A little talk which Friend Mercy had with her husband that evening, after the guests were gone, and when he said he was “afraid it wouldn’t work,” will explain this.
“Thee sees, Isaac,” she said, “those two dear little things have played here half the afternoon, and there was no quarrelling, or tale-bearing, or cruelty. They did not stone the chickens and geese, nor tease Bowser and the cat; and when I asked John to drive the cows to the spring—which, I will confess, I did with a purpose—he used neither stick nor stone. I would not have any children brought here who would teach bad tricks to Joseph’s and Hannah’s children, for the world; but with these I think we should be quite safe. Did thee notice how they put down the kittens, and came at once, when their father called them to go to the train? When they obey so implicitly such parents as these seem to be, there is nothing to fear.”
“Thee has had thy own way too long for me to begin to cross thee now, I’m afraid, mother,” said Friend Gray, with an indulgent smile. “So, if thy heart is really set upon it, let them come! The trouble of it will fall chiefly on thee, I fear.”
It did not seem to fall very heavily. The one strong, willing maid-of-all-work declared she could “do for a dozen like them.”
Mrs. Leslie and Tiny made the three extra beds, and dusted the rooms every morning; and both Tiny and Johnny found various delightful ways of helping “Aunt Mercy and Uncle Isaac,” as the dear old host and hostess were called by everybody, before a week was out.
The days went by on swift, sunny wings, and everybody was growing agreeably fat and brown. But, when they stopped to think of it, there was a shadow over the children’s joy.
They were in the “inner circle”—even the five or six millions, they thought, could do no more for them; but, oh, the hundreds and hundreds who were hopelessly outside!
It was not very long, you may be sure, before Aunt Mercy heard all about the “circular city”; and although at first she treated the whole matter as a joke, she soon caught herself making valuable suggestions. And then, when Tiny and Johnny began to lament to her about all the “outsiders,” she began to think in good earnest, and the day before the next market day she spoke, and this is what she said,—