CHAPTER V.
PRUDY'S TROUBLE.
The happy days flew by. The Old Year was worn out, and the New Yearstepped in fresh and youthful. Susy found her little sleigh a verycomfortable affair; and so, I think, did "lame Jessie." When her fatherfound that Susy had really chosen for her pony the name of Wings, heordered a beautiful picture of the Flying Horse to be painted on thedashboard of the sleigh.
Susy was delighted with this, and her vivid fancy took wings at once,and flew away to the other end of the world, where her aunt Madge toldher the fountain of Pirene was said to gush out of a hill-side.
"Only think," said she to Flossy; "it was a woman once, that fountainwas; but she poured her life all out into tears, crying because her sonwas killed. So the fountain is made of tears!"
"Bitter and salt, then," said Florence, threading her needle.
"No, indeed; just as sweet and nice as any water. Pegasus loved it; andthere was a beautiful young man, his name was Bel--Bel--well, I declare,I've forgotten,--no, 'twas Bellerophon; and he had a bridle, and wanteda horse. O, do you know this horse was white, with silvery wings, wildas a hawk; and, once in a while, he would fold up his wings, and trotround on the mountain!"
Florence yawned, and waxed her thread.
"O, it was a splendid bridle, this man had, made of gold; and Iforgot--the mountain the horse trotted round on was called Helicon. Andthe man mounted him, and went up, up, till they were nothing but specksin the sky."
"A likely story," said Florence; "there, you've told enough! I don'twant to hear any more such nonsense."
"Well, if you don't want to hear about the monster they killed, youneedn't; that's all I can say; but the young man loved that horse; andhe kissed him, too, he was so splendid!"
"Kiss a horse!" Flossy looked very, much disgusted.
"Why, I've kissed my pony a great many times," said Susy, bravely,"right between his eyes; and he almost kisses me. He wants to say, 'Ilove you.' I can see it in his eyes."
By this time Flossy had finished her doll's garment, and, putting it onthe little thing's shoulders, held up the doll to be admired.
"I think her opera cloak is very 'bewitching,' don't you, Susy? It istrimmed with ermine, because she is a queen, and is going to the opera."
"It looks well enough," said Susy, indifferently, "but it isn't ermine;it's only white cat's fur, with black spots sewed on,"
"Of course it isn't real ermine!" replied Florence; "but I play that itis, and it's just as well."
"But you know all the while it's a make-believe. She hasn't any moresense than a stick of wood, either; and I don't see any sport in playingwith dolls."
"And I don't see any sense in fairy stories," retorted Flossy. "Do youknow what Percy says about you? He says your head is as full of airynotions as a dandelion top. I love Queen Mab as if she was my ownsister," continued Flossy, in a pettish tone. "You know I do, Susy. Ialways thought, if anything should happen to Queen Mab, and I lost her,I should certainly dress in mourning; now you needn't laugh."
"O, I can't help laughing, when anybody makes such a fuss over a doll,"replied Susy, with a curl of the lip. "Anything that isn't alive, andhasn't any sense, and don't care for you! I like canary birds, andbabies, and ponies, and that's enough to like."
"Well, now, that's so funny!" said Florence, twitching the folds ofQueen Mab's dress into place; "for the very reason I like my doll, isbecause she _isn't_ alive. I wouldn't have been you, Susy Parlin, whenyou had your last canary bird, and let him choke to death."
"O, no, Flossy, I didn't let him choke: I forgot to put any seed in thebottle, and he stuck his head in so deep, that he smothered to death."
"I don't know but smothering is as bad as choking," said Florence; "andnow your new bird will be sure to come to some bad end."
"You're always saying hateful things," exclaimed Susy, a good dealvexed. "I like Grace Clifford ten times as well, for she's a great dealmore lady-like."
"Well, I suppose I can go home," said Florence, with a rising color;"you're such a perfect lady that I can't get along with you."
"O, dear," thought poor Susy, "what does ail my tongue? Here this verymorning I said in my prayer, that I meant to be good and patient."
Florence began to put on her cloak.
"Cousin Flossy," said Susy, in a hesitating voice, "I wish you wouldn'tgo. I didn't mean to tell that I liked Gracie best; but it's the realhonest truth, and if I should take it back, 'twould be a lie."
This was not making matters much better. Florence put on her hood, andtied it with a twitch.
"But I like _you_ ever so much, Flossy; now, you know I do. You'rehateful sometimes; but so am I; and I can't tell which is thehatefulest."
Here Flossy, who was as fickle as the wind, laughed merrily, took offher hood and cloak, and danced about the room in high spirits.
"Yes," said she, "I'll stay just on purpose to plague you!"
But good humor had been restored on both sides, and the little girlswere soon talking together, as freely as if nothing had happened.
"Just come out in the kitchen," said Susy, "and you shall see me wash mybird."
"Why, I thought birds washed themselves," replied Florence, followingher cousin with some surprise.
"They do, but Dandy won't; it's all in the world I have against Dandy;he isn't a cold-water bird."
Grandma Read stood by the kitchen table, clear-starching one of hercaps--a piece of work which she always performed with her own hands.She moved one side to make room for Susy's bird-cage, but said she didnot approve of washing canaries; she thought it must be a dangerousexperiment.
"If he needed a bath, he would take it himself, Susan. Little birds knowwhat is best for them by instinct, thee may depend upon it."
"But my birdie gay ought to be clean," persisted Susy, who was oftenvery positive. "Mrs. Mason says so--the lady that gave him to me. I toldher he wouldn't bathe, and she said then I must bathe him."
