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diff --git a/36671-h/36671-h.htm b/36671-h/36671-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..75d5099 --- /dev/null +++ b/36671-h/36671-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9023 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of A House Party With the Tucker Twins, by Nell Speed. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p {margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + text-indent: 1.25em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + img {border: 0;} + .tnote {border: dashed 1px; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;} + ins {text-decoration:none; border-bottom: thin dotted gray;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + .copyright {text-align: center; font-size: 70%;} + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: justify;} + .blockquot2 {margin-left: 25%; margin-right: 25%; text-align: justify;} + + .adtitle {font-size: 200%; text-align: center; font-weight: bold;} + .adtitle2 {font-size: 150%; text-align: center; font-weight: bold;} + + .small {font-size: 70%;} + .big {font-size: 110%;} + .author {font-size: 120%; text-align: center;} + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .chaptertitle {text-align: center; font-size: 110%; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 1.5em;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold; font-size: 90%;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .unindent {margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + .right {text-align: right;} + .poem {margin-left: 35%; text-align: left;} + .poem2 {margin-left: 15%; text-align: left;} + .sig {margin-right: 10%; text-align: right;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's A House Party with the Tucker Twins, by Nell Speed + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A House Party with the Tucker Twins + +Author: Nell Speed + +Illustrator: Arthur O. Scott + +Release Date: July 9, 2011 [EBook #36671] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOUSE PARTY WITH TUCKER TWINS *** + + + + +Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Rod Crawford, Dave Morgan, +Emmy and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 386px;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="386" height="600" alt="Cover" title="" /> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 370px;"> +<img src="images/house001.png" width="370" height="500" alt="SLEEPY TOOK HER BY THE ARM AND CARRIED HER OFF, PROTESTING, * * * BUT HAPPY IN BEING COERCED. Page 37." title="" /> +<span class="caption">SLEEPY TOOK HER BY THE ARM AND CARRIED HER OFF, PROTESTING, * * * BUT HAPPY IN BEING COERCED. <a href="#Page_37">Page 37</a>.</span> +</div> + + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p> + +<h1>A HOUSE PARTY WITH<br />THE TUCKER TWINS</h1> + +<div class='center'>By<br /> + +<span class='author'>NELL SPEED</span><br /> + + +<span class='small'><i>Author of "The Molly Brown Series," "The Carter<br /> +Girls Series," "At Boarding School With<br /> +the Tucker Twins," etc., etc.</i></span><br /> +<br /><br /><br /> +With Four Illustrations<br /> +by<br /> +ARTHUR O. SCOTT<br /><br /><br /> +</div> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 152px;"> +<img src="images/leaf.png" width="152" height="116" alt="Leaf" title="" /> +</div> + +<div class='center'><br /><br /><br /> +NEW YORK<br /> +<span class='big'>HURST & COMPANY</span><br /> +PUBLISHERS<br /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span></p> + + + + +<div class='copyright'> +Copyright, 1921<br /> +BY<br /> +HURST & COMPANY<br /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span></p> +<h2>Contents</h2> + + + + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td align='right'>I. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Maxton</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>II. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Country Store</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_19">19</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>III. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Engaging in Mercantile Pursuits</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>IV. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Dee Tucker Makes a Sale</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>V. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Human Fly</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>VI. </td><td align='left'>"<span class="smcap">Big Meetin'</span>"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_78">78</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>VII. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Reason Why</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_96">96</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>VIII. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Circus</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_113">113</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>IX. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Performance</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_128">128</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>X. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Ghost of a Ghost</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_140">140</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XI. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Picnic</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_148">148</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XII. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Shopper-Roon</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_165">165</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XIII. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Tanglefoot</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_185">185</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XIV. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Younger Son</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_203">203</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XV. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Sleepy Wakes Up</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_219">219</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XVI. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Things Happening</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_231">231</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XVII. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">More Things Happening</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_246">246</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XVIII. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The End of an Eventful Day</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_259">259</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XIX. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Plans for the Future</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_271">271</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XX. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Letter from Annie Pore to Page Allison</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_283">283</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXI. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Letter from George Massie to Page Allison</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_296">296</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXII. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Letter from Page Allison to the Tucker Twins</span> </td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_300">300</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p> + +<h2>A House Party With the<br />Tucker Twins</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>MAXTON</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">There</span> may be more fun than a house-party, +but I doubt it. Certainly I, Page Allison, have +never had it. What could be more delightful +than to spend two weeks in a beautiful old +country home with such a host as General Price, +and to have as fellow guests all the girl friends +you care for most in the world,—to say nothing +of some of the male persuasion that at least you +don't hate?</p> + +<p>Harvie Price had been promised this house-party +by his grandfather as reward of merit, and, +like most things earned by hard labor, it proved +to be worth the work expended. The Tucker<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> +Twins of course were there, Mary Flannagan, +Shorty Hawkins, George Massie (alias Sleepy), +Wink White, Jim Hart, and Ben Raglan, whose +other name was Rags. There were two men from +the University whom we did not know before, but +it did not take long for us to forget that they were +new acquaintances. They fitted in wonderfully +well and a few hours found them behaving like +old and tried friends. Their names were Jack +Bennett and Billy Somers, and both of them +hailed from Kentucky. There was a new girl in +the party, Jessie Wilcox. She wasn't quite so +easy to know as the new boys.</p> + +<p>I always feel like crying when I think of dear +little Annie Pore's connection with that house-party. +She was of course the very first person +Harvie asked, the one he wanted most. I think +in his mind the party was given to Annie, and +when Mr. Pore with characteristic selfishness and +stubbornness refused to let her go, it was a blow +indeed.</p> + +<p>His plea was that he needed her to keep the +store for him. He had hired a clerk after Annie<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> +went to boarding-school, and owing to his growing +business, had kept the boy on through vacation, +but on the eve of the house-party had seen +fit to get rid of him, having sent him on an unasked +for and undesired holiday.</p> + +<p>"I found it out only this morning," said +Harvie gloomily.</p> + +<p>He had come to meet us at the landing, most +of us having arrived by boat from Richmond. +He was doing his best to look cheerful, feeling +that a cloud must not be cast over the entire +party because one member could not be there. +He said he felt he knew me well enough to speak +out on the subject of Mr. Pore, and speak out +he did.</p> + +<p>"But has your grandfather tried to persuade +him to let her come?"</p> + +<p>"No! You see Grandfather is a great believer +in State's Rights, and he carries his theories +down to the individual. He says that Mr. Pore +is a wrong-headed father but it is his own affair +and he refuses to interfere. He takes the stand +that he has no more right to dictate to Mr. Pore<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> +how to run his household, than Massachusetts +had to interfere in our own little matter of slavery +here in Virginia, back in the sixties."</p> + +<p>"Poor Annie! We shall have to work out +some kind of a scheme for her. I'll tell Mary +and the Tuckers. I am sure we can get the +tiresome old Englishman to come around somehow."</p> + +<p>"I wish I thought so, but I tell you that Mr. +Arthur Ponsonby Pore has never been known to +change his mind. Besides he is leaving to-day +for Richmond to be gone several days."</p> + +<p>That is often the way with persons who have +not much mind to change; they seem to have none +to spare; but Mr. Pore was a cultivated, learned +gentleman,—surely he was amenable to reason.</p> + +<p>Price's Landing was a quiet little wharf almost +hidden by the overhanging willows. It took +the boat only a moment to drop one mail bag and +take on another, or to do the same by the occasional +passengers. It seemed hardly worth while +to go through the motions of landing for such +small traffic, but Harvie assured us that in watermelon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> +time or when tobacco was being shipped +they were a very important trading point, one of +the busiest along the James.</p> + +<p>The village was about an eighth of a mile back +from the landing and it looked as though not even +watermelon time could wake it up. There were +two stores, Mr. Pore's and a rival concern; a +blacksmith shop, sprawling far out in the road; a +schoolhouse; three churches; a post-office; and +four residences.</p> + +<p>"I'd like to stop and have all of you see Annie +now, but Grandfather is expecting us and perhaps +we had better come back later on," said +Harvie, who was driving one of the vehicles sent +to meet us.</p> + +<p>The road to Maxton, the Prices' place, skirted +the village and then went directly up quite a steep +elevation. The house was built on top of the +hill commanding a fine view of the river. The +lawn sloped down to the water's edge where one +could see a very attractive boat-house and several +boats riding at anchor.</p> + +<p>"Lovely! Lovely!" we exclaimed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I'm mighty afraid I'm going to run down +that hill and jump in the water," cried Dum.</p> + +<p>"Well, hills are certainly made to run down +and water to jump in," declared one of the new +acquaintances, Billy Somers, who was standing +on the springs of the vehicle in the rear holding +on by the skin of his teeth and the back seat. "I +bid to do what you do."</p> + +<p>The mansion (one could not call it just plain +house) was a perfect specimen of colonial architecture, +red brick of a rich rare tone with a great +gallery across the front, the roof of which was +supported by huge white pillars. The front door +was a marvel of beautiful proportions, line and +detail. A great ball might have been given on +the porch, or gallery, as it is called in the South. +Indeed, a sizable party might have been held +on each one of the broad stone steps that led to +the lawn. Only a very long-legged person could +go up or down those stairs without taking two +steps to a tread.</p> + +<p>A house like Maxton is very wonderful and +beautiful but somehow never seems very homelike<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> +to me. Every time you go in and out of your +front door to have to tackle those stairs would +take from the homey feeling. Now at my home, +Bracken, you are closer to Mother Earth and not +nearly so grand and toploftical.</p> + +<p>Standing on the gallery to greet the guests +were General Price and his maiden sister Miss +Maria, the general tall and stately and Miss +Maria short and fat. It was easy for the brother +to look aristocratic and dignified, in fact he could +not have looked any other way, so deserved no +credit; but for the sister to look equally so was +a marvel. Her figure reminded me of Mammy +Susan's tomato pincushion, a treasure I had been +allowed to play with in my childhood. She was +quite as round in the back as the front and her +waist was like the equator: an imaginary line extending +from east to west. Her face was in keeping +with her figure, round and fat, but through +those rolls of flesh the high born lady looked out. +Her voice was very sweet and the hand that she +extended to us was as white as snow. She must +have been about seventy years old, but thanks to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> +her rotundity there were no wrinkles on her pink +and white face. Of course she was dressed in +black silk and old lace! How else could she have +been clothed?</p> + +<p>The general would have served as a model for +the make-up of a movie actor in a before-the-war +film. The Tuckers and Mary and I decided later +on that we felt just like a movie as we went up +those grand broad steps with our host and hostess +at the top.</p> + +<p>The hall carried out our feeling of being on +the screen.</p> + +<p>"My, what a place to dance!" whispered Dee +to me, but General Price heard her and smiled +his approval. He was dignified himself but we +were thankful he did not expect us to be.</p> + +<p>"You shall dance here to your heart's content, +my dear. Many a measure has been trod in this +hall."</p> + +<p>Dee looked a little depressed at being expected +to tread a measure. That sounded rather +minuetish to the modern ear. We wondered +what he would think of the dances of the day.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span></p> + +<p>Maxton was laid out in the form of a cross +with two great wings, one on each side of the hall. +The girls were lodged upstairs in one wing, the +boys in the other. Downstairs in the boys' wing +were the parlors and smoking room and General +Price's chamber and office; in the girls', the dining +room, breakfast room, sewing room, chamber, +linen room, storeroom, Miss Price's chamber +and her small sitting room where she directed her +household. There was a basement with more +storerooms, pantries, a billiard room and a +winter kitchen, but in the summer an outside +kitchen was used. All of these things we found +out later on a tour of inspection with our hostess.</p> + +<p>The great hall ran through the house and the +back door was exactly like the front. Thanks to +the lay of the land, however, there was not quite +such a formidable array of steps. It seemed +much more homelike in the back than the front. +From the rear gallery one stepped into a formal +garden, gravel paths, box hedges, labyrinth and +all.</p> + +<p>"Oh, ain't it great, ain't it great?" cried Mary,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> +dancing up and down the waxed floor of the great +bedroom she and I were to occupy. Dum and +Dee Tucker were put in the room with the other +girl, Jessie Wilcox. If Annie could have come +she was to have been with Mary and me.</p> + +<p>"I've got no business calling it great, though," +she said as she stopped prancing, "when Annie +can't be here. What are we to do about it, Page +Allison?"</p> + +<p>"Let's call Tweedles in consultation. They +can think up things."</p> + +<p>Tweedles were very glad to come. Miss Wilcox, +who had motored over to Maxton several +hours ahead of us, had already taken possession +of the room and had begun to unpack her many +fluffy clothes. Miss Maria had introduced all of +us to our fellow visitor and had graciously expressed +a desire that we should be good friends. +We were willing, but it remained to be seen +whether the stranger would meet us half way. +She was a beautiful little creature with dark eyes +and hair. Evidently she was very dressy or she +would not have had to take up two double beds<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> +and all the chairs with her clothes. She seemed +to have no idea of making room for the Tuckers +nor did she make any excuse for spreading herself +so promiscuously.</p> + +<p>"She needn't think I am going to move them," +said Dum. "If they aren't off my bed by bedtime, +I'll just go to sleep on them. I wish we +could come in with you girls."</p> + +<p>"Of course that would never do," declared +Dee. "We must stay where Miss Price put +us."</p> + +<p>"Maybe Miss Wilcox will turn out to be fine," +I suggested, hoping to turn the tide of Dum's +disapproval.</p> + +<p>"Fine! She's too fine. I wish you could see +her fluffy ruffles. But this isn't thinking up +something to do about poor little Annie. My, I +wish Zebedee could have come!"</p> + +<p>We all wished the same thing, but since he +couldn't come we felt we must think up something +for ourselves.</p> + +<p>"He could have talked old Ponsonby Pore +into letting Annie come, I just know," said Dee.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Maybe we could do the same thing," I suggested.</p> + +<p>"Harvie says nothing will move him."</p> + +<p>"Well, one thing sure, we can go to see Annie +and he can't drive us out, not after he has visited +us at the beach. He'll just have to be polite to +us."</p> + +<p>"Can't she come up in the evening? Surely +she must stop keeping store sometimes," asked +Mary.</p> + +<p>"Country stores never close. At least the one +near us never does. They might miss the sale of +a box of matches or a stick of candy. I used to +think, when I was a little girl, that I would rather +keep a store than do anything in all the world. +I talked about it so much that Mammy Susan +got right uneasy about me."</p> + +<p>"Well, Harvie and Sleepy are blue enough +about it, so we must cheer up," said Dee. "We +are to be here two weeks and if we behave real +well maybe they will ask us for longer, and surely +in that time we can make that old stickinthemud +come around. Zebedee could think up a way in +a minute."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>THE COUNTRY STORE</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Prices had the right idea about entertaining +a crowd of young people: that was to let them +entertain each other. If a dozen boys and girls +can't have a good time just because they are girls +and boys then there is something very dull about +them and the combination is hopeless. There was +nothing dull about this crowd gathered in the +hospitable Price mansion. Harvie was too well +bred to let the disappointment about the non-appearance +of one guest make him neglect the +others. Poor George Massie was the one who +could not conceal his feelings. Annie was the +first and only girl he had ever cared for and now +he sat, a mountain of woe, consuming large quantities +of luncheon as though the business of eating +were the only solace in life.</p> + +<p>"Wake up, Sleepy, the worst is yet to come!" +teased Rags.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span></p> + +<p>Sleepy only groaned and dismally accepted +another hot biscuit. The funny thing about +Sleepy was that he was so in love with Annie that +he did not at all mind being teased.</p> + +<p>"I am going down to see Annie right after +luncheon. Don't you want to go too?" I whispered +to Sleepy who was next to me.</p> + +<p>"Sure!"</p> + +<p>"We are trying to think up a plan by which +we can get her hateful old father to let her join +us here."</p> + +<p>"Brute!"</p> + +<p>"Don't you think the girl is pretty, sitting +next to Wink?"</p> + +<p>Miss Wilcox had plunged into a flirtation with +that budding young doctor, placed on her right, +not forgetting to turn to her left quite often to +include Jack Bennett in her chatter.</p> + +<p>"No! Like blondes best!"</p> + +<p>Miss Wilcox looked up quickly. I was almost +sure she had heard Sleepy. She glanced quite +seriously around the table, regarding each girl +intently. Certainly there were no decided<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> +blondes there except Mary Flannagan, whose +hair was red, and even the best friends of dear +old Mary could not call her beautiful. The +Tucker twins were more brunette than blonde, +Dum's hair being red black and Dee's blue black. +As for me, Page Allison, I was neither one thing +nor the other. My hair was neither light nor +dark and my eyes were grey. She need not look +at me so hard. I wasn't the blonde that Sleepy +liked best.</p> + +<p>Farther acquaintance with Jessie Wilcox explained +her concern over Sleepy's remark. She +was a very nice girl just so long as she was "it," +but she could not brook a rival of any sort. She +must be the center of attraction, admired by all, +praised by all. The minute she felt that there +was someone who was considered more beautiful +than she was, could dance better, sing better, do +anything better, that minute she was a changed +being.</p> + +<p>Her previous visits to Maxton had been very +delightful as she had always been praised and +petted to her heart's content. Both General<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +Price and his sister were devoted to her and she +was ever a welcome visitor. Her grandfather's +home was about ten miles from Price's Landing, +and whenever she came from New York to see +him she must spend part of her time with the old +people at Maxton. Harvie admired her very +much, as who would not? She was beautiful, intelligent, +very quick-witted and charming. He +had never seen her with any other girl except her +best friend, who on one occasion had been at +Maxton with her, and this friend, being hopelessly +plain and rather slow of wit, but served as +a foil to the little beauty.</p> + +<p>After overhearing Sleepy's announcement +about blondes, she looked at me so steadily that I +began to blush. I was suddenly very conscious of +my tip-tilted nose and of the added toll of +freckles that the summer always exacted from it. +I wondered if anyone else was noticing the almost +disagreeable expression of her usually sweet +countenance.</p> + +<p>I was glad when Miss Maria arose as a signal +for us to leave the table.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Make yourselves at home!" the general said +in his hospitable way. "Maxton is yours to do +with as you please. There are horses in the +stables for any of you who want to ride or drive; +there are boats on the river; there are swings on +the lawn; the tennis court is in condition for +matches if you care to play. All I ask of you is +not to fall off the horses or let them run away +with you and kill you; and not to tumble into the +river and drown."</p> + +<p>"That seems a reasonable request," I laughed. +"How about falling out of the swings or beating +each other up with tennis rackets?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, well! I must not put too many restrictions +on youth," he said, pinching my +ear.</p> + +<p>Jessie looked at me again rather severely and +once more I felt mighty freckled.</p> + +<p>"Let's get a rig and go see Annie," suggested +Sleepy.</p> + +<p>"All right! Tweedles and Mary want to go, +too."</p> + +<p>"Let's get in ahead of them," he pleaded.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Come on, Page!" shouted Dum. "We +want you in a set of tennis."</p> + +<p>"Now I was just going to ask her to come for +a row," cried Dee. "Wink and Jim told me to +engage you. They have gone to see about the +boat."</p> + +<p>"Sorry, but I've got a date with Sleepy."</p> + +<p>"Humph! Miss Allison seems to be rather in +demand," said Jessie to Jack Bennett. She said +it in a low voice but I heard quite distinctly.</p> + +<p>"Yes! They say she is the most popular girl +at her school."</p> + +<p>"Oh, is that so? I can't see the attraction."</p> + +<p>"Well, she must have it because girls like her +as well as the fellows. They say Dr. White is +terribly smitten on her."</p> + +<p>"Absurd!"</p> + +<p>I quite agreed with her. The sooner Wink +White stopped hypnotizing himself into thinking +he was in love with me, the better I would +have liked it. Of course every girl likes to have +attention, but I thought entirely too much of +Wink to be pleased to have him looking at me<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> +like a dying calf. He was such a nice boy, so +good looking, so clever, so agreeable,—except +when he was alone with me. Then his whole nature +seemed to undergo a change. I dreaded being +left with him and usually managed to avoid +it. He was my fly in the ointment of this house-party. +I did not at all relish having this young +Kentuckian state it as a fact that Wink was interested +in me. Jessie Wilcox was welcome to +him if she could persuade him to transfer his +affections.</p> + +<p>Sleepy and I skimmed away in a spruce red-wheeled +buggy with a young horse that evidently +liked to be moving.</p> + +<p>"Fierce about Annie!" he said. "I'd like to +wring that old duffer's neck."</p> + +<p>"I hope he has gone before we get there, +then," I laughed. "If Mr. Tucker could only +get hold of him, I bet he could bring him around."</p> + +<p>Mr. Pore had not gone, however, when we +drew up at the cross roads where the country +store stood. He was engaged in trying to sell a +large rake to a farmer, while Annie was busily<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> +employed in measuring off two yards and three-quarters +of unbleached cotton for the farmer's +wife and then computing the amount due when +the cotton was worth eight and two-third cents a +yard. She completed the calculation just as we +came in.</p> + +<p>How glad she was to see us! Mr. Pore seemed +pleased to renew my acquaintance, too. He gave +only a formal greeting to Sleepy but shook my +hand in what he meant to be a cordial way. The +fact that I was part English and that part of me +came up to his idea of social equality, made him +look upon me as desirable. He had not forgotten +that my mother and his wife had been friends in +England. He honestly felt that there were no +Americans who were his equals. General Price +might be almost so, but not quite. He saw no +reason why his beautiful daughter should not +spend her young life weighing out lard and measuring +calico for negroes, but every reason why +she should not demean herself by mixing socially +with any but the highest.</p> + +<p>Mr. Pore's store was like every other country<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> +store except that it was perhaps a little more orderly, +not much though. Order in a country +store seems to be impossible. The stock must be +so large and so varied to suit all demands that +there never is room for it. I have never seen a +country store that was not crowded. How the +keepers of such stores ever take stock of their +wares is a mystery to me. Perhaps they never +do, but just go on buying when the supply gets +low, and selling off as they can, putting money in +the till until it gets full and then sending it to the +bank. Usually they run their affairs in a haphazard +manner and their books would defy an +expert to straighten out. No matter from what +walk of life the country storekeepers are drawn, +they are all more or less alike, whether they are +younger sons of the nobility as was Mr. Pore or +elder sons of the soil (with much soil sticking to +them) as was old Blinker, who ran the rival emporium +at Price's Landing. They always have +more stock than they have store, and their books +usually look as though entries had been made upside +down.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Pores' store had shelves stretching from +one end to the other, down both sides and reaching +as high as the ceiling. On these shelves were +piled dry-goods of all grades and material, lamps, +shoes, harness, hardware, canned goods of every +description, crackers, soap, starch, axle grease, +false hair, perfume, patent medicines, toys, paint +brushes, brooms, tobacco, writing paper, china +and glass ware, jars, pots and pans, pokers, baseball +bats, millinery, overalls, etc., etc.</p> + +<p>The things that were too tall for the shelves, +like Grandfather's clock, consequently stood on +the floor. The aisle between the counters was +blocked with sewing machines, kitchen tables, +chairs, lawn mowers, crates of eggs and cases of +ginger ale and sarsaparilla. There were barrels +of coarse salt and great tins of lard, firkins of +mackerel and herring, barrels of flour and sacks +of meal. One would think that everything in +the world that could be bought or sold was in that +little store, but no! A door to one side led into +another room and this room was also full to overflowing. +There were more barrels of provisions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> +for man and beast; sacks of chicken feed and +bran; stoves of all kinds; poultry netting; coils +of wire fencing; gardening implements and away +back in a corner I spied a coffin.</p> + +<p>What a setting for such a jewel as Annie +Pore! Her beauty shone resplendent from its +background of apron gingham and butter crocks. +I fancied I could detect a little redness to her +eyelids as though the disappointment in not being +at Maxton with her friends had caused some +weeping, but her manner was calm and her expression +one of resignation to fate and the decrees +of a selfish father. I could not help thinking +how I would have behaved under the circumstances, +or the Tucker twins. I would not have +cried, to be sure, but neither would my expression +have been resigned. As for Dum and Dee: they +would no doubt have broken up the shop.</p> + +<p>"We are so sorry Annie can't come to the +house-party," I ventured as the farmer who had +been haggling for the rake decided not to take it.</p> + +<p>Why Mr. Pore was ever able to sell anything +I could not see. His manner was so superior and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> +condescending. Harvie told me afterwards that +Mr. Pore had succeeded in spite of himself. He +was scrupulously honest in the first place and +then he always carried the best line of goods. As +for the science of salesmanship: he had yet to +learn its rudiments. He looked sore and irritated +at having failed to make the sale but put +on more than ever the manner of insulted royalty. +I saw the farmer making for the rival store +where a little later he emerged. Blinker had +made the sale.</p> + +<p>When I ventured the above remark, Annie +looked as though she wished I wouldn't, and her +father, I am sure, regretted the fact that I was +part English, and that English of good blood; +otherwise he could easily have annihilated me.</p> + +<p>"It is a matter I do not care to discuss," he +said with a freezing hauteur.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I am not discussing with you, my dear +Mr. Pore! I am merely telling you. All of us +are so devoted to Annie and we have looked forward +to being with her on this house-party all +summer. I am sure if Harvie had known earlier<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +that you would not be able to spare Annie at this +time, he would have been glad to postpone the +party."</p> + +<p>"Ahem—I—am compelled to take this occasion +for a business trip. When one is engaged in +mercantile pursuits, it is necessary to make periodical +visits to the city to replenish one's wares."</p> + +<p>"Oh, certainly, I understand, but we still are +dreadfully sorry about Annie. Of course we +know that you want her to have all the pleasure +on earth. That is the way fathers are made. +We are sure you will make your stay as brief as +possible so that Annie can join us at Maxton."</p> + +<p>He looked somewhat taken aback and murmured +something more about mercantile pursuits. +Sleepy sat on a keg of nails with eyes as +big as saucers while Annie had the startled expression +of one who sees her friend enter the cage +of a man-eating lion.</p> + +<p>"You see I am an only child, too, Mr. Pore, +and my mother is dead, just like Annie's. I +know better than anyone how much a father can +be to a little motherless daughter, and how that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> +father can plan and deny himself for his child. +You can't tell me anything about the love of a +father."</p> + +<p>As Mr. Pore had never attempted to tell of +any such thing, this was most audacious of me. +Annie was actually gasping and Sleepy choked, +but Mr. Pore looked at me quite solemnly +through his gold-rimmed glasses.</p> + +<p>"Sometimes my father is called away; you see +a country doctor's time is not his own, either, and +he has had to leave me just when I felt I most +needed him—on birthdays—and—and—all kinds +of holidays, but he comes back to me just as fast +as he can. My father is thinking of getting an +assistant and then he can have more time, I hope. +You have had an assistant, too, have you not?"</p> + +<p>He bowed gravely.</p> + +<p>"Where is he, then?"</p> + +<p>"He is away on leave."</p> + +<p>"Ill? That is too bad!"</p> + +<p>"No, not ill! He is having a much-needed +holiday."</p> + +<p>"Oh, then he has gone on a trip?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I fancy not."</p> + +<p>"Why, then I am sure he would be glad to +come back and relieve Annie so she can come to +Maxton. Oh, Mr. Pore, do please write for him +to come on back and take his holiday later!"</p> + +<p>"Really, Miss Allison——" he began in his +most dignified Oxford donnish manner.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I just know you will! You and Father +and Mr. Tucker are all just alike. You can't +bear to deny your girls any pleasure."</p> + +<p>His expression was comical at having these virtues +thrust upon him.</p> + +<p>"I—er—I—shall endeavor to return from this +enforced journey, necessary to replenish the +stock which one engaged in mercantile pursuits +in the rural districts finds it expedient to carry, +and on my return if all goes well with the business, +I shall permit my daughter to enjoy the +hospitality extended to her by my neighbor, General +Price."</p> + +<p>"I knew you would! I knew you would!" +and I shook his limp hand which Dee Tucker had +once said reminded her of nothing so much as an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> +old pump handle that had lost the sucker. +Everybody knows how that feels, at least everybody +who has had dealings with pumps. You +grasp the handle expecting some resistance and a +flow of water in response; but when the sucker +has disappeared, the handle will fly up in a +strange limp manner and unless the pumper is +wary there is danger of getting a lick in the nose.</p> + +<p>I cared not for a response. If no flow of kindliness +was the result of my enthusiasm, I cared not +a whit. Annie was to be one of the house-party +and I had saved the day. I remembered how +Mr. Tucker, dear old Zebedee, had declared that +he had won over Mr. Pore by treating him like a +human being, that time he had persuaded him to +let Annie come to Willoughby to the vacation +party. I had treated him as I would any ordinary +kind father and he had been so astonished +and pleased at his portrait that he had unconsciously +accepted it as a likeness and begun to +pose to look like it.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>ENGAGING IN MERCANTILE PURSUITS</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">A warning</span> whistle from the up-going steamboat +made the dignified Mr. Pore step lively. +With admonitions to Annie to keep an eye to +business and with a limp handshake to Sleepy +and me, a peck of a kiss on Annie's white brow, +he seized his ancient Gladstone bag and made for +the landing. That bag must have been a leftover +from the old days in England, and more +precious it was in its owner's eyes than the finest +new suitcase that money might buy.</p> + +<p>All of us were relieved that he was gone. I +giggled with joy and Annie smiled at Sleepy and +me as she had not done since we arrived.</p> + +<p>"All the gang is coming down soon to see you, +honey. They would have come with us but we +slipped off," said I, going behind the counter to +hug my little friend. I always have had a way<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> +of calling Annie my little friend, which is most +absurd as she is inches taller than I am, but there +has been a feeling somehow that she must be protected, +and persons who must be protected seem +little even when they are big.</p> + +<p>"Gee, I wish I could take you on a little drive +before they come!" exclaimed Sleepy.</p> + +<p>"That is very kind of you but of course I can't +leave the shop," sighed Annie.</p> + +<p>"Yes, you can! I am here!"</p> + +<p>"But I wouldn't let you keep shop for me," +laughed Annie.</p> + +<p>"I'd like to know why not—I bet I can sell +more things than you can. Just you try me."</p> + +<p>"It isn't that! I just couldn't let you. It is +something I have to do but it is not right for you +to do it."</p> + +<p>"Such nonsense! You just put on your hat +and go with Sleepy. How do you know what is +the price of things?"</p> + +<p>"Almost all the goods have marks on them but +here is a list of prices, besides,—but Page, dear,—I +just couldn't let you do it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, you just can!" and I took off my own +hat and put it on her head. I hadn't known before +what a pretty hat it was. Any hat would be +glorified by Annie's wonderful honey-colored +hair. "Now give me your apron!" and I untied +the little frilly affair that Annie wore to keep +shop in and put it on myself.</p> + +<p>Sleepy took her by the arm and carried her off, +protesting, laughing, holding back, but happy in +being coerced.</p> + +<p>"Take her for a long drive, Sleepy! I can +run this store and sell it out of supplies in no +time, I am sure."</p> + +<p>I heard the sound of the red wheels of the +spruce little buggy die away as the driver let the +young horse have free rein. I gave a sigh of joy. +Here I was keeping store at last! What would +Mammy Susan say? It is not often that the +acme of one's ambition is reached so young. I +smoothed down my apron and slipped in behind +the counter just as a customer entered.</p> + +<p>It was a farmer's wife who had driven over to +the landing for provisions. She hitched her horse<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +and ramshackle buggy in front of the store and +came in prepared to spend a delightful hour. +Going to the store in the country is the event of +the week. Her eye had an eager gleam and there +was a flush on her high cheek bones. She was a +gaunt-looking woman with hair slicked up so +tight under her stiff straw hat that it looked as +though it must hurt. The hat had all the flowers +that grow in an old-fashioned garden bedecking +it, to say nothing of spiky bows of green ribbon +and a rhinestone buckle. She had on a linen +duster which had evidently been hastily donned +over a calico house dress.</p> + +<p>"Where's Mr. Pore?"</p> + +<p>"He has gone to Richmond."</p> + +<p>"Where's Annie?"</p> + +<p>"She has stepped out for a moment. Please +may I serve you?"</p> + +<p>"No, I reckon I'll come again when some of +them are in. I'll go over to Blinker's and trade +this morning."</p> + +<p>Heavens! Was I to stand still and see customers +go over to the rival store? Had I missed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> +my vocation after all my dreams? Was storekeeping +not what I was cut out for?</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry you won't stay and see these new +ginghams," I faltered. A gleam in her eye emboldened +me to proceed. "They are making +them up so pretty in Richmond now."</p> + +<p>"Well, I wonder if they are! Are you from +Richmond?"</p> + +<p>"I have been visiting there but I am from +Milton. I love to visit in Richmond. Don't +you? It is such a good way to get the new +styles."