Aunt Crete's Emancipation (4 page)

Aunt Crete's face clouded. What would Luella say at having them appear on her horizon? The young man was all right, apparently, but there was no telling how angry Luella might be if her aunt came. She knew that Luella preferred to keep her in the background.

"I really couldn't go, dear," she said wistfully. "I'd like it with all my heart.
And
it would be specially nice to go with you, for I never had anybody to go round with me, not since your mother was a girl and used to take me with her wherever she went. I missed her dreadfully after she was married and went
West
. She was always so good to me."

The young man's face softened, and he reached his hand impulsively across the table, and grasped the toil-worn hand of his aunt.

"Well, you shall have somebody to go round with you now, auntie; that is, if you'll let me.
I'm
not going to take 'No' for an answer. You just must go. We'll have a vacation all by ourselves, and do just as we please, and we'll bring up at the hotel where Aunt Carrie and Luella are, and surprise them."

"But, child, I can't!" said Aunt Crete in dismay, seeing his determination. "Why, I haven't any clothes suitable to wear away from home. We were all so busy getting Luella fixed out that there
wasn't
any time left for mine, and it didn't really matter about me anyway. I never go anywhere."

"But you're going now, Aunt
Lucretia
," said he; "and it does matter, you see. Clothes
are
easily bought
. We'll go shopping after breakfast to-morrow morning."

"But I really can't afford it, Donald," said his aunt with an air of finality. "You know I'm not rich. If Carrie weren't good enough to give me a home here, I shouldn't know how to make two ends meet."

"Never mind that, Aunt Crete; this is my layout, and I'm paying for it.
We'll
go shopping tomorrow morning.
I've got
some money in my pocket I'm just aching to spend. The fact is, Aunt Crete, I struck gold up there in the Klondike, and I've got more money than I know what to do with."

"O
!" said Aunt Crete with awe in her voice at the thought of having more money than one knew what to do with. Then shyly, "But
--
"

"But what, Aunt
Lucretia
?" asked Donald as she hesitated and flushed
till
the double V came into her forehead in the old helpless, worried way.

"Why, there's lots of canning and house-cleaning that has got to be done, and I don't really think Carrie would like it to have me leave it all, and run away on a pleasure excursion."

Righteous indignation filled the heart of the nephew. "Well, I should like to know why she wouldn't like it!" he exclaimed impulsively. "Has she any better right to have a vacation than you?
I'm
sure you've earned it. You blessed little woman,
you're
going to have a vacation now, in spite of yourself. Just put your conscience away in pink cotton till we get back—though I don't know whether I shall let you come back to stay. I may spirit you off with me somewhere if I
don't
like the looks of my cousin.
I'll
take all the responsibility of this trip. If Aunt Carrie
doesn't
like it, she may visit her wrath on me, and I'll tell her just what I think of her. Anyhow, to the shore you are going right speedily; that is, if you want to go. If
there's
some other place you'd rather go besides to the
Traymore
, speak the word, and there we'll go. I want you to have a good time."

Aunt Crete gasped with joy. The thought of the ocean, the real ocean, was wonderful. She had dreamed of it many times, but never had seen it, because she was always the one who could just as well stay at home as not. She never
got
run down or nervous or cross, and was ordered to go away for her health; and she never insisted upon going when the rest went. Her heart was bounding as it had not bounded since the morning of the last Sunday-school picnic she had attended when she was a girl.

"Indeed, dear boy, I do want to go with all my heart if I really ought. I have always wanted to see the ocean, and I can't imagine any place I'd rather go than the
Traymore
, Luella's talked so much about it."

"All right.
Then
it's
settled that we go. How soon can we get ready?
We'll
go shopping to-morrow morning bright and early, and get a
trunkful
of new clothes. It's always nice to have new things when you go off; you feel like another person, and don't have to be sewing on buttons all the time," laughed Donald, as if he was enjoying the whole thing as much as his
aunt
. "I meant to have a good time getting presents for the whole family; but, as they aren't here, I'm going to get them all for you.
You're
not to say a word. Have you got a trunk?"

"Trunk?
No, child.
I
haven't
ever had any need for a trunk. The time I went to Uncle Hiram's funeral I took Carrie's old haircloth one, but I don't
know 's
that's fit to travel again. Carrie's got her flannels packed away in camphor in it now, and I shouldn't like to disturb it."

"Then we'll get a trunk."

"O
, no," protested Aunt Crete; "that would be a foolish expense.
There's
some pasteboard boxes up-stairs. I can make out with them in a
shawlstrap
. I
sha'n't
need much for a few days."

"Enlarge your scale of things, Aunt Crete.
You're
going to stay more than a few days.
You're
going to stay till you're tired, and just want to come back. As
we're
going to a 'swell' hotel,"— Donald reflected that Aunt Crete could not understand his reference to Luella's description of the
Traymore
,—"we can't think of shawl-straps and boxes. You shall have a good big trunk. I saw an advertisement of one that has drawers and a
hat-box
in it, like a bureau. We'll see if we can find one to suit."

"It sounds just like the fairy tales I used to read to Luella when she was a little girl," beamed Aunt Crete. "It doesn't seem as if it was I. I can't make it true."

