 | THE KING OF CLUBS
AND
THE QUEEN OF HEARTS.
A STORY FOR YOUNG AMERICA. Hospital sketches and Camp and fireside stories |  |
1. THE KING OF CLUBS
AND
THE QUEEN OF HEARTS.
A STORY FOR YOUNG AMERICA.
FIVE-and-twenty ladies, all in a row, sat on one side
of the hall, looking very much as if they felt like the
little old woman who fell asleep on the king's highway
and awoke with abbreviated drapery, for they were all
arrayed in gray tunics and Turkish continuations, profusely
adorned with many-colored trimmings. Five-and-twenty
gentlemen, all in a row, sat on the opposite side
of the hall, looking somewhat subdued, as men are apt to
do when they fancy they are in danger of making fools
of themselves. They, also, were en costume, for all the
dark ones had grown piratical in red shirts, the light ones
nautical in blue; and a few boldly appeared in white,
making up in starch and studs what they lost in color,
while all were more or less Byronic as to collar.
On the platform appeared a pile of dumb-bells, a
regiment of clubs, and a pyramid of bean-bags, and
stirring nervously among them a foreign-looking gentleman,
the new leader of a class lately formed by
Dr. Thor Turner, whose mission it was to strengthen
the world's spine, and convert it to a belief in air and
merrily, while enjoying the “Sun-cure” on a large scale.
His advent formed an epoch in the history of the town;
for it was a quiet old village, guiltless of bustle, fashion,
or parade, where each man stood for what he was; and,
being a sagacious set, every one's true value was pretty
accurately known. It was a neighborly town, with
gossip enough to stir the social atmosphere with small
gusts of interest or wonder, yet do no harm. A sensible,
free-and-easy town, for the wisest man in it wore the
worst boots, and no one thought the less of his understanding;
the belle of the village went shopping with
a big sun-bonnet and tin pail, and no one found her
beauty lessened; oddities of all sorts ambled peacefully
about on their various hobbies, and no one suggested
the expediency of a trip on the wooden horse upon
which the chivalrous South is always eager to mount
an irrepressible abolitionist. Restless people were soothed
by the lullaby the river sang in its slow journey to the
sea, old people found here a pleasant place to make
ready to die in, young people to survey the world from,
before taking their first flight, and strangers looked back
upon it, as a quiet nook full of ancient legends and
modern lights, which would keep its memory green
when many a gayer spot was quite forgotten. Anything
based upon common sense found favor with the inhabitants,
and Dr. Turner's theories, being eminently so,
were accepted at once, and energetically carried out. A
sort of heathen revival took place, for even the ministers
and deacons turned Musselmen; old ladies tossed bean-bags
till their caps were awry, and winter-roses blossomed
on their cheeks; school-children proved the worth
pound of cure,” by getting their backs ready before the
burdens came; pale girls grew blithe and strong swinging
their dumb namesakes; and jolly lads marched to and
fro embracing clubs as if longevity were corked up in
those wooden bottles, and they all took “modest quenchers”
by the way.
August Bopp, the new leader of the class, was a German
possessing but a small stock of English, though a
fine gymnast; and being also a bashful man, the appointed
moment had no sooner arrived than he found his carefully
prepared sentences slipping away from his memory
as the ice appears to do from under unhappy souls first
mounted upon skates. An awful silence reigned: Mr.
Bopp glanced nervously over his shoulder at the staring
rows, more appalling in their stillness than if they had
risen up and hooted at him; then piling up the bags for
the seventh time, he gave himself a mental shake, and,
with a crimson visage, was about to launch his first
“Ladees und gentlemen,” when the door opened, and a
small, merry-faced figure appeared, looking quite at ease
in the novel dress, as, with a comprehensive nod, it
marched straight across the hall to its place among the
weaker vessels.
A general glance of approbation followed from the gentlemen's
side, a welcoming murmur ran along the ladies',
and the fifty pairs of eyes changed their focus for a moment.
Taking advantage of which, Mr. Bopp righted
himself, and burst out with a decided, —
“Ladees und gentlemen: the time have arrived that
we shall begin. Will the gentlemen serve the ladees to a
and follow the motions I will make as I shall count.”
Five minutes of chaos, then all fell into order, and
nothing was heard but the leader's voice and the stir of
many bodies movings imultaneously. An uninitiated observer
would have thought himself in Bedlam; for, as the
evening wore on, the laws of society seemed given to the
winds, and humanity gone mad. Bags flew in all directions,
clubs hurtled through the air, and dumb-bells played
a castinet accompaniment to peals of laughter that made
better music than any band. Old and young gave themselves
up to the universal merriment, and, setting dignity
aside, played like happy-hearted children for an hour.
Stout Dr. Quackenboss gasped twice round the hall on
one toe; stately Mrs. Primmins ran like a girl of fifteen
to get her pins home before her competitor; Tommy
Inches, four feet three, trotted away with Deacon Stone
on his shoulder, while Mr. Steepleton and Miss Maypole
hopped together like a pair of lively young ostriches, and
Ned Amandine, the village beau, blew arrows through a
pop-gun, like a modern Cupid in pegtops instead of
pinions.
The sprightly young lady whose entrance had been so
opportune seemed a universal favorite, and was overwhelmed
with invitations to “bag,” “hop,” and “blow”
from the gentlemen who hovered about her, cheerfully
distorting themselves to the verge of dislocation in order
to win a glance of approbation from the merry black
eyes which were the tapers where all these muscular
moths singed their wings. Mr. Bopp had never seen such
a little piece of earnestness before, and began to think
the young lady must be training for a boat-race or the
arms looked like the sails of a windmill; she hit out
from the shoulder with a vigor that would have done
execution had there been anything but empty air to
“punish”; and the “one, two, three!” of the Zouave
movement went off with a snap; while the color deepened
from pink to scarlet in her cheeks, the black braids
tumbled down upon her shoulders, and the clasp of her
belt flew asunder; but her eye seldom left the leader's
face, and she followed every motion with an agility and
precision quite inspiring. Mr. Bopp's courage rose as
he watched her, and a burning desire to excel took possession
of him, till he felt as if his muscles were made
of india-rubber, and his nerves of iron. He went into
his work heart and soul, shaking a brown mane out of
his eyes, issuing commands like a general at the head of
his troops, and keeping both interest and fun in full blast
till people laughed who had not laughed heartily for years;
lungs got their fill for once, unsuspected muscles were
suddenly developed, and when the clock struck ten, all
were bubbling over with that innocent jollity which
makes youth worth possessing, and its memory the sunshine
of old age.
The last exercise was drawing to a close, and a large
ring of respectable members of society were violently
sitting down and rising up in a manner which would have
scandalized Miss Wilhelmina Carolina Amelia Skeggs to
the last degree, when Mr. Bopp was seen to grow very
pale, and drop in a manner which it was evident his
pupils were not expected to follow.
At this unexpected performance, the gentlemen took
advantage of their newly-acquired agility to fly over all
successfully lessened their unusual bloom by staring wildly
at one another and suggesting awful impossibilities. The
bustle subsided as suddenly as it arose; and Mr. Bopp,
rather damp about the head and dizzy about the eye, but
quite composed, appeared, saying, with the broken English
and appealing manner which caused all the ladies to
pronounce him “a dear” on the spot, —
“I hope you will excoose me for making this lesson to
be more short than it should; but I have exercise nine
hours this day, and being just got well from a illness, I
have not recover the strength I have lost. Next week I
shall be able to take time by the hair, so that I will not
have so much engagements in one day. I thank you for
your kindness, and say good-efening.”
