THE children said "good-by" to little Lois, and as her father carried her away, she waved her hand to them.
"Wasn't she cunning?" said Dorothy.
"She was very sweet," said Nancy, "and how well she did her little dance!"
"She didn't dance half as fine as you do, Nancy Ferris," said Floretta. "Youknowthat."
"Oh, but I was trained for dancing," said Nancy, "and, beside, she was very little to dance so cleverly."
Floretta made no reply, but she thought of what Nancy had said.
"Trained for dancing. She said she wastrainedto dance. I wonder where? I wish I knew, but I didn't quite dare to ask her."
Once more they walked around the big tent, and Uncle Harry purchased a gift for each to carry home as a souvenir.
There were little baskets that the gypsies had woven, and fancy boxes filled with woodland plants. The boxes were made from birch bark, and were very dainty.
These the children prized, and lovingly they thanked him for the pretty gifts.
At the candy table he purchased enough of the homemade bonbons to fill the baskets, and then they left the tent to start on the homeward trip.
The barge was waiting for them, and they clambered in, tired, but very happy.
"This is the nicest fair I ever went to,"said Dorothy, "and I've had so many good things that I'm going to save my basket of candy until to-morrow."
"So am I," cried all the others.
"And so amI," said Uncle Harry, as he held up a huge basket filled with all kinds of candy.
How they laughed, and accused him of having a "sweet-tooth."
"Now, just a moment!" he cried, as he held up his finger for silence, "I'm taking thisbigbasket home to treat thebigladies with. I took thelittleladies with me, but I've not forgotten thebigladies that I left at the hotel."
"Because you don't ever forget any one," said Flossie, and the others cried:
"That's it! Just it! He does nice things for every one."
"Oh, spare my blushes," said UncleHarry, but it was easy to see that their affection for him pleased him.
The ride home seemed shorter than the trip to the fair.
They joined in singing the merry songs that his fine voice led, and the horses, knowing that they were on the homeward trip, jogged along at a better pace than when they had started out.
Uncle Harry had found some bells, and fastened them to their harnesses, and they made a jingling accompaniment to the merry voices.
And when the barge drew up at the Cleverton, Uncle Harry, with elaborate courtesy, handed each young lady down, bowing low, and thanking her for the honor she had conferred upon him by permitting him to take her to the fair.
"Oh, you do truly know we have tothank you for giving us such a lovely day!" said Dorothy.
"But think how happy I have been," he said, and although his blue eyes were laughing, they knew that he meant it.
"Oh, mamma, we had the finest time," cried Dorothy, "and see the fine basket of candy and the pretty birch bark box! See the little ferns growing in it. Isn't hedear?"
"He surely is charming," said Mrs. Dainty. "His generous, sunny nature makes every one love him, and I believe he values the love of his friends more than most things."
"He has been gay, and full of fun all day," said Nancy, "and it will take a long time to tell you all the pleasant things he did for us. I do wish you and Aunt Charlottecouldhave been there when he had his fortune told."
"And he couldn't have been any nicer to us if we'd been tall ladies," said Floretta.
"I hope every one of you little friends were reallittle ladies, thus rewarding him for his kindness," Aunt Charlotte said, gently.
"Oh, we were," said Nancy, "not a single one of us did anything that could trouble him."
"There were a number of little girls who only came here last week, so we weren't much acquainted with them, but they were all very nice, and he said he had as fine a time as we did," said Dorothy.
She climbed into a large hammock, and with Nancy beside her, sat swinging, and thinking of the day that had been so delightfully spent.
Mrs. Fenton came out upon the piazza, and, instead of sitting down, seemed to be looking for something.
"Can I help you?" said Nancy, slipping from the hammock, and hastening toward her.
"I've mislaid my glasses," she said, "and I can't find them."
She did not thank Nancy for so kindly offering to help her, but Nancy seemed not to notice that. She peeped under chairs, lifted their cushions, and even looked between folds of newspapers that lay near at hand, but the glasses were not in sight.