Susy went to the range, and, dipping some hot water from the boiler,cooled it with fresh water, till she found, by putting in her fingers,that it was of a proper temperature, according to her own judgment. Thenshe plunged the timid little canary into the bowl, in spite of hisfluttering. Such a wee young thing as he was too! He seemed to be afraidof the water, and struggled against it with all his small strength.
"O, Dandy, darling," said Susy, in a cooing voice, as if she weretalking to a baby; "be a little man, Dandy; hold up his head, and letSusy wash it all cleany! O, he's Susie's birdie gay!--What makes himroll up his eyes?"
"Take him out quick, Susan," said grandma Read; "he will strangle."
A few seconds more and all would have been over with birdie gay. Hecurled down very languidly on the floor of the cage, and seemed to wishto be let alone.
"He acts so every morning when I bathe him," said Susy, who would notgive up the point; "but Mrs. Mason told me to do it! Dotty always criedwhen she was washed, till she was ever so old."
"I think," said Mrs. Parlin, who had just entered the kitchen, "I mustask Mrs. Mason if she is very sure it is proper to treat little birds inthat way."
"But look, mamma; here he is, shaking out his feathers, all bright andhappy again. O, you cunning little Dandy, now we'll hang you up in thesun to dry. See him hop on one foot; that is just to make me laugh."
"But _I_ hop on one foot, too," said little Prudy, "and you don't laughat me."
"This is a droll little head for fancies," said Mrs. Parlin, pattingPrudy's curls, and looking at grandma Read. "Do you know, mother, thatfor several days she has made believe she was lame Jessie, and hashobbled about whenever she could think of it."
"Now you mustn't laugh," said Prudy, looking up with a grieved face; Ican't never help hopping; I _have_ to hop. My knee was so sick, I criedlast night, and I was just as _wide-awakeful_!"
"Ain't thee afraid the child has been hurt in some way, my daughter?"said grandma Read.
"O, no, mother," said Mrs. Parlin, smiling, as Prudy limped out
of theroom. "I have examined her knee, and there is nothing the matter withit. She is only imitating that lame child. You know Prudy has all sortsof whims. Don't you know how she has wanted us to call her Jessiesometimes?"
"Why, no, indeed, grandma, she isn't lame," said Susy, laughing."Sometimes she will run about the room as well as I do, and then, in afew minutes, when she thinks of it, she will limp and take hold ofchairs. Mother, isn't it just the same as a wrong story for Prudy to actthat way? If I did so, you'd punish me; now, wouldn't you?"
"I don't know what to think about it," said Mrs. Parlin, gravely."Sometimes I am afraid Prudy is really becoming naughty and deceitful. Ithought once it was only her funny way of playing; but she is gettingold enough now to know the difference between truth and falsehood."
There was an anxious look on Mrs. Parlin's face. She was a faithfulmother, and watched her children's conduct with the tenderest care.
But this lameness of which little Prudy complained, was something morethan play; it was a sad truth, as the family learned very soon. Insteadof walking properly when her mother bade her do so, the poor child criedbitterly, said it hurt her, and she was so tired she wished they wouldlet her lie on the sofa, and never get up. At times she seemed better;and when everybody thought she was quite well, suddenly the pain andweakness would come again, and she could only limp, or walk by catchinghold of chairs.
At last her father called in a physician.
"How long has this child been lame?" said he.
"A month or more."
The doctor looked grave. "Has she ever had an injury, Mr. Parlin, suchas slipping on the ice, or falling down stairs?"
"No, sir," replied Mr. Parlin, "I believe not."
"Not a serious injury that I know of," said Mrs. Parlin, passing herhand across her forehead, and trying to remember. "No, I think Prudy hasnever had a _bad_ fall, though she is always meeting with slightaccidents."
"O, mamma," said Susy, who had begged to stay in the room, "she did havea fall: don't you know, Christmas day, ever so long ago, how she wentrolling down stairs with her little chair in her arms, and wokeeverybody up?"
The doctor caught at Susy's words.
"With her little chair in her arms, my dear? And did she cry as if shewas hurt?"
"Yes, sir; she said the _prongs_ of the chair stuck into her side."
"It hurt me dreffully," said Prudy, who had until now forgotten allabout it. "Susy spoke so quick, and said I was a little snail; and thenI rolled over and over, and down I went."
The doctor almost smiled at these words, lisped out in such a plaintivevoice, as if Prudy could not think of that fall even now, withoutpitying herself very much.
"Just let me see you stand up, little daughter," said he; for Prudy waslying on the sofa.
But it hurt her to bear her weight on her feet.
She said, "One foot, the '_lame-knee-foot_,' came down so long, it_more_ than touched the floor."
The doctor looked sober. The foot did drag indeed. The trouble was notin her knee, but in her hip, which had really been injured when she felldown stairs, and the "prongs" of the chair were forced against it.
It seemed to Mrs. Parlin strange that Prudy had never complained of anypain in her side; but the doctor said it was very common for people tosuffer from hip-disease, and seem to have only a lame knee.
"Hip-disease!" When Mrs. Parlin heard these words, she grew so dizzy,that it was all she could do to keep from fainting. It came over her ina moment, the thought of what her little daughter would have tosuffer--days and nights of pain, and perhaps a whole lifetime oflameness. She had often heard of hip-disease, and was aware that it is avery serious thing.
Do you know, she would gladly have changed places with Prudy, wouldgladly have borne all the child must suffer, if by that means she couldhave saved her? This is the feeling which mothers have when any troublecomes upon their children; but the little ones, with their simple minds,cannot understand it.