
all were blessed with good appetites, the satis
fying of which kept them very busy for a time,
though not to the entire exclusion of mirthful
chat and laughter.
But when the more substantial dishes had been
duly discussed, carried away, and replaced by
cakes, fruits, and ices, in a moment of compar
ative silence there came a sudden sound as of
flapping of wings overhead, followed by a shrill
call
" Lu-lu ! Polly wants a cake. It's supper-
time and Polly hungry."
" Why, Polly, how did you get out and fly all
the way here?" cried Lulu in astonishment,
and looking up, as did almost every one else,
among the branches overhead. " I didn't think
112 ELSIE AT ION.
you knew the way ; and there is plenty for you
to eat at home."
"Lu-lu! where are you? Polly's hungry.
Polly wants a cup of coffee," came in return in
what seemed evidently Polly's own shrill tones.
"Go home and get it, then," laughed Lulu.
"You weren't invited here, and well-behaved
people always wait to be asked before they go
visiting."
"Polly's hungry. Poor old Polly poor old
soul !" came in response.
"Why, where is she?" queried Grace, peering
up among the branches of the tree from which
the sound seemed to come.
"I don't know," said Lulu. "I car.'t just
see her, but she has a good hiding-place up
there where the branches and leaves are so
thick. But how she found her way here I
can't think. Oh!" as she suddenly caught
sight of Mr. Lilburn's face and noted the twinkle
of fun in his eye.
" Perhaps you have given her too much lib
erty, Lulu," her father said in so grave a tone
she was at loss to decide whether or not his sus
picions too had been aroused.
" So you have a poll-parrot, Miss Lu? Quite
a talker too," said Croly. "I should like to
make her acquaintance. Can you not tempt
her to come down?"
ELSIE AT ION. 113
" I'll try to keep her at home after this, papa,"
said Lulu ; " but shall I see if I can coax her to
come down now?"
" You may if you choose," he answered with
unmoved gravity.
" Tell her she can have a cup of coffee and
anything else she wants if she will come,"
added Grandma Elsie, with a look of amuse
ment.
So Lulu called, " Polly, Polly, come here and
you shall have a cup of the nicest coffee and
anything else you want."
Then for a minute or more everybody seemed
to be looking and listening; but Polly neither
answered nor showed herself, and at length
baby Ned broke the silence with, "I 'spect
Polly's done 'way to our house adain. She
won't turn when Lu tails her."
" She seems to have taken her departure very
suddenly," remarked Eosie. "Strange she
should do so if she were really as hungry as she
pretended."
"I don't b'lieve she was, Aunt Rosie," said
little Elsie, "for nobody ever gets starved at
our house, 'cause papa always buys plenty for
everybody to eat."
" It's good food too, and well cooked," added
Grace.
" I think that is all *me, Mr. Ooly. and I
114 ELSIE AT ION.
hope you will come and see for yourself,'
laughed Violet.
"Hush, hush, hush! you talk too much,
Polly," came in a shrill scream apparently from
the top of the tree; then in a coaxing, com
plaining tone, "Poor Polly's hungry! It's
breakfast-time. Polly wants a biscuit. Polly
wants a cup of coffee."
" Why, she's quite a talker. I'd really like to
get a sight of her," said Oroly, making a more
determined effort than before to do so.
"Humph! savin' all your pity for hungry
birds! Never a bit of it to give a starvin'
human creeter," snarled a man's voice that
seemed to come from a clump of bushes a yard
or two in Croly's rear. Every head at once
turned in that direction, but the speaker seemed
invisible.
It was Grandma Elsie who replied : " There is
abundance of food here, and I would have no
one starve or suffer at all from hunger. Step
up to the table and your wants shall be supplied. "
"There is no empty seat at your table,
ma'am," snarled the voice.
"True," she returned, "but there are abun
dance of seats near at hand, and you can carry
your food to one of them when you have re
ceived it, and there sit and eat at your leisure."
"Why, where on earth is the fellow?" asked
ELSIE AT ION. 115
Croly of Harold, speaking in an undertone. " I
cannot catch so much as a glimpse of him."
"It really looks very mysterious," returned
Harold, with difficulty repressing a smile.
"What had better be done about it, do you
think?"
" Surely that is for your mother to say," re
turned Croly; "but if I were in her place I
should have the grounds thoroughly searched
for that impudent fellow, who is probably a
thieving tramp."
" Hardly, I think," said Harold, " for they ara
omewhat scarce hereabouts ; at least, we seldom
see one."
"Ah? then you are fortunate in that re
spect. "
" But how odd that both bird and man should
be invisible !" exclaimed Mary Keith. " I must
own that I cannot understand it."
" No," remarked Herbert gravely; " there ar
many things happening in this world that w
cannot understand."
" But it surprises me to see how easily you take
all this. Now I should want to hunt him out
and send him about his business before he does
any mischief."
"Perhaps that might be the better plan,"
returned Harold. "Here, Prince," as Max's
dog was seen slowly approaching, "hunt out
116 ELSIE AT ION.
that fellow yonder," pointing to the clump of
bushes from which the voice had seemed to
come. "Sick him! sick him!"
At that Prince pricked up his ears, wagged
his tail, and rushed toward the bushes barking
furiously ; but only for a moment or two, evi
dently finding no one there. He came slowly
back with lowered tail and drooping ears, plainly
feeling that he had been sold, and mortified
that he had fallen into the trap laid for his
unwary feet.
"Poor fellow," said Herbert, "that chap
seems as hard to find as the bugler was a while
ago; but never mind you did your best."
"Take him to the kitchen, Sam, and comfort
him with a good dinner," said Grandma Elsie to
a servant.
"Well, Croly, what is it?" laughed Herbert
"You really look as if you had put on your
thinking cap."
"Yes, so 1 have," returned Croly, glancing
searchingly about, "and the conclusion I've
reached is that we must have a ventriloquist
among us. The next question is, who is he?"
"A ventriloquist!" exclaimed Mary Keith.
"How delightful! Such fun as we shall have
if that is really the case! But who can it be?
You, captain?" looking searchingly at him.
'* I should be very willing to plead guilty to
ELSIE AT ION. 117
the charge could I do so truthfully, Cousin
Mary," he replied in a playful tone.
" Oh, no, I think it can hardly be the cap
tain," said Croly. "He was not down at the
lake with us, and doubtless the invisible bugler
was the ventriloquist, or the ventriloquist the
bugler, whichever way you prefer to put it."
"There! I dare say you are right," she re
turned. "Now, Harold, it was you, wasn't it?
You may just as well own up first as last."
" But really, Mary, I have nothing to own up
to," he said; "you are by no means on the
right track."
" Then who could it have been but you, Her
bert?" she queried, turning laughing eyes upon
him.
" I can truthfully aver that it was not I,
Cousin Mary," returned Herbert with grave
earnestness, though there was a twinkle of fun
in his eye that half convinced her he was in
jest.
She wore a puzzled expression for a moment,
then turning suddenly to Lulu, " I wonder now
if it can have been you?" she said, giving the
child a searching look.
"Oh, no, indeed, Miss Mary," laughed Lulu.
" I only wish I could say yes, for there's noth
ing I'd like better than to be able to make such
sport for myself and others."
118 ELSIE AT ION.
" But you know who it is?"
"Why do you think so, Miss Mary?"
" Something in your look and manner tells
me that you know all about it ; besides, you were
on the shore while we in the boat heard the
sounds of the bugle apparently coming from
among the tree-tops.''
" Eeally, now, Miss Mary, I don't see that all
that proves anything against 'me," laughed
Lulu. " Do you think it does, papa?"
" Not at all, " replied her father. " A ventril
oquist on the boat might, I think, make it seem
to others that his voice came from among the
tree-tops on the shore. But really, Mr. Croly,"
turning toward the young man as he spoke, " I
do not see that you have any positive proof that
there is a ventriloquist here."
" Why, sir, did we not hear a strange voice
speaking apparently from yonder clump of
bushes, and on examination find that there was
no one there?"
" True ; but who shall say it may not have
been some one very nimble and fleet of foot who
made his escape all too quickly to be caught?"
"Well, sir," returned Croly slowly and with
meditative air, " I suppose that is just possible.
Perhaps too the same fellow was the bugler
whom we all heard but none of us could see."
"Edward," said Mr. Dinsmore gravely, "you
ELSIE AT ION. 119
may as well have the premises searched for that
fellow ; for one so adroit at suddenly disappear
ing from sight might readily enter the house
and carry off valuables."
"Yes, sir; I'll see that he does not," Edward
replied with equal gravity, but carefully ab
staining from an exchange of glances with Mr.
Lilburn.
" Take care that he doesn't steal your parrot,
Lu," said Zoe. "She's worth stealing, and as
she is such a good talker I'd be loath to lose
her if she were mine."
" Indeed so should I," exclaimed Lulu. "I
wouldn't part with her for a great deal; espe
cially as she was a present from papa."
"We will be careful not to leave her here
when we go home to-night," said the captain.
" I hope you are not afraid to trust her with
us, captain," said Zoe. " I assure you we would
be good to her, and I dare say she would prove
a great amusement to my babies. "
" I have not a doubt that you would treat
her well, sister Zoe," replied the captain, "and
if Lulu is inclined to lend her for a few days, I
shall not object."
" Then I'll not take any trouble to hunt her
up when we're ready to go home," said Lulu.
All had now satisfied their appetites, the
tables were presently forsaken, and the company
120 ELSIE AT ION.
gathered in groups here and there under the
trees, some amusing themselves in playing
games, others with conversation; but it had
been a long June day, and before the sun had
fairly set most of them were on their home
ward way; for Mr. and Mrs. Dinsmore and
Grandma Elsie, hardly rested after their jour
ney, began to look weary. Mr. Lilburn, at the
urgent invitation of the captain and Violet,
returned with them to Woodburn to complete
his visit there, which they said had not been
half long enough. Marian too was with them,
so that they were quite a little party.
Grace and the little ones went directly to
bed on reaching home, but the elder ones passed
a pleasant hour or two on the veranda before
returning.
CHAPTER IX.
"MOTHER dear," Harold said, as he kissed
her good-night on that first evening at home
after their return from Princeton, " Herbert and
I are decidedly hungry for one of the good old
talks with you ; but you are too weary to-night.
May we come to you early in the morning for
the dear old half-hour of Bible study and pri
vate talk before breakfast?"
" I shall be very glad to have you do so, my
dear boys," she replied, regarding them with
eyes beaming with mother love and pride. "I
have been looking forward with longing for the
confidential talks with my boys which have al
ways been so sweet to me ; especially in regard
to your plans for future usefulness as workers
in the Master's vineyard."
"Yes, mamma, that is one of the principal
matters about which we wish to consult you
our best, dearest, wisest earthly friend," said
Herbert, lifting her hand to his lips; " for who
so wise, so loving, or so desirous to help each of
us to use time and talents in a way to make
them most helpful in the Master's service?"
121
122 ELSIE AT ION.
" I cannot lay claim to any great amount of
wisdom, my dear boys," Mrs. Travilla returned
with a smile, " but am certain no one can love
you better or feel a greater desire than I to see
you earnest, efficient workers for Christ. I
want very much to talk over with you your
plans for the future, and think there could be
no better time for doing so than that early
morning hour when we shall be more secure
from interruption than at almost any other.
Now good-night, and may you rest sweetly and
peacefully on this first night at home after
your long absence."
" May you also, dear mother, precious little
mother," said Harold, passing an arm about
her waist, and smiling down with ardent affec
tion into her still fair, sweet face. " I remem
ber that I used to look up at your beautiful
face, regarding you as a protector, but I feel
that now I am yours old enough and strong
enough to defend you should any be so base aa
to attempt to do you harm."
" Ah, my dear boy, fortunately no one has, I
think, any such desire," she said, returning his
smile ; " yet it is very pleasant to feel that I
have so many strong young arms to support and
shield me. 'Twas very pleasant in former years
to be the protector of my little ones, and it is
not less pleasant now to find them so ready to rd-
ELSIE AT ION. 123
turn my love and care. But now go to your
beds, for you need rest and sleep to keep you
in condition for the arduous duty of which we
have just been speaking," she added with play
ful look and tone.
" How early can we come without disturbing
yon, mother mine?" asked Herbert, snatching
another kiss as Harold released her from his
arms.
"At seven, if that is not too early," she re
plied. " Kosie and Walter are usually with me
about half-past seven, and the breakfast-hour
is eight."
They were at her dressing-room door the next
morning exactly at the hour named, and found
her ready to receive them. A pleasant chat
followed, the lads telling her freely of their
plans and desires in regard to their life-work ;
for diligent workers they intended to be. Har
old still clung to his early choice of the medical
profession, and Herbert, as devotedly attached
to him as ever, and thinking he would not
prefer any other employment, had decided to
study medicine also unless his mother should
disapprove.
" No," she said when he asked the question,
" I shall be glad to have you together ; so unless
you, Herbert, have a stronger inclination for
some other employment I shall be more than
124 ELSIE AT ION.
satisfied to see you a physician ; always provided
you are a good one," she added playfully. "Is
it your wish, my sons, to return shortly to Phila
delphia and pursue your medical studies there?"
"Not immediately, mother," Harold replied.
" We were talking the matter over with Cousin
Arthur last night, and he being willing to un
dertake the business of instructing us, our plan
is to stay at home with you for some time,
studying with him. That is, if you are satisfied
to have us do so."
"Ah, lam much more than satisfied most
glad and thankful at the thought of again en
joying daily intercourse with these two dear
sons who have been so long away from me dur
ing the greater part of the year. But just now
you both need rest and recreation. You must
have an outing somewhere for the next month
or two, and I shall be glad to have you go with
me to sea-shore or mountains or both and
hope to bring you back refreshed and invigo
rated for your studies and such work for the
Master as you may find in this neighborhood."
" Thank you, mother dear, v returned Harold;
" you have made out a programme that seems
most inviting. I for one feel that rest and
recreation for a time will be very enjoyable, and
work afterward much more so than it could be
at present. ''
ELSIE AT ION. 138
"I also," said Herbert; "and it is certainly
right to take rest when needed ; for the Master
himself said to his disciples, when they were
weary, ' Come ye yourselves apart into a desert
place, and rest awhile. ' "
"Yes," assented his mother, "and we shall
accomplish more in the end by taking needed
rest; yet," with a smiling glance at Herbert,
" we must be on our guard against too much
self-indulgence in that line."
The young man colored and was silent for
a moment, his face wearing a slightly mortified
expression. "Mother dear, "he said presently,
"I hope I have, in a measure at least, overcome
my natural inclination to indolence."
"My dear boy, I hope and believe so," she
said in return, "else you could hardly have
passed so good an examination as you did."
"Indeed, mother, he has been really a hard
student," Harold said, "and I think will un
doubtedly show himself such when we begin
our course of medicine."
"I believe he will," she responded with a
loving smile into Herbert's face and laying a
hand tenderly upon his. " I hope to gee you
both eminent in your chosen profession and
doing good to the bodies and souls of yoor fel
low-men. I think there are few more useful
men in the world than our cousin Arthur
125 ELSIE AT ION.
Conly, and few who are more loved and re
spected than he ; we all love him and have great
confidence in his skill."
" I have respected and loved him ever since I
can remember," remarked Herbert feelingly,
" and can never cease to feel grateful to him as
God's instrument in the saving of my mother's
life."
"Yes," she said, "I can never forget his
kindness at that critical time in my life, and
I believe we have all loved him even better
since that than before."
" I think you are right about that, mother ; I
know you are so far as I am concerned," Harold
said, tears starting to his eyes. "Ah, when
we heard of the danger and suffering you had
passed through, we both felt that life without
our mother would scarcely be a blessing."
Just then Kosie and Walter came in looking
bright and happy.
" Ah, mamma, it is so delightful to have yon
at home again!" exclaimed the former.
" We missed you sadly, kind as everybody was
to us," added Walter, putting his arm round
her neck and gazing with ardent affection into
her eyes, then kissing her on cheek and lips.
" I suppose it was a little hard for my baby
boy to do without his mother," she returned
laughingly, holding him in a close embrace.
ELSIE AT ION. 127
" Ah, mamma, I can take that name from you
easily enough, because I know it is only your
pet name for your youngest son, but I'd be
vexed enough if anybody else should call me a
baby."
" You might well laugh at the absurdity if
any one should, Walter," Harold remarked,
regarding his little brother with an affection
ate look and smile, " for you are really a manly
young fellow. I expect to be very proud of
you one of these days."
"And I am that already," said Herbert, "for
the captain tells me you are a fine scholar for a
lad of your years. Besides, I know you are a
good and dutiful son to mamma."
" Indeed he is that, as all my boys are," the
mother said, regarding the three with loving
looks.
"And can you not say as much for your
daughters too, mamma at least for Elsie and
Vi?" asked Rosie in playful tone, but with a
wistful look.
"I can indeed, for them and for Rosie also,"
the mother answered, smiling affectionately
upon her. " My daughters are all great bless
ings for which I thank my heavenly Father
every day of my life. But now let us have our
morning chapter together," opening her Bible
as she spoke.
138 ELSIE AT ION.
The morning was bright and fair, and it was
a cheerful, bright-faced party that presently
surrounded the breakfast-table.
" Saturday morning, so only two hours for
lessons to-day," remarked Walter in a tone of
satisfaction, breaking a slight pause in the con
versation.
"What! my scholarly little grandson re
joicing in release from the pursuit of knowl
edge?" exclaimed Mr. Dinsmore in mock sur
prise and disapproval.
"Ah, grandpa, you are just in sport, I know,"
laughed Walter. "But don't you believe these
older fellows, Mr. Croly and my two brothers,
are glad of their holiday? I just know they
are."
" Judging others by yourself, after the man
ner of older people, eh?"
" Yes, sir; and I'd like to know what's going
to be done to-day."
" Well, I believe I can inform you. Every
body who wants to go, and has been faithful in
attendance to preliminary duties, will spend
the day, by invitation, at the Oaks; Eosie's
day and yours beginning when your two hours
of school duties are over."
" Oh, I like that! I'm glad, Cousin Mary,
that you are to see the place, it is so lovely
there, and was mamma's home when she was a
ELSIE AT ION. 130
little girl and when she grew to be a young
lady ; and there are the rooms that used to be
hers, and the one she was married in."
" I shall be greatly interested in looking at
them all, as well as glad to visit Cousin Horace
and his family," returned Miss Keith.
"I believe we are all invited?" Edward re
marked interrogatively, turning to his wife.
"Yes, my dear," Zoe replied, "even to the
babies, who, I hope, will ha^e a good time to
gether in the nursery or out in the grounds. "
"Yes," said Kosie, " Sisters Elsie and Violet
were talking of going with all the children and
young folks of each family. Aunt Eosie too
expects to be there with her husband and all
the children. The Howards are going also,
the Conlys too ; so that we shall be the same
large party that were here yesterday."
"And next week," said Zoe, "we are all to
assemble at Woodburn one day, at the Laurels
on another, then at Fairview, and afterward at
Roseland."
"What a grand time we shall have!" con
tinued Rosie ; " and how can anybody be ex
pected to give his or her mind to lessons? I
have serious thoughts of petitioning my big
brother the captain for a week of holidays."
" How would it do to beg off from attendance
upon the parties in order to do justice to your
130 ELSIE AT ION.
studies?" asked her grandfather in the tone of
one suggesting an agreeable alternative.
"0 grandpa, I couldn't think of being BO
very impolite," she ezclaimed. "Surely you
must know that my absence would spoil all the
fun and seriously interfere with any enjoyment
others might find in being there if I were with
them!"
" But then we ought, any of us, to be willing
to forego our own enjoyment for the sake of
your improvement in your beloved studies, Rosie
dear," said Herbert in tones of brotherly affec
tion.
"Ah, but I could not think of allowing such
self-denial for my sake!" she exclaimed. "I
should even prefer rising an hour earlier in the
morning, or toiling over my tasks an hour
later at night; and that is what I think I shall
do, if the captain proves obdurate in regard to
the granting of the holidays."
" Which he will if I'm not greatly mistaken,"
said Walter. " He said we were to go on with
our studies till the time for our usual summer
trip up North, and he's a man to stick to his
word if there ever was one."
"Quite a strong recommendation, Walter,"
laughed Mrs. Dinsmore, "and I really think
the captain is deserving of it."
" The captain is a very agreeable man to have
ELSIE AT ION. 131
a chat with," remarked Croly. " I have seldom
been more interested than I was yesterday in a
little talk I had with hirn in regard to mining
interests in the far West."
"Yes; he owns property out there in which
there are mines of great value," said Harold.
"Ah? I was not aware of that fact, and he
did not mention it," returned Croly; "but in
reply to a remark of mine, that I had been
paying some attention to mineralogy and
thought of going out to examine some land
father owns in Arizona, he gave me a good deal
of interesting information, such as I have not
been able to find in any publication on the sub
ject that I have got hold of as yet."
" And should you question him on naval
matters, or the history of our wars or indeed
history of any part of the world, I believe he
could furnish all the information you might
happen to want," said Herbert.
"Yes," said Walter, "it's my decided belief
that Brother Levis knows about as much on
almost every subject as you could find in any
of the cyclopaedias."
"That's very strong, Walter," laughed Ed
ward. " The captain is, without doubt, a
highly educated, intelligent, and well-read man,
yet hardly a walking cyclopaedia; a compliment
at which no one would laugh more heartily
183 ELSIE AT ION.
than himself, for he hasn't a particle of self-
conceit in his make-up."
"Now you are complimenting him very
highly, Ned," said Mr. Dinsmore, "yet are not
saying more than he deserves. I know of no
man for whom I have a higher esteem than
Captain Raymond."
"And I can echo my father's sentiments.
He is a noble Christian man, the best of hus
bands and fathers," said Mrs. Travilla. "I
know of no man with whom I could feel better
satisfied as the husband of one of my daughters.
Evidently he makes Violet very happy."
"And his children from the oldest to the
joungest fairly idolize him," remarked Zoe.
" And you do not object to him as a brother-
in-law?" said Rosie interrogatively.
" On the contrary I like him extremely in
that capacity," was the quick, emphatic re
joinder.
"Mamma," said Rosie insinuatingly, "Cap
tain Raymond thinks a great deal of you, and
as you are his mother, he ought to do as you
say; most assuredly in regard to his treatment
of your own children. Won't you please send
him word this morning that we ought to be
allowed a holiday next week? Do now; there's
a good, kind mamma."
"Would you have me say what I do not
ELSIE AT ION. 188
think, Rosie dear?" queried her mother in re
turn, and with an amused look into the bright
eyes of her youngest daughter.
" Ah, mamma, how can you be so severe?"
exclaimed Rosie. "Just think how trying to
Walter and me to have to set off for lessons at
Woodburn not only to-day, but every day next
week, when you have only been with us for a
day now since your return from your trip to
the North."
" For that very reason you and I ought to go
willingly and without any fuss," interposed
Walter, with manly decision of air and tone.
" Besides, as I said before, I know it would be
perfectly useless to try to get Brother Levis to
change his mind about the matter."
" Then, my wise younger brother, I'll not
petition for your release from to-day's tasks, or
those of next week," said Rosie.
" Oh, has anything been seen of last night's
burglar?" asked Croly, breaking the slight
pause following upon Rosie's last remark.
