Little Women

‘No, indeed! It’s past nine, and dark as Egypt. I can’t stop here, for the house is full. Sallie has some girls staying with her. I’ll rest till Hannah comes, and then do the best I can.’

‘I’ll ask Laurie; he will go,’ said Jo, looking relieved as the idea occurred to her.

‘Mercy, no! Don’t ask or tell anyone. Get me my rubbers, and put these slippers with our things. As soon as supper is over, watch for Hannah, and tell me the minute she comes.’

‘They are going out to supper now. I’ll stay with you; I’d rather.’

‘No, dear, run along, and bring me some coffee. I’m so tired, I can’t stir!’

So Meg reclined, with rubbers well hidden, and Jo went blundering away to the dining room, which she found after going into a china-closet, and opening the door of a room where old Mr Gardiner was taking a little private refreshment. Making a dart at the table, she secured the coffee, which she immediately spilt, making the front of her dress as bad as the back.

‘Oh, dear, what a blunderbuss I am!’ exclaimed Jo, finishing Meg’s glove by scrubbing her gown with it.

‘Can I help you?’ said a friendly voice; and there was Laurie, with a full cup in one hand, and a plate of ice in the other.

‘I was trying to get something for Meg, who is very tired, and someone shook me; and here I am, in a nice state,’ answered Jo, glancing dismally from the stained skirt to the coffee-coloured glove.

‘Too bad! I was looking for someone to give this to. May I take it to your sister?’

‘Oh, thank you! I’ll show you where she is. I don’t offer to take it myself, for I should only get into another scrape if I did.’

Jo led the way; and, as if used to waiting on ladies, Laurie drew up a little table, brought a second instalment of coffee and ice for Jo, and was so obliging that even particular Meg pronounced him a ‘nice boy’. They had a merry time over the bonbons and mottoes, and were in the midst of a quiet game of ‘Buzz’, with two or three other young people who had strayed in, when Hannah appeared. Meg forgot her foot, and rose so quickly that she was forced to catch hold of Jo, with an exclamation of pain.

‘Hush! Don’t say anything,’ she whispered, adding aloud, ‘It’s nothing. I turned my foot a little, that’s all’; and limped upstairs to put her things on.

Hannah scolded, Meg cried, and Jo was at her wit’s end, till she decided to take things into her own hands. Slipping out, she ran down, and, finding a servant, asked if he could get her a carriage. It happened to be a hired waiter, who knew nothing about the neighbourhood; and Jo was looking round for help, when Laurie, who had heard what she said, came up, and offered his grandfather’s carriage, which had just come for him, he said.

‘It’s so early! You can’t mean to go yet?’ began Jo, looking relieved, but hesitating to accept the offer.

‘I always go early – I do, truly! Please let me take you home. It’s all on my way, you know, and it rains, they say.’

That settled it; and, telling him of Meg’s mishap, Jo gratefully accepted, and rushed up to bring down the rest of the party. Hannah hated rain as much as a cat does; so she made no trouble, and they rolled away in the luxurious close carriage, feeling very festive and elegant. Laurie went on the box; so Meg could keep her foot up, and the girls talked over their party in freedom.

‘I had a capital time. Did you?’ asked Jo, rumpling up her hair, and making herself comfortable.

‘Yes, till I hurt myself. Sallie’s friend, Annie Moffat, took a fancy to me, and asked me to come and spend a week with her when Sallie does. She is going in the spring, when the opera comes; and it will be perfectly splendid, if Mother only lets me go,’ answered Meg, cheering up at the thought.

‘I saw you with the red-headed man I ran away from. Was he nice?’

‘Oh, very! His hair is auburn, not red; and he was very polite, and I had a delicious redowa with him.’

‘He looked like a grasshopper in a fit when he did the new step. Laurie and I couldn’t help laughing. Did you hear us?’

‘No; but it was very rude. What were you about all that time, hidden away there?’

Jo told her adventures, and, by the time she had finished, they were at home. With many thanks, they said ‘Good night’, and crept in, hoping to disturb no one; but the instant their door creaked, two little night-caps bobbed up, and two sleepy but eager voices cried out:

‘Tell about the party! tell about the party!’

With what Meg called ‘a great want of manners’, Jo had saved some bonbons for the little girls; and they soon subsided, after hearing the most thrilling events of the evening.

‘I declare, it really seems like being a fine young lady to come home from the party in a carriage, and sit in my dressing-gown with a maid to wait on me,’ said Meg, as Jo bound up her foot with arnica, and brushed her hair.

‘I don’t believe fine young ladies enjoy themselves a bit more than we do, in spite of our burnt hair, old gowns, one glove apiece, and tight slippers that sprain our ankles when we are silly enough to wear them.’ And I think Jo was quite right.

