What Happened to Alanna

by Kathleen Norris

　　A capped and aproned maid, with a martyred expression, had twicesounded the dinner-bell in the stately halls of Costello, before anymember of the family saw fit to respond to it.Then they all came at once, with a sudden pounding of young feet onthe stairs, an uproar of young voices, and much banging of doors.Jim and Danny, twins of fourteen, to whom their mother was wontproudly to allude as "the top o' the line," violently left their ownsanctum on the fourth floor, and coasted down such banisters as laybetween that and the dining-room. Teresa, an angel-faced twelve-year-old in a blue frock, shut 'The Wide, Wide World' with a sigh,and climbed down from the window-seat in the hall.Teresa's pious mother, in moments of exultation, loved to compareand commend her offspring to such of the saints and martyrs as theiryouthful virtues suggested. And Teresa at twelve had, as it were,graduated from the little saints, Agnes and Rose and Cecilia, andwas now compared, in her mother's secret heart, to the graciousQueen of all the Saints. "As she was when a little girl," Mrs.Costello would add, to herself, to excuse any undue boldness in thethought.And indeed, Teresa, as she was to-night, her blue eyes still cloudedwith Ellen Montgomery's sorrows, her curls tumbled about her hotcheeks, would have made a pretty foil in a picture of old SaintAnne.But this story is about Alanna of the black eyes, the eight years,the large irregular mouth, the large irregular freckles.Alanna was outrunning lazy little Leo--her senior, but not her matchat anything--on their way to the dining-room. She was renderingdesperate the two smaller boys, Frank X., Jr., and John Henry NewmanCostello, who staggered hopelessly in her wake. They were allhungry, clean, and good-natured, and Alanna's voice led the othervoices, even as her feet, in twinkling patent leather, led theirfeet.Following the children came their mother, fastening the rich silkand lace at her wrists as she came. Her handsome kindly face and herbig shapely hands were still moist and glowing from soap and warmwater, and the shining rings of black hair at her temples weremoist, too."This is all my doin', Dad," said she, comfortably, as she and herflock entered the dining-room. "Put the soup on, Alma. I'm the onethat was goin' to be prompt at dinner, too!" she added, with asuperintending glance for all the children, as she tied on littleJohn's napkin.F.X. Costello, Senior, undertaker by profession, and mayor by animmense majority, was already at the head of the table."Late, eh, Mommie?" said he, good-naturedly. He threw his newspaperon the floor, cast a householder's critical glance at the lights andthe fire, and pushed his neatly placed knives and forks to right andleft carelessly with both his fat hands.The room was brilliantly lighted and warm. A great fire roared inthe old-fashioned black marble grate, and electric lights blazedeverywhere. Everything in the room, and in the house, was costly,comfortable, incongruous, and hideous. The Costellos were very rich,and had been very poor; and certain people were fond of telling ofthe queer, ridiculous things they did, in trying to spend theirmoney. But they were very happy, and thought their immense, uglyhouse was the finest in the city, or in the world."Well, an' what's the news on the Rialter?" said the head of thehouse now, busy with his soup."You'll have the laugh on me, Dad," his wife assured him, placidly."After all my sayin' that nothing'd take me to Father Crowley'smeetin'!""Oh, that was it?" said the mayor. "What's he goin' to have,--aconcert?""--and a fair too!" supplemented Mrs. Costello. There was aninterval devoted on her part to various bibs and trays, and a lowaside to the waitress. Then she went on: "As you know, I went,meanin' to beg off. On account of baby bein' so little, and Leo'scough, and the paperers bein' upstairs,--and all! I thought I'd justmake a donation, and let it go at that. But the ladies all kind ofhung back--there was very few there--and I got talkin'--""Well,'tis but our dooty, after all," said the mayor, noddingapproval."That's all, Frank. Well! So finally Mrs. Kiljohn took the coffee,and the Lemmon girls took the grab-bag. The Guild will look out forthe concert, and I took one fancy-work booth, and of course theChildren of Mary'll have the other, just like they always do.""Oh, was Grace there?" Teresa was eager to know."Grace was, darlin'.""And we're to have the fancy-work! You'll help us, won't you,mother? Goody--I'm in that!" exulted Teresa."I'm in that, too!" echoed Alanna, quickly."A lot you are, you baby!" said Leo, unkindly."You're not a Child of Mary, Alanna," Teresa said promptly anduneasily."Well--well--I can help!" protested Alanna, putting up her lip.Can't I, mother? "Can't Is, mother?""You can help me, dovey," said her mother, absently. "I'm not goin'to work as I did for Saint Patrick's Bazaar, Dad, and I said so!Mrs. O'Connell and Mrs. King said they'd do all the work, if I'djust be the nominal head. Mary Murray will do us some pillers--leather--with Gibsons and Indians on them. And I'll have LizzieBayne up here for a month, makin' me aprons and little Jappywrappers, and so on."She paused over the cutlets and the chicken pie, which she had beenhelping with an amazing attention to personal preference. The youngCostellos chafed at the delay, but their mother's fine eyes saw themnot."Kelley & Moffat ought to let me have materials at half price," shereflected aloud. "My bill's two or three hundred a month!""You always say that you're not going to do a thing, and then get inand make more than any other booth!" said Dan, proudly."Oh, not this year, I won't," his mother assured him. But in herheart she knew she would."Aren't you glad it's fancy-work?" said Teresa. "It doesn't get allsloppy and mussy like ice-cream, does it, mother?""Gee, don't you love fairs!" burst out Leo, rapturously."Sliding up and down the floor before the dance begins, Dan, to workin the wax?" suggested Jimmy, in pleasant anticipation. "We go everyday and every night, don't we, mother?""Ask your father," said Mrs. Costello, discreetly.But the Mayor's attention just then was taken by Alanna, who hadleft her chair to go and whisper in his ear."Why, here's Alanna's heart broken!" said he, cheerfully, encirclingher little figure with a big arm.Alanna shrank back suddenly against him, and put her wet cheek onhis shoulder."Now, whatever is it, darlin'?" wondered her mother,sympathetically, but