What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge (best novels to read in english txt) đ
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âWellâin ten days, I should say, it might be safe.â
âTen days! that will bring it to the seventh of September, wonât it?â said Katy. âThen Papa, if I may, Iâll come down stairs the first time on the eighth. It was Mammaâs birthday, you know,â she added in a lower voice.
So it was settled. âHow delicious!â cried Clover, skipping about and clapping her hands: âI never, never, never did hear of anything so perfectly lovely. Papa, when are you coming down stairs? I want to speak to you dreadfully.â
âRight awayârather than have my coat-tails pulled off,â answered Dr. Carr, laughing, and they went away together. Katy sat looking out of the window in a peaceful, happy mood.
âOh!â she thought, âcan it really be? Is School going to âlet out,â just as Cousin Helenâs hymn said? Am I going to âBid a sweet good-bye to Pain?â But there was Love in the Pain. I see it now. How good the dear Teacher has been to me!â
Clover seemed to be very busy all the rest of that week. She was âhaving windows washed,â she said, but this explanation hardly accounted for her long absences, and the mysterious exultation on her face, not to mention certain sounds of hammering and sawing which came from down stairs. The other children had evidently been warned to say nothing; for once or twice Philly broke out with, âOh, Katy!â and then hushed himself up, saying, âI âmost forgot!â Katy grew very curious. But she saw that the secret, whatever it was, gave immense satisfaction to everybody except herself; so, though she longed to know, she concluded not to spoil the fun by asking any questions.
At last it wanted but one day of the important occasion.
âSee,â said Katy, as Clover came into the room a little before tea-time. âMiss Petingill has brought home my new dress. Iâm going to wear it for the first time to go down stairs in.â
âHow pretty!â said Clover, examining the dress, which was a soft, dove-colored cashmere, trimmed with ribbon of the same shade. âBut Katy, I came up to shut your door. Bridgetâs going to sweep the hall, and I donât want the dust to fly in, because your room was brushed this morning, you know.â
âWhat a queer time to sweep a hall!â said Katy, wonderingly. âWhy donât you make her wait till morning?â
âOh, she canât! There areâshe hasâI mean there will be other things for her to do to-morrow. Itâs a great deal more convenient that she should do it now. Donât worry, Katy, darling, but just keep your door shut. You will, wonât you? Promise me!â
âVery well,â said Katy, more and more amazed, but yielding to Cloverâs eagerness, âIâll keep it shut.â Her curiosity was excited. She took a book and tried to read, but the letters danced up and down before her eyes, and she couldnât help listening. Bridget was making a most ostentatious noise with her broom, but through it all, Katy seemed to hear other soundsâfeet on the stairs, doors opening and shuttingâonce, a stifled giggle. How queer it all was!
âNever mind,â she said, resolutely stopping her ears, âI shall know all about it to-morrow.â
To-morrow dawned fresh and fairâthe very ideal of a September day.
âKaty!â said Clover, as she came in from the garden with her hands full of flowers, âthat dress of yours is sweet. You never looked so nice before in your life!â And she stuck a beautiful carnation pink under Katyâs breast-pin and fastened another in her hair.
âThere!â she said, ânow youâre adorned. Papa is coming up in a few minutes to take you down.â
Just then Elsie and Johnnie came in. They had on their best frocks. So had Clover. It was evidently a festival-day to all the house. Cecy followed, invited over for the special purpose of seeing Katy walk down stairs. She, too, had on a new frock.
âHow fine we are!â said Clover, as she remarked this magnificence. âTurn round, Cecyâa panier, I do declareâand a sash! You are getting awfully grown up, Miss Hall.â
âNone of us will ever be so âgrown upâ as Katy,â said Cecy, laughing.
And now Papa appeared. Very slowly they all went down stairs, Katy leaning on Papa, with Dorry on her other side, and the girls behind, while Philly clattered ahead. And there were Debby and Bridget and Alexander, peeping out of the kitchen door to watch her, and dear old Mary with her apron at her eyes crying for joy.
âOh, the front door is open!â said Katy, in a delighted tone. âHow nice! And what a pretty oil-cloth. Thatâs new since I was here.â
âDonât stop to look at that!â cried Philly, who seemed in a great hurry about something. âIt isnât new. Itâs been there ever and ever so long! Come into the parlor instead.â
âYes!â said Papa, âdinner isnât quite ready yet, youâll have time to rest a little after your walk down stairs. You have borne it admirably, Katy. Are you very tired?â
âNot a bit!â replied Katy, cheerfully. âI could do it alone, I think. Oh! the bookcase door has been mended! How nice it looks.â
âDonât wait, oh, donât wait!â repeated Phil, in an agony of impatience.
