"Is it pleasant?"was the question Jill asked before she was fairly awake on Christmas morning.
"Yes,dear;as bright as heart could wish.Now eat a bit,and then I'll make you nice for the day's pleasure.I only hope it won't be too much for you,"answered Mrs.Pecq,bustling about,happy,yet anxious,for Jill was to be carried over to Mrs.Minot s,and it was her first attempt at going out since the accident.
It seemed as if nine o clock would never come,and Jill,with wraps all ready,lay waiting in a fever of impatience for the doctor's visit,as he wished to superintend the moving.At last he came,found all promising,and having bundled up his small patient,carried her,with Frank's help,in her chair-bed to the ox-sled,which was drawn to the next door,and Miss Jill landed in the Boys Den before she had time to get either cold or tired.Mrs.Minot took her things off with a cordial welcome,but Jill never said a word,for,after one exclamation,she lay staring about her,dumb with surprise and delight at what she saw.
The great room was entirely changed;for now it looked like a garden,or one of the fairy scenes children love,where in-doors and out-of-doors are pleasantly combined.The ceiling was pale blue,like the sky;the walls were covered with a paper like a rustic trellis,up which climbed morning-glories so naturally that the many-colored bells seemed dancing in the wind.Birds and butterflies flew among them,and here and there,through arches in the trellis,one seemed to look into a sunny summer world,contrasting curiously with the wintry landscape lying beyond the real windows,festooned with evergreen garlands,and curtained only by stands of living flowers.A green drugget covered the floor like grass,rustic chairs from the garden stood about,and in the middle of the room a handsome hemlock waited for its pretty burden.A Yule-log blazed on the wide hearth,and over the chimney-piece,framed in holly,shone the words that set all hearts to dancing,"Merry Christmas!""Do you like it,dear?This is our surprise for you and Jack,and here we mean to have good times together,"said Mrs.Minot,who had stood quietly enjoying the effect of her work.
"Oh,it is so lovely I don't know what to say!"and Jill put up both arms,as words failed her,and grateful kisses were all she had to offer.
"Can you suggest anything more to add to the pleasantness?"asked the gentle lady,holding the small hands in her own,and feeling well repaid by the child's delight.
"Only Jack";and Jill's laugh was good to hear,as she glanced up with merry,yet wistful eyes.
"You are right.We'll have him in at once,or he will come hopping on one leg";and away hurried his mother,laughing,too,for whistles,shouts,thumps,and violent demonstrations of all kinds had been heard from the room where Jack was raging with impatience,while he waited for his share of the surprise.
Jill could hardly lie still when she heard the roll of another chair-bed coming down the hail,its passage enlivened with cries of "Starboard!Port!Easy now!Pull away!"from Ralph and Frank,as they steered the recumbent Columbus on his first voyage of discovery.
"Well,I call that handsome!"was Jack's exclamation,when the full beauty of the scene burst upon his view.Then he forgot all about it and gave a whoop of pleasure,for there beside the fire was an eager face,two hands beckoning,and Jill's voice crying,joyfully.
"I'm here!I'm here!Oh,do come,quick!"Down the long room rattled the chair,Jack cheering all the way,and brought up beside the other one,as the long-parted friends exclaimed,with one accord,"Isn't this jolly!"It certainly did look so,for Ralph and Frank danced a wild sort of fandango round the tree,Dr.Whiting stood and laughed,while the two mothers beamed from the door-way,and the children,not knowing whether to laugh or to cry,compromised the matter by clapping their hands and shouting,"Merry Christmas to everybody!"like a pair of little maniacs.
Then they all sobered down,and the busy ones went off to the various duties of the day,leaving the young invalids to repose and enjoy themselves together.
"How nice you look,"said Jill,when they had duly admired the pretty room.
"So do you,"gallantly returned Jack,as he surveyed her with unusual interest.
They did look very nice,though happiness was the principal beautifier.Jill wore a red wrapper,with the most brilliant of all the necklaces sparkling at her throat,over a nicely crimped frill her mother had made in honor of the day.All the curly black hair was gathered into a red net,and a pair of smart little moccasins covered the feet that had not stepped for many a weary day.Jack was not so gay,but had made himself as fine as circumstances would permit.A gray dressing-gown,with blue cuffs and collar,was very becoming to the blonde youth;an immaculate shirt,best studs,sleeve-buttons,blue tie,and handkerchief wet with cologne sticking out of the breast-pocket,gave an air of elegance in spite of the afghan spread over the lower portions of his manly form.The yellow hair was brushed till it shone,and being parted in the middle,to hide the black patch,made two engaging little "quiris"on his forehead.The summer tan had faded from his cheeks,but his eyes were as blue as the wintry sky,and nearly every white tooth was visible as he smiled on his partner in misfortune,saying cheerily.
"I'm ever so glad to see you again;guess we are over the worst of it now,and can have good times.Won't it be fun to stay here all the while,and amuse one another?""Yes,indeed;but one day is so short!It will be stupider than ever when I go home to-night,"answered Jill,looking about her with longing eyes.
"But you are not going home to-night;you are to stay ever so long.
Didn't Mamma tell you?"
"No.Oh,how splendid!Am I really?Where will I sleep?What will Mammy do without me?"and Jill almost sat up,she was so delighted with the new surprise.