After a round of applause, as a last vent for their
spirits, the class dispersed, and Mr. Bopp was wrestling
with a vicious pin as he put on his collar (“a sure sign
he has no ma to see to his buttons, poor lamb!” thought
Mrs. Fairbairn, watching him from afar); when the
sprightly young lady, accompanied by a lad the masculine
image of herself, appeared upon the platform, saying,
with an aspect as cordial as her words, —
“Good-evening, sir. Allow me to introduce my
brother and myself, Dick and Dolly Ward, and ask you,
in my mother's name, to come home with us; for the
tavern is not a cosy place, and after all this exertion you
should be made comfortable. Please come, for Dr. Turner
always stayed with us, and we promised to do the
honors of the town to any gentleman he might send to
supply his place.”
“Of course we did; and mother is probably freezing
her, Bopp. It's all settled; the sleigh's at the door, and
here's your coat; so, come on!”
Dick was a fine sample of young America in its best
aspect, and would have said “How are you?” to Louis
Napoleon if he had been at hand, and have done it so
heartily that the great Frenchman would have found it
hard to resist giving as frank an answer. Therefore, no
wonder that Mr. Bopp surrendered at once; for the
young gentleman took possession of him bodily, and shook
him into his coat with an amiable impetuosity which
developed a sudden rent in the well-worn sleeve thereof,
and caused an expression of dismay to dawn upon the
owner's countenance.
“Beg pardon; never mind; mother'll sew you up in
two seconds, and your overcoat will hide the damage.
Where is it? I'll get it, and then we'll be off.”
Mr. Bopp colored distressfully, looked up, looked down,
and then straight into the lad's face, saying simply, —
“Thank you; I haf no coat but one.”
Dick opened his eyes, and was about opening his mouth
also, for the exit of some blunderingly good-natured
reply, when a warning poke from his sister restrained
him; while Dolly, with the innocent hypocrisy which is as
natural to some women as the art of tying bows, said, as
she led the way out, —
“You see the worth of gymnastics, Dick, in this
delightful indifference to cold. I sincerely hope we may
reach a like enviable state of health, and look upon greatcoats
as effeminate, and mufflers a weakness of the flesh.
Do you think we shall, Mr. Bopp?”
He shook his head with a perceptible shiver as the keen
look half merry, half sad, —
“It is not choice, but what you call necessitee, with
me; and I truly hope you may never haf to exercise to
keep life in you when you haf sold your coat to pay your
doctor's bill, or teach the art of laughing while your
heart is heavy as one stone. You would not like that, I
think, yet it is good, too; for small things make much
happiness for me, and a kind word is often better than a
rix-dollar.”
There was something in the young man's tone and
manner which touched and won his hearers at once.
Dolly secretly resolved to put an extra blanket on his bed,
and shower kind words upon him, while Dick tucked him
up in buffalo robes, where he sat helplessly beaming down
upon the red hood at his side.
A roaring fire shone out hospitably as they came, and
glorified the pleasant room, dancing on ancient furniture
and pictured walls till the jolly old portraits seemed to
wink a visible welcome. A cheery-faced little woman,
like an elder Dolly, in a widow's cap, stood on the
threshold, with a friendly greeting for the stranger, which
warmed him as no fire could have done.
If August Bopp had been an Englishman, he would
have felt much, but said less on that account; if he had
been an American, he would have tried to conceal his
poverty, and impress the family with his past grandeur,
present importance, or future prospects; being a German,
he showed exactly what he was, with the childlike frankness
of his race. Having had no dinner, he ate heartily
of what was offered him; being cold, he basked in the
generous warmth; being homesick and solitary, he enjoyed
told his story, sure of sympathy; for even in prosaic
Yankeedom he had found it, as travellers find Alpine
flowers among the snow.
It was a simple story of a laborious boyhood, being
early left an orphan, with a little sister dependent on him,
till an opening in America tempted him to leave her, and
come to try and earn a home for her and for himself.
Sickness, misfortune, and disappointment had been his
companions for a year; but he still worked, still hoped,
and waited for the happy hour when little Ulla should
come to him across the sea. This was all; yet as he
told it, with the magical accompaniments of gesture,
look, and tone, it seemed full of pathos and romance to
his listeners, whose faces proved their interest more flatteringly
than their words.
Mrs. Ward mended the torn coat with motherly zeal,
and gave it many of those timely stitches which thrifty
women love to sew. The young folks devoted themselves
to their guest, each in a characteristic manner. Dick, as
host, offered every article of refreshment the house
afforded, goaded the fire to a perpetual roar, and discussed
gymnastics, with bursts of boyish admiration for the
grace and skill of his new leader, whom he christened
King of Clubs on the spot. Dolly made the stranger one
of them at once by talking bad German, as an offset to
his bad English, and unconsciously symbolized his future
bondage by giving him a tangled skein to hold for the
furtherance of her mother's somewhat lengthened job.
The Cupid of the present day was undoubtedly “raised”
in Connecticut; for the ingenuity and shrewdness of that
small personage could have sprung from no other soil. In
Colin bleated forth his passion in rhyme, and cast sheep's
eyes from among his flock, while Phyllis coquetted with
her crook and stuck posies in his hat; royal Ferdinand
and Miranda played at chess; Ivanhoe upset his fellowmen
like nine-pins for love of lackadaisical Rowena; and
“sweet Moll” turned the pages while her lover, Milton,
sang. But in our day, the jolly little god, though still a
heathen in the severe simplicity of his attire, has become
modernized in his arts, and invented huskings, apple-bees,
sleigh-rides, “dropins,” gymnastics, and, among his finer
snares, the putting on of skates, drawing of patterns, and
holding skeins, — the last-named having superior advantages
over the others, as all will testify who have enjoyed
one of those hand-to-hand skirmishes.
August Bopp was three-and-twenty, imaginative, grateful
and heart-whole; therefore, when he found himself
sitting opposite a blooming little damsel, with a head
bound by a pretty red snood bent down before him, and
very close to his own a pair of distracting hands, every
finger of which had a hit to make, and made it, it is not
to be denied that he felt himself entering upon a new and
very agreeable experience. Where could he look but in
the face opposite, sometimes so girlishly merry and sometimes
so beautifully shy? It was a winning face, full of
smooth curves, fresh colors, and sunshiny twinkles, — a
face every one liked, for it was as changeful as an April
day, and always pleasant, whether mischievous, mournful
or demure.
Like one watching a new picture, Mr. Bopp inspected
every feature of the countenance so near his own; and
as his admiration “grew by what it fed on,” he fell into
Like one watching a new picture, Mr. Bopp inspected every feature of the countenance so dear to his own.—Page 108.
[Description: 442EAF. Image of Mr. Bopp holding the yarn for Mrs. Bopp and staring at her intently. She is looking down towards the floor where the dog is sitting.]
were very kind, the smooth cheeks reflected a pretty
shade of his own crimson, and the smiling lips seemed
constantly suggesting, with mute eloquence, that they
were made for kissing, while the expressive hands picked
at the knots till August felt like a very resigned fly in
the web of a most enticing young spider.
If the King of Clubs saw a comely face, the Queen of
Hearts saw what observing girls call a “good face”;
and with a womanly respect for strength, the manliest
attribute of man, she admired the broad shoulders and
six feet one of her new master. This face was not handsome,
for, true to his fatherland, Bopp had an eminent
nose, a blonde beard, and a crop of “bonnie brown hair”
long enough to have been gathered into a ribbon, as in
the days of Schiller and Jean Paul; but Dolly liked it,
for its strength was tempered with gentleness; patience
and courage gave it dignity, and the glance that met her
own was both keen and kind.
