บทที่ บทที่ 3 · THE LAURENCE BOY

’s grandfather! What in the world put such a thing

into his head? We don’t know him!” exclaimed Meg.

“Hannah told one of his servants about your breakfast party. He is an

odd old gentleman, but that pleased him. He knew my father years ago,

and he sent me a polite note this afternoon, saying he hoped I would

allow him to express his friendly feeling toward my children by sending

them a few trifles in honor of the day. I could not refuse, and so you

have a little feast at night to make up for the bread-and-milk

breakfast.”

“That boy put it into his head, I know he did! He’s a capital fellow,

and I wish we could get acquainted. He looks as if he’d like to know us

but he’s bashful, and Meg is so prim she won’t let me speak to him when

we pass,” said Jo, as the plates went round, and the ice began to melt

out of sight, with ohs and ahs of satisfaction.

“You mean the people who live in the big house next door, don’t you?”

asked one of the girls. “My mother knows old Mr. Laurence, but says

he’s very proud and doesn’t like to mix with his neighbors. He keeps

his grandson shut up, when he isn’t riding or walking with his tutor,

and makes him study very hard. We invited him to our party, but he

didn’t come. Mother says he’s very nice, though he never speaks to us

girls.”

“Our cat ran away once, and he brought her back, and we talked over the

fence, and were getting on capitally, all about cricket, and so on,

when he saw Meg coming, and walked off. I mean to know him some day,

for he needs fun, I’m sure he does,” said Jo decidedly.

“I like his manners, and he looks like a little gentleman, so I’ve no

objection to your knowing him, if a proper opportunity comes. He

brought the flowers himself, and I should have asked him in, if I had

been sure what was going on upstairs. He looked so wistful as he went

away, hearing the frolic and evidently having none of his own.”

“It’s a mercy you didn’t, Mother!” laughed Jo, looking at her boots.

“But we’ll have another play sometime that he can see. Perhaps he’ll

help act. Wouldn’t that be jolly?”

“I never had such a fine bouquet before! How pretty it is!” And Meg

examined her flowers with great interest.

“They are lovely. But Beth’s roses are sweeter to me,” said Mrs. March,

smelling the half-dead posy in her belt.

Beth nestled up to her, and whispered softly, “I wish I could send my

bunch to Father. I’m afraid he isn’t having such a merry Christmas as

we are.”

Chapter 3. THE LAURENCE BOY

“Jo! Jo! Where are you?” cried Meg at the foot of the garret stairs.

“Here!” answered a husky voice from above, and, running up, Meg found

her sister eating apples and crying over the Heir of Redclyffe, wrapped

up in a comforter on an old three-legged sofa by the sunny window. This

was Jo’s favorite refuge, and here she loved to retire with half a

dozen russets and a nice book, to enjoy the quiet and the society of a

pet rat who lived near by and didn’t mind her a particle. As Meg

appeared, Scrabble whisked into his hole. Jo shook the tears off her

cheeks and waited to hear the news.

“Such fun! Only see! A regular note of invitation from Mrs. Gardiner

for tomorrow night!” cried Meg, waving the precious paper and then

proceeding to read it with girlish delight.

“‘Mrs. Gardiner would be happy to see Miss March and Miss Josephine at

a little dance on New Year’s Eve.’ Marmee is willing we should go, now

what shall we wear?”

“What’s the use of asking that, when you know we shall wear our

poplins, because we haven’t got anything else?” answered Jo with her

mouth full.

“If I only had a silk!” sighed Meg. “Mother says I may when I’m

eighteen perhaps, but two years is an everlasting time to wait.”

“I’m sure our pops look like silk, and they are nice enough for us.

Yours is as good as new, but I forgot the burn and the tear in mine.

Whatever shall I do? The burn shows badly, and I can’t take any out.”

“You must sit still all you can and keep your back out of sight. The

front is all right. I shall have a new ribbon for my hair, and Marmee

will lend me her little pearl pin, and my new slippers are lovely, and

my gloves will do, though they aren’t as nice as I’d like.”

“Mine are spoiled with lemonade, and I can’t get any new ones, so I

shall have to go without,” said Jo, who never troubled herself much

about dress.

“You must have gloves, or I won’t go,” cried Meg decidedly. “Gloves are

more important than anything else. You can’t dance without them, and if

you don’t I should be so mortified.”

“Then I’ll stay still. I don’t care much for company dancing. It’s no

fun to go sailing round. I like to fly about and cut capers.”