without concern. "You've not got a pain, haveyou, dear?""She wants to help the Children of Mary!" said her father, tenderly."She wants to do as much as Tessie does!""Oh, but, Dad, she can't!" fretted Teresa. "She's not a Child ofMary! She oughtn't to want to tag that way. Now all the other girls'sisters will tag!""They haven't got sisters!" said Alanna, red-cheeked of a sudden."Why, Mary Alanna Costello, they have too! Jean has, and Stella has,and Grace has her little cousins!" protested Teresa, triumphantly."Never mind, baby," said Mrs. Costello, hurriedly. "Mother'll findyou something to do. There now! How'd you like to have a raffle bookon something,--a chair or a piller? And you could get all the namesyourself, and keep the money in a little bag--""Oh, my! I wish I could!" said Jim, artfully. "Think of the lastnight, when the drawing comes! You'll have the fun of looking up thewinning number in your book, and calling it out, in the hall.""Would I, Dad?" said Alanna, softly, but with dawning interest."And then, from the pulpit, when the returns are all in,"contributed Dan, warmly, "Father Crowley will read out your name,--With Mrs. Frank Costello's booth--raffle of sofa cushion, by MissAlanna Costello, twenty-six dollars and thirty-five cents!""Oo--would he, Dad?" said Alanna, won to smiles and dimples by thischarming prospect."Of course he would!" said her father. "Now go back to your seat,Machree, and eat your dinner. When Mommer takes you and Tess to thematinee to-morrow, ask her to bring you in to me first, and you andI'll step over to Paul's, and pick out a table or a couch, orsomething. Eh, Mommie?""And what do you say?" said that lady to Alanna, as the radiantlittle girl went back to her chair.Whereupon Alanna breathed a bashful "Thank you, Dad," into theruffled yoke of her frock, and the matter was settled.The next day she trotted beside her father to Paul's big furniturestore, and after long hesitation selected a little desk of shiningbrass and dull oak."Now," said her father, when they were back in his office, andTeresa and Mrs. Costello were eager for the matinee, "here's yourbook of numbers, Alanna. And here, I'll tie a pencil and a string toit. Don't lose it. I've given you two hundred numbers at a quartereach, and mind the minute any one pays for one, you put their namedown on the same line!""Oo,--oo!" said Alanna in pride. "Two hundred! That's lots of money,isn't it, Dad? That's eleven or fourteen dollars, isn't it, Dad?""That's fifty dollars, goose!" said her father making a dot with thepencil on the tip of her upturned little nose."Oo!" said Teresa, awed. Hatted, furred, and muffed, she leaned onher father's shoulder."Oo--Dad!" whispered Alanna, with scarlet cheeks."So now!" said her mother, with a little nod of encouragement andwarning. "Put it right in your muff, lovey. Don't lose it. Dan orJim will help you count your money, and keep things straight.""And to begin with, we'll all take a chance!" said the mayor,bringing his fat palm, full of silver, up from his pocket. "How oldare you, Mommie?""I'm thirty-seven,--all but, as well you know, Frank!" said hiswife, promptly."Thirty-six and thirty-seven for you, then!" He wrote her nameopposite both numbers. "And here's the mayor on the same page,--forty-four! And twelve for Tessie, and eight for this highbinder onmy knee, here! And now we'll have one for little Gertie!"Gertrude Costello was not yet three months old, her mother said."Well, she can have number one, anyway!" said the mayor. "You make arejooced rate for one family, I understand, Miss Costello?""I don't!" chuckled Alanna, locking her thin little arms about hisneck, and digging her chin into his eye. So he gave her full price,and she went off with her mother in a state of great content,between rows and rows of coffins, and cases of plumes, and handlesand rosettes, and designs for monuments."Mrs. Church will want some chances, won't she, mother?" she saidsuddenly."Let Mrs. Church alone, darlin'," advised Mrs. Costello. "She's nota Catholic, and there's plenty to take chances without her!"Alanna reluctantly assented; but she need not have worried. Mrs.Church voluntarily took many chances, and became very enthusiasticabout the desk.She was a pretty, clever young woman, of whom all the Costellos werevery fond. She lived with a very young husband, and a very new baby,in a tiny cottage near the big Irish family, and pleased Mrs.Costello by asking her advice on all domestic matters and taking it.She made the Costello children welcome at all hours in her tiny,shining kitchen, or sunny little dining-room. She made them candyand told them stories. She was a minister's daughter, and wise inmany delightful, girlish, friendly ways.And in return Mrs. Costello did her many a kindly act, and sent heralmost daily presents in the most natural manner imaginable.But Mrs. Church made Alanna very unhappy about the raffled desk. Itso chanced that it matched exactly the other furniture in Mrs.Church's rather bare little drawing-room, and this made her eager towin it. Alanna, at eight, long familiar with raffles and their ways,realized what a very small chance Mrs. Church stood of getting thedesk. It distressed her very much to notice that lady's growingcertainty of success.She took chance after chance. And with every chance she warnedAlanna of the dreadful results of her not winning, and Alanna, witha worried line between her eyes, protested her helplessness afresh."She will do it, Dad!" the little girl confided to him one evening,when she and her book and her pencil were on his knee. "And itworries me so.""Oh, I hope she wins it," said Teresa, ardently. "She's not aCatholic, but we're praying for her. And you know people who aren'tCatholics, Dad, are apt to think that our fairs are pretty--prettymoney-making, you know!""And if only she could point to that desk," said Alanna, "and saythat she won it at a Catholic fair.""But she won't," said Teresa, suddenly cold."I'm praying she will," said Alanna, suddenly."Oh, I don't think you ought, do you, Dad?" said Teresa, gravely."Do you think she ought, Mommie? That's just like her pouring herholy water over the kitten. You oughtn't to do those things.""I ought to," said Alanna, in a whisper that reached only herfather's ear."You suit me, whatever you do," said Mayor Costello; "and Mrs.Church can take her chances with the rest of us."Mrs. Church seemed to be quite willing to do so. When at last thegreat day of the fair came, she was one of the first to reach