The silk was wound at last, — the coat repaired. Dick
with difficulty concealed the growing stiffness of his
shoulders, while Dolly turned up the lamp, which bluntly
hinted bedtime, and Mrs. Ward successfully devoured
six gapes behind her hand, but was detected in the
seventh by Mr. Bopp, who glanced at the clock, stopped
in the middle of a sentence, and, with a hurried “gootnight,”
made for the door without the least idea whither
he was going. Piloted by Dick, he was installed in the
“best chamber,” where his waking dreams were enlivened
by a great fire, and his sleeping ones by an endless
succession of skeins, each rapturously concluded in the
style of Sam Weller when folding carpets with the pretty
maid.
“I tell you, Dolly, it won't do, and I'm not going to
have it.”
“Oh, indeed; and how will you help it, you absurd
boy?”
“Why, if you don't stop it, I'll just say to Bopp, —
`Look here, my dear fellow; this sister of mine is a
capital girl, but she will flirt, and' — ”
“Add it's a family failing, Dick,” cut in Dolly.
“Not a bit of it. I shall say, `Take care of your
heart, Bopp, for she has a bad habit of playing battledore
and shuttlecock with these articles; and, though it
may be very good fun for a time, it makes them ache when
they get a last knock and are left to lie in a corner.”'
“What eloquence! But you'd never dare to try it on
Mr. Bopp; and I shouldn't like to predict what would
happen to you if you did.”
“If you say `dare,' I'll do it the first minute I see
him. As for consequences, I don't care that for 'em;”
and Dick snapped his fingers with an aspect of much
disdain. But something in his sister's face suggested the
wisdom of moderation, and moved him to say, less like a
lord of creation, and more like a brother who privately
adored his sister, but of course was not going to acknowledge
such a weakness, —
“Well, but soberly, now, I wish you wouldn't plague
Bopp; for it's evident to me that he is hit; and from the
way you've gone on these two months, what else was to
be expected? Now, as the head of the family, — you
needn't laugh, for I am, — I think I ought to interfere;
and so I put it to you, — do you like him, and will you
have him? or are you merely amusing yourself, as you
like him, all serene. I'd rather have him for a brother
than any one I know, for he's a regular trump, though he
is poor; but if you don't, I won't have the dear old fellow
floored just because you like to see it done.”
It may here be remarked that Dolly quite glowed to hear
her brother praise Mr. Bopp, and that she endorsed every
word with mental additions of double warmth; but Dick
had begun all wrong, and, manlike, demanded her confidence
before she had made up her mind to own she had
any to bestow; therefore nothing came of it but vexation
of spirit; for it is a well-known fact that, on some
subjects, if boys will tease girls will fib, and both maintain
that it is right. So Dolly whetted her feminine
weapon, and assumed a lofty superiority.
“Dear me! what a sudden spasm of virtue; and why,
if it is such a sin, has not the `head of the house' taken
his sister to task before, instead of indulging in a like
degeneracy, and causing several interesting persons to
tear their hair, and bewail his forgetfulness, when they
ought to have blessed their stars he was out of the way?”
Dick snow-balled a dozing crow and looked nettled; for
he had attained that age when “Tom Brown at Oxford”
was the book of books, the twelfth chapter being the
favorite, and five young ladies having already been
endowed with the significant heliotrope flower, — all of
which facts Dolly had skilfully brought to mind, as a
return-shot for his somewhat personal remarks.
“Bah! they were only girls, and it don't amount to
anything among us young folks; but Bopp is a grown
man, and you ought to respect him too much to play
such pranks with him. Besides, he's a German, and
can see by the way he acts when you snub him. He is
proud, too, for all his meekness, and waits till he's sure
you like him before he says anything; and he'll need the
patience of a family of Jobs at the rate you're going on,
— a honey-pot one day and a pickle-jar the next. Do
make up your mind, and say yes or no, right off, Dolly.”
“Would you have me meet him at the door with a
meck courtesy, and say, `Oh, if you please, I'm ready to
say, Yes, thank you, if you'll be good enough to say,
Will you'?”
“Don't be a goose, child; you know I mean nothing
of the kind; only you girls never will do anything
straight ahead if you can dodge and fuss and make a
mess of it. Just tell me one thing: Do you, or don't
you, like old Bopp?”
“What an elegant way to put it! Of course I like
him well enough as a leader; he is clever, and sort of
cunning, and I enjoy his funny ways; but what in the
world should I do with a great yellow-haired laddie who
could put me in his pocket, and yet is so meek that I
should never find the heart to hen-peck him? You are
welcome to him; and since you love him so much, there's
no need of my troubling myself on his account; for with
you for a friend, he can have no earthly wish ungratified.”
“Don't try to be cutting, Dolly, because you look
homely when you do, and it's a woman's business to be
pretty always. All I've got to say is, you will be
in a nice state of mind if you damage Bopp; for every
one likes him, and will be down upon you for a heartless
little wretch; and I shan't blame them, I promise you.”
“I wish the town wouldn't put its fingers in other
and all I have to say is, that you men have more
liberty than you know what to do with, and we women
haven't enough; so it's perfectly fair that we should show
you the worth of the thing by taking it away now and
then. I shall do exactly as I please: dance, walk, ride
and flirt, whenever and with whomever I see fit; and the
whole town, with Mr. Dick Ward at their head, can't
stop me if I choose to go on. Now then, what next?”
After which declaration of independence Dolly folded
her arms and wheeled about and faced her brother, a spirited
statuette of Self-Will, in a red hood and mittens.
Dick sternly asked, —
“Is that your firm decision, ma'am?”
“Yes.”
“And you will not give up your nonsense?”
“No.”
“You are quite sure you don't care for Bopp?”
“I could slap him with all my heart.”
“Very good. I shall see that you don't get a chance.”
“I wouldn't try a skirmish, for you'll get beaten,
Dick.”
“We'll prove that, ma'am.”
“We will, sir.”
And the belligerents loftily paced up the lawn, with
their purpose so well expressed by outward signs that
Mrs. Ward knew, by the cock of Dick's hat and the
decided tap of Dolly's heels, that a storm was brewing,
before they entered the door.
This fraternal conversation took place some two
months from the evening of Mr. Bopp's advent, as the
young folks were strolling home from school, which school
remarks. It was an excellent institution in all
respects; for its presiding genius stood high in the townfolks'
esteem, and might have served as an example to
Dr. Watts' “busy bee,” in the zeal with which he improved
his “shining hours,” and laid up honey against
the winter, which many hoped would be long in coming.
All manner of aids were provided for sprouting souls and
bodies, diversions innumerable, and the best society. But,
sad to relate, in spite of all these blessings, the students
who resorted to this academy possessed an Adam-and-Eve-like
proclivity for exactly what they hadn't got and
didn't need; and, not contented with the pleasures provided,
must needs play truant with that young scamp
Eros, and turn the ancient town topsy-turvy with modern
innovations, till scandalized spinsters predicted that the
very babies would catch the fever, refuse their panada in
jealous gloom, send billets-doux in their rattles, elope in
wicker-carriages, and set up housekeeping in dolls' houses,
after the latest fashion.
Certain inflammable Southerners introduced the new
game, and left such romantic legends of their loves behind
them that their successors were fired with an ambition to
do the like, and excel in all things, from cricket to
captivation.
