diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 01:24:28 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 01:24:28 -0700 |
| commit | f010f61f6757c0e465e4c13c9f167089c80421e4 (patch) | |
| tree | 593aea132b109225e09878bbaa7f812f0b12c2f3 | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20620-0.txt | 7935 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20620-0.zip | bin | 0 -> 134419 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20620-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 268392 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20620-h/20620-h.htm | 8197 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20620-h/images/a.jpg | bin | 0 -> 1614 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20620-h/images/a.png | bin | 0 -> 447 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20620-h/images/a2.png | bin | 0 -> 445 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20620-h/images/e.jpg | bin | 0 -> 1701 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20620-h/images/e.png | bin | 0 -> 426 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20620-h/images/f.jpg | bin | 0 -> 1358 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20620-h/images/f.png | bin | 0 -> 396 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20620-h/images/frontis_l.jpg | bin | 0 -> 75644 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20620-h/images/frontis_s.jpg | bin | 0 -> 36163 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20620-h/images/i.png | bin | 0 -> 352 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20620-h/images/i2.png | bin | 0 -> 364 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20620-h/images/j.png | bin | 0 -> 377 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20620-h/images/m.png | bin | 0 -> 489 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20620-h/images/r.png | bin | 0 -> 417 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20620-h/images/s.png | bin | 0 -> 444 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20620-h/images/s2.png | bin | 0 -> 452 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20620-h/images/t.png | bin | 0 -> 391 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20620-h/images/w.png | bin | 0 -> 512 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20620-h/images/y.png | bin | 0 -> 423 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20620-h/images/y2.png | bin | 0 -> 439 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/20620-8.txt | 7935 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/20620-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 134351 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/20620.txt | 7935 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/20620.zip | bin | 0 -> 134324 bytes |
31 files changed, 32018 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/20620-0.txt b/20620-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..83e8fe9 --- /dev/null +++ b/20620-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7935 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rosemary, by Josephine Lawrence + +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: Rosemary + +Author: Josephine Lawrence + +Release Date: February 19, 2007 [EBook #20620] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROSEMARY *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Jacqueline Jeremy and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: SARAH PULLED OUT A LITTLE DANGLING DARK OBJECT. +"Rosemary" Page 157] + + + + +ROSEMARY + +_By_ +_Josephine Lawrence_ + +_Illustrated by_ +_Thelma Gooch_ + +NEW YORK +CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY + + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY + +_Rosemary_ + +PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I GOOD NEWS 1 + + II THE WILLIS WILL 12 + + III AUNT TRUDY COMES 23 + + IV DOCTOR HUGH TAKES COMMAND 34 + + V WINNIE'S VOLUNTEERS 45 + + VI ROSEMARY HAS HER WAY 54 + + VII THE RUNAWAY 65 + + VIII SARAH IN DISGRACE 76 + + IX WHEN PATIENCE SLIPS 87 + + X THE LAST STRAW 98 + + XI A CHAIN OF PROMISES 109 + + XII ONE DISASTROUS AFTERNOON 121 + + XIII JACK STRAIGHTENS THINGS OUT 132 + + XIV A NEW SCHOOL TERM 144 + + XV TOO MUCH NATURAL HISTORY 156 + + XVI MR. OLIVER AND SARAH 168 + + XVII THE INSTITUTE DINNER 180 + +XVIII SHIRLEY IN MISCHIEF 192 + + XIX BUCKING THE STUDENT COUNCIL 204 + + XX DRESSMAKER ROSEMARY 216 + + XXI MR. JORDAN LEARNS SOMETHING 228 + + XXII SHOPPING WITH NINA 240 + +XXIII SARAH LOSES A MENAGERIE 252 + + XXIV A MYSTERY SOLVED 264 + + XXV GARDEN DAYS 276 + + XXVI THE SCHOOL PICNIC 288 + +XXVII A LONG YEAR'S END 300 + + + + +ROSEMARY + + +CHAPTER I + +GOOD NEWS + + +The Willis house was very quiet. The comfortable screened porch was +deserted, though a sweater in the hammock and a box of gay paper +dolls on the floor showed that it had served as a play-space +recently. Inside, not a door banged, not a footfall sounded. + +The late afternoon June sunshine streamed in through the hall window +and made a broad band to the stairway which was in the shadow. The +light touched the heads of three girls huddled closely together in +the cushioned window-seat and turned the hair of one to gleaming, +burnished golden red, another to a fairy web of spun yellow silk and +searched out the faint copper tint in the dark locks of the third. +The girls sat motionless, their faces turned toward the stairs, as +silent as everything else in that silent house. + +"Rosemary!" whispered the dark-haired one suddenly, "Rosemary, you +don't think--" + +The girl with the gold-red hair, who sat between the other two, +started nervously. Her violet blue eyes transferred their anxious +gaze from the shadowy staircase to her sister's face. + +"Oh, no!" she said passionately. "No! Do you hear me, Sarah? That +couldn't happen to us. Why do you say such things?" + +"I didn't say anything," protested Sarah sullenly. "Did I, Shirley?" + +The little girl with the fairy-web of yellow hair did not answer. +She started from her seat and ran toward the stairs. + +"Hugh's coming!" she cried. + +Quick, even steps sounded on the hardwood treads and a young man +with dark hair, darker eyes behind eye-glasses and a keen, +intelligent face, descended rapidly. He picked up the child and +strode across the hall to the window-seat. + +"Poor children!" he said compassionately, sitting down beside +Rosemary and holding the younger girl in his lap. "Has the time +seemed long? I came as quickly as I could." + +Rosemary looked at him piteously. + +"All right, dear," he said instantly. "Mother is going to get well. +Dr. Hurlbut and I have decided that all she needs is a long rest. I +am going to take her to a quiet place in the country day after +to-morrow and she is to stay until she is entirely recovered. Why +Rosemary!" + +The gold-red head was on his shoulder and Rosemary was crying as +though her heart would break. + +"That's the way she is," said the dark and placid Sarah. "She jumps +on me if I say anything and then she cries herself sick thinking +things. I would rather," she declared with peculiar distinctness, +"have folks talk than think, wouldn't you, Hugh?" + +"I'm sorry to say I can't agree with you," replied the young +man briefly. "Here, Shirley, I didn't know you were such a +heavy-weight--you run off with Sarah and tell Winnie what I have +told you about Mother. Quietly now, and no shouting. Rosemary, +dear," he put a protecting arm around the weeping girl, "you will +feel better now--we have all been under a strain and the worst is +over. Here comes Miss Graham with Dr. Hurlbut and I must see him +off. Don't run--he'll probably go right out without seeing you." + +But the famous specialist stopped squarely in the hall and the +pleasant-faced middle-aged nurse, standing respectfully on the +lower step, nodded reassuringly to Rosemary who was frantically +mopping her eyes. + +"Well, Dr. Willis," said the great man heartily, "I am mighty glad +to have been of some little service. I'm sure you will find Pine +Crest sanatorium all that it is said to be and the right place for +your mother. She mustn't be allowed, of course, to worry about home +affairs. There are younger children, I believe?" + +"Three girls," said Hugh Willis. "Rosemary--" he summoned her with a +glance,--"my sister, Dr. Hurlbut." + +Dr. Hurlbut shook hands kindly letting his quizzical gray eyes rest +a moment longer on the tear-stained face. + +"Ah, we cry because of past sorrow," he said quietly, "and, a +little, because of present joy; is it not so?" + +Rosemary lifted her head in quick understanding, tossing back her +magnificent mane and showing her violet blue eyes still wet with +tears. She smiled radiantly and her face was vivid, glowing, almost +startling in its beauty. + +"I am so happy!" she said clearly, and her girl-voice held a note of +pure joyousness. "So happy that I do not think I can ever be +unhappy again!" + +The two doctors smiled a little in sympathy. + +"Ah, well," said the famous specialist, after a moment's silence, +gently, "let us hope so." + +He turned toward the door and the younger man went with him to the +handsome car drawn up at the curb. Rosemary, with a swift hug for +Miss Graham, dashed past her upstairs to her own room, always a +haven in time of happiness or stress. + +"Mother is going to get well!" whispered the girl, starry-eyed. "All +she needs is rest, and then she will be quite well again. Cora +Mason's mother died--" the expressive face sobered and, sitting on +the edge of her pretty white bed, Rosemary's twelve-year old mind +filled with somber thoughts. Presently she slipped noiselessly to +her knees and buried her curly head in the comforting cool white +pillow. + +"Dear God--" she began, but the tide of joy and relief began to beat +loudly again in her heart, sending rich waves of color into her +hidden face. + +"I am so happy," prayed Rosemary tumultuously. "I am so happy! I am +so happy!" + +Presently she rose and dragged her white shoes from the closet. +Sitting in the middle of the floor, she started contentedly cleaning +them. + +"Rosemary?" sounded a little voice. "Rosemary, you in here?" + +Rosemary straightened up so that she could see across the bed which +stood between her and the doorway. + +"Yes, Shirley darling," she answered. "Did you tell Winnie about +mother?" + +"Yes," said Shirley scrambling upon the bed. "We told her. What you +doing, Sister?" + +"Cleaning my white shoes," replied Rosemary, applying whitener +vigorously. "I'm going to put them on and wear my white linen dress. +Don't you want to dress up to-night, Shirley? Bring me your shoes, +if they are dirty, and I'll do them for you." + +"All right, I'll get them," decided Shirley, sliding off the bed +backward. "Could I put on my blue sash, Rosemary?" + +"Not with that dress," said Rosemary firmly. "I'll have to wash your +face and hands and neck and then you can wear the cross-bar muslin +with the lace yoke." + +"Are you up here, Rosemary?" demanded another voice. "What are you +doing?" + +"Cleaning my shoes," said Rosemary patiently. "Say, Sarah, don't +you think it would be nice if we dressed up a little for dinner +to-night?" + +"Why?" asked Sarah bluntly. + +"Oh, because--because, well, we know Mother is going to get well," +explained Rosemary. "And everything has been in such a mess this +week, the table half set and nobody caring whether they ate or not. +I'd like to show Hugh that we can have things done properly." + +"What difference does it make?" drawled Sarah lazily. "I hate a lot +of fuss, you know I do. Rosemary, do you suppose it hurts worms to +use them for fishing bait? Will you ask Jack Welles?" + +"I'll ask him the next time I see him, if you will put on your tan +linen with the red tie," promised Rosemary. "And do brush your hair +back the way Mother likes it, Sarah. She can't bear to see it +stringing into your eyes." + +"Oh--all right," agreed Sarah. "Don't forget to ask about the +worms." + +She departed and in her place came Shirley, carrying a pair of +diminutive and soiled white shoes. + +"I wish," she announced pleasantly, sitting down on the floor +beside Rosemary to watch the cleaning process, "I wish we could have +ice-cream." + +"Well I'll ask Winnie," said Rosemary promptly. "What dessert do you +suppose we are going to have to-night?" + +"Berries," Shirley answered wisely. "I saw 'em. Couldn't Winnie make +us chocolate ice-cream?" + +"Oh, she wouldn't have time to make it," said Rosemary, "but I'll +ask her if I can't telephone the drug-store and have them send us +some. There your shoes are, honey. Now hurry and get dressed." + +Dr. Hugh Willis, coming down from his mother's sick-room at the +summons of the musical chime which announced the dinner hour, +thought he had never seen a pleasanter sight than greeted his eyes +in the dining-room. The room itself was pleasant and airy and the +last rays of the sun struck the table set with fresh linen and a +simple and orderly array of silver. But it was the three joyous +faces turned expectantly toward him that caught and held his +attention. Rosemary, in white from head to foot, stood behind her +mother's chair and all the light in the room seemed to center in her +eyes and hair. Shirley, looking like a particularly wholesome and +adorable cherub from her sunny curls and wide, gray eyes to her fat +and dimpled knees scuffled in an impatient circle around her own +special seat and Sarah, a stout and stolid little Indian in tan +linen and scarlet tie, showed her one beauty--a set of strong, even +white teeth--in an engaging smile. + +"Well how smart we are," smiled the doctor, surveying them +appreciatively. "Seems to me everyone is dressed up to-night." + +"We wanted to have things nice--because Mother is going to get +well," said Rosemary with simple directness. + +For answer Dr. Hugh came forward and pulled out her chair for her, +"just as if I were a grown-up woman," she recounted with pride to +her mother later, and then lifted Shirley to her seat and tied on +her bib dexterously. + +"We're going to have ice-cream," Sarah informed him. + +"That's fine," he commented a trifle absently, beginning to carve. +When he had served them all, he spoke seriously. + +"Girls," he said, "I'm going to send a telegram after dinner +to-night to Aunt Trudy Wright. Mother wants her to come and stay +with you while she is away; I don't think she can begin to mend +until she knows that she has provided for you." + +"Oh, Hugh!" Rosemary mashing potato for Shirley's hungry +consumption, looked distressed. "I can keep house, I know I can. We +don't need Aunt Trudy." + +"She won't let me keep any mice in my room," wailed Sarah. "I don't +like her, either." + +"Let me eat it now," said Shirley, referring to her potato. "Let's +tell Aunt Trudy not to come. She says oatmeal is good for me and I +don't like oatmeal." + +"Have you all finished?" asked the doctor calmly. "Well then, I have +something to say: Aunt Trudy is coming, just as soon as I can get +her here; if for no other reason than Mother wants her and will go +away happy in the belief that you will be well taken care of. There +is to be no argument and I absolutely forbid you to mention the +subject to Mother; if she says anything to you, try to act as though +you were pleased at the prospect. For my part, I should think you +would be glad she could come. An aunt is pretty nice to have when +you are in trouble." + +"You don't know Aunt Trudy," said Sarah pertly. + +"Rosemary, will you go up and sit with Mother while Miss Graham has +her dinner, when we are through?" asked Dr. Hugh, ignoring Sarah's +remark. "I am going down to the drug-store for a few things and I'll +be back within half an hour." + +The dessert of berries and ice-cream were eaten almost in silence. +Three of the people at the table were busy with conflicting +thoughts. Shirley alone was concentrating her attention on the +delight of a larger slice of cake than usual. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE WILLIS WILL + + +"It's the first real warm night we've had isn't it?" said Mrs. +Hollister conversationally. "I got to thinking about you to-night, +Winnie, and I said to Mamie that I believed I'd come up and see you +for a minute or two; I thought you might be glad to have a little +help with the dishes or something." + +Winnie, a tall gaunt woman, the gray hair on her temples hardly +perceptible because of the ash-blondness of her tightly pulled hair, +stood beside the kitchen table apparently figuring some problem on a +slip of paper. + +"My dishes are done," she said capably, "but sit down, do Mrs. +Hollister; I'm not denying that I'm glad to see a friend after the +day I've had." + +Mrs. Hollister sank heavily into the cushioned rocker drawn up near +the table and removed her cotton gloves. + +"I said to Mamie I knew you'd be tuckered out," she observed. "Am I +keeping you, Winnie--is that important?" she indicated the slip of +paper in the other's hand. + +"I can do it any time before to-morrow morning," Winnie explained. +"It's the laundry list and I have about everything counted up. The +man comes Wednesdays." + +"Where are the girls?" asked the visitor, her quick eyes roving +approvingly around the immaculate kitchen. "Did the poor lady get +off safely?" + +"The girls are in bed," said Winnie, taking the questions in order. +"They were worn out and I told 'em bed was the best place for them +to be. They've lost all their good sensible habits these last two +weeks and it's glad I am the young doctor is going to be here to +look after 'em. They need to be settled down if ever anybody did." + +"And Mrs. Willis? She will really get well?" urged Mrs. Hollister. + +Winnie's face changed. Her eyes softened. + +"They all say she will be better than she's been for years, bless +her! All of 'em, Dr. Hurlbut, that big specialist that came from +New York, and Dr. Jordan and Doctor Hugh, who's as good as any of +them if he is young, all of 'em say if she only rests a year in +this sanatorium and doesn't have to worry we'll never know she +was sick." + +"She was taken sudden, wasn't she?" asked the visitor. "Mamie said +you found her, Winnie." + +Winnie snapped on the light for the summer dusk was deepening +into dark. + +"That I did," she answered. "I'll never forget it, never. I was +going up to her room to ask her whether I should wait for the butter +and egg woman or send down to the store and in the upstairs hall I +walked right into her, lying so still and white on the floor. I got +her on the bed myself and sent Rosemary flying down to Dr. Jordan's +office for Dr. Hugh. Dr. Jordan came up with the young doctor and +they got the trained nurse and for over a week we didn't know +whether the dear lady would stay with us or not. Then she got a +little better and Dr. Hugh wanted her to go off to this sanatorium +place, but she wouldn't hear of it till the specialist put in his +word and all three doctors promised her she'd be cured." + +"They say Dr. Hugh is going to take Dr. Jordan's practice," said +Mrs. Hollister irrelevantly. + +"I don't know who 'they' are, but for once they've told the truth," +said Winnie a bit tartly. "Dr. Jordan is going away for two months, +or three, and Dr. Hugh is to look after his office and patients. He +may settle down in Eastshore, if he likes it well enough." + +Winnie did not add what she, as a confidante of the family, had +heard discussed, namely that Dr. Hugh would likely buy the practice +of Dr. Jordan who was an old man and anxious to retire from active +service. + +"Dr. Hurlbut came down in a great big car this afternoon and took +Mrs. Willis," Winnie went on, "Dr. Hugh went with her and he's +coming back in the morning. The girls behaved beautifully and not +one of 'em cried till their mother was well out of sight." + +"Well I should say you'll have your hands full with the +housekeeping," was Mrs. Hollister's next comment. "I don't +suppose you can depend on much help from the girls, though +Rosemary is old enough to do considerable if she's a mind +to. How old is she now?" + +"Twelve," replied Winnie. "But you musn't think I'm to do +everything, Mrs. Hollister. Miss Trudy Wright is coming +to-morrow, to stay till Mrs. Willis gets home." + +"Who's she?" asked Mrs. Hollister bluntly. "Anybody you +can rely on?" + +"I'm not saying I don't like her, for I do," said Winnie with +admirable conservatism, "Miss Wright means well, if ever a woman +did. She's the half sister of Mrs. Willis's husband and she sets +great store, she's always saying, by her dead brother's family." + +"You don't sound as if you were so terribly pleased," said Mrs. +Hollister shrewdly. "Does she put her nose into things that are no +concern of hers?" + +"No, I wouldn't say that for her," answered Winnie. "I don't know as +there is any one thing I can put my finger on. Of course she has +never been in charge of the house before--it will be queer to be +taking orders from her. She's been here off and on, making visits +and she never bothered me. Mrs. Willis, poor dear, went away feeling +sure that the girls would be well looked after and I'd be the last +one to think of disturbing her thoughts. But, between you and me, +Mrs. Hollister, Miss Wright can't manage a family like this. She +just hasn't got it in her." + +"You mean the girls are a handful?" suggested Mrs. Hollister. "I +thought as soon as you said she was coming, that a woman without any +children of her own would find it hard trying to look after three +lively girls." + +"Children of your own has got nothing to do with it," asserted +Winnie, tossing her head. "I can make any one of the children stand +round, if I give my mind to it, and they're as fond of me as can be. +But remember I say if I give my mind to it--Miss Wright hasn't got +the patience to keep repeating the same thing fifty times and if she +gives an order and they don't pay attention she drops it right +there. I'm not blaming her--she's fat and has plenty of money and +likes to be comfortable; she must be fifty years old, too, and at +her time of life it's only fair to expect to have a little peace. +But I know the Willis family, and giving in to the girls is the +worst thing you can do. I get wore out lots of times and knuckle +down, but Dr. Hugh won't. I've been watching him, the little time +he's been here, and I'll bet he can hold out against even Rosemary." + +"I suppose it's her red hair," said Mrs. Hollister vaguely. + +"Rosemary is an angel from heaven," declared Winnie, loyally rising +to the defense of the absent. "She's always been the sweetest child +the Lord ever made and when she was a baby I could never bear to +scold her because she'd look at me so sad-like from those big blue +eyes of hers. But Rosemary has the Willis will and the Willis +temper and when she is on her high horse the house won't hold her. +Sooner or later she's going to try to have her way against the young +doctor's orders and then there will be war. All the girls are +getting out of hand now, anyway, what with their mother sick and the +house upset and no regular plan to follow. I caught Sarah yesterday +making her breakfast off of lemonade, raisin pie and fancy cakes." + +"She's a queer one, that Sarah," said Mrs. Hollister, chuckling. +"She nearly frightened the little Percey girl into fits showing her +a live snake one afternoon." + +"Sarah's got a good heart, if you can find it," declared Winnie, +"but unless you handle her just right, you're in for a peck of +trouble. Rosemary's temper blazes up and burns fierce enough dear +knows, but it burns itself out good and clean and leaves a good +clean ash. Now you take Sarah--she goes into a fit of the sulks and +likely as not she won't speak to anyone in the house for a week." + +"She would if she was my child," announced Mrs. Hollister grimly. +"I'd soon shake that out of her." + +"It's my private belief that you can't shake anything out of Sarah, +once she makes up her mind to it," said Winnie solemnly. "She's got +the Willis will and that is a caution. Even Shirley, six years old +and looking like a cherub straight from above, even Shirley has got +a temper of her own and as for will--well you try to make that baby +do a thing she says she won't do. The Willis will is something to +reckon with, Mrs. Hollister." + +"Why do you keep talking about the Willis will?" asked Mrs. +Hollister with curiosity. + +"Because I've lived with it for twenty-eight years and I know all +about it," said Winnie. "Twenty-eight years ago, this spring, have I +lived with this family and in that time I've seen Doctor Hugh grow +from the baby that was laid in my arms into a fine young man with +the Willis will made a help to him instead of a hindrance. Mr. +Willis--you never knew him, he died six months after Shirley was +born and Mrs. Willis has never been the same woman since--had it, +too, and the temper along with it, but he made them both his +servants and himself the master, as the Bible says. Many's the time +I've heard the story of Governor Willis, (his picture hangs in the +hall) and of how he held out against the whole legislature and the +public and proved himself right in the end. Old Judge Willis, the +father of Doctor Hugh's father, once came near being lynched for a +decision he made, but no howling mob could make him retract. As I +tell Mrs. Willis, when she gets to worrying about the strong wills +the girls have, it's worse not to have a mind of your own than to +have too much; I'm not one to preach breaking anyone's will--bend it +the right way, I always say." + +"Yes, that sounds all right," admitted Mrs. Hollister who had +listened eagerly, "but I don't know as I'd want to have the bending +of three wills all at once. It strikes me that the young doctor is +going to be pretty busy if he tries to 'tend to 'em all at the same +time. And you say he's going to take Dr. Jordan's practice, too." + +"He'll be busy, but he can handle anything," declared Winnie +confidently. "Dr. Hugh was my baby--I took care of him till he was +five years old--and I know he'll manage all right. The girls are +delighted to have a big brother, and they'll try to please him, I +know they will." + +"It's funny to say, but he's almost a stranger to them, isn't he?" +said Mrs. Hollister reflectively. "How many years has he been away +from Eastshore?" + +"Counting from the time he went away to school, about twelve years," +answered Winnie. "He came home vacations, of course, but the last +two years he wasn't home at all. He's been studying abroad and Mrs. +Willis was so happy to think he'd be home with her this summer. She +was pleased as could be that he wanted to settle in Eastshore. She's +talked a lot to me, since Mr. Willis died, about what she hoped the +children would do and when Dr. Hugh wrote her that he didn't want to +be a fashionable city doctor and hoped he could do as much good in a +quiet, industrious, uncomplaining way as Doctor Jordan had done +during the forty-five years he's lived in Eastshore, why Mrs. Willis +just about cried she was so happy." + +"Well, we never know what's going to happen, do we?" sighed Mrs. +Hollister, beginning to pull on her gloves as she noted that the +plain-faced kitchen clock said quarter of nine. "I'm sure I hope +she'll get the rest she deserves and come home to find nothing bad +has happened." + +"Of course she will," Winnie's voice held a faint trace of +indignation. "What do you think is going to happen while she is +gone? With Doctor Hugh and Miss Trudy Wright, to say nothing of me, +around to see to everything, what else do you expect but smooth +sailing?" + +"Winnie!" + +The kitchen door opened a crack and a dark head poked itself in. + +"Winnie, do you care if I take a piece of the chocolate cake from +the buffet closet?" asked Sarah politely. "I'm hungry." + +"Your brother says you eat too much cake--go to bed and you'll fall +asleep again and forget that you're hungry," commanded Winnie. + +"Can't I have just one piece?" insisted Sarah. + +"You can not," said Winnie firmly. + +"Well, I thought you'd say that," announced Sarah calmly, "so I +took it first, before I asked you." + +"Give it to me this instant," cried Winnie, swooping upon the +small girl. + +"Oh, I've eaten it," declared Sarah pleasantly. "I thought you'd +make a fuss." + +Winnie looked at Mrs. Hollister, who was moving toward the door. + +"All I have to say," said the visitor majestically, "is Heaven help +the young doctor." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +AUNT TRUDY COMES + + +"Are you going to the station, Sarah?" Sarah, stretched in luxurious +comfort on the porch rug, raised a rumpled head above her book and +frowned. + +"Why should I go to the station?" she drawled. + +"You know perfectly well," answered Rosemary with some impatience. +"Aunt Trudy is coming on the 4:10 and Hugh asked us to meet her." + +"You go--you're the oldest," said Sarah calmly. "I want to read +about sick rabbits." + +"Sarah, you know you promised mother to be good and to do the things +you thought would please her. Come on and meet Aunt Trudy--we'll all +go, you and I and Shirley," wheedled Rosemary, beginning to roll up +her knitting. + +"Where's Hugh--why doesn't he go?" asked Sarah who usually exhausted +all arguments before giving in. + +"Hugh's down at Dr. Jordan's and he won't be home till dinner +time," replied Rosemary. "Mother would want us to be nice to Aunt +Trudy, you know she would." + +"Well, I'm going to be nice," insisted Sarah, scrambling to her feet +and hurling the book under the swing where she kept the larger part +of her dilapidated library. "I'll go to the station if I can go as I +am--I have to clean the rabbit hutch when I get back and I won't +have time to be dressing and undressing all the afternoon." + +"You can't go as you are!" Rosemary surveyed her sister +appraisingly. "Your face is black and your dress has a grease +spot across the front. And you haven't any hair ribbon." + +"I'll go as I am, or I won't go at all," repeated Sarah coolly. + +Rosemary stabbed her long needles into her half-finished sweater and +hung her knitting bag on the back of her chair. + +"Then you can stay home," she said crossly. "I'll go up and get +Shirley now and we'll go without you." + +She ran upstairs, coaxed the protesting Shirley from her play of +sailing boats in the bath-tub, and was buttoning her into a clean +frock when Sarah came tramping through the hall. She occupied a +room with Shirley, while Rosemary had a room to herself connected +with the younger girls' room by a rather narrow door. + +"Wait a minute and I'll go," said Sarah, jerking down her tan linen +dress from its hook in the closet. + +"Is Aunt Trudy's room all ready, Winnie?" asked Rosemary, as the +three sisters stopped in the kitchen to notify that faithful +individual of their departure. "Do we look nice?" + +It was impossible to look at the three faces without an answering +smile. Rosemary glowed, pink-cheeked, star-eyed, in a frock of dull +blue linen made with wide white piqué collar and cuffs. Her hair +waved and rippled and curled, despite its loose braiding, almost to +her waist. Rosemary was simply going to the station to meet the 4:10 +train, but nothing was ever casual to her; she met each hour +expectantly on tip-toe and, as her mother had once observed, laughed +and wept her way around the clock. Sarah smiled broadly--going to +the station to meet Aunt Trudy had, for some inexplicable reason, +resolved itself into a joke for her. Sarah was not excited and she +represented solid common-sense from her straight Dutch-cut hair to +her square-toed sandals, for no amount of argument from Rosemary +could induce her to put on her best patent leather slippers. And +Shirley--well Winnie picked up Shirley and hugged her fervently, +which was the emotion Shirley generally inspired in all beholders. +She was a young person, all yellow curls and fluffy white skirts +and tiny perfect teeth and distracting dimples. + +"Miss Wright's room is in perfect order," reported Winnie, setting +Shirley down and straightening her pink sash. "I put on the +embroidered bureau scarf and the best linen sheets and pillow +cases, just as you said, Rosemary." + +"And I put a bowl of lilacs on her table this morning," said +Rosemary happily, "so I guess everything has been attended to. +Do you want us to get anything up town? We're going to the +station, Winnie." + +"No, my dinner's all planned," answered Winnie with pride. "What +train's Miss Wright coming on--the 4:10?" + +"Yes, and Hugh said to have Bernard Coyle bring us up to the house +with his jitney," said Rosemary. "I suppose Aunt Trudy will have +some bags and parcels. You'll be round when we get back, won't you, +Winnie? I don't know exactly what to say to her." + +"Bless you, child, you'll do all right," Winnie encouraged her. +"Doctor Hugh will be home to dinner and 'tisn't as if your aunt was +a total stranger." + +"But she really is a total stranger," commented Rosemary, as they +began their walk to the station. "Of course she has been here a +couple of days last summer and she spent New Year's with us; but +Mother entertained her and we only saw her now and then, mostly at +the table." + +"Well, we have to make the best of it now, because Hugh says we +can't upset Mother," said Sarah. "I know she will be an awful lot of +trouble and she won't know the first thing about animals." + +"Maybe she'll read all the time," offered Shirley in her soft, baby +voice. "Dora Ellis has an aunt who reads books all the time and Dora +can do just as she pleases. She told me so." + +"Well, don't you listen to everything Dora Ellis tells you," said +Rosemary severely. "Mother doesn't like you to play with her and +Hugh said you were not to go across the street without asking +permission; doesn't Dora Ellis live on the other side of the +street?" + +"Yes, she does, but I didn't go over in her yard, not for weeks and +weeks," explained Shirley earnestly. "She told me 'bout her aunt +last year, in kindergarten." + +"All right, honey, I'm not scolding," declared Rosemary, giving her +a kiss. "There's the station clock and it says half-past four. But, +pshaw, that clock never keeps time." + +It was not half-past four they found, when they consulted the clock +in the ticket office, but it was close to ten minutes past and when +the three girls stepped out on the platform the smoke of the train +was already visible far up the track. + +There were several people waiting, most of them Eastshore people, +and these came up and asked about Mrs. Willis. Rosemary, assuring +them that her mother was definitely declared to be out of danger, +was fairly radiant. + +"Rosemary!" a girl about her own age hailed her. "I'm so glad to see +you. Daddy told us last night your mother is better, but I didn't +like to call you up because I thought perhaps you still had the +phone muffled. Mother and I are going down to the beach to stay till +after Labor Day." + +"How lovely!" cried Rosemary. "You have the nicest things happen to +you, Harriet. Are you going on this train?" + +"Yes, and don't I wish you were coming!" responded Harriet warmly. +"Couldn't you come down next month, if your mother is well enough to +leave?" + +"Oh, goodness, Mother has gone away, to be gone a year," said +Rosemary hurriedly. "I can't go anywhere, you see. Besides Aunt +Trudy Wright is coming on this train, and Hugh is going to be +home all summer. There's your mother beckoning--run, Harriet, +and be sure you write to me." + +They kissed each other and Harriet ran back to her mother and was +lost in the anxious pushing group that surrounded the steps of the +slowly stopping train. + +"Hang on to Shirley, while I try to find Aunt Trudy," directed +Rosemary, with a sudden panicky feeling that she couldn't remember +what her aunt looked like. + +But, as soon as she saw her, she recognized her. + +"Well, Rosemary darling, you came to meet me--that's lovely I'm +sure," cried Aunt Trudy, panting slightly from her leap off the last +step of the car, to the conductor's unconcealed amazement. "And +Mother is much better, the telegram said. As soon as I heard, I +resolved nothing should keep me from you--Oh, there's Shirley and +Sarah, the dears!" + +Shirley responded affectionately to her aunt's caresses, but Sarah +stood like a wooden image and submitted to being kissed with bad +grace. Aunt Trudy was too excited to be critical. + +"What do I do about my trunks?" she fluttered. "And these bags are +both heavy--I've brought you girls each a little something. Is Hugh +home? And Winnie is still with you, of course?" + +Rosemary wisely did not attempt to answer all these questions and, +considering that Winnie had been in the Willis family for +twenty-eight years and Aunt Trudy had unfailingly put this question +to some member of the family at every meeting for the last +twenty-seven, this particular query might be said to be more a +comment than a question. + +"We'll go up to the house in Bernard Coyle's jitney," said Rosemary, +leading the way around to the side platform. "He will take your +trunk checks, Aunt Trudy, and the express man will deliver them." + +Bernard Coyle ran two of the three Eastshore jitneys and personally +conducted the least ancient of his two cars. He welcomed the +prospect of four passengers with a glad smile and swung Aunt +Trudy's bags to a safe place under the seat at a nod from Rosemary. +While they climbed in, he departed with the trunk checks and +returned in a few minutes to report that the three trunks would be +in the front hall of the Willis home within an hour. + +Then he took the wheel of his wheezy little car and without another +word drove frenziedly and rackingly through the quiet streets till +the Willis house was reached. Winnie, mindful of Rosemary's plea, +came out to the curb to meet them. + +"Well, Winnie, I'm glad to see you again," was Miss Wright's +greeting. "You and I are to keep house and look after these flighty +young folks, I understand." + +"Yes'm," nodded Winnie. "Your room's all ready, Miss Wright--the one +you always have, next to Mrs. Willis'. And Doctor Hugh said to tell +you he'd be home at quarter of six." + +Aunt Trudy Wright was a rather short, dumpy woman and inclined to be +stout and short of breath. She had iron-gray hair, near-sighted dark +eyes and very pretty, very plump small hands. She exclaimed over her +room when she saw it, said that everything was lovely and insisted +on kissing the three girls again. Sarah promptly left at this point +and was discovered by her brother when he came home, lying flat on +the porch rug and absorbed in a book which dealt, in detail, with +the health and welfare of rabbits. + +"Well you look comfortable," he said good-humoredly. "Aunt Trudy +come? Who went to meet her? Where are the other girls?" + +"Uh-huh," grunted Sarah, interested at that moment in a description +of a balanced diet for her pets. + +Dr. Hugh laughed and went on. The house seemed strangely quiet to +him, though he could hear Winnie humming in the kitchen and +appetizing odors promised a dinner on time. In the upstairs hall, +Rosemary tip-toed to meet him, her eyes dark with mystery. + +"Hello, where is everyone?" asked her brother, giving her a kiss. +"What has happened to Aunt Trudy?" + +"She's getting ready for dinner," explained Rosemary. "She's been +crying in Mother's room for almost an hour and then her trunks came +and she thought she'd change her dress." + +"Crying in Mother's room--what for?" demanded Doctor Hugh quickly. + +"Oh, because memories were too much for her," quoted Rosemary +solemnly. "She made Shirley and me cry, too, but Sarah went down +stairs when she tried to kiss her, so she didn't hear her talk." + +"I'll give Sarah credit for good sense," said Doctor Hugh grimly. + +He strode down the hall to his mother's room, took the key from the +inside and locked the door and dropped the key in his pocket. + +"And that's that," he announced, smiling a little at Rosemary's +puzzled face. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +DR. HUGH TAKES COMMAND + + +Miss Wright appeared at dinner in rustling black silk, and kissed +Dr. Hugh affectionately. In her plump arms she carried three +packages. + +"I brought each of the girls a box of French chocolates," she +explained, smiling. "They're simply delicious and there is just one +shop in town which imports them." + +Rosemary dimpled as she untied her package, Shirley shrieked with +glee and even Sarah's "thank you, Aunt Trudy" had an unusual depth +of warmth in it. Two-pound boxes of chocolates did not appear at +dinner every day. + +Dr. Hugh put down his carving knife as Shirley lifted the lid from +her beribboned box. + +"I think I'll have to take charge of these boxes," he said quietly. +"Aunt Trudy is very generous to remember you so bountifully, but I +can not let you make yourselves sick. I'll keep them carefully for +you in the office and you may have a safe number every day I +promise you." + +"Oh, Hugh!" Rosemary's voice was reproachful. + +"I won't be sick," said Shirley with cheerful confidence. + +Sarah did not speak, but she thrust her box under the edge of the +tablecloth. + +"It's perfectly pure candy, Hugh, and won't hurt them," Miss Wright +assured him briskly. + +"Well, I'm sorry, but I believe that the purest and most expensive +candy taken in sufficient amount, will upset the digestion of an +ostrich," said Doctor Hugh firmly. "Put the boxes on the serving +table till after dinner, Rosemary." + +"And I hope you'll keep 'em under lock and key," observed Winnie as +she passed the creamed potatoes. "Sarah will be eating chocolates +for breakfast if there's none to interfere with her." + +Winnie considered herself a member of the family, as indeed she was, +and she frequently took part in the table conversation except when +there were strange guests present. + +Rosemary gathered up the boxes and put them on the side table and +dinner proceeded pleasantly enough. Aunt Trudy was a social soul and +seldom at a loss for something to say. She sat in the absent +mother's place and beamed upon the little circle, Dr. Hugh across +from her, Rosemary at his right, Shirley next to her and on the +other side of the round table, Sarah the silent. Sarah was certainly +a child of few words and she was never troubled by any idea that +something might be expected from her in the way of a contribution to +the general talk. To-night she sat stolidly, her dark eyes roving +now and then to the candy boxes which were behind Rosemary. + +"So you're going to practice right here in Eastshore, Hugh?" Miss +Wright was saying as Winnie brought in the salad, "your mother wrote +me, before she was ill, that you expected to take Doctor Jordan's +office; has he retired?" + +"No, not retired exactly," answered Hugh, "but he is planning to +take a long and much-needed vacation. He left for Maine this +afternoon. We both thought it better for many reasons to make no +change in the office--I'll take his just as he left it. Of course +I'll have some kind of a place here, too, but not many patients will +call here." + +Sarah created a diversion by pushing back her plate and slipping +down from her chair. + +"Where are you going, dear?" her aunt asked in surprise. "Don't you +want any dessert?" + +"No, it's cornstarch pudding," said Sarah calmly. + +Miss Wright apparently accepted the explanation, but Doctor Hugh +spoke sharply. + +"Sarah, come back here--dinner isn't over yet." + +Sarah stopped and faced him defiantly. + +"I don't want any pudding," she declared, scowling. "Winnie knows I +don't like it and she always makes it." + +"Come back and sit down and wait until you are excused--" Doctor +Hugh's level gaze seemed to draw the rebellious Sarah back to her +chair. "If you don't care for the pudding you needn't eat it, but +don't criticise anything that is placed before you." + +His staccato tones seemed to have a tonic effect on Sarah, for she +ate the pudding when it came, without further discussion. But the +moment her aunt rose from the table, she made a bee-line for the +candy boxes. + +"It's mine, Aunt Trudy gave it to me," she insisted when her brother +interfered. + +"Two apiece, of such rich candy, is enough for any one," he +declared. "And one for Shirley--take the kind you want, sweetheart, +and then I'll show you where I am going to keep them for you." + +"I must say I think you're too fussy, Hugh," commented Aunt Trudy, +as Shirley made a lingering selection and Rosemary passed her box to +her aunt and Winnie and then chose two of the enormous candies for +herself. "All children are fond of candy and I read only the other +day that a craving for sweets is the mark of a healthy appetite." + +Doctor Hugh made no direct reply. + +"Sarah, have you eaten your candy?" he asked pleasantly. + +"If I can't have my own box," said Sarah with emphasis, "I won't eat +any." + +"I'll put them away for you, then," declared her brother equably. +"Come and see where they'll be--in the glass cabinet in the office. +You may have two apiece after dinner till they are gone. They'll +last twice as long that way, Sarah," he added, smiling at her as he +turned the key in the cabinet and replaced his key ring in his +pocket. + +The telephone rang and Winnie answered it. The doctor was wanted and +it was eight o'clock before he returned. Aunt Trudy was reading +under the living-room lamp--for the nights were still a little too +cool to be comfortable on the porch--Rosemary knitting, and Shirley +and Sarah playing dominoes on the floor. + +"What time does Shirley go to bed?" the doctor asked, standing in +the doorway. + +Rosemary looked up, a little troubled. + +"Why she always went to bed at half-past seven when Mother was +well," she answered, "but since she was sick, Shirley got in the +habit of staying up till Sarah goes and sometimes Sarah won't go +till I do." + +"And what time do you go?" inquired her brother. + +Rosemary blushed and began to knit faster. + +"I'm supposed to go at nine," she admitted, "but sometimes it +is--later. Honestly, Hugh, I don't see why I should go to bed at +nine o'clock like a little girl; I'm twelve, you know." + +"Half-past eight would be better," said her brother, coming over to +sit on the arm of her chair, "but if Mother didn't object, we'll +still say nine. You are a little girl, dear, in spite of your great +age, you see. What about Sarah?" + +"You ask more questions than any one I ever knew," cried the +exasperated Sarah with bitter frankness. "I wanted to read my rabbit +book, but Shirley teased and I played dominoes to please her. And +now I suppose you'll be saying I ought to go to bed!" + +"Rosemary?" said Doctor Hugh. + +"Sarah is supposed to go to bed at eight o'clock," announced +Rosemary reluctantly. "She used to argue with Mother nearly every +night. No one ever wants to go to bed early, Hugh, and lots of the +girls stay up till ten." + +"Then I'm sorry for lots of girls," rejoined the doctor. "Shirley is +going to be my good girl and go to bed every night at half-past +seven, aren't you, dear? Sarah at eight and Rosemary at nine--and +that's all settled. Put up the dominoes, children, and run along for +it's twenty minutes past eight this minute." + +"I don't want to go to bed," wailed Shirley. + +"I'll go up with you, darling," promised Rosemary, putting down her +knitting. "I'll tell you a story about the little brown bear." + +"Don't want a story," said Shirley with finality. + +Aunt Trudy put down her book and surveyed her youngest niece +sympathetically. + +"What's the matter with my sweetheart?" she asked, her voice tender. +"Is she afraid of the big dark?" + +The doctor made an impatient exclamation. + +"That's nonsense, Aunt Trudy," he said curtly. "No child of my +mother has ever been frightened of the dark; we were not brought up +that way. Every one of us has been trained to go up to bed alone at +the right time, as a matter of course. Sarah, put away those +dominoes and go upstairs to bed with Shirley." + +Sarah tumbled the game into the box and stalked from the room +without a word to any one. Shirley simply threw herself flat on +the floor and cried with anger. She was sleepy and tired and she +resented this summary curtailment of her privileges. For the last +two weeks she had been going to bed when Rosemary did and she liked +the plan. + +"I hope you will excuse us, Aunt Trudy," said the harassed Doctor +Hugh, scooping his small sister up from the floor and carrying her +toward the door. "We're in sad need of a little discipline, I'm +afraid." + +"And you're not going to enforce it," he said grimly to himself as +he marched upstairs with the screaming Shirley. "I seem to have my +work cut out for me--I wonder how about Rosemary?" + +When he came downstairs again, having seen both Shirley and Sarah +quiet and asleep, he found his sister and aunt deep in the problem +of "narrowing off." + +"I just waited to say good-night to you, Hugh," said Aunt Trudy +brightly. "I'm tired from the trip and I want to start the day +well to-morrow." + +She kissed him and rustled out of the room, and Rosemary folded up +her work as the deep chime of the hall clock sounded nine. + +"Shirley was tired, Hugh," she said, a little timidly. "She hardly +ever acts that way. And Sarah doesn't mean to be obstinate, but she +just can't help it." + +"Well, I'm glad you think to-night isn't an average performance," +declared her brother humorously. "You're a sweet older sister, +Rosemary. The girls couldn't do better than to pattern after you." + +"Oh, Hugh! You are nice--" Rosemary's voice rose in a crescendo of +pure pleasure. "But I'm not a good example--you won't say that when +you know me. I get as mad, as mad--as--Shirley." + +"The more shame to you," said the doctor unbelievingly, kissing her +vivid little face. "Go to bed, child, and don't talk to me about +losing your temper." + +At eleven o'clock the light was still burning in the office and +Winnie knocked lightly on the door. + +"I brought you a glass of milk and a sandwich, Hughie," she said, +using the old pet name she had given him when a little lad. + +"Well that's mighty thoughtful of you, Winnie dear," he said, +smiling at her. "I've been doing a little thinking this evening +and that's hungry work." + +Winnie regarded him, wisdom and pride in her eyes. + +"I'm thinking that healthy folks is more of a problem than sick +ones," she observed sagely. "But you're enough like your mother, to +be able to manage all right, never fear. You've her understanding +and the endurance and will of your father, Hughie, and you'll be +needing it all, but you'll work it out. Shirley is spoiled and we're +all to blame--it wasn't all done in these two weeks, either; your +mother gave in a little at a time for she was tired and her illness +has been long coming. 'Tis nothing to set right a little wrong when +the heart is pure gold like Shirley's. And you'll soon set Sarah in +her place--she needs to be set frequent-like, though if you find +the way to her liking, she'll be fond enough of you in time. It's +Rosemary I'd speak to you about at the risk of seeming to meddle." + +The doctor stirred a little, but his face encouraged Winnie to +go on. + +"A rose in the bud--that's Rosemary," said Winnie who scorned to +read poetry and often employed poetical fancies in her rather quaint +phrasing. "A rose in the bud and a flower of a girl. A temper that +blazes, a quick pride that bleeds at a word and a passion for loving +that sometimes frightens me. The sick and the helpless and the +young--Rosemary would mother 'em all. And she's hurt so easy, and +she dashes herself against the stone wall so blindly--you'll be +careful and patient, won't you, Hughie? For she has the Willis will, +has Rosemary and times there is no holding her." + +Doctor Hugh smiled into the anxious eyes, dim with the loving +anxiety of many years. + +"I'll be careful, Winnie," he promised. "And you'll help me. Thank +you for telling me--what you have." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +WINNIE'S VOLUNTEERS + + +For the first few days after Miss Wright's arrival it seemed that +the proverb, "Many hands make light work" was to be the household +motto. Winnie was fairly swamped with offers of help and "Miss +Trudy" as she had asked Winnie to call her, and the three girls vied +with each other as to which should be the most industrious. + +"For I want to be useful, Winnie," said Aunt Trudy, a winning +sincerity in her kind voice. "Only tell me what to do, because I +don't want to interfere with your daily schedule." + +"And Sarah and I will make the beds and dust," promised Rosemary, +looking up from copying music. + +"I'll run all your errands," chirped Shirley and was promptly +rewarded with a hug. + +Winnie was a shrewd and practical general, as her answers proved. A +less experienced person would have made a vague reply, put off the +offers with a promise to "let you know when I need you" or politely +told them "not to bother." Not so Winnie. + +"Well, I'll tell you, Miss Trudy," she said capably, "I don't mind +saying if you'll plan the meals, you'll be taking a load off my +shoulders. I can cook and I can serve and I can keep things hot when +the doctor is late as he'll be many a time; but unless I can have +the three meals a day printed right out and hung on my kitchen door, +I'm lost-like. It drives me wild to have to figure out what we +should eat, when it's nothing at all, to my way of thinking, to +cook it." + +"I'll be glad to plan the menus," Aunt Trudy assured her. "Home I +write out the meals for the whole week every Saturday morning; I'll +do that for you without fail, Winnie." + +"Thank you ma'am," Winnie replied. "Now Rosemary, if you want to +help, you answer the telephone. I can't abide to be called away from +my baking and sweeping to tell folks where the doctor is, or why he +isn't here. I don't always get messages straight, so you take 'em +and when you're not home, let Sarah do it." + +"I like to answer the telephone," beamed Rosemary. + +Winnie, orderly soul, proceeded to clinch the remaining two offers +of assistance. + +"Sarah, there's no one can beat you making beds, when you put your +mind to it," she announced diplomatically. "You make the beds +mornings, when Rosemary is doing her practising and I won't ask you +to do another thing." + +"But me?" urged Shirley. "What can I do, Winnie?" + +"Bless your little heart, you run to the store for Winnie, and help +her make cookies," cried Winnie, "that's enough for one little girl, +dearie." + +"I don't think any of us has much to do," observed Rosemary. "I can +do lots more to help, Winnie. And so can Sarah." + +"If you'll do just one thing and do it every day, I won't be +complaining," Winnie returned. "You'll find it's easy to get tired +and it's then you'll want to skip a day." + +The girls were sure that nothing would induce them to "skip" a day, +and Winnie went back to her kitchen well-pleased with her bestowal +of commissions. + +The house seemed strangely empty without the gentle little mother +and at first time hung heavy on the three pairs of young hands. +Doctor Hugh was very busy adjusting his work to run smoothly and +his hours were irregular so that he did not see much of his sisters. +Then, as the mother's absence became an established fact, gradually +old interests and friends absorbed their attention and normal life +was resumed with the difference that a great gap was always present +and unfilled. Aunt Trudy was kindness itself and overflowing with +affection for her nieces, but her attitude toward them was that of a +placid outsider, gently watching them from a little distance. Aunt +Trudy did their mending exquisitely, because she liked to sew, but +she would not leave the mending and come down stairs to meet Nina +Edmonds, a new-comer to the neighborhood, though Rosemary was +anxious to have every social courtesy shown the rather critical +young person who seemed older than her thirteen years. + +"I don't want to drop my work now, dearie," said Aunt Trudy in +response to her niece's appeal. "I always lose my needle when I get +up; I'll meet your little friend some other time. Ask her to dinner +to-night if you wish--Winnie is going to have veal loaf and egg +salad." + +Rosemary acted on this suggestion, and Doctor Hugh, coming in late, +was surprised to find a fourth girl at the table, a freckle-faced +little girl with light bobbed hair and incredibly thin arms and +hands. Nina Edmonds talked incessantly and, after a few ineffectual +attempts to carry on a conversation with his aunt, the young doctor +devoted himself to his dinner, keeping, however, an observant eye on +the guest and on Rosemary who listened in evident fascination to the +steady stream of words. He had a call to make, immediately after +dinner and was surprised and distinctly annoyed when he returned at +half-past ten to find Nina and Rosemary still talking animatedly, +their arms around each other, in the window seat. Aunt Trudy was +placidly reading, and the younger girls had gone to bed. + +"Is it late?" Rosemary started up as her brother came in. + +"Half-past ten," he answered briefly. "I'll take you home, Miss +Edmonds, if you'll tell me where you live. I'm afraid your mother +will be worried about you." + +"Oh, my mother never worries--she knows I'll come home all right," +said Nina. "I didn't wear a coat, it was so warm--will I be cold in +the car?" + +"The car is in the garage," said the doctor grimly, holding open the +door for her. "We'll have to walk. Go to bed, Rosemary please," he +flung over his shoulder. "Don't wait up for me." + +There was a soft rush and a quick sigh, and Rosemary's arms went +about his neck. + +"Kiss me good night, Hugh," she whispered, "I'm sorry." + +He held her close for a moment, then the screen door shut with a +click, and they were gone. + +"I hope Hugh didn't hurt Nina's feelings," worried Rosemary as she +and Aunt Trudy went upstairs. "She doesn't have to go to bed at nine +o'clock and she thinks it is queer that I do. I'm afraid she will +call Hugh cross." + +"Oh, I don't believe she will," said Aunt Trudy comfortably. "She +seemed to me a nice little girl and you need plenty of young +friends, darling." + +Her new friend had made a great impression on Rosemary and Sarah was +forced to listen the next day to glowing accounts that rather bored +her. Sarah's present interests were confined to one sick rabbit and +one well rabbit who lived in a hutch in the roomy side yard. + +"I'm sick of hearing about Nina Edmonds," declared Sarah as they sat +down to dinner the following evening. "I don't call her anything +wonderful." + +Doctor Hugh had not come in, and Rosemary had volunteered to serve +in his place. Aunt Trudy frankly disliked either carving or serving. + +"I think she is lovely," maintained Rosemary, "and I'm going to have +my hair bobbed like hers." + +It was a warm night and under the glow of the electrolier Rosemary's +magnificent hair curled and shone like polished bronze. Even Aunt +Trudy stared at her, surprised, and the practical Sarah was moved +to protest. + +"I think your hair is nice the way it is," she said. "I'd leave it +alone if I were you." + +Winnie paused, on her way to the kitchen. + +"Don't let Doctor Hugh hear you say any such nonsense," she scolded. +"The idea! Bobbing a head of hair like that--it's going directly +against the generosity of the Lord!" + +"What is?" demanded a pleasant voice, and Doctor Hugh came into the +room. + +He had changed to a fresh linen suit at the Jordan office, as the +town had designated it to distinguish it from his home office, and +he looked so wholesome and clean and strong and smiling that the +four faces brightened at once. + +"You have to bring 'em up when I'm not around, don't you, Winnie?" +he said humorously, slipping into the chair vacated by Rosemary. +"What mischief are they into now?" + +Winnie vanished into the kitchen, murmuring something about a salad, +and Rosemary answered for her. Rosemary's blue eyes were unclouded. + +"Winnie is mad because I am going to have my hair bobbed like Nina +Edmonds'," she informed her brother. "I think bobbed hair is as +pretty as it can be, don't you, Hugh?" + +"It seems a pity when she has such nice hair," murmured Aunt Trudy +weakly. + +"Bob your hair!" thundered Doctor Hugh. "Of all the foolish notions, +that is the worst. This comes from talking foolish clatter with that +empty-headed silly little chit last night. The babbling brook must +have been named for her." + +"Yes, isn't she silly?" said Sarah scornfully. "Shirley doesn't like +her, either." + +"Nina Edmonds is my friend," began Rosemary, scarlet-cheeked. +"You--" + +"I beg your pardon, Rosemary," said the doctor instantly. "I +honestly do. I had no right to speak like that. But you mustn't +think of bobbing your curly mop, dear." + +"Sarah's hair is bobbed," Rosemary pointed out. + +"It was cut to make it grow," answered the doctor. "Mother told me. +You certainly don't need to treat your hair to make it grow, +Rosemary." + +"Write and ask Mother," suggested Sarah. + +"No, Mother isn't to be asked a single question for a year," Doctor +Hugh announced firmly. "We'll settle our problems without bothering +her. Rosemary is not to meddle with her hair--that's flat." + +"Oh, Hugh, I want to bob it!" insisted Rosemary. "Ever so many of +the girls do--not just Nina Edmonds, but half the girls in school. I +don't see why you are so cross about it. Can't I get it cut +to-morrow? Please?" + +Doctor Hugh's dark eyes behind their glasses rested on the pretty, +willful face. + +"I said NO!" he repeated. "Once and for all, Rosemary, I positively +forbid you to have your hair cut. Do you understand me?" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +ROSEMARY HAS HER WAY + + +"Sarah, Oh, Sarah! Sally Waters, I'm calling you!" + +Sarah glanced up at the merry face regarding her over the fence and +frowned. + +"Well, what do you want?" she asked ungraciously. "Don't you dare +call me Sally, Jack Welles!" + +"I'll call you Sadie, then," said the boy obligingly. "Where's +Rosemary?" + +He was a short, stocky lad, between fifteen and sixteen years old, +with a freckled snub nose, engaging brown eyes and a chin that +promised well for future force of character. + +"Where's Rosemary?" he asked again. + +"I don't know--I haven't seen her since lunch," answered Sarah. +"Don't you think Elinor looks better to-day, Jack?" + +Elinor was the sick rabbit and Sarah waited Jack's decision +anxiously. + +"Sure, leave her alone and she'll come out all right," he said +heartlessly. "You're always fussing with animals, aren't you, Sarah? +I believe you like 'em better when they're sick because it gives you +an excuse to pet them more." + +Sarah's brown, stolid little face kindled suddenly with passionate +earnestness. + +"Nobody cares!" she cried. "Nobody! Winnie wouldn't let me keep the +sick kittens in the kitchen and they died and Elinor would have +died, too, if it hadn't been for me. When I grow up, I'm going to +have a big house and there isn't going to be a single person in it. +Just animals--so there!" + +"I suppose you'll have a trained cow to do the cooking, and a dog to +wash dishes," teased Jack. "Never mind, Sarah, there'll always be +plenty of animals needing a friend like you. Maybe Hugh will doctor +them for you, and I'll come take your patients out for airings in my +best and newest airplane!" + +"Hello, what's all this confabbing?" called Doctor Hugh, coming +across the grass toward the fence. "Rabbits improving, Sarah? +Where's Rosemary?" + +"Hello, Hugh," Jack greeted him with a cheerful grin. "All the +patients cured this early in the day? Sarah is going to follow in +your footsteps, but she won't give her services to people, only to +mistreated animals." + +"I've been late for dinner two nights running and I thought I'd +surprise the family by a punctual appearance this time," explained +the doctor. "My chief difficulty now is to find some one to +surprise. Aunt Trudy has gone to the library, Winnie says, Shirley +is playing with some neighbor's child on the porch and no one seems +to know where Rosemary is. I saw you and Sarah from upstairs, or I +should have added her to the list of the missing, too." + +"I wanted to show Rosemary my new fishing rod," Jack explained. +"It's a beauty and my uncle sent it to me from Canada." + +Sarah stood up and shook a lapful of dirt from her frock. + +"I think you are cruel to catch fish," she said indignantly. + +"Why you eat fish, don't you?" retorted Jack. "Someone has to catch +them, you know." + +Poor Sarah had no answer for this argument and she turned and +retreated to the house without another word. + +"Queer little dick, isn't she?" smiled Jack to the doctor. "Crazy +about animals and always fussing over 'em. Well, I have to go dig +worms for bait--great day ahead to-morrow with nothing to do but +fish and try out the new rod." + +"Good luck to you," called Doctor Hugh, going back to his office to +indulge in the rare luxury of a half hour's reading. + +Vaguely he heard Aunt Trudy come in, speak to the two little girls +on the porch, and go on upstairs. He knew when Sarah came down +because she played "chop sticks" on the piano till Winnie came and +called her to go after a loaf of bread. The doctor wondered lazily +if the bread were a real need or a handy invention of Winnie's to +break up the musical program; she was quite capable of the latter. +After the piano was silenced, he lost himself again in his book to +be recalled by an undecided knock on the door. He waited, not sure +that it _was_ a knock. The timid tap came again and he called, "Come +in." The door opened, closed, and Rosemary stood facing him, her +back against it. In her hands she held a brown paper parcel. + +Doctor Hugh stared at her in genuine amazement. She was breathing +quickly, as though she had been running, and the lovely color +flooded her face. Her eyes were almost black with excitement and a +touch of fear. But it was her hair that held her brother's +attention. Gone was the rippling glory, the gold-red mane that had +reached to the girl's waist. In its place was a soft aureole of +hair, standing out fluffily on the small head and curling under at +the ends. + +Anger flamed in Doctor Hugh's face, then receded, leaving him white. +Before he could speak Rosemary's eyes filled with tears. + +"Oh, Hugh!" she sobbed. "I want my hair! And it's gone!" + +For answer her brother opened his arms and she fled into them. She +clung to him frantically while she wept out her remorse and grief. + +"I didn't know it was going to be like this," she wailed, sobs +shaking the slender shoulders. "The barber didn't want to cut it, +but I made him. And then, as soon as I saw it on the floor, I began +to cry. Oh, Hugh, I'm so sorry--I don't want short hair at all! And +what can I do?" + +The doctor said nothing for a little while, only smoothed the +cropped head with a gentle touch. Presently when Rosemary sat up and +wiped her eyes, he motioned toward the parcel still in her hands. + +"It's--it's my hair," stammered Rosemary. "The barber tied it up for +me--he said I might want a switch some time." + +"Well you won't!" declared Doctor Hugh with decision. "Leave it here +with me, dear, and I'll see that a lock is saved for Mother. You +mustn't feel so badly, Rosemary. The hair will grow again, you know. +And it is very pretty, still." + +"Hugh," said Rosemary solemnly, "why do I have to find things out +for myself? I didn't know that I hated bobbed hair till I had mine +cut--why am I like that?" + +"Oh, my dear," the doctor smiled a little sadly, "why do we all want +our own way at any cost? You wouldn't believe that I knew better in +this instance, would you?" + +Rosemary blushed and looked ashamed. + +"I'm glad to have this opportunity to speak to you alone, dear," the +doctor went on. "You've had your hair cut because I forbade it and +now you are sorry, but what about the next time? It's silly to think +you can go through life and always have your own way, child. No one +can. Each one of us must acknowledge some authority. I'm a good many +years older than you girls and I've had more experience and +discipline and at present I am taking Mother's place; you'll have to +accept my decisions for the time being. If I exact obedience, +Rosemary, it isn't because I am a tyrant--I've put in a good many +years obeying orders myself and I know that obedience is a valuable +lesson." + +"Have you a temper, Hugh?" asked Rosemary, shyly. "Have you the +Willis will?" + +Doctor Hugh's mouth twitched. + +"Guilty on both counts," he admitted. "I'm a cross, cranky old +brother with a gun-powder temper that sometimes gets the best of me. +As for the Willis will--what do you think about that, Rosemary?" + +"Winnie is always talking about it," said Rosemary. "She says I have +it and so have Sarah and Shirley. I suppose it is very wrong." + +"Don't you believe it!" announced the doctor. "Not a bit of it. A +good, strong will is a virtue, child, and please remember that. But, +of course, you want to train it--flying in the face of orders isn't +a proof of will power; more often it is foolish obstinacy. A stiff +will keeps us from being persuaded to do wrong, from tumbling into +pitfalls. It is the weak-willed person who yields to temptation. You +and I, and Shirley and Sarah, have constantly to remember that we +have the Willis will and are proud of it; and then resolve not to +yield easily to the little devils of temper and disobedience and +false pride. Which is the end of my sermon and long enough it's +been!" + +The big swivel chair accommodated them comfortably and Rosemary +remained in her brother's lap quietly, her eyes downcast. He watched +her silently. At last she raised her face bravely. + +"Are you going to punish me?" she asked clearly. + +He shook his head. + +"I know you are sorry," he replied. "Punishments are only to help us +remember, and you are not going to forget, are you? But I tell you +what I am going to do--ask you to give up Nina Edmonds as a chum." + +Rosemary was silent. + +"You do not have to be unkind or discourteous," continued the +doctor's even voice. "Just do not go over to her house so often and +by and by she will not come to see you. Play more with Shirley and +Sarah, dear--they look up to you and love you so." + +"Don't you like Nina--but I know you don't," Rosemary answered her +own question. + +"Since we are talking confidentially," said Doctor Hugh and Rosemary +felt a thrill of pleasure at his tone, "I'll tell you my real +reasons for objecting to Nina as a friend for you. She is too +old--that's all. What is she--thirteen?--well, she has all the ideas +and manners of a girl of eighteen. And you're still a little girl, +Rosemary, thank fortune. I don't want you to grow up too fast and it +would break Mother's heart to come home and find a grown up daughter +in the place of the little girl she left. Be twelve years old while +you can, honey, for the minute you are thirteen you leave that happy +year forever. I'm a serious old codger this afternoon, am I not? But +we understand each other better, don't we?" + +"Oh, yes!" Rosemary threw her arms around his neck. "I love you most +to pieces!" she confided. + +From that moment Rosemary began to worship her brother with all the +depth and power of her warm and affectionate nature. She did not +immediately become a model of obedience and she often disputed his +edicts and decisions. There were misunderstandings and tears and +many hard lessons to be learned still ahead. But Hugh would never +again be a stranger with her respect and love yet to be won. She +could admire his strength of will and purpose whole heartedly and as +she contrasted them with Aunt Trudy's characteristics, Rosemary +insensibly found her aunt wanting. + +She said something of this to Jack Welles the day after the +memorable hair cutting. Rosemary had endured the comments and +questions of the household at dinner that night with fair composure, +but she had flared up in wrath at Jack's laughter when he first met +her the following afternoon. + +"My mother says it is extremely ill-bred to indulge in comments on a +person's personal appearance," declared Rosemary heatedly. "My hair +is a part of my personal appearance." + +"What a dub you were to have it cut," said Jack, sobering. "But it +might look worse, Rosemary, honestly it might. I think it is rather +becoming with those ends curling under like that." + +Rosemary permitted herself to be calmed. + +"It's fun to brush it," she laughed. "And my head feels as light as +a feather." + +"What did Hugh say?" asked Jack curiously. "Or didn't you ask him? +And Aunt Trudy makes such a fuss about your hair--wasn't she +horrified?" + +Rosemary's expressive face shadowed. + +"Hugh was just dear to me!" she said enigmatically, "but Aunt Trudy +was so silly. She cried and cried and said what would my mother say +and wasn't I ever going to have any respect for her wishes--she is +so tiresome, she really is, Jack." + +"Then you must have been told not to have it bobbed and went ahead +like your usual perverse small self," declared Jack shrewdly. "I'll +bet Hugh didn't weep though--he looks to me as though he could talk +to you like a Dutch uncle." + +"Well I don't care if he did!" said Rosemary. "I'd rather be scolded +or punished than cried over. And Aunt Trudy doesn't cry because she +is sorry--she does it to get her own way. That's the way she makes +us mind--she cries and says we don't love her and that makes us feel +mean. + +"But I don't think it is fair one bit and afterward I'm so mad I +could throw a sofa cushion at her. You needn't look at me like that, +Jack Welles! Your aunt doesn't cry over _you_." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE RUNAWAY + + +June slipped quietly into July and with the long, hot sunny days +came the inclination to slight regular tasks as Winnie had +predicted. Sarah tried to beg off from making the beds morning after +morning and Shirley began to grumble when called from her play to go +to the store. Aunt Trudy declared that the heat always affected her +and demanded an electric fan in her room and drove Winnie frantic +with repeated requests for ice-water. Rosemary alone remained +faithful to her duties, feeling the responsibility of an oldest +daughter. She answered the many calls on the telephone, kept the +messages straight and even wrote out the cards for the office file. +Doctor Hugh declared he did not know what he should do without her. +When Sarah left her work undone, it was Rosemary who finished it for +her, Rosemary who listened sympathetically to Aunt Trudy's +complaints about the weather, Rosemary who coaxed Shirley into +clean frocks and amiability each afternoon and tried to soothe +Winnie when Sarah's side-yard menagerie insisted on invading the +house. + +"Rosemary, this is the second time Shirley has stayed away from +lunch," declared Aunt Trudy one noon. "Don't you think I should +speak to your brother about it?" + +"Oh, no, Aunt Trudy, not right away," protested Rosemary, her +troubled eyes wandering to the little sister's vacant place. "I +don't believe she really means to run away. I'll get her to promise +not to go out of the yard and she will be all right. Shirley never +broke her promise yet." + +"Sarah ought to play with her more, instead of fussing with those +silly rabbits," said Aunt Trudy severely. + +"I do play with her," retorted Sarah irritably. "I play with her +lots. But she likes Rosemary. I can't help it if she gets mad at me +and goes to play with those Bailey children, can I? Rosemary is +always practising." + +This was not quite fair on Sarah's part, for Rosemary though devoted +to her music and already an advanced pupil, seldom practised more +than an hour in the morning and another in the afternoon. The fact +was that six year old Shirley was developing the running-away habit +at an alarming rate. + +She came home late that afternoon, tired and cross, and to +Rosemary's questions returned the briefest answers. Yes, she had +been playing with the Bailey children. No, not in their yard. No, +they had not gone with her when she went further on. She had gone by +herself. Yes, she had had some lunch, a pound of sweet crackers. + +"Where did you get them?" asked Rosemary, who was brushing the sunny +hair. + +"At the grocery," admitted Shirley. + +"But you didn't have any money, dear, did you?" said Rosemary in +surprise. + +"I charged 'em--Mr. Holmes said it would be all right," announced +Shirley complacently. + +"Shirley Willis! And you know Mother positively never allows us to +charge a thing unless she orders it," cried Rosemary. "What do you +suppose Hugh would say? Did you eat a whole pound?" + +No, Shirley confessed, she had had crackers to give away. She had +given some to a strange dog and some to a little boy and girl she +met. + +"What little boy and girl?" demanded Rosemary, beginning to feel +that this youngest sister was too much for her. "Where did you +meet them?" + +"At the dump lot," said Shirley sweetly. + +Rosemary stared at her. The "dump lot" was on the other side of the +town and furnished an annual topic of discussion for the Eastshore +Woman's Club. To it the town refuse and garbage was carted and it +was regularly hauled over and searched by bands of men, women and +children intent on salvage. + +"What shall I do with you?" groaned poor Rosemary. "After this, +you'll have to stay in the yard, Shirley. You know Hugh would scold +if he heard you were playing in the dump lot. Promise Sister you +won't go away from the house to-morrow morning." + +Shirley, looking more than ever like an adorable cherub in freshly +ironed pink chambray, shook her head naughtily. + +"I might want to go," she argued. + +"But you mustn't!" Rosemary's voice was earnest. "You can't run all +over town like this, darling. You'll be run over by an automobile, +or something dreadful will happen to you. Promise to stay in your +own yard like a good girl." + +Shirley would not promise. The worried Rosemary went to Winnie. + +"I don't want to tell Hugh," she explained, "he's busy and when he's +home Shirley is so cunning and funny I don't believe he thinks she +can be naughty. Besides Mother told me to look after the +children--what can I do, Winnie?" and Rosemary, a child herself +waited Winnie's reply anxiously. + +"Running away is something most children go through," pronounced +Winnie. "You never had the trick, Rosemary, but Hugh did and so did +Sarah. Your father spanked Hugh and cured him and your mother and I +together cured Sarah. We tied her to a tree with a rope and she was +so ashamed to have the other children see her that she promised not +to leave the yard without permission." + +"But Shirley won't promise," said Rosemary. "She keeps saying she +might want to go. Aunt Trudy thinks we should tell Hugh about her." + +"Well I think myself he might be able to break her of the trick," +admitted Winnie. "Shirley thinks a heap of him and yet she's a +little afraid of him too. But I'm like you, Rosemary--I hate to +bother him just now. He's worried about that hospital case and last +night he was called out twice." + +"Could we tie Shirley to a tree?" asked Rosemary hopefully. + +"She's too big for that," Winnie advised her. "Sarah was only three +years old when that was tried. Shirley would untie the knots or cut +the rope or get someone to unloose her. No, we'll have to keep a +good watch on her and trust to making her see she's doing wrong. You +can reason with Shirley, if she is only six years old." + +"Oh dear," sighed Rosemary, quite worn out with her experiences, "I +never knew it was so hard to bring up children!" + +"Biggest job in the world," Winnie said shortly. "Mothers never rest +and their work is never done." + +The next morning Rosemary coaxed Sarah to play paper dolls with +Shirley on the porch while she practised and she went to her music +with a clear conscience. For an hour the scales and trills sounded +and wound up with a grand march for good measure. Stepping out on +the porch Rosemary found it deserted, the paper dolls scattered on +the rug, the box overturned where the children had left it. + +"Shirley!" cried Rosemary. "Sarah!" + +"I'm cleaning the rabbit house," shouted Sarah, and Rosemary hurried +around to the side yard. + +"Where's Shirley?" she demanded anxiously. + +"Shirley? Isn't she on the porch?" Sarah's dirt-streaked face peered +through the wire netting which surrounded her pets. + +"No, she isn't, and I'm afraid she has run away again," said +Rosemary, troubled. "How long ago did you leave her, Sarah?" + +"Oh, about half an hour," replied Sarah carelessly. "She wanted to +cut out more dolls and I got her the scissors and asked her if she +minded if I came and cleaned the pens. Elinor gets sick so easily I +don't like to let the house go without cleaning it every other day." + +"Bother Elinor!" said Rosemary impatiently. "Come help me look for +Shirley. Hugh is coming home for lunch--he telephoned and Winnie +answered it." + +They hunted through the house, but no Shirley could be found. +Rosemary even went to two or three of the nearest neighbors, but the +small girl was not there. + +"Shirley? I saw her going down the street with her express wagon," +volunteered Ray Anderson, a four year old boy who lived a few doors +away. "She was on the other side of the street." + +"If I knew where to go look for her, I would," said the worried +Rosemary, "but there are twenty streets she could be on. I'll run +over to the dump lot, Sarah; perhaps she has gone there again." + +"You'll have to run all the way, if you get back by half-past +twelve," observed Sarah dispassionately. "Aunt Trudy said she was +going to tell Hugh the next time any of us were late to meals." + +And though Rosemary ran most of the way to the dump lot on the other +side of town--where a single hasty glance satisfied her that Shirley +was not among the groups engaged in pulling over the unsavory +messes--and all the way back, the others were seated at the luncheon +table when she reached the house. She heard a distinct rumble of +thunder as she entered the door. + +"Mercy, child, how hot you look!" was Aunt Trudy's greeting. "I +don't see why you girls don't try to come to your meals on time; I +take so much pains to have the things you like and Winnie is such a +good cook. And yet the three of you haven't been punctual for a +week." + +"I'm afraid I set them a bad example," smiled Doctor Hugh. "Let's +form a compact--when Aunt Trudy tells me that not one of you has +been late for a week to any meal, I'll have the clock fixed." + +The dining-room clock was an old joke in the Willis family. It was a +cuckoo clock and had been broken for more than a year, but remained +one of those things that are never attended to. Several times a week +the little mother had mentioned that the dining-room clock really +must be mended, but it was always forgotten. Since Hugh had been +home he had often declared that the clock must be fixed but it still +remained mute and useless. + +"Shirley loves to hear the cuckoo call," said Rosemary, and +instantly regretted her remark. + +"Where is Shirley?" was the doctor's natural question. + +"I dare say she's run away again," announced Aunt Trudy, her tone +resigned. + +"Run away?" repeated Doctor Hugh sharply. "Why, what do you mean?" + +"Well, Hugh I'm sorry to tell you, but Shirley has run away several +times lately," said Aunt Trudy. "She has been absent from lunch +twice this week. I've talked to her and I know Rosemary has, but +nothing seems to do any good." + +A vivid flash of lightning, followed by a roar of thunder and a +sudden torrent of rain heralded the arrival of the thunder shower. + +"Do you mean to tell me that that baby has been allowed to run +around this town alone?" demanded the doctor sternly. "What have you +been thinking of? What have you all been doing?" + +"Well she is very self-willed," offered Aunt Trudy, "and I have no +strength left this hot weather. I said yesterday that you ought to +know about it." + +"Why didn't you tell him, then?" suggested Sarah impertinently. + +"That will do," said her brother. "Rosemary, how long has Shirley +been gone?" + +"About an hour now," admitted Rosemary reluctantly. "I've been over +to the dump lot, Hugh, and she isn't there." + +"The dump lot!" ejaculated the doctor. "Is that where Shirley is in +the habit of going? Suppose you tell me about this and how long it +has been going on." + +The shrill ring of the telephone bell interrupted Rosemary's +recital. Doctor Hugh answered it. He came back to the dining-room +frowning, yet oddly enough looking relieved. + +"Shirley is in the Moreland police station," he announced. "She was +picked up during the height of the storm with her express wagon. +I'll go over in the car and bring her home. Want to come, Rosemary?" + +Rosemary did, and the sun was shining out again as they took their +places in the roadster. + +"Don't look so sober, dear," said Doctor Hugh, glancing at the grave +face close to his shoulder. "I'm not blaming you, except that I wish +you had told me at once. This experience will probably quite cure +Shirley from running off. Heigh-o, I wonder what you girls will +think of to do next?" + +Moreland was the town adjoining Eastshore, and ten minutes' ride +brought them to the door of the police station. Rosemary clung +tightly to her brother's arm as they went up the steps. + +"There is nothing to be afraid of," he assured her. + +Then someone folded back one of the heavy oak doors and they found +themselves in a large, bare room. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +SARAH IN DISGRACE + + +The first person Rosemary saw was Shirley, looking very small and +forlorn. She sat on a chair so high that her little feet dangled in +mid-air. One hand clutched a half eaten bun, the other held a +scarcely tasted glass of milk. + +"Oh Rosemary!" cried the familiar little voice. "I'm so glad you've +come!" + +An obliging man in a blue uniform took the bun and the glass of milk +and Rosemary hugged Shirley tightly. + +"How could you run away again, darling?" the older sister whispered +reproachfully. "You worried us so! Were you out in the rain?" + +"Only a little," said Shirley, restored to cheerfulness now that +Rosemary was here to take care of her. + +"She got frightened when it began to thunder," the sergeant at the +desk was saying to Doctor Hugh. "As nearly as I can make out, from +what she says, she started to run at the first clap, and ran away +from her home, instead of toward it. She crossed the line from +Eastshore into Moreland before Jim Doran found her, running as hard +as she could and jerking the express wagon behind her and crying as +though her heart would break. He brought her here and as soon as she +calmed down a bit and told us her name and address, we telephoned +you. Oh, no thanks due us at all--we get a lost child every week or +so. But you ought to break her of running away--the automobile +traffic is so heavy, specially in the summer time, it's dangerous +for a child to be crossing the streets alone." + +Doctor Hugh shook hands with the sergeant and turned toward Rosemary +and Shirley. + +"Come here, Shirley," he said quietly. + +A little frightened, Shirley approached him dubiously. He lifted her +gently and swung her to the top of the table before the sergeant's +desk. + +"There's a sand box and a box of sand toys coming to our house +to-morrow," he said unexpectedly, "but I couldn't think of letting a +little runaway girl touch them. Perhaps I had better send them back +to the store." + +A sand-box had been one of Shirley's fondest wishes. + +"Oh, no, Hugh," she begged, "Don't send them back, please don't. I +won't run away again, ever. Honestly." + +"Will you promise not to leave the yard again unless you first ask +Rosemary or Winnie or Aunt Trudy?" asked the doctor. + +"Yes," nodded Shirley instantly. + +"Well then, if you are not going to run away again, I'll keep the +sand-box," decided Doctor Hugh. "And now we must be getting home for +I have a busy afternoon ahead of me." + +The sergeant shook hands with Shirley and told her that she was wise +to make up her mind to play in her own yard. His little girl, he +said, never ran away. The blue-coated man who had taken the bun and +the milk, carried the express wagon down and put it in the car, and +fifteen minutes later Shirley was deposited safely on her own front +porch. + +The sand-box and the toys came the next morning and Shirley played +for hours with them. Sometimes she induced Sarah to play with her, +but more often that young person was otherwise engaged. She had a +lame cat to care for now in addition to the rabbits and Winnie +declared that if it came to a choice between cream for her aunt's +tea or the cat, she wouldn't trust Sarah with the bottle. + +"I don't think you have a very kind heart, Winnie," said Sarah one +morning when she had been discovered in a raid on the refrigerator. + +"Well I have some conscience and you haven't, or you wouldn't be +wanting to feed loin chops that cost forty-five cents a pound to a +cat," declared Winnie grimly. + +"Sick animals need good food," maintained Sarah, swinging on the +screen door, a habit which invariably irritated Winnie. + +"Go on out and play, do," she now advised Sarah. "How can I get my +work done with you buzzing around me like a fly! Well what do you +suppose struck the child that minute--" Winnie broke off in +amazement. Sarah had dashed around to the front of the house, +banging the screen door noisily behind her. Not curious enough to +speculate further, Winnie went on with her task of scrubbing the +table top already immaculate in its snowy purity. + +Aunt Trudy was descending the front stairs leisurely an hour or two +later, pleasantly contemplating the nearness of the lunch hour, when +the door bell rang sharply. Really it sounded as though someone had +jabbed it viciously. Aunt Trudy approached the door with reproving +dignity. + +"You're Miss Wright, aren't you?" said a rasped voice. "Well, I'm +Mrs. Anderson and I want to tell you that something has got to be +done to Sarah; that child is simply unbearable. She slapped the face +of my Ray this morning and the poor lamb came into the house crying +with pain. He's only four years old, and I think when a great girl +of nine takes to slapping babies' faces, she needs a sound whipping. +No, I won't come in, but I was determined you should know about it. +That child will end up in prison if her temper isn't curbed." + +"No one ever spoke to me like that, Hugh," complained Aunt Trudy +tearfully to her nephew when he came in a few minutes later. "She +didn't give me a chance to say a word. I'm sure I don't approve of +Sarah slapping any one's face." + +"Of course you don't," agreed the doctor soothingly. "Where is the +culprit? We'll see what she has to say for herself. Look here, +Sarah," he opened fire as that young person came up the porch steps +and into the hall, "Mrs. Anderson says you slapped Ray's face this +morning." + +"Well?" inquired Sarah coolly. + +"Did you?" said the doctor matching her briefness. + +"I certainly did," Sarah assured him. "He is a bad, cruel boy and I +wish I had slapped him harder. He was stepping on poor baby ants!" + +Aunt Trudy stared in astonishment, but something pathetic in Sarah's +defiant little figure touched Doctor Hugh. She so evidently +considered she had vindicated herself. + +"That wasn't being kind, was it?" he said gently, "but, Sarah, +slapping his face didn't teach him not to step on ants--it merely +taught him that one of his neighbors was a very impolite little +girl. I want you to go over now and apologize to Mrs. Anderson." + +"But I slapped Ray," hedged Sarah cannily. + +"Well Ray is so little he probably doesn't hold malice," explained +Doctor Hugh seriously. "It is Mrs. Anderson's feelings that are +hurt; don't you think you are a little ashamed, Sarah, to know you +struck a child so much younger than you are?" + +"Go and tell her you are sorry, dearie," suggested Aunt Trudy. + +"I won't say I am sorry, because that would be a lie," said Sarah +virtuously. + +"If you are not sorry you slapped Ray you ought to be, because such +an act is the height of discourtesy," declared the doctor. "However, +if you apologize, I don't doubt that will be satisfactory. Go right +away, Sarah." + +"I think Mrs. Anderson should apologize to us," announced Sarah with +explosive suddenness. "She came over here telling tales and that is +the meanest thing any one can do. You hate tale-bearers, you said so +Hugh." + +The doctor's long-suffering patience snapped. + +"What Mrs. Anderson does is no concern of yours," he said testily. +"If you do not go to her house immediately and apologize, Sarah, +I'll march you over there and wait while you do it. I've listened to +all the argument I intend to." + +"I'll go," surrendered Sarah sullenly. + +What she said could only be conjectured but apparently Mrs. Anderson +was mollified for peace reigned the remainder of the week. Sunday +afternoon though, a fresh storm broke, with Sarah again the center. + +"Where's Sarah?" Doctor Hugh demanded, meeting Rosemary in the hall +on his return from a round of calls. + +Rosemary was dressed in white and ready for a sedate walk with Aunt +Trudy. + +"She's in your office, reading," she answered. "She likes the goat +skin rug, you know." + +"All right," nodded the doctor, "run along, chick, and tell Aunt +Trudy to keep on the shady side of the street. The sun is blazing." + +Sarah was not visible from the door, but walking around his desk, +her brother discovered her stretched full length in her favorite +reading attitude, on the white goat skin rug. Her book dealt with +the health of cats. + +"Sarah," began the doctor looking down at her, "did you take a +telephone message from Mrs. Anderson yesterday morning?" + +Sarah looked obstinate. + +"Did you?" her brother insisted. "Answer me," he commanded, pulling +her to her feet. + +"Yes I did," muttered Sarah. "Rosemary was busy practising and +Winnie's bread was in the oven." + +"Why didn't you tell me she wanted me to call there Saturday night?" +demanded the doctor sternly. + +"'Cause," murmured Sarah uneasily. + +"You're ashamed to tell me, and I don't wonder," Doctor Hugh said +crisply. "You'd let a miserable little thing like an apology you +were forced to make her, interfere with your loyalty to service. I +thought you were bigger than that, Sarah," he added. + +Sarah said nothing. + +"If you were a nurse in a hospital or a doctor's office, you'd be +dismissed," her brother went on, "for all you know I might have been +needed seriously. As it happened, no harm was done, but that doesn't +excuse you. Hereafter you are not to answer the phone under any +circumstances. You can't be trusted to deliver the messages you +receive." + +If he had only known it, Doctor Hugh had delivered a severe blow to +Sarah's pride. She had been extremely proud of her ability to answer +the telephone and welcomed the rare opportunities when Rosemary was +out or busy with her beloved music. But she said nothing and after a +day or two the doctor realized that she was not on "speaking terms" +with him. + +"She ought to be spanked," he confided to Winnie, "but I don't +believe in that form of punishment for children as old as she is." + +"It wouldn't do any good," said Winnie, "your mother spanked her +years ago when she'd take these silent fits. It only made her more +obstinate. You can do more with Sarah, Hughie, by helping her out +of a tight place than any way I know. She's always getting into +trouble and she never forgets the ones that stand by her. You keep +your eyes open and the chance will come." + +The opportunity came sooner than either of them expected. For nearly +a week Jack Welles had been storming, to any one who would listen to +him, about the "low-down" thief who nightly took his can of fishing +worms. + +"Plumb lazy, I call it," grumbled Jack, "to cart away the worms a +fellow breaks his back digging. Some worthless tramp is catching +fish with my worms and I intend to catch him." + +His wails had reached the ears of Doctor Hugh, himself an ardent +fisherman when time permitted and his sympathies were entirely with +the defrauded one. + +"Sit up some night and watch," he advised the lad. "Put the can in +the usual place--where do you keep it--on the back step?