CHAPTER VIII.
MAMMA AND "LITTLE ME."
"O, dear!" thought Dotty, as she lay through the long afternoon, wakefuland feverish, "I should think there was a drum inside o' my head, andsomebody was pounding on it,--tummy, tum, tum."
Grandma had said it was best to leave her alone, in the hope that shemight fall asleep. But the sleep would not come, though dreams did, oneafter another, like pictures in a panorama.
When she shut her eyes, she could see a little red boat rocking on thewater like a cradle; then a great wave would dash against it, and turnit over, with all its passengers. The screaming sea-gulls seemed to belooking far down into the water in search of the sinking children; butthe children could not look up to see the gulls, for their eyes wereclosed, and they were "drowned in the depths of the sea."
Dotty tried to shut out these horrid pictures. If her dear mamma wereonly here to talk to her, and lay a cool hand on her head--that mammashe had just disobeyed! Then Dotty repeated some verses she had learnedlong ago:--
"At night my mamma comes up stairs,-- She comes to hear me say my prayers; And while I'm kneeling on her knee, She always kisses little me."
When it came to the last line the poor child buried her face in thepillow. Papa was good, and grandma was good; but there was no one likeanybody's own mamma, after all.
"'She always kisses little me,'" murmured Dotty. "'She _always_ kisseslittle me.' She gives me twenty kisses when I go to bed, 'cept when I'mnaughty, and then I don't have but ten."
Dotty counted the number of knobs on the bureau drawers, and then wenton:--
"I think if I was in my mamma's place, and had _me_ to take care of, I'dthrow me out of the window; I wouldn't keep such a girl!"
Dotty had great satisfaction in scolding herself when she was all alone.It was a way she had of "doing her own punishing."
Presently, while engaged in the soothing business of calling herselfnames, she dropped off to sleep. She dreamed of red wherries and "whitewaves;" but never once dreamed that her mother had come, and wasbending over the bed, actually "kissing little me."
"Poor thing," said Mrs. Parlin to herself, "if she doesn't have asettled fever I shall be thankful. Will the time ever come when mylittle daughter will learn to obey her mother?"
Mrs. Parlin stole out of the room very softly; but a sly little rogue,observing that she left the creaking door a little ajar, watched anopportunity, and stole in on her "tipsy toes." It was "wee Katie." Mrs.Parlin had brought her home, to keep her out of the way of Mrs.Clifford, who was still quite ill.
The first thing which roused Dotty to consciousness was a feeling ofsuffocation. O, was she in the bay? Was she drowning? Something lay veryclose over her mouth; but it was not water: in fact it was a pillow;and on the pillow sat little Katie with her whole weight. But being avery restless child, it is not likely she would have remained in thatposition long enough to strangle her cousin, even if Dotty had notthrown up her arms and released herself suddenly.
"Why, Katie Clifford, is that you?"
"Yes, this is me!" replied Katie, with a voice as sweet as a wind-harp."You didn't know _I_ was comin'. You turned your face away: you wouldn'tlook to me!"
"I s'pose I was asleep, Katie. You didn't mean to sit down on my head,_did_ you, darling?"
"Yes, I did meant to. But you is sick. Folks mus'n't talk."
"No," replied Dotty, smiling, "when folks are sick they mustn't talk."
"Well," said Katie, putting her finger on her lip, "_they is_!"
"O, Katie!" cried Dotty, a new idea seizing her, "where's mother? Didshe come with you?"
Katie shook her head.
"My dee mamma velly sick."
"Yes, I know; but where's _my_ mamma? Did she come with you in thecars?"
Katie shook her head again.
"Who did come with you, then? You didn't come alone?"
"No, there was folks."
By this time Dotty had sprung out of bed, and was rushing out of theroom to learn whether her mother had come. Mrs. Parlin met her at thedoor.
"My darling child," said she, hugging and kissing her just as tenderlyas if she had never been "wherrying." "You'd better lie down again, andlet me bathe your head."
Dotty sprang into bed instantly. She was glad her mother had asked herto do something, so she might prove her desire to obey. She liked thetouch of those cool fingers on her forehead.
"O, mamma," said she, "you do make me feel better. It felt a while agoas if they were beating drums in there."
