Violet saw Narcissa's white dress among the trees,—for the young elms in the avenue had grown so high as to meet now overhead,—and ran out to welcome her.
She helped the invalid into her house, brought her mother's easy chair out to the porch, and a footstool and fan, and last of all a little table, upon which she placed fresh flowers and a new book that had been given her, and then hurried away to mix a cooling drink, of which Narcissa was very fond.
"How good you are, Violet," said Narcissa when she came back, "and how little I deserve so much from you! A toad just hopped over the step—the queerest old fellow—looked as if he had been through a dozen wars, with his one eye and a missing leg. I could have laughed, we were so much alike; and yet I couldn't, for he made me think of that first day we came to your father's house, and——"
"O, yes," interrupted Violet; "and only think how much good has come to us from that first visit—how comfortably we have lived ever since!—your father was so kind."
"But I wasn't kind," said Narcissa, looking very sorrowful; "I did you nothing but harm; and think what you have done for me."
"Brought you a chair and a fan," laughed Violet; "wonderful deeds!"
"You may laugh if you will," answered the lady; "but I would not give what I have gained from you in exchange for a hundred times what I ever had before. My beauty only made me vexed if I was not admired; my health and strength made me restless, kept me always in search of what I could not find nor buy. Beauty, and health, and money are good for nothing by themselves. O Violet, you have given health and beauty to my heart, and now I am rich and happy because no living thing can be glad but I grow richer by sharing its joy—those cool cloud shadows flickering over the grass—this sweetness the air has caught from your violet beds; and look how that humming bird enjoys the dew and honey he is drinking out of the roses, hanging among them by his long, slim bill; I can almost taste it with him as clearly as I smell the odor he shakes from the roses with his glittering wings; and I feel, too, the coolness the shadows must bring to the heated grass. For all of this, my friend, I thank you constantly."
Violet was not fond of hearing herself praised; she thought it pleasure enough to help any one; so she changed the subject by offering Narcissa some more of the refreshing drink. She answered,—
"Not now, I thank you; but pray where do you buy this cordial?—it is so much pleasanter to me than the rich wines we have at home, which always make me sick."
When Violet told how she had made the cordial herself from wild raspberries of her own picking, had pressed the juice out with her own white hands, and that the same hands had made the light biscuit she brought with it, and arranged the tasteful bouquet, and nailed up the luxuriant rosebushes, Narcissa was quite enchanted, and wished she could live as independently herself.