Chapter XX: Wings to Fly

Persis’s government bonds were indeed a most unexpected windfall, and the family was given an entire surprise, for Mr. Peyton had a sister and a brother to whom all his property would naturally be supposed to go, and conscientious Persis at first rather demurred about accepting the legacy, but as the executors informed her it was a strictly legal matter, and as Mr. Peyton’s sister and brother were not needy, she was glad to set aside her compunctions, and accepted her bonds gratefully.

“You and Annis, grandma, how much you have done for me!” she said. “Isn’t it strange that Annis should have discovered the envelope, and that it was she who put it into Mr. Peyton’s head to remember me? Doesn’t it seem like bread upon the waters?”

“It does, indeed. I have regretted your giving up college more than I can tell you, and now all is made smooth.”

“Do you suppose Mr. Peyton really knew that he had such a short time to live?”

“Yes, I think so. I, too, have had a last word.” And grandma’s face took on a grave look.

“Oh, grandma, have you?”

“Yes, dear; the letter was written just after your visit. I think it is dated that same day. He said that he knew his time was short, and that he wanted you to have what would have been yours if you had really been his grand-daughter. Life was a battle for him in many ways. With all the comforts which his means provided, he still had a strangely sad life, and I am thankful that he is at rest. The things he most desired in this world were never his; many things which might have added to his happiness seemed to slip away from him. He was a great lover of books, yet for years he was not able to use his eyes except for a few moments at a time, two or three times a day, and there were other trials from which he was never free.”

“How little we know,” Persis replied, softly. “I thought him such a fortunate man. What a year of changes it has been. In it Lisa has been away, and has come back engaged; the boys have left us; I have started on my journalistic work; and now this comes. Before that everything went along so uneventfully. I believe the changes have dated from our discovery of Annis.”

But there were more changes to come, which were to involve the entire family. The question of Persis’s college career was first considered, and it was decided that she should make her home with Mrs. Brown and Annis while she was away. Then came a decision to be made regarding Mellicent, who had shot up into a tall girl so suddenly that she had outgrown her strength, and the doctor advised a warmer climate and cessation from study for at least a year. How this question was to be met was determined most delightfully and opportunely for Mellicent by a sudden offer on the part of the college to send Professor Holmes abroad on an archæological expedition which would take him to Greece and Egypt, and there seemed nothing better to be done than for Mrs. Holmes and Mellicent to accompany him.

“Dear! dear!” Persis exclaimed when this was told her. “Just think how my sisters are outdoing me. Here Lisa has been to Japan, and Mellicent is going to Egypt, while I——”

“You are going to college, which is a place neither of us is likely to go,” put in Mellicent, aptly.

“True, and when I get my degree I’ll go abroad; or maybe, Lisa, you will be living in Japan. You know your Richard is likely to be ordered anywhere, and you’ll tag after him, I suppose, so I’ll perhaps be able to visit you in some of the out-of-the-way corners of the world.”

“Yes, that is something to anticipate, but just at present I am wondering what is to be done with me while you are all planning for next winter. It doesn’t seem to occur to any one that I am left out of all these calculations. I believe, after all, I shall have to be married in order to have a home and a protector.”

“Not a bit of it,” put in Basil, who was present at this family session. “You know mother has leased Mrs. Brown’s house, and you can come to us, you and Mrs. Estabrook. Then you can shut up this house and give it no further thought.”

“That’s very kind of you,” Lisa replied, “but no doubt grandma and I can manage to live very cosily here together.”

However, the suggestion started a new idea, and it was decided, after much importuning from Persis and Annis, that Mrs. Estabrook should go with Mrs. Brown, “to keep an eye on Persis,” she said, although every one knew that it was really an excuse to be near her favorite, and that Lisa should go with her parents and Mellicent.

“I don’t feel as if I could part from my girl again so soon,” Mrs. Holmes had said. “And we shall be gone but six months from the first of November. Persis can go with the Browns, and grandma can join her when we are ready to shut up the house.”

Mrs. Brown at last consented to accept a small sum for board from Persis, and Mrs. Estabrook made the same arrangement, so that the matter was adjusted comfortably.

During the intervening time there were many plots and plans laid. Persis exacted a promise from Lisa that she would not think of marrying during the college session, but when the marriage did take place it should be in the month of June, when Persis would be free from college exactions.

“Of course I shall be best girl,” declared Persis, “and Mell can be bridesmaid, with—who else, Lisa?”