"How trying!" said Mrs. Fenton, "I have some letters that I wish to read, and I can't read them until my glasses are found."
"Did you use them anywhere but just here?" Nancy asked.
Mrs. Fenton stood for a moment thinking.
"Seems to me Ididhave them in the dining-room," she said.
"I'll go and ask the waitresses if they have seen them," said Nancy, as she ran toward the hall.
She paused in the doorway, amazed at what she saw.
Floretta, with a pair of eyeglasses upon her small nose, was walking up and down the room, as nearly as possible, in Mrs. Fenton's manner, and exactly imitating her voice, while a group of waitresses, the cook, and two kitchen maids laughed, and applauded her.
She cared not who composed her audience, so long as she obtained applause. Floretta was, evidently, quite herself once more!
"Oh, Floretta!" cried Nancy, "you mustn't, truly you mustn't. Give me the glasses. Mrs. Fenton is looking everywhere for them!"
"Well, I shan't give them to you!" said Floretta, rudely. "You aren't Mrs. Fenton."
"But I've been helping her to hunt for them. She has some letters she wants to read, and she can't till she has her glasses," insisted Nancy.
"Then let her come for them!" cried Floretta, when a quiet voice spoke.
"Very well, Ihavecome for them," it said, and there in the doorway stood Mrs. Fenton.
The silly maids who had laughed so loudly, now hastily disappeared in the kitchen.
Floretta dropped the glasses upon thetable, and then, wholly ashamed, crawled under it, where Mrs. Fenton's sharp eyes might not look at her.
Mrs. Fenton took the glasses, and without another word, swept from the room.
Nancy, waiting in the hall, crept softly toward her, and gently laid her hand on the lady's arm.
"I'msosorry she did that. I wish I could have got the glasses from her, and brought them to you before you came to find them. Then you needn't have known how naughty,—" Nancy caught her breath.
"Never mind that, Nancy. Remember, asIshall, thatyouwere not the naughty, disgusting child," said Mrs. Fenton, and she turned, with her letters and glasses in her hand, and went up the long stairway to her room.
It was nearly time to dress for dinner,which was always served promptly at six.
Mrs. Dainty with Dorothy, and Aunt Charlotte with Nancy hastened to their rooms, to freshen their toilettes, and Nancy realized that there would not be time to tell Aunt Charlotte all about the unpleasant happening.
"I've something to tell you, but I'll have to wait till we've plenty of time," she said.
Aunt Charlotte, tying the soft, blue ribbon into the brown curls, looked into the mirror before which they were standing, and smiled at the thoughtful face.
"Will it keep until then, dear?" she asked.
"Oh, yes," said Nancy, "I only tell it to you because I love to tell you everything."
"Dear child," said Aunt Charlotte, "I bless the day that you, as a little waif, were taken in by Mrs. Dainty, and that I was asked to come and care for you. I could not love you more if you were my own little girl."
"I never saw my own mamma; she died when I was a baby," said Nancy, "so, because you love me, you seem like my very own."
Gentle Aunt Charlotte's eyes were wet with happy tears, as she hooked the pretty, white muslin frock, with its slip of light blue, and tied the soft blue belt.
"Your shoes must be changed, Nancy," she said. "You know how particular Mrs. Dainty is about the matter of shoes and stockings. They must match the frock."
"Oh, yes," said Nancy, "and with thisone she said: 'Wear blue stockings and bronze slippers,' so I will."
She found the blue hose and the pretty bronze slippers, then, with elfin grace, she caught the edge of her skirt, and with rosy, bare feet, tripped across the floor in a graceful, gliding step, crying:
"Look, Aunt Charlotte, look! This pretty step Bonfanti taught me."
Aunt Charlotte did look, and as she watched the pretty child, and saw her joy in dancing, she marvelled that little Nancy could smile as she danced, remembering all that she had been taught, while apparently forgetting all the unhappy months upon the stage.
She thought of poor little Nancy, forced to dance, night after night, to support her old Uncle Steve, who was too lazy to support himself.