thehall, in the morning, to ask Mrs. Costello how she might be of use."Now wait a minute, then!" said Mrs. Costello, cordially. Shestraightened up, as she spoke, from an inspection of a box of fancy-work. "We could only get into the hall this hour gone, my dear, and'twas a sight, after the Native Sons' Banquet last night. It'll be amiracle if we get things in order for to-night. Father Crowley saidhe'd have three carpenters here this morning at nine, without fail;but not one's come yet. That's the way!""Oh, we'll fix things," said Mrs. Church, shaking out a daintylittle apron.Alanna came briskly up, and beamed at her. The little girl wasdriving about on all sorts of errands for her mother, and had comein to report."Mother, I went home," she said, in a breathless rush, "and toldAlma four extra were coming to lunch, and here are your bigscissors, and I told the boys you wanted them to go out to UncleDan's for greens, they took the buckboard, and I went to Keyser'sfor the cheese-cloth, and he had only eighteen yards of pink, but hethinks Kelley's have more, and there are the tacks, and they don'tkeep spool-wire, and the electrician will be here in ten minutes.""Alanna, you're the pride of me life," said her mother, kissing her."That's all now, dearie. Sit down and rest.""Oh, but I'd rather go round and see things," said Alanna, and offshe went.The immense hall was filled with the noise of voices, hammers, andlaughter. Groups of distracted women were forming and dissolvingeverywhere around chaotic masses of boards and bunting. Whenever acarpenter started for the door, or entered it, he was waylaid,bribed, and bullied by the frantic superintendents of the variousbooths. Messengers came and went, staggering under masses ofevergreen, carrying screens, rope, suit-cases, baskets, boxes,Japanese lanterns, freezers, rugs, ladders, and tables.Alanna found the stage fascinating. Lunch and dinner were to beserved there, for the five days of the fair, and it had been setwith many chairs and tables, fenced with ferns and bamboo. Alannawas charmed to arrange knives and forks, to unpack oily hams andsticky cakes, and great bowls of salad, and to store them neatlyaway in a green room.The grand piano had been moved down to the floor. Now and then anaudacious boy or two banged on it for the few moments that it tookhis mother's voice or hands to reach him. Little girls gently playedThe Carnival of Venice or Echoes of the Ball, with their scared eyesalert for reproof. And once two of the "big" Sodality girls came up,assured and laughing and dusty, and boldly performed one of theirconvent duets. Some of the tired women in the booths straightened upand clapped, and called "encore!"Teresa was not one of these girls. Her instrument was the violin;moreover, she was busy and absorbed at the Children of Mary's booth,which by four o'clock began to blossom all over its white-drapedpillars and tables with ribbons and embroidery and tissue paper, andcushions and aprons and collars, and all sorts of perfumedprettiness.The two priests were constantly in evidence, their cassocks andhands showing unaccustomed dust.And over all the confusion, Mrs. Costello shone supreme. Her brisk,big figure, with skirts turned back, and a blue apron still furtherprotecting them, was everywhere at once; laughter and encouragementmarked her path. She wore a paper of pins on the breast of her silkdress, she had a tack hammer thrust in her belt. In her apronpockets were string, and wire, and tacks. A big pair of scissorshung at her side, and a pencil was thrust through her smooth blackhair. She advised and consulted and directed; even with the priestsit was to be observed that her mild, "Well, Father, it seems to me,"always won the day. She led the electricians a life of it; shebecame the terror of the carpenters' lives.Where was the young lady that played the violin going to stay? Sendher up to Mrs. Costello's.--Heavens! We were short a tablecloth! Oh,but Mrs. Costello had just sent Dan home for one.--How on earthcould the Male Quartette from Tower Town find its way to the hall?Mrs. Costello had promised to tell Mr. C. to send a carriage forthem.She came up to the Children of Mary's booth about five o'clock."Well, if you girls ain't the wonders!" she said to the tired littleSodalists, in a tone of unbounded admiration and surprise. "You makeme ashamed of me own booth. This is beautiful.""Oh, do you think so, mother?" said Teresa, wistfully, clinging toher mother's arm."I think it's grand!" said Mrs. Costello, with conviction. There wasa delighted laugh. "I'm going to bring all the ladies up to see it.""Oh, I'm so glad!" said all the girls together, reviving visibly."An' the pretty things you got!" went on the cheering matron."You'll clear eight hundred if you'll clear a cent. And now put medown for a chance or two; don't be scared, Mary Riordan; four orfive! I'm goin' to bring Mr. Costeller over here to-night, and don'tyou let him off too easy."Every one laughed joyously."Did you hear of Alanna's luck?" said Mrs. Costello. "When theBishop got here he took her all around the hall with him, andbetween this one and that, every last one of her chances is gone.She couldn't keep her feet on the floor for joy. The lucky girl!They're waitin' for you, Tess, darlin', with the buckboard. Go homeand lay down awhile before dinner.""Aren't you lucky!" said Teresa, as she climbed a few minutes laterinto the back seat with Jim, and Dan pulled out the whip.Alanna, swinging her legs, gave a joyful assent. She was too happyto talk, but the other three had much to say."Mother thinks we'll make eight hundred dollars," said Teresa."Gee!" said the twins together, and Dan added, "If only Mrs. Churchwins that desk now.""Who's going to do the drawing of numbers?" Jimmy wondered."Bishop," said Dan, "and he'll call down from the platform, 'Numbertwenty-six wins the desk.' And then Alanna'll look in her book, andpipe up and say, 'Daniel Ignatius Costello, the handsomest fellow inthe parish, wins the desk.'""Twenty-six is Harry Plummer," said Alanna, seriously, looking upfrom her chance book, at which they all laughed."But take care of that book," warned Teresa, as she climbed down."Oh, I will!" responded Alanna, fervently.And through the next four happy days she did, and took theprecaution of tying it by a stout cord to her arm.Then on Saturday, the last afternoon, quite late, when her motherhad suggested that she go home with Leo and Jack and Frank andGertrude and the nurses, Alanna felt the cord