This state of things is not to be wondered at; for
America, being renowned as a “fast” nation, has become
a sort of hot-bed, and seems to force humanity into early
bloom. Therefore, past generations must not groan over
the sprightly present, but sit in the chimney-corner and
see boys and girls play the game which is too apt to end
in a checkmate for one of the players. To many of the
puppet-show; for, with the enthusiasm of youth, the
actors performed their parts heartily, forgetting the audience
in their own earnestness. Bless us! what revolutions
went on under the round jackets, and what
love-tokens lay in the pockets thereof. What plots and
counterplots occupied the heads that wore the innocent-looking
snoods, and what captives were taken in the
many-colored nets that would come off and have to be
taken care of. What romances blossomed like dandelions
along the road to school, and what tales the river might
have told if any one could have learned its musical
speech. How certain gates were glorified by daily lingerings
thereat, and what tender memories hung about
dingy desks, old pens, and books illustrated with all manner
of symbolical designs.
Let those laugh who will: older and wiser men and
women might have taken lessons of these budding heroes
and heroines; for here all was honest, sincere, and fresh;
the old world had not taught them falsehood, self-interest,
or mean ambitions. When they lost or won, they frankly
grieved or rejoiced, and wore no masks except in play,
and then got them off as soon as possible. If blue-eyed
Lizzie frowned, or went home with Joe, Ned, with a wisdom
older lovers would do well to imitate, went in for
another game of foot-ball, gave the rejected apple to little
Sally, and whistled “Glory Hallelujah” instead of
“Annie Laurie,” which was better than blowing a rival's
brains out, or glowering at womankind forever after.
Or, when Tom put on Clara's skates three successive
days, and danced with her three successive evenings,
leaving Kitty to freeze her feet in the one instance and
gave her mother an extra kiss, and waited till the recreant
Tom returned to his allegiance, finding his little friend a
sweetheart in nature as in name.
Dick and Dolly were foremost in the ranks, and expert
in all the new amusements. Dick worshipped at many
shrines, but most faithfully at that of a meek divinity,
who returned charming answers to the ardent epistles
which he left in her father's garden wall, where, Pyramus
and Thisbe-like, they often chatted through a chink; and
Dolly was seldom seen without a staff of aids who would
have “fought, bled, and died” for her as cheerfully as
the Little Corporal's Old Guard, though she paid them
only in words; for her Waterloo had not yet come.
With the charming perversity of her sex in such
matters, no sooner had Dolly declared that she didn't
like Mr. Bopp, than she began to discover that she did;
and so far from desiring “to slap him,” a tendency to
regard him with peculiar good-will and tenderness developed
itself, much to her own surprise; for with all her
coquetry and seeming coldness, Dolly had a right
womanly heart of her own, though she had never
acknowledged the fact till August Bopp looked at her
with so much love and longing in his honest eyes.
Then she found a little fear mingling with her regard,
felt a strong desire to be respected by him, discovered a
certain something which she called conscience, restraining
a reckless use of her power, and, soon after her lofty
denial to Dick, was forced to own that Mr. Bopp had
that came in with Adam and Eve, and have kept all
creation turning somersets ever since. Of course these
discoveries were unconfessed, even to that best bosom
friend which any of us can have; yet her mother suspected
them, and, with much anxiety, saw all, yet held
her peace, knowing that her little daughter would, sooner
or later, give her a fuller confidence than could be demanded;
and remembering the happiest moments of her
own happy past, when an older Dick wooed another
Dolly, she left that flower, which never can be forced, to
open at its own sweet will.
Meanwhile, Mr. Bopp, though carrying his heart upon
his sleeve, believed his secret buried in the deepest gloom,
and enjoyed all the delightful miseries lovers insist upon
making for themselves. When Dolly was quiet or absent,
he became pensive, the lesson dragged, and people fancied
they were getting tired of the humbug; when Dolly
was blithe and bland, he grew radiant, exercised within
an inch of his life as a vent for his emotions, and people
went home declaring gymnastics to be the crowning triumph
of the age; and when Dolly was capricious, Mr.
Bopp became a bewildered weathercock, changing as the
wind changed, and dire was the confusion occasioned
thereby.
Like the sage fowl in the story, Dick said nothing, but
“kept up a terrible thinking,” and, not having had experience
enough to know that when a woman says No she
is very apt to mean Yes, he took Dolly at her word.
Believing it to be his duty to warn “Old Bopp,” he
resolved to do it like a Roman brother, regardless of his
own feelings or his sister's wrath, quite unconscious that
the young person who ruled every one else.
Matters stood thus, when the town was electrified by
a general invitation to the annual jubilee at Jollyboys
Hall, which this spring flowered into a masquerade, and
filled the souls of old and young with visions of splendor,
frolic and fun. Being an amiable old town, it gave
itself up, like a kind grandma, to the wishes of its children,
let them put its knitting away, disturb its naps, keep
its hands busy with vanities of the flesh, and its mind in a
state of chaos for three mortal weeks. Young ladies were
obscured by tarlatan fogs, behind which they concocted
angels' wings, newspaper gowns, Minnehaha's wampum,
and Cinderella's slippers. Inspired but incapable boys
undertook designs that would have daunted a costumer
of the first water, fell into sloughs of despond, and,
emerging, settled down from peers and paladins into
jovial tars, friar waterproofs, and officers in miscellaneous
uniforms. Fathers laughed or grumbled at the whole
thing, and advanced pecuniary loans with good or ill
grace, as the case might be; but the mothers, whose
interest in their children's pleasure is a sort of evergreen
that no snows of time can kill, sewed spangles by the
bushel, made wildernesses of tissue-paper blossom as the
rose, kept tempers sweet, stomachs full, and domestic
machinery working smoothly through it all, by that maternal
magic which makes them the human providences
of this naughty world.
“What shall I go as?” was the universal cry. Garrets
were taken by storm, cherished relics were teased out of
old ladies' lavendered chests (happy she who saw them
again!), hats were made into boots, gowns into doublets,
plumage, silken cauliflowers sown broadcast over the
land, and cocked-up caps erected in every style of architecture,
while “Tag, Rag, and Bobtail” drove a smashing
business, and everybody knew what everybody else
was going to be, and solemnly vowed they didn't, —
which transparent falsehood was the best joke of the
whole.
Dolly allowed her mates to believe she was to be the
Queen of Hearts, but privately laid hold of certain
brocades worn by a trim grandmother half a century
ago, and one evening burst upon her brother in a charming
“Little Bo-Peep” costume, which, for the benefit of
future distressed damsels, may be described as a white
silk skirt, scarlet overdress, “neatly bundled up behind,”
as ancient ladies expressed it, blue hose with red clocks,
high-heeled shoes with silver buckles, a nosegay in the
tucker, and a fly-way hat perched on the top of black
curls, which gave additional archness to Dolly's face as
she entered, singing that famous ditty.
Dick surveyed her with approval, turning her about
like a lay figure, and expressing his fraternal opinion
that she was “the sauciest little turnout he ever saw,”
and then wet-blanketed the remark by adding, “Of
course you don't call it a disguise, do you? and don't
flatter yourself that you won't be known; for Dolly
Ward is as plainly written in every curl, bow, and
gimcrack, as if you wore a label on your back.”
“Then I shan't wear it”; and off went the hat at one
fell blow, as Dolly threw her crook in one corner, her
posy in another, and sat down an image of despair.
“Now don't be a goose, and rip everything to bits;
then, when you've had fun enough, take it off and do the
pretty. It will make two rigs, you see, and bother the
boys to your heart's content.”
“Dick, I insist upon kissing you for that brilliant suggestion;
and then you may run and get me eight yards
of cambric, just the color of Fan's; but if you tell any
one, I'll keep her from dancing with you the whole
evening;” with which bribe and threat Dolly embraced
her brother, and shut the door in his face, while he,
putting himself in good humor by imagining she was
somebody else, departed on his muddy mission.
