"I am glad you told us," said Edna, "for now we shall always remember how good she is, and we shall love her more than ever, but we can't help loving you best, Miss Eloise."
"Oh, my dear, don't say that. I don't deserve half as much love as sister."
157However this might be, it was a fact that no one could help loving Miss Eloise the best, though the little girls said to one another that night, "We must try to be extra nice to Miss Newman next year, because Miss Eloise wants us to."
It seemed quite as if it were time to go when the little bungalow was closed and the cottages, one after another, showed no sign of lights at night. There was a sound of hammers over on the point where the new house was going up for Cap'n Si, and it was expected the family would move in by Christmas. The children wondered what kind of furniture would be bought with the two hundred dollars, but this they could not know till next year. However, Amelia told Jennie that her ma rather guessed they'd have a parlor organ if they didn't have anything else, and Amelia was much set up in consequence.
"Dear me," said Mrs. Ramsey when she was told this, "I was afraid of that. It is just like these people. But what is one to do?"
The days were growing shorter and September was well on its way when the trunks were packed ready for the start for home. "I should feel dreadfully about your going if I didn't expect to see you so soon," said Jennie the night before her friends were to leave.
"We have had the loveliest time," Edna told her, "and we're such intimate friends now that I am158sure we shall never be anything else, even when we are very old."
But here Mrs. Ramsey appeared to say that if all three were to sleep in one bed, as they had begged to be allowed to do this last night, they must stop chattering and go to sleep. So there were only faint whispers for a little while after that and then these ceased.
"I am so mixed up in my feelings," said Edna in confidence to Dorothy when they were seated in the train. "I want awfully to see them all at home, but yet I hate to leave here."
"I feel exactly that way myself," Dorothy confessed. "But even if we weren't going to-day we couldn't stay very long, for the house will be closed next week, and we shouldn't want to stay there alone."
Edna admitted that this was true, and then Jennie came over to sit with them and they talked of the things they were to see and the places they were to go in the next two days.
"I think we will go to the Old North Church first," said Mrs. Ramsey as they left the train. "We will send the baggage to the hotel, then we will not have to come to this part of the city again."
"Oh, what a funny place," said Jennie, as they took their way through streets where queer-looking foreigners congregated.
"I think the people are funnier than the place," remarked Edna.
160"They are mostly Polish or Russian Jews," Mrs. Ramsey told her. "It is not the neighborhood it was in Paul Revere's day. Here is the old church."
The children looked with awe and reverence at the ancient edifice, and, going inside, were shown some of the Revolutionary relics which were there on exhibition. Just as they were coming out they met a young man coming in.
"Hallo!" he cried in surprise.
"Why if it isn't Ben," cried Edna delightedly. "Why Ben Barker how did you get here?"
"I might ask you the same question," he replied.
"We came by train."
"And I came by boat. I thought it was a shame to be so near this city and not stop off to see a few things, so I got my friends to let me off and left the yacht to go on to New York while I should stop here for couple of days."
"That is just what we are going to do."
"Good! then maybe we can join forces."
"That would suit me nicely," put in Mrs. Ramsey. "My husband will not be down till to-morrow evening in time to take the train for Fall River, and meantime I have these three little girls on my hands and no man to look after us, so if you will come along to see about tickets and things I should be pleased."
161So Ben fell into line to the great satisfaction of all. "Where were you going next?" he asked.
"As long as it is such a pleasant day I thought we'd better make sure of Lexington and Concord, and leave the places nearer at hand till to-morrow. Of course you will want to visit Harvard, and the children have talked of the glass flowers so much that they must see them. While you are visiting other points more interesting to you, we will look at the flowers."
"Then, ho, for Lexington! We must take a subway car, and seek the 'rude bridge' where 'the embattled farmers stood to fire the shot heard 'round the world.'"
The little girls did not quite understand this till Emerson's poem was explained to them.
"Oh, I do want to see the place where the British general said: 'Disperse, ye rebels,'" cried Dorothy.
"Then we'd better trot right along," said Ben. "You and I will go ahead, Mrs. Ramsey, and lead the way."
But Jennie wanted to walk with her mother too, and so the other two little girls dropped behind to pursue their way through the crooked streets where odd sights met their eyes; queerly dressed women and children jostled them; at the doors of houses swarthy faces and strange forms appeared. The shop windows held many things the children had never seen before, and once or twice they stopped to see what these very unusual articles could be.162"Do look here, Edna," said Dorothy as they were passing one particularly foreign looking place. "I must see what those funny things are," and she turned back, Edna following her.
"We mustn't stop," said Edna, "for we might lose the others."
"Oh, just for a second. They are right ahead and we can't miss them." But they could not decide what the funny things were and so went on.
"Why, where are Ben and Mrs. Ramsey?" said Edna in alarm. "I saw them a minute ago."
"They were right ahead of us when we stopped," said Dorothy, hastening her steps. "They must have turned the corner."
