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Dan shook his head, and glanced about the room as if he already found it rather confined and longed for all out-of-doors again.
“Who would marry a jack-o’-lantern like me? Women like a steady-going man; I shall never be that.”
“My dear boy, when I was a girl I liked just such adventurous fellows as you are. Anything fresh and daring, free and romantic, is always attractive to us womenfolk. Don’t be discouraged; you’ll find an anchor some day, and be content to take shorter voyages and bring home a good cargo.”
“What should you say if I brought you an Indian squaw some day?” asked Dan, with a glimmer of mischief in the eyes that rested on a marble bust of Galatea gleaming white and lovely in the corner.
“Welcome her heartily, if she was a good one. Is there a prospect of it?” and Mrs Jo peered at him with the interest which even literary ladies take in love affairs.
“Not at present, thank you. I’m too busy ‘to gallivant’, as Ted calls it. How is the boy?” asked Dan, skilfully turning the conversation, as if he had had enough of sentiment.
Mrs Jo was off at once, and expatiated upon the talents and virtues of her sons till they came bursting in and fell upon Dan like two affectionate young bears, finding a vent for their joyful emotions in a sort of friendly wrestling-match; in which both got worsted, of course, for the hunter soon settled them. The Professor followed, and tongues went like mill-clappers while Mary lighted up and cook devoted herself to an unusually good supper, instinctively divining that this guest was a welcome one.
After tea Dan was walking up and down the long rooms as he talked, with occasional trips into the hall for a fresher breath of air, his lungs seeming to need more than those of civilized people. In one of these trips he saw a white figure framed in the dark doorway, and paused to look at it. Bess paused also, not recognizing her old friend, and quite unconscious of the pretty picture she made standing, tall and slender, against the soft gloom of the summer night, with her golden hair like a halo round her head, and the ends of a white shawl blown out like wings by the cool wind sweeping through the hall.
“Is it Dan?” she asked, coming in with a gracious smile and outstretched hand.
“Looks like it; but I didn’t know you, Princess. I thought it was a spirit,” answered Dan, looking down at her with a curious softness and wonder in his face.
“I’ve grown very much, but two years have changed you entirely” and Bess looked up with girlish pleasure at the picturesque figure before her—for it was a decided contrast to the well-dressed people about her.
Before they could say more, Josie rushed in, and, forgetful of the newly acquired dignity of her teens, let Dan catch her up and kiss her like a child. Not till he set her down did he discover she also was changed, and exclaimed in comic dismay:
“Hallo! Why, you are growing up too! What am I going to do, with no young one to play with? Here’s Ted going it like a beanstalk, and Bess a young lady, and even you, my mustard-seed, letting down your frocks and putting on airs.”
The girls laughed, and Josie blushed as she stared at the tall man, conscious that she had leaped before she looked. They made a pretty contrast, these two young cousins—one as fair as a lily, the other a little wild rose. And Dan gave a nod of satisfaction as he surveyed them; for he had seen many bonny girls in his travels, and was glad that these old friends were blooming so beautifully.
“Here! we can’t allow any monopoly of Dan!” called Mrs Jo. “Bring him back and keep an eye on him, or he will be slipping off for another little run of a year or two before we have half seen him.”
Led by these agreeable captors, Dan returned to the parlour to receive a scolding from Josie for getting ahead of all the other boys and looking like a man first.
“Emil is older; but he’s only a boy and dances jigs and sings sailor songs just as he used to. You look about thirty, and as big and black as a villain in a play. Oh, I’ve got a splendid idea! You are just the thing for Arbaces in The Last Days of Pompeii. We want to act it; have the lion and the gladiators and the eruption. Tom and Ted are going to shower bushels of ashes down and roll barrels of stones about. We wanted a dark man for the Egyptian; and you will be gorgeous in red and white shawls. Won’t he, Aunt Jo?”
This deluge of words made Dan clap his hands over his ears; and before Mrs Bhaer could answer her impetuous niece the Laurences, with Meg and her family, arrived, soon followed by Tom and Nan, and all sat down to listen to Dan’s adventures—told in brief yet effective manner, as the varying expressions of interest, wonder, merriment, and suspense painted on the circle of faces round him plainly showed. The boys all wanted to start at once for California and make fortunes; the girls could hardly wait for the curious and pretty things he had picked up for them in his travels; while the elders rejoiced heartily over the energy and good prospects of their wild boy.
“Of course you will want to go back for another stroke of luck; and I hope you will have it. But speculation is a dangerous game, and you may lose all you’ve won,” said Mr Laurie, who had enjoyed the stirring tale as much as any of the boys, and would have liked to rough it with Dan as well as they.