--all right, +put it there, and then hide back of the willow tree. You say it is +done sometime between ten and twelve, for you go to bed at ten and +your father comes home at midnight and finds the can empty? That +ought to make it easy for you, for you know when to watch for the +thief." + +Jack's father was engaged in some delicate electrical experiments +that were conducted in his factory at night to escape the vibration +caused by the heavy machines. + +Coming home from the Jordan office a little after then the next +night after he had given Jack his advice, Doctor Hugh remembered +what he had said and wondered if the boy had been successful in +detecting the thief. As he neared the Welles house he heard loud and +angry voices. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +WHEN PATIENCE SLIPS + + +"If I ever catch you touching my can of worms again, I'll--I'll--" +words apparently failed Jack and he began to sputter. + +"Got him, Jack?" the doctor leaped the hedge lightly and ran +diagonally across the lawn to the back of the Welles's house. + +"Him?" growled Jack in disgust. "Him! Look at this--" and he flashed +a pocket light that revealed to the astonished Doctor Hugh the +tear-streaked face of Sarah. + +"For the love of Mike!" gasped her brother. "Have you been taking +Jack's worms?" + +"Yes she has," Jack answered for her. "She's been dumping the can +out every night. And if she does it again I'll shake her if she is a +girl." + +"Hold on, hold on," said Doctor Hugh pacifically. "Let's get the +hang of this; why did you empty Jack's can of worms, Sarah?" + +"It--it hurts them to be jabbed with a hook," wept Sarah. + +"Like fun it does," retorted Jack scornfully. "Worms haven't any +feelings, hardly." + +"Well fishes have and if you haven't any worms you can't catch +fishes," stormed Sarah. "I will too throw away your worms." + +"You will not!" flashed Jack, taking a step toward her. + +Sarah, the defiant, turned and fled toward her brother. He put his +arm about her and found that she was shaking with nervous sobbing. + +"I'll see you to-morrow, Jack," he said quietly. "There is no use in +rousing the whole neighborhood. Come on, Sarah, we're going home." + +He lifted the little girl in his arms and strode across the grass, +entering the door of the house noiselessly and depositing her in a +large arm chair in the office. Then he went into the kitchen, warmed +a glass of milk and made her drink it. + +"Now tell me all about it," he said, sitting down at his desk to +face her. Sarah, he knew, had a horror of being "fussed over" and he +did not dare pet her though he wished his mother were there to +cuddle the pathetic little figure in her arms. + +"I emptied the can every night, after Jack went to bed," said +Sarah. "That's all. He doesn't care how much he hurts them, but I +do." + +"But how could you stay awake from eight till ten o'clock?" asked +the doctor curiously, "and how could you come down stairs without +waking Shirley or being seen by Aunt Trudy or Winnie?" + +"I didn't go to bed, that is not really," confided Sarah. "I lay +down with all my clothes on, because Rosemary always comes in to see +that our light is out before she goes to bed. But after nine o'clock +I stayed up till I saw Jack shut the kitchen door of his house and +then I knew he was through digging worms." + +"Didn't you ever go to sleep before Rosemary came in to look at +you?" asked her brother. "Not once?" + +"Not once," said Sarah firmly. "I put three of Shirley's building +blocks under my back so I couldn't. And when I got up I sat on the +window sill so if I went to sleep I'd wake up when I fell out." + +"Well you are thorough," admitted the doctor. "Weren't you afraid +Aunt Trudy would come in and find you sitting up? Or hear you +falling out of the window?" + +"I didn't fall," declared Sarah, matter-of-factly. "And Aunt Trudy +never comes to see if we are in bed. Mother used to, every night." + +"I see," the doctor frowned a little. "Well, Sarah, you'll have to +let Jack's worms alone after this. I'm not going to argue with you +about the feelings of the worms or the fish (you'll get that point +better when you are a little older) but I'll put it to you this way; +they're Jack's worms and you mustn't touch what belongs to him. And, +also, you can't go about making people think as you do. If you don't +believe in fishing, all right; you are at perfect liberty not to +fish. But you have no call to try to stop other people from fishing. +Jack may not approve of the way you keep your rabbits. He may think +they should be turned loose and allowed to destroy the garden. If he +came over here night after night and let your rabbits out, think how +angry you would be. Do you see, dear? You do what you feel to be +right and let the other fellow keep tabs on his own conscience." + +Sarah thought a few minutes. + +"Well, I will," she sighed reluctantly. "Worms are awfully nasty +things, anyway, Hugh. I had to pick some of them out of the can +with my fingers, because they wouldn't come out." + +"Then we're all serene again," said her brother cheerfully. "And now +it is after eleven and high time you were asleep." + +Sarah gave him a quick, shy kiss at the head of the stairs and +vanished into her room. She was always chary of caresses and her +mother declared that she could count the times Sarah had voluntarily +kissed her. + +The last two weeks of July were an unbroken "hot spell." Eastshore +was ordinarily comfortable in the summer time but the heat wave that +gripped the country made itself felt and not all the pleasant effect +of wide lawns and old shade trees could counteract the hot, humid +nights and the blazing, parched days. An occasional thunder shower +did its best to bring comfort, but the heat closed in again after +each gust, seemingly more intense than ever. It was a trying test +for tempers and dispositions and the Willis household began to +develop "nerves." + +"I should think you children could manage to remember to shut the +screens doors behind you," remarked Doctor Hugh one morning at the +breakfast table. "If there is one thing positively unendurable, it +is flies in the house!" + +Winnie put down the cream pitcher beside his cup of coffee with an +emphasis that threatened to spray him with its contents. + +"You'd better be speaking to Sarah," she said grimly. "I'm about +wore out, arguing with her. She won't let me use the fly-batter at +all and why? Because it is cruel to kill the dear darling little +flies that tramp all over our food with their filthy feet!" + +Rosemary giggled. She sat in Aunt Trudy's place, cool and neat in a +blue gingham dress, her charming bobbed head making a pretty picture +silhouetted against the light of the window behind her. The warm +weather had reconciled Rosemary to the loss of her hair. Aunt Trudy +often pleaded a headache mornings and Rosemary took her place at the +silver tray and poured her brother's coffee. + +"Don't let me hear any more such nonsense," said he sternly now. +"Keep the screens closed, Winnie, and kill any flies that get in. +Sarah, you are not to interfere in any way--and don't scowl like +that." + +For reply Sarah kicked the table leg to the peril of her glass of +milk and Shirley's. + +"You'll find yourself sent away from the table in another minute," +her brother warned her. "Eat your breakfast and behave yourself." + +"You'll be sorry when I'm dead," said Sarah, her voice plaintive +with self-pity. + +Shirley thought the moment auspicious to make a reach for a hot +biscuit. Over went her glass of milk and her fat little hand landed +in the butter dish. The telephone bell saved her, as far as Doctor +Hugh was concerned, and when he came back to tell Rosemary that he +would not be home till dinner time and to give her a list of the +time and places when he could be reached during the day, Winnie had +removed all traces of the accident. + +"I guess you must think I'm a washing machine," she grumbled after +the doctor had gone. "That's the tenth clean runner we've had on the +table this week. If we were using table cloths every meal I'd have +to give up--no living woman could keep this family in table cloths!" + +"Sarah, are you going to make the beds this morning?" asked +Rosemary, on her way to sweep the porch, a duty she had assumed. + +"No, I'm not," returned Sarah with characteristic candor. "It's too +hot. Let 'em air till night. I want to play in the sand-box." + +"Ray Anderson and me's going to play in the sand-box," said Shirley. +"You can't come--you take all the toys." + +"Oh, Shirley, how cross you are!" cried Rosemary, aghast at the +frown on Shirley's pretty forehead. "Don't be so cranky, darling. +Sarah will play in one end of the box and you play in the other." + +But Sarah, her nose in the air, announced that she wouldn't "have a +thing to do with the old sand-box," and she departed to sit in the +swing and read, leaving Rosemary to make the beds or "let them air" +as she decided. + +Rosemary finished sweeping the porch and had just begun to make her +own bed, when her aunt called her. + +"Shirley and that little Anderson boy are making so much noise, I +can't rest," Aunt Trudy complained. "I should think you could tell +them to play quietly, Rosemary. And I wish you wouldn't practise +this morning, dearie; my head is splitting and the piano does annoy +me so. This afternoon I'll take my sewing out under the tree and you +may have two hours to yourself, if you like." + +Rosemary went down and suggested to Shirley and Ray that they make +sand pies instead of building a railroad, knowing from experience +that sand pies was a comparatively quiet play. Then she dusted her +beloved piano with a little lump in her throat. Mother had loved to +hear her practise and had liked to sit on summer mornings in a chair +close by, sewing and listening. Mother was an accomplished musician +and she knew and noted her little daughter's enthusiastic progress. +One reason that Rosemary practised so steadily through the warm +weather in spite of discouragement was her determination to surprise +her mother by her improvement when that dear lady came back to them. + +"It's a shame you have all the beds to do, Rosemary," said Winnie, +coming up for a salve from the medicine closet in the bathroom and +discovering Rosemary wearily putting the bedrooms to rights. "I've +burned my finger on that silly hot water heater again. I've told the +doctor and told him to have the plumber stop in and fix it, but he +forgets every time." + +"I'll telephone Mr. Mertz," said Rosemary absently. + +"You ought to make Sarah do her part," went on Winnie, spreading +salve on a piece of gauze and binding it around her finger. "I'm +tired trying to get any help from her. And Miss Trudy wants +ice-water every minute of the day and if I don't get it for her she +comes out to the refrigerator and wastes half a block, hacking it. +Shirley wants nothing but hot breads and meat and first thing we +know she'll be sick on our hands." + +Winnie sat on the edge of the bath-tub and let her mind dwell on her +woes. Rosemary tried to listen sympathetically, but she was warm and +tired and if Winnie would only go perhaps she could finish the rooms +in time to read a little before lunch. The afternoon would have to +be given over to her delayed practising. + +"Well, I'm going down stairs," said Winnie, putting the salve jar +back on its shelf, "and all we're going to have for lunch is tomato +salad and bread and butter. If any one doesn't like it, they can +leave it; I'm not going to spend any time fussing with special +dishes this kind of weather." + +Rosemary's practising that afternoon was interrupted several times +by the telephone, twice for the wrong number. Aunt Trudy, with the +air of a martyr, took her sewing out under the horse chestnut tree, +Sarah and Shirley went to a neighbor's to play and Winnie announced +that she intended to take a nap. So there was no one to answer the +bells except Rosemary. By the time she had jumped up to be asked "Is +this the grocery store?" once or twice, had admitted the butcher boy +with fresh meat which must be put on the ice and had been summoned +three times by Aunt Trudy to thread her needle--for glasses, +declared her aunt made her warmer in summer and she would not wear +them--Rosemary's temper was fraying sadly. + +"Rosemary," said Aunt Trudy, coming into the living room as the +practise hour was about over (not allowing for time wasted, Rosemary +told herself resentfully), "Rosemary, where is Sarah?" + +"I don't care where she is!" cried Rosemary, whirling around on the +piano bench. "I'm tired of always being asked where Sarah and +Shirley are. I don't care!" + +Aunt Trudy burst into tears. + +"I don't think you ought to speak to me like that," she sobbed. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE LAST STRAW + + +Jack Welles' cheerful whistle sounded outside. + +"Coming!" answered Rosemary. + +She flung her arms about Aunt Trudy and gave her a penitent hug. + +"I'm sorry I was cross, Auntie," she whispered. "You know I didn't +mean it." + +Then she sped out the front door and joined Jack who was waiting on +the walk outside the hedge. + +"Come on uptown and have a soda," he suggested. "Perhaps it will +cool you off--you look slightly wild." + +"I feel wild," admitted Rosemary, falling into step beside him. +"This has been the most dreadful day!" + +"Weather's enough to make anyone cross," said the boy quickly. "I'll +bet the trouble is you're doing everyone's work. Hugh ought to make +Sarah stir around. She's lazy." + +"No, I don't think she is lazy," protested Rosemary, "Only, well you +know Jack, it was more fun doing the things you have to do when +Mother was home. I can't explain it very well, but I remember last +summer Sarah thought she'd wash the upstairs windows to surprise +Mother--Winnie was sick and Mother happened to say she didn't know +when in the world the windows would get cleaned. Sarah heard her and +the next day she lugged up a pail of water and a cloth and tried to +wash them. She splashed water all over the wall paper and made an +awful mess of it, but Mother kissed her and praised her and said she +was glad she had such a helpful little daughter. Aunt Trudy isn't +like that and Sarah likes to be praised for what she does. Aunt +Trudy never tells her she makes a bed well, but if there is a +wrinkle in the spread she shows her that. Sarah made the beds all +right for a long time, but now she goes off mornings and plays." + +"I knew it," nodded Jack, "and Winnie has a list of troubles a mile +long waiting for you every night." + +"Morning," corrected Rosemary, laughing. "Oh, Jack how do you know +so much? I don't see how I could get along without you, because +you're the only one who listens to my troubles. Hugh is a dear, but +he is so busy, and we're forbidden to write anything that will +bother Mother." + +"Fire into me any time you feel like it," invited Jack, steering her +toward the drug-store steps and the soda fountain therein. "I'm +always ready to listen and if you want any punching done, just let +me know." + +But the next hard day, when everything seemed to go wrong from +breakfast time to the dinner hour, no Jack was at hand to listen to +Rosemary's recital. He had gone away for a week's fishing trip with +his father. + +The day started with a pitched battle between Winnie and Sarah after +breakfast, over the question of feeding the cat the top of the milk. +Sarah declared passionately that she would starve herself before she +would feed a defenseless cat skimmed milk and Winnie, with equal +fervor, had announced that when she saw herself handing over the top +milk to a cat they might send her to the insane asylum without +delay. + +"You're a mean, hateful woman!" shouted Sarah, rushing out of the +kitchen and shutting the door on Shirley's finger which was too near +the crack. + +Shirley screamed with pain and after Rosemary had bathed the poor +bruised finger and Winnie had comforted the child with a cookie, +Aunt Trudy declared that her nerves were too unstrung to spend the +day in such a house and that she would go to town and shop. + +"That means I'll have to answer the telephone while I'm practising," +grumbled Rosemary. "Oh, dear, how selfish everyone is! I've a good +mind to sit down and read on the porch while it is shady. All the +others do as they please and I will, too." + +Her book was interesting, and there was a blessed freedom from +interruptions. Rosemary was amazed when Sarah, warm and dirty from +grubbing in the rabbit house appeared at the foot of the steps and +demanded to know if lunch was ready. + +"Oh well, I'll make the beds and pick up after lunch," said Rosemary +to herself. + +Shirley assumed the airs of an invalid at the lunch table and +secured large portions of meat and dessert as a concession to her +hurt finger. She ignored the vegetables entirely though the meal was +supposed to be her dinner and Doctor Hugh had given orders that she +was to be fed after certain rules. + +Winnie was put out because the iceman was late and her dinner +supplies threatened to spoil and Sarah insisted on the hot-water +heater being lit so that she might have hot water in which to wash +her cat. The wrangle with Winnie over this continued throughout the +meal. + +"I don't care whether you wash the cat or not," said Rosemary, when +Sarah followed her to the corner of the living-room where the piano +stood. "I'm going to practise, and don't bother me." + +"Silly old music," grumbled Sarah, "come on, Shirley, let's go sail +boats in the bath-tub." + +Rosemary spent the afternoon at the piano, having promised herself +that she would put in a full two hours over her music. The numerous +interruptions spun out the time so that when she finally closed the +lid the little clock on the mantelpiece chimed five. + +"Good gracious, the beds aren't made!" thought Rosemary and flew up +the stairs. + +One glance into the bathroom halted her and cooled her energy. +Shirley and Sarah had spent a busy afternoon, sailing boats in the +tub. They had used every clean towel in sight to mop up the puddles +on the floor and they were wet to their chins. Rosemary hustled them +off to get into clean dry clothes and then worked feverishly to +restore the room to a semblance of order. Aunt Trudy came home +before she had finished and when she saw the unmade beds and the +morning's disorder still untouched, she spoke her mind in no +uncertain terms. + +"Everybody has a grouch," observed Sarah cheerfully when they sat +down to dinner. Doctor Hugh had not come in. + +"Don't use that word, Sarah," reproved her aunt, sugaring a bowl of +boiled rice for Shirley. + +"Don't want rice, want cutylet," said Shirley, pointing to the veal +cutlet. + +"She's had enough meat to-day," interposed Winnie. "The doctor says +she shouldn't have it at all at night." + +Shirley refused to touch the rice and was sitting in stately +aloofness when Doctor Hugh came in looking warm and tired. + +"What's the matter?" he asked, dropping into his chair and testing +the soup Winnie instantly placed before him. Hugh was her idol and +she always managed not to keep him waiting. "Heat too much for you?" +he added. + +"Grouches is what ails 'em," volunteered Sarah. + +"I've asked her not to use that word, but no one pays any attention +to my wishes," sighed Aunt Trudy. + +"All right, drop it, Sarah," said Doctor Hugh shortly. "Aren't you +eating to-night, sweetheart?" he asked Shirley. + +"I want some cutylet," said Shirley wistfully. "I don't like rice." + +"She ate nothing for her dinner but beef loaf and two helps of date +pudding," announced Winnie. "I don't know when she expects to learn +to eat sensible and like a Christian." + +"Well, if Rosemary would take a little interest in the child and +coax her, she would soon learn to like vegetables," said Aunt Trudy. +"I think Shirley is left too much to herself." + +Rosemary flushed, but her brother spoke before she could reply. + +"You eat your rice, Shirley, or not one other thing can you have +to-night," he announced, with unusual severity, for Shirley was his +pet. "No, crying won't do you any good--eat your rice and stop +whining." + +"I think you ought to know how things go when I'm not here, Hugh," +began Aunt Trudy while Shirley ate her rice sulkily. "I was so upset +this morning that I thought I should fly if I stayed in the house, +so I went up to the city and shopped. I came in about half past five +and not one bed was made! The children's clothes lay just where +they had flung them last night. That's a nice way, isn't it? +Apparently I can not leave home for a few hours without finding +everything shirked on my return." + +Rosemary's blue eyes blazed with quick anger and an unlovely look +came into her face. + +"I don't care if I didn't make the beds!" she cried hotly. "I'm sick +and tired of beds and dusting and answering the telephone. You never +expect anyone in this house to do a single thing, but me!" + +"Rosemary!" said Doctor Hugh. + +"I don't think you should speak to me like that," asserted Aunt +Trudy on the verge of tears. + +"I won't speak to you at all!" jerked Rosemary. "That's the only way +to please you." + +Aunt Trudy began to cry and Doctor Hugh pushed back his plate. + +"Please leave the table, Rosemary," he said distinctly. "Go into the +office and wait for me." + +Rosemary rushed from the table like a whirlwind and the house shook +as she banged the office door. + +"I don't care!" she raged, in the depths of the comfortable shabby +arm-chair that had been her father's. "I don't care! Aunt Trudy +always cries and it isn't fair. I suppose Hugh will be furious, but +let him. I'm so tired and so hot and so miserable--" and Rosemary +gave herself up to a passion of angry tears. + +She had been crying in the dark and when the door opened and someone +switched on the light she knew it was Doctor Hugh. She slipped down +from the chair and walked around back of the desk. He took the +swivel chair and glanced at her half-averted face gravely. + +"Rosemary," he said gently, "how would you like to ride over to +Bennington with me to-morrow? They're opening the new hospital and I +half promised to go. We'll be gone all the morning and it will make +a little change for you." + +Bennington was the county seat, twenty miles away. It should be +delightful not to have anything to do the next morning but put on a +clean frock and go with Hugh. He might even let her drive the car a +few minutes at a time on a straight stretch of road--Rosemary found +her tongue. + +"Oh, Hugh, I'd love it!" she said enthusiastically. + +"All right, so should I," he smiled. "I think you need a bit of +pleasure. Things going rather hard for you, dear?" + +Rosemary nodded, a lump in her throat surprising her. She had +expected Hugh to be angry and to scold. Instead he was very gentle. + +"I'm sorry," he said, "Very sorry. You miss Mother, I know; we all +do. But I think you are learning a good deal this summer without +her. I've been watching you, and you are more self-reliant and +capable every day. Several people have spoken to me about the way +you answer the 'phone and the intelligent answers you give them. I +don't know what I should do without you." + +Rosemary flushed with pleasure. Then, being Rosemary, she flung +herself headlong at her brother, narrowly missing his glasses. + +"Oh, Hugh! Hugh dear, I _am_ sorry I acted so to-night!" she wept. + +"There, there," he patted her gently. "You didn't mean to be cross, +we all know that. You were tired and so was Aunt Trudy. I guess this +heat has about worn everybody out. I tried to warn you, but the +fireworks had to blaze up. Now kiss me, like my sweet girl, for I'm +going out again, and then make your peace with Aunt Trudy. And +to-morrow morning we'll leave dull care behind us and enjoy +ourselves for a few hours." + +"Shirley would love to go," suggested Rosemary. + +"All right, I thought you ought to leave the cares behind, but we'll +take Shirley if you say so," was the answer. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A CHAIN OF PROMISES + + +The "hot spell" broke that night and the morning was deliciously +cool and fresh. This delightful state of weather continued for +several days and was immediately reflected in the changed temper of +the Willis household and, it is safe to say, in many other Eastshore +households since we are all more or less affected by weather +conditions. + +Aunt Trudy, who really was miserable under excessive heat revived +and insisted on giving a birthday party for Shirley who was six +years old on the third of August, and Rosemary and Sarah pleased and +touched the good lady by their assurances that it was the nicest +child's party ever given in the town. Shirley took her good fortune +complacently and was heard to remark that she wished school would +open the next day because now she was old enough to go. + +The day after the party Aunt Trudy decided to "run into the city" +for her new glasses and some special errands. She left soon after +breakfast and would, she informed Winnie, return on the 5:48 train +that afternoon. + +It was the day for Rosemary's music lesson and she went, at two +o'clock, to her teacher's house. The lesson over, she took a book +back to the Library for Aunt Trudy, bought some clothespins for +Winnie and meeting Jack Welles, brown and freckled from his fishing +trip, accepted his invitation to stop at the hardware store and see +the prize trout his father had caught and which was mounted and on +exhibition in the window. So it was nearly half past four when she +reached home. + +"Rosemary!" a shrill whisper came down to her over the bannisters, +as she went upstairs to leave the book she had selected for Aunt +Trudy on the table in her room. "Rosemary, come up here, quick!" + +Rosemary, vaguely frightened, ran up to Sarah's room. Shirley was +there and both little girls looked as though they had been crying. + +"What's the matter--did Shirley hurt herself?" asked Rosemary in +alarm. + +Sarah shut the door and looked at her older sister queerly. + +"Promise you won't tell? Cross-your-heart-hope-to-die?" she urged. + +Rosemary sat down on the bed. + +"Is it good or bad?" she asked cautiously. + +"Bad!" cried Shirley in an awe-struck tone. "Awfully bad. Isn't it, +Sarah?" + +Sarah nodded hopelessly. + +"It's so bad," she declared, "that you never heard anything as bad. +And if you tell, Rosemary, I'll run away, as far off as I can run +away, and never, never come back." + +Sarah's dark eyes were red-rimmed and she seemed so desperately +unhappy that Rosemary's kind heart was touched. + +"Oh, Sarah darling, you know I won't tell!" she exclaimed. "I don't +care what it is, I won't tell anyone. I promise." + +Sarah drew a long breath of relief. She sat down on the floor, her +favorite resting place, and Shirley scrambled down beside her. + +"Well then," said Sarah more calmly, "I've lost Aunt Trudy's +turquoise ring!" + +"You've lost Aunt Trudy's turquoise ring!" repeated Rosemary. "How +on earth could you lose her ring?" + +"We were playing with the jewel case," murmured Sarah, a dark red +flush rising under her brown skin. + +"Sarah Eaton Willis! And after what Hugh told you!" Rosemary stared +at the culprit in astonishment. + +For Aunt Trudy's jewel case, containing numerous rings and pins of +no inconsiderable value and for which she cared little beyond the +pleasure of possession seldom, if ever, wearing any of the pieces, +had delighted Sarah and Shirley from the first moment they +discovered it. Their aunt had indulgently allowed them to deck +themselves out and play "lady" and apparently the idea that anything +could happen to a valuable brooch or ring or a string of pearls, or +cut amber beads be lost, never occurred to her. It occurred to +Doctor Hugh, however, when he came home unexpectedly one afternoon +and met Sarah and Shirley arrayed in barbaric splendor. He had +immediately forbidden further play with the jewelry and, at his +orders, Aunt Trudy had placed the case among the list of things on +her dresser which must not be touched. + +"I didn't think Aunt Trudy would care if we played with her rings a +little while this afternoon," said Sarah uneasily, "We were going +to put everything back, weren't we, Shirley? I had the ring on and +Winnie called me to go get a cake of yeast--she's always wanting me +to run errands. And when I came back the ring was gone off my finger +and we hunted everywhere and we couldn't find it. So it must be +lost," wound up the small sinner. + +"I don't believe you have half looked," protested Rosemary. "Where +did you go after you bought the yeast cake? Straight home? Well, +I'll go look all the way to the store and back, and you and Shirley +look everywhere in the house you can think of." + +"You won't tell, will you, Rosemary?" coaxed Sarah. "Hugh will be so +mad, but Aunt Trudy won't mind. She never wears any of her rings." + +"Of course I won't tell," said Rosemary impatiently. "I promised. +But you hurry and put the rest of the things back in the case and +put it on Aunt Trudy's dresser, Sarah. And then look all over the +house." + +Rosemary searched every step of the way to the grocery store where +Sarah had gone to buy the yeast cake, and all the way back, but with +no result. The two little girls reported that they had looked +"everywhere" in the house, but no ring had obligingly turned up. +Aunt Trudy came home, apparently saw nothing wrong with the orderly +array of articles on her dresser, and dinner was a comfortable meal +if three of the five present were a little more silent than usual. + +That night, when they were getting ready for bed, Rosemary announced +that she had a plan. She had offered to go to bed when Sarah went +and the surprised and pleased Aunt Trudy had told Doctor Hugh that +she was sure the girls were learning to like an early bedtime hour. + +"If the ring is lost, it is lost, and that is all there is to it," +said Rosemary, sitting on Sarah's bed to brush her hair, a habit she +still clung to though the bobbed locks were quickly made ready for +the night. "And there is only one thing to do, that I can see: buy +Aunt Trudy another." + +"Buy her a ring!" gasped Sarah. "We can't--we haven't any money. And +Hugh won't give it to us, unless we tell him what it's for. How much +does a turquoise ring cost, Rosemary?" + +"I don't know," admitted Rosemary. "A great deal, I suppose. I'll +have to earn it, because I am the oldest. And Sarah you'll have to +let me tell Jack Welles, because I want to ask him how I can earn +some money." + +"Aunt Trudy won't know the ring is lost," argued Sarah. "She never +looks at 'em--she says she doesn't." + +"That has nothing to do with it," replied Rosemary earnestly. "When +you lose a thing, you try to replace it--that's what Mother says. Do +you care if I tell Jack, Sarah?" + +"No, but he mustn't tell Hugh," Sarah insisted. + +The next morning Rosemary seized an opportunity while Jack was +trimming the dividing hedge, to confide the story of the lost ring, +first swearing him to secrecy. + +"And now you have to tell me how I can earn money to buy Aunt Trudy +another ring," she said anxiously. + +Jack whistled in perplexity. + +"I think you ought to tell Hugh," he said at once. "A ring like that +must cost a lot--Aunt Trudy wouldn't have any make-believe stones. +You can't earn money without he finds it out and then there will be +a pretty row. Hasn't Sarah enough backbone to face the music?" + +"Well, you see if she had only played with the jewel case after Hugh +told her not to, that would be bad enough," explained Rosemary. "But +she played with it and lost a ring and Hugh will scold dreadfully +if he finds that out. I promised not to tell and so did you, Jack." + +"Yes, I did, and I'm sorry I ever made such a fool promise," said +Jack crossly. "I don't see how you can earn any money, Rosemary. +There is nothing for you to do." + +Rosemary was sure she could think of something and that afternoon +she hailed Jack triumphantly. + +"I've got it!" she called, running down to the hedge where he was +raking out the trimmings left from the morning's work. "I know what +I can do, Jack. I heard Mrs. Dunning tell Aunt Trudy the other day +that she would give anything if she could get someone to stay with +her baby while she went to the card club meetings Tuesday +afternoons. I can take care of the baby!" + +"What do you know about taking care of people's babies?" demanded +Jack with scorn. + +"I know how, if they are not very little ones," Rosemary assured +him. "The Dunning baby is old enough to walk. I am going to get a +baby to take care of every afternoon and that will be a whole lot of +money every week!" + +"What will Aunt Trudy say?" asked Jack pointedly. + +"She won't know--she takes a nap half the afternoon, and I'll ask +the babies' mothers to keep it a secret," planned Rosemary. "I won't +say I am going to surprise Aunt Trudy with a present, but they'll +think I am saving up for her birthday or something, perhaps." + +"You see, you've started to deceive folks already," argued Jack, +"and you know if Hugh ever finds out what you are doing he will be +raging. Hadn't you better tell him, Rosemary, or get Sarah to own +up?" + +"She won't--I did try," admitted Rosemary. "Sarah is scared to death +of what Hugh will say. No, I have to get another ring for Aunt Trudy +and then, maybe, we can let her know the old one is lost." + +In spite of Jack's opposition, Rosemary persisted in carrying out +her plan for earning money. As she had said, she had nearly the +whole of every afternoon to herself for Aunt Trudy took a long nap +and Doctor Hugh rarely came home between one and six. She called on +the mothers of young babies and in many instances was eagerly +welcomed. A great many women wanted to leave their youngsters with +some one for an hour or two in the afternoon and Rosemary had a +"natural way" with children, to quote Winnie. The babies took to +her at first sight and in a few days Rosemary was able to announce +to the disgruntled Jack that she had "work" for every afternoon in +the week. + +"They think I'm earning money for Christmas," she said, "I didn't +say that, honestly I didn't, Jack. But whenever I told any one I +wanted to earn some money and did they want me to take care of their +baby for fifteen cents an hour, they always said, 'Oh, I suppose you +want to earn some money for Christmas, before school opens'!" + +"Bet you'll give it up after the first day," prophesied Jack. +"Taking care of cranky babies isn't what it is cracked up to be." + +There were many afternoons when Rosemary recalled his words. She +would have liked to give up, often. The babies were as good and +sweet-tempered as babies usually are, but no child is angelic and +the hot weather and their teeth troubles fretted the small people +sadly. Rosemary was sometimes at her wits' end to keep her charges +amused and there were days when she longed to fly home and rest her +tired head on the cool pillow on her own little bed. She had never +been forced to do anything steadily for long after she tired of it, +and to be obliged to smile and play with a wailing, discontented +baby on a hot, muggy afternoon did seem more than she could stand. +But she had plenty of perseverance, had Rosemary, and when she once +made up her mind to do a thing she stuck it out. Sarah and Shirley +had ceased to worry about the ring. Rosemary would make it all right +again for them--of that they had no doubt. + +But if Aunt Trudy slept long hours and did not interfere with the +goings and comings of her young nieces, she was not quite so +unobservant as they sometimes thought. + +"It seems to me that Rosemary is out of the house a good deal," she +remarked one morning to Winnie. "She ought to take more of an +interest in things here at the house." + +"Well, I suppose it's only natural she should find a good deal to do +outside," answered Winnie, who had not been blind to Rosemary's +frequent absences, cautiously. "She's young, you know, and doing +your duty gets tiresome after a bit." + +But to herself, Winnie admitted that Rosemary seemed to have +absolved herself from any responsibility toward her sisters. "Left +them to shift for themselves," was the way Winnie put it. She was +puzzled and also disappointed in her favorite, for indifference of +any kind had never been a Rosemary trait. + +"She ought to be looking after Sarah and Shirley some of the time," +grumbled Winnie. "Those young ones are under my feet continually. +The least Rosemary can do is to read to 'em now and then to keep +them quiet." + +That very afternoon Miss Mason, Rosemary's music teacher called to +see Aunt Trudy. Rosemary's music was falling below its usual +standard and that was a pity. Was she practising as faithfully as +usual? + +"I think it is a shame to waste all that money on music lessons, if +you won't practise, Rosemary," announced her aunt at the dinner +table that night. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +ONE DISASTROUS AFTERNOON + + +"I do practise," said Rosemary desperately. + +"Well not enough, or Miss Mason wouldn't say your work was falling +below your usual standard," Aunt Trudy insisted. "She was here this +afternoon, Hugh, and she asked me whether Rosemary was giving as +much time as usual to the piano." + +"Oh, let her slow up this kind of weather, if she wants to," +responded the doctor lazily. "I think she's stuck pretty faithfully +to the scales and finger exercises myself." + +Rosemary flashed him a grateful look. + +"Of course I don't want to find fault," said Aunt Trudy to this, +"but you know I feel responsible. And Winnie was saying this morning +that Sarah and Shirley are left too much to themselves." + +"Oh, that's all right," declared Sarah hastily and Shirley echoed, +"Yes, that's all right." + +Doctor Hugh laughed and even Rosemary smiled faintly. How could she +explain that she had no time left from the babies in the afternoon +to spend with the little sisters, or that the reason her music was +showing neglect was because her morning practise hours were given +over to the odds and ends of duties she dared not leave undone for +fear of comment and question and now had no other time to do? + +"I imagine Sarah and Shirley amuse themselves," said the doctor, +smiling, "but Rosemary dear, I don't want you to get in the habit of +being out of the house too much. Three afternoons I've called you up +and you weren't home." + +Doctor Hugh wondered if Nina Edmonds was absorbing Rosemary's +attention again, but he thought it wiser not to ask. As a matter of +fact, had he but known it, the voluble Nina had been away at the +seashore for several weeks. + +"Well, all I can say," remarked Aunt Trudy after a pause, "is that I +hope, Rosemary, your sense of duty will be strong enough to cause +you to pay a little attention to the children while I am away. I am +going to-morrow morning to spend two days with my cousin, you know, +Hugh. She is sailing for London, Wednesday." + +"Yes, you told me," acknowledged the doctor. "We'll manage all +right, Aunt Trudy. Rosemary will keep us all in order." + +But in spite of his cheerful faith, Aunt Trudy departed the next +morning "worried to death" as she confided to Winnie. + +"I have a feeling that Sarah and Shirley will get into some +mischief, the minute my back is turned," declared the good lady. +"And Rosemary will be mooning around and not catch them until it is +too late." + +Aunt Trudy's doleful prediction proved only too true. That very +afternoon, when Rosemary left to take care of the Simmons baby while +his proud mother attended the fortnightly meeting of her card club, +Sarah and Shirley decided to sail boats in the bath-tub. +Unfortunately, when the tub was half filled, Ray Anderson called +them to come and see his new kiddie car and when that was duly +inspected, Sarah pressed Shirley into service to help her feed the +rabbits. + +"Let's go up to the store and buy 'em some fresh carrots," Sarah +suggested. "I'll get the money out of the tin bank--Rosemary won't +mind, 'cause I'll pay her back soon as I can." + +Rosemary was putting the money she earned into the little tin +chimney bank which stood on the mantel shelf in her room. She +called it the "ring fund" and to Sarah it seemed that there must be +money enough already in it to buy several rings. But Rosemary was +positive she still needed a great deal more. + +Sarah and Shirley, by dint of much shaking and banging the bank +against the shelf edge, succeeded in extracting ten cents and with +this they purchased fresh young carrots, a delicacy much beloved by +the pampered rabbits. They had fed the rabbits and were swinging in +the porch swing, when they heard a cry from Winnie. + +"For mercy's sake, where is the water coming from!" she shrieked. +"Look at it, leaking down through the ceiling and dripping on my +clean tablecloth--have the pipes sprung a leak?" + +She dashed madly upstairs, Sarah and Shirley at her heels. The +bath-tub was overflowing and the floor was a lake. + +"Don't ever let me hear of you sailing boats again, as long as I +live in this house!" Winnie scolded, as she rolled up her sleeves +and pulled out the plug. "Sarah, go down and get me the mop--quick! +It'll be a wonder if the plaster doesn't fall in the dining-room, +it's that soaked!" + +Dinner was delayed because of the catastrophe and when Doctor Hugh +came in, hungry and tired, it was to find Winnie spreading a fresh +cloth on the table and scolding Rosemary vigorously. + +"The time to be helping me is before such a thing happens," +announced Winnie, twitching the linen angrily. "Is that you, Hughie? +Heaven alone knows when dinner will be ready to-night--I've been +made to set the table twice over and the potatoes boiled dry while I +was mopping up the bathroom." + +In a few words she sketched the incident. + +"Rosemary, can't you look after the children a little better, just +till your aunt gets back?" asked the doctor wearily. "Where were you +when they were letting the water run?" + +"I was--out," said Rosemary lamely. "Just around," she added +hastily, seeing a question forming on his lips. + +"Well you'll have to stay in to-morrow," he said decisively. "Aunt +Trudy will be home to-morrow night, and I want you to be with Sarah +and Shirley till then. That isn't asking too much--one day. And +we'll see if we can get along without any more accidents. No éclairs +to-night, Winnie, for Shirley and Sarah." + +The two culprits, deprived of dessert, were excused early, but +Rosemary left alone with Hugh was too busy with her own thoughts to +talk much though ordinarily she loved an opportunity for a chat with +him. + +"I simply have to go to Mrs. Hepburn's to-morrow," she thought +panic-stricken. "I promised faithfully to come, rain or shine. She +is going somewhere with her husband and that's the only day he has +off. I'll have to go--that is all there is about it. If Hugh finds +it out, he will be furious, but perhaps he won't know. Anyway, I'm +going! I promised." + +Sarah and Shirley playing their favorite game of dominoes on the +porch after dinner, were startled by a sudden rush from Rosemary. +She whirled through the doorway and demanded of her sister, "Sarah, +have you been meddling with my tin bank?" + +Sarah got up from the floor slowly. + +"I borrowed ten cents," she admitted, trying to back away and +backing into a rocking chair. + +"You 'borrowed' ten cents!" cried Rosemary, advancing upon her. "And +you know I want to save every cent! Of all the selfish, mean girls I +ever knew, you're the worst!" + +She clutched the unhappy Sarah by her broad sailor collar and +proceeded to shake her fiercely. Sarah retaliated by kicking +viciously and they were in eminent danger of upsetting the wicker +table and porch lamp when Doctor Hugh strode out and separated them. + +"Rosemary!" he said in surprise. "What do you call it you are doing? +And Sarah, too--kicking and fighting like two small boys! What ails +you, anyway?" + +"She took ten cents out of my bank--it's just the same as stealing, +because she never pays back anything she borrows," panted Rosemary, +almost crying. "I found a penny on the floor where she dropped it. +And she knows how hard I'm trying to save every cent, too." + +"Well, Sarah, I think robbing a bank is a pretty mean trick," +pronounced Doctor Hugh judiciously. "Where is this bank, Rosemary? +I've never seen it. Seems to me you're beginning to get ready for +Christmas rather far in advance." + +Rosemary looked at Sarah who gazed at her imploringly. Both girls +had forgotten for the moment the ring fund and its object. + +"I'll pay you back to-morrow Rosemary, honestly I will," said Sarah +hurriedly. "Aunt Trudy owes me ten cents for not melting her letter +sealing wax. She will pay me to-morrow night and I'll give it to +you." + +"Sarah, Sarah," groaned her brother, half in amusement, half in +despair, "I'm afraid your ethics are pretty wobbly. So Aunt Trudy +has to bribe you, does she, to let her desk alone? Well, see that +you turn the bribe over to Rosemary, though I should call it robbing +Peter to pay Paul, with a vengeance." + +"Goodness, suppose he had made you tell why you were saving the +money!" whispered Sarah, when the doctor had gone back to his +office. "I was just shaking in my shoes." + +"Sarah, wouldn't you rather tell, anyway?" said Rosemary suddenly. +"I don't believe Hugh would be so very cross, because you didn't +mean to lose the ring. And I am afraid it will take me a perfect age +to earn enough money to buy another." + +"I won't tell, ever!" declared Sarah, shaking her dark head +obstinately. "And if you tell, Rosemary Willis, I'll never speak to +you as long as I live! You don't have to buy another ring--that's +silly. Aunt Trudy doesn't even know this one is lost." + +"I don't care if she doesn't," insisted Rosemary. "You lost it, and +we have to get another one for her; that's all there is to it." + +The next afternoon Doctor Hugh repeated his request that Rosemary +should stay with Sarah and Shirley till Aunt Trudy came home on the +5:46 train. Then he left on a long round of calls and Rosemary, not +without many regrets and a thrill of fear when she thought what her +brother would say if he found her out, sped up the street to the +pleasant house where Mrs. Hepburn, hatted and gloved eagerly waited +her coming. + +"I was so afraid you wouldn't come," she greeted the little girl. +"Baby is asleep, and I want to get away before he wakes up and sees +me go. I'll be back at half-past five, sharp, but of course you +won't go till I come. You mustn't leave Baby alone in the house." + +As luck would have it, Aunt Trudy decided to come home on an earlier +train and found herself in the midst of bundle-laden Eastshore +shoppers who had spent the day in the city and were returning with +their spoils. Motherly Mrs. Dunning occupied a seat with Aunt Trudy +and what more natural than that she should speak of how much help +Rosemary had been to her that summer? The wonder was that Aunt Trudy +had so long escaped hearing but she went about very little in the +town and had met comparatively few of the neighbors even those +living on her own street. + +"Yes indeed I've been able to go away an afternoon or two a week," +babbled Mrs. Dunning, "something I haven't done since Baby came. +Your niece is such a nice child and so reliable. I wanted her this +afternoon, but Mrs. Hepburn had engaged her first." + +"My niece? Mrs. Hepburn engaged her?" repeated Aunt Trudy faintly. + +Mrs. Dunning explained and Aunt Trudy managed to keep from fainting +though as she told Doctor Hugh afterward, she would never know how +the strength was given her. She looked nearer to apoplexy than +fainting when she walked into the house a half hour later and, +purple-faced and choking, demanded to be told the instant the doctor +came in. + +Doctor Hugh and his car rolled up a few moments later and Aunt Trudy +sobbed out the "miserable story" as she characterized it. + +"To think of Rosemary, acting as a nurse-maid, and we never knew +it!" she wailed. "What would her mother say? What must the neighbors +think?" + +"Bother the neighbors!" said Doctor Hugh testily. "When Rosemary +comes home tell her I want to see her." + +Though his aunt did not suspect it, he had seldom been as angry in +his life. Not only had Rosemary deliberately defied him and gone off +that afternoon, but she had most certainly furnished topic for +gossip in Eastshore for it was not possible in so small a town that +her occupation had been unnoticed. And Doctor Hugh was very proud of +his pretty sister. What could have possessed the child to do such a +wild thing? + +He had himself in hand by the time Rosemary came running in, late, +for Mrs. Hepburn had been delayed and nothing could have induced the +young worker to desert her charge. + +"Your brother wants you--he's in the office," said Aunt Trudy +stiffly. + +And as soon as she saw Hugh the most awful sinking sensation went +through Rosemary. He had found out, how, she could not guess, but +somehow, that was plain. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +JACK STRAIGHTENS THINGS OUT + + +"You--you wanted to see me Hugh?" Rosemary faltered. + +"Please come in and close the door," he said quietly. Then as she +obeyed, "Now what is this Mrs. Dunning has been telling Aunt Trudy, +Rosemary? Have you been taking care of babies in the neighborhood +for fifteen cents an hour?" + +Rosemary nodded. + +"How long has this been going on?" asked her brother. + +"A--a couple of weeks," answered Rosemary faintly. + +"What was the idea?" + +Rosemary said nothing. + +"I asked you a question, Rosemary. Please answer me. What made you +do a thing like this without consulting some one? Did Winnie know?" + +"No," said Rosemary reluctantly, "Winnie didn't know. No one did. I +wanted to earn some money, Hugh." + +Then came the question she had been dreading. + +"What for?" + +Rosemary nervously knotted and unknotted her handkerchief. Her blue +eyes roved around the familiar room and came back to the grim face +and the dark eyes which watched her relentlessly. + +"Oh, Hugh!" she cried desperately, "PLEASE!" + +Her brother picked up a paper weight and studied it intently. + +"Look here, Rosemary," he began more gently, "you deliberately +disobeyed this afternoon when I asked you to stay in the house--" + +"Because I had absolutely promised Mrs. Hepburn, Hugh," Rosemary +broke in eagerly. "I'd _promised_! She was depending on me and I had +to go." + +"Very well, a promise is a promise," admitted the doctor, "though +when wrongly given sometimes they must be broken. We'll set aside +the fact that you disobeyed and consider only this wild scheme +apparently undertaken because you wanted to earn money. I want you +to tell me why you thought you needed money and why you couldn't +come to me and ask for it." + +"Because," whispered Rosemary unhappily, "Because." + +"That's no reason," said the doctor brusquely. "Come, 'fess up, +Rosemary, and I'll help you out of the scrape, whatever it is. My +dear little girl, you can't go around among the neighbors like +this--families help each other and stand by each other. I don't care +a hoot what other people may think--as Aunt Trudy seems to believe I +should--but I care a great deal that my little sister should go to +outsiders instead of coming to me." + +Rosemary touched his sleeve timidly. She longed to throw herself in +his arms, cry that she was tired of taking care of silly, +uninteresting babies (though as a matter of fact when she wasn't +tired she loved them all, the cross as well as the good-natured +ones), and tell him the whole story about the lost ring. But there +was her promise to Sarah. A promise was a promise--Hugh himself had +said so. And families were to stand by each other, and she must +stand by Sarah and Shirley. + +"I can't tell you, Hugh," said Rosemary earnestly. "I just can't." + +"You mean you won't," said the doctor sternly. "Well, go up and +bring me down this bank--I suppose that was the one you and Sarah +were quarreling over the other night? And you put the money you +earned in that? I thought so; bring it down to me." + +Wondering what he meant to do, Rosemary went up to her room and +returned with the bank. Doctor Hugh dropped it into one of the lower +drawers of his desk and turned the key. + +"I want you to bring me a list of the women for whom you have taken +care of children," he said, pushing a block of paper and a pencil +toward Rosemary, "and, as nearly as you can remember, the number of +hours you worked for each. Then we'll count out this money and you +will have to return it. I want that list by to-morrow night." + +Winnie sounded the dinner gong just then and Rosemary went silently +to the table. Aunt Trudy's eyes were red from crying and Sarah and +Shirley looked frightened. Their aunt had told them the "awful +thing" Rosemary had been doing and Sarah was in terror lest Hugh +already knew her part in it. But dinner, uncomfortable meal as it +was, reassured Sarah. Hugh would not have allowed her to leave the +table without a word if he had known about the ring. + +Rosemary went to her room directly after dinner and Sarah and +Shirley followed. + +"Was he mad?" asked Shirley, her eyes round with excitement. + +"Aunt Trudy was crying and wringing her hands," volunteered Sarah. +"She says the family is disgraced and Hugh will be ashamed to show +his face in Eastshore." + +"What a silly thing to say!" cried Rosemary. "Thank goodness, Hugh +is no snob. But he is furious because I can't tell him why I wanted +the money. And, oh, girls, I have to take it all back. How can I +ever buy the ring now, and what will the people say when I bring +back the money they paid me?" + +She hurriedly outlined what Doctor Hugh had said, and Sarah +immediately suggested that they get hold of the bank and bury it. + +"Hugh would only punish us again," said Rosemary practically. "Let's +tell him about the ring, Sarah. He said he'd help me out of the +scrape, no matter what it was, if I'd tell him." + +But Sarah set her chin obstinately and refused to go to her brother. +She reminded Rosemary of her promise and Shirley, too, began to cry +and say that she was afraid of Hugh. So it ended by Rosemary +renewing her promise not to tell and then crying herself to sleep +because she remembered how patient Hugh had been and she knew she +had both hurt and disappointed him. + +"And I can't go around and give the money back," she wept, tossing +about on her wet pillow, "What will people think? But Hugh will make +me, if he goes along to see me do it. Oh, dear, the Willis will +makes all the trouble in this family!" + +But in the morning the Willis will helped Rosemary to remain +unshaken in her determination not to tell any more than she had +told. Doctor Hugh called her into the office before breakfast--he +had had his early and was ready to leave when the girls came down +stairs--and asked her again why she wanted the money, patiently at +first and then, as Rosemary stubbornly refused to give a reason, he +lost his temper and began to storm. Rosemary finally flew out of the +office and banged the door and the morning was unhappily begun. + +Winnie, who had heard the story from Aunt Trudy, thought it her duty +to lecture Rosemary during breakfast--at which Aunt Trudy did not +appear--and Rosemary, whose nerves were already strained to the +breaking point, answered snappishly. + +"I should think you'd be ashamed to speak to me like that before +your little sisters," said Winnie indignantly. "Shirley wouldn't +talk to Winnie like that, would you dear?" + +"Oh, my no," said Shirley angelically. + +This was too much for Rosemary. She fled from the table to indulge +in a good cry up in her mother's room. Doctor Hugh had trusted the +key to her, after he had locked the room and Rosemary sometimes went +there when she wanted to be quiet and think. The room was in perfect +order, sweet and clean and well-aired and the things on the dresser +and shelves were exactly as her mother usually kept them. Rosemary +had arranged them so because she thought her mother would like to +find them ready for her when she came home. + +After the tears had stopped, Rosemary sat quietly for a few minutes +in the little low white rocker. Something of the peace and stillness +of the room stole into her troubled mind. Presently she rose and +went out, locking the door carefully behind her. + +"Anything the matter, Rosemary--you look a little woozy," said Jack +Welles with neighborly frankness, seeing her across the hedge later +that morning as she was spreading out handkerchiefs to bleach for +Winnie. + +In a rush of words, Rosemary told him the "matter." + +"Well, you do have a merry time," Jack commented when she had +finished. "But the solution is simple after all." + +"I can't take back that money," said Rosemary miserably. "But what +can I do? Hugh will never give in." + +"Do? There's nothing for you to do," answered Jack vigorously. +"Sarah and Shirley have the next act on the program and it's up to +me to see that they realize it, if you can't show them their duty. +Where's Sarah now?" + +"Teaching the cat to sit up," said Rosemary without interest. "It +won't do you any good to argue with her, Jack. She's afraid of Hugh +and she won't ever tell him. Besides, you know, I only told you if +you would promise not to tell." + +"Oh, I haven't forgotten that you nailed me firmly before you would +say a word," Jack replied grimly. "But I still think I can persuade +Sarah to confess her share and if she will, Shirley will admit that +she also was present. I'll go begin my good work now." + +He was gone half an hour and when he came back he was smiling. + +"Everything's all fixed," he announced. "Sarah and Shirley are going +to march up to the guns like good soldiers to-night, and I'm going +to do the talking for them. Sarah, sensibly enough, wants to get it +over before dinner, so I've promised to come over right after lunch +and sit on your porch so I'll be here no matter how early Hugh gets +home. You and I have to bolster up the weak spots in their courage." + +"I don't see how you ever persuaded Sarah," marveled Rosemary. "I +argued and argued, and she wouldn't listen to me." + +Jack looked very wise. + +"I used moral suasion," he declared. "Told her if she didn't own up +to-night, I'd go to Doctor Hugh and tell him everything myself." + +"Is that moral suasion?" asked Rosemary doubtfully. + +"Of course it is," said Jack with confidence. "If it isn't it ought +to be. I've never broken a promise yet and I'm mighty glad Sarah +didn't make me, but I'll be jiggered if I don't think there are +times when it is worse to keep a promise than to break it." + +A promise "wrongly given"--Doctor Hugh's words came back to +Rosemary. Had she given her promise wrongly? + +Doctor Hugh did not come home till nearly five o'clock and the four +solemn young people on the front porch were getting decidedly +fidgety before his roadster appeared at the curb and he jumped out +and hurried up the walk. He said "Hello" to the four as he passed +them and he was surprised, therefore, when he turned from his desk +to see them enter the office and advance toward him. + +"Hugh," said Jack clearly, "I've something to tell you. Sarah really +ought to, but she asked me to do it." + +"Suppose you sit down," said the doctor gravely. + +Sarah sat down gingerly on a chair near the door, ready for instant +flight, and the others ranged themselves near the desk. Jack began +with the loss of the ring and told everything that had happened +since. He spoke rapidly, but without excitement, and he was not +interrupted once. + +"I am really to blame, as much as anyone," he declared, when he had +reached the point where Rosemary had confided in him about the +missing ring and her determination to replace it. "I had no business +to promise not to tell before I heard what I was not to tell. That's +a fool stunt." + +"Yes, I think it is," agreed Doctor Hugh, but smilingly. + +"Rosemary thought she had to go on taking care of cranky babies till +she could buy another ring. If I'd had any money of my own--and I +don't know why I never do--" Jack paused for a moment to consider +this new idea--"I would have bought a ring myself and helped her out +of the hole." + +Doctor Hugh listened silently to the remainder of the recital, his +eyes studying the four expressive faces before him. + +"So Rosemary really couldn't tell you what she wanted the money for, +because she had promised," finished Jack. "And Sarah was afraid, and +so was Shirley." + +"I see," the doctor said. "I'm sorry they were afraid. Sarah dear, +do you really think you have saved yourself anything by not telling +me when you lost the ring?" he went on, turning to Sarah. "Haven't +you had more trouble and worry and unhappiness trying to keep me +from finding out and don't you think it is better to own up right +away and take your punishment and have it all over?" + +"Yes," admitted Sarah in a very small voice. + +"Well, then, next time tell me at once," said Doctor Hugh earnestly. +"And don't ever let me hear of four of you making a chain of +promises like this. We'll see what can be done about the ring +to-morrow, Sarah, and you and I will talk it over with Aunt Trudy." + +He held out his hand to Jack and put an arm around Rosemary, whose +face was radiant with relief and happiness. + +"I wish you had spoken up a little sooner, Jack," growled the +doctor. "I find that keeping track of three girls isn't the easiest +task in the world." + +"But we won't lose any more rings," said the practical Sarah. + +"No, we won't lose any more rings, Hugh," whispered Rosemary, +standing on tip-toe to kiss him. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A NEW SCHOOL TERM + + +The next morning, as soon as breakfast was over, the unwilling Sarah +was called into conference in the office with her brother and Aunt +Trudy. The latter was much surprised to learn that she had lost a +ring, and insisted that Sarah, who was rather a favorite of hers, +should not be punished. + +"I never did care anything about the ring, Hugh," said Aunt Trudy +earnestly, "and there's been trouble enough about it. It's just like +Rosemary to want to buy me another, but I'd never wear it, so why +should she? I'm glad enough that this ridiculous idea of hers has +been stopped before it went on any longer. Don't, for pity's sake, +say another word about that unfortunate ring." + +"Well, Sarah, that let's you out," said Doctor Hugh cheerfully. "I +must say I think you've shirked all the way through, first in not +owning up and again in letting Rosemary take the responsibility of +replacing the ring. And you kept her from telling me, simply to +shield yourself. However, I really understand that you were afraid +and fear often keeps us from doing what we know to be right. You're +going to fight that little 'I'm-afraid'"--for he had had a brief +talk with his little sister the night before after the others had +left the office and felt that he was just beginning to understand +Sarah--"and put him in his place, which is behind you, and so we'll +start all over as long as Aunt Trudy is willing. Shall we?" + +"Let's," said Sarah laconically, but she slipped a confiding small +hand in the doctor's larger one. He squeezed it affectionately. + +"Now I must be off," he said, glancing at his watch. "Where is +Rosemary? I thought I'd take her with me this morning--the ride will +do her good. Practising?" he repeated as Sarah called his attention +to the sound of finger exercises. "Let her practise this +afternoon--she needs to get away from a fixed schedule now and +then." + +Rosemary enjoyed this ride and the others that followed in quick +succession. Doctor Hugh, unknown to her, was realizing that every +one had been expecting too much of the oldest daughter of the +house, had looked to her, in fact, to grow up in one summer. + +"Poor little kid!" thought the doctor one morning, as he allowed +Rosemary to take the wheel of the car on a level stretch of clear +road and the color came into her face from the excitement and +delight. "Poor little kid, we've been expecting her to have the +patience and wisdom and experience Mother has. She's only twelve +years old and we ask her to act like a woman. She's bound to make +mistakes, but she won't make the same one twice--I'll bank on that. +Temper and will, rightly directed, make for strength, and Rosemary +will be as lovely within some day as she is to the eye--and my +sister is going to be a beauty, or I miss my guess." + +Aloud he said, "Watch the road, Rosemary. Never mind what is behind +you, watch the road ahead." + +Coming in at noon from one of these rides with Doctor Hugh, Rosemary +found a small box, wrapped in white tissue paper and tied with pink +string, at her plate. + +"It looks like a jeweler's box," she said jokingly as she opened it. +"Why it is!" she added in surprise. + +Sarah and Shirley crowded around her as she opened it. A little +gold "friendship" circle pin, set with a single turquoise, lay on a +bed of blue cotton. + +"How perfectly lovely!" cried Rosemary. "Is it mine?" + +"Of course it is," said Sarah. "Jack and Shirley and I went to Mr. +Evans and bought it for you. Do you like it?" + +"Why it's darling," the enthusiastic Rosemary assured her. "I never +saw a prettier pin. Look, Hugh, look Aunt Trudy," she said eagerly, +holding out the pin to them as they came in from the hall. + +"Why don't you ask where we got the money to buy it?" suggested +Sarah and at that Doctor Hugh shouted with laughter. + +"You'll be the death of me yet, Sarah," he protested. "Sit down, +people, do, and we'll begin luncheon while Sarah reveals her dark +secret." + +"'Tisn't a secret," announced Sarah with dignity. "Hugh said we +might take the ring-fund money, Rosemary, and buy you something nice +with it, and if we saw anything we thought you'd like, to tell him, +and he'd give us as much more money as we needed. Then Aunt Trudy +said she wanted to put some money with the ring-fund money, and so +did Winnie and so did Jack, so everybody did. Oh, yes, Hugh did, +too. And we saw this pin and Shirley and I thought it would be nice +because it had the turquoise in it like Aunt Trudy's ring, and Jack +said it was a 'friendship circle' and that meant we were all friends +of yours. So we bought it and it was seven dollars and a half," +concluded Sarah who was nothing if not thorough. + +"It's just beautiful," said Rosemary, with an April face of smiles +and tears. "I'll always keep it and love you all for thinking so +much of me." + +She had wondered several times about the ring money, but the doctor +had made no motion to give her back the bank. Neither had he +mentioned returning the money again. Rosemary supposed that he would +bring the subject up some time, but until he did she was content to +forget about it. She did not know till weeks afterward that it was +Jack Welles who had dissuaded the doctor from his plan to have the +"fund" returned to those who had paid it. + +"Rosemary earned the money fairly and squarely," he argued. "She +earned it by the hardest kind of work and it seems mean to make her +feel cheap. Those women were paying for service and they got it, +and they don't think any the less of Rosemary, either, if Aunt Trudy +does moan along about 'degrading' the family. You're forever +preaching that there is no disgrace in any kind of honest work, +Hugh--" + +"Oh, quit, I'm licked!" surrendered the doctor, laughing. "I won't +mention the money to Rosemary, Jack. Though when I think of that +child spending long, hot afternoons amusing cranky kids for +pay--Still, it's pluck like that that makes the backbone of our +country. What do you say if we take this money and buy her some +little personal gimcrack? Girls like things to wear, I've always +heard." + +So Jack gained his point and the pretty pin was the result. + +The days of vacation, "like the hairs of our heads" as Jack +observed, were numbered now and the week before school was to open, +Doctor Hugh made a flying trip to the sanatorium to see the little +mother. + +"You wouldn't know her, girls!" he told the three sisters, when he +returned. "Her cheeks are actually a bit pink and though she is +still awfully thin, her eyes are clear and bright. If three months +can do her that much good, a year will set her on her feet. She says +she lives on your letters, and you mustn't let a week go past +without writing. Rosemary must be a good censor, for Mother doesn't +seem to worry about the house at all; I told her we were pulling +together famously." + +"Well, we are," said Rosemary contentedly. "I wish you'd look at +Sarah, though, Hugh." + +"I am looking at her," said the doctor. "She seems to have torn her +dress." + +"That's the one decent dress she has," responded Rosemary severely, +"and now she hasn't a single thing to wear to school Monday." + +"What does Mother do when you need clothes?" asked Doctor Hugh +helplessly. "I suppose you'll all need dresses for school, won't +you?" + +"Mother has Miss Henry come and sew the first week in September," +said Rosemary, "but Aunt Trudy says the sanatorium is expensive and +she thinks we ought to try and cut down living expenses." + +"I think we can still afford some new frocks," replied her brother, +smiling. "Ask Aunt Trudy to engage Miss Henry, Rosemary, and to get +her whatever she needs to outfit you sensibly for school. You'll +have to remind me about shoes and hats and dresses, you know; an old +bachelor isn't expected to notice when these things wear shabby." + +Miss Henry came and sewed a week, making new dresses and contriving +and turning to make the best of several old ones. Monday morning, +when school opened, the three Willis girls started off brave in new +ginghams and Doctor Hugh assured them that he was proud of them. + +"I wish I was in high school," said Rosemary wistfully, as Jack +Welles joined them at the first corner. + +"Two more years, and you will be," he consoled her. "I'll be a +senior then, and I'll see that no one steps on you, Rosemary." + +"Oh, nobody will," said Rosemary confidently. + +And indeed she looked quite capable of taking care of herself. There +was little of dependency about Rosemary and her lovely soft eyes +were balanced by the firm white chin. "She is easily hurt, but her +pride helps her to hide that," Winnie was fond of saying, "and don't +be after forgetting that there's red in her hair, under the gold!" + +The Eastshore school was a splendid type of the modern school, +housing in one building the primary, grammar and high school +grades. Built on the extreme edge of the town, it faced an acre +play-ground, evenly divided among the three schools. Principals and +teachers were the best obtainable and indeed the State Board of +education was fond of using Eastshore school as a model for others +to follow. Mrs. Willis had often declared that she would never have +sent her son to boarding school had the public school then been as +excellent as that which Rosemary and her sisters attended. + +This morning Rosemary was to enter the seventh grade in the grammar +school, Sarah would be in the fourth primary and Shirley, having +"graduated" from the kindergarten the year before, would attain the +dignity of a seat in the first grade. Separating at the broad door, +they were swept into the different streams that carried them up +different stairways and into different classrooms and it was noon +before they saw each other again. Few of the pupils went home to +lunch and a large, light airy room on the third floor was set aside +for their use as a lunch room. A corner table was reserved for +teachers and here a small group usually gathered not only to eat and +exchange comment, but to keep an eye on the lunchers and subdue the +noise when it rose to a shout. The high school students had their +own lunch room, but the grammar and primary grades shared a room +together. + +"Well, what kind of people are in your room?" demanded Sarah, as she +and Shirley met Rosemary at the little corner table the latter had +secured and held for them. Rosemary had spread out the lunch Winnie +had put up for them, and Shirley was already beginning on a +sandwich. + +"Oh, I like the girl who sits in front of me ever so much," returned +Rosemary, cutting an apple into quarters for Shirley. "Her name is +Elsie Stevens and they haven't lived in Eastshore long. Last year +she went to the Port Reading school. Elsie Mears sits in back of me; +she wasn't promoted. And Nina Edmonds is across the aisle." + +"I don't think much of our teacher," announced Sarah, with +deplorable frankness. "She doesn't look very bright and she says she +is afraid of snakes." + +"Well so am I," declared Rosemary. "I don't think any one is very +bright who isn't." + +"That's because you don't know anything about snakes," said Sarah, +salting a boiled egg hurriedly. "Snakes are the best friends the +farmer has." + +"My teacher's name is Miss Farmer," chirped Shirley sunnily. "And +we have pink and red and blue crayons to draw on the blackboard +with." + +"Take another sandwich, darling," Rosemary urged her. "You're sure +you won't get tired this afternoon? You went home at noon every day +last year, you know." + +"Yes, but I'm six now," Shirley reminded her sister. "Will we have +home work in our room, Rosemary?" + +It was one of Shirley's ambitions to have "home work" to do, and she +longed to take a book home at night as Rosemary and Sarah did. + +"I don't know--I shouldn't think so," answered Rosemary absently. +"Sarah, Nina Edmonds wears her hair pinned up and no hair-ribbon." + +"Well she looks crazy anyway, so what difference does it make?" was +Sarah's comment on this news. "You can't go without a hair-ribbon, +Rosemary, because your hair will all be in your eyes. Hugh said Nina +was trying to be grown up and I guess she is." + +But that night Rosemary spent half an hour before her mirror, trying +to coax her bobbed curls into a knot like Nina Edmonds'. Rosemary's +hair was growing very fast and she had promised Doctor Hugh not to +have it cut again. Just now it was an awkward length, but its +curliness redeemed even that. Nina's straight blond locks were +strained into a tortuous knot at the nape of her neck, for she, too, +had decided not to bob her hair again. It was the absence of +hair-ribbon that particularly appealed to Rosemary, for she had +"spells" as Winnie called them, of wishing to appear grown up. At +other times she was satisfied to be what Doctor Hugh insisted she +should be content to be for several more years, "just a little +girl." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +TOO MUCH NATURAL HISTORY + + +When the girls of the Eastshore school reached the seventh grade, +they entered the cooking class. The white aprons and caps were much +coveted and whatever other study might be neglected, each girl +usually put her best into the weekly cooking lesson. There was a +small stove for each and every young cook was responsible for the +order and cleanliness in which her pots and pans and utensils were +kept. Woe betide her, if Miss Parsons, the teacher, found an +unwashed pan thrust under the sink in a moment of hurry. + +"She's very particular," reported Rosemary, the evening after her +first lesson in cooking. "She made Nina Edmonds take off her rings +and she scolded Elsie Mears because she put her hands up to her hair +just once, to tuck it back under her cap." + +"And right she is," announced Winnie from the dining-room where she +was setting the table for breakfast. "A cook has got no business +wearing rings, and I can't abide a girl who is always fussing with +her hair when she is handling food." + +"Winnie's a member of the sanitary squad," put in Doctor Hugh, +smiling behind his newspaper. It was one of the rare times when he +had an evening at home. + +"Nina Edmonds makes me sick!" said Sarah vehemently. "She screamed +when I showed her a darling little spotted snake I found to-day." + +Sarah and Shirley had brought out the box of dominoes and were +playing in the center of the floor. No amount of persuasion had ever +induced them to play on a table. + +"Don't talk about snakes, dearie," pleaded Aunt Trudy, shuddering +over her knitting. "They are such ugly, horrid squirmy things." + +"Oh, no they're not Aunt Trudy," said Sarah earnestly. "That's +because you're not used to them. Let me show you the one I've got in +my pocket--" + +To her aunt's horror, Sarah unbuttoned the pocket of her middy +blouse and pulled out a little dangling dark object. + +"Hugh!" shrieked Aunt Trudy, knocking over her chair as she rose +hastily. "Hugh make her stop! Ow! Rosemary, Winnie, take that awful +thing away, quick!" + +In spite of her sympathy for Aunt Trudy who was white to the lips +with fright, Rosemary wanted to laugh, as Sarah, not realizing that +her aunt was really in terror, and intent only on winning +understanding for her snake, continued to advance on the unhappy +lady, the spotted snake dangling from her hand. + +"Sarah!" Doctor Hugh managed to halt the march of his determined +small sister. "Sarah, take that snake away at once. At once, do you +hear me? Aunt Trudy is afraid of snakes." + +"Well, she wouldn't be, if she knew about 'em," insisted Sarah. "I +only want to show her." + +"You can't show her--lots of people are frightened by the sight of +snakes," replied the doctor. "Take your snake out of the room this +minute." + +Still Sarah lingered. + +"It's dead," she offered humbly. "A dead snake won't hurt Aunt Trudy +will it?" + +Doctor Hugh caught Rosemary's eye, and they went off into peals of +laughter while poor Aunt Trudy wept and Shirley implored Rosemary to +tell her what was "funny." + +"Take your snake away and bury it, Sarah," said the doctor, when he +could speak. + +"And don't try to educate your relatives and friends to recognize +the virtues of the reptile family; a person either likes snakes or +can't abide 'em, and you and Aunt Trudy will never agree on that +subject." + +"I think you ought to forbid her to ever touch one, or carry one +around with her," said Aunt Trudy when Sarah had gone out of the +room sorrowfully to borrow a match box from Winnie to serve as a +snake-coffin. "The idea of having a snake in one's pocket!" + +"You can't separate Sarah and animals," returned Sarah's brother +with conviction. "No use trying, Aunt Trudy. All this summer she was +crazy on the subject of rabbits and cats and now she seems to have +switched to snakes. About all we can do is to keep her within +reasonable bounds and trust to luck that before the winter is over +she will take up canary birds or something equally pleasing." + +Aunt Trudy did not know Sarah's teacher, Miss Ames, but if she had +they would have found a common bond of sympathy and interest in +their horror of snakes and other unpleasant forms of animal life to +which Sarah was devoted. Eleanor Ames was a nervous young woman and +she found it distinctly trying to be obliged to divide the +interests of her class with a shoe-box of baby mice, or to soothe +the ruffled feelings of timid little girls who had seen the bright +eyes and wriggling slim body of a live snake peeping out of Sarah +Willis' coat in the cloak room. Punishment seemed to have no effect +on the culprit who stayed after school and cleaned blackboards with +disconcerting cheerfulness and Miss Ames was considering the +advisability of sending Sarah home with a note asking the +co-operation of Doctor Hugh's authority, when something happened +that took the matter out of her hands. + +Late in October, one frosty morning on her way to school, Sarah made +what was to her a great and lucky discovery. Shirley and Rosemary +had gone on ahead of her, but Winnie had called her back to pick up +the clothes she had strewn about her room with her customary +careless abandon. Since the opening of school, Aunt Trudy had +patiently made beds and put the rooms in order and she would never +mention to her favorite Sarah a little matter like slippers in the +middle of the rug, bath-robe flung down on the bed and every +separate bureau drawer wide open and yawning. This morning Aunt +Trudy was going to the city to shop, and the task of bed-making +would devolve upon Winnie who had no intention of having her duty +complicated by others' neglect. A hasty glance into the room shared +by Sarah and Shirley, and Winnie had summoned the former, in no +uncertain voice, to "come up here and put your clothes away this +instant." Sarah, complaining that she would certainly be late for +school, had obeyed and if she had hurried could easily have reached +the school before the assembly bell rang. + +But crossing a vacant lot, Sarah came upon that which could make her +forget school and time. A faint rustle under the dead leaves caught +her quick ear and, stooping down, she uncovered a little snake, +languid from the cold. Perhaps he had been on his way to winter +quarters and the frost had caught him unaware. Anyway, he was numb +and Sarah, murmuring affectionate nothings to him, slipped him into +her pocket and then spent a valuable ten minutes poking about among +the leaves in the hopes of discovering another, believing implicitly +that snakes "always go in pairs." However, if the snake had a +companion, diligent search failed to uncover it and Sarah was forced +to take her reluctant way to school with only one snake to comfort +and love. While she was still some distance from the gate she heard +the bell ring, and as she reasoned, she was late then, so why should +she hurry when it would not save her a tardy mark? Morning exercises +were in progress in the auditorium when Sarah entered the building, +and she had her class room to herself. She hung up her hat and coat +and took another peep at the snake. He seemed to be feeling better, +but some fresh wave of sympathy led her to regret the necessity for +leaving him to spend a lonely morning in the cloak room. With Sarah +to think was to act, and she popped the snake into the pocket of her +middy blouse, pinning it with a safety pin in lieu of a button and +button hole. When the class returned from the auditorium, she was +sitting sedately in her seat and appeared only mildly interested in +the lecture on tardiness which followed. + +"We'll have the papers distributed on which you worked during the +last drawing lesson," announced Miss Ames unexpectedly. "The drawing +supervisor will be around next week and we are a lesson or two late, +here in our room. Instead of spelling this morning, I'll have you +paint the leaves you drew. George Wright, you distribute the papers +and Sarah Willis, you know where the paint boxes are." + +Sarah was monitor for the drawing materials and she went up and down +the aisles, giving each pupil a small paint box and two brushes, +while George Wright gave out the papers on which the pencil sketches +of autumn leaves had been drawn. + +The warmth of the pocket evidently revived the chilled snake and, as +Sarah was bending over the desk of Annabel Warde, a dainty little +girl about her own age, a lithe green body shot from out Sarah's +blouse, wriggled across the desk and dropped to the floor. The +safety pin had left too large a loop-hole. + +"A snake!" screamed Annabel, flinging her box of paints in one +direction and the brushes Sarah had just given her, in the other. "I +saw it! I saw it! Miss Ames, I saw a snake, and it's right here in +this room. It'll bite us, I know it will and we'll die! Catch it, +somebody, Oh, please hurry!" + +Jumping up and down and shrieking, Annabel was beside herself with +fright. Several other little girls began to scream, too, and the +boys rushed around the room shouting that they would catch it and +kill it, whatever "it" might be. None of them thought that Annabel +had really seen a snake. + +"Don't hurt it!" warned Sarah, down on her hands and knees and +hunting under the desks for her lost pet. "This kind of snake won't +bite any one, and you mustn't hurt it. I want to keep it all winter +and watch it grow." + +Miss Ames was trying to calm Annabel who persisted in sitting on top +of her desk with her feet curled under her, apparently under the +delusion that a snake always attacks the ankles first, when George +Wright whooped triumphantly. + +"I see it--gee, it really is a snake!" he shouted. "Look out, Peter, +let me shy this paper-weight at him--there, I'll bet that mashed him +into jelly!" + +There was a crash as the heavy paper-weight struck the floor and +then a small whirlwind landed on the astonished George. + +"How dare you try to kill my snake!" panted Sarah, crying with rage. +"He never did anything to you! You're a great, cruel, cowardly boy, +that's what you are!" + +She was pummeling George unmercifully and he retaliated with +interest, forgetting in the excitement and confusion that his +antagonist was a girl. But while snakes might temporarily cow Miss +Ames, a fight in her room was a situation she knew how to deal +with. + +"George! Sarah!" she descended upon the combatants and pulled them +apart with no gentle hand. "I'm ashamed of you! What can you be +thinking of! George, you must know better than to strike a girl, and +Sarah, what would your mother say if she knew you were fighting with +a boy? Why I never heard of such a thing--never!" and Miss Ames +looked as though she never had. + +Sarah darted over to the space behind the atlas table where George +had thrown the paper weight. She lifted the glass cube and picked up +the little mashed object under it. + +"He's killed it!" she sobbed. "He went and killed my little snake!" + +Miss Ames lost her patience which is not to be wondered at, +considering the trying half hour she had endured. + +"Sarah Willis you march down to the principal's office," she said +severely. "And throw that disgusting object in the trash can on your +way down. Don't you ever bring another snake, alive or dead, into +this room as long as I am the teacher. I want you to tell Mr. Oliver +exactly what has occurred here this morning and be sure you explain +to him that you fought George simply because he killed that wretched +reptile." + +Sarah's heart beat uncomfortably fast as she walked down the broad +stone steps to the first floor where the principal's office was. +Her class room was on the third floor. On the second floor she +stopped and wrapped the dead snake in her handkerchief--for a +wonder she had one--and when she reached the first floor she +studied the pictures hung in the corridor with minutest care. +For once in her short life Sarah was anxious to have time to +stand still. Usually exasperatingly indifferent to rebuke or +reproval, Miss Ames had hit upon the one punishment that Sarah +could be fairly said to dread--an interview with the principal. + +She approached the glass door marked "office" slowly. The door was +closed. All the stories she had ever heard of the boys who had been +"sent to the office," flashed through her mind. Few girls were ever +thus punished and it was a fourth grade tradition that a girl bad +enough to need an interview with the principal was always expelled. +Sarah wondered what her brother would say if she came home and said +she was expelled. Rosemary would feel the disgrace keenly--no one in +the Willis family had even been expelled from school, Sarah was +quite sure. + +Did you knock, or did you go right in? Was the principal always +there? Perhaps he might be away for the day--Sarah devoutly hoped he +would be. She shut her eyes tightly, took a firmer grip on the +handkerchief containing the dead snake, and knocked on the glass +panel. + +"Come in," called a pleasant voice, a woman's voice. + +Sarah opened the door and stepped in. She saw a large, sunny room +with a desk in the center, and a smaller desk over by the window +where a young woman was typing busily. + +"Mr. Oliver isn't in, is he?" said Sarah speaking at a gallop. A +swift glance had shown her that the young woman was the only person +in the room. + +"Just go right into the next office, and you'll find him," said Mr. +Oliver's secretary, smiling. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +MR. OLIVER AND SARAH + + +The door into the next office stood open. Sarah walked in, that is, +she stepped just inside the doorway and stood there as though glued +to the floor. The thin, gray-haired man who was stooping over the +flat-topped desk, looking at a card file, glanced up at her and +smiled. This was the principal, Mr. Oliver. + +"Good morning," he said. "Did you wish to see me?" + +"No-o," stammered Sarah, "I didn't. But Miss Ames sent me." + +Mr. Oliver sat down and pointed to a chair drawn up beside the desk. + +"Suppose you come and sit down and tell me all about it," he +suggested. + +His secretary in the next room stepped over and closed the +connecting door noiselessly as Sarah seated herself on the edge of +the chair and stared unhappily at the floor. + +"If you're in Miss Ames' room, you are a fourth grader," said Mr. +Oliver pleasantly. "What is your name?" + +"Sarah," the small girl whispered, "Sarah Willis." + +"Oh, yes--then you're a sister of Doctor Willis," said the +principal. "And I know Rosemary, too. Isn't there another sister--a +little light-haired girl in one of the grades?" + +"That's Shirley," answered Sarah, forgetting her errand for an +instant and looking Mr. Oliver in the face for the first time. +"She's in the first grade." + +"Well, Sarah, what have you to tell me?" said the principal quietly. +"Why did Miss Ames send you to me?" + +"I don't know where to begin," complained Sarah forlornly. + +"Don't be afraid--there is nothing to be afraid of," said Mr. +Oliver. "Just tell me everything that has happened and I promise to +listen to you and believe you." + +Sarah, as Doctor Hugh had discovered, was morally not very brave. +She was afraid of people and though the Willis will was as strong in +her as in any of the others, she would not come out openly and +demand her way. Rather Sarah would do as she pleased and shirk the +consequences wherever possible. The doctor had had several little +talks with her on this subject of fear and he was gradually teaching +her to acknowledge her mistakes and wrong doings and patiently +explaining at every opportunity the rules of fair play. + +"It is both cowardly and contemptible to let someone else be blamed +for what you have done," he said once to her. "I understand that you +are not really a coward, Sarah--you have to fight an extra enemy +called Fear. So when you do wrong and see a chance to escape blame +and punishment and refuse to wriggle out, you are really braver than +the girl who isn't afraid to say she did it. And every time you +conquer Fear, Sarah, you've made the next conquest easier. You'll +find that is so." + +So this morning, in the principal's office, Sarah remembered what +Doctor Hugh had said. She wanted dreadfully to retreat into one of +her obstinate, sulky silences, and refuse to answer questions. She +was afraid--afraid of a severe scolding and the disgrace of a public +expulsion. Her knees were wobbling, but she slipped to her feet and +stood facing Mr. Oliver bravely. + +"If you're going to expel me," she said clearly, "tell Hilda French +I wanted her to have my pencil box." + +And then the tears came. + +She cried and cried and as she wept she told the story and though +drawings of leaves and paint boxes and middy blouse pockets and +snakes and paper weights seemed to be hopelessly mixed in her +sobbing conversation, Mr. Oliver, in some miraculous fashion, pieced +together the disconnected bits and declared that he understood +perfectly. He loaned Sarah his extra clean handkerchief on which to +dry her eyes, her own handkerchief being obviously employed, for she +had laid the pathetic remains of the dead snake on his desk, and +when she was more quiet he told her kindly that there was no +question of expulsion. + +"I don't know where you ever got such an idea," he said, smiling a +little, and he looked so friendly and not at all angry, that Sarah +even managed a faint, watery smile in response. "Boys and girls are +never expelled from school except for very serious reasons. You've +made a little mistake, that's all and I'll show you where you were +wrong in just a minute. Sometimes we want our own way so much, we +can't see how we can be wrong." + +Sarah blushed a little, but nodded honestly. + +"Well, you see, as soon as you found out that Miss Ames didn't like +snakes in her class room, you should have stopped right there," said +Mr. Oliver decidedly. "You disobeyed Miss Ames and all this trouble +came from that. If she said her class room was no place for snakes +and mice--you brought mice one day, didn't you?