She thought of the time that the little pitiful note from Nancy had reached them, and, together, she and Mrs. Dainty had found the child, and brought her safely home.
She did not speak of all this. Nancy's happy little heart should never be reminded of sad days that were past.
Now her life was filled with bright sunshine, the sunshine of love, and it was reflected in her happy face.
A gong rang out a silvery note.
"Oh, my shoes!" cried Nancy, with a peal of merry laughter. "I wanted to show you those pretty steps, and I forgot all about dinner."
It was the work of but a few seconds for Nancy to draw on the light blue hose, and even less time to put on the pretty slippers. She ran to the mirror, and courtesied, tooka few tripping steps, smiling at her reflection, and then hastened to the hall to join Dorothy.
She took a few tripping steps, smiling at her reflection.—Page 176.She took a few tripping steps, smiling at her reflection.—Page 176.
"All ready," cried Nancy, springing to her feet, to follow Dorothy.
A pretty pair they made as with arms about each other's waist, they tripped along the hall.
Fair, blue-eyed Dorothy Dainty was very lovely in a pale pink frock with soft frillings of fine lace. Her stockings were of the same shade, and her shoes were white. Mrs. Dainty in dark blue satin, and Aunt Charlotte in pearl color made, with the two children, a pleasing group.
In the lower hall they met Mrs. Paxton with Floretta, the former wearing a gown of purple satin, while Floretta wore a frock of scarlet silk. Mrs. Fenton, passing, on her way to the dining-room, looked sharplyat the two groups, anddidshe look amused when her eyes rested upon Mrs. Paxton, and her small daughter? Dorothy noticed the look, and turned to her mamma.
Mrs. Dainty read the question in Dorothy's eyes, and ever so slightly, shook her head, and they passed into the dining-room.
The next morning, when the mail was distributed, there was great excitement, because every one had so many letters.
"See mine!" cried Flossie Barnet. "Everybody see mine! It looks like boy's writing. See it!"
"If some very young man wrote it, he might not be delighted to have it so freely exhibited, Flossie," said Uncle Harry, with a laugh.
"Oh, why should he care?" she asked insurprise. "Who do you s'pose wrote it? Guess, Uncle Harry!"
"Well, now let me think," said Uncle Harry, covering his eyes with his hand, then peeping through his fingers.
"There's a small boy at home, who glories in the name of Reginald Merton Deane. Open the letter, dear, and if I guessed right, you can give me a prize, and if I'm wrong, I'll give you one."
Flossie studied the address for a moment, then she opened the letter, and laughed with delight.
"I'll have to give you the prize, but why did he think to write to me?"
Dear little Flossie had never seemed aware that small Reginald preferred her to any of his friends. Even when she was so little that she could not pronounce his name, and called him "Weginald," hethought her the dearest of all his playmates. And this was his letter:
"Dear Flossie:"I miss you so much that I'm going to write, and tell you all the news."Our old dog had a fit yesterday, and my brother got the vet'nary doctor. When he came, he said Carlo hadn't any fit. He was acting just awful. I said 'what makes him tare round so?' an he said maybe I'd tare round sum if I had a fish-bone in my throat! The doctor took it out, and then Carlo was so glad he tore round worsen ever!"Arabella Corryville is acting worse than Carlo did. You know her Aunt Matilda lives with them, an neether Arabella, or her pa, or her ma dare to do ennything without asking Aunt Matildafirst. Well, her aunt has had to go way up to New Hampshur (Iguess I didn't spell that rite) and Arabella thinks its just her chanse to act awful. Carlo is real quiet side of Arabella when she acts the way she does now."She stays out doors most all the time, and goes just where she pleases."Some days she's way down by the stashun until its almost dark."You know she's always taking medesin, and carries the bottles in her pockets."She carries em now, but she told me she's takin the kind she likes best. Theres two kinds her Aunt Matilda made her take, one tasted horrid, and the other tasted nice. Arabella threw the horrid one away, and ate the nice pills for candy. She told me this morning that her Aunt Matilda is coming home just for one day, and then they're all going up where you, and Dorothy, andNancy are. I don't believe it, but if she does, and you see her, you needn't give my love to her."Your tru friend,"Reginald."
