the little princess of tower hill and the child of the poor laundress were both pronounced out of danger. death no longer with his terrible sickle hovered over these pretty flowers; they were to make beautiful the garden of earth for the present.
waters felt quite sure in her own heart that she, under god, had been the means of saving maggie's life, for maggie had smiled so sweetly and contentedly when waters had brought her back the other child's message, and after that she had ceased to speak about meeting jo in heaven.
when the scales were turned and the children were pronounced out of danger, they both grew rapidly better, and at the end of a fortnight maggie was able to sit up for a few moments[pg 152] at a time, and almost to fatigue those about her with her numerous inquiries about jo.
every day waters went to the hospital, and came back with reports of the sick child, whose progress toward recovery was satisfactory, only not quite so rapid as maggie's.
at last the doctor gave sir john and lady ascot permission to take their little darling back to tower hill. mrs. grenville accompanied her brother and sister and little niece; and of course in the country maggie would have the great happiness of meeting ralph again.
ralph by this time had taken the hearts of miss grey and the numerous servants at tower hill by storm. he was thoroughly at home and thoroughly happy, assumed a good deal the airs of a little autocrat, and had more or less his own way in everything. he was delighted to see maggie, and immediately drew her away from the rest to talk to her and consult her on various subjects.
"you look rather white and peaky, mag, but you'll soon brown up now you've got into the real country. you must run about a great deal, and forget that you were ever ill. you mustn't even mind being a little tottery upon your legs at first. i know you must be tottery, because i've been consulting miss grey about it, and she once had rheumatic fever, and she used to totter about after it awfully; but the great thing is not to be sentimental over it, but to determine that you will get back your muscle. now what do you think i have found? come round with me into the shrubbery and you shall see."
ralph's words were decidedly a little rough and tonicky, but his actions were more considerate, for he put his arm round his little cousin and led her quite gently away. maggie found the sweet country air delicious; she was also very happy to feel ralph's arm round her waist, and she could not help giving his little brown hand a squeeze.
"i wish you'd kiss me, ralph," she said. "i have thought of you so often when i was getting better; i know you must think me not[pg 154] much of a playfellow, and i am so sorry that i began by vexing you about the rabbits."
"i'll kiss you, of course, mag," said ralph. "i don't think kisses are at all interesting things myself, but i'd do a great deal more than that to make you happy, for i was really, really sorry when you were ill. i don't think you're at all a bad sort of playfellow, mag—i mean for a girl. and as to the rabbits, why, that was the best deed you ever did. you are coming to see my dear bunnies now."
"oh, ralph, you don't mean bianco and lily?"
"yes, i mean my darling white beauties that jo gave me. i found them again in the wood, and they have grown as friendly as possible. i don't shut them up in any hutch; they live in the wood and they come to me when i call them. yesterday i found that they had made a nest, and the nest was full of little bunnies, all snow white, and with long hair like the father and mother. i'm going to show you the nest now."
at the thought of this delightful sight maggie's[pg 155] cheeks became very pink, her blue eyes danced, and she forgot that her legs were without muscle, and even tried to run in her excitement and pleasure.
"don't be silly, mag!" laughed her cousin; "the bunnies aren't going to hide themselves, and we'll find them all in good time. you may walk with those tottery legs of yours, but you certainly cannot run. here, now we're at the entrance to the wood; now i'll help you over the stile."
the children found the nest of lovely white rabbits, and spent a very happy half-hour sitting on the ground gazing at them.
then maggie began to confide a little care, which rested on her heart about jo, to her cousin.
"she has got well again, you know, ralph, and i promised she should meet me in the country somewhere where the grass is green, and yet i don't know how she's to come. i have got no money, and jo has got no money, and father and mother don't say any thing about it. it would be a dreadful thing for jo to stay[pg 156] away from heaven—for she was very, very near going to heaven, ralph—and then to find that i had broken my word to her, and that after all we were never to see each other where the grass is green."
"it would be worse than dreadful," answered ralph, "it would be downright cruel and wicked. dear little jo! she'd like to come here and look at the bunnies, wouldn't she? well, i've got no money either, and she can't be got into the country without money; that i do know. perhaps i'd better speak to mother about it."
but ralph, when he did question mrs. grenville on the subject, found her wonderfully silent, and in his opinion unsympathetic. she said that she could not possibly interfere with sir john and lady ascot in their own place, and that if she were ralph she would let things alone, and trust to the ascots doing what was right in the matter.
but ralph was not inclined to take this advice.
"i like maggie for being good about jo," he[pg 157] said, "and jo shan't be disappointed. i'll go myself to uncle john; he probably only needs to have the thing put plainly to him."
sir john listened to the little boy's somewhat excited remarks with an amused twinkle in his eyes.