"I have heard nothing of him," replied Ed
ward, " and indeed had forgotten his existence
until you spoke, Mr. Croly."
" And poor Polly. Has she been seen?" in
quired Mary Keith.
The answer was in the negative ; no one had
seen or heard of her.
134 ELSIE AT ION.
"Ah well, then I suppose she must have
found her way back to Woodburn," said Mary.
u By the way, Cousin Mary, how would you
like to drive over there this morning?" asked
Edward. " They will hardly expect us at the
Oaks before eleven o'clock, and Woodburn lies
but little out of our way in going. "
"But," returned Miss Keith, "we might per
haps hinder Cousin Vi in her preparations for
the day's outing."
" I am going to drive you over and call for
Vi and the little ones on the way," said Grand
ma Elsie. " I think we shall find her ready to
go on with us after we have had a little call,
just for you to see the place. Then the cap
tain will come somewhat later with his children
and mine."
"And how is Cousin Ronald to get there,
mamma?" asked Walter.
" Probably in the captain's carriage, or on one
of his horses," she replied; "the dear old gen
tleman can go when and how he likes. All
such questions were not settled last night, but
I know there will be no difficulty in his way, or
that of any other invited guest, in getting there
comfortably and in good season."
" I'm glad of that, mamma," returned Walter;
" I'm very fond of Cousin Ronald and wouldn't
have him. stay away for anything."
ELSIE AT ION. 135
At that remark several furtive, smiling
glances were exchanged by the brothers and
sisters about the table.
" He is a very pleasant old gentleman," said
Mrs. Dinsmore, u and I haven't a doubt will
add a great deal to the enjoyment of the com
pany."
"Yes, madam," said Croly. "I saw com
paratively little of him yesterday, but quite
enough to make me desire a further acquaint
ance."
" Oh, by the way Will, shall we walk, ride,
or drive over to the Oaks to-day?" asked Harold.
" I am ready for any way that suits you, sir,"
replied Croly.
"Well," said Mr. Dinsmore, " I see every one
is ready to leave the table. We will have
prayers at once, and afterward settle all such
questions in regard to the doings of the day."
CHAPTEE X.
"MAMMA," said Kosie, following her mother
out to the veranda when prayers were over, " if
you approve I will go up at once and dress for
the day, getting Walter to do the same. It
won't take us long; then I'd like to drive over
immediately to Woodburn and coax Brother
Levis to let us all begin lessons at once, that
we may get through and off to the Oaks sooner
than we would otherwise."
" Very well, my child, I will order the car
riage ; for I think it would be the better plan
for you to drive over, as the roads are dusty, "
was the indulgent reply.
" Yes," said Walter, who had followed and
was now close behind them, " I like that plan,
for walking one would have to take either the
very dusty road or che wet grass; and I'd like
to get through lessons as early as possible, too.
So I'm off to dress," and away he ran, Eosie
following. Just then the telephone bell rang,
and Eosie hastening to the instrument found that
Captain Baymond was calling from Woodburn to
186
ELSIE AT ION. 187
say that his pupils there had requested permission
to begin school duties half an hour earlier than
usual, that so they might be ready the sooner
to drive over to the Oaks; that he had given
consent, and would grant the same privilege to
Rosie and Walter, if such was their desire, and
they would come immediately.
" Thank you, sir. We will be there in a few
minutes," returned Kosie, then ran away to
hurry through her preparations, while her
mother took her place at the telephone to send
a message to Violet, to the effect that she and
their Cousin Mary might be expected at Wood-
burn about ten o'clock to make a short call, after
which they would go on to the Oaks, taking her
and her little ones with them if that arrange
ment suited her convenience.
"Thank you, mother dear," came back in
Violet's own sweet tones, " I shall be glad to
see both you and Cousin Mary, and you will
find me and my babies ready to accept your
kind invitation."
Rosie and Walter made haste with their
toilets, were presently in the carriage, and
reached Woodburn just in season to take part
in the opening school exercises.
All went prosperously that morning ; the les
sons had been thoroughly prepared, the reci
tations were so good that the captain felt
138 ELSIE AT ION.
entitled to bestow unstinted praise, and his
pupils were dismissed from the school-room in
gayest spirits.
" How very quiet the house seems!" exclaimed
Lulu as they passed into the hall.
" Yes," said her father ; " Cousin Ronald, your
mamma, and the little ones have gone on to the
Oaks, and now we will follow them as soon as
you are all ready. Our large family carriage
is in waiting; it will hold us all nicely."
They had only to put on their hats and gather
up a few little things they wanted to take with
them, and they drove away, a merry, laughing,
jovial little party, so full of fun and frolic that
time passed very quickly, and all were surprised
when they found the carriage turning in at the
great gates opening upon the beautiful grounds
of the place that had been Elsie's home in her
girlhood's days.
The chat and laughter suddenly ceased, and
all eyes turned upon the lovely scenes through
which they were passing. They were not en
tirely new to any of them, and only compara
tively so to Marian, as she had already been
there several times.
They were almost the last to arrive of all the
large company of invited guests, and as they
neared the mansion there could be seen, here
and there on the lawn and in the shaded alleys,
ELSIE AT ION. 139
groups of grown people and of children, some
sitting in the shade of the trees, others saun
tering about or playing merry, romping games,
while filling the air with their shouts and
gleeful laughter.
A cordial welcome was given the captain and
his pupils, who quickly made themselves at
home in the grounds, scattering here and there
among other guests, according to inclination or
convenience.
The captain, having exchanged greetings
with his host, hostess, and other friends and
relatives, glanced about in search of his wife.
" You are looking for Vi, captain?" Grandma
Elsie said inquiringly and with a smile. " She
is engaged in piloting Cousin Mary about,
showing her the places made memorable by
having been the scenes of notable events in her
mother's life when this was her own and her
father's home. I believe they have gone down
to what is still called Elsie's arbor."
"Ah?" he returned, "and my companion
ship would hardly be welcome just at present, I
presume."
" I cannot say, sir, but see no reason why it
should not be," she answered, and thanking'
her, he at once set off in the direction of the
arbor, which was of course no unknown spot to
him.
140 ELSIE AT ION.
He found the ladies there, bittmg together,
gazing out upon the lovely landscape the ver
dant valley, the clear waters of the swiftly flow
ing river, and the woods clad in the deep green
of their summer robes. Violet was speaking in
low, feeling tones, Mary listening evidently
with intense interest. Violet had been telling
of scenes and occurrences described in " Elsie's
girlhood" the time when Arthur, in a fury of
passion because she refused to advance him
money without her father's knowledge and con
sent, even went so far as to strike her, and was
immediately soundly thrashed for it by Mr.
Travilla; the time when Jackson, her dis
carded lover, discarded at first in obedience to
her father's command, afterward loathed by
her when she had learned for herself that he
was a villain of deepest dye instead of the
honorable, virtuous man she had formerly es
teemed him, came so unexpectedly upon her
there, sitting alone and undefended, and with a
loaded pistol threatened her life unless she
would promise never to marry Mr. Travilla;
but now Violet's theme was her father's con
fession of his love, and her mother's glad sur
prise the sweet story told to her by that
mother herself since the dear father's death.
" Mamma told it to me after I had heard the
same sweet story from the lips of my own dear
ELSIE AT ION. 141
husband," were the words that reached the
captain's ear as he stepped into the arbor, and
as she turned at the sound their eyes met with
a look of love as ardent and intense as any ever
bestowed by either one upon the other: they
were as truly lovers now as they had been five
years before.
"Excuse me, ladies," he said with a bow and
smile, " I do not wish to intrude, and will go
away at once if my company is not desired."
" It is no intrusion, I am sure," was the reply
of Miss Keith, while Violet said with a look of
pleasure : " We are only too glad to have you
with us, my dear. You have come in the nick
of 4 ime, for I have just finished my story, which,
though new to cousin, would have been old to
you."
She made room for him by her side aa shtt
spoke. He took the offered seat, and they
talked for a little of the lovely grounds and the
beauty of the view from that point; then rose
and walked back to the houso, conversing aa
they went.
Violet led the way to the grassy lawn upon
which opened the glass doors of what had been
in former years her mother's sitting-room, and
through them into the room itself.
" This and the dressing and bed rooms beyond
were mamma's apartments while living here,"
142 ELSIE AT ION.
she said, "and loving his eldest sister as he
does, Uncle Horace has kept them furnished
all these years almost precisely as they were
when she occupied them."
" I should think he would," said Mary Keith,
sending keenly interested and admiring glances
from side to side ; " it is all so lovely that I
should not want to change a single thing, even
if I did not care to keep them just so in remem
brance of her, as I certainly should."
Mr. Horace Dinsmore, Jr., came in at that
instant.
" Ah, Vi," he said, " so you are showing your
mother's old rooms to Cousin Mary. That is
right. I spent many a happy hour here with
that dear sister when I was but a little fellow,
for, as I presume you know, she is twelve years
older than I.
" Ah, how well I remember the heartache it
gave me when I was told of her approaching
marriage, and that she would then leave our
home for Mr. Travilla's at Ion. I could scarce
forgive him for robbing me of my sister. In
fact I refused my consent, but to my surprise
and chagrin found that it made no difference."
He led the way into the dressing-room.
" This," he said, " is where I found her stand
ing in her beautiful bridal robes, as the hour
drew near when she was to be given to Travilla.
ELSIE AT ION. 143
Oh, how beautiful she was! I can see her yet
the lovely, blushing, smiling face, the shin
ing hair adorned with orange-blossoms, and the
slender, graceful figure half concealed by the
folds of rich white satin and a cloud of mist-
like lace. I remember exclaiming, 'You look
like an angel, only without the wings!* and
how I wanted to hug her, but had been for
bidden lest I should spoil or disarrange some of
her finery ; and what a heartache I had at the
thought that she was never to be the same to
me again so entirely our own as she had been
before. She called me to come and kiss her,
and oh, what a strong effort it cost to refrain
from giving the forbidden hug! but she prom
ised me an opportunity to give it before she
went; and the promise was remembered and
kept."
" Did you not hug papa instead, Uncle
Horace?" queried Violet between a smile and
a tear, for she was thinking of that dear parent
as gone from among them never to return.
"Yes," he said, "he kindly invited me to
uae him as a substitute for my sister, which I
did heartily, for he was a great favorite with
me, in spite of his robbing me of her. "
" In which room of the house was Cousin
Elsie married ?" asked Mary.
" Coroe and I will show you pointing out th
144 ELSIE AT ION.
precise spot where she stood during the cere
mony," replied Mr. Dinsmore, leading the way,
the others willingly following.
He redeemed his promise, gave a description
of the adornment of the rooms on that mem
orable occasion, of the grounds also, and ended
with the bride's farewell to relatives and near
and dear friends, especially her almost idolized
father.
"Yes," said Violet, "mamma has always
loved grandpa so very, very dearly, and his love
for her is, I believe, quite as great. Ah, uncle,
let us take cousin to the hall and show her the
niche from which mamma once fell when quite
a little girl."
"And I a baby boy," he returned with a
smile as he led the way ; " but it was not from
a niche she fell, Vi, but from a chair on the
edge of which she stood, trying to reach up to
hide a toy mouse behind the statue there. The
chair slipped from under her ; to save herself
from falling she caught wildly at the legs of
the statue, and she and it came down together
with a crash upon the marble floor. There is
the niche," pointing it out, for they had
reached the hall while he spoke; "the figure
occupying it now is one purchased to replace
that broken by its fall with sister at that time."
** Did it fall on her? and was she badly hurt?"
ELSIE AT ION. 145
asked Miss Keith, shuddering slightly as she
spoke.
"No," replied Mr. Dinsmore, "not quite
upon her, but so nearly that she had a very
narrow escape from being crushed by it; she
was stunned and bruised, but that was all, and
she was able to join in the sports of the next
day."*
" Mary, that was in the winter which your
aunts Mildred and Annis spent here," remarked
Violet. " I suppose you have heard something
of that?"
"Yes, I think I have," said Miss Keith.
"Cousin Percy and you, Cousin Horace, were
babes at that time, were you not? I think you
said a moment since."
"I have been told that we were," Mr. Dins-
more replied with a smile. " Now I think I
have shown you about all the places in the
house that are interesting from being connected
with events in my sister's life. Most of our
friends are at present on the verandas or the
lawn; shall we go out and join them?"
A prompt assent was given and he led the
way. All the invited guests seemed to hare
arrived ; even Dr. Conly, who had been some
what delayed by professional duties, was there
surrounded by the young people, who were all
*See " Mildred's Married Life."
10
146 ELSIE AT ION.
fond of him as both relative and physician.
Calhoun, the Dinsmore girls, Evelyn Leland,
Marian McAlpine, Lulu Eaymond, Harold and
Herbert Travilla formed another group; but
Calhoun, on seeing Mary Keith approaching,
left the others, advanced to meet her, and after
exchanging with her a pleasant "Good-morn
ing," invited her to a stroll through the
grounds, adding, "I presume you have hardly
seen every part of them yet?"
"No," she replied, as they sauntered on to
gether, and went on to tell to what parts Violet
had taken her.
"Ah," he said, "I am glad the pleasure of
showing the rest was left for me. It is a fine
old place, and being a near relative of the
owners I have seen much of it."
" Yes, and I have been told that Eoselands
also is a fine old place," she returned; "and
was not it Cousin Elsie's home at one time?"
"Yes; for several years before her father
bought this place and fitted it up for a home
for himself and her."
" I think it was there she was so very ill
while still quite a little girl?"
"Yes; that was before my time, but when
you visit us there, as I hope to have the pleas
ure of seeing you do next week, I will show
you the room she occupied ; no I am forget-
ELSIE AT ION. 147
ting that the house standing there then was
afterward burned down; but it was rebuilt,
that part of it being an exact reproduction of
those rooms in the old house."
" Burned down, did you say? How did that
happen?"
"It was during the war," he replied. "As I
remember Roselands on my first sight of it, it
was a most desolate place only the ruins of a
house there, the ground ploughed up by cannon,
the grand old trees all cut down, the lawn
changed to a muddy field, the gardens a desert,
neither fences, hedgerows, nor shrubbery left,
the fields overgrown with weeds all the re
sult of that dreadful civil war for which I
now see there was no cause but the curse of
slavery.
"But," he continued, his voice taking on a
more cheerful tone, " many years have passed
since then; our dear Cousin Elsie furnished
the necessary means for repairing damages so
far as money could do it, the passing years have
helped, and Roselands again deserves its name;
in the eyes of its owners at least it is again a
beautiful place, the fields are fertile and scarce
anything is left that reminds us of its former
desolation."
" I am very glad indeed to hear that, " re
turned Mary, " and shall greatly enjoy seeing
148 ELSIE AT ION.
it in its renewed beauty. This place it would
seem escaped better than Eoselands?"
"Far better; indeed had, I believe, suffered
only from some years of neglect. It was quite
habitable; so uncle kindly gave us all shelter
here for a time that is, until Roselands was
ready to receive us."
"That was very kind," responded Mary.
"It was indeed," said Calhoun. "I cannot
tell you how strongly I am attached to uncle,
Aunt Rose, Cousin Elsie, and indeed the whole
family. "
Just then a turn in the walk brought them
face to face with another small party of young
people the Dinsmore girls, Rotde Travilla,
Croly, Harold, and Herbert.
" So here you are!" exclaimed Harold. " We
were looking for you and want to take you back
near the house. We are to have a small lunch
of cake and lemonade handed about to us on
the lawn, Aunt Sue says; after that some games
to make the time pass pleasantly until the din
ner-hour."
"With such inducements held out would it
not be well to go with them, Miss Keith?"
queried Calhoun.
"Perhaps so," she returned laughingly;
"since I heard the lemonade mentioned I
have discovered that I am somewhat thirsty."
ELSIE AT ION. 149
" And I own that the announcement has had
the same effect upon me," he said.
"Then come," said Herbert, leading the way
by turning into another shaded alley ; " we will
reach our destination sooner by this path."
The day passed most pleasantly to all, the
greater part of it spent in sports in the open
air ; a grand dinner, served in the large dining-
room of the mansion, taking up an hour or
more ; then a time of rest and quiet talk under
neath the trees or on the verandas ; after that
more games, followed by a light tea handed the
guests where they were, and soon after a pleas-
ant ride or drive homeward.
CHAPTER XL
THE next day was Sunday, always religiously
kept by every family in the connection. They
all met at church in the morning, and most of
the Ion and Woodburn people again in the
afternoon ; first at the school-house on the cap
tain's estate, where an hour was spent in the
instruction of the poor whites of the neighbor
hood, then in the Ion school-house appropriated
to the same use for the colored race of the
vicinity.
Mary Keith, Harold, Herbert, and their old
friend Croly attended and took part in the
exercises of both schools; for they were all
earnest, active Christian workers, full of zeal
for the Master's cause and anxious to win souls
for him.
Harold and Herbert dearly loved to talk over
with their mother their plans for future useful
ness and the necessary preparation for it, and,
to their supreme content, contrived to get her
to themselves for a time on their return from
the scene of that afternoon's labors. The call
to tea broke up their conference.
150
ELSIE AT ION. 151
The evening was spent in Bible study, reli
gious conversation, and sacred song.
It had been a day of rest from earthly cares
and pleasures, and all rose on Monday morning
refreshed and strengthened in mind and body.
That day was spent at the Laurels, very much
as Saturday had been at the Oaks; Tuesday
at Fairview. Violet claimed her right to
be the next entertainer of the connection, so
all were invited to spend that day at Wood burn,
where preparations for their entertainment had
been going on for several days.
Sager, impetuous Lulu was almost wild with
delight. " papa," she said, when she and
Grace had exchanged with him their usual
affectionate good-morning, " I do just hope
we'll give the folks the grandest good time
they've had anywhere yet. It's a splendid
day, and our grounds never looked more beauti
ful. I could hardly get dressed for gazing at
them through my bedroom windows, and I
thanked the Lord over and over again for
giving me such a lovely home and dear, kind
father," putting her arms round his neck and
giving him a second ardent kiss.
"Yes, daughter," he returned, holding her
close, " the goodness of our heavenly Father to
us is far, far beyond our deserts. I thank him
every day for the ability he has given me to
152 ELSIE AT ION.
make such a delightful home for my wife and
children."
"Yes, papa," said Grace, leaning up affec-
tionateiy against him on his other side, and
slipping a hand into his, " I often think how
very, very good God has been to us children in
giving us such a good, kind father, when so
many poor children have cross, drunken fathers
who beat and abuse them for just nothing at
all, and don't care whether they are comforta
bly fed and clothed or not."
" It is a sad truth that there are such fathers
in the world," he replied, "and some who with
all their efforts cannot comfortably feed and
clothe their little ones."
"And other poor little ones who have no
father or mother," added Grace. "Oh, I do
hope God will let me keep my dear father as
long as I live."
"Do not allow yourself to be anxious and
troubled about that, daughter," the captain re
sponded tenderly, " our heavenly Father knows
and will do for each one of us just what is best."
"Papa," said Lulu coaxingly, "don't you
think you could excuse us from lessons to-day?
There will be so much going on that I know I
shall find it very difficult to give iny mind to
lessons, and I'm sure it will be just the same
with the others."
ELSIE AT ION. 153
" If I thought it for your good, daughter,"
he said in reply, " I should certainly say yes; but
I do not. If you are diligent you can be ready
to receive your young guests by eleven o'clock."
" But I think it will be almost impossible to
give my mind to tasks when it is so full of all
that's to be done and enjoyed through the day,"
she sighed.
" I am sure you can if you will exercise suffi
cient determination," he replied; "you have a
strong will, and can put it to good use in forc
ing Lucilla Eaymond to resolutely put aside
distracting thoughts and give her mind for a
time wholly to her appointed tasks. Show her
that if she wants to do right and please her
heavenly Father, she will do it for that rea
son ; and if she loves her earthly one as dearly
as she says, she will do it to gain his ap
probation and make his heart glad that he has
so good and dutiful an eldest daughter."
" So I will, papa," she said, giving him another
affectionate hug, " for oh, I do want to make
you glad that I am your very own child, your
Tery, very own, and don't belong to anybody
else in the whole world."
"And that I am, papa," Grace said, lifting
to his eyes full of ardent filial love. " I am
every bit as glad to belong to you as Lu is. "
" And I quite as glad to own you, my own
254 ELSIE AT ION.
darling little girl," he responded, drawing them
both closer into his embrace.
The breakfast-bell rang, and taking a hand
of each, he led them down to the lower hall,
where they met Violet coming in from the
veranda where she and her two little ones had
been taking the air.
Pleasant greetings were exchanged with them
and with Mr.Lilburn and Marian, who presently
joined the family in the breakfast-room. Then
all seated themselves, the blessing was asked,
and the meal began.
"Cousin Eonald," said Violet, "I hope you
will help to entertain our guests to-day by the
exercise of your ventriloquial powers, which
have not yet been discovered by either Cousin
Mary Keith or Mr. Croly."
"I should like to oblige you, cousin," replied
the old gentleman, " but I fear I cannot think
s>f anything new in that line."
" Well," she said, "we will hope some bright
thoughts may occur to you."
" Perhaps you might borrow a bugle again,
sir," remarked Lulu with a little laugh. " I
don't believe they've found out yet who that
bugler was who played near the lakelet at Ion,
when they were in the boat on it."
"No," said Marian, "from something that
was said yesterday, I am sure they have not."
ELSIE AT ION. 155
"Such being the case, perhaps the fellow
may take it into his head to visit the wood here
this afternoon or evening," Mr. Lilburn re
marked in a quiet tone.
"Oh, I hope he will!" exclaimed Lulu, "and
that he'll play longer than he did at Ion. I
wonder if he couldn't sing us a song too," she
added, smiling archly into Mr. I alburn's eyes.
" Now perhaps he may if I tell him that a
daughter of our entertainers makes the request,"
returned Mr. Lilburn gravely. "I'll try my
influence with him, my dear."
"Oh, thank you, sir!" she exclaimed with a
merry laugh. " I am quite sure he will not be
able to resist that."
" I just wish we had Maxie here," said Grace,
"for then we might have one sing and the
other play at the same time."
"That would be fine," laughed her father,
"but unfortunately we cannot have Max."
"Oh!" exclaimed Marian with a look of sur
prise and pleasure, " now I know who was the
ventriloquist at Minersville!"
"There now!" cried Grace with a look of
dismay, " I ought to be ashamed. I never
meant to tell that secret."
"Don't look so troubled, daughter," said the
captain, smiling kindly upon her, " there is no
great harm done. Marian would probably have
156 ELSIE AT ION.
found it out before long without any help from
you."
" And I'll try to make no bad use of my dis
covery," added Marian.
"You and papa are very kind," returned
Grace, with a slight sigh of relief.
" I suppose this is to be a holiday for the chil
dren, captain?" remarked Violet with an in
quiring look at her husband.
" Quite a mistake, my dear," he returned
pleasantly. " I do not think it good for my
pupils to have too many holidays, and have no
doubt they will enjoy play all the more for
having done a little work first."
" Yes, sir, no doubt we shall," said Marian
cheerfully, " and I for one should be very loath
to miss the lessons. I enjoy them, and am
very grateful to you for taking the trouble to
teach me."
" You are as welcome as possible," he returned
in the kindest of tones. " Your companionship
in her studies is of advantage to my daughter
Lulu, and makes very little more work for me."
