CHAPTER X
Breaking the News
WHEN Mr. Black went home that afternoon to explain the matter tohis good sister, Mrs. Crane, he took with him not only Rosa Marie,but Jean, Marjory, Bettie and Mabel, whose parents had given thempermission to escort the brown baby to her new home.
"You see," said he, while waiting for Rosa Marie to be made somewhatmore attractive, "I want you to tell the story to Mrs. Crane, preciselyas you told it to me. But don't mention _me_ until you get to the veryend."
With her hair brushed and braided and her fat little body stuffed intoa pink gingham apron that the Cottagers had laboriously cut down froma wrapper of Mrs. Halliday's, Rosa Marie looked her best, in spite ofthe fact that she wore no shoes and stockings. She trotted contentedlyat Mabel's side; but Bettie, who was supposed to be walking with Mr.Black, pranced delightedly about him in circles, to show her gratitude.Jean and Marjory followed more sedately but with beaming countenances.
Now that Mrs. Crane was no longer poor, she was always dressed veryneatly in black silk. Except for that she was precisely the same jolly,good-natured woman that she had been when she lived alone in the littlehouse just across the street from Dandelion Cottage. Now, however, shelived with her brother, Mr. Black, in his big, imposing, but rathergloomy house. She had no husband, he had no wife and neither had anychildren. Perhaps that is why they were both so fond of the DandelionCottagers.
Mrs. Crane was planting bulbs in the garden when Mr. Black ushered hisprocession in at the gate.
"Bless my soul!" said she, "here you are just in time to help. Ialways said that if ever I got a chance to plant all the tulip bulbs Iwanted, I'd die of pure happiness; but I guess I stand _more_ chanceof dying of a broken back. My land! I've planted two thousand threehundred and forty-eight of the best-looking bulbs I ever laid eyeson, and there ain't a hole in those boxes yet. They're all named,too. Here's Rachel Ruish, Rose Grisdelin, Rosy Mundi, Yellow Prince,the Duke of York--think of having _him_ in your front yard--and LadyGrandison, two inches apart, clear to the gate. But land! I suppose abody's tongue'd go lame counting _diamonds_."
"Why don't you let Martin plant them?" asked Mr. Black, with a twinklein his eye. It was plain that he enjoyed his talkative elderly sister.
"And have them all bloom in China?" retorted Mrs. Crane. "Now you know,Peter, that Martin couldn't get a bulb right end up if there wereprinted directions on the skin of every bulb. But Jean there, andBettie----"
"We'll do it," cried the girls. "Just tell us how."
"Two inches apart, pointed end up, all the way along those littletrenches," directed Mrs. Crane, seating herself in the wheelbarrow."No, not _you_, Mabel. You and Martin--Well, I won't _say_ it. Why!What's the matter with your face? Looks to me as if you'd dusted thecoal bin with yourself and then cried about it. What's the trouble?"
Thereupon Mabel introduced Rosa Marie, who had been shyly hiding behinda rosebush, told her story and graphically described the horrors of theorphan asylum.
"While I don't believe that any orphan asylum is as black as you'vepainted that one," said Mrs. Crane, "it does seem a pity to shut alittle outdoor animal like that up in a cage when she ain't used to it.Now, Peter, you listen to me. Why couldn't _we_ keep Rosa Marie herefor a time. Like enough, her mother'll be back after her most any day.In the meantime, she'd be more company than a cat and easier to washthan a poodle."
"Well now, I don't know," returned Mr. Black, winking at Mabel. "Achild is a great deal of trouble."
"Shame on you, Peter Black. It's only yesterday that you bought awretched old horse to keep his owner from ill-treating him; and hereyou are refusing----"
"Oh, not exactly refusing----"
"Begrudging, anyway, to rescue that innocent lamb----"
"She means black sheep," whispered Marjory, into Jean's convenient ear.
"From that institution. Peter Black! I'm just going to keep that child,anyway."
At this, all five laughed merrily. Rosa Marie, cheered by the sound,reached gravely into a paper bag, gravely handed each person a tulipbulb and appropriated one herself. She took a generous bite out ofhers.
"We'll plant 'em in a ring around that snowball bush," said Mrs. Crane,rescuing the bitten bulb, bite and all. "That shall be Rosa Marie's ownflower bed."
"There's a nursery on the second floor," said Mr. Black. "You girlsmust help us fix it up. And, Mabel, perhaps _you_ would like to spendthis money for some toys that would just exactly suit Rosa Marie."
Mabel beamed gratefully as she accepted the money and theresponsibility. Never before had any one singled her out to performa task that required discretion. It was always Jean, or Bettie, orsometimes even Marjory that was chosen. Never before had greatnessbeen thrust upon Mabel. She lavished grateful, affectionate glances onMr. Black and inwardly determined to save part of the cash with whichto buy him a Christmas present, not realizing that that would be amisappropriation of funds.
Mabel, however, felt a pang of jealousy when Rosa Marie, diggingcontentedly in the sand at Mrs. Crane's feet, allowed her formerguardian to depart absolutely unnoticed.
"I _did_ think," confided Mabel to Bettie, who walked beside her, "thatshe'd at least _look_ as if she cared."
That night the mothers made peace with their daughters, and Aunty Janeextended a flag of truce to Marjory.
"It was all for your own good," explained Mrs. Bennett, her arm aboutMabel, who was missing the pleasant task of putting Rosa Marie to bed."I couldn't let you grow up with a little Indian continually at yourheels. You'd have grown tired of her, too. And by keeping silence solong, you did a great deal of harm. If we'd known about the matter atonce, we might have been able to find her mother. Now it's too late."
"I never thought of that," said Mabel, contritely. "I'll tell rightaway, next time."
"Mabel! There mustn't _be_ a next time. Promise me this instant thatyou'll never borrow another baby unless you know that its mother reallywants to keep it. Promise."
"All right, I promise," said Mabel, cheerfully.
"But I _can't_ think," remarked Mrs. Bennett, "what possessed Mr. Blackto be so foolish as to take such a child into his own home."
There were other persons that wondered, too, why Mr. Black shouldburden his household with the care of what Martin, his man, calledan uncivilized savage; but the truth of the matter was just this.The large silent tears rolling down Mabel's forlorn countenance hadsuddenly proved too much for the tender heart of Mr. Black. In someways, perhaps, impulsive Mr. Black was not a wise man; but, wherechildren were concerned, there was no doubt of his being an exceedinglytender person.