Aunt Jane's Nieces
He was powerful fond of young Master Tom. But then, we all
was."
"Poor man!" said Beth.
"After that," resumed Misery, "all that James would do was to look
after the flowers. Miss Jane, after she came, made him the head
gardener, and he's proved a rare good one, too. But James he won't
even talk to Miss Jane, nor even to his old friend Lawyer Watson, who
used to be Master Tom's special chum an' comrade. He does his duty,
and obeys all Miss Jane's orders as faithful as can be; but he won't
talk, an' we've all give up tryin' to make him."
"But why should I frighten him?" asked the girl.
"You tried to make him talk, and you're a stranger. Strangers always
affect James that way. I remember when Miss Jane first came to
Elmhurst he screamed at the sight of her; but when he found out that
Master Tom loved her and had given her Elmhurst, James followed her
around like a dog, and did everything she told him to. But breakfast
is ready, Miss. I came to call you."
"Thank you," said Beth, turning to walk beside the housekeeper.
According to Aunt Jane's instructions the breakfast was served in her
own room, and presently Louise, dressed in a light silk kimona, came
in bearing her tray "to keep her cousin company," she laughingly
announced.
"I should have slept an hour longer," she yawned, over her chocolate,
"but old Misery--who seems rightly named--insisted on waking me, just
that I might eat. Isn't this a funny establishment?"
"It's different from everything I'm used to," answered Beth, gravely;
"but it seems very pleasant here, and everyone is most kind and
attentive."
"Now I'll dress," said Louise, "and we'll take a long walk together,
and see the place."
So it happened that Kenneth clattered down the road on the sorrel mare
just a moment before the girls emerged from the house, and while he
was riding off his indignation at their presence at Elmhurst, they
were doing just what his horrified imagination had depicted--that is,
penetrating to all parts of the grounds, to every nook in the spacious
old gardens and even to the stables, where Beth endeavored to make a
friend of old Donald the coachman.
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There was once a king who was very powerful. He had great influence over the wild beasts and animals. Now the tortoise was looked upon as the wisest of all beasts and men. This king had a son named Ekpenyon, to whom he gave fifty young girls as wives, but the prince did not like any of them. The king was very angry at this, and made a law that if any man had a daughter who was finer than the prince's wives, and who found favour in his son's eyes, the girl herself and her father and mother should be killed.
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