hanging loose againsther hand, and looking down, saw that the book was gone.She was holding out her arms for her coat when this took place, andshe went cold all over. But she did not move, and Minnie buttonedher in snugly, and tied the ribbons of her hat with cold, hardknuckles, without suspecting anything.Then Alanna disappeared and Mrs. Costello sent the maids and babieson without her. It was getting dark and cold for the smallCostellos.But the hour was darker and colder for Alanna. She searched and shehoped and she prayed in vain. She stood up, after a long hands-and-knees expedition under the tables where she had been earlier, andpressed her right hand over her eyes, and said aloud in her misery,"Oh, I can't have lost it! I can't have. Oh, don't let me have lostit!"She went here and there as if propelled by some mechanical force, awretched, restless little figure. And when the dreadful moment camewhen she must give up searching, she crept in beside her mother inthe carriage, and longed only for some honorable death.When they all went back at eight o'clock, she recommenced her searchfeverishly, with that cruel alternation of hope and despair andweariness that every one knows. The crowds, the lights, the music,the laughter, and the noise, and the pervading odor of pop-corn werenot real, when a shabby, brown little book was her whole world, andshe could not find it."The drawing will begin," said Alanna, "and the Bishop will call outthe number! And what'll I say? Every one will look at me; and howcan I say I've lost it! Oh, what a baby they'll call me!""Father'll pay the money back," she said, in sudden relief. But theimpossibility of that swiftly occurred to her, and she began huntingagain with fresh terror."But he can't! How can he? Two hundred names; and I don't know them,or half of them."Then she felt the tears coming, and she crept in under some benches,and cried.She lay there a long time, listening to the curious hum and buzzabove her. And at last it occurred to her to go to the Bishop, andtell this old, kind friend the truth.But she was too late. As she got to her feet, she heard her own namecalled from the platform, in the Bishop's voice."Where's Alanna Costello? Ask her who has number eighty-three on thedesk. Eighty-three wins the desk! Find little Alanna Costello!"Alanna had no time for thought. Only one course of action occurredto her. She cleared her throat."Mrs. Will Church has that number, Bishop," she said.The crowd about her gave way, and the Bishop saw her, rosy,embarrassed, and breathless."Ah, there you are!" said the Bishop. "Who has it?""Mrs. Church, your Grace," said Alanna, calmly this time."Well, did you ever," said Mrs. Costello to the Bishop. She had goneup to claim a mirror she had won, a mirror with a gold frame, andlilacs and roses painted lavishly on its surface."Gee, I bet Alanna was pleased about the desk!" said Dan in thecarriage."Mrs. Church nearly cried," Teresa said. "But where'd Alanna go to?I couldn't find her until just a few minutes ago, and then she wasso queer!""It's my opinion she was dead tired," said her mother. "Look howsound she's asleep! Carry her up, Frank. I'll keep her in bed in themorning."They kept Alanna in bed for many mornings, for her secret weighed onher soul, and she failed suddenly in color, strength, and appetite.She grew weak and nervous, and one afternoon, when the Bishop cameto see her, worked herself into such a frenzy that Mrs. Costellowonderingly consented to her entreaty that he should not come up.She would not see Mrs. Church, nor go to see the desk in its newhouse, nor speak of the fair in any way. But she did ask her motherwho swept out the hall after the fair."I did a good deal meself," said Mrs. Costello, dashing one hope tothe ground. Alanna leaned back in her chair, sick withdisappointment.One afternoon, about a week after the fair, she was brooding overthe fire. The other children were at the matinee, Mrs. Costello wasout, and a violent storm was whirling about the nursery windows.Presently, Annie, the laundress, put her frowsy head in at the door.She was a queer, warm-hearted Irish girl; her big arms were stillstreaming from the tub, and her apron was wet."Ahl alone?" said Annie, with a broad smile."Yes; come in, won't you, Annie?" said little Alanna."I cahn't. I'm at the toobs," said Annie, coming in, nevertheless."I was doin' all the tableclot's and napkins, an' out drops yourlittle buke!""My--what did you say?" said Alanna, very white."Your little buke," said Annie. She laid the chance book on thetable, and proceeded to mend the fire.Alanna sank back in her chair. She twisted her fingers together, andtried to think of an appropriate prayer."Thank you, Annie," she said weakly, when the laundress went out.Then she sprang for the book. It slipped twice from her cold littlefingers before she could open it."Eighty-three!" she said hoarsely. "Sixty--seventy--eighty-three!"She looked and looked and looked. She shut the book and opened itagain, and looked. She laid it on the table, and walked away fromit, and then came back suddenly, and looked. She laughed over it,and cried over it, and thought how natural it was, and how wonderfulit was, all in the space of ten blissful minutes.And then, with returning appetite and color and peace of mind, hereyes filled with pity for the wretched little girl who had watchedthis same sparkling, delightful fire so drearily a few minutes ago.Her small soul was steeped in gratitude. She crooked her arm and puther face down on it, and sank to her knees."New white dress, is it?" said Mrs. Costello in bland surprise."Well, my, my, my! You'll have Dad and me in the poorhouse!"She had been knitting a pink and white jacket for somebody's baby,but now she put it into the silk bag on her knee, dropped it on thefloor, and with one generous sweep of her big arms gathered Alannainto her lap instead. Alanna was delighted to have at last attractedher mother's whole attention, after some ten minutes of unregardedwhispering in her ear. She settled her thin little person with theconscious pleasure of a petted cat."What do you know about that, Dad?" said Mrs. Costello, absently, asshe stiffened the big bow over Alanna's temple into a more erectposition. "You and Tess could wear your Christmas processiondresses," she suggested to the little girl.Teresa, apparently absorbed until this instant in what the youngCostellos never called anything but the "library book," althoughthat volume changed character and title week after