--that should have +settled the question for you." + +"But how will the children ever learn about snakes?" asked Sarah +earnestly. + +"They'll learn, if they are interested," answered Mr. Oliver. "You +can't force anyone to adopt your likes and dislikes, you know, +Sarah. Rosemary may like to sew and you may say you 'hate' to touch +a needle, but do you make yourself into an ardent needlewoman, +simply because Rosemary enjoys sewing? Don't you see? I'm afraid +you'll have to give Miss Ames and me your promise that you will not +bring any more snakes, alive or dead, or any other animal to +school." + +Sarah promised slowly, her eyes on the dead snake. + +"He was such a lovely specimen," she mourned. "I s'pose maybe he was +valuable." + +"I tell you what to do, Sarah," said Mr. Oliver quickly. "You don't +know Mr. Martin, do you? He teaches biology in the high school and +I must take you up to his room some day and let you see the +'specimens' he has. He has a menagerie that fills one side of a +large room. Whenever you find something you can't resist, you bring +it here to me in the office and I'll turn it over to Mr. Martin. In +that way your class room won't be upset and Mr. Martin will likely +gain some valuable additions to his collection. Don't you think that +is a good plan?" + +Sarah said she thought it was, and then, as the noon bell rang +throughout the building, Mr. Oliver shook hands with her and told +her that if she ever needed advice or help to come directly to him. +He promised, too, to speak to Miss Ames and tell her that no more +snakes or other lively "specimens" would be brought into her room by +Sarah. He opened the door for her and she was free. + +She sped along the corridors, her snake in her hand again, but it +was a far happier Sarah than the little girl who had walked slowly +through them an hour and a half ago. Up to the lunch room dashed +this Sarah, and startled Rosemary who was opening the lunch box at +their corner table by her demand, "I have to bury a snake--will you +come help me?" + +Of course she had to tell what had happened that morning, and +Rosemary and Shirley agreed that Mr. Oliver was "just as nice as +nice could be." + +"Though I do hope, Sarah, this will teach you to let snakes alone," +said Rosemary in the elder-sister tone she rarely used. "You +frightened Aunt Trudy into fits and now you've upset a whole class. +No, don't show me that ugly little snake--I'm sorry he is dead +because you are, but I don't want to see him; I couldn't eat a bit +of lunch. Come on, and eat your sandwiches and then we will go down +and bury him somewhere on the play-ground." + +That night at dinner Rosemary had an announcement to make. Her eyes +shining like stars and her face glowing, she declared that she had +been appointed to plan and serve the dinner to be given by the +grammar school teachers for the Institute visitors. + +"Institute is the second week in November," bubbled Rosemary, "and +there will be about ten visiting teachers from the towns within +twenty-five miles. Miss Parsons says I'm the best cook in the class +though Bessie Kent is older than I am and Fannie Mears had cooking +last year." + +"But can you cook a dinner?" asked Doctor Hugh. "Seems to me that's +a pretty large order for a class of young girls and with visitors +expected, too." + +"Oh, we know just what to do," said Rosemary confidently. "I have to +make out the menu and submit it to Miss Parsons by Friday of this +week. And then I have to choose the girls I want to help me cook, +and those to set and wait on the tables--this year we're going to +have small tables instead of one large one. And we girls are to do +every bit of the work ourselves!" + +Aunt Trudy and Winnie beamed on Rosemary, sure that she would do +well whatever she undertook, while Sarah demanded to know who the +waitresses were to be. + +"Well, Nina Edmonds for one," said Rosemary and the doctor frowned +involuntarily. Although Nina seldom came to the house and he knew +that Rosemary saw little of her outside of school, he could not help +but see that her influence continued to be remarkably strong. + +"Nina's an awful chump," declared Sarah who cordially disliked her +and was in turn, disliked by Nina. + +"She is not!" flared Rosemary. "And, Aunt Trudy she has the +loveliest blue velvet dress. She says she can wear it under her +apron and then, after dinner when we take our aprons off, she will +look all right. Couldn't I wear my new brown velvet that night?" + +"Why I don't know," replied Aunt Trudy uncertainly. "I don't think +it would be very suitable, dear. What do you think, Hugh?" + +"Don't know anything about clothes," he said shortly. + +"You only want to wear it because Nina Edmonds is going to wear a +velvet dress," commented Sarah shrewdly. + +"It will be awfully hot," said Shirley with unexpected wisdom. + +"Well, I'm going to wear it, if Aunt Trudy doesn't say not to," +announced Rosemary, her chin in the air. "Though I'd give anything +if I had some high heeled pumps to make me look taller. Honestly, +Hugh, I'm about the only girl in our class who doesn't wear 'em." + +He smiled at her pleasantly, but there was no yielding in his voice. + +"When you're sixteen, if you still want them, I'll have nothing to +say," he said. "Mother has said you are not to wear them until then, +you know, and if I had my way no woman, sixteen or sixty, should +teeter about in silly anguish. I can't help it if the girls are +skipping five years, Rosemary; as I've often reminded you, the +calendar says you are still a little girl." + +Rosemary pouted a little, but she did not dare argue, the subject of +high heeled shoes having been long one of her secret sorrows. She +knew from experience that her brother would never consent to the +purchase of a pair and though she mentioned them from time to time, +it was without hope of converting him to her opinion. + +She was in her room that night, collecting her cooking notes and +recipes, in preparation for making out the important menu, when +Winnie peeped in. The brown velvet dress lay on Rosemary's bed where +she had spread it, the better to admire its charms. It was a new +frock and so far she had worn it only twice. Simply made, with a +square neck and a touch of ivory colored lace in the form of a +vestee and at the bottom of the sleeves, it was the most becoming +dress Rosemary had ever had. She knew it, too. + +"There's just one thing I want to say to you, Rosemary," announced +Winnie earnestly, "and that's this: you have got to make up your +mind which is the more important--this dinner or your dress. Because +cooking a good dinner takes all the brains a cook has--I ought to +know. You can't be thinking about whether you're going to get a +spot on your frock or whether the last hook is caught or left open. +And if you're too warm, as you will be in a velvet dress in that hot +kitchen and you all excited anyway, or if your feet hurt you, you're +not going to be able to give your attention to what you are cooking. +And I may not know much about teachers, but I imagine they're like +anybody else--when they're hungry, a brown velvet dress won't make +up to them for soggy potatoes and underdone meat. Miss Parsons is +banking on you--likely as not she's told the teachers you're the +best cook in the class, and if you serve up a poor dinner, do you +suppose looking at your velvet dress is going to make her glad she +trusted you? Of course you can suit yourself, and I'm not trying to +influence you, because you're old enough to--" + +Rosemary rushed at her and hugged her warmly. + +"You're a dear, darling Winnie!" she cried affectionately. "I'll +stop thinking about what I'm going to wear this minute, and go to +work on what I'm going to cook. Miss Parsons hates fussy clothes, +anyway, and I'll wear my white linen under my apron and be +comfortable. Hugh thinks I'm silly to wear the velvet, I know he +does." + +"The velvet will keep," said Winnie tersely, "and I'll do up your +white linen for you so that it will look like new." + +But, left alone, Rosemary could not resist trying on the brown +frock. She pinned her hair high, pushing it into a tower-effect with +the aid of combs, and added a long string of red beads that almost +touched the floor. + +"I look so nice this way," she told the reflection in the glass, +naïvely. "Why isn't it ever sensible to wear your best clothes when +you expect to be busy?" + +And that is a question older folk than Rosemary have asked, but, +unlike her, they have learned the answer. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE INSTITUTE DINNER + + +Rosemary early encountered the usual difficulties that beset the +leader of any enterprise. The girls she selected to act as cooks +wept because they were not appointed waitresses and those tolled off +to serve at the tables were affronted because they had not been +elected to cook. + +"You're the general, Rosemary," said Miss Parsons, when rumors of +dissatisfaction reached her. "Give your orders and see that they are +obeyed. You are in absolute charge of this dinner and no one is to +be allowed to dictate to you." + +The Willis will and the Willis chin were good possessions to have in +this crisis and gradually Rosemary managed to achieve something +approaching harmony among her staff. Only Fannie Mears resolutely +refused to be won over. + +"I'm just as good a cook as you are," she said to Rosemary one +afternoon, "and anyway, if I'm not, cooking isn't the most important +thing in school." (Fannie, you see, wasn't exactly logical.) "I'll +serve as a waitress," she went on "because I have a good deal of +class feeling and I don't want the other grades to say we made a +failure of our dinner. But I want you to know that I don't like it +one single bit and I think you are anything but fair." + +Despite such small troubles, Rosemary enjoyed her responsibility and +as she was free from nervousness and had faith in her skill and +ability, the prospective dinner, under her planning, took shape +nicely and gave every evidence of being a success. Nina Edmonds was +in charge of the tables and waitresses and as she really knew how to +lay the service correctly and had clever ideas for decorating, +Rosemary was sure the dining room would present an attractive +appearance. + +She went home early the day the dinner was to be given, to dress, +and found everything carefully arranged on her bed by Winnie who had +devoted half a day to the laundering of the white frock and cleaning +the white shoes. There was no school Institute Day, but Rosemary, of +course, had been busy all day, preparing for the dinner to follow +the close of the meetings. + +"You look like my girl," said Doctor Hugh, kissing her when she came +down to the hall and found him waiting. "I thought I'd run you over +to the school--you don't want to get tired out before the evening +has begun, you know. And what time do you think the fireworks will +be over? Do you have to stay after dinner is safely eaten?" + +"No, Miss Parsons has three women who are coming in to clear up for +us," answered Rosemary. "Usually we have to wash our own dishes, +that is, after every cooking lesson; but Miss Parsons said as soon +as the dining room was cleared, we might go, unless we want to +attend the reception in the gym. Jack said he might come and if he +does he'll bring me home." + +"There'll be no if about it," announced the doctor decidedly. "I'll +drop in around half-past nine and bring you home in the car. If I'm +a bit later, you wait for me in the gym and then I'll know where to +find you." + +Aunt Trudy and Winnie and Shirley and Sarah crowded to the door to +watch Rosemary off, in the dear way of loving families who would +send those they love off on always successful expeditions, and as +the doctor helped her into the roadster, Jack Welles came up, still +in football togs, for he had been practising. + +"To-night's the big night, isn't it?" he asked, smiling. "You're +going to stay for the reception, aren't you, Rosemary? And we can +walk home together." + +"Hugh's coming for me in the car," said Rosemary. "I wasn't sure you +were going, Jack." + +"Well I told you I was," retorted Jack. "I thought, living next door +to you, I could save Hugh an extra trip." + +"You come home with us, and we'll save you a walk," suggested the +doctor, touching the starter, and Jack shouted after them that he +would. + +"What made you say that?" demanded Rosemary, flushing with vexation. + +"Why not?" countered her brother. "Jack's a good friend, Rosemary, +isn't he?" + +"Of course he is," said Rosemary warmly, "But, oh, well, you +wouldn't understand, because you're not a girl. He did say he was +going to the reception, but I would much rather ride home with you; +and now he'll know I know he said he was going, and if you hadn't +asked him he might think I wasn't sure he had said so." + +"You may know what you are talking about, but I don't," declared her +bewildered brother. "However, as you wisely observe, I am not a girl +and perhaps that accounts for my dullness. Here we are at the +school, and whatever you do, Rosemary, don't fail to give them +enough. Anything but a sliver of chicken and a cube of potato for a +hungry man, remember." + +Rosemary laughed, and ran up the path to the lighted door. The +corridors were deserted, though the sound of music came from the +auditorium, where the teachers were meeting. Upstairs the kitchen +and the lunch room, which was to serve as dining room, were ablaze +with light and girls in white caps and aprons were rushing about, +giggling excitedly and getting in each other's way. + +"Oh, Rosemary!" Nina Edmonds pounced upon her at once. "Come and see +if the tables don't look pretty. Did you wear your brown velvet?" +she added in a lower tone. + +Rosemary shook her head. + +"White linen," she stated briefly. "I can't bother about clothes +to-night, Nina. I want to put the soup on to re-heat right away." + +Nina insisted that she must see the tables first and they did look +pretty, with a vase of yellow "button" chrysanthemums in the center +of each and yellow ribbons running from the bouquet to the place +cards. + +"Rosemary," Miss Parsons beckoned to her, "I just tasted the soup +and it is delicious, but I think a grain more of salt will improve +it. Just a dash, dear, and if you're afraid of getting too much in, +don't touch it. Everything going all right?" + +"All right," nodded Rosemary, forbearing to mention that Fannie +Mears refused to speak to her and was evidently cherishing a +smoldering resentment that might burst into flame at an awkward +moment. Two of the girls were limping about in high heeled shoes and +these must be shielded from the critical eye and caustic tongue of +the cooking teacher, lest they become temperamental and refuse to +"wait" at all. Assuredly Rosemary had her hands full. + +She went into the kitchen, tasted the soup and salted it carefully. +It was rich and smooth and Rosemary felt that when the time came to +ladle it into the cups she would have every right to be proud of her +ability, for she alone had made the soup, the other girls fearing +the mysterious "curdling" that sometimes spoiled their product. + +Just before serving time, Miss Parsons called her for a whispered +consultation as to the seating of a special guest and when Rosemary +returned to the kitchen, she found the trays of soup cups ready on +the table. While she and two other girls filled them, the teachers +were coming into the dining room and finding their places by means +of the prettily lettered cards. By the time all were seated, seven +young waitresses were filing into the room, bearing in their hands +the trays of steaming soup. + +They made a pretty picture and the guests smiled graciously as the +cups of thick cream soup, each with four delicately browned croutons +swimming on the top, were placed before them. The girls returned to +the kitchen as soon as all were served, for Miss Parsons had +instructed Rosemary to have them help her with the dishes for the +next course instead of waiting around the room for the guests to +finish. + +Rosemary had decided to have a simple, hearty dinner, since the +weather was cold and many of the teachers would have a long ride to +reach their homes that night. So individual chicken pies, baked +potatoes and a corn pudding were to follow the soup, the young cook +having wisely determined to omit any extra frills that would add to +the difficulties of serving. + +"Nobody's touched the soup!" reported Nina Edmonds, who was the +first to return with her tray, when the buzzer under Miss Parson's +chair sounded the signal in the kitchen that it was time to remove +the first course. + +"Nobody touched it!" echoed Rosemary in alarm. "Let me see!" + +She hurried around the table to inspect Nina's tray. Sure enough, +six little cups, still filled with soup, were there. + +"Say, something's the matter with the soup," said Bessie Kent in a +shrill whisper as she came in with her tray. "They didn't eat +it--see, all the cups are full." + +"Did Miss Parsons say anything?" asked Rosemary, staring at the +trays which now surrounded her. "How does she look?" + +"Kind of queer," answered Fannie Mears, breaking her silence. "She +must feel funny, with all those folks sitting and looking at their +soup and not eating it." + +"You hush up!" said Bessie Kent rudely. "There's the buzzer. Come +on, girls, we'd better hustle." + +In a daze Rosemary saw to it that the trays were filled again, but +she took no pride in the beautifully browned pies, the fragrant corn +pudding or the glistening potatoes wrapped in snowy napkins. Her +dinner, she was sure, was ruined. She wanted to run home and cry +where no one would see her, but instead she saw to it that each girl +had what she needed on her tray. Then, when her two assistants were +arranging the forks and plates for the salads, Rosemary slipped over +to the table where she had put the soup kettle and tasted the +contents. + +Salt! The soup was so thick with salt that she choked. Rich and +thick and smooth, what did it matter the texture or flavor, since +only one overpowering taste was present--that of salt. + +"How could it get like that!" puzzled Rosemary as she drank a glass +of water. "I tasted it just before we served it and it was fine. +What on earth must Miss Parsons be thinking of me!" + +Empty plates were carried back to the kitchen next time, and word +reached the young cooks that the pies were "wonderful" or "simply +great"--this last the expressed opinion of Mr. Oliver--and the fruit +salad met with an equally hearty reception. But not even the evident +enthusiastic approval which greeted the delicious ice-cream and cake +and perfect coffee which concluded the dinner, could compensate +Rosemary for her earlier mortification. When the meal was over and +the guests had gone down to the gymnasium for the reception and the +other girls had shed their aprons and followed, Nina too eager to +display the blue velvet frock to wait for Rosemary who insisted +there were several things she had to attend to, then she felt she +might cry a little for the first time in that long evening. + +"Rosemary, my dear child, what is the matter?" Miss Parsons bustled +in, followed by the three elderly women who were to wash the dishes. +"Are you tired out? Was the dinner too much work?" + +"The soup!" choked Rosemary. "Nobody could eat it. And I took such +pains with it." + +"Well, I was sorry afterward that I told you to salt it again," said +Miss Parsons regretfully. "I suppose you were nervous and added too +much. But don't let that grieve you dear. The rest of the dinner was +perfectly delicious and you should hear what people are saying about +you. I want you to come down to the gymnasium now and meet some of +the teachers." + +"Miss Parsons, I didn't over-salt the soup," protested Rosemary +earnestly. "I tasted it before and added just a dash as you told me; +and then I tasted it again, and it was all right. I _know_ I didn't +put in too much salt." + +"Oh, nonsense, Rosemary, you were excited, that's all," said Miss +Parsons briskly. "Any one is likely to make a mistake when she has a +good deal on her mind. Don't give it another thought, and if you +do, just remember it is a warning against the next time. I like to +think that every mistake we make keeps us from running into danger +some other time when the results might be more serious." + +Rosemary followed her teacher down to the gymnasium, but she only +half heard the introductions that followed and the kind comments on +her skill in cooking. She was wondering how she could convince Miss +Parsons that she had never put all that salt into her soup. + +"Why it tasted as though a whole box of salt had just been thrown +into it," said Rosemary to herself, standing near a window to watch +for Doctor Hugh and the car. "I don't care how much any one has on +her mind, no one puts a whole box of salt into a soup kettle!" + +And the voices of a group of girls, going home early, floated up to +her. + +"She says she didn't do it," said one of them, and Rosemary could +not identify the speaker though the tone sounded familiar. "But if +it had been good I'll bet she would have taken all the credit. They +say it was fairly briny, it was so salty!" + +Rosemary flushed scarlet. It wasn't fair! + +"For I didn't, I didn't, I know I didn't!" she declared, sitting +between Doctor Hugh and Jack that night as they sped home in the +car. "I'm just as sure as I can be that I didn't make a mistake--why +I tasted it afterward and it was delicious." + +"Well, if you didn't over-salt it, who did?" asked Jack practically. + +"I don't know," admitted Rosemary. "I could cry when I think of it." + +"I wouldn't do that," said her brother, turning in at their +driveway. "How about making us a chicken pie for Sunday dinner, +Rosemary, and asking Jack over to sample it?" + +"I'll make it," agreed Rosemary, "but just the same I want to know +who salted my soup." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +SHIRLEY IN MISCHIEF + + +The chicken pie was a wonderful success, so Doctor Hugh and Jack +assured Rosemary at the Sunday dinner, but the mystery of the +over-salted soup seemed destined to remain unsolved. Miss Parsons +never mentioned it again and Rosemary herself might have forgotten +it more readily except for several ill-natured references by Fannie +Mears whenever the Institute dinner was spoken of. Fannie and +Rosemary did not get along very well together and this was, in one +way, odd, because Fannie and Nina Edmonds were apparently most +congenial. They usually ate their lunches together, but Rosemary +chose to be with Sarah and Shirley and their corner table was +usually crowded with younger girls who adored Rosemary openly. + +The brief Thanksgiving holidays--with no school from Thursday to +Monday--brought the Willis family a more sincere appreciation of +their blessings than ever before. A short note from the little +mother lay beside each plate on Thanksgiving Day morning, and Winnie +kept one hand on hers tucked in her apron pocket even when she +served the golden brown waffles. When Aunt Trudy asked who would go +to church with her, Doctor Hugh answered for them all. + +"We'll please Mother," he said simply, and after the service he +packed the three girls into the little roadster and carried them off +for a long cold ride that gave them famous appetites for Winnie's +dinner. + +Doctor Hugh's practice was growing to include a wide radius of +countryside and the "young doctor" was gaining a name as one never +"too busy" to answer a country call. Doctor Jordan had prolonged his +vacation till late in October and then had returned to Eastshore +just long enough to sell his practice, office and instruments to his +young colleague and set off on a leisurely trip to California, a +luxury well earned after years of sacrificing service. Doctor Hugh +still retained the Jordan office, while seeing an increasing number +of patients at his home within fixed hours. + +His office had a great attraction for Shirley, and Rosemary had +discovered her one afternoon standing on a chair and calmly smelling +the rows of bottles that stood on the cabinet shelf, one after the +other. The shining instruments, in their glass racks, had a +fascination all their own for the small girl and she declared that +she intended to be a doctor when she grew up. + +"All right, and I'll take you into practice with me," Doctor Hugh +promised, having surprised her in a hurried investigation of his +medicine case. "But leave all these things alone, until you are +ready to study medicine. Don't come in the office when I'm not here, +Shirley; you'll hurt yourself some day, if you are not careful." + +But Shirley was possessed with the idea that she would like to be a +doctor. She begged and carefully treasured all the empty bottles and +pill boxes she could gather; she demanded a knife for "operations" +and was highly indignant when Winnie gave her a pair of blunt +scissors and told her they would have to do; usually tender-hearted, +she drew the wrath of Sarah by declaring that she would like to cut +off a rabbit's leg, "just like a doctor." + +"I think you're a cruel, cold-blooded girl!" stormed Sarah. "Cut off +a rabbit's foot indeed! Why don't you cut off your own foot and see +how it feels?" + +"Oh, Shirley just says that," Rosemary tried to soothe her outraged +sister. "She wouldn't hurt a rabbit any more than you would, Sarah. +You know that. But you've gone without dessert twice for meddling +with Hugh's things, Shirley, and you did promise to remember after +the last time, you know." + +Shirley, deprived of pudding and charlotte, was grieved and +penitent, but her memory was resilient and the day after +Thanksgiving temptation assailed her again. Winnie had gone to carry +a pie to an old neighbor several blocks away, Sarah was out playing +with a school chum and Rosemary and Aunt Trudy were deep in the +discussion of new curtains for the former's room. Shirley was left +to amuse herself and her small feet carried her to the empty office. + +"Jennie needs an operation," whispered Shirley, her dancing eyes +roving toward the desk. + +As luck would have it, a curved scalpel lay there in plain view. +Ordinarily it would have been locked up safely, but Doctor Hugh, +hurriedly selecting his choice of instruments that morning, had not +bothered to replace it in the rack. Shirley went over to the desk, +picked up the shining silver thing and carefully put it down. + +"I'll go get Jennie," she said to herself. "She's very, very bad +this morning, and I ought to 'tend to her right away." + +Upstairs she trotted, past Aunt Trudy's room and on to her room and +Sarah's where she rescued Jennie from under the bed. + +"What are you doing, honey?" called Rosemary, as Shirley passed the +door again on her way down stairs. + +"Playing with Jennie," was the wholly satisfactory answer. + +"I think she plays better by herself than with Sarah," announced +Aunt Trudy. "Sarah is so apt to lead her into mischief. Would you +rather have a hem-stitched hem or ruffles, Rosemary?" + +Back in the office, Shirley wasted no time in planning what to do. +She knew exactly how to proceed. Jennie was placed on the desk and +Shirley climbed into the swivel chair and grasped the scalpel. The +"operation" was to be performed on Jennie's arm, she, as a celluloid +doll, possessing an odd ridge in her anatomy that had always puzzled +Shirley. What made the ridge and what the inside of Jennie looked +like, were two questions that young doctor was determined to have +settled. + +Jennie proved unexpectedly difficult to cut. Shirley stuck out her +tongue in her anxiety and breathed hard as she tried to drive the +scalpel in. It slipped suddenly, the chair tilted and the curved +shining blade cut a cruel gash in the little hand holding it so +tightly. + +Pain, fright and a guilty conscience were blended in Shirley's +scream. Rosemary came rushing down, followed by Aunt Trudy who added +her cries to the child's when she saw her doubled up on the floor, +rocking back and forth and calling for Rosemary. + +"Are you hurt, darling? What's the matter? Tell Auntie," begged Aunt +Trudy bending over the little girl. + +"I cut my hand!" Shirley straightened up and Aunt Trudy caught a +glimpse of the bleeding hand and the front of the child's blouse all +stained where she had held it. + +The sight of blood always unnerved Aunt Trudy. She shrieked now and +covered her eyes with her hands. + +"I can't look at it--I'll faint, I know I shall!" she cried. +"Shirley will bleed to death, Rosemary. She has an awful cut. What +shall we do! What shall we do!" + +The terrified Shirley began to scream more loudly and Aunt Trudy +walked up and down the floor moaning that it was awful! + +"I'll get Hugh!" Rosemary flew to the desk 'phone. + +She had heard him say where he meant to make a call and she hoped +desperately that he might be at that house or that she might be able +to leave a message for him if he had not yet arrived. But the doctor +had "come and gone" Mrs. Jackson said. He was going to stop at the +Winters, he said. Yes, they had a telephone. + +Three more numbers Rosemary called, before she gained a ray of +comfort. At the fourth farmhouse the farmer's wife said that the +doctor was expected back in twenty minutes with a new brace he had +wanted them to try for their son's foot. He had offered to bring it +to them from the post-office because her husband was sick himself +with a cold-- + +Rosemary managed to check the good woman's flow of conversation and +to ask her to tell Doctor Hugh that he was wanted at home, when he +came. Shirley, tell him, had cut her hand. + +Shirley's cries, subdued while Rosemary talked over the 'phone, +burst out again as the receiver clicked in place. + +"Oh, dearest, hush!" implored Rosemary. "It doesn't hurt you so +very much, does it? Can't you be quiet till Hugh comes and makes you +all well?" + +"It bleeds and bleeds," screamed Shirley, and Aunt Trudy groaned +that the child would bleed to death before their eyes. + +"I'll wash it and bind it up myself," declared Rosemary, distracted +by the noise and confusion. "I don't know anything about such +things, but I think I can make it stop bleeding." + +"I can't help you," said Aunt Trudy hastily. "I faint the minute I +see blood. My knees are weak now. Don't ask me to hold her, will +you, Rosemary?" + +"I won't," promised Rosemary, biting her lower lip to keep it from +trembling. "I can take care of her, I know I can. Hugh keeps +bandages in this lower drawer and Winnie always has hot water in the +tea-kettle." + +Aunt Trudy frankly ran from the room when Rosemary returned from the +kitchen with a basin of warm water and arranged a package of gauze +and the scissors on the glass topped table between the windows. + +"I can't stay--I simply can not stay," she stammered and ran +upstairs to lie on her bed with her fingers in her ears. + +Her going was rather a relief to Rosemary who was sure she would be +less nervous and shaky herself with her aunt out of the room. But +before she had finished with Shirley she was ready to admit that the +mere presence of a third person would have been some comfort, +however cold. + +For Shirley shrieked protestingly when Rosemary approached her to +carry her over to the table. She fought off all attempts to look at +her hand. And when Rosemary forced her to yield and gently plunged +the poor little hand into the basin of water which was promptly +stained deep scarlet, Shirley, sure she was bleeding to death, +pulled away and ran for the door. + +"Oh, darling, don't act this way," begged Rosemary, catching her and +holding her close. "Be a brave little girl and let sister wrap the +hand for you; it isn't such a bad cut, dear, and after we have +washed off the blood, there'll be nothing to be afraid of." + +But Shirley continued to sob and squirm all the while Rosemary cut +and wound the gauze about her hand. As nearly as the inexperienced +Rosemary could tell, the cut was not serious though it was ugly to +see. Just as she fastened the tiny safety pin in place and was ready +to pronounce her bandaging done, the familiar two honks of the car +sounded outside. + +"Oh, Hugh, I never was so glad to see you in my life!" exclaimed +Rosemary, as the doctor appeared in the doorway. "Shirley cut her +hand and she screamed and screamed and Aunt Trudy cried and it was +awful." + +"Must have been," said Doctor Hugh briefly. "Let's see the cut." + +Shirley, exhausted from crying and struggling, made a feeble attempt +to put her hand behind her, but the doctor held her firmly between +his knees and inspected the bandage. + +"Pretty neat job," he said approvingly. + +Shirley began to cry again as he unwound the gauze and when he asked +Rosemary to hand him a certain bottle and pour some of its contents +on the cut, the little girl's shrieks of pain were heart-rending. +Rosemary watched in amazement as her brother calmly dressed the cut +with fresh gauze and then, when he had finished, gathered Shirley up +in his arms to soothe her gently. + +"She'll go to sleep in a minute," he said quietly. "She's worn out +with crying. How did it happen?" + +Shirley heard him and half raised herself in his arms. + +"I was going to operate on Jennie," she sobbed. "And the nasty knife +cut me. But I won't ever touch anything again, Hugh. Honest, I +won't." + +In a few minutes she was sound asleep, and the doctor placed her on +the couch in one corner of the room and covered her with a light +blanket. + +"Had a tough time, didn't you, Rosemary?" he said understandingly, +glancing from the basin on the table to Rosemary's tired face. +"Nobody home to help you and Aunt Trudy screaming louder than +Shirley I'll bet. I remember Aunt Trudy in hysterics when I came +home from school with a black eye one day." + +"Well, I felt like screaming, too," admitted Rosemary, "the blood +did make me a little sick. But then there would have been no one to +look after Shirley. I did the best I could, but I'm a poor nurse, +Hugh." + +"You never lose your head and that's the first rule for a good +nurse," said her brother. "Many a girl would never have thought of +trying to follow me up on the 'phone. And that was a mighty neat +bandage you did, child. You ought to learn first-aid, Rosemary. +Every girl should know what to do in an emergency or accident. I'll +teach you, if you like." + +Rosemary was wise enough to accept his offer and her first-aid +lessons began that week, for Doctor Hugh did not believe in +postponement. He was determined, though he did not say to his +sister, to "make hysterics difficult" under any circumstances and +especially in a household emergency. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +BUCKING THE STUDENT COUNCIL + + +Early December brought cold weather in its train and unusually heavy +snows. Householders were kept busy shoveling walks clean and the +boys and girls reveled in plenty of coasting. Sarah was invariably +late for supper these days and no amount of scolding from Winnie, or +pleading from Aunt Trudy, could induce her to desert the hill as +long as a single coaster remained to keep her company. Finally +Doctor Hugh devised a plan of going around that way before he came +home and, if Sarah were there, picking her and the sled up bodily +and bestowing them in the car. + +"I'll bet I know something you don't," said Fannie Mears one noon, +coming over with Nina Edmonds to sit at the corner table with +Rosemary in bland indifference to scowls from Sarah and sighs from +Shirley. + +Fannie Mears and Rosemary were not close friends at all, and the +latter was surprised at the overture. But she hospitably swept part +of the lunch aside to make room for the visitors and offered them a +couple of Winnie's delicious egg sandwiches. + +"Thanks, we have enough," said Fannie. "Have you heard what the boys +are going to do?" + +"Boys" with Fannie, meant the high school lads as Rosemary +immediately understood. The boys in the seventh grade failed to +interest either Fannie or Nina. + +"No, what?" answered Sarah bluntly, in blissful ignorance that she +was not supposed to be included in the conversation. + +"The Common Council has asked 'em to clean off the streets," +announced Fannie, addressing herself to Rosemary, "and Jack Welles +is going to make himself awfully unpopular, if he isn't careful." + +"Clean off the streets?" repeated Rosemary. "Why what do you mean?" + +"There's been so many storms, they haven't been able to keep some of +the streets clear of snow," explained Nina, biting into a cup cake, +for Nina lunched almost exclusively on cake. "They've had gangs of +men working, but before they get one snow carted away, another +falls. And now the Common Council has decided to ask the high +school boys to work after school. My father is a Councilman, and he +told us all about the last meeting. They'll pay the boys and it will +be a regular lark." + +"Yes, if Jack Welles doesn't go and spoil everything," said Fannie +darkly. + +"How can he spoil everything?" Rosemary demanded. + +She had not seen Jack so often once the school year was well under +way. Football practice had absorbed him during the early fall and +later came basketball. Other school and class activities, too, +claimed his attention, for Jack was popular and a good student as +well. He was president of his class, the Sophomores, and had that +year been appointed Student Advisor to the grammar school boys. + +"How can Jack spoil things?" repeated Rosemary. + +Fannie leaned across the table--she dearly loved to be important and +now she had something to tell. + +"It's like this," she began. "My brother told me. The Student +Council had a letter from the Eastshore Common Council, saying they +wanted volunteer snow workers among the high school boys. And the S. +C. called the presidents of the four classes together and told them +to go ahead and get the workers, twelve from each class." + +Fannie stopped and looked at Rosemary expectantly. Sarah's mouth was +wide open and she was listening eagerly. Shirley had wandered away +to play. + +"Well?" said Rosemary sharply. + +"Well," echoed Fannie disagreeably. "The boys made out their lists +and when Jack read his he had asked the two Gordon boys, Jerry and +Fred, and Eustice Gray and Norman Cox and Ben Kelsey. And Will says +the president of the Student Council was simply furious." + +Rosemary began to fold up the napkins and put them back in the box. +Will Mears was Fannie's brother and the other boys she knew only by +sight. + +"Why was Frank Fenton furious?" asked Sarah, delighting in the sound +of the three F's, though quite unconscious she had used them. + +"Oh, do be still!" Fannie tried to squelch the younger girl. "Frank +was mad, of course, because the S. C. counted on having all the snow +money for the dramatic fund. They want to put on a play this spring +and Will says they haven't a cent in the treasury. And now Jack +Welles goes and spoils a perfectly splendid chance to earn a lot of +money." + +"That's the third or fourth time you've said that about Jack," cried +Rosemary, stung into speech at last. "What has he done to spoil +anything? I don't see." + +"Why I should think you would," said Fannie, while Nina nodded +sagely. "The Gordon boys and Eustice and Norman and Ben are as poor +as can be; they want the money for themselves, and Will says they +jumped at the chance to earn it. Don't you see, it will keep that +much out of the dramatic fund, and Jack could just as well have +appointed boys who could have been glad to turn over the money to +the school. Will calls it a disgusting lack of class spirit." + +Rosemary's blue eyes snapped and fire burned in her cheeks. + +"There's nothing the matter with Jack Welles' class spirit, Fannie +Mears!" she cried. "I should think you would be ashamed to repeat +anything like that, I don't care who said it." + +"Well I'm not the only one who said it, or Will, either," declared +Fannie, rising as the warning bell sounded. "The president of the +Student Council told him what he thought of him, all right." + +Inwardly seething, Rosemary managed to get away to her class room +without further argument. She had never liked Fannie Mears, she told +herself and now she almost hated her. As for Will Mears, president +of the High School Juniors, well he wasn't a bit better. What a +disagreeable family the Mears must be! + +It was cooking class day, and Rosemary stayed almost an hour after +school that night, "puttering" as Miss Parsons called it, about the +school kitchen. Sarah and Shirley went home without her, and she was +walking briskly along alone, tramping hardily through the snow late +that afternoon, when Jack Welles overtook her. + +"How's the soup?" he asked cheerfully, that being a stock question +of his ever since the fateful Institute dinner. + +"How's the Student Council?" asked Rosemary. + +Jack's open face changed. + +"What do you know about the Student Council?" he said gruffly. + +"Oh, I heard--something," replied Rosemary. "Was Frank Fenton +unfair, Jack?" + +"Well, he doesn't think so," said Jack, "I suppose you girls have +been gossiping and you might as well get the story straight," he +added. + +Rosemary nodded eagerly. + +"I hope the Gray boys and the others will shovel snow," she cried +impulsively. "I don't give a fig for the old dramatic fund, Jack." + +"I do," said Jack. "It's all right to turn the snow money into the +fund and I've nothing to say against that. But when the Student +Council kicks because five boys out of forty-eight want to keep what +they earn, and they know they are putting themselves through school, +I think it shows a contemptible, small spirit and I told Frank so +to-night. You see, Rosemary," he went on a little more calmly, +"there aren't a whole lot of ways a boy can earn money and go to +school in a small town like this--nearly everyone tends to his own +fires and sweeps off his own walks and runs his own errands. If we +hadn't had one snow storm after another, there wouldn't have been +this chance. And I purposely appointed these five boys because I +know what they are up against. And by gum," he said forcibly if +inelegantly, "on my squad they stay!" + +"But can't the Student Council make you back down and appoint +others?" asked Rosemary, glowing with excitement. "I thought the S. +C. could do anything in high school, Jack." + +"They are pretty powerful," her companion admitted, "but they don't +dare carry this to the faculty, because they'll look so small and +Eustice Gray is in the direct line for one of the college +scholarships. Every teacher on the faculty staff will stand by the +boys--they're all fine students and making a stiff fight to get +through school. You don't suppose Mr. Hamlin is going to think the +dramatic fund is more important than shoes for Norman Cox, do you?" + +Mr. Hamlin was the principal of the high school. + +"But it can't be very pleasant for the boys," urged Rosemary, +troubled. + +"You've said it," confessed Jack gloomily. "I had a second fight +there, for after the fellows heard the Student Council was raising a +rumpus, they said they would get off my team and let others take +their places. Norman said he guessed they could get independent jobs +shoveling snow after school hours." + +"Could they?" asked Rosemary. + +"I suppose they could, but they won't if I have anything to say +about it," declared Jack with what Doctor Hugh called his "bull-dog" +expression. "I was told to appoint a snow cleaning team and I've +done it, and by gum my nominations stand. If the Student Council +doesn't like 'em, they can appeal to the faculty--and they'll get +what's coming to them! The town Council doesn't give a hoot where +the money goes, all they want is to have the snow cleaned away. I +told the fellows if they walked out, they made me just five short, +for I wouldn't appoint anyone in their places. If they want to see +the Sophomore class fall down on the job, all right. You watch my +twelve names go through!" + +Rosemary watched. So did all the high and half the grammar school, +for word of the dispute, variously colored to suit different +informants, had been noised around and the only persons in actual +ignorance of the state of affairs were the high school faculty. The +Student Council was desperately anxious that they should remain in +that state, for there had been one or two previous clashes over the +relative importance of the dramatic fund, and the members of the +council had no wish to be accused of "forcing" any unfair demands. +So, as Jack had foreseen, his nominations were allowed to stand and +the next afternoon, forty-eight laughing, shouting boys reported to +Bill McCormack, bluff and kindly member of the Eastshore Common +Council who would, in a larger municipality, have been called +"Streets and Highways Commissioner" or by similar sonorous title. + +But before the boys met "Bill" in front of the town hall, the +president of the Student Council, Frank Fenton, and Will Mears, +president of the Junior class, had held a conference with Mr. +Edmonds, the most influential member, some said, next to the +president, Cameron Jordan, a cousin of the old and respected +physician. The result of this conference was that Bill McCormack +held in his fat, red hands a sheaf of papers which allotted the +streets to the four classes and took the decision quite away from +him. + +"I was told to give these papers to the heads of the gangs," said +Mr. McCormack, smiling expansively. "Here ye are--Senior, Junior, +Sophomore, Freshman--them's your working papers, me lads, and now +off with ye; the shovels ye'll be finding in the basement of the +hall." + +Jack Welles glanced at the slip of paper handed him, folded it up +and stuffed it in his pocket. As soon as his "gang" was fitted out +with snow shovels, he marched them away in the wake of one of the +lumbering wagons that was to carry the snow off to a vacant field on +the outskirts of the town. + +"What did we draw, Jack?" asked Norman Cox curiously. + +"Plummers Lane," said Jack laconically. + +Plummers Lane, was the nearest approach to a "slumming section" that +Eastshore possessed. The idle, the shiftless and the vicious +congregated there, living in tumbled down shacks in the winter and +the middle of the streets, in summer. There were two factories, one +a novelty works, the other a canning and candy factory and the "dump +lot" bounded the Lane on the north and the jail on the south. +Altogether it was not the choicest portion which could fall to the +lot of the young snow cleaners. + +"It's enough to make you want to resign from the dramatic club!" +exclaimed Kenneth Vail, who, in common with the other boys, labored +under no delusion that chance fortune had sent them to Plummers +Lane. + +"If you had only put some one else in my place--" began Eustice Gray +uncomfortably, but seven voices immediately shouted to him, in +friendly chorus to "dry up." + +"We'll make Plummers Lane look sick," declared Jack. "From the looks +of it, I don't think there's been a shovel down here since the first +snow. If the S. C. thinks they have marked more off for us than we +can clean up, we'll show them! Here goes for the first shovel--out +of the way, Mike!" + +The grinning driver reined in his team and dodged as Jack hurled a +heavy shovelful over the side of the cart. The other boys followed +suit and twelve strong, sturdy backs bent to their task. The +population of Plummers Lane, that part of it visible by day, draped +itself along the curb to watch operations and hand out advice, but +any more practical help was not offered or expected. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +DRESSMAKER ROSEMARY + + +"I'm an old man," announced Jack Welles that night, dropping into a +chair in Doctor Hugh's office, while he waited for the latter to +prepare a bottle of medicine for his father's cough. + +"Back broken, I suppose?" suggested the doctor cheerfully. "The +first ten years are always the hardest, my boy." + +Jack groaned and Rosemary, patiently holding a bleary-eyed cat for +Sarah, looked at him anxiously. + +"Ten years!" complained Jack. "Another afternoon like this and I +won't live to see ten years. Ye gods, who would have thought a +little snow shoveling could break me up like this!" + +"You're out of practice," replied the doctor, busily writing a +label. "Don't try to clean all the streets in one day, Jack; I came +through Main street to-night and I must say the boys have made a +good job of it, though, of course, it was fairly well tramped down. +It's the side streets that are blocked. Where are you working?" + +"Plummers Lane," said Jack dryly. "The Juniors have uptown and Main +street. We're providing a side show for the unemployed and if we +don't get any fun out of our job, they at least can laugh their +heads off." + +"I told Hugh about the Student Council and the way they acted," said +Rosemary hotly. "Don't you think they are too hateful for anything, +Hugh?" + +The doctor looked at Jack who managed a grin. + +"Jack isn't hurt yet," said Doctor Hugh, smiling, "and I don't know +but digging out Plummers Lane is a man-sized job and one to be proud +of. Certainly if you get the streets in passable condition so that +we don't have to carry a sick woman through snow drifts to get her +to the ambulance--which happened last week--you'll have the thanks +of the doctors if not of the Student Council." + +"We're going to stick," declared Jack, taking the bottle the doctor +held out to him. "If there should ever be a fire down there, with +the snow piled over the hydrants and kerosene oil cans mixed up with +packing boxes and kindling wood in the front yards, after the +happy-go-lucky housekeeping methods followed by Plummers Lane +housekeepers, I should say three blocks would go like tinder. Bill +McCormack was down to see us, just as we were knocking off, and he +was pleased as Punch at what we'd done." + +"I'm coming down to see you," announced Rosemary. + +"So 'm I," cried Sarah. "I can shovel snow, too." + +"Come on, if you want to," said Jack, "but don't expect us to have +much time to talk to you. We're being paid by the hour and business +is business." + +He went off whistling, leaving Rosemary with an odd expression on +her face. It was the first time Jack had ever hinted he could +possibly be too busy to talk to her. + +"Hugh," she said seriously, when the doctor had prescribed for +Sarah's sick pussy cat and the anxious mistress had gone off to tuck +the patient in bed down cellar. "Hugh, couldn't I take hot coffee +and doughnuts to the boys while they are working in the snow +afternoons? I know they must get hungry and it is so cold and windy +down Plummers Lane--the wind comes across the marsh." + +"Go ahead," her brother encouraged her. "Get Sarah to help you. I +imagine Jack is having a tough time and he'll appreciate a little +unspoken sympathy. I'll give you a testimonial for your coffee, +Rosemary, if you think you need one; where are the doughnuts coming +from?" + +"They're all made, a stone crock full," dimpled Rosemary. "That was +what made me think of doing it. We'll come home from school and get +the big tin pail with the lid and a pan of doughnuts. But I can't +carry twelve cups." + +"Paper ones will do," the doctor assured her. "The boys will gulp +the coffee before it can possibly seep through. Make Sarah do her +share, and don't stay late, either one of you." + +The next afternoon, as Jack straightened his aching back to answer +the questions of Frank Fenton, who was serving as time-keeper for +the four squads, he looked across the street and saw two little +figures who waved gloved hands at him and beckoned in a mysterious +manner. + +"Isn't that Rosemary Willis?" asked Frank, "stunning kid, isn't +she?" + +Rosemary, rosy from the cold and with her eyes dark and starry, left +Sarah on the curb and crossed over. + +"Oh, Jack," she began before she reached him, "Sarah and I have +brought you some hot coffee and doughnuts. There's enough for +everyone." + +Frank had his data, but he still lingered, and the other boys at +Jack's shout, crowded around. Rosemary knew most of them and Jack +hurriedly performed the few necessary introductions leaving Frank +till the last. Norman Cox and Eustice Gray had hastened across the +street and returned with Sarah and the supplies just as Jack said, +"Rosemary, this is Frank Fenton." + +"He can't have any," said Sarah with blunt distinctness. + +Rosemary flushed scarlet and then, with the quickness characteristic +of her, jerked the lid from the coffee can and filled one of the +paper cups with the steamy, fragrant, liquid. + +"Please," she said gravely, holding it out to the astonished +president of the Student Council. "The sugar and cream are already +in. And these are fresh doughnuts." + +Mechanically Frank drank the hot coffee and ate a doughnut, while +Rosemary poured out the remainder of the coffee and Jack passed the +cups around, Sarah serving the doughnuts. + +"That is the best coffee I ever drank," declared Frank, when he had +finished. "And now, couldn't I take you home? I have my car down +the street a ways and I go right past your house." + +Jack choked over his coffee, but Rosemary thanked the senior +politely and said that she and Sarah had planned to stay and watch +the shovelers a while. + +"This isn't a very nice neighborhood, especially after dark you +know," said Frank. + +"We're not going to stay long," Rosemary was beginning, but Jack cut +her short. + +"I live next door to Rosemary, and I'll see that she and Sarah get +home all right," he said brusquely. "I know all about Plummers Lane, +too, Frank." + +The Student Council president lifted his cap and went back to his +car. + +"I don't like him," said Sarah decidedly. + +"I shouldn't wonder if he was faintly aware of your dislike," +grinned Jack. "Any more coffee left, Rosemary? You certainly had a +bright idea when you thought of this." + +Rosemary and Sarah were more than repaid for their long, cold walk, +by the evident pleasure the boys took in their warm drink and the +two fat doughnuts apiece they had brought them. They knocked off +work fifteen or twenty minutes earlier in order to see the girls +home before dark, but the next afternoon the doctor's car came and +picked up the sisters and the empty coffee can so that the workers +lost no time. + +For nearly a week, the boys shoveled steadily after school hours, +sticking to the job long after the first novelty had worn away. Bill +McCormack declared that they were the best "gang" he had ever hired +and the Plummers Lane residents ceased to regard them as a joke and +began to exchange sociable comments and quips with them, though +never descending to the plane of familiarity that included a shovel. +Rosemary and Sarah, and now and then Shirley, carried coffee and +doughnuts, or hot cocoa and cakes, each afternoon and Doctor Hugh +willingly stopped for them in his car. Even the weather ceased to +consent to co-operate for after one heavy snow, it cleared and the +streets made passable, remained that way till after Christmas. + +The most important subject of discussion in the Willis household, +along the lines of Christmas preparations, was the box to be sent +the little mother in the sanatorium. + +"I think we ought to make her something!" announced Rosemary. + +"Well, what?" asked Sarah. "I most know she'd love to have one of +Tootles' kittens, but I don't suppose we could mail that, could +we?" + +"Praise be, you can't," said Winnie who had overheard. "Those +kittens will be the death of me yet, and what they'd do to sick +folks in a sanatorium, I'm sure I don't know and don't want to." + +"What'll we make Mother?" urged Shirley, pulling Rosemary's belt. + +"I know--a kimona," said Rosemary triumphantly. "That won't be hard, +because we'll have only two seams. Mother will love to have +something we made her, instead of a gift we just went down town and +bought. What color do you think would be pretty, Sarah?" + +"Red," said Sarah promptly. + +"Pink," begged Shirley. "Make it pink, Rosemary." + +"I like blue," said Rosemary wistfully. + +"Let's ask Aunt Trudy," suggested Sarah. + +"I think you're awfully foolish to try to make anything," pronounced +Aunt Trudy when they consulted her. "But I suppose, if you have set +your hearts on it, why nothing will dissuade you. Why don't you make +your mother a white kimona, and bind it with pink ribbon? White was +always her favorite." + +So it was decided the kimona should be white eiderdown and bound +with pink satin ribbon and Rosemary and Sarah and Shirley went +shopping one afternoon after school and bought the materials. Their +purchase included a pattern, the first in their joint experience and +when they had spread it out on Rosemary's bed the three girls looked +at it helplessly. + +"We'll put it on paper, till we learn how to cut it," said Rosemary, +secretly wondering how anyone ever learned to understand such +complicated directions as were printed on the pattern envelope. + +They had decided that neither Aunt Trudy nor Winnie could be allowed +to help them and since Rosemary had a working knowledge of the +sewing machine's mysteries and could sew neatly by hand, they had +not anticipated any trouble. + +"But how could we know a pattern was such a silly thing?" wailed +Rosemary, tired and cross when the dinner gong sounded and they had +made no progress. The floor of the room was littered with paper and +the top of the bed resembled a pincushion for Shirley had amused +herself by sticking the contents of the entire paper of pins in +orderly rows on the counterpane. + +"Aren't you coming down to dinner?" asked Sarah, moving toward the +door. + +"No, I'm not," retorted Rosemary. "I'm not hungry and I don't want +anything to eat. Don't let Winnie come up here making a fuss; you +tell Aunt Trudy I don't want any dinner to-night. I'm not going to +do a thing till I get this kimona cut out." + +"Hugh will be mad," said Sarah, half way down the hall. + +"Let him," called Rosemary recklessly, shutting the door of her room +with a bang. + +She was deep in the pattern directions for the tenth time, when +someone rapped on her door. + +"I'm not hungry--don't bother me," she called, frowning. + +The door knob turned and Doctor Hugh smiled in at her. + +"Heard you were having trouble with the dressmaking," he announced. +"Can't I help? I'm not Winnie or Aunt Trudy, you know. I'd like to +have a finger in this, if I could." + +Rosemary drew a long breath. + +"You do understand, don't you?" she said, standing on the foot that +had not gone to sleep and trying to rouse the circulation in the +other one. "We didn't want anyone to touch our present for Mother, +except us; but you're us, too, aren't you?" + +"Surest thing," agreed the doctor, approaching the terrible pattern +with grave interest. "What's the matter with this--aren't you sure +how it should be cut?" + +Rosemary shook her head hopelessly. + +"I'm afraid to cut it before I know and I've tried it every way I +can think of," she confessed. + +"Well, if this is wrong, I'll buy you some more goods to-morrow," +promised the doctor, twitching the pattern to his liking. + +He took up the scissors and cut around the outline with what seemed +to Rosemary, reckless abandon. But when he had finished and she took +up the two pieces, they fitted together like parts of a picture +puzzle. + +"It's right!" she cried in delight. "Hugh, you darling, it's all +right! And I can baste it to-night and sew it on the machine +to-morrow and put the ribbon on by hand. Won't Mother love it!" + +"No more sewing to-night," said her brother firmly. "Dressmakers +always make mistakes when they're tired. Come down and eat your +dinner now, and then put this truck away till after school to-morrow +afternoon." + +Rosemary followed him downstairs meekly, though her fingers itched +to get at the basting. Sarah looked up at them in surprise as they +entered the dining-room. + +"I thought Rosemary was going to be cross!" she said frankly. + +"You were mistaken," retorted Doctor Hugh, smiling so infectiously +at Rosemary that she could do no less than twinkle back at him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +MR. JORDAN LEARNS SOMETHING + + +The kimona was finished without further mishap and packed away in +the Christmas box. + +"And no one was more surprised than I when the thing proved to be +cut right," Doctor Hugh confided to Winnie. "I never looked at a +pattern before, but I took a chance. I could see Rosemary was just +on the edge of 'nerves' and I figured out that if I did make a mess +of it, she might not find it out till the next day, and by that time +she might be able to see the humor in the situation." + +"You're a wise lad, Hughie, and I'm proud of you," said Winnie +fondly. She had guessed something of the cost of the fur lined coat +that the doctor had proudly displayed as his Christmas gift for the +little mother, now well enough to take short tramps through the pine +woods daily. Winnie did not know that a set of sorely needed medical +books had gone into the coat, but she suspected something of the +kind. + +The box was packed and sent and the Willis family settled down to +the first Christmas they had known without the gentle spirit who had +tirelessly planned for every holiday. But they had the dear +knowledge that she was coming home again to them, well and strong, +and they hung the wreaths in the windows and wound greens about the +lights and trimmed a tree for Shirley with thankful and merry +hearts. Doctor Hugh had missed so many home Christmas Days that he +in particular, enjoyed the preparations and his attempts at secrets +and his insistence on tasting all of Winnie's dishes drove the girls +into fits of laughter. A pile of packages surrounded every place on +Christmas morning and there was something pretty and practical and +purely nonsensical for each one from the doctor. He, in turn, +declared that for once in his life he had everything he wanted. Aunt +Trudy's gift to her nephew and each of her nieces was a cheque and +the announcements that followed were characteristic. + +"What are you going to get, Hugh?" asked Sarah curiously, when the +nature of her slip of paper had been explained to her. + +"Books," said Doctor Hugh, promptly, smiling at his aunt. + +"Music and a new music case, a leather one," declared Rosemary, her +eyes shining. + +"I'd like to buy a dog," said Sarah, and grinned good-naturedly at +the groan which greeted her modest wish. + +"You'd better buy an electric heater for the cats," suggested +Winnie. "I'm forever taking 'em out of the oven; some day I'll +forget to look, and there will be baked cats when you come down." + +Shirley was distressed at this dismal prediction, but Sarah did not +take it to heart. + +"I think, after all," she said meditatively, "I'll buy a hen and +keep chickens." + +"What are you going to buy with your money, Shirley lamb?" asked +Rosemary, as Sarah fell to planning a chicken yard. + +"A doll I guess," said Shirley who had had three that morning. + +When Sarah reminded her of that fact, Aunt Trudy protested. + +"No one is to attempt to dictate in any way," she said with +unaccustomed firmness. "When I was a child I was never allowed to +spend a cent as I wanted to and I gave you each this money to do +with exactly as you please. If you spend it foolishly, all right, I +don't care. But I want each one of you to get what you want, +whether or not it pleases some one else. I could have bought you +what I thought you ought to have, but that's the kind of presents I +had as a child and the only kind. And my goodness, didn't I hate +'em!" + +The girls stared a little at this outburst and then the doctor +laughed. + +"Well all I can say," he remarked drolly as he pushed back his chair +in answer to the summons of the telephone, "is that it is lucky +Christmas comes only once a year. Otherwise, Aunt Trudy, you'd have +us completely demoralized." + +Spending their Christmas money gave the three girls a good deal of +pleasure during holiday week and a letter from their mother was +another pleasant incident. Mrs. Willis wrote that the fur coat and +the kimona had made her the envy of the whole sanatorium and she was +so proud of them both that she cried whenever she looked at them! + +"--But, of course, I know you don't want me to do that, so I have +stopped, really I have," ran one paragraph of her letter. "I am so +proud of you all, my darlings and it seems such a short time ago +that you were all babies. How could I look ahead and see that my son +would grow up so soon and buy his mother a fur-lined coat, or that +my three girl babies for whom I sewed so happily would make me a +kimona and such a beautiful garment? I am wearing it now...." + +The clear cold weather came to an end during holiday week and a +heavy storm set in a few days before New Year's. For two days and a +night it snowed steadily and Sarah was almost beside herself to +think that now she could play in the snow as long as she liked with +no school to interfere. Shirley suffered from cold and did not like +to play out long at a time, but Rosemary was not too old to enjoy +snow ball fights and coasting and she joined Sarah on the hill as +often as she felt she could leave her beloved practising. Nina +Edmonds did not care for coasting, but Fannie Mears and several of +the girls in the grade above the seventh liked to coast on Fred +Mears' bob-sled. + +Late in the afternoon of the second day, when the snow had almost +stopped, except for a few large flakes, Rosemary set out to find +Sarah and bring her in in time for dinner. She was ploughing along +through the snow when Jack Welles hailed her. + +"'Lo, Rosemary!" he called. "Where you going--home?" + +"I'm going to the hill to get Sarah," Rosemary explained. "Hugh says +she'd coast till breakfast time if no one stopped her and I believe +she would. Where's your sled? Haven't you been out to-day? They say +the coasting is fine." + +"I know it is, but I haven't had time to try it, worse luck!" +growled Jack, falling into step beside Rosemary as they walked on. +"The Common Council has sent out a call for the snow cleaning gangs +again and I've been trying to round the fellows up." + +"Yes, I suppose the streets are piled up," agreed Rosemary. "When +are you expected to start work--not to-night?" + +"To-morrow morning," the boy replied. "But there won't be more than +six of us." + +"Six!" repeated Rosemary in astonishment. "Why I thought there were +twelve in each gang." + +"There were," said Jack briefly. "But, you see, it is holiday week, +and no one wants to work. The only five I can get are Norman Cox, +Eustice Gray, Jerry and Fred Gordon and Ben Kelsey. I'm the sixth. +Two of the others are away and the rest are going on a sleighing +trip up to the woods." + +"Where's Frank Fenton?" demanded Rosemary. "Can't he make 'em work?" + +"Oh, he's going on the ride, too," explained Jack. "A bunch are +going, girls and boys and three of the teachers will chaperone. They +go up to a camp, you know, and build a big fire and dance and have a +good time. Frank says it won't hurt to wait a day or two. I think +he's hoping the snow will melt." + +"What about the dramatic fund?" inquired, Rosemary, not +intentionally sarcastic. "I thought they wanted the money." + +"Too soon after Christmas," grinned Jack. "No, I guess the six of us +will have to represent the school. Is that Sarah over there with the +red hat?" + +"Yes, it is," answered Rosemary, beckoning to her sister. "Didn't +you want to go on the ride, Jack? Or the other boys?" + +"Well I don't care so much," replied Jack slowly. "Of course I'd +have a good time, but I can live without a sleigh ride. I'm sorry on +the fellows' account though--they wanted to go with some girls and +they don't have much fun. I hated like time to ask them to come and +shovel snow to-morrow morning. As Eustice says most of the school +fun costs too much for him, but this wasn't going to be expensive." + +"Couldn't you wait just one day?" suggested Rosemary. + +Jack shook his head. + +"It's understood that we stand ready to help the Council out," he +said in a business-like manner. "They depend on us, and it isn't +their fault the snow came during the holidays. We were glad enough +to get the chance before and I think it looks mighty cheap to try to +beg off now just because it isn't convenient to work. I'm going to +be on deck to-morrow morning if I'm the only one who turns up." + +Six boys, however, reported the next morning to Bill McCormack and +at their own suggestion, were set to work clearing the Plummers Lane +section of the accumulated snow. + +"My father is always talking about the fire risk down here," said +Jack to Jerry Gordon as they shoveled side by side. "Eastshore has a +nifty little fire department I'm ready to admit, but it can't climb +a snow bank even with the new chemical engine." + +The boys found the day unexpectedly long. Hitherto they had worked +three or four hours after school and the one Saturday they had +shoveled had been at the end of their task so that they had been +able to quit at noon. But, although they were genuinely tired long +before night--and the noon rest had never been so appreciated!--not +one of them suggested giving in or knocking off an hour or two +earlier. They worked so steadily and to such good purpose that by +half-past four, when Rosemary and Sarah appeared with hot coffee and +sandwiches, the most congested area in Plummers Lane was +comparatively clear. + +"Gee, Rosemary, you certainly are all right!" approved Jack as he +held the can for her while she ladled out coffee. "I never was so +hungry in my life." + +"They're chicken sandwiches and turkey, too," said Rosemary, +smiling. "Winnie said if you couldn't go on the sleigh ride she'd +see to it that you had something extra good to eat." + +The hungry boys fell upon Winnie's sandwiches with a vigor that +would have done her heart good, and the coffee disappeared +magically. When the last drop was gone and the last crumb vanished, +Jack insisted that the girls start for home. + +"It's getting dark now," he said, "and Hugh won't like it if you are +out late down here. I'd walk home with you, but we want to finish; +we're not going to quit till we get to the end of the street. +There's a fire hydrant there." + +Rosemary and Sarah, carrying the empty coffee can and the basket +that had been packed with sandwiches, walked slowly toward home, +Sarah audibly regretting that they had left the sled at the house. + +"We could have a good coast, before dinner," she argued, walking +backward, an accomplishment of which she was exceedingly proud. + +Pride, as often happens, went before a fall, in this instance, a +collision. Sarah, heedless of Rosemary's cry of warning, walked into +a stout, silver-haired gentleman in a fur-collared coat. + +"Bless my soul, what's this?" he asked in astonishment, looking down +at the small girl who had bumped into his knees. + +"How do you do Mr. Jordan?" said Rosemary respectfully, recognizing +the president of the Common Council. + +"Why it's Rosemary Willis!" beamed Mr. Jordan. "And Sarah, as I +live. Where are you going my dears?" + +"We're going home," explained Rosemary. "We took the boys some +coffee and sandwiches. They are shoveling snow, you know." + +"Oh, the high school lads, yes, I recollect," said Mr. Jordan. "I +meant to go around and see them at work, but I've spent the +afternoon in the library. Pretty faithful lads, aren't they, to +stick to their job in holiday week?" + +Rosemary held an instant's swift debate with herself. Jack, she +knew, would hold his tongue. But Jack was not within hearing +distance and his scruples did not honestly affect her. She put down +the coffee can and began to speak. She told Mr. Jordan the whole +story, from the beginning when the Student Council had objected to +Jack's list of workers. She told about the streets assigned to the +boys. She mentioned the sleigh ride and told who had gone. She named +the six boys who had spent the day shoveling. The faster she talked, +the prettier and more earnest she looked and the more interested Mr. +Jordan seemed. Sarah listened dumbly, fascinated by her sister's +eloquence. + +Mr. Jordan walked with them to their front steps and shook hands +with them both. + +"I am extremely obliged to you," he told Rosemary as he lifted his +hat to go. "I find that I have been a little out of things and you +have set me right." + +"Goodness knows what I've done," said Rosemary to Sarah as they +brushed their hair and made ready for the table. "Don't you say a +word to Jack--he will be furious. But I don't care what happens, I'm +glad I said what I did; this 'silence is golden' is a silly saying, +I think." + +Late that night, when every one had gone to bed, the fire whistle +sounded. Rosemary raised up in bed, shivering with excitement. She +counted the strokes. One-two--one-two--one-two-three-four. Reaching +for her dressing gown at the foot of the bed, she seized it and +rushed for the door. Sarah's door opened at the same moment and the +two little figures met in the hall. They shouted together, rousing +the household. + +"Plummers Lane!" they shrieked. "The fire's in Plummers Lane!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +SHOPPING WITH NINA + + +Shirley, half-awake and crying, came pattering out into the hall and +Winnie dashed from her room. On the second floor, Aunt Trudy +scuttled back and forth demanding where the fire was. + +"Go to bed girls," ordered Doctor Hugh, who had just come in and was +fully dressed. "Go back to bed, and I'll tell you all about the fire +in the morning." + +"Oh, Hugh, are you going? Wait for me, please?" cried Rosemary. "I +won't be a minute." + +"Me, too," shouted Sarah. "Wait for me, Hugh." + +He was already in the lower hall, struggling into his overcoat. + +"Go back to bed, and don't be silly," was his parting injunction as +he opened the door. "You'll catch cold, running through the halls. +Send 'em to bed, Winnie." + +The door banged behind him and they heard a familiar whistle. + +"Hugh!" some one called. "Hugh, it's down Plummers Lane. Going to +get the car out? I'll help you." + +"That's Jack," cried Rosemary, trying to see through the white +curtains without being seen. "Oh, dear, men have all the fun!" + +In spite of Winnie's remonstrances and Aunt Trudy's worry that they +would have pneumonia, the three girls tried to stay up till their +brother came back. After half an hour they gave up and went sleepily +to bed. The next morning they heard that the fire had been in one of +the novelty factories and that several houses had also been +destroyed. + +"If the hydrants hadn't been open and the street clear, they say the +whole block would have gone," the doctor reported. "In some way it's +got over town that Jack and his gang were the only high school boys +on the job yesterday and that they voluntarily cleaned the snow out +of Wycliffe street. The Common Council is talking of doing something +handsome to show their appreciation." + +Rosemary beamed, but Sarah who never could keep still blurted out +the truth. + +"Rosemary told Mr. Jordan last night," she said matter-of-factly. + +When Doctor Hugh had heard the details, he declared that while Jack +might not approve at once, he was sure he would later be glad. + +"You're a loyal friend, Rosemary," said the doctor patting the +gold-red hair now long enough to tie back in a thick bunch of curls +again, "and there are few finer qualities to possess than that." + +The Common Council, through Mr. Jordan passed a resolution thanking +the boys, by name, for their faithful "and valuable" services, and +the resolution was printed in the Eastshore "Chronicle" much to the +confusion of the lads and the delight and pride of their admiring +families. The Council also voted each boy the sum of $25, not, Mr. +Jordan explained, as an attempt to pay them, but in recognition of +"the devotion to duty which is able to ignore personal pleasure and +the initiative which is directed by common sense." + +"Incidentally," he added, "the property, saved because the street +was clear and the fire apparatus could get through, totals +considerable more than the sum we are voting you." + +Jack learned, of course, of the part Rosemary had played in this +train of events and though he made several cutting remarks about the +inability of girls to hold their tongues, he gradually, if +grudgingly, admitted that "it might have been worse." + +"Norman Cox and Eustice Gray and the others are tickled pink with +the $25," he confided. "They think you are great. And I suppose you +couldn't help spilling the beans to Mr. Jordan." + +But Rosemary was content to do without pæans of praise. + +The famous "January thaw" filled the streets with slush a few weeks +later and made indoors a pleasant place to stay. Fannie Mears caught +a heavy cold and was out of school a week and Nina Edmonds began to +seek the society of Rosemary, whom she had rather neglected. + +"You never come to my house any more," said Nina, one noon period. +"Come home with me this afternoon, won't you, dear?" + +Rosemary was acutely conscious of her brother's wishes concerning +Nina, and she knew that he preferred she did not go often to the +Edmonds' handsome home. + +"Well at least come shopping with me," suggested Nina, noticing the +younger girl's hesitation. "Go uptown after school this afternoon, +please, Rosemary?" + +"Aunt Trudy expects me home," said Rosemary doubtfully. + +"For goodness sake, do you have to go straight home from school +every day?" demanded Nina fretfully. "Why any one would think you +were Shirley's age! Can't Sarah tell your aunt you won't be home?" + +"I suppose she could," admitted Rosemary. "All right, Nina, I'll go +with you." + +Sarah accepted the message reluctantly after school that afternoon +and she and Shirley went home while Nina and Rosemary hurried off up +town. Nina's shopping manners were remarkably like her mother's and +she was respectfully treated in all the shops. Eastshore had no very +large stores, but the merchandise was of the better grade in even +the tiny places, the lack of variety, as in many small towns, being +balanced by uniform quality. + +"Charge it," said Nina airily, flitting from shop to shop and +counter to counter. + +It was dark, almost before they knew it and though Nina was +insistent that Rosemary come home to dinner with her, Rosemary +refused. No, she must go home. + +"Well, here's your parcel," said Nina good-naturedly. "You'll love +'em when you get used to them and you look perfectly stunning in +them, you know you do." + +Rosemary tucked the brown paper package under her arm and fled up +the street, dashing up the front steps behind a tall figure just +putting a key in the Willis front door. + +"Well, honey, why this haste?" demanded the doctor, stepping back to +let her go in first. "You didn't smell Winnie's apple pudding a +block away, did you?" + +"Where have you been, Rosemary?" asked Aunt Trudy, coming into the +hall. "Sarah said you said you would be home by half-past four." + +"What you got?" inquired Sarah, eyeing the parcel under Rosemary's +arm with frank curiosity. + +"Let me open it, Rosemary?" begged Shirley, standing on tip-toe to +pinch the package, her usual method of guessing the contents. + +"There isn't a speck of privacy in the house!" flared Rosemary. "I +think I might buy something once in a while that the whole family +didn't have to see. And no one has to come straight home from +school, except me. If I'm an hour late, Aunt Trudy always wants to +know where I've been." + +"I told her you went shopping with Nina Edmonds," remarked Sarah +sweetly, "And you're always cross when you go anywhere with her." + +"Sarah!" said Doctor Hugh, warningly, but Rosemary dashed past them +and up the stairs to her own room. + +She thrust the package down deep in her cedar chest and there it +stayed till the next Saturday afternoon. Then Rosemary deliberately +locked her door and proceeded to array herself in gray silk +stockings and patent leather pumps with narrow, high heels, the +results of Nina Edmonds' persuasive arguments and Rosemary's deep +longing to possess these accessories. + +Walking in the pumps proved to be unexpectedly difficult, but +Rosemary practised while she dressed and by the time she had put on +her best hat and coat and was ready to go down stairs she was able +to manage them better. Sarah and Shirley had gone to the library, +Winnie was busy in the kitchen and Aunt Trudy was sewing in her +room. Rosemary counted on leaving the house unobserved. She teetered +to the door of her aunt's room and carefully keeping out of her +range of vision announced that she was going up town for a little +walk. + +"All right, dearie, have a nice time," answered Aunt Trudy, rocking +placidly. "Tell Winnie to answer the telephone if it rings, because +I don't want to have to go down stairs." + +Rosemary experimented cautiously with the top step and then +discretion prompted her to abandon valor. In her best coat and hat +and gorgeously arrayed as to her pretty feet, she, who considered +herself quite grown up this afternoon, quietly slid down the +banister! Just as she reached the newel post the door opened. There +stood Doctor Hugh! + +"Haven't forgotten how, have you?" he said, laughing. "That was +neatly done, dear. I saw you through the glass before I opened the +door." + +Rosemary was painfully conscious of her shoes. Against her will, her +glance strayed down and the doctor's eyes followed hers. + +"Why how fine we are!" he said. + +Rosemary sat down on the last step and tried to pull her skirt down +over her feet. + +"I know you don't like them, Hugh," she answered resentfully, "but I +don't see why I can't wear high heels when I'm dressed up. All the +girls do." + +"They are very pretty shoes," said the doctor gravely. "And very +unsuitable for a walk on a cold, slushy winter day," he added. + +Rosemary said nothing. + +"I suppose you wheedled Aunt Trudy into letting you buy them," +commented her brother presently. "Well, dear, there are some things +we won't learn except through experience. I'm disappointed that +Mother's wishes didn't have more weight with you." + +Rosemary half expected him to forbid her to leave the house wearing +the new shoes, but he went on to his office without another word. +She opened the front door noiselessly and hastened uptown to meet +Nina Edmonds. + +Walking was not the unconscious, easy swing that Rosemary was +accustomed to, in the patent leather footgear and it was simply +impossible for her to forget her feet for one instant. Nina was bent +on more shopping and Rosemary found it very tiresome to stand before +the counters and look at things she knew Nina did not mean to buy. +Finally the latter suggested that they go to the little tea room +recently opened and have tea. The prospect of being able to sit down +delighted poor Rosemary. + +They had to cross the street and the tracks of the Interurban +trolley to reach the tea room and in crossing one of Rosemary's high +heels caught in the trolley rail. + +"I can't get it out!" she cried, snatching off her glove and working +frantically at the shoe. + +"Work your foot back and forth," advised Nina. "Oh, goodness, people +are stopping to look at you." + +Sure enough, the Saturday afternoon shoppers, a larger crowd than +usual for many farmers drove in on the last day of the week to make +their purchases, were beginning to be attracted by the sight of the +two girls on the trolley tracks. + +"How could you be so silly!" cried Nina in vexation. "Look at all +the rubes--if there is anything I detest, it is to be made +conspicuous." + +Rosemary flushed angrily, but a sudden shout drowned her reply. + +"Car coming!" cried a man on the curb. "Somebody flag the trolley!" + +The Interurban cars operated at a high rate of speed, even through +the town, and as the wires started their humming, Rosemary and Nina +glanced up and saw a car bearing down on them. + +"You'll be killed!" shrieked Nina, taking a flying leap that landed +her safely across the tracks. + +A man shot out of the crowd toward Rosemary and another dashed up +the street in the direction of the trolley, waving his cap. The +motorman put on the brakes, there was an ear-splitting noise as the +wheels locked and slid and the car stopped a good ten feet from the +frightened girl. Meanwhile the man who had come to her rescue had +unbuttoned the straps of the pump and pulled Rosemary free from her +shoe. + +"Fool heels!" he commented, while a crowd of the curious surged out +from the curb. "If I had my way no girl should ever own a pair. +Here, I'll get it out for you--" + +He tugged at the obstinate pump, the heel gave way and the man fell +back, the shoe in his hand, the heel neatly ripped off. + +"Oh, say, I'm sorry!" he stammered. "I didn't mean to tear it +off--here's the heel; I guess a shoemaker can put it on again for +you." + +He handed her the pump and the heel and the motorman and conductor +went back to their trolley. + +"Thank you very much--it doesn't matter about the heel, it really +doesn't matter at all," said Rosemary incoherently, her one wish +being to get away from this awful crowd. + +"If you're looking for the girl who was with you, she's gone," +volunteered a freckle faced boy. "I saw her streaking it up the +street as soon as the trolley stopped." + +Getting home with one heel off and one heel on, was not an easy +matter, but Rosemary managed it. Half an hour later, Doctor Hugh +reading at his desk, was astonished to have two patent leather +pumps flung down on the book before him and to see Rosemary, +crimson-cheeked and stormy-eyed confronting him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +SARAH LOSES A MENAGERIE + + +"You may burn them up or give them away or sell them!" Rosemary +cried. "I never want to see a pair of high-heeled shoes again as +long as I live. I despise them!" + +The doctor picked up the offending little shoes and eyed them +critically. + +"Wait," said Rosemary as he seemed about to speak. "I have something +to tell you, Hugh. I've been as bad as I could be, and I've done +everything you didn't like. But you'll be glad, because I never want +to see Nina Edmonds again. I never want any one to mention her name +to me." + +Her voice was hard and unnatural. + +"Hadn't you better sit down, dear?" Doctor Hugh suggested. "I'm +sorry if you and Nina have quarreled." + +"Oh, we haven't quarreled," said Rosemary bitterly. "I can't tell +you about it, Hugh, but she isn't the kind of girl I thought she +was. And I did like her so! I won't cry," she added doggedly. "I +haven't told you the worst yet. Hugh, you thought I persuaded Aunt +Trudy to buy me the pumps, but she didn't know anything about it; I +had them charged on Nina's account at the Quality shoe store. And I +owe Nina $12.98 this minute and I have to pay her right away. I +can't owe it to her another day. Will you lend me the money? I don't +care what you do to me, or how you punish me, but don't make me stay +in debt. I can't stand it." + +Doctor Hugh put his hand in his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He +counted out several bills and gave them to Rosemary. + +"Don't you want to tell me about it, dear?" he said quietly. "I can +not bear to see you hurt and not to know the reason. Perhaps I can +set it right for you." + +Rosemary shook her head. + +"Nobody can help," she said despondently. "There's nothing to help." +Her lips quivered. "I thought Nina was different," she said, and +then the tears overflowed. + +The doctor had seen Rosemary cry before, but never like this. As he +held her in his arms and she sobbed out the hurt and humiliation of +the afternoon against his shoulder, he wondered what had happened +to shake her so. He did not know that she had had her first +experience with disloyalty or that her first broken friendship was +teaching her a hard lesson. By and by the passion of weeping grew +quieter and Rosemary fumbled for her handkerchief. + +"I didn't know I was going to be so silly," she said, sitting up and +trying to smile as the doctor tucked his own clean handkerchief into +her hand. + +"You won't tell me what is troubling you?" he said persuasively. + +"I can't, Hugh," Rosemary answered, her tear drenched eyes meeting +his gaze squarely. "I can't talk about it, not even to you." + +"All right, dear, if that's the way you feel," he said instantly. +"Only remember, any time you want to confide, I'm always ready. +Don't be afraid of me, Rosemary; that is one thing I can not stand. +If I thought any of you girls were afraid to come to me and tell me +your troubles--" + +Rosemary threw her arms around his neck. + +"I'm not afraid of you, I'm only ashamed of myself," she whispered. +"And I love you more than any one in the world, next to Mother!" + +The doctor heard of the shoe incident the next morning, indeed the +story was known about Eastshore within a few hours, and he was able +to piece together from what he heard a fair understanding of Nina +Edmonds' part in the incident. He succeeded in impressing on Sarah +and Shirley, and even Winnie and Aunt Trudy, that they were not to +mention Nina's name, or anything they might hear about that +unfortunate afternoon, to Rosemary, on pain of his severest +displeasure. Nina nodded, rather shamefacedly, to Rosemary in school +the next Monday morning and Rosemary spoke pleasantly; but she never +voluntarily sought the society of the other girl again and there was +something about her that effectually discouraged Nina from +attempting any overtures. + +A week or two later, Winnie walked into Doctor Hugh's office one +night a few minutes before ten o'clock, ostensibly to bring him a +glass of milk and a sponge cake before he went to bed. + +"Out with it, Winnie," he said good-naturedly. "I can see that you +are fairly bristling with the necessity of making an important +communication." + +"It's Sarah, then," announced Winnie, putting down the glass of +milk. "Something has got to be done about her, Hughie." + +"Sarah?" inquired the doctor meditatively. "Why I thought she was +conducting herself in an exemplary manner these last few weeks." + +Winnie sniffed. + +"I'm always the one that has to tell you," she complained. "I'm +after asking Miss Trudy these three nights running to speak to you, +but does she? She does not. She speaks to Sarah who minds her about +as well as the wind does. And Rosemary won't be doing her duty, +either; she says 'twould be telling tales and she's got Shirley +around to the same way of thinking." + +"A conspiracy, eh?" smiled Doctor Hugh. + +"Well, Winnie, what should I know that I don't know about my small +sister Sarah?" + +Winnie was not to be hurried. She dearly loved a chat with her idol, +the doctor, and she had the born story-teller's art of prolonging +the climax. + +"I'm not one to be going out of my way to find something to babble," +she declared now. "There's plenty of things goes on I could be +running to you with every day in the week, did I so mind; but I +believe in letting folks have their own heads, as long as they don't +go too far." + +The doctor sampled the cake appreciatively. + +"Sarah, I take it, has gone too far?" he suggested. + +"I don't know as you'd call it that," said Winnie with a faint +suspicion of sarcasm. "I may be too finicky and if I am, may I be +forgiven for troubling you. But when it comes to sleeping in the +same room with six sore-eyed kittens and in the same bed with a +mangy street dog, I think something should be done about it. 'Tisn't +Christian-like." + +"Do you mean to tell me Sarah has got a mess like that up in her +room?" demanded Doctor Hugh. + +"She has that," said Winnie firmly. "That and worse. She has rabbits +in her clothes closet and this morning I had to carry out two dead +chickens. She lugs them all up every night to keep 'em warm, she +says." + +"Is everyone in the house crazy?" asked the bewildered doctor. +"What's the matter with you, Winnie? Ordinarily you can make the +world take orders from you--couldn't you put a stop to this?" + +"I've argued and I've scolded and I've threatened to chloroform +every animal on the place," said Winnie impressively, "but Sarah is +like cement. Where the Willis will is going to lead her, I'm sure I +don't know; but she's too much for me." + +"Nonsense!" the doctor pushed back his chair sharply. "At least you +could have come to me and told me the first night she tried to keep +an animal in her room." + +"I'm as weak as the rest of 'em," admitted Winnie. "Miss Trudy cried +and Shirley grumbled because she had to go in and sleep with +Rosemary; but none of us liked to say a word to you. I don't suppose +I'd be after telling you now if I wasn't afraid Sarah would catch +something from that dog she brought home to-night." + +"I'll go up and read the riot act to her, even if it is late," said +Doctor Hugh, frowning. "Such a state of affairs is beyond belief. +Shirley is sleeping with Rosemary, you say, and Sarah has the +menagerie in the bed with her?" + +"Well, she has the dog--I saw him under the blanket. But you're not +going to bother her to-night, are you?" asked Winnie anxiously. + +"Do you suppose I'm going to have her sleeping with a dog that came +from Heaven alone knows where?" was the impatient answer. "If I can +get the animals out of her room without waking her, well and good; +but in any case, out they come." + +Sarah woke up the moment the light was switched on. So did the +touseled little yellow dog who thrust his head out from under the +covers, close to Sarah's face, and barked sharply at the tall figure +standing in the center of the room. The rabbits could be heard +scampering about behind the closet door and the kittens set up a +hungry mewing from their basket under the bed. A faint scratching +came from beneath the inverted waste-basket where a dejected-looking +rooster drooped in lonely melancholy. + +"Go away!" said Sarah. + +"Give me that dog, Sarah," said Doctor Hugh sternly, hoping that he +would not laugh. "What do you mean by this kind of performance?" + +"He's a nice dog and he hasn't any home, he followed me all the way +from the grocery store," said Sarah, her dark eyes regarding her +brother suspiciously. "Leave him alone." + +For answer the doctor, with a quick movement, lifted the dog clear +of the bed clothes. + +"You'll hurt him!" cried Sarah in anguish. "You don't know how to be +nice to animals. Give him back to me, Hugh." + +"Look here, Sarah, this is no time for argument," said Doctor Hugh +crisply. "It is out of the question for you to sleep with your +barnyard friends. Everyone of them must go down cellar for the rest +of the night and we'll talk about what is to be done with them in +the morning." + +Sarah wept and protested and even tried to fight for her pets, but +Winnie and the doctor were deaf to her pleas. Between them, they +carried down every forlorn animal--Sarah's tastes ran to the lame +and the halt and the blind,--and then Doctor Hugh opened the window +wide (Sarah had insisted on keeping both windows closed lest a draft +strike the sick kittens), kissed the back of his small sister's +head, for she persistently refused to turn her face toward him, and +snapped off the light, leaving Sarah to cry herself to sleep. +Rosemary and Shirley, in the next room, had slept peacefully through +the racket. + +Unfortunately the next morning a call came for the doctor before +eight o'clock and snatching a hasty breakfast, he was out of the +house before the girls came down. He had no opportunity for the talk +with Sarah that day for although he came home to lunch, she was, of +course in school, and he did not get home in time for dinner. In +fact, it was nearly nine o'clock before his car rolled into the +drive. + +Aunt Trudy and Rosemary, Winnie told him, had gone to the movies as +a Friday night treat, and Sarah and Shirley had gone to bed promptly +at eight o'clock. + +"I was setting bread, and didn't see 'em go," Winnie added +significantly. + +Doctor Hugh went upstairs to the third floor. A light shone under +Sarah's door. He knocked, then tried the knob. It was locked. + +"Open the door, Sarah," he said quietly. + +"Go away!" quavered Sarah, tears in her voice. + +Doctor Hugh remembered the communicating door and strode through +Rosemary's room. Shirley was fast asleep in her older sister's bed. +Sarah had not thought to fasten the door between the rooms and she +looked up startled, as her brother came in. She had not undressed, +and she sat on the floor, the kittens in her lap. The dog and the +rabbits and the rooster were all back in their places. + +"This settles it!" said the doctor adamantly. "There's only one way +to deal with you, Sarah, and that is to come down like a ton of +bricks. You can't keep any pets for two months--that's final." + +"Any more pets?" suggested Sarah. + +"I said any pets," was the reply. "If you can find homes for these, +well and good; if you can't, I'll try to dispose of them for you. +But to-morrow morning, they go away. And now you'll have to help me +get them down cellar." + +When Sarah finally understood that she was to be deprived of all her +pets at once, she wept miserably. No amount of tears or storming or +wheedling or pleading, however, could alter Doctor Hugh's decision. +Even Winnie suggested that one kitten be kept, but to no avail. + +"Sarah must learn she can not do as she pleases and escape the +consequences," he said to Rosemary, who came to him on Sarah's +behalf. "Half way measures don't go with her, I find, so I've had to +be drastic. I'm sorry, too, Rosemary, but I believe I am making the +future easier for one strong-willed little girl." + +He found homes among his farm patients for all the animals and saw +to it that Sarah went with him to carry the pets to their new +abodes. She felt much better when she saw that they were to be well +cared for, but it was a long time before she would go near the empty +rabbit hutch in the side yard. Jack, who discovered that she avoided +it, chopped it up at last for kindling wood for Winnie and Sarah was +silently grateful. She missed her pets inexpressibly, but the rest +of the household, it must be confessed, enjoyed their absence +thoroughly. Sarah and her animals had absorbed the foreground for +many hectic weeks. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +A MYSTERY SOLVED + + +The brief month of February was starred for the Willis family by the +little mother's birthday. She was steadily improving, according to +her own letters and the reports from the doctors, and Doctor Hugh, +who spent at least one week-end each month with her, brought back +glowing accounts of her progress along the road to health. He +managed to get away to spend her birthday with her and personally +carried her the gifts and notes and loving wishes of the three +girls, Aunt Trudy, Winnie and close friends who also remembered. + +Almost before the snow had gone, talk of the March fair began to +engage the attention of the Eastshore school pupils. This was an +annual event and there was much rivalry between the three schools as +to which should turn in the most money. The proceeds of the fair +went to the Memorial Hospital in Bennington, rather had gone into +the building fund until this year for the hospital had recently +been completed. The high and grammar and primary schools, each had +tables and exhibits and there was always a large attendance during +the Friday afternoon and Saturday the fair was under way. + +"The high school is going to have a cafeteria," reported Rosemary at +dinner one night. "I wish we'd thought of that. The boys are going +to wear white aprons and caps and stand behind the tables and serve +the food, while the girls act as waitresses and carry out the dishes +and look after the silver. They want every one to eat their supper +there Friday and Saturday night." + +"All right, we'll come," promised Aunt Trudy. "Hugh can meet us +there, can't you, Hugh?" + +"Of course," he agreed. "But I'm saving my money for the grammar and +primary school tables--I want that understood. I'll treat you all to +supper, and please Jack Welles at the same time, but the real +expenditures of this family must be where they'll count for the +lower grades." + +The three girls beamed upon him approvingly. + +"I'm going to have charge of the cake table," said Rosemary. "Tell +Winnie to buy our Sunday cake from me, won't you, Aunt Trudy? I +have ten different kinds of icings to make--every one of the girls +has asked me to ice her cake, because they say I always have good +luck." + +"I hope you'll use sugar and not salt," murmured the doctor +wickedly. + +"Oh, Hugh, wasn't that soup too dreadful!" said Rosemary, shuddering +at the recollection. "I know perfectly well I didn't put in too much +salt and yet no one else seasoned it--I wish I knew how it +happened." + +"Let it go as a mystery," advised her brother. "What are you going +to do in the fair line, Sarah?" he added, turning to her. + +"Sell gold fish," she answered placidly. "What are you laughing at?" +she asked them in surprise. "I have a great big bowl with gold fish +in it and a lot of little bowls; and people buy the little bowls for +fifteen cents and I dip out two gold fish with a soup ladle for +twenty-five cents, and they take them home." + +"I'm going to sell little baby bouquets," announced Shirley, who +looked like a "baby bouquet" herself in a pink challis frock. "I +have 'em on a tray and I walk around and people buy them for their +buttonholes." + +"I'll be your first customer, sweetheart," Doctor Hugh assured her. + +Preparations for the fair absorbed most of the after-school time of +the next two weeks. There were committee meetings and inter-class +conferences, and difficulties that required to be straightened out +and sensitive feelings that needed careful handling. + +"We could get along so much faster, if every one was pleasant," +sighed Rosemary to her brother. "Fannie Mears has a dozen +pin-cushions to make and she made twelve of us promise to take one +and finish it for the fancy-work table; and then she wouldn't help +iron the napkins for the cake plates. She said it wasn't her table +and she didn't intend to waste her time. Harriet Reed heard her and +she was so mad she ripped up the pincushion she had just sewed and +the sewing teacher found it in the waste-basket and she says Harriet +has to buy material to replace the stuff she tore and she can't go +home after school to-morrow until she has made another pincushion." + +"Well, I don't think Harriet helped her cause much," said the doctor +pacifically. + +"Well Fannie Mears is too mean," said Rosemary. "It isn't a very +nice thing to say, Hugh--" + +"Then don't say it, dear," he countered promptly. "Don't gossip, +Rosemary. I know of nothing harder on the nerves and temper than a +fair, and if you can keep cheerful and serene and not quarrel with +your friends and above all, don't talk about them in their absence, +you will have done better than most fair workers twice your age." + +Rosemary remembered this bit of advice often in the turbulent days +that followed. Fannie Mears was one of those girls who manage to sow +discord and dissension wherever they go. She had a tireless industry +that commended her to her teachers and she was always ready to +accept additional tasks and duties. What they did not see was that +she distributed these tasks among her friends and the girls in the +lower grades and then was unwilling to help them in turn. + +"I suppose you've heard what Fannie Mears and Nina Edmonds have done +now?" remarked Sarah one noon period when the fair was a scant week +off. + +"No, what?" asked Rosemary who avoided Nina's name whenever +possible. + +"Why they've taken three dozen needle-books that have to have the +flannel leaves tied in them with ribbon," explained Sarah. "See, +Shirley has four to do. Fannie and Nina promised Miss Carlson +they'd do them, and now they've handed them all out in the primary +grades. They wanted me to do six, but I wouldn't." + +Sarah was engrossed with the gold fish which had already arrived and +were housed in the natural history room in the high school building. +She visited them several times daily and in his heart Mr. Martin, +the biology teacher feared she would kill them with kindness before +the fair opened. + +"Shirley doesn't mind tying the leaves in, do you dear?" asked +Rosemary cheerfully. + +"Not much," replied Shirley, "only I wanted to cut the ribbons for +my flower bouquets yesterday afternoon, and Fannie wouldn't lend me +the scissors." + +"I'll help you do it this afternoon," promised Rosemary, who had +planned to assemble the recipes for her cake icings and see what +supplies were lacking that she would need. + +"If that fancy-work table ever gets enough things, the rest of us +may be able to pay a little attention to our own tables," she said +to herself. + +But that afternoon Shirley came crying to Rosemary to say that she +had lost the four little needle-books. + +"I've looked everywhere," the child insisted. "All over everywhere, +Rosemary. And they're all gone." + +"That means I'll have to make four," said poor Rosemary. "Don't cry, +Shirley, Sister will see that you have four needle-books to turn in. +Though I don't see how you could lose them," she added wearily. + +"I'll bet Fannie Mears took those books," declared Sarah when she +heard of the loss. "It would be just like her. She thinks it's smart +to get four extra books." + +Rosemary protested weakly at this idea. In her heart of hearts, she +thought Fannie quite capable of such an act, but she had loyally +resolved to try and follow Hugh's advice. + +"But I can't help wishing he knew Fannie," said Rosemary to herself. + +She made the needle-books and helped Shirley measure and cut the +ribbon for her bouquets. Sarah's "soup ladle" proved to be a net and +that small girl "experimented" with the netting so earnestly that +she required a new net to be inserted practically every day. Of +course Rosemary was called on for this and as a result her own work +was left quite to the last. + +"But I couldn't ice the cakes till the day before the fair, anyway," +she said philosophically to Miss Parsons, "though I did want to +have time to see that the plates and napkins were matched; last year +we ran short of napkins." + +The morning of the fair, Rosemary hurried upstairs to ice her cakes. +They were all arranged on the kitchen table, thirty of them, each +one a triumph of culinary art. Rosemary was excused from school for +the day, but the cakes had been baked late the previous afternoon +for it was a school rule that the fair was not to interfere with +class attendance. + +"And I don't see why Rosemary Willis should be excused," muttered +Fannie Mears indignantly. + +"I suppose you think she can ice thirty cakes in half an hour," +Sarah flung back. "And set the table and go home and get dressed, +too." + +Humming happily, Rosemary tied on her white apron and went about her +mixing. As she had said, there were ten different icings to be made, +the same flavor being allowed only three cakes. Some were loaves and +some were layers and one or two had been scorched. These Rosemary +carefully grated and planned to ice thickly. + +In the midst of her work she made a distressing discovery. The linen +cloth for the table was soiled! + +"I'm just as sure as I can be that it was clean in the drawer last +night," Rosemary confided to Miss Parsons. "I looked the last +thing." + +She had found it rolled up in a wad and stuffed at the furtherest +end of the table drawer. Not only was it rumpled, but it showed +several stains. + +"I'll go home this noon and get one of ours," said Rosemary. "I +think I'll be glad when this fair is over." + +"I think we'll all be glad," replied Miss Parsons, frowning a +little, for the cloth incident annoyed her. She, too, had been +certain it was clean the afternoon before. + +Rosemary went home at noon, leaving half the cakes to do on her +return. A large bowl of chocolate icing stood on the table, covered +with a muslin cloth. + +There was no one to see the kitchen door open slyly fifteen minutes +later, no one to see a figure dart in and make for the table. One +hand lifted the muslin cloth, the other reached for the large tin +salt shaker. + +"Drop that!" said a voice peremptorily. + +The shaker dropped to the floor with a clatter, and Fannie Mears +turned to face Mr. Oliver. + +"What are you doing in here?" he asked sternly. "Did Miss Parsons +ask you to do anything to that bowl?" + +At that moment Miss Parsons herself came into the kitchen. + +"I was looking for you," Mr. Oliver explained, "and I saw Fannie +Mears about to shake something into that large bowl on the table. I +thought Rosemary Willis was working here this morning." + +"She was--" Miss Parsons stooped to recover the shaker. "Salt!" she +ejaculated as she saw what it was. "Fannie Mears, I do believe you +were going to salt Rosemary's icing!" + +Fannie began to cry. + +"Did you salt the soup last fall?" asked the teacher sternly. "Did +you? Answer me, Fannie." + +"Yes, I did," sobbed Fannie. "I got so sick and tired of hearing +about Rosemary and her cooking. I put in the salt while she was +looking at the tables in the dining-room with you. It makes me sick +to hear all the fuss people make about her being such a good cook." + +Rosemary, breathless from running, burst in at that juncture, the +clean tablecloth under her arm. + +"Rosemary," said Mr. Oliver gravely, "Fannie has just told us that +it was she who over-salted the soup at the Institute dinner--you +remember?" + +"You did?" cried Rosemary, turning to the other girl. "Did you take +the needle-books you gave Shirley, too?" + +Fannie nodded. + +"Did you wad up the clean tablecloth for the cake table?" chorused +Rosemary and Miss Parsons together. "And spill tomato soup on it, +too?" + +"Catsup," corrected Fannie. + +"How can you be so horrid!" cried Rosemary in a burst of frankness. + +"Well, it's your own fault," declared Fannie resentfully. "You've +got a swelled head over your cooking and I just wanted to make you +see you weren't so much, after all." + +"But there were teachers from all over the State at the Institute +dinner," protested Rosemary. "If the dinner was spoiled, they would +blame the school because we were not better taught. And the fair is +for the hospital and if it doesn't go off right, the whole school +loses credit. Don't you see, Fannie, you weren't just hurting me, +but you were making the whole school fall down." + +"You come down to the office with me, Fannie," said Mr. Oliver +sternly. "I think you and I will have a little talk and perhaps you +will see things in a clearer light afterward. Certainly your ideas +need to be set right, if you are to continue in school." + +"Oh, dear, I hope he won't scold her," sighed Rosemary, beginning to +stir the chocolate mixture. "As long as she didn't get the salt into +this, I don't care, and I don't think Mr. Oliver should." + +"He may think differently," said Miss Parsons briefly. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +GARDEN DAYS + + +Mr. Oliver did think differently. He talked very seriously to Fannie +for nearly an hour and then Rosemary was sent for to come to the +office. + +"Rosemary," said the principal, when she appeared, "I know you have +a great many last things to do for the fair, but I had to speak to +you before the three o'clock dismissal bell. Fannie is ready to +apologize to you before your class is dismissed this afternoon." + +He had explained to Fannie that she must either publicly apologize +to Rosemary or be indefinitely suspended. + +"I quite understand," went on Mr. Oliver, "that a belated apology +like this can not make up to you for the humiliation you suffered on +the night of the dinner, but at least the cooking class will know +that you were not at fault. I'm afraid you've had to endure a good +deal of teasing on the score of the salty soup." + +"Oh, I didn't mind, really I didn't!" cried Rosemary quickly. "I'd +rather Fannie didn't say anything, Mr. Oliver. Honestly I would." + +"I think it will be good for her," said the principal whimsically. +"Any girl who can be guilty of a series of such mean little acts as +Fannie has confessed to, can not help but benefit by open +confession." + +"But Mr. Oliver!" Rosemary spoke involuntarily and the color +deepened in her face. + +"Yes?" he encouraged. + +"Nothing--only, if you make Fannie apologize, you are punishing me," +brought out Rosemary desperately. "I can't stand it to sit there in +class and listen to her. I don't care about the salty soup--at least +I don't now; but I know how I should feel to have to get up before +the whole class. Please don't make Fannie do it." + +The principal tapped his desk thoughtfully with his pencil. + +"All right," he said presently. "I certainly have no right to make +you uncomfortable, Rosemary, and even less desire. Apologize here +and now, Fannie, and I'll excuse you from a class acknowledgment. +But only on Rosemary's account, mind you. I think you deserve all +the punishment I can give you." + +Fannie made a faltering and shame-faced apology and then Rosemary +was allowed to go back to the kitchen and, as the three o'clock bell +sounded, Fannie to go home. She did not come to the fair and her +class mates did not see her again till next Monday. + +True to his promise, Doctor Hugh took his family to the high school +cafeteria for supper and Jack Welles, who was one of the carvers, +served them in fine style. Frank Fenton was manager and he insisted +on securing the most desirable table for them, much to Doctor Hugh's +amusement and Sarah's ill-concealed disgust. + +"Why do you smile and say 'How do you do' to him, Rosemary?" she +demanded of her sister hotly. "I think it's untruthful to pretend to +like people you don't." + +"Well it isn't!" flung back Rosemary, who was tired from standing +behind the cake table that afternoon. "It's impolite to stick out +your tongue at them the way you do!" + +"Let me catch you doing that!" Doctor Hugh warned Sarah. "However, +children, let's not have any quarrels on a fair night. How late are +they going to keep this up, Rosemary?" + +"Only till eight o'clock," Rosemary answered. "We have to go back, +now, Hugh, and serve at the tables. Are you and Aunt Trudy coming +up?" + +"Right away," he assured her. "And we'll bring our pocketbooks." + +The fair was an unquestionable success. Shirley's bouquets sold +swiftly and her tray was replenished again and again that evening +and during the next Saturday afternoon. Sarah convulsed her +customers by her business-like manner and she did a thriving trade +in gold fish. + +Winnie came Saturday afternoon and bought a large cake and another +for Mrs. Welles who was kept home by a bad cold. The coveted state +of bare tables was attained an hour before the fair was scheduled to +close Saturday afternoon, and the Eastshore pupils had the pleasant +knowledge that they would have more money to turn over to the +hospital than in any previous year. + +Spring came to Eastshore with fascinating suddenness. One night it +was blustery and cold and householders stoked their furnaces with a +sigh for the nearly empty coal bins, and the following morning a +South wind blew gently, robins chirped on the lawns that showed a +faint green tinge and children appeared in school with huge bundles +of pussy willows. + +"What do you say to fixing up the garden, Rosemary?" Doctor Hugh +suggested, tumbling a sheaf of seed catalogues on the living-room +table early in April. "If Mother comes home in June, she'd like to +find plenty of flowers growing, wouldn't she?" + +"Oh, yes!" Rosemary's response was enthusiastic. "Do let's plan a +garden, Hugh, and if it doesn't cost too much, we could have Peter +Cooper fix up the lawn. It's rather thin in spots." + +The gardening fever seized upon the Willis family and the girls sped +home from school to dig and plant and rake and hoe. They recklessly +promised Winnie a vegetable garden back of the garage and risked a +late frost to jab onion and radish and lettuce seeds into the patch, +Peter Cooper, the handy man, spaded up for them. Rosemary acquired a +line of golden freckles across her nose and Sarah "got a shade +darker every day," according to Winnie. + +"I don't care!" the object of her solicitation retorted. "I won't +wear a hat--they're hot and stuffy and make my head ache." + +"But your mother won't know you," urged Aunt Trudy, who was sewing +on the porch in the warm sunshine. "She'll take you for an Indian." + +"Oh, I guess my mother'll know me," said Sarah, but all her +determination could not keep out a note of doubt in her voice. + +The next morning she was late for breakfast. Rosemary called her +twice and Winnie went up to see what was the matter. + +"She says she's all dressed and she's coming right away," she +reported, but no Sarah appeared. + +Doctor Hugh went to the foot of the stairs. + +"Sarah!" he called in a tone that seldom failed to produce results. + +"I'm coming," answered Sarah, and they heard her feet beginning the +descent of the stairs. + +She came into the dining-room so quietly, that Aunt Trudy glanced at +her in surprise. + +"Why Sarah!" she gasped, "What in the world have you done to your +face?" + +"What's the matter with it?" demanded Sarah hardily. + +"It looks skinned," said Shirley critically. "You can't go to school +looking like that, can she Hugh?" + +Rosemary seemed to understand. + +"So that's what you were doing last night!" she said. "I wondered +what you were fussing around so for; your light was burning long +after I went to bed." + +"You've skinned your face, child," insisted Aunt Trudy. "I never saw +a worse looking complexion, never. What have you done to yourself?" + +Winnie, bringing in the later-comer's oatmeal, took one hasty +glance. + +"My land, Sarah, have you been walking in your sleep?" she asked in +alarm. "You look as though you'd fallen out of a window and landed +on your face." + +Sarah's eyes filled with tears and two splashed down into her lap. +She looked at Doctor Hugh, who nodded to her encouragingly. He had +not said a word since her entrance. + +"Never mind what they say, Sarah," he told her cheerily, "just tell +your old brother about it; looks are not the most important thing in +this world, are they?" + +"Aunt Trudy said my mother wouldn't know me," explained Sarah, +winking back the tears for her poor sore face smarted at the touch +of salt. "And I bleached all the brown off, Hugh; only it is so +sore." + +"My dear child!" he said in amazement. Then added, "What did you put +on your face, dear?" + +"Well, you see, I wanted it to be real white," said Sarah, sure that +he would understand, "so I used a cucumber and buttermilk and a +lemon and I scrubbed it afterward with pumice stone." + +They stared at her a moment in silence. + +"It's a wonder you have any face left," declared Winnie. "I missed +the buttermilk from the refrigerator." + +Doctor Hugh said little then, but he took Sarah into the office and +put something healing on the red little face. Then he explained that +Aunt Trudy had only been teasing her, and that tan was pleasing to +most people because it showed that the owner of the face liked to be +outdoors. He allowed Sarah to go with him on his rounds that morning +and so saved her the ordeal of going to school to meet the +inevitable questions about her face. And, after the girls were in +bed that night, he "spoke his mind" as Winnie said, to her and Aunt +Trudy. + +"I'd rather have her tanned as black as a piece of leather," he +concluded, "than to be fussing with 'creams' and bleaching lotions. +For goodness sake, don't bother her about her looks for at least ten +years. She'll begin soon enough." + +So Sarah gardened to her heart's content without a hat, and in time +the seeds planted made a creditable showing. The doctor spent +several evenings figuring and at last decided they might afford to +have the house painted. He chose a deep cream color, after many +family consultations, combined with a soft brown and when it was +finished every one was pleased and sure that the little mother, for +whom it was really done, would be equally delighted. + +It did seem a waste of sunshine to be obliged to be cooped up in +school during such enchanting weather, but it was impossible to +convince the trustees of this. The three Willis girls had to be +content with spending every hour out of school in the open air. Jack +Welles was also gardening and though he gloomily spoke of the +weeding to come, he taught the girls many things about planting and +showed them how to care for the shrubbery that Doctor Hugh had sent +out from the nearest nursery and had small time to care for himself. + +"Mother does love roses so," said Rosemary once, "and Hugh is +determined to surprise her with a lot of new bushes." + +"Is that why you're named Rosemary?" asked Jack curiously, thinking +it strange that he had never noticed before how pretty freckles +were. + +Rosemary's expressive face sobered. + +"Partly," she answered, "but I had a sister, you know, whom I never +saw. She was named Mary, for Mother. And she died when she was three +years old. So when I was born, a year later, Mother named me +'Rosemary,' which means remembrance. Mother told me once that I was +named in memory of the little dead sister, and for the flowers she +loved and to please my father who thought 'Mary' the most beautiful +name in the world. So I've always liked my name." + +"It suits you, somehow," said Jack. "Want to hold this bush steady +while I fill in round the roots?" + +Whenever Jack was touched, he sought employment for his hands, for +fear he might say something to show his feeling. He had all the +boy's horror of "making a fool" of himself. + +April, with its soft, sudden showers and its exquisite velvety +greens ran into May with its first hot days and the sound of Peter +Cooper's hammer loud in the land as he diligently worked putting up +screens and awnings. Aunt Trudy began to "feel the heat" and Winnie +and Sarah battled again over the ethics of killing defenseless +flies. + +Toward the end of the month, the Student's Council, conceived the +plan of holding a picnic for the three schools, an all-day picnic +some Saturday. The plan was proposed at a morning assembly and met +with such vigorous and hearty response that the date was settled +upon then and there. Winnie was besieged that night by three excited +girls who asked her advice on what "would do" to take to the picnic. + +"We want to take enough, because some of them will bring only a +little," said Rosemary. "The boys always stuff an apple in their +pockets and then wonder why they are hungry when noon comes." + +"I'll pack you three lunches that will be lunches," promised Winnie, +"and there'll be enough to give away, too." + +"We're going in motor trucks," bubbled Shirley, "I want to ride up +front." + +"I want to ride on back," proclaimed Sarah who never, by any chance, +seemed to agree with anyone else. "I want to ride with my feet +hanging over. And I'm going to tie a string to Shirley's rag doll +and drag it in the dust--like the pictures in the Early Martyrs +book, you know." + +Shirley began to hop up and down with anger and began to cry. + +"I won't have my dolly dragged in the dust," she shrieked. + +"Martyrs have to be dragged in the dust," the perverse Sarah +insisted. "I want to see her bounce when she hits the stones." + +"Oh, Sarah, do be still," begged Rosemary. Then, to the weeping +Shirley, "Sarah is only teasing you, darling. She wouldn't hurt your +dolly." + +"Are the teachers going?" asked Aunt Trudy anxiously. "I hope some +older people will be on hand to look after you." + +"Oh, the teachers are going--worse luck!" Sarah assured her. "I'll +bet they shriek every time I find a water snake." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE SCHOOL PICNIC + + +The Saturday chosen for the picnic dawned clear and warm and there +was no sleep for anyone in the Willis family after six o'clock. +Shirley and Sarah had to be forcibly restrained from investigating +the boxes on the kitchen table and Winnie finally decided to finish +packing them before breakfast, in order to "get a moment's peace" as +she said. + +Sarah flatly refused to go to the picnic unless her red tie could be +found, not that she wanted to wear it for decorative purposes, she +carefully explained, but because she thought she could catch minnows +in it. There was a brook running through the picnic field and Sarah +meant to explore it thoroughly. + +By the time Rosemary had found the tie, Shirley had managed to upset +the shoe blacking on her white shoes and had to be hastily refitted +with tan socks and oxfords. Rosemary, flying down the hall with a +new pair of shoelaces for her sister, brushed past Doctor Hugh on +his way to the breakfast table. + +"Is there a fire, or is it only the picnic?" he asked humorously, +and she assured him that it was "always like this" on picnic +mornings. + +"Well I don't envy the job of the chaperones," said the doctor +feelingly, when they were at last seated and Aunt Trudy was pouring +his coffee. "You and Shirley," he said to Sarah, "want to do as +Rosemary says to-day." + +"Then I hope she doesn't say much," retorted Sarah ungraciously. + +"If I thought you meant to be as rude as you sometimes sound, Sarah, +I'd read you a lecture on politeness," said her brother, rather +sternly. "But we won't spoil a holiday by bickering. Can you all go +together in the same motor truck?" + +"Mr. Oliver said we could do as we pleased, as long as none of the +trucks were overcrowded," explained Rosemary. "I'm going to try and +have Sarah and Shirley in the same car with me; you see if three +other girls want to go together, that will just even it up." + +"All right, children, have a good time and don't eat too many +sandwiches," said the doctor cheerfully. "I'm sorry I can't stay to +see you off, but I'll hear all about the fun to-night. Try not to +go crazy, Auntie, before these Indians are safely out of the house." + +As soon as he had gone, the girls began to "pack up" though the +motor trucks were not to leave the school grounds till half-past +nine. They were all dressed in white and each carried a sweater, +Sarah's red, Rosemary's blue and Shirley's apple green. Winnie had +made up a generous box of lunch for each, and three vacuum bottles, +a surprise from Doctor Hugh, were waiting them, filled with +lemonade. + +"I think we'd better go early, Winnie," said Rosemary, "on account +of getting in the same truck. The earlier we are, the better chance +we have of getting seats together." + +"Yes, it's always well to go early to any picnic," replied Winnie +wisely. "The fun can't begin till you start, so why delay?" + +The motor trucks were drawn up before the school when the girls +reached the grounds and a group of boys and girls were standing +about them. They made a parade showing, being six in number and +gaily decorated with flags and bunting. There were two teachers +assigned to each truck and Rosemary was delighted to find that Miss +Parsons and her class teacher, Miss Penfield, were to be in charge +of one of the grammar school trucks. + +"Why I don't see any reason why you and your sisters shouldn't be +together," Miss Penfield answered when Rosemary asked her about +Sarah and Shirley. "Hop in here, and you'll be placed and may not +have to move." + +But just before the trucks were ready to start, Nina Edmonds and +Fannie Mears hurried up. They tried to climb into the truck where +Rosemary sat. + +"Got my load now," said the driver promptly, but pleasantly. "You'll +have to go in the next car." + +"That's full of primary kids--we don't belong in there with them," +protested Fannie. "Oh, look, there are Sarah and Shirley +Willis--they can't go in this car, they belong in the primary +grades." + +"Now Fannie, don't be disagreeable," begged Miss Penfield. "Rosemary +wants her younger sisters with her which is perfectly natural. It +won't hurt you to ride in one of the other trucks. Do it to be +obliging, if for no other reason." + +"I'm sure Fannie doesn't want to be disobliging, Miss Penfield," +said Nina smoothly, "but Mr. Oliver distinctly said there were two +trucks for the grammar grades and that we should not go out of our +assigned cars. Besides, Fannie and I want to sit with our friends +and they're all in this car. Rosemary needn't move, but I think +Sarah and Shirley should go where they belong." + +Miss Penfield flushed with vexation and annoyance. Mr. Oliver had +made just that ruling and she knew that Nina was quoting the letter +of his order, while ignoring the spirit. If she chose to make a +scene she could probably send the two girls to the other car, but it +was a question whether in attempting to enforce her commands she +might not at the same time spoil the day for Rosemary. + +"Are you crowded, Miss Penfield?" called Jack Welles, standing up in +the first truck and looking back. "We have room for three up here; +send them along, if you need space." + +"You go, Rosemary, and take Sarah and Shirley," said Miss Penfield +quickly. "Now come in here, Nina and Fannie, and for pity's sake let +us have no more of this jangling." + +The high school cars held the coveted lead in the line and Jack +happened to be in the first one. Rosemary and Sarah and Shirley were +welcomed joyously by the older boys and girls and Nina and Fannie +furiously regretted their insistence. They would have liked to go in +the high school truck and if they had only waited, or had been less +determined in their demands, they might have found places there. + +When the large field, where the Eastshore picnics were always held, +was reached, the trucks were parked in a circle and the pupils +scattered to amuse themselves according to their varying ages and +ideas. Shirley joined the little girls and shrieking games of "Tag" +were immediately under way. Sarah, ignoring the suggestions of her +classmates that they hunt for wildflowers, dropped flat on her +stomach and began a search for bugs. Rosemary left the lunch boxes +under the eyes of the teachers who gathered in a ring and took out +knitting and fancy work, and went off with half a dozen girls her +age to gather and wash wild-grape vine leaves to serve as plates at +the luncheon. + +As it is at all picnics, no one could really think of anything long, +till the boxes were unpacked and the good things set out. The boys +helped by getting in everyone's way, by tipping over the bottles of +milk and dropping ants and spiders on the tablecloths to frighten +the girls. There were great slabs of moss-covered rock all about +the field and these, when covered with cloths, made the nicest kind +of tables. The groups gathered to suit themselves and when Rosemary +found that Jack Welles, Jerry and Fred Gordon, Ben Kelsey, Norman +Cox and Eustice Gray were gravitating toward the rock she had +selected and that Shirley and Sarah were each bringing a playmate to +eat with them, she was thankful that Winnie had had the packing of +the boxes. + +There were more than enough sandwiches and stuffed eggs and cup +cakes and strawberry tarts to satisfy every one and the boys forgot +to be shy and, to Rosemary's delight, helped themselves without +urging, quite as though they knew Winnie had had their pleasure in +mind, as indeed the good soul had. + +"We're going to play ball this afternoon," said Jack, when it was a +mortal impossibility for any one to eat more. "Mr. Hamlin gave +orders that we must go far enough away so that there would be no +danger of striking any of the kids with the ball. We're going up the +brook away to an open pasture. Can we help you with the dishes or +anything?" he added thoughtfully. + +"There won't be any dishes," smiled Rosemary. "Winnie put in only +paper plates and napkins, and it won't be wasteful to leave the +little that's left for the birds. If you want to bury the boxes, +that will be nice; Hugh always detests any litter left around after +a picnic." + +"We'll dig a hole and bury all the trash," said Eustice Gray +instantly. "Come on, fellows, we'll go collect it." + +"But you haven't any shovel," said the practical Sarah. + +"A-ha, you're a good detective, but you don't know motor trucks," +replied Eustice, grinning at her, for he had taken a fancy to the +odd child who had screamed to him not to mash the spider he had +fished out of his lemonade cup. "All good motor trucks take a spade +with them, under the seat, to use in case they are stuck on some +muddy road." + +"Oh!" said Sarah. "Then I'll come help you." + +And she trotted around after the boys till they had collected the +litter and trash left by each group of picnickers and buried it +neatly in a hole they filled in and stamped down firmly. She would +have gone with them to play ball, but Rosemary held her back. + +"Well, if I can't play ball, I'll go hunt snakes," decided Sarah +whose frock was torn and dirty already, but whose streaked face +was radiant with the good time she was having. + +All the boys, big and little, had disappeared immediately after +luncheon, to play ball in more distant fields. The farmers of the +neighborhood were perfectly willing to lend their pasture land for a +day and there were no crops to be spoiled by tramping feet for +several miles along the brook. + +The younger girls gathered around one of the primary teachers who +promised to tell them stories and most of the grammar and high +school girls had brought their crocheting and were ready to sit +quietly a while and exchange patterns. Rosemary, however, did not +feel in what she called a "knitting mood" and when Bessie Kent +suggested that they go wading in the brook, she jumped at the idea. +A dozen girls were found to be aching for a frolic and Miss Penfield +smilingly told them to be young while they could, but not to wade +too far and not to stay too long. + +The water was icy cold, and much laughter and shrieking advertised +the first step, but as soon as they were used to the temperature +only the exhilaration remained. Led by Rosemary, they started slowly +up stream. + +"Good gracious, if Nina Edmonds and Fannie Mears aren't coming, +too," whispered Bessie, glancing back over her shoulder. "Wonder why +they want to tag along?" + +If she had only known it, Nina and Fannie were feeling decidedly +left out of things. They longed to go with the high school girls who +persistently ignored them and they were not at all popular with +their own classmates. When they found that they were to be left on +the edge of the circle of crocheters, they determined to follow the +wading party. Nina privately thought she was far too old to indulge +in such a silly pastime, and Fannie hated walking anyway, but at the +moment wading was better than doing nothing. + +"Who's that shouting?" asked Rosemary, as they rounded a bend in the +brook and heard a distant noise. + +"Must be the boys," replied Bessie. "Yes, see, there they are--way +over there; they're playing ball on the other side of the brook, a +couple of fields further on." + +The girls could see the running figures plainly, and from time to +time a bellow of pure joy and excitement wafted down to them. + +"Don't they have fun--" Rosemary was beginning, when a scream +startled them all. + +"I've cut my foot!" shrieked Fannie Mears. "Oh, the whole bottom of +the brook must be covered with broken glass. Look how it bleeds!" + +She lifted her foot from the water and Nina, who caught a glimpse of +the widening gash, cried out in horror. Fannie let her foot fall and +struck the glass again. She screamed even more loudly and began to +beat the water with her hands. + +"Look out, you won't be able to see the glass!" cried Rosemary, +turning and dashing toward her. "Stand still, Fannie, just a +minute." + +Rosemary stooped and felt carefully down about Fannie's feet. Her +hands struck a broken bottle and she lifted it out and tossed it on +the bank. + +"That's what did it," she said calmly. "Hurry and let me see your +foot--wait I'll pull you up on the bank, Fannie." + +But when Fannie saw her cut foot, which was bleeding profusely, and +the girls, who had crowded around saw it and her white, frightened +face, a veritable panic started. Fannie slipped into the brook, +crying with pain and fright, apparently believing that if her foot +was under water and out of sight it must stop bleeding, and the +other girls began a chorus of shrill screaming that tried Rosemary +to the point of exasperation. + +"How can you be so silly!" she stormed. "Somebody hold Fannie's foot +while I tie it up; I know first-aid. She's losing blood all the +time. Somebody help me--Oh, don't stand there like that! Bessie, +can't you hold her foot just a minute?" + +"I couldn't!" Bessie shivered and drew back. "My knees are wabbling +now, Rosemary. Blood always makes me so sick!" + +"Then run," said Rosemary desperately, seeing that she could expect +no help from the frightened girls about her. "Run, and tell some of +the boys to come quick!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +A LONG YEAR'S END + + +As Bessie obediently started in the direction of the ball-players, +Nina Edmonds uttered a shocked exclamation. + +"Oh, Rosemary, I don't think you should have done that," she said +reprovingly. "We haven't our shoes and stockings on, you know." + +"I suppose we should let Fannie bleed to death, then?" suggested +Rosemary, her great eyes snapping fire. "Fannie won't hold still +herself and not one of you has the nerve to hold her steady and yet +you stand there and make a fuss because a boy may see you without +your shoes and stockings on. If you're going to be ashamed of +anything, Nina Edmonds, be ashamed of being a coward!" + +Nina flushed angrily, but Rosemary was trying to pull Fannie back on +the bank and paid no further attention to her. Fannie fought off any +attempt to touch her and she cried and groaned without a moment's +pause. Rosemary, straightening up after a hard and ineffectual +tussle, was relieved to see Bessie running toward them, followed by +a string of boys, Jack Welles in advance. Bessie's cries had reached +them long before she came to the field and they had correctly +interpreted her frantic appeals for help. + +"Oh, Jack, I'm so glad you've come!" cried Rosemary. "Help me get +Fannie out on the bank. She's cut her foot badly and she won't let +me touch her, to tie it up." + +Will Mears, Fannie's brother, panted up and when he saw his sister +and understood that she was hurt, he bent down and lifted her out +with one swift, strong pull. + +"Gee, you _have_ cut yourself!" he said in distress as he saw the +injured foot. + +"Hush up!" said Jack sternly, as the girls began to shriek again. +"Go away, if you're afraid to look. Rosemary knows what to do, don't +you, Rosemary? Tell us how to help you." + +"Hold her still," directed Rosemary, frantically calling on her +memory for Doctor Hugh's first-aid lessons. "I'll have to wash it +out the best way I can, but I think I can stop the bleeding. Then +we'll have to get her to a doctor." + +"I'll hold her," said Will Mears grimly. "You go ahead." + +Fannie could not twist and squirm in his strong arms, and Rosemary +deftly washed out the great jagged cut that had slashed across the +slim instep, and then, further scandalizing Nina, tore a wide +bandage from the bottom of her petticoat, brought the edges of the +cut closely together and bound it tightly. + +"I think you ought to carry her to the truck," she said, when she +had finished. "Look out, Will, she's fainted. Lay her on the grass." + +The sight of Fannie, white and motionless, frightened the girls, and +it must be confessed the boys, too, far more than her steady +screaming. Rosemary did not appear to be alarmed, but borrowing +Jack's handkerchief, dipped it in the water and gently bathed +Fannie's forehead. Then she took her head in her lap and waited a +few minutes. Presently Fannie opened her eyes. + +"She's better now," said Rosemary. + +"I'll carry her to the truck," declared Will Mears, looking with +respect on the young nurse. "As you say, I think we'd better get her +to a doctor. Some of you run on ahead and explain what has happened +and tell them we want to start back right away." + +The girls sped on ahead and in a few minutes the picnic had broken +up hastily. A sort of bed was made in one of the trucks, using the +sweaters and wraps of the other girls, and Fannie was laid on this, +with her head in Rosemary's lap. Will Mears had no confidence in any +one else's ability to take care of his sister. + +"She would have bled to death, if it hadn't been for Rosemary," he +said to Jack, as the truck started, the driver carefully avoiding +the bad places in the road in order to spare the patient any +unnecessary jar. "I never saw a girl before who could do up cuts and +not scream at the sight of blood. I suppose it's because her brother +is a doctor." + +"Not altogether," replied Jack curtly. "Rosemary doesn't happen to +be the screaming kind of girl." + +Will Mears directed that the truck be driven to Doctor Hugh's office +where, by good fortune, they found him just in from a call, and +Fannie, quiet and spent now, with no breath left for screaming, had +her wound washed with an antiseptic and dressed. Then she was taken +home and put to bed. She was weak from the loss of blood and the +consequences might have been serious, the doctor admitted, if the +cut had not been tied in time. But to Will Mears' glowing praise of +Rosemary, he replied that she had only used her knowledge of +first-aid treatment. + +"Then all girls ought to learn it," burst out the high school +junior. "Those other girls stood around like perfect dubs. Fannie +could have bled to death, for all they did." + +"All girls ought to know first-aid," affirmed the doctor. "My +sisters are not going to be left helpless when an accident happens." + +"But you can't say it's altogether the first aid," persisted Will +Mears. "Look at Nina Edmonds; she might learn the whole programme, +and then, when something did happen, she'd run around like a chicken +with its head off! First-aid doesn't teach you to keep your wits +about you and not to scream and act like a lunatic generally, Doctor +Willis." + +"Well, of course, one needs character as well as first-aid +knowledge," admitted Doctor Hugh, smiling a little, "but if one +knows what to do, there's no temptation to wring the hands and +scream, Will. Rosemary knew what to do, therefore she did it." + +But Will Mears refused to give all the credit to first-aid and +indeed all the boys and girls who had seen Rosemary care for Fannie, +were loud in their praise of her fearlessness and skill. Mrs. Mears +sent for her to come and see Fannie, as soon as the patient grew +stronger, and though Rosemary rather dreaded the visit, she came +away feeling that next term in school she and Fannie would be, if +not close friends, at least on amiable terms instead of irritatingly +hostile which had been their covert attitude this last year. + +For it was time to think of school as "next year," since this term +was so nearly over. The Eastshore schools closed the middle of June +and the week after the picnic the pupils were plunged into the +throes of the final examinations. Even Shirley went about anxiously +wondering if she would "pass" and asking each of her sisters if they +thought she had had good marks during the year. + +"I just have to be promoted," she would say over and over. "I just +have to be promoted, 'cause my mother is coming home." + +"When's Mother coming home?" was Sarah's cry. "You said in a year, +Hugh, and it's a year this month." + +"I think we may look for her home sometime this month," said the +doctor one day when Sarah had asked him for the twentieth time. "You +mustn't expect her to keep a calendar, Sarah and come back on the +exact day she went away. It may be a few days longer, dear." + +"She went away a year ago this Wednesday," said Rosemary, half to +herself. + +"Has it been a long year, Rosemary?" asked her brother, quickly. + +"In spots," answered Rosemary, the tears rushing to her eyes. "It +has been ever so long, sometimes, Hugh." + +"Well, let's all get promoted," suggested Shirley, in her little +chirpy voice. "Mother would like us all promoted, wouldn't she, +Hugh?" + +"She'll about eat you up, promoted or not," he answered, swinging +Shirley to the top of his desk the better to hug her. "But by all +means be promoted; that will be fine news to tell her." + +The dreaded examinations approached relentlessly, engulfed each +fearful class and released them, after a few days, to wait their +fates. Shirley was sure she had "passed in everything," Sarah was +superbly indifferent, and Rosemary had secret qualms about history. +Jack Welles confided that he didn't care so much whether or not he +passed, but the uncertainty was driving him mad. + +"If I pass, I get my choice of three dandy fishing rods," he +explained to Rosemary. "And if I flunk, I have to work in the +garden all summer without a single fishing trip." + +This state of suspense extended to the last day of the term. The +senior classes, in the high and grammar schools, were given their +ratings earlier, to allow them to prepare for the graduating +exercises. Rosemary, Sarah, Shirley and Aunt Trudy went to the +exercises and all through the hot June night Rosemary sat, wide-eyed +and delighted, wondering if the day would ever come when she could +sit on the platform in a white frock with her arms filled with +roses, and perhaps be called on to read an essay. + +The day after the graduation, the cards were handed out among the +other grades. Jack Welles waited to walk home with the Willis girls +and though his patience was sorely tried by the prolonged farewells, +he managed to keep fairly good-humored. + +"Why was Bessie Kent kissing you as though she never expected to see +you again?" he asked Rosemary curiously. "Doesn't she live near you +and won't you see her nearly every day this summer?" + +"Oh, that's just because it was the last day of school," explained +Rosemary. + +"Silly, I call it," declared Sarah, voicing Jack's sentiments. "I +got promoted, Jack. And I'm going to hunt specimens all summer for +the biology teacher. He asked me to." + +"I got promoted, too," cried Shirley proudly. "I got a silver star +on my card. And now I'm in the second grade." + +Jack looked at Rosemary. She nodded happily. + +"Passed in everything," she said. "Even history. Won't it be fun to +be in the grammar graduating class next term!" + +"Well I passed, myself," announced Jack. "Watch me pick out that +fishing rod. And the garden won't see much of me this summer, I can +tell you that." + +"Mother will be so pleased," said Rosemary, as Jack went on to his +house, and the three girls mounted the steps of the Willis home. +"She likes us to do well in school, and Hugh was never kept back a +single year. She would like us to follow his record, I know." + +"The house looks kind of nice, doesn't it?" said Sarah unexpectedly. +Comment of that kind was unusual with her. + +The house did look "nice," its rich cream color showing up the vivid +green of the shrubbery and the velvety surface of the well-kept +lawn. The new rose bushes were bearing well and Doctor Hugh had +managed new green and white striped awnings for the porch. + +"I wish Mother could see the roses," said Rosemary as they went in. + +The late afternoon June sunshine streamed in through the hall window +and made a broad band to the stairway which was in shadow. Voices +sounded in the living room. + +"Hugh's home!" cried Sarah, her quick eyes darting to the hall table +where a man's hat and a light leather bag lay together with a +woman's hat and veil. + +Rosemary saw the hat and veil. They were not Aunt Trudy's. Her heart +gave a sudden leap. + +They went forward across the hall to the doorway of the living-room. +There, in the large arm-chair, facing the door, sat a little woman +with eyes like Rosemary's and dark hair like Sarah, but faintly +streaked with gray across its ripples. She was thin, as though from +a recent illness, but a clear pink glowed in her cheeks and her soft +voice was firm and strong. Her lovely mouth smiled at the girls and +she held out her arms. Doctor Hugh, standing behind her chair, +laughed a little, to keep from crying he afterward said, as Sarah +and Shirley hurled themselves upon their mother, both shrieking, +while they waved their report cards, "We're promoted! We're +promoted! We passed in every single thing!" + +She took them both in her lap at once and their arms were about her +neck. Across the yellow and dark head, her eyes met those of her +oldest daughter. Doctor Hugh, too, looked at Rosemary. + +She had not moved from the doorway since Sarah and Shirley had +brushed past her in their mad rush. Standing motionless and +speechless, a slender hand on either side of the doorframe, she +watched her sisters claim the mother's first kiss. Then, as the +beautiful eyes were raised to hers, she made an effort to speak. All +the love and longing and loneliness of the past year, not fully felt +till now, rushed to her voice. She took a step forward. + +"_Mother!_" said Rosemary. + + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rosemary, by Josephine Lawrence + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROSEMARY *** + +***** This file should be named 20620-0.txt or 20620-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/6/2/20620/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Jacqueline Jeremy and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
\ No newline at end of file diff --git a/20620-0.zip b/20620-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..69f6266 --- /dev/null +++ b/20620-0.zip diff --git a/20620-h.zip b/20620-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3ef2e2f --- /dev/null +++ b/20620-h.zip diff --git a/20620-h/20620-h.htm b/20620-h/20620-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5121fc6 --- /dev/null +++ b/20620-h/20620-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8197 @@ +<!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=utf-8" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of "Rosemary" by Josephine Lawrence</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + 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; + height: 0; + border-width: 1px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ + border-style: solid; + border-color: #000000; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border-collapse: collapse;} + + .tda {text-align: right; padding-right: 2em;} + .tdb {text-align: left;} + .tdc {text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;} + .tdindent {padding-left: 2em; text-align: left;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + a[name] { position: absolute;} /* Fix Opera bug */ + + img {border-style: none; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .bbox {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: solid 2px; width: 400px; padding: 2em; margin-bottom: 8em; text-align: center;} + .bbox2 {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: solid 1px; width: 380px; padding: 1em 0 1em 0; margin-top: 1em; text-align: center;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .caption {margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 8em;} + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin: 3px 0 3px 3px; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + .figleft2 {float: left; clear: left; margin: 0px 3px 3px 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + +a:link {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:visited {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:hover {color:red} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rosemary, by Josephine Lawrence + +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: Rosemary + +Author: Josephine Lawrence + +Release Date: February 19, 2007 [EBook #20620] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROSEMARY *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Jacqueline Jeremy and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<p class="figcenter"><a name="Frontispiece" id="Frontispiece"></a><a href="images/frontis_l.jpg" title="Frontispiece"> +<img src="images/frontis_s.jpg" title="Frontispiece" height="602" width="400" alt="Frontispiece" /></a></p> + +<h5 class="caption"><span class="smcap">Sarah pulled out a little dangling dark object"</span><br /> +"Rosemary"<span style="padding-left: 3em"><a href="#illustration">Page 157</a></span></h5> + + +<div class="bbox"> +<div class="bbox2"> +<h1>ROSEMARY</h1> +</div> +<div class="bbox2"> +<h5><i>By</i></h5> +<h3><i>Josephine Lawrence</i></h3> + +<h5><i>Illustrated by</i></h5> +<h4><i>Thelma Gooch</i></h4> +</div> +<div class="bbox2"> +<h4>NEW YORK</h4> +<h3>CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY</h3> +</div> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%; margin-bottom: 0em; padding-top: 50px;" /> +<h5 style="margin-bottom: 0em; margin-top: 0em;"><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1922, by</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Cupples & Leon Company</span></h5> +<p class="center" style="margin-top: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em;">_______________</p> +<h5 style="margin-bottom: 5em;"><i>Rosemary</i></h5> + +<h5>PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA</h5> + +<hr style="width: 65%; padding-bottom: 50px;" /> + + +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + +<table summary="table of contents" style="width: 500px;"> +<colgroup span="3"> +<col width="5%"></col> +<col width="80%"></col> +<col width="15%"></col> +</colgroup> +<tr> +<td class="tda">CHAPTER</td> +<td class="tdb"> </td> +<td class="tdc">PAGE</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda">I.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">Good News</span></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#chapter_i">1</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda">II.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">The Willis Will</span></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#chapter_ii">12</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda">III.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">Aunt Trudy Comes</span></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#chapter_iii">23</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda">IV.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">Doctor Hugh Takes Command</span></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#chapter_iv">34</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda">V.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">Winnie's Volunteers</span></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#chapter_v">45</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda">VI.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">Rosemary Has Her Way</span></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#chapter_vi">54</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda">VII.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">The Runaway</span></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#chapter_vii">65</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda">VIII.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">Sarah in Disgrace</span></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#chapter_viii">76</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda">IX.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">When Patience Slips</span></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#chapter_ix">87</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda">X.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">The Last Straw</span></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#chapter_x">98</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda">XI.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">A Chain of Promises</span></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#chapter_xi">109</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda">XII.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">One Disastrous Afternoon</span></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#chapter_xii">121</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda">XIII.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">Jack Straightens Things Out</span></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#chapter_xiii">132</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda">XIV.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">A New School Term</span></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#chapter_xiv">144</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda">XV.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">Too Much Natural History</span></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#chapter_xv">156</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda">XVI.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">Mr. Oliver and Sarah</span></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#chapter_xvi">168</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda">XVII.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">The Institute Dinner</span></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#chapter_xvii">180</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda">XVIII.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">Shirley in Mischief</span></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#chapter_xviii">192</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda">XIX.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">Bucking the Student Council</span></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#chapter_xix">204</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda">XX.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">Dressmaker Rosemary</span></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#chapter_xx">216</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda">XXI.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">Mr. Jordan Learns Something</span></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#chapter_xxi">228</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda">XXII.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">Shopping with Nina</span></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#chapter_xxii">240</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda">XXIII.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">Sarah Loses a Menagerie</span></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#chapter_xxiii">252</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda">XXIV.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">A Mystery Solved</span></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#chapter_xxiv">264</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda">XXV.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">Garden Days</span></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#chapter_xxv">276</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda">XXVI.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">The School Picnic</span></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#chapter_xxvi">288</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda">XXVII.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">A Long Year's End</span></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#chapter_xxvii">300</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%; padding-bottom: 50px;" /> + +<h1>ROSEMARY</h1> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="chapter_i" id="chapter_i"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>GOOD NEWS</h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/t.png" title="T" height="44" width="40" alt="T" /></p> +<p>HE Willis house was very quiet. The comfortable screened porch was +deserted, though a sweater in the hammock and a box of gay paper +dolls on the floor showed that it had served as a play-space +recently. Inside, not a door banged, not a footfall sounded.</p> + +<p>The late afternoon June sunshine streamed in through the hall window +and made a broad band to the stairway which was in the shadow. The +light touched the heads of three girls huddled closely together in +the cushioned window-seat and turned the hair of one to gleaming, +burnished golden red, another to a fairy web of spun yellow silk and +searched out the faint copper tint in the dark locks of the third. +The girls sat motionless, their faces turned toward the stairs, as +silent as everything else in that silent house.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span>"Rosemary!" whispered the dark-haired one suddenly, "Rosemary, you +don't think—"</p> + +<p>The girl with the gold-red hair, who sat between the other two, +started nervously. Her violet blue eyes transferred their anxious +gaze from the shadowy staircase to her sister's face.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no!" she said passionately. "No! Do you hear me, Sarah? That +couldn't happen to us. Why do you say such things?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't say anything," protested Sarah sullenly. "Did I, Shirley?"</p> + +<p>The little girl with the fairy-web of yellow hair did not answer. +She started from her seat and ran toward the stairs.</p> + +<p>"Hugh's coming!" she cried.</p> + +<p>Quick, even steps sounded on the hardwood treads and a young man +with dark hair, darker eyes behind eye-glasses and a keen, +intelligent face, descended rapidly. He picked up the child and +strode across the hall to the window-seat.</p> + +<p>"Poor children!" he said compassionately, sitting down beside +Rosemary and holding the younger girl in his lap. "Has the time +seemed long? I came as quickly as I could."</p> + +<p>Rosemary looked at him piteously.</p> + +<p>"All right, dear," he said instantly. "Mother is going to get well. +Dr. Hurlbut and I have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span> decided that all she needs is a long rest. I +am going to take her to a quiet place in the country day after +to-morrow and she is to stay until she is entirely recovered. Why +Rosemary!"</p> + +<p>The gold-red head was on his shoulder and Rosemary was crying as +though her heart would break.</p> + +<p>"That's the way she is," said the dark and placid Sarah. "She jumps +on me if I say anything and then she cries herself sick thinking +things. I would rather," she declared with peculiar distinctness, +"have folks talk than think, wouldn't you, Hugh?"</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry to say I can't agree with you," replied the young man +briefly. "Here, Shirley, I didn't know you were such a +heavy-weight—you run off with Sarah and tell Winnie what I have +told you about Mother. Quietly now, and no shouting. Rosemary, +dear," he put a protecting arm around the weeping girl, "you will +feel better now—we have all been under a strain and the worst is +over. Here comes Miss Graham with Dr. Hurlbut and I must see him +off. Don't run—he'll probably go right out without seeing you."</p> + +<p>But the famous specialist stopped squarely in the hall and the +pleasant-faced middle-aged<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> nurse, standing respectfully on the +lower step, nodded reassuringly to Rosemary who was frantically +mopping her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Well, Dr. Willis," said the great man heartily, "I am mighty glad +to have been of some little service. I'm sure you will find Pine +Crest sanatorium all that it is said to be and the right place for +your mother. She mustn't be allowed, of course, to worry about home +affairs. There are younger children, I believe?"</p> + +<p>"Three girls," said Hugh Willis. "Rosemary—" he summoned her with a +glance,—"my sister, Dr. Hurlbut."</p> + +<p>Dr. Hurlbut shook hands kindly letting his quizzical gray eyes rest +a moment longer on the tear-stained face.</p> + +<p>"Ah, we cry because of past sorrow," he said quietly, "and, a +little, because of present joy; is it not so?"</p> + +<p>Rosemary lifted her head in quick understanding, tossing back her +magnificent mane and showing her violet blue eyes still wet with +tears. She smiled radiantly and her face was vivid, glowing, almost +startling in its beauty.</p> + +<p>"I am so happy!" she said clearly, and her girl-voice held a note of +pure joyousness. "So<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> happy that I do not think I can ever be +unhappy again!"</p> + +<p>The two doctors smiled a little in sympathy.</p> + +<p>"Ah, well," said the famous specialist, after a moment's silence, +gently, "let us hope so."</p> + +<p>He turned toward the door and the younger man went with him to the +handsome car drawn up at the curb. Rosemary, with a swift hug for +Miss Graham, dashed past her upstairs to her own room, always a +haven in time of happiness or stress.</p> + +<p>"Mother is going to get well!" whispered the girl, starry-eyed. "All +she needs is rest, and then she will be quite well again. Cora +Mason's mother died—" the expressive face sobered and, sitting on +the edge of her pretty white bed, Rosemary's twelve-year old mind +filled with somber thoughts. Presently she slipped noiselessly to +her knees and buried her curly head in the comforting cool white +pillow.</p> + +<p>"Dear God—" she began, but the tide of joy and relief began to beat +loudly again in her heart, sending rich waves of color into her +hidden face.</p> + +<p>"I am so happy," prayed Rosemary tumultuously. "I am so happy! I am +so happy!"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span>Presently she rose and dragged her white shoes from the closet. +Sitting in the middle of the floor, she started contentedly cleaning +them.</p> + +<p>"Rosemary?" sounded a little voice. "Rosemary, you in here?"</p> + +<p>Rosemary straightened up so that she could see across the bed which +stood between her and the doorway.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Shirley darling," she answered. "Did you tell Winnie about +mother?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Shirley scrambling upon the bed. "We told her. What you +doing, Sister?"</p> + +<p>"Cleaning my white shoes," replied Rosemary, applying whitener +vigorously. "I'm going to put them on and wear my white linen dress. +Don't you want to dress up to-night, Shirley? Bring me your shoes, +if they are dirty, and I'll do them for you."</p> + +<p>"All right, I'll get them," decided Shirley, sliding off the bed +backward. "Could I put on my blue sash, Rosemary?"</p> + +<p>"Not with that dress," said Rosemary firmly. "I'll have to wash your +face and hands and neck and then you can wear the cross-bar muslin +with the lace yoke."</p> + +<p>"Are you up here, Rosemary?" demanded another voice. "What are you +doing?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Cleaning my shoes," said Rosemary patiently. "Say, Sarah, don't you +think it would be nice if we dressed up a little for dinner +to-night?"</p> + +<p>"Why?" asked Sarah bluntly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, because—because, well, we know Mother is going to get well," +explained Rosemary. "And everything has been in such a mess this +week, the table half set and nobody caring whether they ate or not. +I'd like to show Hugh that we can have things done properly."</p> + +<p>"What difference does it make?" drawled Sarah lazily. "I hate a lot +of fuss, you know I do. Rosemary, do you suppose it hurts worms to +use them for fishing bait? Will you ask Jack Welles?"</p> + +<p>"I'll ask him the next time I see him, if you will put on your tan +linen with the red tie," promised Rosemary. "And do brush your hair +back the way Mother likes it, Sarah. She can't bear to see it +stringing into your eyes."</p> + +<p>"Oh—all right," agreed Sarah. "Don't forget to ask about the +worms."</p> + +<p>She departed and in her place came Shirley, carrying a pair of +diminutive and soiled white shoes.</p> + +<p>"I wish," she announced pleasantly, sitting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> down on the floor +beside Rosemary to watch the cleaning process, "I wish we could have +ice-cream."</p> + +<p>"Well I'll ask Winnie," said Rosemary promptly. "What dessert do you +suppose we are going to have to-night?"</p> + +<p>"Berries," Shirley answered wisely. "I saw 'em. Couldn't Winnie make +us chocolate ice-cream?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, she wouldn't have time to make it," said Rosemary, "but I'll +ask her if I can't telephone the drug-store and have them send us +some. There your shoes are, honey. Now hurry and get dressed."</p> + +<p>Dr. Hugh Willis, coming down from his mother's sick-room at the +summons of the musical chime which announced the dinner hour, +thought he had never seen a pleasanter sight than greeted his eyes +in the dining-room. The room itself was pleasant and airy and the +last rays of the sun struck the table set with fresh linen and a +simple and orderly array of silver. But it was the three joyous +faces turned expectantly toward him that caught and held his +attention. Rosemary, in white from head to foot, stood behind her +mother's chair and all the light in the room seemed to center in her +eyes and hair.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> Shirley, looking like a particularly wholesome and +adorable cherub from her sunny curls and wide, gray eyes to her fat +and dimpled knees scuffled in an impatient circle around her own +special seat and Sarah, a stout and stolid little Indian in tan +linen and scarlet tie, showed her one beauty—a set of strong, even +white teeth—in an engaging smile.</p> + +<p>"Well how smart we are," smiled the doctor, surveying them +appreciatively. "Seems to me everyone is dressed up to-night."</p> + +<p>"We wanted to have things nice—because Mother is going to get +well," said Rosemary with simple directness.</p> + +<p>For answer Dr. Hugh came forward and pulled out her chair for her, +"just as if I were a grown-up woman," she recounted with pride to +her mother later, and then lifted Shirley to her seat and tied on +her bib dexterously.</p> + +<p>"We're going to have ice-cream," Sarah informed him.</p> + +<p>"That's fine," he commented a trifle absently, beginning to carve. +When he had served them all, he spoke seriously.</p> + +<p>"Girls," he said, "I'm going to send a telegram after dinner +to-night to Aunt Trudy Wright. Mother wants her to come and stay<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> +with you while she is away; I don't think she can begin to mend +until she knows that she has provided for you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Hugh!" Rosemary mashing potato for Shirley's hungry +consumption, looked distressed. "I can keep house, I know I can. We +don't need Aunt Trudy."</p> + +<p>"She won't let me keep any mice in my room," wailed Sarah. "I don't +like her, either."</p> + +<p>"Let me eat it now," said Shirley, referring to her potato. "Let's +tell Aunt Trudy not to come. She says oatmeal is good for me and I +don't like oatmeal."</p> + +<p>"Have you all finished?" asked the doctor calmly. "Well then, I have +something to say: Aunt Trudy is coming, just as soon as I can get +her here; if for no other reason than Mother wants her and will go +away happy in the belief that you will be well taken care of. There +is to be no argument and I absolutely forbid you to mention the +subject to Mother; if she says anything to you, try to act as though +you were pleased at the prospect. For my part, I should think you +would be glad she could come. An aunt is pretty nice to have when +you are in trouble."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>"You don't know Aunt Trudy," said Sarah pertly.</p> + +<p>"Rosemary, will you go up and sit with Mother while Miss Graham has +her dinner, when we are through?" asked Dr. Hugh, ignoring Sarah's +remark. "I am going down to the drug-store for a few things and I'll +be back within half an hour."</p> + +<p>The dessert of berries and ice-cream were eaten almost in silence. +Three of the people at the table were busy with conflicting +thoughts. Shirley alone was concentrating her attention on the +delight of a larger slice of cake than usual.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%; padding-bottom: 50px;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="chapter_ii" id="chapter_ii"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>THE WILLIS WILL</h3> + +<p class="figleft2"><img src="images/i2.png" title="I" height="44" width="29" alt="I" /></p> +<p>T'S the first real warm night we've had isn't it?" said Mrs. +Hollister conversationally. "I got to thinking about you to-night, +Winnie, and I said to Mamie that I believed I'd come up and see you +for a minute or two; I thought you might be glad to have a little +help with the dishes or something."</p> + +<p>Winnie, a tall gaunt woman, the gray hair on her temples hardly +perceptible because of the ash-blondness of her tightly pulled hair, +stood beside the kitchen table apparently figuring some problem on a +slip of paper.</p> + +<p>"My dishes are done," she said capably, "but sit down, do Mrs. +Hollister; I'm not denying that I'm glad to see a friend after the +day I've had."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Hollister sank heavily into the cushioned rocker drawn up near +the table and removed her cotton gloves.</p> + +<p>"I said to Mamie I knew you'd be tuckered out," she observed. "Am I +keeping you, Win<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>nie—is that important?" she indicated the slip of +paper in the other's hand.</p> + +<p>"I can do it any time before to-morrow morning," Winnie explained. +"It's the laundry list and I have about everything counted up. The +man comes Wednesdays."</p> + +<p>"Where are the girls?" asked the visitor, her quick eyes roving +approvingly around the immaculate kitchen. "Did the poor lady get +off safely?"</p> + +<p>"The girls are in bed," said Winnie, taking the questions in order. +"They were worn out and I told 'em bed was the best place for them +to be. They've lost all their good sensible habits these last two +weeks and it's glad I am the young doctor is going to be here to +look after 'em. They need to be settled down if ever anybody did."</p> + +<p>"And Mrs. Willis? She will really get well?" urged Mrs. Hollister.</p> + +<p>Winnie's face changed. Her eyes softened.</p> + +<p>"They all say she will be better than she's been for years, bless +her! All of 'em, Dr. Hurlbut, that big specialist that came from New +York, and Dr. Jordan and Doctor Hugh, who's as good as any of them +if he is young, all of 'em say if she only rests a year in this +sanatorium and doesn't have to worry we'll never know she was +sick."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>"She was taken sudden, wasn't she?" asked the visitor. "Mamie said +you found her, Winnie."</p> + +<p>Winnie snapped on the light for the summer dusk was deepening into +dark.</p> + +<p>"That I did," she answered. "I'll never forget it, never. I was +going up to her room to ask her whether I should wait for the butter +and egg woman or send down to the store and in the upstairs hall I +walked right into her, lying so still and white on the floor. I got +her on the bed myself and sent Rosemary flying down to Dr. Jordan's +office for Dr. Hugh. Dr. Jordan came up with the young doctor and +they got the trained nurse and for over a week we didn't know +whether the dear lady would stay with us or not. Then she got a +little better and Dr. Hugh wanted her to go off to this sanatorium +place, but she wouldn't hear of it till the specialist put in his +word and all three doctors promised her she'd be cured."</p> + +<p>"They say Dr. Hugh is going to take Dr. Jordan's practice," said +Mrs. Hollister irrelevantly.</p> + +<p>"I don't know who 'they' are, but for once they've told the truth," +said Winnie a bit tartly. "Dr. Jordan is going away for two months, +or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> three, and Dr. Hugh is to look after his office and patients. He +may settle down in Eastshore, if he likes it well enough."</p> + +<p>Winnie did not add what she, as a confidante of the family, had +heard discussed, namely that Dr. Hugh would likely buy the practice +of Dr. Jordan who was an old man and anxious to retire from active +service.</p> + +<p>"Dr. Hurlbut came down in a great big car this afternoon and took +Mrs. Willis," Winnie went on, "Dr. Hugh went with her and he's +coming back in the morning. The girls behaved beautifully and not +one of 'em cried till their mother was well out of sight."</p> + +<p>"Well I should say you'll have your hands full with the +housekeeping," was Mrs. Hollister's next comment. "I don't suppose +you can depend on much help from the girls, though Rosemary is old +enough to do considerable if she's a mind to. How old is she now?"</p> + +<p>"Twelve," replied Winnie. "But you musn't think I'm to do +everything, Mrs. Hollister. Miss Trudy Wright is coming to-morrow, +to stay till Mrs. Willis gets home."</p> + +<p>"Who's she?" asked Mrs. Hollister bluntly. "Anybody you can rely +on?"</p> + +<p>"I'm not saying I don't like her, for I do,"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> said Winnie with +admirable conservatism, "Miss Wright means well, if ever a woman +did. She's the half sister of Mrs. Willis's husband and she sets +great store, she's always saying, by her dead brother's family."</p> + +<p>"You don't sound as if you were so terribly pleased," said Mrs. +Hollister shrewdly. "Does she put her nose into things that are no +concern of hers?"</p> + +<p>"No, I wouldn't say that for her," answered Winnie. "I don't know as +there is any one thing I can put my finger on. Of course she has +never been in charge of the house before—it will be queer to be +taking orders from her. She's been here off and on, making visits +and she never bothered me. Mrs. Willis, poor dear, went away feeling +sure that the girls would be well looked after and I'd be the last +one to think of disturbing her thoughts. But, between you and me, +Mrs. Hollister, Miss Wright can't manage a family like this. She +just hasn't got it in her."</p> + +<p>"You mean the girls are a handful?" suggested Mrs. Hollister. "I +thought as soon as you said she was coming, that a woman without any +children of her own would find it hard trying to look after three +lively girls."</p> + +<p>"Children of your own has got nothing to do<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> with it," asserted +Winnie, tossing her head. "I can make any one of the children stand +round, if I give my mind to it, and they're as fond of me as can be. +But remember I say if I give my mind to it—Miss Wright hasn't got +the patience to keep repeating the same thing fifty times and if she +gives an order and they don't pay attention she drops it right +there. I'm not blaming her—she's fat and has plenty of money and +likes to be comfortable; she must be fifty years old, too, and at +her time of life it's only fair to expect to have a little peace. +But I know the Willis family, and giving in to the girls is the +worst thing you can do. I get wore out lots of times and knuckle +down, but Dr. Hugh won't. I've been watching him, the little time +he's been here, and I'll bet he can hold out against even Rosemary."</p> + +<p>"I suppose it's her red hair," said Mrs. Hollister vaguely.</p> + +<p>"Rosemary is an angel from heaven," declared Winnie, loyally rising +to the defense of the absent. "She's always been the sweetest child +the Lord ever made and when she was a baby I could never bear to +scold her because she'd look at me so sad-like from those big blue +eyes of hers. But Rosemary has the Willis will and the Willis +tem<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>per and when she is on her high horse the house won't hold her. +Sooner or later she's going to try to have her way against the young +doctor's orders and then there will be war. All the girls are +getting out of hand now, anyway, what with their mother sick and the +house upset and no regular plan to follow. I caught Sarah yesterday +making her breakfast off of lemonade, raisin pie and fancy cakes."</p> + +<p>"She's a queer one, that Sarah," said Mrs. Hollister, chuckling. +"She nearly frightened the little Percey girl into fits showing her +a live snake one afternoon."</p> + +<p>"Sarah's got a good heart, if you can find it," declared Winnie, +"but unless you handle her just right, you're in for a peck of +trouble. Rosemary's temper blazes up and burns fierce enough dear +knows, but it burns itself out good and clean and leaves a good +clean ash. Now you take Sarah—she goes into a fit of the sulks and +likely as not she won't speak to anyone in the house for a week."</p> + +<p>"She would if she was my child," announced Mrs. Hollister grimly. +"I'd soon shake that out of her."</p> + +<p>"It's my private belief that you can't shake anything out of Sarah, +once she makes up her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> mind to it," said Winnie solemnly. "She's got +the Willis will and that is a caution. Even Shirley, six years old +and looking like a cherub straight from above, even Shirley has got +a temper of her own and as for will—well you try to make that baby +do a thing she says she won't do. The Willis will is something to +reckon with, Mrs. Hollister."</p> + +<p>"Why do you keep talking about the Willis will?" asked Mrs. +Hollister with curiosity.</p> + +<p>"Because I've lived with it for twenty-eight years and I know all +about it," said Winnie. "Twenty-eight years ago, this spring, have I +lived with this family and in that time I've seen Doctor Hugh grow +from the baby that was laid in my arms into a fine young man with +the Willis will made a help to him instead of a hindrance. Mr. +Willis—you never knew him, he died six months after Shirley was +born and Mrs. Willis has never been the same woman since—had it, +too, and the temper along with it, but he made them both his +servants and himself the master, as the Bible says. Many's the time +I've heard the story of Governor Willis, (his picture hangs in the +hall) and of how he held out against the whole legislature and the +public and proved himself right in the end. Old Judge Willis, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> +father of Doctor Hugh's father, once came near being lynched for a +decision he made, but no howling mob could make him retract. As I +tell Mrs. Willis, when she gets to worrying about the strong wills +the girls have, it's worse not to have a mind of your own than to +have too much; I'm not one to preach breaking anyone's will—bend it +the right way, I always say."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that sounds all right," admitted Mrs. Hollister who had +listened eagerly, "but I don't know as I'd want to have the bending +of three wills all at once. It strikes me that the young doctor is +going to be pretty busy if he tries to 'tend to 'em all at the same +time. And you say he's going to take Dr. Jordan's practice, too."</p> + +<p>"He'll be busy, but he can handle anything," declared Winnie +confidently. "Dr. Hugh was my baby—I took care of him till he was +five years old—and I know he'll manage all right. The girls are +delighted to have a big brother, and they'll try to please him, I +know they will."</p> + +<p>"It's funny to say, but he's almost a stranger to them, isn't he?" +said Mrs. Hollister reflectively. "How many years has he been away +from Eastshore?"</p> + +<p>"Counting from the time he went away to school, about twelve years," +answered Winnie.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> "He came home vacations, of course, but the last +two years he wasn't home at all. He's been studying abroad and Mrs. +Willis was so happy to think he'd be home with her this summer. She +was pleased as could be that he wanted to settle in Eastshore. She's +talked a lot to me, since Mr. Willis died, about what she hoped the +children would do and when Dr. Hugh wrote her that he didn't want to +be a fashionable city doctor and hoped he could do as much good in a +quiet, industrious, uncomplaining way as Doctor Jordan had done +during the forty-five years he's lived in Eastshore, why Mrs. Willis +just about cried she was so happy."</p> + +<p>"Well, we never know what's going to happen, do we?" sighed Mrs. +Hollister, beginning to pull on her gloves as she noted that the +plain-faced kitchen clock said quarter of nine. "I'm sure I hope +she'll get the rest she deserves and come home to find nothing bad +has happened."</p> + +<p>"Of course she will," Winnie's voice held a faint trace of +indignation. "What do you think is going to happen while she is +gone? With Doctor Hugh and Miss Trudy Wright, to say nothing of me, +around to see to everything, what else do you expect but smooth +sailing?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>"Winnie!"</p> + +<p>The kitchen door opened a crack and a dark head poked itself in.</p> + +<p>"Winnie, do you care if I take a piece of the chocolate cake from +the buffet closet?" asked Sarah politely. "I'm hungry."</p> + +<p>"Your brother says you eat too much cake—go to bed and you'll fall +asleep again and forget that you're hungry," commanded Winnie.</p> + +<p>"Can't I have just one piece?" insisted Sarah.</p> + +<p>"You can not," said Winnie firmly.</p> + +<p>"Well, I thought you'd say that," announced Sarah calmly, "so I took +it first, before I asked you."</p> + +<p>"Give it to me this instant," cried Winnie, swooping upon the small +girl.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I've eaten it," declared Sarah pleasantly. "I thought you'd +make a fuss."</p> + +<p>Winnie looked at Mrs. Hollister, who was moving toward the door.</p> + +<p>"All I have to say," said the visitor majestically, "is Heaven help +the young doctor."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%; padding-bottom: 50px;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="chapter_iii" id="chapter_iii"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>AUNT TRUDY COMES</h3> + +<p class="figleft2"><img src="images/a2.png" title="A" height="44" width="43" alt="A" /></p> +<p>RE you going to the station, Sarah?" Sarah, stretched in luxurious +comfort on the porch rug, raised a rumpled head above her book and +frowned.</p> + +<p>"Why should I go to the station?" she drawled.</p> + +<p>"You know perfectly well," answered Rosemary with some impatience. +"Aunt Trudy is coming on the 4:10 and Hugh asked us to meet her."</p> + +<p>"You go—you're the oldest," said Sarah calmly. "I want to read +about sick rabbits."</p> + +<p>"Sarah, you know you promised mother to be good and to do the things +you thought would please her. Come on and meet Aunt Trudy—we'll all +go, you and I and Shirley," wheedled Rosemary, beginning to roll up +her knitting.</p> + +<p>"Where's Hugh—why doesn't he go?" asked Sarah who usually exhausted +all arguments before giving in.</p> + +<p>"Hugh's down at Dr. Jordan's and he won't<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> be home till dinner +time," replied Rosemary. "Mother would want us to be nice to Aunt +Trudy, you know she would."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm going to be nice," insisted Sarah, scrambling to her feet +and hurling the book under the swing where she kept the larger part +of her dilapidated library. "I'll go to the station if I can go as I +am—I have to clean the rabbit hutch when I get back and I won't +have time to be dressing and undressing all the afternoon."</p> + +<p>"You can't go as you are!" Rosemary surveyed her sister +appraisingly. "Your face is black and your dress has a grease spot +across the front. And you haven't any hair ribbon."</p> + +<p>"I'll go as I am, or I won't go at all," repeated Sarah coolly.</p> + +<p>Rosemary stabbed her long needles into her half-finished sweater and +hung her knitting bag on the back of her chair.</p> + +<p>"Then you can stay home," she said crossly. "I'll go up and get +Shirley now and we'll go without you."</p> + +<p>She ran upstairs, coaxed the protesting Shirley from her play of +sailing boats in the bath-tub, and was buttoning her into a clean +frock when Sarah came tramping through the hall. She<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> occupied a +room with Shirley, while Rosemary had a room to herself connected +with the younger girls' room by a rather narrow door.</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute and I'll go," said Sarah, jerking down her tan linen +dress from its hook in the closet.</p> + +<p>"Is Aunt Trudy's room all ready, Winnie?" asked Rosemary, as the +three sisters stopped in the kitchen to notify that faithful +individual of their departure. "Do we look nice?"</p> + +<p>It was impossible to look at the three faces without an answering +smile. Rosemary glowed, pink-cheeked, star-eyed, in a frock of dull +blue linen made with wide white piqué collar and cuffs. Her hair +waved and rippled and curled, despite its loose braiding, almost to +her waist. Rosemary was simply going to the station to meet the 4:10 +train, but nothing was ever casual to her; she met each hour +expectantly on tip-toe and, as her mother had once observed, laughed +and wept her way around the clock. Sarah smiled broadly—going to +the station to meet Aunt Trudy had, for some inexplicable reason, +resolved itself into a joke for her. Sarah was not excited and she +represented solid common-sense from her straight Dutch-cut hair to +her square-toed sandals, for no amount of argument from Rosemary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> +could induce her to put on her best patent leather slippers. And +Shirley—well Winnie picked up Shirley and hugged her fervently, +which was the emotion Shirley generally inspired in all beholders. +She was a young person, all yellow curls and fluffy white skirts and +tiny perfect teeth and distracting dimples.</p> + +<p>"Miss Wright's room is in perfect order," reported Winnie, setting +Shirley down and straightening her pink sash. "I put on the +embroidered bureau scarf and the best linen sheets and pillow cases, +just as you said, Rosemary."</p> + +<p>"And I put a bowl of lilacs on her table this morning," said +Rosemary happily, "so I guess everything has been attended to. Do +you want us to get anything up town? We're going to the station, +Winnie."</p> + +<p>"No, my dinner's all planned," answered Winnie with pride. "What +train's Miss Wright coming on—the 4:10?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and Hugh said to have Bernard Coyle bring us up to the house +with his jitney," said Rosemary. "I suppose Aunt Trudy will have +some bags and parcels. You'll be round when we get back, won't you, +Winnie? I don't know exactly what to say to her."</p> + +<p>"Bless you, child, you'll do all right," Winnie<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> encouraged her. +"Doctor Hugh will be home to dinner and 'tisn't as if your aunt was +a total stranger."</p> + +<p>"But she really is a total stranger," commented Rosemary, as they +began their walk to the station. "Of course she has been here a +couple of days last summer and she spent New Year's with us; but +Mother entertained her and we only saw her now and then, mostly at +the table."</p> + +<p>"Well, we have to make the best of it now, because Hugh says we +can't upset Mother," said Sarah. "I know she will be an awful lot of +trouble and she won't know the first thing about animals."</p> + +<p>"Maybe she'll read all the time," offered Shirley in her soft, baby +voice. "Dora Ellis has an aunt who reads books all the time and Dora +can do just as she pleases. She told me so."</p> + +<p>"Well, don't you listen to everything Dora Ellis tells you," said +Rosemary severely. "Mother doesn't like you to play with her and +Hugh said you were not to go across the street without asking +permission; doesn't Dora Ellis live on the other side of the +street?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, she does, but I didn't go over in her yard, not for weeks and +weeks," explained Shir<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>ley earnestly. "She told me 'bout her aunt +last year, in kindergarten."</p> + +<p>"All right, honey, I'm not scolding," declared Rosemary, giving her +a kiss. "There's the station clock and it says half-past four. But, +pshaw, that clock never keeps time."</p> + +<p>It was not half-past four they found, when they consulted the clock +in the ticket office, but it was close to ten minutes past and when +the three girls stepped out on the platform the smoke of the train +was already visible far up the track.</p> + +<p>There were several people waiting, most of them Eastshore people, +and these came up and asked about Mrs. Willis. Rosemary, assuring +them that her mother was definitely declared to be out of danger, +was fairly radiant.</p> + +<p>"Rosemary!" a girl about her own age hailed her. "I'm so glad to see +you. Daddy told us last night your mother is better, but I didn't +like to call you up because I thought perhaps you still had the +phone muffled. Mother and I are going down to the beach to stay till +after Labor Day."</p> + +<p>"How lovely!" cried Rosemary. "You have the nicest things happen to +you, Harriet. Are you going on this train?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>"Yes, and don't I wish you were coming!" responded Harriet warmly. +"Couldn't you come down next month, if your mother is well enough to +leave?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, goodness, Mother has gone away, to be gone a year," said +Rosemary hurriedly. "I can't go anywhere, you see. Besides Aunt +Trudy Wright is coming on this train, and Hugh is going to be home +all summer. There's your mother beckoning—run, Harriet, and be sure +you write to me."</p> + +<p>They kissed each other and Harriet ran back to her mother and was +lost in the anxious pushing group that surrounded the steps of the +slowly stopping train.</p> + +<p>"Hang on to Shirley, while I try to find Aunt Trudy," directed +Rosemary, with a sudden panicky feeling that she couldn't remember +what her aunt looked like.</p> + +<p>But, as soon as she saw her, she recognized her.</p> + +<p>"Well, Rosemary darling, you came to meet me—that's lovely I'm +sure," cried Aunt Trudy, panting slightly from her leap off the last +step of the car, to the conductor's unconcealed amazement. "And +Mother is much better, the telegram said. As soon as I heard, I +resolved nothing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> should keep me from you—Oh, there's Shirley and +Sarah, the dears!"</p> + +<p>Shirley responded affectionately to her aunt's caresses, but Sarah +stood like a wooden image and submitted to being kissed with bad +grace. Aunt Trudy was too excited to be critical.</p> + +<p>"What do I do about my trunks?" she fluttered. "And these bags are +both heavy—I've brought you girls each a little something. Is Hugh +home? And Winnie is still with you, of course?"</p> + +<p>Rosemary wisely did not attempt to answer all these questions and, +considering that Winnie had been in the Willis family for +twenty-eight years and Aunt Trudy had unfailingly put this question +to some member of the family at every meeting for the last +twenty-seven, this particular query might be said to be more a +comment than a question.</p> + +<p>"We'll go up to the house in Bernard Coyle's jitney," said Rosemary, +leading the way around to the side platform. "He will take your +trunk checks, Aunt Trudy, and the express man will deliver them."</p> + +<p>Bernard Coyle ran two of the three Eastshore jitneys and personally +conducted the least ancient of his two cars. He welcomed the +prospect<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> of four passengers with a glad smile and swung Aunt +Trudy's bags to a safe place under the seat at a nod from Rosemary. +While they climbed in, he departed with the trunk checks and +returned in a few minutes to report that the three trunks would be +in the front hall of the Willis home within an hour.