They hurried along as fast as possible, turning the corner and looking around. But there was no sign of their friends, and after they had gone a short distance, "we'd better go back," Dorothy said.
They tried to retrace their steps, but it was a very crooked street with others leading from it, and in their bewilderment they took the wrong turning, so that in a few minutes they were hopelessly beyond any possibility of finding their companions. They looked at one another confronted by a problem.
"What shall we do?" at last said Edna in a weak voice.
With one consent they stood still and looked around as if hoping to see a familiar face, but here163was a denser crowd of foreigners and only the dark eyes of Russians and Poles met theirs.
"I don't like it a bit here," said Dorothy as a hideous old woman leered down at them.
"Neither do I," quavered Edna. "I think we'd better ask our way back to the church and start from there."
They accosted the first person they saw, who happened to be a young girl, but at their question she shook her head. "No unnystan," she replied.
The next one questioned nodded and began to jabber something in a foreign language, so it was the children's turn to say, "No unnystan." The next of whom they inquired the way spoke brokenly, but said he would put them on the right track, and under his guidance they managed to reach the church, and here they met a man in clerical dress who looked down at them with a smile. "Did you come to see the old church?" he asked. "I am going in, and perhaps you would like to come with me."
"We have been here once this morning," Dorothy told him, "but we have lost our friends and don't know which way to go."
"Where were they going?"
"Why, I don't know, I think to the subway."
"Oh, that is easy to find. I will call a policeman and he will take you along and show you." He looked up and down the street and finally saw a164policeman in the distance, and he was coming toward them.
"There he is," said the man. "Just wait till he comes up. I say, Mike," he called to the policeman, "just show these little girls the way to the subway, won't you? They have turned the wrong way and are out of their bearings." He smiled down on the children, lifted his hat and passed into the church, leaving the children with the policeman.
"Which way was you going?" asked the policeman pleasantly.
"We were going to Lexington," Edna told him.
"Then I'll go with you to the end of my beat and pass you along, so's you'll get on at the right place."
They walked quietly along wondering a little, as passers-by looked at them curiously, if it was supposed they were under arrest. They felt a good deal worried, but had a vague idea that the others would wait for them at the subway, wherever that might be.
True to his word the policeman turned them over to another of his order when they had reached the end of his beat, and this one piloted them safely to the entrance of the subway. They had said so confidently that they were going to Lexington that neither man questioned, but that they knew the way once they had reached the proper station.
They descended the steps with some misgivings, for if Mrs. Ramsey and Ben were not there what165was to be done next? They had never been in the subway before for Mrs. Ramsey had wanted them to see the city streets when they had visited the city in the summer, and had taken a taxicab to go up town. Mr. Ramsey had done the same when they arrived on their journey in his company. A most bewildering place they found this same subway to be, full of people rushing for trains, noisy from the whizzing of cars from out of cavernous dark places and departing into equally unknown darkness. It seemed terrible to the two little girls and they were on the verge of tears. Impossible to find anyone in such a place as this. Best to get out of it as speedily as they could. The roaring of passing trains was so confusing, the jostling of the crowd was so unpleasant that the children held fast to one another and hurried up the steps and into the open air.
"Oh, dear," sighed Edna.
"Oh, dear," echoed Dorothy. "Wasn't it terrible? I felt as if I were having a dreadful nightmare."
"I felt as if my head had been taken off and they were rolling it up and down the car tracks." This relieved the tension a little and they both laughed. "Now what are we going to do?" said Dorothy.
They stood on the sidewalk looking this way and that, uncertain what would be the best move. Presently a lady who had just come out of the subway, paused and looked at them. "Have you lost anything, little girls?" she asked kindly.
166"We've lost our way and our friends," Edna told her.
"My, my, that is a great deal to lose. Where do you want to go?"
"We were going to Lexington, but it was so awful down there," Edna nodded toward the door through which they had just come, "and we would not go back for the world."
The lady smiled. "But what about your friends? Do they live in Lexington?"
"Oh, no, we are all staying at the Parker House. We went to see the Old North Church, and we were going to Lexington and Concord, all of us, but somehow we got separated from them, and we couldn't find them anywhere."
"We knew they were coming to the subway, for Ben said so," Dorothy chimed in, "and we thought we might find them there. A policeman showed us the way."
"That was like looking for a needle in a haystack," said the lady, "for you didn't know which of the subway stations they meant, did you? There are a great many, you know."
"We didn't know, for we never went down there before. We thought the subway was just one station, like the one we came into from the shore."
"Oh, I see. Well, I am a stranger in town too, that is, I don't live here, although I know Boston pretty well. I am staying at the Parker House, and167as it isn't so very far from here, I think your best plan will be to go to the Parker House with me and wait there. I am sure your friends will think that is what you would be likely to do, and will make inquiries there before starting up an alarm for you."