“Oh, I don’t know; Margaret Greene and Nellie Hall and Annis, I think.”

Persis looked pleased. “That’s nice of you, Lisa; and is there anything gayer than a military or a naval wedding, with all the men in their uniforms and everything so fine! I believe you thought of that when you decided to accept Mr. Griffith.”

“No, I didn’t,” Lisa protested. She was very lovable these days. Whether it was due to her stay with the gentle, courteous Japanese, or to the happiness she felt in her engagement, Persis could not determine, but she certainly found her sister’s arrogance much softened. “She seems to be on good terms with the whole world,” Persis said to herself.

“No, I didn’t,” repeated Lisa. “I liked him because he was so thoughtful of every one, and so good and frank. He never pretended not to like me from the first. He always looked it; and yet he has seldom said he admired me. I think he brought all the best of me to the surface by his belief in that best. You can’t help liking him, Tommy; he is so genuine.”

Persis laughed. “I never expected to hear you go on in this way. I might look for it in the Pigeon, but in the Princess, never.”

This was a few days after Persis had returned from her trip to Virginia, and the two girls were unpacking one of Lisa’s trunks, which had just come on from San Francisco.

“There,” and Lisa shook out a gay costume, “I bought this specially for you. Put it on, Persis, and I will dress your hair _à la_ Japanese, and you can make yourself look exactly like one. Let me see,” as Persis made narrow slits of her eyes and screwed up her mouth after the manner of a figure on a face. “I knew it,” continued Lisa. “Here are two of those queer little silver shields that are worn on the fingers to make them taper. I thought they could be mounted as pins for you and Melly.”

“How odd and pretty!” returned Persis, duly admiring them. And next Lisa proceeded to arrange her sister’s glossy black hair.

“Now go off and show yourself,” she said, when she had completed the wonderful structure. “Wait till I stick these funny pins in for ornament. Now take that fan.” And she followed the droll figure down-stairs, laughing at the exact reproduction. “I hear Basil in the library,” she said. “Stand there, Persis, by the door of the dining-room by the big screen.” And Persis obeyed.

Before Basil made his appearance, Prue came in with a tray full of dishes. She stared at Persis, who stood immovable. Prue’s curiosity was aroused. She stepped up with her head to one side, and Persis made a sudden movement. “Law, it’s alive!” exclaimed Prue. “I thought it was one o’ them Chinee figgers.”

Lisa and Basil, coming in, joined in the laugh; then Basil turned Persis around and admired her pretty, comfortable dress. “I must make a sketch of you Persis,” he said. “You’re a regular Japanese decoration.”

“I suppose I’ve got to go and take off these things; it’s dinner-time.” Persis spoke regretfully. “Don’t tell me the Japanese are not more civilized than we are. I never wore such a satisfactory costume.”

“Keep it on,” suggested Lisa, “and let the family see it when they come down to dinner.” And Persis was only too glad to retain the convenient attire, and actually sat down to dinner in her odd array, rather to the disapproval of Mrs. Estabrook, who was somewhat particular in such matters.

Once more the original company gathered together at Bellingly for the summer. Ruth was overjoyed to see Lisa again, but the little girl was outgrowing her belief in fairies, and Callie was fading into a creature of the past. Patience and Amber still held their places in the child’s affection, but such a very sedate cat now objected to being dressed up as a fairy prince, and, moreover, was now seldom called upon to take such a character, while Patience sometimes sat for a whole day staring ahead of her without once changing her point of vision. The reason of this was that Ruth had acquired such a love of reading that she devoured eagerly anything she could lay her hands upon,—from works on theology to the lightest of light magazines.

Mr. Danforth spent his infrequent holidays with these friends, and it amused Lisa to see Persis’s interest in the long galley-proofs he brought her and Mr. Danforth’s interest in the girl herself.

He and Lisa were now on excellent terms. Had she but known it, the pretty girl was much more attractive to the young man in her present happy, gracious humor, when she demanded nothing and was at peace with every one. They had pleasant talks together when Persis was off on what she called her metalsome steed with her “brother Basil.” Quite as often it was Annis who was Basil’s companion, while Persis and “Mr. Dan” were still discussing the work of the paper. Then Lisa, with eyes made wise by her new experiences, saw possibilities which probably none of the others discerned. Lisa liked much to be with her grandmother these days. To the dear old lady she could talk of her sailor-boy and be sure of an interested and sympathetic listener.

“To think of Persis being so grown up! eighteen! think of it, grandma,” she said one day. “I can hardly realize it; and Annis a young lady, too. Don’t you think Annis likes Basil very much?”