</p> + +<p>That had fetched her. She gave up all idea of +trading with Blinker. What did he know of +styles and the way ginghams were being made +up in the city? I got down stacks of dry-goods +and with my first customer began to plan a wonderful +garment for the protracted meeting soon +to take place. Gingham was decided not to be +fine enough for the occasion and a pretty piece of +voile was chosen instead. A silk drop skirt must +go with it and bunches of velvet ribbon must set +it off. The farmer's wife was having the time of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> +her life and I was enjoying myself to the utmost. +I measured off the material in a most professional +manner, trembling for fear the customer +would find out what a novice I was. I was +thankful that she was to make it instead of me. +With all of my learned talk about clothes, I could +not have sewed up a pillowslip and had it fit the +pillow.</p> + +<p>Next on the program was chicken feed. The +rats had devoured her supply of wheat saved for +the poultry and the corn had not yet been harvested. +We had to go in the adjoining room for +that and I had a chance to peep at my price list +on the way. I persuaded her also into laying in +a supply of canned soups and got her interested +in a lawn mower and a patent churn. She declared +she was coming over the next day with her +husband and try to persuade him to purchase +both of them for her.</p> + +<p>"Men-folks are mighty slow to get implements +for the women. I ain't complaining of my old +man, but he thinks he must have every new-fangled +bit of farming machinery that comes along<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> +while I am churning with the same old big-at-the-bottom-and-little-at-the-top-little-thing-in-the-middle-goes-flippityflop +churn that my mother +had. As for the bit of lawn around the house +that he 'lows me,—that has to be cut with a sickle +just when I can catch a hand to do it. Now if I +had that little lawn mower I could run it myself +and keep things kind of tidy like 'round the +house."</p> + +<p>"Of course you could," I assented. "Now +don't you want some of this cheese? It is right +fresh." I had noted a great new cheese in a glass +case that had evidently been cut only that morning. +"Do you ever make polenta? This cheese +would be fine for that."</p> + +<p>"No, do tell! I never even heard of it."</p> + +<p>"Why, it is a great dish among the Italians +and is the best thing you ever tasted."</p> + +<p>"I'm a great hand for cooking and sho' do +relish a new recipe."</p> + +<p>"Take three cups of boiling water and one cup +of corn meal and one cup of grated cheese, and a +teaspoon of salt. Stir the meal into the boiling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> +water and let it cook until it begins to get thick +and then put in the cheese and salt and bake it in +a well-greased pan. It is dandy eating."</p> + +<p>"Well now, doesn't that sound nice? Give +me a pound of the cheese and one of those new +pans to bake it in. My pans are all pretty nigh +burnt out."</p> + +<p>"Did you ever try any of this glassware for +baking? It is so nice and clean and the crust +looks so pretty showing through. To be sure it +is more expensive than tin, but it is so satisfactory."</p> + +<p>"I never heard of such a thing! Show it to +me."</p> + +<p>I had noticed with some surprise that Mr. Pore +had a supply of the fire-proof glass just coming +into general use. He was certainly a progressive +buyer for one who was such a poor salesman. I +sold her two glass baking dishes and then more +dry-goods. It took three trips for us to carry +out all her packages to the buggy. More purchasers +had arrived in the meantime. I foresaw +a busy time.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span></p> + +<p>A little colored girl with three eggs tied up in a +rag wanted to trade them for flour.</p> + +<p>"My maw is makin' a cake fur the barsket +fun'ral an' she ain't got a Gawd's mouth er flour +in the house. She say if'n she can trade these +here fur some flour she'll be jes' a-kitin'."</p> + +<p>"Whar you git them aigs?" asked an old uncle +suspiciously. I had just sold him a plug of +"eatin' terbaccer."</p> + +<p>"I git 'em out'n the nesses, whar they b'long," +she asserted, tossing her wrapped plaits scornfully.</p> + +<p>"Yer ain't got but one hen an' I done see yo' +maw a-wringing her naick this ve'y mawnin'."</p> + +<p>"What'n if'n yer did? That ole blue hen been +layin' two three times er day lately, an' my maw +she says she mus' about laid out by this time, so +she up'n kilt her fer the barsket fun'ral goin' on +at de same time of de big meetin'. But laws +a mussy! Do you know she was that full er aigs +that it war distressful?" The child's eyes were +wistful at the remembrance.</p> + +<p>"Well, well! Nobody can't tell 'bout women<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> +an' hens. It seems lak nobody don't speak up +an' testify how much good they is in some sisters +'til they is dead an' gone. Same way with hens! +Same way with hens! Is yo' maw gwinter bile it +or bake it?"</p> + +<p>"Sh'ain't 'cided. If'n yer bile it yer gits soup +extry an' if'n yer bake it yer gits stuffin' an' +graby."</p> + +<p>I was thankful for the little training I had in +mathematics when it was up to me to convert +eggs into flour. Some problem! I put in a little +extra flour to make sure and the child skipped +off.</p> + +<p>At this juncture the Tucker twins, Mary Flannagan, +and a troop of young men from Maxton +blew in. I was secretly relieved that Miss Wilcox +was not of the party. Not that I minded +her seeing me keep store, but I had a feeling she +might be a little scornful of Annie Pore.</p> + +<p>"Where is Annie?" cried Dum.</p> + +<p>"We are nearly dead to see her," declared +Dee.</p> + +<p>"Gone driving with Sleepy. I am keeping<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> +store in her absence. His Lord High Muck-a-Muck +has embarked for Richmond."</p> + +<p>"What fun! What fun! We bid to help!"</p> + +<p>"Maybe only one had better help, as purchasers +coming in might be overcome by too +many clerks," I laughed.</p> + +<p>"You are right! Dee must be the one because +she is so tactful," said Dum magnanimously.</p> + +<p>So Dee took off her hat and got behind the +candy and ginger ale side of the counter, and +then such a buying and selling ensued as that +country store had never witnessed.</p> + +<p>Of course everybody treated everybody else +and then had to be treated in turn. I stayed on +the dry-goods side, and while I was not doing +such a thriving business as Dee, still I had my +hands full. The farmer's wife had met some acquaintances +and sent them to Pore's to see the +new clerk who could tell them so much about +Richmond styles. I had to draw a gallon of +kerosene for one customer, but Wink insisted +upon doing this for me. I did not want him +to one little bit. If I was to be storekeeper,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> +I preferred being one, not just playing at +it.</p> + +<p>"I think you are wonderful, Page, to do this +for Annie," he whispered to me as we made our +way to the coal oil barrel.</p> + +<p>"Nonsense! What is wonderful about it?"</p> + +<p>"You are always kind to everybody but me."</p> + +<p>"Do you want me to keep store for you?"</p> + +<p>"No, I want you to keep house for me," he +muttered.</p> + +<p>"But I did not know you had a house," I +teased.</p> + +<p>He pumped vigorously at the coal oil.</p> + +<p>"I intend to have one some day."</p> + +<p>"A grand one, surely, if you expect to have a +housekeeper!"</p> + +<p>"Page, you know what I mean!" He looked +longingly into my eyes that I knew were full of +mischievous twinkles.</p> + +<p>"All I know is, you have wasted about a quart +of kerosene."</p> + +<p>The floor was flooded. It is a difficult thing to +pump coal oil and make love at the same time.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> +Poor Wink had done both of his jobs badly. He +looked aghast at the havoc he had caused.</p> + +<p>"I am a bungling fool!" he cried.</p> + +<p>"No, Wink, you are not that. You are just +not an adept at—pumping coal oil."</p> + +<p>"Why are you always different with me? +You don't treat other fellows the way you do +me."</p> + +<p>"You don't treat other girls the way you do +me," I retorted.</p> + +<p>"Of course not! I don't feel towards them as +I do towards you."</p> + +<p>"Well, it is a good thing your feelings don't +make you grouchy with everybody. You just +exude gloom as soon as you get with me. But +this isn't keeping shop for Annie," and I grabbed +the oil can from him and ran back into the store.</p> + +<p>I was very glad to see Wink make his way to +Dee. He usually went to her after a bout with +me. They were great friends and seemed to +have a million things of interest to discuss and +nothing to disagree about. I could have been +just as good a friend to him if he had only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> +dropped the eternal subject and treated me as he +did Dee: like an ordinary girl who was ready for +a good time but had no idea of a serious attachment. +We were nothing but chits of girls, after +all, and only out of school because Gresham happened +to burn down before we had time to graduate.</p> + +<p>"Umm! How you do smell of coal oil!" +cried Dee. "Don't dare to touch anything in +my line of groceries until you have washed your +hands. There's a basin back there."</p> + +<p>Wink laughed and washed his hands as commanded. +Now if I had said to him what Dee +had he would have been furious, and gloom impenetrable +would have ensued.</p> + +<p>That afternoon I cut off and planned four different +dresses for four farmers' wives, selling +trimming and ribbons and fancy buttons. I +made many trades with persons bringing in eggs +and chickens and carrying off various commodities +in exchange. I was never so busy in my life. +Dee was equally so, even after we had persuaded +the noisy crowd from Maxton to depart.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Goodness! I feel as though I had been serving +at a church fair," cried Dee, sinking down +exhausted on a soap box.</p> + +<p>She had just wheedled a shy young farmer into +thinking that existence could not continue without +a box of scented soap and a new cravat, although +he had made a trip to the store for nothing +more ornate than salt for the cattle.</p> + +<p>"How do you reckon Annie ever gets through +the day if this one is a sample? I haven't +stopped a minute and here come some more +traders."</p> + +<p>The fact was that Dee and I had done about +three times as much selling as the Pores usually +accomplished. Word had gone forth that we +were keeping shop, and everybody hastened to +the country store. Dee found this out by accident +over the telephone. There was such a violent +ringing of the bell that she hastened to answer +it, not being on to the country 'phone where +everybody's bell rings at every call. This is what +she overheard:</p> + +<p>"Say, Milly! Pore's have got some gals from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> +Richmond clerking there. They can put you on +to the styles."</p> + +<p>"So I hear! I'm gettin' the mule hitched up +fast as I can to go over."</p> + +<p>And then a masculine voice took it up evidently +from another section:</p> + +<p>"They say they are peaches, too!"</p> + +<p>"That you, Dick Lee? Where'd you hear +about them?"</p> + +<p>"Saw Lem Baker on the way, goin' for salt. +He got it from Jim Cullen."</p> + +<p>"I bet you'll be there soon yourself," broke in +the voice of Milly.</p> + +<p>"Sure! My car is already cranked up gettin' +up speed for the run. S'long!"</p> + +<p>"Wait! What you goin' to buy, Dick? Your +sister told me you went to the store yesterday and +laid in enough for a week."</p> + +<p>"Well, I may get a coffin," laughed the gay +voice of Dick as he hung up the receiver.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span></p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>DEE TUCKER MAKES A SALE</div> + + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Page!</span> I've been eavesdropping! I declare +I never meant to do it. I got into the swim of +the conversation and somehow couldn't get out of +it," cried Dee, blushing furiously. "I don't +know what Zebedee would say if he knew it."</p> + +<p>"Why, honey, that isn't eavesdropping!" I +laughed. "Country people always listen to +everything they can over the 'phone. That is the +only way we have of spreading the news. I can +assure you that perfectly good church members +in our county make a practice of running to the +telephone every time a neighbor's bell rings. +How many were on the line when you cut in?"</p> + +<p>"Three or four, I should say, I couldn't quite +tell."</p> + +<p>Then Dee told me the conversation she had +overheard, making me a party to the crime of +eavesdropping.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Here comes Dick now, I do believe. He +was the one who was all cranked up ready to +come."</p> + +<p>There was a great buzzing and hissing on the +road as a disreputable looking Ford came speeding +down the hill. I have never seen such a dilapidated +car, and still it ran and made good +time, too. There was not a square inch of paint +left on its faithful sides, and the top was hanging +down on one side, giving it the appearance of a +broken-winged crow. The doors flapped in the +breezes, and the mud-guards were bent and +twisted as though they had had many a collision.</p> + +<p>Dick, however, was spruce enough to make up +for the appearance of his car. He had on a +bright blue suit, the very brightest blue one can +imagine coming in any material but glass or +china; a necktie made of a silk U. S. flag, with a +scarf pin which looked very like an owl with two +great imitation ruby eyes; but I found on inspection +it was the American Eagle. His shoes were +very gay yellow and his socks striped red and +white, carrying out the color scheme of his cravat.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span></p> + +<p>I ducked behind my side of the counter leaving +the field clear for Dee. She stood to her guns +and gave the newcomer a radiant smile. She was +there to sell goods for Annie Pore and sell them +she would.</p> + +<p>"Evenin'!"</p> + +<p>"How do you do? What can I do for you?"</p> + +<p>"Pretty day!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, fine! Is there something I can show +you?"</p> + +<p>"Not so warm as yesterday and a little bit +cooler than the day before!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, that is so. We've got in a fresh +cheese,—maybe you would like a few pounds of +it."</p> + +<p>"Looks like rain but the moon hangs dry."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I hope it won't rain,—but maybe it will—let +me sell you an umbrella,—they are great +when it rains."</p> + +<p>"We don't to say need rain for most of the +crops, but it wouldn't hurt the late potatoes."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm glad of that!"</p> + +<p>"But the watermelons don't need a drop more.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> +They are ripening fine,—rain would make them +too mushy like. I'm going to ship a load of them +next week. I 'low I'll get about three hundred +off of that sandy creek bottom."</p> + +<p>"Fine! Watermelons are my favorite berry."</p> + +<p>Right there I exploded and the young man let +out a great haw! haw! too that helped to break +the ice, and also enabled Dee to stop her painful +rejoinders to his polite small talk, and then he +began to buy. I heard Annie and Sleepy as +they hitched the horse at the post and I hoped devoutly +the festive Dick would buy out the store +before they got in.</p> + +<p>Already he had purchased six cravats, a new +coal skuttle, a much-decorated set of bedroom +china, a bag of horse cakes, some canned salmon +and a box of axle grease when Annie made her +appearance.</p> + +<p>She was looking so lovely that I did not blame +Sleepy for having the expression of a hungry +man. She was certainly good enough to eat.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Page, we had such a wonderful drive! I +am so afraid we were gone too long, but George<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +simply would not turn around." Annie was the +only person who always called Sleepy by his +Christian name.</p> + +<p>"He was quite right. I have had the time of +my life. Dee is helping me. She is in the other +room now, selling a young man named Dick +everything in the store. Don't butt in on her; +let her finish her sales. Here come the others! +They said they would be back to see you."</p> + +<p>In came all the house-party and such a hugging +and kissing and handshaking ensued as I +am sure that little country store had never before +witnessed.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Annie, we miss you so!" cried Mary.</p> + +<p>"Indeed we do!" from the others.</p> + +<p>"Maybe I can be with you in a day or so," said +Annie. "Father is going to try to return in a +very little while."</p> + +<p>"Well, until he does come back one of us is +going to be with you every day," declared Dum. +"Page and Dee need not think they are the only +ones who are going to help."</p> + +<p>Annie's eyes were full of happy tears. "What<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> +have I done to deserve so many dear friends?" +she whispered to me.</p> + +<p>"Nothing but just be your sweet self!" I answered. +"I must peep in and see what Dee is +doing to that poor defenseless Dick. I bet she +has sold him a kitchen stove by this time."</p> + +<p>Annie and I made our way into the outer room, +where at the far end we could see Dick and Dee +in earnest converse.</p> + +<p>"It is a very excellent one," she was declaiming. +"In fact, I am sure there is not a better one +to be bought. It is air tight and water tight; of +the best material; the latest style; the workmanship +on it is very superior; the price is ridiculously +low. Really I think all country people +ought to have one in the house for emergencies. +One never can tell when one will be needed and +sometimes they are so difficult to get in a hurry."</p> + +<p>"That's so!" agreed the enamored Dick. +"But I reckon I could get this any time from old +man Pore if I should need it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! You see this is the only one in stock +and somebody might come for this this very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> +night, and then where would you be if you +needed it? Then even if you could get another +one, it might not be nearly so attractive as this +one. They are going up, too, all the time,—effect +of the war. Of course this was bought when +they were not so high, and I am letting you have +advantage of the price we paid for it. After this +they will be up at least forty per cent.—that's the +truth. The war prices are something fierce."</p> + +<p>"Ain't it the truth?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and then you might not be able to get +another lavender one. I just know lavender +would be becoming to you. I'd like to see you in +a lavender one."</p> + +<p>"Would you really now? That settles it then! +I'll have to get old Pore to trust me, though, until +I sell my melons."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's all right. Just whenever you feel +like paying."</p> + +<p>I was completely mystified. What on earth +was that ridiculous girl selling to the young +farmer? Annie was reduced to the limpness of +a wet dishrag by what we had overheard. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> +giggles had her in their clutches and she could not +speak.</p> + +<p>"Do you think you can help me out with it?" +asked the young man.</p> + +<p>"Sure! It is not heavy yet."</p> + +<p>Around the labyrinth made by the farming +implements, stoves, etc., came the buyer and +seller, he backing and she carefully guiding him. +Between them they carried a long something; I, +at first, could not make out what.</p> + +<p>"A coffin!" I gasped.</p> + +<p>Through the door they made their way into the +store proper. Some colored customers had just +come in and these fell back with expressions of +curiosity and awe equally mingled on their black +faces.</p> + +<p>"Who daid? Who daid?" they whispered, +but no one vouchsafed any information. Dee +looked supernaturally solemn and Dick only +wanted to get his latest purchase safely landed in +his car.</p> + +<p>The house-party had adjourned to the porch +in front, and when the lugubrious procession<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> +emerged from the store the gaiety suddenly +ceased. As Dick backed out, the young men +doffed their caps and the girls bowed their heads. +What was their amazement when Dee turned out +to have hold of the other end. Every man sprang +forward to take her place, but she sadly shook her +head and held on to her job.</p> + +<p>"It isn't heavy," she whispered.</p> + +<p>Dum's eyes filled with tears. She thought +with sadness that in a short while it would be +heavy when it fulfilled its destiny. She was very +proud of her twin that she should be so kind +and helpful at such a time. How like Dee +it was to be assisting this poor young man, who +had perhaps lost some one near and dear to +him!</p> + +<p>No one spoke, but all remained reverently uncovered +while the coffin was hoisted on the back +seat of the ragged old car. The young men assisted +in this, although Dee would not resign her +place as chief mourner.</p> + +<p>"Who daid? Who daid?" clamored the darkies +who seemed to spring up from the ground,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> +such a crowd of them appeared in the twinkling +of an eye.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," said Dum in a teary voice, +"but isn't it sad?"</p> + +<p>"'Tain't Miss Rena Lee 'cause I jes' done +seed her headin' fer the sto'," declared a little +pickaninny.</p> + +<p>"She ain't a-trus'in' her bones ter Mr. Dick's +artermobe. She done sayed she gonter dribe her +ole yaller mule whar she gwinter go."</p> + +<p>"Ain't de Lees got a boardner? Maybe it's de +boardner," suggested a helpful old woman.</p> + +<p>"Well, I wonder if it is! Here he come! I'm +a-gwinter arsk him."</p> + +<p>Dick came out laden with his other purchases.</p> + +<p>"Lawsamussy! It mus' be de boardner an' all +er her folks is a-comin' down, 'cause how come +Mr. Dick hafter buy all them things otherwise? +Look thar chiny an' coal skuttles an' what not!"</p> + +<p>"Who daid, Mr. Dick? Who daid?"</p> + +<p>"Nobody I know of!" grinned the young man.</p> + +<p>"Ain't it de boardner?"</p> + +<p>"What boarder?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Miss Rena's boardner!"</p> + +<p>"Sister Rena hasn't any boarder that I know +of. Here, get out of the road or I'll let you +know who is dead!"</p> + +<p>He took a fond farewell of Dee and cranking +up his noisy car, he jumped to his seat and +speeded home with the coffin and the coal skuttle +bouncing up and down right merrily.</p> + +<p>"Ain't nobody daid?" grieved a sad old +woman.</p> + +<p>"No! Nobody ain't daid!" snapped an old +man. "Nobody ain't eben a-dyin'. Now that +thar Dick Lee done bought up th' only carsket +in the sto' an' my Luly is mighty low—mighty +low."</p> + +<p>"Sho-o' nuf I ain't heard tell of it. Is she in +de baid?"</p> + +<p>"Well, not ter say in de baid—but on de baid, +on de baid. Anyhow 'tain't safe to count on her +fer long. White folks is sho' graspin' these days. +They is sho' graspin'."</p> + +<p>The old man departed on his way grumbling.</p> + +<p>"Caroline Tucker, what did you sell that coffin<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> +to that young man for?" demanded Dum +sternly.</p> + +<p>"Just to see if I could, Virginia Tucker. I +told him I'd like to see him in a coffin lined with +lavender, and he was so complimented, he immediately +bought it to keep for a rainy day."</p> + +<p>Dee and I had made so many sales that Annie +had to send a telegram informing her father of +the diminished stock. It was necessary to order +another coffin immediately in case the ailing Luly +might need it.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>THE HUMAN FLY</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">General Price</span> was vastly amused over the +account of Dee's sale of the coffin to the amiable +Dick. Miss Maria was frankly shocked, and +Miss Wilcox amazed and a little scornful.</p> + +<p>"I never cared for slumming," she announced +that night when we had retired to the girls' wing.</p> + +<p>"But helping Annie Pore keep store is not +slumming," said Dee, the dimple in her chin +deepening.</p> + +<p>Dee Tucker had a dimple in her chin just like +her father. When father and daughter got ready +for a fight, those dimples always deepened.</p> + +<p>"Most kind of you, I am sure, although that +sort of adventure never appealed to me. I have +taught in the mission school in New York's East +Side, but when the class is over I always leave. I +can't bear to mix with the lower classes. It is all +right to help them but not by mixing."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But you don't understand,—Annie Pore is +one of our very best friends. She is not the +lower classes. She is better born than any of us +and prettier and better bred and more accomplished——"</p> + +<p>"Ah, indeed! I should like to behold this +paragon."</p> + +<p>"Well, you shall behold her all right! She is +going to join us here in a day or so."</p> + +<p>Jessie Wilcox looked very much astonished +and quite haughty. She could not understand +the Prices asking such a person to meet her. The +daughter of a country storekeeper was hardly +one whom she cared to know socially. Dee had +gone about it the wrong way to make the spoiled +beauty look with favor on the little English girl:—prettier, +better born, better bred, indeed! As +for accomplishments: what accomplishments +could a dowdy little country girl have that she +had not?</p> + +<p>The Tuckers and Jessie Wilcox were not hitting +it off very well in the great bedroom which +they shared. Dum had declared she would not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +move the fluffy finery which was spread out on +her bed and she stuck to her word.</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do with these duds?" +she asked rather brusquely.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you just put them back in my trunk," +drawled the spoiled roommate.</p> + +<p>"Humph! You had better ring for your +maid. I'm not much on doing valet work."</p> + +<p>With that she caught hold of the four corners +of the bedspread and with a yank deposited the +whole thing adroitly on the floor, butter side up.</p> + +<p>Dee told me afterwards that Jessie's expression +was one of complete astonishment. She was +not used to being treated like the common herd. +Much Dum cared! She got into the great four-posted +bed with perfect unconcern, while Dee +tactfully helped the pouting Jessie to hang up +her many frocks.</p> + +<p>"She had better be glad I didn't go to bed on +them," stormed the unrepentant Dum when she +told me about it. "As for Dee: I was disgusted +with her for being so mealy-mouthed. Catch me +hanging up anybody's clothes! I bet you one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> +thing,—I bet you she keeps her fripperies off my +bed after this."</p> + +<p>I was in a way sorry for Jessie. I know it +must be hard to be a spoiled darling turned loose +with the Tucker twins. They were always perfectly +square and fair in all their dealings, but +they demanded squareness and fairness in others. +Jessie was evidently accustomed to being waited +on and admired, and the Tuckers refused to do +either of these things necessary for the happiness +of their roommate. She had always chosen her +friends with a view to setting off her own charms, +girls who were homely, less vivacious, duller. It +did not suit her at all to be outshone in any way. +She was certainly the prettiest girl in the house-party, +that is, before Annie arrived, but she was +not the most attractive. There never were more +delightful girls in all the world than the Tucker +twins, witty, charming, vivacious, and very handsome. +I could see their development in the two +years I had known them and realized that they +were growing to be very lovely women.</p> + +<p>Mary Flannagan was nobody's pretty girl but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> +she had something better than beauty, at least +something that proves a better asset in life: extreme +good nature and a sense of humor that embraced +the whole universe. She had humor +enough to see a joke on herself and take it. +That, to me, is the quintessence of humor. +Wherever Mary was there also were laughter +and gaiety. She had a heart as big as all Ireland, +from which country she had inherited her +wit as well as her name.</p> + +<p>Mary was not quite so bunchy as she had been. +Two years had stretched her out a bit, but she +would always be something of a rolypoly. She +was as active as a cat, and so determined was she +to end up as a character movie actress she never +stopped her limbering-up exercises. After I +would get in bed at night she would begin. She +would turn somersaults, stand on her head, walk +on her hands, do cart-wheels, bend the crab, fall +on the floor at full length and do a hundred other +wonderful stunts.</p> + +<p>"I am so plain I'll have to go in for slap-stick +comedy and maybe work up to the legit., but go<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> +in I will. Why, Page, there is oodlums of money +in movies and think of the life!"</p> + +<p>"I can see you, Mary, as a side partner to +Douglas Fairbanks. Can you climb up a wall +like a fly?" I laughed.</p> + +<p>"No-o, not yet but soon! I can't get much +practice in wall scaling. I am dying to try this +wall outside our window. It is covered with ivy +and would be easy as dirt, I know," and she +poked her head out the window, gazing longingly +at the tempting perpendicularity of the wall beneath.</p> + +<p>Mr. Thomas Hawkins, alias Shorty, thought +Mary was just about the best chum a fellow could +have, and great was his joy when Fate landed +him at the same country house with the inimitable +Mary. Shorty, too, had made out to grow a bit +since first we saw him make the great play in the +football game at Hill Top. He was a very engaging +lad with his tousled mane, rosy cheeks and +clear boy's eyes.</p> + +<p>"Is Shorty going to get into the movies, too?" +I teased.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No,—navy!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, how splendid! I didn't know he had decided."</p> + +<p>"Yes! He has talked to me a lot about it," +said Mary quite soberly.</p> + +<p>"What do you think about it?"</p> + +<p>"Me? Why, I think our navy is going to +have to be enlarged and I can't think of anybody +better suited to it than Shorty. He is a descendant +of Sir John Hawkins, you know, and that +means seafaring blood in his veins."</p> + +<p>How little did Mary and I think, as we lay in +that great four-post bed and wisely discussed +preparedness, that our country would really be +at war in not so very many months, and that +Shorty's entering the navy would be a very serious +matter to all of his friends, if not to him.</p> + +<p>No thoughts of war were disturbing us. The +great war was going on, but then we were used to +that and we were too young and thoughtless for +it to bother us. It was across the water and no +one we knew personally was implicated. Maxton +was too peaceful a spot for one to realize that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> +such a thing as bloodshed could go on anywhere +in all the world. Our great room with its two +huge beds and massive wardrobe, bureau and +washstand, had once sheltered Washington and +later on Lafayette; and then as the ages had +rolled by, General Lee had visited the Prices and +had slept in the very bed where Mary and I were +lying so sagely and smugly arguing for preparedness. +Perhaps the mocking-bird that every +now and then gave forth a silvery trill in the holly +tree near our window was descended from the +same mocking-bird that no doubt had sung to the +great warrior as he lay in the four-poster.</p> + +<p>How quiet it was! A whippoorwill gave an +occasional cry away off in the woods, and once I +heard the chugging of a small steamboat puffing +its way up the river, and then a little later the +swish swash on the shore of the waves made by +the stern wheel. But for that, the night was absolutely +still.</p> + +<p>"Page," whispered Mary, "are you asleep?"</p> + +<p>"Fortunately not, or I'd be awake," I laughed.</p> + +<p>"I'm thinking about getting up and trying to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> +scale that wall. I am 'most sure I could do it +with all that ivy to dig my toes in."</p> + +<p>"Why don't you wait until morning?"</p> + +<p>"Because I don't want an audience. It is best +to practice these stunts without anyone looking."</p> + +<p>"Suppose you fall!"</p> + +<p>"That's something movie actresses have to expect. +I won't fall far if I do fall."</p> + +<p>"Will you mind if I look on?"</p> + +<p>"No, indeed! I can pretend you are the director."</p> + +<p>Everything was as quiet as the grave when +Mary bounced out of bed to practice her stunt. +I followed, nothing loath to see more of the wonderful +night. Some nights are too beautiful to +waste in sleeping. It has always seemed such a +pity to me that we could not fill up on sleep in +disagreeable weather, and then when a glorious +moonlight night arrives, be able to draw on +that reserve fund of sleep and just sit up all +night.</p> + +<p>"Isn't it splendid out on the lawn? And only +look at the river in the moonlight. I'd certainly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> +like to be out there in a boat this minute with +some very nice interesting person to recite poetry +to me," I mused.</p> + +<p>"I heard Wink White begging you to take a +row with him."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but I see myself doing it."</p> + +<p>"Don't you like him?" asked Mary, sitting in +the window ready for the trial descent.</p> + +<p>"Of course I like him, but he's such a goose."</p> + +<p>"Shorty thinks he is grand."</p> + +<p>"So he is—grand, gloomy, and peculiar. If +he'd only not be so sad and lonesome when he is +with me."</p> + +<p>"Of course all of us have noticed how different +he is with you, never laughing and joking as he +does with us but sighing like a furnace. But +here goes! This is no time for analyzing the +character of young Doctor Stephen White,—this +is a play of action."</p> + +<p>"But, Mary, ought you try to climb down in +your nighty? It might get tangled around your +feet."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but the movie ladies always have to get<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> +out of windows in their nighties. I must practice +in costume to get used to it."</p> + +<p>"Barefooted, too?"</p> + +<p>"Of course! I need all these toes to hang on +by. Next time I am going to have my ch-e-i-ild, +but this first time perhaps I had better not try to +carry anything."</p> + +<p>"I should think not,—but, Mary, do be careful."</p> + +<p>I was looking down the perpendicular wall and +it began to seem to me to be a crazy undertaking. +The vines were very thick and would no doubt +offer a foot-rest to the daring girl, but suppose +she lost her head or the vine pulled loose from the +wall!</p> + +<p>It is a much easier matter to climb up and get +in a window than it is to get out of one and climb +down. There is something very scary about projecting +one's bare foot into the unknown. Mary, +however, was too serious in her desire to perfect +herself for her chosen profession to stop and wiggle +her toes with indecision. She was out of the +window in a moment. I held my breath.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span></p> +<div class="figleft" style="width: 373px;"> +<img src="images/house002.png" width="373" height="500" alt="I ALMOST BEAT MARY TO THE GROUND I LEANED SO FAR OUT OF THE WINDOW." title="" /> +<span class="caption">I ALMOST BEAT MARY TO THE GROUND I LEANED SO FAR OUT OF THE WINDOW. <a href="#Page_74">Page 74.</a></span> +</div> +<p>"Oh, God save her! Oh, God save her!" I +whispered.</p> + +<p>"Fireman, save my ch-e-i-ild!" came back in +sibilant tones from Mary.</p> + +<p>I couldn't help laughing although I was trembling +with fright. I almost beat Mary to the +ground I leaned so far out of the window. Sometimes +the thick ivy hid her from my sight and +again she would loom out very white in the moonlight.</p> + +<p>Down at last! I felt like shouting for joy. +Now began the ascent which was a small matter +compared to the descent.</p> + +<p>When the climber was about half-way up, I +suddenly became aware of figures on the edge +of the lawn. "The servants returning from +church," I thought. Harvie had told me that +"big meetin'" was going on and his aunt was +quite concerned about her servants, as they had a +way of taking French leave at "big meetin'" +time. With the house-party in session, a +paucity of servants would be quite serious. +Extra inducements had been offered and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> +whole corps had promised to remain, taking +turn about in getting off early for night +church.</p> + + + +<p>Anyone who has lived in the country, where +colored servants are the only ones, knows what a +serious time "big meetin'" can be. The whole +negro population seems to go mad in a frenzy of +religious fervor. Crops that are inconsiderate +enough to ripen at that period remain ungathered; +the washwoman lets soiled clothes pile up +indefinitely; cooks refuse to cook; housemaids +have a soul above sweeping; cows go dry for lack +of milking; horses go uncurried and vehicles unwashed +and ungreased.</p> + +<p>I smiled when I saw that straggling group returning +from church, knowing they would not be +fit for any very arduous tasks the next day. I +remembered how Mammy Susan used to berate +our darkies for their delinquencies on days +following meetings. As the churchgoers approached +the house, which they had to pass to +reach the quarters on the other side of the great +house, they suddenly became aware of Mary's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +white figure hanging midway between heaven +and earth.</p> + +<p>Shouts and groans arose! One woman fell to +the ground and, regardless of her finery, rolled +on the grass imploring her Maker to save her. I +trembled for fear Mary would fall, but she +clung to the vine and scrambled up and in the +window. The darkies ran like frightened rabbits.</p> + +<p>"They thought you were a ghost, I believe."</p> + +<p>"Well, I came mighty near giving up the +ghost. When I heard those groans I thought +something had me sure," panted the great actress, +looking ruefully at a long rent in her very best +nighty. "I did it all right, but being a great +movie actress who is to play opposite Douglas +Fairbanks is certainly hard on one's rags. Look, +here's another tear! Another and another! I +did that when the first darky squealed."</p> + +<p>Of course we went to bed giggling.</p> + +<p>"I wish Tweedles had seen you, but they +would not have been willing to be mere audience. +As for me,—I have no desire to be classified as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> +a human fly. I wonder if we will hear some wild +tale from those silly darkies."</p> + +<p>But Mary was fast asleep before she could express +her opinion. I could not sleep until I got +the following limerick out of my system:</p> + + +<div class='center'><span class="smcap">The Human Fly</span></div> + +<div class='poem'> +Our Mary, an actress so flighty,<br /> +Scaled a wall in her very best nighty.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">A nail proved a snag</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And tore her fine rag,</span><br /> +She came back a la Aphrodite.<br /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>"BIG MEETIN'"</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">I awakened</span> early the next morning in spite +of having been manager of a movie studio at all +hours of the night. Mary was sleeping heavily. +After all, I fancy climbing up and down a brick +wall is harder than merely watching someone else +do it. She had a big scratch across her cheek and +her thumb had bled on the pillow. She must +have snagged it on the same nail she had her best +nighty. I peeped out of my eastern window and +found Dum Tucker was doing the same thing +from hers.</p> + +<p>"Hello, honey! I'm so glad you're awake," +she whispered. "Let's dress and go out."</p> + +<p>"Is Dee asleep?"</p> + +<p>"Sound! And the Lady Jessie is likewise +snoozing, not looking nearly so pretty with her +hair up in curl papers and her face greased with +cold cream. I bet I can beat you dressing!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span></p> + +<p>We sprang from our doors into the hall at the +same time and feeling sure we were the only ones +awake in all the great mansion, we had the never-to-be-scorned +joy of sliding down the bannisters. +I'd hate to think I could ever get so old I +wouldn't like to slide down bannisters. Of +course I know I shall some day get too old to do +it, but not too old to want to.</p> + +<p>We ran out the great back door which opened +on the formal garden.</p> + +<p>"My, I'm glad we waked! I was nearly dead +to sit up all night," said Dum.</p> + +<p>"Me, too! Mary and I were awake very late. +Did you hear anything?"</p> + +<p>"Did I!"</p> + +<p>"What did you hear?"</p> + +<p>"A strange scratching along the wall,—I +thought it was a whole lot of snakes climbing up +to our window. There is only one thing in the +world I am afraid of, and that is snakes."</p> + +<p>"Mammy Susan says that 'endurin' of the war, +they is sho' to be mo' snakes than in peaceable +times.' Of course she has no idea that this war is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> +away off across the water, and if it were inclined +to breed snakes, it wouldn't breed them over here. +But that snake you heard last night was Mary +Flannagan scaling the wall. She is practicing +all the time for the movies."</p> + +<p>"Pig, not to call us!"</p> + +<p>"I was dying to, but was afraid of raising too +much rumpus."</p> + +<p>The garden was beautiful at all times, but at +that early hour it was so lovely it made us gasp. +A row of stately hollyhocks separated the flower +garden from the vegetables. Banked against the +hollyhocks were all kinds of old-fashioned garden +flowers: bachelor's buttons, wall-flowers, pretty-by-nights, +love-in-a-mist, heliotrope, verbena, +etc. There was a thick border of periwinkle +whose glossy dark green leaves enhanced the +brilliancy of the plants beyond. One great +strip was given up entirely to roses,—and such +roses!