"Dear me! Dear me!" said my Mother. "Now some child is suffering!" She looked all around to see which child it was.
Carol kicked Rosalee. Rosalee kicked me. I kicked Carol. We all looked just as queer as we could outside.
"Read on!" thumped the Blinded Lady.
My Father read on.
"This next one," he said, "seems to be about Soldiers!"
"Soldiers?" said the Blinded Lady. "Soldiers?" She sat up very straight. She cocked her head on one side. "Read it!" she said.
"I'm reading it!" said my Father.
The most scrumptious sight I've ever seen in my life is
Soldiers Marching! I saw them once in New York! It was
glorious! All the reds and the blues and the browns of the
Uniforms! And when the Band played all the different
instruments it seemed as though it was really gold and
silver music they were playing! It makes you feel so
brave! And so unselfish! But most of all it makes you wish
you were a milk-white pony with diamond hoofs! So that you
could sparkle! And prance! And rear! And run away
just for fun! And run and run and run down clattery
streets and through black woods and across green pastures
snorting fire-till you met more Soldiers and more Bands
and more Gold and Silver Music! So that you could prance
and sparkle and rear and run away all over
again,-with flags flying!
"U-m-m," said the Blinded Lady. "That is pretty! And spirited too!-But-But it doesn't exactly warm the heart.-And no one but a boy, anyway, would want to think about soldiers every day.-Read the next one!" said the Blinded Lady.
"Oh all right," said my Father. "Here's the last one."
"Read it!" said the Blinded Lady.
"I'm trying to!" said my Father. He cleared his throat and put on his eye-glasses all over again. "Ahem!" he said.
"The most beautifulest thing I've ever seen in all my life
is my Mother's face. It's so--"
"What?" cried my Mother.
My Father looked at her across the top of his glasses. He smiled. "Your face!" he said.
"W-what?" stammered my Mother.
My Father cleared his throat and began all over again.
The most beautifulest thing I've ever seen in all my life is
my Mother's face! It's so pleasant! It tries to make
everything so pleasant! When you go away it smiles you away!
When you come home it smiles you home! When you're sick it
smiles you well! When you're bad it smiles you good! It's so
pretty too! It has soft hair all full of little curls! It
has brown eyes! It has the sweetest ears!-It has a little
hat! The jolliest little hat! All trimmed with do-dabs! And
teeny pink roses! And there's a silver ribbon on it! And--
"My Mother had a hat like that!" cried the Blinded Lady.
"Did she?" said my Mother. Her face still looked pretty queer and surprised.
The Blinded Lady perked way forward in her chair. She seemed all out of breath. She talked so fast it almost choked her!
"Yes! Just exactly like that!" cried the Blinded Lady. "My Mother bought it in Boston! It cost three dollars! My Father thought it was an awful price!-She wore it with a lavender dress all sprigged with yellow leaves! She looked like an angel in it! She was an angel! Her hair was brown too!-I haven't thought of it for ages!-And all full of little curls! She had the kindest smile! The minister said it was worth any two of his sermons! And when folks were sick she went anywhere to help them! Anywhere!-She went twenty miles once! We drove the old white horse! I can see it all! My brothers' and sisters' faces at the window waving good-bye! My father cautioning us through his long gray beard not to drive too fast!-The dark shady wood's road! The little bright meadows!-A blue bird that flashed across our heads at the watering trough! The gay village streets! A red plaid ribbon in a shop window! The patch on a peddler's shoe! The great hills over beyond!-There was hills all around us!-My sister Amy married a man from way over beyond! He was different from us! His father sailed the seas! He brought us dishes and fans from China! When my sister Amy was married she wore a white crêpe shawl. There was a peacock embroidered in one corner of it! It was pretty! We curled her hair! There were yellow roses in bloom! There was a blue larkspur!--"
The Blinded Lady sank back in her chair. She gave a funny little gasp.
"I remember!" she gasped. "The Young Man's eyes were blue! His teeth were like pearls! When he asked the way to the trout brook he laughed and said--"
The Blinded Lady's cheeks got all pink. She clapped her hands. She sank back into her Skirts. Her eyes looked awful queer.
"I see everything!" she cried. "Everything!-Give the Peacock Feather Fan to the Magician!"
Rosalee looked at Carol. Carol looked at me. I looked at Rosalee.
"To the Magician?" said my Father.
"To the Magician?" said my Mother.
"To the Young Darling who wrote about her Mother's Face!" thumped the Blinded Lady.
My Father twisted his mouth.
"Will the 'Young Darling' who wrote about her Mother's Face please come forward-and get the Peacock Feather Fan!" said my Father.
Carol came forward. He looked very ashamed. He stubbed his toe on the braided rug.
"It seems to be our son Carol," said my Father, "who conjured up the picture of-of the blue larkspur!"
"What?" said the Blinded Lady. "What?"
She tapped her foot on the floor. She frowned her brows. "Well-well-well," she said. "It wasn't at all what I intended! Not at all!-Well-well-well!" She began to rock her chair. "But after all," she said, "an agreement is an agreement! And the First Prize is the First Prize!-Let the Little Dumb Boy step forward to the Chinese Cabinet and choose his Peacock Feather Fan!"
Rosalee gave a little cry. It sounded almost like tears. She ran forward. She whispered in Carol's ear.
Carol opened his eyes. He took a chair. He pushed it against the cabinet. He climbed up to the highest shelf. There was a fan as big as the moon! It was sandalwood! It was carved! It was all peacock feathers! Blue! Bronze! It was beautiful! He took it! He went back to his seat! His mouth smiled a little! But he carried the Fan as though it was hot!
"The second prize of course," said the Blinded Lady, "goes to the child who wrote about the soldiers!"
Rosalee stepped forward.
The Blinded Lady took her hand. "It is not exactly as I had wished," said the Blinded Lady. "But a Choice of Cats is a Choice of Cats!-You will find them all in the wood-shed Young Lassie-awaiting your decision! Choose wisely! A good cat is a great comfort!"
We went to the wood-shed to help Rosalee choose her cat.
All the cats purred to be chosen. It was sad. My Father said it wasn't. My Father said one cat was plenty.
The White Persian Kitten lay on a soap box. It looked like Easter Lilies. Rosalee saw it. She forgot all about the fan.
Carol didn't forget about the fan. He stamped his foot. He shook his head. He took Rosalee's hand and led her to the old Tortoise Shell Cat. He put the old Tortoise Shell cat in Rosalee's arms. Rosalee looked pretty surprised. So did the cat.
My sorrow made tears in my eyes. My Mother came running.
"Bless your heart, Ruthy-Girl," she said. "You shall have a Ginger-bread to-night that is a Picture!" She put a little box in my hand. There was a little gold pencil in the box. It was my Mother's best little gold pencil with the agate stone in the end. "Here's Mother's prize, Darling," she said. "The Prize Mother brought for whichever child didn't win the Blinded Lady's prizes! Don't you worry! Mother'll always have a prize for whichever child doesn't win the other prizes!"