The Princess and Joe Potter

The little woman looked at Joe for an instant, as if not understanding what he had said, and repeated:

"Going away?"

"Yes, aunt Dorcas, we've got to. Even if you was willin' we should stay, after what I've told you, I wouldn't agree to hang 'round, livin' on you, while there are two other fellers doin' the same thing."

Aunt Dorcas gazed at Joe steadily during several seconds, and then said, in a decided tone:

"I don't understand what you have tried to tell me; but it is certain, Joseph Potter, that you sha'n't leave my house while you are wounded so seriously."

"I ain't wounded, aunt Dorcas, an' I'm as well able to go this minute as I was when I came."

"It doesn't make any difference whether you are or not. I sha'n't allow you to step your foot off of these premises until I know more about this affair. It is all a mistake from beginning to end; there can be no question of that, and I'll get at the bottom of it before we are very much older. Now go straight to bed, and mind what I told you about getting up in the morning."

Aunt Dorcas pulled the bandages apart sufficiently to admit of her kissing Joe on the lips, and then, putting the lamp in his hand, she led him to the stairway.

"You're an awful good woman, aunt Dorcas, an' some day I'll be able to do more than tell you so."

"Good night, my boy. Put this matter entirely out of your mind and go to sleep."

When Joe gained the chamber once more, it was as if a great weight had been lifted from his heart.

The confession which caused him so much anxiety had been made, and, instead of reproaching him for having come to her home, aunt Dorcas was the same kindly, Christianlike woman as when he first saw her.

Master Plummer, who had slept peacefully during all the adventures of the night, was disturbed by the light of the lamp, as it shone full in his face, and opening his eyes, he said, petulantly:

"What are you doin' – " He ceased speaking suddenly, as he saw his friend's bandaged face, and cried, in something very like alarm, "Wha – wha – what's happened to you?"

"There was a burglar in the house, an' I tackled him."

This was sufficient to bring Master Plummer to a sitting posture at once, and he demanded to be told all the particulars.

Joe began to comply with his friend's request, but was interrupted by the voice of aunt Dorcas from the room below.

"George! Don't you allow Joseph to say a single word to-night. He must be kept perfectly quiet, or no one can say what may be the result of his terrible wounds. Go to sleep immediately, both of you, and to-morrow morning I'll do the talking, if Joseph isn't strong enough."

"Go on, an' tell me all about it," Plums whispered. "She won't hear if we talk low."

"I'll do jest exactly as aunt Dorcas told me, even if she said I was to stand on my head for half an hour. A feller who wouldn't mind what she tells him ain't fit to live," and Joe got into bed, refusing to so much as speak when Plums plied him with questions.

Although he had made light of his wounds when talking to aunt Dorcas, they gave him no slight amount of pain, and this, together with his anxiety of mind, would seem to have been sufficient to keep his eyes open until morning; yet within a very short time he was sleeping as peacefully as if attorneys and burglars had never been known in this world.

Not until aunt Dorcas tapped gently on the door next morning did either of the boys awaken, and then Joe would have leaped out of bed immediately after answering her summons, but for the words:

"You're not to get up, Joseph, until I am positive you are out of danger."

Joe laughed aloud, in the gladness of his heart; such solicitude for his welfare was something he had never known before, and it seemed very sweet to him.

"Let me get up, aunt Dorcas, an' if I don't show you I'm all right, I'll come straight back to bed. There's no need of my layin' here, 'cause I'm sound as a nut."

The little woman hesitated, but finally gave the desired permission, and when Joe was in the kitchen once more, she insisted on removing the bandages to examine the wounds before even so much as allowing Master Plummer to partake of the breakfast already prepared.

To Joe and Plums, who were accustomed to such injuries, there appeared to be no reason why the bandages should be replaced, but aunt Dorcas, who could be as firm as she usually was gentle, when occasion required, insisted upon obedience, and once more Joe's face was enveloped in white cloth, until he presented a most comical appearance.

Then aunt Dorcas brought the princess down-stairs, and the little maid, not recognising her young guardian, positively refused to speak to him, but nestled close by the little woman's side until Joe, by dint of much coaxing and bribing, persuaded her to accept him as a new, if not an old, acquaintance.

When the meal was brought to an end, and before the breakfast dishes were cleared away, aunt Dorcas referred to the confession of the previous night, by saying:

"I've been thinking over what you told me, Joseph, and verily believe I should have awakened you before daylight this morning to ask a few questions, if you had not been in such a serious condition. You have no objection to my speaking about the matter before George?"

"Of course not, aunt Dorcas. He knows the whole thing as well as I do, except he believes I must have done something pretty tough."

"You should never think evil of any person, George, no matter how much appearances are against him."

"Well, if Joe didn't do anything, what are these lawyers offerin' to give a whole hundred dollars to catch one of us for?"

"That is what I hope to find out. There is something in connection with the matter which you boys have failed to explain, that will make it all very simple. Have either of you a copy of that advertisement?"

"No, aunt Dorcas, I wasn't achin' to lug such a thing as that 'round with me."

"Does it still appear in the papers?"

"It did yesterday mornin', 'cause Dan showed it to me, an' his name and Plums's were 'longside of mine."

"Then George must go to Weehawken and buy one of those papers."

Master Plummer looked up in dismay. A six-mile walk was to him such exercise as amounted almost to torture, and he said, petulantly:

"What good will it do for you to read it in the paper, when we can tell you every word?"

"Indeed, I don't know; but there must be something which you have failed to remember."

"Truly, there isn't, aunt Dorcas. I said over the words jest as they was printed, 'cause I'd be sure to remember a thing like that," Joe replied.

"I am set, when I make up my mind, as all old maids are," the little woman said, grimly, "and it seems to me absolutely necessary I should see that advertisement. Now, if George thinks he cannot walk to Weehawken, I must go myself."

"Indeed you mustn't, aunt Dorcas," and Joe spoke in a tone of authority, such as he had never before used. "There's nothin' to prevent my walkin' a dozen miles, if anything is to be gained by it, an' I'll start this very minute."

To such a proposition as this, aunt Dorcas positively refused to listen. She was certain Joe's wounds were of such serious nature that violent exercise might be fatal to him, and Master Plummer began to fear he would be forced to take that long walk when there was no real necessity for so doing, until a happy thought came to him, and he cried, animatedly:

"There's no need for anybody to go to Weehawken, 'cause Dan Fernald must have that paper he showed to Joe, in his pocket now."

"Where is he?" aunt Dorcas asked, quickly.

"Loafin' 'round here somewhere," Plums replied. "He counted on comin' here this afternoon to ask if you'd let him stop a spell, so's the lawyers couldn't catch him. He would have come last night, but Joe hired him to keep away."

Aunt Dorcas looked at Master Potter, inquiringly, and the latter said:

"I promised Dan I wouldn't speak a word to you about what he was goin' to do; but you'll know it all when he comes."