"Oh, do you think they would do that? Do you mean they would ring bells or anything?" Dorothy asked with a vague idea of what might be done in the case of lost children.
"They mightn't ring bells," said their friend with a smile, "but they would notify all the police stations."
Edna nodded. "That's what papa did when I was lost. I wasn't really lost, only I was afraid of the cattle and I went up the steps so fast I fell and Mrs. Porter lived there; she was a friend of mine, you know." Dorothy had heard all about this adventure before, and their new friend did not press inquiries. She felt sure the children would be anxiously looked for and that it was best to get them to their hotel as soon as could be.
It gave the two little girls a great sense of security to enter the place from which they had departed that morning, and they were heartily glad to reach the building. They found out that their kind acquaintance was named Mrs. Cox, and that she was from Washington. She told the clerk, at the desk, that if Mrs. Ramsey or any of her party came in or telephoned inquiries, that they were to be told instantly the little girls were there.
168"I am always getting lost, it seems to me," said Edna plaintively, "and yet I am never really lost, or I wasn't before this time, only people will keep thinking I am. You know, Dorothy, I was perfectly safe at the bungalow when Louis thought I was lost, and I was perfectly safe at Mrs. Porter's when papa and mamma thought I was lost."
"And you are perfectly safe now when Mrs. Ramsey thinks you are lost," added Dorothy in a somewhat aggrieved tone. She felt a little conscience-stricken, knowing she was to blame in this instance, for it was she who insisted upon stopping to look in at the shop window.
They had not very long to wait, for from their place in the reception room, where Mrs. Cox told them it would be best to sit, they presently saw Ben hurrying along, a worried look on his face. The two children sprang out. "Here we are," they cried.
Ben rushed over and grabbed them both. "You young lunatics," he exclaimed, "don't you know better than to get yourselves lost in a city like Boston?"
"We didn't mean to, Ben," said Dorothy meekly.
"You didn't mean to," mimicked Ben in a mocking voice. "Well, you have scared us nearly to death, if that is any consolation to you."
"Where are Mrs. Ramsey and Jennie?" asked Edna, fearing one or the other might be in hysterics for Ben's manner was anything but reassuring.
169"They are in a cab trying to follow you up. Mrs. Ramsey said she would go over the ground we had just left when we missed you, and in the meantime I was to come here, if by any chance you had sense enough to come straight back to the hotel."
The children looked at each other with rather abashed faces, for they had not had sense enough to do that, and might not have thought of it but for Mrs. Cox.
"Before you give an account of yourselves," Ben went on, "I must telephone to Mrs. Ramsey and relieve her mind. We agreed that I was to do that and settled on a drug store where she would go to get any message I might have." He rushed off, leaving the little girls feeling very guilty. After all that Mrs. Ramsey had done for them to give her so much uneasiness, struck them both as being very heartless.
"I wish that old window was in the bottom of the sea before I ever stopped to look in," presently said Dorothy vindictively.
Edna made no reply. She knew that it was not the fault of the window, but of their own curiosity and heedlessness. They should have kept directly behind their friends, she well knew. Her mother had told her times enough that it was cowardly to blame inanimate objects for things which we were to blame for ourselves, and Aunt Elizabeth went further and said no one but a person without any170wits would abuse a senseless thing for what was his own thoughtlessness or carelessness.
But she was spared moralizing upon this to Dorothy, for Ben returned saying that Mrs. Ramsey would be here in a few moments and that the expedition to Lexington and Concord would be given up for the day, as it was too late now to undertake so long a trip. He was quite grumpy about it and the little girls were most unhappy at being under his displeasure, for Ben was usually the sunniest of persons and rarely gave them a cross look. He did not stay to talk to them now, but went to the door to meet Mrs. Ramsey when she should return and the children sat one at either end of the sofa, silent and downcast.
Mrs. Cox had not waited for further developments once she had seen that her charges were safe, and had gone out again. After what was a long time to the two culprits they saw Mrs. Ramsey and Ben approaching with Jennie. At sight of them Edna could no longer restrain her tears, but burst into a noiseless fit of weeping, and Dorothy, seeing this, began to do the same.
This was too much for Ben. He was very fond of his little cousin and hated to see her cry. "Here, here," he cried, "don't do that. Why, Ande, you are safe now. What's the use of crying when it's all over?" He sat down beside her and began to wipe away the tears. "I say, Mrs. Ramsey," he went on, looking up, "it is really my fault as much as theirs.171In that thickly settled part of the city, among all those crooked streets, I ought to have kept a better lookout for these children, and we don't know yet how it happened, anyhow. I haven't even asked them. They may have been knocked down or anything else may have happened for all we know."
The two felt that this was very generous of Ben, and their tears flowed less plentifully. Mrs. Ramsey drew up a chair and said in a pleasant, confidential tone, "Now tell us all about it. How did it happen?"