“You can’t ask Mother for new ones, they are so expensive, and you are

so careless. She said when you spoiled the others that she shouldn’t

get you any more this winter. Can’t you make them do?”

“I can hold them crumpled up in my hand, so no one will know how

stained they are. That’s all I can do. No! I’ll tell you how we can

manage, each wear one good one and carry a bad one. Don’t you see?”

“Your hands are bigger than mine, and you will stretch my glove

dreadfully,” began Meg, whose gloves were a tender point with her.

“Then I’ll go without. I don’t care what people say!” cried Jo, taking

up her book.

“You may have it, you may! Only don’t stain it, and do behave nicely.

Don’t put your hands behind you, or stare, or say ‘Christopher

Columbus!’ will you?”

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be as prim as I can and not get into any

scrapes, if I can help it. Now go and answer your note, and let me

finish this splendid story.”

So Meg went away to ‘accept with thanks’, look over her dress, and sing

blithely as she did up her one real lace frill, while Jo finished her

story, her four apples, and had a game of romps with Scrabble.

On New Year’s Eve the parlor was deserted, for the two younger girls

played dressing maids and the two elder were absorbed in the

all-important business of ‘getting ready for the party’. Simple as the

toilets were, there was a great deal of running up and down, laughing

and talking, and at one time a strong smell of burned hair pervaded the

house. Meg wanted a few curls about her face, and Jo undertook to pinch

the papered locks with a pair of hot tongs.

“Ought they to smoke like that?” asked Beth from her perch on the bed.

“It’s the dampness drying,” replied Jo.

“What a queer smell! It’s like burned feathers,” observed Amy,

smoothing her own pretty curls with a superior air.

“There, now I’ll take off the papers and you’ll see a cloud of little

ringlets,” said Jo, putting down the tongs.

She did take off the papers, but no cloud of ringlets appeared, for the

hair came with the papers, and the horrified hairdresser laid a row of

little scorched bundles on the bureau before her victim.

“Oh, oh, oh! What have you done? I’m spoiled! I can’t go! My hair, oh,

my hair!” wailed Meg, looking with despair at the uneven frizzle on her

forehead.

“Just my luck! You shouldn’t have asked me to do it. I always spoil

everything. I’m so sorry, but the tongs were too hot, and so I’ve made

a mess,” groaned poor Jo, regarding the little black pancakes with

tears of regret.

“It isn’t spoiled. Just frizzle it, and tie your ribbon so the ends

come on your forehead a bit, and it will look like the last fashion.

I’ve seen many girls do it so,” said Amy consolingly.

“Serves me right for trying to be fine. I wish I’d let my hair alone,”

cried Meg petulantly.

“So do I, it was so smooth and pretty. But it will soon grow out

again,” said Beth, coming to kiss and comfort the shorn sheep.

After various lesser mishaps, Meg was finished at last, and by the

united exertions of the entire family Jo’s hair was got up and her

dress on. They looked very well in their simple suits, Meg’s in silvery

drab, with a blue velvet snood, lace frills, and the pearl pin. Jo in

maroon, with a stiff, gentlemanly linen collar, and a white

chrysanthemum or two for her only ornament. Each put on one nice light

glove, and carried one soiled one, and all pronounced the effect “quite

easy and fine”. Meg’s high-heeled slippers were very tight and hurt

her, though she would not own it, and Jo’s nineteen hairpins all seemed

stuck straight into her head, which was not exactly comfortable, but,

dear me, let us be elegant or die.

“Have a good time, dearies!” said Mrs. March, as the sisters went

daintily down the walk. “Don’t eat much supper, and come away at eleven

when I send Hannah for you.” As the gate clashed behind them, a voice

cried from a window...

“Girls, girls! Have you you both got nice pocket handkerchiefs?”

“Yes, yes, spandy nice, and Meg has cologne on hers,” cried Jo, adding

with a laugh as they went on, “I do believe Marmee would ask that if we

were all running away from an earthquake.”

“It is one of her aristocratic tastes, and quite proper, for a real

lady is always known by neat boots, gloves, and handkerchief,” replied

Meg, who had a good many little ‘aristocratic tastes’ of her own.

“Now don’t forget to keep the bad breadth out of sight, Jo. Is my sash

right? And does my hair look very bad?” said Meg, as she turned from

the glass in Mrs. Gardiner’s dressing room after a prolonged prink.

