Fifty-Two Stories For Girls Part 18

And then it was, standing beside his luggage, that Tom replied,--

"Sennacherib!"

Though not strictly to the point, no other word or phrase could have shown those who knew Tom how much he was moved. Nettie knew. She was rather sorry Tom had to be told at all, for he had been quite unsuccessful this term, a good deal to his father's disappointment; and Nettie was sure he must feel the contrast of her own success rather keenly. They talked of other things on the way home, and directly Tom had kissed his mother and Dorothy and Joe, Nettie said, "Now shall we go and get the pup? I can tell you he's a beauty!"

"What a brick you are, Net, to think of it!" said Tom. "Yes; let's go."

These holidays were very delightful to Nettie and Tom; that young man permitted, even encouraged, terms of perfect equality. He forgot to patronise or disparage his sister or her s.e.x. Perhaps his sister's success and his own lack of it had made him feel a bit modest. Nettie had explained her achievement both to herself and others by the fact that she had been so happy. And she was right. Some people talk as though a discipline of pain were necessary for all people in order to develop the best in them. That is not so. There are certain temperaments found in natures naturally fine, to whom a discipline of pleasure is best, especially in youth, and happily G.o.d often sends pleasure to these: we mean the pleasure of success; the pleasure of realising cherished plans; the pleasure of health and strength to meet every duty of life cheerfully. And now Nettie began to build castles in the air for Tom. Tom would go to Sandhurst; he would pa.s.s well; he would have a commission in a crack regiment. And Tom's repentance of some former disparagement of the s.e.x was shown in such remarks as "that Beauchamp major--you know, the fellow I told you a good deal about."

"Oh yes, a fine fellow!"

"Well, I don't know, Net--I begin to think he's a beastly idiot. That fellow was bragging to me the other day that he bullied his sisters into f.a.gging for him when he was at home. I think that's enough for me." And so holidays again came to an end, to Nettie's secret delight. She hated parting with Tom, but she longed to be back at her work.

Six years pa.s.sed away and Nettie's career had been one of unbroken success. She had proceeded to Newnham and had come out splendidly in her examinations. Only one thing clouded her sky. Tom had not been successful. In spite of all that coaching could do, he had been plucked at Sandhurst, and the doctor had prohibited further study for the present. Nettie wrote to him constantly, making light of his failure, and a.s.suring him of ultimate success. And now she was to make her start in her chosen profession. Before long she would be able to write herself "Nettie Anderson, M.D." and she was then to go into practice with her elder friend, Minnie Roberts. Little paragraphs had even appeared in some of the papers that "for the first time in the history of medicine in England, two lady graduates in medicine are to practise in partnership." Miss Roberts was already settled in one of the Bloomsbury squares, and had a constantly increasing circle of clients.

One Sat.u.r.day afternoon in October the inaugural banquet was held. Nettie had a flat of her own in the house, and here the feast was spread. Mr.

and Mrs. Anderson, Tom, and the two doctors formed the company. They were all so proud of Nettie that they almost forgot Tom's lack of success. There was what is understood as a high time. Who so gay and bright as Nettie! Who so gentle and courteous as Tom! (I am afraid a discipline of failure is best for some of us!) How the time flew! How soon mother and Nettie had to go to Nettie's room for the mother to don her bonnet and get back home in decent time!

"But you'll be marrying, you know, some day, Nettie."

"Ah! time will show, mother dear," was Nettie's answer; and then she added, "but if I do it will be from choice and not necessity."

THE MAGIC CABINET.

BY ALBERT E. HOOPER.

"A castle built of granite.

With towers grim and tall; A castle built of rainbows, With sunbeams over all:-- I pa.s.s the one, in ruins, And mount a golden stair,-- For the newest and the truest, And the oldest and the boldest, And the fairest and the rarest, Is my castle in the air."--M.

I.

ON TWO SIDES OF THE CABINET.

"Plenty of nourishment, remember, Mr. Goodman," said the doctor; "you must really see that your wife carries out my instructions. And you, my dear lady, mustn't trouble about want of appet.i.te. The appet.i.te will come all in good time, if you do what I tell you. Good-afternoon."