The children faltered out an explanation in which the queer things in the shop-window, the hideous old woman, the man at the church and the subway all figured. Once or twice Mrs. Ramsey repressed a smile, though for the most part she listened very soberly. At the close of the narrative she turned to Ben. "It is just as you said; we ought to have kept better watch upon them. One of us should have walked with them instead of leaving them to follow alone."
Ben nodded. "That's just what I think. Now, chicks, dry your eyes. We are going to have an early lunch and go somewhere, to see the glass flowers, very likely."
"Yes," put in Jennie, "please don't cry any more, girls. It makes me so miserable to see you. I might have done the same thing if I had been with you."
Thus comforted, the girls dried their eyes and followed Jennie and Mrs. Ramsey upstairs to bathe172their faces and get ready for lunch. It was too bad to have lost a whole morning, but there could be a great deal crowded into an afternoon, and, by the time the glass flowers had been found, peace reigned and everyone was happy.
There was a drive around the beautiful parkway that evening and a visit to the splendid library that night. "We shall have to leave Plymouth Rock till another year," Mrs. Ramsey remarked as they set out for their trip the next morning. "I think you will enjoy Lexington and Concord more than a rather longer journey by water as you have just come from the seashore." This time there was no delay and there was plenty of time to visit the old battle-field, to see the brown house where dear Louisa Alcott used to live, to hunt up Emerson's home and the spot endeared by memories of Hawthorne. Ben was intensely interested in it all and told the girls many things which made them understand much better what they were seeing.
They must return in time to meet Mr. Ramsey at the Parker House, and to get ready for their journey home, but there was a chance to walk through the botanical gardens and the Commons, to look across at the gilded dome of the State House, and to see the church where the great Phillips Brooks had preached.
It was hard to part with Jennie and her mother, but the thought of home and the dear ones there173was too happy an anticipation to cause any tears to be shed, and the little girls went off with a memory of Boston marred only by that unfortunate shop window in the foreign quarter.
"Are you going all the way home with us?" Edna asked Ben as they left the boat at the wharf.
"Yes, Mr. Ramsey thinks he should stay in New York for the day, and has handed you over to my tender mercies, so if we can get a good train you will be at home in a very few hours."
"Now that we are so near I'm just crazy to get there," said Dorothy. "Will they know exactly when we are coming, Ben?"
"We can easily let them know either by telephone or telegraph."
"I think I'd rather surprise them, wouldn't you, Edna?"
"It won't be such a big surprise, for mother knows we are coming some time to-day."
"Then there is no use in sending word ahead," decided Dorothy. "They will be looking for us anyway."
Just here Mr. Ramsey came up. "Well, young ladies," he said, "so you are going to leave me. I think this young man can be trusted to take care of you the rest of the way, and I hope as soon as175Jennie gets back you will come in to see her. We have all enjoyed having you with us, and I hope you will feel perfectly at home in our house always."
The little girls thanked him and said they had had a very happy time and wouldn't he tell Jennie to come out to see them as soon as she returned. So they parted, and then there was the rush of getting to the train and the pleasant sense of knowing this was the last stage of their journey. Ben whiled away the time by asking them ridiculous conundrums which made them so hilarious that more than one fellow traveller smiled in sympathy with their merry laughs.
The more absurd the conundrums the better the children liked them, and those that Ben made up as they went along pleased them best of all. "When is a fence not a fence?" asked Ben and the answer was, "when it's an advertisement." "What would you do if company came and there were no more tea in the teapot?" was the next question.
"I'd send out for more tea," responded Dorothy.
"What would you do, Ande?"
"I don't know. What would you?"
"I'd add hot water and serve just as the sign tells you to do."
"But that means for soup."
"Well, but it answers just as well for tea. Now, here is another one for you. Suppose you couldn't get tea, what would you do?
176"I'd go without."
"I wouldn't; I'd use Horlick's malted milk."
"Oh, that is the sign just over there, isn't it? Too late, Dorothy, we've passed it."
"Make up another, Ben," urged Dorothy.
"Well, here goes. If I wanted to be sure of an intellectual meal, what would I do?"
They guessed several things, but Ben shook his head at each answer. "I think it is a very hard one," declared Edna. "Intellectual is a hard word anyhow. You will have to tell us, Ben."
"Give it up?"
"Yes, I do; don't you, Dorrie?"
"Yes, it is too hard for me."
"Then this is the answer: I'd put my roasts through a course of Browning. I think that's pretty good myself. I shall have to salt it down to ask your elders. I'll give you an easy one now. Why do they call the man who drives the locomotive an engineer?"
Edna finally guessed this. "Because he is near the engine," she said.
"Good girl; go up head," cried Ben. "You seem to be improving. Now each of you try to make up a limerick and I'll do the same."
"Oh, we can't do that," objected Dorothy.
"Yes, you can if you try. I will give you a model.
177
There was a young person named DorrieWho said to her comrade, 'I'm sorryI came on the train,But I'll do it againWhen Ben isn't with us to worry.'"