“I know I shall forget. If you see me doing anything wrong, just remind

me by a wink, will you?” returned Jo, giving her collar a twitch and

her head a hasty brush.

“No, winking isn’t ladylike. I’ll lift my eyebrows if any thing is

wrong, and nod if you are all right. Now hold your shoulder straight,

and take short steps, and don’t shake hands if you are introduced to

anyone. It isn’t the thing.”

“How do you learn all the proper ways? I never can. Isn’t that music

gay?”

Down they went, feeling a trifle timid, for they seldom went to

parties, and informal as this little gathering was, it was an event to

them. Mrs. Gardiner, a stately old lady, greeted them kindly and handed

them over to the eldest of her six daughters. Meg knew Sallie and was

at her ease very soon, but Jo, who didn’t care much for girls or

girlish gossip, stood about, with her back carefully against the wall,

and felt as much out of place as a colt in a flower garden. Half a

dozen jovial lads were talking about skates in another part of the

room, and she longed to go and join them, for skating was one of the

joys of her life. She telegraphed her wish to Meg, but the eyebrows

went up so alarmingly that she dared not stir. No one came to talk to

her, and one by one the group dwindled away till she was left alone.

She could not roam about and amuse herself, for the burned breadth

would show, so she stared at people rather forlornly till the dancing

began. Meg was asked at once, and the tight slippers tripped about so

briskly that none would have guessed the pain their wearer suffered

smilingly. Jo saw a big red headed youth approaching her corner, and

fearing he meant to engage her, she slipped into a curtained recess,

intending to peep and enjoy herself in peace. Unfortunately, another

bashful person had chosen the same refuge, for, as the curtain fell

behind her, she found herself face to face with the ‘Laurence boy’.

“Dear me, I didn’t know anyone was here!” stammered Jo, preparing to

back out as speedily as she had bounced in.

But the boy laughed and said pleasantly, though he looked a little

startled, “Don’t mind me, stay if you like.”

“Shan’t I disturb you?”

“Not a bit. I only came here because I don’t know many people and felt

rather strange at first, you know.”

“So did I. Don’t go away, please, unless you’d rather.”

The boy sat down again and looked at his pumps, till Jo said, trying to

be polite and easy, “I think I’ve had the pleasure of seeing you

before. You live near us, don’t you?”

“Next door.” And he looked up and laughed outright, for Jo’s prim

manner was rather funny when he remembered how they had chatted about

cricket when he brought the cat home.

That put Jo at her ease and she laughed too, as she said, in her

heartiest way, “We did have such a good time over your nice Christmas

present.”

“Grandpa sent it.”

“But you put it into his head, didn’t you, now?”

“How is your cat, Miss March?” asked the boy, trying to look sober

while his black eyes shone with fun.

“Nicely, thank you, Mr. Laurence. But I am not Miss March, I’m only

Jo,” returned the young lady.

“I’m not Mr. Laurence, I’m only Laurie.”

“Laurie Laurence, what an odd name.”

“My first name is Theodore, but I don’t like it, for the fellows called

me Dora, so I made them say Laurie instead.”

“I hate my name, too, so sentimental! I wish every one would say Jo

instead of Josephine. How did you make the boys stop calling you Dora?”

“I thrashed ’em.”

“I can’t thrash Aunt March, so I suppose I shall have to bear it.” And

Jo resigned herself with a sigh.

“Don’t you like to dance, Miss Jo?” asked Laurie, looking as if he

thought the name suited her.

“I like it well enough if there is plenty of room, and everyone is

lively. In a place like this I’m sure to upset something, tread on

people’s toes, or do something dreadful, so I keep out of mischief and

let Meg sail about. Don’t you dance?”

“Sometimes. You see I’ve been abroad a good many years, and haven’t

been into company enough yet to know how you do things here.”

“Abroad!” cried Jo. “Oh, tell me about it! I love dearly to hear people

describe their travels.”

Laurie didn’t seem to know where to begin, but Jo’s eager questions

soon set him going, and he told her how he had been at school in Vevay,

where the boys never wore hats and had a fleet of boats on the lake,

and for holiday fun went on walking trips about Switzerland with their

teachers.

“Don’t I wish I’d been there!” cried Jo. “Did you go to Paris?”

“We spent last winter there.”

“Can you talk French?”

“We were not allowed to speak anything else at Vevay.”

