11 What Katy Did Next - Bedtime Tales Stephanie Poppins

What Katy Did Next takes place a few years after What Katy Did and has Katy traveling to London, France, and Italy after receiving a once-in-a-lifetime offer to tour Europe.

In this episode, there is an unexpected U-turn, and we find out just what Katy intends to do next!

Please note: This track may include some explicit language.

Transcript

Hello.

Welcome to Sleep Stories with Steph.

A romantic bedtime podcast guaranteed to help you drift off into a calm relaxing sleep.

Come with me as we go back in time to visit Katie Carr.

She is all grown up now but she still has the same trials and tribulations she had as a child.

But before we begin let's take the time to focus on where we are now.

Take a deep breath in through your nose.

Take a deep breath in through your nose.

That's it.

Then let it out on a long sigh.

It is time to relax and really let go.

Feel yourself sink into the support beneath you.

And let the pressures of the day seep away.

Happy listening.

What Katie Did Next by Susan Coolidge Read and abridged by Stephanie Poppins Chapter 11 Next Lieutenant Worthington's leave had nearly expired.

He must rejoin his ship.

But he waited until the last possible moment in order to help his sister through the move to El Barno where it had been decided Amy should go on for a few days of hill air before undertaking the longer journey to Florence.

It was a perfect morning in late March when the pale little invalid was carried in her uncle's strong arms and placed in the carriage which was to take them to the old town on the mountain slopes.

Spring had come in her fairest shape to Italy.

The Campania had lost its brown and tawny hues and taken on a tinge of fresher colour.

The olive orchards were budding thickly.

Almond boughs extended their dazzling shapes across the sky.

When once the Campania with its long line of aqueducts,

Arches and hoary tombs was left behind and the carriage slowly began to mount the gradual rises of the hill,

Amy began to revive.

With every breath of the fresher air,

Her eyes seemed to brighten and her voice grow stronger.

She held Mabel up to look at the view and the sound of her laugh,

Faint and feeble as it was,

Was like music to her mother's ears.

Amy wore a droll little silk lined cap on her head over which a downy growth of pale brown fuzz was gradually thickening.

Already it showed a tendency to form into tiny rings,

Which to Amy who had always hankered for curls was an extreme satisfaction.

Strange to say,

The same thing exactly had happened to Mabel.

Her hair had grown out into soft little round curls also.

Uncle Ned and Katie had ransacked Rome for this baby wig,

Which filled and realised all Amy's hopes for her child.

On the same excursion they had brought the materials for the pretty spring suit which Mabel wore.

Amy admired the pearl coloured dress and hat she had,

The fringed jacket and little lace parasol.

She was quite consoled for the loss of the blue velvet costume and ermine muff which had been the pride of her heart ever since they left Paris,

But whose destruction they had scarcely dared to confess to her.

Up,

Up,

Up they climbed till the gateway of the old town was passed and the carriage stopped before a quaint little building.

Here they alighted and there was shown up a wide and lofty staircase to their rooms,

Which were on the sunny side of the house and looked across a walled garden.

The roses and lemon trees grew beside old fountains,

Guarded by sculpted lions and heathen divinities with broken noses and a scant supply of fingers and toes.

Amy was told to go to bed at once and have a long rest,

But she nearly wept at the proposal and declared she was not a bit tired and couldn't sleep if she went to bed.

The change of air had done her good already and she looked more like herself than for many weeks past.

They compromised their dispute on a sofa where Amy,

Wrapped up,

Was laid and in spite of her protestations she presently fell asleep,

Leaving the others free to examine and arrange their new quarters.

Such enormous rooms they were.

It was quite a journey to go from one side to the other.

The floors were of stone with squares of carpets laid down over them,

Which looked absurdly small for the great spaces they were supposed to cover.

The beds and tables were of the usual size,

But they seemed almost like doll furniture because the chambers were so big.

A quaint old paper with an enormous pattern of banyan trees and pagodas covered the walls,

And every now and then,

Betrayed by an oblong of regular cracks,

The existence of a hidden door,

Papered to look exactly like the rest of the wall.

These mysterious doors made Katie nervous and she never rested till she had opened every one of them and explored the places they led to.

One gave access to a queer little bathroom,

Another led through a narrow dark passage to a sort of balcony overhanging the garden.

A third ended in a dusty closet with an artful chink in it from which you could peep into what had been the bishop's drawing room,

But which was now turned into the dining room of the hotel.

Before Lieutenant Worthington left,

He had a talk with his sister in the garden.

She rather forced this talk upon him,

For various things were lying in her heart,

About which she longed for explanation,

But he yielded so easily to her wiles,

That it was evident he was not averse to the idea.