"Dear Flossie:
"I miss you so much that I'm going to write, and tell you all the news.
"Our old dog had a fit yesterday, and my brother got the vet'nary doctor. When he came, he said Carlo hadn't any fit. He was acting just awful. I said 'what makes him tare round so?' an he said maybe I'd tare round sum if I had a fish-bone in my throat! The doctor took it out, and then Carlo was so glad he tore round worsen ever!
"Arabella Corryville is acting worse than Carlo did. You know her Aunt Matilda lives with them, an neether Arabella, or her pa, or her ma dare to do ennything without asking Aunt Matildafirst. Well, her aunt has had to go way up to New Hampshur (Iguess I didn't spell that rite) and Arabella thinks its just her chanse to act awful. Carlo is real quiet side of Arabella when she acts the way she does now.
"She stays out doors most all the time, and goes just where she pleases.
"Some days she's way down by the stashun until its almost dark.
"You know she's always taking medesin, and carries the bottles in her pockets.
"She carries em now, but she told me she's takin the kind she likes best. Theres two kinds her Aunt Matilda made her take, one tasted horrid, and the other tasted nice. Arabella threw the horrid one away, and ate the nice pills for candy. She told me this morning that her Aunt Matilda is coming home just for one day, and then they're all going up where you, and Dorothy, andNancy are. I don't believe it, but if she does, and you see her, you needn't give my love to her.
"Your tru friend,"Reginald."
OF course, Dorothy and Nancy were greatly interested in the letter, and Uncle Harry said that he was glad that Reginald had thought to say that the fish-bone had been removed from Carlo's throat.
He said it would have seemed quite a trip to take to leave the Cleverton, and go to Merrivale to feel Carlo's pulse, and inquire for his health.
"Now that that bone is removed, I breathe easier," said Uncle Harry, "and so does Carlo!"
"Oh, you wouldn't have gone home just to call on Carlo," said Flossie.
"Well, I don't know," he said, trying tolook solemn, "I wouldn't like Carlo to feel neglected, and now I think of it, does Reginald speak of the cat?"
"No," said Flossie, "but when I answer the letter, I'll tell Reginald you're anxious about her."
"I am," said Uncle Harry, "because the last time I saw her, Carlo was barking at her very rudely, and her back was up in a hump like a camel's. Reginald ought to have told us if her back isstillup, or whether she has taken the kink out of her spine. We might telephone and ask, instead of worrying."
He rose, and walked toward the hall, whistling as he went, an old nursery song that he used to sing to Flossie.
"The cat came fiddling out of the barn,With a pair of bagpipes under her arm."
How the children laughed!
"Look!" said Flossie, "he's going right toward the telephone, just to make us think that he'strulygoing to ring up Reginald, and inquire for the cat."
"Who is Arabella?" Floretta asked.
"She lives near us," said Dorothy, "and she used to go to Aunt Charlotte's private school with us."
"Doesn't she now?" asked Floretta.
"No, she left our class, and went to a large school in the city."
"By what the letter says, I'd think she was rather queer," said Floretta.
"Well—" said Dorothy, hesitating, "Arabellaisqueer."
"Why don't you like to say so?" was the sharp reply.
"Because Dorothy never likes to say anything that isn't kind about any one, butArabellaisqueer, so Dorothy won't say she isn't," said Nancy.
It was a few days later that Dorothy was reminded of what Reginald had said in his letter to Flossie.
She was waiting for Nancy to go for a walk, and stooping to pick some of the pretty wildflowers that blossomed everywhere.
She had walked slowly along toward the clump of white birches where, when they had first arrived, they had called, and listened to the echo.
She looked back toward the hotel, but Nancy was not yet in sight, so she seated herself upon the grass, and began to arrange the flowers in a fine bouquet.