“Do say some! I can read it, but can’t pronounce.”

“Quel nom a cette jeune demoiselle en les pantoufles jolis?”

“How nicely you do it! Let me see ... you said, ‘Who is the young lady

in the pretty slippers’, didn’t you?”

“Oui, mademoiselle.”

“It’s my sister Margaret, and you knew it was! Do you think she is

pretty?”

“Yes, she makes me think of the German girls, she looks so fresh and

quiet, and dances like a lady.”

Jo quite glowed with pleasure at this boyish praise of her sister, and

stored it up to repeat to Meg. Both peeped and criticized and chatted

till they felt like old acquaintances. Laurie’s bashfulness soon wore

off, for Jo’s gentlemanly demeanor amused and set him at his ease, and

Jo was her merry self again, because her dress was forgotten and nobody

lifted their eyebrows at her. She liked the ‘Laurence boy’ better than

ever and took several good looks at him, so that she might describe him

to the girls, for they had no brothers, very few male cousins, and boys

were almost unknown creatures to them.

“Curly black hair, brown skin, big black eyes, handsome nose, fine

teeth, small hands and feet, taller than I am, very polite, for a boy,

and altogether jolly. Wonder how old he is?”

It was on the tip of Jo’s tongue to ask, but she checked herself in

time and, with unusual tact, tried to find out in a round-about way.

“I suppose you are going to college soon? I see you pegging away at

your books, no, I mean studying hard.” And Jo blushed at the dreadful

‘pegging’ which had escaped her.

Laurie smiled but didn’t seem shocked, and answered with a shrug. “Not

for a year or two. I won’t go before seventeen, anyway.”

“Aren’t you but fifteen?” asked Jo, looking at the tall lad, whom she

had imagined seventeen already.

“Sixteen, next month.”

“How I wish I was going to college! You don’t look as if you liked it.”

“I hate it! Nothing but grinding or skylarking. And I don’t like the

way fellows do either, in this country.”

“What do you like?”

“To live in Italy, and to enjoy myself in my own way.”

Jo wanted very much to ask what his own way was, but his black brows

looked rather threatening as he knit them, so she changed the subject

by saying, as her foot kept time, “That’s a splendid polka! Why don’t

you go and try it?”

“If you will come too,” he answered, with a gallant little bow.

“I can’t, for I told Meg I wouldn’t, because...” There Jo stopped, and

looked undecided whether to tell or to laugh.

“Because, what?”

“You won’t tell?”

“Never!”

“Well, I have a bad trick of standing before the fire, and so I burn my

frocks, and I scorched this one, and though it’s nicely mended, it

shows, and Meg told me to keep still so no one would see it. You may

laugh, if you want to. It is funny, I know.”

But Laurie didn’t laugh. He only looked down a minute, and the

expression of his face puzzled Jo when he said very gently, “Never mind

that. I’ll tell you how we can manage. There’s a long hall out there,

and we can dance grandly, and no one will see us. Please come.”

Jo thanked him and gladly went, wishing she had two neat gloves when

she saw the nice, pearl-colored ones her partner wore. The hall was

empty, and they had a grand polka, for Laurie danced well, and taught

her the German step, which delighted Jo, being full of swing and

spring. When the music stopped, they sat down on the stairs to get

their breath, and Laurie was in the midst of an account of a students’

festival at Heidelberg when Meg appeared in search of her sister. She

beckoned, and Jo reluctantly followed her into a side room, where she

found her on a sofa, holding her foot, and looking pale.

“I’ve sprained my ankle. That stupid high heel turned and gave me a sad

wrench. It aches so, I can hardly stand, and I don’t know how I’m ever

going to get home,” she said, rocking to and fro in pain.

“I knew you’d hurt your feet with those silly shoes. I’m sorry. But I

don’t see what you can do, except get a carriage, or stay here all

night,” answered Jo, softly rubbing the poor ankle as she spoke.

“I can’t have a carriage without its costing ever so much. I dare say I

can’t get one at all, for most people come in their own, and it’s a

long way to the stable, and no one to send.”

“I’ll go.”

“No, indeed! It’s past nine, and dark as Egypt. I can’t stop here, for

the house is full. Sallie has some girls staying with her. I’ll rest

till Hannah comes, and then do the best I can.”

“I’ll ask Laurie. He will go,” said Jo, looking relieved as the idea

occurred to her.