</p> + +<p>"Gee! This is the life!" cried Dum, kneeling +down among the roses, going kind of mad as +usual over the riot of color. Dum's love of color<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> +and form amounted to a passion. "Only look at +the shape of this bud and at the color way down +in its heart. Oh, Page, I am so glad we came +out! Only think, this rosebud might have opened +and withered with not a soul seeing it if we had +not happened along:</p> + +<div class='right'> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">"'Full many a gem of purest ray serene</span><br /> +The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Full many a flower is born to blush unseen</span><br /> +And waste its sweetness on the desert air.'"<br /> +</div> + +<p>"I wonder where the servants are?" I queried. +"At this hour in the country they are usually beginning +to get busy. I tell you, Mammy Susan +has 'em hustling by this time at Bracken."</p> + +<p>"I'm hungry as a bear! Don't you think we +might get the old cook to hand us out a crust?" +suggested Dum. "Getting up early always +makes me famished."</p> + +<p>"Sure! She is a nice-looking old party and +no doubt would be as pleasant as she looks. Her +name is Aunt Milly."</p> + +<p>We made our way to the kitchen, determined +to return to the garden to enjoy the crust or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> +whatever the cook might see fit to give us. A +covered way connected the summer kitchen with +the wing of the house where the dining-room was. +This open passage was covered with a lovely old +vine, one not seen in this day and generation except +in old places: Washington's bower. It is a +very thick vine that sends forth great shoots that +fall in a shower like a weeping willow. It has a +dainty little purple blossom that the bees adore, +and these turn later into <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'squshy'">squishy</ins>, bright red +berries. The trunk of this vine is very thick and +sturdy and twists itself into as many fantastic +shapes as a wisteria.</p> + +<p>The kitchen was built of logs; in fact it was the +original homestead of the family, having been +erected by the earliest settlers at Price's Landing. +Later on it had been turned into a kitchen +when the mansion had been built. The great old +fireplace with its crane and Dutch oven was still +there, although the cooking was now done on a +modern range. This black abomination of art, +but necessity of the up-to-date housekeeper, was +smoking dismally as we came in.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Aunt Milly, please give me a biscuit!" cried +Dum to a fat back bending over the table.</p> + +<p>The owner of the back straightened up and +turned. It was not Aunt Milly, but Miss Maria +Price!</p> + +<p>"Oh!" was all we could say.</p> + +<p>The sedate black-silked and real-laced lady of +the day before presented a sad spectacle when we +made that early morning raid on the Maxton +larder. In place of the handsome black silk she +wore a baggy lawn kimono, and the fine lace cap +had given place to a great mob cap that set off +her moon-like face like a sunflower. Her countenance +was so woebegone that it distressed us +and two great tears were squeezing their way +from her sad eyes.</p> + +<p>"Why, Miss Price! Please excuse us," I +said, seeing that Dum was speechless.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my dear, it is all right now that you have +seen me out here in this wrapper. These good-for-nothing +darkies have one and all sent me +word they are sick this morning and cannot come +to work, and here I am with no breakfast cooked.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> +I am so distressed that Harvie's friends should +not be well served. What shall I do? What +shall I do?"</p> + +<p>"Do! Why, let all of us help," exclaimed +Dum.</p> + +<p>"Let his guests help! Why, my dear, I could +not bear to do such a thing."</p> + +<p>"Well, you could bear to let us help a great +deal better than we could bear having you work +yourself to death and let us be idle," said I, putting +my arm around her fat neck, that was just +about the right height to put one's arm around. +Her waist was out of the question, being not only +so low down that I should have had to stoop to +reach it but invisible at that, since it was, as I +have said before, only an imaginary line.</p> + +<p>"I have never before in all the fifty years I +have been keeping house at Maxton had to make +a fire. I have done the housekeeping since Ma +died. My sister-in-law, Harvie's grandmother, +was too delicate to keep house, so I have always +done it. I know exactly how things should be +done but I have never had to do them. There<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> +has always been a cook in the kitchen at Maxton.—This +is the first time.—And to think it +should come to pass when Harvie's friends are +here. I was opposed to having the house-party +during big meeting. There is never any depending +on the darkies at that time.—Oh me! Oh +me!"</p> + +<p>"Now, Miss Price," I said, placing a chair behind +her and gently pushing her heaving bulk +into it, "you are to sit right here and tell Dum +Tucker and me what to do. We love to do it."</p> + +<p>"But, child——"</p> + +<p>"First, let me pull out the dampers," I suggested, +suiting the action to the word and thereby +stopping the smoking of the range. "Now +mustn't the rolls be made down?" I asked, seeing +a great pan on the table with the lid sitting rakishly +on one side of a huge mass of dough, already +risen beyond its bounds.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but I——"</p> + +<p>"Let me do that. I love to fool with dough."</p> + +<p>"But do you know how?"</p> + +<p>"Of course I know how."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span></p> + +<p>After a scrubbing of hands made grubby by a +weed I had pulled up in the garden, I began to +make down the rolls after the manner approved +by Mammy Susan, that most exacting of +teachers.</p> + +<p>"Now what can I do?" demanded Dum.</p> + +<p>"You must sit still and tell us what next, and +after we get things under way if you want the +other girls to help, I'll call them."</p> + +<p>"The breakfast table must be set,—but, my +dears, I can't bear to have guests working! Such +a thing has never been known at Maxton!"</p> + +<p>Dum hastened to the dining-room where she +exercised her own sweet will in the setting of the +table. First she had the joy of cutting a bowl of +roses for the center. She found mats and napkins +in the great old <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Shereton'">Sheraton</ins> sideboard, and +Canton china that Miss Price told her was the +kind to use. The silver was still in the master's +chamber where it was taken every night by the +butler and brought out every morning by that +dignified functionary. I think the non-appearance +of the butler was almost as great<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> +a blow to Miss Price as the defection of the +cook.</p> + +<p>"Jasper has been with us since before the war +and the idea of his behaving this way!" she +moaned. "I did not expect anything more from +these flighty maids and the yard boy,—they have +only been here five or six years,—but Milly and +Jasper!"</p> + +<p>"But maybe they are ill," I said, trying to +soothe her hurt feelings.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe a word of it! How could five +of them get ill at once? More than likely that +trifling Willie, the yard boy, has got religion. +Milly told me he was 'seeking' and I have +known there was something the matter with +him lately, he has been so utterly worthless," +and our hostess heaved a sigh with which I +could thoroughly sympathize. I well knew +that a "seeking" servant was but a poor excuse.</p> + +<p>"How well you do those rolls, my child! Who +taught you?"</p> + +<p>Then I told Miss Maria of my old mammy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> +who had been mother and teacher and nurse for +me since I was born.</p> + +<p>I shaped pan after pan of turnovers and +clover-leaves and put them aside for the second +rising.</p> + +<p>"What next?"</p> + +<p>Miss Maria had decided to give over sighing +and bemoaning, also apologizing for letting us +work. She evidently came to the conclusion that +the headwork had to go on and it was up to her +to get busy in that line, at least. Dum and I +were vastly relieved that she consented to sit still, +as she took up so much room when she moved +around that she retarded our progress quite a +good deal. Seated in a corner by the table, she +could tell us what to do without interrupting +traffic.</p> + +<p>Herring must be taken out of soak and prepared +for frying; batter bread must be made; apples +must be fried (she did the slicing); coffee +must be ground; chicken hash must be made after +a recipe peculiar to Maxton, with green peppers +sliced in it and a dash of sherry wine.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span></p> + +<p>The cooking part was easy, but keeping up the +fire has always been too much for my limited intelligence. +Wood and more wood must be poked +in the stove at every crucial moment. In the midst +of beating up an omelette one must stop and +pile on more fuel. Peeping in the oven the rolls +may be rising in regular array with a faint blush +of brown appearing on each rounded cheek; the +batter bread may be doing as batter bread should +do: the crust rising up in sheer pride of its perfection +sending forth a delicious odor a little like +popcorn;—but just then the joy of the vainglorious +cook will take a tumble,—the fire must +be fed.</p> + +<p>"Now is this what you had planned for breakfast, +Miss Maria? You see we have got everything +under way, and if there was anything else +I can do it," I asked.</p> + +<p>"Of course no breakfast is really complete +without waffles," sighed the poor lady, "at least, +that is what my brother thinks. He will have to +do without them this morning, though."</p> + +<p>"Why? I can make them and bake them!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But, child, you must be seated at the table +with the other guests. I could not let you work +so hard."</p> + +<p>"But I love to cook! Please let me!"</p> + +<p>"All right, but who can bring the hot ones in? +It takes two to serve waffles. I, alas, am too fat +to go back and forth."</p> + +<p>"Of course I am going to wait on the table," +cried Dum, "and when I drop in my tracks, the +other girls can go on with the good work."</p> + +<p>"Well, well, what good girls you are! I have +been told that the girls of the present time are +worthless and I am always reading of their being +so inferior to their mothers, but I believe I must +have been misinformed."</p> + +<p>"I hope you have been," laughed Dum. "My +private opinion is that we are just about the +same,—some good and some not so good; some +bad and some not so bad. Anyhow, I am sure +that there is not a girl on this party who would +not be proud to help you, or boy, either, for that +matter."</p> + +<p>"We shall have to call the boys to our aid, too,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +I am afraid," said Miss Maria, glancing ruefully +at the wood-box. "The wood is low and we +can't cook without wood, eh, Page?"</p> + +<p>"Won't I love to see them go to work," and +Dum danced up and down the kitchen waving a +dish-cloth.</p> + +<p>The quiet mansion was astir now. The rising +bell had routed the sleepy heads out of their beds, +and from the boys' wing came shouts of the +guests who were playing practical jokes on one +another or merely making a noise from the joy +of living. Dee and Mary found us in the kitchen +and roundly berated us for not calling them in +time to help. Dee reported that Jessie Wilcox +was still in the throes of dressing.</p> + +<p>"One of you might go pull some radishes and +wash them and peel them," suggested Miss +Maria.</p> + +<p>Dee was off like a flash and came back with +some parsley, too, to dress the dishes.</p> + +<p>"Mary, get the ice and see to the water," was +the next command from our general. "I must +go now and put on something besides this old<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +wrapper," and our aristocratic hostess sailed to +the house, her lawn wings spread.</p> + +<p>Our next visitor was General Price himself, +very courtly and very apologetic and very admiring. +He had just learned of the defection of the +servants when he called for his boots and they +were not forthcoming. Jasper had blacked +his boots and brought them to his door every +morning for half a century, but no Jasper appeared +on that morning. The boots remained +unblacked.</p> + +<p>Another duty of the hitherto faithful butler +had been to concoct for his master and the guests +a savory mint julep in a huge silver goblet. This +was sent to the guest chambers and every lady +was supposed to take a sip from the loving cup. +It was never sent to the boys, as General Price +frequently asserted that liquor was not intended +for the youthful male, and that he for one would +never have on his soul that he had offered a drink +to a young man. He seemed to have a different +feeling in regard to the females, thinking perhaps +that beautiful ladies (and all ladies were beautiful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> +ladles in his mind) would never take more +than the proffered sip.</p> + +<p>On that morning during the big meeting General +Price must make his own julep. This he did +with much pomp and ceremony, putting back +breakfast at least ten minutes while he crushed +ice and measured sugar and the other ingredients +which shall be nameless. A wonderful frost on +the silver goblet was the desired result of the +crushed ice. The mint protruding from the top +of the goblet looked like innocence itself. The +odor of the fresh fruit mingling with the venerable +concoction of rye was delicious enough to +make the sternest prohibitionist regret his principles.</p> + +<p>"Now a sip, my dear; the cook must come +first," he said, proffering me the completed work +of art.</p> + +<p>"Oh no, General Price! I might not take +even a sip if I am to cook waffles. I might fall +on the stove."</p> + +<p>"A sip will do you good, just a sip!" he implored.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was good and just a sip did not do me any +harm. I had not the heart to deny the courtly +old man the pleasure of indulging in this rite that +was as much a part of the daily routine as having +his boots blacked and brought to his door or conducting +family prayers.</p> + +<p>"Delicious!" I gasped.</p> + +<p>"More delicious now than it was," he declared, +"since those rosy lips have touched the brim," +and then he quoted the following lines with old-fashioned +gallantry:</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"'Drink to me only with thine eyes,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">And I will pledge with mine;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Or leave a kiss but in the cup</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">And I'll not look for wine.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The thirst that from the soul doth rise</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Doth ask a drink divine;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">But might I of Jove's nectar sup,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">I would not change for thine.</span><br /> +<br /> +"'I sent thee late a rosy wreath,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Not so much honoring thee</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">As giving it a hope that there</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">It could not withered be;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">But thou thereon didst only breathe,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">And sent'st it back to me;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Since when it grows, and smells, I swear,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Not of itself but thee!'"</span><br /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p> + +<p>He bowed low and handed me a beautiful rosebud, +the same, I believe, before which Dum had +stood so enthralled earlier in the morning. I +took a long sniff and then pinned it in my hair, +much to the old gentleman's delight.</p> + +<p>He turned away to have another fair guest +take the prescribed sip, and that naughty Mary +Flannagan buried her nose in my beautiful rose +and whispered:</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"But thou thereon didst only breathe,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">And sent'st it back to me;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Since when it blows and smells I swear,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Not of itself but whiskee!"</span><br /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>THE REASON WHY</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">That</span> was a very merry breakfast. From my +kitchen fastness I could hear the peals of laughter +as Mary pretended to be a field hand, brought +into the dining-room for the first time, to wait +on the table. I even left my waffles for a moment +to peep in the door. Dee, who was helping with +the waiting, spied me and gave the assembled +company the tip, and before I could get away +they grabbed me and pulled me into the room +where I had to listen to three rousing cheers for +the cook. A batch of waffles burnt up in consequence, +although I ran down the covered way +like Cinderella when the clock struck twelve. A +warning smell of something burning gave me to +understand my time was up.</p> + +<p>Baking waffles is a very exciting pastime. The +metamorphosis that batter undergoes in almost<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> +a twinkling of an eye into beautiful crisp brown +beauties is a never ending delight and joy to the +cook. With irons just hot enough (and that is +very hot indeed) and batter smooth and thin, +smooth from much beating and thin from much +milk and many eggs, I believe a baker of waffles +can extract as much pure pleasure from her profession +as a great musician can from drawing his +bow across a choice Cremona; or a poet can from +turning out successful verse; or a painter from +watching his picture grow under his skilled +hands.</p> + +<p>The house-party was full up at last, and then +the cook and waitress must be seated in the places +of honor and be waited on by the whole crowd. +Not quite all of the crowd, I should have said, as +Jessie was superior to waiting on anybody. She +seemed quite scornful of us for being able to help +Miss Maria.</p> + +<p>"I have never been an adept at the domestic +arts," she said somewhat stiffly. "I could not +cook or wash dishes if my life depended on it."</p> + +<p>"Humph!" sniffed Dum, "I reckon you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> +could if you got good and hungry. Of course +you couldn't do it well, that is, not as well as +Page, for she can't be equalled. As for washing +dishes,—you can take your first lesson after Page +and Mary and Dee finish breakfast. All of these +dishes have to be washed and there is no one to +do it but the house-party."</p> + +<p>"Well, I guess not!" and Jessie looked at her +pretty soft, beringed hands.</p> + +<p>"Very well then, you can do the upstairs +work! Beds must be made, you know!"</p> + +<p>"Absurd! Do you take me for a housemaid?"</p> + +<p>"No, I wouldn't have you for one, but you +might get a job for a few hours before the folks +found out about you."</p> + +<p>Dum's tone was rollicking and good-natured. +She seemed to have no idea that she was insulting +the pretty Jessie. It never entered Dum's head +that anyone would shirk a duty that was so apparent +as taking the work of Maxton in hand.</p> + +<p>I enjoyed that breakfast very much. Harvie +baked waffles for us and Wink White brought +them in. The young men from Kentucky ran<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> +back and forth waiting on us, all of them making +more noise and having more collisions than +would have been the case had a regiment been +feeding.</p> + +<p>Shorty had already begun to grease the buck-saw +preparatory to sawing up wood for Miss +Maria. He and Rags had volunteered to supply +the fuel. Then the cows must be milked; the +horses curried and fed; in fact, all the farm work +must be done.</p> + +<p>I never saw nicer, more considerate boys than +were on that party. They vied with one another +in briskness and efficiency. They wanted to +help us with dishwashing and housework, but +there was enough outside work to keep them +busy, and with all good intentions in the world, +most men-folks are a hindrance rather than a +help when it comes to so-called woman's work.</p> + +<p>How we did fly around! Miss Maria got real +gay and giddy in the general whirlwind that +ensued. Dum and Mary undertook to be housemaids, +and such a spreading up of beds and flicking +of dusters was never known. The beds did<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +look a little bumpy, but what difference did it +make? The dust they swished off with the +feather dusters settled quietly back on the things, +but why not? Maxton was beautifully kept and +very clean but there is always dust on furniture +in the morning, no matter how well it has been +cleaned the day before. Jessie's bed they left +unmade, declaring that she could sleep in the +same hole for a month before they would even +spread it up for her.</p> + +<p>"Lazy piece!" cried Dum. "I actually believe +she does not mean to turn a hair."</p> + +<p>That young lady had taken herself off to the +parlor where she was singing in the most operatic +manner with a very well-trained strong voice +with about as much sweetness to it as cut glass. +The accompaniment she was rendering on the +piano was brilliantly executed, so much so that I +thought for a moment she had in a pianola record. +I peeped in the parlor and smiled at her, fearing +somehow that she must feel herself to be an outsider +and that was why she was not entering into +the fun of helping. I got no answering smile<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> +but something of a cold stare, so I beat a hasty +retreat and hastened off to consult with Miss +Maria about future meals.</p> + +<p>I found that lady sitting on a bench in the +covered passage leading to the kitchen. Her +spirit was willing but her flesh was too much for +her. She must rest. I sank by her, not sorry +at all to indulge in a little sly resting of my own. +Cooking is great fun but certainly exhausting.</p> + +<p>"What for dinner, Miss Maria?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, my dear, I can't contemplate your helping +about dinner, too!"</p> + +<p>I couldn't help having a little inward fun with +myself over her speaking of my helping. I had +certainly cooked breakfast myself, but since she +fooled herself into thinking that I had only +helped to cook it, it made no difference to me.</p> + +<p>"But someone will have to cook it unless the +servants are miraculously cured in time for it."</p> + +<p>"That's so!" and she sighed a great sigh.</p> + +<p>"I know you wish we would all of us go home, +but please don't wish it. We are having such a +good time and don't want to leave one little bit."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, my dear! Don't think I could have +such inhospitable sentiments. My brother would +be deeply distressed if he thought you thought I +thought such things."</p> + +<p>Both of us laughed at her complicated thinks +and then began the serious matter of dinner.</p> + +<p>"Thank goodness, I had those trifling creatures +dress the chickens yesterday. That, at +least, is out of the way."</p> + +<p>"Oh, good! Have you got them all dressed? +Then let's have chicken gumbo. If we make +enough of it, it will be the dinner, with a great +dish of rice to help in each soup plate."</p> + +<p>"Splendid!" declared Dee, pausing for a moment +to listen to the proposed menu. "And it +will be such an economy in dishes, too. Just a +plate and spoon all around and no frills."</p> + +<p>Dee had been as busy as possible washing +dishes while Miss Maria wiped, and I cleared the +table.</p> + +<p>"But, child, can you make a gumbo? It is +very difficult, I am afraid."</p> + +<p>"Not a bit of it. I have Mammy Susan's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> +recipe tucked away somewhere in my brain. I +can get to work on it immediately and then it will +be done for dinner. It can't cook too long."</p> + +<p>Dee and Wink undertook to gather the vegetables, +but they took so long that a relief and +search party had to be sent to the garden after +them.</p> + +<p>They were so busy discussing the different +kinds of bandages that they had forgotten their +mission. Wink had taken a leaf from Adam's-and-Eve's-needle-and-thread +and was demonstrating +on Dee's arm the reverse bandage. Her +other arm was already decorated with the figure +eight style made from a long green corn leaf. +How I wished Wink would treat me as sensibly +as he did Dee. They seemed to be having such +a good time as I, who was one of the search +party, discovered them in the tomato patch solemnly +debating the values of the various styles. +Now if Wink had ever agreed to discuss such +a thing as that with me he would have felt compelled +to say all kinds of silly things, and as for +bandaging my arm,—it would have been out of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> +the question, as he would have felt it necessary to +ask to kiss my hand or some such stuff.</p> + +<p>The right kind of gumbo must have tomatoes, +okra, potatoes, onions and corn in it, and anyone +who has served apprenticeship under Mammy +Susan will make the right kind of gumbo. Miss +Maria and I started in preparing those vegetables +at nine o'clock and it took us one solid +hour to finish, working as hard as we could go. I +was beginning to be very fond of the old lady. +She was so gentle and sweet. I asked her many +questions about Maxton and its history, and +since, like many gentlewomen of her age, she +lived in the past, she was most happy to recount +to me tales of the lovely old place and its aristocratic +founders.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, we have a ghost," she laughed, when +I asked her to tell me if there were any such inhabitants. +"It is a lady ghost, too, and inhabits +your wing of the house, as is the way with all the +ladies of Maxton. It is the young sister of my +great grandfather,—that makes her my great, +great aunt."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, please tell me about her!"</p> + +<p>"Well, all right, if you promise not to get +scared. The darkies keep such tales going. +They firmly believe in ghosts, and when they tell +a ghost story they always say either they themselves +have seen the dread shape or they know +someone who has seen it. This ghost has not been +seen at Maxton in my generation, but Jasper +and Milly have heard the tale from their grandparents +and they see that it is duly handed down +to their grandchildren. The appearance of this +spectre is supposed to presage dire calamity."</p> + +<p>"Do you know anyone who has seen it?" I +asked, testing the skillet to see if it was hot +enough to begin frying the chicken. Chicken +for gumbo must be fried before you start the +soup, if anything so rich and thick as gumbo +could be called soup.</p> + +<p>"I knew an old man who thought he had seen +it. Well, to go on with my tale:—this young +great, great aunt of mine was engaged to be married +to a gentleman of high degree, much older +than herself. This of course was back in Colonial<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> +days. She had consented to the match in +obedience to her father's commands, but she evidently +did not relish it very much. The day +came for the wedding and she was dressed in her +white gown and veil. The company had assembled +from miles around. A boat load of +guests from Williamsburg had arrived and the +feasting and dancing had begun. Among them +was a young blade from over the seas who had +paid court to the fair Elizabeth,—that was her +name. It was whispered that she returned his +love and that was the real reason for her reluctance +to mating with the lord of high degree.</p> + +<p>"After being clothed in the wedding gown, +Elizabeth had sent the women from her room on +a plea that she must be alone to pray. She +locked the door the moment they were gone and +rushed to the window which was open, it being +a warm moonlight night. Standing below the +window was the lover. He called up to her to +come down to him. The ivy was thick on the +wall, as it is now, and for an agile young girl I +fancy it was not such a very difficult climb. It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> +must have taken a brave soul though to make the +start. Many a time in my youth," and here Miss +Maria blushed as red as one of the tomatoes she +was peeling, "I have sat in that window, it is the +room you are occupying, and tried how it would +seem to climb down that wall. I have never done +more than poke my foot out about an inch, +though. Perhaps if the lover had been calling to +me, it might have given me courage. Elizabeth +got about half-way down when her long satin +dress and veil got caught on a nail or snag of +some sort, and no matter how she pulled she +could not get loose. Just think of it! There the +poor girl hung, with her lover frantically calling +to her and the precious moments flying. Already +they were knocking on the door of her +chamber and crying out for admission. His +steed was ready to fly with her if only she could +get the gown loose. Material in those days was +stouter than now. I'll wager anything that a +piece of white satin could not be found now that +would not tear, or any other material, for that +matter."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span></p> + +<p>Remembering Mary's gown of the night before, +I readily agreed with her.</p> + +<p>"Before the miserable lover could mount to +her side to cut the dress loose, the plot was discovered +and the poor girl had the agony of seeing +her true love killed by the infuriated bridegroom +to be. She swooned and it is said she +never regained consciousness. Her poor little +heart must have snapped in two. And now it is +said that sometimes her white figure can be seen +hanging from the ivied wall. Once in my youth +the darkies thought they saw it as they were +coming home from church on a moonlight night, +but on investigation it turned out to be a towel +that had blown out of the window and hung, perhaps +on the identical nail that was the undoing +of poor Elizabeth. I remember well," and she +laughed like a girl again, "how scared they all of +them were. It was in slave days and they were +forced to come to work the next day, but nothing +but being slaves could have made them +come."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Miss Maria, Miss Maria!" I cried,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> +dropping the potato I was peeling, "I know +now what is the matter with your servants. They +are not ill but they have seen the ghost!"</p> + +<p>And I told her about Mary's ambition and her +escapade of the night before. The old lady almost +rolled off her chair she laughed so. She +was not one bit shocked but vastly interested.</p> + +<p>"To think of her doing it! No lover was calling +her, either."</p> + +<p>"I don't know about that. How about it, +Mary?" I called to my friend who had come +down to help pick up chips now that the chamber +work was accomplished.</p> + +<p>When I told Mary about the family ghost +story and that she was no doubt responsible for +the non-appearance of the servants, she was overcome +with confusion. Miss Maria begged her to +treat the matter as a joke.</p> + +<p>"Why, my dear, I never would have known +all you dear girls as I now do if it had not happened. +You would have come and gone as nothing +but Harvie's guests, and now you are my +own true friends. I am glad the reason why is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> +unearthed, though, because now we can at least +make those good-for-nothings come and wash the +dinner dishes." She drew Mary down beside her +on the bench.</p> + +<p>"But, Mary, you didn't answer me," I teased. +"I asked you if a lover was calling you when you +climbed down the wall."</p> + +<p>"Yes! He is calling me all the time!" cried +Mary, striking an attitude of one being called by +a lover. "His name is Douglas Fairbanks."</p> + +<p>"Douglas Fairbanks? I don't know the family," +said dear old puzzled Miss Maria. "Who +is Douglas Fairbanks?"</p> + +<p>"Why, Miss Maria, he is a movie actor, the +very best ever!" explained Mary.</p> + +<p>"Where did you get to know him, child? +Who introduced you?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know him, never saw him except on +the screen!"</p> + +<p>"Ah, I see, a hero of romantic fiction!"</p> + +<p>"But he's not fiction—he's the realest flesh +and blood person you ever saw in your life."</p> + +<p>Then Mary tried to tell our hostess of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> +wonders of the movie where Douglas was the +star. The old lady endeavored to take it all in, +but not having been to the city since the perfecting +of the cineomatograph, it was up-hill work. +Of course she knew that movies existed, but she +could not grasp the joy of them, as she had nothing +to go upon but the memory of a magic +lantern.</p> + +<p>"Don't you like the theatre?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed, I like it very much. To be sure +I have never seen but two performances, but I +got great enjoyment from them. You must remember, +my dears, that I am country bred and +have had little chance to see the city sights."</p> + +<p>I never realized before how cut off from the +world persons are who depend on steamboats. +Here was this dear lady, born and bred one of +the finest ladies of the land, but being of a naturally +retiring disposition and always having been +occupied from her girlhood with keeping house +she had let the world pass her by.</p> + +<p>"What were the two things you saw, Miss +Maria?" asked Mary gently.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch and the +Old Homestead. I was quite shocked at the +latter, was really glad I was with a lady. I think +I would have sunk through the floor from mortification +had there been a gentleman with me."</p> + +<p>"The Old Homestead shocking?" I asked +wonderingly. "Not the Old Homestead! It +must have been something else."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, I remember the title distinctly. It +was when they had that scene with that naked +statue in the parlor. It was terrible to me."</p> + +<p>What a compliment to have paid the author +and actor of that time-honored play! Actually +the statue of the Venus de Milo had shocked this +simple soul from the country just exactly as +Denman Thompson had made it do the old man +in the melodrama. Mary and I didn't laugh, but +we almost burst from not doing so.</p> + +<p>"And now I must send Harvie down to the +quarters to make those good-for-nothings return. +Sick, indeed! I intend to make every last one of +them take a dose of castor oil and turpentine!"</p> + +<p>And the intrepid lady was as good as her word.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>THE CIRCUS</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> gumbo being made and nothing to do but +cook it, and that quite slowly, I was able to run +from my self-imposed duties for a while and join +the crowd that had formed to go to the negro +quarters and persuade them that they were not +sick, that there was no ghost, and that their duty +and interests lay at Maxton.</p> + +<p>The cabins were at least a quarter of a mile +from the great house, and very comfortable and +picturesque they were. The road lay through a +beautiful oak forest and then skirted a corn field. +Each cabin had a good piece of ground around it +and from every chimney there arose a curl of blue +smoke. They were evidently expecting a visit +from the family, because there were several little +pickaninnies waiting at a turn in the road, and +when they saw us they set off in a great hurry +shouting:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Dey's a-comin'! Dey's a-comin'!"</p> + +<p>"That's to give them time to get into bed before +we get there," said Harvie sagely. "I wish +I knew Latin and Greek as well as I do the +coloreds' methods."</p> + +<p>Sure enough, we could see the little nigs running +from house to house shouting the warning.</p> + +<p>"I reckon we would all learn Latin and Greek +if it was as simple as our friends' machinations," +I said. "I bet you this minute Aunt Milly is +stirring up a cake or something for big meetin' +and she will have to hurry up and get it out of +sight."</p> + +<p>It so happened Aunt Milly's house was the +first one we entered. Harvie knocked on the +door gently and then more briskly when there +was no answer. Finally a smothered sound +penetrated the closed door and windows. +"Ummmm! Ummmm!" Taking it to mean +we must enter, we opened the door. I sniffed +pound cake.</p> + +<p>Aunt Milly's cabin boasted but one room and +an attic and a lean-to kitchen. The old woman,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> +whose bulk was only equalled by Miss Maria's, +was lying in bed. Her coal black face had no +look of illness but one of extreme determination. +She was showing the whites of her eyes like a +stubborn horse.</p> + +<p>"How you do, Mr. Harbie?" she said thickly. +"An' all de yuthers ob you? Won't you take +some cheers and set a while?"</p> + +<p>"No, thank you, Aunt Milly, we only came to +see how you were getting on and to tell you that +Aunt Maria hopes you will be up in time to wash +the dinner dishes."</p> + +<p>"Me? No, Mr. Harbie! I'm feared I is seen +my last days er serbice."</p> + +<p>"Why, Aunt Milly, are you so ill as all +that?"</p> + +<p>"Yessir! Yessir! I got a mizry in my back +an' my haid is fittin' tow bus'. I ain't been able +to tas'e a mouthful er victuals sence I don' know +whin. My lim's is all of a trimble and looks lak +my blood is friz in my gizzard."</p> + +<p>"Have you had the doctor?"</p> + +<p>"No, not to say recent! I was that sorry tow<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> +lay up whin yo' comp'ny was a-visitin' of yo' +grandpaw, but whin mawnin' come I jes' warn't +fitten tow precede."</p> + +<p>"It is strange that all of you should have got +sick the same day, Aunt Milly," said Harvie, his +eyes twinkling with his knowledge of the subject.</p> + +<p>"You don't say that that there Jasper an' +them gals didn't go do they wuck?" asked the +old woman, but her tone was somewhat half-hearted. +She was evidently not an adept at dissembling.</p> + +<p>"Now, Aunt Milly, you know that not a +single servant turned up at the great house this +morning, and these young ladies had to do all the +cooking and housework, and we boys did the outside +work. You need not try to make me think +you didn't know it. We know exactly what is +the matter with all of you——"</p> + +<p>"Laws-a-mussy, Mr. Harbie! Th' ain't +nuthin' 'tall the matter with me, but I's plum +wo' out. I been a-cookin' nigh onter mos' a hunnerd +years."</p> + +<p>"But all these other servants haven't been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> +cooking or anything else anywhere near that +long. We all of us know what is the matter: last +night coming home from big meeting there +wasn't a thing the matter. You all of you meant +to come back to work this morning. You came +home late, but you had promised Aunt Maria to +stay on while my guests were here, and you +meant to do it. The moon was shining bright +and just as you came over the hill and got out of +that bit of pine woods, off there towards the +landing, you saw a ghost——"</p> + +<p>"Gawd in heaben, Mr. Harbie! Did you see +her, too?" Poor old Aunt Milly's eyes were almost +popping out of her head.</p> + +<p>"No, I didn't see her; I wish I had," and +Harvie gave Mary a nudge. "But Miss Page +Allison here saw it, and Miss Mary Flannagan +knows all about it because she was the ghost."</p> + +<p>"She—she—she was which?"</p> + +<p>"It was this way, Aunt Milly," said Mary, +going over close to the old woman's bed. "I +wanted to see if I could climb down the ivy on +the wall outside of our window, and just as all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> +of you came home from church my—my—garment +got hung on a nail and I couldn't budge +for a moment. I snagged my thumb, too, see!"</p> + +<p>"Well, if that don't beat all!" was all the old +woman had strength to say. She threw back the +bedclothes and disclosed her ample person fully +clothed in a purple calico dress. "Hyar, gimme +room tow git out'n this hyar baid. I's got a +poun' cake a-cookin' in de oben an' I s'picion it +nigh 'bout time ter take it out." She rolled out +of bed and waddled to the stove. "I's moughty +skeered the fire done gonter git low while Mr. +Harbie was a-argufyin'. It would 'a' made a sad +streak in my cake, an' that there is somethin' I +ain't never been guilty ob yit."</p> + +<p>"Now, Aunt Milly," said Harvie, when our +minds were set at rest as to the perfection of the +cake which was done to a beautiful golden brown, +"you send for the rest of the servants and tell +them the truth about the ghost and let them know +they must be up at the great house within an +hour."</p> + +<p>"Sho'! Sho', child!" she assured him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span></p> + +<p>Grabbing a broom from the corner she jabbed +it under the bed, thereby causing much squealing. +Three little darkies rolled out, looking very +much like moulting chickens from the combination +of dust and feathers they had picked up +from their hiding place.</p> + +<p>"Here you lim's er Satan! Run an' fotch all +de niggers on de plantation and tell 'em I say +come a-runnin' tow my cabin as fas' as they laigs +kin a carry 'em. You kin tell 'em I'se in a fit +an' that'll fetch 'em." She chuckled and sank on +a chair to have her laugh out.