week, now shut itabruptly, came around the reading-table to her mother's side, andsaid in a voice full of pained reminder:"Mother! Every one will have new white dresses and blue sashes forSuperior's feast!""I bet you Superior won't!" said Jim, frivolously, from the picture-puzzle he and Dan were reconstructing. Alanna laughed joyously, butTeresa looked shocked."Mother, ought he say that about Superior?" she asked."Jimmy, don't you be pert about the Sisters," said his mother,mildly. And suddenly the Mayor's paper was lowered, and he waslooking keenly at his son over his glasses."What did you say, Jim?" said he. Jim was instantly smitten scarletand dumb, but Mrs. Costello hastily explained that it was but a bitof boy's nonsense, and dismissed it by introducing the subject ofthe new white dresses."Well, well, well! There's nothing like having two girls insociety!" said the Mayor, genially, winding one of Teresa's curlsabout his fat finger. "What's this for, now? Somebody graduating?""It's Mother Superior's Golden Jubilee," explained Teresa, "andthere will be a reunion of 'lumnae, and plays by the girls, youknow, and duets by the big girls, and needlework by the Spanishgirls. And our room and Sister Claudia's is giving a new chapelwindow, a dollar a girl, and Sister Ligouri's room is giving theorgan bench.""And our room is giving a spear," said Alanna, uncertainly."A spear, darlin'?" wondered her mother. "What would you give thatto Superior for?" Jim and Dan looked up expectantly, the Mayor'smouth twitched. Alanna buried her face in her mother's neck, whereshe whispered an explanation."Well, of course!" said Mrs. Costello, presently, to the company atlarge. Her eye held a warning that her oldest sons did not miss. "Asshe says, 'tis a ball all covered with islands and maps, Dad. Aglobe, that's the other name for it!""Ah, yes, a spear, to be sure!" assented the Mayor, mildly, andAlanna returned to view."But the best of the whole programme is the grandchildren's part,"volunteered Teresa. "You know, Mother, the girls whose mothers wentto Notre Dame are called the 'grandchildren.' Alanna and I are,there are twenty-two of us in all. And we are going to have aspecial march and a special song, and present Superior with abouquet!""And maybe Teresa's going to present it and say the salutation!"exulted Alanna."No, Marg'ret Hammond will," Teresa corrected her quickly."Marg'ret's three months older than me. First they were going tohave me, but Marg'ret's the oldest. And she does it awfully nicely,doesn't she, Alanna? Sister Celia says it's really the mostimportant thing of the day. And we all stand round Marg'ret whileshe does it. And the best of it all is, it's a surprise forSuperior!""Not a surprise like Christmas surprises," amended Alanna,conscientiously. "Superior sort of knows we are doing something,because she hears the girls practising, and she sees us goingupstairs to rehearse. But she will p'tend to be surprised.""And it's new dresses all 'round, eh?" said her father."Oh, yes, we must!" said Teresa, anxiously."Well, I'll see about it," promised Mrs. Costello."Don't you want to afford the expense, mother?" Alanna whispered inher ear. Mrs. Costello was much touched."Don't you worry about that, lovey!" said she. The Mayor hadpresumably returned to his paper, but his absent eyes were fixed farbeyond the printed sheet he still held tilted carefully to thelight."Marg'ret Hammond--whose girl is that, then?" he asked presently."She's a girl whose mother died," supplied Alanna, cheerfully."She's awfully smart. Sister Helen teaches her piano for nothing,--she's a great friend of mine. She likes me, doesn't she, Tess?""She's three years older'n you are, Alanna," said Teresa, briskly,"and she's in our room! I don't see how you can say she's a friendof yours! Do you, mother?""Well," said Alanna, getting red, "she is. She gave me a rag when Icut me knee, and one day she lifted the cup down for me when MaryDeane stuck it up on a high nail, so that none of us could getdrinks, and when Sister Rose said, 'Who is talking?' she said AlannaCostello wasn't 'cause she's sitting here as quiet as a mouse!'""All that sounds very kind and friendly to me," said Mrs. Costello,soothingly."I expect that's Doctor Hammond's girl?" said the Mayor."No, sir," said Dan. "These are the Hammonds who live over by thebridge. There's just two kids, Marg'ret and Joe, and their father.Joe served the eight o'clock Mass with me one week,--you know, Jim,the week you were sick.""Sure," said Jim. "Hammond's a nice feller."Their father scraped his chin with a fat hand."I know them," he said ruminatively. Mrs. Costello looked up."That's not the Hammond you had trouble with at the shop, Frank?"she said."Well, I'm thinking maybe it is," her husband admitted. "He's had agood deal of bad luck one way or another, since he lost his wife."He turned to Teresa. "You be as nice as you can to little Marg'retHammond, Tess," said he."I wonder who the wife was?" said Mrs. Costello. "If this littlegirl is a 'grandchild,' I ought to know the mother. Ask her, Tess."Teresa hesitated."I don't play with her much, mother. And she's sort of shy," shebegan."I'll ask her," said Alanna, boldly. "I don't care if she is goingon twelve. She goes up to the chapel every day, and I'll stop herto-morrow, and ask her! She's always friendly to me."Mayor Costello had returned to his paper. But a few hours later,when all the children except Gertrude were settled for the night,and Gertrude, in a state of milky beatitude, was looking straightinto her mother's face above her with blue eyes heavy with sleep, heenlightened his wife further concerning the Hammonds."He was with me at the shop," said the Mayor, "and I never wassorrier to let any man go. But it seemed like his wife's death drovehim quite wild. First it was fighting with the other boys, and thendrink, and then complaints here and there and everywhere, and Kellywouldn't stand for it. I wish I'd kept him on a bit longer, myself,what with his having the two children and all. He's got a fine headon him, and a very good way with people in trouble. Kelly himselfwas always sending him to arrange about flowers and carriages andall. Poor lad! And then came the night he was tipsy, and got lockedin the warehouse--""I know," said Mrs. Costello, with a pitying shake of the head, asshe gently adjusted the sleeping Gertrude. "Has he had a job since,Frank?""He was with a piano house," said her husband, uneasily, as he wentslowly on with his preparations for the night. "Two children, hashe? And a boy on the altar. 