The Four Corners

"Oh, child, child, what are you saying?" said her grandmother in a tremulous voice.

Jack regretted this remark seeing her grandmother's agitation. "I don't suppose I ought to have said that. Was it impolite?" she asked. "I wanted to be very polite."

"Why?"

"Oh, because I – " she hesitated. "I must go now. I have finished the party; it was very nice indeed."

Mrs. Corner looked at her with sudden suspicion. "Did Nancy send you over here?" she said.

"Nobody sent me. I didn't tell any one I was coming."

"Why did you come then?"

"Why to see you. Didn't the servant tell you? Didn't she give you my card?"

"Oh, yes." Mrs. Corner's face cleared. "I am glad you came of your own accord. I have enjoyed your call immensely."

"Thank you. Ought I to say Mrs. Corner or grandmother?"

"Grandmother would please me best."

"Then, good-bye, grandmother. I've had a charming time."

"Then, please come again."

"I'd be delighted, I'm sure." Her company manners were in full swing, and she went out after a gracious smile and bow.

"The droll little creature!" exclaimed Mrs. Corner. "I must tell Helen about her. I want to know them all. They interest me." So Jack's call was not without effect.

CHAPTER XII

NUTS

With her usual compliance, Jean consented to go to call upon her grandmother though Mary Lee obstinately refused to make any overtures. Children often have very strong prejudices and are even more determined in their refusal to give them up than are their elders. Mary Lee felt quite virtuous in her decision not to make friends with her relatives and often berated Nan for having no backbone and for influencing Jack. Jean, however, had been won over by her twin who descanted upon the deliciousness of the refreshments offered her and upon the pretty things their grandmother might give them.

"You see," said Jack to Jean in arguing the matter, "we must be polite to our elders, Aunt Sarah says, and I think we ought to be very, very nice to our grandmother because she is old. I shouldn't wonder if she were the oldest person we know."

"Not as old as Unc' Landy," said Jean.

"No, of course not; he is older than anybody, but he doesn't count," returned Jack.

"I think we might take grandmother one of the kittens," said Jean with sudden inspiration. Lady Gray had recently given them the surprise of a family of four lovely kittens. Aunt Sarah had said most positively that they could keep only one, although they had all insisted that one apiece would exactly agree to the number, but Aunt Sarah was firm and the two elder girls had given way to the younger ones who had each selected the one she preferred and now it was a matter of continual dispute as to which was to be finally kept. A third kitten was promised to Phil, and Mitty had declared that she knew of a good home for the fourth.

"You see," said Jean, "if the kitten lived at Uplands we could see it often. We could even borrow it sometimes to play with ours."

"We'll take them both over," decided Jack, "and let her choose one, then we won't have to quarrel any more over them, for that will settle it."

They started off each with a wee, mewing kitten, and were duly announced as Miss Jacqueline and Miss Jean Corner, though this time their Aunt Helen was at home and they were not ushered into the drawing-room but into the library, and from thence were conducted up-stairs to their grandmother's room.

"Well, young ladies," said Mrs. Corner, "I am glad to see you. So this is Jean. She looks more like the Lees than Nancy and Jack. What have you there, my dears?"

"We have brought you a kitten," spoke up Jack. "We brought two so you could take your choice, for it is really very hard to tell which of them all is the prettiest. We let Phil take his choice first and we left the ugliest for Mitty, though that one is really very pretty, but not quite so lovely as these."

"It is very kind of you to want me to have the best," said Mrs. Corner. "Which do you consider the prettier?"

"I like this one," said Jack, displaying a furry gray ball from which issued a protesting mew as Jack held it up.

"And I like this," said Jean, more discreetly holding her kitten in her lap. "It has white feet and a white shirt front. Jack's is all gray. Mine is named Rubaiyat; we call it Ruby."

"And mine," said Jack gravely, "is Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. It's a Bible name. Baz ought to be very good."

"What extraordinary names!" exclaimed Mrs. Corner.

"Ruby is named after the 'Rubaiyat of a Persian Kitten,' for Lady Gray is a Persian, you know. Ran named them and he said we could call Jean's, Ruby, and mine Baz. He says that Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz just suits a cat for he found out what it means and it means 'the spoil hastens; the prey speeds.'"

"Helen, did you ever know such droll children?" said Mrs. Corner laughing.

"Would you like to look at them closer?" said Jack. "Their claws are very briery like blackberry bushes, but they really don't scratch unless you don't know how to hold them. I'll put them in your lap and you can see how sweet and dear they are."

"They certainly are beauties," said Mrs. Corner, admiringly. "Don't you think we would enjoy having one, Helen?"

"Most decidedly," said Miss Helen, "and of the two I think Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz charms me the most. He is a darling."

Jack gave a long sigh. "I just knew you'd say that."

"Would you rather keep this one, then?" asked Miss Helen.

"Oh, yes," said Jack.

"Oh, no," said Jean.

The ladies laughed. "Then suppose you don't give either away," said Mrs. Corner.

"We can't keep but one, you know. Aunt Sarah said so," Jean told them. "And we'd rather you'd have one than anybody."

"Then we'll take the gray one gladly and are very much obliged to you for thinking of bringing us such a beautiful and valuable pet," Mrs. Corner told them. "Haven't we some cake or something for these little girls, Helen?" she asked.

Miss Helen thought so and they were presently regaled upon delicious cake and some sort of curious drink that tasted like currant jelly and mint. It was a beautiful red color and Jack thought it was better than the pink lemonade at the County Fair.

While they were eating and drinking, Miss Helen left them to bring back to each some odd little green dishes which she said she had found in Holland. The children were delighted with the curiously shaped pots and pans, the pitchers and tea-pots, and bore them off in triumph, Jack feeling less regret at leaving her kitten since in return she had these queer little dishes.

She displayed them in high glee to Nan who was surprised and pleased that such an interest had been shown in her little sisters. If only Mary Lee would not be so offish, all might be pleasant between the two households, she thought, and – though this she only secretly admitted – they might still share the delights of those beautiful withheld gifts.

Place o' Pines was too chilly a spot to be visited these November days, but the woods up the mountainside attracted both girls and boys one Saturday afternoon after the first frost, for Phil and Mary Lee knew a place where nuts were plentiful, so they all piled into the Lewis's carryall and went to where the road ended, fastening the horses there and going the rest of the way on foot. It was wildly beautiful in this mountain forest. The distant call of a bird, the rustle of leaves as some creature of the woods sped from sight, or the trickle of some little mountain brook was all that could be heard until the merry laughter of the young people rang out upon the air.

Nan sat down upon a log and was soon lost in a dream. The boys fell to gathering nuts; Jack and Jean ran here and there excited by the freedom and wildness of the spot; Phil and Mary Lee soon discovered a mutual interest in the lair of a Molly Cotton-Tail and her babies and next gave chase to a squirrel.

"We might find out where he lives," said Phil. "I'd like to get a young one and train him. There he goes, Mary Lee. Come on," and Mary Lee followed over fallen logs, through heaps of dead leaves and broken branches till finally Master Squirrel was lost from view and they were a long distance from where they started.