"Ah, I'm glad he's as nice as that," said Mrs. Hawtry, "since he is to
be your co-trustee. However," she added a little wistfully, "I don't
like the idea of anybody dictating to us about the baby. It makes her
seem somehow not quite so much our very own. And we could have taken
care of her quite well without your mother's money and advice."
"Why, my dear," laughed her husband, "that's a novel attitude to adopt
toward a legacy. The baby is ours as much as she ever was. The advice is
as good as any I ever read. And the money will leave us all the more to
devote to Jimmie. There's the making of a good business man in Jimmie."
* * * * *
It was part of what Mrs. Hawtry for a long time considered the
interference of Cecelia Anne's grandmother that the child should have a
monthly allowance, small while she was small and growing with her
growth. She was to be allowed to spend it without supervision and to
keep an account of it. At the end of each year the trustees were to
examine these accounts and to judge from them the trend of their ward's
inclinations. They would be then in a position to curb or foster her
leanings as their judgment should dictate.
Now, Cecelia Anne, restored to her friends from a wonderland sort of
dream, called going--West--with--papa--on--the--train--and--living--
with--Aunt--Elizabeth, was too full of narration and too excited by the
envious regard of untraveled playmates to trouble overmuch about that
scene in the long drawing-room which she had never clearly understood.
The first monthly payment of her allowance failed to connect itself in
her mind with the journey. Her predominant emotion on the subject of
legacies was one of ardent gratitude to Jimmie. He had given her a
quarter out of the change they had received at the toyshop where they
had purchased the most beautiful sloop-yacht they had ever seen or
dreamed of. A quarter for her very own; Jimmie's generosity and
condescension extended even further than this. He also allowed her, the
day being warm, to carry the yacht for a considerable part of their
homeward journey, and, when the treasure was exhibited upon the topmost
of their own front steps, he allowed her twice to pull the sails up and
down. When he went to Central Park to sail the _Jennie H_, that being as
near the feminine form of Jimmie Hawtry as their learning carried them,
James, Junior, frequently allowed his sister to accompany him and his
envious fellows. Then it was her proud privilege to watch the _Jennie
H's_ wavering course and to rush around the margin of the lake ready to
"stand by" to receive her beloved bowsprit wherever she should dock.
Then all proudly would she set the rudder straight again and turn the
_Jennie H_ back to the landing-stage where Jimmie, surrounded by his
cohorts, all calm and cool in his magnificence, awaited this first
evidence of "the trend of Cecelia Anne's inclinations."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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