“Ah, Vi,” he said, “so you are showing your mother’s old rooms to Cousin Mary. That is right. I spent many a happy hour here with that dear sister when I was but a little fellow, for, as I presume you know, she is twelve years older than I.
“Ah, how well I remember the heartache it gave me when I was told of her approaching marriage, and that she would then leave our home for Mr. Travilla’s at Ion. I could scarce forgive him for robbing me of my sister. In fact I refused my consent, but to my surprise and chagrin found that it made no difference.”
He led the way into the dressing-room. “This,” he said, “is where I found her standing in her beautiful bridal robes, as the hour drew near when she was to be given to Travilla. Oh, how beautiful she was! I can see her yet—the lovely, blushing, smiling face, the shining hair adorned with orange-blossoms, and the slender, graceful figure half concealed by the folds of rich white satin and a cloud of mist-like lace. I remember exclaiming, ‘You look like an angel, only without the wings!’ and how I wanted to hug her, but had been forbidden lest I should spoil or disarrange some of her finery; and what a heartache I had at the thought that she was never to be the same to me again—so entirely our own—as she had been before. She called me to come and kiss her, and oh, what a strong effort it cost to refrain from giving the forbidden hug! but she promised me an opportunity to give it before she went; and the promise was remembered and kept.”
“Did you not hug papa instead, Uncle Horace?” queried Violet between a smile and a tear, for she was thinking of that dear parent as gone from among them never to return.
“Yes,” he said, “he kindly invited me to use him as a substitute for my sister, which I did heartily, for he was a great favorite with me, in spite of his robbing me of her.”
“In which room of the house was Cousin Elsie married?” asked Mary.
“Come and I will show you, pointing out the precise spot where she stood during the ceremony,” replied Mr. Dinsmore, leading the way, the others willingly following.
He redeemed his promise, gave a description of the adornment of the rooms on that memorable occasion, of the grounds also, and ended with the bride’s farewell to relatives and near and dear friends, especially her almost idolized father.
“Yes,” said Violet, “mamma has always loved grandpa so very, very dearly, and his love for her is, I believe, quite as great. Ah, uncle, let us take cousin to the hall and show her the niche from which mamma once fell when quite a little girl.”
“And I a baby boy,” he returned with a smile as he led the way; “but it was not from a niche she fell, Vi, but from a chair on the edge of which she stood, trying to reach up to hide a toy mouse behind the statue there. The chair slipped from under her; to save herself from falling she caught wildly at the legs of the statue, and she and it came down together with a crash upon the marble floor. There is the niche,” pointing it out, for they had reached the hall while he spoke; “the figure occupying it now is one purchased to replace that broken by its fall with sister at that time.”