" You are very kind indeed to look at it in
that light, sir," was Marian's response, while
Lulu gave him a most grateful, loving look.
Then a voice that seemed to come from the
doorway into the hall said : " You are the very
beet of fathers, sir, always ready to take any
ELSIE AT ION. 187
amount of trouble for the benefit of any of your
children."
" Maxie ! where is you ? Turn and det some
breakfus," exclaimed baby Ned, as he and all
the others turned their heads in the direction of
the sounds.
But no one was to be seen there.
"Where is Maxie?" queried Ned, almost
ready to cry. " Papa tell Maxie turn eat his
breakfus."
" Maxie isn't there, son," said the captain
pleasantly. " It was Cousin Ronald talking in
Maxie's voice."
"Papa," said little Elsie, "maybe Maxie is
there, hiding behind the door."
" Do you think so?" returned her father with
a smile. " Well, you may go and look, if you
wish, and if you find him tell him papa says
for him to come immediately to his breakfast."
At that Elsie made haste to get down from
her chair, and ran to the door calling, "Maxie,
Maxie, papa says, come right to your breakfus
dis minute."
Not finding Max at the door, she ran on
down the hall, out upon the veranda, looking
searchingly from side to side, back again and
through the different rooms, calling, "Max,
Max, where are you? Papa says, come to your
breakfus."
158 ELSIE AT ION.
Then on into the breakfast-room she came
again, saying with a bewildered look, " Papa, I
can't find Max. Where did he go?"
" Don't you remember that papa told you he
was not there, daughter?" returned the captain
pleasantly. " It was Cousin Konald who spoke,
making his voice sound like Max's."
" Oh, I wish it was Maxie, 'cause I love him
and want to see him," returned the baby girl,
tears springing to her eyes.
"Never mind, papa's dear little girl," the
captain said, lifting her into her chair again;
" we may hope to see dear brother Max here one
of these days ; and then how glad we shall all be !"
"Oh, yes, papa; please write Maxie a letter
and tell him Elsie wants him to come soon,"
she said, smiling through her tears.
The moment family worship was over, Marian,
Lulu, and Grace hastened to the school-room,
where they were joined a few minutes later by
Evelyn Leland, Rosie and Walter Travilla-
The lessons had all been thoroughly prepared,
so that recitations proceeded rapidly, and by
eleven o'clock all were dismissed with permis
sion to spend the remainder of the day in such
sports as suited their inclination.
The guests had already begun to arrive, and
directly the most of them were scattered through
the beautiful grounds exploring every nook and
ELSIE AT ION. 159
corner of them. Then games were played
lawn tennis, croquet, and others suited to differ
ent ages and tastes. A grand dinner followed
in due season, after which they sat on the
verandas or under the trees or wandered slowly
through the wood and the shaded alleys.
Tea was over, the sun near his setting, and
somewhat weary with their sports almost all
were seated in or near the verandas, when the
sound of a bugle broke the stillness, coming
apparently from the wood where a number of
the young people had been straying only a half-
hour before.
" There he is again!" cried Croly, starting to
his feet. " Harold, suppose we hurry out yonder
and see if we can catch sight of the fellow."
"Oh, not yet," said Grandma Elsie; "let us
enjoy his music for a little first. Hark! he is
beginning the Star-spangled Banner."
"Very well done," commented Mr. Dinsmore
as the last notes died away on the air. Croly
looked at Harold and half rose from his chair;
but the bugler began again. This time it waa
a Scottish air, and Marian absently, and scarcely
above her breath, sang the words:
"'Scots wha' hae wi Wallace bled,
Scots whom Bruce hath often led,
Welcome to your gory bed,
Or to victory- ' "
160 ELSIE AT ION.
The notes of the bngle died away, and all
was quiet for a moment; then Walter broke
the silence :
" So that's a Scotch tune, is it, Marian? I
heard you singing Scotch words to it about
Wallace and Bruce and there's scarcely any
story I feel more interest in unless maybe
tales of our own Revolution. They were brave
fellows, and I like to think I come of the same
stock on mamma's side at least."
"Yes, it's a good stock to come of," she
answered, her eyes kindling; "none better in
my esteem ; they have always been a liberty-
loving, God-fearing race the great mass o'
them at least. But hark! there's the bugler
At it again ; nearer, and playing quite another
tune."
It was a simple little air, played as a prelude,
and presently the bugle ceased, and a man's
voice sang :
"Thimble scolding, wife lay dead,
Heigh-ho, says Thimble.
My dearest dear, as Defunctum said,
"Death has cabbaged her, oh she's fled,
With your rolly-pooly, gammon and spinnage,
Heigh-ho, says Thimble.
* Thimble buried his wife last night,
Heigh-ho, says Thimble,
It grieves me to bury my heart's delight.
'Vith a diamond ring on her finger so tight.
ELSIE AT ION. 161
With your rolly-pooly, gammon and spinnage,
Heigh-ho, says Thimble.
" To cut off her finger and get this ring,
Next came the sexton ;
She rose on an end and she gave him a fling ;
'You dirty dog, you'll do no such a thing,
With your rolly-pooly, gammon and spinnage, *
Off ran the sexton.
" She stalked to her home and she made a great din,
Heigh-ho, says Thimble ;
He poked out his head and he said with a grin,
' You're dead, my dear duck, and I can't let you in,
With your rolly-pooly, gammon and spinnage, '
Heigh-ho, says Thimble. "
All had listened intently, and for a moment
after the song ceased, no one moved or spoke.
Then Croly started up, saying: "I'm bound to
see that fellow. Come, Harold and Herbert,
will you go with me, or must I search for him
alone?"
" Oh, I have no objection to going with you,"
returned Harold with a slight laugh. " I hardly
think he can be dangerous, and if he is I must
try to defend you, Will."
" And in that case you may stand in need of
my services also," said Herbert, joining them
as they hurried down the veranda steps and
along the drive in the direction from which the
sounds of the bugle and the voice had come.
11
162 ELSIE AT ION.
"I hope they won't find him a dangerous
fellow," remarked Kosie with a gleeful laugh.
"No, indeed, I hope not," said Mary Keith r
in a slightly anxious tone. " Have you gentle
men any idea who he may be?"
"The bugler, do you mean, cousin?" asked
Edward Travilla. " I won't say certainly, but
I have an idea that he is a perfectly harmless
old fellow who occasionally haunts this neigh
borhood."
"A crazy man?" she asked.
" No, not that, but one who enjoys surprising
and mystifying those who know little or noth
ing about him or his arts."
" Well, I am glad to hear that he is harmless,"
she said in a tone of relief, " for knowing that,
one can enjoy listening to his playing and
singing."
" Do you think they will find him, Cousin
Ronald?" asked Marian, in a tone that sounded
slightly mirthful.
"I, lassie?" he returned; "what should I
ken aboot the folks o' this neighborhood?"
" Oh, you have visited here a good deal, and
so I thought you might have gained some
knowledge of so odd a character. "
" More than that possessed by any o' these
cousins who live in the neighborhood, lass?" he
asked with a good-humored laugh. " Truly
ELSIE AT ION. 163
you are paying your auld kinsman a high com
pliment."
" I could not possibly pay you one that would
be higher than your deserts, Cousin Ronald,"
she returned.
"Oh, hark!" exclaimed Eosie, "the bugler
is at it again!" as a few notes floated on the
air ; then the same voice they had heard before
sang again, apparently coming from a tree-top
not many yards away :
" Green grow the rashes, O,
Green grow the rashes, O,
The sweetest hours that e'er I spend
Are spent amang the lasses, O. "
" He seems to be very fond of the lasses, but
has nothing to say of the lads," laughed Walter.
"And they, it seems, can't find him," said
Edward, as the three young men were seen re
turning toward the house. "Well, lads, what
success?" he called to them.
"None as yet," replied Harold, "but we are
not quite in despair. Surely we heard his voice
a moment since, nearer the house than when he
gave us his Thimble song."
" Yes, it seemed to me to come from the top
of that magnolia, and he must be very quick
in his movements if he has got down from it
already. "
1W ELSIE AT ION.
" What you doing? what you 'bout?" came
just at that instant in a loud, harsh scream,
apparently from the same tree-top. " Breakfast-
time. Polly wants a cracker. Polly wants a
cup of coffee."
The three young men stepped close to the
tree and gazed upward among its branches.
" The parrot again !" exclaimed Croly. " Do
you see her, boys?"
"Not I," replied Herbert, "but it is quite
dark up there where the branches and leaves
are so thick."
"So it is," said Croly. "Hi there, Polly!
show yourself."
" Go 'way !" screamed the harsh voice.
"Come down, Polly; we won't hurt you,"
said Harold.
" Polly's hungry; Polly wants a cracker," re
sponded the harsh voice.
" Come down, and if you are the good bird
you seem, you shall have a cracker and a cup
of coffee," he promised; but the only reply was
a sound as of the fluttering and flapping of
wings that seemed to leave the tree and go
farther away till lost in the distance.
"Gone!" said Croly; "and I did not catch so
much as a glimpse of her. Did anybody else?"
"And you haven't found the bugler either,"
remarked Mary Keith.
ELSIE AT ION. 185
"No," laughed Calhoun Conly, sitting be
side her, " they are not very successful hunters."
"Do you think you could do better, Cal?"
asked Herbert, as he and his two companions
came leisurely up the steps into the veranda.
"Well, I hardly think I should do worse,"
returned Calhoun lightly.
" Then suppose you start out on the quest,
find that bugler, and coax him to give us an
other tune."
Some soft, low notes came to their ears at
that moment, as if in reply; they seemed to
issue from the depths of the wood, and the
listeners almost held their breath to catch
them. As they died away Croly spoke again.
" He seems to have made quite a circuit to
escape us; and why on earth should he? for he
surely has no reason to fear we would do him
barm."
"Bashful, perhaps," suggested Edward.
"But why care to see him? Is not hearing
enough?"
" If Mr. Croly were a woman, I would sug
gest that he ' as probably actuated by curiosity,"
laughed Mary Keith ; " but since he belongs to
the other sex, it must be supposed to be some
thing else."
" Dear me, Miss Keith, who would ever have
dreamed you could be so severe? You who be>
166 ELSIE AT ION.
long to the gentler sex?" returned Croly, in a
feignedly mortified tone.
"Hark! there he is at it again!" exclaimed
Maud Dinsmore, as distant bugle notes once
more came softly to the ear. " If you want to
catch him, I advise you to hasten in the direc
tion of those sounds, Mr. Croly."
" Hardly worth while, since he is so adroit at
getting out of the way," sighed Croly, sinking
into a chair as if quite exhausted with the
efforts already made.
"Never say die, Mr. Croly," laughed Eosie
Travilla. " Gather up your strength and pur
sue the investigation. 'Try, try, try again,'
is an excellent motto."
" Yes, Miss Rosie, in some cases, but perhaps
not in this, where the game seems to be hardly
worth the candle."
"Oh!" exclaimed Walter, "the music seems
to be coming nearer! Hadn't you fellows bet
ter start out and try again to catch the player?
You might be more successful this time. I
wouldn't like to give it up so if .1 were in your
place. "
" Then suppose you put yourself in our place,
and start out in quest of him," suggested his
brother Harold.
" I've no objections; I'm not afraid of him,"
returned Walter, jumping up; "but if you'd
ELSIE AT ION. 167
like to go with me, Cousin Ronald?" turn
ing toward the old gentleman, as if with a
sudden thought, " I'd be very glad to have
you."
Mr. Lilburn rose as if to comply with the re
quest, but Mrs. Travilla interposed.
" Oh, no, my son," she said; " Cousin Eonald
must feel tired after all the exertion he has
made to-day."
" And I offer myself as a substitute.," said Dr.
Conly, rising. " If the fellow should happen
to be vicious enough to knock you down, Wal
ter, it might be well to have the doctor along
to see to your hurts."
"Pshaw! I'm not a bit afraid of him," said
Walter.
"But your lack of fear is no positive proof
that he is entirely harmless; so I think it
would be as well for you to have an elder
brother along," remarked Herbert, following
them down the veranda steps.
"Oh, come along then, and if the fellow
attacks us, I'll do my best to defend you,"
laughed Walter; and the three set off together
for the wood.
" Is this the bugler's first visit to your place,
captain?" asked Croly.
" I really do not remember having heard his
bugle about here before," was the reply in a
168 ELSIE AT ION.
meditative tone, " but I do not imagine him t ,
person likely to do any harm."
"Why, there is the hack from Union turning
in at the great gates!" exclaimed Lulu. " W
must be going to have a visitor."
It came rapidly up the drive and paused be
fore the entrance; the door was thrown open y
and a rather young-looking man alighted, the
captain at the same time rising from his chair
and stepping forward to greet him.
"Captain Eaymond?" the stranger said in
quiringly, lifting his hat as he spoke.
At that Mr. Lilburn sprang to his feet and
came forward, exclaiming, "What, Hugh, my
mon, is it you?" grasping the young man's
hand and giving it a hearty shake. " It's one
o' my sons, captain," turning glad, shining
eyes upon his host. " I was not expecting him,
for he had given me no warning of his coming.''
"You are very welcome, sir," said the cap
tain, taking the hand of the young man in a
cordial grasp.
At that Grandma Elsie, Mr. and Mrs. Dins-
more, and Violet hastened forward with like
greetings and expressions of pleasure at seeing
him again after the lapse of years since their
weeks of friendly intercourse at the sea-shore.
"But you should be my guest, cousin," said
Mrs. Travilla. " We shall be going home pres-
ELSIE AT ION. 169
ently, and will be most happy to have you
accompany us."
" Oh, no, mother, it will not do for you to rob
us of our guest so promptly," said Captain
Raymond.
"No, indeed, mother dear, we must have
Cousin Hugh here with his father, at least for
the first few days," Violet hastened to say; and
so it was settled after a little more discussion,
and a servant was dispatched to the village for
Hugh's baggage.
Just as that matter was fairly arranged, Dr.
Conly, Herbert, and Walter returned to the
house.
When they and Hugh had been introduced
and had exchanged greetings, Croly inquired if
they had succeeded in catching the bugler.
"No, we didn't get so much as a glimpse of
him," returned Walter. "But then you see it
was growing quite dark in the wood, so that it
wasn't so very difficult for a nimble-footed fel
low to make his escape."
CHAPTER XII.
THE Conlys claimed it as their privilege to
entertain the connection on the following day,
and before leaving Wood burn that evening gave
Mr. Hugh Lilburn a cordial invitation to make
one of the company, which he accepted with
evident pleasure.
Again the weather was delightful, every one
in good health and spirits, and the host and
hostess were most kind and attentive, making
each guest feel welcome and at home.
Roselands was again a beautiful place; its
fields in a higher state of cultivation than ever
before, yielding excellent crops, Calhoun having
proved himself a wise, industrious, scientific
planter and manager, while Arthur assisted
with his advice and professional gains; so that
they had at length succeeded in paying off all
indebtedness and could feel that the estate was
now really their own.
Calhoun greatly enjoyed showing Mary Keith
about the house and grounds; calling her atten
tion particularly to such parts of them as were
170
ELSIE AT ION. 171
more especially associated with the experiences
of his Cousin Elsie's early life; for Mary was a
deeply interested listener to everything he had
to tell on the subject.
Toward tea-time all had gathered on the ve
randas and the lawn in front of the house. The
young people and little ones were somewhat
weary with romping games and roaming over
the grounds, so that very little was going on
among them except a bit of quiet chat here and
there between some of the older people.
Walter, always eager for the sports Cousin
Ronald could make for them with his ventrilo
quism, stepped to the back of the old gentle
man's chair and made a whispered request for
an exertion of his skill in that line.
"Wait a bit, laddie, and I'll see what can be
done," replied Mr. Lilburn, ever willing to in
dulge the boy, who was a great favorite with
him.
Walter took possession of a vacant chair near
at hand, and patiently waited. Mr. Lilburn
gave his son a slight sign, hardly noticed by
any one else, and almost immediately the notes
of a flute came softly to the ear as if from some
distance.
Instantly conversation was hushed and all
listened intently. It seemed but a prelude, and
presently a rich tenor voice struck in and sang
173 ELSIE AT ION.
a pretty Scotch ballad, the flute playing an ac
companiment.
Many looks of surprise were exchanged, for
surely Cousin Eonald could not be responsible
for it all ; he could not both sing and play the
flute at the same time, and the questions, " Who.
are they? What does it mean?" passed from
one to another.
" What you doing? what you 'bout?''
screamed a harsh voice, apparently from a
tree-top near at hand.
"None o' your business," croaked another.
Walter started up and whispered in the old
gentleman's ear, "Why, Cousin Eonald, are
there two of you to-night? or no, it can't be
that Max is here?"
"No, no, laddie, that guess is wide of the
mark," laughed Mr. Lilburn in return, while
little Elsie Eaymond exclaimed, "Two Follies!
and we have only one at our house."
" Why, it's very odd," remarked Lulu. " I
really thought my Polly was the only one in
this neighborhood."
" I think the voice of the first one w*is hers,"
said Mary Keith, " and the same too that we
heard at Ion ; I recognized it when I saw and
heard her at Woodburn ; but the other voice is a
little different."
"Yes, a little harsher," said Eosie, "like a
ELSIE AT ION. 173
male voice. Polly must have hunted up a mate
somewhere."
" Two cups of coffee !" screamed the first
voice. " Polly wants her. breakfast."
"Not breakfast, Polly, but supper," laughed
Walter. " You don't seem to know the time o*
day. " .
" Supper! Polly wants her supper," croaked
the second voice. "Polly's hungry."
" Just wait a bit," laughed Walter; " we'll all
be getting ours presently, and if you are good
birds probably you'll get some too."
At that moment a bell rang.
"There's the call to it now," said Calhoun.
" Walk in, ladies and gentlemen children too
and the pollies shall have theirs if they will
follow with the crowd."
Every one accepted the invitation, and they
were soon seated about the tables; it took sev
eral to accommodate them all. A moment's
hush, then Cousin Eonald was requested to ask
a blessing, and did so in a few words spoken in
reverent tones. The guests were then helped,
and the meal began, a buzz of subdued conver
sation accompanying it.
The parrot at Woodburn had learned many
words and sentences since her arrival there;
during Mr. Lilburn's visit he and she had be
come well acquainted, and under his tuition
174 ELSIE AT ION.
her vocabulary had been very considerably in>
creased, so that she could upon occasion, or
when so disposed, make herself a very entertain
ing companion.
Presently her voice, or one very like it, was
heard above the clatter of plates, knives and
forks, and the buzz of talk, coming seemingly
from the mantelpiece some yards in Mr. Lil-
burn's rear.
" Polly wants her supper. What you 'bout?
Polly's hungry."
" Stop your noise, Polly," promptly responded
the other parrot's voice.
" Cup o' coffee for Polly, Mamma Vi,"
promptly demanded the first voice.
"Miss Ella rules here," laughingly returned
Violet, " but even she cannot serve you unless
you show yourselves."
"Why, where is dem?" queried little Ned,
gazing in wide-eyed wonder in the direction
from which the sounds had seemed to come.
"Me tan't see de pollies."
"Nor can I, Neddie boy," said his Uncle
Edward.
But at that instant subdued voices were heard
conversing in quiet tones, apparently outside
upon the veranda, but close to an open door
leading into the dining-room.
"That supper smells mighty good, Bill."
ELSIE AT ION. 175
" So it does, Pat. Come now, let's just step
in and help ourselves, seein' as they doan't hev
perliteness ennff to ask us in or hand out so
much as a bite o' victuals to us."
" Let's wait our turn, though, and perhaps
we'll get an invite when they're well filled their-
selves. "
"You're not afeared they'll eat it all their-
selves?"
"Huh! no; how could they? There's load?
and loads of grub there ; plenty for them and
us too."
" Yaas, 'bout enuff to feed a regirment."
Conversation about the table had ceased;
every one was gazing in the direction from
which the sounds of the talk between the two
rough men seemed to come.
"Whar dem fellers? I doan see 'em!" ex
claimed a colored lad engaged in waiting on the
table; "hear deir talkin' plain 'nuff, though."
"Ha, ha!" laughed one of the strange voices,
"is that so, darky? Then I reckon your hear
ing's some better'n your sight."
"Impident rascal!" returned the colored lad
wrathfully. " Mr. Cal, I'll go drive 'im out ef
you say so, sir."
"Yes, do so at once, Hector," returned Cal-
houn. "We don't want tramps about to-day,
and he seems a decidedly impudent one."
17 ELSIE AT ION.
Hector hurried to the door, but was back
again in a moment, his face ghastly with fright.
"He he dey am no dar, sir," he gasped.
" Couldn't see nobody 'tall. Whar whar you
'spose dey's done gone so pow'ful quick, sah?"
"Oh, don't be frightened, Hector; they're
not likely to prove very dangerous fellows," re
turned Calhoun. " The probability would seem
to be that they have just stepped off the veran
da into the grounds scared, you know, at see
ing so powerful a fellow as you coming after
them in such a rage and will be back asking
for their supper in another minute or two.
However, as they may be lurking about, watch
ing an opportunity to help themselves, you may
as well send some one out to look them up and
watch their movements."
" Ha, ha, you're a bit late with your precau
tions, mister!" exclaimed one of the voices, now
coming apparently from an inner room, " we're
here already, and what's more, defy you, sir, to
put us out in a hurry."
"That's so," growled the other voice;
" 'twould take any two o' those gents at the
table to put me out; and I'll not go a step till
I've satisfied my appetite with the best they've
got."
" Well," exclaimed Ella, " if that isn't impu
dence I never heard any. But we are neglect-
ELSIE AT ION. 77T
ing our guests, Art. ; Uncle Horace's plate wants
replenishing; the captain's too."
"Polly's hungry; poor old Polly, poor old
soul!" screamed from the mantelpiece again
the voice that sounded like that of Lulu's pet.
"Breakfast-time. Polly wants coffee."
"Hush, Polly! be quiet, Polly!" croaked th
other voice. "Eat your cracker and go to
sleep."
" Hold your tongue, Poll, " screamed the firat.
" Polly wants a cup of coffee."
Hector, who was a new servant, stood looking
this way and that, gasping and rolling up hia
eyes in terror, but the others, who were tolera
bly well acquainted, by hearsay at least, with
Mr. Lilburn's ventriloquial powers, had by this
time recalled what they had heard on that sub
ject, and went quietly about waiting upon the
guests.
Croly and Mary Keith had been most inter
ested listeners, and when an instant's lull oc
curred, after the parrot-like screams, the former
said : " Well, ladies and gentlemen, I am now
fully convinced that we have, at least, one ven
triloquist among us, though which of you it is
I have not been quite able to decide."
" It may, perhaps, be easier to decide who it
is not," remarked the elder Mr. Dinsmore, with
an amused smile.
12
178 ELSIE AT ION.
"Very true, sir," said Croly, "and I have
come to the conclusion that it is not yourself,
Captain Eaymond, Doctor Conly, or my friends
Harold or Herbert Travilla." With the last
words he looked inquiringly at each of the
other gentlemen present. Not one of them
seemed to him to look conscious, and he felt
that his question still remained unsolved.
Hector, still trembling with fright, and now
and then sending a timorous glance in the direc
tion of the door at which the tramps had last
been heard, had listened in wondering surprise
to the talk about the ventriloquist.