She was trying to mix the white blossoms and pink buds so as to show the beauty of each, when a carriage passed, and beforeshe looked up a shrill little voice shouted:
"Dorothy! Dorothy! We're over at the farmhouse just beyond the Merlington. Aunt Matilda wouldn'tletpa take us to a hotel. She doesn't approve of hotels. Aunt Matilda says,—"
She was looking back to shout at Dorothy, and doubtless would have given even more particulars, but a firm hand had hastily forced her to turn around, and sit down.
Nancy ran along the path a few moments later, and her eyes were dancing.
"Did you see Arabella?" she asked. "Didyou?"
"Yes, just a few moments ago, and she turned around in the carriage and screamed to me," said Dorothy.
"I can guess what she said," laughedNancy, "because she screamed at me. She told me she was staying at a farmhouse, and said that her Aunt Matilda didn't approve of hotels."
"That isjustwhat she said," said Dorothy, "and she would have said more but some one, I think it was her Aunt Matilda, pulled her back into the carriage."
"Why, that's just the way it was when I saw her. I ran out on to the piazza, and down the steps, and the carriage rolled by, and she twisted round to shout. There was this difference, though," said Nancy. "You were out here alone, and no one would know if you laughed, but when I ran out, our piazza was full of people, and when Arabella shouted, you'd ought to have seen them look.
"Flossie and her Uncle Harry were onthe lawn, and as she rode past, he said with a sigh:
"'Arabella, Arabella,If I had my new umbrella,'
and I was wild to know the rest of it, but his wife, who was standing near him, said:
"'Hush, Harry, really you mustn't,' and he only laughed, and said:
"'Oh,mustn'tI? Why, when I saw Arabella and her Aunt Matilda, I really felt as if Imust!'"
"Let's ask him what the rest of the verse is," said Dorothy.
"I'm wild to hear it," Nancy said, "because the very way he looked made me think that the other lines, whatever they were, would be funny."
She stooped to gather more of the little blossoms to add to Dorothy's bouquet, andthen commenced to make a bouquet of her own.
"Arabella will be coming over to see you," she said, a moment later, "and I wonder if it is naughty to say, 'I wish she wouldn't?' Do you think it is?"
"I don't know," said Dorothy, "but Idowish it. I wouldn't, only she is so hard to please. Mamma wishes us to be nice to every one, but, Nancy, youdoknow that when we try the hardest to please Arabella, we don't please her at all."
"I know it," agreed Nancy, "but perhaps she'll come some time when we are out, and then we won't have to amuse her."
"I'm sure I ought not to say it, but Idowish it would happen that way," said Dorothy.
They had reached the birches, and they paused to wake the echo. What fun it was to hear their shouts repeated.
Again and again they called, and then a droll thing happened. They had called this name and that, and each time the echo, like a voice from the mountain, had repeated it with wonderful distinctness. Then Dorothy, leaning forward, called, loudly:
"Dorothy!"
"What?" came the reply.
She turned, and looked at Nancy. "Dorothy!" she cried, again.
"Dainty!" was the answer, and upon looking toward a little path that was nearly opposite where they were standing, they saw the low bushes move, and faintly they heard a smothered laugh.
Dorothy was laughing now.
"Boys!" she cried, and back came the laughing echo:
"Girls!" and then the boys peeped out a bit too far, and Dorothy saw who had been playing echo.
It was Jack Tiverton and a boy whom he had chosen for a "chum." Jack had not intended so soon to be discovered, and he and his friend disappeared in a little grove, while Dorothy and Nancy continued their walk.
There were sunny paths and bits of woodland that were so near the hotel as to be absolutely safe, where all the summer guests, especially the children, loved to roam at will. Along one of these little paths were sweet little yellow blossoms, and these they gathered to brighten their bouquets.
"Let's have some of these little vines tohang from our bouquets," said Dorothy, and the graceful vines proved to be an added beauty.