</p> + +<p>Then he took the wheel of his wheezy little car and without another +word drove frenziedly and rackingly through the quiet streets till +the Willis house was reached. Winnie, mindful of Rosemary's plea, +came out to the curb to meet them.</p> + +<p>"Well, Winnie, I'm glad to see you again," was Miss Wright's +greeting. "You and I are to keep house and look after these flighty +young folks, I understand."</p> + +<p>"Yes'm," nodded Winnie. "Your room's all ready, Miss Wright—the one +you always have, next to Mrs. Willis'. And Doctor Hugh said to tell +you he'd be home at quarter of six."</p> + +<p>Aunt Trudy Wright was a rather short, dumpy woman and inclined to be +stout and short of breath. She had iron-gray hair, near-sighted dark +eyes and very pretty, very plump small hands. She exclaimed over her +room when she saw it, said that everything was lovely and insisted +on kissing the three girls again. Sarah<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> promptly left at this point +and was discovered by her brother when he came home, lying flat on +the porch rug and absorbed in a book which dealt, in detail, with +the health and welfare of rabbits.</p> + +<p>"Well you look comfortable," he said good-humoredly. "Aunt Trudy +come? Who went to meet her? Where are the other girls?"</p> + +<p>"Uh-huh," grunted Sarah, interested at that moment in a description +of a balanced diet for her pets.</p> + +<p>Dr. Hugh laughed and went on. The house seemed strangely quiet to +him, though he could hear Winnie humming in the kitchen and +appetizing odors promised a dinner on time. In the upstairs hall, +Rosemary tip-toed to meet him, her eyes dark with mystery.</p> + +<p>"Hello, where is everyone?" asked her brother, giving her a kiss. +"What has happened to Aunt Trudy?"</p> + +<p>"She's getting ready for dinner," explained Rosemary. "She's been +crying in Mother's room for almost an hour and then her trunks came +and she thought she'd change her dress."</p> + +<p>"Crying in Mother's room—what for?" demanded Doctor Hugh quickly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, because memories were too much for her," quoted Rosemary +solemnly. "She made<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> Shirley and me cry, too, but Sarah went down +stairs when she tried to kiss her, so she didn't hear her talk."</p> + +<p>"I'll give Sarah credit for good sense," said Doctor Hugh grimly.</p> + +<p>He strode down the hall to his mother's room, took the key from the +inside and locked the door and dropped the key in his pocket.</p> + +<p>"And that's that," he announced, smiling a little at Rosemary's +puzzled face.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%; padding-bottom: 50px;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="chapter_iv" id="chapter_iv"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>DR. HUGH TAKES COMMAND</h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/m.png" title="M" height="44" width="60" alt="M" /></p> +<p>ISS Wright appeared at dinner in rustling black silk, and kissed +Dr. Hugh affectionately. In her plump arms she carried three +packages.</p> + +<p>"I brought each of the girls a box of French chocolates," she +explained, smiling. "They're simply delicious and there is just one +shop in town which imports them."</p> + +<p>Rosemary dimpled as she untied her package, Shirley shrieked with +glee and even Sarah's "thank you, Aunt Trudy" had an unusual depth +of warmth in it. Two-pound boxes of chocolates did not appear at +dinner every day.</p> + +<p>Dr. Hugh put down his carving knife as Shirley lifted the lid from +her beribboned box.</p> + +<p>"I think I'll have to take charge of these boxes," he said quietly. +"Aunt Trudy is very generous to remember you so bountifully, but I +can not let you make yourselves sick. I'll keep them carefully for +you in the office and you may<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> have a safe number every day I +promise you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Hugh!" Rosemary's voice was reproachful.</p> + +<p>"I won't be sick," said Shirley with cheerful confidence.</p> + +<p>Sarah did not speak, but she thrust her box under the edge of the +tablecloth.</p> + +<p>"It's perfectly pure candy, Hugh, and won't hurt them," Miss Wright +assured him briskly.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm sorry, but I believe that the purest and most expensive +candy taken in sufficient amount, will upset the digestion of an +ostrich," said Doctor Hugh firmly. "Put the boxes on the serving +table till after dinner, Rosemary."</p> + +<p>"And I hope you'll keep 'em under lock and key," observed Winnie as +she passed the creamed potatoes. "Sarah will be eating chocolates +for breakfast if there's none to interfere with her."</p> + +<p>Winnie considered herself a member of the family, as indeed she was, +and she frequently took part in the table conversation except when +there were strange guests present.</p> + +<p>Rosemary gathered up the boxes and put them on the side table and +dinner proceeded pleasantly enough. Aunt Trudy was a social soul and +seldom at a loss for something to say. She sat in the absent +mother's place and beamed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> upon the little circle, Dr. Hugh across +from her, Rosemary at his right, Shirley next to her and on the +other side of the round table, Sarah the silent. Sarah was certainly +a child of few words and she was never troubled by any idea that +something might be expected from her in the way of a contribution to +the general talk. To-night she sat stolidly, her dark eyes roving +now and then to the candy boxes which were behind Rosemary.</p> + +<p>"So you're going to practice right here in Eastshore, Hugh?" Miss +Wright was saying as Winnie brought in the salad, "your mother wrote +me, before she was ill, that you expected to take Doctor Jordan's +office; has he retired?"</p> + +<p>"No, not retired exactly," answered Hugh, "but he is planning to +take a long and much-needed vacation. He left for Maine this +afternoon. We both thought it better for many reasons to make no +change in the office—I'll take his just as he left it. Of course +I'll have some kind of a place here, too, but not many patients will +call here."</p> + +<p>Sarah created a diversion by pushing back her plate and slipping +down from her chair.</p> + +<p>"Where are you going, dear?" her aunt asked<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> in surprise. "Don't you +want any dessert?"</p> + +<p>"No, it's cornstarch pudding," said Sarah calmly.</p> + +<p>Miss Wright apparently accepted the explanation, but Doctor Hugh +spoke sharply.</p> + +<p>"Sarah, come back here—dinner isn't over yet."</p> + +<p>Sarah stopped and faced him defiantly.</p> + +<p>"I don't want any pudding," she declared, scowling. "Winnie knows I +don't like it and she always makes it."</p> + +<p>"Come back and sit down and wait until you are excused—" Doctor +Hugh's level gaze seemed to draw the rebellious Sarah back to her +chair. "If you don't care for the pudding you needn't eat it, but +don't criticise anything that is placed before you."</p> + +<p>His staccato tones seemed to have a tonic effect on Sarah, for she +ate the pudding when it came, without further discussion. But the +moment her aunt rose from the table, she made a bee-line for the +candy boxes.</p> + +<p>"It's mine, Aunt Trudy gave it to me," she insisted when her brother +interfered.</p> + +<p>"Two apiece, of such rich candy, is enough for any one," he +declared. "And one for Shirley<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>—take the kind you want, sweetheart, +and then I'll show you where I am going to keep them for you."</p> + +<p>"I must say I think you're too fussy, Hugh," commented Aunt Trudy, +as Shirley made a lingering selection and Rosemary passed her box to +her aunt and Winnie and then chose two of the enormous candies for +herself. "All children are fond of candy and I read only the other +day that a craving for sweets is the mark of a healthy appetite."</p> + +<p>Doctor Hugh made no direct reply.</p> + +<p>"Sarah, have you eaten your candy?" he asked pleasantly.</p> + +<p>"If I can't have my own box," said Sarah with emphasis, "I won't eat +any."</p> + +<p>"I'll put them away for you, then," declared her brother equably. +"Come and see where they'll be—in the glass cabinet in the office. +You may have two apiece after dinner till they are gone. They'll +last twice as long that way, Sarah," he added, smiling at her as he +turned the key in the cabinet and replaced his key ring in his +pocket.</p> + +<p>The telephone rang and Winnie answered it. The doctor was wanted and +it was eight o'clock before he returned. Aunt Trudy was reading<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> +under the living-room lamp—for the nights were still a little too +cool to be comfortable on the porch—Rosemary knitting, and Shirley +and Sarah playing dominoes on the floor.</p> + +<p>"What time does Shirley go to bed?" the doctor asked, standing in +the doorway.</p> + +<p>Rosemary looked up, a little troubled.</p> + +<p>"Why she always went to bed at half-past seven when Mother was +well," she answered, "but since she was sick, Shirley got in the +habit of staying up till Sarah goes and sometimes Sarah won't go +till I do."</p> + +<p>"And what time do you go?" inquired her brother.</p> + +<p>Rosemary blushed and began to knit faster.</p> + +<p>"I'm supposed to go at nine," she admitted, "but sometimes it +is—later. Honestly, Hugh, I don't see why I should go to bed at +nine o'clock like a little girl; I'm twelve, you know."</p> + +<p>"Half-past eight would be better," said her brother, coming over to +sit on the arm of her chair, "but if Mother didn't object, we'll +still say nine. You are a little girl, dear, in spite of your great +age, you see. What about Sarah?"</p> + +<p>"You ask more questions than any one I ever knew," cried the +exasperated Sarah with bitter frankness. "I wanted to read my rabbit +book,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> but Shirley teased and I played dominoes to please her. And +now I suppose you'll be saying I ought to go to bed!"</p> + +<p>"Rosemary?" said Doctor Hugh.</p> + +<p>"Sarah is supposed to go to bed at eight o'clock," announced +Rosemary reluctantly. "She used to argue with Mother nearly every +night. No one ever wants to go to bed early, Hugh, and lots of the +girls stay up till ten."</p> + +<p>"Then I'm sorry for lots of girls," rejoined the doctor. "Shirley is +going to be my good girl and go to bed every night at half-past +seven, aren't you, dear? Sarah at eight and Rosemary at nine—and +that's all settled. Put up the dominoes, children, and run along for +it's twenty minutes past eight this minute."</p> + +<p>"I don't want to go to bed," wailed Shirley.</p> + +<p>"I'll go up with you, darling," promised Rosemary, putting down her +knitting. "I'll tell you a story about the little brown bear."</p> + +<p>"Don't want a story," said Shirley with finality.</p> + +<p>Aunt Trudy put down her book and surveyed her youngest niece +sympathetically.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter with my sweetheart?" she asked, her voice tender. +"Is she afraid of the big dark?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>The doctor made an impatient exclamation.</p> + +<p>"That's nonsense, Aunt Trudy," he said curtly. "No child of my +mother has ever been frightened of the dark; we were not brought up +that way. Every one of us has been trained to go up to bed alone at +the right time, as a matter of course. Sarah, put away those +dominoes and go upstairs to bed with Shirley."</p> + +<p>Sarah tumbled the game into the box and stalked from the room +without a word to any one. Shirley simply threw herself flat on the +floor and cried with anger. She was sleepy and tired and she +resented this summary curtailment of her privileges. For the last +two weeks she had been going to bed when Rosemary did and she liked +the plan.</p> + +<p>"I hope you will excuse us, Aunt Trudy," said the harassed Doctor +Hugh, scooping his small sister up from the floor and carrying her +toward the door. "We're in sad need of a little discipline, I'm +afraid."</p> + +<p>"And you're not going to enforce it," he said grimly to himself as +he marched upstairs with the screaming Shirley. "I seem to have my +work cut out for me—I wonder how about Rosemary?"</p> + +<p>When he came downstairs again, having seen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> both Shirley and Sarah +quiet and asleep, he found his sister and aunt deep in the problem +of "narrowing off."</p> + +<p>"I just waited to say good-night to you, Hugh," said Aunt Trudy +brightly. "I'm tired from the trip and I want to start the day well +to-morrow."</p> + +<p>She kissed him and rustled out of the room, and Rosemary folded up +her work as the deep chime of the hall clock sounded nine.</p> + +<p>"Shirley was tired, Hugh," she said, a little timidly. "She hardly +ever acts that way. And Sarah doesn't mean to be obstinate, but she +just can't help it."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm glad you think to-night isn't an average performance," +declared her brother humorously. "You're a sweet older sister, +Rosemary. The girls couldn't do better than to pattern after you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Hugh! You are nice—" Rosemary's voice rose in a crescendo of +pure pleasure. "But I'm not a good example—you won't say that when +you know me. I get as mad, as mad—as—Shirley."</p> + +<p>"The more shame to you," said the doctor unbelievingly, kissing her +vivid little face. "Go<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> to bed, child, and don't talk to me about +losing your temper."</p> + +<p>At eleven o'clock the light was still burning in the office and +Winnie knocked lightly on the door.</p> + +<p>"I brought you a glass of milk and a sandwich, Hughie," she said, +using the old pet name she had given him when a little lad.</p> + +<p>"Well that's mighty thoughtful of you, Winnie dear," he said, +smiling at her. "I've been doing a little thinking this evening and +that's hungry work."</p> + +<p>Winnie regarded him, wisdom and pride in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"I'm thinking that healthy folks is more of a problem than sick +ones," she observed sagely. "But you're enough like your mother, to +be able to manage all right, never fear. You've her understanding +and the endurance and will of your father, Hughie, and you'll be +needing it all, but you'll work it out. Shirley is spoiled and we're +all to blame—it wasn't all done in these two weeks, either; your +mother gave in a little at a time for she was tired and her illness +has been long coming. 'Tis nothing to set right a little wrong when +the heart is pure gold like Shirley's. And you'll soon set Sarah in +her place—she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> needs to be set frequent-like, though if you find +the way to her liking, she'll be fond enough of you in time. It's +Rosemary I'd speak to you about at the risk of seeming to meddle."</p> + +<p>The doctor stirred a little, but his face encouraged Winnie to go +on.</p> + +<p>"A rose in the bud—that's Rosemary," said Winnie who scorned to +read poetry and often employed poetical fancies in her rather quaint +phrasing. "A rose in the bud and a flower of a girl. A temper that +blazes, a quick pride that bleeds at a word and a passion for loving +that sometimes frightens me. The sick and the helpless and the +young—Rosemary would mother 'em all. And she's hurt so easy, and +she dashes herself against the stone wall so blindly—you'll be +careful and patient, won't you, Hughie? For she has the Willis will, +has Rosemary and times there is no holding her."</p> + +<p>Doctor Hugh smiled into the anxious eyes, dim with the loving +anxiety of many years.</p> + +<p>"I'll be careful, Winnie," he promised. "And you'll help me. Thank +you for telling me—what you have."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%; padding-bottom: 50px;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="chapter_v" id="chapter_v"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>WINNIE'S VOLUNTEERS</h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/f.png" title="F" height="44" width="37" alt="F" /></p> +<p>OR the first few days after Miss Wright's arrival it seemed that +the proverb, "Many hands make light work" was to be the household +motto. Winnie was fairly swamped with offers of help and "Miss +Trudy" as she had asked Winnie to call her, and the three girls vied +with each other as to which should be the most industrious.</p> + +<p>"For I want to be useful, Winnie," said Aunt Trudy, a winning +sincerity in her kind voice. "Only tell me what to do, because I +don't want to interfere with your daily schedule."</p> + +<p>"And Sarah and I will make the beds and dust," promised Rosemary, +looking up from copying music.</p> + +<p>"I'll run all your errands," chirped Shirley and was promptly +rewarded with a hug.</p> + +<p>Winnie was a shrewd and practical general, as her answers proved. A +less experienced person would have made a vague reply, put off the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> +offers with a promise to "let you know when I need you" or politely +told them "not to bother." Not so Winnie.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'll tell you, Miss Trudy," she said capably, "I don't mind +saying if you'll plan the meals, you'll be taking a load off my +shoulders. I can cook and I can serve and I can keep things hot when +the doctor is late as he'll be many a time; but unless I can have +the three meals a day printed right out and hung on my kitchen door, +I'm lost-like. It drives me wild to have to figure out what we +should eat, when it's nothing at all, to my way of thinking, to cook +it."</p> + +<p>"I'll be glad to plan the menus," Aunt Trudy assured her. "Home I +write out the meals for the whole week every Saturday morning; I'll +do that for you without fail, Winnie."</p> + +<p>"Thank you ma'am," Winnie replied. "Now Rosemary, if you want to +help, you answer the telephone. I can't abide to be called away from +my baking and sweeping to tell folks where the doctor is, or why he +isn't here. I don't always get messages straight, so you take 'em +and when you're not home, let Sarah do it."</p> + +<p>"I like to answer the telephone," beamed Rosemary.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>Winnie, orderly soul, proceeded to clinch the remaining two offers +of assistance.</p> + +<p>"Sarah, there's no one can beat you making beds, when you put your +mind to it," she announced diplomatically. "You make the beds +mornings, when Rosemary is doing her practising and I won't ask you +to do another thing."</p> + +<p>"But me?" urged Shirley. "What can I do, Winnie?"</p> + +<p>"Bless your little heart, you run to the store for Winnie, and help +her make cookies," cried Winnie, "that's enough for one little girl, +dearie."</p> + +<p>"I don't think any of us has much to do," observed Rosemary. "I can +do lots more to help, Winnie. And so can Sarah."</p> + +<p>"If you'll do just one thing and do it every day, I won't be +complaining," Winnie returned. "You'll find it's easy to get tired +and it's then you'll want to skip a day."</p> + +<p>The girls were sure that nothing would induce them to "skip" a day, +and Winnie went back to her kitchen well-pleased with her bestowal +of commissions.</p> + +<p>The house seemed strangely empty without the gentle little mother +and at first time hung heavy on the three pairs of young hands. +Doctor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> Hugh was very busy adjusting his work to run smoothly and +his hours were irregular so that he did not see much of his sisters. +Then, as the mother's absence became an established fact, gradually +old interests and friends absorbed their attention and normal life +was resumed with the difference that a great gap was always present +and unfilled. Aunt Trudy was kindness itself and overflowing with +affection for her nieces, but her attitude toward them was that of a +placid outsider, gently watching them from a little distance. Aunt +Trudy did their mending exquisitely, because she liked to sew, but +she would not leave the mending and come down stairs to meet Nina +Edmonds, a new-comer to the neighborhood, though Rosemary was +anxious to have every social courtesy shown the rather critical +young person who seemed older than her thirteen years.</p> + +<p>"I don't want to drop my work now, dearie," said Aunt Trudy in +response to her niece's appeal. "I always lose my needle when I get +up; I'll meet your little friend some other time. Ask her to dinner +to-night if you wish—Winnie is going to have veal loaf and egg +salad."</p> + +<p>Rosemary acted on this suggestion, and Doctor Hugh, coming in late, +was surprised to find<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> a fourth girl at the table, a freckle-faced +little girl with light bobbed hair and incredibly thin arms and +hands. Nina Edmonds talked incessantly and, after a few ineffectual +attempts to carry on a conversation with his aunt, the young doctor +devoted himself to his dinner, keeping, however, an observant eye on +the guest and on Rosemary who listened in evident fascination to the +steady stream of words. He had a call to make, immediately after +dinner and was surprised and distinctly annoyed when he returned at +half-past ten to find Nina and Rosemary still talking animatedly, +their arms around each other, in the window seat. Aunt Trudy was +placidly reading, and the younger girls had gone to bed.</p> + +<p>"Is it late?" Rosemary started up as her brother came in.</p> + +<p>"Half-past ten," he answered briefly. "I'll take you home, Miss +Edmonds, if you'll tell me where you live. I'm afraid your mother +will be worried about you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, my mother never worries—she knows I'll come home all right," +said Nina. "I didn't wear a coat, it was so warm—will I be cold in +the car?"</p> + +<p>"The car is in the garage," said the doctor grimly, holding open the +door for her. "We'll<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> have to walk. Go to bed, Rosemary please," he +flung over his shoulder. "Don't wait up for me."</p> + +<p>There was a soft rush and a quick sigh, and Rosemary's arms went +about his neck.</p> + +<p>"Kiss me good night, Hugh," she whispered, "I'm sorry."</p> + +<p>He held her close for a moment, then the screen door shut with a +click, and they were gone.</p> + +<p>"I hope Hugh didn't hurt Nina's feelings," worried Rosemary as she +and Aunt Trudy went upstairs. "She doesn't have to go to bed at nine +o'clock and she thinks it is queer that I do. I'm afraid she will +call Hugh cross."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't believe she will," said Aunt Trudy comfortably. "She +seemed to me a nice little girl and you need plenty of young +friends, darling."</p> + +<p>Her new friend had made a great impression on Rosemary and Sarah was +forced to listen the next day to glowing accounts that rather bored +her. Sarah's present interests were confined to one sick rabbit and +one well rabbit who lived in a hutch in the roomy side yard.</p> + +<p>"I'm sick of hearing about Nina Edmonds," declared Sarah as they sat +down to dinner the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> following evening. "I don't call her anything +wonderful."</p> + +<p>Doctor Hugh had not come in, and Rosemary had volunteered to serve +in his place. Aunt Trudy frankly disliked either carving or serving.</p> + +<p>"I think she is lovely," maintained Rosemary, "and I'm going to have +my hair bobbed like hers."</p> + +<p>It was a warm night and under the glow of the electrolier Rosemary's +magnificent hair curled and shone like polished bronze. Even Aunt +Trudy stared at her, surprised, and the practical Sarah was moved to +protest.</p> + +<p>"I think your hair is nice the way it is," she said. "I'd leave it +alone if I were you."</p> + +<p>Winnie paused, on her way to the kitchen.</p> + +<p>"Don't let Doctor Hugh hear you say any such nonsense," she scolded. +"The idea! Bobbing a head of hair like that—it's going directly +against the generosity of the Lord!"</p> + +<p>"What is?" demanded a pleasant voice, and Doctor Hugh came into the +room.</p> + +<p>He had changed to a fresh linen suit at the Jordan office, as the +town had designated it to distinguish it from his home office, and +he looked so wholesome and clean and strong and smiling that the +four faces brightened at once.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>"You have to bring 'em up when I'm not around, don't you, Winnie?" +he said humorously, slipping into the chair vacated by Rosemary. +"What mischief are they into now?"</p> + +<p>Winnie vanished into the kitchen, murmuring something about a salad, +and Rosemary answered for her. Rosemary's blue eyes were unclouded.</p> + +<p>"Winnie is mad because I am going to have my hair bobbed like Nina +Edmonds'," she informed her brother. "I think bobbed hair is as +pretty as it can be, don't you, Hugh?"</p> + +<p>"It seems a pity when she has such nice hair," murmured Aunt Trudy +weakly.</p> + +<p>"Bob your hair!" thundered Doctor Hugh. "Of all the foolish notions, +that is the worst. This comes from talking foolish clatter with that +empty-headed silly little chit last night. The babbling brook must +have been named for her."</p> + +<p>"Yes, isn't she silly?" said Sarah scornfully. "Shirley doesn't like +her, either."</p> + +<p>"Nina Edmonds is my friend," began Rosemary, scarlet-cheeked. +"You—"</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, Rosemary," said the doctor instantly. "I +honestly do. I had no right to speak like that. But you mustn't +think of bobbing your curly mop, dear."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>"Sarah's hair is bobbed," Rosemary pointed out.</p> + +<p>"It was cut to make it grow," answered the doctor. "Mother told me. +You certainly don't need to treat your hair to make it grow, +Rosemary."</p> + +<p>"Write and ask Mother," suggested Sarah.</p> + +<p>"No, Mother isn't to be asked a single question for a year," Doctor +Hugh announced firmly. "We'll settle our problems without bothering +her. Rosemary is not to meddle with her hair—that's flat."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Hugh, I want to bob it!" insisted Rosemary. "Ever so many of +the girls do—not just Nina Edmonds, but half the girls in school. I +don't see why you are so cross about it. Can't I get it cut +to-morrow? Please?"</p> + +<p>Doctor Hugh's dark eyes behind their glasses rested on the pretty, +willful face.</p> + +<p>"I said NO!" he repeated. "Once and for all, Rosemary, I positively +forbid you to have your hair cut. Do you understand me?"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%; padding-bottom: 50px;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="chapter_vi" id="chapter_vi"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>ROSEMARY HAS HER WAY</h3> + +<p class="figleft2"><img src="images/s2.png" title="S" height="44" width="38" alt="S" /></p> +<p>ARAH, Oh, Sarah! Sally Waters, I'm calling you!"</p> + +<p>Sarah glanced up at the merry face regarding her over the fence and +frowned.</p> + +<p>"Well, what do you want?" she asked ungraciously. "Don't you dare +call me Sally, Jack Welles!"</p> + +<p>"I'll call you Sadie, then," said the boy obligingly. "Where's +Rosemary?"</p> + +<p>He was a short, stocky lad, between fifteen and sixteen years old, +with a freckled snub nose, engaging brown eyes and a chin that +promised well for future force of character.</p> + +<p>"Where's Rosemary?" he asked again.</p> + +<p>"I don't know—I haven't seen her since lunch," answered Sarah. +"Don't you think Elinor looks better to-day, Jack?"</p> + +<p>Elinor was the sick rabbit and Sarah waited Jack's decision +anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Sure, leave her alone and she'll come out all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> right," he said +heartlessly. "You're always fussing with animals, aren't you, Sarah? +I believe you like 'em better when they're sick because it gives you +an excuse to pet them more."</p> + +<p>Sarah's brown, stolid little face kindled suddenly with passionate +earnestness.</p> + +<p>"Nobody cares!" she cried. "Nobody! Winnie wouldn't let me keep the +sick kittens in the kitchen and they died and Elinor would have +died, too, if it hadn't been for me. When I grow up, I'm going to +have a big house and there isn't going to be a single person in it. +Just animals—so there!"</p> + +<p>"I suppose you'll have a trained cow to do the cooking, and a dog to +wash dishes," teased Jack. "Never mind, Sarah, there'll always be +plenty of animals needing a friend like you. Maybe Hugh will doctor +them for you, and I'll come take your patients out for airings in my +best and newest airplane!"</p> + +<p>"Hello, what's all this confabbing?" called Doctor Hugh, coming +across the grass toward the fence. "Rabbits improving, Sarah? +Where's Rosemary?"</p> + +<p>"Hello, Hugh," Jack greeted him with a cheerful grin. "All the +patients cured this early in the day? Sarah is going to follow in +your<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> footsteps, but she won't give her services to people, only to +mistreated animals."</p> + +<p>"I've been late for dinner two nights running and I thought I'd +surprise the family by a punctual appearance this time," explained +the doctor. "My chief difficulty now is to find some one to +surprise. Aunt Trudy has gone to the library, Winnie says, Shirley +is playing with some neighbor's child on the porch and no one seems +to know where Rosemary is. I saw you and Sarah from upstairs, or I +should have added her to the list of the missing, too."</p> + +<p>"I wanted to show Rosemary my new fishing rod," Jack explained. +"It's a beauty and my uncle sent it to me from Canada."</p> + +<p>Sarah stood up and shook a lapful of dirt from her frock.</p> + +<p>"I think you are cruel to catch fish," she said indignantly.</p> + +<p>"Why you eat fish, don't you?" retorted Jack. "Someone has to catch +them, you know."</p> + +<p>Poor Sarah had no answer for this argument and she turned and +retreated to the house without another word.</p> + +<p>"Queer little dick, isn't she?" smiled Jack to the doctor. "Crazy +about animals and always fussing over 'em. Well, I have to go dig +worms<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> for bait—great day ahead to-morrow with nothing to do but +fish and try out the new rod."</p> + +<p>"Good luck to you," called Doctor Hugh, going back to his office to +indulge in the rare luxury of a half hour's reading.</p> + +<p>Vaguely he heard Aunt Trudy come in, speak to the two little girls +on the porch, and go on upstairs. He knew when Sarah came down +because she played "chop sticks" on the piano till Winnie came and +called her to go after a loaf of bread. The doctor wondered lazily +if the bread were a real need or a handy invention of Winnie's to +break up the musical program; she was quite capable of the latter. +After the piano was silenced, he lost himself again in his book to +be recalled by an undecided knock on the door. He waited, not sure +that it <i>was</i> a knock. The timid tap came again and he called, "Come +in." The door opened, closed, and Rosemary stood facing him, her +back against it. In her hands she held a brown paper parcel.</p> + +<p>Doctor Hugh stared at her in genuine amazement. She was breathing +quickly, as though she had been running, and the lovely color +flooded her face. Her eyes were almost black with excitement and a +touch of fear. But it was her hair that held her brother's +attention.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> Gone was the rippling glory, the gold-red mane that had +reached to the girl's waist. In its place was a soft aureole of +hair, standing out fluffily on the small head and curling under at +the ends.</p> + +<p>Anger flamed in Doctor Hugh's face, then receded, leaving him white. +Before he could speak Rosemary's eyes filled with tears.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Hugh!" she sobbed. "I want my hair! And it's gone!"</p> + +<p>For answer her brother opened his arms and she fled into them. She +clung to him frantically while she wept out her remorse and grief.</p> + +<p>"I didn't know it was going to be like this," she wailed, sobs +shaking the slender shoulders. "The barber didn't want to cut it, +but I made him. And then, as soon as I saw it on the floor, I began +to cry. Oh, Hugh, I'm so sorry—I don't want short hair at all! And +what can I do?"</p> + +<p>The doctor said nothing for a little while, only smoothed the +cropped head with a gentle touch. Presently when Rosemary sat up and +wiped her eyes, he motioned toward the parcel still in her hands.</p> + +<p>"It's—it's my hair," stammered Rosemary. "The barber tied it up for +me—he said I might want a switch some time."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>"Well you won't!" declared Doctor Hugh with decision. "Leave it here +with me, dear, and I'll see that a lock is saved for Mother. You +mustn't feel so badly, Rosemary. The hair will grow again, you know. +And it is very pretty, still."</p> + +<p>"Hugh," said Rosemary solemnly, "why do I have to find things out +for myself? I didn't know that I hated bobbed hair till I had mine +cut—why am I like that?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, my dear," the doctor smiled a little sadly, "why do we all want +our own way at any cost? You wouldn't believe that I knew better in +this instance, would you?"</p> + +<p>Rosemary blushed and looked ashamed.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad to have this opportunity to speak to you alone, dear," the +doctor went on. "You've had your hair cut because I forbade it and +now you are sorry, but what about the next time? It's silly to think +you can go through life and always have your own way, child. No one +can. Each one of us must acknowledge some authority. I'm a good many +years older than you girls and I've had more experience and +discipline and at present I am taking Mother's place; you'll have to +accept my decisions for the time being. If I exact obedience, +Rosemary, it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> isn't because I am a tyrant—I've put in a good many +years obeying orders myself and I know that obedience is a valuable +lesson."</p> + +<p>"Have you a temper, Hugh?" asked Rosemary, shyly. "Have you the +Willis will?"</p> + +<p>Doctor Hugh's mouth twitched.</p> + +<p>"Guilty on both counts," he admitted. "I'm a cross, cranky old +brother with a gun-powder temper that sometimes gets the best of me. +As for the Willis will—what do you think about that, Rosemary?"</p> + +<p>"Winnie is always talking about it," said Rosemary. "She says I have +it and so have Sarah and Shirley. I suppose it is very wrong."</p> + +<p>"Don't you believe it!" announced the doctor. "Not a bit of it. A +good, strong will is a virtue, child, and please remember that. But, +of course, you want to train it—flying in the face of orders isn't +a proof of will power; more often it is foolish obstinacy. A stiff +will keeps us from being persuaded to do wrong, from tumbling into +pitfalls. It is the weak-willed person who yields to temptation. You +and I, and Shirley and Sarah, have constantly to remember that we +have the Willis will and are proud of it; and then resolve not to +yield easily to the little devils of temper and disobedience and +false pride. Which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> is the end of my sermon and long enough it's +been!"</p> + +<p>The big swivel chair accommodated them comfortably and Rosemary +remained in her brother's lap quietly, her eyes downcast. He watched +her silently. At last she raised her face bravely.</p> + +<p>"Are you going to punish me?" she asked clearly.</p> + +<p>He shook his head.</p> + +<p>"I know you are sorry," he replied. "Punishments are only to help us +remember, and you are not going to forget, are you? But I tell you +what I am going to do—ask you to give up Nina Edmonds as a chum."</p> + +<p>Rosemary was silent.</p> + +<p>"You do not have to be unkind or discourteous," continued the +doctor's even voice. "Just do not go over to her house so often and +by and by she will not come to see you. Play more with Shirley and +Sarah, dear—they look up to you and love you so."</p> + +<p>"Don't you like Nina—but I know you don't," Rosemary answered her +own question.</p> + +<p>"Since we are talking confidentially," said Doctor Hugh and Rosemary +felt a thrill of pleasure at his tone, "I'll tell you my real +reasons<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> for objecting to Nina as a friend for you. She is too +old—that's all. What is she—thirteen?—well, she has all the ideas +and manners of a girl of eighteen. And you're still a little girl, +Rosemary, thank fortune. I don't want you to grow up too fast and it +would break Mother's heart to come home and find a grown up daughter +in the place of the little girl she left. Be twelve years old while +you can, honey, for the minute you are thirteen you leave that happy +year forever. I'm a serious old codger this afternoon, am I not? But +we understand each other better, don't we?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes!" Rosemary threw her arms around his neck. "I love you most +to pieces!" she confided.</p> + +<p>From that moment Rosemary began to worship her brother with all the +depth and power of her warm and affectionate nature. She did not +immediately become a model of obedience and she often disputed his +edicts and decisions. There were misunderstandings and tears and +many hard lessons to be learned still ahead. But Hugh would never +again be a stranger with her respect and love yet to be won. She +could admire his strength of will and purpose whole heartedly and as +she contrasted them with Aunt<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> Trudy's characteristics, Rosemary +insensibly found her aunt wanting.</p> + +<p>She said something of this to Jack Welles the day after the +memorable hair cutting. Rosemary had endured the comments and +questions of the household at dinner that night with fair composure, +but she had flared up in wrath at Jack's laughter when he first met +her the following afternoon.</p> + +<p>"My mother says it is extremely ill-bred to indulge in comments on a +person's personal appearance," declared Rosemary heatedly. "My hair +is a part of my personal appearance."</p> + +<p>"What a dub you were to have it cut," said Jack, sobering. "But it +might look worse, Rosemary, honestly it might. I think it is rather +becoming with those ends curling under like that."</p> + +<p>Rosemary permitted herself to be calmed.</p> + +<p>"It's fun to brush it," she laughed. "And my head feels as light as +a feather."</p> + +<p>"What did Hugh say?" asked Jack curiously. "Or didn't you ask him? +And Aunt Trudy makes such a fuss about your hair—wasn't she +horrified?"</p> + +<p>Rosemary's expressive face shadowed.</p> + +<p>"Hugh was just dear to me!" she said enigmati<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>cally, "but Aunt Trudy +was so silly. She cried and cried and said what would my mother say +and wasn't I ever going to have any respect for her wishes—she is +so tiresome, she really is, Jack."</p> + +<p>"Then you must have been told not to have it bobbed and went ahead +like your usual perverse small self," declared Jack shrewdly. "I'll +bet Hugh didn't weep though—he looks to me as though he could talk +to you like a Dutch uncle."</p> + +<p>"Well I don't care if he did!" said Rosemary. "I'd rather be scolded +or punished than cried over. And Aunt Trudy doesn't cry because she +is sorry—she does it to get her own way. That's the way she makes +us mind—she cries and says we don't love her and that makes us feel +mean.</p> + +<p>"But I don't think it is fair one bit and afterward I'm so mad I +could throw a sofa cushion at her. You needn't look at me like that, +Jack Welles! Your aunt doesn't cry over <i>you</i>."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%; padding-bottom: 50px;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="chapter_vii" id="chapter_vii"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>THE RUNAWAY</h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/j.png" title="J" height="44" width="31" alt="J" /></p> +<p>UNE slipped quietly into July and with the long, hot sunny days +came the inclination to slight regular tasks as Winnie had +predicted. Sarah tried to beg off from making the beds morning after +morning and Shirley began to grumble when called from her play to go +to the store. Aunt Trudy declared that the heat always affected her +and demanded an electric fan in her room and drove Winnie frantic +with repeated requests for ice-water. Rosemary alone remained +faithful to her duties, feeling the responsibility of an oldest +daughter. She answered the many calls on the telephone, kept the +messages straight and even wrote out the cards for the office file. +Doctor Hugh declared he did not know what he should do without her. +When Sarah left her work undone, it was Rosemary who finished it for +her, Rosemary who listened sympathetically to Aunt Trudy's +complaints about the weather, Rosemary who coaxed Shir<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>ley into +clean frocks and amiability each afternoon and tried to soothe +Winnie when Sarah's side-yard menagerie insisted on invading the +house.</p> + +<p>"Rosemary, this is the second time Shirley has stayed away from +lunch," declared Aunt Trudy one noon. "Don't you think I should +speak to your brother about it?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, Aunt Trudy, not right away," protested Rosemary, her +troubled eyes wandering to the little sister's vacant place. "I +don't believe she really means to run away. I'll get her to promise +not to go out of the yard and she will be all right. Shirley never +broke her promise yet."</p> + +<p>"Sarah ought to play with her more, instead of fussing with those +silly rabbits," said Aunt Trudy severely.</p> + +<p>"I do play with her," retorted Sarah irritably. "I play with her +lots. But she likes Rosemary. I can't help it if she gets mad at me +and goes to play with those Bailey children, can I? Rosemary is +always practising."</p> + +<p>This was not quite fair on Sarah's part, for Rosemary though devoted +to her music and already an advanced pupil, seldom practised more +than an hour in the morning and another in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> afternoon. The fact +was that six year old Shirley was developing the running-away habit +at an alarming rate.</p> + +<p>She came home late that afternoon, tired and cross, and to +Rosemary's questions returned the briefest answers. Yes, she had +been playing with the Bailey children. No, not in their yard. No, +they had not gone with her when she went further on. She had gone by +herself. Yes, she had had some lunch, a pound of sweet crackers.</p> + +<p>"Where did you get them?" asked Rosemary, who was brushing the sunny +hair.</p> + +<p>"At the grocery," admitted Shirley.</p> + +<p>"But you didn't have any money, dear, did you?" said Rosemary in +surprise.</p> + +<p>"I charged 'em—Mr. Holmes said it would be all right," announced +Shirley complacently.</p> + +<p>"Shirley Willis! And you know Mother positively never allows us to +charge a thing unless she orders it," cried Rosemary. "What do you +suppose Hugh would say? Did you eat a whole pound?"</p> + +<p>No, Shirley confessed, she had had crackers to give away. She had +given some to a strange dog and some to a little boy and girl she +met.</p> + +<p>"What little boy and girl?" demanded Rose<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>mary, beginning to feel +that this youngest sister was too much for her. "Where did you meet +them?"</p> + +<p>"At the dump lot," said Shirley sweetly.</p> + +<p>Rosemary stared at her. The "dump lot" was on the other side of the +town and furnished an annual topic of discussion for the Eastshore +Woman's Club. To it the town refuse and garbage was carted and it +was regularly hauled over and searched by bands of men, women and +children intent on salvage.</p> + +<p>"What shall I do with you?" groaned poor Rosemary. "After this, +you'll have to stay in the yard, Shirley. You know Hugh would scold +if he heard you were playing in the dump lot. Promise Sister you +won't go away from the house to-morrow morning."</p> + +<p>Shirley, looking more than ever like an adorable cherub in freshly +ironed pink chambray, shook her head naughtily.</p> + +<p>"I might want to go," she argued.</p> + +<p>"But you mustn't!" Rosemary's voice was earnest. "You can't run all +over town like this, darling. You'll be run over by an automobile, +or something dreadful will happen to you. Promise to stay in your +own yard like a good girl."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>Shirley would not promise. The worried Rosemary went to Winnie.</p> + +<p>"I don't want to tell Hugh," she explained, "he's busy and when he's +home Shirley is so cunning and funny I don't believe he thinks she +can be naughty. Besides Mother told me to look after the +children—what can I do, Winnie?" and Rosemary, a child herself +waited Winnie's reply anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Running away is something most children go through," pronounced +Winnie. "You never had the trick, Rosemary, but Hugh did and so did +Sarah. Your father spanked Hugh and cured him and your mother and I +together cured Sarah. We tied her to a tree with a rope and she was +so ashamed to have the other children see her that she promised not +to leave the yard without permission."</p> + +<p>"But Shirley won't promise," said Rosemary. "She keeps saying she +might want to go. Aunt Trudy thinks we should tell Hugh about her."</p> + +<p>"Well I think myself he might be able to break her of the trick," +admitted Winnie. "Shirley thinks a heap of him and yet she's a +little afraid of him too. But I'm like you, Rosemary—I hate to +bother him just now. He's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> worried about that hospital case and last +night he was called out twice."</p> + +<p>"Could we tie Shirley to a tree?" asked Rosemary hopefully.</p> + +<p>"She's too big for that," Winnie advised her. "Sarah was only three +years old when that was tried. Shirley would untie the knots or cut +the rope or get someone to unloose her. No, we'll have to keep a +good watch on her and trust to making her see she's doing wrong. You +can reason with Shirley, if she is only six years old."</p> + +<p>"Oh dear," sighed Rosemary, quite worn out with her experiences, "I +never knew it was so hard to bring up children!"</p> + +<p>"Biggest job in the world," Winnie said shortly. "Mothers never rest +and their work is never done."</p> + +<p>The next morning Rosemary coaxed Sarah to play paper dolls with +Shirley on the porch while she practised and she went to her music +with a clear conscience. For an hour the scales and trills sounded +and wound up with a grand march for good measure. Stepping out on +the porch Rosemary found it deserted, the paper dolls scattered on +the rug, the box overturned where the children had left it.</p> + +<p>"Shirley!" cried Rosemary. "Sarah!"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>"I'm cleaning the rabbit house," shouted Sarah, and Rosemary hurried +around to the side yard.</p> + +<p>"Where's Shirley?" she demanded anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Shirley? Isn't she on the porch?" Sarah's dirt-streaked face peered +through the wire netting which surrounded her pets.</p> + +<p>"No, she isn't, and I'm afraid she has run away again," said +Rosemary, troubled. "How long ago did you leave her, Sarah?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, about half an hour," replied Sarah carelessly. "She wanted to +cut out more dolls and I got her the scissors and asked her if she +minded if I came and cleaned the pens. Elinor gets sick so easily I +don't like to let the house go without cleaning it every other day."</p> + +<p>"Bother Elinor!" said Rosemary impatiently. "Come help me look for +Shirley. Hugh is coming home for lunch—he telephoned and Winnie +answered it."</p> + +<p>They hunted through the house, but no Shirley could be found. +Rosemary even went to two or three of the nearest neighbors, but the +small girl was not there.</p> + +<p>"Shirley? I saw her going down the street with her express wagon," +volunteered Ray Anderson, a four year old boy who lived a few doors<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> +away. "She was on the other side of the street."</p> + +<p>"If I knew where to go look for her, I would," said the worried +Rosemary, "but there are twenty streets she could be on. I'll run +over to the dump lot, Sarah; perhaps she has gone there again."</p> + +<p>"You'll have to run all the way, if you get back by half-past +twelve," observed Sarah dispassionately. "Aunt Trudy said she was +going to tell Hugh the next time any of us were late to meals."</p> + +<p>And though Rosemary ran most of the way to the dump lot on the other +side of town—where a single hasty glance satisfied her that Shirley +was not among the groups engaged in pulling over the unsavory +messes—and all the way back, the others were seated at the luncheon +table when she reached the house. She heard a distinct rumble of +thunder as she entered the door.</p> + +<p>"Mercy, child, how hot you look!" was Aunt Trudy's greeting. "I +don't see why you girls don't try to come to your meals on time; I +take so much pains to have the things you like and Winnie is such a +good cook. And yet the three of you haven't been punctual for a +week."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid I set them a bad example," smiled Doctor Hugh. "Let's +form a compact—when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> Aunt Trudy tells me that not one of you has +been late for a week to any meal, I'll have the clock fixed."</p> + +<p>The dining-room clock was an old joke in the Willis family. It was a +cuckoo clock and had been broken for more than a year, but remained +one of those things that are never attended to. Several times a week +the little mother had mentioned that the dining-room clock really +must be mended, but it was always forgotten. Since Hugh had been +home he had often declared that the clock must be fixed but it still +remained mute and useless.</p> + +<p>"Shirley loves to hear the cuckoo call," said Rosemary, and +instantly regretted her remark.</p> + +<p>"Where is Shirley?" was the doctor's natural question.</p> + +<p>"I dare say she's run away again," announced Aunt Trudy, her tone +resigned.</p> + +<p>"Run away?" repeated Doctor Hugh sharply. "Why, what do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Well, Hugh I'm sorry to tell you, but Shirley has run away several +times lately," said Aunt Trudy. "She has been absent from lunch +twice this week. I've talked to her and I know Rosemary has, but +nothing seems to do any good."</p> + +<p>A vivid flash of lightning, followed by a roar<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> of thunder and a +sudden torrent of rain heralded the arrival of the thunder shower.</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to tell me that that baby has been allowed to run +around this town alone?" demanded the doctor sternly. "What have you +been thinking of? What have you all been doing?"</p> + +<p>"Well she is very self-willed," offered Aunt Trudy, "and I have no +strength left this hot weather. I said yesterday that you ought to +know about it."</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you tell him, then?" suggested Sarah impertinently.</p> + +<p>"That will do," said her brother. "Rosemary, how long has Shirley +been gone?"</p> + +<p>"About an hour now," admitted Rosemary reluctantly. "I've been over +to the dump lot, Hugh, and she isn't there."</p> + +<p>"The dump lot!" ejaculated the doctor. "Is that where Shirley is in +the habit of going? Suppose you tell me about this and how long it +has been going on."</p> + +<p>The shrill ring of the telephone bell interrupted Rosemary's +recital. Doctor Hugh answered it. He came back to the dining-room +frowning, yet oddly enough looking relieved.</p> + +<p>"Shirley is in the Moreland police station," he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> announced. "She was +picked up during the height of the storm with her express wagon. +I'll go over in the car and bring her home. Want to come, Rosemary?"</p> + +<p>Rosemary did, and the sun was shining out again as they took their +places in the roadster.</p> + +<p>"Don't look so sober, dear," said Doctor Hugh, glancing at the grave +face close to his shoulder. "I'm not blaming you, except that I wish +you had told me at once. This experience will probably quite cure +Shirley from running off. Heigh-o, I wonder what you girls will +think of to do next?"</p> + +<p>Moreland was the town adjoining Eastshore, and ten minutes' ride +brought them to the door of the police station. Rosemary clung +tightly to her brother's arm as they went up the steps.</p> + +<p>"There is nothing to be afraid of," he assured her.</p> + +<p>Then someone folded back one of the heavy oak doors and they found +themselves in a large, bare room.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%; padding-bottom: 50px;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="chapter_viii" id="chapter_viii"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>SARAH IN DISGRACE</h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/t.png" title="T" height="44" width="40" alt="T" /></p> +<p>HE first person Rosemary saw was Shirley, looking very small and +forlorn. She sat on a chair so high that her little feet dangled in +mid-air. One hand clutched a half eaten bun, the other held a +scarcely tasted glass of milk.</p> + +<p>"Oh Rosemary!" cried the familiar little voice. "I'm so glad you've +come!"</p> + +<p>An obliging man in a blue uniform took the bun and the glass of milk +and Rosemary hugged Shirley tightly.</p> + +<p>"How could you run away again, darling?" the older sister whispered +reproachfully. "You worried us so! Were you out in the rain?"</p> + +<p>"Only a little," said Shirley, restored to cheerfulness now that +Rosemary was here to take care of her.</p> + +<p>"She got frightened when it began to thunder," the sergeant at the +desk was saying to Doctor Hugh. "As nearly as I can make out, from +what she says, she started to run at the first clap,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> and ran away +from her home, instead of toward it. She crossed the line from +Eastshore into Moreland before Jim Doran found her, running as hard +as she could and jerking the express wagon behind her and crying as +though her heart would break. He brought her here and as soon as she +calmed down a bit and told us her name and address, we telephoned +you. Oh, no thanks due us at all—we get a lost child every week or +so. But you ought to break her of running away—the automobile +traffic is so heavy, specially in the summer time, it's dangerous +for a child to be crossing the streets alone."</p> + +<p>Doctor Hugh shook hands with the sergeant and turned toward Rosemary +and Shirley.</p> + +<p>"Come here, Shirley," he said quietly.</p> + +<p>A little frightened, Shirley approached him dubiously. He lifted her +gently and swung her to the top of the table before the sergeant's +desk.</p> + +<p>"There's a sand box and a box of sand toys coming to our house +to-morrow," he said unexpectedly, "but I couldn't think of letting a +little runaway girl touch them. Perhaps I had better send them back +to the store."</p> + +<p>A sand-box had been one of Shirley's fondest wishes.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>"Oh, no, Hugh," she begged, "Don't send them back, please don't. I +won't run away again, ever. Honestly."</p> + +<p>"Will you promise not to leave the yard again unless you first ask +Rosemary or Winnie or Aunt Trudy?" asked the doctor.</p> + +<p>"Yes," nodded Shirley instantly.</p> + +<p>"Well then, if you are not going to run away again, I'll keep the +sand-box," decided Doctor Hugh. "And now we must be getting home for +I have a busy afternoon ahead of me."</p> + +<p>The sergeant shook hands with Shirley and told her that she was wise +to make up her mind to play in her own yard. His little girl, he +said, never ran away. The blue-coated man who had taken the bun and +the milk, carried the express wagon down and put it in the car, and +fifteen minutes later Shirley was deposited safely on her own front +porch.</p> + +<p>The sand-box and the toys came the next morning and Shirley played +for hours with them. Sometimes she induced Sarah to play with her, +but more often that young person was otherwise engaged. She had a +lame cat to care for now in addition to the rabbits and Winnie +declared that if it came to a choice between cream for her aunt's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> +tea or the cat, she wouldn't trust Sarah with the bottle.</p> + +<p>"I don't think you have a very kind heart, Winnie," said Sarah one +morning when she had been discovered in a raid on the refrigerator.</p> + +<p>"Well I have some conscience and you haven't, or you wouldn't be +wanting to feed loin chops that cost forty-five cents a pound to a +cat," declared Winnie grimly.</p> + +<p>"Sick animals need good food," maintained Sarah, swinging on the +screen door, a habit which invariably irritated Winnie.</p> + +<p>"Go on out and play, do," she now advised Sarah. "How can I get my +work done with you buzzing around me like a fly! Well what do you +suppose struck the child that minute—" Winnie broke off in +amazement. Sarah had dashed around to the front of the house, +banging the screen door noisily behind her. Not curious enough to +speculate further, Winnie went on with her task of scrubbing the +table top already immaculate in its snowy purity.</p> + +<p>Aunt Trudy was descending the front stairs leisurely an hour or two +later, pleasantly contemplating the nearness of the lunch hour, when +the door bell rang sharply. Really it sounded as though someone had +jabbed it viciously.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> Aunt Trudy approached the door with reproving +dignity.</p> + +<p>"You're Miss Wright, aren't you?" said a rasped voice. "Well, I'm +Mrs. Anderson and I want to tell you that something has got to be +done to Sarah; that child is simply unbearable. She slapped the face +of my Ray this morning and the poor lamb came into the house crying +with pain. He's only four years old, and I think when a great girl +of nine takes to slapping babies' faces, she needs a sound whipping. +No, I won't come in, but I was determined you should know about it. +That child will end up in prison if her temper isn't curbed."</p> + +<p>"No one ever spoke to me like that, Hugh," complained Aunt Trudy +tearfully to her nephew when he came in a few minutes later. "She +didn't give me a chance to say a word. I'm sure I don't approve of +Sarah slapping any one's face."</p> + +<p>"Of course you don't," agreed the doctor soothingly. "Where is the +culprit? We'll see what she has to say for herself. Look here, +Sarah," he opened fire as that young person came up the porch steps +and into the hall, "Mrs. Anderson says you slapped Ray's face this +morning."</p> + +<p>"Well?" inquired Sarah coolly.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>"Did you?" said the doctor matching her briefness.</p> + +<p>"I certainly did," Sarah assured him. "He is a bad, cruel boy and I +wish I had slapped him harder. He was stepping on poor baby ants!"</p> + +<p>Aunt Trudy stared in astonishment, but something pathetic in Sarah's +defiant little figure touched Doctor Hugh. She so evidently +considered she had vindicated herself.</p> + +<p>"That wasn't being kind, was it?" he said gently, "but, Sarah, +slapping his face didn't teach him not to step on ants—it merely +taught him that one of his neighbors was a very impolite little +girl. I want you to go over now and apologize to Mrs. Anderson."</p> + +<p>"But I slapped Ray," hedged Sarah cannily.</p> + +<p>"Well Ray is so little he probably doesn't hold malice," explained +Doctor Hugh seriously. "It is Mrs. Anderson's feelings that are +hurt; don't you think you are a little ashamed, Sarah, to know you +struck a child so much younger than you are?"</p> + +<p>"Go and tell her you are sorry, dearie," suggested Aunt Trudy.</p> + +<p>"I won't say I am sorry, because that would be a lie," said Sarah +virtuously.</p> + +<p>"If you are not sorry you slapped Ray you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> ought to be, because such +an act is the height of discourtesy," declared the doctor. "However, +if you apologize, I don't doubt that will be satisfactory. Go right +away, Sarah."</p> + +<p>"I think Mrs. Anderson should apologize to us," announced Sarah with +explosive suddenness. "She came over here telling tales and that is +the meanest thing any one can do. You hate tale-bearers, you said so +Hugh."</p> + +<p>The doctor's long-suffering patience snapped.</p> + +<p>"What Mrs. Anderson does is no concern of yours," he said testily. +"If you do not go to her house immediately and apologize, Sarah, +I'll march you over there and wait while you do it. I've listened to +all the argument I intend to."</p> + +<p>"I'll go," surrendered Sarah sullenly.</p> + +<p>What she said could only be conjectured but apparently Mrs. Anderson +was mollified for peace reigned the remainder of the week. Sunday +afternoon though, a fresh storm broke, with Sarah again the center.</p> + +<p>"Where's Sarah?" Doctor Hugh demanded, meeting Rosemary in the hall +on his return from a round of calls.</p> + +<p>Rosemary was dressed in white and ready for a sedate walk with Aunt +Trudy.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>"She's in your office, reading," she answered. "She likes the goat +skin rug, you know."</p> + +<p>"All right," nodded the doctor, "run along, chick, and tell Aunt +Trudy to keep on the shady side of the street. The sun is blazing."</p> + +<p>Sarah was not visible from the door, but walking around his desk, +her brother discovered her stretched full length in her favorite +reading attitude, on the white goat skin rug. Her book dealt with +the health of cats.</p> + +<p>"Sarah," began the doctor looking down at her, "did you take a +telephone message from Mrs. Anderson yesterday morning?"</p> + +<p>Sarah looked obstinate.</p> + +<p>"Did you?" her brother insisted. "Answer me," he commanded, pulling +her to her feet.</p> + +<p>"Yes I did," muttered Sarah. "Rosemary was busy practising and +Winnie's bread was in the oven."</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you tell me she wanted me to call there Saturday night?" +demanded the doctor sternly.</p> + +<p>"'Cause," murmured Sarah uneasily.</p> + +<p>"You're ashamed to tell me, and I don't wonder," Doctor Hugh said +crisply. "You'd let a miserable little thing like an apology you +were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> forced to make her, interfere with your loyalty to service. I +thought you were bigger than that, Sarah," he added.</p> + +<p>Sarah said nothing.</p> + +<p>"If you were a nurse in a hospital or a doctor's office, you'd be +dismissed," her brother went on, "for all you know I might have been +needed seriously. As it happened, no harm was done, but that doesn't +excuse you. Hereafter you are not to answer the phone under any +circumstances. You can't be trusted to deliver the messages you +receive."</p> + +<p>If he had only known it, Doctor Hugh had delivered a severe blow to +Sarah's pride. She had been extremely proud of her ability to answer +the telephone and welcomed the rare opportunities when Rosemary was +out or busy with her beloved music. But she said nothing and after a +day or two the doctor realized that she was not on "speaking terms" +with him.</p> + +<p>"She ought to be spanked," he confided to Winnie, "but I don't +believe in that form of punishment for children as old as she is."</p> + +<p>"It wouldn't do any good," said Winnie, "your mother spanked her +years ago when she'd take these silent fits. It only made her more +obstinate. You can do more with Sarah, Hughie,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> by helping her out +of a tight place than any way I know. She's always getting into +trouble and she never forgets the ones that stand by her. You keep +your eyes open and the chance will come."</p> + +<p>The opportunity came sooner than either of them expected. For nearly +a week Jack Welles had been storming, to any one who would listen to +him, about the "low-down" thief who nightly took his can of fishing +worms.</p> + +<p>"Plumb lazy, I call it," grumbled Jack, "to cart away the worms a +fellow breaks his back digging. Some worthless tramp is catching +fish with my worms and I intend to catch him."</p> + +<p>His wails had reached the ears of Doctor Hugh, himself an ardent +fisherman when time permitted and his sympathies were entirely with +the defrauded one.</p> + +<p>"Sit up some night and watch," he advised the lad. "Put the can in +the usual place—where do you keep it—on the back step?—all right, +put it there, and then hide back of the willow tree. You say it is +done sometime between ten and twelve, for you go to bed at ten and +your father comes home at midnight and finds the can empty? That +ought to make it easy for you, for you know when to watch for the +thief."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>Jack's father was engaged in some delicate electrical experiments +that were conducted in his factory at night to escape the vibration +caused by the heavy machines.</p> + +<p>Coming home from the Jordan office a little after then the next +night after he had given Jack his advice, Doctor Hugh remembered +what he had said and wondered if the boy had been successful in +detecting the thief. As he neared the Welles house he heard loud and +angry voices.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%; padding-bottom: 50px;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="chapter_ix" id="chapter_ix"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>WHEN PATIENCE SLIPS</h3> + +<p class="figleft2"><img src="images/i2.png" title="i" height="44" width="29" alt="i" /></p> +<p>F I ever catch you touching my can of worms again, I'll—I'll—" +words apparently failed Jack and he began to sputter.</p> + +<p>"Got him, Jack?" the doctor leaped the hedge lightly and ran +diagonally across the lawn to the back of the Welles's house.</p> + +<p>"Him?" growled Jack in disgust. "Him! Look at this—" and he flashed +a pocket light that revealed to the astonished Doctor Hugh the +tear-streaked face of Sarah.</p> + +<p>"For the love of Mike!" gasped her brother. "Have you been taking +Jack's worms?"</p> + +<p>"Yes she has," Jack answered for her. "She's been dumping the can +out every night. And if she does it again I'll shake her if she is a +girl."</p> + +<p>"Hold on, hold on," said Doctor Hugh pacifically. "Let's get the +hang of this; why did you empty Jack's can of worms, Sarah?"</p> + +<p>"It—it hurts them to be jabbed with a hook," wept Sarah.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>"Like fun it does," retorted Jack scornfully. "Worms haven't any +feelings, hardly."</p> + +<p>"Well fishes have and if you haven't any worms you can't catch +fishes," stormed Sarah. "I will too throw away your worms."</p> + +<p>"You will not!" flashed Jack, taking a step toward her.</p> + +<p>Sarah, the defiant, turned and fled toward her brother. He put his +arm about her and found that she was shaking with nervous sobbing.</p> + +<p>"I'll see you to-morrow, Jack," he said quietly. "There is no use in +rousing the whole neighborhood. Come on, Sarah, we're going home."</p> + +<p>He lifted the little girl in his arms and strode across the grass, +entering the door of the house noiselessly and depositing her in a +large arm chair in the office. Then he went into the kitchen, warmed +a glass of milk and made her drink it.</p> + +<p>"Now tell me all about it," he said, sitting down at his desk to +face her. Sarah, he knew, had a horror of being "fussed over" and he +did not dare pet her though he wished his mother were there to +cuddle the pathetic little figure in her arms.</p> + +<p>"I emptied the can every night, after Jack<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> went to bed," said +Sarah. "That's all. He doesn't care how much he hurts them, but I +do."</p> + +<p>"But how could you stay awake from eight till ten o'clock?" asked +the doctor curiously, "and how could you come down stairs without +waking Shirley or being seen by Aunt Trudy or Winnie?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't go to bed, that is not really," confided Sarah. "I lay +down with all my clothes on, because Rosemary always comes in to see +that our light is out before she goes to bed. But after nine o'clock +I stayed up till I saw Jack shut the kitchen door of his house and +then I knew he was through digging worms."</p> + +<p>"Didn't you ever go to sleep before Rosemary came in to look at +you?" asked her brother. "Not once?"</p> + +<p>"Not once," said Sarah firmly. "I put three of Shirley's building +blocks under my back so I couldn't. And when I got up I sat on the +window sill so if I went to sleep I'd wake up when I fell out."</p> + +<p>"Well you are thorough," admitted the doctor. "Weren't you afraid +Aunt Trudy would come in and find you sitting up? Or hear you +falling out of the window?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>"I didn't fall," declared Sarah, matter-of-factly. "And Aunt Trudy +never comes to see if we are in bed. Mother used to, every night."</p> + +<p>"I see," the doctor frowned a little. "Well, Sarah, you'll have to +let Jack's worms alone after this. I'm not going to argue with you +about the feelings of the worms or the fish (you'll get that point +better when you are a little older) but I'll put it to you this way; +they're Jack's worms and you mustn't touch what belongs to him. And, +also, you can't go about making people think as you do. If you don't +believe in fishing, all right; you are at perfect liberty not to +fish. But you have no call to try to stop other people from fishing. +Jack may not approve of the way you keep your rabbits. He may think +they should be turned loose and allowed to destroy the garden. If he +came over here night after night and let your rabbits out, think how +angry you would be. Do you see, dear? You do what you feel to be +right and let the other fellow keep tabs on his own conscience."</p> + +<p>Sarah thought a few minutes.</p> + +<p>"Well, I will," she sighed reluctantly. "Worms are awfully nasty +things, anyway, Hugh. I had to pick some of them out of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> can +with my fingers, because they wouldn't come out."</p> + +<p>"Then we're all serene again," said her brother cheerfully. "And now +it is after eleven and high time you were asleep."</p> + +<p>Sarah gave him a quick, shy kiss at the head of the stairs and +vanished into her room. She was always chary of caresses and her +mother declared that she could count the times Sarah had voluntarily +kissed her.</p> + +<p>The last two weeks of July were an unbroken "hot spell." Eastshore +was ordinarily comfortable in the summer time but the heat wave that +gripped the country made itself felt and not all the pleasant effect +of wide lawns and old shade trees could counteract the hot, humid +nights and the blazing, parched days. An occasional thunder shower +did its best to bring comfort, but the heat closed in again after +each gust, seemingly more intense than ever. It was a trying test +for tempers and dispositions and the Willis household began to +develop "nerves."</p> + +<p>"I should think you children could manage to remember to shut the +screens doors behind you," remarked Doctor Hugh one morning at the +breakfast table. "If there is one thing positively unendurable, it +is flies in the house!"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>Winnie put down the cream pitcher beside his cup of coffee with an +emphasis that threatened to spray him with its contents.</p> + +<p>"You'd better be speaking to Sarah," she said grimly. "I'm about +wore out, arguing with her. She won't let me use the fly-batter at +all and why? Because it is cruel to kill the dear darling little +flies that tramp all over our food with their filthy feet!"</p> + +<p>Rosemary giggled. She sat in Aunt Trudy's place, cool and neat in a +blue gingham dress, her charming bobbed head making a pretty picture +silhouetted against the light of the window behind her. The warm +weather had reconciled Rosemary to the loss of her hair. Aunt Trudy +often pleaded a headache mornings and Rosemary took her place at the +silver tray and poured her brother's coffee.</p> + +<p>"Don't let me hear any more such nonsense," said he sternly now. +"Keep the screens closed, Winnie, and kill any flies that get in. +Sarah, you are not to interfere in any way—and don't scowl like +that."</p> + +<p>For reply Sarah kicked the table leg to the peril of her glass of +milk and Shirley's.</p> + +<p>"You'll find yourself sent away from the table<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> in another minute," +her brother warned her. "Eat your breakfast and behave yourself."</p> + +<p>"You'll be sorry when I'm dead," said Sarah, her voice plaintive +with self-pity.</p> + +<p>Shirley thought the moment auspicious to make a reach for a hot +biscuit. Over went her glass of milk and her fat little hand landed +in the butter dish. The telephone bell saved her, as far as Doctor +Hugh was concerned, and when he came back to tell Rosemary that he +would not be home till dinner time and to give her a list of the +time and places when he could be reached during the day, Winnie had +removed all traces of the accident.</p> + +<p>"I guess you must think I'm a washing machine," she grumbled after +the doctor had gone. "That's the tenth clean runner we've had on the +table this week. If we were using table cloths every meal I'd have +to give up—no living woman could keep this family in table cloths!"</p> + +<p>"Sarah, are you going to make the beds this morning?" asked +Rosemary, on her way to sweep the porch, a duty she had assumed.</p> + +<p>"No, I'm not," returned Sarah with characteristic candor. "It's too +hot. Let 'em air till night. I want to play in the sand-box."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>"Ray Anderson and me's going to play in the sand-box," said Shirley. +"You can't come—you take all the toys."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Shirley, how cross you are!" cried Rosemary, aghast at the +frown on Shirley's pretty forehead. "Don't be so cranky, darling. +Sarah will play in one end of the box and you play in the other."</p> + +<p>But Sarah, her nose in the air, announced that she wouldn't "have a +thing to do with the old sand-box," and she departed to sit in the +swing and read, leaving Rosemary to make the beds or "let them air" +as she decided.</p> + +<p>Rosemary finished sweeping the porch and had just begun to make her +own bed, when her aunt called her.</p> + +<p>"Shirley and that little Anderson boy are making so much noise, I +can't rest," Aunt Trudy complained. "I should think you could tell +them to play quietly, Rosemary. And I wish you wouldn't practise +this morning, dearie; my head is splitting and the piano does annoy +me so. This afternoon I'll take my sewing out under the tree and you +may have two hours to yourself, if you like."</p> + +<p>Rosemary went down and suggested to Shirley and Ray that they make +sand pies instead of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> building a railroad, knowing from experience +that sand pies was a comparatively quiet play. Then she dusted her +beloved piano with a little lump in her throat. Mother had loved to +hear her practise and had liked to sit on summer mornings in a chair +close by, sewing and listening. Mother was an accomplished musician +and she knew and noted her little daughter's enthusiastic progress. +One reason that Rosemary practised so steadily through the warm +weather in spite of discouragement was her determination to surprise +her mother by her improvement when that dear lady came back to them.</p> + +<p>"It's a shame you have all the beds to do, Rosemary," said Winnie, +coming up for a salve from the medicine closet in the bathroom and +discovering Rosemary wearily putting the bedrooms to rights. "I've +burned my finger on that silly hot water heater again. I've told the +doctor and told him to have the plumber stop in and fix it, but he +forgets every time."</p> + +<p>"I'll telephone Mr. Mertz," said Rosemary absently.</p> + +<p>"You ought to make Sarah do her part," went on Winnie, spreading +salve on a piece of gauze and binding it around her finger. "I'm +tired trying to get any help from her. And Miss<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> Trudy wants +ice-water every minute of the day and if I don't get it for her she +comes out to the refrigerator and wastes half a block, hacking it. +Shirley wants nothing but hot breads and meat and first thing we +know she'll be sick on our hands."</p> + +<p>Winnie sat on the edge of the bath-tub and let her mind dwell on her +woes. Rosemary tried to listen sympathetically, but she was warm and +tired and if Winnie would only go perhaps she could finish the rooms +in time to read a little before lunch. The afternoon would have to +be given over to her delayed practising.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm going down stairs," said Winnie, putting the salve jar +back on its shelf, "and all we're going to have for lunch is tomato +salad and bread and butter. If any one doesn't like it, they can +leave it; I'm not going to spend any time fussing with special +dishes this kind of weather."</p> + +<p>Rosemary's practising that afternoon was interrupted several times +by the telephone, twice for the wrong number. Aunt Trudy, with the +air of a martyr, took her sewing out under the horse chestnut tree, +Sarah and Shirley went to a neighbor's to play and Winnie announced +that she intended to take a nap. So there was no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> one to answer the +bells except Rosemary. By the time she had jumped up to be asked "Is +this the grocery store?" once or twice, had admitted the butcher boy +with fresh meat which must be put on the ice and had been summoned +three times by Aunt Trudy to thread her needle—for glasses, +declared her aunt made her warmer in summer and she would not wear +them—Rosemary's temper was fraying sadly.</p> + +<p>"Rosemary," said Aunt Trudy, coming into the living room as the +practise hour was about over (not allowing for time wasted, Rosemary +told herself resentfully), "Rosemary, where is Sarah?"</p> + +<p>"I don't care where she is!" cried Rosemary, whirling around on the +piano bench. "I'm tired of always being asked where Sarah and +Shirley are. I don't care!"</p> + +<p>Aunt Trudy burst into tears.</p> + +<p>"I don't think you ought to speak to me like that," she sobbed.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%; padding-bottom: 50px;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="chapter_x" id="chapter_x"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>THE LAST STRAW</h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/j.png" title="J" height="44" width="31" alt="J" /></p> +<p>ACK Welles' cheerful whistle sounded outside.</p> + +<p>"Coming!" answered Rosemary.</p> + +<p>She flung her arms about Aunt Trudy and gave her a penitent hug.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry I was cross, Auntie," she whispered. "You know I didn't +mean it."</p> + +<p>Then she sped out the front door and joined Jack who was waiting on +the walk outside the hedge.</p> + +<p>"Come on uptown and have a soda," he suggested. "Perhaps it will +cool you off—you look slightly wild."</p> + +<p>"I feel wild," admitted Rosemary, falling into step beside him. +"This has been the most dreadful day!"</p> + +<p>"Weather's enough to make anyone cross," said the boy quickly. "I'll +bet the trouble is you're doing everyone's work. Hugh ought to make +Sarah stir around. She's lazy."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>"No, I don't think she is lazy," protested Rosemary, "Only, well you +know Jack, it was more fun doing the things you have to do when +Mother was home. I can't explain it very well, but I remember last +summer Sarah thought she'd wash the upstairs windows to surprise +Mother—Winnie was sick and Mother happened to say she didn't know +when in the world the windows would get cleaned. Sarah heard her and +the next day she lugged up a pail of water and a cloth and tried to +wash them. She splashed water all over the wall paper and made an +awful mess of it, but Mother kissed her and praised her and said she +was glad she had such a helpful little daughter. Aunt Trudy isn't +like that and Sarah likes to be praised for what she does. Aunt +Trudy never tells her she makes a bed well, but if there is a +wrinkle in the spread she shows her that. Sarah made the beds all +right for a long time, but now she goes off mornings and plays."</p> + +<p>"I knew it," nodded Jack, "and Winnie has a list of troubles a mile +long waiting for you every night."</p> + +<p>"Morning," corrected Rosemary, laughing. "Oh, Jack how do you know +so much? I don't see how I could get along without you, because +you're the only one who listens to my troubles.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> Hugh is a dear, but +he is so busy, and we're forbidden to write anything that will +bother Mother."</p> + +<p>"Fire into me any time you feel like it," invited Jack, steering her +toward the drug-store steps and the soda fountain therein. "I'm +always ready to listen and if you want any punching done, just let +me know."</p> + +<p>But the next hard day, when everything seemed to go wrong from +breakfast time to the dinner hour, no Jack was at hand to listen to +Rosemary's recital. He had gone away for a week's fishing trip with +his father.</p> + +<p>The day started with a pitched battle between Winnie and Sarah after +breakfast, over the question of feeding the cat the top of the milk. +Sarah declared passionately that she would starve herself before she +would feed a defenseless cat skimmed milk and Winnie, with equal +fervor, had announced that when she saw herself handing over the top +milk to a cat they might send her to the insane asylum without +delay.</p> + +<p>"You're a mean, hateful woman!" shouted Sarah, rushing out of the +kitchen and shutting the door on Shirley's finger which was too near +the crack.</p> + +<p>Shirley screamed with pain and after Rosemary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> had bathed the poor +bruised finger and Winnie had comforted the child with a cookie, +Aunt Trudy declared that her nerves were too unstrung to spend the +day in such a house and that she would go to town and shop.</p> + +<p>"That means I'll have to answer the telephone while I'm practising," +grumbled Rosemary. "Oh, dear, how selfish everyone is! I've a good +mind to sit down and read on the porch while it is shady. All the +others do as they please and I will, too."</p> + +<p>Her book was interesting, and there was a blessed freedom from +interruptions. Rosemary was amazed when Sarah, warm and dirty from +grubbing in the rabbit house appeared at the foot of the steps and +demanded to know if lunch was ready.</p> + +<p>"Oh well, I'll make the beds and pick up after lunch," said Rosemary +to herself.</p> + +<p>Shirley assumed the airs of an invalid at the lunch table and +secured large portions of meat and dessert as a concession to her +hurt finger. She ignored the vegetables entirely though the meal was +supposed to be her dinner and Doctor Hugh had given orders that she +was to be fed after certain rules.</p> + +<p>Winnie was put out because the iceman was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> late and her dinner +supplies threatened to spoil and Sarah insisted on the hot-water +heater being lit so that she might have hot water in which to wash +her cat. The wrangle with Winnie over this continued throughout the +meal.</p> + +<p>"I don't care whether you wash the cat or not," said Rosemary, when +Sarah followed her to the corner of the living-room where the piano +stood. "I'm going to practise, and don't bother me."</p> + +<p>"Silly old music," grumbled Sarah, "come on, Shirley, let's go sail +boats in the bath-tub."</p> + +<p>Rosemary spent the afternoon at the piano, having promised herself +that she would put in a full two hours over her music. The numerous +interruptions spun out the time so that when she finally closed the +lid the little clock on the mantelpiece chimed five.</p> + +<p>"Good gracious, the beds aren't made!" thought Rosemary and flew up +the stairs.</p> + +<p>One glance into the bathroom halted her and cooled her energy. +Shirley and Sarah had spent a busy afternoon, sailing boats in the +tub. They had used every clean towel in sight to mop up the puddles +on the floor and they were wet to their chins. Rosemary hustled them +off to get into clean dry clothes and then worked feverishly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> to +restore the room to a semblance of order. Aunt Trudy came home +before she had finished and when she saw the unmade beds and the +morning's disorder still untouched, she spoke her mind in no +uncertain terms.</p> + +<p>"Everybody has a grouch," observed Sarah cheerfully when they sat +down to dinner. Doctor Hugh had not come in.</p> + +<p>"Don't use that word, Sarah," reproved her aunt, sugaring a bowl of +boiled rice for Shirley.</p> + +<p>"Don't want rice, want cutylet," said Shirley, pointing to the veal +cutlet.</p> + +<p>"She's had enough meat to-day," interposed Winnie. "The doctor says +she shouldn't have it at all at night."</p> + +<p>Shirley refused to touch the rice and was sitting in stately +aloofness when Doctor Hugh came in looking warm and tired.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" he asked, dropping into his chair and testing +the soup Winnie instantly placed before him. Hugh was her idol and +she always managed not to keep him waiting. "Heat too much for you?" +he added.</p> + +<p>"Grouches is what ails 'em," volunteered Sarah.</p> + +<p>"I've asked her not to use that word, but no one pays any attention +to my wishes," sighed Aunt Trudy.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>"All right, drop it, Sarah," said Doctor Hugh shortly. "Aren't you +eating to-night, sweetheart?" he asked Shirley.</p> + +<p>"I want some cutylet," said Shirley wistfully. "I don't like rice."</p> + +<p>"She ate nothing for her dinner but beef loaf and two helps of date +pudding," announced Winnie. "I don't know when she expects to learn +to eat sensible and like a Christian."</p> + +<p>"Well, if Rosemary would take a little interest in the child and +coax her, she would soon learn to like vegetables," said Aunt Trudy. +"I think Shirley is left too much to herself."</p> + +<p>Rosemary flushed, but her brother spoke before she could reply.</p> + +<p>"You eat your rice, Shirley, or not one other thing can you have +to-night," he announced, with unusual severity, for Shirley was his +pet. "No, crying won't do you any good—eat your rice and stop +whining."</p> + +<p>"I think you ought to know how things go when I'm not here, Hugh," +began Aunt Trudy while Shirley ate her rice sulkily. "I was so upset +this morning that I thought I should fly if I stayed in the house, +so I went up to the city and shopped. I came in about half past five +and not one bed was made! The children's clothes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> lay just where +they had flung them last night. That's a nice way, isn't it? +Apparently I can not leave home for a few hours without finding +everything shirked on my return."</p> + +<p>Rosemary's blue eyes blazed with quick anger and an unlovely look +came into her face.</p> + +<p>"I don't care if I didn't make the beds!" she cried hotly. "I'm sick +and tired of beds and dusting and answering the telephone. You never +expect anyone in this house to do a single thing, but me!"</p> + +<p>"Rosemary!" said Doctor Hugh.</p> + +<p>"I don't think you should speak to me like that," asserted Aunt +Trudy on the verge of tears.</p> + +<p>"I won't speak to you at all!" jerked Rosemary. "That's the only way +to please you."</p> + +<p>Aunt Trudy began to cry and Doctor Hugh pushed back his plate.</p> + +<p>"Please leave the table, Rosemary," he said distinctly. "Go into the +office and wait for me."</p> + +<p>Rosemary rushed from the table like a whirlwind and the house shook +as she banged the office door.</p> + +<p>"I don't care!" she raged, in the depths of the comfortable shabby +arm-chair that had been her father's. "I don't care! Aunt Trudy +al<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>ways cries and it isn't fair. I suppose Hugh will be furious, but +let him. I'm so tired and so hot and so miserable—" and Rosemary +gave herself up to a passion of angry tears.</p> + +<p>She had been crying in the dark and when the door opened and someone +switched on the light she knew it was Doctor Hugh. She slipped down +from the chair and walked around back of the desk. He took the +swivel chair and glanced at her half-averted face gravely.</p> + +<p>"Rosemary," he said gently, "how would you like to ride over to +Bennington with me to-morrow? They're opening the new hospital and I +half promised to go. We'll be gone all the morning and it will make +a little change for you."</p> + +<p>Bennington was the county seat, twenty miles away. It should be +delightful not to have anything to do the next morning but put on a +clean frock and go with Hugh. He might even let her drive the car a +few minutes at a time on a straight stretch of road—Rosemary found +her tongue.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Hugh, I'd love it!" she said enthusiastically.</p> + +<p>"All right, so should I," he smiled. "I think you need a bit of +pleasure. Things going rather hard for you, dear?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>Rosemary nodded, a lump in her throat surprising her. She had +expected Hugh to be angry and to scold. Instead he was very gentle.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry," he said, "Very sorry. You miss Mother, I know; we all +do. But I think you are learning a good deal this summer without +her. I've been watching you, and you are more self-reliant and +capable every day. Several people have spoken to me about the way +you answer the 'phone and the intelligent answers you give them. I +don't know what I should do without you."</p> + +<p>Rosemary flushed with pleasure. Then, being Rosemary, she flung +herself headlong at her brother, narrowly missing his glasses.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Hugh! Hugh dear, I <i>am</i> sorry I acted so to-night!" she wept.</p> + +<p>"There, there," he patted her gently. "You didn't mean to be cross, +we all know that. You were tired and so was Aunt Trudy. I guess this +heat has about worn everybody out. I tried to warn you, but the +fireworks had to blaze up. Now kiss me, like my sweet girl, for I'm +going out again, and then make your peace with Aunt Trudy. And +to-morrow morning we'll leave dull care behind us and enjoy +ourselves for a few hours."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>"Shirley would love to go," suggested Rosemary.</p> + +<p>"All right, I thought you ought to leave the cares behind, but we'll +take Shirley if you say so," was the answer.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%; padding-bottom: 50px;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="chapter_xi" id="chapter_xi"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>A CHAIN OF PROMISES</h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/t.png" title="T" height="44" width="40" alt="T" /></p> +<p>HE "hot spell" broke that night and the morning was deliciously +cool and fresh. This delightful state of weather continued for +several days and was immediately reflected in the changed temper of +the Willis household and, it is safe to say, in many other Eastshore +households since we are all more or less affected by weather +conditions.</p> + +<p>Aunt Trudy, who really was miserable under excessive heat revived +and insisted on giving a birthday party for Shirley who was six +years old on the third of August, and Rosemary and Sarah pleased and +touched the good lady by their assurances that it was the nicest +child's party ever given in the town. Shirley took her good fortune +complacently and was heard to remark that she wished school would +open the next day because now she was old enough to go.</p> + +<p>The day after the party Aunt Trudy decided<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> to "run into the city" +for her new glasses and some special errands. She left soon after +breakfast and would, she informed Winnie, return on the 5:48 train +that afternoon.</p> + +<p>It was the day for Rosemary's music lesson and she went, at two +o'clock, to her teacher's house. The lesson over, she took a book +back to the Library for Aunt Trudy, bought some clothespins for +Winnie and meeting Jack Welles, brown and freckled from his fishing +trip, accepted his invitation to stop at the hardware store and see +the prize trout his father had caught and which was mounted and on +exhibition in the window. So it was nearly half past four when she +reached home.</p> + +<p>"Rosemary!" a shrill whisper came down to her over the bannisters, +as she went upstairs to leave the book she had selected for Aunt +Trudy on the table in her room. "Rosemary, come up here, quick!"</p> + +<p>Rosemary, vaguely frightened, ran up to Sarah's room. Shirley was +there and both little girls looked as though they had been crying.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter—did Shirley hurt herself?" asked Rosemary in +alarm.</p> + +<p>Sarah shut the door and looked at her older sister queerly.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>"Promise you won't tell? Cross-your-heart-hope-to-die?" she urged.</p> + +<p>Rosemary sat down on the bed.</p> + +<p>"Is it good or bad?" she asked cautiously.</p> + +<p>"Bad!" cried Shirley in an awe-struck tone. "Awfully bad. Isn't it, +Sarah?"</p> + +<p>Sarah nodded hopelessly.</p> + +<p>"It's so bad," she declared, "that you never heard anything as bad. +And if you tell, Rosemary, I'll run away, as far off as I can run +away, and never, never come back."</p> + +<p>Sarah's dark eyes were red-rimmed and she seemed so desperately +unhappy that Rosemary's kind heart was touched.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Sarah darling, you know I won't tell!" she exclaimed. "I don't +care what it is, I won't tell anyone. I promise."</p> + +<p>Sarah drew a long breath of relief. She sat down on the floor, her +favorite resting place, and Shirley scrambled down beside her.</p> + +<p>"Well then," said Sarah more calmly, "I've lost Aunt Trudy's +turquoise ring!"</p> + +<p>"You've lost Aunt Trudy's turquoise ring!" repeated Rosemary. "How +on earth could you lose her ring?"</p> + +<p>"We were playing with the jewel case," mur<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>mured Sarah, a dark red +flush rising under her brown skin.</p> + +<p>"Sarah Eaton Willis! And after what Hugh told you!" Rosemary stared +at the culprit in astonishment.