Natures Serial Story | Page 8

dear. But come, or that incorrigible Burt will be
bursting upon us in his impatience, and the little mother must not be
kept waiting, either. You will soon learn to love her dearly. Weak and
gentle as she is, she rules us all."
"Mother's room" was, in truth, the favorite haunt of the house, and only
her need of quiet kept it from being full much of the time. There was
nothing bleak or repelling in the age it sheltered, and children and
grandchildren gathered about the old people almost as instinctively as
around their genial open fire. This momentous Christmas-eve found
them all there, a committee of reception awaiting the new inmate of
their home. There was an eager desire to know what Amy was like, but
it was a curiosity wholly devoid of the spirit of criticism. The
circumstances under which the orphan came to them would banish any

such tendency in people less kindly than the Cliffords; but their
home-life meant so much to them all that they were naturally solicitous
concerning one who must, from the intimate relations she would
sustain, take from or add much to it. Therefore it was with a flutter of
no ordinary expectancy that they waited for her appearance. The only
one indifferent was Leonard's youngest boy, who, astride his grandpa's
cane, was trotting quietly about, unrestricted in his gambols. Alfred had
thawed out since his return from the station, and was eager to take the
measure of a possible playmate; but, with the shyness of a boy who is
to meet a "strange girl," he sought a partial cover behind his
grandfather's chair. Little "Johnnie" was flitting about impatiently, with
her least mutilated doll upon her arm; while her uncle Burtis, seated on
a low stool by his mother's sofa, pretended to be exceedingly jealous,
and was deprecating the fact that he would now be no longer petted as
her baby, since the child of her adoption must assuredly take his place.
Webb, who, as usual, was somewhat apart from the family group, kept
up a poor pretence of reading; and genial Leonard stood with his back
to the fire, his hands clasped behind him, beaming upon all, and
waiting to shine on the new-comer. Only Mr. Clifford seemed
uninfluenced by the warm, bright present. He gazed fixedly into the
flickering blaze, and occasionally took off his spectacles to wipe away
the moisture that gathered in his eyes. His thoughts, evidently, were
busy with years long past, and were following that old, tried friend who
had committed to his hands so sacred a trust.
The door opened, and Mrs. Leonard led Amy forward. The latter
hesitated a moment, bewildered by the number of eyes turned toward
her, and the new relations into which she was entering. She proved that
she was not a child by her quick, blushing consciousness of the
presence of two young men, who were as yet utter strangers; and they,
in turn, involuntarily gave to the lender, brown-haired girl quite a
different welcome from the one they had expected to bestow upon a
child. Old Mr. Clifford did not permit her embarrassment to last a
moment, but, stepping hastily forward, and encircling her with his arm,
he led her to his wife, who brought tears into the eyes of the motherless
girl by the gentle warmth of her greeting. She monopolized her ward so
long that impatient Burtis began to expostulate, and ask when his turn

was coming. The young girl turned a shy, blushing face toward him,
and her cheeks, mantling under the full rays of the lamp, rendered the
exquisite purity of her complexion all the more apparent. He also began
to feel that he was flushing absurdly, but he carried it off with his usual
audacity.
"I am much embarrassed and perplexed," he said. "I was led to expect a
little sister that I could romp with, and pick up and kiss; but here is a
young lady that almost paralyzes me with awe."
"I'd like to see you paralyzed from any such cause just once," Leonard
remarked, laughingly. "Go kiss your sister, like a little man."
The young fellow seemed to relish the ceremony exceedingly, and
responsive mirthfulness gleamed for a moment in Amy's eyes. Then he
dragged Webb forward, saying, "Let me introduce to you the grave and
learned member of the family, to whom we all speak with bated breath.
You must not expect him to get acquainted with you in any ordinary
way. He will investigate you, and never rest until he has discovered all
the hidden laws of your being. Now, Webb, I will support you while
Amy kisses you, and then you may sit down and analyze your
sensations, and perhaps cipher out a method by which a kiss