If the ghosts of the first settlers had taken their walks
abroad on the eventful Friday night, they would have
held up their shadowy hands at the scenes going on under
their venerable noses; for strange figures flitted through
the quiet streets, and, instead of decorous slumber, there
was decidedly —
“A sound of revelry by night.”
Spurs clanked and swords rattled over the frosty
ground, as if the British were about to make another
flying call; hooded monks and nuns paced along, on
carnal thoughts intent; ancient ladies and bewigged
gentlemen seemed hurrying to enjoy a social cup of tea,
and groan over the tax; barrels staggered and stuck
through narrow ways, as if temperance were still among
the lost arts, while bears, apes, imps and elves pattered
or sparkled by, as if a second Walpurgis Night had
come, and all were bound for Blocksberg.
“Hooray for the rooster!” shouted Young Ireland,
encamped on the sidewalk to see the show, as Mephistopheles'
he left a pink domino at the ladies' dressing-room door,
with the brief warning, “Now cut your own capers and
leave me to mine,” adding, as he paused a moment at
the great door, —
“By Jove! isn't it a jolly sight, though?”
And so it was; for a mammoth boot stood sentinel at
the entrance; a Bedouin Arab leaned on his spear in one
corner, looking as if ready to say, —
“Fly to the desert, fly with me,”
irreproachable legs, settled his plumage in another, still
undecided to which Ophelia he would first address —
“The honey of his music vows.”
that would have filled that stout potentate with respectful
admiration, while Queen Katherine flirted with a Fire
Zouave. Alcibiades whisked Mother Goose about the
room till the old lady's conical hat tottered on her head,
and the Union held fast to a very little Mac. Flocks of
friars, black, white and gray, pervaded the hall, with
flocks of ballet-girls, intended to represent peasants, but
failing for lack of drapery; morning and evening stars
rose or set, as partners willed; lively red demons
harassed meek nuns, and knights of the Leopard, the
Lion, or Griffin, flashed by, looking heroically uncomfortable
in their gilded cages; court ladies promenaded
with Jack-tars, and dukes danced with dairy-maids, while
Brother Jonathan whittled, Aunt Dinah jabbered, Ingomar
and vigorously jolly.
“Ach himmel! Das ist wunder schön!” murmured a
tall, gray monk, looking in, and quite unconscious that
he spoke aloud.
“Hullo, Bopp! I thought you weren't coming,” cried
Mephistopheles in an emphatic whisper.
“Ah, I guess you! yes, you are well done. I should
like to be a Faust for you, but I haf no time, no purse
for a dress, so I throw this on, and run up for a hour
or two. Where is, — who is all these people? Do you
know them?”
“The one with the Pope, Fra Diavolo, the telegraph,
and two knights asking her to dance, is Dolly, if that's
what you want to know. Go in and keep it up, Bopp,
while you can; I am off for Fan;” and Mephistopheles
departed over the banisters with a weird agility that delighted
the beholders; while the gray friar stole into a
corner and watched the pink domino for half an hour, at
the end of which time his regards were somewhat confused
by discovering that there were two pink damsels so
like that he could not tell which was the one pointed out
by Dick, and which the new-comer.
“She thinks I will not know her, but I shall go now
and find out for myself;” and, starting into sudden activity,
the gray brother strode up to the nearest pink
lady, bowed, and offered his arm. With a haughty little
gesture of denial to several others, she accepted it, and
they joined the circle of many-colored promenaders that
eddied round the hall. As they went, Mr. Bopp scrutinized
his companion, but saw only a slender figure
resting on his arm.
“I will speak; then her voice will betray her,” he
thought, forgetting that his own was undisguisable.
“Madame, permit me that I fan you, it is so greatly
warm.”
A fan was surrendered with a bow, and the masked
face turned fully towards his own, while the hood trembled
as if its wearer laughed silently.
“Ah, it is you, — I know the eyes, the step, the
laugh. Miss Dolly, did you think you could hide from
me?”
“I did not wish to,” was the whispered answer.
“Did you think I would come?”
“I hoped so.”
“Then you are not displease with me?”
“No; I am very glad; I wanted you.”
The pink head drooped a little nearer, and another
white glove went to meet its mate upon his arm with a
pretty, confiding gesture. Mr. Bopp instantly fell into a
state of bliss, — the lights, music, gay surroundings,
and, more than all, this unwonted demonstration, put the
crowning glory to the moment; and, fired with the hopeful
omen, he allowed his love to silence his prudence, and
lead him to do, then and there, the very thing he had
often resolved never to do at all.
“Ah, Miss Dolly, if you knew how much, how very
much you haf enlarged my happiness, and made this
efening shine for me, you would more often be a little
friendly, for this winter has been all summer to me,
since I knew you and your kind home, and now I haf no
sorrow but that after the next lesson I come no more
here, when so much people are about us, because I cannot
stop it; and you will forgif me that I cannot wait
any longer.”
“Mr. Bopp, please don't, please stop!” began the
pink domino in a hurried whisper. But Mr. Bopp was
not to be stopped. He had dammed up the stream so
long, that now it rushed on fast, full and uncontrollable;
for, leading her into one of the curtained recesses near
by, he sat down beside her, and, still plying the fan,
went on impetuously, —
“I feel to say that I lofe you, and tho' I try to kill it,
my lofe will not die, because it is more strong than my
will, more dear than my pride, for I haf much, and I do
not ask you to be meine Frau till I can gif you more
than my heart and my poor name. But hear now: I
will work, and save, and wait a many years if at the end
you will take all I haf and say, `August, I lofe you.'
Do not laugh at me because I say this in such poor
words; you are my heart's dearest, and I must tell it or
never come again. Speak to me one kind yes, and I will
thank Gott for so much joy.”
The pink domino had listened to this rapid speech
with averted head, and, when it ended, started up, saying
eagerly, “You are mistaken, sir, I am not Dolly;” but
as she spoke her words were belied, for the hasty movement
partially displaced her mask, and Mr. Bopp saw
Dolly's eyes, a lock of dark hair, and a pair of burning
cheeks, before the screen was readjusted. With redoubled
earnestness he held her back, whispering, —
“Do not go mitout the little word, Yes, or No; it is
not much to say.”
“Well then, No!”
“You mean it? Dolly! truly mean it?”
“Yes, let me go at once, sir.”
Mr. Bopp stood up, saying, slowly, — “Yes, go now;
they told me you had no heart; I beliefe it, and thank
you for that No;” then bowed, and walked straight out
of the hall, while the pink domino broke into a fit of
laughter, saying to herself, —
“I've done it! I've done it! but what a piece of work
there'll be to-morrow.”
“Dick, who was that tall creature Fan was parading
with last night? No one knew, and he vanished before
the masks were taken off,” asked Dolly, as she and her
brother lounged in opposite corners of the sofa the
morning after the masquerade, “talking it over.”
“That was old Bopp, Mrs. Peep.”
“Gracious me! why, he said he wasn't coming.”
“People sometimes say what they don't mean, as you
may have discovered.”
“But why didn't he come and speak to a body,
Dick?”
“Better employed, I suppose.”
“Now don't be cross, dear, but tell me all about it,
for I don't understand how you allowed him to monopolize
Fan so.”
“Oh, don't bother, I'm sleepy.”
“No you're not; you look wicked; I know you've
been in mischief, and I insist upon hearing all about it,
so come and tell this instant.”
Dolly proceeded to enforce her command by pulling
away his pillow and dragging her brother into a sitting
posture, in spite of his laughing resistance and evident
desire to exhaust her patience; for Dick excelled in teasing,
and kept his sister in a fidget from morning till
night, with occasional fits of penitence and petting which
lasted till next time. Therefore, though dying to tell, he
was undecided as to the best method of executing that
task in the manner most aggravating to his listener and
most agreeable to himself, and sat regarding her with
twinkling eyes, and his curly pate in a high state of
rumple, trying to appear innocently meek, but failing
signally.
