make them and feeling peculiarly important, as this was their first
essay in New Year’s call-making. Brief was their stay, for they
planned to visit every friend they had, and Rose could not help
laughing at the droll mixture of manly dignity and boyish delight
with which they drove off in their own carriage, both as erect as
ramrods, arms folded, and caps stuck at exactly the same angle on
each blond head.
“Here comes the other couple Steve, in full feather, with a big
bouquet for Kitty, and poor Mac, looking like a gentleman and
feeling like a martyr, I’m sure,” said Rose, watching one carriage
turn in as the other turned out of the great gate, with its arch of
holly, ivy, and evergreen.
“Here he is. I’ve got him in tow for the day and want you to cheer
him up with a word of praise, for he came without a struggle
though planning to bolt somewhere with Uncle,” cried Steve,
falling back to display his brother, who came in looking
remarkably well in his state and festival array, for polishing had
begun to tell.
“A happy New Year, Aunty, same to you, Cousin, and best wishes
for as many more as you deserve,” said Mac, heeding Steve no
more than if he had been a fly as he gave the old lady a hearty kiss
and offered Rose a quaint little nosegay of pansies.
“Heart’s-ease do you think I need it?” she asked, looking up with
sudden sobriety.
“We all do. Could I give you anything better on a day like this??
“No thank you very much.” And a sudden dew came to Rose’s
eyes, for, though often blunt in speech, when Mac did do a tender
thing, it always touched her because he seemed to understand her
moods so well.
“Has Archie been here? He said he shouldn’t go anywhere else, but
I hope you talked that nonsense out of his head,” said Steve,
settling his tie before the mirror.
“Yes, dear, he came but looked so out of spirits I really felt
reproached. Rose cheered him up a little, but I don’t believe he will
feel equal to making calls and I hope he won’t, for his face tells the
whole story much too plainly,” answered Aunty Plenty, rustling
about her bountiful table in her richest black silk with all her old
lace on.
“Oh, he’ll get over it in a month or two, and Phebe will soon find
another lover, so don’t be worried about him, Aunty,” said Steve,
with the air of a man who knew all about that sort of thing.
“If Archie does forget, I shall despise him, and I know Phebe won’t
try to find another lover, though she’ll probably have them she is so
sweet and good!” cried Rose indignantly, for, having taken the pair
under her protection, she defended them valiantly.
“Then you’d have Arch hope against hope and never give up,
would you?” asked Mac, putting on his glasses to survey the thin
boots which were his especial abomination.
“Yes, I would, for a lover is not worth having if he’s not in
earnest!?
“Exactly. So you’d like them to wait and work and keep on loving
till they made you relent or plainly proved that it was no use.?
“If they were good as well as constant, I think I should relent in
time.?
“I’ll mention that to Pemberton, for he seemed to be hit the hardest,
and a ray of hope will do him good, whether he is equal to the ten
years’ wait or not,” put in Steve, who liked to rally Rose about her
lovers.
“I’ll never forgive you if you say a word to anyone. It is only Mac’s
odd way of asking questions, and I ought not to answer them. You
will talk about such things and I can’t stop you, but I don’t like it,”
said Rose, much annoyed.
“Poor little Penelope! She shall not be teased about her suitors but
left in peace till her Ulysses comes home,” said Mac, sitting down
to read the mottoes sticking out of certain fanciful bonbons on the
table.
“It is this fuss about Archie which has demoralized us all. Even the