"so the princess has sent you to me, my lad?" he said. "you tell her to keep her little mind tranquil, and to try to trust her old father."
little jo aylmer came very slowly back to health and strength, but at last there arrived a day when the hospital nurse pronounced her cured, and when her mother arrived in a cab to take her away.
the hospital nurse had tears in her eyes when she kissed jo, and the other sick children in the ward were extremely sorry to say good-by to her, for little jo, without making any extraordinary efforts, indeed without making any efforts at all, had a wonderful faculty for inspiring love. no doubt she was sympathetic, and no doubt also she was self-forgetful, and her ready tact prevented her saying the words[pg 158] which might hurt or doing the deeds which might annoy, and these apparently trivial traits in her character may have helped to make her popular. on that particular sunshiny afternoon the preparations made by certain excited little people in philmer's buildings were great. from the day jo was pronounced out of danger susy had begun to recover her spirits, and at any rate to forgive herself for her conduct in the matter of the tambourine. she had not spent any of the seven shillings which the pawnbroker had given for poor maggie's best hat; it had all been securely tucked away in her best white cotton pocket-handkerchief, and neither her mother nor the boys knew of its existence, for to purchase a tambourine while jo was so ill, and maggie supposed to be dying was beyond even thoughtless susy's desires.
after her own fashion, this rather heedless little girl had suffered a good deal during the past weeks, and suffering did her good, as it does all other creatures.
now, while the boys were very busy getting[pg 159] the room into a festive condition for jo, susy quietly and softly withdrew one shilling from her mysterious hoard, and went out to make purchases. a shilling means almost nothing to some people; they spend it on utter rubbish—they virtually throw it away. this was, however, by no means the case with susy aylmer; she knew a shilling's worth to the uttermost farthing, and it was surprising with what a number of parcels she returned home.
"now, ben and bob, we'll lay the tea-table," she said, addressing her excited little brothers. "yere, put the cloth straight, do—you know as jo can't abide nothing crooked. now then, out comes the fresh loaf as mother bought; pop it on the cracked plate, and put it here, a little to one side—it looks more genteel—not right away in the very middle. here goes the teapot—oh, my! ain't it a pity as the spout is cracked off?—and here's the little yaller jug for the milk! here's butter, too—dosset, but not bad. now then, we begins on my purchases. a slice of 'am on this tiny plate for jo; red herrings, which we'll toast up and[pg 160] make piping hot presently; a nice little bundle of radishes, creases ditto. oh, my heyes! i do like creases, they're so nice and biting. now then, what 'ave we 'ere?—why, a big packet of lollipops; i got the second quality of lollipops, so i 'as quite a big parcel; and the man threw in two over, 'cause i said they was for a gal just out of 'ospital. shrimps is in this 'ere bag. now, boys, there ain't none of these 'ere for you, they're just for mother and jo, and no one else—don't you be greedy, ben and bob, for ef you are, i'll give you something to remember. yere's a real fresh egg, which must be boiled werry light—that's for jo, of course—and 'ere's a penn'orth of dandy-o-lions to stick in the middle of the table. yere they goes into this old brown cracked jug, and don't they look fine? well, i'm sure i never see'd a more genteel board."
the boys thoroughly agreed with susy on this point, and while they were skipping and dancing about, and making many dives at the tempting eatables, and susy was chasing them with loud whoops, half of anger, half of mirth,[pg 161] about the room, mrs. aylmer and the little pale, spiritual-looking sister arrived.
at the sight of jo the children felt their undue excitement subsiding—their happiness became peace, as it always did in her blessed little presence.
there was no wrangling or quarreling over the tea-table—the look of pretty jo lying on her sofa once again kept the boys from being over-greedy, and reduced susy's excitement to due bounds.
mrs. aylmer said several times, "i'm the werry happiest woman in london," and her children seemed to think that they were the happiest children.
the pleasant tea-hour came, however, to an end at last, and susy was just washing up the cups and saucers and putting the remainder of the feast into the cupboard, when the whole family were roused into a condition of most alert attention by a sharp and somewhat imperative knock on the room door.
"dear heart alive!" exclaimed mrs. aylmer. "whoever can that be? it sounds like the[pg 162] landlord, only i paid my bit of rent yesterday."
"it's more likely to be some one after you as laundress, mother," remarked practical susy; and then ben flew across the room and, opening the door wide, admitted no less a person than sir john ascot himself.
mrs. aylmer had never seen him, and of course did not know what an important visitor was now coming into her humble little room. susy, however, knew maggie's father, and felt herself turning very white, and took instant refuge behind jo's sofa.
"now, which is little jo?" said sir john, coming forward and peering round him. "i've come here specially to-day to see a child whom my own little girl loves very much. i've something to say to that child, and also to her mother. my name is ascot, and i dare say you all, good folks, have heard of my dear little girl maggie."
"miss maggie!" exclaimed jo, a delicate pink coming into her face, and her sweet violet eyes becoming, not tearful, but misty. "are[pg 163] you miss maggie's father, sir? i seems to be near to miss maggie somehow."
"so you are, little lassie," said the baronet; and then he glanced from pretty jo to the other children, and from her again to her mother, as though he could not quite account for such a fragile and pure little flower among these plants of sturdy and common growth.
"my little jo favors her father, sir john," said mrs. aylmer, dropping a profound courtesy and dusting a chair with her apron for the baronet. "will you be pleased to be seated, sir?" she went on. "we're all pleased to see you here—pleased and proud, and that's not saying a word too much. and how is the dear, beautiful little lady, sir john, and master ralph, bless him?"
"my little girl is well again, thank god, mrs. aylmer, and ralph is as sturdy a little chap as any heart could desire. yes, i will take a seat near jo, if you please. i've a little plan to propose, which i hope she will like, and[pg 164] which you, mrs. aylmer, will also approve of. this is it."
then sir john unfolded a deep-laid plot, which threw the aylmer family into a state of unspeakable rapture. to describe their feelings would be beyond any ordinary pen.