There was a young person named DorrieWho said to her comrade, 'I'm sorryI came on the train,But I'll do it againWhen Ben isn't with us to worry.'"
The girls laughed at this and set themselves to work to produce something of the same kind. After many attempts Edna gave this:
"There was a young man named BennyWho said, 'Please give me a penny.Some peanuts I'll buyAll nice and dry,'But he didn't give us children any."
"There was a young man named BennyWho said, 'Please give me a penny.Some peanuts I'll buyAll nice and dry,'But he didn't give us children any."
"That's not bad at all," said Ben laughing. "Did you mean that for a hint, and do you think I'd buy peanuts and keep them all to myself?"
"Oh, no." Edna was shocked that he should think she really intended a hint. "I just had to make up something and that was the best I could do."
"Oh, dear, I can't get my last line," complained Dorothy. "I've tried and tried and I can't find a rhyme for Barker and Parker. This as far as I can get:
There was a young man named BarkerWho stayed at the Hotel ParkerAnd ate lots of rollsAnd drank from the bowls—
There was a young man named BarkerWho stayed at the Hotel ParkerAnd ate lots of rollsAnd drank from the bowls—
I had to say bowls to make it rhyme, though I really meant cups, and there I am stuck."
Here Ben came to her rescue.
178"And drank from the bowlsUntil his complexion grew darker,"
178"And drank from the bowlsUntil his complexion grew darker,"
he added to the amusement of the girls.
They kept up the limericks for some time, though Dorothy found it such hard work that she finally refused to try any more, and Ben looking at his watch decided it was time to go into the dining-car for dinner. This was a new experience and made a pleasant break in the monotony of the journey. By the time the meal was finished they were so near their own station that the rest of the way seemed nothing at all. At the station they had to change cars or else make the trip by the trolley.
"Which shall we do?" asked Ben.
"Which will get us there first?" asked Edna.
"Let me see." Ben pulled out a time table. "There will be a train in half an hour. It is a pretty good one, and I think will get us there about five minutes ahead of the trolley. It's a choice between sitting in the station or going ahead on the trolley."
"Which would you rather do?" Dorothy asked him.
"I think perhaps the train will be better on account of the baggage which can go right through with us." So they sat down to wait till their train should be called and found enough to amuse them in watching the people go and come.
"It does look so natural," remarked Dorothy, when the train began to move. "Just think, Edna,179in a few days we shall be starting to school again, and be coming this way every day."
"And we shall be seeing Uncle Justus and Aunt Elizabeth and all the girls. I wonder if we shall have as good times at the G. R. Club as we did last year. We must go to see Margaret and Nettie very soon, Dorothy, for we shall have such heaps to tell them."
"We shall want to tell our own families first."
"Oh, of course. I wonder if Uncle Justus is still with the others on the yacht. I never thought to ask Ben." She leaned over to speak to her cousin who was sitting directly in front and learned that Mr. Horner had left the yacht at Portland and had come home by rail from that city.
"The old chap had a good time while he was with us," Ben told her, "and I think it limbered him up a lot."
"Why, was he stiff from rheumatism like Cap'n Si?" asked Edna innocently.
Ben laughed. "No, he was stiff from eating too many ramrods."
Edna knew this wasn't true, but she didn't ask any more questions just then. The train was nearing the familiar station where they were to get off. She wondered if Celia and the boys, or Celia and Agnes would be there to meet them. She thought it very likely, as the family must know they would arrive about this time.
180But as the train moved off there was no sign of any of their friends. "They didn't come after all," said Edna to Dorothy. "I wonder if they know Ben is with us?"
"Why, how could they know. Did you tell them on the post-card you wrote from Boston, or the one you sent Celia from Concord?"
"No. Did you say anything about it?"
"Not a word."
"Then that will be a sort of surprise, for even if they expect us they won't expect Ben."
It was not a very long walk from the station to the home of either little girl, though it had appeared long enough to Edna one evening the winter before when she had been caught in a snow-storm.
"I won't stop," said Dorothy, when they had reached Edna's gate. "I can scarcely wait to see mother."
"I feel just that way," said Edna. "Will you come over this evening?"
"Maybe. I can't promise, for I shall hate to leave them all. You come over."
"But I shan't want to leave them all either. I reckon we'd better wait till to-morrow."
"All right. Good-bye till then." And Dorothy started off at a run while Edna and Ben turned in at the gate.
181How quiet it seemed! No one was on the porch, and the sound of their voices did not bring anyone down from upstairs. "I wonder where they all are. I'll go up very softly and s'prise them," whispered Edna to Ben, "and in a little while you come up and have another s'prise." Ben nodded understandingly and Edna crept softly up the stairs. There was no sound of voices anywhere. "They must all be asleep," the child murmured, but as it was just about lunch time, that seemed to be rather an unusual state of things. She went from room to room. Not a soul was to be seen.