" What dat, Scip?" he asked in shaking under
tones, plucking at the sleeve of a fellow servant,
"dat vent-vent-erquis? Dis chile neber hear
of dat sort of ting afore."
" You jess g'long an' look fer it then," re
turned Scip loftily. " 'Pears like maybe you find
him in de parlor yonder behind de doah."
The children had been looking and listening,
wondering where the men and the parrots were.
"Papa, where is de mans and birds? de pol-
lies dat talked so loud?" asked little Erie
Leland. " Me don't see dem."
"No; they can only be heard, not seen,"
laughed his father, " while little fellows like
my Eric, you know should be seen and not
heard when at table with so many older- people."
ELSIE AT ION. 17f
"Big folks talk very much, papa," remarked
the little one, smiling up into his father's face.
" So they do, and so may you when you grow
big," returned his father. "And now, when
at home with no strangers by, you may talk
too."
"Well, Hector, suppose you take Scip's ad-
rice and go and look for those tramps," said
Dr. Conly, addressing the frightened, perplexed-
looking young servant-man. " Don't be afraid ;
I promise to cure your hurts if you get any in
trying to put them out."
But Hector stood where he was as if rooted to
the spot, shaking his head gloomily in response
to the doctor's suggestions.
"No, tank you, doctah, sah, but dis chile
radder stay cured widout bein' hurted fus," he
answered, retreating a little farther from the
parlor door as he spoke.
" Then come and make yourself useful," said
Ella. " Get your salver and hand this cup of
coffee to Mr. Lilburn."
Hector obeyed, and Cousin Ronald, giving
him a humorous look as he took his cup from
the salver, asked: "Are you really going to
leave those tramps in the parlor yonder to carry
off whatever they please?"
" Why, sah, dis chile ain't so powerful strong
dat he kin fight two big fellers widout nobody
18 ELSIE AT ION.
to help wid the business," grumbled Hector,
looking very black at the suggestion.
"Oh, Hector, don't be such a coward," ex
claimed Walter Travilla. "I'm not very big
or strong, but, if mamma will let me, I'll go
along and protect you from them while you
put them out. I may, mayn't I, mamma?"
giving her an inquiring look as he rose from
his chair.
But at that moment one of the strange voices
was again heard at the door opening on the
veranda.
"Never mind, little feller; we're out here
and going oil now; and we haven't taken a
pin's worth, for we're honest chaps if we are
poor and sometimes ask for a bite o' victuals."
u Yaas, that's so," drawled the other voice.
A sound like that of retreating footsteps fol
lowed ; then all was quiet, and Hector drew a
long breath of relief.
"Glad dey's gone," he said presently, then
went briskly about his business.
It was still early, not yet sundown, when
those of the guests who had little ones took leave
of their kind entertainers, and started for their
homes. Edward and Zoe, with their twin
babies, were among the first. Herbert, too,
excused himself, and on the plea of a letter to
write for the next mail went with them, riding
EIIE AT ION. 181
his horse beside the carriage in which the others
were seated.
They took a short cut through a bit of woods
and were moving rather leisurely along, chat
ting about Cousin Ronald's tricks of the after
noon and speculating upon the seeming fact
that he must have a coadjutor, when Herbert
suddenly reined in his steed, backing him away
from the vehicle, and at the same time calling
out in a quick, imperative, excited tone to the
driver: "Rein in your horses, Solon! Quick,
quick, back them for your life!"
Even while he spoke the order was obeyed,
yet barely in time ; for at that instant a great
tree came down with a heavy crash, falling
across the road directly in front of the horses
and so close that it grazed their noses as it
passed.
Zoe, throwing an arm round her husband's
neck and clasping her babies close with the
other, gave one terrified shriek, then for several
minutes all sat in horror-struck silence, feeling
that they had escaped by but a hair's-breadth
from sudden, horrible death. Edward's arm
was about her waist, and he drew her closer and
closer yet, with a gesture of mute tenderness.
" Ned, dear Ned, how near we've been to
3eath! we and our darlings," she exclaimed,
\ ursting into tears and sobs.
188 ELSIE AT ION.
"Yes, "he said in trembling tones. "Oh,
thank the Lord for his goodness! The Lord
first, and then you, Herbert," for his brother
was now close by the side of the carriage again.
"No thanks are due me, dear Ned," he re
plied, with emotion, "but let us thank the
Lord that he put it into my heart to come along
with you, and directed my eyes to the tree as it
swayed slightly, preparatory to its sudden fall.
Look, Zoe, what a large, heavy one it is one
of the old monarchs of the wood and still hale
and vigorous in appearance. Who would ever
have expected it to fall so suddenly and swiftly?"
"I hardly want to," she said, shuddering;
" it seems so like a dreadful foe that had tried
to kill my husband, my darling babies, and my
self."
" How the horses are trembling with fright!"
exclaimed Edward. "Poor fellows! it is no
wonder, for if I am not mistaken the tree actu
ally grazed their noses as it fell. "
" Yes, sah, it did dat berry ting," said Solon,
who had alighted and was stroking and patting
the terrified steeds, "an' dey mos' tinks dey's
half killed. I dunno how we's goin' fer to git
'long hyar, Mr. Ed'ard, sah; cayn't drive ober
dig big tree no how 'tall."
" No, but perhaps we can manage to go round
it; or better still, we'll turn and drive back till
ELSIE AT ION. 183
we can get into the high-road again. But drive
slowly, till your horses recover, in a measure at
least, from their fright."
" Yes, I think that is the best we can do,"
said Herbert, wheeling about and trotting on
ahead.
The shock to Zoe had been very severe. All
the way home she was shuddering, trembling,
sobbing hysterically, and clinging to her hus
band and babies as though in terror lest they
should be suddenly torn from her arms.
In vain Edward tried to sooth and quiet her,
clasping her close and calling her by every en
dearing name; telling her the danger was a
thing of the past; that their heavenly Father
had mercifully preserved and shielded them,
and they had every reason to rest with quietness
and assurance in his protecting care.
"Yes, yes, I knoAV it all, dear Ned," she
sobbed, " but have patience with me, dear; my
nerves are all unstrung and I cannot be calm
and quiet; I cannot help trembling, or keep
back the tears, though I am thankful, oh, so
thankful! that not one of us was killed or even
hurt."
"No; it was a wonderful escape," he said in
moved tones; "a wonderful evidence of the
goodness of God to all of us ; and thankful I am
that even the horses escaped injury. "
184 ELSIE AT ION.
"Yes, yes, indeed, poor things! I'm very
glad they escaped so well," she sobbed; "but
for them to have been killed would have been aa
nothing to having one of our dear babies hurt."
" Oh, no, no ! and we can never be thankful
enough for their escape," he responded in moved
tones, putting his arm around both at once and
drawing them into a closer embrace, while they
looked from one parent to the other in wide-
eyed wonder.
"There, dear," said Edward the next minute,
glancing from the window, " we are turning into
our own avenue and you may surely feel that
the threatened danger is fully past. "
"Ah, no!" she returned, shuddering; "how
can we be sure that any of our grand old trees
may not fall at any moment? I shall never,
never feel safe again. "
" Except by trusting in Him without whose
will not even a sparrow falls to the ground," he
said low and tenderly. "'The angel of the
Lord encampeth round about them that fear
him and delivereth them. O taste and see that
the Lord is good ; blessed is the man that trust-
eth in him.'"
" And you are that man, and so the Lord has
spared you and your wife and little ones.
Ned, dear, ask him to make their mother a
Christian too."
ELSIE AT ION. 186
" My darling, I will ; I do every day of my
life," he said with emotion, and holding her
close.
In another moment the carriage had drawn
up before the veranda steps and Herbert, who
had arrived and dismounted a little in advance
of the others, hastened to assist them to alight.
"Why, Zoe, dear girl, how you are trem
bling!" he exclaimed, as he lifted her out and
set her on her feet. " Don't allow yourself to
be so agitated; the danger is past, and by God's
great goodness we have all escaped injury."
"Yes, yes, I know it!" she said, "but the
shock was very great, and I cannot get over it
yet."
She and Edward went directly to their own
apartments, taking their babes with them ; for
Zoe seemed unwilling to lose sight for a mo
ment of any one of her three treasures.
But Laurie and Lily were soon asleep.
"The sweet pets!" murmured Zoe, leaning
over them, her eyes full of tears. " Ned, sup
pose they, or even one of them, had been struck
by that tree and killed or badly hurt, how could
we have borne it you and I?" She ended with
a storm of tears and sobs.
" Only by the strength that God gives in pro
portion to our needs, dear little wife," Edward
answered, holding her close and caressing her
186 ELSIE AT ION.
with great tenderness. " He is ever faithful to
his promise to his people. *As thy days, so
shall thy strength be.'"
"But I cannot claim that promise," she
sobbed, laying her head on his shoulder, while
he clasped her close. "But I want to be a
Christian. My heart goes out in love and grat
itude to him for sparing to me my life, my
dear babies, and most of all my best and dearest
of husbands."
" And I should be very, very desolate without
you and yours, love," he returned with emo
tion ; " I cannot feel that I could do without
you even in another world. Ah, dearest, why
delay any longer? why not come now at this
moment and give yourself to God? Surely
you cannot refuse, cannot hesitate when you
think of all his loving-kindness to you and
yours."
"I do want to be his," she said, "but the
way does not seem quite clear to me ; can you
not tell me just how?"
"It is very simple. Just tell him that you
are a lost, helpless sinner, ask him to forgive
your sins and save you from them. David's
prayer was, 'Wash me thoroughly from mine
iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. . . .
Create in me a clean heart, God ; and renew
a right spirit within me ' petitions that he is
ELSIE AT ION. 187
both able and willing to grant. He says, 'him
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. J
Delay is very dangerous, dearest, as the experi
ence of this evening may well convince us; we
are sure of no time but the present. 'Now is
the accepted time ; now is the day of salvation. ' '
A moment of silence followed, broken at
length by a few low-toned words from Zoe : " I
want to do it, dear Ned. Let us kneel down
together, and you say the words for me. I will
follow you in my heart, for I do want to belong
to the dear Lord Jesus from this time forever. "
They knelt down with their arms about each
other, and in a few earnest words he expressed
for her her sense of sin, her desire to be deliv
ered from it, and to consecrate herself with all
her powers and possessions to God's service, for
time and for eternity.
Zoe followed with a fervent " Amen ! Dear
Lord Jesus, take me for thy very own, and let
me be thine, wholly thine, forever and forever-
more."
CHAPTER XIII.
SOLON had an exciting tale to tell in the
kitchen while he gave his horses a brief rest
before returning to Eoselands for the remaining
members of the family.
It was listened to with intense interest, and
many ejaculations of astonishment at the sud
den fall of the tree and of thankfulness that no
one was hurt.
"My!" exclaimed the cook, "it would V
been a' awful thing if Miss Elsie been 'long and
got killed wid dat tree a-fallin' onto her."
"Yes, tank de good Lord dat she wasn't
dar," said Solon; "but I reckon she'd mos'
rather be killed her own self dan have such ting
happen to Marse Edward an' Miss Zoe and de
babies."
" Course," put in another servant; " Miss Elsie
she's got de kindest heart in de world, and she
loves her chillen and gran'chillen better'n her
own life."
"I reckon dat's so; but I must be goin' back
after Miss Elsie and de res'," said Solon, pick-
188
ELSIE AT ION. 189
ing up his hat and putting it on as he passed
out into the grounds.
His story caused great excitement at Rose-
lands, and the whole Ion family, with their
guests, hastened home in anxiety to hear the
version of the story Edward and Herbert would
give, and to learn what had been the effect of
the fright upon Zoe and the babies.
Solon's report was : " Miss Zoe she scared most
to deff, and Mr. Ed'ard he huggin' her up, and
comfortin' her all de way home; an' she's afraid
of de trees on de lawn at Ion, les' dey falls sud-
dent like de one in de woods and kill some
body. But Mr. Ed'ard he tells her to trust
in de Lawd, an' she needn't be 'fraid ob
nothin'."
"And the babies, Solon?" asked Rosie;
"weren't they frightened almost into fits?"
" Not a bit, Miss Rosie," returned Solon,
chuckling; " dey 's just 'sprised, dey was, an'
quiet as two little mouses. 'Spect dey's won-
derin' what makes deir mudder cry so, and
deir fader hug her and dem up so tight."
" Ah, here comes Herbert," said Harold, who,
with Croly, was riding alongside of the carriage.
"We'll get the whole story from him."
41 Ah, has Solon been telling you of our ad
venture in the woods this evening?" asked Her
bert, reining in his steed near at hand. " It
190 ELSIE AT ION.
was quite an exciting one, and we have great
reason for gratitude over our narrow escape. "
"As we all have," returned his mother with
emotion. "It was you, Herbert, was it not,
who saw the tree tottering and gave warning to
the others?"
"Yes, mother. I, being on horseback, had
of course a much better opportunity to see it
than the others in the covered carriage ; yet it
was a good Providence that turned my eyes in
that direction at that precise moment, and
thus saved, possibly, all our lives."
"Oh, we can never be thankful enough for
that!" exclaimed his mother. "But Zoe was
very much frightened, Solon says?"
" Oh, very much, and no wonder, poor thing!
But Edward took her and the babies directly to
their rooms, and I have not seen them since. I
wrote my letter, rode in to Union and mailed
it, and have just ridden out again."
The carriage had been at a standstill while
they talked, but now Mrs. Travilla bade Solon
drive on. They were very near home, and in
another minute or two had turned in at the
avenue gates.
Edward was waiting on the veranda to assist
them to alight, and his mother at once inquired
anxiously about Zoe and the twins.
" The little ones are asleep, and Zoe is resting
ELSIE AT ION. 191
pretty quietly now on her couch," Edward re
plied. " I suppose Herbert and Solon have told
you of our narrow escape from being crushed
by a falling tree as we passed through that bit
of woods?"
"Yes; it was a wonderful escape," Elsie re
turned in tones quivering with emotion. "I
can never be thankful enough for the spared
lives of my children. Would Zoe care to se*
her mother just now, do you think?"
"Yes, yes, indeed, mother! Shall I take you
to her now? Our guests will excuse us, I know,
and we will leave the others to entertain them."
Zoe, lying on the couch in her dressing-room,
the crib with its sleeping little occupants within
reach of her hand, started up with a glad cry,
" mamma, dear mamma, how glad I am to
see you!" as her husband and his mother came
softly in and drew near where she lay.
Elsie took her in her arms and held her clos*
with low-breathed words of tenderness and love.
" My dear girl ! my dear daughter ! thank God
that I have you safe in my arms again. How
little I thought of such danger when we parted
an hour ago, and oh! to have lost you my
sons Edward and Herbert, and the darling
babies, or any one of you! ah, it is almost too
terrible to think of for a moment."
"Yes, mamma dear; even the sudden dan*
192 ELSIE AT ION.
ger, though we all escaped, gave me a shock
that has completely unnerved me. I cannot
forget for a moment how near we were to death
so sudden and dreadful escaping only as by
the skin of our teeth. "
She shuddered and was silent for a moment,
still clinging to her mother, and held fast in
her loving embrace; then in a low, sweet voice,
"Mamma, dearest mamma," she said, "this
terrible experience, this narrow escape from a
sudden, awful death, has proved to me a bless
ing in disguise. I have given myself to God
and feel that he has taken me for his very own
child ; and oh, amid all my suffering from shat
tered nerves, there is a sweet peace in my heart
such as I have never known before!"
"My dear, dear child!" Elsie exclaimed with
emotion, " no sweeter, no gladder tidings could
have reached me. It is an answer to prayer
offered for years that you my Edward's wife
might learn to know and love the Lord who
shed his own precious blood that we might have
eternal life."
" Yes, mamma, I wonder at myself that I
could have ever resisted such love, that I did
not give him my whole heart years ago, and
strive to serve him with all my powers."
"Yee, dear little wife," Edward said with
emotion, "what seemed to us so terrible at
ELSIE AT ION. 193
the time has turned out a real blessing in dis
guise."
" So may every trial prove to you, my dear
children," said his mother. " I must leave you
now ; and Zoe dear, go to sleep in peace, fear
ing no evil. Remember and rest upon those
sweet words: 'The Lord is thy keeper; the
Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The
sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon
by night. The Lord shall preserve thee from
all evil; he shall preserve thy soul.' "
Edward saw his mother to the door and
kissed her good-night.
"My dear boy, I am very glad for you," she
said, " glad that you and your young wife, the
mother of your babes, are at last travelling the
same road, and may hope to spend a blest eter
nity together."
" Yes, mother dear, I think I have great rea
son to thank God for that narrow escape of ours
from a sudden, terrible death," he replied in
tones tremulous with emotion. " It was better
than not to have been in danger, since it has
proved to be the means of opening Zoe's eyes to
her guilt and danger as a sinner who had never
sought pardon and safety in the one way God
has provided."
" Yes, my heart sings for joy for her and for
you. But she is quite worn out; get her to
13
194 ELSIE AT ION.
bed and to sleep as soon as you can. " So saying
Elsie hastened downstairs, where she found the
rest of her family and her guests sitting in the
veranda talking over the events of the day, par
ticularly the narrow escape of those present at
the fall of the tree in the wood.
Both Harold and Herbert sprang up at sight
of their mother and hastened to hand her to a
comfortable seat.
"How is Zoe, Elsie?" asked her father.
" A good deal shaken and exhausted by her
fright, papa; but I hope a night's sleep will
restore her to usual health and spirits.
"0 Herbert, my dear son," turning to him,
" how thankful I am for your escape as well as
for theirs!"
" As I am for your sake, mother, as well as
my own," Herbert returned, taking her hand
and carrying it to his lips ; for he had seated
himself close at her side.
"There's the telephone bell!" exclaimed
Bosie, springing to her feet and running into
the hall.
She found that Captain Eaymond was calling
from Woodburn to ask after Edward, Zoe, and
the others who had been present at the fall of
the tree. He was glad to learn that they had
escaped injury and were doing well.
His inquiry was followed almost immediately
ELSIE AT ION. 195
by a similar one from Fairview, then from each
of the other places with which Ion had such
connection, and all expressed themselves re
lieved to learn that none of the little party had
been injured.
At Woodburn the captain and his two gen
tlemen guests sat conversing together.
"This is a beautiful country, captain," re
marked Hugh. "Father and I are so well
pleased with it, and with the relatives we have
found here, that we have serious thoughts of
settling in the neighborhood."
"That would be pleasant for us," said the
captain, " and, by the way, I heard to-day that
our next neighbor talks of selling his planta
tion and leaving the vicinity."
" What ! surely not that beautiful place that
I was admiring the other day?" questioned
Cousin Ronald. " Beechwood I think you told
me they called it. "
"The very same," replied the captain, "and
we should all be very glad to see you and your
son settled there."
" What do you say to that, laddie?" asked the
old gentleman, turning to Hugh.
"It sounds very inviting, sir," was the smil
ing reply; "and would not be too distant from
our proposed place of business. "
"No, I think not; hardly more than fifteen
1% ELSIE AT ION.
minutes' ride or drive from the village if one
has the right kind of steed."
"Ah, you think of going into business in
Union, do you?" inquired the captain in a
tone of surprise.
"Yes, I have been quietly spying out the
land," replied Cousin Ronald, "and if Hugh
agrees with me in thinking it a suitable place
for a factory, I think we shall buy and build
there."
"That is a pleasant prospect for us," said
Captain Raymond. " If you like, I will drive
you both over there to-morrow and also take
you to look at Beechwood."
The offer was at once accepted with thanks,
and dismissing his pupils a little earlier than
usual the next morning, the captain fulfilled
his promise to his guests.
When they returned, the news they brought
was that they had secured a suitable site for a
factory in the outskirts of Union, and were
carrying on negotiations for the purchase of
Beechwood.
" But who is going to keep house for you,
Cousin Ronald?" asked Lulu.
"Marian, I hope," replied the old gentle
man, looking smilingly at her. " You can do
that in addition to attending to your studies,
can you not, my bonny lassie?"
ELSIE AT ION. 197
"I can try," she said with a look of delight;
"for oh, but it would be pleasant to have a
home with my dear, kind old kinsman."
" And so near to us, Marian. I hope you are
as glad of that as I am," exclaimed Lulu.
" Oh, yes, yes, indeed !" cried Marian. " I hope
there will be seldom a day when we shall not see
each other; for you are like a sister to me."
"And you will come here to recite every
school day, I hope," said the captain, " for I do
not want to lose so painstaking, industrious, and
promising a pupil."
"Nor I so good and kind a teacher," re
sponded Marian, looking her thanks.
" I am much pleased with the place and its
near vicinity to this one, the home of kind and
congenial relatives," remarked Hugh Lilburn,
" but as yet we are not entirely sure of securing
it. You know the old saying, 'There's many a
slip 'twixt the cup and the lip.' "
"Very true, laddie," said his father, "yet in
this case I feel little apprehension of failure."
"Do you not like the house, Cousin Hugh?"
asked Marian.
"It suits me nicely," he replied, "and I
think you can hardly fail to like it. The
grounds too are to my taste. I think if we are
successful in securing it, it will make us a de
lightful home."
198 ELSIE AT ION.
By the next evening he was able to say they
had secured it, and would get possession in a fort
night. Marian and Lulu were full of delight,
and indeed every one seemed much pleased.
" Will you move in as soon as the other folks
are out, Cousin Ronald?" asked Grace.
"We hope to do so," he replied. " However,
we shall need to do some furnishing first. This
is Saturday evening : Cousin Vi, do you think
you and your mother could go with us to the
city next Monday and help us make our selec
tion?"
" Yes, indeed ; I shall be delighted to do so,
and I have no doubt mamma will gladly ac
company us. Marian is to be one of the party,
I suppose?"
" Oh, yes, if the captain will give her leave
of absence for a few hours?"
"Certainly, for an occasion so important,"
the captain said pleasantly.
" If it were holiday time Lulu too should be
invited to accompany us," remarked Mr. Lil-
burn, " and I hope there will be another time
when she can. "
" Thank you, sir, I should be glad to go along
if it were not that I know papa wants me to
stay at home and attend to lessons; and I don't
want to miss them, as our holidays will soon
begin."
ELSIE AT ION. 1W
"That's right, lassie," he said; "make good
use of your fine opportunities, and learn all you
can in these young days that you may be the
better prepared for usefulness in future years."
" Yes, sir ; that is just what papa often says
to us," replied Lulu, with a loving smile up
into her father's face; " and I've found out that
he always knows best about whatever concerns
me."
"Quite a fortunate discovery for you," re
turned Mr. Lilburn with a kindly smile, while
the captain's look was full of gratified approval.
"My dear little daughter," he said when he
came to bid her good-night in her room, " your
willingness to stay at home and attend to les
sons instead of going to the city to help Marian
with her shopping pleases me very much, be
cause it shows that you have confidence in your
father's wisdom and his love for you."
He smoothed her hair caressingly and kissed
her as he spoke.
"Thank you for telling me that, you dear
papa," she returned, her eyes shining. "I
know you love me, and that your requirements
are always meant for my good ; also that you
are very wise and know what is best for your
own little girl. Oh, I'm so glad I am your
very own!" she added, hugging him with all
her strength.
200 ELSIE AT ION.
" Not gladder than I am to own you, my dar
ling," he said, repeating his caress. "I should
like to give you the pleasure of going were it
not that I feel that you have had already more
interruptions to your studies than ought really
to have been allowed."
