Little Women
exclaiming, with a laugh, “You are almost equal to Caroline Percy, who
was a pattern of prudence! Tell on, Meg. What did he say to that?”
“He writes in a different way entirely, telling me that he never sent
any love letter at all, and is very sorry that my roguish sister, Jo,
should take liberties with our names. It’s very kind and respectful,
but think how dreadful for me!”
Meg leaned against her mother, looking the image of despair, and Jo
tramped about the room, calling Laurie names. All of a sudden she
stopped, caught up the two notes, and after looking at them closely,
said decidedly, “I don’t believe Brooke ever saw either of these
letters. Teddy wrote both, and keeps yours to crow over me with because
I wouldn’t tell him my secret.”
“Don’t have any secrets, Jo. Tell it to Mother and keep out of trouble,
as I should have done,” said Meg warningly.
“Bless you, child! Mother told me.”
“That will do, Jo. I’ll comfort Meg while you go and get Laurie. I
shall sift the matter to the bottom, and put a stop to such pranks at
once.”
Away ran Jo, and Mrs. March gently told Meg Mr. Brooke’s real feelings.
“Now, dear, what are your own? Do you love him enough to wait till he
can make a home for you, or will you keep yourself quite free for the
present?”
“I’ve been so scared and worried, I don’t want to have anything to do
with lovers for a long while, perhaps never,” answered Meg petulantly.
“If John doesn’t know anything about this nonsense, don’t tell him, and
make Jo and Laurie hold their tongues. I won’t be deceived and plagued
and made a fool of. It’s a shame!”
Seeing Meg’s usually gentle temper was roused and her pride hurt by
this mischievous joke, Mrs. March soothed her by promises of entire
silence and great discretion for the future. The instant Laurie’s step
was heard in the hall, Meg fled into the study, and Mrs. March received
the culprit alone. Jo had not told him why he was wanted, fearing he
wouldn’t come, but he knew the minute he saw Mrs. March’s face, and
stood twirling his hat with a guilty air which convicted him at once.
Jo was dismissed, but chose to march up and down the hall like a
sentinel, having some fear that the prisoner might bolt. The sound of
voices in the parlor rose and fell for half an hour, but what happened
during that interview the girls never knew.
When they were called in, Laurie was standing by their mother with such
a penitent face that Jo forgave him on the spot, but did not think it
wise to betray the fact. Meg received his humble apology, and was much
comforted by the assurance that Brooke knew nothing of the joke.
“I’ll never tell him to my dying day, wild horses shan’t drag it out of
me, so you’ll forgive me, Meg, and I’ll do anything to show how
out-and-out sorry I am,” he added, looking very much ashamed of
himself.
“I’ll try, but it was a very ungentlemanly thing to do, I didn’t think
you could be so sly and malicious, Laurie,” replied Meg, trying to hide
her maidenly confusion under a gravely reproachful air.
“It was altogether abominable, and I don’t deserve to be spoken to for
a month, but you will, though, won’t you?” And Laurie folded his hands
together with such and imploring gesture, as he spoke in his
irresistibly persuasive tone, that it was impossible to frown upon him
in spite of his scandalous behavior.
Meg pardoned him, and Mrs. March’s grave face relaxed, in spite of her
efforts to keep sober, when she heard him declare that he would atone
for his sins by all sorts of penances, and abase himself like a worm
before the injured damsel.
Jo stood aloof, meanwhile, trying to harden her heart against him, and
succeeding only in primming up her face into an expression of entire
disapprobation. Laurie looked at her once or twice, but as she showed
no sign of relenting, he felt injured, and turned his back on her till
the others were done with him, when he made her a low bow and walked
off without a word.
As soon as he had gone, she wished she had been more forgiving, and
when Meg and her mother went upstairs, she felt lonely and longed for
Teddy. After resisting for some time, she yielded to the impulse, and
armed with a book to return, went over to the big house.
“Is Mr. Laurence in?” asked Jo, of a housemaid, who was coming
downstairs.
“Yes, Miss, but I don’t believe he’s seeable just yet.”
“Why not? Is he ill?”
“La, no Miss, but he’s had a scene with Mr. Laurie, who is in one of
his tantrums about something, which vexes the old gentleman, so I
dursn’t go nigh him.”
“Where is Laurie?”
“Shut up in his room, and he won’t answer, though I’ve been a-tapping.
I don’t know what’s to become of the dinner, for it’s ready, and
there’s no one to eat it.”
“I’ll go and see what the matter is. I’m not afraid of either of them.”
Up went Jo, and knocked smartly on the door of Laurie’s little study.
“Stop that, or I’ll open the door and make you!” called out the young
gentleman in a threatening tone.
Jo immediately knocked again. The door flew open, and in she bounced
before Laurie could recover from his surprise. Seeing that he really
was out of temper, Jo, who knew how to manage him, assumed a contrite
expression, and going artistically down upon her knees, said meekly,
“Please forgive me for being so cross. I came to make it up, and can’t
go away till I have.”
“It’s all right. Get up, and don’t be a goose, Jo,” was the cavalier
reply to her petition.
“Thank you, I will. Could I ask what’s the matter? You don’t look
exactly easy in your mind.”
“I’ve been shaken, and I won’t bear it!” growled Laurie indignantly.
“Who did it?” demanded Jo.
“Grandfather. If it had been anyone else I’d have...” And the injured
youth finished his sentence by an energetic gesture of the right arm.
“That’s nothing. I often shake you, and you don’t mind,” said Jo
soothingly.
