CHAPTER XXXVII
THE RED PAPER
Spring was come. Once more had been wrought the old, old miracle which is ever new, and every tree-crowned hill and nestling valley around Washington was singing the resurrection song. Even the green grass at Margaret's feet and the hyacinths and daffodils as she moved among them seemed to say: "Lo, the winter is past; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come and the voice of the turtle is heard in the land."
There was a note of jubilance in it all. Perhaps she was feeling still the influence of the Easter "Allelujahs" of yesterday; perhaps it was that the mellowness of the warm spring air had somehow got into her very soul this morning and swept away the clouds of doubt; or possibly it was only that Margaret was young, and "hope springs eternal." Whatever the cause, the girl looked out upon the world of budding nature around her with an ecstacy which had its overtone of sadness, as all such ecstacies have for natures like hers.... It was a beautiful world! a beautiful world! And it would not be long now.
She knelt upon the grass by her flower beds and buried her face in the sweet fragrance of the hyacinths. Her heart was strangely open this Easter Monday to the influences around her.... Yes, spring had come. The long lonely winter was gone. It had been long—long and lonely! But Judge Kirtley had said the case must come up soon. And when it did, she surely would get him. It seemed almost certain now that the bill would pass, and it must help her in some way. Even Judge Kirtley had said it might have its influence with the court.
Then her thoughts passed to pleasanter things, for Philip was to spend a whole day with her, and she was to take the children to the Easter Monday egg-rolling. Mammy Cely had laid it before Mr. De Jarnette that any child living within going distance and then not allowed to embrace the opportunity was "jes' bodaciously robbed." And indeed it was almost true, for it is a time-honored festival for the children of Washington in which white, black, and brown participate. Mammy Cely had been coloring eggs for days.
That egg-rolling stood out afterwards in Margaret De Jarnette's mind as a day of perfect happiness, save for the knowledge that it must soon end. The delight of the children at the animated scene on the White Lot was unbounded,—that of Mrs. Pennybacker and Bess not far behind it. Even Mr. Harcourt found them before the morning was over, and found them in a characteristic way.
The word was passed quietly around that the President would appear at a certain time on the south portico, and the crowd gathered there. The De Jarnette party happened to be standing near a policeman when a distracted mother rushed up to him.
"Oh, have you seen my little girl? I've lost her! She is only four! Oh, what shall I do!"
"Don't get excited," the policeman said, with a soothing gesture,—"she has been taken over to the east gate."
"Oh, have you found her?"