CHAPTER SIX
BETH FINDS THE PALACE BEAUTIFUL
The big house did prove a Palace Beautiful, though it took some time for
all to get in, and Beth found it very hard to pass the lions. Old Mr. Laurence
was the biggest one, but after he had called, said something funny or kind to
each one of the girls, and talked over old times with their mother, nobody
felt much afraid of him, except timid Beth. The other lion was the fact that
they were poor and Laurie rich, for this made them shy of accepting favors
which they could not return. But, after a while, they found that he
considered them the benefactors, and could not do enough to show how
grateful he was for Mrs. March’s motherly welcome, their cheerful society,
and the comfort he took in that humble home of theirs. So they soon forgot
their pride and interchanged kindnesses without stopping to think which
was the greater.
All sorts of pleasant things happened about that time, for the new
friendship flourished like grass in spring. Every one liked Laurie, and he
privately informed his tutor that “the Marches were regularly splendid
girls.” With the delightful enthusiasm of youth, they took the solitary boy
into their midst and made much of him, and he found something very
charming in the innocent companionship of these simple-hearted girls.
Never having known mother or sisters, he was quick to feel the influences
they brought about him, and their busy, lively ways made him ashamed of
the indolent life he led. He was tired of books, and found people so
interesting now that Mr. Brooke was obliged to make very unsatisfactory
reports, for Laurie was always playing truant and running over to the
Marches’.
“Never mind, let him take a holiday, and make it up afterward,” said the
old gentleman. “The good lady next door says he is studying too hard and
needs young society, amusement, and exercise. I suspect she is right, and
that I’ve been coddling the fellow as if I’d been his grandmother. Let him
do what he likes, as long as he is happy. He can’t get into mischief in that
little nunnery over there, and Mrs. March is doing more for him than we
can.”
What good times they had, to be sure. Such plays and tableaux, such
sleigh rides and skating frolics, such pleasant evenings in the old parlor, and
now and then such gay little parties at the great house. Meg could walk in
the conservatory whenever she liked and revel in bouquets, Jo browsed over
the new library voraciously, and convulsed the old gentleman with her
criticisms, Amy copied pictures and enjoyed beauty to her heart’s content,
and Laurie played ‘lord of the manor’ in the most delightful style.
But Beth, though yearning for the grand piano, could not pluck up
courage to go to the ‘Mansion of Bliss’, as Meg called it. She went once
with Jo, but the old gentleman, not being aware of her infirmity, stared at
her so hard from under his heavy eyebrows, and said “Hey!” so loud, that
he frightened her so much her ‘feet chattered on the floor’, she never told
her mother, and she ran away, declaring she would never go there any more,
not even for the dear piano. No persuasions or enticements could overcome
her fear, till, the fact coming to Mr. Laurence’s ear in some mysterious way,
he set about mending matters. During one of the brief calls he made, he
artfully led the conversation to music, and talked away about great singers
whom he had seen, fine organs he had heard, and told such charming
anecdotes that Beth found it impossible to stay in her distant corner, but
crept nearer and nearer, as if fascinated. At the back of his chair she stopped
and stood listening, with her great eyes wide open and her cheeks red with
excitement of this unusual performance. Taking no more notice of her than
if she had been a fly, Mr. Laurence talked on about Laurie’s lessons and
teachers. And presently, as if the idea had just occurred to him, he said to
Mrs. March…
“The boy neglects his music now, and I’m glad of it, for he was getting
too fond of it. But the piano suffers for want of use. Wouldn’t some of your
girls like to run over, and practice on it now and then, just to keep it in tune,
you know, ma’am?”
Beth took a step forward, and pressed her hands tightly together to keep
from clapping them, for this was an irresistible temptation, and the thought
of practicing on that splendid instrument quite took her breath away. Before
Mrs. March could reply, Mr. Laurence went on with an odd little nod and
smile…
“They needn’t see or speak to anyone, but run in at any time. For I’m
shut up in my study at the other end of the house, Laurie is out a great deal,
and the servants are never near the drawing room after nine o’clock.”
Here he rose, as if going, and Beth made up her mind to speak, for that
last arrangement left nothing to be desired. “Please, tell the young ladies
what I say, and if they don’t care to come, why, never mind.” Here a little
hand slipped into his, and Beth looked up at him with a face full of
gratitude, as she said, in her earnest yet timid way…
“Oh sir, they do care, very very much!”
