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Page 36
"Oh, you don't know how glad I am to see some one from home!"
You can't imagine how kind she was to him. At last she told Fani to
call his master, and when the man came she went out into another
room to talk with him. After a while she came back, and then, what
do you think? She asked Fani if he would not like to go and live
with me at her house! I can't begin to tell you how I felt. At
first I could scarcely breathe for joy, and then I began to think I
must have made a mistake; it couldn't be true. But Fani cried out
with delight, and he seized Mrs. Stanhope's hand and looked at her
so beseechingly, and he promised to work as hard as he could, and
do everything to please her if he might only go. "You shall," she
said; and then she told him when to meet us at the railroad next
day. What a promise for Fani and me!
As we were going back to the hotel, Mrs. Stanhope said to Aunt
Clarissa, "Did you notice the resemblance? Doesn't he look at you
out of his big brown eyes just as my Philo did?" Aunt Clarissa saw
the likeness too, and said that was the reason that she took a
fancy to Fani the moment she saw him. You see, Philo was Nora's
little brother. In the evening, Mrs. Stanhope spoke several times
about the likeness, and it was the first time that she had talked
with us at all. All that night I kept thinking it was too good to
be true; it must be a dream; but the next morning, when we got to
the railroad station, there was Fani, and he had been waiting three
hours, ever since six o'clock. Mrs. Stanhope laughed a little at
his impatience--it was the first time she had laughed at all.
All day long we travelled in the railway carriage, and Fani was as
happy as he could be. When we stopped at a station, and Aunt
Clarissa was going to get out and fetch us something to eat, Mrs.
Stanhope stopped her and said: "No, no; we have an escort now, he
must wait upon us." Then she explained to Fani what he was to do,
and you ought to have seen how he ran about and did it all so
handily, and he kept looking at Mrs. Stanhope to see if she was
pleased; and she was pleased, that was plain enough. In the evening
we stopped at Mainz on the Rhine, and Mrs. Stanhope said we should
see the river in the morning. And the next day, what do you think?
we went on a splendid steamboat; no one can possibly understand it
without seeing it. Fani was like a crazy creature all day, he was
so wild with delight; and Mrs. Stanhope let him run about all over
the boat and look at everything. Sometimes I didn't see him for an
hour at a time! By and by he came and took your present, and said
he was going to draw everything that he had seen, and just how the
whole boat was arranged, so that he should never forget it. And he
wants me to thank you a great deal for the beautiful present. I
forgot to say that before.
In the evening, when we left the boat, we found a carriage and a
wagon waiting for us. We drove for half an hour or more, and then
we came to Mrs. Stanhope's house. It is a large house, standing in
the middle of a garden, and with large trees about it. When we got
out of the carriage, Fani whispered to me, "Do you suppose I shall
work in the stables or in the garden?" Of course I couldn't tell
him; I did not even know what I was to do myself. But nothing has
turned out as we thought it would. At first Mrs. Stanhope was so
sad that we did not see her at all for three days. Aunt Clarissa
was just as kind as she could be. She took us all about the garden
and showed us the place where Philo was buried; a white cross
stands there with his name on it. And Nora was buried by his side,
under a big linden.
On the fourth day Mrs. Stanhope came to table with us, and after
dinner she talked very kindly with us, and said that now it was
time for us to begin to work. Oh, how surprised Fani and I were
when we found out what we were to do! What kind of hard work do you
guess it is? No work at all! You won't believe it, but it is true.
We just sit all the morning in the school-room and study! The
teacher comes at nine o'clock and stays till one, and Fani and I
are the only scholars! Of course Fani is much cleverer than I am;
but the teacher is very kind, and when I cannot do my lessons he
only says: "Come, be brave, and you'll soon do as well as your
brother!" I get along very well, and I am not so ashamed as I was
when all the children in school were ahead of me. It is one o'clock
before we know it, and we are glad when school-time comes the next
day. After dinner we all go into the garden; and Mrs. Stanhope
takes Fani with her, and he talks with her about his lessons and
his ideas about all sorts of things; and it is easy to see that she
likes him very much, better of course than she does me; you know
how frank he is. He tells her just how he feels and how glad he is
to be here with her, and he thanks her over and over again for all
her kindness, and he holds her hand tight; and, when he looks up at
her so beaming with happiness, she strokes his hair, and seems more
fond of him than I have ever seen her of any one except Nora. But I
can never do as Fani does; though I have just the same feelings, I
cannot speak them out; and I'm afraid she does not think that I am
so grateful, and I can quite understand that she cannot care as
much for me as for Fani. But Aunt Clarissa is very good to me, and,
when we come in out of the garden, I go into a room with her and
she teaches me to sew and to embroider as you do. Tell Oscar that,
even if I don't succeed in finding people to form a society, I will
at any rate work him a beautiful banner,--Aunt Clarissa says that I
may,--so he must be sure to write me what he wants for a motto.
While I am working, Fani has a lesson in drawing; a teacher comes
for two hours. Mrs. Stanhope almost always sits with him during
this lesson, for she is delighted that Fani learns so quickly, and
draws such beautiful things already.
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