"Now let's write down a list of things you need," said the eager planner; "we'll have to hurry up things, and get off this week if possible.
I've
been reading the paper, and they say there's coming a hot wave. I need to get you to the shore before it arrives, if possible. Come; what shall I put down first? What have you always thought
you'd
like, Aunt Crete? Don't you need some silk dresses?"

"O
dear heart! Hear him! Silk dresses
aren't
for me. Of
course
I've always had a sort of hankering after one, but nothing looks very well on me. Carrie says my figure is dumpy. I guess, if
you're
a mind to, you can get me a lace collar.
It'll
please me as well as anything. Luella saw some for
a quarter that were
real pretty. She bought one for herself. I think it would do to wear with my new pin, and all my collars are pretty much worn out."

"Now look here, Aunt Crete!
Can't
I make you understand? I mean business, and no collars for a quarter are going to do. You can have a few cheap ones for morning if you want them, but
we'll
buy some real lace ones to wear with the pin.
And
you shall have the silk dress, two or three of them, and a lot of other things. What kind do you want?"

"O
my dear boy! You just
take my breath away
.
I with two or three silk dresses!
The idea!
Carrie would think me extravagant, and Luella
wouldn't
like it a bit. She always tells me I'm too gay for my years."

Donald set his lips, and wished he could have
speech for a few minutes with the absent Luella. He felt that he would like to express his contempt for her treatment of their aunt.

"I've always thought I'd like a gray silk," mused Aunt Crete with a dreamy look in her eyes, "but I just know Luella would t
hink it was too dressy for me. I
suppose black would be better. I can't deny I'd like black silk, too."

"We'll have both," said Donald decidedly. "I saw a woman in a silver-gray silk once. She had white hair like yours, and the effect was beautiful. Then
you'll
need some other things. White dresses, I guess. That's what my chum's grandmother used to wear when I went there visiting in the summer."

"White
for me!" exclaimed the aunt. "O
, Luella would be real angry at me getting white. She says it's too conspicuous for old women to dress in light colors."

"Never mind Luella.
We're
doing this, and whatever we want goes. If Luella doesn't like it, she needn't look at it."

Aunt Crete was all in a fl
utter that night. She could hardly sleep. She did not often go to town. Luella did all the shopping. Sometimes she suggested going, but Carrie always said it was a needless expense, and, besides, Luella knew how to buy at a better bargain. It was a great delight to go with Donald. Her face shone, and all the weariness of the day's work, and all the toilsome yesterdays, disappeared from her brow.

She looked over her
meagre
wardrobe,
most of it cast-offs from Carrie's or Luella's half-worn clothing, and wrote down in a cramped hand a few absolute necessities. The next morning they had an early breakfast, and started at once on their shopping-expedition. Aunt Crete felt like a little child
being taken
to the circus. The idea of getting
a lot of
new clothes all for herself seemed too serious a business to be true. She was dazed when she thought of it; and so, when Donald asked what they should look at first, she showed plainly that she would be little help in getting herself fitted out. She was far too happy to bring her mind down to practical things, and, besides, she could not adjust herself to the vast scale of expenditure Donald had set.

"Here are some collars," said Donald. "We might as well begin on those."

Aunt Crete examined them with enthusiasm, and finally picked out two at twenty-five cents apiece.

"Are those the best you have?" questioned Donald.

"O, no," said the
saleswoman
, quick to identify the purchaser that did not stop at price; "did you want real or imitation?"

"Real, by all means," he answered promptly.

"O
Donald," breathed Aunt Crete in a warning whisper, "real lace
comes
dreadful high.
I've
heard Luella say so. Besides, I shouldn't have anything to wear it with, nor any place to go fixed up like that."

"Have you forgotten you're going to the
Traymore
in a few days?" he asked her with a twinkle in his eye.
"And what about the gray silk?
Won't
it go with that? If not, we'll get something better."

Assisted by the
saleswoman
, they selected two beautiful collars of real lace, and half a dozen plain ones for commoner wear.

"Couldn't you go with us?" asked Donald of the
saleswoman
as the purchase was concluded. "My aunt wishes to get a good many things, and neither she nor I is much used to shopping. We'd like to have your advice."

"I'm sorry; I'd like to, but I'm not allowed to leave this counter," said the woman with a kindly smile. "I'm head of this department, and they can't get along without me this morning.
But
they have buyers in the office just for that purpose. You go up to the desk over on the east side just beyond the rotunda, and ask
for a
buyer to go around with you. Get Miss Brower if you can, and tell her the head of the lace department told you to call for her. She'll tell you just what to get," and she smiled again at Aunt Crete's kindly, beaming face.

They went to the desk, and found Miss Brower, who, when she heard the message, took them smilingly under her wing. She knew that meant a good sale
had been made
, and there would be something in it for her.
Besides, she had a kindly disposition, and did not turn up a haughty nose at Aunt Crete's dumpy little figure.

"Now, just what do you want first?" she asked brightly.

"Everything," said Donald helplessly. "We've only bought a lace collar so far, and now we want all the rest of the things to go with it. The only things
we've
decided on so far are two silk dresses, a black one and a silver-gray. How do we go about it to get them? Do they have them ready-made?"