</p> + +<p>The three emissaries made all haste with the +joyful news and in an incredibly short time the +cabin was full to overflowing. We went out in +Aunt Milly's little yard and Harvie mounted +an old beehive so he could make a speech. Aunt +Milly drove her black guests out, and they, feeling +they had been cheated of their natural rights +since she wasn't having a fit, stood sullenly at attention +while the young master told them the +truth about the ghost and gave them the ultimatum +about returning to Maxton.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span></p> + +<p>They were not so easy to convince as Aunt +Milly. Mary's thumb might have been snagged +in some other way. Had they not seen the ghost +with their own eyes, the ghost they had been +hearing of ever since they were children? When +news came of Aunt Milly's being in a fit they +were sure that the prophetic calamity was upon +them presaged by the appearance of the ghost. +Mr. Harvie could talk all he wanted to, but they +were from Missouri. They had seen and were +convinced by what they saw. They were respectful +but firm in their attitude of unbelief. Jasper +spoke:</p> + +<p>"I ain't a-gibin' you de lie, Mr. Harbie, but +I've done seed de ghoses an' you ain't. I's plum +skeered ter go up ter de gret house. My gran'mammy +done tell me yars an' yars gone by dat +whin dat ghoses comes fer me to clar out. She +say she after some nigger, my gran'mammy did. +De tale runs dat it war a nigger what tole de +bridegroom dat her beau lover was a-fixin' ter +tote her off, an' whin dat ere ghoses comes she +ain't come fer no good."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What would make you believe that it was +not a ghost, Uncle Jasper?" asked Mary, who +seemed to feel it was up to her to prove the falsity +of the ghost story.</p> + +<p>"Nothin' but seein' it warn't. I b'lieve it war +a ghoses 'cause I seen it war a ghoses, an' whin I +see it ain't a ghoses I gonter b'lieve it warn't, an' +not befo'."</p> + +<p>Mary drew Tweedles and me off in whispered +conference and then mounted the beehive by the +side of Harvie and made her maiden stump +speech. The darkies clapped with delight. +They had never seen a female prepare to make a +speech except under the stress and excitement +of getting religion.</p> + +<p>"Ladies and gentlemen——" she began.</p> + +<p>"Do she mean us?" came in a hoarse whisper +from Willie, the yard boy, who was trying to get +religion but who experienced great difficulties +because of certain regulations in the way of not +eating and not laughing.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I mean you," cried the orator. "Since +I am the person who was climbing out of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> +window last night when you were coming from +church, and since you will not believe it was not +a ghost unless you see me do it, I will take the +liberty to invite all of you up to the big house to +see the show. It will be a free show, a circus in +fact, and there may be a few other attractions, +too. Will you come?"</p> + +<p>"Sho' we'll come!" came in a chorus.</p> + +<p>"How 'bout big meetin'?" asked one of the +housemaids doubtfully.</p> + +<p>"Pshaw! This kin' er circus ain't no harm," +declared one of the field hands. "Didn't de +young miss say it war a free circus?"</p> + +<p>"Sho' it's free an' ain't we free, an' who gonter +gainsay us?" and the other housemaid tossed +her bushy head saucily.</p> + +<p>"Yes, an' free and free make six an' six days +shall we labor an' do all the wuck, also the play, +fur the sebenth is the sabbath of the Lawd my +Gawd!" cried a voice from behind the cabin, and +then there came into view the strangest figure I +have ever beheld. It was a tall gaunt old colored +man with a straggly grey beard. He was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> +dressed in wide corduroy trousers and top boots; +instead of a coat he wore a green cloth basque +with a coarse lace fichu and tied around his waist +was a long gingham apron. His hat was a wide +brimmed black straw trimmed in purple ribbons +with a red, red rose hanging coyly down over one +ear. He was smoking a corn-cob pipe. In his +hand he carried a covered basket.</p> + +<p>"Lady John!" exclaimed Harvie. "I am +very glad to see you."</p> + +<p>"Well, now ain't you growed!" said the crazy +old man in a voice as soft and feminine as one +could hear in the whole south; but at that moment +one of the little pickaninnies tried to peep +in his basket, and with a masculine roar, he laid +about him vigorously with his stick, and with a +deep bass voice gave the little fellow a tongue +lashing that drove him back into Aunt Milly's +cabin.</p> + +<p>It seems that the old man had lost his reason +many years before and was now obsessed with +the desire to be considered a woman. He lived +alone in a cabin some miles from Price's Landing,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> +growing a little tobacco, enough corn for his +own meal, a little garden truck and a few fruit +trees. He had some chickens and when he could +save enough eggs he would bring them over for +Miss Maria Price to buy. The news of the ghost +seen at Maxton had traveled to his cabin in that +wonderful way that news in the country does +travel, and he had come over to add his quota of +superstition to the general store.</p> + +<p>Harvie introduced the old man to the members +of the house-party. He caught hold of his apron +as though it had been a silken gown and made a +curtsey to each one.</p> + +<p>"Lady John, we are just asking all of these +friends of ours to come up to the great house to +a kind of circus. They won't believe that it was +not a ghost they saw last night clinging to the +ivy on the east wall and we are going to prove +it to them. We shall be very glad to see you, too, +if you want to come."</p> + +<p>"Thank you kindly, young marster, thank +you kindly! I was on my way up there whin the +crowd concoursing here distracted my intention.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> +I'll be pleased to come, pleased indeed." He +spoke in a peculiarly mincing way in a high voice.</p> + +<p>"I thought you was too pious like to go to +the circus, Lady John," giggled the frivolous +housemaid.</p> + +<p>"Well, you thought like young niggers think—buckeyes +is biscuit!" he declared in his natural +bass. "The Bible 'stinctly states that there was +circuses in them days, an' I ain't never heard er +no calamities a-befallin' them what was minded +to intend 'em."</p> + +<p>"Is that so?" asked Dee. "I can't remember +where it said so, but then I do not know the Bible +as I should."</p> + +<p>"Child! Look in the hunnerd chapter er +Zekelums an' there you'll fin' at the forty-'leventh +verse that Gawd said to Noah: 'Go ye to the +circus tents of the Fillystimes an' get all the wile +animiles that there ye fin' an' have a p'rade 'til +ye gits to the ark of the government.' Now if'n +the Lord Gawd warn't a-tellin' Noah to git them +animiles together for a show, what was it for? +What was it for, I say?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span></p> + +<p>There was no answer to this pointed remark, +so he continued:</p> + +<p>"An' Brother Dan-i-el! Brother Dan-i-el, I +say! What was he a-doin' in a cage of man-eatin' +lions for if he warn't in a circus? Answer me +that! And Brother 'Lige! Who ever hearn tell +of a gold chariot out of a circus p'rade? A chariot +of fire! I tell you they was monstous shows +in them days. If them Bible charack'-ters +warn't too good to ack in a circus, I reckon this +po' ole nigger ain't a-goin' to set up himanher +self as bein' above lookin' on."</p> + +<p>"Maybe you will act in our circus then," suggested +one of the boys.</p> + +<p>"No, sir! No, sir! I an' Brother 'Lish will +be contentment jes' to look on. Brother 'Lish, +he didn't make no move to jine the p'rade whin +Brother 'Lige wint by in his gran' chariot. He +was glad to stan' aside and let Brother 'Lige git +all the glory. He caught the velvet cloak with all +the gran' 'broidry and was glad to get it. I bet +nobody shouted louder than him whin Brother +'Lige stood up 'thout no cloak in his pink tights.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> +I b'lieve that Brother 'Lish was glad to get that +cloak an' it come in mighty handy, 'cause they +do say that whin he was a-sittin' in Brother +'Lige's cabin that very night, the mantel fell on +him. No, sir, it never hurt him at all, but I +reckon they couldn't have much fire 'til they got +it put back. But he had the cloak to wrop up in."</p> + +<p>This delightfully original interpretation of the +scriptures fascinated all of us. I could see Mary +was listening very attentively to Lady John. +He would be another stunt for the clever girl. +Mary was a great impersonator and could mimic +anything or anybody.</p> + +<p>"Are you going to have the circus after dinner +or before?" asked one of the party.</p> + +<p>"Before!" cried Mary. "I'd be afraid to +trust the ivy with my weight plus the gumbo I +intend to eat."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>THE PERFORMANCE</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">When</span> we got back to Maxton, whom should +we find sitting on the bench by Miss Maria but +Mr. Jeffry Tucker? He looked as though he had +known her all her life and no one would have +dreamed that this was his second meeting with +her. His first had been the summer before when +that enterprising gentleman had made a trip to +Price's Landing to persuade Mr. Pore to wake +up to the fact that Annie was invited to go to +Willoughby on a beach party and that all he had +to do was let her go.</p> + +<p>"Zebedee, darling! Where did you come +from?" cried Dee, breaking away from the +crowd as she spied her youthful father and racing +like a wild Indian to get the first hug.</p> + +<p>"Richmond via Henry Ford!" he managed +to get out as Dum scrouged in for her share of +hugging.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And, Page! Little friend!" he said, freeing +one of his hands and clasping mine.</p> + +<p>How I did love to be called his little friend! +He never called me that in a way that made me +feel young and silly, either, but somehow he gave +me the impression that he was depending on me, +I don't know just for what but for something. +I was as glad to see him as his own Tweedles +were, I am sure.</p> + +<p>"Did you come down alone?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"No, indeed, I had the pleasure of the learned +discourse of Mr. Arthur Ponsonby Pore on my +journey hither."</p> + +<p>"Oh, good! He is back, then, and maybe we +can have Annie," said Dee.</p> + +<p>"She is upstairs now," announced that wonderful +man.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Zebedee! I just knew you could work +it!" and Dee gave him another bear hug for luck.</p> + +<p>Dee had sent a telegram to her father asking +him to get hold of Mr. Pore and persuade him +to hurry back and release Annie.</p> + +<p>Miss Maria was anxious to hear of our success<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> +with the servants and was delighted to know of +their contemplated return. When we told her +that the only way to get them back was to have +a circus, she was greatly amused. Zebedee, of +course, entered into the scheme with his usual +enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>"When is it to be?"</p> + +<p>"Now!" I answered. "The darkies are on +their way, ten thousand strong."</p> + +<p>"But, my dear, there are only five house servants," +said Miss Maria.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but all the field hands had laid off, too, +because of the ghost. I fancy all of the colored +people from the quarters are coming up to be +convinced against their will that the ghost was +not a ghost."</p> + +<p>"But suppose Mary can't climb down again. +She might kill herself this time," wailed the poor +hostess.</p> + +<p>"Not at all!" I reassured her. "It will be +much easier to do it in daylight than in darkness."</p> + +<p>"Of course it will!" declared the intrepid<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> +movie star. "And, besides, last night was only +the dress rehearsal, and all actors say that the +dress rehearsal is much more nervous work than +the real performance. Now I must go dress my +part," and so we raced up to our room where we +found dear Annie unpacking her suitcase with +such a happy smile on her face that she looked +like an angel.</p> + +<p>How we did chatter! We had to tell her all +about our plan for the society circus. Looking +out of the window where Mary was to make her +fearsome descent, Annie shuddered.</p> + +<p>"I don't see how you can do it."</p> + +<p>"If <i>you</i> only could, what a bride you would +make!" exclaimed Mary.</p> + +<p>Mary had determined to dress as a bride and +now began the work of finding suitable duds. +Miss Maria came in to assist just when we were +beginning to despair. None of us was blessed +with enough clothes to be willing to spare any of +them for such a hazardous undertaking, none +save Jessie Wilcox and she had them to spare, +but we would not have asked her for any to save<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> +her. That superior young lady had been quite +scornful of us while we were working and then +afterwards on the walk to the quarters. Now +she had gone off for a row on the river with +Wink, who seemed to think that when I was so +enthusiastic over the arrival of the father of my +best friends he had a personal grievance. He +liked Zebedee a great deal himself but seemed to +think I did not have the same right. I am sure +Jessie was a brave girl to go rowing with a man +who had such a one-sided way of looking at +things. Anyone with such a biased judgment +could not be trusted to trim a boat, I +felt.</p> + +<p>When Miss Maria found out our trouble, she +had Harvie bring from the attic a little old haircloth +trunk, and throwing it open, told us to help +ourselves. It was filled with all kinds of old-fashioned +gowns, some of them of rich brocade +and some of flowered chintz. At the very bottom +we unearthed a wedding dress which had belonged +to some dead and gone Price, Miss Maria +did not even know to whom. It was yellow with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> +age but had not a break in it. It was some +squeeze to get the bunchy Mary in it, but with +much pulling in and holding of the breath we +finally got it hooked.</p> + +<p>"And here's a veil!" cried Dum, who had been +standing on her head in the trunk hunting for +treasures.</p> + +<p>It was nothing but a piece of white mosquito +netting that had been put in this trunk by mistake +evidently, but it was quite a find to us, and +with a few dexterous twists we had Mary standing +before us a blushing bride.</p> + +<p>"How about your shoes, Mary?" I asked. +"Last night you said you had to have bare toes +to dig in the wall."</p> + +<p>"So I have! Gee, what are we to do about it? +It would never do to have a barefoot bride; but I +simply could not climb down in shoes."</p> + +<p>"I have it!" cried Dum. "Let's have a cavalier +down on the ground, your 'beau lover,' you +know, like the Elizabeth of long ago, and you +take off your slippers and throw them down to +him."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Good! Page, please go tell Shorty I need +him."</p> + +<p>Shorty was game and in a twinkling of an eye +we had him rigged out as a very presentable if +rather youthful "beau lover."</p> + +<p>The darkies had come and were seated on the +ground about twenty feet from the house. News +of a free show had spread like wildfire and I am +sure at least fifteen were gathered there. It +seemed hard that we must amuse fifteen to get +five.</p> + +<p>The show opened with a boxing match between +the young men from Kentucky, Jack Bennett +and Billy Somers. This was most exciting and +nothing but the presence of General Price kept +the darkies from putting up bets on the fight.</p> + +<p>Next on the program was the Tuckers' stunt: +Dum and Dee, back to back, were buttoned up +in two sweaters which they put on hind part before +and then fastened on the side, Dum's to +Dee's and Dee's to Dum's.</p> + +<p>"This, Ladies and Gentlemen," said Zebedee, +who was doing the part of showmaster, "is Milly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> +Christine, the two-headed woman. She is the +most remarkable freak of nature in the world to-day. +She has two heads, four legs, four arms, +but only one body. She is very well educated +and can speak several languages at the same +time. She also can sing a duet with herself (at +least she thinks she can). Fortunately she is in +love with herself, otherwise she would get very +bored with herself. There is only one difficulty +about being this kind of a twin: if you don't like +what your twin likes you have to lump it. Now +Milly, here, sometimes eats onions and poor +Christine has to go around with the odor on her +breath; and Christine got her feet wet and poor +Milly has caught a bad cold from it." With this +Dee sneezed violently, a regular Tucker sneeze +which was as good as a show any time. "Milly +is always getting sleepy and wanting to go to +bed when Christine feels like dancing." Dee put +her head on her breast and gave forth stertorous +snores while Dum gaily waltzed around dragging +the sleeping twin. There were roars of applause.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span></p> + +<p>Next Harvie came around the house walking +on his hands and Jim Hart doing cartwheels. +Rags had the stunt known as "Come on, Eph!" +It is a strange thing, where the performer +wiggles and shakes himself until his clothes seem +to be slipping off. All the time he emits sounds +from which one gathers that he wants Eph to +come on. This brought down the house and +Rags had an encore.</p> + +<p>I had to dance "going to church" while the +twins patted for me. I never did have any little +parlor tricks but they would not let me off. The +darkies treated it quite seriously and when I +went around shaking hands, which is part of the +dance, they arose and joined the dance. This +broke the ice and warmed them up for the ghost +scene soon to follow.</p> + +<p>The circus was proving a great success. The +rows of happy black faces gave evidence of that. +We had decided to have some music next, but +made the great mistake of putting Annie on the +program ahead of Jessie. It was taken as an +insult and that spoiled piece refused to sing at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> +all. Annie sang charmingly, however. She accompanied +herself on a banjo, and if my dance +had started the darkies, her song got them all +going. She sang, "Clar de Kitchen." I wonder +if my readers know that old song. It was famous +once on every plantation but in this day of rag +time and imitation darky songs one hardly ever +hears it.</p> + + +<div class='center'><span class="smcap">Clar de Kitchen</span></div> + +<div class='poem'> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">In ol' Kentuck, in de arternoon,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">We sweep de flo' wid a bran new broom,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And arter dat we form a ring,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And dis de song dat we do sing:</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Chorus</i>—<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">O, clar de kitchen, ol' folks, young folks,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Clar de kitchen, ol' folks, young folks,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Ol' Virginy never, never tire.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">I went to de creek, I couldn't get across,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">I'd nobody wid me but a ol' blin' horse;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">But ol' Jim Crow come a-ridin' by,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Says he, "Ol' fellow, yo' horse will die."</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">It's clar de kitchen, etc.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">My horse fell down upon de spot.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Says he, "Don't you see his eyes is sot?"</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">So I took out my knife, and off wid his skin,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">When he comes to life I'll ride him agin.</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 3em;">So clar de kitchen, etc.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">A jay-bird sat on a hickory limb—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">He winked at me and I winked at him;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">I picked up a stone and I hit his shin,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Says he, "You'd better not do dat agin."</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">So clar de kitchen, etc.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">A bull-frog, dressed in soger's clothes,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Went in de field to shoot some crows;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">De crows smell powder and fly away—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">De bull-frog mighty mad dat day.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">So clar de kitchen, etc.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">I hab a sweetheart in dis town,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">She wears a yaller striped gown;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And when she walks de streets around,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">De hollow of her foot makes a hole in de ground.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Now clar de kitchen, etc.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Dis love is a ticklish ting, you know,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">It makes a body feel all over so;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">I put de question to Coal-Black Rose,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">She's as black as ten of spades, and got a lubly flat nose.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Now clar de kitchen, etc.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Go away," says she, "wid your cowcumber shin,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">If you come here agin I stick you wid a pin."</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">So I turn on my heel, and I bid her good-bye,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And arter I was gone she began for to cry.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">So clar de kitchen, etc.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">So now I'se up and off you see,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">To take a julep sangaree;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">I'll sit upon a tater hill</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And eat a little whip-poor-will.</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 3em;">So clar de kitchen, etc.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">I wish I was back in ol' Kentuck,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">For since I lef' it I had no luck—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">De gals so proud dey won't eat mush;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And when you go to court 'em dey say, "O, hush!"</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Now clar de kitchen, etc.</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>Of course before Annie got through, everybody +was joining in the chorus, and the darkies +were patting and some of them dancing. There +wasn't the ghost of a ghost in their minds now +and really we might have dispensed with the +grand finale as far as they were concerned. +Maxton was no longer a place to be shunned; but +Mary was to go through with her act before +lunch and I for one knew that that gumbo was +stewing down mighty thick. I stole off once and +stirred it and put it back a little.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>THE GHOST OF A GHOST</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> last patter occasioned by Annie's spirited +tune had died away and a sudden hush fell upon +the seated throng. It was time for the great act. +We thought the impressiveness of the scene +would be heightened if someone would tell the +story. General Price suggested Lady John as +the best raconteur of the neighborhood. Of +course Lady John was more than pleased to +comply. He loved to be in the lime light and to +show off. This was his opportunity.</p> + +<p>"Ladies, gemmen an' niggers, what ain't +neither, some er you," he declaimed, standing up +on an ivy-covered stump and making his inimitable +curtsey, "I is a-makin' this speechifying at +the inquest of the white folks an' if respec' is not +handed to me it is also infused to them." That +rather silenced the tittering that Lady John's +elevation had caused.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Gen'l Price is inquested me to lay befo' de +meetin' de gospel of de ghoses what is thought +by some to hant these here abode of plenty. +Without more pilaverin' I'll lay holt the shank +of the tale.—Mos' about a thousan' years ago +whin my gran'mammy warn't mo'n a baby an' +Gen'l Price here, savin' his presence, warn't even +so much as thought about although his amcestroms +were abidin' here, the tale runs they war +a young miss of the family by name Lizzy Betty. +Miss Lizzy Betty war that sweet an' that putty +that all the young gemmen war mos' ready to +eat her up. Ev'y steamboat that come a-sailin' +up de ribber brought beaux for Miss Lizzy +Betty. One young man come all dressed in gold +an' wid a long feather in his hat an' a sword as +long as a hoe han'le. He had no land an' he had +no boat but he come on his hoss a-ridin' ober de +hills, an' Miss Lizzy Betty she done tol' him she +would be his'n through sickness an' through +healthfulness.—But, ladies an' gemmen an' you +niggers what is 'havin' better'n I ever seed you +'have befo', ol' Marse Price he got yuther notions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> +in his haid. He see no reason why Miss +Lizzy Betty shouldn't marry to suit him stid er +herse'f. They was a rich ol' man what didn't +carry all his b'longin's on his back, an' ol' Marse +Price he go to de sto' an' come back with a dress +an' veil for Miss Lizzy Betty an' he say fer her +to go put it on an' he'd fotch the preacher. An' +'twas all the po' young thing could do to git +word to her beau lover. All the comp'ny was +dissembled an' de bride had comb out her har an' +put on de dress an' veil, whin she say to her +frien's an' de nigger maid fer them to lef her +alone fer a moment so she could wrastle in +prayer. So so soon as they got out her room, she +locked de do' an' thin she peeped out'n de winder, +an' thar, kind an' true, was de beau +lover."</p> + +<p>At this point Mary poked her head out of the +window and Shorty appeared below brave in all +his finery, although it was not of pure gold as in +Lady John's version. This was some astonishment +to the old tale teller and he stopped in his +narrative.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Hist!" called the bride to Shorty below. +"Are you there, sweetheart?"</p> + +<p>"Aye, aye!" answered the future bluejacket. +"Can you climb down the wall or shall I come +up to you and carry you off in my flying machine?"</p> + +<p>"I am coming down!" choked Mary. "But, +Algernon, I cannot scale the fearsome wall in +shoes and hose; what must I do?"</p> + +<p>"Take them off, fair Lizzy Betty, and throw +them down to me."</p> + +<p>With that, Mary threw down to the faithful +Shorty some huge tennis shoes, the property of +Harvie. Shorty caught them, one at a time, +and each catch felled him to the earth, much to +the delight of the audience.</p> + +<p>Then began the dangerous act. The agile +Lizzy Betty was out of the window in a twinkling +of an eye. Her mosquito net veil floated in +the breezes. Her satin train she managed with +great dexterity, kicking it from her, thereby disclosing +to view the blue serge gym bloomers she +was wearing. She swung herself down until<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> +midway she came upon the fated snag; there she +paused and deliberately hooked her veil in the +nail.</p> + +<p>Here old Lady John, seeing his chance, took +up the tale and began:</p> + +<p>"As Miss Lizzy Betty was a-hurryin' down, +an' she sho' could clam like a cat, she got her +finery cotched on a rusty nail, an' thar she hung +as helpless as a ol' coon skin tacked on de barn +do'. De beau lover he dance up an' down like he +goin' crazy."</p> + +<p>Shorty began to prance and cry out to his lady +love; but she hung there weeping in loud boo +hoos.</p> + +<p>"Bymby ol' Marse Price 'gun ter 'spicion +sompen, an' he up'n bang on de chamber do'. +'Hyar there, Lizzy Betty! Come on an' git +married! The victuals is a-gittin' col' whilst you +is a-prayin'.' Po' Miss Lizzy Betty could a-hear +'em hollerin' and beatin' an' bangin', an' still her +dress it cotch on de nail. Jes' then de rich ol' +bridegroom come a-shamblin' roun' de house, an' +he an' de beau lover clasp one anudder in mortal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> +death grips. De ol' man, he got so clost to him +dat de sword what was as long as a hoe han'le +didn' do de beau lover no good whatsomever, but +de lil' penknife what de ol' man carry for to +whittle with went clean home to de beau lover's +heart."</p> + +<p>At the proper cue, Wink, who had submitted +to be dressed up in a red table cover with a Santa +Klaus beard made out of a switch borrowed from +Miss Maria, came sidling around the house.</p> + +<p>"Vilyun!" he cried, and grabbing Shorty +around the waist, they wrestled and swayed until +Shorty's long silk stockings, borrowed from +Dum, came down and hung around his feet, and +his fancy trunks, nothing more nor less than a +bathing suit carefully rolled up, came unrolled +and hung down in a most ludicrous manner. +Finally the deadly penknife was dug into his ribs +and he expired, calling to the lovely Lizzy Betty.</p> + +<p>"An' de lubly Miss Lizzy Betty, she tuk a fit +then an' thar an' if'n her paw hadn't er got a +ladder an' gone up'n unhooked her, she'd a-been +hangin' thar yit, same as in dis hyar circus," and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> +Lady John pointed impressively at the bunchy +figure of Mary clinging to the ivy with fingers, +teeth and toe-nails.</p> + +<p>The applause could have been heard down at +the landing, I am sure. Mary unfastened her +mosquito net veil from her head and finished her +descent, leaving the veil caught to the snag.</p> + +<p>"Now, you black rascals," cried General +Price, "you can see the ghost any night you've a +mind. There she hangs, and I reckon I'll leave +her there to shame you with. Now get to work!"</p> + +<p>His words were stem but his face wore a smile +and his tone was kindly. The field hands went +off to work, the uninvited guests melted away, +and the house servants took up their tasks where +we had left off.</p> + +<p>Willie, the yard boy, wore a broad grin on his +countenance. I heard him say to one of the +housemaids:</p> + +<p>"I done mist my chanst for de kingdom dis +year. I 'lowed I'd come through to-night, but +these hyar carryin's on done flimflammed me. I +been a-laughin' an' singin' an' what's more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> +a-dancin', an' 'twarn't no David a-dancin' befo' +de Lord, nuther. 'Twas jes' a-pattin' an' Clar +de Kitchen dance. I hear rumors of gumbo for +dinner, too, an' I sho' is glad I done turned from +grace. I hope de young misses what concocted +of de gumbo done put my name in de pot. Dis +here seekin' is pow'ful appetizin'."</p> + +<p>Our circus had been a decided success. Old +and young, black and white had enjoyed it. +Mary felt that she had redeemed herself. Had +she not scared the servants off and then wiled +them back? Had she not held thousands thrilled +and breathless while she made her perilous descent?</p> + +<p>"It is wonderful for you to be able to climb +that way," said our courtly host. "I have never +seen a young lady so agile."</p> + +<p>"But I shall have to learn to climb in shoes," +sighed our movie star. "Douglas Fairbanks +can."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>THE PICNIC</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">When</span> a crowd of young people get together +there is sure to be a picnic if there is a spark of +life in them. There were many sparks of life in +this crowd, enough to supply many picnics.</p> + +<p>We had been at Maxton ten days when the +picnic came off, and we had had ten days of unalloyed +fun. Of course, we had many gags on +each other and jokes that were only jokes because +we were on a house-party together. Those +jokes if told would sound very flat, indeed. I +believe there is no bore so great as the person +who has been off with a crowd for a fortnight and +comes back and tries to bring to life all the silly +jokes that were perpetrated. They may have +been brilliant and witty at the time, but it takes +the setting and the circumstance to make them +appear so to someone not blessed with an invitation +to said house-party.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mr. Tucker had come and gone and come +again when we decided to go on the picnic. His +faithful Henry Ford could bring him to Price's +Landing in about one-fourth of the time it took +if one trusted to the deliberate meanderings of +the steamboat. He was a favorite with all of the +party, young and old, and his arrival was hailed +with delight. Miss Maria put on her best and +filmiest lace cap for his benefit, and to her delight, +that wonderful man noticed it and talked to +her about old lace with a knowledge that astounded +her.</p> + +<p>He told me afterwards he found lace a +topic which always interested old ladies, so he +had deliberately made it his business to find out +about lace and be prepared to converse on the +subject. He also had some general knowledge +of crochet stitches, and knew how much yarn it +took to knit a sweater. It was too ludicrous to +see him solemnly talking fancy work with some +ancient dame. Tweedles and I have been sent +off into hysterics when we have found him bending +over a rainbow afghan, with some old lady<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> +eagerly asking his advice as to the depth of the +border or something else equally feminine. He +seldom went home, after a week-end spent at +some resort, that he did not have a commission +to match embroidery silk for some lady who had +calculated wrong, or send back a bale of wool for +some energetic person who had suddenly decided +to knit socks for the poor Belgians or a sweater +for a long-suffering male relative. Certainly +Zebedee's interest and knowledge on the subject +of lace caps would have won Miss Maria's affections +had they not already been his.</p> + +<p>General Price was as glad to see him as was +his old sister. Of course, the European war was +of paramount interest to everyone during those +years, and Jeffry Tucker always brought some +item of news to be recounted and discussed. He +came laden with newspapers and magazines, and +the general would bury himself under them, only +emerging for meals. He and Zebedee would +spend hours discussing the situation. Topographical +maps were studied until one would +think those two gentlemen could have found<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> +their way blindfolded over every inch of the western +front.</p> + +<p>The Mexican situation, too, must be thoroughly +threshed out. The old warrior was like +some ancient war horse that sniffs the battle +from afar. As a veteran of the Civil War he had +many experiences to recount and analogies to +bring forth. Mr. Tucker listened to him with an +attention that was most flattering. Naturally +General Price freely announced that Tucker was +the most agreeable man of his acquaintance.</p> + +<p>Mr. Arthur Ponsonby Pore spent one evening +with us at Maxton and the general and Zebedee +hoped to get some new outlook from their English +acquaintance on the subject of the war that +so nearly touched him, since many of his kinsmen +must surely be in the trenches; but Mr. Pore's +interest seemed purely academic, and as his +knowledge was principally gained from two- and +three-week-old London <i>Graphics</i>, those voracious +gentlemen got but little satisfaction from +the hours spent with Arthur Ponsonby.</p> + +<p>"He cares more about what language will<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> +finally be spoken on the Servian border than he +does about the submarine menace!" cried Zebedee +indignantly, coming out on the gallery where +I was getting a breath of air after a particularly +trying dance with poor Wink, who never had +learned how. We danced almost every night at +Maxton,—tread many a measure, as our dear old +host put it. Dee said she thought Wink was a +good dancer and she seemed to be able to keep +step with him very well, but the Gods evidently +had ordained that Wink and I could do nothing +in harmony. He either stepped on my toes or I +stepped on his,—the latter arrangement I much +preferred.</p> + +<p>"Well, when you come right down to it," I +said, defending poor Mr. Pore, "that is, after +all, a very important thing. What language is to +be spoken there will mean which side is victorious."</p> + +<p>"I know that, little Miss Smarty, but I also +know if I have to listen any longer to that Britisher's +rounded periods, what language will be +spoken here,—it will not be fit to print, either.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> +How can a man sit still down on the banks of a +river in a foreign country and feel that it is not +up to him to do a single thing for his country +when her very existence is in peril!"</p> + +<p>"But what can he do?"</p> + +<p>"Do? Heavens, Page, he can do a million +things!"</p> + +<p>"He is too old to fight."</p> + +<p>"No one is ever too old to fight,—that is, to +put up some kind of a fight. He does not even +contribute to a relief fund! He as good as told +me he did not. He says he is afraid that what he +sent might fall into the hands of the Germans +and help them, so he considers it more patriotic +not to send anything. I've been taking up for +that man against Tweedles, but ugh! I'm +through now."</p> + +<p>"Oh no, you are not," I laughed; "if Mr. +Pore should come out on the porch this minute +and ask a favor of you, I bet you would be just +as nice to him as you always have been."</p> + +<p>"Never! Five pounds of Huyler's if I am +not as cold as a fish to His Nibs!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span></p> + +<p>At this psychological moment His Nibs appeared.</p> + +<p>"Aw, I say, Mr. Tucker, when you return to +Richmond, will you be so kind as to do a little +commission for me?"</p> + +<p>Zebedee made inarticulate noises in his throat +and Mr. Pore continued:</p> + +<p>"Some freight has gone astray and if you +could look it up from that end, it would be of +great assistance to me."</p> + +<p>"Have you written about it?" Zebedee's +manner was not quite so Zebedeeish as I could +have wished, since five pounds of Huyler's was +at stake.</p> + +<p>"No, I have not corresponded with the wholesale +firm from whom I purchased the goods, as +I heard from my daughter that you were expected, +and I considered that it would be much +more satisfactory to all concerned if you could +give it your personal attention."</p> + +<p>As soon as Mr. Pore mentioned Annie, Zebedee +seemed to have a change of heart. He evidently +felt that Annie's father must be cajoled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> +into good behavior, and nothing must be done or +said to make that stubborn parent have an excuse +for taking any pleasures from Annie.</p> + +<p>"Certainly, Mr. Pore," he said politely, if a +little distantly. "Just give me your bill of +lading and I will look into the matter for +you."</p> + +<p>In my mind's eye I saw the five pounds of +candy. I had certainly won. But was it fair of +me to take advantage of poor Zebedee's tender +heart? Certainly not!</p> + +<p>"Shall it be chocolates?" he asked, when Mr. +Pore had finished his transaction and taken himself +off.</p> + +<p>"It shall be nothing!" I exclaimed. "Don't +you know I know why you were decent to the +old fish? It was not just plain politeness that +made you do it, it was your feeling for Annie, +poor little thing!"</p> + +<p>"How do you know so much?"</p> + +<p>"Why, I saw you change your mind the moment +he dragged in Annie, and I knew what you +were thinking just as much as though you had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> +said it aloud: 'Don't do anything to make things +hard for Annie.' Now isn't that so?"</p> + +<p>"Page, you are uncanny! Can you read +everybody's mind?"</p> + +<p>"Of course not! Only yours," I laughed.</p> + +<p>"Do you know what I am thinking now?" +He looked at me very intently. The light from +the hall was flooding the gallery and I could see +way down into his clear blue eyes.</p> + +<p>"N-o!" I hesitated, and I am afraid blushed, +too. "But I wish you would think that it would +be nice to go try that new wiggly dance Jessie +Wilcox has just brought from New York."</p> + +<p>"I see, if you can't read my mind all the time, +you can at least make me think what you want +me to. Come on, honey, and show me the dance."</p> + +<p>I got the candy in spite of my protestations of +not deserving it.</p> + +<p>The picnic was to be at Croxton's Ford, a +beautiful spot about three miles down the river. +The naphtha launch held eight quite comfortably +and the rest were to go in rowboats. Mary and +Shorty insisted upon paddling the canoe, although<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> +they were warned that it would be a tiring +job, especially coming back.