CHAPTER 4 Burdens (#ulink_bc9b87a8-94c6-5926-8eaa-a8245cef3654)

‘Oh, dear, how hard it does seem to take up our packs and jog on,’ sighed Meg, the morning after the party; for, now the holidays were over, the week of merry-making did not fit her for going on easily with the task she never liked.

‘I wish it was Christmas or New Year all the time; wouldn’t it be fun?’ answered Jo, yawning dismally.

‘We shouldn’t enjoy ourselves half so much as we do now. But it does seem so nice to have little suppers and bouquets, and go to parties, and drive home, and read and rest, and not work. It’s like other people, you know, and I always envy girls who do such things; I’m so fond of luxury,’ said Meg, trying to decide which of two shabby gowns was the least shabby.

‘Well, we can’t have it, so don’t let us grumble, but shoulder our bundles and trudge along as cheerfully as Marmee does. I’m sure Aunt March is a regular Old Man of the Sea to me, but I suppose when I’ve learnt to carry her without complaining, she will tumble off, or get so light that I shan’t mind her.’

This idea tickled Jo’s fancy, and put her in good spirits; but Meg didn’t brighten, for her burden, consisting of four spoilt children, seemed heavier than ever. She hadn’t heart enough even to make herself pretty, as usual, by putting on a blue neck-ribbon, and dressing her hair in the most becoming way.

‘Where’s the use of looking nice, when no one sees me but those cross midgets, and no one cares whether I’m pretty or not?’ she muttered, shutting her drawer with a jerk. ‘I shall have to toil and moil all my days, with only little bits of fun now and then, and get old and ugly and sour, because I’m poor, and can’t enjoy my life as other girls do. It’s a shame!’

So Meg went down, wearing an injured look, and wasn’t at all agreeable at breakfast-time. Everyone seemed rather out of sorts, and inclined to croak. Beth had a headache, and lay on the sofa, trying to comfort herself with the cat and three kittens; Amy was fretting because her lessons were not learned, and she couldn’t find her rubbers; Jo would whistle and make a great racket getting ready; Mrs March was very busy trying to finish a letter which must go at once; and Hannah had the grumps, for being up late didn’t suit her.

‘There never was such a cross family!’ cried Jo, losing her temper when she had upset an inkstand, broken both bootlacings, and sat down upon her hat.

‘You’re the crossest person in it!’ returned Amy, washing out the sum, that was all wrong, with the tears that had fallen on her slate.

‘Beth, if you don’t keep these horrid cats down in the cellar I’ll have them drowned,’ exclaimed Meg, angrily, as she tried to get rid of the kitten, which had scrambled up her back, and stuck like a burr just out of reach.

Jo laughed, Meg scolded, Beth implored, and Amy wailed, because she couldn’t remember how much nine times twelve was.

‘Girls, girls, do be quiet one minute! I must get this off by the early mail, and you drive me distracted with your worry,’ cried Mrs March, crossing out the third spoilt sentence in her letter.

There was a momentary lull, broken by Hannah, who stalked in, laid two hot turnovers on the table, and stalked out again. These turnovers were an institution; and the girls called them ‘muffs’, for they had no others, and found the hot pies very comforting to their hands on cold mornings. Hannah never forgot to make them, no matter how busy or grumpy she might be, for the walk was long and bleak; the poor things got no other lunch, and were seldom home before two.

‘Cuddle your cats, and get over your headache, Bethy. Goodbye, Marmee; we are a set of rascals this morning, but we’ll come home regular angels. Now then, Meg!’ and Jo tramped away, feeling that the pilgrims were not setting out as they ought to do.

They always looked back before turning the corner, for their mother was always at the window, to nod and smile, and wave her hand to them. Somehow it seemed as if they couldn’t have got through the day without that; for, whatever their mood might be, the last glimpse of that motherly face was sure to affect them like sunshine.

‘If Marmee shook her fist instead of kissing her hand to us, it would serve us right, for more ungrateful wretches than we are were never seen,’ cried Jo, taking a remorseful satisfaction in the snowy walk and bitter wind.

‘Don’t use such dreadful expressions,’ said Meg, from the depths of the veil in which she had shrouded herself like a nun sick of the world.

‘I like good strong words that mean something,’ replied Jo, catching her hat as it took a leap off her head, preparatory to flying away altogether.

‘Call yourself any names you like; but I am neither a rascal nor a wretch, and I don’t choose to be called so.’

‘You’re a blighted being, and decidedly cross today, because you can’t sit in the lap of luxury all the time. Poor dear, just wait till I make my fortune, and you shall revel in carriages and icecream and high heeled slippers and posies and red-headed boys to dance with.’

‘How ridiculous you are, Jo!’ but Meg laughed at the nonsense, and felt better in spite of herself.