“Don’t be frightened, Sheba,” he said; “don’t be unhappy. Lovely darling, I will take care of you.”
She pressed her soft cheek against his hand.
“I know you will,” she said, “and of Uncle Tom, too. I couldn’t be unhappy—we all three love each other so. I do not believe we shall be unhappy, even if we are poor enough to be hungry.”
So their moment of dismay ended in smiles. They were passing through a phase of life in which it is not easy to be unhappy. Somehow things always brightened when they drew near each other. His observation of this truth was one of Tom’s pleasures. He knew the year of waiting had managed to fill itself with sweetness for them. Their hopes had been alternately raised and dashed to earth; one day it seemed not improbable that they were to be millionaires, the next that beggary awaited them after the dwindling of their small stock of money; but they had shared their emotions and borne their vicissitudes together.
When Tom entered the room they rose and met him with questioning faces.
“Was it good fortune?” they cried. “Did you see him, Uncle Tom? What did he say?”
He told his story as lightly as possible, but it could not be transformed, by any lightness of touch, into an encouraging episode. He made a picture of Stamps sidling through the barely opened door, and was terse and witty at the expense of his own discomfiture and consciousness of incompetence. He laughed at himself and made them laugh, but when he sat down in his accustomed seat there was a shade upon his face.
The children exchanged glances, the eyes of each prompting the other. They must be at their brightest. They knew the sight of their happiness warmed and lightened his heart always.
“He is tired and hungry,” Sheba said. “We must give him a beautiful hot supper. Rupert, we must set the table.”
They had grown used to waiting upon themselves, and their domestic services wore more or less the air of festivities. Sheba ran downstairs to Miss Burford’s kitchen, where Uncle Matt had prepared the evening meal in his best manner. As the repasts grew more and more simple, Matt seemed to display greater accomplishments.