What Katy Did Read online

  CHAPTER XI

  A NEW LESSON TO LEARN

  It was a long time before the children ceased to talk and laugh overthat jolly evening. Dorry declared he wished there could be aValentine's-Day every week.

  "Don't you think St. Valentine would be tired of writing verses?" askedKaty. But she, too, had enjoyed the frolic, and the bright recollectionhelped her along through the rest of the long, cold winter.

  Spring opened late that year, but the Summer, when it came, was a warmone. Katy felt the heat very much. She could not change her seat andfollow the breeze about from window to window as other people could. Thelong burning days left her weak and parched. She hung her head, andseemed to wilt like the flowers in the garden-beds. Indeed she was worseoff than they, for every evening Alexander gave them a watering with thehose, while nobody was able to bring a watering-pot and pour out whatshe needed--a shower of cold, fresh air.

  It wasn't easy to be good-humored under these circumstances, and onecould hardly have blamed Katy if she had sometimes forgotten herresolutions and been cross and fretful. But she didn't--not very often.Now and then bad days came, when she was discouraged and forlorn. ButKaty's long year of schooling had taught her self-control, and, as ageneral thing, her discomforts were borne patiently. She could not helpgrowing pale and thin however, and Papa saw with concern that, as thesummer went on, she became too languid to read, or study, or sew, andjust sat hour after hour, with folded hands, gazing wistfully out ofthe window.

  He tried the experiment of taking her to drive. But the motion of thecarriage, and the being lifted in and out, brought on so much pain, thatKaty begged that he would not ask her to go again. So there was nothingto be done but wait for cooler weather. The summer dragged on, and allwho loved Katy rejoiced when it was over.

  When September came, with cool mornings and nights, and fresh breezes,smelling of pine woods, and hill-tops, all things seemed to revive, andKaty with them. She began to crochet and to read. After a while shecollected her books again, and tried to study as Cousin Helen hadadvised. But so many idle weeks made it seem harder work than ever. Oneday she asked Papa to let her take French lessons.

  "You see I'm forgetting all I knew," she said, "and Clover is going tobegin this term, and I don't like that she should get so far ahead ofme. Don't you think Mr. Berger would be willing to come here, Papa? Hedoes go to houses sometimes."

  "I think he would if we asked him," said Dr. Carr, pleased to see Katywaking up with something like life again.

  So the arrangement was made. Mr. Berger came twice every week, and satbeside the big chair, correcting Katy's exercises and practising her inthe verbs and pronunciation. He was a lively little old Frenchman, andknew how to make lesson-time pleasant.

  "You take more pain than you used, Mademoiselle," he said one day; "ifyou go on so, you shall be my best scholar. And if to hurt the back makeyou study, it would be well that some other of my young ladies shall dothe same."

  Katy laughed. But in spite of Mr. Berger and his lessons, and in spiteof her endeavors to keep cheerful and busy, this second winter washarder than the first. It is often so with sick people. There is a sortof excitement in being ill which helps along just at the beginning. Butas months go on, and everything grows an old story, and one day followsanother day, all just alike and all tiresome, courage is apt to flag andspirits to grow dull. Spring seemed a long, long way off whenever Katythought about it.

  "I wish something would happen," she often said to herself. Andsomething was about to happen. But she little guessed what it wasgoing to be.

  "Katy!" said Clover, coming in one day in November, "do you know wherethe camphor is? Aunt Izzie has got _such_ a headache."

  "No," replied Katy, "I don't. Or--wait--Clover, it seems to me thatDebby came for it the other day. Perhaps if you look in her roomyou'll find it."

  "How very queer!" she soliloquized, when Clover was gone; "I never knewAunt Izzie to have a headache before."

  "How is Aunt Izzie?" she asked, when Papa came in at noon.

  "Well, I don't know. She has some fever and a bad pain in her head. Ihave told her that she had better lie still, and not try to get up thisevening. Old Mary will come in to undress you, Katy. You won't mind,will you, dear?"

  "N-o!" said Katy, reluctantly. But she did mind. Aunt Izzie had grownused to her and her ways. Nobody else suited her so well.

  "It seems so strange to have to explain just how every little thing isto be done," she remarked to Clover, rather petulantly.

  It seemed stranger yet, when the next day, and the next, and the nextafter that passed, and still no Aunt Izzie came near her. Blessingsbrighten as they take their flight. Katy began to appreciate for thefirst time how much she had learned to rely on her aunt. She missed herdreadfully.

  "When _is_ Aunt Izzie going to get well?" she asked her father; "I wanther so much."

  "We all want her," said Dr. Carr, who looked disturbed and anxious.

  "Is she very sick?" asked Katy, struck by the expression of his face.

  "Pretty sick, I'm afraid," he replied. "I'm going to get a regular nurseto take care of her."

