Aunt Jane's Nieces
"
"Jane's queer, too," said that lady's brother, with a sigh. "In fact,
Mr. Watson, it's a queer world, and the longer I live in it the
queerer I find it. Once I thought it would be a good idea to regulate
things myself and run the world as it ought to be run; but I gave it
up long ago. The world's a stage, they say; but the show ain't always
amusing, by a long chalk, and sometimes I wish I didn't have a
reserved seat."
CHAPTER XIV.
KENNETH IS FRIGHTENED.
Lawyer Watson, unable to direct events at Elmhurst, became a silent
spectator of the little comedy being enacted there, and never
regretted that, as Uncle John expressed it, he "had a reserved seat at
the show."
Jane Merrick, formerly the most imperious and irrascible of women, had
become wonderfully reserved since the arrival of her nieces, and was
evidently making a sincere effort to study their diverse characters.
Day by day the invalid's health was failing visibly. She had no more
strokes of paralysis, but her left limb did not recover, and the
numbness was gradually creeping upward toward her heart.
Perhaps the old woman appreciated this more fully than anyone else. At
any event, she became more gentle toward Phibbs and Misery, who mostly
attended her, and showed as much consideration as possible for her
nieces and her brother. Silas Watson she kept constantly by her side.
He was her oldest and most trusted friend, and the only differences
they had ever had were over the boy Kenneth, whom she stubbornly
refused to favor.
Uncle John speedily became an established fixture at the place. The
servants grew accustomed to seeing him wander aimlessly about the
grounds, his pipe always in his mouth, his hands usually in his
pockets. He had a pleasant word always for Donald or Oscar or James,
but was not prone to long conversations. Every evening, when he
appeared at dinner, he wore his soiled white tie; at other times
the black one was always in evidence; but other than this his dress
underwent no change. Even Kenneth came to wonder what the bundle had
contained that Uncle John brought under his arm to Elmhurst.
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In a village there lived two men who had the self-same name. Both were named Claus. But one of them owned four horses, and the other owned only one horse; so to distinguish between them people called the man who had four horses Big Claus, and the man who had only one horse Little Claus. Now I'll tell you what happened to these two, for this is a true story.
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