</p> + +<p>Miss Maria had planned to go with us although +an all day picnic was a great undertaking +for one of her shape, but she was very particular +with girls intrusted to her and chaperoned most +religiously. On the very morning of the picnic, +sciatica seized her and she simply could not get +out of bed. The general had business at the +court-house and was off very early in the morning, +so his going was out of the question. Miss +Maria lay there groaning and moaning, miserable +that her conscience could not consent to our +going on such a jaunt, unchaperoned. As +Tweedles and I had never been overchaperoned, +in fact knew very little about such necessities, it +seemed absurd to us.</p> + +<p>"Do you really mean we can't go without a +chaperone?" wailed Dum, who had set her heart +on a long row in a little red boat that appealed to +her especially.</p> + +<p>"My dear, I am so sorry! I would get up if +I could."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But I wouldn't have you get up, dear Miss +Maria. I just want you to lie still and get well. +We don't need a chaperone!"</p> + +<p>"I know you don't need one, my child, but I +have never heard of a picnic at Croxton's Ford +without a chaperone."</p> + +<p>"But Zebedee's a grand chaperone," put in +Dee. "He is that particular! Why, Dum and +Page and I have never been chaperoned in our +lives."</p> + +<p>"Zebedee's the strictest thing!" maintained +Dum.</p> + +<p>"So he may be," smiled the old lady, although +one could see that the twinges in her poor hip +were giving her great agony, "but as perfect as +he is, he is not a woman."</p> + +<p>"No,—he is certainly not that."</p> + +<p>"Jessie Wilcox has never been on a picnic in +her life without a chaperone, and I could not consent +to one from Maxton unless it was perfectly +regular."</p> + +<p>A tap on the door disclosed the sympathetic +Zebedee.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Please let me come in," he begged.</p> + +<p>After a hasty donning of boudoir cap and bed +sacque, he was admitted.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Tucker, I am so sorry, but I cannot let +the girls go on a picnic without a chaperone," +said the old lady.</p> + +<p>"Of course not!" and his eyes twinkled. +"I'm going, though, and I am a perfect ogre of +a chaperone, eh, Page?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, something fierce, but Miss Maria says +you are not a woman."</p> + +<p>"That's so!" he said, puckering up his brows. +We were mortally sure he was going to find a +way. He always did. "How about Aunt +Milly? She is perfectly respectable and would +guard the young ladies like gold, I am sure."</p> + +<p>"We-ll, I remember before the war we often +went great distances with our maids. I think +she would do. Please send her to me."</p> + +<p>Zebedee rushed to do her bidding, but he evidently +had an interview with Aunt Milly before +he sent her to Miss Maria, as that old darky +entered the bed chamber in a broad grin, tying<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> +something up in the corner of her bandanna +handkerchief as she came.</p> + +<p>"Milly, I want you to chaperone for me to-day," +said the poor invalid, groaning as she +tried to move a bit in her great mahogany +bed.</p> + +<p>"Sho', Miss Maria! Does you want me to do +it wif goose grease? Or maybe you'd like dat +mixture er coal ile an' pneumonia? Dat's a great +mixture. 'Twill bun you up but it sho' do scatter +de pain."</p> + +<p>"I don't mean massage, I said chaperone," +and Miss Maria laughed in spite of her sciatic +nerve.</p> + +<p>"Yassum! I 'lowed you meant rub, an' I's +mo'n willin' to rub. You'll hab to 'splain. I +ain't quite sho' in my min' what shopper-roonin' +is, but if it'll ease yo' pain, you kin jes' call on ol' +Milly."</p> + +<p>"It would ease my pain greatly if you would +go with the young ladies on the picnic."</p> + +<p>"Cook for 'em?"</p> + +<p>"Oh no, Aunt Milly," I interrupted, "we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> +never let the chaperone cook,—just to look after +us and keep us straight."</p> + +<p>"Lawsamussy, chile! You all don't need nobody +to keep you straight. Th' ain't nothin' +wrong wid you all but jes' you's a little coltish."</p> + +<p>"I know they don't need anyone, Milly, but I +have never heard of a picnic at Croxton's Ford +without a chaperone, and I wouldn't be willing +for them to go without one."</p> + +<p>"All right, Miss Maria! But you ain't +thinkin' 'bout sendin' me nowhar in one er them +thar skifty boats, is you?"</p> + +<p>"Oh no, Aunt Milly!" said Dee reassuringly. +"You must have a comfortable seat in the stern +of the naphtha launch. We will give you the +place Miss Maria would have had could she have +gone."</p> + +<p>"Well, Gawd save us! I ain't nebber set foot +on or in the ribber in all my life an' I been born +an' bred on its banks, too," and the old woman +drew forth a big red bandanna handkerchief and +wiped her eyes.</p> + +<p>As she did so she came upon the something<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> +round and hard tied up in its corner, and at the +same time she glanced up at Mr. Tucker. He, in +a seemingly absent-minded way, put his hand in +his pocket and jingled his keys and coin.</p> + +<p>"Well, all right, Miss Maria! If you say I +mus' go, I reckon 'tain't fer me to gainsay you. +Who gonter do my wuck at home?"</p> + +<p>"There won't be much work to do, Milly, since +all of the young people are going away, and the +general has planned to spend the day at the +court-house. The lunch baskets are ready, are +they not?"</p> + +<p>"Yassum! I been up sence sunup a-packin' +'em. It seemed like ol' times to be a-packin' all +them victuals. I 'member what a gret han' you +was for pickaniggers whin you was a gal. I +reckon it's a-cuttin' all them samwidges yistiddy +dat done combusticated yo' hip now. You better +let me rub you befo' I go a shopper-roonin'."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Milly, but if you chaperone, that +will be work enough for you for to-day. You +had better get ready now. Tell Willie to take +you to your cabin in the buggy and wait and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> +drive you back. You must hurry and not keep +the young ladies waiting."</p> + +<p>Aunt Milly waddled off, filled with importance +and pride but secretly dreading a water +trip. Dee insisted upon massaging the poor invalid, +who really was suffering intensely. Dee +was a born nurse and was never so happy as when +she could take command in a sick room. She +drove all of us out, insisting the patient must be +quiet. Wink, who was really and truly a doctor +now, was called in and readily prescribed and +what's more produced the medicine from a little +kit he carried about with him. Dee rubbed and +rubbed until it was time to start on the picnic. +Miss Maria was so soothed that she dozed off and +Dee tiptoed out of the room without making a +sound.</p> + +<p>No doubt the poor old lady enjoyed her day +of quiet and rest. We must have been a great +trial to her, because we were a noisy, hoydenish +lot. Those of us who didn't sit up late at night +making a racket, got up early in the morning to +do so, and vice versa. She was so sweet and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> +good-natured about us that she never let us feel +we were a nuisance, but I am sure we must have +been.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>THE SHOPPER-ROON</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Of</span> course Aunt Milly kept us waiting. There +is no telling what rite she performed in her cabin +in preparation for the momentous occasion of +chaperoning. We were all seated in the boats +waiting, the lunch stowed carefully in the locker +of the launch and the bathing suits tucked under +the seats, when Willie came racing up in a light +red-wheeled buggy, one side so bent down with +Aunt Milly's great weight that the springs were +touching.</p> + +<p>"Gawd pertec' me!" she prayed as Harvie +and Zebedee between them handed her into the +launch. The little craft did some perceptible +sinking with the extra load and had to be +lightened a bit.</p> + +<p>"Sleepy, you had better get out," teased +Rags.</p> + +<p>Poor Sleepy had been having a strenuous week<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> +trying to monopolize Annie Pore. This was a +difficult thing to do, as Annie seemed to attract +the male sex willy nilly. She had no idea of +flirting and never meant to hurt anyone, but +there was something about her that appealed to +the masculine element irresistibly. Wherever +she went she made conquests by a certain clinging +vine attitude she had towards the whole +world. Mere man likes to be looked upon as a +protector and Annie's timidity was meat and +drink to his vanity. George Massie, alias +Sleepy, was her slave; Harvie Price thought he +looked upon her as a little sister, but I have never +yet seen a big brother quite so anxious for the +comfort of nothing but a sister; Jack Bennett +seemed to find her very attractive and divided his +allegiance between her and Dee; nothing but his +loyalty to Sleepy kept Ben Raglan from entering +the lists for the favor of the little English +maid. He occasionally teased poor Sleepy, but +that young giant never did know what I knew: +that Rags really cared for Annie.</p> + +<p>Sleepy, knowing that the launch was the safest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> +place in which to embark for a picnic and understanding +how timid Annie was and how poor a +swimmer, had ensconced her in that vessel in a +protected spot, and had found a place at her feet +where he could look up into her pretty face.</p> + +<p>"Me get out? Get out yourself!" he cried indignantly.</p> + +<p>"But it is not quality they want out but quantity," +answered Rags. "You and Aunt Milly, +being in the same boat, can't ride in the same +boat."</p> + +<p>Now George Massie was not really fat, but +because of his great bulk he was usually thought +of as being so. Certainly his bones were well +covered but his muscles were hard as iron. What +fat was there was well hammered down. He +must have weighed at that time at least two hundred +and twenty pounds, but then his six feet two +inches could carry a good many pounds. He +was cursed with money if ever a young man was. +His father was very wealthy and George had +never been denied a single thing in all his life. +His principal ambition had been to make the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> +football team at the University and even that had +been granted him,—not because of money but +because of brawn.</p> + +<p>He was studying medicine in a desultory way, +taking a year longer to finish his course than the +more ambitious Wink, who was not cursed at all +with money but had unbounded energy and ambition. +Sleepy's friends, and he had many of +those necessary things, all adored him. He was +so honest, so straightforward, so sympathetic. +They deplored his lack of ambition, however. I +used to feel that Sleepy was a lesson to all of the +young men in his set because they realized that +after all too much money often had a softening +effect on character. There seemed to be no especial +use for George Massie to graduate, because +after he got his diploma what difference +would it make whether he got patients or not? +His adoration of Annie Pore had had a good effect +on him, so Jim Hart had told me. The last +year at the University he had done better studying +than he ever had in his life, and his friends +had hopes of his waking up to the fact that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> +world might need him, even if he did not need the +world's money in doctor's fees.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Sleepy! You'll have to vamoose," insisted +Jack Bennett, trying to squeeze himself +down between George Massie and Annie.</p> + +<p>"You are as big as any two other passengers," +declared Rags.</p> + +<p>"If that is the case, then suppose two other +passengers take to the life-boats," suggested +Zebedee. "Come on, Page, you are light and +easy to row and there is a nice little brown boat +waiting for us."</p> + +<p>Dum and Billy Somers had already started in +their picturesque red skiff, and Mary Flannagan +and Shorty were well on their way in the canoe. +They had been independent and had not had to +wait while Aunt Milly arrayed herself in all the +glories of a brand new purple calico and bright +plaid head handkerchief.</p> + +<p>"All right!" I acquiesced to Mr. Tucker's +proposal.</p> + +<p>After we were transferred to the little brown +boat and on our way to Croxton's Ford, he said:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I am afraid I was selfish to ask you to come +with me. I know I should not have taken you +away from all of your young friends."</p> + +<p>"Why, Zebedee! How absurd! You are the +youngest friend I have, much the youngest."</p> + +<p>"But you gave a very sad and unenthusiastic +'all right' to my proposition to come by skiff. +Now, didn't you?"</p> + +<p>"But it wasn't that I didn't want to come with +you," I declared.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not, but merely that you didn't +want to leave someone else to come with me. +Now fess up, honey!"</p> + +<p>"I have nothing to fess up about."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, why did you look so crestfallen +when I put it up to you to leave the launch?" +and Zebedee dug his oars in the water with some +viciousness.</p> + +<p>"I didn't mean to. I—I——"</p> + +<p>"You what?"</p> + +<p>"I had a reason for wanting to stay in the +launch."</p> + +<p>"Didn't I say so? Who was the reason?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It wasn't a who, at all—it was a which."</p> + +<p>"A which?" he asked somewhat mystified.</p> + +<p>"Yes, a which! If you must know, I wanted +to be under the awning because of my freckled +nose," and I blushed until it hurt. My nose was +a great annoyance to me. It was such a little +nose to get so many freckles on it. The fact that +they disappeared in the winter was but cold comfort +to me.</p> + +<p>"But I like freckles," he said quite solemnly, +but his eyes were dancing with amusement.</p> + +<p>"But I don't, and it's my nose. You are the +only person who does like 'em."</p> + +<p>"Who has been telling you he doesn't like +them?"</p> + +<p>"Nobody to my face, or rather to my freckles, +but I heard Jessie Wilcox talking to someone +about me and she called me a speckled beauty,—just +exactly as though I were a trout or a coach +dog or a turkey egg or something. And I know +after this day on the water I'll be a sight."</p> + +<p>"Do you care what she says?"</p> + +<p>"I care what anybody says."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Why, little friend, I did not dream you put +so much value on the opinion of others, especially +where mere personal appearance is concerned." +I thought I detected a note of disappointment in +his voice.</p> + +<p>"I don't about everything, but one's nose is +mighty close to one, somehow."</p> + +<p>"So it is," he laughed, "and I am so sorry to +have been the means of injuring that touchy +member. I can't help feeling kind of happy, +though, that it was the awning you were loath to +leave and not some one of those boys. Here's a +nice linen handkerchief; why don't you tie that +over your nose?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Tucker always had the nicest linen handkerchiefs +I ever saw, and he seemed to have clean, +folded ones ready to produce for every emergency. +I accepted his offer and tied it over the +lower part of my face.</p> + +<p>"Now you look like a little Turkish lady. +Please say you are glad you came in the little +brown boat," and my boatman shipped his oars +and drifted with the current.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was a very easy thing to say because I was +very glad. Now that my poor little nose was +protected, I was perfectly happy. I always enjoyed +being with Zebedee. We never talked out +and we seldom had a disagreement; not that we +agreed on every subject by any means, but we +could disagree without having a disagreement. +We talked about everything under the sun from +Shakespeare to the musical glasses. I couldn't +help comparing this boat ride to the one I had +been overpersuaded to take with Wink only a +few days before. We had started out with the +best of intentions on my part to avoid all shoals +in conversation, but before we had been out ten +minutes Wink was gnawing his little moustache +in fury and I was wishing I had stayed on shore. +A row with Wink was sure to end in a row (pronounced +rou).</p> + +<p>The launch arrived at Croxton's Ford long before +we did, but we came as fast as the current +allowed, having drifted a good part of the way. +The party had landed and had begun to make the +camp for the day. It was a wonderful spot<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> +chosen for the picnic. A large creek, flowing +into the river, broadened out almost into a lake, +and in the mouth of this creek were innumerable +small islands. Some of them had large trees +growing on them, lovely sandy beaches and strips +of verdure; others were too young to have trees +but were covered with grass. The camp was +pitched on the largest island, right at the mouth +of the creek that afforded a landing for the +launch. There was a famous spring on this island +that was thought by the county people to +have some great curative power. What it cured +you of I don't know, but it tasted too good to be +much good as a medicine, I imagine.</p> + +<p>Aunt Milly, who had proven herself to be an +ideal chaperone, having slept during the entire +journey, was now ensconced under a water oak +on a warm sand bank with nothing to do but enjoy +herself. This she did immediately by falling +asleep again.</p> + +<p>"Whin I ain't a-wuckin', I's a-sleepin'," she +droned as slumber enfolded her.</p> + +<p>Of course the camp fire must be made and potatoes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> +and corn put to roast and the coffee-pot +filled with the sparkling spring water. The trip +down had made everybody hungry, whether accomplished +without exertion as by those in the +launch; or with the sweat of the brow as by Mary +and Shorty in the canoe, or Dum and Billy Somers +in the red skiff; or with just enough work to +keep the boat in the current which was Zebedee's +and my method of locomotion: one and all were +hungry.</p> + +<p>"While dinner is cooking, let's have a swim," +suggested Harvie. "You girls take this side of +the island for a dressing-room and we'll take the +other. Here are some low willows that make +splendid walls."</p> + +<p>Bathing suits were produced and while our +chaperone slumbered and slept, we got into them +and then into the water. Such water! It was +clear and soft, so much more so than the water +of the big river. The bottom was clean sand +with no disturbing rocks and snags. The trees +shaded the place chosen for our swim where the +sloping beach made it safe for the timid close to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> +shore, but ten yards of perseverance plunged the +bold swimmer into really deep water.</p> + +<p>The shouts of joy would have waked the dead +had there been any on the island, but nothing +waked the sleeping Aunt Milly. She had burrowed +down in the unresisting sand almost as +deep as some meteoric stone might have done. +There she lay, having the rest that she deserved +after the "mos' a hun'erd years er cookin'" that +she declared she had served at Maxton.</p> + +<p>"This is my island!" cried Dum, swimming +over to a beautiful spot about twenty yards from +camp. She clambered out on the strip of sand +and stood with arms outstretched looking very +handsome, her lithe young figure drawn up to +its full height. "I am monarch of all I survey! +I'm queen of this land!"</p> + +<p>"Let me come help you rule," pleaded Billy +Somers, who had followed her.</p> + +<p>"I don't need a prime minister just now, +thank you, but you might get in the waiting list."</p> + +<p>"Thanks awfully!" and the young Kentuckian +threw himself on the warm sand at her feet.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> +What nice fellows those Kentuckians were, anyhow! +They were full of life and fun, clean +minded, clear thinking, well-mannered boys. +Dum and Billy were friends from the moment +they met and were usually the ringleaders in +any larks that were started on the house-party. +The strange thing about the friendship was that +they looked alike, so very much alike that I believe +some pioneer ancestor of Billy's must have +come from the Tucker stock.</p> + +<p>Billy's hair had a bit more red in it than +Dum's, not much, just enough to make his hair in +the shade about the color Dum's was in the sun. +Their foreheads were identical and their chins +had the same tendency to get square when an +argument was under way. They really looked +quite as much alike as the twins themselves did. +Zebedee declared that Billy made him feel a +hundred years old because he looked so like his +son, if he had ever had one. Billy was about +three years older than the twins, and when we +consider that the twins were born when their +father was only twenty, no wonder the possibility<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> +of a son at seventeen made poor Mr. Tucker +blue.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 367px;"> +<img src="images/house003.png" width="367" height="500" alt=""THIS IS OUR ISLAND AND WE ARE GOING TO PERMIT NO ALIENS TO LAND HERE."" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"THIS IS OUR ISLAND AND WE ARE GOING TO PERMIT NO ALIENS TO LAND HERE." <a href="#Page_178">Page 178</a>.</span> +</div> + +<p>"This is our island and we are going to permit +no aliens to land here," called Dum as a challenge +to all of us. "I am Queen Dum and Billy +is General Billdad. We have held counsel and +herewith make the proclamation that there is to +be no immigration to this kingdom."</p> + +<p>It took only a moment for us to answer the +challenge. Dee headed the opposing forces, +making a long dive that brought her up almost +on the beach of the little kingdom. Dum was +ready to push her back in the water and kerflop! +she went before Zebedee could come to her aid. +Then ensued such a battle as had not been +fought in the United States since Custer's last +rally.</p> + +<p>Of course Dum and Billy had the advantage +of position, but we so far outnumbered them that +it took all of their strength to keep us from landing.</p> + +<p>"Mary! Mary! You and Shorty come be our +allies!" called Queen Dum to the couple who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> +had gone to housekeeping on a small island near +her own. Mary slid into the water like a turtle +and Shorty followed. They landed from the +rear and now the battle raged fiercely.</p> + +<p>I know I got pitched back into the water at +least a dozen times. Having learned to swim +only the summer before at Willoughby, I was +not a past master in the art, but I could keep +above water indefinitely, thanks to Zebedee, my +instructor, who had made floating the first requisite.</p> + +<p>The odds were in our favor but the vantage +they had in position was well-nigh discouraging +us, when Zebedee and Wink made a flank movement +and landed on the other side of the island, +immediately pushing over the opposing forces +into the foaming torrent and then pulling all of +us onto dry land.</p> + +<p>"Victory! Victory!" we shouted; and then +for the first time since the battle began to rage +we remembered our chaperone. She had awakened +and dug herself out of her warm sand nest. +What were her charges up to? It never entered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> +the old woman's head that we were playing a +game, and I fancy we looked in dead earnest.</p> + +<p>When she had dozed off after landing we were +all of us clothed and in our right minds, and +suddenly she awoke to find us anything but +clothed, according to her strict ideas of propriety +among the quality, never having seen girls in +bathing suits; and not only were we in disgraceful +dishabille, but we were engaged in a distressing +brawl.</p> + +<p>"My Gawd! My Gawd!" she wailed. "Here +I been a-slumberin' an' sleepin' an' Miss Maria +done tol' me to shopper-roon. I trus'ed de +white folks an' look at 'em!" She covered her +face with her hands and wept aloud.</p> + +<p>I fancy we were something to look at. Bathing +caps were off and hair wet and tangled +streaming down our backs. Dee had lost a +stocking in the tussle and Rags had been bereft +of more than half of his shirt, so that his white +back gleamed forth in a most immodest abandon. +Shorty had tapped Harvie on the nose and that +scion of a noble race was bleeding like a stuck<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> +pig. The gore added color to the scene, and had +not Aunt Milly already been certain that this +was a real war we were raging, the blood of her +young master would have convinced her.</p> + +<p>"Hi, you! You!" she called. "Quit dat!"</p> + +<p>The battle being won, we had stopped for repairs +but there were still here and there some fitful +hostilities. For instance: Shorty had determined +that Harvie needed some cold water on +his bleeding nose and was rolling him into the +creek. Both of them were shouting and pommelling +each other as they rolled.</p> + +<p>As they approached the large island where our +camp was pitched, Aunt Milly became very much +excited. Who were these vile wretches who had +accepted the hospitality of the Prices and then +turned against them, and while she, the natural +protector of the young master, was sleeping, had +well-nigh stripped him of his clothes and then +bloodied him all over with his own blue blood, +which was certainly flowing very redly?</p> + +<p>"Hi, you! You little low flung, no 'count, +bench-legged trash! What you a-doin' ter Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> +Harbie?" she called to the all-unconscious +Shorty, who was having the time of his life as +he and his friend wallowed in the water, wrestling +as they swam.</p> + +<p>But Aunt Milly saw no joke in such doings. +She looked around for something to use as a +weapon and spied the camp fire where the corn +and potatoes were being prepared to fulfill their +mission. They were done to a turn by that tune +and the fire had died down to a bed of red embers. +The old woman grabbed from the ashes a great +yam and with an aim that astonished one, she +threw it and hit Shorty a sounding whack on his +back.</p> + +<p>"Wow!" yelled that young warrior.</p> + +<p>"You'd better wow! An' don' you lan' here; +you go back ter dem Injuns whar you come +wid."</p> + +<p>"Why, Aunt Milly! What on earth?" +gasped Harvie as he saw the old woman stooping +for more ammunition.</p> + +<p>"Yo' ol' Milly gwine he'p you, dat's what!" +She aimed another at the astonished Shorty, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> +that young man turned himself into a submarine +and disappeared.</p> + +<p>Harvie clambered out of the water spluttering +and laughing. His nose had stopped bleeding +now and the water had washed off all traces of +the gory disaster. He caught the rampant Milly +by the arm:</p> + +<p>"Aunt Milly, it's all a joke, a game! Nobody +was abusing me. Don't throw away the potatoes, +we are so hungry."</p> + +<p>"Lawsamussy, chile! You can't fool this ol' +nigger. I's seen folks a-playin' an' I's a-seen +folks a-fightin', an' if'n that there warn't a battle +royal, I neber seed one."</p> + +<p>By this time all of us were headed for camp. +As we came ashore her expression was still a belligerent +one and she had a hot potato which she +tossed from hand to hand ready for an emergency.</p> + +<p>It took all the tact the Tuckers could muster +among them to convince Aunt Milly that we had +not been fighting, and even after she seemed to +be convinced, she growled a bit when Shorty appeared<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> +all dressed and spruce, with his hair +plastered down tight and his arm linked in Harvie's. +She had the fidelity of some old dog for +its master and it would take some time to erase +from her mind and heart that terrible scene of +Mr. Harbie being beaten and blooded and +pitched into the water.</p> + +<p>We led her back to her seat in the sand and +brought her dinner to her. We would not let +her help cook or serve, but treated her like a real +chaperone and waited on her right royally. She +rolled her eyes a bit when to Shorty was relegated +the task of taking her a cup of coffee. He +pretended to be very much frightened and trembled +violently as he handed her the brimming +cup.</p> + +<p>"Aunt Milly, how did you learn how to throw +so well? You hit me with that potato just as +though you belonged to a baseball nine."</p> + +<p>"I been a-practicin' all my life a-throwin' at +rats," she growled.</p> + +<p>This brought down the house.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>TANGLEFOOT</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">A sufficient</span> time having elapsed since dinner, +we decided to go in swimming again; at least +the Tuckers decided to and all of us followed suit +(bathing suit!). Aunt Milly was becoming accustomed +to the ways of her charges and gave her +gracious consent when we humbly asked it. She +even stopped rolling her eyes at Shorty when she +saw that Harvie was not injured, after all, and +that he himself bore no malice towards his friend.</p> + +<p>Mary, too, had something to do with mollifying +the old woman. She went and sat on the +sand bank by her side and explained to her how +the battle royal started and what fun it had been. +Of course ever since the circus, Mary had been a +great favorite with all the servants. They looked +upon her as a real celebrity. Mary had so many +stunts and was always so willing to amuse persons<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> +that she was constantly being called on to do +her dog fight or get off a feat of ventriloquism or +something else.</p> + +<p>"Aunt Milly, if you forgive poor Mr. Hawkins +for bloodying up Mr. Harvie, I'll go like a +little pig caught under the gate for you."</p> + +<p>"Lawsamussy, chil', kin you do that?"</p> + +<p>"Sure! Will you forgive him if I do it?"</p> + +<p>"Lemme hear you do it fust an' I'll see," said +Aunt Milly with a sly look. She was getting too +much capital out of the grudge she had against +Shorty to give it up too readily.</p> + +<p>So Mary went through all the agony of a little +pig caught under the gate and even improved +upon it to the extent of introducing another character +into the act: she went like two pigs caught +under the gate.</p> + +<p>Aunt Milly sat in her sand hole entranced.</p> + +<p>"Well, bless Bob! If it ain't it to the life! +How you do it, honey?" So Mary had to do it +once more and then Aunt Milly promised to forgive +and forget.</p> + +<p>"Come on and help clear up the remains of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> +feast, Mary," insisted Dum, who was ever determined +that there should be no shirkers.</p> + +<p>"I'm busy mollifying," declared Mary. "My +talents lie more in this direction," and she could +not help mimicking Jessie Wilcox just enough to +give Dum the dry grins. Jessie had not helped +at all about luncheon but had insisted that Aunt +Milly should be made to do whatever we had the +hardihood to suggest that she might do. Aunt +Milly, however, having been told that she was to +do no "wuck," did none, and presented a duck +back to all insinuations from the haughty Jessie.</p> + +<p>"I don't care where your talents lie," insisted +Dum, "you are going to come help clear these +dishes off the cloth so I can fold it up."</p> + +<p>Mary began to sing to a catchy tune this music-hall +ballad:</p> + +<div class='poem'> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"I want to be a actress, a actress, a actress,</span><br /> +I tell you I won't live and die a common serving gal.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">I feel I've got the natur'</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">To act in a the-a-ter,</span><br /> +I'm just the kind of stuff to make a star profession-a-l-l."<br /> +</div> + +<p>"Well, now ain't she cute?" and Aunt Milly +shook her fat sides with laughter. "She ain't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> +ter say purty but she is sho' got a way wid her. +She ain't so handsome as some but she gonter +keep her takin' ways til' Kingdom Come, whilst +some folks what ain't nothin' but purty won' hab +nothin' lef' a tall whin the las' trump soun's. I +ain't a got no 'jections ter purty folks,—now that +there little Miss Annie Po' is sho' sweet lookin' +an' sweet tas'in', too, but she is wuth somethin' +sides. But some ain't." A glance of her rolling +eyes in the direction of Jessie gave us to understand +who "some" meant.</p> + +<p>Jessie and Wink were having a most desperate +flirtation. He had not left her side a moment +during the whole day. Jessie glanced occasionally +in my direction with a little exultant toss of +her head as much as to say: "See, miss, I've got +your beau!" She was more than welcome to +him, but I didn't think it kind to lessen her delight +in her conquest, so I did my best to make +her happy by sighing deeply every time I caught +her looking at me.</p> + +<p>The pleasure of going in swimming is going in +again, so as I said before, as soon as a reasonable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> +time had elapsed since our very filling dinner we +again retired to our several tree-formed bath-houses +and donned our suits for a farewell +dip.</p> + +<p>"No more fights now!" commanded Zebedee +sternly, just as though he had not been among +the mighty warriors of the last fray.</p> + +<p>Tweedles promptly caught him and gave him +a good ducking until he yelled for mercy and +help from Aunt Milly, but that model chaperone +had gone off to sleep again and was deaf to his +cries.</p> + +<p>"That's what you get for being Mr. Tuckerish," +declared Dum.</p> + +<p>Jessie Wilcox was a good swimmer but was +determined not to get her hair wet, so had not +entered very largely into our water sports. +Tweedles and Mary and I had lost our bathing +caps in the great naval battle, and since our heads +were already wet, we decided to get them wetter +and let our hair dry on the trip home. As for +Annie, getting her feet wet was about all she +could make up her mind to do, although her coils<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> +of honey-colored hair got a little damp. She +would take shuddering steps into the water and +when she got about knee-deep would lie down +and go through the motions of swimming with +one foot on the bottom. She had really learned +to keep up on top of the water at Willoughby the +summer before, but now had lost all confidence +in herself and was content just to paddle around +in the shallows.</p> + +<p>From one side of our large island there +stretched a long narrow sand bar. The water +just trickled through there, while the great volume +of the creek flowed on the other side where +we were swimming. There were many shallow +spots where Annie could be perfectly safe, but +she decided to walk out on the sand bar and there +let down her hair and dry it in the sun. Her +cavaliers who seldom left her alone for a moment +happened to be engaged in some swimming +stunts just then, so unattended she crossed the +bar and, seating herself on the end of the neck of +sand, she let down her beautiful hair and spread +it out in the sun.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Only look at Annie! Isn't she lovely?" +whispered Dum to me. "She looks like a mermaid +or a Rhine maiden."</p> + +<p>"Please sing something, Annie!" I called.</p> + +<p>"What shall I sing?" laughed Annie, combing +her hair with one of her side-combs and peeping +at me through its golden glory.</p> + +<p>"Anything, so it has water in it!"</p> + +<p>Annie's voice had grown in richness and volume +since the days at Gresham, although she had +had no lessons since that time. She had taken +advantage of the teaching she had received from +Miss Cox and kept up her practicing by herself +as best she could. Of course she should have +been under some good master, and all of us felt +indignant with Mr. Pore that he did not realize +this and make some arrangement for his daughter. +The outlay of money necessary for her musical +education would have been great, but the +returns would surely have been fourfold. +Everyone who heard Annie sing could not but +admire her voice. Even Jessie Wilcox praised +it, although that young lady was not inclined to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> +think anybody but herself worthy of compliments.</p> + +<p>The lovely thing about Annie was she was always +ready to be obliging, and if her singing +gave any pleasure, she was perfectly willing to +contribute it to the general welfare. She never +said she didn't have her music and could not sing +without notes; she never gave the excuse of not +being able to sing without accompaniment. +When Annie sang, her shyness left her. She +seemed to forget herself and lose all self-consciousness. +As her clear soprano notes arose on +the air, the noisy bathers quieted down and +everyone listened.</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"On the banks of Allan Water<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">When the sweet spring-time did fall,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Was the miller's lovely daughter,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Fairest of them all.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">For his bride a soldier sought her,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And a winning tongue had he,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">On the banks of Allan Water,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">None so gay as she.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">On the banks of Allan Water</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">When brown autumn spreads his store,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">There I saw the miller's daughter,</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">But she smiled no more.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">For the summer grief had brought her,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And the soldier false was he,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">On the banks of Allan Water,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">None so sad as she.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">On the banks of Allan Water,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">When the winter's snow fell fast,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Still was seen the miller's daughter,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Chilling blew the blast.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">But the miller's lovely daughter,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Both from cold and care was free;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">On the banks of Allan Water,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">There a corse lay she."</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>"Bully!" exclaimed the audience.</p> + +<p>"I'd like to meet that soldier," muttered +Sleepy.</p> + +<p>"Please sing some more," begged Rags.</p> + +<p>And so she sang again. Now she stood up, +took a few steps, and faced us as we paddled +around.</p> + +<p>"Look what a big hole Annie made in the +sand, almost as big as Aunt Milly's," whispered +Dee to me.</p> + +<p>"Yes, the sand must be awfully soft. I'm +glad it's not quicksand, though. That's so dangerous." +But what I knew about the dangers of +quicksand I kept to myself, as Annie had begun:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span></p> + +<div class='poem'> +"To sea, to sea! The calm is o'er;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">The wanton water leaps in sport,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And rattles down the pebbly shore;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">The dolphin wheels, the sea-cow's snort,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And unseen mermaids' pearly song</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Comes bubbling up the weeds among——"</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>And just then a strange thing happened: +Annie began to sink. The little sand island she +had chosen as a place of refuge where she might +dry her hair was evidently only an island in the +making, and the sand had not packed down. It +was quicksand, but not so quick as it might have +been, as she had been on it some minutes before it +began to give way under her weight. She looked +frightened and tried to pull her one foot up, but +it stuck. The last lines of her song were in a fair +way to be enacted before our very eyes if haste +was not made.</p> + +<p>Annie gave a scream and made desperate +struggles to extricate herself. The swimmers +all started to her rescue, George Massie leading +the way, shooting through the water like a shark.</p> + +<p>I clutched Zebedee as he went by me. "Get +the little brown boat and I'll help! The sand +may be dangerous all around there."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span></p> + +<p>He was a quick thinker and turned without a +word, landed on the big island and I followed. +We launched the little brown boat that we had +shoved up among the weeds and in a very short +time were floating out into deep water. With a +few strong strokes of the oars we had arrived at +the spot where we were in truth much needed.</p> + +<p>Sleepy had grasped Annie, who was now engulfed +up to her knees. Of course he was about +the worst person among us to have got first to +her rescue because of his great weight. He gave +a tremendous pull, grasping Annie around her +waist. She came out of the sand making a noise +like a whole drove of cattle lifting their hoofs out +of the mud. Annie was perfectly limp with +fright. She clung to George Massie like some +little panic-stricken child.</p> + +<p>The frantic Rags reached the sand bar immediately +behind Sleepy, and Harvie swam him a +close second. The water was quite deep within a +few feet of the fatal spot that the innocent Annie +had chosen as the best place to dry her hair. The +beach of quicksand shelved suddenly into swimming<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> +depth. As Harvie and Rags stepped from +this swimming hole into shallow water they realized +that they, too, had hurled themselves into +danger. They stuck fast.