Come,

Polly,

Don't beat about the bush any longer,

He said at last,

Amused and a little irritated at her half-hints.

I know what you want to ask,

And there's no use making a secret of it.

I will take my turn in asking.

Have I any chance,

Do you think?

Any chance?

About Katie,

Do you mean,

Said Mrs.

Ash.

Oh,

Ned,

You make me so happy.

Yes,

About her,

Of course.

"'I don't see why you should say,

Of course,

' remarked his sister,

With a perversity of her sex.

When it's only five or six weeks ago,

I was lying awake at night,

Before you were being gobbled up by that lily-page.

" "'There was little risk of it,

' replied her brother,

Seriously.

She's awfully pretty,

And dances beautifully,

And the other fellows were wild about her.

But I can't see now what it was I fancied so much.

I don't suppose I could have told exactly at the time,

But I can tell without the smallest trouble what it is in the other.

" "'In Katie,

' said Mrs.

Ash,

Emphatically.

"'I should think so.

The two are no more to be compared than bread and silly-bub.

You can live on one,

But you can't live on the other.

'" "'Come now,

Miss Page isn't so bad as all that,

' said Lieutenant Worthington.

"'She's a nice enough girl,

And a pretty girl,

Too.

Let's not talk about her.

"'Do you think I have any chance at all,

Polly?

' "'Ned,

You are the dearest boy,

' said Mrs.

Ash.

"'I would rather have Katie for a sister than anyone else I know.

"'She's so nice all through,

So true and sweet and satisfactory.

'" "'She's all that and more,

' he said.

"'She's a woman to tie to for life,

To be perfectly sure of always.

"'She would make a splendid wife for any man.

"'I'm not half good enough for her,

But the question is,

What's my chance?

' "'I don't know,

' said his sister,

Slowly.

"'Then I must ask her myself,

And I shall do it today.

'" "'I don't know,

' repeated Mrs.

Ash.

"'She's a woman,

Therefore,

To be one.

"'And I don't think there's anyone ahead of you.

"'That's the best hope I have to offer,

Ned.

"'Katie never talks of such things,

And though she's so frank,

"'I can't guess whether or not she ever thinks about them.

"'She likes you,

However,

I'm sure of that.

"'But,

Ned,

It will not be wise to say anything to her yet.

'" "'Why not?

' "'I recollect it's only a little while since she looked upon you "'as the admirer of another girl,

And that girl she didn't like very much.

"'You must give her time to get over that impression.

"'Wait a while.

That's my advice,

Ned.

'" "'I'll wait.

If only I could get over that impression.

"'Only she'll say yes in the end,

' said he.

"'But it's hard to go away without a word of hope,

"'and it's more like a man to speak out,

It seems to me.

'" "'It's too soon,

' persisted his sister.

"'You don't want her to think you're a fickle fellow,

"'falling in love with a fresh girl every time you go into port,

Do you?

' "'Great Scott,

I should think not.

"'Do you mean to say that's the way my conduct appears to her,

Polly?

' "'No,

I don't mean just that,

But—' "'Wait a little,

Dear Ned.

I'm sure that will be better.

'" Fortified by this sage counsel,

Lieutenant Worthington went away in their next morning without saying anything to Katie in words,

Though perhaps eyes and tones may have been less discreet.

He made them promise that someone should send a letter every day about Amy,

And as Mrs.

Ash frequently devolved the writing of these bulletins upon Katie,

The replies came in the shape of long letters.

Ned Worthington wrote particularly nice letters back,

And his letters grew to be one of Katie's pleasures.

Sometimes Mrs.

Ash would watch the colour deepen in her cheeks while she read,

And her heart would bound hopefully within her.

But she was a wise woman in her way,

And she wanted Katie for a sister very much,

So she never said a word or looked to startle her,

And left the thing to work itself out,

Which is the best course always in love affairs.

Little Amy's improvement at Albano was something remarkable.

Mrs.

Swift watched over her like a lynx,

Her vigilance never relaxed.

She was made to eat and sleep and walk and rest with the regularity of a machine,

And this exact system,

Combined with good air,

Worked like a charm.

The little one gained hour by hour.

They could absolutely see her growing fat,

Her mother declared.

Fevers,

When they do not kill,

Fevers,

When they do not kill,

Operate sometimes as spring bonfires doing gardens,

Burning up all the refuse,

And leaving the soil free for the growth of fairer things.

Then they were off again,

Steaming down the valley of the Arno,

To fair Florence,

That sat among olive-clad hills,

With Giotto's beautiful bell tower,

And the great many-coloured soft-hued cathedral.

