CHAPTER XVI
UNBOUNDED HOSPITALITY
Although life at the Hurly-Burly was full of irritating incidents and evenserious disappointments which were caused by the general forgetfulness andcareless habits of the family, yet there were also many pleasures, andPatty enjoyed the summer very much and became warmly attached to herhappy-go-lucky relatives.
Uncle Ted was kindness itself, and Aunt Grace was very loving andaffectionate towards her motherless niece. Bob and Bumble were trumps, andNan was so irresistibly funny that she made merry jokes of what wouldotherwise have been real troubles.
The days flew by and Patty thought she had never known a summer to pass sorapidly.
She almost lived out of doors, for Uncle Ted said he was determined totransform the little Boston bluestocking into a wild Indian; and so Pattyhad become browned by the sun, and her rowing and swimming had developed afine amount of muscle. But as we are always more or less influenced by thecharacter of those about us, Patty had also imbibed much of the spirit ofthe Hurly-Burly family and lived as if the pleasure of the present momentwere the only thing to be considered.
"Be careful, my Patty," her father wrote to her, "you do not send meletters as regularly as you used to, and what you tell me sometimes soundsas if you thought it no harm to break a promise or to fail to keep anengagement you have made. You know I want you to _learn_ by yourexperiences, and imitate only the best qualities of those about you. I'mnot going to have my house run on any Hurly-Burly plan, Miss Pattikins, soif you expect to secure the position of housekeeper, you must be preparedto keep things right up to the mark. We will have an exact proportion ofmethodical regularity, without having so much of it that it will be abugbear. Oh, I tell you, my lady, our home is going to be a veritableParadise on earth, and I am impatient to get it started. You have only onemore visit to make, and then I will come and kidnap my own daughter andcarry her off with me for a Christmas present."
"What a dear, wise father I've got," mused Patty, after reading thisletter, "and how he understands everything, even without my telling him. I_will_ try not to grow heedless and rattle-pated, though it's hard to beany other way in this house."
One morning in August, Mrs. Barlow said to her husband, "Ted, you know theCarletons are coming this afternoon to stay several days, and I want you togo over to the three o'clock train to meet them. Don't forget it, will you?And you'll have to engage a stage to bring them over, for there'll be Mr.and Mrs. Carleton and four children, and perhaps a nurse. I don't knowwhere we're going to put them all to sleep, but we must stow them awaysomehow. Patty, would you mind giving up your room for a time?"
"Not a bit, Aunt Grace. Put me wherever you like."
"That's a good girl. Well, suppose you sleep with Bumble. She has only athree-quarter bed, but if you don't quarrel you won't fall out."
"All right," said Patty. "I'll move my things at once."
"Very well, my dear; then we can give your room to Mr. and Mrs. Carleton,and Gertrude will have to room with Nan, and the other children must go upin the third story; no,--Harry can sleep with Bob. I declare I didn't thinkit would crowd us so, when I invited the whole family. But it will be onlyfor a week, and we'll get along somehow."
"Many hands make light work," and with much flurrying and scurrying therooms were made ready for the expected guests.
About noon the expressman came, bringing two trunks.
"'Coming events cast their shadows before,'" said Uncle Ted; "here come thewardrobes of the Carleton family."
"They must have sent them by express yesterday," said Aunt Grace; "dear me,how forehanded some people are. I wish I had been born that way. But when Igo anywhere I take my trunk with me, and then I always leave it behind."
They all laughed at this paradoxical statement, and Uncle Ted said, "That'swhere you differ from an elephant." Then as the trunks were set out on theveranda, he exclaimed, "Good gracious, my dear, these aren't the Carleton'strunks. They're marked 'F. M. T.,'--both of them."
"'F.M.T.,'" echoed Mrs. Barlow, "why, who can that be?"
"The Carletons have borrowed other people's trunks to come with," suggestedNan.