When they returned to the Cleverton there were but few people upon the piazza.
Mrs. Dainty and Aunt Charlotte sat talking with Mrs. Vinton, and farther along, Mrs. Fenton sat with an open book upon her lap, although she was not reading.
She often had a book or magazine, but rarely did she read them.
She would sit looking off at the distant mountain-range, the white clouds, or the sunny valley over which those clouds cast floating shadows.
Did she hear the conversation, or notice what was going on about her? Floretta Paxton said that Mrs. Fenton acted as if she sat there to watch some one; and wasFloretta right? Mrs. Fenton's actions certainly seemed strange day after day. She talked little, took slight interest in what was going on about her, and was a mystery to all the other guests.
But what, or whom could she be watching?
Dorothy and Nancy, returning from their walk, saw the group, and also noticed Mrs. Fenton, who always chose to sit apart from the others.
"I'll give my flowers to mamma and Mrs. Vinton," said Dorothy.
"And I'll give mine to Aunt Charlotte and to Mrs. Fenton,—if she wants them," said Nancy, hesitating because it was so hard to guess what might, or might not, please Mrs. Fenton.
Dorothy ran to show her blossoms to her mamma and to Mrs. Vinton, while Nancy,pausing beside Mrs. Fenton's chair, held forth her pretty bouquet, as she said:
"We've just gathered them. Aren't they pretty?"
"Lovely, very lovely," said Mrs. Fenton, with more interest than usual. "I remember picking just such flowers; even the long vines I know are like those I used to see when I was a little girl."
"Would you enjoy some of these? I'd so like to give them to you," Nancy said, and she was surprised at the quick reply.
"I would really prize them, Nancy, and you're a sweet child to give them to me," she said.
Quickly Nancy divided the bouquet, and smiled as she laid the pretty things in Mrs. Fenton's lap.
"I cannot let them wilt, so I will take them at once to my room," said Mrs.Fenton, and Nancy saw her bend to catch their perfume, as she turned toward the hall.
That night, when nearly all the guests had entered the dining-room, Mrs. Fenton came in at the main entrance, and as she sat nearly opposite Mrs. Dainty's party, they noticed that the bodice of her black lace gown was given color by the pretty wildflowers that Nancy had given her. They were the first flowers that she had worn since her arrival.
Nancy smiled with pleasure, and Mrs. Fenton, looking across the table, returned the smile.
Had the gift of simple wildflowers cheered her?
Thus far she had worn only black, but to-night a dull gold slip shimmered through the black lace; and were her eyes brighter?
Nancy thought so, and without knowing why, was glad.
There was a musicale in the evening, and Mrs. Fenton joined Mrs. Dainty and Aunt Charlotte, and seemed to enjoy the conversation, between the numbers of the program.
Once, while she was talking, she laid her hand lightly upon Nancy's shoulder, and Nancy looked up to smile. Aunt Charlotte saw that the lady was more cheerful, and also noticed that she wore Nancy's flowers. The evening passed pleasantly, and Nancy's drowsy words, just before she went to sleep, were:
"I do really think I cheered her."
A few days later Mrs. Dainty invited Mrs. Fenton to be her guest during a drive over a lovely road that neither of them had yetseen. It was said to be one of the most picturesque roads in that section of the country.
Mrs. Fenton accepted, and with Aunt Charlotte and Mrs. Vinton they formed a pleasant party.
Dorothy and Nancy were to drive in their little phaeton, and they felt quite as important as the four ladies in the barouche.
True, Mrs. Dainty owned a handsome span of bays, but was not the pony, Romeo, a beauty?
The road was some distance from the Cleverton, and there were some charming places to be seen on the way, so it happened that the trip, which proved to be most enjoyable, occupied the afternoon.
Mrs. Paxton had a number of letters to write, and Floretta, feeling very lonely, and wishing that she had some one to play with,climbed into a hammock, and wondered what she might do to amuse herself.
"Every one but me has gone somewhere, and I wishIhad," she said, as she gave a smart kick that sent the hammock higher.
