American fiction -- 19th century; Dime novels; Man-woman relationships -- Fiction; Upper class -- Fiction
“Come, father,” Mrs. Lydia called, in a loud, shrill voice, “here’s
Reinette, your niece. Reinette, this is your Uncle Tom, who is said to
look enough like your mother to have been her twin.”
His face was pleasant, and his manner was kindly, as he shook hands with
Reinette, and said he was glad to see her, and told her that she favored
the Hethertons more than the Fergusons, but Reinette saw that he
belonged to an entirely different world from her own, and when they were
going over the house at the Knoll, she said to Phil that she felt as if
she were backsliding awfully.
“Isn’t there a couplet,” she asked, “which runs thus:
“‘The de’il when sick a saint would be,
But when he got well, the de’il a saint was he.’
“Now I am just like that. Over at grandmother’s I felt as if I never
could be bad again; and I never will to grandmother. I shall make her
caps and fix her dresses, and coax her not to wear purple gloves, or
call me Rennet. But O, Phil, shall I be so wicked that I can never go to
Heaven if I don’t rave over those other people? They are so different
from anything I ever saw before. Now, _this_ suits me; this is more like
Chateau des Fleurs,” she said, as she followed Phil through the house
until they came to his room, where, on the table, he found a telegram
from his father, which was as follows:
“Come to us at once as I must go to Boston on business, and your
mother needs you.
“PAUL ROSSITER.”
He read it aloud to Reinette, who exclaimed:
“I am so sorry, for now I shall be alone, and I meant to have you with
me every day.”
Phil was sorry, too, for the dark-eyed French girl had made sad havoc
with his heart during the few hours he had known her. But there was no
help for it; he must go to his mother, and the next morning, when the
Springfield train, bound for Boston, left Merrivale, Phil was in it on
his way to Martha’s Vineyard.
CHAPTER XV.
DOWN BY THE SEA.
Mrs. Rossiter occupied the handsomest rooms at the Sea View House, and
on the morning of Phil’s arrival she lay on her couch by the open
window, occasionally looking out upon the water, but mostly with her
eyes fixed fondly upon her handsome boy, who sat by her side, fanning
himself with his soft hat, and answering the numerous questions of his
sisters, concerning Reinette, their new cousin, whose existence had
taken them so by surprise. How did she look? What was she like? What did
she wear? What did she say, and who was to live with her in that great
lonely house?
“Don’t hurry a chap so!” said Phil. “There’s a lot to tell, and I’d
better begin at the beginning.”
So he described first the arrival at the station, where grandma and Aunt
Lydia were waiting in their weeds, and Anna was gorgeous in her white
muslin and long lace scarf, while he flourished with a dirty face and
torn, soiled pants.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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