"DEARLY BELOVED FAMILY:—
"I can't stop to write separate letters to-night to all of you, because I'm so full of Delphitis that I can hardly think of anything else. First of all, Rex met me at the train with his sister Anne. It's quite all right to call him Rex, Aunt Daphne says. No relation to us but he lives next door, and is Uncle Cassius' pet educational proposition next to your little sister Katherine.
"Mother's letter had not arrived, and they were expecting 'brother' any moment, when Rex and I walked in on them, and right here I must say they showed presence of mind, and what Cousin Roxy would call resignation to the ways of Providence1. The Dean's eyes twinkled as Rex explained things, and then I kissed Aunt Daphne, and explained to her too, and I'm sure that she was relieved. After Rex had gone, the Dean took me into his study after dinner, and we had a long heart-to-heart talk. I want you all to understand that he thinks I'm a good specimen2 of the undeveloped feminine brain.
"I am going to enter the preparatory class at the college in October, and take what the Dean calls supplementary3 lessons from him along special lines. I don't quite know all that this means, but I guess I can weather it. It probably has to do with what Rex called the 'cosmic makings,' geology and all sorts of prehistoric4 stuff. I know the Dean mentioned one thing that began with a 'paleo' but I have forgotten the rest of it. I'll let you know later.
"I have a perfectly5 darling room. It looks right out over Lake Michigan. There's a big square bay window to it, that overhangs the edge of the bluff6 like the balcony of a Spanish beauty. Our back garden just topples right over into a ravine that ends up short on the shore. I never saw such abrupt7 little chasms8 in my life. Uncle Cassius was showing me the layers of strata9 there that a little recent landslide10 had shown up, and he says that the formation is just exactly like it is out west in Wyoming and Colorado.
"Aunt Daphne is just a dear. It's more fun to hear her tell of how she worried over a boy coming into the family. The whole house is filled from one end to the other with Uncle Cassius' treasures that he's been collecting for years. You're liable to stumble over a stuffed armadillo or a petrified11 slice of some prehistoric monster anywhere at all. I found a mummy case in the library closet, but there wasn't anything in it at all, and I was awfully12 disappointed. I don't know but what I like it after all, although I miss you fearfully, dear nestful of robins13. I don't even dare to think there are about a thousand miles between us.
"This is all I can write to you to-night because I'm so sleepy I can hardly keep my eyes open. Aunt Daphne just came in and kissed me good-night. She told me again how glad she is that I'm not a boy. Uncle Cassius hasn't committed himself yet, but I think he's curious about me anyway. Good-night all, and write oodles of news to me.
"Sign of the Mummy,
Delphi, Wis."
At the same moment that Kit was writing home, the Dean and Miss Daphne stepped out on the broad veranda16. Every evening about nine-thirty passers-by might have seen the flickering17 glow of the Dean's good-night cigar. He was not an habitual18 smoker19, but the evening cigar was a sort of nocturnal ceremonial. It gave him an excuse to step out into the fragrant20 darkness of the garden walk for a quiet little stroll before bedtime, and usually Miss Daphne would try to join him.
So to-night they paced together, discussing the girl with the red curls who had come to them from far-off New England, in lieu of the boy they had sent for.
"There's no reason," remarked the Dean, reflectively, "why the child should not have a pleasant visit, since she is here. I have had a long conversation with her, and while I would not say that she was exceptionally—er——"
"Bright," suggested Daphne.
"I should like to call it intellectual," the Dean said kindly21, "she is keenly impressionable and self-reliant. I think I may be able to interest her, at least in a simplified course of study. I have always believed that boys were more amenable22 to routine discipline in education than girls, but we shall see."
Miss Daphne's eyes, if he could only have seen them, held a twinkle of mirth, and her smile was a little more pronounced than usual.
"I think," she said, softly, "that she is a very lovable, attractive girl. I am quite relieved, brother, not to have a boy in the house."
Kit wakened the following morning with the sunlight calling to her. It was early, but back on the farm the girls usually rose about five. There did not seem to be any one stirring yet, so she dressed quietly, and found her way down-stairs. The Dean kept a cook, gardener and second girl. Kit heard Delia, the latter, singing in the dining-room and went out at once to make friends with her.
"Is it very far down the bluff to the shore, Delia?" she asked, eagerly. "I'm dying to climb down there, if I have time before breakfast."
"Sure, Miss, it's as easy as rolling off a log. You take the roundabout way through the garden, and the little path, behind the tool shed, and you just follow it until you can't go any farther, and there's the bluff. I haven't been down myself, but Dan says there's a little path you take to the shore if you don't mind scrambling23 a bit."
Kit waved good-bye to her and went in search of the path. She found Dan, the gardener, raking up leaves in the back garden. He was a plump rosy-cheeked old Irishman, his face wrinkled like a winter pippin, and he lifted his cap at her approach with a smile of frank curiosity and approval.
A half-grown black retriever came bounding to meet her, his nose and forepaws tipped with white.
"That's a welcome he's giving you you wouldn't have had if you'd been a boy, Miss," Danny said, shrewdly. "I'm glad to meet you, and hope you'll like it here."
Kit was stroking Sandy's silky curls. His real name he told her was Lysander. Anything that the Dean had the naming of received the benediction24 of ancient Greece, but Sandy, in his puppyhood, had managed to acquire a happy diminutive25.
"I don't see," Kit said, laughingly, "why you dreaded26 a boy coming. I know some awfully nice boys back home, and there's one specially"—she paused just a moment, before she added—"named Billie. He's kind of related to us, because his grandfather married Cousin Roxy, and she's my father's cousin. It's a little bit hard to figure it out, but still we're related, and we're very, very good friends. I think he's just the kind of a boy the Dean expected to see, but perhaps he'll get used to me. Do you think he will?"
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1
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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2
specimen
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| n.样本，标本 | |
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3
supplementary
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| adj.补充的，附加的 | |
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4
prehistoric
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| adj.（有记载的）历史以前的，史前的，古老的 | |
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5
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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6
bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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7
abrupt
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| adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的 | |
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8
chasms
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| 裂缝( chasm的名词复数 )； 裂口； 分歧； 差别 | |
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9
strata
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| n.地层（复数）；社会阶层 | |
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10
landslide
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| n.(竞选中)压倒多数的选票；一面倒的胜利 | |
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11
petrified
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| adj.惊呆的；目瞪口呆的v.使吓呆，使惊呆；变僵硬；使石化(petrify的过去式和过去分词) | |
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12
awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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13
robins
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| n.知更鸟，鸫( robin的名词复数 )；（签名者不分先后，以避免受责的）圆形签名抗议书（或请愿书） | |
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14
devotedly
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| 专心地； 恩爱地； 忠实地； 一心一意地 | |
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15
kit
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| n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物 | |
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16
veranda
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| n.走廊；阳台 | |
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17
flickering
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| adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的 | |
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18
habitual
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| adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的 | |
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19
smoker
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| n.吸烟者，吸烟车厢，吸烟室 | |
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20
fragrant
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| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
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21
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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22
amenable
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| adj.经得起检验的；顺从的；对负有义务的 | |
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23
scrambling
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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24
benediction
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| n.祝福；恩赐 | |
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25
diminutive
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| adj.小巧可爱的，小的 | |
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26
dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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27
gallantly
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| adv. 漂亮地，勇敢地，献殷勤地 | |
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