“Pooh! You’re a girl, and it’s fun, but I’ll allow no man to shake me!”
“I don’t think anyone would care to try it, if you looked as much like
a thundercloud as you do now. Why were you treated so?”
“Just because I wouldn’t say what your mother wanted me for. I’d
promised not to tell, and of course I wasn’t going to break my word.”
“Couldn’t you satisfy your grandpa in any other way?”
“No, he would have the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the
truth. I’d have told my part of the scrape, if I could without bringing
Meg in. As I couldn’t, I held my tongue, and bore the scolding till the
old gentleman collared me. Then I bolted, for fear I should forget
myself.”
“It wasn’t nice, but he’s sorry, I know, so go down and make up. I’ll
help you.”
“Hanged if I do! I’m not going to be lectured and pummelled by
everyone, just for a bit of a frolic. I was sorry about Meg, and begged
pardon like a man, but I won’t do it again, when I wasn’t in the
wrong.”
“He didn’t know that.”
“He ought to trust me, and not act as if I was a baby. It’s no use, Jo,
he’s got to learn that I’m able to take care of myself, and don’t need
anyone’s apron string to hold on by.”
“What pepper pots you are!” sighed Jo. “How do you mean to settle this
affair?”
“Well, he ought to beg pardon, and believe me when I say I can’t tell
him what the fuss’s about.”
“Bless you! He won’t do that.”
“I won’t go down till he does.”
“Now, Teddy, be sensible. Let it pass, and I’ll explain what I can. You
can’t stay here, so what’s the use of being melodramatic?”
“I don’t intend to stay here long, anyway. I’ll slip off and take a
journey somewhere, and when Grandpa misses me he’ll come round fast
enough.”
“I dare say, but you ought not to go and worry him.”
“Don’t preach. I’ll go to Washington and see Brooke. It’s gay there,
and I’ll enjoy myself after the troubles.”
“What fun you’d have! I wish I could run off too,” said Jo, forgetting
her part of mentor in lively visions of martial life at the capital.
“Come on, then! Why not? You go and surprise your father, and I’ll stir
up old Brooke. It would be a glorious joke. Let’s do it, Jo. We’ll
leave a letter saying we are all right, and trot off at once. I’ve got
money enough. It will do you good, and no harm, as you go to your
father.”
For a moment Jo looked as if she would agree, for wild as the plan was,
it just suited her. She was tired of care and confinement, longed for
change, and thoughts of her father blended temptingly with the novel
charms of camps and hospitals, liberty and fun. Her eyes kindled as
they turned wistfully toward the window, but they fell on the old house
opposite, and she shook her head with sorrowful decision.
“If I was a boy, we’d run away together, and have a capital time, but
as I’m a miserable girl, I must be proper and stop at home. Don’t tempt
me, Teddy, it’s a crazy plan.”
“That’s the fun of it,” began Laurie, who had got a willful fit on him
and was possessed to break out of bounds in some way.
“Hold your tongue!” cried Jo, covering her ears. “‘Prunes and prisms’
are my doom, and I may as well make up my mind to it. I came here to
moralize, not to hear things that make me skip to think of.”
“I know Meg would wet-blanket such a proposal, but I thought you had
more spirit,” began Laurie insinuatingly.
“Bad boy, be quiet! Sit down and think of your own sins, don’t go
making me add to mine. If I get your grandpa to apologize for the
shaking, will you give up running away?” asked Jo seriously.
“Yes, but you won’t do it,” answered Laurie, who wished to make up, but
felt that his outraged dignity must be appeased first.
“If I can manage the young one, I can the old one,” muttered Jo, as she
walked away, leaving Laurie bent over a railroad map with his head
propped up on both hands.
“Come in!” and Mr. Laurence’s gruff voice sounded gruffer than ever, as
Jo tapped at his door.
“It’s only me, Sir, come to return a book,” she said blandly, as she
entered.
“Want any more?” asked the old gentleman, looking grim and vexed, but
trying not to show it.
“Yes, please. I like old Sam so well, I think I’ll try the second
volume,” returned Jo, hoping to propitiate him by accepting a second
dose of Boswell’s Johnson, as he had recommended that lively work.
The shaggy eyebrows unbent a little as he rolled the steps toward the
shelf where the Johnsonian literature was placed. Jo skipped up, and
sitting on the top step, affected to be searching for her book, but was
really wondering how best to introduce the dangerous object of her
visit. Mr. Laurence seemed to suspect that something was brewing in her
mind, for after taking several brisk turns about the room, he faced
round on her, speaking so abruptly that Rasselas tumbled face downward
on the floor.
“What has that boy been about? Don’t try to shield him. I know he has
been in mischief by the way he acted when he came home. I can’t get a
word from him, and when I threatened to shake the truth out of him he
bolted upstairs and locked himself into his room.”
“He did wrong, but we forgave him, and all promised not to say a word
to anyone,” began Jo reluctantly.
“That won’t do. He shall not shelter himself behind a promise from you
softhearted girls. If he’s done anything amiss, he shall confess, beg
pardon, and be punished. Out with it, Jo. I won’t be kept in the dark.”
Mr. Laurence looked so alarming and spoke so sharply that Jo would have
gladly run away, if she could, but she was perched aloft on the steps,
and he stood at the foot, a lion in the path, so she had to stay and
brave it out.
“Indeed, Sir, I cannot tell. Mother forbade it. Laurie has confessed,
asked pardon, and been punished quite enough. We don’t keep silence to
shield him, but someone else, and it will make more trouble if you
interfere. Please don’t. It was partly my fault, but it’s all right