Louisa and the Crystal Gazer by Anna Maclean Read Free Book Online Page A

exhausted you.” I tucked the covers around her and closed the curtains to dim the light. I would write downstairs, in Auntie Bond’s dining room. So down I took my pen and inkwell and pages and carefully laid them over a mat of thick newspapers, to protect the fine polished table.
    Martha, Auntie Bond’s housemaid, came in. She was an efficient woman of some forty years, round in shape and cheerful in manner. Moreover, she had acquired this position through my mother, who a year before had helped find employment for some of Boston’s unemployed women. “Up so early! I’ll get you some coffee and porridge, Miss Louisa,” she said with great enthusiasm, and before I could say, “No, thank you,” she headed to her kitchen and returned a minute later with a tray for me.
    “Eat up,” said Martha, standing over me with hands on hips. I pushed my story aside and ate. Later I would ask Auntie Bond if I might clear a space in the attic for my worktable. Perhaps, reader, it sounded inconvenient, but the thought cheered me. I had my sweetest sister with me, friends about me, and a voice whispering that new story to me. Attics are fine places to work, and the days would pass quickly. I, who had joined the first séance with great reluctance, now eagerly anticipated the second, to satisfy my growing curiosity about Mrs. Agatha Percy.
    Walpole, New Hampshire, December 6
    Dear Louy,
    Thank heavens, and I mean that with all sincerity, as you can imagine, that Lizzie arrived safely and is now under the sheltering wing of her older sister. Your cousin Eliza should have known better than to suggest a party for shy Lizzie without letting me first prepare her for such an announcement. Our sweet Lizzie, our angel! Make certain she dresses warmly, Louy.
    I questioned Uncle Benjamin’s housekeeper, and she says she told no one of Lizzie’s plans to depart, that in fact she did not know of such plans, believing as she did that the travel hamper was to have been for a picnic. She did, however, mention the hamper of food to elderly Dr. Burroughs, who was shopping for fishing line at the same time that she was purchasing castor sugar at Tupper’s General Store.
    Have you a story I might see, or even some new journal entries you wish to pass on to your doting Marmee? I miss your imagination, my dearest. Walpole seems to have emptied of mystery since you left.
    Speaking of leaving, you did not by any misadventure pack my soup strainer in your trunk, did you? It has gone missing, and you know how your father dislikes lumps in the cream soup.
    Tell Lizzie she must write me every day. Sending you both all the love a mother’s heart can hold.
         
Marmee
    Walpole, New Hampshire, December 6
    Dear Daughter,
    How fares the battle against Mr. Gripeman, a schoolmaster in Love-gain? I hope you have not forgotten our conversation, immediatelybefore your departure, wherein we further discussed
Pilgrim’s Progress
and I used those metaphors to encourage you to see life, and your writing, as a spiritual experience rather than one in which you try to gain as much as possible of worldly wealth and fame. Remember how the
Schoolmaster
in Love-gain (which is a market town in the
county of Coveting
) taught the little souls in his care the arts of flattery, lying, and violence to attain their ends. Be not like them, but pure of heart and intention.
    Mr. Barnum asked after me? A weaker man would be flattered, I suppose. I avoid the impulse to believe I am as well-known as he would suggest. Ask for more details about those appearances he mentioned, in particular my rate of reimbursement.
    Your mother continues to bloom like a rose in the country air. Walpole has done her good, especially now that no more deceased bodies have made an appearance in our peaceful lives. She does try to smuggle chicken and even beef into our soups and then insists the lumps are unmashed potatoes.
    Control your temper, eat lightly of vegetarian fare, and bless the Creator