  Aunt Izzie's attack proved to be typhoid fever. The doctors said thatthe house must be kept quiet, so John, and Dorry, and Phil were sentover to Mrs. Hall's to stay. Elsie and Clover were to have gone too, butthey begged so hard, and made so many promises of good behavior, thatfinally Papa permitted them to remain. The dear little things stoleabout the house on tiptoe, as quietly as mice, whispering to each other,and waiting on Katy, who would have been lonely enough without them, foreverybody else was absorbed in Aunt Izzie.

  It was a confused, melancholy time. The three girls didn't know muchabout sickness, but Papa's grave face, and the hushed house, weighedupon their spirits, and they missed the children very much.

  "Oh dear!" sighed Elsie. "How I wish Aunt Izzie would hurry andget well."

  "We'll be real good to her when she does, won't we?" said Clover. "Inever mean to leave my rubbers in the hat-stand any more, because shedon't like to have me. And I shall pick up the croquet-balls and putthem in the box every night."

  "Yes," added Elsie, "so will I, when she gets well."

  It never occurred to either of them that perhaps Aunt Izzie might notget well. Little people are apt to feel as if grown folks are so strongand so big, that nothing can possibly happen to them.

  Katy was more anxious. Still she did not fairly realize the danger. Soit came like a sudden and violent shock to her, when, one morning onwaking up, she found old Mary crying quietly beside the bed, with herapron at her eyes. Aunt Izzie had died in the night!

  All their kind, penitent thoughts of her; their resolutions toplease--their plans for obeying her wishes and saving her trouble, weretoo late! For the first time, the three girls, sobbing in each other'sarms, realized what a good friend Aunt Izzie had been to them. Herworrying ways were all forgotten now. They could only remember the manykind things she had done for them since they were little children. Howthey wished that they had never teased her, never said sharp words abouther to each other! But it was no use to wish.

  "What shall we do without Aunt Izzie?" thought Katy, as she criedherself to sleep that night. And the question came into her mind againand again, after the funeral was over and the little ones had come backfrom Mrs. Hall's, and things began to go on in their usual manner.

  For several days she saw almost nothing of her father. Clover reportedthat he looked very tired and scarcely said a word.

  "Did Papa eat any dinner?" asked Katy, one afternoon.

  "Not much. He said he wasn't hungry. And Mrs. Jackson's boy came for himbefore we were through."

  "Oh dear!" sighed Katy, "I do hope _he_ isn't going to be sick. How itrains! Clovy, I wish you'd run down and get out his slippers and putthem by the fire to warm. Oh, and ask Debby to make some cream-toast fortea! Papa likes cream-toast."

  After tea, Dr. Carr came up stairs to sit a while in Katy's room. Heoften did so, but this was the first time s
ince Aunt Izzie's death.

  Katy studied his face anxiously. It seemed to her that it had grownolder of late, and there was a sad look upon it, which made her heartache. She longed to do something for him, but all she could do was topoke the fire bright, and then to possess herself of his hand, andstroke it gently with both hers. It wasn't much, to be sure, but I thinkPapa liked it.

  "What have you been about all day?" he asked.

  "Oh, nothing, much," said Katy. "I studied my French lesson thismorning. And after school, Elsie and John brought in their patchwork,and we had a 'Bee.' That's all."

  "I've been thinking how we are to manage about the housekeeping," saidDr. Carr. "Of course we shall have to get somebody to come and takecharge. But it isn't easy to find just the right person. Mrs. Hall knowsof a woman who might do, but she is out West, just now, and it will be aweek or two before we can hear from her. Do you think you can get on asyou are for a few days?"

  "Oh, Papa!" cried Katy, in dismay, "must we have anybody?"

  "Why, how did you suppose we were going to arrange it? Clover is muchtoo young for a housekeeper. And beside, she is at school all day."

  "I don't know--I hadn't thought about it," said Katy, in aperplexed tone.

  But she did think about it--all that evening, and the first thing whenshe woke in the morning.

  "Papa," she said, the next time she got him to herself, "I've beenthinking over what you were saying last night, about getting somebody tokeep the house, you know. And I wish you wouldn't. I wish you would let_me_ try. Really and truly, I think I could manage."

  "But how?" asked Dr. Carr, much surprised. "I really don't see. If youwere well and strong, perhaps--but even then you would be pretty youngfor such a charge, Katy."

  "I shall be fourteen in two weeks," said Katy, drawing herself up in herchair as straight as she could. "And if I _were_ well, Papa, I should begoing to school, you know, and then of course I couldn't. No, I'll tellyou my plan. I've been thinking about it all day. Debby and Bridget havebeen with us so long, that they know all Aunt Izzie's ways, and they'resuch good women, that all they want is just to be told a little now andthen. Now, why couldn't they come up to me when anything is wanted--justas well as to have me go down to them? Clover and old Mary will keepwatch, you know, and see if anything is wrong. And you wouldn't mind ifthings were a little crooked just at first, would you? because, youknow, I should be learning all the time. Do let me try! It will be realnice to have something to think about as I sit up here alone, so muchbetter than having a stranger in the house who doesn't know the childrenor anything. I am sure it will make me happier. Please say 'Yes,' Papa,please do!"