And the square tower of the old palace,

And the quaint bridges over the river,

Looking exactly as they do in the photograph.

Their new domain consisted of a parlour in a corner,

Furnished in bright yellow brocade,

With windows to the south and the west.

It had a nice little dining room,

Three bedrooms,

A square entrance hall,

Lighted at night by a tall slender brass lamp.

And a small sleeping cubby.

It was astonishing how easily everything fell into train about the little establishment.

Every morning at six,

The English baker left two small sweet brown loaves,

And a dozen loaves at the door.

Then followed the dairyman,

With a supply of tiny leaf-shaped pats of butter,

A big flask of milk,

And two small bottles of thick cream.

With a twist of vine leaf in each,

By way of a cork.

Dinner came from a trattoria in a tin box,

With a pan of coals inside to keep it warm.

It was furnished at a fixed price per day.

One soup,

Two dishes of meat,

Two vegetables,

And a sweet dish.

And the supply was so generous,

As always to leave something toward next day's luncheon.

Salad,

Fruit,

And fresh eggs were bought in the old market.

From the confectioners came loaves of pane santo,

A sort of light cake made with arrowroot,

Instead of flour.

And sometimes by a way of a treat,

Square of panforte de siena,

Compounded of honey,

Almonds,

And chocolate.

Amy soon learned to know the shops from which these delicacies came.

She had her favourites too,

Among the strolling merchants who sold oranges,

And sweet native figs,

Dried in the sun without sugar.

All together,

What with the comfort and quiet of this little home,

The numberless delightful things there were to do and see,

And the great library from which they could draw books at will,

To make the doing and seeing more intelligible.

The month that Florence passed too quickly,

And was one of the times to which they afterwards looked back with most pleasure.

Amy grew steadily stronger,

And the freedom from anxiety about her after their long strain of apprehension,

Was restful and healing beyond expression to both mind and body.

The last excursion of all,

And one of the pleasantest,

Was to the old amphitheatre,

And it was while they sat there in the soft glow of the late afternoon,

That a cheery call sounded from above,

And an unexpected surprise descended upon them,

In the shape of Lieutenant Worthington,

Who having secured another 15 days furlough,

Had come to take his sister on to Venice.

I didn't write you I'd apply for leave,

He explained,

Because there seems a little chance of my getting off again so soon.

But as luck had it,

Carruthers,

Whose turn it was,

Sprained his ankle and was laid up,

And the commodore let us exchange.

I made all the capital I could out of Amy's fever.

Upon my word,

I felt like a humbug when I came upon her just now,

As I was hunting for you.

How she's picked up!

I should never have known her for the same child.

Yes,

Ned,

She's perfectly well again,

Said Mrs.

Ash,

And as strong as ever she was.

It makes going to Venice seem quite a different thing now,

Doesn't it,

Katie?

I don't want it to seem quite different,

Replied Katie with a little laugh,

Because going to Venice was always one of my dreams.

I hope at least it doesn't make it seem less pleasant,

Said Mr.

Worthington,

As his sister stopped to pick a violet.

Oh,

Said Katie,

We shall all be seeing it for the first time too,

Shall we not?

I think you said you'd never been there?

She was suddenly conscious of an odd shyness.

I simply can't stand it any longer,

Ned confided to Mrs.

Ash when they were alone.

My head is so full of her,

I can't attend to my work.

It came to me all of a sudden,

This might be my last chance.

You'll be getting north before long,

You know,

To Switzerland and so on,

And I can't follow you there.

It wasn't long before they were in Venice.

It was a moment indeed,

As Katie seated herself for the first time in a gondola,

And looked from beneath its black hood at the palace walls on the Grand Canal,

Past which they were gliding.

Some were creamy white and black,

Some orange tawny,

And others of a dull,

Delicious ruddy colour.

High on the prow,

High on the prow,

Before her stood the gondolier,

His form defined in a dark outline against the sky.

Ned Worthington sat beside her,

Looking more at the changes in her expressive face,

Than at the palaces.

Venice was as new to him as to Katie,

But she was a new feature in his life also,

And even more interesting than Venice.

They seemed to float on pleasures like this for the next ten days.

Their arrival had been happily timed to coincide with a great popular festival,

Which for nearly a week,

Kept Venice in a state of continual brilliant gala.

Dining or sleeping seemed a sheer waste of time,

And the evenings were spent on the water too,

For every night,

Immediately after sunset,

A beautiful drifting pageant started from the front of the Doge's Palace,

To make a tour of the Grand Canal.

But fairy tales must come to an ending,

And Katie's last chapter closed,

With a sudden turn of the leaf,

When towards the end of this happy fortnight,

Mrs.