'Tis hard that the children have to payfor it.""Alanna'll find out who the wife was. She never fails me," said Mrs.Costello, turning from Gertrude's crib with sudden decision in hervoice. "And I'll do something, never fear!"Alanna did not fail. She came home the next day brimming with theimportance of her fulfilled mission."Her mother's name was Harmonica Moore!" announced Alanna, who couldbe depended upon for unfailing inaccuracy in the matter of names.Teresa and the boys burst into joyous laughter, but the informationwas close enough for Mrs. Costello."Monica Moore!" she exclaimed. "Well, for pity's sake! Of course Iknew her, and a sweet, dear girl she was, too. Stop laughing atAlanna, all of you, or I'll send you upstairs until Dad gets afteryou. Very quiet and shy she was, but the lovely singing voice! Therewasn't a tune in the world she wouldn't lilt to you if you askedher. Well, the poor child, I wish I'd never lost sight of her." Shepondered a moment." Is the boy still serving Mass at St. Mary's,Dan?" she said then."Sure," said Jim. For Dan was absorbed in the task of restoringAlanna's ruffled feelings by inserting a lighted match into hismouth."Well, that's good," pursued their mother. "You bring him home tobreakfast after Mass any day this week, Jim. And, Tess, you mustbring the little girl in after school. Tell her I knew her dearmother." Mrs. Costello's eyes, as she returned placidly to the taskof labelling jars upon shining jars of marmalade, shone with theirmost radiant expression.Marg'ret and Joe Hammond were constant visitors in the big Costellohouse after that. Their father was away, looking for work, Mrs.Costello imagined and feared, and they were living with some vague"lady across the hall." So the Mayor's wife had free rein, and sheused it. When Marg'ret got one of her shapeless, leaky shoes cut inthe Costello barn, she was promptly presented with shining new ones,"the way I couldn't let you get a cold and die on your father,Marg'ret, dear!" said Mrs. Costello. The twins' outgrown suits werefound to fit Joe Hammond to perfection, "and a lucky thing I thoughtof it, Joe, before I sent them off to my sister's children inChicago!" observed the Mayor's wife. The Mayor himself heaped hislittle guests' plates with the choicest of everything on the table,when the Hammonds stayed to dinner. Marg'ret frequently came homebetween Teresa and Alanna to lunch, and when Joe breakfasted afterMass with Danny and Jim, Mrs. Costello packed his lunch with theirs,exulting in the chance. The children became fast friends, and indeedit would have been hard to find better playfellows for the youngCostellos, their mother often thought, than the clever, appreciativelittle Hammonds.Meantime, the rehearsals for Mother Superior's Golden Jubileeproceeded steadily, and Marg'ret, Teresa, and Alanna could talk ofnothing else. The delightful irregularity of lessons, the enchantingconfusion of rehearsals, the costumes, programme, and decorationswere food for endless chatter. Alanna, because Marg'ret was sogenuinely fond of her, lived in the seventh heaven of bliss,trotting about with the bigger girls, joining in their plans, andrunning their errands. The "grandchildren" were to have a play,entitled "By Nero's Command," in which both Teresa and Marg'retsustained prominent parts, and even Alanna was allotted one line tospeak. It became an ordinary thing, in the Costello house, to hearthe little girl earnestly repeating this line to herself at quietmoments, "The lions,--oh, the lions!" Teresa and Marg'ret, in theirturn, frequently rehearsed a heroic dialogue which began with thestately line, uttered by Marg'ret in the person of a Roman princess:"My slave, why art thou always so happy at thy menial work?"One day Mrs. Costello called the three girls to her sewing-room,where a brisk young woman was smoothing lengths of snowy lawn on thelong table."These are your dresses, girls," said the matron. "Let Miss Curryget the len'ths and neck measures. And look, here's the embroidery Igot. Won't that make up pretty? The waists will be all insertion,pretty near.""Me, too?" said Marg'ret Hammond, catching a rapturous breath."You, too," answered Mrs. Costello in her most matter-of-fact tone."You see, you three will be the very centre of the group, and it'lllook very nice, your all being dressed the same--why, Marg'ret,dear!" she broke off suddenly. For Marg'ret, standing beside herchair, had dropped her head on Mrs. Costello's shoulder and wascrying."I worried so about my dress," said she, shakily, wiping her eyes onthe soft sleeve of Mrs. Costello's shirt-waist; when a great deal ofpatting, and much smothering from the arms of Teresa and Alanna hadalmost restored her equilibrium, "and Joe worried too! I couldn'twrite and bother my father. And only this morning I was thinkingthat I might have to write and tell Sister Rose that I couldn't bein the exhibition, after all!""Well, there, now, you silly girl! You see how much good worryingdoes," said Mrs. Costello, but her own eyes were wet."The worst of it was," said Marg'ret, red-cheeked, but brave, "thatI didn't want any one to think my father wouldn't give it to me. Foryou know"--the generous little explanation tugged at Mrs. Costello'sheart--"you know he would if he could!""Well, of course he would!" assented that lady, giving the loyallittle daughter a kiss before the delightful business of fitting andmeasuring began. The new dresses promised to be the prettiest oftheir kind, and harmony and happiness reigned in the sewing-room.But it was only a day later that Teresa and Alanna returned fromschool with faces filled with expressions of utter woe. Indignant,protesting, tearful, they burst forth the instant they reached theirmother's sympathetic presence with the bitter tale of the day'shappenings. Marg'ret Hammond's father had come home again, itappeared, and he was awfully, awfully cross with Marg'ret and Joe.They weren't to come to the Costellos' any more, or he'd whip them.And Marg'ret had been crying, and they had been crying, and Sisterdidn't know what was the matter, and they couldn't tell her, and therehearsal was no fun!While their feeling was still at its height, Dan and Jimmy came in,equally roused by their enforced estrangement from Joe Hammond. Mrs.Costello was almost as much distressed as the children, and excitedand mutinous argument held the Costello dinner-table that night. TheMayor, his wife noticed, paid very close attention to