Little Grace Goodman gazed after the retreating figure of the doctor; and when the door closed behind him and her father, she turned to look at her mother.

Mrs. Goodman looked very pale and ill, and as she lay back in her cushioned-chair she tried to wipe away a tear unseen. But Grace's sight was very sharp, and she ran across the room and threw her arms impetuously round her mother's neck.

"Oh, mother, are you very miserable?" she asked, while her own lip quivered pitifully.

"No, no, my darling, not 'very miserable,'" answered her mother, kissing the little girl tenderly. "Hush! don't cry, my love, or you will make father unhappy. Here he comes."

Mr. Goodman re-entered the room looking very thoughtful; but as he came and sat down beside his wife, he smiled and said cheerfully, "You will soon be well now, the doctor says. The worst is over, and you only need strengthening."

Mrs. Goodman smiled sadly.

"He little knows how impossible it is to carry out his orders," she said.

"Not impossible. We shall be able to manage it, I think."

A sudden light of hope sprang into the sick lady's eyes.

"Is the book taken at last, then?" she asked eagerly.

"The book? No, indeed. The publishers all refuse to have anything to do with it. It is a risky business, you see, to bring out such an expensive book, and I can't say that I'm surprised at their refusal."

"How are we to get the money, then?" asked his wife. "We have barely enough for our everyday wants, and we cannot spare anything for extras."

"We must sell something."

Mrs. Goodman glanced round the shabbily furnished room, and then looked back at her husband questioningly.

"Uncle Jacob's Indian cabinet must go," said he.

Mrs. Goodman looked quickly towards a large black piece of furniture which stood in a dusky corner of the room, and after a moment's pause, she said: "I don't like to part with it at all. It may be very foolish and superst.i.tious of me, but I always feel that we should be unwise to forget Uncle Jacob's advice. You know what he said about it in his will."

"I can't say that I remember much about it," answered her husband. "I have a dim remembrance that he said something that sounded rather heathenish about the cabinet bringing good luck to its owners. I didn't pay much attention to it at the time, because I don't believe in anything of the sort. And besides, your Uncle Jacob was a very peculiar old gentleman; one never knew what to make of his odd fancies and whims."

"Yes, you are quite right; he was a strange old man; but somehow I never shared the belief of most people that his intellect was weak. I think he had gathered some out-of-the-way notions during his life in India; but his mind always seemed clear enough on practical questions."

"Well, what was it he said about the Indian cabinet?"

"He said that he left it to us because we had no need for any of his money--we had plenty of our own then!--that the old Magic Cabinet, as he called it, had once been the property of a rich Rajah, who had received it from the hands of a wise Buddhist priest; that there was something talismanic about it, which gave it the power of averting misfortune from its owners; and that it would be a great mistake ever to part with it."

Mr. Goodman laughed uneasily.

"I wonder what Uncle Jacob would say now," said he. "When he amused himself by writing all that fanciful rubbish in his will, he little thought that we should be reduced to such want. It is true, he never believed that my book would be worth anything; but he could not foresee the failure of the bank and the loss of all our money. I scarcely think, if he were alive now, that he would advise me to keep the cabinet and allow you to go without the nourishment the doctor orders."

The invalid sighed.

"I suppose there is no help for it," she answered. "The old cabinet must go; for I am useless without strength, and I only make the struggle harder for you."

All the time her father and mother had been talking, little Grace had been looking from one to the other with eager, wide-open eyes; and now she cried: "Oh, mother! must the dear old black cabinet be taken away?

And sha'n't we ever see it again!"

Her father drew her between his knees and smoothed back her fluffy golden hair as he said gently: "I know how you will miss it, dear; you have had such splendid games and make-believes with it, haven't you? But you will be glad to give it up to make mother well, I know."

"Will mother be quite well when the old cabinet is gone away?" asked Grace. "Will her face be bright and pink like it used to be? And will she go out of doors again?"