The Story of Glass | Page 6

go I must, and I have no mind to leave
you behind."
"To Italy? To real Italy, Uncle Bob? Do you mean it?"
"I surely do, dear child. Behold me, solemn as an owl. Ah, now you
begin to listen. It would serve you right if I should refuse to take such
an ungrateful lady. What say you? Should you like to go?"
"Like it! I'd love it! I've never been on an ocean trip in all my life."
"You may not care to go on another after you've been on this one,"
chuckled Uncle Bob. "However, the fact remains that we are going. I
have charge of decorating a very beautiful house in the suburbs and I
am going over to Florence to order some marble stairways and
fireplaces. That is my excuse. Incidentally we can make a pleasant trip
out of it and see many places besides Italy."
"Could we go to Venice?" burst out Jean. "Venice is in Italy, isn't it? I'd
like of all places to see Venice with its water streets and its gondolas."
"Yes, honey, you certainly shall see Venice and ride in all the gondolas

you like."
"Splendid!" cried Jean, clapping her hands. "When can we start? Let's
go right away," and springing up from the couch she whirled toward
the door.
"Slowly, slowly!" protested Uncle Bob. "Come back here to me a
moment, you flyaway. Many things must be decided before we sail for
Italy. In the first place there is Hannah; what shall we do with her?"
"Oh, Hannah must come along with us," Jean answered. "She'll have to.
We never could think of going to Europe and leaving good old Hannah,
who is so kind to both of us, now could we? Besides, she has to fix my
hair every morning, and mend my clothes. I'd be coming to pieces all
over Europe if Hannah didn't go."
"Well, then, that settles it. Hannah goes. I never could consent to escort
a young lady who might drop to pieces at any moment and strew her
belongings all along the route from Italy to Scotland. Now about Esther,
the waitress. She wants to go West and visit her brother; this will be
just the chance. Suppose we tie a long string to her and let her go. Then
we come to Beacon."
"Beacon would go with us, of course," Jean replied quickly. "You may
be sure I'd never leave Beacon at home. I'd rather not go myself."
"But, girlie, we couldn't very well----"
"Why, Uncle Bob! You don't mean to say you thought of leaving
Beacon! If you did I simply sha'n't go. That's all there is about it. I shall
never, never be parted from Beacon--never!"
"Listen, dear. Beacon wouldn't enjoy going. We could not get for him
the food to which he is accustomed, nor would they admit him to the
picture galleries which we shall visit. I doubt if he would even care for
the gondolas."
"No, I'm sure he would not like the gondolas," admitted Jean smiling

faintly, "because Hannah and I tried him on the swan-boats in the
Public Garden and he hated them; he just barked and snarled all the
time, and wriggled about so in my arms that he nearly went overboard
and carried me with him."
"That's just it! That is precisely the way he would feel on shipboard.
Now my plan is this. We'll send him out to Pittsburgh for Uncle Tom to
take care of until you get back. Then when you go out there in October
your doggie will be nicely settled in his other home and waiting for you.
In fact," confessed Uncle Bob a little sheepishly, "I wrote Uncle Tom
and asked how he would feel about adding a puppy to his household.
This is his answer:
"'European plan excellent. Send Beacon. Next best thing to Jean.'"
"Dear Uncle Tom! He is awfully good, isn't he?"
"Yes, he is. I fancy he will decide so, too, when he finds all his sofa
cushions torn, and his shoes chewed up," chuckled Uncle Bob. "Let
him take his turn at it."
Beacon provided for, the remainder of the European plan seemed
simple enough. To be sure there was Hannah, who at first flatly refused
to be separated from the golden dome of the State House or from the
Boston "Evening Transcript." At last, however, after much persuasion
she consented to suffer these deprivations for the common good, and
brought herself to purchasing the necessary clothing for Jean and
herself. To these she added French, German and Italian dictionaries
because, as she explained: "We might get lost or parted from your
Uncle Bob somehow, and you never can tell what will happen in those
heathen countries where the poor people cannot speak English. How