</p> + +<p>For Aunt Trudy's jewel case, containing numerous rings and pins of +no inconsiderable value and for which she cared little beyond the +pleasure of possession seldom, if ever, wearing any of the pieces, +had delighted Sarah and Shirley from the first moment they +discovered it. Their aunt had indulgently allowed them to deck +themselves out and play "lady" and apparently the idea that anything +could happen to a valuable brooch or ring or a string of pearls, or +cut amber beads be lost, never occurred to her. It occurred to +Doctor Hugh, however, when he came home unexpectedly one afternoon +and met Sarah and Shirley arrayed in barbaric splendor. He had +immediately forbidden further play with the jewelry and, at his +orders, Aunt Trudy had placed the case among the list of things on +her dresser which must not be touched.</p> + +<p>"I didn't think Aunt Trudy would care if we played with her rings a +little while this afternoon," said Sarah uneasily, "We were going +to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> put everything back, weren't we, Shirley? I had the ring on and +Winnie called me to go get a cake of yeast—she's always wanting me +to run errands. And when I came back the ring was gone off my finger +and we hunted everywhere and we couldn't find it. So it must be +lost," wound up the small sinner.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe you have half looked," protested Rosemary. "Where +did you go after you bought the yeast cake? Straight home? Well, +I'll go look all the way to the store and back, and you and Shirley +look everywhere in the house you can think of."</p> + +<p>"You won't tell, will you, Rosemary?" coaxed Sarah. "Hugh will be so +mad, but Aunt Trudy won't mind. She never wears any of her rings."</p> + +<p>"Of course I won't tell," said Rosemary impatiently. "I promised. +But you hurry and put the rest of the things back in the case and +put it on Aunt Trudy's dresser, Sarah. And then look all over the +house."</p> + +<p>Rosemary searched every step of the way to the grocery store where +Sarah had gone to buy the yeast cake, and all the way back, but with +no result. The two little girls reported that they had looked +"everywhere" in the house, but no ring had obligingly turned up. +Aunt Trudy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> came home, apparently saw nothing wrong with the orderly +array of articles on her dresser, and dinner was a comfortable meal +if three of the five present were a little more silent than usual.</p> + +<p>That night, when they were getting ready for bed, Rosemary announced +that she had a plan. She had offered to go to bed when Sarah went +and the surprised and pleased Aunt Trudy had told Doctor Hugh that +she was sure the girls were learning to like an early bedtime hour.</p> + +<p>"If the ring is lost, it is lost, and that is all there is to it," +said Rosemary, sitting on Sarah's bed to brush her hair, a habit she +still clung to though the bobbed locks were quickly made ready for +the night. "And there is only one thing to do, that I can see: buy +Aunt Trudy another."</p> + +<p>"Buy her a ring!" gasped Sarah. "We can't—we haven't any money. And +Hugh won't give it to us, unless we tell him what it's for. How much +does a turquoise ring cost, Rosemary?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know," admitted Rosemary. "A great deal, I suppose. I'll +have to earn it, because I am the oldest. And Sarah you'll have to +let me tell Jack Welles, because I want to ask him how I can earn +some money."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>"Aunt Trudy won't know the ring is lost," argued Sarah. "She never +looks at 'em—she says she doesn't."</p> + +<p>"That has nothing to do with it," replied Rosemary earnestly. "When +you lose a thing, you try to replace it—that's what Mother says. Do +you care if I tell Jack, Sarah?"</p> + +<p>"No, but he mustn't tell Hugh," Sarah insisted.</p> + +<p>The next morning Rosemary seized an opportunity while Jack was +trimming the dividing hedge, to confide the story of the lost ring, +first swearing him to secrecy.</p> + +<p>"And now you have to tell me how I can earn money to buy Aunt Trudy +another ring," she said anxiously.</p> + +<p>Jack whistled in perplexity.</p> + +<p>"I think you ought to tell Hugh," he said at once. "A ring like that +must cost a lot—Aunt Trudy wouldn't have any make-believe stones. +You can't earn money without he finds it out and then there will be +a pretty row. Hasn't Sarah enough backbone to face the music?"</p> + +<p>"Well, you see if she had only played with the jewel case after Hugh +told her not to, that would be bad enough," explained Rosemary. "But +she played with it and lost a ring and Hugh will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> scold dreadfully +if he finds that out. I promised not to tell and so did you, Jack."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I did, and I'm sorry I ever made such a fool promise," said +Jack crossly. "I don't see how you can earn any money, Rosemary. +There is nothing for you to do."</p> + +<p>Rosemary was sure she could think of something and that afternoon +she hailed Jack triumphantly.</p> + +<p>"I've got it!" she called, running down to the hedge where he was +raking out the trimmings left from the morning's work. "I know what +I can do, Jack. I heard Mrs. Dunning tell Aunt Trudy the other day +that she would give anything if she could get someone to stay with +her baby while she went to the card club meetings Tuesday +afternoons. I can take care of the baby!"</p> + +<p>"What do you know about taking care of people's babies?" demanded +Jack with scorn.</p> + +<p>"I know how, if they are not very little ones," Rosemary assured +him. "The Dunning baby is old enough to walk. I am going to get a +baby to take care of every afternoon and that will be a whole lot of +money every week!"</p> + +<p>"What will Aunt Trudy say?" asked Jack pointedly.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>"She won't know—she takes a nap half the afternoon, and I'll ask +the babies' mothers to keep it a secret," planned Rosemary. "I won't +say I am going to surprise Aunt Trudy with a present, but they'll +think I am saving up for her birthday or something, perhaps."</p> + +<p>"You see, you've started to deceive folks already," argued Jack, +"and you know if Hugh ever finds out what you are doing he will be +raging. Hadn't you better tell him, Rosemary, or get Sarah to own +up?"</p> + +<p>"She won't—I did try," admitted Rosemary. "Sarah is scared to death +of what Hugh will say. No, I have to get another ring for Aunt Trudy +and then, maybe, we can let her know the old one is lost."</p> + +<p>In spite of Jack's opposition, Rosemary persisted in carrying out +her plan for earning money. As she had said, she had nearly the +whole of every afternoon to herself for Aunt Trudy took a long nap +and Doctor Hugh rarely came home between one and six. She called on +the mothers of young babies and in many instances was eagerly +welcomed. A great many women wanted to leave their youngsters with +some one for an hour or two in the afternoon and Rosemary had a +"natural way" with children,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> to quote Winnie. The babies took to +her at first sight and in a few days Rosemary was able to announce +to the disgruntled Jack that she had "work" for every afternoon in +the week.</p> + +<p>"They think I'm earning money for Christmas," she said, "I didn't +say that, honestly I didn't, Jack. But whenever I told any one I +wanted to earn some money and did they want me to take care of their +baby for fifteen cents an hour, they always said, 'Oh, I suppose you +want to earn some money for Christmas, before school opens'!"</p> + +<p>"Bet you'll give it up after the first day," prophesied Jack. +"Taking care of cranky babies isn't what it is cracked up to be."</p> + +<p>There were many afternoons when Rosemary recalled his words. She +would have liked to give up, often. The babies were as good and +sweet-tempered as babies usually are, but no child is angelic and +the hot weather and their teeth troubles fretted the small people +sadly. Rosemary was sometimes at her wits' end to keep her charges +amused and there were days when she longed to fly home and rest her +tired head on the cool pillow on her own little bed. She had never +been forced to do anything steadily for long after she tired of it, +and to be obliged to smile and play<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> with a wailing, discontented +baby on a hot, muggy afternoon did seem more than she could stand. +But she had plenty of perseverance, had Rosemary, and when she once +made up her mind to do a thing she stuck it out. Sarah and Shirley +had ceased to worry about the ring. Rosemary would make it all right +again for them—of that they had no doubt.</p> + +<p>But if Aunt Trudy slept long hours and did not interfere with the +goings and comings of her young nieces, she was not quite so +unobservant as they sometimes thought.</p> + +<p>"It seems to me that Rosemary is out of the house a good deal," she +remarked one morning to Winnie. "She ought to take more of an +interest in things here at the house."</p> + +<p>"Well, I suppose it's only natural she should find a good deal to do +outside," answered Winnie, who had not been blind to Rosemary's +frequent absences, cautiously. "She's young, you know, and doing +your duty gets tiresome after a bit."</p> + +<p>But to herself, Winnie admitted that Rosemary seemed to have +absolved herself from any responsibility toward her sisters. "Left +them to shift for themselves," was the way Winnie put it. She was +puzzled and also disappointed in her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> favorite, for indifference of +any kind had never been a Rosemary trait.</p> + +<p>"She ought to be looking after Sarah and Shirley some of the time," +grumbled Winnie. "Those young ones are under my feet continually. +The least Rosemary can do is to read to 'em now and then to keep +them quiet."</p> + +<p>That very afternoon Miss Mason, Rosemary's music teacher called to +see Aunt Trudy. Rosemary's music was falling below its usual +standard and that was a pity. Was she practising as faithfully as +usual?</p> + +<p>"I think it is a shame to waste all that money on music lessons, if +you won't practise, Rosemary," announced her aunt at the dinner +table that night.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%; padding-bottom: 50px;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="chapter_xii" id="chapter_xii"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>ONE DISASTROUS AFTERNOON</h3> + +<p class="figleft2"><img src="images/i2.png" title="I" height="44" width="29" alt="I" style="padding-right: 3px;" /></p> +<p>DO practise," said Rosemary desperately.</p> + +<p>"Well not enough, or Miss Mason wouldn't say your work was falling +below your usual standard," Aunt Trudy insisted. "She was here this +afternoon, Hugh, and she asked me whether Rosemary was giving as +much time as usual to the piano."</p> + +<p>"Oh, let her slow up this kind of weather, if she wants to," +responded the doctor lazily. "I think she's stuck pretty faithfully +to the scales and finger exercises myself."</p> + +<p>Rosemary flashed him a grateful look.</p> + +<p>"Of course I don't want to find fault," said Aunt Trudy to this, +"but you know I feel responsible. And Winnie was saying this morning +that Sarah and Shirley are left too much to themselves."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's all right," declared Sarah hastily and Shirley echoed, +"Yes, that's all right."</p> + +<p>Doctor Hugh laughed and even Rosemary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> smiled faintly. How could she +explain that she had no time left from the babies in the afternoon +to spend with the little sisters, or that the reason her music was +showing neglect was because her morning practise hours were given +over to the odds and ends of duties she dared not leave undone for +fear of comment and question and now had no other time to do?</p> + +<p>"I imagine Sarah and Shirley amuse themselves," said the doctor, +smiling, "but Rosemary dear, I don't want you to get in the habit of +being out of the house too much. Three afternoons I've called you up +and you weren't home."</p> + +<p>Doctor Hugh wondered if Nina Edmonds was absorbing Rosemary's +attention again, but he thought it wiser not to ask. As a matter of +fact, had he but known it, the voluble Nina had been away at the +seashore for several weeks.</p> + +<p>"Well, all I can say," remarked Aunt Trudy after a pause, "is that I +hope, Rosemary, your sense of duty will be strong enough to cause +you to pay a little attention to the children while I am away. I am +going to-morrow morning to spend two days with my cousin, you know, +Hugh. She is sailing for London, Wednesday."</p> + +<p>"Yes, you told me," acknowledged the doctor.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> "We'll manage all +right, Aunt Trudy. Rosemary will keep us all in order."</p> + +<p>But in spite of his cheerful faith, Aunt Trudy departed the next +morning "worried to death" as she confided to Winnie.</p> + +<p>"I have a feeling that Sarah and Shirley will get into some +mischief, the minute my back is turned," declared the good lady. +"And Rosemary will be mooning around and not catch them until it is +too late."</p> + +<p>Aunt Trudy's doleful prediction proved only too true. That very +afternoon, when Rosemary left to take care of the Simmons baby while +his proud mother attended the fortnightly meeting of her card club, +Sarah and Shirley decided to sail boats in the bath-tub. +Unfortunately, when the tub was half filled, Ray Anderson called +them to come and see his new kiddie car and when that was duly +inspected, Sarah pressed Shirley into service to help her feed the +rabbits.</p> + +<p>"Let's go up to the store and buy 'em some fresh carrots," Sarah +suggested. "I'll get the money out of the tin bank—Rosemary won't +mind, 'cause I'll pay her back soon as I can."</p> + +<p>Rosemary was putting the money she earned into the little tin +chimney bank which stood on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> the mantel shelf in her room. She +called it the "ring fund" and to Sarah it seemed that there must be +money enough already in it to buy several rings. But Rosemary was +positive she still needed a great deal more.</p> + +<p>Sarah and Shirley, by dint of much shaking and banging the bank +against the shelf edge, succeeded in extracting ten cents and with +this they purchased fresh young carrots, a delicacy much beloved by +the pampered rabbits. They had fed the rabbits and were swinging in +the porch swing, when they heard a cry from Winnie.</p> + +<p>"For mercy's sake, where is the water coming from!" she shrieked. +"Look at it, leaking down through the ceiling and dripping on my +clean tablecloth—have the pipes sprung a leak?"</p> + +<p>She dashed madly upstairs, Sarah and Shirley at her heels. The +bath-tub was overflowing and the floor was a lake.</p> + +<p>"Don't ever let me hear of you sailing boats again, as long as I +live in this house!" Winnie scolded, as she rolled up her sleeves +and pulled out the plug. "Sarah, go down and get me the mop—quick! +It'll be a wonder if the plaster doesn't fall in the dining-room, +it's that soaked!"</p> + +<p>Dinner was delayed because of the catastrophe and when Doctor Hugh +came in, hungry<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> and tired, it was to find Winnie spreading a fresh +cloth on the table and scolding Rosemary vigorously.</p> + +<p>"The time to be helping me is before such a thing happens," +announced Winnie, twitching the linen angrily. "Is that you, Hughie? +Heaven alone knows when dinner will be ready to-night—I've been +made to set the table twice over and the potatoes boiled dry while I +was mopping up the bathroom."</p> + +<p>In a few words she sketched the incident.</p> + +<p>"Rosemary, can't you look after the children a little better, just +till your aunt gets back?" asked the doctor wearily. "Where were you +when they were letting the water run?"</p> + +<p>"I was—out," said Rosemary lamely. "Just around," she added +hastily, seeing a question forming on his lips.</p> + +<p>"Well you'll have to stay in to-morrow," he said decisively. "Aunt +Trudy will be home to-morrow night, and I want you to be with Sarah +and Shirley till then. That isn't asking too much—one day. And +we'll see if we can get along without any more accidents. No éclairs +to-night, Winnie, for Shirley and Sarah."</p> + +<p>The two culprits, deprived of dessert, were excused early, but +Rosemary left alone with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> Hugh was too busy with her own thoughts to +talk much though ordinarily she loved an opportunity for a chat with +him.</p> + +<p>"I simply have to go to Mrs. Hepburn's to-morrow," she thought +panic-stricken. "I promised faithfully to come, rain or shine. She +is going somewhere with her husband and that's the only day he has +off. I'll have to go—that is all there is about it. If Hugh finds +it out, he will be furious, but perhaps he won't know. Anyway, I'm +going! I promised."</p> + +<p>Sarah and Shirley playing their favorite game of dominoes on the +porch after dinner, were startled by a sudden rush from Rosemary. +She whirled through the doorway and demanded of her sister, "Sarah, +have you been meddling with my tin bank?"</p> + +<p>Sarah got up from the floor slowly.</p> + +<p>"I borrowed ten cents," she admitted, trying to back away and +backing into a rocking chair.</p> + +<p>"You 'borrowed' ten cents!" cried Rosemary, advancing upon her. "And +you know I want to save every cent! Of all the selfish, mean girls I +ever knew, you're the worst!"</p> + +<p>She clutched the unhappy Sarah by her broad sailor collar and +proceeded to shake her fiercely. Sarah retaliated by kicking +viciously and they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> were in eminent danger of upsetting the wicker +table and porch lamp when Doctor Hugh strode out and separated them.</p> + +<p>"Rosemary!" he said in surprise. "What do you call it you are doing? +And Sarah, too—kicking and fighting like two small boys! What ails +you, anyway?"</p> + +<p>"She took ten cents out of my bank—it's just the same as stealing, +because she never pays back anything she borrows," panted Rosemary, +almost crying. "I found a penny on the floor where she dropped it. +And she knows how hard I'm trying to save every cent, too."</p> + +<p>"Well, Sarah, I think robbing a bank is a pretty mean trick," +pronounced Doctor Hugh judiciously. "Where is this bank, Rosemary? +I've never seen it. Seems to me you're beginning to get ready for +Christmas rather far in advance."</p> + +<p>Rosemary looked at Sarah who gazed at her imploringly. Both girls +had forgotten for the moment the ring fund and its object.</p> + +<p>"I'll pay you back to-morrow Rosemary, honestly I will," said Sarah +hurriedly. "Aunt Trudy owes me ten cents for not melting her letter +sealing wax. She will pay me to-morrow night and I'll give it to +you."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>"Sarah, Sarah," groaned her brother, half in amusement, half in +despair, "I'm afraid your ethics are pretty wobbly. So Aunt Trudy +has to bribe you, does she, to let her desk alone? Well, see that +you turn the bribe over to Rosemary, though I should call it robbing +Peter to pay Paul, with a vengeance."</p> + +<p>"Goodness, suppose he had made you tell why you were saving the +money!" whispered Sarah, when the doctor had gone back to his +office. "I was just shaking in my shoes."</p> + +<p>"Sarah, wouldn't you rather tell, anyway?" said Rosemary suddenly. +"I don't believe Hugh would be so very cross, because you didn't +mean to lose the ring. And I am afraid it will take me a perfect age +to earn enough money to buy another."</p> + +<p>"I won't tell, ever!" declared Sarah, shaking her dark head +obstinately. "And if you tell, Rosemary Willis, I'll never speak to +you as long as I live! You don't have to buy another ring—that's +silly. Aunt Trudy doesn't even know this one is lost."</p> + +<p>"I don't care if she doesn't," insisted Rosemary. "You lost it, and +we have to get another one for her; that's all there is to it."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>The next afternoon Doctor Hugh repeated his request that Rosemary +should stay with Sarah and Shirley till Aunt Trudy came home on the +5:46 train. Then he left on a long round of calls and Rosemary, not +without many regrets and a thrill of fear when she thought what her +brother would say if he found her out, sped up the street to the +pleasant house where Mrs. Hepburn, hatted and gloved eagerly waited +her coming.</p> + +<p>"I was so afraid you wouldn't come," she greeted the little girl. +"Baby is asleep, and I want to get away before he wakes up and sees +me go. I'll be back at half-past five, sharp, but of course you +won't go till I come. You mustn't leave Baby alone in the house."</p> + +<p>As luck would have it, Aunt Trudy decided to come home on an earlier +train and found herself in the midst of bundle-laden Eastshore +shoppers who had spent the day in the city and were returning with +their spoils. Motherly Mrs. Dunning occupied a seat with Aunt Trudy +and what more natural than that she should speak of how much help +Rosemary had been to her that summer? The wonder was that Aunt Trudy +had so long escaped hearing but she went about<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> very little in the +town and had met comparatively few of the neighbors even those +living on her own street.</p> + +<p>"Yes indeed I've been able to go away an afternoon or two a week," +babbled Mrs. Dunning, "something I haven't done since Baby came. +Your niece is such a nice child and so reliable. I wanted her this +afternoon, but Mrs. Hepburn had engaged her first."</p> + +<p>"My niece? Mrs. Hepburn engaged her?" repeated Aunt Trudy faintly.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dunning explained and Aunt Trudy managed to keep from fainting +though as she told Doctor Hugh afterward, she would never know how +the strength was given her. She looked nearer to apoplexy than +fainting when she walked into the house a half hour later and, +purple-faced and choking, demanded to be told the instant the doctor +came in.</p> + +<p>Doctor Hugh and his car rolled up a few moments later and Aunt Trudy +sobbed out the "miserable story" as she characterized it.</p> + +<p>"To think of Rosemary, acting as a nurse-maid, and we never knew +it!" she wailed. "What would her mother say? What must the neighbors +think?"</p> + +<p>"Bother the neighbors!" said Doctor Hugh<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> testily. "When Rosemary +comes home tell her I want to see her."</p> + +<p>Though his aunt did not suspect it, he had seldom been as angry in +his life. Not only had Rosemary deliberately defied him and gone off +that afternoon, but she had most certainly furnished topic for +gossip in Eastshore for it was not possible in so small a town that +her occupation had been unnoticed. And Doctor Hugh was very proud of +his pretty sister. What could have possessed the child to do such a +wild thing?</p> + +<p>He had himself in hand by the time Rosemary came running in, late, +for Mrs. Hepburn had been delayed and nothing could have induced the +young worker to desert her charge.</p> + +<p>"Your brother wants you—he's in the office," said Aunt Trudy +stiffly.</p> + +<p>And as soon as she saw Hugh the most awful sinking sensation went +through Rosemary. He had found out, how, she could not guess, but +somehow, that was plain.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%; padding-bottom: 50px;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="chapter_xiii" id="chapter_xiii"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3>JACK STRAIGHTENS THINGS OUT</h3> + +<p class="figleft2"><img src="images/y2.png" title="Y" height="44" width="51" alt="Y" /></p> +<p>OU—you wanted to see me Hugh?" Rosemary faltered.</p> + +<p>"Please come in and close the door," he said quietly. Then as she +obeyed, "Now what is this Mrs. Dunning has been telling Aunt Trudy, +Rosemary? Have you been taking care of babies in the neighborhood +for fifteen cents an hour?"</p> + +<p>Rosemary nodded.</p> + +<p>"How long has this been going on?" asked her brother.</p> + +<p>"A—a couple of weeks," answered Rosemary faintly.</p> + +<p>"What was the idea?"</p> + +<p>Rosemary said nothing.</p> + +<p>"I asked you a question, Rosemary. Please answer me. What made you +do a thing like this without consulting some one? Did Winnie know?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>"No," said Rosemary reluctantly, "Winnie didn't know. No one did. I +wanted to earn some money, Hugh."</p> + +<p>Then came the question she had been dreading.</p> + +<p>"What for?"</p> + +<p>Rosemary nervously knotted and unknotted her handkerchief. Her blue +eyes roved around the familiar room and came back to the grim face +and the dark eyes which watched her relentlessly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Hugh!" she cried desperately, "PLEASE!"</p> + +<p>Her brother picked up a paper weight and studied it intently.</p> + +<p>"Look here, Rosemary," he began more gently, "you deliberately +disobeyed this afternoon when I asked you to stay in the house—"</p> + +<p>"Because I had absolutely promised Mrs. Hepburn, Hugh," Rosemary +broke in eagerly. "I'd <i>promised</i>! She was depending on me and I had +to go."</p> + +<p>"Very well, a promise is a promise," admitted the doctor, "though +when wrongly given sometimes they must be broken. We'll set aside +the fact that you disobeyed and consider only this wild scheme +apparently undertaken because you wanted to earn money. I want you +to tell me<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> why you thought you needed money and why you couldn't +come to me and ask for it."</p> + +<p>"Because," whispered Rosemary unhappily, "Because."</p> + +<p>"That's no reason," said the doctor brusquely. "Come, 'fess up, +Rosemary, and I'll help you out of the scrape, whatever it is. My +dear little girl, you can't go around among the neighbors like +this—families help each other and stand by each other. I don't care +a hoot what other people may think—as Aunt Trudy seems to believe I +should—but I care a great deal that my little sister should go to +outsiders instead of coming to me."</p> + +<p>Rosemary touched his sleeve timidly. She longed to throw herself in +his arms, cry that she was tired of taking care of silly, +uninteresting babies (though as a matter of fact when she wasn't +tired she loved them all, the cross as well as the good-natured +ones), and tell him the whole story about the lost ring. But there +was her promise to Sarah. A promise was a promise—Hugh himself had +said so. And families were to stand by each other, and she must +stand by Sarah and Shirley.</p> + +<p>"I can't tell you, Hugh," said Rosemary earnestly. "I just can't."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>"You mean you won't," said the doctor sternly. "Well, go up and +bring me down this bank—I suppose that was the one you and Sarah +were quarreling over the other night? And you put the money you +earned in that? I thought so; bring it down to me."</p> + +<p>Wondering what he meant to do, Rosemary went up to her room and +returned with the bank. Doctor Hugh dropped it into one of the lower +drawers of his desk and turned the key.</p> + +<p>"I want you to bring me a list of the women for whom you have taken +care of children," he said, pushing a block of paper and a pencil +toward Rosemary, "and, as nearly as you can remember, the number of +hours you worked for each. Then we'll count out this money and you +will have to return it. I want that list by to-morrow night."</p> + +<p>Winnie sounded the dinner gong just then and Rosemary went silently +to the table. Aunt Trudy's eyes were red from crying and Sarah and +Shirley looked frightened. Their aunt had told them the "awful +thing" Rosemary had been doing and Sarah was in terror lest Hugh +already knew her part in it. But dinner, uncomfortable meal as it +was, reassured Sarah. Hugh would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> not have allowed her to leave the +table without a word if he had known about the ring.</p> + +<p>Rosemary went to her room directly after dinner and Sarah and +Shirley followed.</p> + +<p>"Was he mad?" asked Shirley, her eyes round with excitement.</p> + +<p>"Aunt Trudy was crying and wringing her hands," volunteered Sarah. +"She says the family is disgraced and Hugh will be ashamed to show +his face in Eastshore."</p> + +<p>"What a silly thing to say!" cried Rosemary. "Thank goodness, Hugh +is no snob. But he is furious because I can't tell him why I wanted +the money. And, oh, girls, I have to take it all back. How can I +ever buy the ring now, and what will the people say when I bring +back the money they paid me?"</p> + +<p>She hurriedly outlined what Doctor Hugh had said, and Sarah +immediately suggested that they get hold of the bank and bury it.</p> + +<p>"Hugh would only punish us again," said Rosemary practically. "Let's +tell him about the ring, Sarah. He said he'd help me out of the +scrape, no matter what it was, if I'd tell him."</p> + +<p>But Sarah set her chin obstinately and refused to go to her brother. +She reminded Rosemary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> of her promise and Shirley, too, began to cry +and say that she was afraid of Hugh. So it ended by Rosemary +renewing her promise not to tell and then crying herself to sleep +because she remembered how patient Hugh had been and she knew she +had both hurt and disappointed him.</p> + +<p>"And I can't go around and give the money back," she wept, tossing +about on her wet pillow, "What will people think? But Hugh will make +me, if he goes along to see me do it. Oh, dear, the Willis will +makes all the trouble in this family!"</p> + +<p>But in the morning the Willis will helped Rosemary to remain +unshaken in her determination not to tell any more than she had +told. Doctor Hugh called her into the office before breakfast—he +had had his early and was ready to leave when the girls came down +stairs—and asked her again why she wanted the money, patiently at +first and then, as Rosemary stubbornly refused to give a reason, he +lost his temper and began to storm. Rosemary finally flew out of the +office and banged the door and the morning was unhappily begun.</p> + +<p>Winnie, who had heard the story from Aunt Trudy, thought it her duty +to lecture Rosemary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> during breakfast—at which Aunt Trudy did not +appear—and Rosemary, whose nerves were already strained to the +breaking point, answered snappishly.</p> + +<p>"I should think you'd be ashamed to speak to me like that before +your little sisters," said Winnie indignantly. "Shirley wouldn't +talk to Winnie like that, would you dear?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, my no," said Shirley angelically.</p> + +<p>This was too much for Rosemary. She fled from the table to indulge +in a good cry up in her mother's room. Doctor Hugh had trusted the +key to her, after he had locked the room and Rosemary sometimes went +there when she wanted to be quiet and think. The room was in perfect +order, sweet and clean and well-aired and the things on the dresser +and shelves were exactly as her mother usually kept them. Rosemary +had arranged them so because she thought her mother would like to +find them ready for her when she came home.</p> + +<p>After the tears had stopped, Rosemary sat quietly for a few minutes +in the little low white rocker. Something of the peace and stillness +of the room stole into her troubled mind. Presently she rose and +went out, locking the door carefully behind her.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span>"Anything the matter, Rosemary—you look a little woozy," said Jack +Welles with neighborly frankness, seeing her across the hedge later +that morning as she was spreading out handkerchiefs to bleach for +Winnie.</p> + +<p>In a rush of words, Rosemary told him the "matter."</p> + +<p>"Well, you do have a merry time," Jack commented when she had +finished. "But the solution is simple after all."</p> + +<p>"I can't take back that money," said Rosemary miserably. "But what +can I do? Hugh will never give in."</p> + +<p>"Do? There's nothing for you to do," answered Jack vigorously. +"Sarah and Shirley have the next act on the program and it's up to +me to see that they realize it, if you can't show them their duty. +Where's Sarah now?"</p> + +<p>"Teaching the cat to sit up," said Rosemary without interest. "It +won't do you any good to argue with her, Jack. She's afraid of Hugh +and she won't ever tell him. Besides, you know, I only told you if +you would promise not to tell."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I haven't forgotten that you nailed me firmly before you would +say a word," Jack replied grimly. "But I still think I can persuade +Sarah to confess her share and if she will, Shir<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>ley will admit that +she also was present. I'll go begin my good work now."</p> + +<p>He was gone half an hour and when he came back he was smiling.</p> + +<p>"Everything's all fixed," he announced. "Sarah and Shirley are going +to march up to the guns like good soldiers to-night, and I'm going +to do the talking for them. Sarah, sensibly enough, wants to get it +over before dinner, so I've promised to come over right after lunch +and sit on your porch so I'll be here no matter how early Hugh gets +home. You and I have to bolster up the weak spots in their courage."</p> + +<p>"I don't see how you ever persuaded Sarah," marveled Rosemary. "I +argued and argued, and she wouldn't listen to me."</p> + +<p>Jack looked very wise.</p> + +<p>"I used moral suasion," he declared. "Told her if she didn't own up +to-night, I'd go to Doctor Hugh and tell him everything myself."</p> + +<p>"Is that moral suasion?" asked Rosemary doubtfully.</p> + +<p>"Of course it is," said Jack with confidence. "If it isn't it ought +to be. I've never broken a promise yet and I'm mighty glad Sarah +didn't make me, but I'll be jiggered if I don't think<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> there are +times when it is worse to keep a promise than to break it."</p> + +<p>A promise "wrongly given"—Doctor Hugh's words came back to +Rosemary. Had she given her promise wrongly?</p> + +<p>Doctor Hugh did not come home till nearly five o'clock and the four +solemn young people on the front porch were getting decidedly +fidgety before his roadster appeared at the curb and he jumped out +and hurried up the walk. He said "Hello" to the four as he passed +them and he was surprised, therefore, when he turned from his desk +to see them enter the office and advance toward him.</p> + +<p>"Hugh," said Jack clearly, "I've something to tell you. Sarah really +ought to, but she asked me to do it."</p> + +<p>"Suppose you sit down," said the doctor gravely.</p> + +<p>Sarah sat down gingerly on a chair near the door, ready for instant +flight, and the others ranged themselves near the desk. Jack began +with the loss of the ring and told everything that had happened +since. He spoke rapidly, but without excitement, and he was not +interrupted once.</p> + +<p>"I am really to blame, as much as anyone," he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> declared, when he had +reached the point where Rosemary had confided in him about the +missing ring and her determination to replace it. "I had no business +to promise not to tell before I heard what I was not to tell. That's +a fool stunt."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I think it is," agreed Doctor Hugh, but smilingly.</p> + +<p>"Rosemary thought she had to go on taking care of cranky babies till +she could buy another ring. If I'd had any money of my own—and I +don't know why I never do—" Jack paused for a moment to consider +this new idea—"I would have bought a ring myself and helped her out +of the hole."</p> + +<p>Doctor Hugh listened silently to the remainder of the recital, his +eyes studying the four expressive faces before him.</p> + +<p>"So Rosemary really couldn't tell you what she wanted the money for, +because she had promised," finished Jack. "And Sarah was afraid, and +so was Shirley."</p> + +<p>"I see," the doctor said. "I'm sorry they were afraid. Sarah dear, +do you really think you have saved yourself anything by not telling +me when you lost the ring?" he went on, turning to Sarah. "Haven't +you had more trouble and worry and unhappiness trying to keep me +from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> finding out and don't you think it is better to own up right +away and take your punishment and have it all over?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," admitted Sarah in a very small voice.</p> + +<p>"Well, then, next time tell me at once," said Doctor Hugh earnestly. +"And don't ever let me hear of four of you making a chain of +promises like this. We'll see what can be done about the ring +to-morrow, Sarah, and you and I will talk it over with Aunt Trudy."</p> + +<p>He held out his hand to Jack and put an arm around Rosemary, whose +face was radiant with relief and happiness.</p> + +<p>"I wish you had spoken up a little sooner, Jack," growled the +doctor. "I find that keeping track of three girls isn't the easiest +task in the world."</p> + +<p>"But we won't lose any more rings," said the practical Sarah.</p> + +<p>"No, we won't lose any more rings, Hugh," whispered Rosemary, +standing on tip-toe to kiss him.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%; padding-bottom: 50px;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="chapter_xiv" id="chapter_xiv"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h3>A NEW SCHOOL TERM</h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/t.png" title="T" height="44" width="40" alt="T" /></p> +<p>HE next morning, as soon as breakfast was over, the unwilling Sarah +was called into conference in the office with her brother and Aunt +Trudy. The latter was much surprised to learn that she had lost a +ring, and insisted that Sarah, who was rather a favorite of hers, +should not be punished.</p> + +<p>"I never did care anything about the ring, Hugh," said Aunt Trudy +earnestly, "and there's been trouble enough about it. It's just like +Rosemary to want to buy me another, but I'd never wear it, so why +should she? I'm glad enough that this ridiculous idea of hers has +been stopped before it went on any longer. Don't, for pity's sake, +say another word about that unfortunate ring."</p> + +<p>"Well, Sarah, that let's you out," said Doctor Hugh cheerfully. "I +must say I think you've shirked all the way through, first in not +owning up and again in letting Rosemary take the re<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>sponsibility of +replacing the ring. And you kept her from telling me, simply to +shield yourself. However, I really understand that you were afraid +and fear often keeps us from doing what we know to be right. You're +going to fight that little 'I'm-afraid'"—for he had had a brief +talk with his little sister the night before after the others had +left the office and felt that he was just beginning to understand +Sarah—"and put him in his place, which is behind you, and so we'll +start all over as long as Aunt Trudy is willing. Shall we?"</p> + +<p>"Let's," said Sarah laconically, but she slipped a confiding small +hand in the doctor's larger one. He squeezed it affectionately.</p> + +<p>"Now I must be off," he said, glancing at his watch. "Where is +Rosemary? I thought I'd take her with me this morning—the ride will +do her good. Practising?" he repeated as Sarah called his attention +to the sound of finger exercises. "Let her practise this +afternoon—she needs to get away from a fixed schedule now and +then."</p> + +<p>Rosemary enjoyed this ride and the others that followed in quick +succession. Doctor Hugh, unknown to her, was realizing that every +one had been expecting too much of the oldest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> daughter of the +house, had looked to her, in fact, to grow up in one summer.</p> + +<p>"Poor little kid!" thought the doctor one morning, as he allowed +Rosemary to take the wheel of the car on a level stretch of clear +road and the color came into her face from the excitement and +delight. "Poor little kid, we've been expecting her to have the +patience and wisdom and experience Mother has. She's only twelve +years old and we ask her to act like a woman. She's bound to make +mistakes, but she won't make the same one twice—I'll bank on that. +Temper and will, rightly directed, make for strength, and Rosemary +will be as lovely within some day as she is to the eye—and my +sister is going to be a beauty, or I miss my guess."</p> + +<p>Aloud he said, "Watch the road, Rosemary. Never mind what is behind +you, watch the road ahead."</p> + +<p>Coming in at noon from one of these rides with Doctor Hugh, Rosemary +found a small box, wrapped in white tissue paper and tied with pink +string, at her plate.</p> + +<p>"It looks like a jeweler's box," she said jokingly as she opened it. +"Why it is!" she added in surprise.</p> + +<p>Sarah and Shirley crowded around her as she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> opened it. A little +gold "friendship" circle pin, set with a single turquoise, lay on a +bed of blue cotton.</p> + +<p>"How perfectly lovely!" cried Rosemary. "Is it mine?"</p> + +<p>"Of course it is," said Sarah. "Jack and Shirley and I went to Mr. +Evans and bought it for you. Do you like it?"</p> + +<p>"Why it's darling," the enthusiastic Rosemary assured her. "I never +saw a prettier pin. Look, Hugh, look Aunt Trudy," she said eagerly, +holding out the pin to them as they came in from the hall.</p> + +<p>"Why don't you ask where we got the money to buy it?" suggested +Sarah and at that Doctor Hugh shouted with laughter.</p> + +<p>"You'll be the death of me yet, Sarah," he protested. "Sit down, +people, do, and we'll begin luncheon while Sarah reveals her dark +secret."</p> + +<p>"'Tisn't a secret," announced Sarah with dignity. "Hugh said we +might take the ring-fund money, Rosemary, and buy you something nice +with it, and if we saw anything we thought you'd like, to tell him, +and he'd give us as much more money as we needed. Then Aunt Trudy +said she wanted to put some money with the ring-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>fund money, and so +did Winnie and so did Jack, so everybody did. Oh, yes, Hugh did, +too. And we saw this pin and Shirley and I thought it would be nice +because it had the turquoise in it like Aunt Trudy's ring, and Jack +said it was a 'friendship circle' and that meant we were all friends +of yours. So we bought it and it was seven dollars and a half," +concluded Sarah who was nothing if not thorough.</p> + +<p>"It's just beautiful," said Rosemary, with an April face of smiles +and tears. "I'll always keep it and love you all for thinking so +much of me."</p> + +<p>She had wondered several times about the ring money, but the doctor +had made no motion to give her back the bank. Neither had he +mentioned returning the money again. Rosemary supposed that he would +bring the subject up some time, but until he did she was content to +forget about it. She did not know till weeks afterward that it was +Jack Welles who had dissuaded the doctor from his plan to have the +"fund" returned to those who had paid it.</p> + +<p>"Rosemary earned the money fairly and squarely," he argued. "She +earned it by the hardest kind of work and it seems mean to make her +feel cheap. Those women were paying for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> service and they got it, +and they don't think any the less of Rosemary, either, if Aunt Trudy +does moan along about 'degrading' the family. You're forever +preaching that there is no disgrace in any kind of honest work, +Hugh—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, quit, I'm licked!" surrendered the doctor, laughing. "I won't +mention the money to Rosemary, Jack. Though when I think of that +child spending long, hot afternoons amusing cranky kids for +pay—Still, it's pluck like that that makes the backbone of our +country. What do you say if we take this money and buy her some +little personal gimcrack? Girls like things to wear, I've always +heard."</p> + +<p>So Jack gained his point and the pretty pin was the result.</p> + +<p>The days of vacation, "like the hairs of our heads" as Jack +observed, were numbered now and the week before school was to open, +Doctor Hugh made a flying trip to the sanatorium to see the little +mother.</p> + +<p>"You wouldn't know her, girls!" he told the three sisters, when he +returned. "Her cheeks are actually a bit pink and though she is +still awfully thin, her eyes are clear and bright. If three months +can do her that much good, a year will set her on her feet. She says +she lives on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> your letters, and you mustn't let a week go past +without writing. Rosemary must be a good censor, for Mother doesn't +seem to worry about the house at all; I told her we were pulling +together famously."</p> + +<p>"Well, we are," said Rosemary contentedly. "I wish you'd look at +Sarah, though, Hugh."</p> + +<p>"I am looking at her," said the doctor. "She seems to have torn her +dress."</p> + +<p>"That's the one decent dress she has," responded Rosemary severely, +"and now she hasn't a single thing to wear to school Monday."</p> + +<p>"What does Mother do when you need clothes?" asked Doctor Hugh +helplessly. "I suppose you'll all need dresses for school, won't +you?"</p> + +<p>"Mother has Miss Henry come and sew the first week in September," +said Rosemary, "but Aunt Trudy says the sanatorium is expensive and +she thinks we ought to try and cut down living expenses."</p> + +<p>"I think we can still afford some new frocks," replied her brother, +smiling. "Ask Aunt Trudy to engage Miss Henry, Rosemary, and to get +her whatever she needs to outfit you sensibly for school. You'll +have to remind me about shoes and hats and dresses, you know; an old +bachelor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> isn't expected to notice when these things wear shabby."</p> + +<p>Miss Henry came and sewed a week, making new dresses and contriving +and turning to make the best of several old ones. Monday morning, +when school opened, the three Willis girls started off brave in new +ginghams and Doctor Hugh assured them that he was proud of them.</p> + +<p>"I wish I was in high school," said Rosemary wistfully, as Jack +Welles joined them at the first corner.</p> + +<p>"Two more years, and you will be," he consoled her. "I'll be a +senior then, and I'll see that no one steps on you, Rosemary."</p> + +<p>"Oh, nobody will," said Rosemary confidently.</p> + +<p>And indeed she looked quite capable of taking care of herself. There +was little of dependency about Rosemary and her lovely soft eyes +were balanced by the firm white chin. "She is easily hurt, but her +pride helps her to hide that," Winnie was fond of saying, "and don't +be after forgetting that there's red in her hair, under the gold!"</p> + +<p>The Eastshore school was a splendid type of the modern school, +housing in one building the primary, grammar and high school +grades.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> Built on the extreme edge of the town, it faced an acre +play-ground, evenly divided among the three schools. Principals and +teachers were the best obtainable and indeed the State Board of +education was fond of using Eastshore school as a model for others +to follow. Mrs. Willis had often declared that she would never have +sent her son to boarding school had the public school then been as +excellent as that which Rosemary and her sisters attended.</p> + +<p>This morning Rosemary was to enter the seventh grade in the grammar +school, Sarah would be in the fourth primary and Shirley, having +"graduated" from the kindergarten the year before, would attain the +dignity of a seat in the first grade. Separating at the broad door, +they were swept into the different streams that carried them up +different stairways and into different classrooms and it was noon +before they saw each other again. Few of the pupils went home to +lunch and a large, light airy room on the third floor was set aside +for their use as a lunch room. A corner table was reserved for +teachers and here a small group usually gathered not only to eat and +exchange comment, but to keep an eye on the lunchers and subdue the +noise when it rose to a shout. The high school students had their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> +own lunch room, but the grammar and primary grades shared a room +together.</p> + +<p>"Well, what kind of people are in your room?" demanded Sarah, as she +and Shirley met Rosemary at the little corner table the latter had +secured and held for them. Rosemary had spread out the lunch Winnie +had put up for them, and Shirley was already beginning on a +sandwich.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I like the girl who sits in front of me ever so much," returned +Rosemary, cutting an apple into quarters for Shirley. "Her name is +Elsie Stevens and they haven't lived in Eastshore long. Last year +she went to the Port Reading school. Elsie Mears sits in back of me; +she wasn't promoted. And Nina Edmonds is across the aisle."</p> + +<p>"I don't think much of our teacher," announced Sarah, with +deplorable frankness. "She doesn't look very bright and she says she +is afraid of snakes."</p> + +<p>"Well so am I," declared Rosemary. "I don't think any one is very +bright who isn't."</p> + +<p>"That's because you don't know anything about snakes," said Sarah, +salting a boiled egg hurriedly. "Snakes are the best friends the +farmer has."</p> + +<p>"My teacher's name is Miss Farmer," chirped<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> Shirley sunnily. "And +we have pink and red and blue crayons to draw on the blackboard +with."</p> + +<p>"Take another sandwich, darling," Rosemary urged her. "You're sure +you won't get tired this afternoon? You went home at noon every day +last year, you know."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but I'm six now," Shirley reminded her sister. "Will we have +home work in our room, Rosemary?"</p> + +<p>It was one of Shirley's ambitions to have "home work" to do, and she +longed to take a book home at night as Rosemary and Sarah did.</p> + +<p>"I don't know—I shouldn't think so," answered Rosemary absently. +"Sarah, Nina Edmonds wears her hair pinned up and no hair-ribbon."</p> + +<p>"Well she looks crazy anyway, so what difference does it make?" was +Sarah's comment on this news. "You can't go without a hair-ribbon, +Rosemary, because your hair will all be in your eyes. Hugh said Nina +was trying to be grown up and I guess she is."</p> + +<p>But that night Rosemary spent half an hour before her mirror, trying +to coax her bobbed curls into a knot like Nina Edmonds'. Rosemary's +hair was growing very fast and she had promised Doctor Hugh not to +have it cut again.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> Just now it was an awkward length, but its +curliness redeemed even that. Nina's straight blond locks were +strained into a tortuous knot at the nape of her neck, for she, too, +had decided not to bob her hair again. It was the absence of +hair-ribbon that particularly appealed to Rosemary, for she had +"spells" as Winnie called them, of wishing to appear grown up. At +other times she was satisfied to be what Doctor Hugh insisted she +should be content to be for several more years, "just a little +girl."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%; padding-bottom: 50px;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="chapter_xv" id="chapter_xv"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h3>TOO MUCH NATURAL HISTORY</h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/w.png" title="W" height="44" width="64" alt="W" style="padding-right: 2px;" /></p> +<p>HEN the girls of the Eastshore school reached the seventh grade, +they entered the cooking class. The white aprons and caps were much +coveted and whatever other study might be neglected, each girl +usually put her best into the weekly cooking lesson. There was a +small stove for each and every young cook was responsible for the +order and cleanliness in which her pots and pans and utensils were +kept. Woe betide her, if Miss Parsons, the teacher, found an +unwashed pan thrust under the sink in a moment of hurry.</p> + +<p>"She's very particular," reported Rosemary, the evening after her +first lesson in cooking. "She made Nina Edmonds take off her rings +and she scolded Elsie Mears because she put her hands up to her hair +just once, to tuck it back under her cap."</p> + +<p>"And right she is," announced Winnie from the dining-room where she +was setting the table<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> for breakfast. "A cook has got no business +wearing rings, and I can't abide a girl who is always fussing with +her hair when she is handling food."</p> + +<p>"Winnie's a member of the sanitary squad," put in Doctor Hugh, +smiling behind his newspaper. It was one of the rare times when he +had an evening at home.</p> + +<p>"Nina Edmonds makes me sick!" said Sarah vehemently. "She screamed +when I showed her a darling little spotted snake I found to-day."</p> + +<p>Sarah and Shirley had brought out the box of dominoes and were +playing in the center of the floor. No amount of persuasion had ever +induced them to play on a table.</p> + +<p>"Don't talk about snakes, dearie," pleaded Aunt Trudy, shuddering +over her knitting. "They are such ugly, horrid squirmy things."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no they're not Aunt Trudy," said Sarah earnestly. "That's +because you're not used to them. Let me show you the one I've got in +my pocket—"</p> + +<p>To her aunt's horror, <a name="illustration" id="illustration"></a>Sarah unbuttoned the pocket of her middy +blouse and pulled out a little dangling dark object.</p> + +<p>"Hugh!" shrieked Aunt Trudy, knocking over her chair as she rose +hastily. "Hugh make her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> stop! Ow! Rosemary, Winnie, take that awful +thing away, quick!"</p> + +<p>In spite of her sympathy for Aunt Trudy who was white to the lips +with fright, Rosemary wanted to laugh, as Sarah, not realizing that +her aunt was really in terror, and intent only on winning +understanding for her snake, continued to advance on the unhappy +lady, the spotted snake dangling from her hand.</p> + +<p>"Sarah!" Doctor Hugh managed to halt the march of his determined +small sister. "Sarah, take that snake away at once. At once, do you +hear me? Aunt Trudy is afraid of snakes."</p> + +<p>"Well, she wouldn't be, if she knew about 'em," insisted Sarah. "I +only want to show her."</p> + +<p>"You can't show her—lots of people are frightened by the sight of +snakes," replied the doctor. "Take your snake out of the room this +minute."</p> + +<p>Still Sarah lingered.</p> + +<p>"It's dead," she offered humbly. "A dead snake won't hurt Aunt Trudy +will it?"</p> + +<p>Doctor Hugh caught Rosemary's eye, and they went off into peals of +laughter while poor Aunt Trudy wept and Shirley implored Rosemary to +tell her what was "funny."</p> + +<p>"Take your snake away and bury it, Sarah," said the doctor, when he +could speak.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span>"And don't try to educate your relatives and friends to recognize +the virtues of the reptile family; a person either likes snakes or +can't abide 'em, and you and Aunt Trudy will never agree on that +subject."</p> + +<p>"I think you ought to forbid her to ever touch one, or carry one +around with her," said Aunt Trudy when Sarah had gone out of the +room sorrowfully to borrow a match box from Winnie to serve as a +snake-coffin. "The idea of having a snake in one's pocket!"</p> + +<p>"You can't separate Sarah and animals," returned Sarah's brother +with conviction. "No use trying, Aunt Trudy. All this summer she was +crazy on the subject of rabbits and cats and now she seems to have +switched to snakes. About all we can do is to keep her within +reasonable bounds and trust to luck that before the winter is over +she will take up canary birds or something equally pleasing."</p> + +<p>Aunt Trudy did not know Sarah's teacher, Miss Ames, but if she had +they would have found a common bond of sympathy and interest in +their horror of snakes and other unpleasant forms of animal life to +which Sarah was devoted. Eleanor Ames was a nervous young woman and +she found it distinctly trying to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> obliged to divide the +interests of her class with a shoe-box of baby mice, or to soothe +the ruffled feelings of timid little girls who had seen the bright +eyes and wriggling slim body of a live snake peeping out of Sarah +Willis' coat in the cloak room. Punishment seemed to have no effect +on the culprit who stayed after school and cleaned blackboards with +disconcerting cheerfulness and Miss Ames was considering the +advisability of sending Sarah home with a note asking the +co-operation of Doctor Hugh's authority, when something happened +that took the matter out of her hands.</p> + +<p>Late in October, one frosty morning on her way to school, Sarah made +what was to her a great and lucky discovery. Shirley and Rosemary +had gone on ahead of her, but Winnie had called her back to pick up +the clothes she had strewn about her room with her customary +careless abandon. Since the opening of school, Aunt Trudy had +patiently made beds and put the rooms in order and she would never +mention to her favorite Sarah a little matter like slippers in the +middle of the rug, bath-robe flung down on the bed and every +separate bureau drawer wide open and yawning. This morning Aunt +Trudy was going to the city to shop, and the task of bed-mak<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>ing +would devolve upon Winnie who had no intention of having her duty +complicated by others' neglect. A hasty glance into the room shared +by Sarah and Shirley, and Winnie had summoned the former, in no +uncertain voice, to "come up here and put your clothes away this +instant." Sarah, complaining that she would certainly be late for +school, had obeyed and if she had hurried could easily have reached +the school before the assembly bell rang.</p> + +<p>But crossing a vacant lot, Sarah came upon that which could make her +forget school and time. A faint rustle under the dead leaves caught +her quick ear and, stooping down, she uncovered a little snake, +languid from the cold. Perhaps he had been on his way to winter +quarters and the frost had caught him unaware. Anyway, he was numb +and Sarah, murmuring affectionate nothings to him, slipped him into +her pocket and then spent a valuable ten minutes poking about among +the leaves in the hopes of discovering another, believing implicitly +that snakes "always go in pairs." However, if the snake had a +companion, diligent search failed to uncover it and Sarah was forced +to take her reluctant way to school with only one snake to comfort +and love. While she was still some distance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> from the gate she heard +the bell ring, and as she reasoned, she was late then, so why should +she hurry when it would not save her a tardy mark? Morning exercises +were in progress in the auditorium when Sarah entered the building, +and she had her class room to herself. She hung up her hat and coat +and took another peep at the snake. He seemed to be feeling better, +but some fresh wave of sympathy led her to regret the necessity for +leaving him to spend a lonely morning in the cloak room. With Sarah +to think was to act, and she popped the snake into the pocket of her +middy blouse, pinning it with a safety pin in lieu of a button and +button hole. When the class returned from the auditorium, she was +sitting sedately in her seat and appeared only mildly interested in +the lecture on tardiness which followed.</p> + +<p>"We'll have the papers distributed on which you worked during the +last drawing lesson," announced Miss Ames unexpectedly. "The drawing +supervisor will be around next week and we are a lesson or two late, +here in our room. Instead of spelling this morning, I'll have you +paint the leaves you drew. George Wright, you distribute the papers +and Sarah Willis, you know where the paint boxes are."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span>Sarah was monitor for the drawing materials and she went up and down +the aisles, giving each pupil a small paint box and two brushes, +while George Wright gave out the papers on which the pencil sketches +of autumn leaves had been drawn.</p> + +<p>The warmth of the pocket evidently revived the chilled snake and, as +Sarah was bending over the desk of Annabel Warde, a dainty little +girl about her own age, a lithe green body shot from out Sarah's +blouse, wriggled across the desk and dropped to the floor. The +safety pin had left too large a loop-hole.</p> + +<p>"A snake!" screamed Annabel, flinging her box of paints in one +direction and the brushes Sarah had just given her, in the other. "I +saw it! I saw it! Miss Ames, I saw a snake, and it's right here in +this room. It'll bite us, I know it will and we'll die! Catch it, +somebody, Oh, please hurry!"</p> + +<p>Jumping up and down and shrieking, Annabel was beside herself with +fright. Several other little girls began to scream, too, and the +boys rushed around the room shouting that they would catch it and +kill it, whatever "it" might be. None of them thought that Annabel +had really seen a snake.</p> + +<p>"Don't hurt it!" warned Sarah, down on her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> hands and knees and +hunting under the desks for her lost pet. "This kind of snake won't +bite any one, and you mustn't hurt it. I want to keep it all winter +and watch it grow."</p> + +<p>Miss Ames was trying to calm Annabel who persisted in sitting on top +of her desk with her feet curled under her, apparently under the +delusion that a snake always attacks the ankles first, when George +Wright whooped triumphantly.</p> + +<p>"I see it—gee, it really is a snake!" he shouted. "Look out, Peter, +let me shy this paper-weight at him—there, I'll bet that mashed him +into jelly!"</p> + +<p>There was a crash as the heavy paper-weight struck the floor and +then a small whirlwind landed on the astonished George.</p> + +<p>"How dare you try to kill my snake!" panted Sarah, crying with rage. +"He never did anything to you! You're a great, cruel, cowardly boy, +that's what you are!"</p> + +<p>She was pummeling George unmercifully and he retaliated with +interest, forgetting in the excitement and confusion that his +antagonist was a girl. But while snakes might temporarily cow Miss +Ames, a fight in her room was a situation she knew how to deal +with.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span>"George! Sarah!" she descended upon the combatants and pulled them +apart with no gentle hand. "I'm ashamed of you! What can you be +thinking of! George, you must know better than to strike a girl, and +Sarah, what would your mother say if she knew you were fighting with +a boy? Why I never heard of such a thing—never!" and Miss Ames +looked as though she never had.</p> + +<p>Sarah darted over to the space behind the atlas table where George +had thrown the paper weight. She lifted the glass cube and picked up +the little mashed object under it.</p> + +<p>"He's killed it!" she sobbed. "He went and killed my little snake!"</p> + +<p>Miss Ames lost her patience which is not to be wondered at, +considering the trying half hour she had endured.</p> + +<p>"Sarah Willis you march down to the principal's office," she said +severely. "And throw that disgusting object in the trash can on your +way down. Don't you ever bring another snake, alive or dead, into +this room as long as I am the teacher. I want you to tell Mr. Oliver +exactly what has occurred here this morning and be sure you explain +to him that you fought George simply because he killed that wretched +reptile."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span>Sarah's heart beat uncomfortably fast as she walked down the broad +stone steps to the first floor where the principal's office was. Her +class room was on the third floor. On the second floor she stopped +and wrapped the dead snake in her handkerchief—for a wonder she had +one—and when she reached the first floor she studied the pictures +hung in the corridor with minutest care. For once in her short life +Sarah was anxious to have time to stand still. Usually +exasperatingly indifferent to rebuke or reproval, Miss Ames had hit +upon the one punishment that Sarah could be fairly said to dread—an +interview with the principal.</p> + +<p>She approached the glass door marked "office" slowly. The door was +closed. All the stories she had ever heard of the boys who had been +"sent to the office," flashed through her mind. Few girls were ever +thus punished and it was a fourth grade tradition that a girl bad +enough to need an interview with the principal was always expelled. +Sarah wondered what her brother would say if she came home and said +she was expelled. Rosemary would feel the disgrace keenly—no one in +the Willis family had even been expelled from school, Sarah was +quite sure.</p> + +<p>Did you knock, or did you go right in? Was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> the principal always +there? Perhaps he might be away for the day—Sarah devoutly hoped he +would be. She shut her eyes tightly, took a firmer grip on the +handkerchief containing the dead snake, and knocked on the glass +panel.</p> + +<p>"Come in," called a pleasant voice, a woman's voice.</p> + +<p>Sarah opened the door and stepped in. She saw a large, sunny room +with a desk in the center, and a smaller desk over by the window +where a young woman was typing busily.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Oliver isn't in, is he?" said Sarah speaking at a gallop. A +swift glance had shown her that the young woman was the only person +in the room.</p> + +<p>"Just go right into the next office, and you'll find him," said Mr. +Oliver's secretary, smiling.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%; padding-bottom: 50px;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="chapter_xvi" id="chapter_xvi"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h3>MR. OLIVER AND SARAH</h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/t.png" title="T" height="44" width="40" alt="T" /></p> +<p>HE door into the next office stood open. Sarah walked in, that is, +she stepped just inside the doorway and stood there as though glued +to the floor. The thin, gray-haired man who was stooping over the +flat-topped desk, looking at a card file, glanced up at her and +smiled. This was the principal, Mr. Oliver.</p> + +<p>"Good morning," he said. "Did you wish to see me?"</p> + +<p>"No-o," stammered Sarah, "I didn't. But Miss Ames sent me."</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver sat down and pointed to a chair drawn up beside the desk.</p> + +<p>"Suppose you come and sit down and tell me all about it," he +suggested.</p> + +<p>His secretary in the next room stepped over and closed the +connecting door noiselessly as Sarah seated herself on the edge of +the chair and stared unhappily at the floor.</p> + +<p>"If you're in Miss Ames' room, you are a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> fourth grader," said Mr. +Oliver pleasantly. "What is your name?"</p> + +<p>"Sarah," the small girl whispered, "Sarah Willis."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes—then you're a sister of Doctor Willis," said the +principal. "And I know Rosemary, too. Isn't there another sister—a +little light-haired girl in one of the grades?"</p> + +<p>"That's Shirley," answered Sarah, forgetting her errand for an +instant and looking Mr. Oliver in the face for the first time. +"She's in the first grade."</p> + +<p>"Well, Sarah, what have you to tell me?" said the principal quietly. +"Why did Miss Ames send you to me?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know where to begin," complained Sarah forlornly.</p> + +<p>"Don't be afraid—there is nothing to be afraid of," said Mr. +Oliver. "Just tell me everything that has happened and I promise to +listen to you and believe you."</p> + +<p>Sarah, as Doctor Hugh had discovered, was morally not very brave. +She was afraid of people and though the Willis will was as strong in +her as in any of the others, she would not come out openly and +demand her way. Rather Sarah would do as she pleased and shirk the +conse<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span>quences wherever possible. The doctor had had several little +talks with her on this subject of fear and he was gradually teaching +her to acknowledge her mistakes and wrong doings and patiently +explaining at every opportunity the rules of fair play.</p> + +<p>"It is both cowardly and contemptible to let someone else be blamed +for what you have done," he said once to her. "I understand that you +are not really a coward, Sarah—you have to fight an extra enemy +called Fear. So when you do wrong and see a chance to escape blame +and punishment and refuse to wriggle out, you are really braver than +the girl who isn't afraid to say she did it. And every time you +conquer Fear, Sarah, you've made the next conquest easier. You'll +find that is so."</p> + +<p>So this morning, in the principal's office, Sarah remembered what +Doctor Hugh had said. She wanted dreadfully to retreat into one of +her obstinate, sulky silences, and refuse to answer questions. She +was afraid—afraid of a severe scolding and the disgrace of a public +expulsion. Her knees were wobbling, but she slipped to her feet and +stood facing Mr. Oliver bravely.</p> + +<p>"If you're going to expel me," she said clearly,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> "tell Hilda French +I wanted her to have my pencil box."</p> + +<p>And then the tears came.</p> + +<p>She cried and cried and as she wept she told the story and though +drawings of leaves and paint boxes and middy blouse pockets and +snakes and paper weights seemed to be hopelessly mixed in her +sobbing conversation, Mr. Oliver, in some miraculous fashion, pieced +together the disconnected bits and declared that he understood +perfectly. He loaned Sarah his extra clean handkerchief on which to +dry her eyes, her own handkerchief being obviously employed, for she +had laid the pathetic remains of the dead snake on his desk, and +when she was more quiet he told her kindly that there was no +question of expulsion.</p> + +<p>"I don't know where you ever got such an idea," he said, smiling a +little, and he looked so friendly and not at all angry, that Sarah +even managed a faint, watery smile in response. "Boys and girls are +never expelled from school except for very serious reasons. You've +made a little mistake, that's all and I'll show you where you were +wrong in just a minute. Sometimes we want our own way so much, we +can't see how we can be wrong."</p> + +<p>Sarah blushed a little, but nodded honestly.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>"Well, you see, as soon as you found out that Miss Ames didn't like +snakes in her class room, you should have stopped right there," said +Mr. Oliver decidedly. "You disobeyed Miss Ames and all this trouble +came from that. If she said her class room was no place for snakes +and mice—you brought mice one day, didn't you?—that should have +settled the question for you."</p> + +<p>"But how will the children ever learn about snakes?" asked Sarah +earnestly.</p> + +<p>"They'll learn, if they are interested," answered Mr. Oliver. "You +can't force anyone to adopt your likes and dislikes, you know, +Sarah. Rosemary may like to sew and you may say you 'hate' to touch +a needle, but do you make yourself into an ardent needlewoman, +simply because Rosemary enjoys sewing? Don't you see? I'm afraid +you'll have to give Miss Ames and me your promise that you will not +bring any more snakes, alive or dead, or any other animal to +school."</p> + +<p>Sarah promised slowly, her eyes on the dead snake.</p> + +<p>"He was such a lovely specimen," she mourned. "I s'pose maybe he was +valuable."</p> + +<p>"I tell you what to do, Sarah," said Mr. Oliver quickly. "You don't +know Mr. Martin, do you? He teaches biology in the high school<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> and +I must take you up to his room some day and let you see the +'specimens' he has. He has a menagerie that fills one side of a +large room. Whenever you find something you can't resist, you bring +it here to me in the office and I'll turn it over to Mr. Martin. In +that way your class room won't be upset and Mr. Martin will likely +gain some valuable additions to his collection. Don't you think that +is a good plan?"</p> + +<p>Sarah said she thought it was, and then, as the noon bell rang +throughout the building, Mr. Oliver shook hands with her and told +her that if she ever needed advice or help to come directly to him. +He promised, too, to speak to Miss Ames and tell her that no more +snakes or other lively "specimens" would be brought into her room by +Sarah. He opened the door for her and she was free.</p> + +<p>She sped along the corridors, her snake in her hand again, but it +was a far happier Sarah than the little girl who had walked slowly +through them an hour and a half ago. Up to the lunch room dashed +this Sarah, and startled Rosemary who was opening the lunch box at +their corner table by her demand, "I have to bury a snake—will you +come help me?"</p> + +<p>Of course she had to tell what had happened<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> that morning, and +Rosemary and Shirley agreed that Mr. Oliver was "just as nice as +nice could be."</p> + +<p>"Though I do hope, Sarah, this will teach you to let snakes alone," +said Rosemary in the elder-sister tone she rarely used. "You +frightened Aunt Trudy into fits and now you've upset a whole class. +No, don't show me that ugly little snake—I'm sorry he is dead +because you are, but I don't want to see him; I couldn't eat a bit +of lunch. Come on, and eat your sandwiches and then we will go down +and bury him somewhere on the play-ground."</p> + +<p>That night at dinner Rosemary had an announcement to make. Her eyes +shining like stars and her face glowing, she declared that she had +been appointed to plan and serve the dinner to be given by the +grammar school teachers for the Institute visitors.</p> + +<p>"Institute is the second week in November," bubbled Rosemary, "and +there will be about ten visiting teachers from the towns within +twenty-five miles. Miss Parsons says I'm the best cook in the class +though Bessie Kent is older than I am and Fannie Mears had cooking +last year."</p> + +<p>"But can you cook a dinner?" asked Doctor Hugh. "Seems to me that's +a pretty large order<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> for a class of young girls and with visitors +expected, too."</p> + +<p>"Oh, we know just what to do," said Rosemary confidently. "I have to +make out the menu and submit it to Miss Parsons by Friday of this +week. And then I have to choose the girls I want to help me cook, +and those to set and wait on the tables—this year we're going to +have small tables instead of one large one. And we girls are to do +every bit of the work ourselves!"</p> + +<p>Aunt Trudy and Winnie beamed on Rosemary, sure that she would do +well whatever she undertook, while Sarah demanded to know who the +waitresses were to be.</p> + +<p>"Well, Nina Edmonds for one," said Rosemary and the doctor frowned +involuntarily. Although Nina seldom came to the house and he knew +that Rosemary saw little of her outside of school, he could not help +but see that her influence continued to be remarkably strong.</p> + +<p>"Nina's an awful chump," declared Sarah who cordially disliked her +and was in turn, disliked by Nina.</p> + +<p>"She is not!" flared Rosemary. "And, Aunt Trudy she has the +loveliest blue velvet dress. She says she can wear it under her +apron and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> then, after dinner when we take our aprons off, she will +look all right. Couldn't I wear my new brown velvet that night?"</p> + +<p>"Why I don't know," replied Aunt Trudy uncertainly. "I don't think +it would be very suitable, dear. What do you think, Hugh?"</p> + +<p>"Don't know anything about clothes," he said shortly.</p> + +<p>"You only want to wear it because Nina Edmonds is going to wear a +velvet dress," commented Sarah shrewdly.</p> + +<p>"It will be awfully hot," said Shirley with unexpected wisdom.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm going to wear it, if Aunt Trudy doesn't say not to," +announced Rosemary, her chin in the air. "Though I'd give anything +if I had some high heeled pumps to make me look taller. Honestly, +Hugh, I'm about the only girl in our class who doesn't wear 'em."</p> + +<p>He smiled at her pleasantly, but there was no yielding in his voice.</p> + +<p>"When you're sixteen, if you still want them, I'll have nothing to +say," he said. "Mother has said you are not to wear them until then, +you know, and if I had my way no woman, sixteen or sixty, should +teeter about in silly anguish. I can't help it if the girls are +skipping five years,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> Rosemary; as I've often reminded you, the +calendar says you are still a little girl."</p> + +<p>Rosemary pouted a little, but she did not dare argue, the subject of +high heeled shoes having been long one of her secret sorrows. She +knew from experience that her brother would never consent to the +purchase of a pair and though she mentioned them from time to time, +it was without hope of converting him to her opinion.</p> + +<p>She was in her room that night, collecting her cooking notes and +recipes, in preparation for making out the important menu, when +Winnie peeped in. The brown velvet dress lay on Rosemary's bed where +she had spread it, the better to admire its charms. It was a new +frock and so far she had worn it only twice. Simply made, with a +square neck and a touch of ivory colored lace in the form of a +vestee and at the bottom of the sleeves, it was the most becoming +dress Rosemary had ever had. She knew it, too.</p> + +<p>"There's just one thing I want to say to you, Rosemary," announced +Winnie earnestly, "and that's this: you have got to make up your +mind which is the more important—this dinner or your dress. Because +cooking a good dinner takes all the brains a cook has—I ought to +know. You can't be thinking about whether you're going to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> get a +spot on your frock or whether the last hook is caught or left open. +And if you're too warm, as you will be in a velvet dress in that hot +kitchen and you all excited anyway, or if your feet hurt you, you're +not going to be able to give your attention to what you are cooking. +And I may not know much about teachers, but I imagine they're like +anybody else—when they're hungry, a brown velvet dress won't make +up to them for soggy potatoes and underdone meat. Miss Parsons is +banking on you—likely as not she's told the teachers you're the +best cook in the class, and if you serve up a poor dinner, do you +suppose looking at your velvet dress is going to make her glad she +trusted you? Of course you can suit yourself, and I'm not trying to +influence you, because you're old enough to—"</p> + +<p>Rosemary rushed at her and hugged her warmly.</p> + +<p>"You're a dear, darling Winnie!" she cried affectionately. "I'll +stop thinking about what I'm going to wear this minute, and go to +work on what I'm going to cook. Miss Parsons hates fussy clothes, +anyway, and I'll wear my white linen under my apron and be +comfortable. Hugh thinks I'm silly to wear the velvet, I know he +does."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span>"The velvet will keep," said Winnie tersely, "and I'll do up your +white linen for you so that it will look like new."</p> + +<p>But, left alone, Rosemary could not resist trying on the brown +frock. She pinned her hair high, pushing it into a tower-effect with +the aid of combs, and added a long string of red beads that almost +touched the floor.</p> + +<p>"I look so nice this way," she told the reflection in the glass, +naïvely. "Why isn't it ever sensible to wear your best clothes when +you expect to be busy?"</p> + +<p>And that is a question older folk than Rosemary have asked, but, +unlike her, they have learned the answer.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%; padding-bottom: 50px;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="chapter_xvii" id="chapter_xvii"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<h3>THE INSTITUTE DINNER</h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/r.png" title="R" height="44" width="43" alt="R" style="padding-right: 3px;" /></p> +<p>OSEMARY early encountered the usual difficulties that beset the +leader of any enterprise. The girls she selected to act as cooks +wept because they were not appointed waitresses and those tolled off +to serve at the tables were affronted because they had not been +elected to cook.</p> + +<p>"You're the general, Rosemary," said Miss Parsons, when rumors of +dissatisfaction reached her. "Give your orders and see that they are +obeyed. You are in absolute charge of this dinner and no one is to +be allowed to dictate to you."</p> + +<p>The Willis will and the Willis chin were good possessions to have in +this crisis and gradually Rosemary managed to achieve something +approaching harmony among her staff. Only Fannie Mears resolutely +refused to be won over.</p> + +<p>"I'm just as good a cook as you are," she said to Rosemary one +afternoon, "and anyway, if I'm not, cooking isn't the most important +thing in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> school." (Fannie, you see, wasn't exactly logical.) "I'll +serve as a waitress," she went on "because I have a good deal of +class feeling and I don't want the other grades to say we made a +failure of our dinner. But I want you to know that I don't like it +one single bit and I think you are anything but fair."</p> + +<p>Despite such small troubles, Rosemary enjoyed her responsibility and +as she was free from nervousness and had faith in her skill and +ability, the prospective dinner, under her planning, took shape +nicely and gave every evidence of being a success. Nina Edmonds was +in charge of the tables and waitresses and as she really knew how to +lay the service correctly and had clever ideas for decorating, +Rosemary was sure the dining room would present an attractive +appearance.</p> + +<p>She went home early the day the dinner was to be given, to dress, +and found everything carefully arranged on her bed by Winnie who had +devoted half a day to the laundering of the white frock and cleaning +the white shoes. There was no school Institute Day, but Rosemary, of +course, had been busy all day, preparing for the dinner to follow +the close of the meetings.</p> + +<p>"You look like my girl," said Doctor Hugh, kissing her when she came +down to the hall and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> found him waiting. "I thought I'd run you over +to the school—you don't want to get tired out before the evening +has begun, you know. And what time do you think the fireworks will +be over? Do you have to stay after dinner is safely eaten?"</p> + +<p>"No, Miss Parsons has three women who are coming in to clear up for +us," answered Rosemary. "Usually we have to wash our own dishes, +that is, after every cooking lesson; but Miss Parsons said as soon +as the dining room was cleared, we might go, unless we want to +attend the reception in the gym. Jack said he might come and if he +does he'll bring me home."</p> + +<p>"There'll be no if about it," announced the doctor decidedly. "I'll +drop in around half-past nine and bring you home in the car. If I'm +a bit later, you wait for me in the gym and then I'll know where to +find you."</p> + +<p>Aunt Trudy and Winnie and Shirley and Sarah crowded to the door to +watch Rosemary off, in the dear way of loving families who would +send those they love off on always successful expeditions, and as +the doctor helped her into the roadster, Jack Welles came up, still +in football togs, for he had been practising.</p> + +<p>"To-night's the big night, isn't it?" he asked,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> smiling. "You're +going to stay for the reception, aren't you, Rosemary? And we can +walk home together."</p> + +<p>"Hugh's coming for me in the car," said Rosemary. "I wasn't sure you +were going, Jack."</p> + +<p>"Well I told you I was," retorted Jack. "I thought, living next door +to you, I could save Hugh an extra trip."</p> + +<p>"You come home with us, and we'll save you a walk," suggested the +doctor, touching the starter, and Jack shouted after them that he +would.</p> + +<p>"What made you say that?" demanded Rosemary, flushing with vexation.</p> + +<p>"Why not?" countered her brother. "Jack's a good friend, Rosemary, +isn't he?"</p> + +<p>"Of course he is," said Rosemary warmly, "But, oh, well, you +wouldn't understand, because you're not a girl. He did say he was +going to the reception, but I would much rather ride home with you; +and now he'll know I know he said he was going, and if you hadn't +asked him he might think I wasn't sure he had said so."</p> + +<p>"You may know what you are talking about, but I don't," declared her +bewildered brother. "However, as you wisely observe, I am not a girl +and perhaps that accounts for my dullness. Here we are at the +school, and whatever you do,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> Rosemary, don't fail to give them +enough. Anything but a sliver of chicken and a cube of potato for a +hungry man, remember."</p> + +<p>Rosemary laughed, and ran up the path to the lighted door. The +corridors were deserted, though the sound of music came from the +auditorium, where the teachers were meeting. Upstairs the kitchen +and the lunch room, which was to serve as dining room, were ablaze +with light and girls in white caps and aprons were rushing about, +giggling excitedly and getting in each other's way.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Rosemary!" Nina Edmonds pounced upon her at once. "Come and see +if the tables don't look pretty. Did you wear your brown velvet?" +she added in a lower tone.</p> + +<p>Rosemary shook her head.</p> + +<p>"White linen," she stated briefly. "I can't bother about clothes +to-night, Nina. I want to put the soup on to re-heat right away."</p> + +<p>Nina insisted that she must see the tables first and they did look +pretty, with a vase of yellow "button" chrysanthemums in the center +of each and yellow ribbons running from the bouquet to the place +cards.</p> + +<p>"Rosemary," Miss Parsons beckoned to her, "I just tasted the soup +and it is delicious, but I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> think a grain more of salt will improve +it. Just a dash, dear, and if you're afraid of getting too much in, +don't touch it. Everything going all right?"</p> + +<p>"All right," nodded Rosemary, forbearing to mention that Fannie +Mears refused to speak to her and was evidently cherishing a +smoldering resentment that might burst into flame at an awkward +moment. Two of the girls were limping about in high heeled shoes and +these must be shielded from the critical eye and caustic tongue of +the cooking teacher, lest they become temperamental and refuse to +"wait" at all. Assuredly Rosemary had her hands full.</p> + +<p>She went into the kitchen, tasted the soup and salted it carefully. +It was rich and smooth and Rosemary felt that when the time came to +ladle it into the cups she would have every right to be proud of her +ability, for she alone had made the soup, the other girls fearing +the mysterious "curdling" that sometimes spoiled their product.</p> + +<p>Just before serving time, Miss Parsons called her for a whispered +consultation as to the seating of a special guest and when Rosemary +returned to the kitchen, she found the trays of soup cups ready on +the table. While she and two other girls filled them, the teachers +were coming into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> the dining room and finding their places by means +of the prettily lettered cards. By the time all were seated, seven +young waitresses were filing into the room, bearing in their hands +the trays of steaming soup.</p> + +<p>They made a pretty picture and the guests smiled graciously as the +cups of thick cream soup, each with four delicately browned croutons +swimming on the top, were placed before them. The girls returned to +the kitchen as soon as all were served, for Miss Parsons had +instructed Rosemary to have them help her with the dishes for the +next course instead of waiting around the room for the guests to +finish.</p> + +<p>Rosemary had decided to have a simple, hearty dinner, since the +weather was cold and many of the teachers would have a long ride to +reach their homes that night. So individual chicken pies, baked +potatoes and a corn pudding were to follow the soup, the young cook +having wisely determined to omit any extra frills that would add to +the difficulties of serving.</p> + +<p>"Nobody's touched the soup!" reported Nina Edmonds, who was the +first to return with her tray, when the buzzer under Miss Parson's +chair sounded the signal in the kitchen that it was time to remove +the first course.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span>"Nobody touched it!" echoed Rosemary in alarm. "Let me see!"</p> + +<p>She hurried around the table to inspect Nina's tray. Sure enough, +six little cups, still filled with soup, were there.</p> + +<p>"Say, something's the matter with the soup," said Bessie Kent in a +shrill whisper as she came in with her tray. "They didn't eat +it—see, all the cups are full."</p> + +<p>"Did Miss Parsons say anything?" asked Rosemary, staring at the +trays which now surrounded her. "How does she look?"</p> + +<p>"Kind of queer," answered Fannie Mears, breaking her silence. "She +must feel funny, with all those folks sitting and looking at their +soup and not eating it."</p> + +<p>"You hush up!" said Bessie Kent rudely. "There's the buzzer. Come +on, girls, we'd better hustle."</p> + +<p>In a daze Rosemary saw to it that the trays were filled again, but +she took no pride in the beautifully browned pies, the fragrant corn +pudding or the glistening potatoes wrapped in snowy napkins. Her +dinner, she was sure, was ruined. She wanted to run home and cry +where no one would see her, but instead she saw to it that each girl +had what she needed on her tray.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> Then, when her two assistants were +arranging the forks and plates for the salads, Rosemary slipped over +to the table where she had put the soup kettle and tasted the +contents.</p> + +<p>Salt! The soup was so thick with salt that she choked. Rich and +thick and smooth, what did it matter the texture or flavor, since +only one overpowering taste was present—that of salt.</p> + +<p>"How could it get like that!" puzzled Rosemary as she drank a glass +of water. "I tasted it just before we served it and it was fine. +What on earth must Miss Parsons be thinking of me!"</p> + +<p>Empty plates were carried back to the kitchen next time, and word +reached the young cooks that the pies were "wonderful" or "simply +great"—this last the expressed opinion of Mr. Oliver—and the fruit +salad met with an equally hearty reception. But not even the evident +enthusiastic approval which greeted the delicious ice-cream and cake +and perfect coffee which concluded the dinner, could compensate +Rosemary for her earlier mortification. When the meal was over and +the guests had gone down to the gymnasium for the reception and the +other girls had shed their aprons and followed, Nina too eager to +display the blue velvet frock to wait for Rosemary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> who insisted +there were several things she had to attend to, then she felt she +might cry a little for the first time in that long evening.</p> + +<p>"Rosemary, my dear child, what is the matter?" Miss Parsons bustled +in, followed by the three elderly women who were to wash the dishes. +"Are you tired out? Was the dinner too much work?"</p> + +<p>"The soup!" choked Rosemary. "Nobody could eat it. And I took such +pains with it."</p> + +<p>"Well, I was sorry afterward that I told you to salt it again," said +Miss Parsons regretfully. "I suppose you were nervous and added too +much. But don't let that grieve you dear. The rest of the dinner was +perfectly delicious and you should hear what people are saying about +you. I want you to come down to the gymnasium now and meet some of +the teachers."</p> + +<p>"Miss Parsons, I didn't over-salt the soup," protested Rosemary +earnestly. "I tasted it before and added just a dash as you told me; +and then I tasted it again, and it was all right. I <i>know</i> I didn't +put in too much salt."</p> + +<p>"Oh, nonsense, Rosemary, you were excited, that's all," said Miss +Parsons briskly. "Any one is likely to make a mistake when she has a +good deal on her mind. Don't give it another<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> thought, and if you +do, just remember it is a warning against the next time. I like to +think that every mistake we make keeps us from running into danger +some other time when the results might be more serious."</p> + +<p>Rosemary followed her teacher down to the gymnasium, but she only +half heard the introductions that followed and the kind comments on +her skill in cooking. She was wondering how she could convince Miss +Parsons that she had never put all that salt into her soup.</p> + +<p>"Why it tasted as though a whole box of salt had just been thrown +into it," said Rosemary to herself, standing near a window to watch +for Doctor Hugh and the car. "I don't care how much any one has on +her mind, no one puts a whole box of salt into a soup kettle!"</p> + +<p>And the voices of a group of girls, going home early, floated up to +her.</p> + +<p>"She says she didn't do it," said one of them, and Rosemary could +not identify the speaker though the tone sounded familiar. "But if +it had been good I'll bet she would have taken all the credit. They +say it was fairly briny, it was so salty!"</p> + +<p>Rosemary flushed scarlet. It wasn't fair!</p> + +<p>"For I didn't, I didn't, I know I didn't!" she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> declared, sitting +between Doctor Hugh and Jack that night as they sped home in the +car. "I'm just as sure as I can be that I didn't make a mistake—why +I tasted it afterward and it was delicious."</p> + +<p>"Well, if you didn't over-salt it, who did?" asked Jack practically.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," admitted Rosemary. "I could cry when I think of it."</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't do that," said her brother, turning in at their +driveway. "How about making us a chicken pie for Sunday dinner, +Rosemary, and asking Jack over to sample it?"</p> + +<p>"I'll make it," agreed Rosemary, "but just the same I want to know +who salted my soup."