Beth Finds the Palace Beautiful (Little Women (Full Cast))

01CHAPTER VI.

02Beth Finds the Palace Beautiful The big house did prove a palace beautiful, though it took some time for all to get in, and Beth found it very hard to pass the lions.

03Old Mr.

04Lawrence was the biggest one, but after he had called, said something funny or kind to each one of the girls, and talked over old times with their mother, nobody felt much afraid of him, except timid Beth.

05The other lion was the fact that they were poor and lorry-rich, for this made them shy of accepting favours which they could not return.

06But after a while they found that he considered them the benefactors, and could not do enough to show how grateful he was for Mrs.

07March's motherly welcome, their cheerful society, and the comfort he took in that humble home of theirs.

08So they soon forgot their pride, and interchanged kindnesses without stopping to think which was the greater.

09All sorts of pleasant things happened about that time, for the new friendship flourished like grass in spring.

10Every one liked lorry, and he privately informed his tutor that, said, the marches were regularly splendid girls.

11With the delightful enthusiasm of youth they took the solitary boy into their midst and made much of him, and he found something very charming in the innocent companionship of these simple-hearted girls.

12Never having known mother or sisters, he was quick to feel the influences they brought about him, and their busy, lively ways made him ashamed of the indolent life he led.

13He was tired of books, and found people so interesting now that Mr.

14Brook was obliged to make very unsatisfactory reports, for lorry was always playing truant and running over to the marches.

15Never mind.

16Let him take a holiday, and make it up afterward, said the old gentleman.

17The good lady next door says he is studying too hard, and needs young society, amusement, and exercise.

18I suspect she is right, and that I have been coddling the fellow as if I'd been his grandmother.

19Let him do what he likes as long as he is happy.

20He can't get into mischief in that little nunnery over there, and Mrs.

21March is doing more for him than we can." What good times they had, to be sure!

22Such plays and tableaux, such sleigh-rides and skating frolics, such pleasant evenings in the old parlor, and now and then such gay little parties at the great house.

23Meg could walk in the conservatory whenever she liked and revel in bouquets.

24Joe browsed over the new library voraciously, and convulsed the old gentleman with her criticisms.

25Amy copied pictures, and enjoyed beauty to her heart's content, and Laurie played Lord of the Manor in the most delightful style.

26But Beth, though yearning for the grand piano, could not pluck up courage to go to the mansion of bliss, as Meg called it.

27She went once with Joe, but the old gentleman, not being aware of her infirmity, stared at her so hard from under his heavy eyebrows, and said, "'Hey!' so loud, that he frightened her so much, her feet chattered on the floor, she never told her mother, and she ran away, declaring she would never go there any more, not even for the dear piano.

28No persuasions or enticements could overcome her fear, till the fact coming to Mr.

29Lawrence's ear in some mysterious way, he set about mending matters.

30During one of the brief calls he made, he artfully led the conversation to music, and talked away about great singers whom he had seen, fine organs he had heard, and told such charming anecdotes that Beth found it impossible to stay in her distant corner, but crept nearer and nearer as if fascinated.

31At the back of his chair she stopped and stood listening, with her great eyes wide open and her cheeks red with excitement of this unusual performance.

32Taking no more notice of her than if she had been a fly, Mr.

33Lawrence talked on about Laurie's lessons and teachers, and presently, as if the idea had just occurred to him, he said to Mrs.

34March, The boy neglects his music now, and I'm glad of it, for he was getting too fond of it.

35But the piano suffers for want of use.

36Wouldn't some of your girls like to run over and practice on it now and then?

37Just to keep it in tune, you know, ma'am?" Beth took a step forward, and pressed her hands tightly together to keep from clapping them, for this was an irresistible temptation, and the thought of practicing on that splendid instrument quite took her breath away.

38Before Mrs.

39March could reply, Mr.

40Lawrence went on with an odd little nod and smile.

41"'You needn't see or speak to any one, but run in at any time, for I'm shut up in my study at the other end of the house.

42Laurie is out a great deal, and the servants are never near the drawing-room after nine o'clock.' Here he rose, as if going, and Beth made up her mind to speak, for that last arrangement left nothing to be desired.

43"'Please tell the young ladies what I say, and if they don't care to come, why, never mind.' Here a little hand slipped into his, and Beth looked up at him with a face full of gratitude, as she said in her earnest yet timid way, "'Oh, sir, they do care very, very much.' "'Are you the musical girl?' he asked, without any startling, "'Hey!' as he looked down at her very kindly.

44"'I'm—I'm Beth.

45I love it dearly, and I'll come, if you are quite sure nobody will hear me and be disturbed,' she added, fearing to be rude and trembling at her own boldness as she spoke.

46"'Not a soul, my dear.

47The house is empty half the day.

48So come, and drum away as much as you like, and I shall be obliged to you.' "'How kind you are, sir!' Beth blushed like a rose under the friendly look he wore, but she was not frightened now, and gave the hand a grateful squeeze because she had no words to thank him for the precious gift he had given her.

49The old gentleman softly stroked the hair off her forehead, and stooping down he kissed her, saying in a tone few people ever heard, "'I had a little girl once, with eyes like these.

50God bless you, my dear.

51Good day, madame.' And he went away in a great hurry.

52Beth had a rapture with her mother, and then rushed up to impart the glorious news to her family of invalids as the girls were not home.

53How blithely she sang that evening, and how they all laughed at her because she woke Amy in the night by playing the piano on her face in her sleep.

54Next day, having seen both the old and the young gentleman out of the house, Beth, after two or three retreats, fairly got in at the side door, and made her way as noiselessly as any mouse to the drawing-room where her idol stood.

55Quite by accident, of course, some pretty easy music lay on the piano, and with trembling fingers and frequent stops to listen and look about, Beth at last touched the great instrument, and straightway forgot her fear, herself, and everything else but the unspeakable delight which the music gave her, for it was like the voice of a beloved friend.

56She stayed till Hannah came to take her home to dinner, but she had no appetite, and could only sit and smile upon every one in a general state of beatitude.

57After that the little brown hood slipped through the hedge nearly every day, and the great drawing-room was haunted by a tuneful spirit that came and went unseen.

58She never knew that Mr.

59Lawrence opened his study door to hear the old-fashioned airs he liked.

60She never saw Laurie mount guard in the hall to warn the servants away.

61She never suspected that the exercise-books and new songs which she found in the rack were put there for her a special benefit, and when he talked to her about music at home she only thought how kind he was to tell things that helped her so much.

62So she enjoyed herself heartily, and found, what isn't always the case, that her granted wish was all she hoped for.

63Perhaps it was because she was so grateful for this blessing that a greater was given her.

64At any rate she deserved both.

65"'Mother, I'm going to work Mr.

66Lawrence a pair of slippers.

67He is so kind to me I must thank him, and I don't know any other way.

68Can I do it?' asked Beth, a few weeks after that eventful call of his.

69"'Yes, dear.

70It will please him very much, and be a nice way of thanking him.

71The girls will help you about them, and I will pay for the making up,' replied Mrs.

72March, who took peculiar pleasure in granting Beth's requests, because she so seldom asked anything for herself.

73After many serious discussions with Meg and Joe the pattern was chosen, the materials bought, and the slippers begun.

74A cluster of grave yet cheerful pansies on a deeper purple ground was pronounced very appropriate and pretty, and Beth worked away early and late, with occasional lifts over hard parts.

75She was a nimble little needlewoman, and they were finished before any one got tired of them.

76Then she wrote a short, simple note, and with Laurie's help got them smuggled on to the study table one morning before the old gentleman was up.

77When this excitement was over, Beth waited to see what would happen.

78All day passed and a part of the next before any acknowledgment arrived, and she was beginning to fear she had offended her crotchety friend.

79On the afternoon of the second day she went out to do an errand, and give poor Joanna, the invalid doll, her daily exercise.

80As she came up the street, on her return, she saw three, yes, four heads popping in and out of the parlour windows, and the moment they saw her several hands were waved, and several joyful voices screamed.

81"'Here's a letter from the old gentleman.

82Come quick and read it.' "'Oh, Beth, he sent you,' began Amy, gesticulating with unseemly energy, but she got no further, for Joe quenched her by slamming down the window.

83Beth hurried on in a flutter of suspense.

84At the door her sister seized and bore her to the parlour in a triumphal procession, all pointing and saying at once, "'Look there, look there!' Beth did look, and turned pale with delight and surprise, for there stood a little cabinet piano, with a letter lying on the glossy lid, directed like a sign-board to Miss Elizabeth March.

85"'For me?' gasped Beth, holding on to Joe and feeling as if she should tumble down.

86It was such an overwhelming thing altogether.

87"'Yes, all for you, my precious!

88Isn't it splendid of him?

89Don't you think he's the dearest old man in the world?

90Here's the key in the letter.

91We didn't open it.

92We are dying to know what he says,' cried Joe, hugging her sister and offering the note.

93"'You read it.

94I can't.

95I feel so queer.

96Oh, it's too lovely!' And Beth hid her face in Joe's apron, quite upset by her present.

97Joe opened the paper and began to laugh, for the first words she saw were, "'Miss March.

98Dear Madam.' "'How nice it sounds!

99I wish someone would write to me so,' said Amy, who thought the old-fashioned address very elegant.

100"'I have had many pairs of slippers in my life, but I never had any that suited me so well as yours,' continued Joe.

101"'Heart's ease is my favorite flower, and these will always remind me of the gentle giver.

102I like to pay my debts, so I know you will allow the old gentleman to send you something which once belonged to the little granddaughter he lost.

103With hearty thanks and best wishes, I remain, your faithful friend and humble servant, James Lawrence.' "'There, Beth, that's an honor to be proud of, I'm sure.

104Laurie told me how fond Mr.

105Lawrence used to be of the child who died, and how he kept all her little things carefully.

106Just think he's given you her piano.

107That comes of having big blue eyes and loving music,' said Joe, trying to soothe Beth, who trembled and looked more excited than she had ever been before.

108"'See the cunning brackets to hold candles, and the nice green silk puckered up with the gold rose in the middle, and the pretty rack and stool all complete,' added Meg, opening the instrument and displaying its beauties.

109"'Your humble servant, James Lawrence.

110Only think of his writing that to you.

111I'll tell the girls they'll think it splendid,' said Amy, much impressed by the note.

112"'Try it, honey.

113Let's hear the sound of the baby piano,' said Hannah, who always took a share in the family joys and sorrows.

114So Beth tried it, and every one pronounced it the most remarkable piano ever heard.

115It had evidently been newly tuned and put in apple-pie order, but perfect as it was, I think the real charm lay in the happiest of all happy faces which leaned over it, as Beth lovingly touched the beautiful black and white keys and pressed the bright petals.

116"'You'll have to go and thank him,' said Joe, by way of a joke, for the idea of the child's really going never entered her head.

117"'Yes, I mean to.

118I guess I'll go now, before I get frightened thinking about it,' and to the utter amazement of the assembled family, Beth walked deliberately down the garden, through the hedge, and in at the Lawrence's door.

119"'Well, I wish I may die if it ain't the queerest thing I ever see.

120The peony has turned her head.

121She'd never have gone in her right mind,' cried Hannah, staring after her, while the girls were rendered quite speechless by the miracle.

122They would have been still more amazed if they had seen what Beth did afterward.

123If you will believe me, she went and knocked at the study door before she gave herself time to think, and when a gruff voice called out, "'Come in,' she did go in, right up to Mr.

124Lawrence, who looked quite taken aback, and held out her hand, saying with only a small quaver in her voice, "'I—I came to thank you, sir, for—' But she didn't finish, for he looked so friendly that she forgot her speech, and only remembering that he had lost the little girl he loved, she put both arms round his neck and kissed him.

125If the roof of the house had suddenly flown off the old gentleman wouldn't have been more astonished.

126But he liked it—oh dear yes, he liked it amazingly, and was so touched and pleased by that confiding little kiss that all his crustiness vanished, and he just set her on his knee, and laid his wrinkled cheek against her rosy one, feeling as if he had got his own little granddaughter back again.

127Beth ceased to fear him from that moment, and sat there talking to him as cosily as if she had known him all her life, for love casts out fear, and gratitude can conquer pride.

128When she went home, he walked with her to her own gate, shook hands cordially, and touched his hat as he marched back again, looking very stately and erect, like a handsome, soldierly old gentleman, as he was.

129When the girls saw that performance, Jo began to dance a jig, by way of expressing her satisfaction, Amy nearly fell out of the window in her surprise, and Meg exclaimed with uplifted hands, "'Well, I do believe the world is coming to an end.'" End of chapter 6