Part 50 (1/2)
”Yes; from the mountains.”
”Then, we may see his home,” said Star, suggestively.
”We may; but the mountains are very large, Star--miles long and miles wide, with dense woods everywhere and with but few roads through them, and homes of farmers scattered about.”
”Oo-oo!” exclaimed Star. ”We would not want to go far into them; we might get lost. Do people live there?”
”Yes. There are bears there, Star, and deer and owls; and many birds live in the gloomy depths of the forests.”
”My!” exclaimed Star, alarmed. ”I would not want to go out after night.
Where will we live when we go up there?”
”In a big hotel on top of the mountains.”
”How fine! I can hardly wait till I see it all!”
”Our trunks should be packed today, Star, for a two months' stay. Father says I will be benefitted when I get out of the smoke of this city.”
”Is your father going with us?”
”Oh, yes; but for a short stay only. He will visit us once a week thereafter.”
”Won't that be fine, Edith; and we will get to see the mountaineers, and maybe his home,” said Star, with all that fullness of antic.i.p.ation that comes to one emanc.i.p.ated from a round of daily worry and abject commonplaceness, as they reached the top of the flight of steps, up which Star had been a.s.sisting Edith.
Edith looked up into the face of Star with a smile, showing neither hope nor doubt, but full of that wearying pain that leaves a sore upon the heart.
”It will be very pleasant, no doubt, Star,” returned Edith; ”but I am so weak that I am afraid I cannot enjoy anything. How kind and good you are to me,” and Edith glanced up with tears; ”you take so much pains in comforting me, and wis.h.i.+ng for my welfare. I would be lost, dear Star, if it were not for you--lost--utterly lost,” and the poor nerve-wrecked, distracted little Edith fell into Star's arms through utter exhaustion.
Edith was carried to her room, and restoratives were administered. The contemplated journey was therefore postponed for a week to await her recuperation. The weeks pa.s.sed, and Edith was still no better. n.o.body saw her condition. n.o.body quite understood what it was. They were all blind.
Lying on her bed one day, when the sun was s.h.i.+ning, and the fragrance of the flowers and the songs of the birds came in the open window as a caressing wave of sympathy, Edith was roused from her unpleasant meditations by her father, who came in to see her. Sitting down by her bed, the father took up one hand of his child and petted it, with his eyes full of the tears of his abiding grief.
”Edith, dear,” he said, with his voice full of emotion, ”do you think you can now withstand the trip to the mountains?”
”I think I will be just as well off here, papa,” she answered, faintly and indifferently.
”If you are able, we will go at once, dear,” said the father, noticing how low her spirits were, and wis.h.i.+ng to do anything that would tend to revive them. ”I believe a change of air and scenes will do you good. Do you think you can make the trip?”
”I will try, papa--any place; any place--it makes no difference, papa. I am so weak all the time, papa, that I am--”
”Don't; don't, Edith, my dear child,” he said, with anguish in his kind heart, and parental remorse on his conscience. ”You would not have been in this state, pet, had you not become so wrought up over that Monroe affair, I know; and I am to blame for being so blind, so blind--so--”
The father laid his head in his hands on the bed, and wept; and as he wept, Edith laid her hand upon his head, and smoothed down his ruffled hair. ”Dear, papa,” she said, ”dear papa, don't cry for me; I will get better.”
”Edith,” said her father, raising his head, ”I have sent for Mr.
Winthrope to return to my office to become my chief a.s.sistant. I expect him here today, Edith. Shall I have him out for dinner?”
Edith gave a nervous start, and for the first time in days her little heart beat faster, and a color mounted to her pallid cheeks.
”Do as you like, papa; I shall be glad to see him, if he comes to my room,” answered Edith. ”When did you say you would take me to the mountains?”