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%; padding-bottom: 50px;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="chapter_xviii" id="chapter_xviii"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<h3>SHIRLEY IN MISCHIEF</h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/t.png" title="T" height="44" width="40" alt="T" /></p> +<p>HE chicken pie was a wonderful success, so Doctor Hugh and Jack +assured Rosemary at the Sunday dinner, but the mystery of the +over-salted soup seemed destined to remain unsolved. Miss Parsons +never mentioned it again and Rosemary herself might have forgotten +it more readily except for several ill-natured references by Fannie +Mears whenever the Institute dinner was spoken of. Fannie and +Rosemary did not get along very well together and this was, in one +way, odd, because Fannie and Nina Edmonds were apparently most +congenial. They usually ate their lunches together, but Rosemary +chose to be with Sarah and Shirley and their corner table was +usually crowded with younger girls who adored Rosemary openly.</p> + +<p>The brief Thanksgiving holidays—with no school from Thursday to +Monday—brought the Willis family a more sincere appreciation of +their blessings than ever before. A short note from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> the little +mother lay beside each plate on Thanksgiving Day morning, and Winnie +kept one hand on hers tucked in her apron pocket even when she +served the golden brown waffles. When Aunt Trudy asked who would go +to church with her, Doctor Hugh answered for them all.</p> + +<p>"We'll please Mother," he said simply, and after the service he +packed the three girls into the little roadster and carried them off +for a long cold ride that gave them famous appetites for Winnie's +dinner.</p> + +<p>Doctor Hugh's practice was growing to include a wide radius of +countryside and the "young doctor" was gaining a name as one never +"too busy" to answer a country call. Doctor Jordan had prolonged his +vacation till late in October and then had returned to Eastshore +just long enough to sell his practice, office and instruments to his +young colleague and set off on a leisurely trip to California, a +luxury well earned after years of sacrificing service. Doctor Hugh +still retained the Jordan office, while seeing an increasing number +of patients at his home within fixed hours.</p> + +<p>His office had a great attraction for Shirley, and Rosemary had +discovered her one afternoon standing on a chair and calmly smelling +the rows<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> of bottles that stood on the cabinet shelf, one after the +other. The shining instruments, in their glass racks, had a +fascination all their own for the small girl and she declared that +she intended to be a doctor when she grew up.</p> + +<p>"All right, and I'll take you into practice with me," Doctor Hugh +promised, having surprised her in a hurried investigation of his +medicine case. "But leave all these things alone, until you are +ready to study medicine. Don't come in the office when I'm not here, +Shirley; you'll hurt yourself some day, if you are not careful."</p> + +<p>But Shirley was possessed with the idea that she would like to be a +doctor. She begged and carefully treasured all the empty bottles and +pill boxes she could gather; she demanded a knife for "operations" +and was highly indignant when Winnie gave her a pair of blunt +scissors and told her they would have to do; usually tender-hearted, +she drew the wrath of Sarah by declaring that she would like to cut +off a rabbit's leg, "just like a doctor."</p> + +<p>"I think you're a cruel, cold-blooded girl!" stormed Sarah. "Cut off +a rabbit's foot indeed! Why don't you cut off your own foot and see +how it feels?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Shirley just says that," Rosemary tried<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> to soothe her outraged +sister. "She wouldn't hurt a rabbit any more than you would, Sarah. +You know that. But you've gone without dessert twice for meddling +with Hugh's things, Shirley, and you did promise to remember after +the last time, you know."</p> + +<p>Shirley, deprived of pudding and charlotte, was grieved and +penitent, but her memory was resilient and the day after +Thanksgiving temptation assailed her again. Winnie had gone to carry +a pie to an old neighbor several blocks away, Sarah was out playing +with a school chum and Rosemary and Aunt Trudy were deep in the +discussion of new curtains for the former's room. Shirley was left +to amuse herself and her small feet carried her to the empty office.</p> + +<p>"Jennie needs an operation," whispered Shirley, her dancing eyes +roving toward the desk.</p> + +<p>As luck would have it, a curved scalpel lay there in plain view. +Ordinarily it would have been locked up safely, but Doctor Hugh, +hurriedly selecting his choice of instruments that morning, had not +bothered to replace it in the rack. Shirley went over to the desk, +picked up the shining silver thing and carefully put it down.</p> + +<p>"I'll go get Jennie," she said to herself.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> "She's very, very bad +this morning, and I ought to 'tend to her right away."</p> + +<p>Upstairs she trotted, past Aunt Trudy's room and on to her room and +Sarah's where she rescued Jennie from under the bed.</p> + +<p>"What are you doing, honey?" called Rosemary, as Shirley passed the +door again on her way down stairs.</p> + +<p>"Playing with Jennie," was the wholly satisfactory answer.</p> + +<p>"I think she plays better by herself than with Sarah," announced +Aunt Trudy. "Sarah is so apt to lead her into mischief. Would you +rather have a hem-stitched hem or ruffles, Rosemary?"</p> + +<p>Back in the office, Shirley wasted no time in planning what to do. +She knew exactly how to proceed. Jennie was placed on the desk and +Shirley climbed into the swivel chair and grasped the scalpel. The +"operation" was to be performed on Jennie's arm, she, as a celluloid +doll, possessing an odd ridge in her anatomy that had always puzzled +Shirley. What made the ridge and what the inside of Jennie looked +like, were two questions that young doctor was determined to have +settled.</p> + +<p>Jennie proved unexpectedly difficult to cut. Shirley stuck out her +tongue in her anxiety and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> breathed hard as she tried to drive the +scalpel in. It slipped suddenly, the chair tilted and the curved +shining blade cut a cruel gash in the little hand holding it so +tightly.</p> + +<p>Pain, fright and a guilty conscience were blended in Shirley's +scream. Rosemary came rushing down, followed by Aunt Trudy who added +her cries to the child's when she saw her doubled up on the floor, +rocking back and forth and calling for Rosemary.</p> + +<p>"Are you hurt, darling? What's the matter? Tell Auntie," begged Aunt +Trudy bending over the little girl.</p> + +<p>"I cut my hand!" Shirley straightened up and Aunt Trudy caught a +glimpse of the bleeding hand and the front of the child's blouse all +stained where she had held it.</p> + +<p>The sight of blood always unnerved Aunt Trudy. She shrieked now and +covered her eyes with her hands.</p> + +<p>"I can't look at it—I'll faint, I know I shall!" she cried. +"Shirley will bleed to death, Rosemary. She has an awful cut. What +shall we do! What shall we do!"</p> + +<p>The terrified Shirley began to scream more loudly and Aunt Trudy +walked up and down the floor moaning that it was awful!</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span>"I'll get Hugh!" Rosemary flew to the desk 'phone.</p> + +<p>She had heard him say where he meant to make a call and she hoped +desperately that he might be at that house or that she might be able +to leave a message for him if he had not yet arrived. But the doctor +had "come and gone" Mrs. Jackson said. He was going to stop at the +Winters, he said. Yes, they had a telephone.</p> + +<p>Three more numbers Rosemary called, before she gained a ray of +comfort. At the fourth farmhouse the farmer's wife said that the +doctor was expected back in twenty minutes with a new brace he had +wanted them to try for their son's foot. He had offered to bring it +to them from the post-office because her husband was sick himself +with a cold—</p> + +<p>Rosemary managed to check the good woman's flow of conversation and +to ask her to tell Doctor Hugh that he was wanted at home, when he +came. Shirley, tell him, had cut her hand.</p> + +<p>Shirley's cries, subdued while Rosemary talked over the 'phone, +burst out again as the receiver clicked in place.</p> + +<p>"Oh, dearest, hush!" implored Rosemary. "It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> doesn't hurt you so +very much, does it? Can't you be quiet till Hugh comes and makes you +all well?"</p> + +<p>"It bleeds and bleeds," screamed Shirley, and Aunt Trudy groaned +that the child would bleed to death before their eyes.</p> + +<p>"I'll wash it and bind it up myself," declared Rosemary, distracted +by the noise and confusion. "I don't know anything about such +things, but I think I can make it stop bleeding."</p> + +<p>"I can't help you," said Aunt Trudy hastily. "I faint the minute I +see blood. My knees are weak now. Don't ask me to hold her, will +you, Rosemary?"</p> + +<p>"I won't," promised Rosemary, biting her lower lip to keep it from +trembling. "I can take care of her, I know I can. Hugh keeps +bandages in this lower drawer and Winnie always has hot water in the +tea-kettle."</p> + +<p>Aunt Trudy frankly ran from the room when Rosemary returned from the +kitchen with a basin of warm water and arranged a package of gauze +and the scissors on the glass topped table between the windows.</p> + +<p>"I can't stay—I simply can not stay," she stammered and ran +upstairs to lie on her bed with her fingers in her ears.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span>Her going was rather a relief to Rosemary who was sure she would be +less nervous and shaky herself with her aunt out of the room. But +before she had finished with Shirley she was ready to admit that the +mere presence of a third person would have been some comfort, +however cold.</p> + +<p>For Shirley shrieked protestingly when Rosemary approached her to +carry her over to the table. She fought off all attempts to look at +her hand. And when Rosemary forced her to yield and gently plunged +the poor little hand into the basin of water which was promptly +stained deep scarlet, Shirley, sure she was bleeding to death, +pulled away and ran for the door.</p> + +<p>"Oh, darling, don't act this way," begged Rosemary, catching her and +holding her close. "Be a brave little girl and let sister wrap the +hand for you; it isn't such a bad cut, dear, and after we have +washed off the blood, there'll be nothing to be afraid of."</p> + +<p>But Shirley continued to sob and squirm all the while Rosemary cut +and wound the gauze about her hand. As nearly as the inexperienced +Rosemary could tell, the cut was not serious though it was ugly to +see. Just as she fastened the tiny safety pin in place and was ready +to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> pronounce her bandaging done, the familiar two honks of the car +sounded outside.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Hugh, I never was so glad to see you in my life!" exclaimed +Rosemary, as the doctor appeared in the doorway. "Shirley cut her +hand and she screamed and screamed and Aunt Trudy cried and it was +awful."</p> + +<p>"Must have been," said Doctor Hugh briefly. "Let's see the cut."</p> + +<p>Shirley, exhausted from crying and struggling, made a feeble attempt +to put her hand behind her, but the doctor held her firmly between +his knees and inspected the bandage.</p> + +<p>"Pretty neat job," he said approvingly.</p> + +<p>Shirley began to cry again as he unwound the gauze and when he asked +Rosemary to hand him a certain bottle and pour some of its contents +on the cut, the little girl's shrieks of pain were heart-rending. +Rosemary watched in amazement as her brother calmly dressed the cut +with fresh gauze and then, when he had finished, gathered Shirley up +in his arms to soothe her gently.</p> + +<p>"She'll go to sleep in a minute," he said quietly. "She's worn out +with crying. How did it happen?"</p> + +<p>Shirley heard him and half raised herself in his arms.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span>"I was going to operate on Jennie," she sobbed. "And the nasty knife +cut me. But I won't ever touch anything again, Hugh. Honest, I +won't."</p> + +<p>In a few minutes she was sound asleep, and the doctor placed her on +the couch in one corner of the room and covered her with a light +blanket.</p> + +<p>"Had a tough time, didn't you, Rosemary?" he said understandingly, +glancing from the basin on the table to Rosemary's tired face. +"Nobody home to help you and Aunt Trudy screaming louder than +Shirley I'll bet. I remember Aunt Trudy in hysterics when I came +home from school with a black eye one day."</p> + +<p>"Well, I felt like screaming, too," admitted Rosemary, "the blood +did make me a little sick. But then there would have been no one to +look after Shirley. I did the best I could, but I'm a poor nurse, +Hugh."</p> + +<p>"You never lose your head and that's the first rule for a good +nurse," said her brother. "Many a girl would never have thought of +trying to follow me up on the 'phone. And that was a mighty neat +bandage you did, child. You ought to learn first-aid, Rosemary. +Every girl should know what to do in an emergency or accident. I'll +teach you, if you like."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span>Rosemary was wise enough to accept his offer and her first-aid +lessons began that week, for Doctor Hugh did not believe in +postponement. He was determined, though he did not say to his +sister, to "make hysterics difficult" under any circumstances and +especially in a household emergency.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%; padding-bottom: 50px;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="chapter_xix" id="chapter_xix"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<h3>BUCKING THE STUDENT COUNCIL</h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/e.png" title="E" height="44" width="40" alt="E" style="padding-right: 3px;" /></p> +<p>ARLY December brought cold weather in its train and unusually heavy +snows. Householders were kept busy shoveling walks clean and the +boys and girls reveled in plenty of coasting. Sarah was invariably +late for supper these days and no amount of scolding from Winnie, or +pleading from Aunt Trudy, could induce her to desert the hill as +long as a single coaster remained to keep her company. Finally +Doctor Hugh devised a plan of going around that way before he came +home and, if Sarah were there, picking her and the sled up bodily +and bestowing them in the car.</p> + +<p>"I'll bet I know something you don't," said Fannie Mears one noon, +coming over with Nina Edmonds to sit at the corner table with +Rosemary in bland indifference to scowls from Sarah and sighs from +Shirley.</p> + +<p>Fannie Mears and Rosemary were not close friends at all, and the +latter was surprised at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> overture. But she hospitably swept part +of the lunch aside to make room for the visitors and offered them a +couple of Winnie's delicious egg sandwiches.</p> + +<p>"Thanks, we have enough," said Fannie. "Have you heard what the boys +are going to do?"</p> + +<p>"Boys" with Fannie, meant the high school lads as Rosemary +immediately understood. The boys in the seventh grade failed to +interest either Fannie or Nina.</p> + +<p>"No, what?" answered Sarah bluntly, in blissful ignorance that she +was not supposed to be included in the conversation.</p> + +<p>"The Common Council has asked 'em to clean off the streets," +announced Fannie, addressing herself to Rosemary, "and Jack Welles +is going to make himself awfully unpopular, if he isn't careful."</p> + +<p>"Clean off the streets?" repeated Rosemary. "Why what do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"There's been so many storms, they haven't been able to keep some of +the streets clear of snow," explained Nina, biting into a cup cake, +for Nina lunched almost exclusively on cake. "They've had gangs of +men working, but before they get one snow carted away, another +falls. And now the Common Council has decided to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> ask the high +school boys to work after school. My father is a Councilman, and he +told us all about the last meeting. They'll pay the boys and it will +be a regular lark."</p> + +<p>"Yes, if Jack Welles doesn't go and spoil everything," said Fannie +darkly.</p> + +<p>"How can he spoil everything?" Rosemary demanded.</p> + +<p>She had not seen Jack so often once the school year was well under +way. Football practice had absorbed him during the early fall and +later came basketball. Other school and class activities, too, +claimed his attention, for Jack was popular and a good student as +well. He was president of his class, the Sophomores, and had that +year been appointed Student Advisor to the grammar school boys.</p> + +<p>"How can Jack spoil things?" repeated Rosemary.</p> + +<p>Fannie leaned across the table—she dearly loved to be important and +now she had something to tell.</p> + +<p>"It's like this," she began. "My brother told me. The Student +Council had a letter from the Eastshore Common Council, saying they +wanted volunteer snow workers among the high school boys. And the S. +C. called the presidents of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> the four classes together and told them +to go ahead and get the workers, twelve from each class."</p> + +<p>Fannie stopped and looked at Rosemary expectantly. Sarah's mouth was +wide open and she was listening eagerly. Shirley had wandered away +to play.</p> + +<p>"Well?" said Rosemary sharply.</p> + +<p>"Well," echoed Fannie disagreeably. "The boys made out their lists +and when Jack read his he had asked the two Gordon boys, Jerry and +Fred, and Eustice Gray and Norman Cox and Ben Kelsey. And Will says +the president of the Student Council was simply furious."</p> + +<p>Rosemary began to fold up the napkins and put them back in the box. +Will Mears was Fannie's brother and the other boys she knew only by +sight.</p> + +<p>"Why was Frank Fenton furious?" asked Sarah, delighting in the sound +of the three F's, though quite unconscious she had used them.</p> + +<p>"Oh, do be still!" Fannie tried to squelch the younger girl. "Frank +was mad, of course, because the S. C. counted on having all the snow +money for the dramatic fund. They want to put on a play this spring +and Will says they haven't a cent in the treasury. And now Jack<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> +Welles goes and spoils a perfectly splendid chance to earn a lot of +money."</p> + +<p>"That's the third or fourth time you've said that about Jack," cried +Rosemary, stung into speech at last. "What has he done to spoil +anything? I don't see."</p> + +<p>"Why I should think you would," said Fannie, while Nina nodded +sagely. "The Gordon boys and Eustice and Norman and Ben are as poor +as can be; they want the money for themselves, and Will says they +jumped at the chance to earn it. Don't you see, it will keep that +much out of the dramatic fund, and Jack could just as well have +appointed boys who could have been glad to turn over the money to +the school. Will calls it a disgusting lack of class spirit."</p> + +<p>Rosemary's blue eyes snapped and fire burned in her cheeks.</p> + +<p>"There's nothing the matter with Jack Welles' class spirit, Fannie +Mears!" she cried. "I should think you would be ashamed to repeat +anything like that, I don't care who said it."</p> + +<p>"Well I'm not the only one who said it, or Will, either," declared +Fannie, rising as the warning bell sounded. "The president of the +Student Council told him what he thought of him, all right."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span>Inwardly seething, Rosemary managed to get away to her class room +without further argument. She had never liked Fannie Mears, she told +herself and now she almost hated her. As for Will Mears, president +of the High School Juniors, well he wasn't a bit better. What a +disagreeable family the Mears must be!</p> + +<p>It was cooking class day, and Rosemary stayed almost an hour after +school that night, "puttering" as Miss Parsons called it, about the +school kitchen. Sarah and Shirley went home without her, and she was +walking briskly along alone, tramping hardily through the snow late +that afternoon, when Jack Welles overtook her.</p> + +<p>"How's the soup?" he asked cheerfully, that being a stock question +of his ever since the fateful Institute dinner.</p> + +<p>"How's the Student Council?" asked Rosemary.</p> + +<p>Jack's open face changed.</p> + +<p>"What do you know about the Student Council?" he said gruffly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I heard—something," replied Rosemary. "Was Frank Fenton +unfair, Jack?"</p> + +<p>"Well, he doesn't think so," said Jack, "I suppose you girls have +been gossiping and you might as well get the story straight," he +added.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span>Rosemary nodded eagerly.</p> + +<p>"I hope the Gray boys and the others will shovel snow," she cried +impulsively. "I don't give a fig for the old dramatic fund, Jack."</p> + +<p>"I do," said Jack. "It's all right to turn the snow money into the +fund and I've nothing to say against that. But when the Student +Council kicks because five boys out of forty-eight want to keep what +they earn, and they know they are putting themselves through school, +I think it shows a contemptible, small spirit and I told Frank so +to-night. You see, Rosemary," he went on a little more calmly, +"there aren't a whole lot of ways a boy can earn money and go to +school in a small town like this—nearly everyone tends to his own +fires and sweeps off his own walks and runs his own errands. If we +hadn't had one snow storm after another, there wouldn't have been +this chance. And I purposely appointed these five boys because I +know what they are up against. And by gum," he said forcibly if +inelegantly, "on my squad they stay!"</p> + +<p>"But can't the Student Council make you back down and appoint +others?" asked Rosemary, glowing with excitement. "I thought the S. +C. could do anything in high school, Jack."</p> + +<p>"They are pretty powerful," her companion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> admitted, "but they don't +dare carry this to the faculty, because they'll look so small and +Eustice Gray is in the direct line for one of the college +scholarships. Every teacher on the faculty staff will stand by the +boys—they're all fine students and making a stiff fight to get +through school. You don't suppose Mr. Hamlin is going to think the +dramatic fund is more important than shoes for Norman Cox, do you?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Hamlin was the principal of the high school.</p> + +<p>"But it can't be very pleasant for the boys," urged Rosemary, +troubled.</p> + +<p>"You've said it," confessed Jack gloomily. "I had a second fight +there, for after the fellows heard the Student Council was raising a +rumpus, they said they would get off my team and let others take +their places. Norman said he guessed they could get independent jobs +shoveling snow after school hours."</p> + +<p>"Could they?" asked Rosemary.</p> + +<p>"I suppose they could, but they won't if I have anything to say +about it," declared Jack with what Doctor Hugh called his "bull-dog" +expression. "I was told to appoint a snow cleaning team and I've +done it, and by gum my nominations stand. If the Student Council +doesn't<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> like 'em, they can appeal to the faculty—and they'll get +what's coming to them! The town Council doesn't give a hoot where +the money goes, all they want is to have the snow cleaned away. I +told the fellows if they walked out, they made me just five short, +for I wouldn't appoint anyone in their places. If they want to see +the Sophomore class fall down on the job, all right. You watch my +twelve names go through!"</p> + +<p>Rosemary watched. So did all the high and half the grammar school, +for word of the dispute, variously colored to suit different +informants, had been noised around and the only persons in actual +ignorance of the state of affairs were the high school faculty. The +Student Council was desperately anxious that they should remain in +that state, for there had been one or two previous clashes over the +relative importance of the dramatic fund, and the members of the +council had no wish to be accused of "forcing" any unfair demands. +So, as Jack had foreseen, his nominations were allowed to stand and +the next afternoon, forty-eight laughing, shouting boys reported to +Bill McCormack, bluff and kindly member of the Eastshore Common +Council who would, in a larger municipality, have been called +"Streets and Highways Commis<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span>sioner" or by similar sonorous title.</p> + +<p>But before the boys met "Bill" in front of the town hall, the +president of the Student Council, Frank Fenton, and Will Mears, +president of the Junior class, had held a conference with Mr. +Edmonds, the most influential member, some said, next to the +president, Cameron Jordan, a cousin of the old and respected +physician. The result of this conference was that Bill McCormack +held in his fat, red hands a sheaf of papers which allotted the +streets to the four classes and took the decision quite away from +him.</p> + +<p>"I was told to give these papers to the heads of the gangs," said +Mr. McCormack, smiling expansively. "Here ye are—Senior, Junior, +Sophomore, Freshman—them's your working papers, me lads, and now +off with ye; the shovels ye'll be finding in the basement of the +hall."</p> + +<p>Jack Welles glanced at the slip of paper handed him, folded it up +and stuffed it in his pocket. As soon as his "gang" was fitted out +with snow shovels, he marched them away in the wake of one of the +lumbering wagons that was to carry the snow off to a vacant field on +the outskirts of the town.</p> + +<p>"What did we draw, Jack?" asked Norman Cox curiously.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span>"Plummers Lane," said Jack laconically.</p> + +<p>Plummers Lane, was the nearest approach to a "slumming section" that +Eastshore possessed. The idle, the shiftless and the vicious +congregated there, living in tumbled down shacks in the winter and +the middle of the streets, in summer. There were two factories, one +a novelty works, the other a canning and candy factory and the "dump +lot" bounded the Lane on the north and the jail on the south. +Altogether it was not the choicest portion which could fall to the +lot of the young snow cleaners.</p> + +<p>"It's enough to make you want to resign from the dramatic club!" +exclaimed Kenneth Vail, who, in common with the other boys, labored +under no delusion that chance fortune had sent them to Plummers +Lane.</p> + +<p>"If you had only put some one else in my place—" began Eustice Gray +uncomfortably, but seven voices immediately shouted to him, in +friendly chorus to "dry up."</p> + +<p>"We'll make Plummers Lane look sick," declared Jack. "From the looks +of it, I don't think there's been a shovel down here since the first +snow. If the S. C. thinks they have marked more off for us than we +can clean up, we'll show<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> them! Here goes for the first shovel—out +of the way, Mike!"</p> + +<p>The grinning driver reined in his team and dodged as Jack hurled a +heavy shovelful over the side of the cart. The other boys followed +suit and twelve strong, sturdy backs bent to their task. The +population of Plummers Lane, that part of it visible by day, draped +itself along the curb to watch operations and hand out advice, but +any more practical help was not offered or expected.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%; padding-bottom: 50px;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="chapter_xx" id="chapter_xx"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2> + +<h3>DRESSMAKER ROSEMARY</h3> + +<p class="figleft2"><img src="images/i2.png" title="I" height="44" width="29" alt="I" /></p> +<p>'M an old man," announced Jack Welles that night, dropping into a +chair in Doctor Hugh's office, while he waited for the latter to +prepare a bottle of medicine for his father's cough.</p> + +<p>"Back broken, I suppose?" suggested the doctor cheerfully. "The +first ten years are always the hardest, my boy."</p> + +<p>Jack groaned and Rosemary, patiently holding a bleary-eyed cat for +Sarah, looked at him anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Ten years!" complained Jack. "Another afternoon like this and I +won't live to see ten years. Ye gods, who would have thought a +little snow shoveling could break me up like this!"</p> + +<p>"You're out of practice," replied the doctor, busily writing a +label. "Don't try to clean all the streets in one day, Jack; I came +through Main street to-night and I must say the boys have made a +good job of it, though, of course, it was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> fairly well tramped down. +It's the side streets that are blocked. Where are you working?"</p> + +<p>"Plummers Lane," said Jack dryly. "The Juniors have uptown and Main +street. We're providing a side show for the unemployed and if we +don't get any fun out of our job, they at least can laugh their +heads off."</p> + +<p>"I told Hugh about the Student Council and the way they acted," said +Rosemary hotly. "Don't you think they are too hateful for anything, +Hugh?"</p> + +<p>The doctor looked at Jack who managed a grin.</p> + +<p>"Jack isn't hurt yet," said Doctor Hugh, smiling, "and I don't know +but digging out Plummers Lane is a man-sized job and one to be proud +of. Certainly if you get the streets in passable condition so that +we don't have to carry a sick woman through snow drifts to get her +to the ambulance—which happened last week—you'll have the thanks +of the doctors if not of the Student Council."</p> + +<p>"We're going to stick," declared Jack, taking the bottle the doctor +held out to him. "If there should ever be a fire down there, with +the snow piled over the hydrants and kerosene oil cans mixed up with +packing boxes and kindling wood<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> in the front yards, after the +happy-go-lucky housekeeping methods followed by Plummers Lane +housekeepers, I should say three blocks would go like tinder. Bill +McCormack was down to see us, just as we were knocking off, and he +was pleased as Punch at what we'd done."</p> + +<p>"I'm coming down to see you," announced Rosemary.</p> + +<p>"So 'm I," cried Sarah. "I can shovel snow, too."</p> + +<p>"Come on, if you want to," said Jack, "but don't expect us to have +much time to talk to you. We're being paid by the hour and business +is business."</p> + +<p>He went off whistling, leaving Rosemary with an odd expression on +her face. It was the first time Jack had ever hinted he could +possibly be too busy to talk to her.</p> + +<p>"Hugh," she said seriously, when the doctor had prescribed for +Sarah's sick pussy cat and the anxious mistress had gone off to tuck +the patient in bed down cellar. "Hugh, couldn't I take hot coffee +and doughnuts to the boys while they are working in the snow +afternoons? I know they must get hungry and it is so cold and windy +down Plummers Lane—the wind comes across the marsh."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span>"Go ahead," her brother encouraged her. "Get Sarah to help you. I +imagine Jack is having a tough time and he'll appreciate a little +unspoken sympathy. I'll give you a testimonial for your coffee, +Rosemary, if you think you need one; where are the doughnuts coming +from?"</p> + +<p>"They're all made, a stone crock full," dimpled Rosemary. "That was +what made me think of doing it. We'll come home from school and get +the big tin pail with the lid and a pan of doughnuts. But I can't +carry twelve cups."</p> + +<p>"Paper ones will do," the doctor assured her. "The boys will gulp +the coffee before it can possibly seep through. Make Sarah do her +share, and don't stay late, either one of you."</p> + +<p>The next afternoon, as Jack straightened his aching back to answer +the questions of Frank Fenton, who was serving as time-keeper for +the four squads, he looked across the street and saw two little +figures who waved gloved hands at him and beckoned in a mysterious +manner.</p> + +<p>"Isn't that Rosemary Willis?" asked Frank, "stunning kid, isn't +she?"</p> + +<p>Rosemary, rosy from the cold and with her eyes dark and starry, left +Sarah on the curb and crossed over.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Jack," she began before she reached him,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> "Sarah and I have +brought you some hot coffee and doughnuts. There's enough for +everyone."</p> + +<p>Frank had his data, but he still lingered, and the other boys at +Jack's shout, crowded around. Rosemary knew most of them and Jack +hurriedly performed the few necessary introductions leaving Frank +till the last. Norman Cox and Eustice Gray had hastened across the +street and returned with Sarah and the supplies just as Jack said, +"Rosemary, this is Frank Fenton."</p> + +<p>"He can't have any," said Sarah with blunt distinctness.</p> + +<p>Rosemary flushed scarlet and then, with the quickness characteristic +of her, jerked the lid from the coffee can and filled one of the +paper cups with the steamy, fragrant, liquid.</p> + +<p>"Please," she said gravely, holding it out to the astonished +president of the Student Council. "The sugar and cream are already +in. And these are fresh doughnuts."</p> + +<p>Mechanically Frank drank the hot coffee and ate a doughnut, while +Rosemary poured out the remainder of the coffee and Jack passed the +cups around, Sarah serving the doughnuts.</p> + +<p>"That is the best coffee I ever drank," declared Frank, when he had +finished. "And now, couldn't I take you home? I have my car down<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span> +the street a ways and I go right past your house."</p> + +<p>Jack choked over his coffee, but Rosemary thanked the senior +politely and said that she and Sarah had planned to stay and watch +the shovelers a while.</p> + +<p>"This isn't a very nice neighborhood, especially after dark you +know," said Frank.</p> + +<p>"We're not going to stay long," Rosemary was beginning, but Jack cut +her short.</p> + +<p>"I live next door to Rosemary, and I'll see that she and Sarah get +home all right," he said brusquely. "I know all about Plummers Lane, +too, Frank."</p> + +<p>The Student Council president lifted his cap and went back to his +car.</p> + +<p>"I don't like him," said Sarah decidedly.</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't wonder if he was faintly aware of your dislike," +grinned Jack. "Any more coffee left, Rosemary? You certainly had a +bright idea when you thought of this."</p> + +<p>Rosemary and Sarah were more than repaid for their long, cold walk, +by the evident pleasure the boys took in their warm drink and the +two fat doughnuts apiece they had brought them. They knocked off +work fifteen or twenty minutes earlier in order to see the girls +home before dark, but the next afternoon the doctor's car<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> came and +picked up the sisters and the empty coffee can so that the workers +lost no time.</p> + +<p>For nearly a week, the boys shoveled steadily after school hours, +sticking to the job long after the first novelty had worn away. Bill +McCormack declared that they were the best "gang" he had ever hired +and the Plummers Lane residents ceased to regard them as a joke and +began to exchange sociable comments and quips with them, though +never descending to the plane of familiarity that included a shovel. +Rosemary and Sarah, and now and then Shirley, carried coffee and +doughnuts, or hot cocoa and cakes, each afternoon and Doctor Hugh +willingly stopped for them in his car. Even the weather ceased to +consent to co-operate for after one heavy snow, it cleared and the +streets made passable, remained that way till after Christmas.</p> + +<p>The most important subject of discussion in the Willis household, +along the lines of Christmas preparations, was the box to be sent +the little mother in the sanatorium.</p> + +<p>"I think we ought to make her something!" announced Rosemary.</p> + +<p>"Well, what?" asked Sarah. "I most know she'd love to have one of +Tootles' kittens, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> I don't suppose we could mail that, could +we?"</p> + +<p>"Praise be, you can't," said Winnie who had overheard. "Those +kittens will be the death of me yet, and what they'd do to sick +folks in a sanatorium, I'm sure I don't know and don't want to."</p> + +<p>"What'll we make Mother?" urged Shirley, pulling Rosemary's belt.</p> + +<p>"I know—a kimona," said Rosemary triumphantly. "That won't be hard, +because we'll have only two seams. Mother will love to have +something we made her, instead of a gift we just went down town and +bought. What color do you think would be pretty, Sarah?"</p> + +<p>"Red," said Sarah promptly.</p> + +<p>"Pink," begged Shirley. "Make it pink, Rosemary."</p> + +<p>"I like blue," said Rosemary wistfully.</p> + +<p>"Let's ask Aunt Trudy," suggested Sarah.</p> + +<p>"I think you're awfully foolish to try to make anything," pronounced +Aunt Trudy when they consulted her. "But I suppose, if you have set +your hearts on it, why nothing will dissuade you. Why don't you make +your mother a white kimona, and bind it with pink ribbon? White was +always her favorite."</p> + +<p>So it was decided the kimona should be white<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> eiderdown and bound +with pink satin ribbon and Rosemary and Sarah and Shirley went +shopping one afternoon after school and bought the materials. Their +purchase included a pattern, the first in their joint experience and +when they had spread it out on Rosemary's bed the three girls looked +at it helplessly.</p> + +<p>"We'll put it on paper, till we learn how to cut it," said Rosemary, +secretly wondering how anyone ever learned to understand such +complicated directions as were printed on the pattern envelope.</p> + +<p>They had decided that neither Aunt Trudy nor Winnie could be allowed +to help them and since Rosemary had a working knowledge of the +sewing machine's mysteries and could sew neatly by hand, they had +not anticipated any trouble.</p> + +<p>"But how could we know a pattern was such a silly thing?" wailed +Rosemary, tired and cross when the dinner gong sounded and they had +made no progress. The floor of the room was littered with paper and +the top of the bed resembled a pincushion for Shirley had amused +herself by sticking the contents of the entire paper of pins in +orderly rows on the counterpane.</p> + +<p>"Aren't you coming down to dinner?" asked Sarah, moving toward the +door.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span>"No, I'm not," retorted Rosemary. "I'm not hungry and I don't want +anything to eat. Don't let Winnie come up here making a fuss; you +tell Aunt Trudy I don't want any dinner to-night. I'm not going to +do a thing till I get this kimona cut out."</p> + +<p>"Hugh will be mad," said Sarah, half way down the hall.</p> + +<p>"Let him," called Rosemary recklessly, shutting the door of her room +with a bang.</p> + +<p>She was deep in the pattern directions for the tenth time, when +someone rapped on her door.</p> + +<p>"I'm not hungry—don't bother me," she called, frowning.</p> + +<p>The door knob turned and Doctor Hugh smiled in at her.</p> + +<p>"Heard you were having trouble with the dressmaking," he announced. +"Can't I help? I'm not Winnie or Aunt Trudy, you know. I'd like to +have a finger in this, if I could."</p> + +<p>Rosemary drew a long breath.</p> + +<p>"You do understand, don't you?" she said, standing on the foot that +had not gone to sleep and trying to rouse the circulation in the +other one. "We didn't want anyone to touch our present for Mother, +except us; but you're us, too, aren't you?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span>"Surest thing," agreed the doctor, approaching the terrible pattern +with grave interest. "What's the matter with this—aren't you sure +how it should be cut?"</p> + +<p>Rosemary shook her head hopelessly.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid to cut it before I know and I've tried it every way I +can think of," she confessed.</p> + +<p>"Well, if this is wrong, I'll buy you some more goods to-morrow," +promised the doctor, twitching the pattern to his liking.</p> + +<p>He took up the scissors and cut around the outline with what seemed +to Rosemary, reckless abandon. But when he had finished and she took +up the two pieces, they fitted together like parts of a picture +puzzle.</p> + +<p>"It's right!" she cried in delight. "Hugh, you darling, it's all +right! And I can baste it to-night and sew it on the machine +to-morrow and put the ribbon on by hand. Won't Mother love it!"</p> + +<p>"No more sewing to-night," said her brother firmly. "Dressmakers +always make mistakes when they're tired. Come down and eat your +dinner now, and then put this truck away till after school to-morrow +afternoon."</p> + +<p>Rosemary followed him downstairs meekly, though her fingers itched +to get at the basting.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> Sarah looked up at them in surprise as they +entered the dining-room.</p> + +<p>"I thought Rosemary was going to be cross!" she said frankly.</p> + +<p>"You were mistaken," retorted Doctor Hugh, smiling so infectiously +at Rosemary that she could do no less than twinkle back at him.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%; padding-bottom: 50px;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="chapter_xxi" id="chapter_xxi"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h2> + +<h3>MR. JORDAN LEARNS SOMETHING</h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/t.png" title="T" height="44" width="40" alt="T" /></p> +<p>HE kimona was finished without further mishap and packed away in +the Christmas box.</p> + +<p>"And no one was more surprised than I when the thing proved to be +cut right," Doctor Hugh confided to Winnie. "I never looked at a +pattern before, but I took a chance. I could see Rosemary was just +on the edge of 'nerves' and I figured out that if I did make a mess +of it, she might not find it out till the next day, and by that time +she might be able to see the humor in the situation."</p> + +<p>"You're a wise lad, Hughie, and I'm proud of you," said Winnie +fondly. She had guessed something of the cost of the fur lined coat +that the doctor had proudly displayed as his Christmas gift for the +little mother, now well enough to take short tramps through the pine +woods daily. Winnie did not know that a set of sorely needed medical +books had gone into the coat, but she suspected something of the +kind.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span>The box was packed and sent and the Willis family settled down to +the first Christmas they had known without the gentle spirit who had +tirelessly planned for every holiday. But they had the dear +knowledge that she was coming home again to them, well and strong, +and they hung the wreaths in the windows and wound greens about the +lights and trimmed a tree for Shirley with thankful and merry +hearts. Doctor Hugh had missed so many home Christmas Days that he +in particular, enjoyed the preparations and his attempts at secrets +and his insistence on tasting all of Winnie's dishes drove the girls +into fits of laughter. A pile of packages surrounded every place on +Christmas morning and there was something pretty and practical and +purely nonsensical for each one from the doctor. He, in turn, +declared that for once in his life he had everything he wanted. Aunt +Trudy's gift to her nephew and each of her nieces was a cheque and +the announcements that followed were characteristic.</p> + +<p>"What are you going to get, Hugh?" asked Sarah curiously, when the +nature of her slip of paper had been explained to her.</p> + +<p>"Books," said Doctor Hugh, promptly, smiling at his aunt.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span>"Music and a new music case, a leather one," declared Rosemary, her +eyes shining.</p> + +<p>"I'd like to buy a dog," said Sarah, and grinned good-naturedly at +the groan which greeted her modest wish.</p> + +<p>"You'd better buy an electric heater for the cats," suggested +Winnie. "I'm forever taking 'em out of the oven; some day I'll +forget to look, and there will be baked cats when you come down."</p> + +<p>Shirley was distressed at this dismal prediction, but Sarah did not +take it to heart.</p> + +<p>"I think, after all," she said meditatively, "I'll buy a hen and +keep chickens."</p> + +<p>"What are you going to buy with your money, Shirley lamb?" asked +Rosemary, as Sarah fell to planning a chicken yard.</p> + +<p>"A doll I guess," said Shirley who had had three that morning.</p> + +<p>When Sarah reminded her of that fact, Aunt Trudy protested.</p> + +<p>"No one is to attempt to dictate in any way," she said with +unaccustomed firmness. "When I was a child I was never allowed to +spend a cent as I wanted to and I gave you each this money to do +with exactly as you please. If you spend it foolishly, all right, I +don't care. But I want<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> each one of you to get what you want, +whether or not it pleases some one else. I could have bought you +what I thought you ought to have, but that's the kind of presents I +had as a child and the only kind. And my goodness, didn't I hate +'em!"</p> + +<p>The girls stared a little at this outburst and then the doctor +laughed.</p> + +<p>"Well all I can say," he remarked drolly as he pushed back his chair +in answer to the summons of the telephone, "is that it is lucky +Christmas comes only once a year. Otherwise, Aunt Trudy, you'd have +us completely demoralized."</p> + +<p>Spending their Christmas money gave the three girls a good deal of +pleasure during holiday week and a letter from their mother was +another pleasant incident. Mrs. Willis wrote that the fur coat and +the kimona had made her the envy of the whole sanatorium and she was +so proud of them both that she cried whenever she looked at them!</p> + +<p>"—But, of course, I know you don't want me to do that, so I have +stopped, really I have," ran one paragraph of her letter. "I am so +proud of you all, my darlings and it seems such a short time ago +that you were all babies. How could I look ahead and see that my son +would grow up<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> so soon and buy his mother a fur-lined coat, or that +my three girl babies for whom I sewed so happily would make me a +kimona and such a beautiful garment? I am wearing it now...."</p> + +<p>The clear cold weather came to an end during holiday week and a +heavy storm set in a few days before New Year's. For two days and a +night it snowed steadily and Sarah was almost beside herself to +think that now she could play in the snow as long as she liked with +no school to interfere. Shirley suffered from cold and did not like +to play out long at a time, but Rosemary was not too old to enjoy +snow ball fights and coasting and she joined Sarah on the hill as +often as she felt she could leave her beloved practising. Nina +Edmonds did not care for coasting, but Fannie Mears and several of +the girls in the grade above the seventh liked to coast on Fred +Mears' bob-sled.</p> + +<p>Late in the afternoon of the second day, when the snow had almost +stopped, except for a few large flakes, Rosemary set out to find +Sarah and bring her in in time for dinner. She was ploughing along +through the snow when Jack Welles hailed her.</p> + +<p>"'Lo, Rosemary!" he called. "Where you going—home?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span>"I'm going to the hill to get Sarah," Rosemary explained. "Hugh says +she'd coast till breakfast time if no one stopped her and I believe +she would. Where's your sled? Haven't you been out to-day? They say +the coasting is fine."</p> + +<p>"I know it is, but I haven't had time to try it, worse luck!" +growled Jack, falling into step beside Rosemary as they walked on. +"The Common Council has sent out a call for the snow cleaning gangs +again and I've been trying to round the fellows up."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I suppose the streets are piled up," agreed Rosemary. "When +are you expected to start work—not to-night?"</p> + +<p>"To-morrow morning," the boy replied. "But there won't be more than +six of us."</p> + +<p>"Six!" repeated Rosemary in astonishment. "Why I thought there were +twelve in each gang."</p> + +<p>"There were," said Jack briefly. "But, you see, it is holiday week, +and no one wants to work. The only five I can get are Norman Cox, +Eustice Gray, Jerry and Fred Gordon and Ben Kelsey. I'm the sixth. +Two of the others are away and the rest are going on a sleighing +trip up to the woods."</p> + +<p>"Where's Frank Fenton?" demanded Rosemary. "Can't he make 'em work?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, he's going on the ride, too," explained<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> Jack. "A bunch are +going, girls and boys and three of the teachers will chaperone. They +go up to a camp, you know, and build a big fire and dance and have a +good time. Frank says it won't hurt to wait a day or two. I think +he's hoping the snow will melt."</p> + +<p>"What about the dramatic fund?" inquired, Rosemary, not +intentionally sarcastic. "I thought they wanted the money."</p> + +<p>"Too soon after Christmas," grinned Jack. "No, I guess the six of us +will have to represent the school. Is that Sarah over there with the +red hat?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is," answered Rosemary, beckoning to her sister. "Didn't +you want to go on the ride, Jack? Or the other boys?"</p> + +<p>"Well I don't care so much," replied Jack slowly. "Of course I'd +have a good time, but I can live without a sleigh ride. I'm sorry on +the fellows' account though—they wanted to go with some girls and +they don't have much fun. I hated like time to ask them to come and +shovel snow to-morrow morning. As Eustice says most of the school +fun costs too much for him, but this wasn't going to be expensive."</p> + +<p>"Couldn't you wait just one day?" suggested Rosemary.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span>Jack shook his head.</p> + +<p>"It's understood that we stand ready to help the Council out," he +said in a business-like manner. "They depend on us, and it isn't +their fault the snow came during the holidays. We were glad enough +to get the chance before and I think it looks mighty cheap to try to +beg off now just because it isn't convenient to work. I'm going to +be on deck to-morrow morning if I'm the only one who turns up."</p> + +<p>Six boys, however, reported the next morning to Bill McCormack and +at their own suggestion, were set to work clearing the Plummers Lane +section of the accumulated snow.</p> + +<p>"My father is always talking about the fire risk down here," said +Jack to Jerry Gordon as they shoveled side by side. "Eastshore has a +nifty little fire department I'm ready to admit, but it can't climb +a snow bank even with the new chemical engine."</p> + +<p>The boys found the day unexpectedly long. Hitherto they had worked +three or four hours after school and the one Saturday they had +shoveled had been at the end of their task so that they had been +able to quit at noon. But, although they were genuinely tired long +before night—and the noon rest had never been so ap<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span>preciated!—not +one of them suggested giving in or knocking off an hour or two +earlier. They worked so steadily and to such good purpose that by +half-past four, when Rosemary and Sarah appeared with hot coffee and +sandwiches, the most congested area in Plummers Lane was +comparatively clear.</p> + +<p>"Gee, Rosemary, you certainly are all right!" approved Jack as he +held the can for her while she ladled out coffee. "I never was so +hungry in my life."</p> + +<p>"They're chicken sandwiches and turkey, too," said Rosemary, +smiling. "Winnie said if you couldn't go on the sleigh ride she'd +see to it that you had something extra good to eat."</p> + +<p>The hungry boys fell upon Winnie's sandwiches with a vigor that +would have done her heart good, and the coffee disappeared +magically. When the last drop was gone and the last crumb vanished, +Jack insisted that the girls start for home.</p> + +<p>"It's getting dark now," he said, "and Hugh won't like it if you are +out late down here. I'd walk home with you, but we want to finish; +we're not going to quit till we get to the end of the street. +There's a fire hydrant there."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span>Rosemary and Sarah, carrying the empty coffee can and the basket +that had been packed with sandwiches, walked slowly toward home, +Sarah audibly regretting that they had left the sled at the house.</p> + +<p>"We could have a good coast, before dinner," she argued, walking +backward, an accomplishment of which she was exceedingly proud.</p> + +<p>Pride, as often happens, went before a fall, in this instance, a +collision. Sarah, heedless of Rosemary's cry of warning, walked into +a stout, silver-haired gentleman in a fur-collared coat.</p> + +<p>"Bless my soul, what's this?" he asked in astonishment, looking down +at the small girl who had bumped into his knees.</p> + +<p>"How do you do Mr. Jordan?" said Rosemary respectfully, recognizing +the president of the Common Council.</p> + +<p>"Why it's Rosemary Willis!" beamed Mr. Jordan. "And Sarah, as I +live. Where are you going my dears?"</p> + +<p>"We're going home," explained Rosemary. "We took the boys some +coffee and sandwiches. They are shoveling snow, you know."</p> + +<p>"Oh, the high school lads, yes, I recollect," said Mr. Jordan. "I +meant to go around and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> see them at work, but I've spent the +afternoon in the library. Pretty faithful lads, aren't they, to +stick to their job in holiday week?"</p> + +<p>Rosemary held an instant's swift debate with herself. Jack, she +knew, would hold his tongue. But Jack was not within hearing +distance and his scruples did not honestly affect her. She put down +the coffee can and began to speak. She told Mr. Jordan the whole +story, from the beginning when the Student Council had objected to +Jack's list of workers. She told about the streets assigned to the +boys. She mentioned the sleigh ride and told who had gone. She named +the six boys who had spent the day shoveling. The faster she talked, +the prettier and more earnest she looked and the more interested Mr. +Jordan seemed. Sarah listened dumbly, fascinated by her sister's +eloquence.</p> + +<p>Mr. Jordan walked with them to their front steps and shook hands +with them both.</p> + +<p>"I am extremely obliged to you," he told Rosemary as he lifted his +hat to go. "I find that I have been a little out of things and you +have set me right."</p> + +<p>"Goodness knows what I've done," said Rosemary to Sarah as they +brushed their hair and made ready for the table. "Don't you say a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> +word to Jack—he will be furious. But I don't care what happens, I'm +glad I said what I did; this 'silence is golden' is a silly saying, +I think."</p> + +<p>Late that night, when every one had gone to bed, the fire whistle +sounded. Rosemary raised up in bed, shivering with excitement. She +counted the strokes. One-two—one-two—one-two-three-four. Reaching +for her dressing gown at the foot of the bed, she seized it and +rushed for the door. Sarah's door opened at the same moment and the +two little figures met in the hall. They shouted together, rousing +the household.</p> + +<p>"Plummers Lane!" they shrieked. "The fire's in Plummers Lane!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%; padding-bottom: 50px;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="chapter_xxii" id="chapter_xxii"></a>CHAPTER XXII</h2> + +<h3>SHOPPING WITH NINA</h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/s.png" title="S" height="44" width="30" alt="S" style="padding-right: 3px;" /></p> +<p>HIRLEY, half-awake and crying, came pattering out into the hall and +Winnie dashed from her room. On the second floor, Aunt Trudy +scuttled back and forth demanding where the fire was.</p> + +<p>"Go to bed girls," ordered Doctor Hugh, who had just come in and was +fully dressed. "Go back to bed, and I'll tell you all about the fire +in the morning."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Hugh, are you going? Wait for me, please?" cried Rosemary. "I +won't be a minute."</p> + +<p>"Me, too," shouted Sarah. "Wait for me, Hugh."</p> + +<p>He was already in the lower hall, struggling into his overcoat.</p> + +<p>"Go back to bed, and don't be silly," was his parting injunction as +he opened the door. "You'll catch cold, running through the halls. +Send 'em to bed, Winnie."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span>The door banged behind him and they heard a familiar whistle.</p> + +<p>"Hugh!" some one called. "Hugh, it's down Plummers Lane. Going to +get the car out? I'll help you."</p> + +<p>"That's Jack," cried Rosemary, trying to see through the white +curtains without being seen. "Oh, dear, men have all the fun!"</p> + +<p>In spite of Winnie's remonstrances and Aunt Trudy's worry that they +would have pneumonia, the three girls tried to stay up till their +brother came back. After half an hour they gave up and went sleepily +to bed. The next morning they heard that the fire had been in one of +the novelty factories and that several houses had also been +destroyed.</p> + +<p>"If the hydrants hadn't been open and the street clear, they say the +whole block would have gone," the doctor reported. "In some way it's +got over town that Jack and his gang were the only high school boys +on the job yesterday and that they voluntarily cleaned the snow out +of Wycliffe street. The Common Council is talking of doing something +handsome to show their appreciation."</p> + +<p>Rosemary beamed, but Sarah who never could keep still blurted out +the truth.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span>"Rosemary told Mr. Jordan last night," she said matter-of-factly.</p> + +<p>When Doctor Hugh had heard the details, he declared that while Jack +might not approve at once, he was sure he would later be glad.</p> + +<p>"You're a loyal friend, Rosemary," said the doctor patting the +gold-red hair now long enough to tie back in a thick bunch of curls +again, "and there are few finer qualities to possess than that."</p> + +<p>The Common Council, through Mr. Jordan passed a resolution thanking +the boys, by name, for their faithful "and valuable" services, and +the resolution was printed in the Eastshore "Chronicle" much to the +confusion of the lads and the delight and pride of their admiring +families. The Council also voted each boy the sum of $25, not, Mr. +Jordan explained, as an attempt to pay them, but in recognition of +"the devotion to duty which is able to ignore personal pleasure and +the initiative which is directed by common sense."</p> + +<p>"Incidentally," he added, "the property, saved because the street +was clear and the fire apparatus could get through, totals +considerable more than the sum we are voting you."</p> + +<p>Jack learned, of course, of the part Rosemary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> had played in this +train of events and though he made several cutting remarks about the +inability of girls to hold their tongues, he gradually, if +grudgingly, admitted that "it might have been worse."</p> + +<p>"Norman Cox and Eustice Gray and the others are tickled pink with +the $25," he confided. "They think you are great. And I suppose you +couldn't help spilling the beans to Mr. Jordan."</p> + +<p>But Rosemary was content to do without pæans of praise.</p> + +<p>The famous "January thaw" filled the streets with slush a few weeks +later and made indoors a pleasant place to stay. Fannie Mears caught +a heavy cold and was out of school a week and Nina Edmonds began to +seek the society of Rosemary, whom she had rather neglected.</p> + +<p>"You never come to my house any more," said Nina, one noon period. +"Come home with me this afternoon, won't you, dear?"</p> + +<p>Rosemary was acutely conscious of her brother's wishes concerning +Nina, and she knew that he preferred she did not go often to the +Edmonds' handsome home.</p> + +<p>"Well at least come shopping with me," sug<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span>gested Nina, noticing the +younger girl's hesitation. "Go uptown after school this afternoon, +please, Rosemary?"</p> + +<p>"Aunt Trudy expects me home," said Rosemary doubtfully.</p> + +<p>"For goodness sake, do you have to go straight home from school +every day?" demanded Nina fretfully. "Why any one would think you +were Shirley's age! Can't Sarah tell your aunt you won't be home?"</p> + +<p>"I suppose she could," admitted Rosemary. "All right, Nina, I'll go +with you."</p> + +<p>Sarah accepted the message reluctantly after school that afternoon +and she and Shirley went home while Nina and Rosemary hurried off up +town. Nina's shopping manners were remarkably like her mother's and +she was respectfully treated in all the shops. Eastshore had no very +large stores, but the merchandise was of the better grade in even +the tiny places, the lack of variety, as in many small towns, being +balanced by uniform quality.</p> + +<p>"Charge it," said Nina airily, flitting from shop to shop and +counter to counter.</p> + +<p>It was dark, almost before they knew it and though Nina was +insistent that Rosemary come<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span> home to dinner with her, Rosemary +refused. No, she must go home.</p> + +<p>"Well, here's your parcel," said Nina good-naturedly. "You'll love +'em when you get used to them and you look perfectly stunning in +them, you know you do."</p> + +<p>Rosemary tucked the brown paper package under her arm and fled up +the street, dashing up the front steps behind a tall figure just +putting a key in the Willis front door.</p> + +<p>"Well, honey, why this haste?" demanded the doctor, stepping back to +let her go in first. "You didn't smell Winnie's apple pudding a +block away, did you?"</p> + +<p>"Where have you been, Rosemary?" asked Aunt Trudy, coming into the +hall. "Sarah said you said you would be home by half-past four."</p> + +<p>"What you got?" inquired Sarah, eyeing the parcel under Rosemary's +arm with frank curiosity.</p> + +<p>"Let me open it, Rosemary?" begged Shirley, standing on tip-toe to +pinch the package, her usual method of guessing the contents.</p> + +<p>"There isn't a speck of privacy in the house!" flared Rosemary. "I +think I might buy some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span>thing once in a while that the whole family +didn't have to see. And no one has to come straight home from +school, except me. If I'm an hour late, Aunt Trudy always wants to +know where I've been."</p> + +<p>"I told her you went shopping with Nina Edmonds," remarked Sarah +sweetly, "And you're always cross when you go anywhere with her."</p> + +<p>"Sarah!" said Doctor Hugh, warningly, but Rosemary dashed past them +and up the stairs to her own room.</p> + +<p>She thrust the package down deep in her cedar chest and there it +stayed till the next Saturday afternoon. Then Rosemary deliberately +locked her door and proceeded to array herself in gray silk +stockings and patent leather pumps with narrow, high heels, the +results of Nina Edmonds' persuasive arguments and Rosemary's deep +longing to possess these accessories.</p> + +<p>Walking in the pumps proved to be unexpectedly difficult, but +Rosemary practised while she dressed and by the time she had put on +her best hat and coat and was ready to go down stairs she was able +to manage them better. Sarah and Shirley had gone to the library, +Winnie was busy in the kitchen and Aunt Trudy was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span> sewing in her +room. Rosemary counted on leaving the house unobserved. She teetered +to the door of her aunt's room and carefully keeping out of her +range of vision announced that she was going up town for a little +walk.</p> + +<p>"All right, dearie, have a nice time," answered Aunt Trudy, rocking +placidly. "Tell Winnie to answer the telephone if it rings, because +I don't want to have to go down stairs."</p> + +<p>Rosemary experimented cautiously with the top step and then +discretion prompted her to abandon valor. In her best coat and hat +and gorgeously arrayed as to her pretty feet, she, who considered +herself quite grown up this afternoon, quietly slid down the +banister! Just as she reached the newel post the door opened. There +stood Doctor Hugh!</p> + +<p>"Haven't forgotten how, have you?" he said, laughing. "That was +neatly done, dear. I saw you through the glass before I opened the +door."</p> + +<p>Rosemary was painfully conscious of her shoes. Against her will, her +glance strayed down and the doctor's eyes followed hers.</p> + +<p>"Why how fine we are!" he said.</p> + +<p>Rosemary sat down on the last step and tried to pull her skirt down +over her feet.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span>"I know you don't like them, Hugh," she answered resentfully, "but I +don't see why I can't wear high heels when I'm dressed up. All the +girls do."</p> + +<p>"They are very pretty shoes," said the doctor gravely. "And very +unsuitable for a walk on a cold, slushy winter day," he added.</p> + +<p>Rosemary said nothing.</p> + +<p>"I suppose you wheedled Aunt Trudy into letting you buy them," +commented her brother presently. "Well, dear, there are some things +we won't learn except through experience. I'm disappointed that +Mother's wishes didn't have more weight with you."</p> + +<p>Rosemary half expected him to forbid her to leave the house wearing +the new shoes, but he went on to his office without another word. +She opened the front door noiselessly and hastened uptown to meet +Nina Edmonds.</p> + +<p>Walking was not the unconscious, easy swing that Rosemary was +accustomed to, in the patent leather footgear and it was simply +impossible for her to forget her feet for one instant. Nina was bent +on more shopping and Rosemary found it very tiresome to stand before +the counters and look at things she knew Nina did not mean to buy. +Finally the latter suggested that they go<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span> to the little tea room +recently opened and have tea. The prospect of being able to sit down +delighted poor Rosemary.</p> + +<p>They had to cross the street and the tracks of the Interurban +trolley to reach the tea room and in crossing one of Rosemary's high +heels caught in the trolley rail.</p> + +<p>"I can't get it out!" she cried, snatching off her glove and working +frantically at the shoe.</p> + +<p>"Work your foot back and forth," advised Nina. "Oh, goodness, people +are stopping to look at you."</p> + +<p>Sure enough, the Saturday afternoon shoppers, a larger crowd than +usual for many farmers drove in on the last day of the week to make +their purchases, were beginning to be attracted by the sight of the +two girls on the trolley tracks.</p> + +<p>"How could you be so silly!" cried Nina in vexation. "Look at all +the rubes—if there is anything I detest, it is to be made +conspicuous."</p> + +<p>Rosemary flushed angrily, but a sudden shout drowned her reply.</p> + +<p>"Car coming!" cried a man on the curb. "Somebody flag the trolley!"</p> + +<p>The Interurban cars operated at a high rate of speed, even through +the town, and as the wires started their humming, Rosemary and Nina<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> +glanced up and saw a car bearing down on them.</p> + +<p>"You'll be killed!" shrieked Nina, taking a flying leap that landed +her safely across the tracks.</p> + +<p>A man shot out of the crowd toward Rosemary and another dashed up +the street in the direction of the trolley, waving his cap. The +motorman put on the brakes, there was an ear-splitting noise as the +wheels locked and slid and the car stopped a good ten feet from the +frightened girl. Meanwhile the man who had come to her rescue had +unbuttoned the straps of the pump and pulled Rosemary free from her +shoe.</p> + +<p>"Fool heels!" he commented, while a crowd of the curious surged out +from the curb. "If I had my way no girl should ever own a pair. +Here, I'll get it out for you—"</p> + +<p>He tugged at the obstinate pump, the heel gave way and the man fell +back, the shoe in his hand, the heel neatly ripped off.</p> + +<p>"Oh, say, I'm sorry!" he stammered. "I didn't mean to tear it +off—here's the heel; I guess a shoemaker can put it on again for +you."</p> + +<p>He handed her the pump and the heel and the motorman and conductor +went back to their trolley.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span>"Thank you very much—it doesn't matter about the heel, it really +doesn't matter at all," said Rosemary incoherently, her one wish +being to get away from this awful crowd.</p> + +<p>"If you're looking for the girl who was with you, she's gone," +volunteered a freckle faced boy. "I saw her streaking it up the +street as soon as the trolley stopped."</p> + +<p>Getting home with one heel off and one heel on, was not an easy +matter, but Rosemary managed it. Half an hour later, Doctor Hugh +reading at his desk, was astonished to have two patent leather pumps +flung down on the book before him and to see Rosemary, +crimson-cheeked and stormy-eyed confronting him.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%; padding-bottom: 50px;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="chapter_xxiii" id="chapter_xxiii"></a>CHAPTER XXIII</h2> + +<h3>SARAH LOSES A MENAGERIE</h3> + +<p class="figleft2"><img src="images/y2.png" title="Y" height="44" width="51" alt="Y" /></p> +<p>OU may burn them up or give them away or sell them!" Rosemary +cried. "I never want to see a pair of high-heeled shoes again as +long as I live. I despise them!"</p> + +<p>The doctor picked up the offending little shoes and eyed them +critically.</p> + +<p>"Wait," said Rosemary as he seemed about to speak. "I have something +to tell you, Hugh. I've been as bad as I could be, and I've done +everything you didn't like. But you'll be glad, because I never want +to see Nina Edmonds again. I never want any one to mention her name +to me."</p> + +<p>Her voice was hard and unnatural.</p> + +<p>"Hadn't you better sit down, dear?" Doctor Hugh suggested. "I'm +sorry if you and Nina have quarreled."</p> + +<p>"Oh, we haven't quarreled," said Rosemary bitterly. "I can't tell +you about it, Hugh, but she isn't the kind of girl I thought she +was.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span> And I did like her so! I won't cry," she added doggedly. "I +haven't told you the worst yet. Hugh, you thought I persuaded Aunt +Trudy to buy me the pumps, but she didn't know anything about it; I +had them charged on Nina's account at the Quality shoe store. And I +owe Nina $12.98 this minute and I have to pay her right away. I +can't owe it to her another day. Will you lend me the money? I don't +care what you do to me, or how you punish me, but don't make me stay +in debt. I can't stand it."</p> + +<p>Doctor Hugh put his hand in his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He +counted out several bills and gave them to Rosemary.</p> + +<p>"Don't you want to tell me about it, dear?" he said quietly. "I can +not bear to see you hurt and not to know the reason. Perhaps I can +set it right for you."</p> + +<p>Rosemary shook her head.</p> + +<p>"Nobody can help," she said despondently. "There's nothing to help." +Her lips quivered. "I thought Nina was different," she said, and +then the tears overflowed.</p> + +<p>The doctor had seen Rosemary cry before, but never like this. As he +held her in his arms and she sobbed out the hurt and humiliation of +the afternoon against his shoulder, he wondered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span> what had happened +to shake her so. He did not know that she had had her first +experience with disloyalty or that her first broken friendship was +teaching her a hard lesson. By and by the passion of weeping grew +quieter and Rosemary fumbled for her handkerchief.</p> + +<p>"I didn't know I was going to be so silly," she said, sitting up and +trying to smile as the doctor tucked his own clean handkerchief into +her hand.</p> + +<p>"You won't tell me what is troubling you?" he said persuasively.</p> + +<p>"I can't, Hugh," Rosemary answered, her tear drenched eyes meeting +his gaze squarely. "I can't talk about it, not even to you."</p> + +<p>"All right, dear, if that's the way you feel," he said instantly. +"Only remember, any time you want to confide, I'm always ready. +Don't be afraid of me, Rosemary; that is one thing I can not stand. +If I thought any of you girls were afraid to come to me and tell me +your troubles—"</p> + +<p>Rosemary threw her arms around his neck.</p> + +<p>"I'm not afraid of you, I'm only ashamed of myself," she whispered. +"And I love you more than any one in the world, next to Mother!"</p> + +<p>The doctor heard of the shoe incident the next morning, indeed the +story was known about<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span> Eastshore within a few hours, and he was able +to piece together from what he heard a fair understanding of Nina +Edmonds' part in the incident. He succeeded in impressing on Sarah +and Shirley, and even Winnie and Aunt Trudy, that they were not to +mention Nina's name, or anything they might hear about that +unfortunate afternoon, to Rosemary, on pain of his severest +displeasure. Nina nodded, rather shamefacedly, to Rosemary in school +the next Monday morning and Rosemary spoke pleasantly; but she never +voluntarily sought the society of the other girl again and there was +something about her that effectually discouraged Nina from +attempting any overtures.</p> + +<p>A week or two later, Winnie walked into Doctor Hugh's office one +night a few minutes before ten o'clock, ostensibly to bring him a +glass of milk and a sponge cake before he went to bed.</p> + +<p>"Out with it, Winnie," he said good-naturedly. "I can see that you +are fairly bristling with the necessity of making an important +communication."</p> + +<p>"It's Sarah, then," announced Winnie, putting down the glass of +milk. "Something has got to be done about her, Hughie."</p> + +<p>"Sarah?" inquired the doctor meditatively.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> "Why I thought she was +conducting herself in an exemplary manner these last few weeks."</p> + +<p>Winnie sniffed.</p> + +<p>"I'm always the one that has to tell you," she complained. "I'm +after asking Miss Trudy these three nights running to speak to you, +but does she? She does not. She speaks to Sarah who minds her about +as well as the wind does. And Rosemary won't be doing her duty, +either; she says 'twould be telling tales and she's got Shirley +around to the same way of thinking."</p> + +<p>"A conspiracy, eh?" smiled Doctor Hugh.</p> + +<p>"Well, Winnie, what should I know that I don't know about my small +sister Sarah?"</p> + +<p>Winnie was not to be hurried. She dearly loved a chat with her idol, +the doctor, and she had the born story-teller's art of prolonging +the climax.</p> + +<p>"I'm not one to be going out of my way to find something to babble," +she declared now. "There's plenty of things goes on I could be +running to you with every day in the week, did I so mind; but I +believe in letting folks have their own heads, as long as they don't +go too far."</p> + +<p>The doctor sampled the cake appreciatively.</p> + +<p>"Sarah, I take it, has gone too far?" he suggested.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span>"I don't know as you'd call it that," said Winnie with a faint +suspicion of sarcasm. "I may be too finicky and if I am, may I be +forgiven for troubling you. But when it comes to sleeping in the +same room with six sore-eyed kittens and in the same bed with a +mangy street dog, I think something should be done about it. 'Tisn't +Christian-like."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to tell me Sarah has got a mess like that up in her +room?" demanded Doctor Hugh.</p> + +<p>"She has that," said Winnie firmly. "That and worse. She has rabbits +in her clothes closet and this morning I had to carry out two dead +chickens. She lugs them all up every night to keep 'em warm, she +says."</p> + +<p>"Is everyone in the house crazy?" asked the bewildered doctor. +"What's the matter with you, Winnie? Ordinarily you can make the +world take orders from you—couldn't you put a stop to this?"</p> + +<p>"I've argued and I've scolded and I've threatened to chloroform +every animal on the place," said Winnie impressively, "but Sarah is +like cement. Where the Willis will is going to lead her, I'm sure I +don't know; but she's too much for me."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span>"Nonsense!" the doctor pushed back his chair sharply. "At least you +could have come to me and told me the first night she tried to keep +an animal in her room."</p> + +<p>"I'm as weak as the rest of 'em," admitted Winnie. "Miss Trudy cried +and Shirley grumbled because she had to go in and sleep with +Rosemary; but none of us liked to say a word to you. I don't suppose +I'd be after telling you now if I wasn't afraid Sarah would catch +something from that dog she brought home to-night."</p> + +<p>"I'll go up and read the riot act to her, even if it is late," said +Doctor Hugh, frowning. "Such a state of affairs is beyond belief. +Shirley is sleeping with Rosemary, you say, and Sarah has the +menagerie in the bed with her?"</p> + +<p>"Well, she has the dog—I saw him under the blanket. But you're not +going to bother her to-night, are you?" asked Winnie anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Do you suppose I'm going to have her sleeping with a dog that came +from Heaven alone knows where?" was the impatient answer. "If I can +get the animals out of her room without waking her, well and good; +but in any case, out they come."</p> + +<p>Sarah woke up the moment the light was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> switched on. So did the +touseled little yellow dog who thrust his head out from under the +covers, close to Sarah's face, and barked sharply at the tall figure +standing in the center of the room. The rabbits could be heard +scampering about behind the closet door and the kittens set up a +hungry mewing from their basket under the bed. A faint scratching +came from beneath the inverted waste-basket where a dejected-looking +rooster drooped in lonely melancholy.</p> + +<p>"Go away!" said Sarah.</p> + +<p>"Give me that dog, Sarah," said Doctor Hugh sternly, hoping that he +would not laugh. "What do you mean by this kind of performance?"</p> + +<p>"He's a nice dog and he hasn't any home, he followed me all the way +from the grocery store," said Sarah, her dark eyes regarding her +brother suspiciously. "Leave him alone."</p> + +<p>For answer the doctor, with a quick movement, lifted the dog clear +of the bed clothes.</p> + +<p>"You'll hurt him!" cried Sarah in anguish. "You don't know how to be +nice to animals. Give him back to me, Hugh."</p> + +<p>"Look here, Sarah, this is no time for argument," said Doctor Hugh +crisply. "It is out of the question for you to sleep with your +barnyard<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span> friends. Everyone of them must go down cellar for the rest +of the night and we'll talk about what is to be done with them in +the morning."</p> + +<p>Sarah wept and protested and even tried to fight for her pets, but +Winnie and the doctor were deaf to her pleas. Between them, they +carried down every forlorn animal—Sarah's tastes ran to the lame +and the halt and the blind,—and then Doctor Hugh opened the window +wide (Sarah had insisted on keeping both windows closed lest a draft +strike the sick kittens), kissed the back of his small sister's +head, for she persistently refused to turn her face toward him, and +snapped off the light, leaving Sarah to cry herself to sleep. +Rosemary and Shirley, in the next room, had slept peacefully through +the racket.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately the next morning a call came for the doctor before +eight o'clock and snatching a hasty breakfast, he was out of the +house before the girls came down. He had no opportunity for the talk +with Sarah that day for although he came home to lunch, she was, of +course in school, and he did not get home in time for dinner. In +fact, it was nearly nine o'clock before his car rolled into the +drive.</p> + +<p>Aunt Trudy and Rosemary, Winnie told him,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span> had gone to the movies as +a Friday night treat, and Sarah and Shirley had gone to bed promptly +at eight o'clock.</p> + +<p>"I was setting bread, and didn't see 'em go," Winnie added +significantly.</p> + +<p>Doctor Hugh went upstairs to the third floor. A light shone under +Sarah's door. He knocked, then tried the knob. It was locked.</p> + +<p>"Open the door, Sarah," he said quietly.</p> + +<p>"Go away!" quavered Sarah, tears in her voice.</p> + +<p>Doctor Hugh remembered the communicating door and strode through +Rosemary's room. Shirley was fast asleep in her older sister's bed. +Sarah had not thought to fasten the door between the rooms and she +looked up startled, as her brother came in. She had not undressed, +and she sat on the floor, the kittens in her lap. The dog and the +rabbits and the rooster were all back in their places.</p> + +<p>"This settles it!" said the doctor adamantly. "There's only one way +to deal with you, Sarah, and that is to come down like a ton of +bricks. You can't keep any pets for two months—that's final."</p> + +<p>"Any more pets?" suggested Sarah.</p> + +<p>"I said any pets," was the reply. "If you can find homes for these, +well and good; if you can't,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span> I'll try to dispose of them for you. +But to-morrow morning, they go away. And now you'll have to help me +get them down cellar."</p> + +<p>When Sarah finally understood that she was to be deprived of all her +pets at once, she wept miserably. No amount of tears or storming or +wheedling or pleading, however, could alter Doctor Hugh's decision. +Even Winnie suggested that one kitten be kept, but to no avail.</p> + +<p>"Sarah must learn she can not do as she pleases and escape the +consequences," he said to Rosemary, who came to him on Sarah's +behalf. "Half way measures don't go with her, I find, so I've had to +be drastic. I'm sorry, too, Rosemary, but I believe I am making the +future easier for one strong-willed little girl."</p> + +<p>He found homes among his farm patients for all the animals and saw +to it that Sarah went with him to carry the pets to their new +abodes. She felt much better when she saw that they were to be well +cared for, but it was a long time before she would go near the empty +rabbit hutch in the side yard. Jack, who discovered that she avoided +it, chopped it up at last for kindling wood for Winnie and Sarah was +silently grateful. She missed her pets inexpressibly, but the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span> rest +of the household, it must be confessed, enjoyed their absence +thoroughly. Sarah and her animals had absorbed the foreground for +many hectic weeks.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%; padding-bottom: 50px;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="chapter_xxiv" id="chapter_xxiv"></a>CHAPTER XXIV</h2> + +<h3>A MYSTERY SOLVED</h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/t.png" title="T" height="44" width="40" alt="T" /></p> +<p>HE brief month of February was starred for the Willis family by the +little mother's birthday. She was steadily improving, according to +her own letters and the reports from the doctors, and Doctor Hugh, +who spent at least one week-end each month with her, brought back +glowing accounts of her progress along the road to health. He +managed to get away to spend her birthday with her and personally +carried her the gifts and notes and loving wishes of the three +girls, Aunt Trudy, Winnie and close friends who also remembered.</p> + +<p>Almost before the snow had gone, talk of the March fair began to +engage the attention of the Eastshore school pupils. This was an +annual event and there was much rivalry between the three schools as +to which should turn in the most money. The proceeds of the fair +went to the Memorial Hospital in Bennington, rather had gone into +the building fund until this year for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span> the hospital had recently +been completed. The high and grammar and primary schools, each had +tables and exhibits and there was always a large attendance during +the Friday afternoon and Saturday the fair was under way.</p> + +<p>"The high school is going to have a cafeteria," reported Rosemary at +dinner one night. "I wish we'd thought of that. The boys are going +to wear white aprons and caps and stand behind the tables and serve +the food, while the girls act as waitresses and carry out the dishes +and look after the silver. They want every one to eat their supper +there Friday and Saturday night."</p> + +<p>"All right, we'll come," promised Aunt Trudy. "Hugh can meet us +there, can't you, Hugh?"</p> + +<p>"Of course," he agreed. "But I'm saving my money for the grammar and +primary school tables—I want that understood. I'll treat you all to +supper, and please Jack Welles at the same time, but the real +expenditures of this family must be where they'll count for the +lower grades."</p> + +<p>The three girls beamed upon him approvingly.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to have charge of the cake table," said Rosemary. "Tell +Winnie to buy our Sunday cake from me, won't you, Aunt Trudy? I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span> +have ten different kinds of icings to make—every one of the girls +has asked me to ice her cake, because they say I always have good +luck."</p> + +<p>"I hope you'll use sugar and not salt," murmured the doctor +wickedly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Hugh, wasn't that soup too dreadful!" said Rosemary, shuddering +at the recollection. "I know perfectly well I didn't put in too much +salt and yet no one else seasoned it—I wish I knew how it +happened."</p> + +<p>"Let it go as a mystery," advised her brother. "What are you going +to do in the fair line, Sarah?" he added, turning to her.</p> + +<p>"Sell gold fish," she answered placidly. "What are you laughing at?" +she asked them in surprise. "I have a great big bowl with gold fish +in it and a lot of little bowls; and people buy the little bowls for +fifteen cents and I dip out two gold fish with a soup ladle for +twenty-five cents, and they take them home."</p> + +<p>"I'm going to sell little baby bouquets," announced Shirley, who +looked like a "baby bouquet" herself in a pink challis frock. "I +have 'em on a tray and I walk around and people buy them for their +buttonholes."</p> + +<p>"I'll be your first customer, sweetheart," Doctor Hugh assured her.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span>Preparations for the fair absorbed most of the after-school time of +the next two weeks. There were committee meetings and inter-class +conferences, and difficulties that required to be straightened out +and sensitive feelings that needed careful handling.</p> + +<p>"We could get along so much faster, if every one was pleasant," +sighed Rosemary to her brother. "Fannie Mears has a dozen +pin-cushions to make and she made twelve of us promise to take one +and finish it for the fancy-work table; and then she wouldn't help +iron the napkins for the cake plates. She said it wasn't her table +and she didn't intend to waste her time. Harriet Reed heard her and +she was so mad she ripped up the pincushion she had just sewed and +the sewing teacher found it in the waste-basket and she says Harriet +has to buy material to replace the stuff she tore and she can't go +home after school to-morrow until she has made another pincushion."</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't think Harriet helped her cause much," said the doctor +pacifically.</p> + +<p>"Well Fannie Mears is too mean," said Rosemary. "It isn't a very +nice thing to say, Hugh—"</p> + +<p>"Then don't say it, dear," he countered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span> promptly. "Don't gossip, +Rosemary. I know of nothing harder on the nerves and temper than a +fair, and if you can keep cheerful and serene and not quarrel with +your friends and above all, don't talk about them in their absence, +you will have done better than most fair workers twice your age."</p> + +<p>Rosemary remembered this bit of advice often in the turbulent days +that followed. Fannie Mears was one of those girls who manage to sow +discord and dissension wherever they go. She had a tireless industry +that commended her to her teachers and she was always ready to +accept additional tasks and duties. What they did not see was that +she distributed these tasks among her friends and the girls in the +lower grades and then was unwilling to help them in turn.</p> + +<p>"I suppose you've heard what Fannie Mears and Nina Edmonds have done +now?" remarked Sarah one noon period when the fair was a scant week +off.</p> + +<p>"No, what?" asked Rosemary who avoided Nina's name whenever +possible.</p> + +<p>"Why they've taken three dozen needle-books that have to have the +flannel leaves tied in them with ribbon," explained Sarah. "See, +Shirley has four to do. Fannie and Nina promised<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span> Miss Carlson +they'd do them, and now they've handed them all out in the primary +grades. They wanted me to do six, but I wouldn't."</p> + +<p>Sarah was engrossed with the gold fish which had already arrived and +were housed in the natural history room in the high school building. +She visited them several times daily and in his heart Mr. Martin, +the biology teacher feared she would kill them with kindness before +the fair opened.</p> + +<p>"Shirley doesn't mind tying the leaves in, do you dear?" asked +Rosemary cheerfully.</p> + +<p>"Not much," replied Shirley, "only I wanted to cut the ribbons for +my flower bouquets yesterday afternoon, and Fannie wouldn't lend me +the scissors."</p> + +<p>"I'll help you do it this afternoon," promised Rosemary, who had +planned to assemble the recipes for her cake icings and see what +supplies were lacking that she would need.</p> + +<p>"If that fancy-work table ever gets enough things, the rest of us +may be able to pay a little attention to our own tables," she said +to herself.</p> + +<p>But that afternoon Shirley came crying to Rosemary to say that she +had lost the four little needle-books.</p> + +<p>"I've looked everywhere," the child insisted.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> "All over everywhere, +Rosemary. And they're all gone."</p> + +<p>"That means I'll have to make four," said poor Rosemary. "Don't cry, +Shirley, Sister will see that you have four needle-books to turn in. +Though I don't see how you could lose them," she added wearily.</p> + +<p>"I'll bet Fannie Mears took those books," declared Sarah when she +heard of the loss. "It would be just like her. She thinks it's smart +to get four extra books."</p> + +<p>Rosemary protested weakly at this idea. In her heart of hearts, she +thought Fannie quite capable of such an act, but she had loyally +resolved to try and follow Hugh's advice.</p> + +<p>"But I can't help wishing he knew Fannie," said Rosemary to herself.</p> + +<p>She made the needle-books and helped Shirley measure and cut the +ribbon for her bouquets. Sarah's "soup ladle" proved to be a net and +that small girl "experimented" with the netting so earnestly that +she required a new net to be inserted practically every day. Of +course Rosemary was called on for this and as a result her own work +was left quite to the last.</p> + +<p>"But I couldn't ice the cakes till the day before the fair, anyway," +she said philosophically<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span> to Miss Parsons, "though I did want to +have time to see that the plates and napkins were matched; last year +we ran short of napkins."</p> + +<p>The morning of the fair, Rosemary hurried upstairs to ice her cakes. +They were all arranged on the kitchen table, thirty of them, each +one a triumph of culinary art. Rosemary was excused from school for +the day, but the cakes had been baked late the previous afternoon +for it was a school rule that the fair was not to interfere with +class attendance.</p> + +<p>"And I don't see why Rosemary Willis should be excused," muttered +Fannie Mears indignantly.</p> + +<p>"I suppose you think she can ice thirty cakes in half an hour," +Sarah flung back. "And set the table and go home and get dressed, +too."</p> + +<p>Humming happily, Rosemary tied on her white apron and went about her +mixing. As she had said, there were ten different icings to be made, +the same flavor being allowed only three cakes. Some were loaves and +some were layers and one or two had been scorched. These Rosemary +carefully grated and planned to ice thickly.</p> + +<p>In the midst of her work she made a distressing discovery. The linen +cloth for the table was soiled!</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span>"I'm just as sure as I can be that it was clean in the drawer last +night," Rosemary confided to Miss Parsons. "I looked the last +thing."</p> + +<p>She had found it rolled up in a wad and stuffed at the furtherest +end of the table drawer. Not only was it rumpled, but it showed +several stains.</p> + +<p>"I'll go home this noon and get one of ours," said Rosemary. "I +think I'll be glad when this fair is over."</p> + +<p>"I think we'll all be glad," replied Miss Parsons, frowning a +little, for the cloth incident annoyed her. She, too, had been +certain it was clean the afternoon before.</p> + +<p>Rosemary went home at noon, leaving half the cakes to do on her +return. A large bowl of chocolate icing stood on the table, covered +with a muslin cloth.</p> + +<p>There was no one to see the kitchen door open slyly fifteen minutes +later, no one to see a figure dart in and make for the table. One +hand lifted the muslin cloth, the other reached for the large tin +salt shaker.</p> + +<p>"Drop that!" said a voice peremptorily.</p> + +<p>The shaker dropped to the floor with a clatter, and Fannie Mears +turned to face Mr. Oliver.</p> + +<p>"What are you doing in here?" he asked<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span> sternly. "Did Miss Parsons +ask you to do anything to that bowl?"</p> + +<p>At that moment Miss Parsons herself came into the kitchen.</p> + +<p>"I was looking for you," Mr. Oliver explained, "and I saw Fannie +Mears about to shake something into that large bowl on the table. I +thought Rosemary Willis was working here this morning."</p> + +<p>"She was—" Miss Parsons stooped to recover the shaker. "Salt!" she +ejaculated as she saw what it was. "Fannie Mears, I do believe you +were going to salt Rosemary's icing!"</p> + +<p>Fannie began to cry.</p> + +<p>"Did you salt the soup last fall?" asked the teacher sternly. "Did +you? Answer me, Fannie."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I did," sobbed Fannie. "I got so sick and tired of hearing +about Rosemary and her cooking. I put in the salt while she was +looking at the tables in the dining-room with you. It makes me sick +to hear all the fuss people make about her being such a good cook."