“Now, then, begin,” commanded Dolly.
“Well, if you won't take my head off till I'm done,
I'll tell you the best joke of the season. Are you sure
the pink domino with Bopp wasn't yourself, — for she
looked and acted very like you?”
“Of course I am. I didn't even know he was there,
and think it very rude and ungentlemanly in him not to
come and speak to me. You know it was Fan, so do go
on.”
“But it wasn't, for she changed her mind and wore a
black domino; I saw her put it on myself. Her Cousin
Jack came unexpectedly, and she thought if she altered
her dress and went with him, you wouldn't know her.”
“Who could it have been, Dick?”
“That's the mystery, for, do you know, Bopp proposed
to her.”
“He didn't!” and Dolly flew up with a startled look
that, to adopt a phrase from his own vocabulary, was
“nuts” to her brother.
“Yes he did; I heard him.”
“When, where, and how?”
“In one of those flirtation boxes; they dropped the
curtain, but I heard him do it, on my honor I did.”
“Persons of honor don't listen at curtains and keyholes.
What did they say?”
“Oh, if it wasn't honorable to listen, it isn't to hear;
so I won't tell, though I could not help knowing it.”
“Mercy! don't stop now, or I shall die with curiosity.
I dare say I should have done the same; no one minds
at such a place, you know. But I don't see the joke
yet,” said Dolly dismally.
“I do,” and Dick went off into a shout.
“You idiotic boy, take that pillow out of your mouth,
and tell me the whole thing, — what he said, what she
said, and what they both did. It was all fun, of course,
but I'd like to hear about it.”
“It may have been fun on her part, but it was solemn
earnest on his, for he went it strong I assure you. I'd
no idea the old fellow was so sly, for he appeared
smashed with you, you know, and there he was finishing
up with this unknown lady. I wish you could have
heard him go on, with tears in his eyes — ”
“How do you know, if you didn't see him?”
“Oh, well, that's only a figure of speech; I thought
so from his voice. He was ever so tender, and took to
Dutch when English was too cool for him. It was
really touching, for I never heard a fellow do it before;
and, upon my word, I should think it was rather a tough
job to say that sort of thing to a pretty woman, mask or
no mask.”
“What did she say?” asked Dolly, with her hands
lips.
“She said No, as short as pie-crust; and when he
rushed out with his heart broken all to bits, apparently,
she just burst out laughing, and went and polked at a
two-forty pace for half an hour.”
Dora unclasped her hands, took a long breath, and
cried out, —
“She was a wicked, heartless hussy! and if I know
her, I'll never speak to her again; for if he was really
in earnest, she ought to be killed for laughing at him.”
“So ought you, then, for making fun of poor Fisher
when he went down on his knees behind the berry bushes
last summer. He was earnest enough, for he looked as
blue as his berries when he got home. Your theory is
all right, ma'am, but your practice is all bosh.”
“Hold your tongue about that silly thing. Boys in
college think they know everything, can do everything,
have everything, and only need beckon, and all womankind
will come and adore. It made a man of him, and
he'll thank me for taking the sentimental nonsense and
conceit out of him. You will need just such a lesson at
the rate you go on, and I hope Fan will give it to you.”
“When the lecture is over, I'll go on with the joke, if
you want to know it.”
“Isn't this all?”
“Oh, bless you, no! the cream of it is to come.
What would you give to know who the lady was?”
“Five dollars, down, this minute.”
“Very good, hand 'em over, and I'll tell you.”
“Truly, Dick?”
“Yes, and prove it.”
Dolly produced her purse, and, bill in hand, sat waiting
for the disclosure. Dick rose with a melo-dramatic
bow, —
“Lo, it was I.”
“That's a great fib, for I saw you flying about the
whole evening.”
“You saw my dress, but I was not in it.”
“Oh! oh! who did I keep going to, then? and what
did I do to make a fool of myself, I wonder?”
Purse and bill dropped out of Dolly's hand, and she
looked at her brother with a distracted expression of
countenance. Dick rubbed his hands and chuckled.
“Here's a jolly state of things! Now I'll tell you the
whole story. I never thought of doing it till I saw Bopp
and told him who you were; but on my way for Fan I
wondered if he'd get puzzled between you two; and then
a grand idea popped into my head to puzzle him myself,
for I can take you off to the life. Fan didn't want me
to, but I made her, so she lent me hoops, and gown, and
the pink domino, and if ever I thanked my stars I wasn't
tall, I did then, for the things fitted capitally as to length,
though I kept splitting something down the back, and scattering
hooks and eyes in all directions. I wish you
could have heard Jack roar while they rigged me. He
had no dress, so I lent him mine, till just before the
masks were taken off, when we cut home and changed.
He told me how you kept running to him to tie up your
slippers, find your fan, and tell him funny things, thinking
it was me. I never enjoyed anything so much in my
life.”
“Go on,” said Dolly, in a breathless sort of voice, and
the deluded boy obeyed.
“I knew Bopp, and hovered near till he came to find
out who I was. I took you off in style, and it deceived
him, for I'm only an inch or two taller than you, and
kept my head down in the lackadaisical way you girls
do; I whispered, so my voice didn't betray me; and
was very clinging, and sweet, and fluttery, and that
blessed old goose was sure it was you. I thought it was
all over once, for when he came the heavy in the recess
I got a bit flustered, he was so serious about it, my
mask slipped, but I caught it, so he only saw my eyes
and forehead, which are just like yours, and that finished
him, for I've no doubt I looked as red and silly as you
would have done in a like fix.”
“Why did you say No?” and Dolly looked as stern
as fate.
“What else should I say? You told me you wouldn't
have him, and I thought it would save you the bother of
saying it, and him the pain of asking twice. I told him
some time ago that you were a born flirt; he said he
knew it; so I was surprised to hear him go on at such a
rate, but supposed that I was too amiable, and that
misled him. Poor old Bopp, I kept thinking of him all
night, as he looked when he said, `They told me you had
no heart, now I believe it, and I thank you for that No.'
It was rather a hard joke for him, but it's over now, and
he won't have to do it again. You said I wouldn't dare
tell him about you; didn't I? and haven't I won the —”
The rest of the sentence went spinning dizzily through
Dick's head, as a sudden tingling sensation pervaded his
left ear, followed by a similar smart in the right; and,
for a moment, chaos seemed to have come again. Whatever
Dolly did was thoroughly done: when she danced,
it was warm work while it lasted; and when she was
angry, it thundered, lightened, and blew great guns till
the shower came, and the whole affair ended in a rainbow.
Therefore, being outwitted, disappointed, mortified
and hurt, her first impulse was to find a vent for
these conflicting emotions; and possessing skilful hands,
she left them to avenge the wrong done her heart, which
they did so faithfully, that if ever a young gentleman's
ears were vigorously and completely boxed, Dick was
that young individual. As the thunder-clap ceased, the
gale began, and blew steadily for several minutes.