So they moved on. Papa opened the parlor door. Katy took one step into the roomâthen stopped. The color flashed over her face, and she held by the door-knob to support herself. What was it that she saw?
Not merely the room itself, with its fresh muslin curtains and vases of flowers. Nor even the wide, beautiful window which had been cut toward the sun, or the inviting little couch and table which stood there, evidently for her. No, there was something else! The sofa was pulled out and there upon it, supported by pillows, her bright eyes turned to the door, layâCousin Helen! When she saw Katy, she held out her arms.
Clover and Cecy agreed afterward that they never were so frightened in their lives as at this moment; for Katy, forgetting her weakness, let go of Papaâs arm, and absolutely ran toward the sofa. âOh, Cousin Helen! dear, dear Cousin Helen!â she cried. Then she tumbled down by the sofa somehow, the two pairs of arms and the two faces met, and for a moment or two not a word more was heard from anybody.
âIsnât a nice âprise?â shouted Philly, turning a somerset by way of relieving his feelings, while John and Dorry executed a sort of wardance round the sofa.
Philâs voice seemed to break the spell of silence, and a perfect hubbub of questions and exclamations began.
It appeared that this happy thought of getting Cousin Helen to the âCelebration,â was Cloverâs. She it was who had proposed it to Papa, and made all the arrangements. And, artful puss! she had set Bridget to sweep the hall, on purpose that Katy might not hear the noise of the arrival.
âCousin Helenâs going to stay three weeks this timeâisnât that nice?â asked Elsie, while Clover anxiously questioned: âAre you sure that you didnât suspect? Not one bit? Not the least tiny, weeny mite?â
âNo, indeedânot the least. How could I suspect anything so perfectly delightful?â And Katy gave Cousin Helen another rapturous kiss.
Such a short day as that seemed! There was so much to see, to ask about, to talk over, that the hours flew, and evening dropped upon them all like another great surprise.
Cousin Helen was perhaps the happiest of the party. Beside the pleasure of knowing Katy to be almost well again, she had the additional enjoyment of seeing for herself how many changes for the better had taken place, during the four years, among the little cousins she loved so much.
It was very interesting to watch them all. Elsie and Dorry seemed to her the most improved of the family. Elsie had quite lost her plaintive look and little injured tone, and was as bright and beaming a maiden of twelve as any one could wish to see. Dorryâs moody face had grown open and sensible, and his manners were good-humored and obliging. He was still a sober boy, and not specially quick in catching an idea, but he promised to turn out a valuable man. And to him, as to all the other children, Katy was evidently the centre and the sun. They all revolved about her, and trusted her for everything. Cousin Helen looked on as Phil came in crying, after a hard tumble, and was consoled; as Johnnie whispered an important secret, and Elsie begged for help in her work. She saw Katy meet them all pleasantly and sweetly, without a bit of the dictatorial elder-sister in her manner, and with none of her old, impetuous tone. And best of all, she saw the change in Katyâs own face: the gentle expression of her eyes, the womanly look, the pleasant voice, the politeness, the tact in advising the others, without seeming to advise.
âDear Katy,â she said a day or two after her arrival, âthis visit is a great pleasure to meâyou canât think how great. It is such a contrast to the last I made, when you were so sick, and everybody so sad. Do you remember?â
âIndeed I do! And how good you were, and how you helped me! I shall never forget that.â
âIâm glad! But what I could do was very little. You have been learning by yourself all this time. And Katy, darling, I want to tell you how pleased I am to see how bravely you have worked your way up. I can perceive it in everythingâin Papa, in the children, in yourself. You have won the place, which, you recollect, I once told you an invalid should try to gain, of being to everybody âThe Heart of the House.ââ
âOh, Cousin Helen, donât!â said Katy, her eyes filling with sudden tears. âI havenât been brave. You canât think how badly I sometimes have behavedâhow cross and ungrateful I am, and how stupid and slow. Every day I see things which ought to be done, and I donât do them. Itâs too delightful to have you praise meâbut you mustnât. I donât deserve it.â
But although she said she didnât deserve it I think that Katy did!
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