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Page 18
"But their agitation gave no signs of diminishing and I soon saw
that their visit was far from being a ceremonial one; that it was
one of definite purpose. Preparing myself for I knew not what, I
regarded them with such open interest that before I knew it, and
quite before I was ready for any such exhibition, they were both on
their knees before me, holding up their meager arms with beseeching
and babbling words which I did not understand till later.
"I was shocked, as you may believe, and quickly raised them, at
which Miss Thankful told me their story, which I will now tell you.
"There were four of them originally, three sisters and one brother.
The brother early went West and disappeared out of their lives, and
the third sister married. This was years and years ago, when they
were all young. From this marriage sprang all their misfortune.
The nephew which this marriage introduced to their family became
their bane as well as their delight. From being a careless
spendthrift boy he became a reckless, scheming man, adding
extravagance to extravagance, till, to support him and meet his
debts, these poor aunts gave up first their luxuries, then their
home and finally their very livelihood. Not that they acknowledged
this. The feeling they both cherished for him was more akin to
infatuation than to ordinary family love. They did not miss their
luxuries, they did not mourn their home, they did not even mourn
their privations; but they were broken-hearted and had been so for
a long time, because they could no longer do for him as of old.
Shabby themselves, and evidently ill-nourished, they grieved not
over their own changed lot, but over his. They could not be
reconciled to his lack of luxuries, much less to the difficulties
in which he frequently found himself, who was made to ruffle it
with the best and be the pride of their lives as he was the darling
of their hearts. All this the poor old things made apparent to me,
but their story did not become really interesting till they began
to speak of this house we are in, and of certain events which
followed their removal to the ramshackle dwelling next door. The
sale of this portion of the property had relieved them from their
debts, but they were otherwise penniless, and were just planning
the renting of their rooms at prices which would barely serve to
provide them with a scanty living, when there came a letter from
their graceless nephew, asking for a large amount of money to save
him from complete disgrace. They had no money, and were in the
midst of their sorrow and perplexity, when a carriage drove up to
the door of this house and from it issued an old and very sick man,
their long absent and almost forgotten brother. He had come home
to die, and when told his sisters' circumstances, and how soon the
house next door would be filled with lodgers, insisted upon having
this place of his birth, which was empty at the time, opened for
his use. The owner, after long continued entreaties from the poor
old sisters, finally consented to the arrangement. A bed was made
up in the library, and the old man laid on it."
Mrs. Packard's voice fell, and I cast her a humorous look.
"Were there ghosts in those days?" I lightly asked.
Her answer was calm enough. "Not yet, but the place must have been
desolate enough for one. I have sometimes tried to imagine the
scene surrounding that broken-down old man. There was no furniture
in the room, save what was indispensable to his bare comfort. Miss
Thankful expressly said there was no carpet,--you will presently
see why. Even the windows had no other protection than the bare
shutters. But he was in his old home, and seemed content till Miss
Charity fell sick, and they had to call in a nurse to assist Miss
Thankful, who by this time had a dozen lodgers to look after. Then
he grew very restless. Miss Thankful said he seemed to be afraid
of this nurse, and always had a fever after having been left alone
with her; but he gave no reason for his fears, and she herself was
too straitened in means and in too much trouble otherwise to be
affected by such mere whims, and went on doing her best, sitting
with him whenever the opportunity offered, and making every effort
to conceal the anxiety she felt for her poor nephew from her
equally poor brother. The disease under which the brother labored
was a fatal one, and he had not many days to live. She was
startled when one day her brother greeted her appearance, with an
earnest entreaty for the nurse to be sent out for a little while,
as this was his last day, and he had something of great importance
to communicate to her before he died.
"She had not dreamed of his being so low as this, but when she came
to look at him, she saw, that he had not misstated his case, and
that he was really very near death. She was in a flurry and wanted
to call in the neighbors and rout her sister up from her own sick
bed to care for him. But he wanted nothing and nobody, only to be
left alone with her.
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