“I’ve had enough of it, for a while at least; too much like gambling. The excitement is all I care for, and it isn’t good for me. I have a notion to try farming out West. It’s grand on a large scale; and I feel as if steady work would be rather jolly after loafing round so long. I can make a beginning, and you can send me your black sheep to stock my place with. I tried sheep-farming in Australia, and know something about black ones, anyway.”
A laugh chased away the sober look in Dan’s face as he ended; and those who knew him best guessed that he had learned a lesson there in San Francisco, and dared not try again.
“That is a capital idea, Dan!” cried Mrs Jo, seeing great hope in this desire to fix himself somewhere and help others. “We shall know where you are, and can go and see you, and not have half the world between us. I’ll send my Ted for a visit. He’s such a restless spirit, it would do him good. With you he would be safe while he worked off his surplus energies and learned a wholesome business.”
“I’ll use the ‘shubble and de hoe’ like a good one, if I get a chance out there; but the Speranza mines sound rather jollier,” said Ted, examining the samples of ore Dan had brought for the Professor.
“You go and start a new town, and when we are ready to swarm we will come out and settle there. You will want a newspaper very soon, and I like the idea of running one myself much better than grinding away as I do now,” observed Demi, panting to distinguish himself in the journalistic line.
“We could easily plant a new college there. These sturdy Westerners are hungry for learning, and very quick to see and choose the best,” added ever-young Mr March, beholding with his prophetic eye many duplicates of their own flourishing establishment springing up in the wide West.
“Go on, Dan. It is a fine plan, and we will back you up. I shouldn’t mind investing in a few prairies and cowboys myself,” said Mr Laurie, always ready to help the lads to help themselves, both by his cheery words and ever-open purse.
“A little money sort of ballasts a fellow, and investing it in land anchors him—for a while, at least. I’d like to see what I can do, but I thought I’d consult you before I decided. Have my doubts about it suiting me for many years; but I can cut loose when I’m tired,” answered Dan, both touched and pleased at the eager interest of these friends in his plans.
“I know you won’t like it. After having the whole world to roam over, one farm will seem dreadfully small and stupid,” said Josie, who much preferred the romance of the wandering life which brought her thrilling tales and pretty things at each return.
“Is there any art out there?” asked Bess, thinking what a good study in black and white Dan would make as he stood talking, half turned from the light.
“Plenty of nature, dear; and that is better. You will find splendid animals to model, and scenery such as you never saw in Europe to paint. Even pr
osaic pumpkins are grand out there. You can play Cinderella in one of them, Josie, when you open your theatre in Dansville,” said Mr Laurie, anxious that no cold water should be thrown on the new plan.
Stage-struck Josie was caught at once, and being promised all the tragic parts on the yet unbuilt stage, she felt a deep interest in the project and begged Dan to lose no time in beginning his experiment. Bess also confessed that studies from nature would be good for her, and wild scenery improve her taste, which might grow over-nice if only the delicate and beautiful were set before her.
“I speak for the practice of the new town,” said Nan, always eager for fresh enterprises. “I shall be ready by the time you get well started—towns grow so fast out there.”
“Dan isn’t going to allow any woman under forty in his place. He doesn’t like them, ’specially young and pretty ones,” put in Tom, who was raging with jealousy, because he read admiration for Nan in Dan’s eyes.
“That won’t affect me, because doctors are exceptions to all rules. There won’t be much sickness in Dansville, everyone will lead such active, wholesome lives, and only energetic young people will go there. But accidents will be frequent, owing to wild cattle, fast riding, Indian scrimmages, and the recklessness of Western life. That will just suit me. I long for broken bones, surgery is so interesting and I get so little here,” answered Nan, yearning to put out her shingle and begin.
“I’ll have you, Doctor, and be glad of such a good sample of what we can do in the East. Peg away, and I’ll send for you as soon as I have a roof to cover you. I’ll scalp a few red fellows or smash up a dozen or so of cowboys for your special benefit,” laughed Dan, well pleased with the energy and fine physique which made Nan a conspicuous figure among other girls.
“Thanks. I’ll come. Would you just let me feel your arm? Splendid biceps! Now, boys, see here: this is what I call muscle.” And Nan delivered a short lecture with Dan’s sinewy arm to illustrate it.
Tom retired to the alcove and glowered at the stars, while he swung his own right arm with a vigour suggestive of knocking someone down.
“Make Tom sexton; he’ll enjoy burying the patients Nan kills. He’s trying to get up the glum expression proper to the business. Don’t forget him, Dan,” said Ted, directing attention to the blighted being in the corner.