theconversation, but he did not allude to it until they were alone."So Hammond'll take no favors from me, Mollie?""I suppose that's it, Frank. Perhaps he's been nursing a grudge allthese weeks. But it's cruel hard on the children. From his comin'back this way, I don't doubt he's out of work, and where Marg'ret'llget her white dress from now, I don't know!""Well, if he don't provide it, Tess'll recite the salutation," saidthe Mayor, with a great air of philosophy. But a second later headded, "You couldn't have it finished up, now, and send it to thechild on the chance?"His wife shook her head despondently, and for several days wentabout with a little worried look in her bright eyes, and a constantdread of the news that Marg'ret Hammond had dropped out of theexhibition. Marg'ret was sad, the little girls said, and evidentlymissing them as they missed her, but up to the very night of thedress rehearsal she gave no sign of worry on the subject of a whitedress.Mrs. Costello had offered her immense parlors for the last rehearsalof the chief performers in the plays and tableaux, realizing thateven the most obligingly blind of Mother Superiors could not appearto ignore the gathering of some fifty girls in their gala dresses inthe convent hall, for this purpose. Alanna and Teresa weregloriously excited over the prospect, and flitted about the emptyrooms on the evening appointed, buzzing like eager bees.Presently a few of the nuns arrived, escorting a score of littlegirls, and briskly ready for an evening of serious work. Then someof the older girls, carrying their musical instruments, came inlaughing. Laughter and talk began to make the big house hum, thenuns ruling the confusion, gathering girls into groups, suppressingthe hilarity that would break out over and over again, and anxiousto clear a corner and begin the actual work. A tall girl, leaning onthe piano, scribbled a crude programme, murmuring to the alert-facednun beside her as she wrote:"Yes, Sister, and then the mandolins and guitars; yes, Sister, andthen Mary Cudahy's recitation; yes, Sister. Is that too nearLoretta's song? All right, Sister, the French play can go inbetween, and then Loretta. Yes, Sister.""Of course Marg'ret'll come, Tess,--or has she come?" said Mrs.Costello, who was hastily clearing a table in the family sitting-room upstairs, because it was needed for the stage setting. Teresa,who had just joined her mother, was breathless."Mother! Something awful has happened!"Mrs. Costello carefully transferred to the book-case the lamp shehad just lifted, dusted her hands together, and turned eyes full ofsympathetic interest upon her oldest daughter,--Teresa's tragedieswere very apt to be of the spirit, and had not the sensationalurgency that alarms from the boys or Alanna commanded."What is it then, darlin'?" said she."Oh, it's Marg'ret, mother!" Teresa clasped her hands in an ecstasyof apprehension. "Oh, mother, can't you make her take that whitedress?"Mrs. Costello sat down heavily, her kind eyes full of regret."What more can I do, Tess?" Then, with a grave headshake, "She'stold Sister Rose she has to drop out?""Oh, no, mother!" Teresa said distressfully. "It's worse than that!She's here, and she's rehearsing, and what do you think she'swearing for an exhibition dress?""Well, how would I know, Tess, with you doing nothing but bemoaningand bewildering me?" asked her mother, with a sort of resigneddespair. "Don't go round and round it, dovey; what is it at all?""It's a white dress," said Teresa, desperately, "and of course it'spretty, and at first I couldn't think where I'd seen it before, andI don't believe any of the other girls did. But they will! And Idon't know what Sister will say! She's wearing Joe Hammond'ssurplice, yes, but she is, mother!--it's as long as a dress, youknow, and with a blue sash, and all! It's one of the lace ones, thatMrs. Deane gave all the altar-boys a year ago, don't you remember?Don't you remember she made almost all of them too small?"Mrs. Costello sat in stunned silence."I never heard the like!" said she, presently. Teresa's fearsawakened anew."Oh, will Sister let her wear it, do you think, mother?""Well, I don't know, Tess." Mrs. Costello was plainly at a loss."Whatever could have made her think of it,--the poor child! I'mafraid it'll make talk," she added after a moment's troubledsilence, "and I don't know what to do! I wish," finished she, halfto herself, "that I could get hold of her father for about oneminute. I'd--""What would you do?" demanded Teresa, eagerly, in utter faith."Well, I couldn't do anything!" said her mother, with her wholesomelaugh. "Come, Tess," she added briskly, "we'll go down. Don't worry,dear; we'll find some way out of it for Marg'ret."She entered the parlors with her usual genial smile a few minuteslater, and the flow of conversation that never failed her."Mary, you'd ought always to wear that Greek-lookin' dress," saidMrs. Costello, en passant. "Sister, if you don't want me in any ofthe dances, I'll take meself out of your way! No, indeed, the Mayorwon't be annoyed by anything, girls, so go ahead with your duets,for he's taken the boys off to the Orpheum an hour ago, the way theycouldn't be at their tricks upsettin' everything!" And presently shelaid her hand on Marg'ret Hammond's shoulder. "Are they workin' youtoo hard, Marg'ret?"Marg'ret's answer was smiling and ready, but Mrs. Costello read moretruthfully the color on the little face, and the distress in thebright eyes raised to hers, and sighed as she found a big chair andsettled herself contentedly to watch and listen.Marg'ret was wearing Joe's surplice, there was no doubt of that.But, Mrs. Costello wondered, how many of the nuns and girls hadnoticed it? She looked shrewdly from one group to another, studyingthe different faces, and worried herself with the fancy that certainundertones and quick glances were commenting upon the dress. It wasa relief when Marg'ret slipped out of it, and, with the other girls,assumed the Greek costume she was to wear in the play. The Mayor'swife, automatically replacing the drawing string in a cream-coloredtoga lavishly trimmed with gold paper-braid, welcomed the littlerespite from her close watching."By Nero's Command" was presently in full swing, and the room echoedto stately phrases and glorious sentiments, in the high-pitchedclear voices of the small performers. Several minutes of these madeall the more startling a normal tone, Marg'ret Hammond's everydayvoice, saying sharply in a silence:"Well, then, why don't you say it?"There was an instant hush. And then another voice, that of a girlnamed Beatrice Garvey, answered sullenly and loudly:"I will say it, if you want me to!"The words were followed by a shocked silence. Every one turned tosee the two small girls in the centre of the improvised stage, theother performers drawing back instinctively. Mrs. Costello caughther breath, and half rose from her chair. She had heard, as all thegirls knew, that Beatrice did not like Marg'ret, and resented theprominence that Marg'ret had been given in the play. She guessed,with a quickening pulse, what Beatrice had said."What is the trouble, girls?" said Sister Rose's clear voiceseverely.Marg'ret, crimson-cheeked, breathing hard, faced the room defiantly.She was a gallant and pathetic little figure in her blue draperies.The other child was plainly frightened at the result of the quarrel."Beatrice--?" said the nun, unyieldingly."She said I was a thief!" said Marg'ret, chokingly, as Beatrice didnot answer.There was a general horrified gasp, the nun's own voice when shespoke again was angry and quick."Beatrice, did you say that to Marg'ret?""I said--I said--" Beatrice was frightened, but aggrieved too. "Isaid I thought it was wrong to wear a surplice, that was made towear on the altar, as an exhibition dress, and Marg'ret said, 'Why?'and I said because I thought it was--something I wouldn't say, andMarg'ret said, did I mean stealing, and I said, well, yes, I did,and then Marg'ret said right out, 'Well, if you think I'm a thief,why don't you say so?'"Nobody stirred. The case had reached the open court, and no littlegirl present could have given a verdict to save her little soul."But--but--" the nun was bewildered, "but whoever did wear asurplice for an exhibition dress? I never heard of such a thing!"Something in the silence was suddenly significant. She turned hergaze from the room, where it had been seeking intelligence from theother nuns and the older girls, and looked back at the stage.Marg'ret Hammond had dropped her proud little head, and her eyeswere hidden by the tangle of soft dark hair. Had Sister Rose neededfurther evidence, the shocked faces all about would have suppliedit."Marg'ret," she said, "were you going to wear Joe's surplice?"Marg'ret did not answer."I'm sure, Sister, I didn't mean--" stammered Beatrice. Her voicedied out uncomfortably."Why were you going to do that, Marg'ret?" pursued the nun, quite ata loss.Again Marg'ret did not answer.But Alanna Costello, who had worked her way from a scandalized crowdof little girls to Marg'ret's side, and who stood now with her smallface one blaze of indignation, and her small person fairly vibratingwith the violence of her breathing, spoke out suddenly. Her bravelittle voice rang through the room."Well--well--" stammered Alanna, eagerly, "that's not a bad thing todo! Me and Marg'ret were both going to do it, weren't we, Marg'ret?We didn't think it would be bad to wear our own brothers' surplices,did we, Marg'ret? I was going to ask my mother if we couldn't. Joe'sis too little for him, and Leo's would be just right for me, andthey're white and pretty--" She hesitated a second, her loyal littlehand clasping Marg'ret's tight, her eyes ranging the room bravely.She met her mother's look, and gained fresh impetus from what shesaw there. "And Mother wouldn't have minded, would you, mother?" shefinished triumphantly.Every one wheeled to face Mrs. Costello, whose look, as she rose,was all indulgent."Well, Sister, I don't see why they shouldn't," began hercomfortable voice. The tension over the room snapped at the sound ofit like a cut string. "After all," she pursued, now joining theheart of the group, "a surplice is a thing you make in the houselike any other dress, and you know how girls feel about the thingstheir brothers wear, especially if they love them! Why," said Mrs.Costello, with a delightful smile that embraced the room, "therenever were sisters more devoted than Marg'ret and my Alanna!However"--and now a business-like tone crept in--"however, Sister,dear, if you or Mother Superior has the slightest objection in theworld, why, that's enough for us all, isn't it, girls? We'll leaveit to you, Sister. You're the one to judge." In the look the twowomen exchanged, they reached a perfect understanding."I think it's very lovely," said Sister Rose, calmly, "to think of alittle girl so devoted to her brother as Margaret is. I could askSuperior, of course, Mary," she added to Mrs. Costello, "but I knowshe would feel that whatever you decide is quite right. So that'ssettled, isn't it, girls?""Yes, Sister," said a dozen relieved voices, the speakers glad tochorus assent whether the situation in the least concerned them ornot. Teresa and some of the other girls had gathered about Marg'ret,and a soothing pur of conversation surrounded them. Mrs. Costellolingered for a few satisfied moments, and then returned to herchair."Come now, girls, hurry!" said Sister Rose. "Take your places, andlet this be a lesson to us not to judge too hastily anduncharitably. Where were we? Oh, yes, we'll go back to where Gracecomes in and says to Teresa, 'Here, even in the Emperor's verypalace, dost dare....' Come, Grace!""I knew, if we all prayed about it, your father'd let you!" exultedTeresa, the following afternoon, when Marg'ret Hammond was about torun down the wide steps of the Costello house, in the gatheringdusk. The Mayor came into the entrance hall, his coat pocket bulgingwith papers, and his silk hat on the back of his head, to find hiswife and daughters bidding the guest good-by. He wasenthusiastically imformed of the happy change of event."Father," said Teresa, before fairly freed from his arms and hiskiss, "Marg'ret's father said she could have her white dress, andMarg'ret came home with us after rehearsal, and we've been havingsuch fun!""And Marg'ret's father sent you a nice message, Frank," said hiswife, significantly."Well, that's fine. Your father and I had a good talk to-day,Marg'ret," said the Mayor, cordially. "I had to be down by thebridge, and I hunted him up. He'll tell you about it. He's going tolend me a hand at the shop, the way I won't be so busy. 'Tis anawful thing when a man loses his wife," he added soberly a momentlater, as they watched the little figure run down the darkeningstreet."But now we're all good friends again, aren't we, mother?" saidAlanna's buoyant little voice. Her mother tipped her face up andkissed her."You're a good friend,--that I know, Alanna!" said she.