“Are you the musical girl?” he asked, without any startling “Hey!” as he
looked down at her very kindly.
“I’m Beth. I love it dearly, and I’ll come, if you are quite sure nobody
will hear me, and be disturbed,” she added, fearing to be rude, and
trembling at her own boldness as she spoke.
“Not a soul, my dear. The house is empty half the day, so come and drum
away as much as you like, and I shall be obliged to you.”
“How kind you are, sir!”
Beth blushed like a rose under the friendly look he wore, but she was not
frightened now, and gave the hand a grateful squeeze because she had no
words to thank him for the precious gift he had given her. The old
gentleman softly stroked the hair off her forehead, and, stooping down, he
kissed her, saying, in a tone few people ever heard…
“I had a little girl once, with eyes like these. God bless you, my dear!
Good day, madam.” And away he went, in a great hurry.
Beth had a rapture with her mother, and then rushed up to impart the
glorious news to her family of invalids, as the girls were not home. How
blithely she sang that evening, and how they all laughed at her because she
woke Amy in the night by playing the piano on her face in her sleep. Next
day, having seen both the old and young gentleman out of the house, Beth,
after two or three retreats, fairly got in at the side door, and made her way
as noiselessly as any mouse to the drawing room where her idol stood.
Quite by accident, of course, some pretty, easy music lay on the piano, and
with trembling fingers and frequent stops to listen and look about, Beth at
last touched the great instrument, and straightway forgot her fear, herself,
and everything else but the unspeakable delight which the music gave her,
for it was like the voice of a beloved friend.
She stayed till Hannah came to take her home to dinner, but she had no
appetite, and could only sit and smile upon everyone in a general state of
beatitude.
After that, the little brown hood slipped through the hedge nearly every
day, and the great drawing room was haunted by a tuneful spirit that came
and went unseen. She never knew that Mr. Laurence opened his study door
to hear the old-fashioned airs he liked. She never saw Laurie mount guard
in the hall to warn the servants away. She never suspected that the exercise
books and new songs which she found in the rack were put there for her
especial benefit, and when he talked to her about music at home, she only
thought how kind he was to tell things that helped her so much. So she
enjoyed herself heartily, and found, what isn’t always the case, that her
granted wish was all she had hoped. Perhaps it was because she was so
grateful for this blessing that a greater was given her. At any rate she
deserved both.
“Mother, I’m going to work Mr. Laurence a pair of slippers. He is so kind
to me, I must thank him, and I don’t know any other way. Can I do it?”
asked Beth, a few weeks after that eventful call of his.
“Yes, dear. It will please him very much, and be a nice way of thanking
him. The girls will help you about them, and I will pay for the making up,”
replied Mrs. March, who took peculiar pleasure in granting Beth’s requests
because she so seldom asked anything for herself.
After many serious discussions with Meg and Jo, the pattern was chosen,
the materials bought, and the slippers begun. A cluster of grave yet cheerful
pansies on a deeper purple ground was pronounced very appropriate and
pretty, and Beth worked away early and late, with occasional lifts over hard
parts. She was a nimble little needlewoman, and they were finished before
anyone got tired of them. Then she wrote a short, simple note, and with
Laurie’s help, got them smuggled onto the study table one morning before
the old gentleman was up.
When this excitement was over, Beth waited to see what would happen.
All day passed and a part of the next before any acknowledgement arrived,
and she was beginning to fear she had offended her crochety friend. On the
afternoon of the second day, she went out to do an errand, and give poor
Joanna, the invalid doll, her daily exercise. As she came up the street, on
her return, she saw three, yes, four heads popping in and out of the parlor
windows, and the moment they saw her, several hands were waved, and
several joyful voices screamed…
“Here’s a letter from the old gentleman! Come quick, and read it!”
“Oh, Beth, he’s sent you…” began Amy, gesticulating with unseemly
energy, but she got no further, for Jo quenched her by slamming down the
window.
Beth hurried on in a flutter of suspense. At the door her sisters seized and
bore her to the parlor in a triumphal procession, all pointing and all saying
at once, “Look there! Look there!” Beth did look, and turned pale with
delight and surprise, for there stood a little cabinet piano, with a letter lying
on the glossy lid, directed like a sign board to “Miss Elizabeth March.”
