CHAPTER X
JANNET GATHERS HER IMPRESSIONS
I am so ashamed, Lina, not to have written you a long letter beforethis. You are good to have sent me a letter in reply to those fewcards. I had to write to Miss Hilliard, you know, and some way, Ihaven't felt like writing about some things that I have really wantedto tell you, like how I felt to be in my mother's room and all. I'llwait until I see you, I think. I am going to ask Uncle Pieter, when Iknow him better, if I can not have a little company this summer. I feelpretty sure that he will let me ask you for a visit, so please keep itin mind before you fill up the summer with other things. Then I canshow you everything and tell you all about the mysteries here, forthere are some that I do not understand.
I meant to have a long talk with my uncle right away, yet I have beenhere for several weeks and I have not talked to him alone. I've beentoo timid to ask, for one thing; then he is busy about the place, andthen I don't feel that I can go to him as I can to Miss Hilliard. Helets Cousin Di, or Mrs. Holt, look after my wants.
Please, by the way, keep what I tell you to yourself, except whatanybody might know. You will "use judgment" what to report to the girlsthat know you have had a letter from me.
Your namesake is here, for one, in our family,--"Old P'lina," they callher and she is so odd. You will have to see her to appreciate her. Sheis the real housekeeper and just about owns the place. But while youare Adeline, she is Paulina, the i long.
Mrs. Holt is a rather distant cousin who knows Uncle Pieter very welland was a much younger friend of his wife, who is dead. Her mother,Mrs. Perry, will be here pretty soon, they say. She went on a littlevisit and keeps staying. Cousin Di worries about it, though I'm sure Idon't know why. Two of her friends from Albany have been here this weekand they have had a fine time. Uncle Pieter likes to have company,Cousin Andy says, though he doesn't pay much attention to anybody, Imust say. I suppose he just likes to have the big place full of people,not to be lonesome.
Cousin Di is kind and easy-going. My lessons are a myth, for which I amnot sorry. I don't see how I could have studied so far. Uncle Pieterlooked at me one time, at dinner, and said, "You need not hurry aboutlessons, Diana. Jannet looks as if she has had about enough of school.I suppose, Jannet, that you have been trained to think that schoolhours are the only thing in the world worth keeping?"
"Yes, sir," I said. "Aren't they? Most of the girls I know that amountto anything get their lessons."
For once Uncle Pieter laughed out. "Yes, yes," he said, "I suppose thatis so. Whatever you have to do, keep at it, if you want to put itthrough. But we shall change matters a little, with the permission ofyour guardian, of course."
I did not like the way he said that, but then he does not know how fineMiss Hilliard is. I looked straight at him, but not saucily, and then Isaid, "Miss Hilliard is the one who has taken good care of me for allthese years." I did not mean it for a "dig" at him, since of course hedid not know that I existed. But I'm sure that he took it that way. Hefroze right up, and I wished that I had not said anything.
"I must see Miss Hilliard very soon," he answered, "and relieve her ofher charge."
That scared me so that I sat right down at my lovely desk with the_secret drawers_, as soon as I reached my room, and wrote theconversation to Miss Hilliard. And I've wished ever since that Ihadn't. I'm always doing something that I wish afterwards Ihadn't,--but you know me, Lina!
So you see that I don't know whether I like my uncle very much or not,though I am grateful to him for hunting me up and that _ought_ to makeup for everything else. I think that Cousin Andy knows that his fatheris a little queer, for he makes it up to me by being extra nice. He isAndrew Van Meter and is somewhere around thirty years old, perhapsolder, and was in the war. He was shell-shocked and wounded, but won'ttalk about it. He has some trouble with his back and there are dayswhen he does not come to meals. I wanted to do something for him, readto him, or anything, but Cousin Di said not to, that Andrew wanted tobe by himself at those times.
But other times he is just as friendly as can be. He said that hisfather "is a very scholarly man," and Uncle Pieter does read in hislibrary till all hours of the night, Cousin Di says. She told me thatit was my great-grandfather who made all the first money in the family.My grandfather was a sort of "gentleman farmer" and had "investments;"and Uncle Pieter got through college early and lived in Albany with hisfamily until his father wanted him to come out and run thisplace,--and, oh, Lina, it is a beautiful place! There is a big orchardand a wonderful woods. I don't know anything about what kind of land itis, but there is money enough somewhere to fix the house up and haveeverything the way Uncle Pieter wants it.
I think that I mentioned Cousin Di's son in one of my cards. We are"Jannet and Jan," though Jan is called John at school. He is jolly anda little careless sometimes and carries his fun too far, Miss Hilliardwould say, but I like him and his friend, "Chick" Clyde. I am gettingwell acquainted with Nell Clyde, who lives nearest of any of the youngfolks around here. Oh, it's so _different_, Lina, and I haven't begunto tell you the half! We have a family ghost, two or three of them,perhaps, and whatever it is, I've already had a queer experience or twothat I'm not very keen on thinking about. My room seems to be the"haunted room," but I can't help but feel that somebody is responsiblefor these odd happenings and I'm going to find out about it just assoon as I can.