"Yes, papa, I believe I have," she returned,
" and as I do want to be as well educated as
possible, so that I may be very useful if God
spares my life, I really do not want you to in
dulge me more in play-times and holidays than
you think best."
CHAPTER XIV.
THE next day was the Sabbath, and spent as
that holy day usually was by our friends at Ion,
Woodburn, and by their near kindred on the
neighboring estates. To Zoe, rejoicing in her
new hope the blessed hope that she was indeed
a child of God and an heir of glory it was a
sweetly solemn and happy day, and to her
young husband almost equally so. They at
tended church in company with the other mem
bers of the family and received many kindly
greetings and inquiries in regard to the narrow
escape of Thursday night.
Grace Raymond seemed very thoughtful on
the homeward drive. "Papa, "she asked at
length, " do trees often fall suddenly like that
one that came so near killing Aunt Zoe and the
rest?"
"I think not very often, daughter," he re
plied. " I have heard of only one other such
occurrence. Some years ago, out in Wisconsin,
two little girls, sisters, were walking along near
the edge of one of those pretty little lakes of
201
202 ELSIE AT ION.
which there are so many in that State, when
suddenly a tree fell, striking one of the children
to the ground, crushing her to death instantly.
Her sister, who had escaped unhurt, but was of
course terribly frightened and distressed, tried
hard to move the tree and drag her out from
under it, but could not, so had to leave her
there and go for help.
" They were the children of a poor woman
who was washing for some one who lived on the
other side of the lake, and it was while the little
girls were on their way to their mother, proba
bly to see her home when her day's work was
done, that this dreadful accident happened."
"Oh, how sad!" sighed Grace; "and was the
little girl the tree fell on dead, did you say,
papa?"
" Yes, quite dead ; probably instantly killed
by the blow. It seems very sad ; yet it is quite
possible she may have suffered less than she
would had she died after weeks of sickness and
pain."
" Oh, it makes me feel afraid to go into the
woods again, to walk or to play."
"It need not, daughter; it is a rare occur
rence. We all have to die somewhere and some
how, and the only thing that need concern us
is to be ready whenever God shall call. It is
wrong to needlessly rush into danger and throw
ELSIE AT ION. 203
our lives away ; we have no right to do that,
though we have a right and it is a duty to
brave danger when by so doing we can save
others. And if we love the Lord Jesus and
trust in him for salvation, we need not be afraid
of sudden death, for sudden death will be to us
sudden glory. 'Yea, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no
evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy
staff they comfort me. ' "
" It is very sweet to know that Jesus will be
with us through that dark valley, papa. Oh, I
should be so afraid to go alone, and even you,
my dear father who loves me so dearly, could
not go with me."
"No, my darling, dearly as I love you, I will
have to let you go alone should God call you
first," he said with emotion. "But you need
not fear to go nor I to part with you, for you
will be 'safe in the arms of Jesus, safe on his
gentle breast.*"
"Yes, papa; and if I go first, how glad I'll
be when you come, and if you go first, how glad
you'll be to see me when I come."
"Yes, indeed, my precious child; and to
greet all my other loved ones when they too
are brought home, and we are all there together
free from sin and sorrow and pain, never to part
again, bat to dwell forever with the Lord, serv-
204 ELSIE AT ION.
ing him in joy and peace and love throughout
a blest eternity."
" Oh, what a blessed hope it is!" said Violet,
tears shining in her eyes. " And bow thankful
I am that almost every one whom I love very
dearly is a Christian !
"'Forever with the Lord,
Amen, so let it be ;
Life from the dead is in that word,
'Tis immortality. ' "
Marian had been greatly impressed by the
sermon, the subject of which was the shortness
and uncertainty of life. She was very quiet
and thoughtful that afternoon and evening, but
woke the next morning full of thoughts of the
shopping expedition of that day, which would
be a rather new experience to her.
She rose an hour earlier than usual, busied
herself with her lessons for the day, and at
breakfast-time was able to tell the captain that
she felt prepared to recite then or on her re
turn from the city, if it suited him to hear
her.
"Yes," he said, "at either time, as you may
prefer."
"Oh, thank you sir!" she returned; "then, if
you please, let it be before I go, for it will be a
relief to have them off my mind and nothing
ELSIE AT ION. 205
to think of but the purchases we are going to
make."
So it happened that the recitations were
over before the arrival of the carriage from
Ion bringing Grandma Elsie to join the shop
pers, Eosie and Walter to attend to school
duties.
It was not quite time to begin work in the
school-room, so those who were to remain be
hind gathered on the veranda to see the
shoppers off.
Lulu watched them rather wistfully, and
could not quite repress a little sigh of regret
that she was not to be of the number, but
catching her father's eye and smile, her face
grew bright again.
He had just turned and stepped back into the
veranda, after handing the ladies into the car
riage, and it was driving away toward the great
gates opening on the high-road.
" Are you all sadly disappointed at being left
behind?" he asked, addressing the little group
collectively.
" I should be, sir, if I had had any expectation
of going," replied Rosie, putting on a hurt and
indignant air, " but when mamma was invited
the other evening, through the telephone, and
nothing said about me, of course I understood
that I was not wanted in the party. "
206 ELSIE AT ION.
" No, little sister, it was rather that you were
wanted in the school-room," replied the captain
with a slightly amused look. " Now let us all
go there, and perhaps we may pick up some
thing more valuable than we could have found
in the city stores/'
" I think perhaps we may, papa," Grace said
with a bright, pleased look and slipping her
hand into his.
" I think so too, papa, and mean to try my
very best," said Lulu, taking possession of his
other hand and moving on with him and Grace
in the direction of the school-room, Bosie Jind
Walter following.
Rosie's vexation was all pretence; she set
diligently to work, as did each of the others,
and all went swimmingly with them and their
teacher till the day's tasks were done and they
dismissed to their sports.
Eosie and Walter had permission to stay at
Woodburn uutil their mother's return, which
was not till near tea-time. So they dined with
the captain and his children, and they were a
very merry little party, the captain jesting with
them all in a way to both entertain the older
ones and help the babies to forget their mother's
absence.
They seemed to do so, and to be content and
happy witn their father and sisters, yet when
ELSIE AT ION< 907
mamma returned to them received her with
demonstrations of delight.
Both the captain and Violet urged Grandma
Elsie to stay to tea, keeping Rosie and Walter
there with her.
"We want a little visit from you, mother,"
added the captain ; " would be very glad to have
you stay all night and as much longer as you
will, but our family carriage will be at your
service to carry you to Ion whenever you desire
to go."
" Yes, mamma, do stay at least till after tea,"
urged Walter ; " it is very pleasant here, about
as pleasant as at home, and I think the change
may be of benefit to you."
" So you are turning doctor, are you, Walter?"
laughed Rosie. "It might be well to engage
Cousin Art to superintend your studies as well as
those of Harold and Herbert ; though it seems to
me it would be rather a mistake to put so many
lads out of one family into one profession."
" That is a question that may be considered
at some other time," returned Walter, with
unmoved gravity. "Mamma, yon will stay,
will you not?"
" Yes, since a visit here is the prescription of
my little new doctor," Elsie returned with a
smile ; " and since the host and hostess are both
so kindly urgent."
208 ELSIE AT ION.
"Thank you, mamma," said Rosie. "I ain
well pleased with your decision, for I am just
aching to question Marian as to all that has
been bought to-day for the furnishing of Beech-
wood."
" Then suppose you and Lulu and Grace come
with me to my room," proposed Marian. "I
feel quite in the humor for talking, but must
at the same time make myself neat for the tea-
table."
The invitation was promptly accepted, and
Marian made her toilet with the others look
ing on and occasionally giving some little assist
ance.
" I suppose you bought beautiful things,
Marian?" observed Rosie interrogatively.
" Oh, yes, I think so," was the reply. " Cousin
Ronald was, oh, so kind ! Cousin Hugh also.
They both seemed to want me to have every
thing to suit my taste, particularly in my
room ; and the things we chose are very pretty,
I think, though of course not nearly so expen
sive as the furnishings here in this room or in
yours and Grace's, Lulu."
"But why shouldn't they be?" queried Lulu.
" Cousin Ronald seems to have plenty of money
and to think everything of you."
" I really don't know how much money he
has," returned Marian, "but I do know that
ELSIE AT ION. 309
there is Beechwood to be paid for, besides the
ground for the factory, and the buildings that
have to be put up, and I'm sure it must take
heaps of money to do it all. So I am more
than content to have pretty furnishings that
do not cost nearly so much as what you have
here."
" And I'm sure that's just the right way to
feel about it," said Eosie, "though I'm not at
all sure it would have occurred to me to take
all that into consideration."
" Very likely it might not to me if I hadn't
had to struggle with poverty nearly all my life,"
said Marian.
Then she went on to give a minute and, to
the listening girls, interesting description of
the purchases made. The talk at the tea-table
that evening was first of Beechwood and a few
repairs and alterations needed there, then about
the building of the factory, the engagement of
workmen and women, and the markets to be
found for the textile fabrics to be made by
them under Hugh's direction and supervision.
Then plans for the usual summer outing in
the cooler climate of the North were discussed.
Grandma Elsie, Captain Raymond, and Violet
were of the opinion that the start for that sec
tion should be made within a week.
"You will go with us, Cousin Ronald, will
14
210 ELSIE AT ION.
you not?" asked Grandma Elsie, turning to
him.
"I think not, cousin," he replied. "I want
to be here to help my laddie with his building
and the adorning of the house that's to make a
home for Marian here and ourselves," smiling
kindly upon his young relative as he spoke.
" But I quite approve of her accompanying you,
for she's been a diligent scholar, the captain
tells me, and occasional rest and diversions are
very good and desirable things for the young."
"No better than for the old, Cousin Eonald,"
returned Marian with a grateful, loving look
into his eyes; "and if you don't need them I
do not, I am sure. I've had a very great change
of scene and life, and a long journey too, within
the last few months, you know, and now there
is nothing I should enjoy more than staying
here and helping you to put the new home in
order and place the pretty furniture we bought
to-day."
Cousin Ronald and Hugh both looked much
pleased with her choice.
"Ah, lassie, you appreciate your privileges,"
said Mr. Lilburn, " which is more than can be
said of everybody."
" But everybody has not so many privileges
or so great as mine," returned Marian, her eyes
shining,
CHAPTER XV.
THE captain's pupils were jubilant over the
prospect of soon leaving for the sea-shore at the
North. Inquiries in regard to different loca
tions had been set on foot some weeks previous,
and now it was decided to take possession for
the season of several dwellings in the neighbor
hood of Cape Ann, Mass. In one of them,
which was quite large, too large to be called a
cottage, the Ion and Woodburn families would
be together much of the time, a little building
near at hand containing the overflow when
guests would render accommodations at the
larger house too small.
Edward and Zoe with their little ones would
remain at home for the present, that he might
oversee the work on the plantation, and the
Fairview family would go for a time at least to
Evelyn's home on the banks of the Hudson.
The families at the Oaks and the Laurels were
not going North at present, but might do <M
later in the season.
211
212 ELSIE AT ION.
The Kaymonds were to take their journey by
sea in the Dolphin, the others, with their guests,
going by rail.
That was the plan at first, but only a day or
two before they started Mary Keith received a
letter from her father giving her permission to
accept an invitation from the relatives to spend
the summer with them at the sea-shore, which
she did with delight.
"Oh, I am so glad, Mary!" Violet exclaimed
when she heard the news; "and I want you to
go with us on the Dolphin. Won't you? It
will be a new and, I hope, pleasant experience
for you, and we shall be so glad to have your
company."
Captain Raymond, who was present, warmly
seconded the invitation, and Mary accepted it.
This talk was at Ion, where the captain and
Violet were making a short call. They took
their leave almost immediately, saying that the
time for their preparations for leaving home
was growing very short, and there were a num
ber of matters still claiming their attention.
Before they had reached the avenue gates the
captain turned to his wife, saying, " I think, my
dear, if you have no objection, we will drive
over to Roselands for a short call before going
home. I want to say a few words to Cal."
There was a twinkle of fun in his eye, and
ELSIE AT ION. 213
Violet returned laughingly, "Yes, I under
stand. Let us go by all means."
On reaching Roselands they did not alight,
but said to Calhoun, who came out to welcome
them, that they were in haste, only wanted a
few words with him, and then must return
home.
"Yes," he said; "you leave day after to
morrow, I believe? Is there something you
would like me to attend to for you in your ab
sence, captain?"
"No, thank you," was the smiling reply;
" what we want is to take you with us. You
have not taken a holiday for years; we have
plenty of room for you on the yacht, and can
assure you of pleasant company the very pleas-
antest you could have, for Cousin Mary Keith
has consented to go with us."
" And you think that furnishes an additional
inducement?" Calhoun returned, coloring and
laughing. "Well, I won't deny that it does.
But this is very sudden."
"You needn't decide at once; talk it over
with Art, and we shall hope you will decide to
go. We shall be glad to take you as a passenger,
though it should be at the last minute. Good-
morning ;" and with the last word the carriage
started down the avenue.
Arthur called that evening to thank the cap-
214 ELSIE AT ION.
tain for the invitation to Calhoun and say that
it would be accepted.
" He really needs a rest," he said, " and though
I had some difficulty in persuading him that
he could be done without for a few weeks, I
succeeded at last, though a bit of information
about a certain passenger," he added with a
smile, " had probably more to do with his ac
ceptance than anything else."
" Cousin Arthur, I wish you could go too!"
exclaimed Violet. "Don't you think you
could?"
"Yes, can't you?" asked the captain. "We
should be delighted to have you, for the sake of
your pleasant company, to say nothing of the
convenience of having our medical adviser close
at hand in case of sickness or accident."
"Thank you kindly," returned the doctor.
" I should greatly enjoy going, especially in such
pleasant company, but it would not do for Cal
and me to absent ourselves at one and the same
time. Besides, I have some patients that I
could not leave just at present."
"Then take your turn after Calhoun comes
home," said the captain. "He would be a
welcome guest as long as he might choose to
stay, but if I know him as I think I do, he is
not likely to stay as long as we do."
"No, not he," said Arthur; "if he stays two
ELSIE AT JON. 215
or three weeks it will be quite as much as I
expect."
" And we shall hope to see you after that,"
said the captain. " Don't forget that 'all work
and no play makes Jack a dull boy,' and we
could ill afford to have our doctor so trans
formed. "
" Many thanks, " returned Arthur. " I some
times feel that such a rest would do me a world
of good, and perhaps prevent or delay such a
catastrophe as you speak of," he added with a
smile ; " but it is really a very difficult thing for
a busy country doctor to get away from his
work for even a brief holiday."
" Yes, but I think he should take one occa
sionally nevertheless," said the captain; "since
by so doing he is likely to last the longer, and
in the end do more for his fellow-creatures. "
"Very pleasant doctrine, captain," laughed
Arthur. " But I must be going now, as some
of these same fellow-creatures are in need of
my services at this present moment."
"I wish you were going with us now, Art,"
said Violet as she bade him good-by. "It
would be really delightful to have you along as
friend and relative as well as physician."
" That is very good and kind in you," he re
turned. " I won't forget it, and perhaps I may
look in on yon before the summer is over."
416 ELSIE AT ION.
That day and the next were very busy ones
at Woodburn and Ion, and the succeeding one
saw them all on their way northward. Mary
Keith was delighted with the yacht, which she
had not seen until she boarded it in company
with the Raymonds. It was a pleasure to
Violet to take her cousin down into the cabin
and show her all its beauties and conveniences,
including the state-room she was to occupy on
the voyage.
"Oh, how lovely!" cried Mary; "and how
good in you to ask me to go with you in this
beautiful vessel. I am sure the journey will
not be half so wearisome as it would in the cars."
"I hope not," returned Violet, "but I hope
you won't be sea-sick; for if you are you will
probably wish we had not induced you to try
the voyage in preference to the journey by
land."
"And perhaps that you had my doctor
brother as fellow-passenger instead of myself,"
remarked a familiar voice behind them that
of Calhoun Conly and turning quickly they
discovered him and the captain standing near
by, regarding them with amused, smiling coun
tenances.
"Welcome! I'm glad to see you, Cal," said
Violet, holding out her hand.
"Thank you, Vi," he returned, taking the
ELSIE AT ION. 217
iand in a cordial grasp. "And yon, Miss
Mary, are not displeased, I hope, that I have
accepted an invitation to join your party on the
voyage and for a short time at the sea-shore."
"No, Mr. Conly," laughed Mary. "Whom
the captain and Violet choose to invite is, I am
sure, no affair of mine; nor should I object to
your company so long as you continue so in
offensive as you have been during our brief
acquaintance."
" Thanks," he returned, bowing low; " now I
feel entirely comfortable."
" That's right, Cal," said the captain. " And
suppose we all go on deck to see the weighing
of the anchor and the starting of the vessel;
for the steam is up and we are about ready to
move."
An awning shaded the deck and a breeze
from the sea made it a pleasant place to lounge
and read or chat. The children were already
seated there, watching the movements of the
Bailors and of the people on the wharf.
"How d'y do, Cousin Cal?" said Lulu, mak
ing room for him and Mary Keith on the settee
she had been occupying. "I'm glad you are
going with us, and I hope you and Cousin Mary
will have a good time, for I think a journey
taken on the Dolphin is very much more en
joyable than one by rail."
318 ELSIE AT ION.
" I have no doubt of it if one is not attacked
by sea-sickness," returned Calhoun.
"Are you likely to be?" she asked.
" Well, that I cannot tell, as this will be my
first voyage," he answered.
"As it is mine," said Mary.
"If you are both sick you can sympathize
each with the other," remarked Violet laugh
ingly.
But the captain had walked forward to give
his orders, the work of weighing anchor was
beginning, and all kept silence while watching
it. Presently the vessel was speeding on her
way, and they had nothing to do but sit under
the awning enjoying the breeze and the pros
pect of the wide expanse of ocean on the one
side and the fast-receding shore on the other.
The voyage proved a speedy and prosperous
one, continuous fair weather and favorable
winds making it most enjoyable. One pleasant
afternoon they entered Gloucester harbor, and
before night were safely housed in their new
temporary home, where they found the Dins-
mores and Travillas awaiting them.
Mr. Croly too was there to join in the greet
ings. Domiciled with relatives who occupied a
cottage but a few rods distant, he passed much
of his time with Harold and Herbert, fishing,
boating, bathing, riding, or driving; pleasures
ELSIE AT ION. 219
that were now shared by the other gentlemen
and ladies and more or less by the children
also; the captain, young uncles, and occasion
ally Mr. Croly caring for them when in bathing
and seeing that they had a fair share of the
pleasures of the older people.
There were many beautiful drives to be taken,
some interesting spots to visit. One day they
took a long drive, much of it through a pleasant
wood, whence they emerged within a few hun
dred yards of the sea-shore, there very high and
rocky. They fastened their horses in the edge
of the wood, alighted, and walked out in the
direction of the sound of the dashing, booming
waves.
Stepping across a narrow fissure in the rocks,
the gentlemen helping the ladies and children
over, they could see that it widened toward the
water and that the sea roared and foamed like
a seething caldron about the base of the rocks,
which were very steep and uneven, in many
places great stones piled upon each other in a
way that made them look as if it would take
very little to send them toppling down into the
roaring, fuming water below.
Grace clung to her father in affright. "0
papa, please don't let us go any nearer," she
said; "please hold me tight."
"I will, my darling," he answered sooth-
220 ELSIE AT ION.
ingly. "We are in no danger here, and you
can just stand and look, seeing all you need
care to. Then I will take you back to mamma,
over yonder where she is gathering flowers for
Elsie and Ned, and you can stay with and amuse
them while she comes here to take a look."
"Yes, I'd rather be there," she said, "for it
seems so dangerous here. papa, see! Lu is
going so near the edge. I'm afraid she'll fall
in."
" Uncle Harold has her hand," he said ; " still
I do not like to see her venturing so near
the edge. Lucilla," he called, "come here,
daughter."
She turned about and came at once. " Uncle
Harold was taking care of me, papa," she said;
" but oh, it does look dangerous, and I shouldn't
like to go climbing about over the rocks as
Cousin Mary and Eosie are doing; at least not
unless I had you to hold me, papa."
" I shall not take you into any such dangerous
place," he said, "nor will I allow any one else
to do so. Do you see that little cross there?"
pointing to a small wooden one driven in the
rock near by.
"Yes, sir. What is it there for?" asked
Lulu.
" As a reminder of a sad accident that hap
pened here some years ago. A party of summer
ELSIE AT ION. 221
risitors to this coast came out here one day as
we have done and went down near the waves.
Among them was a very estimable young lady,
a Christian, I believe she was, a teacher too,
supporting her aged parents by her industry.
She was soon to be married, and with her were
the parents of her intended husband.
" It seems they all went down near the waves,
this young lady nearer than the others. She
seated herself on the rock against which the
waves dash up. Some of the others called to
her that she was not in a safe place, but she
replied that she thought it safe ; the waves did
not come up close to her, and they looked away
in another direction for a moment; when they
turned to look for her again she was gone from
the rock, and all they could see of her was one
hand held up out of the boiling waves as if in
a wild appeal for help. Help which they could
not give, for they had no boat and no other
way of reaching her."
" Was she drowned, papa?" asked Grace.
"Yes, my child; she could not live many
minutes amid such waves and rocks. They made
all the haste they could to get help, but none
was near at hand, and she must have been dead
long before they got it there. They did get
the body finally, with grappling irons, but the
soul had fled.
232 ELSIE AT ION.
" My children, remember what I say to you
now. Never run the risk of losing your lives
when nothing is to be gained by it for either
yourselves or others ; to do so is both wrong and
foolish ; it is really breaking the sixth command
ment ' Thou shalt not kill. ' We have no right
to kill ourselves, not even to escape great suf
fering, but must wait God's time to call us
hence.
"Now I will take you to your little sister
and brother, to take charge of them while your
mamma comes to view Kafe's Chasm."
In the mean time Grandma Elsie had called
to Rosie and Walter, and was talking to them,
in much the same strain, of the folly and sin-
fulness of unnecessarily exposing themselves to
danger.
" You can see almost as much from this safe
place as you can by going into those very dan
gerous ones," she said. Then she told them
the same story the captain had just been telling
his little girls.
" O mamma, how dreadful, how very dread
ful!" exclaimed Kosie; "it was so sad to be
snatched away from life so suddenly, while young
and well and with so much to live for."
"Yes," sighed her mother; "my heart aches
for the poor parents, even more than for the
lover. He has probably found another bride
ELSIE AT ION. 233
before this, while they still mourn the irrepara
ble loss of their dear daughter. "
"Your mother is right, children," said Mr.
Dinsmore, standing near. "Heed her teach
ings, and never risk life or limb in a mere spirit
of bravado."
The captain now stood beside them with
Violet on his arm, and the others came climb
ing back, till they all stood in a group to
gether.
" What an awful occurrence that was ! what
a dreadful death to die tossed about by those
booming waves, that raging, foaming water,
against those cruel rocks till life was extinct,"
Violet said, gazing down into the chasm while
clinging tightly to her husband's arm.
"Yes," said Mary Keith, "and I feel that I
was hardly right to run the risk I did in climb
ing about as I have been doing."
"Nor I," said Croly.