“You think it a joke, do you? I tell you it's a
wicked, cruel thing; you've told a lie; you've broken
August's heart, and made me so angry that I'll never
forgive you as long as I live. What do you know about
my feelings? and how dare you take it upon yourself to
answer for me? You think because we are nearly the
same age that I am no older than you, but you're mistaken,
for a boy of eighteen is a boy, a girl of seventeen
is often a woman, with a woman's hopes and plans; you
don't understand this any more than you do August's love
for me, which you listened to and laughed at. I said I
didn't like him, and I didn't find out till afterward that I
did; then I was afraid to tell you, lest you'd twit me
with it. But now I care for no one, and I say I do like
him, — yes, I love him with all my heart, and soul, and
might, and I'd die this minute if I could undo the harm
you've done, and see him happy! I know I've been
selfish, vain, and thoughtless, but I am not now; I hoped
he'd love me, hoped he'd see I cared for him, that I'd
done trifling, and didn't mind if he was poor, for I'd
after all his troubles; that I'd send for the little sister he
loves so well, and never let him suffer any more; for he
is so good, so patient, so generous, and dear to me, I
cannot do enough for him. Now it's all spoilt; now I
can never tell him this, never comfort him in any way,
never be happy again all my life, and you have done it!”
As Dolly stood before her brother, pouring out her
words with glittering eyes, impetuous voice, and face
pale with passionate emotion, he was scared; for, as his
scattered wits returned to him, he felt that he had been
playing with edge-tools, and had cut and slashed in rather
a promiscuous manner. Dazed and dizzy, he sat staring
at the excited figure before him, forgetting the indignity
he had received, the mistake he had made, the damage
he had done, in simple wonder at the revolutions going
on under his astonished eyes. When Dolly stopped for
breath, he muttered with a contrite look, —
“I'm very sorry, — it was only fun; and I thought it
would help you both, for how the deuce should I know
you liked the man when you said you hated him?”
“I never said that, and if I'd wanted advice I should
have gone to mother. You men go blundering off with
half an idea in your heads, and never see your stupidity
till you have made a mess that can't be mended; we
women don't work so, but save people's feelings, and are
called hypocrites for our pains. I never meant to tell
you, but I will now, to show you how I've been serving
you, while you've been harming me: every one of those
notes from Fan which you admire so much, answer so
carefully, and wear out in your pocket, though copied by
her, were written by me.”
“The dickins they were!” Up flew Dick, and clapping
his hand on the left-breast pocket, out came a dozen
pink notes tied up with a blue ribbon, and much the
worse for wear. He hastily turned them over as Dolly
went on.
“Yes, I did it, for she didn't know how to answer
your notes, and came to me. I didn't laugh at them, or
make fun of her, but helped her silly little wits, and made
you a happy boy for three months, though you teased me
day and night, for I loved you, and hadn't the heart to
spoil your pleasure.”
“You've done it now with a vengeance, and you're a
pair of deceitful minxes. I've paid you off. I'll give
Fan one more note that will keep her eyes red for a
month; and I'll never love or trust a girl again as long
as I live, — never! never!”
Red with wrath, Dick threw the treasured packet into
the fire, punched it well down among the coals, flung
away the poker, and turned about with a look and gesture
which would have been very comical if they had not
been decidedly pathetic, for, in spite of his years, a very
tender heart beat under the blue jacket, and it was grievously
wounded at the perfidy of the gentle little divinity
whom he worshipped with daily increasing ardor. His
eyes filled, but he winked resolutely; his lips trembled,
but he bit them hard; his hands doubled themselves up,
but he remembered his adversary was a woman; and, as
a last effort to preserve his masculine dignity, he began
to whistle.
As if the inconsistencies of womankind were to be
shown him as rapidly as possible, at this moment the
shower came on; for, taking him tenderly about the neck,
rigidly erect till a great tear dropped off the end of his
nose, Dick gave in, and laying his head on Dolly's
shoulder, the brother and sister quenched their anger,
washed away their malice, and soothed their sorrow by
one of those natural processes so kindly provided for
poor humanity, and so often despised as a weakness when
it might prove a better strength than any pride.
Dick cleared up first, with no sign of the tempest but
a slight mist through which his native sunshine glimmered
pensively.
“Don't, dear, don't cry so; it will make you sick, and
won't do any good, for things will come right, or I'll
make 'em, and we'll be comfortable all round.”
“No, we never can be as we were, and it's all my
fault. I've betrayed Fan's confidence, I've spoiled your
little romance, I've been a thoughtless, wicked girl, I've
lost August; and, oh, dear me, I wish I was dead!”
with which funereal climax Dolly cried despairingly.
“Oh, come now, don't be dismal, and blame yourself
for every trouble under the sun. Sit down and talk it
over, and see what can be done. Poor old girl, I forgive
you the notes, and say I was wrong to meddle with Bopp.
I got you into the scrape, and I'll get you out if the sky
don't fall, or Bopp blow his brains out, like a second
Werther, before to-morrow.”
Dick drew the animated fountain to the wide chair,
where they had sat together since they were born, wiped
her eyes, and patted her back, with an idea that it was
soothing to babies, and why not to girls?
“I wish mother was at home,” sighed Dolly, longing
for that port which was always a haven of refuge in
domestic squalls like this.
“Write, and tell her not to stay till Saturday.”
“No; it would spoil her visit, and you know she
deferred it to help us through this dreadful masquerade.
But I don't know what to do.”
“Why, bless your heart, it's simple enough. I'll tell
Bopp, beg his pardon, say `Dolly's willing,' and there
you are all taut and ship-shape again.”
“I wouldn't for the world, Dick. It would be very
hard for you, very awkward for me, and do no good in
the end; for August is so proud he'd never forgive you
for such a trick, would never believe that I `had a heart'
after all you've said and I've done; and I should only
hear with my own ears that he thanked me for that No.
Oh, why can't people know when they are in love, and
not go heels over head before they are ready!”
“Well, if that don't suit, I'll let it alone, for that is all
I can suggest; and if you like your woman's way better,
try it, only you'll have to fly round, because to-morrow is
the last night, you know.”
“I shan't go, Dick.”
“Why not? we are going to give him the rosewood
set of things, have speeches, cheers for the King of
Clubs, and no end of fun.”
“I can't help it; there would be no fun for me, and I
couldn't look him in the face after all this.”
“Oh, pooh! yes you could, or it will be the first time
you dared not do damage with those wicked eyes of
yours.”
“It is the first time I ever loved any one.” Dolly's
this brief confession was apparently put away in Dick's
pocket; and, being an exceedingly novel one, filled
that ardent youth with a desire to deposit a similar
one in the other pocket, which, being emptied of its
accustomed contents, left a somewhat aching void in itself
and the heart underneath. After a moment's silence, he
said, —
“Well, if you won't go, you can settle it when he
comes here, though I think we should all do better to
confess coming home in the dark.”
“He won't come here again, Dick.”
“Won't he! that shows you don't know Bopp as well as
I. He'll come to say good-by, to thank mother for her
kindness, and you and me for the little things we've done
for him (I wish I'd left the last undone!), and go away
like a gentleman, as he is, — see if he don't.”
“Do you think so? Then I must see him.”
“I'm sure he will, for we men don't bear malice and
sulk and bawl when we come to grief this way, but stand
up and take it without winking, like the young Spartan
brick when the fox was digging into him, you know.”
“Then of course you'll forgive Fan.”
“I'll be hanged if I do,” growled Dick.
“Ah ha! your theory is very good, sir, but your practice
is bosh,” quoted Dolly, with a gleam of the old mischief
in her face.
Dick took a sudden turn through the room, burst out
laughing, and came back, saying heartily, —
“I'll own up; it is mean to feel so, and I'll think about
forgiving you both; but she may stop up the hole in the
wall, for she won't get any more letters just yet; and you
Well, what is it? free your mind, and have done with it;
but don't make your nose red, or take the starch out of
my collar with any more salt water, if you please.”
“No, I won't; and I only want to say that, as you
owe the explanation to us both, perhaps it would be best
for you to tell August your part of the thing as you come
home to-morrow, and then leave the rest to fate. I can't
let him go away thinking me such a heartless creature,
and once gone it will be too late to mend the matter.
