Across the YearsPorter, Eleanor H. (Eleanor Hodgman)
General
Across the Years
Porter, Eleanor H. (Eleanor Hodgman)
Fiction; Short stories
When no one was looking Grandpa Burton tried chair after chair, and
wondered why there was only one particular chair in the whole world that
just exactly "fitted;" and when the twilight hour came Grandma Burton
wondered what she would give to be able just to sit by the old cradle
and talk with the past.
* * * * *
The newspapers said it was a most marvelous escape for the whole family.
They gave a detailed account of how the beautiful residence of the
Honorable John Burton, with all its costly furnishings, had burned to
the ground, and of how the entire family was saved, making special
mention of the honorable gentleman's aged father and mother. No one was
injured, fortunately, and the family had taken up a temporary residence
in the nearest hotel. It was understood that Mr. Burton would begin
rebuilding at once.
The newspapers were right--Mr. Burton did begin rebuilding at once; in
fact, the ashes of the Burton mansion were not cold before John Burton
began to interview architects and contractors.
"It'll be 'way ahead of the old one," he confided to his wife
enthusiastically.
Mrs. John sighed.
"I know, dear," she began plaintively; "but, don't you see? it won't be
the same--it can't be. Why, some of those things we've had ever since we
were married. They seemed a part of me, John. I was used to them. I had
grown up with some of them--those candlesticks of mamma's, for instance,
that she had when I was a bit of a baby. Do you think money can buy
another pair that--that were _hers_?" And Mrs. John burst into
tears.
"Come, come, dear," protested her husband, with a hasty caress and a
nervous glance at the clock--he was due at the bank in ten minutes.
"Don't fret about what can't be helped; besides"-and he laughed
whimsically--"you must look out or you'll be getting as bad as mother
over her hair wreath!" And with another hasty pat on her shoulder he was
gone.
Mrs. John suddenly stopped her crying. She lowered her handkerchief and
stared fixedly at an old print on the wall opposite. The hotel--though
strictly modern in cuisine and management--was an old one, and prided
itself on the quaintness of its old-time furnishings. Just what the
print represented Mrs. John could not have told, though her eyes did not
swerve from its face for five long minutes. What she did see was a
silent, dismantled farmhouse, and a little old man and a little old
woman with drawn faces and dumb lips.
Was it possible? Had she, indeed, been so blind?
Mrs. John rose to her feet, bathed her eyes, straightened her neck-bow,
and crossed the hall to Grandma Burton's room.
"Well, mother, and how are you getting along?" she asked cheerily.
"Jest as nice as can be, daughter,--and ain't this room pretty?"
returned the little old woman eagerly. "Do you know, it seems kind of
natural like; mebbe it's because of that chair there. Seth says it's
almost like his at home."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account