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Page 18
CHAPTER IV.
TWO LONG YEARS IN ONE SHORT CHAPTER.
Katy's absence left a sad blank in the household. Every one missed her,
but nobody so much as Clover, who all her life long had been her
room-mate, confidante, and intimate friend.
It was a great help that Rose was there for the first three lonely days.
Dulness and sadness were impossible with that vivacious little person at
hand; and so long as she stayed, Clover had small leisure to be mournful.
Rose was so bright and merry and affectionate that Elsie and John were
almost as much in love with her as Clover herself, and sat and sunned
themselves in her warmth, so to speak, all day long, while Phil and Dorry
fairly quarrelled as to which should have the pleasure of doing little
services for her and Baby Rose.
If she could have remained the summer through, all would have seemed easy;
but that of course was impossible. Mr. Browne appeared with a provoking
punctuality on the morning of the fourth day, prepared to carry his family
away with him. He spent one night at Dr. Carr's, and they all liked him
very much. No one could help it, he was so cordial and friendly and
pleasant. Still, for all her liking, Clover could have found it in her
heart to quite detest him as the final moment drew near.
"Let him go home without you," she urged coaxingly. "Stay with us all
summer,--you and little Rose! He can come back in September to fetch you,
and it would be so delightful to us."
"My dear, I couldn't live without Deniston till September," said the
disappointing Rose. "It may not show itself to a casual observer, but I am
really quite foolish about Deniston. I shouldn't be happy away from him at
all. He's the only husband I've got,--a 'poor thing, but mine own,' as
the 'immortal William' puts it."
"Oh, dear," groaned Clover. "That is the way that Katy is going to talk
about Ned, I suppose. Matrimony is the most aggravating condition of
things for outsiders that was ever invented. I wish nobody _had_ invented
it. Here it would be so nice for us to have you stay, and the moment that
provoking husband of yours appears, you can't think of any one else."
"Too true--much too true. Now, Clovy, don't embitter our last moments with
reproaches. It's hard enough to leave you as it is, when I've just found
you again after all these years. I've had the most beautiful visit that
ever was, and you've all been awfully dear and nice. 'Kiss me quick and
let me go,' as the song says. I only wish Burnet was next door to West
Cedar Street!"
Next day Mr. Browne sailed away with his "handful of Roses," as Elsie
sentimentally termed them (and indeed, Rose by herself would have been a
handful for almost any man); and Clover, like Lord Ullin, was "left
lamenting." Cousin Helen remained, however; and it was not till she too
departed, a week later, that Clover fully recognized what it meant to have
Katy married. Then indeed she could have found it in her heart to emulate
Eug�nie de la Ferronayes, and shed tears over all the little inanimate
objects which her sister had left behind,--the worn-out gloves, the old
dressing slippers in the shoe-bag. But dear me, we get used to everything,
and it is fortunate that we do! Life is too full, and hearts too flexible,
and really sad things too sad, for the survival of sentimental regrets
over changes which do not involve real loss and the wide separation of
death. In time, Clover learned to live without Katy, and to be cheerful
still.
Her cheerfulness was greatly helped by the letters which came regularly,
and showed how contented Katy herself was. She and Ned were having a
beautiful time, first in New York, and making visits near it, then in
Portsmouth and Portland, when the frigate moved on to these harbors, and
in Newport, which was full and gay and amusing to the last degree. Later,
in August, the letters came from Bar Harbor, where Katy had followed, in
company with the commodore's wife, who seemed as nice as her husband; and
Clover heard of all manner of delightful doings,--sails, excursions,
receptions on board ship, and long moonlight paddles with Ned, who was an
expert canoeist. Everybody was so wonderfully kind, Katy said; but Ned
wrote to his sister that Katy was a great favorite; every one liked her,
and his particular friends were all raging wildly round in quest of girls
just like her to marry. "But it's no use; for, as I tell them," he added,
"that sort isn't made in batches. There is only one Katy; and happily she
belongs to me, and the other fellows must get along as they can."
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