“Does she? I had not observed it.”

Lisa laughed. “Oh, grandma, I suppose I am looking for romances on every side. I see that Mr. Danforth likes Persis more than she suspects, and that Annis always looks very happy when she is with Basil,—shy little Annis; and that Persis, dear old Tommy——”

“What of her?” asked Mrs. Estabrook, a trifle anxiously.

“She is heart free. I don’t believe her heart has waked up yet. She finds in Mr. Danforth a good comrade; she is as free from consciousness and is as spontaneous as need be in his company, and the same with Basil, although sometimes I have seen her watch Annis and Basil rather closely. Basil, like Persis, doesn’t think about the girls except in the light of comrades.”

“Well, my dear, there is plenty of time to settle all those questions. Probably each one will make some very different selection, eventually. I know Persis has no romantic notions, and I think while she is a college student she will not bother her head over any such matters, if she ever does.”

“‘She is a woman, and therefore to be wooed,’” quoted Lisa.

“Time enough,” returned grandma. “Let her springtime last as long as possible. I should not disturb her serenity by suggesting possibilities, Lisa.”

“That’s just why I am telling you. I must talk over my little romances to you, grandma. I think I should prefer Basil for a brother. There is something very lovable about Basil; but you should see my Richard.”

Grandma smiled indulgently, but she sighed as she watched Persis come up the lane with Basil and Annis. There was, however, no need of anxiety in Persis’s direction. Her eager young mind craved knowledge. Of love she felt she had no lack, so content was she in the affection of her friends and her family, affection to which she responded with all the warmth of her ardent nature. Her dreams held visions of college balls; of days spent in digging for the nuggets of learning; of whys answered and wherefores satisfied; and her serious intent was visible in the lack of coquetry with which she received attention, and in the trend of her girlish enthusiasms. She liked companionship which could yield her pleasant mental stimulus, but she had a lofty scorn for triflers, even though she did enjoy nonsense in a most hearty way.

“Persis’s intellect far outstrips mine,” Lisa acknowledged, reluctantly. “She is so thorough and so original. I was never anything but a copyist.”

And so the golden summer drifted away, bringing them, at its close, all together again under the home roof, only to be separated. When September’s last days came they saw Persis ready to take a new flight. It was hard to be the first to say good-bye, and but for the warm welcome which met her in Mrs. Brown’s cosey little home, it would have been a very homesick girl who spent her first night within sight of the college walls.

The first of November found the house deserted, shutters barred, and doors bolted. It looked very lonely to Porter and Basil as they passed it each day on their way to college. But they heard after a time of the safe arrival of the voyagers across the ocean, of the eager diligence with which Persis was taking up her new work, nearer home, of Mrs. Estabrook’s interest in the doings of the college community, and of Annis’s happiness in having her dearest friend with her.

“We’ll see them all next summer, Port,” said Basil, “but I do miss them every one.”

“And I, too,” returned Porter. “They’ve been awfully good to us, Baz, and we mustn’t go back on them, even if they’re not here to keep us up to time.”

Basil looked down with pride at the tall, manly boy striding along at his side. “I believe Port is going to turn out all right,” he thought. “He needed Mr. Dan, as well as the others, to take him in tow.” But it was not all Mr. Dan, nor even the others, who had been of most use to Porter, for the unswerving example of his elder brother had been his best guide.

Afar under unchanging blue skies Lisa dreamed of wedding-bells, and Mellicent drew in strength with each breath of balmy air, so different from the biting winds which Persis faced with glowing cheeks as each day she took her wintry way through the streets of the dignified old town where her college stood.

But hope stood by the three sisters and brought them cheer, whispering to Lisa of love, to Mellicent of health, to Persis of success, and to all of them of a coming happy reunion.

THE END.

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Transcriber’s Notes

pg 28 Changed: I wont, then.
to: I won’t, then.

pg 127 Changed: Margaret cames out ahead
to: Margaret comes out ahead

pg 167 Changed: King Mileseus of Spain
to: King Milesius of Spain

pg 167 Changed: but William the Conquerer
to: but William the Conqueror

pg 179 Changed: runners appear on the opposite site of the ring
to: runners appear on the opposite side of the ring

pg 181 Changed: waving hat, hankerchief, even carriage whip
to: waving hat, handkerchief, even carriage whip

pg 222 Changed: “that everthing else is knocked out
to: “that everything else is knocked out