“Mercy, no! Don’t ask or tell anyone. Get me my rubbers, and put these

slippers with our things. I can’t dance anymore, but as soon as supper

is over, watch for Hannah and tell me the minute she comes.”

“They are going out to supper now. I’ll stay with you. I’d rather.”

“No, dear, run along, and bring me some coffee. I’m so tired I can’t

stir.”

So Meg reclined, with rubbers well hidden, and Jo went blundering away

to the dining room, which she found after going into a china closet,

and opening the door of a room where old Mr. Gardiner was taking a

little private refreshment. Making a dart at the table, she secured the

coffee, which she immediately spilled, thereby making the front of her

dress as bad as the back.

“Oh, dear, what a blunderbuss I am!” exclaimed Jo, finishing Meg’s

glove by scrubbing her gown with it.

“Can I help you?” said a friendly voice. And there was Laurie, with a

full cup in one hand and a plate of ice in the other.

“I was trying to get something for Meg, who is very tired, and someone

shook me, and here I am in a nice state,” answered Jo, glancing

dismally from the stained skirt to the coffee-colored glove.

“Too bad! I was looking for someone to give this to. May I take it to

your sister?”

“Oh, thank you! I’ll show you where she is. I don’t offer to take it

myself, for I should only get into another scrape if I did.”

Jo led the way, and as if used to waiting on ladies, Laurie drew up a

little table, brought a second installment of coffee and ice for Jo,

and was so obliging that even particular Meg pronounced him a ‘nice

boy’. They had a merry time over the bonbons and mottoes, and were in

the midst of a quiet game of _Buzz_, with two or three other young

people who had strayed in, when Hannah appeared. Meg forgot her foot

and rose so quickly that she was forced to catch hold of Jo, with an

exclamation of pain.

“Hush! Don’t say anything,” she whispered, adding aloud, “It’s nothing.

I turned my foot a little, that’s all,” and limped upstairs to put her

things on.

Hannah scolded, Meg cried, and Jo was at her wits’ end, till she

decided to take things into her own hands. Slipping out, she ran down

and, finding a servant, asked if he could get her a carriage. It

happened to be a hired waiter who knew nothing about the neighborhood

and Jo was looking round for help when Laurie, who had heard what she

said, came up and offered his grandfather’s carriage, which had just

come for him, he said.

“It’s so early! You can’t mean to go yet?” began Jo, looking relieved

but hesitating to accept the offer.

“I always go early, I do, truly! Please let me take you home. It’s all

on my way, you know, and it rains, they say.”

That settled it, and telling him of Meg’s mishap, Jo gratefully

accepted and rushed up to bring down the rest of the party. Hannah

hated rain as much as a cat does so she made no trouble, and they

rolled away in the luxurious close carriage, feeling very festive and

elegant. Laurie went on the box so Meg could keep her foot up, and the

girls talked over their party in freedom.

“I had a capital time. Did you?” asked Jo, rumpling up her hair, and

making herself comfortable.

“Yes, till I hurt myself. Sallie’s friend, Annie Moffat, took a fancy

to me, and asked me to come and spend a week with her when Sallie does.

She is going in the spring when the opera comes, and it will be

perfectly splendid, if Mother only lets me go,” answered Meg, cheering

up at the thought.

“I saw you dancing with the red headed man I ran away from. Was he

nice?”

“Oh, very! His hair is auburn, not red, and he was very polite, and I

had a delicious redowa with him.”

“He looked like a grasshopper in a fit when he did the new step. Laurie

and I couldn’t help laughing. Did you hear us?”

“No, but it was very rude. What were you about all that time, hidden

away there?”

Jo told her adventures, and by the time she had finished they were at

home. With many thanks, they said good night and crept in, hoping to

disturb no one, but the instant their door creaked, two little

nightcaps bobbed up, and two sleepy but eager voices cried out...

“Tell about the party! Tell about the party!”

With what Meg called ‘a great want of manners’ Jo had saved some

bonbons for the little girls, and they soon subsided, after hearing the

most thrilling events of the evening.

“I declare, it really seems like being a fine young lady, to come home

from the party in a carriage and sit in my dressing gown with a maid to

wait on me,” said Meg, as Jo bound up her foot with arnica and brushed

her hair.

“I don’t believe fine young ladies enjoy themselves a bit more than we

do, in spite of our burned hair, old gowns, one glove apiece and tight

slippers that sprain our ankles when we are silly enough to wear them.”

And I think Jo was quite right.