"That is the funniest thing," said Edna disappointedly. "I wonder where in the world everybody can be. Surely they could not be hiding," but to make sure she looked in closets and even under the beds, then she went slowly downstairs to Ben.
"There isn't a soul anywhere," she told him. "Oh, Ben, I am so dreadfully disappointed. What do you suppose has become of everybody?"
"Can't say, my dear. Have you interviewed the cook? I thought I heard sounds of life in the kitchen."
"Why, of course I can ask her. I never thought of that." She flew to the kitchen. "Oh, Lizzie," she cried, "where is everybody?"
"Saints above!" cried Lizzie, "and where did ye come from all of a suddint like this?"
"Why, we came out on the train!"
182"Not by yerself?"
"No, Dorothy and Cousin Ben came with me."
"Hear to that now. And didn't ye see the mother nor none of thim that's gone to meet ye?"
"Why, no! When did they go to meet us?"
"This morning. Sure it was your mother that said, 'Thim children will be gettin' in fair and airly and I'll just be goin' in to Misther Ramsey's office and meet thim when they git there and bring thim right along with me.' Thin Miss Ceely speaks up and says, 'I'll be goin,' too.'"
"But we didn't go to Mr. Ramsey's office. We left him in New York and Cousin Ben Barker brought us on from there."
"Did ye ever hear the likes of that now? She'll be as disappinted as yerself when she gets there and doesn't find ye."
"Where are the boys?"
"They're off too. When they learns that their mother was going to town they says we'll go to one of the neighbors, I disremember which one it was, but they says they won't be back to lunch, bein' as they don't like to ate without the ithers. Have ye had any lunch yerself, child?"
"No, and neither has Cousin Ben."
"Then, jest you kape quiet and I'll have ye a bite in three shakes. Run along in and tell Mr. Barker183not to be oneasy, that he shall have something right away."
Edna returned to Ben with her tale of cross purposes. "Do you suppose mother will be worried when she gets to Mr. Ramsey's office and finds we haven't come?"
"It is possible she might be. I reckon I'd better telephone in and tell them that we have arrived and if Mrs. Conway comes to tell her we are here. I'll call up your father, too."
"Oh, that will be the very best thing to do."
But Ben learned that Mrs. Conway had been to Mr. Ramsey's office, and not finding her daughter had gone at once to her husband's office. From this latter point it was learned that Mr. and Mrs. Conway and their daughter had just gone out to lunch. "Haven't been gone five minutes," Ben was told. "Say to Mr. Conway when he comes in that his daughter Edna is at home," said Ben and then he hung up the receiver. "Can't get anyone of them," he told Edna, "but your father will hear where you are as soon as he gets back. In the meantime we'll have to make the best of it."
They made the best of it by eating the very good lunch which Lizzie prepared, and then Edna's trunk having arrived she set to work to unpack it, being glad to release Virginia from her long confinement. Next it seemed a good plan to hunt up her old dolls and introduce them to this lovely new sister.
184Ben, who had grown tired of waiting for his aunt and cousin, went to the house of one of his friends, and after Edna had seen that all her children were in good condition she seated herself at one of the front windows to watch for her mother. It seemed very funny that it should be she who was watching for someone to come instead of someone watching for her. She would not go to Dorothy's for fear she should miss her mother and sister, and likewise for the reason that she felt it would be a very flat report she would have to make to Dorothy of her homecoming.
She sat for what seemed a long time, but at last her patience was rewarded by seeing a group of four coming up the road, and as they drew near she saw that it was not only her own mother and sister, but Dorothy's likewise who had gone to town to meet the travelers.
She could hardly wait to get down stairs, and she heard Celia's surprised voice say, "Why there she is now," and in another minute she was in her mother's arms.
"Why, you little rogue," cried Mrs. Conway, when the hugging and kissing had ceased. "You have certainly stolen a march on us all. How did you get here?"
"Is Dorothy with you?" asked Mrs. Evans anxiously.
"She isn't here with me, but she is at home," Edna made reply.
185"Oh, then, we must hurry along," said Mrs. Evans, and without waiting to hear more particulars she and her daughter Agnes hastened away.
Then Mrs. Conway sat down and gathered Edna to her. "It is so nice to have my baby again," she said. "I don't believe I can ever consent to let her stay so long away another time. Now tell me all about it. How did you happen to get here so early and why didn't I find you at Mr. Ramsey's office as I expected?"
"Did you expect to find us there?"
"Why, certainly, Mrs. Ramsey wrote that you would come back with her husband, and that you would arrive at about noon, so naturally I didn't expect Mr. Ramsey to bring you all the way out here, besides his clerks told me that he had not returned, but had telephoned from New York that he would arrive this evening. So of course I thought you would not get here till then."
"And were you disappointed?"
"Oh, I was indeed; but you haven't told me how you did get here."
"Ben brought us."
"Ben? Where is he?"