“For me?” gasped Beth, holding onto Jo and feeling as if she should
tumble down, it was such an overwhelming thing altogether.
“Yes, all for you, my precious! Isn’t it splendid of him? Don’t you think
he’s the dearest old man in the world? Here’s the key in the letter. We didn’t
open it, but we are dying to know what he says,” cried Jo, hugging her
sister and offering the note.
“You read it! I can’t, I feel so queer! Oh, it is too lovely!” and Beth hid
her face in Jo’s apron, quite upset by her present.
Jo opened the paper and began to laugh, for the first words she saw
were…
“Miss March: “Dear Madam—”
“How nice it sounds! I wish someone would write to me so!” said Amy,
who thought the old-fashioned address very elegant.
“‘I have had many pairs of slippers in my life, but I never had any that
suited me so well as yours,’” continues Jo. “‘Heart’s-ease is my favorite
flower, and these will always remind me of the gentle giver. I like to pay my
debts, so I know you will allow ‘the old gentleman’ to send you something
which once belonged to the little grand daughter he lost. With hearty thanks
and best wishes, I remain “‘Your grateful friend and humble servant,
‘JAMES LAURENCE’.”
“There, Beth, that’s an honor to be proud of, I’m sure! Laurie told me
how fond Mr. Laurence used to be of the child who died, and how he kept
all her little things carefully. Just think, he’s given you her piano. That
comes of having big blue eyes and loving music,” said Jo, trying to soothe
Beth, who trembled and looked more excited than she had ever been before.
“See the cunning brackets to hold candles, and the nice green silk,
puckered up, with a gold rose in the middle, and the pretty rack and stool,
all complete,” added Meg, opening the instrument and displaying its
beauties.
“‘Your humble servant, James Laurence’. Only think of his writing that
to you. I’ll tell the girls. They’ll think it’s splendid,” said Amy, much
impressed by the note.
“Try it, honey. Let’s hear the sound of the baby pianny,” said Hannah,
who always took a share in the family joys and sorrows.
So Beth tried it, and everyone pronounced it the most remarkable piano
ever heard. It had evidently been newly tuned and put in apple-pie order,
but, perfect as it was, I think the real charm lay in the happiest of all happy
faces which leaned over it, as Beth lovingly touched the beautiful black and
white keys and pressed the bright pedals.
“You’ll have to go and thank him,” said Jo, by way of a joke, for the idea
of the child’s really going never entered her head.
“Yes, I mean to. I guess I’ll go now, before I get frightened thinking
about it.” And, to the utter amazement of the assembled family, Beth
walked deliberately down the garden, through the hedge, and in at the
Laurences’ door.
“Well, I wish I may die if it ain’t the queerest thing I ever see! The
pianny has turned her head! She’d never have gone in her right mind,” cried
Hannah, staring after her, while the girls were rendered quite speechless by
the miracle.
They would have been still more amazed if they had seen what Beth did
afterward. If you will believe me, she went and knocked at the study door
before she gave herself time to think, and when a gruff voice called out,
“come in!” she did go in, right up to Mr. Laurence, who looked quite taken
aback, and held out her hand, saying, with only a small quaver in her voice,
“I came to thank you, sir, for…” But she didn’t finish, for he looked so
friendly that she forgot her speech and, only remembering that he had lost
the little girl he loved, she put both arms round his neck and kissed him.
If the roof of the house had suddenly flown off, the old gentleman
wouldn’t have been more astonished. But he liked it. Oh, dear, yes, he liked
it amazingly! And was so touched and pleased by that confiding little kiss
that all his crustiness vanished, and he just set her on his knee, and laid his
wrinkled cheek against her rosy one, feeling as if he had got his own little
granddaughter back again. Beth ceased to fear him from that moment, and
sat there talking to him as cozily as if she had known him all her life, for
love casts out fear, and gratitude can conquer pride. When she went home,
he walked with her to her own gate, shook hands cordially, and touched his
hat as he marched back again, looking very stately and erect, like a
handsome, soldierly old gentleman, as he was.
When the girls saw that performance, Jo began to dance a jig, by way of
expressing her satisfaction, Amy nearly fell out of the window in her
surprise, and Meg exclaimed, with up-lifted hands, “Well, I do believe the
world is coming to an end.”