"Is your neck stiff, dear?"
Katie thrust her little prying fingers under Dotty's chin, tickling her,of course.
"No, auntie," said she, "'tisn't any stiff, her neck isn't."
"But it's sore, mother. Not so sore, though, as it was when Jennie Vaneeand I got caught in the thunder and lightning."
After she had said this, Dotty blushed, for the words recalled to hermind another act of disobedience. No wonder she had thought herselfsuch a naughty girl, fit only to be thrown out of the window!
"What sort of a child has Dotty been since I have been gone?" asked Mrs.Parlin of Mrs. Eastman, as they both sat by the bedside.
Mrs. Eastman stroked the sheet with her white, jewelled hand before shereplied. She was thinking how the little girl had turned the houseupside down, and, as she believed, made Johnny more mischievous thanever; so she hesitated a moment.
"A tolerably good child."
This was all Mrs. Eastman could say; and it was as much as Mrs. Parlinhad dared hope. She knew how Johnny and Dotty encouraged each other inrude behavior. She looked at her beautiful little daughter with pain,and wondered, as she had many times wondered before, if these bitterexperiences she was suffering would ever have the effect to make her abetter child.
Dotty did not understand the tender, regretful glance of her mother'seyes. She was not as yet very well acquainted with the English language,and did not know what "tolerably" meant; she supposed it meant"remarkably."
"It's so queer," she thought, "that auntie should tell my mamma I'vebeen tol'ably good! Why, I haven't, I know I haven't: I've been tol'ablybad!"
She looked up at her auntie in surprise, and at that moment thereentered into her small mind a doubt of Mrs. Eastman's truthfulness. Itwas a very faint doubt, which she did not express even to herself. Itwas almost incredible that a grown-up lady should tell the "thing whichis not," or even color the truth by so much as the shadow of a shade.Still, when auntie had called Dotty a tol'ably good girl, she must haveknown it was a mistake!
Dotty did not have a fever; but for several days she was not at allwell, and spent most of the time in her grandmamma's room, on thelounge. It would have been a good opportunity for reflection, if Katiehad not been in the house. As it was, Dotty did think of her own conductfor several minutes at a time, during the intervals when Katie was notdancing attendance upon her. She decided never to disobey her motheragain, and said so. This, you remember, was nothing new; she had madethe same resolve fifty times before, and broken it as often.
Johnny, her little companion in naughtiness, escaped without so much asa sore throat; but he suffered in another way. His father, learning ofhis exploit upon the water, and being greatly incensed, punished himseverely. It was not often that Johnny was corrected, and this time hewas very indignant. He reflected that if it had not been for DottyDimple his sin would not have been found out. Dotty had ceased to be a"brick;" she was a tell-tale--a hateful, mean tell-tale; and he wishedshe would go home and stay there.
"I'll pay her for this business," said Johnny, talking to his boots.
Just how he was going to "pay" his little cousin he did not know. As forbeing sorry for his disobedience, I doubt if Johnny thought of such athing. He knew he had been in much peril, and now, while the remembranceof the fright was still fresh in his mind, he was not likely to fallinto the same temptation again--that was all.
Johnny missed his little lively cousin in his out-of-door sports; but hewas
so angry with her that he scarcely ever went up stairs to see her;and when he did go, amused himself by putting his mouth down to her ear,and crying,--
"E, for shame, Dot Parlin! Fore I'd run and tell!"
But Dotty did not know that her cousin Johnny was harboring such bitterthoughts against her. She had a high temper herself; but anger did notrankle in her heart for days and days, as it did in Johnny's. She wasnot eager, like him, for revenge.
The Parlins were now making ready to go into their new hired house.
They were all longing for a place they could call "home."
During the few days, while they yet remained at Mrs. Eastman's, very fewevents occurred which are worth recording. For one thing, Dotty's birddied. She had loved it for its helplessness; but Angeline said,--
"You needn't be sorry. What did I tell you when you took that bird intothe window? I knew something would happen; but didn't know as it wouldbe a boat-wreck exactly."
Dotty, and even Prudy, had received some very foolish ideas fromAngeline. The Portland fire had affected the Parlin family in more waysthan one; and it would be long before the three little girls wouldsettle into their usual quiet habits again.