Yours,
Brand
Mr. Sutherland got well quickly after that. Every morning saw marked improvement.
“It’s my new sons-in-law,” he said when the girls told him how well he looked, and his wife, standing in the doorway seconding the congratulations, smiled complacently. After all, she reflected, it wasn’t every day you could get two such good-looking young men for your daughters when you were in a depression and your money was all gone.
After that, things moved rapidly. Men came to see Mr. Sutherland from the office, and he learned the worst, including the tragic death of his partner. That set him back a little but not for long. He was eager to get things wound up and adjusted. The attitude of both girls about their money, and also of the two young men who were to marry them, materially assisted in the final adjustments.
Gloria’s house was snapped up by a young couple who were soon to marry, and it brought a good sum. There were several bids for the big mansion, for there were a few who had envied afar and still had money to spend.
The packing was not a lengthy matter. Mrs. Sutherland was at last made to understand that a house and its furnishings meant a house and its furnishings and not just a few old things left behind that one didn’t care to take along. Only her own personal belongings she was to take. And she took the medicine bravely, even surrendering most of her jewels, keeping only those her husband had bought her when he first began to have money, which touched him very much when he discovered it.
“What made her do it?” he asked Vanna wonderingly when they were discussing it. “She didn’t have to, you know. They were hers.”
“Well, I think she’s trying to go the whole length,” said Vanna. “She wants everything to be in keeping. She was mourning because Glory and I wouldn’t have a lot of jewels as she had, and I told her that it would not be good taste up in the country to wear jewels, and I think she saw. She always wants to be in harmony with her surroundings.”
“If you ask me,” said Gloria, having come in without their seeing her, “I think Mother is falling in love with Dad all over again, and I think she wants to please him. She says the money from her jewels and laces is to live on up in the country.”
For answer, the father smiled a slow, sweet smile, and a light came in his eyes that reminded the girls of the lights in their own men’s eyes.
A few days later, in the middle of the confusion of packing, Mrs. Sutherland paused as her daughters entered the room, radiant as they always were nowadays.
“It’s such a pity,” she said, “if you two girls are really going to get married, that you can’t do it before we leave this lovely house. It is so adapted to a wedding, and a double wedding especially. It would be something to remember. We could have movies taken of it, and there’s the lily pond and the outdoor garden—it would be so lovely!”
“But, Mother, we couldn’t afford to have movies taken, and we haven’t any money for a wedding such as there would have to be in this house. You know that!”
“Of course! I forgot!” sighed the parent tearfully. “But I don’t see how you’re going to get together a trousseau up there in the country. You’d have to keep running down to New York continually, and that would be expensive. The wedding dress and all. Of course Gloria wouldn’t want to use the same wedding dress even if I hadn’t sold it.”
“But, Mother, we’re not going to have a trousseau,” said Vanna quickly, with a troubled glance toward her sister, “and we aren’t going to buy any wedding dresses. We couldn’t; we haven’t the money!”
“But Vanna! You have to have a wedding dress! What would you be married in?”
“We both have white organdies,” said Vanna, “that we haven’t had on yet. And Gloria is going to wear Great-Grandmother Sutherland’s wedding veil for hers. I’m counting on borrowing yours for myself!” Vanna grinned.
“Of course. But white organdy?”
“It’s being done,” said Vanna briskly.
“But where would we get a caterer?” wailed the poor woman as her last trouble.
“Why, they don’t use caterers up in the country.” It was Vanna again, talking eagerly. “Mother, we’re having only a few friends, and we’re making our own refreshments, Glory and I. Homemade ice cream, coffee, darling little rolled sandwiches with chicken filling, and little frosted cakes. Anyway, we’re not going to be married until next spring; we arranged that the last time the boys were here. We want to get you settled and feeling at home in the ancestral house before we fly away, even though it’s only down the street and across the road at first. But we’re going to have a long winter to learn how to cook and run our houses. We’re going to practice on you and Dad. And at Christmas we’re going to have the most gorgeous time! Now, Mother, do smile! Father is just coming up to the house, and he mustn’t see you look gloomy!”
The mother drew a long breath and managed a weary smile in one corner of her mouth.
“It’s Gloria I feel so for,” she sighed, “leaving that wonderful house. It’s really a miniature mansion, and built just as she had planned. And you too, Vanna, this mansion that Father and I had hoped would always be in the family!”
“I don’t mind a bit, Mother,” lilted Gloria, “I like a farmhouse just as well. Wait till you see Father’s house in Afton. And besides, you know, I’m having another mansion built for me that I’ll live in sometime!”
“What do you mean, Gloria, is Murray planning to build?”
“Not Murray, Mother, we’ll live in apartments when we’re in New York and across the road when we’re up in Afton. I’m speaking of my Father’s house! Our Father’s house!” and she quoted reverently:
“In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you! And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”
GRACE LIVINGSTON HILL (1865–1947) is known as the pioneer of Christian romance. Grace wrote over one hundred faith-inspired books during her lifetime. When her first husband died, leaving her with two daughters to raise, writing became a way to make a living, but she always recognized storytelling as a way to share her faith in God. She has touched countless lives through the years and continues to touch lives today. Her books feature moving stories, delightful characters, and love in its purest form.
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