I wish Mike would come over every day,” said Benny one morning.
“Well, I don’t!” said all the others at once.
Henry looked up. “I think we can get along without any company at all.”
“You don’t call Joe company, do you?” asked Violet.
“Oh, no,” said Henry. “He’s just one of the family. Why? Did you want to invite him to eat with us?”
“No,” said Violet slowly. “But today he said I would be ready to play to you after my lesson.”
“Have him stay to supper,” said Jessie. She looked at Henry.
“Benny, come here,” said Henry. “Did you know that today is your birthday?”
“No,” said Benny, walking over to his brother.
“Well, it is,” Henry went on, “and now what do you want for a present? We will buy it for you.”
“Cream,” said Benny.
“Do you mean ice-cream?” asked Henry.
“No, I don’t. I mean cream in a bottle like milk. A big bottle ... not a little one.”
“That’s a queer kind of a present,” said Violet.
“You want to drink it?” asked Jessie.
“No, I want to put it on some blackberries, like Peter Rabbit.”
“We’ll get a big bottle of cream then, Jessie,” said Henry, laughing.
Benny began to jump around the barn and yell.
“Benny,” said Jessie, “Violet is going to bake you a birthday cake before she takes her lesson.”
“Is she?” asked Benny, giving a last yell. “I want to watch her make my cake.”
Violet got out her cooking things. She laid everything she needed on the pie-board.
“We will put the candles around the cake,” said Violet.
“I want a candle in the middle,” said Benny.
“Yes, but we want to save the middle—” Violet stopped suddenly.
“Never mind,” said Jessie. “Benny doesn’t know what we want to save the middle for.”
The cake looked wonderful. And when Violet took it out of the oven, Benny said, “It smells just like a birthday cake.”
Before she put the frosting on, Violet put the cake on two plates to get cold.
“Let’s sit down,” said Jessie, “and have a quick lunch of bread and milk. Then Henry can get the cream and candles, and Violet can take her lesson while I wash the dishes.”
“I’ll wipe the dishes for you,” said Benny.
“Aren’t you a good boy!” cried Jessie. “And on your birthday, too. You will have a happy birthday, I’m sure.”
They were just finishing when Joe and Violet came in carrying their violins.
“Violet is ready to play for you,” said Joe. “Will everyone please sit down?”
Jessie was excited as she sat down on one of the boxes between Henry and Benny. Violet did not seem to be either excited or afraid. It was the first time she had played for anyone besides Joe. She waited now, holding her violin, for her teacher to tell her where to stand.
Joe told Violet to stand facing the door. He stood with his back to the wall, where he could watch Violet. Then they began to play. Violet’s part was very easy, but Joe’s part was hard. It seemed to be only Violet’s playing that the children heard. Violet did not seem like their sister.
“Beautiful!” cried Jessie at the end.
“She’s good, isn’t she?” asked Joe, turning around.
“Wonderful!” said Henry. “She could be a real violin player, couldn’t she, Joe?”
“She could be, and she will be,” replied Joe.
“I wish Violet would play it again, so I would get used to it,” said Benny.
“Do play it again,” said Jessie. “I could listen all day.”
Violet and Joe began to play the piece again. When they were halfway through it, Mr. Browning appeared at the barn door. Violet looked up and smiled, but she did not stop playing.
When the piece was finished, Mr. Browning cried, “John!”
Joe turned around and said, “Oh, Mr. Browning!” He held out his hand. “I’m really glad to see you. Everything is all right again.”
“Well, I’m glad to see you, my boy!” said Mr. Browning. “I have been looking for you for a long time.”
“Here are my friends,” said Joe. “This is Jessie—”
“Oh, we did meet Mr. Browning,” said Jessie, with a smile. “We know him quite well. Please everybody sit down.”
“I could never forget the girl who makes apple pies with a green bottle,” said Mr. Browning, taking the company chair. “Or this little girl who plays the violin so well. You see, children, this Joe of yours is my best friend.”
“He’s my best friend,” said Benny.
“Yes, I think you told me so, when I was here before,” answered the man, looking at Benny. “But he was my best friend before he was yours.”
Benny thought this over, “He could have two best friends,” he said.
“Good for you! Will you let me ask him where he has been, and what is the matter with him?”
“Nothing is the matter with Joe,” said Benny.
“That’s right,” said Joe. “I wasn’t well for a long time and for a while I didn’t even remember who I was. I’ll tell you all about it later. Now, I’m better, and ready to go back to the museum. And to my uncle, if he’ll have me.”
“Have you!” said Mr. Browning. “Your uncle has almost worn himself out worrying about you.”
“Then the sooner, the better,” said Joe.
“He works in a museum,” thought Henry.
“He is a very clever man,” thought Jessie.
“Did you really think Joe was a handy man working for Captain Daniel?” asked Mr. Browning.
“N—no,” said Henry. “I thought he worked in a museum, but was taking some time off.”
“I began wondering when he got us all those books,” said Violet. “He found the names of the shells and flowers right away.”
“Joe,” said Jessie, “did you write all those books? I remember we said the name on the books is just like ours.”
Joe smiled, but he didn’t say anything.
“I don’t think you know yet who he is!” cried Mr. Browning.
“I do,” said Benny. “He knows more than what is in all those books, and he works in a museum.”
“That’s right,” said Mr. Browning. “He is the head of a museum. Do you think his name is Joseph Alden?”
“Yes,” said Benny. “I think that, too.”
“Well, it is. It is John Joseph Alden,” said Mr. Browning. “But you don’t understand yet. He is your cousin.”
“What!” cried the children together.
“Yes,” said Mr. Browning. “Joe’s father and your grandfather were brothers.”
“Joe, did you ever live with Grandfather?” asked Henry.
Joe looked at his cousins and said, “I used to live there before I went away, and now I think I’ll go back. That is, if Uncle James will have me and my cousins don’t mind?”
“Mind!” cried Henry. “It would be wonderful!”
“Oh, Joe!” shouted Benny. “You can keep on knowing things all the time. I’d rather have you live with us than even Watch!”
And nobody could say more than that. |