Had Grandmother Capers and her invalid been present, there is no knowing what might have happened; but as soon as the noise of their arrival reached Melville’s sitting-room, he had caused word to be sent to Grandmother Kinsolving that supper for himself and Mrs. Capers must be served apart from the others.
The gentle old hostess had been rather glad of this than otherwise, but Aunt Ruth, Friend as she was, had tossed her shapely head with a quaint air of disdain which boded a certain piece of her mind to be delivered at the fitting occasion and in the hearing of the two Capers.
“But, and my little jar of ‘mixed pickles’ will season your quiet life finely. And it amazes me that you two ladies should live here in this great house alone, with this young Fräulein!” exclaimed Uncle Fritz, sweeping his eyes over the feminine trio, whom he supposed constituted the family at the The Snuggery.
“But, it is not alone, Fritzy Nunky,” corrected Paula, severely. “Our Aunt Ruth has told you twice already that a Mrs. Capers and our cousin Melville, her grandson, are also members of the family.”
“Ah! so? Then I beg Miss Ruth’s sweet pardon. Paula finds me ever a blunderer, dear madam,” he concluded, looking deprecatingly toward the hostess’s sympathetic face.
Grandmother Kinsolving smiled. “Thee is a blunderer of the happy sort, then, Fritz. I can understand now why my Lydia used to speak of her brother-in-law with such affection.”
“Is it so?” queried Uncle Fritz, his big blue eyes filling at mention of the dead woman who had been a true sister to him. “And, but we thought not of the ‘in-law.’ Franz was always deep in my heart’s love, and when Lydia came, she nestled close beside him. Christina, there, is the mother made anew for us. Thou wilt find comfort in little Christina,” he added fondly, laying his broad hand on the flaxen braids of his youngest niece, who blushed and smiled gratefully at the commendation.
“And what of me, Fritzy Nunky? Am I not a comfort, also?” asked the tall Octave, demurely.
“Praise goes unsought, sweetheart. It never answers to bidding, thou witch! Octave will make thee great care, Frau Kinsolving. She has a big heart and a head full of heedless ways. Octave is my brother Franz, as little Christina is my sister Lydia.”
Again the grave tenderness fell upon the spirits of those who best remembered the dead. Content felt herself almost an alien, since all were strangers to her save the grandmother and aunt whom she had known but three short days. A moment’s longing for her own absent father who was the one son of the house stole over her, and she turned her eyes westward through the open window, as if looking toward him brought her nearer to the missionary in far-away Japan.