Can you do this without getting me into another scrape,
do you think?”
“I haven't a doubt of it, and I call that sensible. I'll
fix it capitally, — go down on my knees in the mud, if it
is necessary; treat you like eggs for fear of another
smash-up; and bring him home in such a tip-top state,
you'll only have to nod and find yourself Mrs. B. any
day you like. Now let's kiss and be friends, and then
go pitch into that pie for luncheon.”
So they did; and an hour afterward were rioting in
the garret under pretence of putting grandma's things
away; for at eighteen, in spite of love and mischief, boys
and girls have a spell to exorcise blue devils, and a happy
faculty of forgetting that “the world is hollow, and their
dolls stuffed with sawdust.”
Dick was right, for on the following evening, after the
lesson, Mr. Bopp did go home with him, “to say good-by,
like a gentleman as he was.” Dolly got over the first
greeting in the dusky hall, and as her guest passed on to
the parlor, she popped her head out to ask anxiously, —
“Did you say anything, Dick?”
“I couldn't; something has happened to him; he'll
your time, and do what you like;” with which vague
information Dick vanished, and Dolly wished herself anywhere
but where she was.
Mr. Bopp sat before the fire, looking so haggard and
worn-out that the girl's conscience pricked her sorely for
her part in the change; but plucking up her courage, she
stirred briskly among the tea-cups, asking, —
“What shall I give you, sir?”
“Thank you, I haf no care to eat.”
Something in his spiritless mien and sorrowful voice
made Dolly's eyes fill; but knowing she must depend
upon herself now, and make the best of her position, she
said kindly, yet nervously, —
“You look tired: let me do something for you if I
can; shall I sing for you a little? you once said music
rested you.”
“You are kind; I could like that I think. Excoose
me if I am dull, I haf, — yes, a little air if you please.”
More and more disturbed by his absent, troubled manner,
Dolly began a German song he had taught her, but
before the first line was sung he stopped her with an
imploring, —
“For Gott sake not that! I cannot hear it this night;
it was the last I sung her in the Vaterland.”
“Mr. Bopp, what is it? Dick says you have a trouble;
tell me, and let us help you if we can. Are you
ill, in want, or has any one injured you in any way?
Oh, let me help you!”
Tears had been streaming down Mr. Bopp's cheeks,
but as she spoke he checked them, and tried to answer
steadily, —
“No, I am not ill; I haf no wants now, and no one
has hurt me but in kindness; yet I haf so great a grief,
I could not bear it all alone, and so I came to ask a little
sympathy from your good Mutter, who has been kind
to me as if I was a son. She is not here, and I thought
I would stop back my grief; but that moosic was too
much; you pity me, and so I tell you. See, now! when
I find things go bright with me, and haf a hope of much
work, I take the little store I saved, I send it to my
friend Carl Hoffman, who is coming from my home, and
say, `Bring Ulla to me now, for I can make life go well
to her, and I am hungry till I haf her in my arms again.'
I tell no one, for I am bold to think that one day I come
here with her in my hand, to let her thank you in her so
sweet way for all you haf done for me. Well, I watch
the wind, I count the days, I haf no rest for joy; and
when Carl comes, I fly to him. He gifs me back my
store, he falls upon my neck and does not speak, then I
know my little girl will never come, for she has gone to
Himmel before I could make a home for her on earth.
Oh, my Ulla! it is hard to bear;” and poor Mr. Bopp
covered his face, and laid it down on his empty plate, as
if he never cared to lift it up again.
Then Dolly forgot herself in her great sympathy, and,
going to him, she touched the bent head with a soothing
hand; let her tears flow to comfort his; and whispered
in her tenderest voice, —
“Dear Mr. Bopp, I wish I could cure this sorrow, but
as I cannot, let me bear it with you; let me tell you how
we loved the little child, and longed to see her; how we
should have rejoiced to know you had so dear a friend to
make your life happy in this strange land; how we shall
and love for you. I cannot say this as I ought, but, oh,
be comforted, for you will see the child again, and,
remembering that she waits for you, you will be glad to
go when God calls you to meet your Ulla in that other
Fatherland.”
“Ah, I will go now! I haf no wish to stay, for all
my life is black to me. If I had found that other little
friend to fill her place, I should not grieve so much,
because she is weller there above than I could make her
here; but no: I wait for that other one; I save all my
heart for her; I send it, but it comes back to me; then
I know my hope is dead, and I am all alone in the
strange land.”
There was neither bitterness nor reproach in these
broken words, only a patient sorrow, a regretful pain, as
if he saw the two lost loves before him, and uttered over
them an irrepressible lament. It was too much for
Dolly, and with sudden resolution she spoke out fast and
low, —
“Mr. Bopp, that was a mistake. It was not me you
saw at the masque; it was Dick. He played a cruel
trick; he insulted you and wronged me by that deceit,
and I find it very hard to pardon him.”
“What! what is that?” and Mr. Bopp looked up with
tears still shining in his beard, and intense surprise in
every feature of his face.
Dolly turned scarlet, and her heart beat fast as she
repeated with an unsteady voice, —
“It was Dick, not me.”
A cloud swept over Mr. Bopp's face, and he knit his
brows a moment as if Dolly had not been far from right
he spoke in a tone she had never heard before, —
cold and quiet, — and in his eye she thought she read
contempt for her brother and herself:
“I see now, and I say no more but this; it was not
kind when I so trusted you. Yet it is well, for you and
Richart are so one, I haf no doubt he spoke your wish.”
Here was a desperate state of things. Dolly had done
her best, yet he did not, or would not, understand, and
before she could restrain them, the words slipped over
her tongue, —
“No! Dick and I never agree.”
Mr. Bopp started, swept three spoons and a tea-cup off
the table as he turned, for something in the hasty whisper
reassured him. The color sprang up to his cheek, the
old warmth to his eye, the old erectness to his figure, and
the eager accent to his voice. He rose, drew Dolly
nearer, took her face between his hands, and bending,
fixed on her a look tender, yet commanding, as he said,
with an earnestness that stirred her as words had never
done before, —
“Dollee, he said No! do you say Yes?”
She could not speak, but her heart stood up in her
eyes, and answered him so eloquently that he was satisfied.
“Thank the Lord, it's all right!” thought Dick, as,
peeping in at the window ten minutes later, he saw Dolly
enthroned upon Mr. Bopp's knee, both her hands in his,
and an expression in her April countenance which proved
that she found it natural and pleasant to be sitting there,
with her head on the kind heart that loved her; to hear
herself called “meine leibchen”; to know that she alone
place.
“They make a very pretty landscape, but too much
honey isn't good for 'em, so I'll go in, and we'll eat,
drink, and be merry, in honor of the night.”
He rattled the latch and tramped on the mat, to warn
them of his approach, and appeared just as Dolly was
skimming into a chair, and Mr. Bopp picking up the
spoons, which he dropped again to meet Dick, and kissing
him on both cheeks, after the fashion of his country,
as he said, pointing to Dolly, —
“See, it is all fine again. I forgif you, and leave all
blame to that bad spirit, Mephistopheles, who has much
pranks like that, but never pays one for their pain, as
you haf me. Heart's dearest, come and say a friendly
word to Richart, then we will haf a little health: Long
life and happiness to the King of Clubs and the Queen
of Hearts.”
“Yes, August, and as he's to be a farmer, we'll add
another: `Wiser wits and better manners to the Knave
of Spades.”'
| THE KING OF CLUBS
AND
THE QUEEN OF HEARTS.
A STORY FOR YOUNG AMERICA. Hospital sketches and Camp and fireside stories | |