“I am sorry I was naughty—I just didn’t think a bit. It was such fun to see the feathers fly. I wanted to be good while grandpa was away, and now I’ve spoiled it. Oh dear, I wish mamma would come and take me home, I am so lonesome!”
Trolley didn’t understand how anyone could be unhappy before such a pleasant fire, with him for company, and he continued to purr loudly while Caro’s tears fell fast. His view of things prevailed after a while, and when Aunt Charlotte came down stairs she found the two curled up together on the rug, fast asleep.
The tear stains on Caro’s cheek softened her. Perhaps the child really felt more than she showed, and she decided she would not take away her candle that night as a punishment, as she had thought of doing. More than this she let her have peach preserves for supper.
The preserves went to Caro’s heart and made her more penitent than ever. “I’m truly going to be good after this, and I’ll help Jane pick up the feathers,” she said as she kissed her aunt good-night.
CHAPTER VII
IN THE GARDEN
Everybody agreed that the weather was remarkable that fall; far into November it lasted warm and bright, and Walter Grayson who found life more endurable under the open sky than within four walls, spent a large part of each day out of doors attended by his faithful Thompson.
Caro’s visit had stirred anew his longing for the old companionships that had once been his. When at length after their long absence they had decided to come home, he had looked forward to it almost eagerly, but his sister whose pride shrank from sympathy took it for granted that to meet his old acquaintances could be only painful to him, and those who had ventured to call were not admitted.
Walter was in the habit of acquiescing in her decisions, and in the first shock of his illness he had felt the same shrinking from pity, but now the sense of loneliness was becoming almost unbearable. As he was wheeled about the garden he lived over again the merry days of his childhood, and the quarrel that had separated him from those he had cared most for, seemed a small matter in the light of these memories.