Silverthorns

"Oh, papa, I have so much to say to you, and you are going so soon," she replied.

"And I have been so busy since Jerry got better that my little girl is beginning to think I am forgetting her--is that your new trouble? Remember, I never agreed with you in the old days, when it seemed to you that if a good many `ifs' were realised, there would be no such thing as a trouble left."

"Papa," said Charlotte reproachfully; "I'm not making troubles. I'm never going to do so--it would be _too_ ungrateful. I suppose, as you say so, they must come some time or other, but just now, with Jerry better and all, it's difficult to think of them. _You_ haven't any, have you, dear papa?"

"No, my dear; I have so much good to be grateful for, that, as you say, it is difficult to think of anything but sunshine. Everything is going on satisfactorily."

"You have seen General Osbert again, papa, since the poor son's death?" asked Charlotte; for the younger Mr Osbert had died a few days after the Waldrons arrived.

"Yes, poor old man; he and Lady Mildred are quite at one about everything, and of course I am only too glad to carry out her wishes. One thing I am glad of, and that is that I shall have plenty to do, Charlotte. I could not have endured a life of even comparative idleness."

"Papa dear," Charlotte went on, "it is most of all about Claudia I want to speak to you. I cannot tell you how I feel about her. Do you know, papa, I _could_ not have been like her if our places had been reversed? Just think, she is really as happy for us as if we were her own family. I don't believe it has once come into her mind, even the very least little bit, to wish any of it were coming to them."

"She is a most sweet and noble girl," said Mr Waldron.

"And, _papa_, to think of all she has told me--of how horribly I misunderstood her. To think how poor they are, and of her father's blindness, and how they have struggled, and all that Claudia has done-- not that she seems to think she has ever done anything. I sometimes can't _bear_ to think of the feelings I had," and Charlotte's honest eyes filled with tears.

"It was not altogether your fault," said her father consolingly.

"Yes, papa; the horrid feelings were," said Charlotte firmly. "But do you know it is Claudia's _happiness_ that makes me the most ashamed. She does not know--you said when you first understood about her, you remember, that it would hurt her for me to say too much about how I misjudged her?--she does not know half, and she thinks it was all because she dared not be frank and companionable at school. And she says she is so happy now that we are friends that it was the only thing wanting, and that she is the luckiest girl in the world. And after all, papa, the happiness she is so looking forward to, of working hard and earning, not many would think it a very delightful future, would they? Oh, papa, she is _so_ good."

"And so she is to be envied after all. Has she not `everything' in the best sense, gipsy dear?"

"And we will _always_ be her dearest friends, won't we, papa? Afterwards--when--when Lady Mildred is dead, though I don't like to speak of it, you will be rich enough to help them in many ways that they would not mind, won't you, papa?"

Mr Waldron's eyes looked very bright as he turned to Charlotte.

"I have been saying to Lady Mildred that nothing she can ask of me would give me greater pleasure than the being allowed now, or in the future, to be of use to the Meredons. Even were they less to be admired and respected than they are, it would be my place. And for Claudia herself, I am like you, Charlotte, I can't say what I feel about her. I can only say I am most thankful for you to have such a friend."

"I'm only dreadfully afraid, papa, that now I am learning to love her so, I shall not see much more of her. Lady Mildred is already talking of perhaps not returning to England all this year--of going to Germany in the summer, and back here again next winter. She says her mind is at peace about Silverthorns now, and that she means to have some holidays. And I mustn't stay away from home very long, papa. Mamma could never manage the removal to Silverthorns, to the Old Lodge, I mean, without me," she added importantly; "though I shall be dreadfully sorry to leave Claudia, and Lady Mildred too."

"But think how very delightful it will be to be installed at the Old Lodge when they do come back, and to be able to give them a sort of welcome home."

"And, papa, Claudia must always come to us for holidays even when she is settled at her own home, unless she is with Lady Mildred. And Jerry and I were planning we might ask one or two of the little ones to come with her each time, so that she wouldn't feel she was leaving them all with her mother. Though Mrs Meredon isn't quite so badly off as mamma, the next girl is past twelve, and our little girls are _so_ tiny. But I think we must go on to Claudia and Jerry, papa. They want to see something of you, too, before you go. Oh, papa, _how_ lovely it is here!"

And her eyes seemed as if they would never be tired of gazing at the perfection of sky and sea--at the blue glory one must leave our cold northern shores far behind ever to see.

"Yes," said Mr Waldron, "it is very, very beautiful. But there are chilly and dull days here too, Charlotte. It is not always such sunshine and brilliance."

"And even if it were, one would wish for home in a while," the girl replied. "When the spring comes."

"Yes--

"`Oh, to be in England Now that April's there,'" quoted her father. "Well, I hope we shall be all together there before April goes at any rate."

And so saying they rejoined the others.

Charlotte's misgivings that Lady Mildred would not return home for some length of time were realised. The old lady, who had not left England for many years, greatly enjoyed another taste of foreign travel, of which in her youth she had had much. Her mind was more at ease than it had been since her husband's death as to the management of the property, and she also felt that she was conferring real and lasting benefits on Claudia. But some months before the two years during which her grand-niece was to be her charge, had expired, a sort of home-sickness came over them both.

"I think we won't spend another Christmas away from England, Claudia," she said rather suddenly one day. "I have a yearning to see Silverthorns again. And I know the Waldrons will never feel thoroughly at home till I am there myself. I must get to know Amy, and I want to see my pet Jerry again, and Charlotte too. And you will like to feel near your own people again, eh, my dear?"

"Yes, Aunt Mildred. It will be very nice, _very_ nice," said Claudia.

"Another Christmas if all's well--if I'm still with you all, that's to say," pursued Lady Mildred, "we must have the house full. I must have you all over with me. But this year of course I must devote myself more particularly to Edward's wife and children. And in that you will be a great help to me, you and Charlotte being already such friends."

"She says--they say," said Claudia laughing, "that I'm to spend all my holidays there--that's to say when _you_ don't invite me. They are so _very_ kind to me, really as if they were relations of my own. And some people in their place, Aunt Mildred, _might_ not have been so cordial to me. I do think it's delightful that your relations on the other side should be so nice. How beautifully things have turned out for us ever since that day you came down to Britton-Garnett! I do think I must have been born under a lucky star."

And as she looked up with her sweet bright face and sunny eyes, Lady Mildred could not help agreeing with her.

"Yes, my dear, good child," she said; "I think indeed some very beneficent fairy godmother must have been at your christening. You have some gifts you scarcely realise--the gift of bringing sunshine into other lives for one."

"Auntie dear," said Claudia, almost startled, for never was woman less demonstrative than Lady Mildred; "you are too good to me. I can do _so_ little, and everybody is so kind to me. Auntie dear," she went on timidly; "have I really brought a little sunshine to _you_?"

Lady Mildred smiled and stroked the girl's soft hair as Claudia knelt down beside her; and though she did not speak, her niece was more than satisfied.

And no more was ever heard of the owls in the tower room at Silverthorns.

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The End.