"Not they," returned Aunt Grace; "they're the most particular people on theface of the earth. Why Kate Carleton would as soon think of borrowing ahouse as a trunk. No, these belong to somebody else. And I know who it is!It's Fanny Todd. Before I left home I asked her to come down here the firstweek in August, and I never thought of it again from that day to this. ButI should think she would have written."
"Why, mamma," said Bumble, "there was a letter came for you fromPhiladelphia a day or two ago. Didn't you get it? I saw it on the halltable."
"No, I didn't get it. Run and look for it, child."
But the letter couldn't be found. So Mrs. Barlow assumed that it was fromher friend, Miss Todd, and concluded that that lady would shortly arrive.
"Where _can_ we put her to sleep?" she queried, "every room is alreadyfilled."
"She can have my room," said Bob, "and Harry Carleton and I will sleep outin the tent. He's a good fellow and he won't mind."
"But his mother will," said Mrs. Barlow; "she's so fussy about such things.Still, I can't see anything else to do. If it doesn't rain, I supposeyou'll be all right."
The Carletons came first, and Mrs. Barlow welcomed them with a gracioushospitality which gave no hint of the flurried turmoil of preparation thathad been going on all day.
Gertrude Carleton, the eldest daughter, was one of those spick-and-spanbeings who look as if they ought always to be kept in a bandbox. She had alanguishing die-away sort of air, and after a few moments' conversationwith her, Bumble excused herself and slyly nudged Patty to come outsidewith her. She took her cousin up-stairs and said, "Patsy, I'm sure thatblown-glass girl won't like to room with Nan. She looks as if she alwayshad a whole suite of rooms to herself, parlor and all. I can imagine herfainting away when Nan takes off her wig. Now, how would it do to give MissGertrude our room, and you and I go in with Nan? I'll bunk on the sofa; Idon't mind a bit."
"Neither do I," declared Patty. "Yes, let's give your room to the LadyGertrude, and never mind asking Nan about it, either."
So the girls changed things around in short order, and then wentdown-stairs and conducted Gertrude to her room.
Aunt Grace gave a little surprised smile, but with her usual tact, saidnothing.
Harry Carleton seemed to be a very nice boy, and he went off to the tentwith Bob, in great glee, while the two little Carleton children and theirnurse were installed in rooms on the third floor.
Before the guests had reappeared down-stairs, a carriage drove up to theveranda, and a lady and gentleman got out.
"Oh," thought Mrs. Barlow, as she went to greet them, "who _has_ Fannybrought with her?"
"How do you do, Grace?" cried sprightly Miss Todd, "I've come, you see,though I didn't get the telegram I asked you to send me. And I brought Mr.Harris, as I said I would. I know you'll welcome him gladly after what Itold you."
"Fanny," said Mrs. Barlow, deeming it best to make a clean breast of thematter, "I didn't get your letter. At least, they say it came, but somehowit was lost before I read it, and it can't be found. However, it doesn'tmatter, and I am very glad to welcome Mr. Harris in any capacity."
"Then greet me as Miss Todd's future husband," said Mr. Harris, smiling,and Mrs. Barlow gave him a hearty welcome and congratulations at the sametime.
But Mr. Harris was a new problem. Although he intended to remain only onenight, yet a room must be provided for him, and poor Mrs. Barlow was at herwits' end.
But it was at her wits' end that the good lady oftenest found a way out ofher difficulties, and after a glance into Mr. Harris' merry blue eyes, shefelt sure she could ask him to sleep on the couch in the music-room withoutoffending his dignity in the least. And so it turned out that theHurly-Burly was filled with guests, and it goes without saying that theyall had a merry time.
Uncle Ted was in his element, and he provided fun fo
r the children andentertainment for the older guests, until even languid Gertrude was stirredto enthusiasm.
It was late when they all retired, and after Mrs. Barlow had insured thecomfort of her guests and her children, she lay down to rest and fellasleep at once.