Oh, I remember, I was thinking what fun it
would have been to chaperon you two girls at one of our grand balls in the
good old times. I would sail around like a great ship of the line,
convoying two of the trimmest little crafts that ever floated, and all the
pirates, I mean gallant young men, my dears, would hover near, dying to
cut you out right under my guns, or nose, as land-lubbers would say. Well,
well, either of you could lead a score of them a chase before you signed
articles of unconditional surrender," and Mrs. Bodine leaned back in her
chair and laughed in her silvery little birdlike twitter. The girls
laughed with her, pleased in spite of themselves with visions that, both
in their nature and by tradition, accorded with the young romantic period
of life. But memory speedily began to restore gravity to Mara's face. Mrs.
Bodine recognized this, and her own face grew gentle and sorrowful. Laying
a hand on each of the girls heads she resumed, "Do not think I am a
frivolous old woman because I run on so. I do not forget the present any
more than Mara, I see, cannot. Dear children, the circumstances of your
lot render you as burdened and, in some ways, almost as old as I am. Ella
can forget easier than you, Mara, but that is because God has put
brightness into her heart. Let us all face the truth together. I am long
past being an elegant matron. I am only a poor old childless widow with
but a few more days of feebleness and suffering before me, yet I do not
sigh in a bitter, murmuring spirit.
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