" Nor any of the rest of us," added Calhoun;
" but we won't do it any more. But what is it
Vi refers to? Has there ever been an accident
here?"
"Yes; have you not heard the story?" said
his uncle. " Has no one told you the meaning
of yonder cross?" pointing to it as he spoke.
"No, sir; and I had not noticed it before.'*
Mr. Dinsmore briefly told the sad tale ; then
224 ELSIE AT ION.
slowly and almost in silence they turned and
left the spot.
Harold, Herbert, and Will Croly were strolling
together along the beach that evening, and for
a time their talk was of Rafe's Chasm and the
accident there, the story of which they had
heard that day.
" It has been a good deal in my mind eyer
gince I heard it," remarked Croly, "and I have
asked myself what must it be to be called so
suddenly from earth to heaven. It is a solemn
thought that we may be so called any day or
hour, but a sweet one also ; for to the Chris
tian, what is sudden death but sudden glory, a
sudden awaking in the land where pain and
sickness, sin and sorrow are unknown, and in
the immediate presence of the dear Master who
has loved us with an everlasting love? Oh, I
cannot think sudden death a calamity to the
Christian!"
"No," said Harold, "but it is sad for the
surviving relatives and friends. Oh, what a
heart-breaking thing to lose our mother in that
way, for instance!"
"Yes; such a terrible death," said Herbert
in moved tones.
"But the suffering was very short," said
Croly. " Doubtless consciousness was soon lost,
and I have heard again and again that thoe?
ELSIE AT ION. 23&
who have been taken from the water apparently
dead so nearly gone that if left to themselves
they would never have recovered consciousness
have said that it was an easy death to die.
Those who die by disease must often and often
suffer far more in the weeks and months while
disease is slowly making its way to the citadel
of life."
"Yes, that is true," answered Harold; "yet
thinking of it all does not rouse in me any
desire for drowning. I believe I have never
told you, Will," he added, facing round upon
his friend and speaking in tones slightly
tremulous with emotion, " that I was once as
near drowning as one could be and live; yes,
should probably never have recovered conscious
ness but for my dear mother's determined per
severance with efforts at resuscitation, when
every one else had given me up as dead."
"No," returned Croly in an awestruck tone,
" I never heard it before. No wonder you love
her so dearly, for leaving that out of the account,
she is a woman in a thousand. Ah, I often
envy you fellows when I see you with your
mother and think of mine, sick and suffering
away on the other side of the sea."
"But you are hoping she and your father
will return soon, are yon not, Will?" asked
Herbert in a tone of sympathy.
15
236 ELSIE AT ION.
** Yes, I am hoping every day to hear that
they are about sailing; but I have heard noth
ing at all for some weeks, and am growing more
anxious day by day. Aunt and uncle try to
comfort and reassure me with the old saying
that 'no news is good news,' but well, my only
comfort is in casting my cares on the Lord, re
membering that he cares for both them and
me, and that his promise is, 'As thy days, so
shall thy strength be. ' "
"That is one of my mother's favorite texts,"
remarked Herbert, " and she says it has always
been fulfilled to her."
" And she has seen some sore trials?"
"Yes; my father's death for one. I know
that was the greatest of all; though before
that, death had snatched away from her a
very dear and lovely little daughter," said
Harold.
"And she has had trials in other forms,"
added Herbert. " Some persons would esteem
it a very great trial to be called to choose be
tween a difficult and dangerous surgical opera
tion and certain, painful death from disease. "
"And she has had that trial?" asked Croly.
"Yes; and went through it bravely, trusting
in the Lord to spare her life or take her to
dwell with him in bliss forever."
" She is a noble and lovely woman," remarked
ELSIE AT ION. 287
Croly. " I never saw one whom I admired
more."
" Ah, you do not know half how sweet and
good, and what a devoted Christian she our
beloved mother is," said Harold earnestly.
" I thank God every day for giving me such a
mother."
"As I do," said Herbert. "I often think if
there is anything good in me, it is the result of
my mother's kind, wise, loving training."
CHAPTER XVI.
THE next day was the Sabbath the third
since the arrival of the Raymonds. Rain fell
heavily. There was no church near at hand,
and our friends gathered in the parlors of the
house occupied by the Dinsmores, Tra villas, and
Raymonds, where a sermon was read, prayers
were offered, and hymns sung. In the evening
they held a Bible-reading, and afterward sang
hymns, now selected or suggested by one, now
by another.
Croly chose several. He had been with them
in the morning and offered a very feeling, fer
vent prayer. The first two verses of f.he last
hymn sung at his request were :
"My days are gliding swiftly by,
And I, a pilgrim stranger,
Would not detain them as they fly,
These hours of toil and danger.
For oh, we stand on Jordan's strand
Our friends are passing over,
And, just before, the shining shore
We may almost discover.
228
ELSIE AT ION. 229
"Our absent King the watch- word gave,
'Let every lamp be burning ;'
We look afar across the wave,
Our distant home discerning.
For oh, we stand on Jordan's strand,
Our friends are passing over,
And, just before, the shining shore
We may almost discover. "
Monday was a bright, beautiful day, spent by
our friends very much as usual. They had
been unusually long without letters from their
homes or that vicinity, and were growing a
trifle anxious; Calhoun in especial, as he felt
that he himself had had a good vacation, and
it was time that his brother, the doctor, was
taking his turn. Yet there was a very strong
tie binding him for the present to the spot
where he was. He and Mary Keith had come
to an understanding and were mutual lovers,
only awaiting the consent of her parents to be
come engaged. He had written to Mr. Keith,
telling him frankly of his circumstances and
prospects, his lo\re for Mary, and desire to make
her his wife at the earliest day on which her
parents could be induced to resign her to him,
also of her willingness to become his; conclud
ing his letter by a reference to their cousin and
his uncle, Mr. Dinsmore, for any desired in
formation in regard to his character and the
230 ELSIE AT ION.
correctness of his statements concerning his
ability, present and prospective, to support a
wife and family.
He and Mary walked out that morning soon
after breakfast, strolled along the beach for a
time, then seated themselves within sight of
their temporary home.
They had hardly done so, when Walter
Travilla came running with letters which he
said had just come from the office.
" There are several for each of you ; you are
fortunate this morning," he added; "however,
that depends very much upon what is in
them."
"So it does, Wai," said Calhoun, glancing at
his, and perceiving that the direction on one of
them was in a masculine hand and the post
mark that of the town where Mary's parents
lived.
His pulses quickened at the sight, and his
face flushed.
Walter had run away, and Mary was break
ing the seal of her own letter from home ; she
seemed too busy with it to notice the excite
ment of her companion, seeing which he silently
opened and read his to himself.
The two epistles were of much the same tone
and tenor. The parents, though feeling it a
sore trial to part with their child their eldest
ELSIE AT ION. 231
daughter gave full consent, since that seemed
necessary to her happiness.
Mary's feelings as she read were of strangely
mingled happiness and heartache. She loved
the man at her side, loved him so dearly that
she could scarce have home to resign him, yet
the thought of leaving the dear parents who
had loved and cherished her all her days was
almost equally unendurable. Her tears began
to fall, and the sound of a low sob startled
Calhoun just as he finished the perusal of Mr.
Keith's letter, which brought only joy to him.
"Oh, dearest, what is it?" he asked, passing
an arm about her waist. "Does that letter
bring you bad news? Mine gives me only the
joyful intelligence of your parents' consent; so
that I have a right to comfort you in any trouble,
if it lies in my power."
" Do not be vexed or offended that the same
news is not all joy to me," she returned, smiling
through her tears. " My father and mother are
very, very dear to me; they have loved and
cherished me all my life ; their home has always
been mine, and " but overcome by emotion, she
ended with a sob, leaving her sentence unfin
ished.
" And you are giving them up for me, a com
parative stranger, and far from worthy of such
a prize as yourself," he said in low, tender, tones,
232 ELSIE AT ION.
taking her hand and pressing it affectionately in
his. " Dear girl, if love, tenderness, entire de
votion can make you happy, you shall never
regret the sacrifice."
" I have no fear of that," she returned, smil
ing through her tears, " for though but a few
weeks have passed since we first saw each other,
you are well known to us through Uncle Dins-
more, Cousin Elsie, and others. I do not fear
to trust you oh, no, it is not that, but the
leaving of the dear father and mother now
when they begin to grow old and may need a
daughter's care."
"But they have other daughters?"
" Yes, but I am the eldest, and the one who
would perhaps know best how to make them
comfortable."
"Well, dearest, let us leave that for the
present. There is plenty of room at Roselands,
and perhaps should your father some day re
tire from business they may like to come and
make their home with us. If so, we shall be
glad, very glad to have them."
That was a word of comfort that chased
Mary's tears away, and the rest of their talk
was gay and happy ; the principal subject their
plans for the immediate future.
"I ought to be going home," remarked Cal-
houn at length, with a slight sigh, " though the
ELSIE AT ION. 283
tact is I don't know how to tear myself away.
But I must, for poor, overworked Art must
have his turn. Ah, here's a letter from him,"
taking up one from the still uuexamined, half-
forgotten pile lying on the grass by his side.
Hastily tearing it open, he glanced over the
contents. " Why, here is news!" he exclaimed.
" Marian McAlpine has been quite ill, Art at
tending her; she's convalescing, but needs
change of climate and scene. Art has prescribed
a few weeks at the sea-shore, and they are com
ing here the whole four of them Mr. Lilburn
and his son, Miss Marian, and Art as her
attending physician. I am commissioned to
find a boarding-place for them. But what are
they thinking of? They were to start the day
after this was written, and will probably be here
to-night or to-morrow. Oh, well, there are
hotels in the town, and I must just hurry in
there, make inquiries, and do the best I can for
them."
" Yes; let us go back to the house at once,"
said Mary. " But ah, here comes Cousin Elsie,"
she added, as they both rose and turned toward
the dwelling.
" You had a letter from Art, I noticed, Cal-
houn," said Mrs. Travilla, hastening toward
them, " and I presume it brings the same news
as this one from Cousin Ronald to me," indi-
234 ELSIE AT ION.
eating one that she held in her hand. "He
says Marian has been really very ill, but is con
valescing, and they are bringing her here,
thinking the sea-air may do her good. He says
Arthur is coming along as her physician, but
agrees with him that it is not at all necessary
for you to hurry home, as Edward is able and
willing to give some little attention to the
workers on your plantation."
"That is good news," Calhoun said with a
smile, " but I must hurry into the city and find
a boarding-place for them."
"Why, Cal, you astonish me!" exclaimed
Elsie. " Have I ever shown myself so inhospi
table that you have a right to suppose I would
Jet relatives go to a hotel when I can make
room for them in my home?"
"I didn't think you could, cousin," he re*
turned.
"I both can and will, if I am allowed the,
opportunity ; it is only a little cro^ ding that is
necessary. Mr. Conly can take his brother the.
doctor into his room to share his bed, Cousin
Ronald and his son can share another and
there is a spare room waiting for them while
Marian can be taken in with some of us. I
have not thought it all out yet, but am confi
dent I can soon arrange it."
"Oh, easily, cousin," said Mary, "for Eosie
ELSIE AT ION. 235
and I could easily take Lulu or Grace, or both
of them, into our room. Crowding at the sea
shore is nothing new, and I do not think it
will be at all unpleasant to me."
" You are a dear, good girl, Mary," was Elsie's
smiling response as she turned and hastened
back to the house.
" She has her full share of the Southern virtue
of hospitality," remarked Calhoun, looking
after her with admiring eyes.
"Do you consider it a specially Southern
virtue?" queried Mary with a little laugh of
amusement.
"I beg your pardon," returned Calhoun gal
lantly, " and acknowledge that I have seen no
lack of the virtue in question since coming up
North, but I have always heard it spoken of as
particularly characteristic of my native section
of the Union, though I dare say that is alto
gether a mistake."
" I shall try to convince you of that one of
these days," she said with a smiling look up
into his eyes.
When Mrs. Travilla reached the house, there
was first a short consultation among the older
members of the family, then a pleasant little
bustle of preparation for the expected, wel
come guests, who it was found could be easily
accommodated without greatly disturbing or
236 ELSIE AT ION.
interfering with the comfort of any one
else.
These preparations completed, all gathered
on the porch and sat there, the gentlemen read
ing, the ladies crocheting or merely chatting
to pass away the time till the dinner-bell should
summon them to the table. But a carriage
was seen approaching from the direction of the
town.
"I wonder, now, if it isn't our party," said
Calhoun, and even as he spoke it drove up and
stopped before the gate; seeing which he,
Harold, and Herbert sprang up and hastened
forward to assist the travellers to alight; for it
was indeed the expected party of relatives from
the South.
The gentlemen were all well and in fine
spirits, but Marian was much exhausted and
glad to be taken directly to bed. The doctor
seemed very careful of his patient, the other
two equally solicitous for her comfort ; as were
Mrs. Dinsmore, Elsie, and Violet, all of whom
were ready to do for her anything in their
power.
All she wanted, however, was a little light
nourishment, then a long sound sleep, and the
next morning she was able to occupy a hammock
swung upon the porch, where she passed her
time listening to reading, generally by the doc-
ELSIE AT ION. 23?
tor, who rarely left her long for the first day
or two, chatting with the cousins or sleeping;
weakness and the sea-air having somewhat the
effect of an opiate.
But both the air and the sleep did her great
good, so that in a few days she was able to take
short drives and even walks along the beach
with the support of the arm of one or another
of the gentlemen, oftener that of Arthur than
any other. He watched over her with the care
and tenderness of a mother, noticed the first
sign of exhaustion, and it was always he who
helped her up the stairs to her bedroom, not
infrequently half -carrying her there.
All the older members of the family noticed
his devotion and quietly remarked upon it
among themselves.
" He is really in love with her, I think, but
it seems to me the disparity of years is too
great," remarked Herbert one day when the
matter was under discussion.
"Perhaps, laddie, when you come to be of
his age you may see such matters in a different
light," said Mr. Lilburn in a fatherly tone and
with a kindly smile at his young relative.
"As his mother did before him," added
Elsie, laying her hand affectionately in that of
Herbert, who was as usual close at her side.
"Ah, mamma dear, I quite forgot at the
238 ELSIE AT ION.
moment that yon had married one so mnch
older than yourself. But my father was no
common man."
" No, nor is Cousin Arthur ; at least so we
all think, we to whom he has always been so
kind and faithful as both relative and physi
cian."
"Yes," said Mr. Dinsmore, "and any one
who is so fortunate as to win his heart and
hand will have one of the best, most affection
ate, and attentive of husbands."
" And the disparity of years will not be so
very much greater than between Cousin Mary
and his brother," remarked Mrs. Dinsmore.
"And they seem a delightfully happy pair;
as a certain married couple of my acquaintance,
between whom there must be something like
the same disparity of years, are to my actual
knowledge," remarked Violet with a bright,
fond look up into her husband's face as he sat
by her side with baby Ned on his knee.
"Quite true, my dear. I could not be in
duced to exchange my one little wife for half a
dozen women of twice her years, even if the
law allowed it," returned the captain with a
humorous look and smile.
"Nor could I be induced to exchange my
one good big husband for a dozen or more other
men of any age, size, or quality," laughed Violet.
ELSIE AT ION. 239
"Wise Vi," remarked Herbert; "one is
plenty; more than one would certainly be a
superfluity. There look toward the shore,
everybody. Yonder are Cal and his beloved
wandering together near the waves, seemingly
in close conversation, while Art and his sit side
by side on two camp-chairs a little nearer here,
or a trifle farther from the water. There is cer
tainly a good deal of love-making going on."
"At least things have that appearance,"
Harold said with a quiet smile as he and the
others followed Herbert's advice, and gazing
out seaward had a pretty view of the two pairs
of lovers.
There was little doubt in any of their minds
that Arthur and Marian belonged in that class,
while the other two were openly acknowledged
as such.
But they were somewhat mistaken. Arthur
had not yet breathed a word of love to his
young patient, and she thought of him only as
her dear, kind doctor, who had done much to
relieve her sufferings and had in all probability
saved her life. She had strong confidence in
his skill and was a perfectly tractable and
obedient patient. He assisted her to her room
that evening, as usual, more than an hour be
fore any but the younger children were ready
to retire.
240 ELSIE AT ION.
It was a beautiful moonlight evening, and
the porches, where most of the family were
gathered, looked very inviting as he came down
again and stepped out upon the one that ran
along the front of the house.
His Cousin Elsie invited him to an easy-chair
by her side, then presently proposed that they
two should stroll around the porches together.
He caught gladly at the suggestion, rose and
offered her his arm.
" I want a little private chat with you, Art,"
she said, smiling brightly up into his face.
"I am always glad to talk with you, cousin,"
he returned, giving her an affectionate yet
keenly scrutinizing look, " but I hope it is not
of any serious ailment you have to tell me."
"Oh, no! lam thankful to be able to say
that I and all my near and dear ones are in per
fect health so far as I know. It is of yourself and
your dear young patient I would speak. Marian
is a sweet girl, lovely in both character and
person. "
"So I think. Ah, cousin, if I were only
some years younger!"
"Never mind that, Art; you are young in
looks a^d feeling, and I doubt if there is any
one nearer and dearer to her now than yourself.
She thinks her feeling for you is only the
gratitude and affection any patient might feel
ELSIE AT ION. 341
for a kind, attentive, sympathizing physician,
but I am much mistaken if on hearing the story
of your love from your lips she will fail to dis
cover that she loves you as a woman should the
man to whom she gives her hand."
"Do you really think so, cousin?" he asked
with a bright, glad smile.
"I do indeed," she replied, "and if I were
in your place I should soon put it to the proof
by offering her my hand and heart."
He seemed lost in thought for a moment,
then heaving a sigh, " Ah, if I were only sure,"
he said " sure of not, by so doing, losing the
place I can see that I have already won in her
heart the friendship it may not, after all, be
anything more than that I should not for a
moment hesitate to make the offer you recom
mend ; for I feel confident that with mutual
love we might be exceptionally happy despite
the difference in our years."
" No doubt of it," she returned, " and I hope
that before you leave us you will put it to the
proof ; because I think it will be for both your
happiness and hers. "
" Thank you very much for both your sym
pathy and advice, dear cousin," he said. "I
shall do so to-morrow if opportunity offers, as
is likely to be the case, seeing we are so fre
quently alone together as patient and physician.
16
242 ELSIE AT ION.
Then if I find she does not and cannot love
toe in the way I wish, I shall trouble her no
longer with my presence, but speedily set off
for home and its duties."
" But even in that case you need not entirely
despair," his cousin said with a bright, sweet
look up into his rather anxious and troubled
face, " for she is but young, and clever courting
may win her heart in time. You are such a
dear fellow, Art, so kind-hearted, generous,
sympathetic, so unselfish and helpful, that you
seem to me to deserve every good thing in life."
" Oh, Cousin Elsie, such extravagant praise
mortifies me, because I must acknowledge to
myself that it is so far beyond my deserts," he
returned, blushing like a girl.
"It need not," she said. "There is an old
saying that every one every deserving one at
least eats white bread at some time in his or
her life. You have had a hard life so far, but
I hope your time for white bread is now close
at hand."
He laughed a little at that. " Yes," he said,
"Cal and I have worked very hard for years
past, and times do grow easier with us, but
whether I shall ever get so far with the white
bread as to win the dear young wife I covet, I
do not know."
"Well, you have my best wishes," she re-
ELSIE AT ION. 243
turned, " and I shall do what I can to help the
prosperity of your suit by sounding your praises
in the ears of your lady-love. Ah, do not look
alarmed, but trust me to say only enough to
interest her, not so much as to weary her of the
subject."
" Thank you, dear cousin, I know I can trust
you fully. And will you not help me with your
prayers that I may, if it be God's will, succeed
in winning her heart completely?"
" Surely I will," she said, " and I believe our
joint petition will be granted, if it be for the
best."
Arthur lay awake for some time that night,
pondering on Elsie's advice in regard to his
contemplated suit for Marian's hand and asking
divine guidance and help.
The next morning, soon after breakfast, he,
as usual, asked Marian if she would like to go
down on the beach and get a breath of the
refreshing breeze from the sea.
" Yes, indeed, doctor, if it will not be keep
ing you from going somewhere with somebody
else," she answered with a smile.
"Not at all," he returned. "I have no en
gagement, and shall be glad not only to help you
to a breath of sea-air, but to take one myself. "
He brought a light shawl and wrapped it
about her, saying the breeze was rather fresh
244 ELSIE AT ION.
for her, while her Cousin Elsie tied on her hat
and veil. Then with a thick shawl over one
arm, he offered her the other, saying, " Walter
has run on ahead with a couple of camp-stools
for us, and this heavier shawl is to wrap around
you in case you find the other not warm enough. "
"Thank you," she returned, smiling up into
his face. " I am sure it is not every patient
who has so good and kind a doctor as mine."
" I do certainly want to be kind to all my
patients," he said pleasantly, "yet cannot deny
that some are greater favorites with me than
others. Besides, I have, you know, but the one
here to devote myself to."
"Fortunately for me," she returned laugh
ingly. " And I assure you I do enjoy having
my doctor all to myself. One likes to be treated
as a person of importance, you know."
" You are such to me," he said, " especially as
you have not yet fully recovered your strength,
and I must leave you soon to return to the care
of other patients left behind in the South."
She started and looked up half-entreatingly
into his face, but said nothing, for at that
moment Walter came running up to them.
"Cousin Arthur," he said, "I placed the
stools about where you usually sit, I think ; but
if they are not juat where you want them, they
are easily moved. "
ELSIE AT ION. 245
"Yes; thank you," replied the doctor, and
Walter ran on to the house.
He seated Marian comfortably, then took the
chair beside her.
"Must you go very soon?" she asked, trying
to swallow a lump in her throat.
" I am afraid I must, on account of the other
patients, though it seems decidedly hard for
me to leave this delightful spot and pleasant
company."
"Yes, sir; and I really think you ought to
have a longer rest after working so hard and
long. I I am afraid I have been a great deal
of trouble and the cause of much weariness.
And and I can never begin to pay you for it all. "
" Marian, dear girl, you can far more than
repay me if if only you can find it in your
heart to love and trust me well enough to give
your dear self into my care for the rest of our
two lives," he said in low, eager tones, bending
over her and taking her hand in his.
She did not withdraw it, but neither did she
speak, but bending low to catch sight of her
face, he saw that her tears were falling fast.
" my darling, I did not mean to distress
you so," he said in moved tones. "I see that
you cannot give me that kind of love, so for
get that I have asked it."
"Forget!" she exclaimed in low, tremulous
34 ELSIE AT ION.
tones, "forget the sweetest words I ever had
spoken to me? Oh, no, no! But I don't know
how you can give such love to me a poor, igno
rant girl, whose own father cares so little for her
that he would sacrifice her happiness for life. "
" No, no," he said, gathering her in his arms,
"the sweetest, dearest, loveliest one that ever
crossed my path. And you can love me. Ah,
darling, you have made me the happiest of men ;
you do not deny that you love me; and you are
to me the dearest of all earthly creatures."
He held her close, while she dropped her
head on his breast and wept for very joy and
thankfulness. For Elsie was right; he had
won her heart and was dearer to her than all
the world besides.
Many low-breathed, comforting, endearing
words fell from his lips as he held her close in
such loving embrace as she had not felt since
her mother's death, till at length her tears
ceased to fall and she was able to speak again.
