The Princess and Joe Potter Part 33

"Hi, Joe!" Plums cried, excitedly. "See the swells what are comin' to visit aunt Dorcas!"

"They want to ask the way somewhere, an' seein's we couldn't even tell 'em where the post-office is, I guess we'd better keep kind er shady.

Now the princess is awake! We'll have to show ourselves, 'cause she's bound to make a noise," Joe added, as the little maid clambered upon his knee.

"I'm goin'--Say, aunt Dorcas herself is in that funny rig!"

"What are you givin' me?" and Joe leaned forward eagerly, in order to have a better view.

"It's her, dead sure! There! Look at that! What do you think, now?"

It was, indeed, as Master Plummer had said.

Aunt Dorcas was getting out of the carriage, a.s.sisted by a gentleman who spoke to the driver in such a manner as one would expect from the owner of the equipage, and immediately behind the little woman could be seen a younger lady.

"I wonder if aunt Dorcas thinks them swells would help two chumps like us out of our sc.r.a.pe!" Joe exclaimed. "If she does, her head ain't--"

"Papa! Papa!" the princess screamed in delight, as she pounded on the window with her tiny fists, and instantly the gentleman left aunt Dorcas to alight from the vehicle as best she could, while he ran at full speed up the sharp ascent to the house.

"I'll be blowed, if aunt Dorcas hasn't found the princess's folks!" Joe cried, as an expression of bewilderment came over his face. "That dude is comin' in, an' we'd best leave."

Followed by Plums, Joe ran out of the kitchen door, just as the gentleman came through the main entrance of the cottage, and the boys heard a wild scream of delight from the princess.

Master Potter threw himself, face downward, on the gra.s.s near the garden, and Plums seated himself by his comrade's side, asking again and again how it was aunt Dorcas had so readily found the princess's parents.

"When we first come here, I didn't think she 'mounted to very much, 'cause she was so little an' kind er dried up. Then, when she struck out so heavy prayin', I begun to think there might be more to her than I'd counted on. But now,--why, Joe, little as she is, aunt Dorcas has done more'n all the cops in town put together. When we told her the princess had lost her folks, what does she do but go right out and hunt 'em up, an' don't look as though she'd turned a hair doin' it."

Joe made no reply.

"Didn't she hump herself, when we showed her that advertis.e.m.e.nt? She was jest like a terrier after a rat, an' bossed me 'round till, as true's you live, I run more'n half the way over to Mr. McArthur's. Then how she jumped on him when he begun to ask questions! If I only had somebody like aunt Dorcas to look out for me, I wouldn't have to work so hard."

Joe remained silent; but Plums was so intent on singing aunt Dorcas's praises, that he failed to pay any especial attention to the fact that his comrade had not spoken since they knew the princess's parents had arrived.

"Joseph! George!"

"Here we are, aunt Dorcas," Plums replied.

"Come into the house this very minute, both of you."

"Come on, Joe; I s'pose we've got to go. The dude wants to thank us for lookin' after the princess."

"You can go; I sha'n't," Joe said, with difficulty, as if he were choking, and Plums gazed at him in surprise.

"Joseph! George! Where are you?"

"Out here by the garden, aunt Dorcas. Joe won't come in."

"Go on by yourself, an' leave me alone," Master Potter said, angrily, still keeping his face hidden from view.

"It can't do any hurt to have one look at the dudes, an' seein's how there's nothin' else goin' on, I guess I'll take the show in."

Then Master Plummer sauntered leisurely towards the cottage, and Joe, believing himself alone, began to sob as if his heart were breaking.

He failed to hear aunt Dorcas as she came swiftly out through the shed door and kneeled by his side. Not until she spoke did he think there was a witness to his grief.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "JOE, BELIEVING HIMSELF ALONE, BEGAN TO SOB AS IF HIS HEART WERE BREAKING."]

"Josey, my poor boy, are you grieving because Essie's parents have found her at last?"

Joe tried to speak, but could not, and the little woman continued:

"You should rejoice because the sufferings of that poor father and mother are at an end. Try to imagine their distress when the dear child was missing, and they could not know whether she was alive or dead.

Think of them, as they pictured her alone in the streets, wandering around until exhausted, or falling into the hands of wicked people who would abuse her. Fancy what their sufferings must have been as compared with yours, when you know that she will receive even better treatment than we could give her. It is wicked, Josey, my boy, to grieve so sorely, for a mother's heart has been lightened of all the terrible load which has been upon it for so many days."

Then aunt Dorcas patted the small portion of cheek which was exposed to view between the bandages, and in many a loving way soothed the sorrowing boy, until he suddenly sat bolt upright, wiping both eyes with the sleeve of his coat, as he said, stoutly:

"I'm a bloomin' idjut, aunt Dorcas, that's what I am, an' if you'd turn to an' kick me, I'd be served nearer right than by havin' you pity me."

"You're very far removed from an idiot, Joseph, and I am glad to know your heart is still so tender that you can feel badly at the loss of a dear little child like Essie,--Esther is her name. Now, Josey dear, don't you want to know why those lawyers tried to find you?"

"Have you been to see them, too?" Joe cried, in surprise.

"Yes, indeed, dear. In the paper you took from Dan Fernald was another advertis.e.m.e.nt directly below the one referring to you, and it was concerning a little child who had been lost in the vicinity of the Grand Central Station. The same names were signed to it, and on seeing that, I believed I understood why so much money would be paid for information concerning you."

"I s'pose it's all straight enough, aunt Dorcas; but I can't seem to make out what you mean."

"Nothing can be plainer, my child. Little Essie was left in charge of a nurse at the station, and when the foolish woman missed the baby, instead of making immediate inquiries, she spent her time fainting. Not until nearly eight o'clock that evening did the poor mother learn of her terrible loss, and then detectives were sent out at once. The boy at the fruit store, on being questioned, as was every one else in that vicinity, described the baby he saw in your arms, and told the officers your name. You had disappeared, and the only thing left was to offer a reward for information as to your whereabouts."

"Then they didn't think I'd done anything crooked?"

"If by that you mean 'wrong,' they didn't. It was the only clew they had to the child; but on the following day it was learned you had been seen with George, and then his name appeared in the advertis.e.m.e.nt. After that, some of the newsboys from around City Hall Square brought word that Dan Fernald was with you, and a reward was also offered for knowledge of his whereabouts. You see, Josey dear, if Mr. Raymond--that is the name of Essie's father--could find either of you three boys, he was reasonably certain of getting news regarding his baby."

"Then I ran away from nothing, did I?"

"Yes, Josey dear, you did what many older persons than you have done, and what G.o.d's Book tells us the wicked do,--fled when no man was pursuing."

"Well, I _have_ been a chump!"

"Do you mean that you've been foolish?"

"I s'pose that's what you'd call it. I'm a reg'lar jay from Jayville, an' yesterday mornin' I let that bloomin' imitation detective scare me!"

"Those wiser than you might have misconstrued that advertis.e.m.e.nt, Joseph; but this shall teach you that there is nothing to fear when your conscience is clear. Meet trouble half-way, and it dwindles into mere vexation. Now, dear, I want you to come into the house with me and meet Mr. and Mrs. Raymond. They know how kind you have been to Essie, and wish to thank you."

"Well, they can't thank me for takin' care of the princess, an' I only wish she'd never had a father and a mother, for then I could have kept her all the time."

"Won't you come to please me, dear?" and aunt Dorcas laid her hand on the boy's arm affectionately.

"When you put it that way, I'll have to go," and Joe rose slowly to his feet.