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Page 55
And Betsy said, resolutely, "Oh, you know, Aunt Frances, I'd LOVE to be
with you!" She ventured one more step through the thicket. "But
honestly, Aunt Frances, WON'T it be a bother ... ?"
Aunt Frances ventured another step to meet her, "But dear little girls
must be SOMEWHERE ..."
And Betsy almost forgot her caution and burst out, "But I could stay
here! I know they would keep me!"
Even Aunt Frances's two veils could not hide the gleam of relief and
hope that came into her pretty, thin, sweet face. She summoned all her
courage and stepped out into the clearing in the middle of the thicket,
asking right out, boldly, "Why, do you like it here, Betsy? Would you
like to stay?"
And Betsy--she never could remember afterward if she had been careful
enough not to shout too loudly and joyfully--Betsy cried out, "Oh, I
LOVE it here!" There they stood, face to face, looking at each other
with honest and very happy eyes. Aunt Prances threw her arm around Betsy
and asked again, "Are you SURE, dear?" and didn't try to hide her
relief. And neither did Betsy.
"I could visit you once in a while, when you are somewhere near here,"
suggested Betsy, beaming.
"Oh, YES, I must have SOME of the time with my darling!" said Aunt
Frances. And this time there was nothing in their hearts that
contradicted their lips.
They clung to each other in speechless satisfaction as Uncle Henry
guided the surrey up to the marble stepping-stone. Betsy jumped out
first, and while Uncle Henry was helping Aunt Frances out, she was
dashing up the walk like a crazy thing. She flung open the front door
and catapulted into Aunt Abigail just coming out. It was like flinging
herself into a feather-bed ... .
"Oh! Oh!" she gasped out. "Aunt Frances is going to be married. And
travel around all the time! And she doesn't REALLY want me at all! Can't
I stay here? Can't I stay here?"
Cousin Ann was right behind Aunt Abigail, and she heard this. She looked
over their shoulders toward Aunt Frances, who was approaching from
behind, and said, in her usual calm and collected voice: "How do you do,
Frances? Glad to see you, Frances. How well you're looking! I hear you
are in for congratulations. Who's the happy man?"
Betsy was overcome with admiration for her coolness in being able to
talk so in such an exciting moment. She knew Aunt Abigail couldn't have
done it, for she had sat down in a rocking-chair, and was holding Betsy
on her lap. The little girl could see her wrinkled old hand trembling on
the arm of the chair.
"I hope that means," continued Cousin Ann, going as usual straight to
the point, "that we can keep Betsy here with us."
"Oh, would you like to?" asked Aunt Frances, fluttering, as though the
idea had never occurred to her before that minute. "Would Elizabeth Ann
really LIKE to stay?"
"Oh, I'd LIKE to, all right!" said Betsy, looking confidently up into
Aunt Abigail's face.
Aunt Abigail spoke now. She cleared her throat twice before she could
bring out a word. Then she said, "Why, yes, we'd kind of like to keep
her. We've sort of got used to having her around."
That's what she SAID, but, as you have noticed before on this exciting
day, what people said didn't matter as much as what they looked; and as
her old lips pronounced these words so quietly the corners of Aunt
Abigail's mouth were twitching, and she was swallowing hard. She said,
impatiently, to Cousin Ann, "Hand me that handkerchief, Ann!" And as she
blew her nose, she said, "Oh, what an old fool I am!"
Then, all of a sudden, it was as though a great, fresh breeze had blown
through the house. They all drew a long breath and began to talk loudly
and cheerfully about the weather and Aunt Frances's trip and how Aunt
Harriet was and which room Aunt Frances was to have and would she leave
her wraps down in the hall or take them upstairs--and, in the midst of
this, Betsy, her heart ready to burst, dashed out of doors, followed by
Shep. She ran madly toward the barn. She did not know where she was
going. She only knew that she must run and jump and shout, or she would
explode.
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