"Oh, I never dreamed," she said, "that one
so wise and good could ever care in that way
for me. My heart is so full of joy and gratitude
to God and to you that words would not express
the half of it. But are you not afraid that you
may some day weary of a companion for life
who knows so much less than you do that she is
but a child in comparison with you?"
ELSIE AT ION. 247
" Ah, no," lie answered with a smile; " I have
only feared that your youth and my years might
stand in the way of my winning you ; that a
girl so sweet, fresh, and young would feel her
self thrown away upon a man of my age. It
would be but natural that you should prefer a
much more youthful and finer-looking man. "
" I do not know where I could find a finer-
looking one," she answered with an earnest
sincerity that made him smile. " Your face is
so benevolent in expression, so full of goodness
and kindness, that I could not help loving and
trusting you from the first."
" Ah, darling, those are sweet words," he said,
his eyes shining. " And you I found so patient
and uncomplaining under suffering, so grateful
for any and every kindness done you, every
effort to give you relief, that I could but admire
and end by loving you as I never loved before.
Ah, dearest, that you return my love and have
given yourself to me has made me the happiest
of men ! What a joy it will be to have you for
my very own to love, cherish, and provide for!"
" And how sweet to me to belong to one who
is so good and kind," she exclaimed, half -hiding
her blushing face on his shoulder. " Oh, never
before in all my life was I so happy as I am at
this moment!"
CHAPTER XVII.
A WHISTLE from the direction of the house
startled the lovers.
"Ah, that is Gal's call to me," said Arthur,
"and I presume that the mail is received, a
letter for me in it ; perhaps one for you too,
my Marian."
" Oh, I hope so," she said, " it is so long since
I heard from my dear brother Sandy, my only
one now."
" Ah," he said as they walked on to the house,
for he had risen and given her his arm, " you
must tell me about him, dearest, when oppor
tunity offers. Your only brother? Well, I shall
give you several more when you give yourself
to me."
They found the family all on the porch,
most of them with letters, papers, or magazines
in their hands.
Elsie looked smilingly at Arthur and Marian
as they came up the steps, something in their
faces telling what had passed between them
since they walked down to the beach together.
Arthur saw and returned her smile, and lead-
248
ELSIE AT ION. 249
ing Marian to her, said in joyous tones, " You
were right, cousin. I followed your advice,
and she, dear girl, has given herself to me; or
rather we have given ourselves to each other."
His clear though not loud tones reached
every ear, and in a moment all the relatives,
old and young, had gathered about the happy
pair with their hearty congratulations.
"I am truly glad, Miss Marian," said Cal-
houn, taking her hand in a warm pressure;
"glad for both you and Art, who will, I am
sure, make the best of husbands, and for my
self also that I am to have so sweet a new sister."
"And we are to be sisters too, it seems,"
Mary said, giving the young girl a warm
embrace.
" And Hugh and I are to be left desolate and
alone," remarked Mr. Lilburn in a rueful tone.
" Hugh, laddie, it is high time you were hunt
ing up a wife."
" I think I shall have to try, father," returned
the young man, coloring and laughing. "I
contemplate robbing those who have robbed us;
but a fair exchange is no robbery."
At that both the Conlys turned surprised,
inquiring looks upon him.
"Ah," he laughed, "I perceive that I have
stolen a march upon you. This, sirs," holding
up a letter, " is from your sister Ella, accepting
20 ELSIE AT ION.
my heart, hand, and fortune, which I offered
her some days ago by letter."
At that there was a murmur of surprise from
the listeners, accompanied by looks of pleasure ;
then the brothers shook hands with Hugh,
wishing him joy and saying they should be
glad to receive him into the family.
" My ! what a lot of weddings we seem to be
going to have!" exclaimed Eosie. "I think
I'll wait for mine till they are not quite such
common affairs."
"Particularly as there's nobody offering to
pair off with you yet, my pretty young sister,"
laughed Walter. "I think, though, that the
school-room is the best place for you and me
for a while yet."
" Ah, Marian, here is a letter for you, my
bonny lass ; from your brother Sandy, I pre
sume," said Mr. Lilburn, holding it out to her.
She took it eagerly, exclaiming, " Oh, yes,
that is Sandy's writing ! The dear laddie ! how
I have wanted to hear from him."
" Bead it, lass, and tell us if he says he will
come to us, and if so how soon," said the old
gentleman.
She hastened to obey, and presently announced
in joyous tones, " Oh, yes, Cousin Ronald, he is
delighted with your kind offer, and will come
as soon as he has finished his present engage*
ELSIE AT ION. 251
ment, which will be in about a couple of
months."
In the mean time Arthur had opened and
read a letter handed him by his brother. He
looked much pleased with its contents.
" Cousin Elsie," he said, "do you think you
can accommodate me here a few days longer?"
" I am quite certain of it, provided you will
stay," she answered with her own bright, sweet
smile. " You need not have the slightest fear
that you are not as welcome as the sunlight."
"Thank you very much," he said; "then I
shall stay perhaps another week. This letter
is from Cousin Dick Percival. He writes he
has come there to Eoselands for change of
scene and air, as well as to see his relatives;
can stay some weeks, and will take charge of
my patients for a time, which he has in fact
already begun to do."
"How nice!" exclaimed Eosie. "Dick is a
good boy to enable us to keep yon a little
longer, and when you go back he will, I hope,
come and pay a little visit here himself."
"Yes, I hope he will," said her mother. "I
shall write and invite him to do so."
"Well, Cousin Art, I'm glad you are going
to stay longer," said Walter, "but I hope none
of us will be expected to get sick in order to
give you employment."
252 ELSIE AT ION.
" No, certainly not," returned Arthur gravely.
"You must remember it was not for work I
came, but rest; so don't trouble yourself trying
to make business for me."
"No, I will leave that business to Cousin
Marian," returned Walter, giving her a mis
chievous look which brought a charming blush
to her cheek.
" Yes, Walter, I have given him a great deal
of business in that line, I am sorry to say," she
returned; "so that he has had but little rest,
and needs to stay and have some play-time."
"So he has; but you are much better, I'm
sure, for your cheeks are like as roses not
the white kind, either and we'll all endeavor
to keep well so that he'll have nothing to do
but rest and recruit the remainder of the time
he stays."
" Well, what are the plans for the day?" asked
Harold, addressing the company in general.
"Some of us want to do a little shopping,
and would like to have you drive us in to the
city," replied his mother.
" I shall do so with the greatest pleasure,
mamma," he returned. "How soon do you
wish to start?"
"I'm wanting a ride," said Eosie. "I
haven't had one for some time, and am actually
hungry for it."
ELSIE AT ION. 353
"Well, little dear, I'll see what can be done
to relieve your hunger," said Herbert gallantly.
" Are there any others of our company suffering
from the same kind of hunger?"
"Yes; I'd like to go," said Lulu. "May I,
papa?"
"Yes; if the right kind of horse can be
secured, so that I can feel that you will be safe.
Violet, my dear, if you are not to be one of the
shopping party, will you ride with me and the
others?"
"With pleasure, my dear," she replied. "I
dare say I am as hungry for a ride as my younger
sister ; and in your company it will be especially
enjoyable."
All then hurried to their rooms to don their
riding hats and habits, while Harold and the
captain went in search of the required steeds.
Arthur did not think Marian strong enough
for such a ride, and Mary and Calhoun did not
care to go. They would probably walk out
presently, but just now were waiting to see the
others off.
At Calhoun 's request, Mary sat down to the
piano, Marian and Arthur drew near, and the
four joined in the singing of some of their
favorite hymns, Mary playing the accompani
ment.
Presently Will Croly ran in, in his informal
354 ELSIE AT ION.
way, joined the little group, and added his
voice to theirs.
Good-mornings were exchanged when they
had finished their piece, then Croly said, " Now,
Miss Mary, let us have 'My days are gliding
swiftly by. ' It is a great favorite with me,
particularly the chorus :
" 'For oh, we stand on Jordan's strand,
Our friends are passing over,
And, just before, the shining shore
"We may almost discover.'"
Mary at once complied with the request, and
they were singing the last verse when two young
men, strangers to the family, came up into the
porch asking for Croly.
"Ah," said he, "I quite forgot my errand.
Those are some strangers visiting at my uncle's
house, and I have promised to go in bathing
with them so called to ask my friends Harold
and Herbert to go in with us."
"1 really don't think they can to-day," said
Calhoun, and went on to explain how they had
planned to spend the next few hours.
" Ah, then I must just go on with the others,"
returned Croly. "Good-morning to you all,"
and with the words he hurried out, joined the
two strangers; the three went over to the bat
houses, not very far away, and were presently
ELSIE AT ION. 25?
seen coming out of them in bathing-suits and
going down among the waves.
A few moments later those who had gone in
search of horses and carriage returned bringing
a full supply. Those expecting to go had
crowded on the porch, all in good spirits,
laughing and chatting, the younger ones espe
cially full of mirth and gayety, when suddenly
a cry of fright and distress came from the sea.
"Help! help! he's drowning ! Oh, help! helpf
save him !"
With the first cry a deep hush had fallen on
our friends upon the porch, but at the last
word Captain Kaymond, Mr. Dinsmore, Mr.
Lilburn and his son, the two Conlys, Harold
and Herbert, all dashed down the steps and
away toward the spot from whence the cry
came.
But a row-boat near at' hand was already
pulling for it, and was there before them.
There seemed nothing for them to do, but they
stood close by the incoming waves, waiting in
breathless anxiety and suspense.
Some moments passed then they saw an in
sensible, limp, dripping form drawn from the
water into the boat, which immediately made
for the shore with all speed.
"Oh, it is Will, dear Will!" cried Harold aa
he caught sight of the death-like face. " Art,
266 ELSIE AT ION.
Cousin Art, do your best to save him, if there's
any life there. How glad I am you're here
with us."
"I shall certainly do all I can," returned
Arthur in moved tones, " and do the rest of you
ask the Lord to direct and bless my efforts."
" Oh, yes, we will, we will," responded several
voices as the poor fellow was lifted from the
boat and swiftly carried to the nearest house
the one occupied by our friends.
Arthur understood his business thoroughly
and there were plenty of willing, helping hands.
The news flew fast, and presently Croly's aunt
came, full of distress, to ask if there was any
life, any hope.
"We have not given up, we will not while
the least spark of hope remains," Elsie answered ;
then told of the long and at last successful fight
which had once saved her Harold from the
grave.
"Oh, dear fellow, I hope he will be saved,"
said the aunt, weeping. " You probably know,
Mrs. Travilla, how anxious he has been about
his parents: we have just had a telegram from
his father, saying that they have landed in New
York and will be here this evening. I think
it will kill his mother father too, perhaps, for
he is their only child and just an idol with them
both to learn that he is lying here, to all ap"
ELSIE AT ION. 357
pearance dead. I'll have to put them off with
the news that he went out on the sea before
their telegram came and may be back in an
hour or two."
" Yes, I hope he will soon show signs of life,"
Elsie said with emotion. " Oh, how sad, how
heart-breaking for them to lose their only child
in such a way so suddenly and without a part
ing word!"
"They are coming home very happy," con
tinued the aunt; "the mother having almost
entirely recovered her health, and if only they
could find poor Will all right " she ended
with a burst of weeping.
" Dear Mrs. Croly, do not give up hope ; we
are all praying for him that his life may be
spared if the will of God be so."
" Then I believe it will be, for God is the
hearer and answerer of prayer," returned the
aunt; " and oh, I want to thank you for having
poor Will brought here; for if he was with us
the state of affairs could hardly be kept a mo
ment from his parents, but now I hope it will
be all right before they need to know."
"You are very, very welcome," Elsie replied,
and Mrs. Croly went away somewhat consoled
and hopeful.
The rides and the shopping expedition had
been given up and the children and younger
17
868 ELSIE AT ION.
members of the family had gone down to the
Beach to be out of the way of those working
with Croly ; but Eosie, Lulu, Grace, and Walter
were in a sad, subdued, and anxious mood.
Mary and Marian presently joined them, and
they talked feelingly of him whom they hardly
dared to hope to see in life again.
Yet all had great faith in Arthur's skill, and
the younger girls, telling of Harold's narrow
escape some years before at Nantucket, cheered
and encouraged the others with the hope that
Croly might even yet be saved from temporal
death, and live many years to be a comfort to
his parents and a blessing to the world.
" I do hope he is not gone and will live for
many years serving the Master here on earth,"
said Mary, " but if he is gone, we know that it
is to be with Jesus and forever blest. How he
loved that hymn about the shining shore ! and
perhaps he has reached it now," she added with
a burst of tears.
"But oh, we will hope not! hope he is still
living and will be spared to the parents who
love him so dearly," said Marian. "And I be
lieve if anybody can save him it is your cousin,
Dr. Conly."
" I'll run back to the house to see if there is
rmy sign of life yet," said Walter, and rushed
way.
ELSIE AT ION. 259
He was back again in a few minutes, running,
waving his handkerchief over his head, and
showing BO joyous a face that the others ex
claimed half breathlessly, " Oh, is he coming
to?"
" Yes, yes, Cousin Arthur says there are signs
of life, and he thinks that he will be able to
save him."
The glad news was received with a simultane
ous burst of joyful exclamations.
"His parents have come," added Walter,
"and are, oh! so anxious to see him, but don't
know yet that anything is wrong with him."
And now with their minds relieved the girls
were able to give attention to anything that
might be going on within the range of their
vision.
A boat was tied to the wharf and they saw
that persons had left it and were wandering
along the beach, among them an elderly man
having several children in his care.
Presently this little group had seated them
selves on the beach quite near our little party,
and the smallest, a child of three, came toddling
toward them.
" How do yon do, baby girl ? Do you like
candy? Will you have a bite?" asked Kosie,
holding out a tempting-looking morsel.
The little one stood gazing for a moment
360 ELSIE AT ION.
with her finger in her mouth, then she accepted
the offer. "Dood!" she said smacking her lips.
"Dot nudder bit for Sally?"
"Yes," Rosie said, bestowing another piece.
But another, older girl came running.
"Sally," she said reprovingly, and seizing the
little one's hand in an effort to draw her away,
"you must not tease the ladies; papa says so.
Come with me."
Sally resisted and Eosie said, " No, we are not
teased. We'd like to have her stay and talk to
us."
But the father had come for his baby girl.
" Please excuse her, young ladies," he said, lift
ing his hat politely, " she's pretty well spoiled.
I've come to the seaside for a bit of rest and
brought my children along, for I knew it would
be quite a treat to them."
" And see, we've all got on the Union colors,"
said one of the little girls who had followed
him, showing a rosette of red, white, and blue
ribbon pinned to her dress. "Father was a
soldier in the war, and we all love the old
" Oh, were you, sir?" cried Lulu delightedly.
"Won't you please tell us of your experiences
there?"
The other girls joined eagerly in the request,
and at lencth, evidently pleased that they cared
ELSIE AT ION. 261
to hear the story, he sat down on the beach
beside them and began it.
" In the war of the rebellion I was in the
Shenandoah Valley with the infantry troops; a
mere lad I was, only fifteen. One day I slipped
off without leave, to visit an aunt living in
Washington. We were at that time in camp
on Georgetown Heights. Going back that
night I lost my way and did not feel safe to ask
it lest I should be thought a deserter ; so finally
went down into an area and, wearied out with
my wanderings, fell asleep. It rained heavily
through the night, but I was so weary and so
used to hardship that I slept on and knew noth
ing about that till morning, when I waked to
find myself lying in a puddle of water. I rose
and hurried on my way; finally got back to
camp, but so rheumatic from my wetting that
I was sent to the hospital in Washington.
There my gun was taken from me and a receipt
for it given me; so that when at length I re
covered sufficiently to go back to camp, I was
without a gun.
" It was not supplied to me immediately, and
in the mean time the troops with whom I be
longed were ordered to guard some wagons a
very long train and while it was moving on,
Mosby came up with his cavalry, took us pris
oners, rifled the wagons of such things as he
262 ELSIE AT ION.
could carry away and use, and took the beet
horses for the use of his troops, leaving behind
his own broken-down ones.
" Mosby's own troops and his prisoners were
allowed to help themselves to such provisions as
they could carry. I think they burnt all they
could not take. When the rebs came upon us,
one demanded my coat. I pulled it off and
gave it to him ; another took my hat, a third
my shoes, so that I was not particularly well
dressed when they were done with me.
" But I, as well as others, filled my haversack
with provisions hard-tack, pork, and so forth
and as they moved on each prisoner was obliged
to lead one or more horses. I had but one.
"When the troops halted for the night the
prisoners among others were ordered to take
the horses to the river and water them. I had
been all the time since my capture trying to
contrive a way to escape. Now I saw a way,
told a fellow-captive my plan, and asked him to
render his aid by taking charge of my horse in
addition to several already in his keeping. He
consented. I slipped from the horse's back and,
unobserved, got behind a large stone, allowed
myself to sink in the water there till nearly
covered only able to breathe and so remained
till the troops of rebs and prisoners had left the
spot.
ELSIE AT ION. 263
" Then creeping cautiously out, I hurried on
my way, going down the river bank, knowing
the Union troops were camped somewhere lower
down the stream.
" I trudged on all night, crept into the bushes
and hid as day dawned lying there all day tor
tured with heat and thirst as well as hunger
travelled on again the following night. Faint,
weary, and worn with fatigue, hunger, and
thirst, about nine o'clock seeing a light at a
little distance I went toward it, feeling that I
must venture for relief from my intolerable suf
ferings from hunger and thirst.
" As I drew near the light a dog began to
bark from its vicinity and rushed out in my
direction. At that I stood still and the dog
came no nearer.
" But presently I heard the voice of a negro
man asking: 'Whodar?' Knowing the negroes
were always friends to the Union soldiers, I then
came forward and told of my escape from the
rebs and my desire to reach the Union camp,
my ignorance of the right road, hunger, thirst,
and weariness.
"The negro told me I was in a dangerous
place rebel troops being all about and he and
Dinah his wife had not much provision, but
to come in and Dinah would give me something
to eat, then I could go on my way, he showing
264 ELSIE AT ION.
me where to ford the river, the Federal troops
being two or three miles farther down on the
other side.
"I went with him into the cabin; an old
negress greeted me kindly, and having heard my
story undertook to get me some supper.
" She made a corn pone, took a pan with a
division across the middle, put the pcne in one
side, some bacon in the other, and setting it on
the coals, cooked them together, the fat from
the bacon running through to the pone. It
made as delicious a supper as I ever ate. She
gave me a piece to carry along when I set out
upon my journey again, as I did presently,
travelling still farther down stream, till I
reached a ford.
" Near there I lay down and slept soundly,
not waking till the sun was two hours high.
" I was alarmed to find it so late, but I forded
the river safely, and finally reached the Union
camp.
" No one there knew me. I had not even a
uniform to show what I was, so lest I might
prove to be a spy I was ordered under arrest and
confined till some of my own regiment who
knew me came in and corroborated my story,
or at least recognized me as one of themselves."
" That was a very interesting story, and we
are much obliged to you for it, sir," said Lulu,
ELSIE AT ION. 265
as the narrator paused as if he had finished.
"But can't you give us another?"
"Yes," he said, smiling in an absent-minded
way. " I was just thinking of another and rather
amusing occurrence that took place while I was
a soldier, though it hadn't much to do with the
war.
" My parents were living in Baltimore then,
and I was still in the Shenandoah Valley. At
one time, blackberries being very plenty in the
woods where I was encamped, I gathered great
quantities, filled a box, putting green leave 8
under and over the berries, nailed it up and
sent it by express to my parents. I wrote to
them about it, but the box started ahead of the
letter and arrived first.
" In the mean time my mother and grand
mother had been talking of paying a visit to
my older sister, who had married, was living in
Philadelphia, and anxious and urgent to have
them come on to see her and her first-born a
baby boy toddling about.
" They were most desirous to do so, as he was
the first grandchild of the one, the first great
grandchild of the other. But before they had
made ready to start upon the journey a letter was
received from the child's mother saying that he
had been taken dangerously ill. The two grand
mothers were greatly troubled and more anxious
266 ELSIE AT ION.
than ever to see the baby. The older one was in
her bedroom, not feeling well ; her daughter was
with her. A vehicle was heard to drive up to the
front door. Glancing from the window the
younger grandmother saw it was the express
wagon and a box was being lifted out, evidently
for them. Thinking its mother having said
they should see it dead or alive it contained the
corpse of her baby grandchild, she hurried down,
had it carried into the parlor and set upon a
table. She then threw a white sheet over it and
awaited in trembling and grief the home-coming
of her husband my father.
" When he came in she told of the box and
its supposed contents, and he, also full of grief,
set to work to open it. The lid was at length
torn off, and great was the surprise and relief of
both to come upon the fresh green leaves and
berries beneath them.
"But the door-bell rang again, and there
stood Hannah with her babe in her arms alive
and well.
" Joyful was the welcome given to both ; they
were taken into the parlor, Hannah shown the
box, which was still standing, and told the
story.
" After a while the baby was allowed to trot
about at his own sweet will, while the older
people were taken up with each other (a cradle
ELSIE AT ION. 2ffl
had been brought down to the parlor to lay the
baby corpse in before the box was opened, and
there it stood covered with a spread or some
thing white), so when the little chap was left
unnoticed, he got at the box of berries, carried
some to the cradle and threw them in on the
dainty white spread. "
The little girls had been listening to their
father's story with as much interest as if they
had never heard it before, though doubtless it
was quite familiar to them.
" Wasn't it funny?" asked one of them with
a merry laugh, as he finished.
But just then a boy came running, calling
out, " Pap, you're wanted now. Please come
right away, mother says," and with a pleasant
" Good-by, ladies," the father rose, took Sal : y in
his arms and went, the rest of the children fol
lowing.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE old soldier and his children had hardly
left the vicinity of our young friends when Cal-
houn came to them with the glad news that
Croly had so far recovered as to be able to speak
naturally and recognize his friends, that his
parents had been told of his danger and his
rescue, and were now with him, weeping over
his sufferings, rejoicing that he had been spared
to them, and full of gratitude to Dr. Conly for
his long-continued and untiring efforts for his
resuscitation.
" I am proud of my brother and don't believe
there is a better physician in the United States, "
concluded Calhoun, his eyes shining. "But,
ladies and little folks, I just remember that
Cousin Elsie charged me to tell you that dinner
will be on the table in about ten or fifteen
minutes."
"Oh, that's good news, Cousin Cal!" ex
claimed Kosie, " for I'm pow'f ul hungry, as the
darkies say. There's nothing like sea-air to
give one an appetite." And with that they all
started for the house.
268
ELSIE AT ION. 269
Arthur was longing to be with Marian, but
at the urgent request of the elder Mr. Croly and
his wife, consented to stay with their son, who
had been carried to his uncle's cottage, through
the rest of that day and the following night.
Then assuring them that Will had almost
entirely recovered and there was no longer the
slightest need of his services, he was beginning
to bid them good-morning when Mr. Croly,
laying a detaining hand on his arm, poured out
earnest thanks for the service he had done them
in saving the life of their only and well-beloved
son, and delicately asked what was his charge
for his services, hinting that both he and his
wife thought it should be a heavy one.
" Oh, no, sir," said Arthur, " I make no charge
whatever for so trifling a service to one whom I
had learned to love almost as a brother. I am
more than repaid by his spared life the bless
ing of God upon my efforts," and with a pleas
ant good-morning he hurried away.
