‘It might be if it was kept nice; but the maids are lazy, and I don’t know how to make them mind. It worries me, though.’

‘I’ll right it up in two minutes; for it only needs to have the hearth brushed, so – and the things made straight on the mantelpiece, so – and the books put here and the bottles there, and your sofa turned from the light, and the pillows plumped up a bit. Now, then, you’re fixed.’

And so he was; for, as she laughed and talked, Jo had whisked things into place, and given quite a different air to the room. Laurie watched her in respectful silence; and when she beckoned him to his sofa, he sat down with a sigh of satisfaction, saying gratefully:

‘How kind you are! Yes, that’s what it wanted. Now please take the big chair, and let me do something to amuse my company.’

‘No. I came to amuse you. Shall I read aloud?’ and Jo looked affectionately towards some inviting books near by.

‘Thank you; I’ve read all those, and if you don’t mind I’d rather talk,’ answered Laurie.

‘Not a bit; I’ll talk all day if you’ll only set me going. Beth says I never know when to stop.’

‘Is Beth the rosy one, who stays at home a good deal, and sometimes goes out with a little basket?’ asked Laurie, with interest.

‘Yes, that’s Beth; she’s my girl, and a regular good one she is, too.’

‘The pretty one is Meg, and the curly-haired one is Amy, I believe?’

‘How did you find that out?’

Laurie coloured up, but answered frankly, ‘Why, you see, I often hear you calling to one another, and when I’m alone up here, I can’t help looking over at your house, you always seem to be having such good times. I beg your pardon for being so rude, but sometimes you forget to put down the curtain at the window where the flowers are; and when the lamps are lighted, it’s like looking at a picture to see the fire, and you all round the table with your mother; her face is right opposite, and it looks so sweet behind the flowers, I can’t help watching it. I haven’t got any mother, you know,’ and Laurie poked the fire to hide a little twitching of the lips that he could not control.

The solitary, hungry look in his eyes went straight to Jo’s warm heart. She had been so simply taught that there was no nonsense in her head, and at fifteen she was as innocent and frank as any child. Laurie was sick and lonely; and, feeling how rich she was in home-love and happiness, she gladly tried to share it with him. Her face was very friendly and her sharp voice unusually gentle as she said:

‘We’ll never draw that curtain any more, and I give you leave to look as much as you like. I just wish, though, instead of peeping, you’d come over and see us. Mother is so splendid, she’d do you heaps of good, and Beth would sing to you if I begged her to, and Amy would dance; Meg and I would make you laugh over our funny stage properties, and we’d have jolly times. Wouldn’t your grandpa let you?’

‘I think he would, if your mother asked him. He’s very kind, though he does not look so; and he lets me do what I like, pretty much, only he’s afraid I might be a bother to strangers,’ began Laurie, brightening more and more.

‘We are not strangers, we are neighbours, and you needn’t think you’d be a bother. We want to know you, and I’ve been trying to do this ever so long. We haven’t been here a great while, you know, but we have got acquainted with all our neighbours but you.’

‘You see grandpa lives among his books, and doesn’t mind much what happens outside. Mr Brooke, my tutor, doesn’t stay here, you know, and I have no one to go about with me, so I just stop at home and get on as I can.’

‘That’s bad. You ought to make an effort, and go visiting everywhere you are asked; then you’ll have plenty of friends, and pleasant places to go to. Never mind being bashful; it won’t last long if you keep going.’

Laurie turned red again, but wasn’t offended at being accused of bashfulness; for there was so much goodwill in Jo, it was impossible not to take her blunt speeches as kindly as they were meant.

‘Do you like your school?’ asked the boy, changing the subject, after a little pause, during which he stared at the fire, and Jo looked about her, well pleased.

‘Don’t go to school; I’m a business man – girl, I mean. I go to wait on my great-aunt, and a dear, cross old soul she is, too,’ answered Jo.

Laurie opened his mouth to ask another question; but remembering just in time that it wasn’t manners to make too many inquiries into people’s affairs, he shut it again, and looked uncomfortable. Jo liked his good breeding, and didn’t mind having a laugh at Aunt March, so she gave him a lively description of the fidgety old lady, her fat poodle, the parrot that talked Spanish, and the library where she revelled. Laurie enjoyed that immensely; and when she told about the prim old gentleman who came once to woo Aunt March, and in the middle of a fine speech, how Polly had tweaked his wig off, to his great dismay, the boy lay back and laughed till the tears ran down his cheeks, and a maid popped her head in to see what was the matter.

‘Oh! that does me no end of good. Tell on, please,’ he said, taking his face out of the sofa cushions, red and shining with merriment.

Much elated with her success, Jo did ‘tell on’, all about their plays and plans, their hopes and fears for Father, and the most interesting events of the little world in which the sisters lived. Then they got to talking about books; and to Jo’s delight, she found that Laurie loved them as well as she did, and had read even more than herself.

‘If you like them so much, come down and see ours. Grandpa is out, so you needn’t be afraid,’ said Laurie, getting up.

‘I’m not afraid of anything,’ returned Jo, with a toss of the head.

‘I don’t believe you are!’ exclaimed the boy, looking at her with much admiration, though he privately thought she would have good reason to be a trifle afraid of the old gentleman, if she met him in some of his moods.

The atmosphere of the whole house being summer-like, Laurie led the way from room to room, letting Jo stop to examine whatever struck her fancy; and so at last they came to the library, where she clapped her hands, and pranced, as she always did when especially delighted. It was lined with books, and there were pictures and statues and distracting little cabinets full of coins and curiosities, and sleepy-hollow chairs and queer tables, and bronzes; and, best of all, a great open fireplace, with quaint tiles all round it.

‘What richness!’ sighed Jo, sinking into the depth of a velvet chair, and gazing about her with an air of intense satisfaction. ‘Theodore Laurence, you ought to be the happiest boy in the world,’ she added impressively.

‘A fellow can’t live on books,’ said Laurie, shaking his head, as he perched on a table opposite.

Before he could say more, a bell rang, and Jo flew up, exclaiming with alarm, ‘Mercy me! it’s your grandpa!’

‘Well, what if it is? You are not afraid of anything, you know,’ returned the boy, looking wicked.

‘I think I am a little bit afraid of him, but I don’t know why I should be. Marmee said I might come, and I don’t think you’re any the worse for it,’ said Jo, composing herself, though she kept her eyes on the door.

‘I’m a great deal better for it, and ever so much obliged. I’m only afraid you are very tired talking to me; it was so pleasant, I couldn’t bear to stop,’ said Laurie, gratefully.

‘The doctor to see you, sir,’ and the maid beckoned as she spoke.

‘Would you mind if I left you for a minute? I suppose I must see him,’ said Laurie.

‘Don’t mind me. I’m as happy as a cricket here,’ answered Jo.

Laurie went away, and his guest amused herself in her own way. She was standing before a fine portrait of the old gentleman, when the door opened again, and without turning, she said decidedly, ‘I’m sure now that I shouldn’t be afraid of him, for he’s got kind eyes, though his mouth is grim, and he looks as if he had a tremendous will of his own. He isn’t as handsome as my grandfather, but I like him.’