Ash came into her room with the face of one who has unpleasant news to communicate.

Katie,

She began,

Should you be awfully disappointed if I went home now instead of in the autumn?

Katie was too much astonished to reply.

I have grown such a coward,

I'm so knocked up and weakened by what I suffered in Rome,

She went on,

That I cannot face the idea of going to Germany and Switzerland without Ned to take care of us.

You are a perfect angel,

Dear Katie,

And I know you would do all you can to make it easy for me,

But I don't think my nerves could take it.

I'm so miserably homesick,

I cannot endure it.

I dare say I shall repent afterward and tell myself how silly it is,

But it's no use.

I shall never know another easy moment till I have Amy safe again in America,

And under your father's care.

Katie had to swallow hard before she could answer.

The sense of disappointment was so sharp,

And with all her efforts,

There was almost a sob in her voice as she said,

Why,

Yes,

Dear Polly,

There's nothing to forgive,

You're perfectly right to go home if you feel so.

I should be a greedy girl indeed if I found fault,

Because it's cut off a little sooner than we expected.

You are so dear and good not to be vexed,

Said Mrs.

Ash,

Embracing her.

It makes me feel doubly sorry about disappointing you.

Katie thought long and hard,

And when the first shock of surprise and discomfiture was over,

Other ideas asserted themselves,

And she realised that in three weeks more,

Or four at the longest,

She was to see her papa once more,

And Clover,

And all her dear people at home.

And she began to feel so very glad,

She could hardly wait for the time to come.

After all,

There was nothing in Europe quite so good as that.

On their last evening,

Katie took a ride on a gondola,

Again with Ned Worthington.

I cannot tell you exactly what it was he said to her during that row,

Or why it took so long to say it that it was so difficult to say it.

In fact,

No one can tell,

For no one overheard,

Said Giacomo,

The brown-yellow-jacketed gondolier,

And as he did not understand a word of English,

He could not repeat the conversation.

Mrs.

Ash had begun to look for them long before they appeared,

But I think she was neither surprised nor sorry that they were so late.

Katie kissed her hastily and went away at once.

To pack,

She said,

And Ned was equally undemonstrative,

But both of them looked so happy that Polly dear was quite satisfied and asked no questions.

The thirty-six hours between New York and Burnett seemed longer than all the rest of the journey put together,

Thought Katie,

But when at last they landed,

Katie darted across first ashore of all the passengers and was in her father's arms.

Mrs.

Ash and Amy spent two or three days with them while looking up temporary quarters elsewhere,

And after they went away,

Things fell into their customary train and a certain flatness became apparent.

The long-talked-of European journey was over and here was Katie at home again,

Months sooner than they had expected,

Yet she looked so remarkably cheerful and content.

Clover could not understand it.

It seems a dreadful pity you had to come so soon,

She said one day when they were alone in their bedroom.

It's delightful to have you,

Of course,

But we braced ourselves to do with you till October.

Yes,

Indeed,

Replied Katie,

But not at all as if she were particularly disappointed.

Katie Carr,

I don't understand you,

Persisted Clover.

Why don't you feel worse about it?

Papa said Amy might as well have stayed as not.

Why are you not sorry,

Katie?

Oh,

I don't know,

Said Katie,

Perhaps because I had so much as it was,

Enough to last all my life,

I think,

Though I should like to go again.

You can't imagine what beautiful pictures are put away in my memory.

Can't see what,

Said the aggravated Clover,

Spent so much of your time nursing Amy.

You can't have any pleasant pictures of that part of it.

Yes,

I have some,

Said Katie.

Well,

I'd really like to know what others.

You were in a dark room,

Frightened to death and tired to death with only Mrs.

Ash and the old nurse to keep you company.

Oh,

Yes,

And that brother was there part of the time I forgot about him.

Then Clover stopped short in sudden amazement.

Katie was standing with her back toward her,

Smoothing her hair,

But her face was reflected in the glass.

At Clover's words,

A sudden deep flush mounted in Katie's cheeks.

Deeper and deeper it burned as she became conscious of Clover's astonished gaze.

Till even the back of her neck was pink.

Then,

As if she could bear it no longer,

She put the brush down,

Turned and fled out of the room.

While Clover looking after her exclaimed,

What does it mean?

Oh,

Dear me.

So that is what Katie's going to do next.

Reviews

Wonderful 😊. I look forward to the next series - thank you

I think this is my favourite chapter. Finishing the European tour in Italy. Lastly in Venice, and gondola rides. 🥰 Is there another book? I love how this chapter ends. Such a wonderful story. Just what i needed tonight.💜