He met the family at the breakfast table and
was received with joyful greetings. An hour
later he and Marian sought the beach together.
It seemed a long time that they had been kept
apart, and they greatly enjoyed being again
alone together for a time.
When the mail was brought to the house
Walter, as usual, came running down to them
270 ELSIE AT ION.
with their share one letter for Marian and
several for the doctor.
Glancing at his he noticed that one was with
out a postmark, and somewhat curious to know
whence it came, he opened that envelope first.
It proved to he from the elder Mr. Croly, and
contained a note and another paper. Arthur
opened and read the note first. In it the writer
stated that he felt that he owed a debt of grat
itude for the spared life of his only and well-
heloved child which he could never by any pos
sibility repay, and that the doctor who had
been instrumental in saving that life would
confer a favor by accepting the inclosed certifi
cate of stock as a small token of the grateful
affection of Will Croly's parents and of the
dear boy himself, who would be delighted to
have him do so, and feel that it was far from
being an adequate return for the inestimable
service rendered. The writer added that they
would all feel sadly hurt should he refuse. All
this Arthur read with a pleasant glow of feel
ing. " They are far more grateful than most
people," he said to himself as he opened the
accompanying paper.
" Can I believe my eyes?" he exclaimed men
tally as he hastily glanced over it, then gave it
a more careful examination.
The certificate was for stock to the amount
ELSIE AT ION. 271
of one hundred thousand dollars yielding six
per cent ; there could be no mistake, and he felt
that he had suddenly become a rich man.
But at that instant a low sob from Marian
caught his ear, and instantly everything was
forgotten but that she was in trouble.
" My darling, what is it?" he asked, putting
an arm about her and drawing her closer to
him.
"Oh, I am so frightened!" she said with
quivering lips. " Read this letter from Sandy. "
He did so at once. The boy wrote warning
Marian that their father had in some way
learned that Captain Eaymond had shown him
self a friend to her, so suspected that she had
gone to him for protection, had found out the
captain's address, and started east with the
probable intention of hunting her up and car
rying her back to Utah with him.
"Oh, what can I do? Can you protect me
from him?" asked Marian, as Dr. Conly re
folded the letter and drew her closer into his
arms.
"He shall never take you from me," he re
turned in determined tones and holding her
close to his heart. " I think the surest thing
will be for us to marry at once, if you are will
ing. my darling, you are not afraid to trust
me?"
272 ELSIE AT ION.
" No, no, i ideed !" she exclaimed, adding, " if
you are willi og to take me just as I am, only
half educated and "
" More, much more than willing," he replied.
"But there is no time to be lost. Let us go up
at once to the house and consult with the
friends there."
"Yes; especially Cousin Elsie, and my best
and kindest of friends, dear old Cousin Ronald."
They were glad to find all the family in, and
quickly told them their story ; Arthur conclud
ing with, " I think the best thing we can do is
to marry at once, so that I shall have a prior
right to that of Mr. McAlpine, and can prevent
him from carrying her away from us."
" I agree with you, sir, " said Mr. Lilburn,
" and should think it well for you to carry her
away to some place unknown to the unnatural
man, till he wearies of his search and goes back
to Mormon-land."
" Then, if the plan is approved by my wife
and others, I will go at once for the Dolphin,
and we will sail or steam away to-night with
the bride and groom," said the captain. "We
can visit Mount Desert and whatever other
points we please along the whole coast between
this and our city, making occasional calls here
if we like, and go home when we wish and are
satisfied that the danger there is over."
ELSIE AT ION. 273
"Oh, by all means let us go!" said Violet:
"nothing could be more delightful."
" And Herbert and I will drive in at once
for a minister to perform the ceremony," said
Harold, taking up his hat. " Have you any
choice, Marian?"
" I know none of them but the one to whose
preaching the rest of you have been listening,
and who kindly called to see me the other day,"
she replied with a blush.
"Then we will go for him," returned Harold.
"But stay a little, Harold," said his mother;
" dinner is just ready, and you will have time
enough afterward."
The summons to the table came a', that mo
ment and all answered it promptly.
At the conclusion of the meal thf. captain,
Harold, and Herbert drove into tlie city the
first to see that all was right with the yacht and
order it brought that afternoon to the landing
nearest the house, the other twu in search of a
minister to perform the cereaioay that was to
unite Marian and the doctor for life.
" Now, " said Kosie as soon as they were gone,
"we must help the bride dre&s. Come, mamma
and Violet, your help will be needed, for ifc is
well known and freely acknowledged tha f you
both have excellent taste. "
"Ah, "sighed CNusin Ronald,"! Am sorrr
18
274 ELSIE AT ION.
there is no time for furnishing a handsomer
trousseau. But fortunately it can be done after
ward."
" No, no, dear Cousin Ronald, I have plenty
of fine clothes," said Marian. "You have been
BO, so good to me."
At that Dr. Conly, remembering the munifi
cent fee he had received that morning, smiled
quietly to himself ; but not a word did he say
to any one about it. He felt that words could
not express his appreciation of Mr. Croly's gen
erosity to himself and others instrumental in
the saving of his son's life; for he had learned
from Harold that the men in the boat that
picked up the nearly drowned young man had
each been liberally rewarded, the one who drew
him from the water especially so. Calling his
Cousin Elsie aside, " Can we have any invited
guests, do you think?" he asked with a humor-
ons smile.
"Guests?" she repeated, with a look of sur
prise. " I hardly know where to find them in
time for so hastily gotten up a ceremony."
"The Crolys are near at hand," he suggested.
"Oh, yes! invite them if you wish to," she
returned with an amused laugh. " But we can
not get up anything like a proper wedding-feast
on so short a notice."
u Oh, I dare say they will make due allowance
ELSIE AT ION. 275
for haste, and expect little entertainment besides
a good look at the bride," he said laughingly.
" Then I will send them a note of invitation.
Also one to the younger Mr. and Mrs. Croly
and to our poor friend Will."
" Cousin," he said with a joyous look, " I have
something for your ear alone; other relatives
and friends shall know of it by and by." Then
he read her Mr. Croly 's note and showed its
inclosure.
"Oh, Art, I am so glad, so very glad!" she
said, her eyes full of happy tears. "Yes, my
dear fellow, give them all the warmest of invi
tations, though I hardly think Will or his father
or mother will come; but they shall have the
warmest of welcomes if they do."
" Is not that your place as mistress of the
house, Cousin Elsie?" he asked.
" Oh, yes!" she replied. " I will write a note
at once and send it by one of the servants."
"And, if you please, I will send a note of
thanks along with it. I will write it at once."
" I will send it with pleasure," she said. " Oh,
Cousin Arthur, I am so glad for you ! It is not
an extravagant gift for a man of Mr. Croly's
means and I think you have fairly earned it
but it must make you quite rich."
"It does indeed," he said in joyous tones,
" and will put it in my power to make the dear
376 EI&IE AT ION.
girl who is trusting her happiness to me very
comfortable. It will also enable me to help
those of my brothers and sisters who may need
aid."
"You have always been a generous fellow,"
she said, giving him a look full of appreciation
and affection, " but I think if they do all they
can to help themselves they will need very
little assistance from you. But," she added
with a smile, "we have each a great deal to
do in a little time and must not hinder each
other."
The delegation sent to the city was very suc
cessful. The young men returned early in the
afternoon, bringing the minister of Marian's
choice, and shortly after the captain came in
from his yacht, which lay at anchor at no great
distance from the shore.
Neither Will Croly nor his mother ventured
out, but his father came, bringing his sister-in-
law with him.
Marian looked very sweet and lovely in white
tarletan and orange-blossoms brought by Harold
from the city; and Arthur, still rather youthful
in appearance, seemed a not unsuitable bride
groom for her. Mary Keith, Eosie, and Lulu,
Calhoun, Harold, and Herbert acted the parts
of bridesmaids a^d groomsmen.
The ceremony was short and followed by some
ELSIE AT ION. 277
simple refreshments several kinds of cake, ice
cream, and lemonade.
Trunks had been packed and sent aboard the
yacht, and before sundown the passengers fol
lowed; the bride and groom, Calhounand Mary,
and the captain with his entire family. It was
not at all a sad good-by to either those who
went or those who stayed behind, for it was ex
pected that the Dolphin would touch frequently
at that port, so that her passengers could pay a
visit to the friends on shore, often on their re
turn taking some of them for a short distance
out to sea.
The evening air from the sea was very cool,
and for Marian's sake she being as yet not far
from on the invalid list the older people con
fined themselves most of the time to the saloon.
But Lulu, wrapping a shawl about her shoulders,
went out upon the deck, where she seated herself
and gazed silently out upon the sea.
They were steaming northward scarcely out
of sight of the shore. It was a beautiful night,
the moon shining brightly in the dark blue of
the heavens, flecked here and there with soft,
fleecy, white clouds, and the sea beneath look
ing like molten silver where her rays touched
it.
Lulu enjoyed the sight and the delicious
breeze that was blowing softly shoreward, yet
278 ELSIE AT ION.
her thoughts were on other matters and she
was unusually silent and still. She had no one
to talk to, but was very apt when alone at such
time and place to sing softly to herself.
She had not moved for some minutes when
she felt a hand laid gently on each shoulder,
while her father's voice asked in affectionate
tones, "What is my little girl thinking of?"
He bent down over her as he spoke and she
looked up into his face.
" Oh, I'm so glad you have come, papa!" she
said.
"Are you, daughter?" he returned, coming
around, seating himself by her side, and putting
an arm about her waist. " I don't know when I
have seen you so perfectly quiet and still. A
penny for your thoughts."
" They're not worth a penny, papa," she said
laughingly, laying her head on his shoulder and
looking up lovingly into his eyes. " I'm afraid
they were rather foolish, but you can have them
for nothing if you want them. You know I
belong to you I'm so glad I do so you have a
right to my thoughts; haven't you?"
" We will leave that question to be considered
at another time," he returned laughingly, hug
ging her up closer and giving her a kiss ; " but
since you are willing, you may tell me what was
the occasion of so much grave thought in this
ELSIE AT ION. 279
little careless head," stroking her hair and re
peating his caress.
" Well, then, papa, it was mostly about Marian
I was thinking, and that I should not like to be
in her place. I like Cousin Arthur ever so
much for a doctor, but to have to leave my dear
father and go to live with him instead would
be just dreadful. But then her father can't be
one bit like mine, and I think that if I were
his daughter I'd be glad enough to leave him
for Dr. Conly."
" And I think no one could reasonably blame
you if you were; especially if, as in Marian's
ease, it was to escape being forced into a mar
riage with one who was far from agreeable to
you and had already several wives which is a
very wicked thing, forbidden by the law of
both God and man. But, situated as you are, it
would, I think, be a very silly thing for you to
do as Marian has done, even were you of her age,
and you are really some three or four years
younger."
"And that's a very great difference," re
marked Lulu soberly, "and I'm glad of it,
because I do so like to be my father's own
little girl. And you won't ever make me
get married if I don't want to, will you,
papa?"
" No, daughter, certainly not. I shall be only
280 ELSIE AT ION.
too glad to keep you have you always and al
together my own."
"It's so good of you, you dear papa," she
said, nestling closer to him. "I feel almost
sure I shall never love any other man half so
well as I do you."
" That is pleasant news to me," he said, with
a smile down into the large, dark eyes lifted to
his.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE next morning after the sailing of the
Dolphin brought to Mrs. Travilla the news that
her son Edward and his family, accompanied
by Ella Conly, were on their way north, intend
ing first to visit the Lelands at Evelyn's cottage
on the Hudson, then to come on to spend a few
weeks with her at the sea-shore.
Everybody was glad, for the departure of so
large a number of those who had made up their
family for weeks past had left them all feeling
somewhat lonely.
Hugh Lilburn felt very loth to leave just as
his betrothed was coming, for the visit on the
Hudson was not to be a long one ; besides, he was
unwilling to leave his father to encounter Mc-
Alpine without being there himself to defend
him in case the Mormon should become abusive.
That he decided in his own mind would be
worse than allowing his business interests to
suffer somewhat by a prolonged absence from
his newly acquired property.
But it was growing late in the season ; the
cottage nearest to the house occupied by the
Dinsmores, Mrs. Travilla, and the others of that
281
282 ELSIE AT ION.
party was rented by them for the expected ones
from New York, and in a week from the depar
ture of the Dolphin and her passengers they ar
rived and took possession.
But they were much like one family, taking
their meals at the larger house, spending the
greater part of the day there or on the beach, or
taking walks and drives together.
They had letters now and then from the party
in the yacht, who seemed to be enjoying them
selves greatly, and in a week after this last arri
val the vessel touched at Gloucester, and Mary
Keith, Calhoun, Herbert, and Harold landedj
spent a few hours in the city, then returned to
their sea-side home, where they were welcomed
with demonstrations of delight.
They reported that Arthur and his bride
seemed to be having a delightful honeymoon
and deemed it best to remain on the yacht some
what longer, unless they should hear of the
whereabouts of McAlpine and know that they
would be safe from a visit from him, which, un
less he became a changed man, would undoubt
edly be far from pleasant.
"I told them," said Calhoun, "that I should
rather enjoy giving him a piece of my mind. "
"Yes, probably rather more than he would,"
laughed Harold.
"I daresay," returned Calhoun, " but I can't
ELSIE AT ION. 283
say that I am particularly anxious or desirous
to give him pleasure. However, I think he will
find us too large a party to attack with anything
worse than hard words; and those I am by no
means unwilling to stand for the sake of my
pretty young sister-in-law."
"Marian is a sweet girl," said Mary Keith,
" and as Dr. Conly's wife she has made certain
her escape from a dreadful fate."
It was after tea and they were all in the par
lor; for it was a cool evening, cloudy and occa
sionally drizzling a little.
Mary had scarcely ceased speaking when a
loud peal from the door-bell startled every one.
Harold stepped out to the hall to answer it.
There stood a tall, broad-shouldered man, who
accosted him with, "How do you do, sir? I
understand that this is the house occupied by
Mrs. Travilla, Captain Kaymond, and others."
" Mrs. Travilla is here ; Captain Raymond is
not," returned Harold. " May I inquire what
is your errand to either of them ?"
" Yes. I understand that they are harboring
here a daughter of mine, considerably under
age, who ran away from me some months ago.
I have come to take possession of her; and let
me say I intend to do so, let who will object."
" She is not here," answered Harold.
At that the man pushed him suddenly and
284 ELSIE AT ION.
rudely aside and walked boldly and defiantly into
the parlor. Mr. Lilburn instantly rose and
faced him. " William McAlpine, what brings
you here?" he asked in stern tones.
"Is it you, Eonald Lilburn?" exclaimed the
other in astonishment. " I thought you were
in auld Scotland and probably under the sod
long ere this. And is it you that's carried off
my bairn?"
" I have never seen Mormon land and didna
carry her off," was Mr. Lilburn 's reply in a tone
full of scorn and contempt; " bat if I'd had the
chance I wad hae rescued her at the risk o' my
life from sic a fate as you unnatural beast o' a
mon that ye are had prepared for her. You
are worse than a heathen, William McAlpine,
wi' your three or four wives; and you broke the
heart o' Marian's mither, my ain sweet cousin,
who demeaned hersel' to marry you a mean
fellow not fit to wipe the dust from her shoon."
At that the man turned white with passion
and lifted his clinched fist as if about to strike
the old gentleman down. But his son Hugh
sprang in between them, and at the same instant
Edward and Harold sprang forward and each
seized an arm of the stalwart stranger, while
Herbert and Calhoun showed themselves ready
to assist in preventing him from harming their
old friend.
ELSIE AT ION. 285
But at that instant a woman's voice, seem
ingly coming from the next room, spoke in
sadly beseeching tones :
" Willie, Willie, wad ye harm my own dear
auld cousin who has never shown aught but
kindness to us and ours? Is it not enough that
ye broke the heart o'y ain wife that loved ye
better than all the warld beside? And wad ye
kill my ain bairn the bonny lassie that we baith
loved so well when she was a wee toddling thing?
Dinna meddle wi' her, Willie; dinna harm a
hair o' her head or I'll haunt ye to the last day
o' your life. Forsake your sins, Willie, put
away your mony wives and be a true servant o'
the Lord, or ye'll never win to heaven; your
soul will be lost and I that loved ye so lang
syne will see ye no more forever."
McAlpine's face turned ghastly white while
he listened and his eyes seemed starting from
his head ; then as the voice ceased he suddenly
wrenched himself free from the hold of Edward
and Harold and rushed from the room and the
house like one pursued by an avenging foe ; they
heard his steps echoing down the garden path,
out into the road, and away till the sounds were
lost in the distance.
Then Mr. Dinsmore spoke, breaking the as*
tonished silence:
" He is badly scared, and I think will hardly
886 ELSIE AT ION.
return to pursue his search for his missing
daughter."
"I trust not, sir," responded Cousin Eonald.
" Fortunately I was able to remember and re
produce the tones of his dead wife's voice. My
God-given talent is sometimes useful, as well aa
a source of amusement to my young friends."
"And older ones also," Elsie added with a
smile.
"Yes, indeed," said Eosie; "the man fairly
frightened me, for he acted as if he were wicked
enough to hurt or even kill every one of us. I
don't wonder Marian ran away from him and
was so frightened at the very thought of seeing
him again."
"Nor I," said Zoe, looking at her husband
with eyes full of tears. " my dear Ned, I was
so afraid he would do you some dreadful harm !
And what if he should even yet ; he may come
back! Oh, let us shut doors and windows."
"I think there is hardly any danger of his
returning," remarked Hugh Lilburn in a reas
suring tone; "at least not to-night."
The other gentlemen agreed in that opinion,
and the ladies were sufficiently reassured to be
able to pass a comfortable night.
But though they were ignorant of the fact,
McAlpine was in no condition to injure any of
them or even to return to their dwelling.
ELSIE AT ION. 287
In the darkness and the confusion of his
mind, he had wandered from the path and fallen
down a hill, landing on a bed of stones, strik
ing his head on one of them so that he was in
sensible for some hours, breaking a rib and re
ceiving internal injuries that proved fatal in a
very short time. In the morning some one
passing heard his groans, went for assistance,
and he was carried into a house and a surgeon
sent for, who after making an examination
told him he had but a few hours to live, and if
he had any affairs to settle he would do well to
attend to them immediately.
McAlpine was thrown into great distress of
mind by the announcement, and begged to have
word sent to the house where he had been the
night before, with an earnest request that Mr.
Lilburn would come to him, for at least a few
moments, as he had something he wished to
say.
Shocked at the news of the man's condition,
Mr. Lilburn at once hastened to his bedside.
"They tell me I'm a dying mon, Eonald Lil
burn, and I maun ease my mind afore I die,
wi' a word for my daughter Marian. Tell her
for me that I own I've been a hard father to
her, and was God, forgive me a cruel, un
faithful husband to her mither after I turned
Mormon. It's a lustful, wicked pretence o' a
288 ELSIE AT ION.
religion, is Mormonism, and I dinna^?' H'Sandy
brought up to believe in it."
He paused from exhaustion, and Mr. Lilburn
told of his plans for Sandy and the offers he had
made the lad to educate and start him in life.
"God bless you for it," returned the dying
man. " I find now my death is near that I care
more for those two o' my bairns than I thought.
And now I maun think o' my soul ! O Ronald
Lilburn, what must I do to be saved? Is there
ony hope for such a sinner as I?"
" Yes, William. 'The blood o' Jesus Christ his
Son cleanseth us from all sin,' and while there
is life there is hope. Flee to Jesus, the sinner's
friend, remembering his own words, 'Him that
cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.' "
" Lord, I come, I come ; be merciful to me a
sinner; save me for thine own name's sake,"
came in earnest, pleading tones from the dying
lips ; a few long-drawn breaths followed and the
soul had fled.
The Dolphin was known to be far out at sea;
word of her father's arrival and his speedy and
unexpected death could not be sent to Marian,
so the body was carried to an undertaker's and
the next day quietly buried from there, Mr.
Lilburn, his son, and the other gentlemen of the
family attending the funeral services.
When at length the news reached Marian,
ELSIE AT ION. 289
son T of her early love for her father seemed
to rt U her. She shed some tears over it,
yet in a short time her grief was more than
swallowed up in a sense of relief.
She was very, very happy with Arthur, who
proved himself the kindest and best of husbands.
It was not thought necessary that her father's
death should be made known in their home
neighborhood, and on her return she dressed as
a bride. Her husband had told her of his im
proved circumstances and was disposed to lavish
upon her everything that heart could wish.
But she was not extravagant in her tastes or de-
fires, and he was satisfied to let her follow her
town inclination in regard to that and the con
tinuing of her studies with Captain Raymond,
at least for a time.
That pleased the captain, and he was more
than willing to receive her as a pupil when
they should all return home and he resume hia
labors as instructor.
The entire family had now been let into the
secret of Arthur's wonderfully large fee for his
medical service to William Croly, and heartily
rejoiced with him.
Dr. Dick Percival joined them for a week at
the sea-side, after which all returned to their
homes.
Calhoun had tried to induce his Mary to fol-
19
290 ELSIE AT ION.
low with him the example set them by his
brother and Marian, and Hugh Lilburn let his
Ella know that he would be far from objecting
to making it a double wedding; but neither
lady would consent. Each wished to go home
first and make suitable preparations for the im
portant event, Ella adding that Isadore and the
other sisters and brothers would have reason to
be hurt if she did not invite them all to be
present at her wedding.
Mr. and Mrs. Dinsmore and Mrs. Travilla
thought she took a proper view of the matter,
as did Mary also, in regard to the time and place
of her own nuptials.
So Calhoun took her to her own home and
left her there, with the understanding that he
was to return for her some weeks or months
hence the day having not yet been fixed upon.
But before leaving their sea-side home all spent
a day there together. Naturally one of the
principal topics of conversation was the ap
proaching journey to their southern homes.
" I wish I could take you all with me in the
yacht," said Captain Raymond, addressing the
company in general, " but unfortunately there
is not accommodation for so many. Mother,
we must have you and Grandpa and Grandma
Dinsmore, as it is a more restful way to travel
than by the cars. The doctor and his bride are
ELSIE AT ION. 291
already engaged to us, and we must, I think,
take Evelyn, Rosie, and Walter; we should
hardly know what to do without them any
longer," he added with his pleasant smile. " We
have eight family and passenger state-rooms,
and beds can be made up at nights in the sa
loon," he continued, " and in that way we can
make room for several more."
He paused for a reply, but no one spoke, each
seemingly waiting for the others.
At length Violet said : " I think you and your
babies should be with us, Zoe; then of course
Edward would need to be there to take care of
you all; for he would not be willing to trust
that business to any one else. And Harold and
Herbert ought to be with their mother, having,
poor little lads ! been so much away from her for
the last few years," she added in a sportive tone.
Every one approved, and so it was settled.
The journey was a safe and prosperous one with
all; they arrived at their homes, Ion, Wood-
burn, and Eoselands, without accident or loss,
and presently had settled down for the duties
and pleasures of the fall and coming winter.
THE END.
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY
Los Angeles
This book is DUE on the last date stamped below.
JUL3 1957
m L9-25w-9,'47(A5618)444
1672 Elsie at Ion
F5ati
JUL3 19S7
PS
1672
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