Mostly Mary Part 1

Mostly Mary.

by Mary Edward Feehan.

CHAPTER I.

THE S'PRISE.

"d.i.c.kie-Bird, have you seen our Goldilocks?" asked a deep voice at the door of the playroom.

"Here I am, Father!" and a dear little girl, half hidden by the window curtains, dropped the doll which she had been hugging and ran into Mr.

Selwyn's arms. "I'm _so_ glad you are here! Everything has been so--so different this morning. Liza came, instead of Aunt Mandy, to call me and help me to dress and then she told me to wait here for you, and----and----"

"And you thought Father had forgotten his little la.s.s, eh?"

"I didn't quite think that, Father; but I was beginning to feel lonely, because I had to stay here instead of running right down to have breakfast with you and Mother and Uncle Frank."

"I see. Are you often lonely, pet?" asked her father, stroking the bright hair which fell in a ma.s.s of ringlets on her shoulders.

"Not _very_ often, Father,--just sometimes, when you and Mother and Uncle Frank all go out to dinner or to a concert or something like that.

Then--then I can't help wis.h.i.+ng that G.o.d hadn't taken my little brothers to heaven. Of course, it's lovely for them to be there; but it would be so nice to have someone to play with _all_ the time--not just sometimes, the way it is when Evelyn and Hazel and Rosemary come to see me. Mother says that Robert would be five years old, and Francis, three; and oh! we would have the best times! I wouldn't mind if they broke my dolls once in a while. Hazel won't let her little brother _touch_ one of hers. But I think a really, truly, live brother is better to play with than all the dolls in the world. I would never be lonely if I had one."

"Well, pet, I think I can truly say that you will never be lonely again," and taking Mary's frail little hand, Mr. Selwyn led her out into the hall.

She thought they were going to breakfast, and looked up in surprise when they pa.s.sed the head of the stairs. Her father smiled in a knowing fas.h.i.+on, and paused before the closed door of a sitting-room next to her mother's bedroom.

"Oh, have you a s'prise for me, Father?" whispered the little girl, clasping his hand with both of hers.

"A most beautiful surprise, dear. Perhaps you would like to guess what it is."

Mary looked very thoughtful for some moments; then, "It can't be a new doll, because Uncle Frank brought me one yesterday; and it can't be a letter from Aunt Mary, because that would be under my plate at the table. Besides, those things wouldn't make this morning so different from every other morning, and I can't think of a single thing that would."

"Then we had better waste no more time."

Her father opened the door, and Mary looked eagerly about the room, but could see nothing that had not been there the night before. Mr. Selwyn whispered quickly, "Sit in that big chair, and I shall bring the surprise to you."

He tiptoed into her mother's room, and a moment later, Aunt Mandy, her colored nurse, came out, carefully carrying a white bundle. Mr. Selwyn followed with one just like it.

"Dah yo' is, honey! But yo' ole mammy is 'fraid it am too hebby fo'

yo'," chuckled Aunt Mandy, placing her bundle on Mary's lap.

"Oh! oh! oh! See, Father, it's a _baby_!" whispered the little girl. "A dear, sweet, darling, really, truly, live _baby_! Oh!"

"And see what I have," laughed her father, seating himself in a chair beside her.

"_Another_ baby! Oh! oh! _oh!_"

"Twins, ma bressed lamb! Dat's what dey is!" declared old Auntie.

"Whose are they, Father?"

"Why, ours, pet,--our very own--your little twin sisters."

"_My--little--twin--sisters!_ Both of them _mine_! Oh, _isn't_ G.o.d good!

I have been asking Him for a little sister ever since He sent Rosemary one; but I never dreamed that He would give me _two--never_! _Isn't_ He good!" and Mary lightly kissed the lips, cheeks, forehead, eyes, and even the nose of the mite she hugged. "Please take this one, Aunt Mandy, and let me love that one a few minutes."

"You will find this little lady somewhat heavier," warned her father.

"Better let me help you hold her."

"There!" said Mary with a happy sigh, "I gave her just as many as this one," holding up her arms for the baby which Aunt Mandy held; "for, of course, I love them both exactly the same. And, Aunt Mandy, you must not bother about me any more. You won't have time, you know. I can dress my own self, all except the b.u.t.tons 'way up between my shoulders; and I can wash my neck and ears clean, too."

"Bress yo' li'l heart, honey! Does yo' think fo' one instinct dat yo'

ole mammy is gwine to let yo' git yo' curls all wet, an' kotch yo' def ob cold dat-a-way? An' who's gwine to bresh de tangles out'n dem curls, I lak to know?"

"But I can wear my rubber cap when I am was.h.i.+ng my neck and ears, just as I did when I went in bathing at the seash.o.r.e. I suppose, though, that someone will have to help me with my hair. Oh, I know just the thing! I can have it cut off, and then I can fix it my own self."

"What's dat! what's dat yo's sayin', Miss May-ree! Cut off dem curls?

No, _sah_! Dey ain't gwine to be no hair-cuttin' round heah! Aunt Mandy's gwine to tek de bes' ob care ob all her li'l bressed lambs; she sho' am!"

"Well, well! what does big sister think about all this?" whispered Doctor Carlton, Mrs. Selwyn's brother, coming into the room as Aunt Mandy left it. "Is her nose out of joint, Rob?"

"My nose, Uncle Frank?" echoed Mary, lifting a happy little face for his good-morning kiss. "It doesn't pain at all, so I'm sure it can't be out of joint. When I put my thumb out of joint, it pained dreadfully until you fixed it for me."

"No, Frank, there is no room for anything here but pure joy. She has been asking G.o.d to give her one little sister, and He has sent her two; so her cup of happiness is full to the brim."

"Do you think they will wake soon, Father? I want to see what color their eyes are. What are their names?"

"We think of calling the one you have Elizabeth after Mother. She has blue eyes and will probably resemble Mother just as you do."

"And the little heavy-weight in your father's arms has very dark eyes like his, so she must be named for him--Roberta. Elizabeth and Roberta--can you improve on those names?"

"They are just the loveliest ones I know; but--but----"

"Out with it," insisted the Doctor.

"Don't you--don't you think they are----well, just a _little_ bit too big for such teeny, weeny babies?"

"They are rather imposing names for such mites," agreed Mr. Selwyn, "but the babies will grow up to fit them, you know."

"Perhaps we might shorten them to Betty and Bobbie for the present,"

proposed the Doctor, with a twinkle in his eye.

"But Bobbie is a boy's name; and Mother told me a story about a _naughty_ little girl named Betty, so I wouldn't like to call my little sister by such a name. Let--me--see. E--liz--a--beth.... Oh, I know! We can call this one Beth until she is big; and that one--," Mary knit her brows in deep thought, "how would Berta do?"

"Berta and Beth--capital!" declared the Doctor; and Mr. Selwyn agreed with him.

"When will they be baptized, Father?"