You would think that I'd have loads of time, wouldn't you? There are nolessons and no recitation hours. But for some reason, I don't get halfas much done. Perhaps I was a little tired, and then it has been soexciting to find my family and learn so many different things.
Commencement will be here pretty soon. There is no chance of my goingto Philadelphia for it, and really, Lina, I could not bring myself toleave right now. Don't say that to Miss Hilliard, though. She mightthink that I have lost interest, and I haven't a bit.
Now you are saying that I might tell you more about the mysteries, butthis letter is too long now. You can tell the girls that I'm in one ofthe fine old Dutch houses, with a ghost and everything, and that I'vebeen having a great time, riding all over the place, and the country,and getting acquainted with people. I'll write you again after you arehome. Do write again, though, and tell me all the news about theseniors and the play and how everything goes off. Give dear Miss Marcya big hug for me. Aren't you lucky to have an aunt on the faculty!
* * * * *
So Jannet wrote to her chum and room-mate. Meanwhile Miss Hilliard andher friend Jannet's lawyer, had been making further inquiries aboutPieter Van Meter, without discovering anything particularly to hiscredit. Miss Hilliard, busy with the last days of school, was relievedto find that there was no need to worry about the environment of heryoung protegee. Matters could rest where they were for the present. Shehad received no further suggestion from Mr. Van Meter in regard to achange in guardianship. This she did not intend to relinquish withoutbeing very sure that it was to Jannet's advantage. Of Jannet's firstimpressions, she thought little.
Miss Hilliard's errand in Albany, upon that day when she put Jannet incharge of Mrs. Holt and Andrew Van Meter, was to the office of a lawyerin Albany, a gentleman of whom she had been told, prominent in theplace and of a wide acquaintance. Briefly she related the object of hervisit, when, fortunately for her limited time, she was able to have animmediate interview.
"I want to make some inquiry about Mr. Pieter Van Meter and hisfamily," she said, "and I was told that you would be a sincere sourceof information. I am the head of a school in Philadelphia, as you noteby my card, and a young ward of mine, who knew nothing of this family,has just been discovered to be Mr. Van Meter's niece. There is somesuggestion of a change of guardianship, to which I will not agreeunless it is for the good of my ward. I rather think that the familymust be of some standing, but the personality of Mr. Van Meter isunknown to me." Miss Hilliard paused, and looked inquiringly at thelawyer, a serious gent
leman, who was listening to what she said withsober attention.
"You are right in regard to the standing of the family. I should saythat Mr. Van Meter's wealth would clear him from any suspicion of beingconcerned financially in a desire to become the guardian of his niece.I know him, but not intimately. He is regarded as peculiar, is close ata bargain, looking out for himself, but that can be said of manybusinessmen. I have never heard of anything dishonorable in connectionwith his transactions. To tell the truth, he seems to me like adisappointed and unhappy man. What there is back of that I do not know,unless it is the health of his son who is one of the war victims. YetAndy, as we know him, is one of the finest lads, and his father may beglad to have him back at all. I understand, too, that there was seriousdifficulty between Mr. Van Meter and his second wife. At any rate sheis not there any more. Indeed, she may not be living."
"I know nothing about Mr. Van Meter's family, and only just met his sonand the cousin who is practically in charge of Jannet, Mrs. Holt."
"She is a very fine woman and consented to come with her mother, Iunderstand, to make a home for Andy and give a cheerful atmosphere,needed particularly because his marriage was given up after the war.You need have no uneasiness about your ward so far as she is concerned.My family knows Mrs. Holt very well indeed."
"Well, thank you, this little conference has been very helpful. I mustmake my train now, but I felt that I wanted some assurance in regard tothe family with whom I am leaving Jannet, before I could go back to mywork with a clear conscience."
With this information, Miss Hilliard felt that a load had been rolledoff, as she took the train back to New York, and later went on toPhiladelphia with cheerful news for Miss Marcy and the other teacherswho were especially interested in Jannet. "Yes, Jannet's people seem tobe all that we could desire," she reported. Yet she was none the lessinterested in hearing what Jannet had to say about the household, andwondered over a vein of reserve in Jannet's letters, coming to theconclusion that Jannet was not relating everything, or was reservingher conclusions about her family till she was better acquainted. ThisMiss Hilliard quite approved.
Jannet, to be sure, was quite ignorant of Miss Hilliard's conference inAlbany and might have been very much interested in it, especially inone bit of information which she did not possess at this time, thatrelating to the fact of a second wife.