A Little Mother to the Others | Page 7

down, and put her little elbows
on the ledge.
"Yes, mother," she said, speaking aloud and looking full up at the
bright blue sky, "I promise you. I promised you yesterday, but I make a
fresh, very, very solemn promise to-day. Yes, I will be a mother to the
others; I will try never to think of myself; I will remember, mother
darling, exactly what you want me to do. I will try to be beautiful, to be
a little messenger of the gods, as you sometimes said I might be, and to
be like the rainbow, full of hope. And I will try to help Apollo to be the
most beautiful and the bravest boy in the world; and, mother, I will do
my best to help Diana to be strong and bright and full of courage; and I
will do what I can for Orion--he must be grand like a giant, so that he
may live up to the wonderful name you have given him. Mother, it will

be very hard, but I promise, I promise with all my might, to do
everything you want me to do. I will act just as if you were there and
could see, mother, and I will always remember that it is beautiful for
you to have gone away, for while you were here you had so much pain
and so much illness. I won't fret, mother; no, I won't fret--I promise to
be a mother to the others, and there won't be any time to fret."
No tears came to Iris' bright eyes, but her little thin face grew paler and
paler. Presently she left the window and went slowly downstairs again.
Fortune had now left the other children to themselves. They were
scattered about the bright day nursery, looking miserable, though they
could scarcely tell why.
"I don't believe a bit that mother is never coming back," said Orion, in a
stout, determined voice.
He was a very handsome little fellow, strongly made--he had great big
black eyes like his father's. He was standing now with his Noah's ark in
his hand.
"It is unfeeling of you to want to play with your Noah's ark to-day,
Orion," said Apollo. "Now, do you think I would go into my laboratory
and try to make a thermometer?"
"Well, at least," said Diana, speaking with a sort of jerk, and her small
face turning crimson, "whatever happens, the animals must be fed."
"Of course they must, Diana," said Iris, coming forward, "and, Apollo,
there is not the least harm in our going into the garden, and I don't think
there is any harm in Orion playing with his Noah's ark. Come, children;
come with me. We will feed all the pets and then go into the arbor, and,
if you like, I will tell you stories."
"What sort of stories?" asked Diana, in quite a cheerful voice. She
trotted up to her sister, and gave her her hand as she spoke. She also
was a finely made child, not unlike her name.

"I 'gree with Orion," she said. "I'm quite certain sure that mother is
coming back 'fore long. Fortune did talk nonsense. She said, Iris--do
you know what she said?--she said that in the middle of the night, just
when it was black dark, you know, a white angel came into the room
and took mother in his arms and flew up to the sky with her. You don't
believe that; do you, Iris?"
"Yes, I do, Diana," answered Iris. "But I will tell you more about it in
the arbor. Come, Apollo; mother would not like us to stay in the house
just because she has gone away to the angels. Mother never was the
least little bit selfish. Come into the garden."
The three forlorn-looking little children were much comforted by Iris'
brave words. They dried their eyes, and Diana ran into the night
nursery to fetch their hats. They then ran downstairs without anyone
specially noticing them, passed through the great entrance hall, and out
on to the wide gravel sweep, which led by a side walk into the lovely
garden.
Iris held Diana by one hand and Orion by the other, and Apollo ran on
in front.
"Now, then," said Iris, when they had reached the garden, "we must
begin by feeding all the pets."
"There are an awful lot of them," said Diana, in quite a cheerful voice;
"and don't you remember, Iris, the poor innocent was not buried
yesterday?"
Iris could not help giving a little shiver.
"No more it was," she said, in a low tone. "It must have quite a private
funeral. Please get some dock leaves, Apollo."
"Yes," answered Apollo.
He ran off, returning with a bunch in a moment or two.

"Take them into