</p> + +<p>Annie clung desperately to George. Her +eyes were closed and she was so pale I thought +she must have fainted. It was a few moments +before the rest of the party realized that the three +youths were being slowly sucked down. They +knew it, however, from the moment they touched +the bar.</p> + +<p>"Throw Annie out into the water!" said Harvie +hoarsely. Annie had not fainted as I had +thought, for at these words she clung so desperately +to poor Sleepy that he could not loose her +hands.</p> + +<p>Harvie reached over and unclasped them, +holding them tightly until Sleepy could raise her +up farther in his arms to throw her.</p> + +<p>"Float, Annie! You can float!" shouted +Dee. "Do as I tell you!"</p> + +<p>Annie, ever inclined to obedience, spread her +arms out as she struck the water and floated off<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> +as neatly as some well-built yacht launched for +the first time. Of course the others grabbed her +as soon as she got to them.</p> + +<p>By this time Zebedee and I had the little +brown boat to the rescue. We came alongside +the poor stick-in-the-muds.</p> + +<p>"Take Sleepy first!" cried the other two. +"He's in worse than we are."</p> + +<p>Taking Sleepy first was no joke. He had +sunk at least a foot and a half. Zebedee tugged +at him and Sleepy tugged at himself. The little +boat almost capsized and still the young giant +could not pull his feet out of the treacherous +mire.</p> + +<p>"You are not in far, Rags; come on and +help trim the boat," I insisted, paddling the +stern around in reach of Rags. He caught +hold and with a quick spring was in the +boat.</p> + +<p>"Now, Harvie!" I commanded. "We can't +get Sleepy unless you come help." I knew perfectly +well that Harvie had a notion he must not +get in the boat until his friend was saved. In<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> +the meantime, Zebedee was struggling to raise +Sleepy and the boat was in sad need of ballast. +Harvie did as I bade him and with a mighty effort +extricated himself and landed in the boat. +The legs of both the boys were covered with mire +up to their knees.</p> + +<p>All the time we were doing this, the rest of the +party was not idle. Of course some of them had +to look after the frightened Annie. Dum and +Billy Somers had struck out immediately for the +red boat which was beached on the far side of the +island, realizing as they soon did that the only +way to get the boys out of the quicksand was by +boat. Mary and Shorty also made for the canoe, +thinking it might be needed, too.</p> + +<p>Glad we were when the red boat came alongside +of ours and we could lash them together to +make more purchase for Sleepy. The little +brown boat did not have weight enough to do the +job alone. And now with a long pull and a +strong pull and a pull all together, we at last got +him out.</p> + +<p>If when Annie got her feet out of the sand she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> +made a noise like a drove of cattle lifting their +hoofs out of the mud, you can fancy what the +noise was when Sleepy came out. It was like a +great ground swell, and so much water had that +young giant displaced, when he removed his bulk +I am sure the depth of the creek was perceptibly +lowered.</p> + +<p>Now it was all over we could giggle, which +Dum and I did until Zebedee got really outdone +with us and threatened to box us both. It had +been a close shave and he felt it was not a time +for giggling, but Dum and I were no respecters +of time or place. When the giggles struck us, +giggle we must.</p> + +<p>"If it had not been for your quickness, Page, +it might have been a very serious tragedy," he +said solemnly. "I never thought of the boats +but was going to swim to Annie's assistance."</p> + +<p>"I have seen this quicksand before. I almost +lost one of my dogs several years ago. He +started out in the creek to get a stick I had +thrown for him and as soon as he touched the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> +sand he began to sink. I never heard such cries +as he gave trying to pull his feet out. I got two +fence-rails and crawled out to him and pulled +him in. Father nearly had a fit when I told him +about it. He sent men down and had the creek +dredged."</p> + +<p>"I think we should put a sign up here," said +Harvie, and a few days later he did paint "Danger" +on a sign and came back to Croxton's Ford +and planted it at the fatal spot.</p> + +<p>It had been a very trying experience, but +young people don't brood over things that might +have been serious. That is something left to the +so-called philosophy of old age. By the time we +were in dry clothes and on our way home, the +fact that some of our party had been in a fair way +to losing their lives seemed something to be joked +about.</p> + +<p>Of course poor Sleepy came in for his share, +but much he cared. He stretched himself at +Annie's feet, and possessing himself of a little +corner of her sweater, which he clutched tightly +in his great hand just as a little baby might cling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> +to its mother's dress, he dropped off into a sleep +of exhaustion. He looked very peaceful and +happy as he lay there and Annie looked down on +his handsome head with affection and admiration +in her blue eyes.</p> + +<p>"I know one thing," announced Rags; "I'll +never see sticky fly-paper again without thinking +of this day. I felt exactly like a poor fly stuck +fast in tanglefoot. I am sure my legs are a foot +longer than they were when I left Maxton this +morning." As Ben Raglan's legs were abnormally +long, we all devoutly hoped that the +stretching was not permanent. Proportioned +somewhat like a clothes-pin, he could not stand +much lengthening of limb.</p> + +<p>"Shorty, it's too bad you weren't first aid man +this time," teased Harvie. "It might have made +a man of you. All you need is a good stretching."</p> + +<p>"Wait until I get you where Aunt Milly can't +help you and I'll give you the pounding you +need," answered the boy, as he paddled the canoe +in the wake of the launch.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span></p> + +<p>Aunt Milly was comfortably ensconced in the +seat of honor, sleeping the sleep of the just and +generous chaperone.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>A YOUNGER SON</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">We</span> found Miss Maria much improved but still +bed-ridden. She said Wink's medicine was the +most efficacious she had ever had, as it had given +her a day of rest free from pain. I fancy the +quiet had done her as much good as the medicine. +She regretted to report that Mr. Pore had telephoned +a peremptory message to the effect that +Annie should come home the first thing in the +morning and bring her clothes.</p> + +<p>"Now isn't that the limit?" stormed Dum. +"What on earth can he want? We haven't but +three more days here and it seems to me he +might——" But Annie looked so pained that +Dum didn't say what he might do.</p> + +<p>"He needs me, I fancy," said Annie sadly.</p> + +<p>"So do we need you! And how about Sleepy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> +and Harvie and Rags?" But Annie didn't know +how about them, so she only blushed.</p> + +<p>"Maybe you can come back," I suggested.</p> + +<p>"No, I fancy not, or why should he say I must +bring my clothes?"</p> + +<p>All of us were at a loss to fathom the behavior +of Mr. Pore, but we were too tired to discuss it +farther. We were thankful for the time we had +been able to wrest Annie from his selfish demands. +I was sorry, indeed, that Zebedee had +attended to his old freight for him. I heartily +agreed with Dum's sentiments which she muttered +under her breath:</p> + +<p>"Pig!"</p> + +<p>"Anyhow, we are going down with you," declared +Mary.</p> + +<p>"But I must go before breakfast," said Annie.</p> + +<p>"Well, we can travel on an empty stomach +quite as well as you can and a great deal weller," +insisted Dum, and Dee and Mary and I agreed.</p> + +<p>"Please don't awaken me," said Jessie as she +twisted her hair into the patent curlers that she +managed so well nobody but a girl could have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> +told that her curls were not natural. "I certainly +want to sleep in the morning. Dr. White +begged me to go rowing with him before breakfast, +but I can't bear to get up so early in the +morning. It seemed to distress him terribly but +then he is such a flirt one can never tell." All +this with many glances in my direction.</p> + +<p>We had gathered in the room occupied by +Tweedles and Jessie for a little chat before turning +in for the night.</p> + +<p>"How cr-u-le!" exclaimed Mary. "What +makes you think he is such a flirt?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, that would be telling!" and Jessie began +dabbing on the cold cream.</p> + +<p>It is strange how indifferent some girls are to +what other girls think of them. Jessie Wilcox, +the most careful person in the world to look well +when any males were around, did not mind in the +least letting us see her with her hair twisted up +in little wads and clasped with innumerable arrangements +made of wire covered with leather. +The things looked like huge ticks sticking out +from her head, not such a shapely head, either,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> +now that one saw it with the hair drawn back so +tightly. Cold cream may be a future beautifier +but certainly not a present one. She laid it on +in generous hunks and then massaged herself, +contorting her countenance in a most disconcerting +manner.</p> + +<p>"I don't think Wink is a flirt at all," said Dee +stoutly. "He is a very good friend of mine and +I reckon I know him about as well as anybody in +the world. Of course he will flirt if it is up to +him, but that is not making him a flirt."</p> + +<p>"Ah, indeed!" and Jessie began rubbing cocoa +butter on her neck. "Perhaps you don't know +the flirtatious side of him."</p> + +<p>"Thank goodness, I don't. He and I talk +sense to each other," and Dee scornfully sniffed +the air. She and Dum hated the odor of cocoa +butter, declaring it made their room smell like an +apothecary's shop.</p> + +<p>"Why don't you and Dum come in our room +for to-night?" I suggested, scenting mischief as +well as cocoa butter in the air, since the usually +tactful Dee was on the war-path. "You will be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> +sure to disturb Jessie in the morning if you sleep +in here. Come on! I'll sleep three in the bed +with you and get in the middle at that," and so +they came, expressing themselves privately as +glad to get away from their roommate, who did +smell so of cocoa butter and also looked so hideous +with her hair done up in those tick-like arrangements +and her face shiny with grease.</p> + +<p>"Cat! What does she mean by calling Wink +a flirt?" raged Dee, who was surely a loyal +friend.</p> + +<p>"Maybe he is one," suggested Dum.</p> + +<p>"Virginia Tucker, I am tired unto death but +I'll challenge you to a boxing match if you say +that again."</p> + +<p>"You are no more tired than I am and I'll say +it again!" maintained Dum. "All I said was: +'Maybe he is,' and maybe he is!" No one of the +name of Tucker ever took a dare, and the twins +crawled out of the great bed where I had taken +my place in the middle.</p> + +<p>"Girls! Girls! You are so silly," I cried +wearily. "You haven't your boxing gloves and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> +you know you might beat each other up with your +bare fists. This is no fighting matter, Dee, at +least nothing to fight Dum about. Go fight +Jessie Wilcox! She is the one who has the proof +of Wink's ways."</p> + +<p>We were relieved that my reasoning powers +quelled the disturbance. Tweedles got back into +bed. The twins very rarely resorted to trial by +combat now. It had been their childish method +of settling difficulties, as their father had brought +them up like boys whose code of honor is to stop +fussing and fight it out.</p> + +<p>"I can't see why you think it is such an awful +thing to call Wink a flirt," I said, when all danger +of a battle had subsided. "You certainly +flirt sometimes yourself."</p> + +<p>"When?" indignantly.</p> + +<p>"When you sell coffins to healthy young +farmers," I asserted.</p> + +<p>No more from Dee that night.</p> + +<p>We were up early the next morning to escort +Annie home, so early that no one was stirring, +not even the servants. It seemed ridiculous for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> +her to go so early, but the message from her +father was one not to be lightly ignored. She +had told Miss Maria and the general good-by the +night before and Harvie was to drive her home, +but when we crept downstairs there was no Harvie +to be found; so we made our way out to the +stable where Mary and I hitched up. As we +drove off, all five of us crowded into a one-seated +buggy, we beheld a very sleepy Harvie waving +frantically from the boys' wing and vainly entreating +us to wait; but we weren't waiting for +sleepy-heads that morning, and drove pitilessly +away.</p> + +<p>There was an air of bustling in the store when +we piled out of our small buggy. Mr. Pore was +in his shirt sleeves, his glasses set at a rakish angle +on his aristocratic nose and an unaccustomed +flush on his usually pale countenance. He was +busy pulling things off of the shelves and piling +them up on the counters. The clerk (he called +him a "clark," of course, after the manner of +Englishmen), was just as busy.</p> + +<p>To my amazement I heard Mr. Pore say to a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> +little boy who had been sent to the store on a +hurry call for matches: "Haven't time to wait on +you; go over to Blinker's."</p> + +<p>What did this mean? Actually sending customers +to the rival store!</p> + +<p>"Father!" exclaimed Annie, as Mr. Pore gave +her his usual pecky kiss. "I didn't know you +were going to take stock to-day."</p> + +<p>"Neither did I, my dear." His tone was a bit +softer than I had ever heard it. And "my +dear"! I had never heard him call Annie that +before.</p> + +<p>"What is it, Father?"</p> + +<p>"I have news from England."</p> + +<p>"Not bad news, I hope!"</p> + +<p>"Well, yes! I might call it bad news."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Father, I am so sorry!"</p> + +<p>"Ahem! My brother, the late baronet, is—er—no +more."</p> + +<p>"You mean Uncle Isaac is dead?"</p> + +<p>"Yes!"</p> + +<p>"What was the matter? When did you +hear?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span></p> + +<p>"A cablegram states he was killed in a recent +battle," and Mr. Pore went on making neat piles +on the counter with cans of salmon. I wanted +to shake him for more news that I felt sure he +had.</p> + +<p>Annie took off her hat and tied on an apron +ready to help in the arduous task of taking stock. +Tweedles and Mary and I stood in the doorway +as dumb as fish. Why should a man whose +brother had recently died in England feel a necessity +of taking stock in a country store? It +was too much for us. Suddenly it flashed +through my brain that maybe Mr. Pore was going +to England. His brother, Sir Isaac Pore, +had a son, so Annie had told me, who was, of +course, in line for the title.</p> + +<p>Mr. Pore finished with the salmon and then +spoke with his usual pomposity: "The message +also states that my brother's only son has met +with an untimely death in the Dardanelles."</p> + +<p>Annie dropped a box of soap and stood looking +with big eyes at her father.</p> + +<p>"I find it necessary that we go to England,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> +and before we go, I deem it advisable to make an +inventory of our goods and chattels."</p> + +<p>"Go to England! When?" gasped Annie.</p> + +<p>"I fancy we can arrange to be off in about a +week."</p> + +<p>This was news that touched all of us. Annie +going to England! We might never see her +again, and her dried-up old father was standing +there announcing this fact with as much composure +as though he had decided to move his store +across the road or do something else equally ordinary.</p> + +<p>"You see," he continued with his grandiloquent +manner, "the demise of my brother and +his son, who is unmarried, advance me to the baronetcy, +and——"</p> + +<p>"Then you are Sir Arthur Ponsonby Pore!" +blurted out Dum.</p> + +<p>"Exactly!" he announced calmly, as though +he had been inheriting titles all his life.</p> + +<p>"Is Annie Lady Anna then?" asked Mary.</p> + +<p>"No, she is still Miss Pore. Only a son inherits +a title from a baronet," he said with a trace<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> +of bitterness. I remembered what Annie had +told me of her brother's death and her father's +resentment of her being a girl.</p> + +<p>"Well, she would make a lovely Lady Annie +all the same," said Dee. "I bet everybody +in England will just about go crazy about +her."</p> + +<p>"Ah, indeed!" was his supercilious remark to +this effusion.</p> + +<p>"We are going to come down and help you, +Annie," I whispered. "I know there are lots of +things we can do. You will need help about +your clothes. I can't sew, but I can count +clothes-pins and chewing-gum while you sew. +Don't you want us to help, Mr. Pore?"</p> + +<p>That gentleman was as usual quite dumbfounded +by being treated like an ordinary human +being, and with some hemming and hawing he +finally acknowledged that our assistance would +be acceptable. His idea was to sell his business +and stock to the highest bidder.</p> + +<p>Great was the consternation and surprise at +Maxton when we announced the choice bit of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> +news that we had picked up that morning before +breakfast. Sleepy looked as though he might +have apoplexy, his face got so red and his hand +trembled so. Harvie got pale and suddenly +realized that Annie was not just a little sister. +Poor Rags put maple syrup in his coffee and +cream on his waffle in the excitement occasioned +by the unwelcome news.</p> + +<p>They were at breakfast when we burst in on +them, at breakfast and rather sore with all of us +for having run off without them. Jessie was +holding the fort alone, the only female present, +as Miss Maria was still unable to get up. That +beautiful young lady was looking lovelier than +ever in a crisp handkerchief-linen frock. Her +curls were very curly and her lovely brunette +complexion not at all the worse for the scorching +sun of the day before. My poor nose had six +more freckles than when I came to Maxton, six +more by actual count, and there was not room for +the extra ones at all. Mary's freckles were like +the stars in the sky, every time you looked you +could find another; Dee had her share, too; and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> +Dum had begun to peel as was her habit. Jessie +was pretty, very pretty, but the picture of her +with her face all greased up and the tick-like +curlers covering her head would arise whenever I +looked at her.</p> + +<p>"Why doesn't Mr. Pore leave Annie here with +us until the submarine warfare is over with?" +asked Mr. Tucker.</p> + +<p>"We never thought of suggesting it," tweedled +the twins.</p> + +<p>"I did think of it but I knew she wouldn't be +willing to have Sir Arthur go alone," I said, +rather proud of myself for being the first one to +give him his title.</p> + +<p>"How much more suited he is to being a member +of English aristocracy than engaging in mercantile +pursuits in America," laughed the general. +"I only wish his lovely wife might have +shared the honor with him. Ah me, what a +woman she was!"</p> + +<p>"He was mighty cold and clammy about his +brother's death," said Dee. "When Annie asked +if it was bad news he had he said he might call it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> +bad news; but his tone was far from convincing."</p> + +<p>"He hasn't seen his brother for over twenty +years and he rowed with all his family before he +left England, so I reckon it was hard to squeeze +out many tears over his death. I felt awful bad +about the poor young son," and Dum looked +ready to shed tears herself without having to resort +to the squeezing process. "'An untimely +death in the Dardanelles!' That sounds so +tragic."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that made me feel like crying, too," said +Dee. "Just think of a splendid young Englishman, +handsome and brave and charming, being +shot to pieces by German bullets! I have an +idea he had succeeded to the title and estates only +a few days before, and while he was sad about +his father, he still was looking forward to being +the baronet when he got home."</p> + +<p>"What makes you think he was handsome?" +put in the more matter-of-fact Mary.</p> + +<p>"I am sure he must have looked like Annie, +and just think what a wonderfully handsome<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> +man he must have been! He had her lovely hair, +I almost know he did, and great blue eyes and a +strong, straight back," and Dum wiped her own +eyes that would fill when she thought of +the splendid young Englishman gone to his +death.</p> + +<p>"I don't like to break in on this grand orgy of +feeling," I said, "but you must remember that +Annie got her looks from her mother, as her father +had none to spare. This poor young man +may have been all the things you girls picture +him to be, but he is just as likely to have inherited +his looks from Uncle Arthur Ponsonby. He +may have had no chin at all and have had champagne-bottle +shoulders and a long neck."</p> + +<p>"Page, how can you? Don't you know that +people who meet untimely deaths in the Dardanelles +are always brave and handsome?" teased +Zebedee. "For my part, I am sorrier for the +present baronet, Sir Arthur, than for the late +lamenteds. Only think how far the poor man has +drifted from all the manners and customs of his +race!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Not manners, maybe customs! His manners +are quite the thing to go with titles, I think. +As for Annie,—she has a way with her that will +make her shine in any society," I asserted.</p> + +<p>Everyone agreed with me audibly but Jessie. +She had not yet adjusted herself to look upon +Annie as anything but the badly-dressed +daughter of a country storekeeper, who could +sing better than she could and had attracted three +out of the nine beaux on the house-party.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>SLEEPY WAKES UP</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">House-parties</span> have to end sometime and the +one at Maxton was no exception. We had been +invited for two weeks, and although Miss Maria +graciously asked us to extend the time of our +stay, we felt that the old lady had had enough of +high jinks for a while. We had become very +fond of her and I think she liked us, too. The +general was in love with the whole bunch, he declared. +He made his gallant, bromidic speeches +to each one in turn, playing no favorites.</p> + +<p>"If I were fifty years younger I would show +these chaps a thing or two," he would say.</p> + +<p>My private opinion was that the chaps did not +need a thing or two shown them, as they seemed +quite on to the fact that Maxton was a romantic +spot and that there is no time like the present for +getting off tender nothings. There being Jacks<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> +to go around for the Jills and some to spare, if +there were any heartaches they were among the +males, as there were no wallflowers among the +girls.</p> + +<p>If the death of Sir Isaac Pore and his son and +heir did not cause overmuch grief in the heart +of the storekeeper at Price's Landing, it had a +dire effect on three young men in the great house +on the hill. The only way in which they could +give vent to their feelings was in heroic attempts +to assist in the inventory of the stock. +That meant at least that they could be near +Annie and gain her gratitude. Annie's gratitude +was not a difficult thing to gain. She was +in a state of perpetual astonishment that all of +us loved her so much.</p> + +<p>"What have I done to make all of you so kind +to me?" she would ask. And the answer would +be:</p> + +<p>"Everything, in that you are your own sweet +self."</p> + +<p>Mr. Pore, or rather Sir Arthur, seemed to +think we were helping in the shop because of our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span> +admiration and respect for him, and since he +thus flattered himself we let him go on thinking +so, and even encouraged him in this delusion +since it simplified matters for all of us. Sleepy +even sneaked the daughter off on a lovely long +buggy ride while Dum checked up a shelf full of +dry-goods, supposed to be done by Annie.</p> + +<p>The seemingly impossible was accomplished +and that before we left Maxton: a complete inventory +of the stock of a crowded country store +was made and in order, all because of the many +helpers. A purchaser was found by the expeditious +Zebedee, and everything, including the +good will, sold, lock, stock, and barrel, at a very +good price considering the haste of the transaction.</p> + +<p>Annie and her father actually did get off +within the week. How it was accomplished I +can't see, and as we had left Maxton before they +made their getaway I shall never know. Harvie, +who was the only one of us left, said that Sir +Arthur was as standoffish and superior as ever. +He started on his journey with the same old<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> +Gladstone bag and, as far as Harvie could make +out, the same English clothes he had brought to +Price's Landing all those years and years ago.</p> + +<p>"If they weren't the same, where on earth +could he have bought any like them? They don't +make them in this country," he said, when he +told me of it.</p> + +<p>Harvie, having awakened to the fact that +Annie was a very charming, beautiful girl, whom +he had for years looked upon as a kind of sister +but who was not a sister and was moreover very +much admired by other members of his sex, now +was making up for lost time as fast as possible. +He had no feeling of <i>noblesse oblige</i> in regard to +Sleepy. He surely had as much right to love +Annie as George Massie had and more right to +tell her of it, since she was almost his sister. He +hovered around her to the last, doing a million +little things to help her and assuring her in the +meantime of his undying affection, but Annie +never did seem to understand that he was being +any more than a big brother to her. Never having +had a big brother, she did not know that big<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> +brothers do not as a rule express their love for the +little sisters in such glowing terms.</p> + +<p>George Massie went gloomily off when the +house-party broke up. He felt that he could not +in decency stay longer at Maxton since all the +others were leaving, although he longed to be +near Annie. He sought me out on the boat when +we were bound for Richmond and sighing like a +furnace sank down by my side. If it had been a +sailboat we were traveling in instead of an old +side-wheel steamboat, I am sure the great sigh +he heaved would have sent us faster on our way.</p> + +<p>"Something fierce!" he muttered.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is hard, but maybe they will come +back sometime, or perhaps when you get your +degree you can go over to England and see her."</p> + +<p>"Get my degree! Do you think I am going +back to the University? Not on your life!"</p> + +<p>"But what will you do? You must have some +ambition," I said rather severely.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I've got ambition all right; I'm going +to do my bit in France as stretcher bearer. I decided +last night."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Really?"</p> + +<p>"Sure! I'm just wasting my time at the University. +I talked it out with Annie. She has +lots of feeling about England and the war, and if +she cares, then it is up to me to help her country +some."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Sleepy! I think that is just splendid +of you," I cried. "When will you go?"</p> + +<p>"Ahem—I'm thinking of going on the same +boat with Mr.—Sir Arthur Pore."</p> + +<p>I could not help laughing.</p> + +<p>"Does Annie know?"</p> + +<p>"No, I was afraid she might make some objection. +I think I'll just surprise her on the +steamer."</p> + +<p>"Won't you have to get passports and permits +and things before you can go?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I'll set the ball rolling as soon as I get +to Richmond. Mr. Tucker is attending to Sir +Arthur's and I guess I'll go see him as soon as +we land. He knows how to do so many things."</p> + +<p>That was certainly so. Mr. Jeffry Tucker not +only could and would match zephyr for old<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span> +ladies, but he knew just how to get passports +for pompous English noblemen who had but recently +kept country stores on the banks of the +river, and for the lovely daughters. He also +knew how to get rushed-through passports for +rich young medical students who had taken sudden +resolutions to do a bit in France because of +a kind of vicarious patriotism.</p> + +<p>George Massie had a busy week. He must +rush off to see his people, who no doubt were +quite confounded by his unwonted energy. He +must get the proper clothing for his undertaking +and also make his will, since he had quite an estate +in his own name. He must tell many relations +farewell and explain as best he could his +sudden passion for carrying the wounded off of +the battle fields.</p> + +<p>When he came in to tell the Tuckers good-by +before he went to New York to embark on the +steamer with the unsuspecting Pores, he looked +almost thin and quite wide awake, so they told +me.</p> + +<p>The Tuckers had tried to persuade me to wait<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> +in Richmond with them for a few days before going +to Bracken so that together we could see the +last of our little English friend, for Sir Arthur +and Annie were to take a train in Richmond for +New York. But I had been too long away from +my father and felt that I must hasten home to +him.</p> + +<p>Needless to say that Zebedee had the passports +all ready for them to sign and berths engaged on +the New York sleeper and passage on an English +vessel, sailing the following Saturday.</p> + +<p>Tweedles told me that Annie clung to them +at parting as though they had been a life rope. +The poor girl felt that she was going into a +strange cold world. It must have been even worse +for her than the memorable time when she started +on what she thought was going to be that lonesome, +forlorn journey to Gresham. That trip +had proven to be very enjoyable in spite of all +her fears; and perhaps this journey across the +ocean was not going to be so very forlorn, either.</p> + +<p>I should not relish much the idea of a trip +with Sir Arthur Ponsonby Pore. I can fancy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> +his aloof manner with fellow passengers, who +perhaps were seeking acquaintance with his +lovely daughter; his disregard for the comfort of +others; his haughtiness with the steward. The +only way to travel in peace with the baronet +would be to have him get good and seasick before +the vessel got out of sight of Sandy Hook, +and stay so until she was docked at Liverpool. +Then he might prove a very pleasant traveling +companion, provided he was so ill that he had to +stay in his bunk.</p> + +<p>Of course as the days passed we became desperately +uneasy about Annie. It seemed a perfect +age since they had sailed and still no news +of the safe arrival of the vessel. I was at +Bracken, away from the constant calling of extras +that was the rule in the city during those +stirring war times. Tweedles told me they +rushed out in the night to purchase a paper every +time an extra was called, fearing news of a disaster +to the <i>Lancaster</i>, the old-fashioned wooden +boat the Pores had taken.</p> + +<p>Zebedee had promised to telephone to them if<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span> +news came to his paper concerning the steamer, +news either of disaster or safety. The following +is the letter I received from Dee written in the +excitement of a message but that moment received +from her father.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><div class='right'> +<i>Richmond, Va.</i><br /> +</div> + +<span class="smcap">Dearest Page:</span> + +<p>Zebedee has just cabled me that he has +had a telephone message from Liverpool that a +mine had struck the <i>Lancaster</i> about five hours +out from port and the open boats had to take to +the passengers. All on board were saved although +some of the passengers were much shaken +up. (I hope Arthur Ponsonby was one of the +much shaken.) We are greatly excited about +poor Annie. She is so afraid of water. It is +feared all baggage is lost. (Good-by to the +Gladstone bag!)</p> + +<p>Dum and I can hardly wait for the cable that +we just know Sleepy will send us as soon as he +can. Aren't we glad, though, that Sleepy was +along? He will take care of Annie no matter +what happens. It may be weeks and months before +we can get a letter from Annie, telling us all +about it. We are awfully sorry it should have +happened to Annie, but Dum and Zebedee and +I just wish we had been along. I bet you do, too!</p> + +<p>These times are so stirring, I don't see how we +can all of us sit still. If our country ever gets +pulled into the mix-up I tell you I'm going to +get in the dog fight, too. Zebedee says he is, too,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> +and so is Dum. I want to study veterinary surgery +so I can help the poor horses when they get +wounded and look after the dear dogs who work +so hard to bring in the wounded. Zebedee is +afraid that is man's work but I tell him bosh! +plain bosh! There is no such thing as man's +work any more in this world. He says I'm an +emancipated piece and I tell him I'm glad he +realizes it. Dum and I are hard at work at war +relief work. We go three times a week and roll +bandages. I like the work but Dum sits up and +lets tears drop on the bandages, thinking about +all the poor soldiers they are to bind up. I cry +a little, too, sometimes. Zebedee says if we bawl +over new bandages, what would we do over real +wounds? I tell him salt is a good antiseptic and +a few sincere tears won't hurt the poor wounded.</p> + +<p>Dum and I have adopted a French war orphan +between us. Ten cents keeps one for a day and it +does seem mean of us not to give that much. We +always waste that much money, and more, every +day of our lives. It means only letting up a bit +on the movies or drinking water instead of limeade +when one is thirsty. Zebedee has got himself +one all by himself and he is going to keep it +by letting up on one cigar a day. He says his +smoke is bitter to him now that he realizes that +every time he lights a ten cent cigar he might be +feeding a little Belgian baby. We offered to get +him some rabbit tobacco and dry it nicely so he +could smoke it in a pipe, but he said never mind. +Poor Zebedee is so choosey about his smoke that +he would rather give it up altogether than not +have it good.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span></p> + +<p>We've got a scheme on hand for a jaunt but +I'm going to let Zebedee have the pleasure of +springing it on you if the plan works out. Dum +says I'm not leaving a thing for her to tell. She +says it is not ethical for one member of a family +to write such a long letter to a person that other +members correspond with, but I tell her I have +told you very little news and that my letter has +been more taken up with psychology and the +conduct of life.</p> + +<p>Of course I started this letter to tell you about +Annie and the good ship <i>Lancaster</i>, but since all +I know about it is that it hit a mine and all hands +were saved in open boats I could not enlarge on +that bit of news much. We will let you know +when we hear more.</p> + +<p>Zebedee and Dum and Brindle send you much +love. Give mine to Dr. Allison and Mammy +Susan, also many hugs to the dogs.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span style="margin-right: 3em;">Affectionately,</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Dee.</span><br /> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>THINGS HAPPENING</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">One</span> of the delights of leaving home is coming +back, at least so I always felt about my beloved +Bracken. I indulged in many little jaunts during +the summer but each home-coming was as +pleasant as the trips. First there had been the +house-party at Maxton, which had been so full +of good times, then a short stay at home and almost +before I had settled myself, a hurry call +from the Tuckers to go to a mountain camp run +by some very spunky girls from Richmond, the +Carters.</p> + +<p>Those days in camp were a delightful experience +and quite an eye-opener as to what girls +can do if it is up to them. The Carter girls had +been brought up in extravagant luxury, but +when their father had a nervous breakdown and +they suddenly found themselves with no visible +means of support, they jumped in and ran a +week-end boarding camp on the side of a mountain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> +in Albemarle, and actually supported the +whole family and made some money besides.</p> + +<p>They were the busiest people I ever saw, but +they managed to tuck in a lot of fun along with +it. I certainly hope to see more of those girls, +as they interested me tremendously. Douglas +was the oldest; she seemed to be the balance +wheel for the family. I never saw such poise +in a young girl,—not a bit "society," either. She +had given up college and was going to stay at +home and help. Helen was the next, a stylish +creature with more clash and swing to her than +even my beloved Tweedles. She was the one +who directed the cooking as though she had been +catering to boarders all her life, and I was told +that she had never thought of such a thing until +the spring before, when her father got ill. She +evidently had no head for money and I am afraid +had an extravagant way with her that gave poor +Douglas some trouble.</p> + +<p>Then came Nan, a perfect love of a little +thing, all poetry and charm but with a conscience +that made her do her duty in spite of preferring<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> +to live in the clouds. Lucy was the +youngest girl and showed promise of being perhaps +the best-looking of all the very handsome +sisters, but she was too young to say for certain. +At any rate, she was a very attractive child. +Then there was Bobby, the little brother, an <i>enfant +terrible</i> and a perfect little duck.</p> + +<p>Mr. Carter was the most pathetic figure I have +ever seen: a big, strong man, accustomed to action +and power, reduced to letting his daughters +make a living for him. He seemed to have lost +the power of concentration, somehow. Mr. +Tucker said he thought he would get well but it +was going to take a long time. He had worked +beyond mental endurance trying to keep his +family in luxury.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Carter was the kind of woman who reconciles +one to being a half-orphan, not that my little +mother would ever have been that kind, but I +mean it is better to be motherless than to have the +kind she was. I thought she was very pretty, +very gracious, with a wonderful social gift, but +the kind of woman who flops at the first breath<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> +of disaster. Those Carter girls will have her on +their hands just like a baby until the end of time. +Whenever she was crossed, she simply went to +bed in a ravishing boudoir cap and bed sacque +and there she lolled until she carried her point.</p> + +<p>The Carters were so interesting to me that I +should like to tell more about them but they +really should be in a book all to themselves, they +and their week-end camp. I had never been right +in the mountains before, but after my stay among +them I felt that I liked it even better than the +seashore. Father said that the last wonderful +thing I saw was always the most wonderful thing +in the world. He also said that that was just as +it should be. That when persons begin to look +backward all the time instead of forward, the sutures +of their skulls are too firmly knit together +and all of their pleasures have to be of memory. +New things make no impression on their brains. +He said he intended to keep his skull in a semi-pliable +state like a baby's and go on looking at +the world as a rattle for him to have a good time +with.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span></p> + +<p>I had often thought that my dear father spent +a terribly humdrum existence for a man of his +ability and intense interest in current events. +While I loved the country in general and +Bracken in particular, I also loved to get out +into the world occasionally and get a new outlook, +a different view-point as it were; get somewhere +where things were happening. Nothing +much ever seemed to me to happen in the country.</p> + +<p>One day I said as much to him. He smiled +and drew me to him.</p> + +<p>"Why, honey, things are happening all the +time in the country just as much as in town. I +like to get away occasionally, too, but not because +I want to be where things are happening,—in +fact, I like to get away from so many things happening +at once as they do in my life here as a +country doctor. The things that happen in cities +I feel more impersonal about."</p> + +<p>"But you like to read about the things that +happen in cities."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and city people like to read about the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> +things that happen in the country, too. Aren't +all the popular magazines filled with stories of +rural life?"</p> + +<p>"Ye-s! But they are romances that are made +up."</p> + +<p>"But not made up out of whole cloth! Come +and go with me to-day on my rounds."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'd love to, but Miss Pinkie Davis has +come to sew for me and I have to be here to +help."