"What's the fun of swinging alone?" she grumbled, but there was no one on the piazza to answer her, and she let the hammock sway lazily while she looked down the sunny road, and thought how strange it was that the place seemed so still.
Not a leaf stirred, and Floretta's disgust increased.
"Nothing in sight, not even an old hen," she said, when, way down where the road looked so narrow and distant, a little figure appeared, coming directly toward the Cleverton. She watched the approaching figure, and wondered who it might be.
"'Tisn't any one I know," she thought, "anddoesn'tshe look queer?"
Any one who had ever known Arabella Corryville would also have known that she always looked decidedly odd and strange, and it was Arabella who was marching steadily along the road.
So determined was her tread that one might have thought that there was a band behind her playing martial music to which she was obliged to keep step.
"Well, whoever she is, she's carrying an umbrella, this pleasant day," murmured Floretta; then as she came near, she added:
"And wearing rubbers and a raincoat, as true as I live!"
Arabella was more bundled and wrapped than at first appeared, for, as she came up the gravel walk, Floretta saw that a longveil was closely tied over her hat, and wound about her throat.
From her appearance one might have thought that she expected freezing weather before night.
She walked up on to the piazza, and then stood, for a moment, looking about, as if in search of some one.
It was not politeness that prompted Floretta to speak. It was simply curiosity. She was wild to know who the strange-looking child was, and whom she wished to see.
"Are you looking for some one?" she asked, at the same time slipping from the hammock, and going so close to Arabella that she could peep into the queer little face.
ARABELLA peered at Floretta through her spectacles, and was tempted not to reply, but after a moment's pause she changed her mind.
"I came to see Dorothy Dainty, and Nancy Ferris," she said.
"They're out driving," said Floretta.
"How do you know?" Arabella asked, rudely.
"Because I heard them say they were going, and because I saw them go," was the quick reply.
"It's a long way over here, and now I've got to take the same walk back," said Arabella.
"They're going to be out all the afternoon," said Floretta, "but why don't you sit down, and rest a while before you go back?"
It sounded kind, and Arabella at once seated herself, while Floretta sat near her.
She thought it would be great fun to question this odd child, and there was no one near to check her.
"Aren't you nearly roasted in that raincoat?" she asked.
"Well, I'm not chilly," said Arabella, fixing her sharp eyes upon the other little girl.
"Did you think it was going to rain?" was the next question. "You've rubbers, and umbrella."
Floretta barely managed to hide the fact that she wanted to laugh. Her questionseemed so absurd with the blue sky overhead, and the sunshine everywhere.
"I didn't want to wear them," said Arabella, "and I told Aunt Matilda it was too pleasant to rain, but she said you never could tell, and she said, too, that I could wear them, or stay at home, so what could I do?"
"I'dhave stayed at home," said Floretta, bluntly. "I wouldn't wear raincoat and rubbers, and lug an umbrella for any Aunt Matilda or Aunt Jemima!"
"Who is Aunt Jemima?" Arabella asked, stupidly.
"I don't know," said Floretta, sharply, "but then, I don't know your Aunt Matilda."
She longed to say that she did not want to, but for once she did not quite dare to say what she thought.
Then there was an awkward pause. Floretta could not think what to say next, while Arabella did not try.
Silence never made her uneasy. She could stare at any one who sat opposite her, for a half-hour, without so much as winking, and it rather amused her if the other person became nervous, and wriggled uneasily beneath her persistent stare. At last Floretta spoke.
"You might take some of those things off," she said; "you won't need them while you stay."
"Aunt Matilda told me not to," said Arabella, "and if Idid, it would be just my luck to have her come right by here, and see me with them off. My!Wouldn'tshe be angry?"
Arabella's eyes dilated as she asked the question.
"Does your Aunt Matilda poke 'round after you like that?" asked Floretta.
"She doesn't everseemto follow me, but all the same, she's always catching me doing something."
"Then youdorisk doing what she tells you not to," said Floretta, with a saucy laugh.