  "It's too much for you, a great deal too much," replied Dr. Carr. But itwas not easy to resist Katy's "Please! Please!" and after a while itended with--

  "Well, darling, you may try, though I am doubtful as to the result ofthe experiment. I will tell Mrs. Hall to put off writing to Wisconsinfor a month, and we will see.

  "Poor child, anything to take her thoughts off herself!" he muttered, ashe walked down stairs. "She'll be glad enough to give the thing up bythe end of the month."

  But Papa was mistaken. At the end of a month Katy was eager to go on.So he said,

  "Very well--she might try it till Spring."

  It was not such hard work as it sounds. Katy had plenty of quietthinking-time for one thing. The children were at school all day, andfew visitors came to interrupt her, so she could plan out her hours andkeep to the plans. That is a great help to a housekeeper.

  Then Aunt Izzie's regular, punctual ways were so well understood by theservants, that the house seemed almost to keep itself. As Katy had said,all Debby and Bridget needed was a little "telling" now and then.

  As soon as breakfast was over, and the dishes were washed and put away,Debby would tie on a clean apron, and come up stairs for orders. Atfirst Katy thought this great fun. But after ordering dinner a good manytimes, it began to grow tiresome. She never saw the dishes after theywere cooked; and, being inexperienced, it seemed impossible to think ofthings enough to make a variety.

  "Let me see--there is roast beef--leg of mutton--boiled chicken," shewould say, counting on her fingers, "roast beef--leg of mutton--boiledchicken. Debby, you might roast the chickens. Dear!--I wish somebodywould invent a new animal! Where all the things to eat are gone to, Ican't imagine!"

  Then Katy would send for every recipe-book in the house, and pore overthem by the hour, till her appetite was as completely gone as if she hadswallowed twenty dinners. Poor Debby learned to dread these books. Shewould stand by the door with her pleasant red face drawn up into apucker, while Katy read aloud some impossible-sounding rule.

  "This looks as if it were delicious, Debby, I wish you'd try it: Take agallon of oysters, a pint of beef stock, sixteen soda crackers, thejuice of two lemons, four cloves, a glass of white wine, a sprig ofmarjoram, a sprig of thyme, a sprig of bay, a sliced shalott--"

  "Please, Miss Katy, what's them?"

  "Oh, don't you know, Debby? It must be something quite common, for it'sin almost all the recipes."

  "No, Miss Katy, I never heard tell of it before. Miss Carr never gave meno shell-outs at all at all!"

  "Dear me, how provoking!" Katy would cry, flapping over the leaves ofher book; "then we must try something else."

  Poor Debby! If she hadn't loved Katy so dearly, I think her patiencemust have given way. But she bore her trials meekly, except for anoccasional grumble when alone with Bridget. Dr. Carr had to eat a greatmany queer things in those days. But he didn't mind, and as for thechildren, they enjoyed it. Dinner-time became quite exciting, whennobody could tell exactly what any dish on the table was made of. Dorry,who was a sort of Dr. Livingstone where strange articles of food wereconcerned, usually made the first experiment, and if he said that it wasgood, the rest followed suit.

  After a while Katy grew wiser. She ceased teasing Debby to try newthings, and the Carr family went back to plain roast and boiled, much tothe advantage of all concerned. But then another series of experimentsbegan. Katy got hold of a book upon "The Stomach," and was seized with arage for wholesome food. She entreated Clover and the other children togive up sugar, and butter, and gravy, and pudding-sauce, and buckwheatcakes, and pies, and almost everything else that they particularlyliked. Boiled rice seemed to her the most sensible dessert, and she keptthe family on it until finally John and Dorry started a rebellion, andDr. Carr was forced to interfere.

  "My dear, you are overdoing it sadly," he said, as Katy opened her bookand prepared to explain her views; "I am glad to have the children eatsimple food--but really, boiled rice five times in a week is too much."

  Katy sighed, but submitted. Later, as the Spring came on, she had a fitof over-anxiousness, and was always sending Clover down to ask Debby ifher bread was not burning, or if she was sure that the pickles were notfermenting in their jars? She also fidgeted the children about wearingindia-rubbers, and keeping on their coats, and behaved altogether as ifthe cares of the world were on her shoulders.

  But all these were but the natural mistakes of a beginner. Katy was toomuch in earnest not to improve. Month by month she learned how tomanage a little better, and a little better still. Matters went on moresmoothly. Her cares ceased to fret her. Dr. Carr watching theincreasing brightness of her face and manner, felt that the experimentwas a success. Nothing more was said about "somebody else," and Katy,sitting up stairs in her big chair, held the threads of the housefirmly in her hands.