Mrs. Hooper was thoughtful for a moment, then she said: “Very well, I agree on one condition, and that is you are to select any two hours a day that may be most convenient. You might not want to be tied down every afternoon; you might want to go somewhere, or do something; in that case you must feel perfectly free to come and tell me. If you agree to do this I will accept your very generous offer.”
“All right,” responded Joanne, “only it isn’t generous; it is quite selfish, for it works out for my benefit.”
“And mine,” insisted Mrs. Hooper.
So from this time on Joanne became Bertie’s self-instituted nurse for a part of every day, and became so attached to the really lovable little fellow that she regretted giving him up when the time came that she must.
CHAPTER XIV
HERE’S WHERE I COOK
THE summer passed quietly and not unprofitably for Joanne. There were fewer arguments with her grandmother and only upon one occasion did she dissolve into tears, a shower which was soon over, at that. Of course she missed the girls, Winnie with her rosy face and candid speech, Claudia, gracious and helpful. Even the presence of Esther, argumentative and a trifle given to envy, would have been acceptable, but on the whole Joanne felt that she had been able to get on pretty well, and certainly had added to her attainments. She counted up the tests which she felt able to take for new badges and felt a glow of pleasure as she realized that she was nearing her goal. She had not lost her love of the shining river but found that the mountains, too, had their charm, and that she would be sorry to leave them.
The day came, however, when she was back again in the city, eager for school to begin, and looking forward with happiness to the first rally. But, alas! that old quotation about the “best laid plans of mice and men,” was to be all too fittingly applied in her case.
There was a good deal of trouble in getting the house in proper running order. Servants were hard to get, men to put down carpets and rugs still scarcer. Mrs. Selden fussed and fumed, worried and worked more than she should have done, but at last two maids were procured, a cook and a housemaid. For a week things went on fairly well, considering Mrs. Selden’s very particular ways, her demands and exactions, then came a Sunday morning the very day before school should begin, and the domestic machinery was clogged.
Joanne came down at the usual hour. She found her grandfather in the library reading. “Where’s Gradda?” asked Joanne.
“I persuaded her to have her breakfast in bed,” said Dr. Selden. “She is all tired out and needs a good rest. She will be ill if she keeps on at the rate she has been going. She is not used to grappling with these new conditions and takes it hard. Suppose you go out, Joanne, and tell the cook to send up her breakfast when it is ready.” He looked at his watch. “It is getting pretty late; it should certainly be ready by now.”