"Look here!" cried Arabella, "I don't know you, but I'm going to tell you something. I can't do one single thing I want to, neither can my papa or mamma. Aunt Matilda is little, and my papa is big. He says he was centre-rush on the college football team, but when Aunt Matilda tells him what to do, he says, 'Yes'm,' and does it. One of our neighbors at home says Aunt Matilda holds the purse-strings, but I don't know what that means. Her purse hasn't any strings on it."
"Well, if ithad, I'd cut 'em off," said Floretta, "so shecouldn'thold 'em."
"You wouldn't if she lived atyourhouse," said Arabella.
Floretta, in spite of her boldness, was more than half convinced.
"Well,—perhaps I wouldn't," she said. "Why, what are you taking?"
"Pills," said Arabella, counting out six very pink pills from a little bottle, and taking them, then making a horrid face.
"You don't look sick," said Floretta, "but you're taking medicine."
"Aunt Matilda says these are for my color," was the answer.
"You haven't any; you're pale as a sheet," said Floretta.
"That's why I take them," said Arabella,"and look! I've got some green ones I take," and six green pills followed the pink ones.
"Why, what are those for?" gasped Floretta. "Ought you to take two kinds at the same time?"
Arabella, determined to startle her new acquaintance, took a third bottle from her pocket, and swallowed three very large white pills.
She was delighted with the effect that she had produced.
Floretta sprang to her feet, and tried to snatch the bottle, but Arabella had put it in her pocket, and was holding the pocket together.
She narrowed her shrewd little eyes, and smiled broadly.
"Guess you couldn't take all that, and not feel queer!" she said.
"I wouldn't wonder if you felt funny.Doyou?" asked Floretta.
"Notyet," said Arabella.
Floretta was getting tired of her caller. She hoped that she hadn't any more kinds of medicine that she could take.
She wished that Dorothy would return and amuse Arabella.
She would have run away from any one else, and rudely left her alone, but there was something so strange about this child that she feared her.
She had a nervous feeling that if she turned to leave her, Arabella might snatch at her, and draw her back. She certainly did look odd.
There was something catlike in the way in which she kept her eyes riveted upon Floretta.
She looked as if, at any moment, she might spring at her!
She was not thinking of doing anything of the sort, however.
The truth was that shedidfeel just a bit queer.
Was it the three kinds of pills? She could not tell, but she began to feel as if she would be glad if she were at home.
"I guess I'll go now," she said. "I think it must be time."
"What time did your Aunt Matilda tell you to come home?" Floretta asked.
"She said I could stay to dinner if Dorothy asked me, but she doesn't come home, so I guess I won't wait."
"Go to dinner at the Cleverton in that plaid gingham!" thought Floretta, for shehad seen the plain little frock beneath the raincoat.
She offered two cards to Floretta.—Page 210.She offered two cards to Floretta.—Page 210.
Arabella grasped her big umbrella firmly, and turned, as she went down the steps, to say:
"You may tell Dorothy Dainty thatMissCorryville called."
Floretta giggled.
"And you might tell your Aunt Matilda that you talked withMissPaxton," she said.
"I will," said Arabella, without a sign of a smile.
"I wonder you don't leave cards," said Floretta, and to her surprise, the queer child put her hand in the pocket of her raincoat, and, without looking at them, offered two cards to Floretta, saying:
"There they are."
Then, without looking back, she marchedresolutely down the road. She did not thank Floretta for talking with her while she rested, nor did she say "good-by."
For some moments Floretta stood watching the odd little figure as it tramped down the road, the umbrella, like a huge walking stick, thumping the gravel at every step. She thought Arabella would turn around, but she did not.
One might have thought that she had already forgotten the child with whom she had been talking. When, at last, she disappeared behind a clump of trees that hid the curve of the road, Floretta looked at the two cards in her hand, stared at them in amazement, and then laughed, laughed until her eyes were full of tears.
Who could have helped laughing? One card bore these lines: