"Mac likes me too, and that did please me; for he doesn't like girls generally. Steve told me he said I had the 'making of a capital little woman in me.' Wasn't it nice of him? Steve was _so_ proud, though he does laugh at Mac sometimes."

"Don't disappoint them, dear. Encourage Steve in all the good things he likes or wants, make friends with Mac, love Aunt Jane, and be a daughter to uncle, and you'll find yourself a very happy girl."

"I truly will, and thank you very much for not making fun of me. I know I'm a little goose; but lately I've felt as if I might come to something if I had the right sort of help. I'll go up and see Aunt Jessie to-morrow; I'm not a bit afraid of her: and then if you'll just quietly find out from Uncle Doctor what I must read, I'll work as hard as I can. Don't tell any one, please; they'll think it odd and affected, and I can't bear to be laughed at, though I dare say it is good discipline."

Rose promised, and both worked in silence for a moment; then Kitty asked rather timidly,--

"Are you and Charlie trying this plan too? Since you've left off going out so much, he keeps away also; and we don't know what to make of it."

"He has had what he calls an 'artistic fit' lately, set up a studio, and is doing some crayon sketches of us all. If he'd only finish his things, they would be excellent; but he likes to try a great variety at once. I'll take you in sometime, and perhaps he will do a portrait of you for Steve. He likes girls' faces, and gets the likenesses wonderfully well."

"People say you are engaged: but I contradict it; because, of course, _I_ should know if you were."

"We are not."

"I'm glad of it; for really, Rose, I'm afraid Charlie hasn't got 'firm principles,' though he is a fascinating fellow and one can't scold him. You don't mind my saying so, do you, dear?" added Kitty; for Rose did not answer at once.

"Not in the least: for you are one of us now, and I can speak frankly, and I will; for I think in one way you _can_ help Steve very much. You are right about Charlie, both as to the principles and the fascination: Steve admires him exceedingly, and always from a boy liked to imitate his pleasant ways. Some of them are very harmless and do Steve good, but some are not. I needn't talk about it, only you must show your boy that you depend on him to keep out of harm, and help him do it."

"I will, I will! and then perhaps, when he is a perfect model, Charlie will imitate him. I really begin to feel as if I had a great deal to do," and Kitty looked as if she was beginning to like it also.

"We all have; and the sooner we go to work the better for us and those we love. You wouldn't think now that Phebe was doing any thing for Archie, but she is; and writes such splendid letters, they stir him up wonderfully, and make us all love and admire her more than ever."

"How is she getting on?" asked Kitty, who, though she called herself a "little goose," had tact enough to see that Rose did not care to talk about Charlie.

"Nicely; for you know she used to sing in our choir, so that was a good recommendation for another. She got a fine place in the new church at L----; and that gives her a comfortable salary, though she has something put away. She was always a saving creature and kept her wages carefully; uncle invested them, and she begins to feel quite independent already. No fear but my Phebe will get on: she has such energy, and manages so well. I sometimes wish I could run away and work with her."

"Ah, my dear! we rich girls have our trials as well as poor ones, though we don't get as much pity as they do," sighed Kitty. "n.o.body knows what I suffer sometimes from worries that I can't talk about, and I shouldn't get much sympathy if I did; just because I live in a big house, wear good gowns, and have lots of lovers. Annabel used to say she envied me above all created beings; but she doesn't now, and is perfectly absorbed in her dear little Chinaman. Do you see how she ever could like him?"

So they began to gossip, and the sober talk was over for that time; but when Kitty departed, after criticising all her dear friends and their respective sweethearts, she had a helpful little book in her m.u.f.f, a resolute expression on her bright face, and so many excellent plans for self-improvement in her busy brain, that she and Steve bid fair to turn out the model couple of the century.

CHAPTER XIV.

_AUNT CLARA'S PLAN._

Being seriously alarmed by the fear of losing the desire of his heart, Charlie had gone resolutely to work, and, like many another young reformer, he rather overdid the matter; for, in trying to keep out of the way of temptation, he denied himself much innocent enjoyment. The artistic fit was a good excuse for the seclusion which he fancied would be a proper penance; and he sat listlessly plying crayon or paint-brush, with daily wild rides on black Brutus, which seemed to do him good; for danger of that sort was his delight.

People were used to his whims, and made light of what they considered a new one; but, when it lasted week after week and all attempts to draw him out were vain, his jolly comrades gave him up, and the family began to say approvingly,--"Now he really _is_ going to settle down and do something." Fortunately, his mother let him alone; for though Dr. Alec had not "thundered in her ear," as he threatened, he _had_ talked with her in a way which first made her very angry, then anxious, and, lastly, quite submissive; for her heart was set on her boy's winning Rose, and she would have had him put on sackcloth and ashes if that would have secured the prize. She made light of the cause of Rose's displeasure, considering her extremely foolish and straitlaced; "for all young men of any spirit had their little vices, and came out well enough when the wild oats were sowed." So she indulged Charlie in his new vagary, as she had in all his others, and treated him like an ill-used being, which was neither an inspiring nor helpful course on her part. Poor soul! she saw her mistake by and by, and when too late repented of it bitterly.

Rose wanted to be kind, and tried in various ways to help her cousin, feeling very sure she should succeed as many another hopeful woman has done, quite unconscious how much stronger an undisciplined will is than the truest love; and what a difficult task the wisest find it to undo the mistakes of a bad education. But it was a hard thing to do: for, at the least hint of commendation or encouragement, he looked so hopeful that she was afraid of seeming to promise too much; and, of all things, she desired to escape the accusation of having trifled with him.

So life was not very comfortable to either just then; and, while Charlie was "mortifying soul and body" to please her, she was studying how to serve him best. Aunt Jessie helped her very much, and no one guessed, when they saw pretty Miss Campbell going up and down the hill with such a serious face, that she was intent on any thing except taking, with praiseworthy regularity, the const.i.tutionals which gave her such a charming color.

Matters were in this state, when one day a note came to Rose from Mrs.

Clara.

"MY SWEET CHILD,--Do take pity on my poor boy, and cheer him up with a sight of you; for he is so _triste_ it breaks my heart to see him. He has a new plan in his head, which strikes me as an excellent one, if you will only favor it.

Let him come and take you for a drive this fine afternoon, and talk things over. It will do him a world of good and deeply oblige

"Your ever loving

"AUNT CLARA."

Rose read the note twice, and stood a moment pondering, with her eyes absently fixed on the little bay before her window. The sight of several black figures moving briskly to and fro across its frozen surface seemed to suggest a mode of escape from the drive she dreaded in more ways than one. "That will be safer and pleasanter," she said, and going to her desk wrote her answer.

"DEAR AUNTY,--I'm afraid of Brutus; but, if Charlie will go skating with me, I should enjoy it very much, and it would do us both good. I can listen to the new plan with an undivided mind there; so give him my love, please, and say I shall expect him at three.

"Affectionately,

"ROSE."

Punctually at three, Charlie appeared with his skates over his arm, and a very contented face, which brightened wonderfully as Rose came downstairs in a seal-skin suit and scarlet skirt, so like the one she wore years ago that he involuntarily exclaimed as he took her skates,--

"You look so like little Rose I hardly know you; and it seems so like old times I feel sixteen again."

"That is just the way one ought to feel such a day as this. Now let us be off and have a good spin before any one comes. There are only a few children there now; but it is Sat.u.r.day, you know, and everybody will be out before long," answered Rose, carefully putting on her mittens as she talked: for her heart was not as light as the one little Rose carried under the brown jacket; and the boy of sixteen never looked at her with the love and longing she read in the eyes of the young man before her.

Away they went, and were soon almost as merry and warm as the children round them; for the ice was in good condition, the February sunshine brilliant, and the keen wind set their blood a-tingle with a healthful glow.

"Now tell me the plan your mother spoke of," began Rose, as they went gliding across the wide expanse before them; for Charlie seemed to have forgotten every thing but the bliss of having her all to himself for a little while.

"Plan? Oh, yes! it is simply this. I'm going out to father next month."

"Really?" and Rose looked both surprised and incredulous; for this plan was not a new one.

"Really. You don't believe it, but I am; and mother means to go with me. We've had another letter from the governor, and he says if she can't part from her big baby to come along too, and all be happy together. What do you think of that?" he asked, eying her intently; for they were face to face, as she went backward and he held both her hands to steer and steady her.

"I like it immensely, and I do believe it now: only it rather takes my breath away to think of aunty's going, when she never would hear of it before."

"She doesn't like the plan very well now, and consents to go only on one condition."

"What is that?" asked Rose, trying to free her hands; for a look at Charlie made her suspect what was coming.

"That you go with us;" and, holding the hands fast, he added rapidly, "Let me finish before you speak. I don't mean that any thing is to be changed till you are ready; but if _you_ go I'm willing to give up every thing else, and live anywhere as long as you like. Why shouldn't you come to us for a year or two? We've never had our share. Father would be delighted, mother contented, and I the happiest man alive."

"Who made this plan?" asked Rose, as soon as she got the breath which certainly _had_ been rather taken away by this entirely new and by no means agreeable scheme.

"Mother suggested it: I shouldn't have dared to even dream of such richness. I'd made up my mind to go alone; and when I told her she was in despair, till this superb idea came into her head. After that, of course it was easy enough for me to stick to the resolution I'd made."

"Why did _you_ decide to go, Charlie?" and Rose looked up into the eyes that were fixed beseechingly on hers.

They wavered and glanced aside; then met hers honestly, yet full of a humility which made her own fall as he answered very low,--

"Because I don't _dare_ to stay."