"Oh, he was around a little while ago, but I reckon he got tired of waiting and went off somewhere; he will be back after a while."
186"But I don't understand yet. Where did you come across Ben?"
"In Boston at the Old North Church; he was going in just as we were going out, and he stayed with us the rest of the time and we all came on together; then when Mr. Ramsey found that Ben could come with us he said he thought he might as well stay in New York and attend to some business and let us come on. Ben was going to telephone, but it was just as well he didn't."
"It is all very clear now, and I can see that no one was to blame, for of course no one knew that we were going to meet you."
"But, oh, Mother, it is so good to have you again," said Edna, giving her mother another squeeze. "I haven't kissed sister half enough either." There was another season of hugging and kissing, and then all went upstairs that Edna might show her new doll and present the little gifts she had bought at the bazar. Then Ben came in and there were more explanations, and next the boys came rushing upstairs to give boisterous bearlike hugs and to tell Edna she looked fine as silk, and so the hours went on till it was time for Mr. Conway to come and that gave a new excitement and questioning and explaining.
After all had been smoothed out Mr. Conway made the remark, "I saw Uncle Justus this afternoon. He came into the office to ask if Edna had arrived. He certainly is fond of the child."
187Then Edna told of how Uncle Justus gave up the sailing party on her account and of how gentle and kind he was.
"Gee!" cried Charlie, "I should think you'd rather he would have gone." For Uncle Justus had never shown the boys his gentler side and they stood in great awe of him, scuttling out of sight whenever they saw him coming.
Everyone smiled at Charlie's speech, but Edna said gravely, "I loved to have him stay. He took me in his lap and rocked me and we had a lovely time."
Charlie could scarcely believe this, but he said nothing and the talk went on to other things. Edna and Ben were the center of interest that evening, for when Edna was not telling something that went on at Ramsey's, Ben was relating some of his yachting experiences. He would leave for his own home the next day, but would return later to take up his studies at college, and, as last year, to spend the winter with his aunt and cousins.
It seemed warm and murky after the sharp fresh from the sea, and Edna, for all her excitement, was ready for bed early. Just as she was going upstairs the telephone rang, and Celia answered. "Someone for you, Edna," she said, and Edna went to the 'phone.
"Hallo, Edna," came Dorothy's familiar voice "I couldn't go to sleep without saying good-night188to you. I thought I could but I couldn't. Are you all right?"
"Yes. Are you? Wasn't it funny that we didn't find anyone home when we got here. Why didn't you come over?"
"Why didn't you?" Then each heard a little giggle, for the same reason was in the mind of each.
"Well, good-night. I kind of miss you, Edna," came Dorothy's final words.
"And I kind of miss you. Good-night."
There was no sound of murmuring waves on the beach, no Jennie in the next room, and no Dorothy as bed-fellow, but instead there was the murmur of leaves making a pleasant song, there was Celia playing softly on the piano, and best of all there was mother very near; so Edna turned over with a sigh of content, glad that she was in her own home.
THE END.
Transcriber's note:The following corrections have been made:p. 13:"mother take things so coolly." Period changed to question mark;p. 15:"Edna, "and I am" removed the double quotation mark before and; "an she is just crazy" an changed to and;p. 24:"have another." a double quotation mark was added after another;p. 26:"At last the good-bys" good-bys changed to good-byes;p. 36:""I didn't at first," she answered, but I do now. "Is it time to get up, Dorothy?"" Double quotation mark moved: "I didn't at first," she answered, "but I do now. Is it time to get up, Dorothy?";p. 47:"two. "Well, run along and" Double quotation mark removed before Well;p. 48:"ocean till now?" Question mark changed to period;p. 50:""They soon found that" Double quotation mark removed;p. 55:"have a bazaar for her" bazaar changed to bazar;p. 56:"I know that, "but the doctor" Double quotation mark removed;p. 57:"with her two children a little girl" Comma added after children;p. 59:"remarked Dorothy;"I don't" Added space between comma and double quotation mark;p. 63:"Cape, any you can" any corrected to and;p. 64:"all the time'" Single quotation mark changed to double quotation mark;p. 65:"for a porch-party and let" Hyphen omitted;p. 69:""However, they were" Double quotation mark ommited;p. 71:"she said. "House-hunting" Inserted paragraph break after said.; "until Mrs. Ramsey cried." Period changed to comma;p. 73:"myself, "Why shouldn't Miss" Double quotation mark removed;p. 94:"boat belongs to, you know," Comma changed to period;p. 104:"It's body was reared" It's changed to Its;p. 108:"say. Why all this" Period changed to comma;p. 109:"for the sailing party?" Question mark changed