</p> + +<p>"Let her stay and we will give her a holiday. +Poor Miss Pinkie has precious few holidays. +She can read all the new magazines and rest her +busy fingers."</p> + +<p>Of course Miss Pinkie was agreeable to the +arrangement. She did have very few holidays +and no time to read the romances she craved. +We left her ensconced in a hammock on the +shady porch with a pile of magazines beside her +and a beatific smile on her paper doll countenance. +Something interesting was already +happening in the country, at least something interesting +to Miss Pinkie.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was a wonderful day in late September. +The winter corn had been cut and stacked in +shocks that always reminded me of Indian wigwams. +The tobacco had been housed the week +before and now from each tobacco barn arose a +mist of blue smoke. Groups of men could be +seen standing around every barn gathered there +to take part in the sacred rite of curing the green +tobacco. A steady fire must be kept up day and +night, and all the men in the countryside seemed +to feel it could not be done without the personal +supervision of each and every one of them.</p> + +<p>"Suppose the women had some important +steady cooking to do where the fire had to be kept +up day and night, do you think they would have +to call in all the other women in the county to +assist?" laughed Father. "Men are funny animals."</p> + +<p>"The tobacco crop was pretty good, wasn't +it?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Fine! Never saw a better. I guess many a +poor soldier in the trenches will be thankful that +it is so. They say this war is being fought on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> +wheat and tobacco crops." I thought Father +gave me a sly glance, but when I asked him what +he was looking at he said nothing much, he only +thought my nose was growing a little.</p> + +<p>Everybody had a word of greeting for Dr. Allison +as we drove by. We were stopped again +and again, sometimes for a word of advice from +the family physician as to Jim's sore throat or +Mary's indigestion; sometimes to prescribe for +a hog or cow that was indisposed, and once to +decide if San Jose scale had attacked a peach +orchard. We could not stop long with each person +as we were on a hurry call, but Father always +had a moment to spare; and then the colt +had to make up for lost time and was given free +rein at every good stretch of road.</p> + +<p>The colt was the colt by courtesy and habit. +He had long ago passed the skittish age, but his +spirit was one of eternal youth and his ways so +coltish that no other name seemed to suit him. +One could as soon think of Cupid's growing up +to be an old gentleman as the colt's ever becoming +a safe, steady nag. Enough things happened<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> +in the country for him, and he thought that each +thing that happened was something for him to +dance and prance about. A flock of belated +blackbirds twittering in an oak tree was enough +to make him get the bit in his teeth and run a +quarter of a mile. A rabbit running across the +road was something to shy over,—and I agree +with the colt in that. As many times as I have +seen it, there is something about a Molly Cottontail +as she lopes across the road that always +startles me. She bobs up so suddenly from nowhere +and disappears as rapidly into the nowhere.</p> + +<p>Driving the colt was an excitement in itself +that must have kept life from becoming dull to +my dear father. There could be no loafing on +that job. Reins had to be well up in hand and +the driver must be fully cognizant of things that +the imaginative animal no doubt looked upon as +possible enemies. Sometimes I think he was +playing a game with himself and making excitement +to keep his existence from being humdrum. +At any rate, it was great fun to be behind the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> +spirited animal on that crisp September morn. +No one could drive so well as Father. He had a +sure, steady, gentle but firm touch on the rein +that soothed the most nervous horse. Father's +driving always reminded me of Zebedee's dancing.</p> + +<p>Our hurry call was to a young farmer's wife. +The gates were wide open as though we were +expected and no obstacles were to delay us. The +husband, Henry Miller, was waiting for us at +the stile block. His face was drawn and white +and great tears were rolling down his weather-beaten +cheeks.</p> + +<p>"She's awful bad off, Doctor. I'm afraid +she's gonter die," he whispered huskily.</p> + +<p>"Oh no, my son! I have no idea of such a +thing. Maybe you had better unhitch my horse. +He is not much on the stand. Page, you help +him, please."</p> + +<p>Now Father knew perfectly well that I could +look after the colt by myself, but he simply +wanted to occupy Mr. Miller. Silently we undid +the straps and led him to the stable. I realized<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> +he was feeling too deeply to listen to my +chatter, so I kept very quiet. When we started +back to the house I told him he must not bother +about me,—that I had a book and would just +make myself at home out in the summer-house.</p> + +<p>"I will come, too," he faltered. "Looks like +I'll go crazy if I have to stay alone."</p> + +<p>"Oh, do come! Maybe you would like me to +read to you."</p> + +<p>"No, Miss Page! Just let me talk to you. +You see I feel so bad about Ellen because she +ain't been back to see her folks. I didn't know +she wanted to go, but it seems she did and didn't +like to say so. I ought to have known about it. +If I hadn't have been a numskull I would +a-known. I've been so happy just to be with her +that I never thought she wasn't just as happy to +be with me."</p> + +<p>"Why, Mr. Miller, I am sure she was. +Everybody is always saying how happy Mrs. +Miller is. Only the other day I heard Sally +Winn declare she never saw such a contented +young married woman. Sally says lots of young<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> +married women are not happy; that it takes a +long time for them to get used to husbands instead +of sweethearts; but that your wife didn't +have to do that because you seemed just like a +sweetheart all the time."</p> + +<p>"Did she say that,—did she truly? I wonder +what made her think it."</p> + +<p>"Something your wife told her, I reckon!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank you! Thank you for that! She +could have gone to her mother if I had known +she wanted to."</p> + +<p>"Of course she could, but maybe she did want +to go to her mother and didn't want to leave you. +I bet that was the reason she didn't tell you she +wanted to see her mother. She knew you would +insist upon her going, and then she would have +had to leave you."</p> + +<p>Now the poor anxious young man was smiling. +He wiped his eyes and grasped my hand.</p> + +<p>"You are powerful like Doc Allison, Miss +Page. He knows how to cure a sick spirit just +as well as a sick body, and you sure can comfort +a fellow, too."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span></p> + +<p>There was the creak of a screen door being +hastily opened on the side porch of the farmhouse +and an old colored woman came running out. +Henry Miller jumped to his feet but could not +go to meet her. Fear seemed to grip him. What +news was she bringing?</p> + +<p>"Marse Hinry, it's a boy! It's a boy!"</p> + +<p>"A boy?"</p> + +<p>"Yassir, a boy, an' jes' as peart as kin be, an' +Miss Ellen——"</p> + +<p>"Is she dead?"</p> + +<p>"Daid! Law, chile, she is the livinges' thing +you ever seed an' what's mo' she is a-axin' fer you +jes' lak she can't stan' it a minute longer 'thout +she see you. Baby cryin' fer you, too!" and +sure enough we did hear a faint squeaky cry issuing +from an upstairs room.</p> + +<p>The newly-made parent sprinted to the house +as though he were in a Marathon race, and the +old colored woman and I looked at each other +and wiped the tears off that would roll down our +cheeks.</p> + +<p>"Young paws allus is kinder pitable," she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span> +remarked, and then hastened back to her +labors.</p> + +<p>Father came out soon, his lean face beaming +with smiles, his arm thrown around the shoulders +of the ecstatic Henry. We were to stay to dinner +at the farmhouse, much to the delight of the +old colored cook. It was deemed a great privilege +in the county to have Doc Allison stop for +dinner.</p> + +<p>"I done made a dumplin' fer Marse Hinry," +she said, as we were sitting down to the hospitable +board. "In stressful times men-folks mus' +eat or they gits ter broodin' on they troubles, an' +whin men-folks gits ter broodin' if'n they ain't +full er victuals fo' yer know it they is full er +liquor."</p> + +<p>As Henry Miller was a most respectable, +church-going young man this amused Father +very much.</p> + +<p>"That's so, Aunt Min, so you feed him up. +He had better look out, anyhow, because before +you know it that young man upstairs will be +whipping him."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span></p> + +<p>This delighted the negress, who chuckled with +glee as she passed the dumplings.</p> + +<p>"I is glad it's a boy 'cep'n' they is been so many +boys born here lately that this ol' nigger is beginning +ter s'picion that these here battles I hear +'bout is goin' ter spread this-a-way. In war time +all the gal babies is born boys."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I hope not, Aunt Min," said Father +gravely.</p> + +<p>"Yassir! An' the snakes! I never seed the +like of snakes this summer gone by. That means +the debble is busy an' the debble is the father of +war."</p> + +<p>"True, true!" sighed the doctor. "Well, I +hope it won't come to us until the youngster upstairs +is able to help defend us."</p> + +<p>While we were at dinner, Father was called up +on the Millers' telephone. Mrs. Reed, an old +lady on the adjoining farm, was very ill and the +doctor must leave his dumpling unfinished and +fly to her. The colt was harnessed with the expedition +used in a fire engine house and we were +on our way in an incredibly short time.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>MORE THINGS HAPPENING</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Reeds were aristocrats of the first rank. +There were no men in the family at all, no one +but old Mrs. Reed, who had been a widow for at +least forty years, and her two old maid daughters, +Miss Elizabeth and Miss Margaret.</p> + +<p>Weston was a beautiful place if somewhat +gone to seed by reason of the impossibility of obtaining +the necessary labor to keep it up. The +house was a low rambling building, part brick +and part frame, where rooms had been added on +in days gone by when the family was waxing instead +of waning, as was now the case.</p> + +<p>Miss Elizabeth insisted upon my coming in +the house although I longed to be allowed the +privilege of exploring the garden, which I had +remembered with great pleasure from former +visits with my father. No matter if potatoes had +to go unplanted and wheat uncut, the ladies of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span> +Weston had never permitted the flower garden +to be neglected. I could see it from the window +of the parlor through the half closed blinds. +Cosmos and chrysanthemums were massed in +glowing clumps, holding their own in spite of a +light frost we had had the night before. The +monthly roses, huge bushes that looked as +though they had been there for centuries, were +blooming profusely.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Reed was very, very low, so low that her +daughters feared the worst. A door opened +from the parlor into her bedroom, which the +daughters spoke of always with a kind of reverence +as "the chamber." Through this door I +could hear the low clear voice of the old lady as +she greeted the doctor.</p> + +<p>"How do you do, James? I am glad to see +you once more."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mrs. Reed, I am more than glad of the +privilege of seeing you. May I feel your +pulse?" His tone was that of a man who requests +to kiss one's hand.</p> + +<p>"You may, James, but there is no use. I am<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span> +quite easy now, but only a few moments ago my +heart quite stopped beating. Each time I swing +a little lower. Did I hear someone say you had +little Page with you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, madame! She is in the parlor."</p> + +<p>"I want to see the child."</p> + +<p>I heard quite distinctly but I did not want to +go in, shrinking instinctively from the ordeal of +speaking to the old lady who was swinging so +low.</p> + +<p>Miss Elizabeth came for me. It seemed impossible +to me that anyone could be older than +Miss Elizabeth, who looked a hundred. She was +in reality almost seventy. The mother was +ninety but did not look any older than the +daughter nor much more fragile. Miss Margaret +was much more buxom than Miss Elizabeth +and perhaps ten years younger. She was +regarded by the two older ladies as nothing more +than a child.</p> + +<p>"Mother wants to see you," whispered the +weeping Miss Elizabeth. Miss Elizabeth always +did weep about everything. In fact, in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span> +course of her threescore years and almost ten, so +many tears had flowed down her cheeks that they +had worn a little furrow from the corner of her +eye to the corner of her mouth, where it made a +neat little twist outward just in time to keep the +salt water out of her mouth. These wrinkles in +the poor lady's cheeks gave to her countenance +a whimsical expression of laughter. The little +twist at the end of the furrow was responsible for +this.</p> + +<p>I went as bidden and hoped no one knew how +I hated it.</p> + +<p>"Page, Mrs. Reed wants to see you a moment," +said Father very gently.</p> + +<p>"How do you do?" I whispered in such a wee +voice that I felt as though someone away off had +said it and not I. I knew that Mrs. Reed was +deaf, too, and that I should have spoken in a loud +tone.</p> + +<p>"I'll be better soon, child," answered the old +lady, who did not seem to be deaf at all. They +say sometimes just before death that faculties become +quite acute.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span></p> + +<p>"How pretty you are, my dear, almost as +pretty as your mother. I hope you appreciate +what a good man your father is." Her voice was +very low and I had to lean over to catch what she +was saying. Her thin old hands were lying on +the outside of the counterpane and they seemed +to me to look already dead. I had never seen a +dead person but I fancied that their hands must +look just that way. I was deeply grateful to +Fate that I did not have to take one of those +hands.</p> + +<p>"Yes; ma'am—I—believe I do. He is the best +man in the world."</p> + +<p>"He is so honest. Now he knows I am almost +gone and he would not tell me a lie about it for +anything,—would you, James?"</p> + +<p>"No, madame!" and Father put his finger +again on her wrist. Miss Elizabeth wept silently +and Miss Margaret sobbed aloud.</p> + +<p>"Tell me, has Ellen Miller's baby come?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I have just come from there. It is a +fine boy and mother and baby doing well."</p> + +<p>"Good! I am glad when I hear some men are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span> +being born into the county. Too many women! +Too many women! What are you girls crying +for?" she asked, turning her head a little on the +pillow and looking with wonder at the two old +ladies she called girls. "There is no use in crying +for me. I am glad to die,—not that I have +not been happy in my life,—yes, very happy! +But there are more on the other side than this +side now for me. Your father and brothers, my +father and mother and brothers and sisters, all +my friends. Do you think I'll know them, +James?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, madame, I think you will."</p> + +<p>"I don't expect them to know me," the faint +old voice went on. "How could they know me, +so old and wrinkled and feeble? My husband +was only fifty-five when he died and I was still +nothing more than a child of fifty. My hair had +not turned and I was very lively. Do you think +he will be disappointed to find me so old?"</p> + +<p>Her mind was wandering now and her voice +trailed off to the finest thread. Father motioned +me to go, but before I could turn the old lady<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span> +suddenly sat up in bed and called to her daughters:</p> + +<p>"Don't forget to have the giant-of-battle rose +trimmed back and those hollyhocks transplanted!" +Then she fell back on her pillow and +closed her eyes.</p> + +<p>I slipped out of the room and ran into the +garden where Father found me a half hour +later.</p> + +<p>"How is Mrs. Reed, Father?" I asked. He +looked at me wonderingly.</p> + +<p>"She is well again," he answered gently. +"She was dead, my dear, before you left the +room."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Father!" I gasped.</p> + +<p>"I was sorry for you to be there, but I got +fooled. I thought the old lady was going to live +a few hours longer, but doctors know mighty little +when you come down to life and death. Come, +honey! We must go. I have a sick child to see +on my way home."</p> + +<p>We had to stop at a little country store on the +way to see the sick child to get some chewing-gum<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span> +for the youthful patient. Father always +had chewing-gum for the sick kiddies and that +kept him in high favor with them. Doc Allison +was looked upon as a kind of concrete Santy who +gave un-Christmas presents. He carried peppermints +always in his pocket, and when a child +was told to poke out his tongue he more than +likely would find a peppermint on it before he +pulled it in again.</p> + +<p>The child was better and our stay did not have +to be very lengthy. All the children in the family +had insisted upon showing their tongues to the +giver of peppermints, which delayed us a few +moments.</p> + +<p>"And now for home!" said Father, who was +looking tired. He actually handed the reins to +me to drive while he filled his pipe for a peaceful +smoke.</p> + +<p>We were passing through a settlement where +there was the usual post-office, country store, +church and schoolhouse, with a few houses +straggling around, when a young man ran out +into the road and called desperately to Father to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span> +stop. I drew rein and he came panting to the +buggy.</p> + +<p>"Doc Allison, please come be witness for us!"</p> + +<p>"Witness? What for?"</p> + +<p>"Well, Julia and I have walked off to get +married. I won't say 'run off' because both of +us are of age and have been of age for a good +five years. But Julia's mother is that cantankerous +that she won't let her get married if she +knows about it, and so we have come to the parson's +with license and all; but he says we must +have witnesses and there's no one in the settlement +right now but the postmaster and the +storekeeper and they can't leave their jobs, and +besides they are afraid of the old lady. She is +on her way here now, I believe, so you'll have to +hurry."</p> + +<p>We found the bride in the parson's parlor +looking nervously out of the window. She, too, +was afraid of the old lady. I was sorry for the +parson because he must have been afraid, too, but +he went manfully through the ceremony. He +had hardly finished with: "Whom God hath<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span> +united let no man put asunder," when there was a +terrible commotion in the road. An old lady +came driving up in a spring wagon. She had +blood in her eye, a terribly rampagious old lady. +She stepped out of the wagon and I noticed she +had on top boots. She wore a short, scant skirt +and a workman's blue chambray shirt and a +man's hat pulled down over as determined a +countenance as I have ever seen.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Henderson!" gasped the preacher, +turning pale, and well he might as Mrs. Henderson +was someone to stand in awe of.</p> + +<p>"Come on home here, girl!" she said roughly, +as she made her way into the parson's parlor.</p> + +<p>"Her home is where I live now," said +the young man, putting his arm around the +bride.</p> + +<p>"Nonsense! I never got too late to anything +in my life. I telephoned these folks over here +that they had better not stand as witness to any +ceremony until I got here, and I know they +wouldn't do it." She had been too enraged to +notice Father and me, but now when Father<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> +stepped up and spoke to her, she fell back in +confusion.</p> + +<p>"My daughter and I were fortunately in time +to witness the ceremony," he said quietly. "It +is all over now and your daughter is safely married."</p> + +<p>"Married!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mrs. Henderson, and I advise you to +sit still a moment and compose yourself. You +will have apoplexy some of these days flying off +in these rages." He looked at her very sternly. +"Your daughter has married a good young fellow +and she will be much happier than she would +be remaining single."</p> + +<p>"What business is it of yours, I'd like to +know?"</p> + +<p>"No business at all, except that I was asked to +witness the ceremony by your son-in-law; and if +you should get sick from the excitement you are +working yourself into, you will send for me post +haste," answered Father coolly.</p> + +<p>"Never! Not after the bad turn you have +done me!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, that's as you choose," he laughed.</p> + +<p>Then he kissed the bride, who had said never a +word but clung to her husband; shook hands +with the groom and the parson; held out his hand +to the irate, booted old woman. She would <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original omits this word">have</ins> none +of him, however, but folded her arms and sniffed +indignantly. She made me think of:</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"But Douglas 'round him drew his cloak,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Folded his arms and thus he spoke:"</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>One couldn't help laughing at her but feeling +sorry for her, too.</p> + +<p>"She'll have to pay for this," said Father, as +we started again for home. "She has been going +into rages like this all her life and usually has +a spell of sickness after one like to-day's."</p> + +<p>"But, Father, you surely would not go to her +after the way she spoke to you!"</p> + +<p>"Of course I would if she needs me. Country +doctors can't be too touchy. It isn't as though +she could get someone else as she could in town. +In cities a doctor isn't so important as he is in +the country. There are always plenty more to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span> +answer a call that he turns down. I have never +in my life refused a patient."</p> + +<p>We had a quiet drive home, Father smoking +his pipe, while I gave undivided attention to the +prancings and shyings of the colt. I was thinking +of all the happenings of the day.</p> + +<p>"A penny for your thoughts!" he said, pinching +my ear. "I bet I know what you are ruminating."</p> + +<p>"Well!"</p> + +<p>"You have come to the conclusion that a good +deal can happen in a country neighborhood in a +day: a birth, a death, a marriage and a quarrel."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>THE END OF AN EVENTFUL DAY</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Things</span> kept on happening. When I got out +of the buggy to open the big gate leading into +the avenue, a gate that was supposed to work by +pulling a string but which never did, I saw some +peculiar tracks in the dust of the road.</p> + +<p>"An automobile has gone in," I exclaimed, +"and hasn't gone out, either! Look, the tracks +don't come back!"</p> + +<p>"Heavens! I do hope I am not to go out +again," said Father wearily. "I'd like to sit on +the back of my neck in my sleepy-hollow chair +and talk or listen as the case might be. I am too +tired even to read."</p> + +<p>"Me, too! And hungry's not the word!"</p> + +<p>"A midday dinner gets mighty far off by supper +time. I hope Susan realizes that."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span></p> + +<p>A dusty Ford car was drawn up near the stile +block. It looked familiar, but then all Fords +have a way of looking that.</p> + +<p>"Who on earth can it be? Well, if I have to +go out again at least you and the colt won't," +sighed the poor country doctor. "I am going +to make the owner of that car carry me wherever +I am to go and what's more bring me back. I +am not going to sit on the front seat with him, +either, and listen to his jabber. Me for the rear +and a whole seat to myself. I might even get a +nap."</p> + +<p>A sudden opening of the front door and who +should come tearing out but Dum and Dee +Tucker and Zebedee? Of course the lines of the +dusty car were familiar: Henry Ford himself, +faithful servitor!</p> + +<p>The tired feeling vanished very quickly in our +joy at the disclosure of the owner of the car. +Father was always glad to see the Tuckers but +was doubly glad now, because it being the Tuckers, +meant it was not someone to snatch him +away from his sleepy-hollow chair.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span></p> + +<p>At Mammy Susan's instigation the twins were +already installed in my room. There were plenty +of guest chambers at Bracken, but we always +liked to be in the same room. Whenever we had +tried sleeping in separate rooms we felt we had +missed something.</p> + +<p>"How did it happen?" I cried, hugging the +twins again as we hastened to my room to make +ourselves fit for the supper that Mammy Susan +warned us she was a-dishin' up.</p> + +<p>"Well, we are having a Tucker discussion and +we thought you and Dr. Allison should be called +in consultation, especially as you are one of the +parties concerned," answered Dum.</p> + +<p>"Me?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, you! We'd like to know what plan we +could make where you were not concerned," put +in Dee.</p> + +<p>"Please tell me what it is!"</p> + +<p>"Wait until after supper, and when the men-folks +light their pipes, then we can talk it out. +You can do twice as much with Zebedee when he +is fed," said the knowing Dee.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Father, too, is more amenable to reason," I +laughed.</p> + +<p>Mammy Susan had fully realized that a midday +dinner is a long way from supper and had +planned a royal feast for us, and when the Tuckers +arrived she added to her menu to suit their +tastes and appetites. Mammy Susan always remembered +what guests liked best, and no matter +how much trouble it was to her, usually managed +to have that particular dish. The Tuckers were +prime favorites with the dear old woman and she +could not do enough for them.</p> + +<p>Supper over, we adjourned to the library +where a cheery wood fire was crackling in the +great fireplace. There was frost in the air and a +fire was quite acceptable, although we had the +windows wide open. Father and I loved to make +up a big fire and then have plenty of cold fresh +air.</p> + +<p>"I can't see the use er heatin' up the whole er +Bracken, but if Docallison is a-willin' ter pay +fer cuttin' the wood, 'tain't fer me ter 'jec'," said +Mammy Susan as she peeped in to see that there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span> +was plenty of wood, hoping in her secret soul +that there would not be so she could have some +excuse for quarreling with the yard boy. +Mammy Susan waged an eternal warfare with +the yard boy, whoever he might be. We had so +many it was hard to keep up with their changing +names, so Father called them all George.</p> + +<p>It was dear Mammy's one failing. She simply +could not live in peace with other servants. We +had long ago given up trying to have a housemaid, +as Mammy Susan would have complained +of the lack of efficiency of a graduate of a domestic +science school of the first standing. No +one could help her cook. Mrs. Rorer herself +would have been found wanting in the culinary +department of Bracken.</p> + +<p>"Humph! Wood enough fer onct!" she +grumbled. "If'n I hadn' er got right behin' +that there so-called George there wouldn' er been. +He is the triflinges' nigger," she mumbled, as she +went through the hall. Zebedee ran after her +and her grumblings were changed to chucklings +by something that passed between them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Poor old Susan!" said Father, as he sank +into the deepest hollow of his chair. "She is so +capable herself that she expects all of her race to +toe the mark, too. She is very lenient with the +white people whom she loves and absolutely +adamantine with the coloreds. The white folks +can do no wrong and the black folks can do no +right."</p> + +<p>Pipes were filled for the two parents and a box +of candy opened for the daughters, and then we +were ready for the business of the day to be discussed.</p> + +<p>"Dr. Allison, what are you going to do with +Page this winter?" asked Mr. Tucker.</p> + +<p>"Do with Page! Why—nothing but—nothing +at all."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but, doctor——" broke in Dum and in +the same breath Dee clamored:</p> + +<p>"We want——" but nobody heard what we +wanted as I had to put in my oar saying I +thought I ought to stay at home.</p> + +<p>"Now, see here, if we all of us talk at once +we won't get anywhere, and we might just as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span> +well have stayed in Richmond," complained +Zebedee.</p> + +<p>"Well, let's appoint a chairman then," I suggested, +"and everybody address the chair. I +nominate Mr. Tucker chairman pro tem."</p> + +<p>He was duly elected.</p> + +<p>"Nominations are in order for chairman," and +the chairman pro tem rapped for order.</p> + +<p>"I nominate Mr. Tucker for chairman," said +Father contentedly from his easy chair.</p> + +<p>"I second the nomination," from me.</p> + +<p>"I nominate Dr. Allison!" cried Dum.</p> + +<p>"Second the nomination!" said Dee, jumping +to her feet for a speech. "Zebedee is too Mr. +Tuckerish when he gets in the chair to suit me, +and besides he will have to be talking too much in +this meeting to occupy the chair with any grace."</p> + +<p>"I withdraw my name as candidate," said the +first nominee graciously. "Any other nominations? +The chair hears none,—then it is in order +to make the election of Dr. Allison unanimous." +It was done so with three rousing cheers.</p> + +<p>Father always enjoyed the Tuckers' foolishness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span> +and he was now in a state of relaxation and +contentment, after a strenuous day spent in doing +his duty, that fitted in well with our cheerful +guests.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm glad to have the chair if I can sit +in it," he said. "Friends, since there are no +minutes, we can dispense with the reading of +them. What is the business of the day?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. President, what are we going to do with +our daughters this coming winter?" said Zebedee, +rising to his feet and speaking after due acknowledgment +from the chair. "'The time has +come' the walrus said, 'to talk of many things,' +but this business of occupying these girls, whom +a Merciful Providence has confided to our care, +is a serious matter. They are too young to stop +school altogether, especially since they don't +want to make débuts——"</p> + +<p>"Who said we didn't? We'd do anything +rather than go back to school," interrupted Dum.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Tucker has the floor," said Father with +mock severity.</p> + +<p>"I rise to a question of privilege," announced<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span> +Dee solemnly. "We are 'most as old as Zebedee +was when he got married and quite as old as our +mother was." At this Zebedee laughed a little +and wiped his eyes once. He always had a tear +ready for his young wife who was spared to him +such a little while.</p> + +<p>"Well, honey, even if you are, times have +changed. Young folks don't stop school as soon +as they used to."</p> + +<p>"Didn't I tell you he would get Mr. Tuckerish? +Just listen to him! Talking about young +folks as though he were a million."</p> + +<p>"Address the chair!" and Father rapped for +order.</p> + +<p>"May I ask your indulgence for a moment, +Mr. President?" asked Zebedee meekly. "As I +was saying, when the gentleman from nowhere +interrupted me: our daughters are too young to +stop studying altogether. Don't you think +so?"</p> + +<p>"If you will allow the chair to express an +opinion, I am afraid they are."</p> + +<p>"Of course Gresham's burning down was most<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span> +inopportune, as they would have been safely +placed for another year there, but now that it is +burned and not rebuilt yet——"</p> + +<p>"We wouldn't go back there, anyhow, with +that old Miss Plympton bossing things," asserted +Dum.</p> + +<p>"Now what I want to find is some way to have +them go on studying and learning and still not be +bored to death," and Zebedee sat down.</p> + +<p>"A Daniel come to judgment!" I whispered.</p> + +<p>"Are you addressing the chair?" asked Father.</p> + +<p>"No, I was just talking to myself."</p> + +<p>"Of course, I want to study art more than +anything in the world!" exclaimed Dum, bouncing +on her feet and forcing an acknowledgment +from the chair before Dee had time to get it. "I +can't see the use in burdening myself with Latin +and math when I am nearly dead to model +things."</p> + +<p>"Well, you haven't overburdened yourself +with knowledge yet, I am glad to say," teased +her father.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Are you addressing the chair?" asked our +president sternly. "If not, pray do so."</p> + +<p>"Well, Mr. President, I want to study physiology +and anatomy," said Dee. "And for the +life of me I can't see what good ancient history +and French would do me."</p> + +<p>"And I want to be a writer, and it seems to +me the best way to be one is—just to be one," I +remarked.</p> + +<p>"Exactly!" smiled Father.</p> + +<p>"And now we want to talk over what is the +best way for these girls to get what they want and +still not be idle," said Mr. Tucker. "I should +like to hear what our honored president has to +say."</p> + +<p>"Well, friends, this has kind of been sprung +on me. I have been living in a kind of fool's +paradise, thinking that maybe our girls knew +enough to stop; but I see that I was wrong. +Girls never know enough to stop. I'll let my +third do whatever you let your two-thirds do, if +it isn't too wild."</p> + +<p>"But, Father, I am going to stay right here<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> +at Bracken with you! You know you need +me."</p> + +<p>"Of course I need you, but you don't think +I need you any more than Tucker needs his +daughters. You will settle down soon enough +and now is the time to gather material for writing. +Things make an impression on you now +that wouldn't when you are older. One can put +off writing longer than getting experience," and +Father drew me down on the arm of his chair.</p> + +<p>"Where do you think these monkeys should go +to get these varied industries they are longing +for, Tucker?"</p> + +<p>"New York, I should say."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>PLANS FOR THE FUTURE</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">New York!</span> The very sound of the name +thrilled me. It was all I could do to keep from +following the twins in their demonstration of joy +and gratitude lavished on their father. I contented +myself, however, by rumpling up my father's +hair.</p> + +<p>"When?" gasped Father, when I had finished +with him.</p> + +<p>"Immediately if not sooner!" said Zebedee, +coming out unscathed from the embraces of his +girls. "I have been thinking a lot about it and +I really believe it would be the best thing for +them. They can in a way find themselves, and +they don't get in any more scrapes without us +than they do with us."</p> + +<p>"That's so," agreed Father.</p> + +<p>"Oh, we won't get in any scrapes at all!" declared +Dee.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Not a single one, if you only trust us!" +maintained Dum.</p> + +<p>"I'm not going to take my oath upon it that +you won't get into some, but if you talk over +anything you are contemplating, in the way of +adventure, with wise little Page, I don't believe +your scrapes will amount to much."</p> + +<p>Zebedee always complimented me by insisting +that my judgment was good, and for a wonder, +the girls did not mind when he praised me. They +were very jealous of their father's praise when +it was laid on too thickly, except where I was +concerned, but they agreed with him heartily +when he lauded me to the skies.</p> + +<p>"You shouldn't say that," I said, blushing. +"I might prove myself unworthy of the trust +imposed in me,—and then what?"</p> + +<p>"Then I shall have to declare myself at fault +in character reading."</p> + +<p>"But, Page, you know you always hold us +down! When we get into trouble it is against +your judgment. If we listen to you, we keep +straight," said Dum.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You mean I preach!"</p> + +<p>"That's the funny thing about you, Page: you +give us sage, grown-up advice without preaching. +We wouldn't listen a minute if you preached."</p> + +<p>"All right, I promise never to do that objectionable +thing," I laughed. "But really and +truly, I don't think Father ought to afford this +trip for me."</p> + +<p>"Child, it's not a trip," and Father put his +arm around me again. "It's part of your education. +New York need not be such an expensive +place if you girls go there with economical +ideas in your heads, instead of extravagant ones."</p> + +<p>"Certainly! We had better allowance them +and that will be part of their training, as well as +what they will get from the several schools. My +girls know very little about finances and it is +high time they learned. Experience is the only +way for them to learn, as whenever I try to instill +in them principles of economy they say I +am Mr. Tuckerish," and Zebedee tried to look +stern.</p> + +<p>The idea of his instilling principles of economy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span> +in anybody's mind was so funny all of us had to +laugh. One thing Mr. Tucker insisted on was +not spending money until you had it; but the +minute you did have it, what was it meant for but +to spend? "Easy come, easy go!" was the motto +for the whole Tucker family.</p> + +<p>"Oh, we will live so cheap I haven't a doubt +we'll save oodlums of money!" cried Dum. +"Mrs. Edwin Green told me a lot about how +cheap one can live in Bohemia. She told us +whenever we went to New York she was going to +give us a letter of introduction to her brother and +sister-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Kent Brown."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Edwin Green was the lovely young +woman we had met in Charleston when we took +our famous trip down there. She was a Miss +Molly Brown of Kentucky who had married +Professor Edwin Green of Wellington College. +They were the very nicest couple I ever +knew and we became great friends with +them. We corresponded with her and a letter +from "Molly Brown" was highly prized by all +of us.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, and she said we were to visit her at +Wellington if we got anywhere near. Won't it +be great?" and Dee danced around the library +from pure glee.</p> + +<p>"How will we live in New York?" I asked. +"Shall we board or what?"</p> + +<p>"Board, by all means! If you try to live any +other way you will run into debt, I am afraid," +said Zebedee.</p> + +<p>"But we just naturally despise boarding," +pouted Dum. "We've been boarding all our +lives, it seems to me."</p> + +<p>"But when you board, you are in a measure +chaperoned," said her cautious parent.</p> + +<p>"Chaperoned! Oh, Zebedee, you make me +laugh. What boarding-house keeper has time to +chaperone? Besides, isn't Page along to chaperone?"</p> + +<p>"What do you think about it, Page? Come +along now with that sage advice," teased Father.</p> + +<p>"I have never boarded and don't know how +I'd like it, but it seems to me the best thing for +us to do would be to board when we first get<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span> +there, and then if we can't stand it, take a little +flat and keep house, or rather, flat."</p> + +<p>"Ah, I see why your advice is so sought after +by our worthy friends, the Tuckers; you are as +wise as Solomon and cut the baby in two and +satisfy all parties. You will go to boarding to +suit Tucker and then get a flat to suit the daughters, +eh, honey?"</p> + +<p>"Fifty-fifty is a safe course to pursue, and +safety first is best and wisest for an official umpire," +I maintained.</p> + +<p>"I must say that the oracle has spoken well," +said Zebedee. "Of course, if they are not happy +boarding they must not keep to it, but it is better +for them to start that way. They can learn the +ropes and decide later on to get a flat if it seems +wiser. We can go on with them and establish +them, eh, doctor?"</p> + +<p>"I reckon so, if my patients behave. Now +that old Mrs. Reed is dead, I can leave perhaps—Ellen +Miller's baby safely here, too!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Father, that will be simply grand, if you +can only go!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I haven't had a trip for a long, long time, +and I think it is up to me to treat myself."</p> + +<p>All of us thought so, too. It made it easier +for me if Father was contemplating going with +us for a little recreation. He worked so hard, +had so little fun in his life. What fun there was +he made for himself by treating life as something +very amusing when all was told. His patience +was only equalled by his sense of humor.