“So it is,” she replied, “for after all the time I have spent upon that bed-quilt, it is just good for nothing. I can’t bear the sight of it; and, Hesper, if you should ever live to be married, I will give it to you for a wedding present.”
Hesper thanked her for her good intentions, but she thought to herself that it was not at all likely she should ever marry, and if she did, she should not want a satin bed-quilt.
CHAPTER XVIII.
A PLEASANT SURPRISE.
The winter months passed swiftly away with the Greyson family, in their new home, but it was not till the spring opened, and the pleasant sunshine and warm air came again, with their invigorating influences, that Hesper was able to regain any of her former strength and buoyancy of spirits. When the weather was mild, and the sky clear, she would steal out and work for a short time in the little flower garden, but the good doctor still kept his eye on her, and would not suffer her to engage in any fatiguing employment. It happened, fortunately, that there was no need of it, for Hesper’s mother was now so much better, that she could attend to the household duties, and Mr. Greyson, who was constantly employed, earned enough to support them all, comfortably. The doctor had made some extensive purchases in the way of new lands, and what with ploughing and planting, draining meadows and clearing wood-lands, he not only managed to keep Mr. Greyson, but also Fred and Charlie busy. The services of the Grimsby boys too were often required, and though, as might have been expected, a crooked word or a hard look would often pass between them and the young Greysons, yet the promise which they had made to Mose, and the presence of Mr. Byers among them, prevented them from breaking out into open hostilities.
One clear, bright summer day, Mr. Greyson and the boys were at work in a beautiful pine grove—a part of the doctor’s woodland, clearing away the under-brush for the accommodation of a pic-nic, which was to be held there the following week. “Hurrah! hurrah!” shouted Fred all at once, “there comes mother and Hesper.”
Mr. Greyson looked up, at Fred’s exclamation, and throwing down his hatchet, he took off his hat and waved it to them as they came down the green and shady road that led to the grove.
“I am right glad to see you,” he said, “though I am afraid it is ‘most too long a walk for two such invalids.”