to period;p. 111:"Please, dear Mr. Ramsey, go." Mr. changed to Mrs.;p. 112:"and one in a while" one changed to once;p. 118:"has something proper." Double quotation mark added after proper.; "heard Mr. Ramsey say." Period changed to comma;p. 125:"Pippin. Nobody knows how much" Added double quotation mark before Nobody;p. 131:""show as she woul" woul changed to would;p. 133:"we are getting today" today changed to to-day; ""Some day," she said "" Added comma after said;p. 135:"Mrs Ramsey had telephoned" Added period after Mrs;p. 140:"thought of if if Miss" First if changed to it;p. 145:"give to Miss Eloise?" Why" Double quotation mark removed;p. 148:""Mother," what shall" Double quotation mark after the comma removed;p. 149:"The fish pond was" fish pond changed to fishpond;p. 153:"said Curley-Head holding" Curley changed to Curly;p. 154:"hundred dollars, Mother?'" Single quotation mark changed to double quotation mark; "not carry for enough" for changed to far;p. 157:"the the little girls said" Ommited superfluous the;p. 164:"reached the proper station."" Double quotation mark removed;p. 172:"from the seashore." Added double quotation mark after period;p. 177:"with us to worry." Single and double quotation mark added after worry.;p. 180:"better wait till tomorrow" tomorrow changed to to-morrow;p. 186:"fine as silk, "" Double quotation mark removed;p. 187:"was not telling somthing" somthing changed to something; "Some of his yatching experiences" yatching changed to yachting;There are some words at line-breaks in the original where it is not clear if they should be hyphenated or not: woe-begone, vouchsafe, fireplace, lobster-pots, tip-toeing, homeless, haystack, homecoming;Everything else has been retained as printed.
Transcriber's note:
The following corrections have been made:
p. 13:"mother take things so coolly." Period changed to question mark;p. 15:"Edna, "and I am" removed the double quotation mark before and; "an she is just crazy" an changed to and;p. 24:"have another." a double quotation mark was added after another;p. 26:"At last the good-bys" good-bys changed to good-byes;p. 36:""I didn't at first," she answered, but I do now. "Is it time to get up, Dorothy?"" Double quotation mark moved: "I didn't at first," she answered, "but I do now. Is it time to get up, Dorothy?";p. 47:"two. "Well, run along and" Double quotation mark removed before Well;p. 48:"ocean till now?" Question mark changed to period;p. 50:""They soon found that" Double quotation mark removed;p. 55:"have a bazaar for her" bazaar changed to bazar;p. 56:"I know that, "but the doctor" Double quotation mark removed;p. 57:"with her two children a little girl" Comma added after children;p. 59:"remarked Dorothy;"I don't" Added space between comma and double quotation mark;p. 63:"Cape, any you can" any corrected to and;p. 64:"all the time'" Single quotation mark changed to double quotation mark;p. 65:"for a porch-party and let" Hyphen omitted;p. 69:""However, they were" Double quotation mark ommited;p. 71:"she said. "House-hunting" Inserted paragraph break after said.; "until Mrs. Ramsey cried." Period changed to comma;p. 73:"myself, "Why shouldn't Miss" Double quotation mark removed;p. 94:"boat belongs to, you know," Comma changed to period;p. 104:"It's body was reared" It's changed to Its;p. 108:"say. Why all this" Period changed to comma;p. 109:"for the sailing party?" Question mark changed to period;p. 111:"Please, dear Mr. Ramsey, go." Mr. changed to Mrs.;p. 112:"and one in a while" one changed to once;p. 118:"has something proper." Double quotation mark added after proper.; "heard Mr. Ramsey say." Period changed to comma;p. 125:"Pippin. Nobody knows how much" Added double quotation mark before Nobody;p. 131:""show as she woul" woul changed to would;p. 133:"we are getting today" today changed to to-day; ""Some day," she said "" Added comma after said;p. 135:"Mrs Ramsey had telephoned" Added period after Mrs;p. 140:"thought of if if Miss" First if changed to it;p. 145:"give to Miss Eloise?" Why" Double quotation mark removed;p. 148:""Mother," what shall" Double quotation mark after the comma removed;p. 149:"The fish pond was" fish pond changed to fishpond;p. 153:"said Curley-Head holding" Curley changed to Curly;p. 154:"hundred dollars, Mother?'" Single quotation mark changed to double quotation mark; "not carry for enough" for changed to far;p. 157:"the the little girls said" Ommited superfluous the;p. 164:"reached the proper station."" Double quotation mark removed;p. 172:"from the seashore." Added double quotation mark after period;p. 177:"with us to worry." Single and double quotation mark added after worry.;p. 180:"better wait till tomorrow" tomorrow changed to to-morrow;p. 186:"fine as silk, "" Double quotation mark removed;p. 187:"was not telling somthing" somthing changed to something; "Some of his yatching experiences" yatching changed to yachting;
There are some words at line-breaks in the original where it is not clear if they should be hyphenated or not: woe-begone, vouchsafe, fireplace, lobster-pots, tip-toeing, homeless, haystack, homecoming;
Everything else has been retained as printed.