</p> + +<p>"Don't give out that you are going on a trip, +Father, and then all of your cranky patients +won't have time to trump up any illnesses. If +Sally Winn hears of your intended departure, +she will get up seven fits of heart failure and +more fluterations and smotherines than enough +to keep you at home."</p> + +<p>"Poor Sally! I wish she could go on a trip +herself. It would do more towards curing her +than all the pink, pump water in the world."</p> + +<p>Sally Winn was Father's hypochondriacal patient +who called him up at all hours of the day +and night for an imaginary heart trouble that +was supposed to be carrying her off. She did not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span> +feel safe with Father out of the county and never +let him get away if she could help it.</p> + +<p>"Why don't you suggest it to her? She +might come on and visit her cousin, Reginald +Kent."</p> + +<p>"Reginald Kent! By Jove, I forgot that fellow +when I proposed New York as a good place +for you girls to top off your very incomplete education," +and Zebedee groaned.</p> + +<p>"Well, what is the matter with Reginald +Kent?" bridled Dum.</p> + +<p>"Matter! Nothing's the matter, that's what's +the matter. See here, Dum Tucker, if you go to +New York and fall in love with that good-looking, +clever young man I'll kill myself," declared +the desperate Zebedee, always afraid that some +man would come along and cut him out with his +girls.</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, Zebedeedlums! Reginald Kent +will have to fall in love with me before I fall in +love with him."</p> + +<p>"Well, if that's so, I'll fix him! I'll tell him +what a bad proposition you are: mean, ungenerous,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span> +deceitful, secretive. I'll put him on to you." +As these were all the things Dum was not, we felt +safe.</p> + +<p>"Shan't we let Mary Flannagan know our +plans? She may want to join us there," suggested +Dee.</p> + +<p>"Of course we want dear old Mary," Dum +and I cried together.</p> + +<p>We all of us thought with regret of what a +winter like the one we were planning to have +would have meant to Annie Pore.</p> + +<p>Mary was a great favorite with both Father +and Mr. Tucker, so they readily consented to our +writing to her, suggesting that she should join +us in New York if her mother thought well of the +plan.</p> + +<p>"She can go on with her movie stunts, and +take up dancing and gym work in real earnest +under the right instructors," said Dee.</p> + +<p>"I hope she won't try to climb down any walls +in New York," I laughed. "We mustn't get in +a flat with ivy on the walls."</p> + +<p>"Oh, so it is to be a flat, is it? I understood<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span> +you were to board first," said Zebedee, pretending +to be insulted.</p> + +<p>"So we are, but of course we will end up in a +flat, and I fancy Mary will stand in awe of the +boarding-house keeper enough to keep her from +scaling her walls."</p> + +<p>Our whole evening was spent in talking over +our plans for topping off our education in New +York. Father and Zebedee were like two boys +in the suggestions they made. They had perfect +faith in us, knowing that we had sense enough to +bring us safely through the experience. I have +wondered since if our mothers had been alive if +they would have consented to the plan, but, of +course, if our mothers had been alive, our education +would not have been quite so loose-jointed. +Mothers are much more particular than fathers +about their daughters' education.</p> +<div class="figleft" style="width: 364px;"> +<img src="images/house004.png" width="364" height="500" alt="MAMMY SUSAN, HOWEVER, HAD HER SAY OUT IN REGARD TO MY GOING AWAY FROM HOME." title="" /> +<span class="caption"><ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'MAMY'">MAMMY</ins> SUSAN, HOWEVER, HAD HER SAY OUT IN REGARD TO MY GOING AWAY FROM HOME. <a href="#Page_282">Page 282</a>.</span> +</div> +<p>To be sure, Mrs. Flannagan did consent to +Mary's going, but then she was rather a haphazard +lady herself, looking upon life with a +humorous twinkle in her Irish eye. She believed +heartily in the doctrine of live and let live, and,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span> +forsooth, if Mary had mapped out for herself a +career as a movie actress, why let her work it out! +She, her mother, was certainly not going to block +her game.</p> + +<p>Mammy Susan was the one who kicked up +about my going. For once she and Cousin Park +Garnett were of the same mind. Cousin Park +almost got out an injunction on Father to restrain +him as one who was not in his right mind. +A lunacy commission would have had him locked +up in the State Asylum, according to that irate +dame.</p> + +<p>She never would have known about my going +if she had not chosen to make a visitation at +Bracken just when I was in the throes of getting +ready to spend the winter in New York. Her +own house was having some repairs, so she had +made a convenience of our hospitality to escape +the discomforts of paperhangers and painters. I +was afraid at first that she would stay so long +Father could not get away, but a lawsuit she was +engaged in came to court and she was forced to +cut her untimely visit short. I found out afterwards<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span> +that the case, which was a trifling matter +of back-yard fences, was put up first on the +docket by some adroit wire-pulling done by no +less a person than Mr. Jeffry Tucker, the ever +ready. It was done so silently that Cousin Park +never found it out. She was forced to return to +her dismantled house, much to the regret of the +workmen who were revelling in the absence of an +exacting housekeeper.</p> + +<p>Mammy Susan, however, had her say out in +regard to my going away from home: "I's +gonter speak my min' if'n it's the las' ac' er my +life. Gals ain't called on ter be a-trapsin' all the +time. Mammy's baby ain't never gonter be content +at Bracken no mo'. Always a-goin' an' +never a-comin'. An' me'n Docallison so lonesome, +too. I wisht you was twins—I 'low I'd +keep one er you at home."</p> + +<p>"Which one, Mammy Susan?"</p> + +<p>"T'other one!"</p> + + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XX</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>A LETTER FROM ANNIE PORE TO PAGE ALLISON</div> + + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class='right'> +<span style="margin-right: 3em;"><i>Grantley Grange,</i></span><br /> +<i>Grantley, England.</i><br /> +</div> + +<span class="smcap">My dearest Page:</span> + +<p>It takes such an interminable time to get +mail in these war times that I am afraid my letter +will seem like last year's almanac by the time it +reaches you. I must begin at the beginning and +tell you of our journey across the ocean, but before +I plunge into the lengthy recital I must inform +you that I am very happy in my new home. +I could not be anything but happy when I realize +how much better off poor Father is. Of course +the family is in the deepest mourning because of +the death of Uncle Isaac and my cousin Grant, +and there is an air of sadness in the whole village +of Grantley; but everybody is very kind to us +and I am sure I shall soon grow to love my aunts, +the Misses Grace and Muriel Pore. These ladies +are older than my father but they are quite +strong and robust and it is wonderful what they +can accomplish in the way of work.</p> + +<p>All the women of England are busy at one +thing or another. Women, great ladies who have +never done any form of work before, not even<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span> +dressed their own hair, are washing dishes in hospitals +or doing other menial tasks.</p> + +<p>Uncle Isaac was a widower, so the aunts have +had entire charge of the housekeeping at Grantley +Grange for many years. I think they are +very kind to me in not looking upon me as an +interloper.</p> + +<p>Aunt Grace tells me that their father, my +grandfather, bitterly regretted his sternness towards +my father and mother and was willing at +any time to make amends, but my father would +never answer his letters. Poor Father is so sensitive. +That has always been his trouble. I live +in constant terror now for fear someone will hurt +his feelings and he will refuse to see people or +make himself miserable. He is to make himself +useful and serve his country by teaching the boys +in a school at Grantley. All of the young teachers +have gone to the front and the nation needs +teachers for the boys and girls. I am so happy +that Father is to serve his country, somehow, and +this is, after all, a very noble service as it is for +the future good of the British Empire.</p> + +<p>I know you wonder what I am going to do. I +was willing to nurse if my aunts thought it wise, +but was relieved when they decided that I could +be of more use doing other things that life has +already trained me to do. I know I should fail +at the crucial moment as a nurse. I am so timid +and do not seem to be able to shake off this shyness. +It has been decided that I shall go every +day to sing to the soldiers in the neighboring hospitals. +That sounds like very little to do but +when I tell you that I spend on an average of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span> +seven hours a day going to the various hospitals, +you will realize that while it is very little to do, it +takes a great deal of time to do it.</p> + +<p>So many of the old estates near here have been +turned over to the Government for hospitals that +one can motor from one to the other in a short +time. The wounded soldiers are very kind to me +and express themselves as liking very much to +hear me sing. They like the American songs, +especially the darky songs. I sang "Clar de +Kitchen" to them yesterday and they made me +give them three encores. I thought of the last +time I sang it when we had the circus at Maxton, +and I choked with emotion at the remembrance +of all of my dear friends.</p> + +<p>Life at Price's Landing seems very far off and +unreal, although there are times when this life +seems to be the unreal thing and I expect any +moment to awaken and find it all a dream. I remember +in my little room over the store how low +the ceiling was, so low over my bed where it +sloped to the dormer window that I could lie +there and touch it with my hand, and many a +time have I bumped my head when I sprang too +hurriedly from my bed. I learned to put up my +hand and gauge the distance before I got up, in +that way saving my poor head many a bump. +I find myself now, when morning comes and the +sun peeps in the windows of my great bedroom, +reaching up expecting to touch the low ceiling of +my little room in Virginia. It gives me a strange +sensation, almost as great a shock as when you +take one more step up when you have reached the +top of the stairs.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span></p> + +<p>The ceilings at Grantley Grange are quite as +high as any I have ever seen. Too high for +beauty, I think, but I don't dare say so. My +aunts think perhaps there are more wonderfully +beautiful places than the Grange, but they have +never seen them,—except the great show places, +of course. It is very beautiful and the time may +come when I shall feel at home, but I still feel +strange and something of an alien.</p> + +<p>Father is as at home as though he had never +left England. I wish all of you could see poor +Father in his proper surroundings. He always +was so out of place in the store. I think he felt +irritated all the time that he was doing what he +was doing, but a certain obstinacy in his character +kept him from seeking more congenial employment. +His sisters are very tender with him +and I am hoping that he will begin to show to +them the affection that I am sure he feels.</p> + +<p>Now haven't I put the cart before the horse? +I intended first to tell you all about our voyage +over, and then lead up to conditions here, but I +have left the first to the last.</p> + +<p>In the first place poor Father was dreadfully +seasick from the moment we got on the steamer, +even before we started. There is something +about the smell of machinery and rigging that +makes him very ill. I tried to persuade him to +stay on deck, but he would go to his stateroom, +and there he stayed for the entire crossing.</p> + +<p>I was anxious to see the last of my country. +(I realize now that United States is my country. +I realized it the moment I knew I was to live in +England.) I stayed on deck as we steamed out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span> +of the harbor and kissed my hand good-by to +New York's sky line and the Statue of Liberty. +I felt very lonesome and very far away from all +of my dear friends. There were letters down in +my stateroom and I turned to go get them, when +whom should I find at my side but George Massie? +Page, I was never more astonished in all +my life! I was glad, too, very glad. All the +lonesome feeling left me. He told me that you +and the Tuckers knew all about his coming and +approved, so that was enough for me. The ocean +did not seem near so vast nor the sky so high +up.</p> + +<p>Father was very miserable, so miserable that I +had to call in the ship's surgeon. The doctor +made light of his malady but that did not make +it any easier to bear. I had to nurse him a great +deal, and as he shared his stateroom with another +man it was rather embarrassing for me to go in +at night and attend to poor Father's many wants. +In fact, the man objected.</p> + +<p>Then it was I decided to tell Father of George +Massie's presence on board. Of course, he had +no way to know my friend was there. He was +very angry at first, but I had sudden courage and +told him that we had not chartered the ship and +other passengers had as much right there as we +had, and that Mr. Massie was going abroad to +serve the Allies. I also told him that George +was willing to do anything for him he could, and +would attend to him during the night when I +could not come in his stateroom. Father became +reconciled to George's presence then, and he +could hardly have kept up his anger after the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span> +faithful way in which he nursed him for the rest +of the journey.</p> + +<p>Of course, he did not have to be nursed all the +time and we had much time on deck. The +weather was perfect and I was not ill one moment. +I had a seat at the captain's table and +that dear old man saw to it that I was bountifully +served. He was so kind to me, and to everyone +in fact, but he seemed to think I needed especial +care and my own father could not have been more +attentive to me.</p> + +<p>I know that the news of our boat having struck +a mine must have been a great shock to all of my +friends. I am sure that George's cablegram that +all was well must have set your minds at rest, +however.</p> + +<p>It happened just at dusk after a wonderfully +calm day. The sea had been like a mill-pond all +day and the sun very hot, so hot that we had +sought the shade of the boats on deck. Towards +sunset the wind had suddenly risen and the waves +had begun to look very high. Of course all +waves look high to me, as I am fully aware that +I am the most timid person in all the world. It +turned quite cold, so cold that I put on my heavy +coat. We were almost at the end of our journey. +I had everything packed and in order; and +at last we had persuaded Father to dress and +come on deck. He had been much better for +days and had been able to retain nourishment, +which meant a return of his normal strength. +He had even ventured down to dinner on that +evening.</p> + +<p>We had hoped to arrive in Liverpool by eight<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span> +o'clock but we were proceeding very slowly and +cautiously as the danger zone was filled with possible +disaster. The captain assured us that we +would land sometime during the night but he advised +all of us to go to bed at the usual hour. +Our voyage had been a very pleasant one. I +had made many friends and was glad to feel that +I had been able to throw off some of the miserable +shyness that has always been such a handicap +to me.</p> + +<p>For several days we had been wearing life-preservers +by command of the captain. Of +course we felt confident that there was no use in +it, but still we had to do it. George was too big +for any of those furnished by the ship's company, +the straps refusing to meet; but I had pieced out +the straps with some stout cotton cloth.</p> + +<p>We were at dinner on that eventful day, all of +us looking very strange and bulky in our safety-first +garb, when suddenly there was an explosion +that shook all of us out of our seats. I was +dreadfully frightened but managed to appear +calm for Father's sake, who because of his recent +illness was much unnerved.</p> + +<p>"Get your warm coats and any small hand +baggage with your valuables!" the captain +shouted, "and report on deck immediately."</p> + +<p>I tell you we obeyed without any demur! +Many of the passengers hurried up, not going to +their staterooms at all, but Father felt he must +get his Gladstone bag and I had a small satchel +all packed, which I took. I never heard so much +shouting in all my life. The women were +screaming and the men shouting. There was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span> +only one child on board, a dear little girl of seven, +and she and I were the calmest ones among the +females. I was frightened at first but a sudden +courage came to me. It may have been because +the little girl slipped her hand in mine. Her +mother had fainted and her husband was carrying +her up on deck. The child's name was Winnie. +She was a gentle little thing. We had +made friends the very first day on board and had +had many long talks together. Her mother was +ill most of the time and Winnie and I had time to +become very intimate. When she slipped her +hand in mine, I knew that she expected me to +look after her, and then it was God sent me +strength to do it.</p> + +<p>The engines stopped the moment we hit the +mine and the boat was listing so that when we got +on deck we found a decided slant, so much so that +it was difficult to walk. The life-boats were being +loaded and launched. I was shocked to see +how some of the men crowded in. The sailors +were a rude lot from all the quarters of the globe, +and few of them showed any desire to save anything +but their own skins.</p> + +<p>George Massie was everywhere. I was astounded +at his powers of swearing, but he said +afterwards that it was the only way to control +people in times like that. He simply took command +of the boats, for which the captain had no +time. The officers were a rather weak lot and +one and all concerned for their own safety. +They say so many of the good seamen have enlisted +that many of the passenger ships are +manned by weaklings. The captain was splendid<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span> +and did his duty like the English gentleman +he was.</p> + +<p>Of course at first we feared it was a submarine +that had hit us. Its being a mine that we had hit +made us much more comfortable. At least, we +were not to fall into the hands of the Germans.</p> + +<p>"The ship is sinking so slowly that I can assure +you there is no immediate danger," George +had had time to tell Father and me. "It is safe +to wait for the last boat, so let me help launch +these others first and then I can get into the boat +with you. These sailors are too crazy to trust +without a commander."</p> + +<p>The captain had determined not to leave the +ship until he was sure there was no chance of +saving it. The chief engineer was to stay with +him and several sailors volunteered. It so happened +that they were able to get into port on +their own steam and we might have stayed safely +on board, but of course the chances were that she +would sink and it was deemed wiser for us to take +to the boats.</p> + +<p>I wish all of you might have seen Father. He +was very calm and brave after the first shock was +over. He was not strong enough to help much +but he was willing to help, and when the men +crowded into the boats leaving women shrieking +for places, he swore with almost as much fervor +as George Massie himself. Do you know, Page, +I know it sounds silly, but I believe I love my +father more and am closer to him since I know he +can swear a little? He swore to some purpose, +too, as he called the selfish men such terrible +names that two of them were actually abashed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span> +and got out of the first boat to give their places to +two women.</p> + +<p>To make the scene more dismal it had begun to +rain, such a cold, penetrating rain! Poor little +Winnie clung to me and I could hear her praying: +"Please God, save Mamma, and Papa, and +me, and Miss Pore, and her papa, too, and the +giant." She always called George the giant. +"Don't let us get drownded dead!"</p> + +<p>We got off at last! Winnie and her mother +and father were in the boat with us. That was +something George Massie managed. He saw +that the father, Mr. Trask, was a good, reliable +man and could help with the boat, and he also felt +that Mrs. Trask and Winnie would need me, +which they did. There were five other men in +the boat with us and one other woman: a nice old +Irish chambermaid, who never stopped praying +a single moment until we were safe on the high +seas in our tiny boat with the waves dashing all +around us and the rain pouring on us.</p> + +<p>I felt much safer on the steamer, although +when we left her she had listed until her decks +were at an angle of forty-five degrees. Of course +the wireless had been busy sending appeals for +help but we were three hours getting any. Mrs. +Trask was very ill and had to lie in the bottom of +the boat, where her husband and Father made +her as comfortable as possible. Winnie sat in +my lap and I wrapped her in a great rug that +George had thrown around me. We kept each +other warm under the rug and gave each other +courage, too.</p> + +<p>The vessel that picked us up was not very gracious<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span> +about it. They had picked up so many +shipwrecked persons since the war began that it +was an old story to them and not at all interesting. +It was a fishing smack and smelled worse +than anything I have ever imagined in the way +of odors. Poor Mrs. Trask actually fainted +again from the stench of fish offal.</p> + +<p>True to the captain's promise, we did land +sometime during the night, but we were not safely +in bed as he had hoped, but propped up in the +foul little cabin of the fishing smack trying to +choke down some vile black coffee that one of the +men, not so hardened to shipwrecks as the rest, +had humanely concocted for us.</p> + +<p>This is about all, dear Page! We got to bed +when we reached Liverpool and stayed there for +twenty-four hours. I kept Winnie with me, +thereby saving the poor little thing the agony of +seeing her mother die. Poor Mrs. Trask passed +away the day after we landed. She was not +strong enough to stand the shock and exposure. +Mr. Trask is an Englishman and was going home +to enlist and leave his wife and child with his own +people. His wife thought it right but was evidently +in the deepest misery over his decision. +Maybe she was not sorry to die. I am so sorry +for him and for the dear little girl. She is to +come to Grantley Grange to visit me soon.</p> + +<p>I can never tell you how splendid George Massie +was. He was so brave and so determined. I +did not dream he could command men as he did. +He says it is football training that made him +know what to do and how to do it. He is going +to France next week to join the Red Cross as a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span> +stretcher bearer, I think. I shall miss him ever +so much but know it is right for him to help if he +can. Service is in the air here in England. +There is no more talk of who you are or what you +own or what your ancestors have done. It is: +<i>What can you do? Then do it!</i></p> + +<p>It is a tremendous experience to be in the midst +of this war. No one talks anything but war. +There are no entertainments of any sort except +the theatres. I believe they keep them open to +cheer up the people. The fields are full of +women; the factories are kept up by them; the +trams and busses are run by them,—in fact they +do anything and everything that men did before +the war.</p> + +<p>You remember, do you not, how I was so +afraid my clothes would look poor and mean and +out of style? Well, on the contrary, for once in +my life, I am better dressed than the persons with +whom I come in contact. I am really ashamed +to be so much better dressed than the other girls. +It seems so frivolous of me. I know you can't +help smiling to think of what the others' clothes +must be.</p> + +<p>I am writing to my dear Tuckers, too, and if +you read their letter and they read yours you can +piece together what my life here is. Please send +them on to Mary Flannagan when you have finished +reading them. I have not time to write +another long letter just now.</p> + +<p>Besides singing to the soldiers, I am to teach +music to the children in Father's school. You +can readily see how busy I am to be.</p> + +<p>I shall never cease to miss my dear friends in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span> +Virginia. Some day I hope to come back to +America, but in the meantime I am going to do +my bit here in England. Please write to me!</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span style="margin-right: 3em;">Your devoted friend,</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Annie Pore.</span><br /> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXI</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>A LETTER FROM GEORGE MASSIE TO PAGE ALLISON</div> + + +<div class="blockquot"><div class='right'> +<span style="margin-right: 3em;"><i>Paris, France.</i></span><br /> +<i>Poste Restante.</i><br /> +</div> + +<span class="smcap">My dear Page:</span> + +<p>I left England last week after having +stopped with the Pores at Grantley Grange for +ten days or so. Say, Page, the old one ain't half +bad! If you could have heard him swear when +the beasts crowded in the life-boats ahead of the +women, you would have forgot the grouch we +had on about the way he has always done Annie. +Say, that man can swear! I wonder where he +has kept it all these years.</p> + +<p>Of course, if a fellow ever is going to swear, it +will be at a time like that, and if he doesn't swear +some, it is because he is dumb. It is the kind of +time when some women pray and some weep and +most men swear. They don't mean anything, +but it is just a kind of safety valve. Annie says +I swore like a trooper, but I wasn't conscious of +it at all. It just popped out of me. You see I +had to intimidate the men who were behaving like +cads, and the only way I knew how to do it was to +swear, unless it was to biff them one with the +oars, and I did not want to do that except as a +last resort. The swearing worked.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was a very terrible experience and one I +hope never to have to undergo again. It was not +only terrible to think that all of those people +might be at the bottom of the ocean in a short +while, but it was almost worse to see the way +people can be so scared that they think only of +themselves. I reckon a fellow ought not to +blame them. It seemed just blind animal instinct +for self-preservation. My Annie was a +trump. She was as calm and quiet as though +shipwrecks had been an every-day experience +with her. She looked out for a little child and +its sick mother and helped people and quieted +women and men, and after we had been afloat in +our life-boat for hours and it was cold and rainy +and the poor sick woman and an old Irish chambermaid +began to despair and the kid began to +cry, what should my Annie do but begin to sing +"Abide With Me." I have never heard her sing +better than she did out in the middle of that dirty +sea. It did all of us good, and before you knew +it, a little fishing smack almost ran us down in +the darkness and then had the decency to stop +and haul us aboard.</p> + +<p>I reckon you think I'm pretty gaully to be saying +"my Annie" so glibly. She's not really my +Annie but she is going to be if I can make good. +Of course I know she is too young to make her +give an answer to me yet, but this war is going to +age all of us, and when it is over I'll be a steady +old man with white whiskers, and if Annie likes +'em, I'm going to get her answer then. I don't +want to tie her up but leave her free. She might +see a handsome Johnny that will put crimps in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span> +my plans and I want her to take him if she likes +him, but I tell you, Page, I'm going to pray +every day and all day from now until the war is +over that she will like me best. The old man +likes me. It seems I earned his undying gratitude +by waiting on him when he was seasick and +the doctor on board had made light of his ailment. +I made out he was sick unto death and +worked my fool fat self to a shadow fetching and +carrying for him. Then when the explosion +came and I did my best to keep order, he kind of +cottoned to me more. I believe when I come +back from the wars and beg an answer from +Annie that His Nibs will be willing.</p> + +<p>He is much more attractive in his English setting. +He really isn't half bad. His sisters are +making a lot over Annie and now he is kind of +getting stuck on her himself. 'Tain't so bad to +be a woman in England now. Folks are thinking +a good deal of women, and I tell you they +should do so. Annie says he has always been +sore that she was not a boy. Looks as though he +had a hunch that he might inherit the title some +day. I call him the old man right to his face, as +somehow I can't school myself to say Sir Arthur. +It is too story booky for me.</p> + +<p>I am here in France waiting to be sent out with +the Red Cross. I may drive an ambulance and +I may just be a stretcher bearer. I will do whatever +they see fit to put me to doing. There is +plenty to do, they tell me, and they welcome +every American who comes over with joy and +gratitude. I wish we were in it as a nation. I +believe we will end there, and if we do, I tell you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span> +someone else can drive the ambulance, as I mean +to get in the game without a red cross on my +sleeve.</p> + +<p>You don't know what I feel towards all of you +girls, all of Annie's friends. I have lived to +bless the day that I met you, although on that +day I did anything but bless it. You remember +how you bundled me up in the soiled clothes +ready to send me to the laundry? I'll never forget +it! Also, I'll never forget that you and the +Tucker twins never told the rest of the fellows +about it. That was sure white of you! Please +put in a good word for me when you write to +Annie, my Annie.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span style="margin-right: 6em;">Yours truly,</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">George Massie.</span><br /> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXII</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>A LETTER FROM PAGE ALLISON TO THE TUCKER TWINS</div> + + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class='right'> +<span style="margin-right: 3em;"><i>Bracken, Va.</i></span><br /> +<i>Milton P. O.</i><br /> +</div> + +<span class="smcap">My dearest Tweedles:</span> + +<p>I am sending you letters from Annie +and from Sleepy. I am awfully excited about +Sleepy. He seems to be wide awake. Father +says he will come through the war and be a distinguished +person of some sort, he believes. I +think Annie's letter is awfully interesting. Isn't +it fun for old Sir Arthur Ponsonby Pore to have +won the love of the Lady Annie by swearing? I +know your father will die laughing over it.</p> + +<p>I am up to my neck with Miss Pinkie Davis in +the house, getting some sewing done so I won't +have to be worried with shirt-waists and things +when we get to New York. Mammy Susan is +still miffed with me for going, and I feel awfully +bad about it. Isn't it great that Mary can go, +too? Do you reckon we'll see Jessie Wilcox in +New York? Not if she sees us first, I fancy! +Four girls in a flat and that flat not so very swell +wouldn't appeal to Miss Wilcox, I think.</p> + +<p>Father is giving iron tonics right and left, and +has made up a gallon of pump water with a beautiful +pink vegetable dye in it for Sally Winn so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span> +she won't have to die before he gets back. Poor +Joe Winn is very sad that I did not let him know +you were here on the last trip. I really forgot +to do it. We were having such a wildly exciting +time making our plans for New York that poor +Joe never came into my head.</p> + +<p>It is so splendid that Father is going, too. If +these people will only stay well until he can get +started, then they can be sick all they want and +have a doctor over from the crossing. There is a +perfectly good doctor there, that is, a perfectly +good doctor if one is prepared for death!</p> + +<p>Good-by! I must stop and help Miss Pinkie. +How I do hate to sew! To think in a few days +almost I'll be <span class="smcap">In New York With the Tucker +Twins</span>.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span style="margin-right: 4em;">Your best friend,</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Page Allison.</span><br /> +</div></div> + + +<div class='center'><br /><br />THE END</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span></p> +<div class='center'><span class="u">HURST & COMPANY'S BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE</span><br /> +<br /> +NEW BOOKS FOR GIRLS<br /> + +<span class='adtitle'>TUCKER TWINS BOOKS</span><br /> + +<span class='big'>By NELL SPEED</span><br /> + +<span class='small'>Author of the Molly Brown Books.</span><br /> + +Cloth Bound. Illustrated.<br /><br /><br /></div> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="book cover and title"> +<tr><td align='right'><img src="images/ad01.png" width="146" height="200" alt="AT BOARDING SCHOOL WITH THE TUCKER TWINS" title="" /> +</td><td align='left'><div class='adtitle2'><b>At<br />Boarding School<br />with the<br />Tucker Twins</b></div> + +<p>There are no jollier girls in<br /> +boarding school fiction than Dum<br /> +and Dee Tucker. The room-mate<br /> +of such a lively pair has an endless<br /> +variety of surprising experiences—as<br /> +Page Allison will tell you.</p><br /><br /></td></tr> +</table></div> + + + + + + +<div class='adtitle2'><b>Vacation with<br /><span style="margin-left: 13em;">the Tucker Twins</span></b></div> + +<div class='blockquot2'><p>This volume is alive with experiences of these fascinating +girls. Girls who enjoyed the Molly Brown +Books by the same author will be eager for this volume.</p> + +<p>The scene of these charming stories is laid in the +State of Virginia and has the true Southern flavor. Girls +will like them.</p></div> + + +<div class='center'> +————————<br /> +HURST & COMPANY, Publishers, NEW YORK<br /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span></p> +<div class='center'><span class="u">HURST & COMPANY'S BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE</span></div> + +<div class='center'> +NEW BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE AND OLD PEOPLE<br /> +WHO FEEL YOUNG<br /> +</div> +<div class='adtitle'>PAUL AND PEGGY BOOKS</div> + +<div class='author'>By FLORENCE E. SCOTT</div> + +<div class='center'>Illustrated by ARTHUR O. SCOTT<br /> + +<i>Cloth Bound.</i></div> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="book cover and title"> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='big'><i><b>Here and There with Paul and Peggy</b></i></span><br /> +<span class='big'><i><b>Across the Continent with Paul and Peggy</b></i></span><br /> +<span class='big'><i><b>Through the Yellowstone with Paul and Peggy</b></i></span><br /> +</td><td align='left'><img src="images/ad02.png" width="156" height="200" alt="HERE AND THERE WITH PAUL AND PEGGY" title="" /> +</td></tr> +</table></div> + + + + + + + +<div class='blockquot2'><p>These are delightfully written stories of a vivacious +pair of twins whose dearest ambition is to travel. How +they find the opportunity, where they go, what their +eager eyes discover is told in such an enthusiastic way +that the reader is carried with the travellers into many +charming places and situations.</p> + +<p>Written primarily for girls, her brothers can read +these charming stories of School Life and Travel with +equal admiration and interest.</p></div> + +<div class='center'> +————————<br /> +HURST & COMPANY, Publishers, NEW YORK<br /> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class='center'><span class="u">HURST & COMPANY'S BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE</span><br /> + + +STORIES OF COLLEGE LIFE FOR GIRLS</div> + +<div class='adtitle'>MOLLY BROWN SERIES</div> + +<div class='author'>By NELL SPEED</div> + +<div class='center'>Cloth. Illustrated.</div> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 154px;"> +<img src="images/ad03.png" width="154" height="200" alt="Molly Brown's Freshman Days" title="" /> +</div> + +<div class='unindent'><b><i><span class='big'>Molly Brown's Freshman Days</span></i></b></div> + +<p>Would you like to admit to your circle +of friends the most charming of college +girls? Then seek an introduction +to Molly Brown. You will find the baggagemaster, +the cook, the Professor of +English Literature and the College President +in the same company.</p> + + +<div class='unindent'><b><i><span class='big'>Molly Brown's Sophomore Days</span></i></b></div> + +<p>What is more delightful than a reunion +of college girls after the summer +vacation? Certainly nothing that precedes +it in their experience—at least, if all class-mates are as +happy together as the Wellington girls of this story. Among +Molly's interesting friends of the second year is a young +Japanese girl, who ingratiates her "humbly" self into everybody's +affections.</p> + + +<div class='unindent'><b><i><span class='big'>Molly Brown's Junior Days</span></i></b></div> + +<p>Financial stumbling blocks are not the only thing that hinder +the ease and increase the strength of college girls. Their +troubles and their triumphs are their own, often peculiar to their +environment. How Wellington students meet the experiences +outside the class-rooms is worth the doing, the telling and the +reading.</p> + + +<div class='unindent'><b><i><span class='big'>Molly Brown's Senior Days</span></i></b></div> + +<p>This book tells of another year of glad college life, bringing the +girls to the days of diplomas and farewells, and introducing +new friends to complicate old friendships.</p> + + +<div class='unindent'><b><i><span class='big'>Molly Brown's Post Graduate Days</span></i></b></div> + +<p>"Book I" of this volume is devoted to incidents that happen +in Molly's Kentucky home, and "Book II" is filled with the +interests pertaining to Wellington College and the reunions of a +post graduate year.<br /><br /></p> + + +<div class='unindent'><b><i><span class='big'>Molly Brown's Orchard Home</span></i></b></div> + +<p>Molly's romance culminates in Paris—the Paris of art, of +music, of light-hearted gaiety—after a glad, sad, mad year for +Molly and her friends.</p> + +<p>If you do not know Molly Brown of Kentucky, you are missing +an opportunity to become acquainted with the most enchanting +girl in college fiction.</p> + +<div class='center'> +————————<br /> +HURST & COMPANY, Publishers, NEW YORK<br /> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class='center'><span class="u">HURST & COMPANY'S BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE</span></div> + + +<div class='adtitle'>REX KINGDON SERIES</div> + +<div class='adtitle'>By GORDON BRADDOCK</div> + +<div class='center'>Cloth Bound. Illustrated.</div> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 148px;"> +<img src="images/ad04.png" width="148" height="200" alt="REX KINGDON of RIDGEWOOD HIGH GORDON BRADDOCK" title="" /> +</div> + +<div class='unindent'><span class='big'><b><i>Rex Kingdon of Ridgewood High</i></b></span></div> + +<p>A new boy moves into town. Who is +he? What can he do? Will he make +one of the school teams? Is his friendship +worth having? These are the +queries of the Ridgewood High Students. +The story is the answer.<br /><br /></p> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class='big'><b><i>Rex Kingdon in the North Woods</i></b></span></div> + +<p>Rex and some of his Ridgewood friends establish a camp fire in +the North Woods, and there mystery, jealousy, and rivalry enter +to menace their safety, fire their interest and finally cement their +friendship.<br /><br /></p> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class='big'><b><i>Rex Kingdon at Walcott Hall</i></b></span></div> + +<p>Lively boarding school experiences make this the "best yet" +of the Rex Kingdon series.<br /><br /></p> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class='big'><b><i>Rex Kingdon Behind the Bat</i></b></span></div> + +<p>The title tells you what this story is; it is a rattling good +story about baseball. Boys will like it.</p> + +<p>Gordon Braddock knows what Boys want and how to write +it. These stories make the best reading you can procure.</p> + +<div class='center'> +————————<br /> +HURST & COMPANY, Publishers, NEW YORK<br /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class='tnote'><h3>Transcriber's Notes:</h3> +<p>Varied hyphenation was retained. This includes cart-wheels and cartwheels.</p> +<p>Obvious punctuation errors repaired.</p> + + +<p>The remaining corrections made are indicated by dotted lines under the corrections. Scroll the mouse over the word and the original text will <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'apprear'">appear</ins>.</p></div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A House Party with the Tucker Twins, by Nell Speed + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOUSE PARTY WITH TUCKER TWINS *** + +***** This file should be named 36671-h.htm or 36671-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/6/7/36671/ + +Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Rod Crawford, Dave Morgan, +Emmy and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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