</p> + +<p>Rosemary, breathless from running, burst in at that juncture, the +clean tablecloth under her arm.</p> + +<p>"Rosemary," said Mr. Oliver gravely, "Fannie<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span> has just told us that +it was she who over-salted the soup at the Institute dinner—you +remember?"</p> + +<p>"You did?" cried Rosemary, turning to the other girl. "Did you take +the needle-books you gave Shirley, too?"</p> + +<p>Fannie nodded.</p> + +<p>"Did you wad up the clean tablecloth for the cake table?" chorused +Rosemary and Miss Parsons together. "And spill tomato soup on it, +too?"</p> + +<p>"Catsup," corrected Fannie.</p> + +<p>"How can you be so horrid!" cried Rosemary in a burst of frankness.</p> + +<p>"Well, it's your own fault," declared Fannie resentfully. "You've +got a swelled head over your cooking and I just wanted to make you +see you weren't so much, after all."</p> + +<p>"But there were teachers from all over the State at the Institute +dinner," protested Rosemary. "If the dinner was spoiled, they would +blame the school because we were not better taught. And the fair is +for the hospital and if it doesn't go off right, the whole school +loses credit. Don't you see, Fannie, you weren't just hurting me, +but you were making the whole school fall down."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span>"You come down to the office with me, Fannie," said Mr. Oliver +sternly. "I think you and I will have a little talk and perhaps you +will see things in a clearer light afterward. Certainly your ideas +need to be set right, if you are to continue in school."</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear, I hope he won't scold her," sighed Rosemary, beginning to +stir the chocolate mixture. "As long as she didn't get the salt into +this, I don't care, and I don't think Mr. Oliver should."</p> + +<p>"He may think differently," said Miss Parsons briefly.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%; padding-bottom: 50px;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="chapter_xxv" id="chapter_xxv"></a>CHAPTER XXV</h2> + +<h3>GARDEN DAYS</h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/m.png" title="M" height="44" width="60" alt="M" style="padding-right: 3px;" /></p> +<p>R. Oliver did think differently. He talked very seriously to Fannie +for nearly an hour and then Rosemary was sent for to come to the +office.</p> + +<p>"Rosemary," said the principal, when she appeared, "I know you have +a great many last things to do for the fair, but I had to speak to +you before the three o'clock dismissal bell. Fannie is ready to +apologize to you before your class is dismissed this afternoon."</p> + +<p>He had explained to Fannie that she must either publicly apologize +to Rosemary or be indefinitely suspended.</p> + +<p>"I quite understand," went on Mr. Oliver, "that a belated apology +like this can not make up to you for the humiliation you suffered on +the night of the dinner, but at least the cooking class will know +that you were not at fault. I'm afraid you've had to endure a good +deal of teasing on the score of the salty soup."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span>"Oh, I didn't mind, really I didn't!" cried Rosemary quickly. "I'd +rather Fannie didn't say anything, Mr. Oliver. Honestly I would."</p> + +<p>"I think it will be good for her," said the principal whimsically. +"Any girl who can be guilty of a series of such mean little acts as +Fannie has confessed to, can not help but benefit by open +confession."</p> + +<p>"But Mr. Oliver!" Rosemary spoke involuntarily and the color +deepened in her face.</p> + +<p>"Yes?" he encouraged.</p> + +<p>"Nothing—only, if you make Fannie apologize, you are punishing me," +brought out Rosemary desperately. "I can't stand it to sit there in +class and listen to her. I don't care about the salty soup—at least +I don't now; but I know how I should feel to have to get up before +the whole class. Please don't make Fannie do it."</p> + +<p>The principal tapped his desk thoughtfully with his pencil.</p> + +<p>"All right," he said presently. "I certainly have no right to make +you uncomfortable, Rosemary, and even less desire. Apologize here +and now, Fannie, and I'll excuse you from a class acknowledgment. +But only on Rosemary's account, mind you. I think you deserve all +the punishment I can give you."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span>Fannie made a faltering and shame-faced apology and then Rosemary +was allowed to go back to the kitchen and, as the three o'clock bell +sounded, Fannie to go home. She did not come to the fair and her +class mates did not see her again till next Monday.</p> + +<p>True to his promise, Doctor Hugh took his family to the high school +cafeteria for supper and Jack Welles, who was one of the carvers, +served them in fine style. Frank Fenton was manager and he insisted +on securing the most desirable table for them, much to Doctor Hugh's +amusement and Sarah's ill-concealed disgust.</p> + +<p>"Why do you smile and say 'How do you do' to him, Rosemary?" she +demanded of her sister hotly. "I think it's untruthful to pretend to +like people you don't."</p> + +<p>"Well it isn't!" flung back Rosemary, who was tired from standing +behind the cake table that afternoon. "It's impolite to stick out +your tongue at them the way you do!"</p> + +<p>"Let me catch you doing that!" Doctor Hugh warned Sarah. "However, +children, let's not have any quarrels on a fair night. How late are +they going to keep this up, Rosemary?"</p> + +<p>"Only till eight o'clock," Rosemary answered. "We have to go back, +now, Hugh, and serve at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span> the tables. Are you and Aunt Trudy coming +up?"</p> + +<p>"Right away," he assured her. "And we'll bring our pocketbooks."</p> + +<p>The fair was an unquestionable success. Shirley's bouquets sold +swiftly and her tray was replenished again and again that evening +and during the next Saturday afternoon. Sarah convulsed her +customers by her business-like manner and she did a thriving trade +in gold fish.</p> + +<p>Winnie came Saturday afternoon and bought a large cake and another +for Mrs. Welles who was kept home by a bad cold. The coveted state +of bare tables was attained an hour before the fair was scheduled to +close Saturday afternoon, and the Eastshore pupils had the pleasant +knowledge that they would have more money to turn over to the +hospital than in any previous year.</p> + +<p>Spring came to Eastshore with fascinating suddenness. One night it +was blustery and cold and householders stoked their furnaces with a +sigh for the nearly empty coal bins, and the following morning a +South wind blew gently, robins chirped on the lawns that showed a +faint green tinge and children appeared in school with huge bundles +of pussy willows.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span>"What do you say to fixing up the garden, Rosemary?" Doctor Hugh +suggested, tumbling a sheaf of seed catalogues on the living-room +table early in April. "If Mother comes home in June, she'd like to +find plenty of flowers growing, wouldn't she?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes!" Rosemary's response was enthusiastic. "Do let's plan a +garden, Hugh, and if it doesn't cost too much, we could have Peter +Cooper fix up the lawn. It's rather thin in spots."</p> + +<p>The gardening fever seized upon the Willis family and the girls sped +home from school to dig and plant and rake and hoe. They recklessly +promised Winnie a vegetable garden back of the garage and risked a +late frost to jab onion and radish and lettuce seeds into the patch, +Peter Cooper, the handy man, spaded up for them. Rosemary acquired a +line of golden freckles across her nose and Sarah "got a shade +darker every day," according to Winnie.</p> + +<p>"I don't care!" the object of her solicitation retorted. "I won't +wear a hat—they're hot and stuffy and make my head ache."</p> + +<p>"But your mother won't know you," urged Aunt Trudy, who was sewing +on the porch in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span> the warm sunshine. "She'll take you for an Indian."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I guess my mother'll know me," said Sarah, but all her +determination could not keep out a note of doubt in her voice.</p> + +<p>The next morning she was late for breakfast. Rosemary called her +twice and Winnie went up to see what was the matter.</p> + +<p>"She says she's all dressed and she's coming right away," she +reported, but no Sarah appeared.</p> + +<p>Doctor Hugh went to the foot of the stairs.</p> + +<p>"Sarah!" he called in a tone that seldom failed to produce results.</p> + +<p>"I'm coming," answered Sarah, and they heard her feet beginning the +descent of the stairs.</p> + +<p>She came into the dining-room so quietly, that Aunt Trudy glanced at +her in surprise.</p> + +<p>"Why Sarah!" she gasped, "What in the world have you done to your +face?"</p> + +<p>"What's the matter with it?" demanded Sarah hardily.</p> + +<p>"It looks skinned," said Shirley critically. "You can't go to school +looking like that, can she Hugh?"</p> + +<p>Rosemary seemed to understand.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span>"So that's what you were doing last night!" she said. "I wondered +what you were fussing around so for; your light was burning long +after I went to bed."</p> + +<p>"You've skinned your face, child," insisted Aunt Trudy. "I never saw +a worse looking complexion, never. What have you done to yourself?"</p> + +<p>Winnie, bringing in the later-comer's oatmeal, took one hasty +glance.</p> + +<p>"My land, Sarah, have you been walking in your sleep?" she asked in +alarm. "You look as though you'd fallen out of a window and landed +on your face."</p> + +<p>Sarah's eyes filled with tears and two splashed down into her lap. +She looked at Doctor Hugh, who nodded to her encouragingly. He had +not said a word since her entrance.</p> + +<p>"Never mind what they say, Sarah," he told her cheerily, "just tell +your old brother about it; looks are not the most important thing in +this world, are they?"</p> + +<p>"Aunt Trudy said my mother wouldn't know me," explained Sarah, +winking back the tears for her poor sore face smarted at the touch +of salt. "And I bleached all the brown off, Hugh; only it is so +sore."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span>"My dear child!" he said in amazement. Then added, "What did you put +on your face, dear?"</p> + +<p>"Well, you see, I wanted it to be real white," said Sarah, sure that +he would understand, "so I used a cucumber and buttermilk and a +lemon and I scrubbed it afterward with pumice stone."</p> + +<p>They stared at her a moment in silence.</p> + +<p>"It's a wonder you have any face left," declared Winnie. "I missed +the buttermilk from the refrigerator."</p> + +<p>Doctor Hugh said little then, but he took Sarah into the office and +put something healing on the red little face. Then he explained that +Aunt Trudy had only been teasing her, and that tan was pleasing to +most people because it showed that the owner of the face liked to be +outdoors. He allowed Sarah to go with him on his rounds that morning +and so saved her the ordeal of going to school to meet the +inevitable questions about her face. And, after the girls were in +bed that night, he "spoke his mind" as Winnie said, to her and Aunt +Trudy.</p> + +<p>"I'd rather have her tanned as black as a piece of leather," he +concluded, "than to be fussing with 'creams' and bleaching lotions. +For goodness sake, don't bother her about her looks for at least ten +years. She'll begin soon enough."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span>So Sarah gardened to her heart's content without a hat, and in time +the seeds planted made a creditable showing. The doctor spent +several evenings figuring and at last decided they might afford to +have the house painted. He chose a deep cream color, after many +family consultations, combined with a soft brown and when it was +finished every one was pleased and sure that the little mother, for +whom it was really done, would be equally delighted.</p> + +<p>It did seem a waste of sunshine to be obliged to be cooped up in +school during such enchanting weather, but it was impossible to +convince the trustees of this. The three Willis girls had to be +content with spending every hour out of school in the open air. Jack +Welles was also gardening and though he gloomily spoke of the +weeding to come, he taught the girls many things about planting and +showed them how to care for the shrubbery that Doctor Hugh had sent +out from the nearest nursery and had small time to care for himself.</p> + +<p>"Mother does love roses so," said Rosemary once, "and Hugh is +determined to surprise her with a lot of new bushes."</p> + +<p>"Is that why you're named Rosemary?" asked<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span> Jack curiously, thinking +it strange that he had never noticed before how pretty freckles +were.</p> + +<p>Rosemary's expressive face sobered.</p> + +<p>"Partly," she answered, "but I had a sister, you know, whom I never +saw. She was named Mary, for Mother. And she died when she was three +years old. So when I was born, a year later, Mother named me +'Rosemary,' which means remembrance. Mother told me once that I was +named in memory of the little dead sister, and for the flowers she +loved and to please my father who thought 'Mary' the most beautiful +name in the world. So I've always liked my name."</p> + +<p>"It suits you, somehow," said Jack. "Want to hold this bush steady +while I fill in round the roots?"</p> + +<p>Whenever Jack was touched, he sought employment for his hands, for +fear he might say something to show his feeling. He had all the +boy's horror of "making a fool" of himself.</p> + +<p>April, with its soft, sudden showers and its exquisite velvety +greens ran into May with its first hot days and the sound of Peter +Cooper's hammer loud in the land as he diligently worked putting up +screens and awnings. Aunt Trudy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span> began to "feel the heat" and Winnie +and Sarah battled again over the ethics of killing defenseless +flies.</p> + +<p>Toward the end of the month, the Student's Council, conceived the +plan of holding a picnic for the three schools, an all-day picnic +some Saturday. The plan was proposed at a morning assembly and met +with such vigorous and hearty response that the date was settled +upon then and there. Winnie was besieged that night by three excited +girls who asked her advice on what "would do" to take to the picnic.</p> + +<p>"We want to take enough, because some of them will bring only a +little," said Rosemary. "The boys always stuff an apple in their +pockets and then wonder why they are hungry when noon comes."</p> + +<p>"I'll pack you three lunches that will be lunches," promised Winnie, +"and there'll be enough to give away, too."</p> + +<p>"We're going in motor trucks," bubbled Shirley, "I want to ride up +front."</p> + +<p>"I want to ride on back," proclaimed Sarah who never, by any chance, +seemed to agree with anyone else. "I want to ride with my feet +hanging over. And I'm going to tie a string to Shirley's rag doll +and drag it in the dust—like the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span> pictures in the Early Martyrs +book, you know."</p> + +<p>Shirley began to hop up and down with anger and began to cry.</p> + +<p>"I won't have my dolly dragged in the dust," she shrieked.</p> + +<p>"Martyrs have to be dragged in the dust," the perverse Sarah +insisted. "I want to see her bounce when she hits the stones."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Sarah, do be still," begged Rosemary. Then, to the weeping +Shirley, "Sarah is only teasing you, darling. She wouldn't hurt your +dolly."</p> + +<p>"Are the teachers going?" asked Aunt Trudy anxiously. "I hope some +older people will be on hand to look after you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, the teachers are going—worse luck!" Sarah assured her. "I'll +bet they shriek every time I find a water snake."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%; padding-bottom: 50px;" /> +<h2><a name="chapter_xxvi" id="chapter_xxvi"></a>CHAPTER XXVI</h2> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span></p> + +<h3>THE SCHOOL PICNIC</h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/t.png" title="T" height="44" width="40" alt="T" /></p> +<p>HE Saturday chosen for the picnic dawned clear and warm and there +was no sleep for anyone in the Willis family after six o'clock. +Shirley and Sarah had to be forcibly restrained from investigating +the boxes on the kitchen table and Winnie finally decided to finish +packing them before breakfast, in order to "get a moment's peace" as +she said.</p> + +<p>Sarah flatly refused to go to the picnic unless her red tie could be +found, not that she wanted to wear it for decorative purposes, she +carefully explained, but because she thought she could catch minnows +in it. There was a brook running through the picnic field and Sarah +meant to explore it thoroughly.</p> + +<p>By the time Rosemary had found the tie, Shirley had managed to upset +the shoe blacking on her white shoes and had to be hastily refitted +with tan socks and oxfords. Rosemary, flying down the hall with a +new pair of shoelaces for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span> her sister, brushed past Doctor Hugh on +his way to the breakfast table.</p> + +<p>"Is there a fire, or is it only the picnic?" he asked humorously, +and she assured him that it was "always like this" on picnic +mornings.</p> + +<p>"Well I don't envy the job of the chaperones," said the doctor +feelingly, when they were at last seated and Aunt Trudy was pouring +his coffee. "You and Shirley," he said to Sarah, "want to do as +Rosemary says to-day."</p> + +<p>"Then I hope she doesn't say much," retorted Sarah ungraciously.</p> + +<p>"If I thought you meant to be as rude as you sometimes sound, Sarah, +I'd read you a lecture on politeness," said her brother, rather +sternly. "But we won't spoil a holiday by bickering. Can you all go +together in the same motor truck?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Oliver said we could do as we pleased, as long as none of the +trucks were overcrowded," explained Rosemary. "I'm going to try and +have Sarah and Shirley in the same car with me; you see if three +other girls want to go together, that will just even it up."</p> + +<p>"All right, children, have a good time and don't eat too many +sandwiches," said the doctor cheerfully. "I'm sorry I can't stay to +see you off, but I'll hear all about the fun to-night. Try<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span> not to +go crazy, Auntie, before these Indians are safely out of the house."</p> + +<p>As soon as he had gone, the girls began to "pack up" though the +motor trucks were not to leave the school grounds till half-past +nine. They were all dressed in white and each carried a sweater, +Sarah's red, Rosemary's blue and Shirley's apple green. Winnie had +made up a generous box of lunch for each, and three vacuum bottles, +a surprise from Doctor Hugh, were waiting them, filled with +lemonade.</p> + +<p>"I think we'd better go early, Winnie," said Rosemary, "on account +of getting in the same truck. The earlier we are, the better chance +we have of getting seats together."</p> + +<p>"Yes, it's always well to go early to any picnic," replied Winnie +wisely. "The fun can't begin till you start, so why delay?"</p> + +<p>The motor trucks were drawn up before the school when the girls +reached the grounds and a group of boys and girls were standing +about them. They made a parade showing, being six in number and +gaily decorated with flags and bunting. There were two teachers +assigned to each truck and Rosemary was delighted to find that Miss +Parsons and her class teacher, Miss<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span> Penfield, were to be in charge +of one of the grammar school trucks.</p> + +<p>"Why I don't see any reason why you and your sisters shouldn't be +together," Miss Penfield answered when Rosemary asked her about +Sarah and Shirley. "Hop in here, and you'll be placed and may not +have to move."</p> + +<p>But just before the trucks were ready to start, Nina Edmonds and +Fannie Mears hurried up. They tried to climb into the truck where +Rosemary sat.</p> + +<p>"Got my load now," said the driver promptly, but pleasantly. "You'll +have to go in the next car."</p> + +<p>"That's full of primary kids—we don't belong in there with them," +protested Fannie. "Oh, look, there are Sarah and Shirley +Willis—they can't go in this car, they belong in the primary +grades."</p> + +<p>"Now Fannie, don't be disagreeable," begged Miss Penfield. "Rosemary +wants her younger sisters with her which is perfectly natural. It +won't hurt you to ride in one of the other trucks. Do it to be +obliging, if for no other reason."</p> + +<p>"I'm sure Fannie doesn't want to be disobliging, Miss Penfield," +said Nina smoothly, "but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span> Mr. Oliver distinctly said there were two +trucks for the grammar grades and that we should not go out of our +assigned cars. Besides, Fannie and I want to sit with our friends +and they're all in this car. Rosemary needn't move, but I think +Sarah and Shirley should go where they belong."</p> + +<p>Miss Penfield flushed with vexation and annoyance. Mr. Oliver had +made just that ruling and she knew that Nina was quoting the letter +of his order, while ignoring the spirit. If she chose to make a +scene she could probably send the two girls to the other car, but it +was a question whether in attempting to enforce her commands she +might not at the same time spoil the day for Rosemary.</p> + +<p>"Are you crowded, Miss Penfield?" called Jack Welles, standing up in +the first truck and looking back. "We have room for three up here; +send them along, if you need space."</p> + +<p>"You go, Rosemary, and take Sarah and Shirley," said Miss Penfield +quickly. "Now come in here, Nina and Fannie, and for pity's sake let +us have no more of this jangling."</p> + +<p>The high school cars held the coveted lead in the line and Jack +happened to be in the first one. Rosemary and Sarah and Shirley were +welcomed joyously by the older boys and girls<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span> and Nina and Fannie +furiously regretted their insistence. They would have liked to go in +the high school truck and if they had only waited, or had been less +determined in their demands, they might have found places there.</p> + +<p>When the large field, where the Eastshore picnics were always held, +was reached, the trucks were parked in a circle and the pupils +scattered to amuse themselves according to their varying ages and +ideas. Shirley joined the little girls and shrieking games of "Tag" +were immediately under way. Sarah, ignoring the suggestions of her +classmates that they hunt for wildflowers, dropped flat on her +stomach and began a search for bugs. Rosemary left the lunch boxes +under the eyes of the teachers who gathered in a ring and took out +knitting and fancy work, and went off with half a dozen girls her +age to gather and wash wild-grape vine leaves to serve as plates at +the luncheon.</p> + +<p>As it is at all picnics, no one could really think of anything long, +till the boxes were unpacked and the good things set out. The boys +helped by getting in everyone's way, by tipping over the bottles of +milk and dropping ants and spiders on the tablecloths to frighten +the girls. There were great slabs of moss-covered rock all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span> about +the field and these, when covered with cloths, made the nicest kind +of tables. The groups gathered to suit themselves and when Rosemary +found that Jack Welles, Jerry and Fred Gordon, Ben Kelsey, Norman +Cox and Eustice Gray were gravitating toward the rock she had +selected and that Shirley and Sarah were each bringing a playmate to +eat with them, she was thankful that Winnie had had the packing of +the boxes.</p> + +<p>There were more than enough sandwiches and stuffed eggs and cup +cakes and strawberry tarts to satisfy every one and the boys forgot +to be shy and, to Rosemary's delight, helped themselves without +urging, quite as though they knew Winnie had had their pleasure in +mind, as indeed the good soul had.</p> + +<p>"We're going to play ball this afternoon," said Jack, when it was a +mortal impossibility for any one to eat more. "Mr. Hamlin gave +orders that we must go far enough away so that there would be no +danger of striking any of the kids with the ball. We're going up the +brook away to an open pasture. Can we help you with the dishes or +anything?" he added thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"There won't be any dishes," smiled Rose<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span>mary. "Winnie put in only +paper plates and napkins, and it won't be wasteful to leave the +little that's left for the birds. If you want to bury the boxes, +that will be nice; Hugh always detests any litter left around after +a picnic."</p> + +<p>"We'll dig a hole and bury all the trash," said Eustice Gray +instantly. "Come on, fellows, we'll go collect it."</p> + +<p>"But you haven't any shovel," said the practical Sarah.</p> + +<p>"A-ha, you're a good detective, but you don't know motor trucks," +replied Eustice, grinning at her, for he had taken a fancy to the +odd child who had screamed to him not to mash the spider he had +fished out of his lemonade cup. "All good motor trucks take a spade +with them, under the seat, to use in case they are stuck on some +muddy road."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said Sarah. "Then I'll come help you."</p> + +<p>And she trotted around after the boys till they had collected the +litter and trash left by each group of picnickers and buried it +neatly in a hole they filled in and stamped down firmly. She would +have gone with them to play ball, but Rosemary held her back.</p> + +<p>"Well, if I can't play ball, I'll go hunt snakes,"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span> decided Sarah +whose frock was torn and dirty already, but whose streaked face was +radiant with the good time she was having.</p> + +<p>All the boys, big and little, had disappeared immediately after +luncheon, to play ball in more distant fields. The farmers of the +neighborhood were perfectly willing to lend their pasture land for a +day and there were no crops to be spoiled by tramping feet for +several miles along the brook.</p> + +<p>The younger girls gathered around one of the primary teachers who +promised to tell them stories and most of the grammar and high +school girls had brought their crocheting and were ready to sit +quietly a while and exchange patterns. Rosemary, however, did not +feel in what she called a "knitting mood" and when Bessie Kent +suggested that they go wading in the brook, she jumped at the idea. +A dozen girls were found to be aching for a frolic and Miss Penfield +smilingly told them to be young while they could, but not to wade +too far and not to stay too long.</p> + +<p>The water was icy cold, and much laughter and shrieking advertised +the first step, but as soon as they were used to the temperature +only the exhilaration remained. Led by Rosemary, they started slowly +up stream.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span>"Good gracious, if Nina Edmonds and Fannie Mears aren't coming, +too," whispered Bessie, glancing back over her shoulder. "Wonder why +they want to tag along?"</p> + +<p>If she had only known it, Nina and Fannie were feeling decidedly +left out of things. They longed to go with the high school girls who +persistently ignored them and they were not at all popular with +their own classmates. When they found that they were to be left on +the edge of the circle of crocheters, they determined to follow the +wading party. Nina privately thought she was far too old to indulge +in such a silly pastime, and Fannie hated walking anyway, but at the +moment wading was better than doing nothing.</p> + +<p>"Who's that shouting?" asked Rosemary, as they rounded a bend in the +brook and heard a distant noise.</p> + +<p>"Must be the boys," replied Bessie. "Yes, see, there they are—way +over there; they're playing ball on the other side of the brook, a +couple of fields further on."</p> + +<p>The girls could see the running figures plainly, and from time to +time a bellow of pure joy and excitement wafted down to them.</p> + +<p>"Don't they have fun—" Rosemary was beginning, when a scream +startled them all.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span>"I've cut my foot!" shrieked Fannie Mears. "Oh, the whole bottom of +the brook must be covered with broken glass. Look how it bleeds!"</p> + +<p>She lifted her foot from the water and Nina, who caught a glimpse of +the widening gash, cried out in horror. Fannie let her foot fall and +struck the glass again. She screamed even more loudly and began to +beat the water with her hands.</p> + +<p>"Look out, you won't be able to see the glass!" cried Rosemary, +turning and dashing toward her. "Stand still, Fannie, just a +minute."</p> + +<p>Rosemary stooped and felt carefully down about Fannie's feet. Her +hands struck a broken bottle and she lifted it out and tossed it on +the bank.</p> + +<p>"That's what did it," she said calmly. "Hurry and let me see your +foot—wait I'll pull you up on the bank, Fannie."</p> + +<p>But when Fannie saw her cut foot, which was bleeding profusely, and +the girls, who had crowded around saw it and her white, frightened +face, a veritable panic started. Fannie slipped into the brook, +crying with pain and fright, apparently believing that if her foot +was under water and out of sight it must stop bleeding, and the +other girls began a chorus of shrill<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span> screaming that tried Rosemary +to the point of exasperation.</p> + +<p>"How can you be so silly!" she stormed. "Somebody hold Fannie's foot +while I tie it up; I know first-aid. She's losing blood all the +time. Somebody help me—Oh, don't stand there like that! Bessie, +can't you hold her foot just a minute?"</p> + +<p>"I couldn't!" Bessie shivered and drew back. "My knees are wabbling +now, Rosemary. Blood always makes me so sick!"</p> + +<p>"Then run," said Rosemary desperately, seeing that she could expect +no help from the frightened girls about her. "Run, and tell some of +the boys to come quick!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%; padding-bottom: 50px;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="chapter_xxvii" id="chapter_xxvii"></a>CHAPTER XXVII</h2> + +<h3>A LONG YEAR'S END</h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/a.png" title="A" height="44" width="46" alt="A" /></p> +<p>S Bessie obediently started in the direction of the ball-players, +Nina Edmonds uttered a shocked exclamation.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Rosemary, I don't think you should have done that," she said +reprovingly. "We haven't our shoes and stockings on, you know."</p> + +<p>"I suppose we should let Fannie bleed to death, then?" suggested +Rosemary, her great eyes snapping fire. "Fannie won't hold still +herself and not one of you has the nerve to hold her steady and yet +you stand there and make a fuss because a boy may see you without +your shoes and stockings on. If you're going to be ashamed of +anything, Nina Edmonds, be ashamed of being a coward!"</p> + +<p>Nina flushed angrily, but Rosemary was trying to pull Fannie back on +the bank and paid no further attention to her. Fannie fought off any +attempt to touch her and she cried and groaned without a moment's +pause. Rosemary, straight<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span>ening up after a hard and ineffectual +tussle, was relieved to see Bessie running toward them, followed by +a string of boys, Jack Welles in advance. Bessie's cries had reached +them long before she came to the field and they had correctly +interpreted her frantic appeals for help.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Jack, I'm so glad you've come!" cried Rosemary. "Help me get +Fannie out on the bank. She's cut her foot badly and she won't let +me touch her, to tie it up."</p> + +<p>Will Mears, Fannie's brother, panted up and when he saw his sister +and understood that she was hurt, he bent down and lifted her out +with one swift, strong pull.</p> + +<p>"Gee, you <i>have</i> cut yourself!" he said in distress as he saw the +injured foot.</p> + +<p>"Hush up!" said Jack sternly, as the girls began to shriek again. +"Go away, if you're afraid to look. Rosemary knows what to do, don't +you, Rosemary? Tell us how to help you."</p> + +<p>"Hold her still," directed Rosemary, frantically calling on her +memory for Doctor Hugh's first-aid lessons. "I'll have to wash it +out the best way I can, but I think I can stop the bleeding. Then +we'll have to get her to a doctor."</p> + +<p>"I'll hold her," said Will Mears grimly. "You go ahead."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span>Fannie could not twist and squirm in his strong arms, and Rosemary +deftly washed out the great jagged cut that had slashed across the +slim instep, and then, further scandalizing Nina, tore a wide +bandage from the bottom of her petticoat, brought the edges of the +cut closely together and bound it tightly.</p> + +<p>"I think you ought to carry her to the truck," she said, when she +had finished. "Look out, Will, she's fainted. Lay her on the grass."</p> + +<p>The sight of Fannie, white and motionless, frightened the girls, and +it must be confessed the boys, too, far more than her steady +screaming. Rosemary did not appear to be alarmed, but borrowing +Jack's handkerchief, dipped it in the water and gently bathed +Fannie's forehead. Then she took her head in her lap and waited a +few minutes. Presently Fannie opened her eyes.</p> + +<p>"She's better now," said Rosemary.</p> + +<p>"I'll carry her to the truck," declared Will Mears, looking with +respect on the young nurse. "As you say, I think we'd better get her +to a doctor. Some of you run on ahead and explain what has happened +and tell them we want to start back right away."</p> + +<p>The girls sped on ahead and in a few minutes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span> the picnic had broken +up hastily. A sort of bed was made in one of the trucks, using the +sweaters and wraps of the other girls, and Fannie was laid on this, +with her head in Rosemary's lap. Will Mears had no confidence in any +one else's ability to take care of his sister.</p> + +<p>"She would have bled to death, if it hadn't been for Rosemary," he +said to Jack, as the truck started, the driver carefully avoiding +the bad places in the road in order to spare the patient any +unnecessary jar. "I never saw a girl before who could do up cuts and +not scream at the sight of blood. I suppose it's because her brother +is a doctor."</p> + +<p>"Not altogether," replied Jack curtly. "Rosemary doesn't happen to +be the screaming kind of girl."</p> + +<p>Will Mears directed that the truck be driven to Doctor Hugh's office +where, by good fortune, they found him just in from a call, and +Fannie, quiet and spent now, with no breath left for screaming, had +her wound washed with an antiseptic and dressed. Then she was taken +home and put to bed. She was weak from the loss of blood and the +consequences might have been serious, the doctor admitted, if the +cut had not been tied in time. But to Will Mears' glowing praise<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span> of +Rosemary, he replied that she had only used her knowledge of +first-aid treatment.</p> + +<p>"Then all girls ought to learn it," burst out the high school +junior. "Those other girls stood around like perfect dubs. Fannie +could have bled to death, for all they did."</p> + +<p>"All girls ought to know first-aid," affirmed the doctor. "My +sisters are not going to be left helpless when an accident happens."</p> + +<p>"But you can't say it's altogether the first aid," persisted Will +Mears. "Look at Nina Edmonds; she might learn the whole programme, +and then, when something did happen, she'd run around like a chicken +with its head off! First-aid doesn't teach you to keep your wits +about you and not to scream and act like a lunatic generally, Doctor +Willis."</p> + +<p>"Well, of course, one needs character as well as first-aid +knowledge," admitted Doctor Hugh, smiling a little, "but if one +knows what to do, there's no temptation to wring the hands and +scream, Will. Rosemary knew what to do, therefore she did it."</p> + +<p>But Will Mears refused to give all the credit to first-aid and +indeed all the boys and girls who had seen Rosemary care for Fannie, +were loud in their praise of her fearlessness and skill.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span> Mrs. Mears +sent for her to come and see Fannie, as soon as the patient grew +stronger, and though Rosemary rather dreaded the visit, she came +away feeling that next term in school she and Fannie would be, if +not close friends, at least on amiable terms instead of irritatingly +hostile which had been their covert attitude this last year.</p> + +<p>For it was time to think of school as "next year," since this term +was so nearly over. The Eastshore schools closed the middle of June +and the week after the picnic the pupils were plunged into the +throes of the final examinations. Even Shirley went about anxiously +wondering if she would "pass" and asking each of her sisters if they +thought she had had good marks during the year.</p> + +<p>"I just have to be promoted," she would say over and over. "I just +have to be promoted, 'cause my mother is coming home."</p> + +<p>"When's Mother coming home?" was Sarah's cry. "You said in a year, +Hugh, and it's a year this month."</p> + +<p>"I think we may look for her home sometime this month," said the +doctor one day when Sarah had asked him for the twentieth time. "You +mustn't expect her to keep a calendar, Sarah and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span> come back on the +exact day she went away. It may be a few days longer, dear."</p> + +<p>"She went away a year ago this Wednesday," said Rosemary, half to +herself.</p> + +<p>"Has it been a long year, Rosemary?" asked her brother, quickly.</p> + +<p>"In spots," answered Rosemary, the tears rushing to her eyes. "It +has been ever so long, sometimes, Hugh."</p> + +<p>"Well, let's all get promoted," suggested Shirley, in her little +chirpy voice. "Mother would like us all promoted, wouldn't she, +Hugh?"</p> + +<p>"She'll about eat you up, promoted or not," he answered, swinging +Shirley to the top of his desk the better to hug her. "But by all +means be promoted; that will be fine news to tell her."</p> + +<p>The dreaded examinations approached relentlessly, engulfed each +fearful class and released them, after a few days, to wait their +fates. Shirley was sure she had "passed in everything," Sarah was +superbly indifferent, and Rosemary had secret qualms about history. +Jack Welles confided that he didn't care so much whether or not he +passed, but the uncertainty was driving him mad.</p> + +<p>"If I pass, I get my choice of three dandy fishing rods," he +explained to Rosemary. "And if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span> I flunk, I have to work in the +garden all summer without a single fishing trip."</p> + +<p>This state of suspense extended to the last day of the term. The +senior classes, in the high and grammar schools, were given their +ratings earlier, to allow them to prepare for the graduating +exercises. Rosemary, Sarah, Shirley and Aunt Trudy went to the +exercises and all through the hot June night Rosemary sat, wide-eyed +and delighted, wondering if the day would ever come when she could +sit on the platform in a white frock with her arms filled with +roses, and perhaps be called on to read an essay.</p> + +<p>The day after the graduation, the cards were handed out among the +other grades. Jack Welles waited to walk home with the Willis girls +and though his patience was sorely tried by the prolonged farewells, +he managed to keep fairly good-humored.</p> + +<p>"Why was Bessie Kent kissing you as though she never expected to see +you again?" he asked Rosemary curiously. "Doesn't she live near you +and won't you see her nearly every day this summer?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's just because it was the last day of school," explained +Rosemary.</p> + +<p>"Silly, I call it," declared Sarah, voicing Jack's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span> sentiments. "I +got promoted, Jack. And I'm going to hunt specimens all summer for +the biology teacher. He asked me to."</p> + +<p>"I got promoted, too," cried Shirley proudly. "I got a silver star +on my card. And now I'm in the second grade."</p> + +<p>Jack looked at Rosemary. She nodded happily.</p> + +<p>"Passed in everything," she said. "Even history. Won't it be fun to +be in the grammar graduating class next term!"</p> + +<p>"Well I passed, myself," announced Jack. "Watch me pick out that +fishing rod. And the garden won't see much of me this summer, I can +tell you that."</p> + +<p>"Mother will be so pleased," said Rosemary, as Jack went on to his +house, and the three girls mounted the steps of the Willis home. +"She likes us to do well in school, and Hugh was never kept back a +single year. She would like us to follow his record, I know."</p> + +<p>"The house looks kind of nice, doesn't it?" said Sarah unexpectedly. +Comment of that kind was unusual with her.</p> + +<p>The house did look "nice," its rich cream color showing up the vivid +green of the shrubbery and the velvety surface of the well-kept +lawn. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span> new rose bushes were bearing well and Doctor Hugh had +managed new green and white striped awnings for the porch.</p> + +<p>"I wish Mother could see the roses," said Rosemary as they went in.</p> + +<p>The late afternoon June sunshine streamed in through the hall window +and made a broad band to the stairway which was in shadow. Voices +sounded in the living room.</p> + +<p>"Hugh's home!" cried Sarah, her quick eyes darting to the hall table +where a man's hat and a light leather bag lay together with a +woman's hat and veil.</p> + +<p>Rosemary saw the hat and veil. They were not Aunt Trudy's. Her heart +gave a sudden leap.</p> + +<p>They went forward across the hall to the doorway of the living-room. +There, in the large arm-chair, facing the door, sat a little woman +with eyes like Rosemary's and dark hair like Sarah, but faintly +streaked with gray across its ripples. She was thin, as though from +a recent illness, but a clear pink glowed in her cheeks and her soft +voice was firm and strong. Her lovely mouth smiled at the girls and +she held out her arms. Doctor Hugh, standing behind her chair, +laughed a little, to keep from crying he afterward said,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span> as Sarah +and Shirley hurled themselves upon their mother, both shrieking, +while they waved their report cards, "We're promoted! We're +promoted! We passed in every single thing!"</p> + +<p>She took them both in her lap at once and their arms were about her +neck. Across the yellow and dark head, her eyes met those of her +oldest daughter. Doctor Hugh, too, looked at Rosemary.</p> + +<p>She had not moved from the doorway since Sarah and Shirley had +brushed past her in their mad rush. Standing motionless and +speechless, a slender hand on either side of the doorframe, she +watched her sisters claim the mother's first kiss. Then, as the +beautiful eyes were raised to hers, she made an effort to speak. All +the love and longing and loneliness of the past year, not fully felt +till now, rushed to her voice. She took a step forward.</p> + +<p>"<i>Mother!</i>" said Rosemary.</p> + + +<h4>THE END</h4> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rosemary, by Josephine Lawrence + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROSEMARY *** + +***** This file should be named 20620-h.htm or 20620-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/6/2/20620/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Jacqueline Jeremy and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/20620-h/images/a.jpg b/20620-h/images/a.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0d6e456 --- /dev/null +++ b/20620-h/images/a.jpg diff --git a/20620-h/images/a.png b/20620-h/images/a.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..74c09a3 --- /dev/null +++ b/20620-h/images/a.png diff --git a/20620-h/images/a2.png b/20620-h/images/a2.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2ad6278 --- /dev/null +++ b/20620-h/images/a2.png diff --git a/20620-h/images/e.jpg b/20620-h/images/e.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..934bd61 --- /dev/null +++ b/20620-h/images/e.jpg diff --git a/20620-h/images/e.png b/20620-h/images/e.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0db2ef6 --- /dev/null +++ b/20620-h/images/e.png diff --git a/20620-h/images/f.jpg b/20620-h/images/f.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7c6b287 --- /dev/null +++ b/20620-h/images/f.jpg diff --git a/20620-h/images/f.png b/20620-h/images/f.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..43adeb6 --- /dev/null +++ b/20620-h/images/f.png diff --git a/20620-h/images/frontis_l.jpg b/20620-h/images/frontis_l.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ab2764c --- /dev/null +++ b/20620-h/images/frontis_l.jpg diff --git a/20620-h/images/frontis_s.jpg b/20620-h/images/frontis_s.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a1d1d83 --- /dev/null +++ b/20620-h/images/frontis_s.jpg diff --git a/20620-h/images/i.png b/20620-h/images/i.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bc02bc4 --- /dev/null +++ b/20620-h/images/i.png diff --git a/20620-h/images/i2.png b/20620-h/images/i2.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0567c0e --- /dev/null +++ b/20620-h/images/i2.png diff --git a/20620-h/images/j.png b/20620-h/images/j.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..81b345e --- /dev/null +++ b/20620-h/images/j.png diff --git a/20620-h/images/m.png b/20620-h/images/m.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..41966c4 --- /dev/null +++ b/20620-h/images/m.png diff --git a/20620-h/images/r.png b/20620-h/images/r.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..52e2f3b --- /dev/null +++ b/20620-h/images/r.png diff --git a/20620-h/images/s.png b/20620-h/images/s.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f97ad5b --- /dev/null +++ b/20620-h/images/s.png diff --git a/20620-h/images/s2.png b/20620-h/images/s2.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f9b6506 --- /dev/null +++ b/20620-h/images/s2.png diff --git a/20620-h/images/t.png b/20620-h/images/t.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b1ab559 --- /dev/null +++ b/20620-h/images/t.png diff --git a/20620-h/images/w.png b/20620-h/images/w.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e8ea133 --- /dev/null +++ b/20620-h/images/w.png diff --git a/20620-h/images/y.png b/20620-h/images/y.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6788c84 --- /dev/null +++ b/20620-h/images/y.png diff --git a/20620-h/images/y2.png b/20620-h/images/y2.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..61fe867 --- /dev/null +++ b/20620-h/images/y2.png diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..86c00c0 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #20620 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20620) diff --git a/old/20620-8.txt b/old/20620-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..870dddd --- /dev/null +++ b/old/20620-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7935 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rosemary, by Josephine Lawrence + +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: Rosemary + +Author: Josephine Lawrence + +Release Date: February 19, 2007 [EBook #20620] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROSEMARY *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Jacqueline Jeremy and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: SARAH PULLED OUT A LITTLE DANGLING DARK OBJECT. +"Rosemary" Page 157] + + + + +ROSEMARY + +_By_ +_Josephine Lawrence_ + +_Illustrated by_ +_Thelma Gooch_ + +NEW YORK +CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY + + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY + +_Rosemary_ + +PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I GOOD NEWS 1 + + II THE WILLIS WILL 12 + + III AUNT TRUDY COMES 23 + + IV DOCTOR HUGH TAKES COMMAND 34 + + V WINNIE'S VOLUNTEERS 45 + + VI ROSEMARY HAS HER WAY 54 + + VII THE RUNAWAY 65 + + VIII SARAH IN DISGRACE 76 + + IX WHEN PATIENCE SLIPS 87 + + X THE LAST STRAW 98 + + XI A CHAIN OF PROMISES 109 + + XII ONE DISASTROUS AFTERNOON 121 + + XIII JACK STRAIGHTENS THINGS OUT 132 + + XIV A NEW SCHOOL TERM 144 + + XV TOO MUCH NATURAL HISTORY 156 + + XVI MR. OLIVER AND SARAH 168 + + XVII THE INSTITUTE DINNER 180 + +XVIII SHIRLEY IN MISCHIEF 192 + + XIX BUCKING THE STUDENT COUNCIL 204 + + XX DRESSMAKER ROSEMARY 216 + + XXI MR. JORDAN LEARNS SOMETHING 228 + + XXII SHOPPING WITH NINA 240 + +XXIII SARAH LOSES A MENAGERIE 252 + + XXIV A MYSTERY SOLVED 264 + + XXV GARDEN DAYS 276 + + XXVI THE SCHOOL PICNIC 288 + +XXVII A LONG YEAR'S END 300 + + + + +ROSEMARY + + +CHAPTER I + +GOOD NEWS + + +The Willis house was very quiet. The comfortable screened porch was +deserted, though a sweater in the hammock and a box of gay paper +dolls on the floor showed that it had served as a play-space +recently. Inside, not a door banged, not a footfall sounded. + +The late afternoon June sunshine streamed in through the hall window +and made a broad band to the stairway which was in the shadow. The +light touched the heads of three girls huddled closely together in +the cushioned window-seat and turned the hair of one to gleaming, +burnished golden red, another to a fairy web of spun yellow silk and +searched out the faint copper tint in the dark locks of the third. +The girls sat motionless, their faces turned toward the stairs, as +silent as everything else in that silent house. + +"Rosemary!" whispered the dark-haired one suddenly, "Rosemary, you +don't think--" + +The girl with the gold-red hair, who sat between the other two, +started nervously. Her violet blue eyes transferred their anxious +gaze from the shadowy staircase to her sister's face. + +"Oh, no!" she said passionately. "No! Do you hear me, Sarah? That +couldn't happen to us. Why do you say such things?" + +"I didn't say anything," protested Sarah sullenly. "Did I, Shirley?" + +The little girl with the fairy-web of yellow hair did not answer. +She started from her seat and ran toward the stairs. + +"Hugh's coming!" she cried. + +Quick, even steps sounded on the hardwood treads and a young man +with dark hair, darker eyes behind eye-glasses and a keen, +intelligent face, descended rapidly. He picked up the child and +strode across the hall to the window-seat. + +"Poor children!" he said compassionately, sitting down beside +Rosemary and holding the younger girl in his lap. "Has the time +seemed long? I came as quickly as I could." + +Rosemary looked at him piteously. + +"All right, dear," he said instantly. "Mother is going to get well. +Dr. Hurlbut and I have decided that all she needs is a long rest. I +am going to take her to a quiet place in the country day after +to-morrow and she is to stay until she is entirely recovered. Why +Rosemary!" + +The gold-red head was on his shoulder and Rosemary was crying as +though her heart would break. + +"That's the way she is," said the dark and placid Sarah. "She jumps +on me if I say anything and then she cries herself sick thinking +things. I would rather," she declared with peculiar distinctness, +"have folks talk than think, wouldn't you, Hugh?" + +"I'm sorry to say I can't agree with you," replied the young +man briefly. "Here, Shirley, I didn't know you were such a +heavy-weight--you run off with Sarah and tell Winnie what I have +told you about Mother. Quietly now, and no shouting. Rosemary, +dear," he put a protecting arm around the weeping girl, "you will +feel better now--we have all been under a strain and the worst is +over. Here comes Miss Graham with Dr. Hurlbut and I must see him +off. Don't run--he'll probably go right out without seeing you." + +But the famous specialist stopped squarely in the hall and the +pleasant-faced middle-aged nurse, standing respectfully on the +lower step, nodded reassuringly to Rosemary who was frantically +mopping her eyes. + +"Well, Dr. Willis," said the great man heartily, "I am mighty glad +to have been of some little service. I'm sure you will find Pine +Crest sanatorium all that it is said to be and the right place for +your mother. She mustn't be allowed, of course, to worry about home +affairs. There are younger children, I believe?" + +"Three girls," said Hugh Willis. "Rosemary--" he summoned her with a +glance,--"my sister, Dr. Hurlbut." + +Dr. Hurlbut shook hands kindly letting his quizzical gray eyes rest +a moment longer on the tear-stained face. + +"Ah, we cry because of past sorrow," he said quietly, "and, a +little, because of present joy; is it not so?" + +Rosemary lifted her head in quick understanding, tossing back her +magnificent mane and showing her violet blue eyes still wet with +tears. She smiled radiantly and her face was vivid, glowing, almost +startling in its beauty. + +"I am so happy!" she said clearly, and her girl-voice held a note of +pure joyousness. "So happy that I do not think I can ever be +unhappy again!" + +The two doctors smiled a little in sympathy. + +"Ah, well," said the famous specialist, after a moment's silence, +gently, "let us hope so." + +He turned toward the door and the younger man went with him to the +handsome car drawn up at the curb. Rosemary, with a swift hug for +Miss Graham, dashed past her upstairs to her own room, always a +haven in time of happiness or stress. + +"Mother is going to get well!" whispered the girl, starry-eyed. "All +she needs is rest, and then she will be quite well again. Cora +Mason's mother died--" the expressive face sobered and, sitting on +the edge of her pretty white bed, Rosemary's twelve-year old mind +filled with somber thoughts. Presently she slipped noiselessly to +her knees and buried her curly head in the comforting cool white +pillow. + +"Dear God--" she began, but the tide of joy and relief began to beat +loudly again in her heart, sending rich waves of color into her +hidden face. + +"I am so happy," prayed Rosemary tumultuously. "I am so happy! I am +so happy!" + +Presently she rose and dragged her white shoes from the closet. +Sitting in the middle of the floor, she started contentedly cleaning +them. + +"Rosemary?" sounded a little voice. "Rosemary, you in here?" + +Rosemary straightened up so that she could see across the bed which +stood between her and the doorway. + +"Yes, Shirley darling," she answered. "Did you tell Winnie about +mother?" + +"Yes," said Shirley scrambling upon the bed. "We told her. What you +doing, Sister?" + +"Cleaning my white shoes," replied Rosemary, applying whitener +vigorously. "I'm going to put them on and wear my white linen dress. +Don't you want to dress up to-night, Shirley? Bring me your shoes, +if they are dirty, and I'll do them for you." + +"All right, I'll get them," decided Shirley, sliding off the bed +backward. "Could I put on my blue sash, Rosemary?" + +"Not with that dress," said Rosemary firmly. "I'll have to wash your +face and hands and neck and then you can wear the cross-bar muslin +with the lace yoke." + +"Are you up here, Rosemary?" demanded another voice. "What are you +doing?" + +"Cleaning my shoes," said Rosemary patiently. "Say, Sarah, don't +you think it would be nice if we dressed up a little for dinner +to-night?" + +"Why?" asked Sarah bluntly. + +"Oh, because--because, well, we know Mother is going to get well," +explained Rosemary. "And everything has been in such a mess this +week, the table half set and nobody caring whether they ate or not. +I'd like to show Hugh that we can have things done properly." + +"What difference does it make?" drawled Sarah lazily. "I hate a lot +of fuss, you know I do. Rosemary, do you suppose it hurts worms to +use them for fishing bait? Will you ask Jack Welles?" + +"I'll ask him the next time I see him, if you will put on your tan +linen with the red tie," promised Rosemary. "And do brush your hair +back the way Mother likes it, Sarah. She can't bear to see it +stringing into your eyes." + +"Oh--all right," agreed Sarah. "Don't forget to ask about the +worms." + +She departed and in her place came Shirley, carrying a pair of +diminutive and soiled white shoes. + +"I wish," she announced pleasantly, sitting down on the floor +beside Rosemary to watch the cleaning process, "I wish we could have +ice-cream." + +"Well I'll ask Winnie," said Rosemary promptly. "What dessert do you +suppose we are going to have to-night?" + +"Berries," Shirley answered wisely. "I saw 'em. Couldn't Winnie make +us chocolate ice-cream?" + +"Oh, she wouldn't have time to make it," said Rosemary, "but I'll +ask her if I can't telephone the drug-store and have them send us +some. There your shoes are, honey. Now hurry and get dressed." + +Dr. Hugh Willis, coming down from his mother's sick-room at the +summons of the musical chime which announced the dinner hour, +thought he had never seen a pleasanter sight than greeted his eyes +in the dining-room. The room itself was pleasant and airy and the +last rays of the sun struck the table set with fresh linen and a +simple and orderly array of silver. But it was the three joyous +faces turned expectantly toward him that caught and held his +attention. Rosemary, in white from head to foot, stood behind her +mother's chair and all the light in the room seemed to center in her +eyes and hair. Shirley, looking like a particularly wholesome and +adorable cherub from her sunny curls and wide, gray eyes to her fat +and dimpled knees scuffled in an impatient circle around her own +special seat and Sarah, a stout and stolid little Indian in tan +linen and scarlet tie, showed her one beauty--a set of strong, even +white teeth--in an engaging smile. + +"Well how smart we are," smiled the doctor, surveying them +appreciatively. "Seems to me everyone is dressed up to-night." + +"We wanted to have things nice--because Mother is going to get +well," said Rosemary with simple directness. + +For answer Dr. Hugh came forward and pulled out her chair for her, +"just as if I were a grown-up woman," she recounted with pride to +her mother later, and then lifted Shirley to her seat and tied on +her bib dexterously. + +"We're going to have ice-cream," Sarah informed him. + +"That's fine," he commented a trifle absently, beginning to carve. +When he had served them all, he spoke seriously. + +"Girls," he said, "I'm going to send a telegram after dinner +to-night to Aunt Trudy Wright. Mother wants her to come and stay +with you while she is away; I don't think she can begin to mend +until she knows that she has provided for you." + +"Oh, Hugh!" Rosemary mashing potato for Shirley's hungry +consumption, looked distressed. "I can keep house, I know I can. We +don't need Aunt Trudy." + +"She won't let me keep any mice in my room," wailed Sarah. "I don't +like her, either." + +"Let me eat it now," said Shirley, referring to her potato. "Let's +tell Aunt Trudy not to come. She says oatmeal is good for me and I +don't like oatmeal." + +"Have you all finished?" asked the doctor calmly. "Well then, I have +something to say: Aunt Trudy is coming, just as soon as I can get +her here; if for no other reason than Mother wants her and will go +away happy in the belief that you will be well taken care of. There +is to be no argument and I absolutely forbid you to mention the +subject to Mother; if she says anything to you, try to act as though +you were pleased at the prospect. For my part, I should think you +would be glad she could come. An aunt is pretty nice to have when +you are in trouble." + +"You don't know Aunt Trudy," said Sarah pertly. + +"Rosemary, will you go up and sit with Mother while Miss Graham has +her dinner, when we are through?" asked Dr. Hugh, ignoring Sarah's +remark. "I am going down to the drug-store for a few things and I'll +be back within half an hour." + +The dessert of berries and ice-cream were eaten almost in silence. +Three of the people at the table were busy with conflicting +thoughts. Shirley alone was concentrating her attention on the +delight of a larger slice of cake than usual. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE WILLIS WILL + + +"It's the first real warm night we've had isn't it?" said Mrs. +Hollister conversationally. "I got to thinking about you to-night, +Winnie, and I said to Mamie that I believed I'd come up and see you +for a minute or two; I thought you might be glad to have a little +help with the dishes or something." + +Winnie, a tall gaunt woman, the gray hair on her temples hardly +perceptible because of the ash-blondness of her tightly pulled hair, +stood beside the kitchen table apparently figuring some problem on a +slip of paper. + +"My dishes are done," she said capably, "but sit down, do Mrs. +Hollister; I'm not denying that I'm glad to see a friend after the +day I've had." + +Mrs. Hollister sank heavily into the cushioned rocker drawn up near +the table and removed her cotton gloves. + +"I said to Mamie I knew you'd be tuckered out," she observed. "Am I +keeping you, Winnie--is that important?" she indicated the slip of +paper in the other's hand. + +"I can do it any time before to-morrow morning," Winnie explained. +"It's the laundry list and I have about everything counted up. The +man comes Wednesdays." + +"Where are the girls?" asked the visitor, her quick eyes roving +approvingly around the immaculate kitchen. "Did the poor lady get +off safely?" + +"The girls are in bed," said Winnie, taking the questions in order. +"They were worn out and I told 'em bed was the best place for them +to be. They've lost all their good sensible habits these last two +weeks and it's glad I am the young doctor is going to be here to +look after 'em. They need to be settled down if ever anybody did." + +"And Mrs. Willis? She will really get well?" urged Mrs. Hollister. + +Winnie's face changed. Her eyes softened. + +"They all say she will be better than she's been for years, bless +her! All of 'em, Dr. Hurlbut, that big specialist that came from +New York, and Dr. Jordan and Doctor Hugh, who's as good as any of +them if he is young, all of 'em say if she only rests a year in +this sanatorium and doesn't have to worry we'll never know she +was sick." + +"She was taken sudden, wasn't she?" asked the visitor. "Mamie said +you found her, Winnie." + +Winnie snapped on the light for the summer dusk was deepening +into dark. + +"That I did," she answered. "I'll never forget it, never. I was +going up to her room to ask her whether I should wait for the butter +and egg woman or send down to the store and in the upstairs hall I +walked right into her, lying so still and white on the floor. I got +her on the bed myself and sent Rosemary flying down to Dr. Jordan's +office for Dr. Hugh. Dr. Jordan came up with the young doctor and +they got the trained nurse and for over a week we didn't know +whether the dear lady would stay with us or not. Then she got a +little better and Dr. Hugh wanted her to go off to this sanatorium +place, but she wouldn't hear of it till the specialist put in his +word and all three doctors promised her she'd be cured." + +"They say Dr. Hugh is going to take Dr. Jordan's practice," said +Mrs. Hollister irrelevantly. + +"I don't know who 'they' are, but for once they've told the truth," +said Winnie a bit tartly. "Dr. Jordan is going away for two months, +or three, and Dr. Hugh is to look after his office and patients. He +may settle down in Eastshore, if he likes it well enough." + +Winnie did not add what she, as a confidante of the family, had +heard discussed, namely that Dr. Hugh would likely buy the practice +of Dr. Jordan who was an old man and anxious to retire from active +service. + +"Dr. Hurlbut came down in a great big car this afternoon and took +Mrs. Willis," Winnie went on, "Dr. Hugh went with her and he's +coming back in the morning. The girls behaved beautifully and not +one of 'em cried till their mother was well out of sight." + +"Well I should say you'll have your hands full with the +housekeeping," was Mrs. Hollister's next comment. "I don't +suppose you can depend on much help from the girls, though +Rosemary is old enough to do considerable if she's a mind +to. How old is she now?" + +"Twelve," replied Winnie. "But you musn't think I'm to do +everything, Mrs. Hollister. Miss Trudy Wright is coming +to-morrow, to stay till Mrs. Willis gets home." + +"Who's she?" asked Mrs. Hollister bluntly. "Anybody you +can rely on?" + +"I'm not saying I don't like her, for I do," said Winnie with +admirable conservatism, "Miss Wright means well, if ever a woman +did. She's the half sister of Mrs. Willis's husband and she sets +great store, she's always saying, by her dead brother's family." + +"You don't sound as if you were so terribly pleased," said Mrs. +Hollister shrewdly. "Does she put her nose into things that are no +concern of hers?" + +"No, I wouldn't say that for her," answered Winnie. "I don't know as +there is any one thing I can put my finger on. Of course she has +never been in charge of the house before--it will be queer to be +taking orders from her. She's been here off and on, making visits +and she never bothered me. Mrs. Willis, poor dear, went away feeling +sure that the girls would be well looked after and I'd be the last +one to think of disturbing her thoughts. But, between you and me, +Mrs. Hollister, Miss Wright can't manage a family like this. She +just hasn't got it in her." + +"You mean the girls are a handful?" suggested Mrs. Hollister. "I +thought as soon as you said she was coming, that a woman without any +children of her own would find it hard trying to look after three +lively girls." + +"Children of your own has got nothing to do with it," asserted +Winnie, tossing her head. "I can make any one of the children stand +round, if I give my mind to it, and they're as fond of me as can be. +But remember I say if I give my mind to it--Miss Wright hasn't got +the patience to keep repeating the same thing fifty times and if she +gives an order and they don't pay attention she drops it right +there. I'm not blaming her--she's fat and has plenty of money and +likes to be comfortable; she must be fifty years old, too, and at +her time of life it's only fair to expect to have a little peace. +But I know the Willis family, and giving in to the girls is the +worst thing you can do. I get wore out lots of times and knuckle +down, but Dr. Hugh won't. I've been watching him, the little time +he's been here, and I'll bet he can hold out against even Rosemary." + +"I suppose it's her red hair," said Mrs. Hollister vaguely. + +"Rosemary is an angel from heaven," declared Winnie, loyally rising +to the defense of the absent. "She's always been the sweetest child +the Lord ever made and when she was a baby I could never bear to +scold her because she'd look at me so sad-like from those big blue +eyes of hers. But Rosemary has the Willis will and the Willis +temper and when she is on her high horse the house won't hold her. +Sooner or later she's going to try to have her way against the young +doctor's orders and then there will be war. All the girls are +getting out of hand now, anyway, what with their mother sick and the +house upset and no regular plan to follow. I caught Sarah yesterday +making her breakfast off of lemonade, raisin pie and fancy cakes." + +"She's a queer one, that Sarah," said Mrs. Hollister, chuckling. +"She nearly frightened the little Percey girl into fits showing her +a live snake one afternoon." + +"Sarah's got a good heart, if you can find it," declared Winnie, +"but unless you handle her just right, you're in for a peck of +trouble. Rosemary's temper blazes up and burns fierce enough dear +knows, but it burns itself out good and clean and leaves a good +clean ash. Now you take Sarah--she goes into a fit of the sulks and +likely as not she won't speak to anyone in the house for a week." + +"She would if she was my child," announced Mrs. Hollister grimly. +"I'd soon shake that out of her." + +"It's my private belief that you can't shake anything out of Sarah, +once she makes up her mind to it," said Winnie solemnly. "She's got +the Willis will and that is a caution. Even Shirley, six years old +and looking like a cherub straight from above, even Shirley has got +a temper of her own and as for will--well you try to make that baby +do a thing she says she won't do. The Willis will is something to +reckon with, Mrs. Hollister." + +"Why do you keep talking about the Willis will?" asked Mrs. +Hollister with curiosity. + +"Because I've lived with it for twenty-eight years and I know all +about it," said Winnie. "Twenty-eight years ago, this spring, have I +lived with this family and in that time I've seen Doctor Hugh grow +from the baby that was laid in my arms into a fine young man with +the Willis will made a help to him instead of a hindrance. Mr. +Willis--you never knew him, he died six months after Shirley was +born and Mrs. Willis has never been the same woman since--had it, +too, and the temper along with it, but he made them both his +servants and himself the master, as the Bible says. Many's the time +I've heard the story of Governor Willis, (his picture hangs in the +hall) and of how he held out against the whole legislature and the +public and proved himself right in the end. Old Judge Willis, the +father of Doctor Hugh's father, once came near being lynched for a +decision he made, but no howling mob could make him retract. As I +tell Mrs. Willis, when she gets to worrying about the strong wills +the girls have, it's worse not to have a mind of your own than to +have too much; I'm not one to preach breaking anyone's will--bend it +the right way, I always say." + +"Yes, that sounds all right," admitted Mrs. Hollister who had +listened eagerly, "but I don't know as I'd want to have the bending +of three wills all at once. It strikes me that the young doctor is +going to be pretty busy if he tries to 'tend to 'em all at the same +time. And you say he's going to take Dr. Jordan's practice, too." + +"He'll be busy, but he can handle anything," declared Winnie +confidently. "Dr. Hugh was my baby--I took care of him till he was +five years old--and I know he'll manage all right. The girls are +delighted to have a big brother, and they'll try to please him, I +know they will." + +"It's funny to say, but he's almost a stranger to them, isn't he?" +said Mrs. Hollister reflectively. "How many years has he been away +from Eastshore?" + +"Counting from the time he went away to school, about twelve years," +answered Winnie. "He came home vacations, of course, but the last +two years he wasn't home at all. He's been studying abroad and Mrs. +Willis was so happy to think he'd be home with her this summer. She +was pleased as could be that he wanted to settle in Eastshore. She's +talked a lot to me, since Mr. Willis died, about what she hoped the +children would do and when Dr. Hugh wrote her that he didn't want to +be a fashionable city doctor and hoped he could do as much good in a +quiet, industrious, uncomplaining way as Doctor Jordan had done +during the forty-five years he's lived in Eastshore, why Mrs. Willis +just about cried she was so happy." + +"Well, we never know what's going to happen, do we?" sighed Mrs. +Hollister, beginning to pull on her gloves as she noted that the +plain-faced kitchen clock said quarter of nine. "I'm sure I hope +she'll get the rest she deserves and come home to find nothing bad +has happened." + +"Of course she will," Winnie's voice held a faint trace of +indignation. "What do you think is going to happen while she is +gone? With Doctor Hugh and Miss Trudy Wright, to say nothing of me, +around to see to everything, what else do you expect but smooth +sailing?" + +"Winnie!" + +The kitchen door opened a crack and a dark head poked itself in. + +"Winnie, do you care if I take a piece of the chocolate cake from +the buffet closet?" asked Sarah politely. "I'm hungry." + +"Your brother says you eat too much cake--go to bed and you'll fall +asleep again and forget that you're hungry," commanded Winnie. + +"Can't I have just one piece?" insisted Sarah. + +"You can not," said Winnie firmly. + +"Well, I thought you'd say that," announced Sarah calmly, "so I +took it first, before I asked you." + +"Give it to me this instant," cried Winnie, swooping upon the +small girl. + +"Oh, I've eaten it," declared Sarah pleasantly. "I thought you'd +make a fuss." + +Winnie looked at Mrs. Hollister, who was moving toward the door. + +"All I have to say," said the visitor majestically, "is Heaven help +the young doctor." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +AUNT TRUDY COMES + + +"Are you going to the station, Sarah?" Sarah, stretched in luxurious +comfort on the porch rug, raised a rumpled head above her book and +frowned. + +"Why should I go to the station?" she drawled. + +"You know perfectly well," answered Rosemary with some impatience. +"Aunt Trudy is coming on the 4:10 and Hugh asked us to meet her." + +"You go--you're the oldest," said Sarah calmly. "I want to read +about sick rabbits." + +"Sarah, you know you promised mother to be good and to do the things +you thought would please her. Come on and meet Aunt Trudy--we'll all +go, you and I and Shirley," wheedled Rosemary, beginning to roll up +her knitting. + +"Where's Hugh--why doesn't he go?" asked Sarah who usually exhausted +all arguments before giving in. + +"Hugh's down at Dr. Jordan's and he won't be home till dinner +time," replied Rosemary. "Mother would want us to be nice to Aunt +Trudy, you know she would." + +"Well, I'm going to be nice," insisted Sarah, scrambling to her feet +and hurling the book under the swing where she kept the larger part +of her dilapidated library. "I'll go to the station if I can go as I +am--I have to clean the rabbit hutch when I get back and I won't +have time to be dressing and undressing all the afternoon." + +"You can't go as you are!" Rosemary surveyed her sister +appraisingly. "Your face is black and your dress has a grease +spot across the front. And you haven't any hair ribbon." + +"I'll go as I am, or I won't go at all," repeated Sarah coolly. + +Rosemary stabbed her long needles into her half-finished sweater and +hung her knitting bag on the back of her chair. + +"Then you can stay home," she said crossly. "I'll go up and get +Shirley now and we'll go without you." + +She ran upstairs, coaxed the protesting Shirley from her play of +sailing boats in the bath-tub, and was buttoning her into a clean +frock when Sarah came tramping through the hall. She occupied a +room with Shirley, while Rosemary had a room to herself connected +with the younger girls' room by a rather narrow door. + +"Wait a minute and I'll go," said Sarah, jerking down her tan linen +dress from its hook in the closet. + +"Is Aunt Trudy's room all ready, Winnie?" asked Rosemary, as the +three sisters stopped in the kitchen to notify that faithful +individual of their departure. "Do we look nice?" + +It was impossible to look at the three faces without an answering +smile. Rosemary glowed, pink-cheeked, star-eyed, in a frock of dull +blue linen made with wide white piqué collar and cuffs. Her hair +waved and rippled and curled, despite its loose braiding, almost to +her waist. Rosemary was simply going to the station to meet the 4:10 +train, but nothing was ever casual to her; she met each hour +expectantly on tip-toe and, as her mother had once observed, laughed +and wept her way around the clock. Sarah smiled broadly--going to +the station to meet Aunt Trudy had, for some inexplicable reason, +resolved itself into a joke for her. Sarah was not excited and she +represented solid common-sense from her straight Dutch-cut hair to +her square-toed sandals, for no amount of argument from Rosemary +could induce her to put on her best patent leather slippers. And +Shirley--well Winnie picked up Shirley and hugged her fervently, +which was the emotion Shirley generally inspired in all beholders. +She was a young person, all yellow curls and fluffy white skirts +and tiny perfect teeth and distracting dimples. + +"Miss Wright's room is in perfect order," reported Winnie, setting +Shirley down and straightening her pink sash. "I put on the +embroidered bureau scarf and the best linen sheets and pillow +cases, just as you said, Rosemary." + +"And I put a bowl of lilacs on her table this morning," said +Rosemary happily, "so I guess everything has been attended to. +Do you want us to get anything up town? We're going to the +station, Winnie." + +"No, my dinner's all planned," answered Winnie with pride. "What +train's Miss Wright coming on--the 4:10?" + +"Yes, and Hugh said to have Bernard Coyle bring us up to the house +with his jitney," said Rosemary. "I suppose Aunt Trudy will have +some bags and parcels. You'll be round when we get back, won't you, +Winnie? I don't know exactly what to say to her." + +"Bless you, child, you'll do all right," Winnie encouraged her. +"Doctor Hugh will be home to dinner and 'tisn't as if your aunt was +a total stranger." + +"But she really is a total stranger," commented Rosemary, as they +began their walk to the station. "Of course she has been here a +couple of days last summer and she spent New Year's with us; but +Mother entertained her and we only saw her now and then, mostly at +the table." + +"Well, we have to make the best of it now, because Hugh says we +can't upset Mother," said Sarah. "I know she will be an awful lot of +trouble and she won't know the first thing about animals." + +"Maybe she'll read all the time," offered Shirley in her soft, baby +voice. "Dora Ellis has an aunt who reads books all the time and Dora +can do just as she pleases. She told me so." + +"Well, don't you listen to everything Dora Ellis tells you," said +Rosemary severely. "Mother doesn't like you to play with her and +Hugh said you were not to go across the street without asking +permission; doesn't Dora Ellis live on the other side of the +street?" + +"Yes, she does, but I didn't go over in her yard, not for weeks and +weeks," explained Shirley earnestly. "She told me 'bout her aunt +last year, in kindergarten." + +"All right, honey, I'm not scolding," declared Rosemary, giving her +a kiss. "There's the station clock and it says half-past four. But, +pshaw, that clock never keeps time." + +It was not half-past four they found, when they consulted the clock +in the ticket office, but it was close to ten minutes past and when +the three girls stepped out on the platform the smoke of the train +was already visible far up the track. + +There were several people waiting, most of them Eastshore people, +and these came up and asked about Mrs. Willis. Rosemary, assuring +them that her mother was definitely declared to be out of danger, +was fairly radiant. + +"Rosemary!" a girl about her own age hailed her. "I'm so glad to see +you. Daddy told us last night your mother is better, but I didn't +like to call you up because I thought perhaps you still had the +phone muffled. Mother and I are going down to the beach to stay till +after Labor Day." + +"How lovely!" cried Rosemary. "You have the nicest things happen to +you, Harriet. Are you going on this train?" + +"Yes, and don't I wish you were coming!" responded Harriet warmly. +"Couldn't you come down next month, if your mother is well enough to +leave?" + +"Oh, goodness, Mother has gone away, to be gone a year," said +Rosemary hurriedly. "I can't go anywhere, you see. Besides Aunt +Trudy Wright is coming on this train, and Hugh is going to be +home all summer. There's your mother beckoning--run, Harriet, +and be sure you write to me." + +They kissed each other and Harriet ran back to her mother and was +lost in the anxious pushing group that surrounded the steps of the +slowly stopping train. + +"Hang on to Shirley, while I try to find Aunt Trudy," directed +Rosemary, with a sudden panicky feeling that she couldn't remember +what her aunt looked like. + +But, as soon as she saw her, she recognized her. + +"Well, Rosemary darling, you came to meet me--that's lovely I'm +sure," cried Aunt Trudy, panting slightly from her leap off the last +step of the car, to the conductor's unconcealed amazement. "And +Mother is much better, the telegram said. As soon as I heard, I +resolved nothing should keep me from you--Oh, there's Shirley and +Sarah, the dears!" + +Shirley responded affectionately to her aunt's caresses, but Sarah +stood like a wooden image and submitted to being kissed with bad +grace. Aunt Trudy was too excited to be critical. + +"What do I do about my trunks?" she fluttered. "And these bags are +both heavy--I've brought you girls each a little something. Is Hugh +home? And Winnie is still with you, of course?" + +Rosemary wisely did not attempt to answer all these questions and, +considering that Winnie had been in the Willis family for +twenty-eight years and Aunt Trudy had unfailingly put this question +to some member of the family at every meeting for the last +twenty-seven, this particular query might be said to be more a +comment than a question. + +"We'll go up to the house in Bernard Coyle's jitney," said Rosemary, +leading the way around to the side platform. "He will take your +trunk checks, Aunt Trudy, and the express man will deliver them." + +Bernard Coyle ran two of the three Eastshore jitneys and personally +conducted the least ancient of his two cars. He welcomed the +prospect of four passengers with a glad smile and swung Aunt +Trudy's bags to a safe place under the seat at a nod from Rosemary. +While they climbed in, he departed with the trunk checks and +returned in a few minutes to report that the three trunks would be +in the front hall of the Willis home within an hour. + +Then he took the wheel of his wheezy little car and without another +word drove frenziedly and rackingly through the quiet streets till +the Willis house was reached. Winnie, mindful of Rosemary's plea, +came out to the curb to meet them. + +"Well, Winnie, I'm glad to see you again," was Miss Wright's +greeting. "You and I are to keep house and look after these flighty +young folks, I understand." + +"Yes'm," nodded Winnie. "Your room's all ready, Miss Wright--the one +you always have, next to Mrs. Willis'. And Doctor Hugh said to tell +you he'd be home at quarter of six." + +Aunt Trudy Wright was a rather short, dumpy woman and inclined to be +stout and short of breath. She had iron-gray hair, near-sighted dark +eyes and very pretty, very plump small hands. She exclaimed over her +room when she saw it, said that everything was lovely and insisted +on kissing the three girls again. Sarah promptly left at this point +and was discovered by her brother when he came home, lying flat on +the porch rug and absorbed in a book which dealt, in detail, with +the health and welfare of rabbits. + +"Well you look comfortable," he said good-humoredly. "Aunt Trudy +come? Who went to meet her? Where are the other girls?" + +"Uh-huh," grunted Sarah, interested at that moment in a description +of a balanced diet for her pets. + +Dr. Hugh laughed and went on. The house seemed strangely quiet to +him, though he could hear Winnie humming in the kitchen and +appetizing odors promised a dinner on time. In the upstairs hall, +Rosemary tip-toed to meet him, her eyes dark with mystery. + +"Hello, where is everyone?" asked her brother, giving her a kiss. +"What has happened to Aunt Trudy?" + +"She's getting ready for dinner," explained Rosemary. "She's been +crying in Mother's room for almost an hour and then her trunks came +and she thought she'd change her dress." + +"Crying in Mother's room--what for?" demanded Doctor Hugh quickly. + +"Oh, because memories were too much for her," quoted Rosemary +solemnly. "She made Shirley and me cry, too, but Sarah went down +stairs when she tried to kiss her, so she didn't hear her talk." + +"I'll give Sarah credit for good sense," said Doctor Hugh grimly. + +He strode down the hall to his mother's room, took the key from the +inside and locked the door and dropped the key in his pocket. + +"And that's that," he announced, smiling a little at Rosemary's +puzzled face. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +DR. HUGH TAKES COMMAND + + +Miss Wright appeared at dinner in rustling black silk, and kissed +Dr. Hugh affectionately. In her plump arms she carried three +packages. + +"I brought each of the girls a box of French chocolates," she +explained, smiling. "They're simply delicious and there is just one +shop in town which imports them." + +Rosemary dimpled as she untied her package, Shirley shrieked with +glee and even Sarah's "thank you, Aunt Trudy" had an unusual depth +of warmth in it. Two-pound boxes of chocolates did not appear at +dinner every day. + +Dr. Hugh put down his carving knife as Shirley lifted the lid from +her beribboned box. + +"I think I'll have to take charge of these boxes," he said quietly. +"Aunt Trudy is very generous to remember you so bountifully, but I +can not let you make yourselves sick. I'll keep them carefully for +you in the office and you may have a safe number every day I +promise you." + +"Oh, Hugh!" Rosemary's voice was reproachful. + +"I won't be sick," said Shirley with cheerful confidence. + +Sarah did not speak, but she thrust her box under the edge of the +tablecloth. + +"It's perfectly pure candy, Hugh, and won't hurt them," Miss Wright +assured him briskly. + +"Well, I'm sorry, but I believe that the purest and most expensive +candy taken in sufficient amount, will upset the digestion of an +ostrich," said Doctor Hugh firmly. "Put the boxes on the serving +table till after dinner, Rosemary." + +"And I hope you'll keep 'em under lock and key," observed Winnie as +she passed the creamed potatoes. "Sarah will be eating chocolates +for breakfast if there's none to interfere with her." + +Winnie considered herself a member of the family, as indeed she was, +and she frequently took part in the table conversation except when +there were strange guests present. + +Rosemary gathered up the boxes and put them on the side table and +dinner proceeded pleasantly enough. Aunt Trudy was a social soul and +seldom at a loss for something to say. She sat in the absent +mother's place and beamed upon the little circle, Dr. Hugh across +from her, Rosemary at his right, Shirley next to her and on the +other side of the round table, Sarah the silent. Sarah was certainly +a child of few words and she was never troubled by any idea that +something might be expected from her in the way of a contribution to +the general talk. To-night she sat stolidly, her dark eyes roving +now and then to the candy boxes which were behind Rosemary. + +"So you're going to practice right here in Eastshore, Hugh?" Miss +Wright was saying as Winnie brought in the salad, "your mother wrote +me, before she was ill, that you expected to take Doctor Jordan's +office; has he retired?" + +"No, not retired exactly," answered Hugh, "but he is planning to +take a long and much-needed vacation. He left for Maine this +afternoon. We both thought it better for many reasons to make no +change in the office--I'll take his just as he left it. Of course +I'll have some kind of a place here, too, but not many patients will +call here." + +Sarah created a diversion by pushing back her plate and slipping +down from her chair. + +"Where are you going, dear?" her aunt asked in surprise. "Don't you +want any dessert?" + +"No, it's cornstarch pudding," said Sarah calmly. + +Miss Wright apparently accepted the explanation, but Doctor Hugh +spoke sharply. + +"Sarah, come back here--dinner isn't over yet." + +Sarah stopped and faced him defiantly. + +"I don't want any pudding," she declared, scowling. "Winnie knows I +don't like it and she always makes it." + +"Come back and sit down and wait until you are excused--" Doctor +Hugh's level gaze seemed to draw the rebellious Sarah back to her +chair. "If you don't care for the pudding you needn't eat it, but +don't criticise anything that is placed before you." + +His staccato tones seemed to have a tonic effect on Sarah, for she +ate the pudding when it came, without further discussion. But the +moment her aunt rose from the table, she made a bee-line for the +candy boxes. + +"It's mine, Aunt Trudy gave it to me," she insisted when her brother +interfered. + +"Two apiece, of such rich candy, is enough for any one," he +declared. "And one for Shirley--take the kind you want, sweetheart, +and then I'll show you where I am going to keep them for you." + +"I must say I think you're too fussy, Hugh," commented Aunt Trudy, +as Shirley made a lingering selection and Rosemary passed her box to +her aunt and Winnie and then chose two of the enormous candies for +herself. "All children are fond of candy and I read only the other +day that a craving for sweets is the mark of a healthy appetite." + +Doctor Hugh made no direct reply. + +"Sarah, have you eaten your candy?" he asked pleasantly. + +"If I can't have my own box," said Sarah with emphasis, "I won't eat +any." + +"I'll put them away for you, then," declared her brother equably. +"Come and see where they'll be--in the glass cabinet in the office. +You may have two apiece after dinner till they are gone. They'll +last twice as long that way, Sarah," he added, smiling at her as he +turned the key in the cabinet and replaced his key ring in his +pocket. + +The telephone rang and Winnie answered it. The doctor was wanted and +it was eight o'clock before he returned. Aunt Trudy was reading +under the living-room lamp--for the nights were still a little too +cool to be comfortable on the porch--Rosemary knitting, and Shirley +and Sarah playing dominoes on the floor. + +"What time does Shirley go to bed?" the doctor asked, standing in +the doorway. + +Rosemary looked up, a little troubled. + +"Why she always went to bed at half-past seven when Mother was +well," she answered, "but since she was sick, Shirley got in the +habit of staying up till Sarah goes and sometimes Sarah won't go +till I do." + +"And what time do you go?" inquired her brother. + +Rosemary blushed and began to knit faster. + +"I'm supposed to go at nine," she admitted, "but sometimes it +is--later. Honestly, Hugh, I don't see why I should go to bed at +nine o'clock like a little girl; I'm twelve, you know." + +"Half-past eight would be better," said her brother, coming over to +sit on the arm of her chair, "but if Mother didn't object, we'll +still say nine. You are a little girl, dear, in spite of your great +age, you see. What about Sarah?" + +"You ask more questions than any one I ever knew," cried the +exasperated Sarah with bitter frankness. "I wanted to read my rabbit +book, but Shirley teased and I played dominoes to please her. And +now I suppose you'll be saying I ought to go to bed!" + +"Rosemary?" said Doctor Hugh. + +"Sarah is supposed to go to bed at eight o'clock," announced +Rosemary reluctantly. "She used to argue with Mother nearly every +night. No one ever wants to go to bed early, Hugh, and lots of the +girls stay up till ten." + +"Then I'm sorry for lots of girls," rejoined the doctor. "Shirley is +going to be my good girl and go to bed every night at half-past +seven, aren't you, dear? Sarah at eight and Rosemary at nine--and +that's all settled. Put up the dominoes, children, and run along for +it's twenty minutes past eight this minute." + +"I don't want to go to bed," wailed Shirley. + +"I'll go up with you, darling," promised Rosemary, putting down her +knitting. "I'll tell you a story about the little brown bear." + +"Don't want a story," said Shirley with finality. + +Aunt Trudy put down her book and surveyed her youngest niece +sympathetically. + +"What's the matter with my sweetheart?" she asked, her voice tender. +"Is she afraid of the big dark?" + +The doctor made an impatient exclamation. + +"That's nonsense, Aunt Trudy," he said curtly. "No child of my +mother has ever been frightened of the dark; we were not brought up +that way. Every one of us has been trained to go up to bed alone at +the right time, as a matter of course. Sarah, put away those +dominoes and go upstairs to bed with Shirley." + +Sarah tumbled the game into the box and stalked from the room +without a word to any one. Shirley simply threw herself flat on +the floor and cried with anger. She was sleepy and tired and she +resented this summary curtailment of her privileges. For the last +two weeks she had been going to bed when Rosemary did and she liked +the plan. + +"I hope you will excuse us, Aunt Trudy," said the harassed Doctor +Hugh, scooping his small sister up from the floor and carrying her +toward the door. "We're in sad need of a little discipline, I'm +afraid." + +"And you're not going to enforce it," he said grimly to himself as +he marched upstairs with the screaming Shirley. "I seem to have my +work cut out for me--I wonder how about Rosemary?" + +When he came downstairs again, having seen both Shirley and Sarah +quiet and asleep, he found his sister and aunt deep in the problem +of "narrowing off." + +"I just waited to say good-night to you, Hugh," said Aunt Trudy +brightly. "I'm tired from the trip and I want to start the day +well to-morrow." + +She kissed him and rustled out of the room, and Rosemary folded up +her work as the deep chime of the hall clock sounded nine. + +"Shirley was tired, Hugh," she said, a little timidly. "She hardly +ever acts that way. And Sarah doesn't mean to be obstinate, but she +just can't help it." + +"Well, I'm glad you think to-night isn't an average performance," +declared her brother humorously. "You're a sweet older sister, +Rosemary. The girls couldn't do better than to pattern after you." + +"Oh, Hugh! You are nice--" Rosemary's voice rose in a crescendo of +pure pleasure. "But I'm not a good example--you won't say that when +you know me. I get as mad, as mad--as--Shirley." + +"The more shame to you," said the doctor unbelievingly, kissing her +vivid little face. "Go to bed, child, and don't talk to me about +losing your temper." + +At eleven o'clock the light was still burning in the office and +Winnie knocked lightly on the door. + +"I brought you a glass of milk and a sandwich, Hughie," she said, +using the old pet name she had given him when a little lad. + +"Well that's mighty thoughtful of you, Winnie dear," he said, +smiling at her. "I've been doing a little thinking this evening +and that's hungry work." + +Winnie regarded him, wisdom and pride in her eyes. + +"I'm thinking that healthy folks is more of a problem than sick +ones," she observed sagely. "But you're enough like your mother, to +be able to manage all right, never fear. You've her understanding +and the endurance and will of your father, Hughie, and you'll be +needing it all, but you'll work it out. Shirley is spoiled and we're +all to blame--it wasn't all done in these two weeks, either; your +mother gave in a little at a time for she was tired and her illness +has been long coming. 'Tis nothing to set right a little wrong when +the heart is pure gold like Shirley's. And you'll soon set Sarah in +her place--she needs to be set frequent-like, though if you find +the way to her liking, she'll be fond enough of you in time. It's +Rosemary I'd speak to you about at the risk of seeming to meddle." + +The doctor stirred a little, but his face encouraged Winnie to +go on. + +"A rose in the bud--that's Rosemary," said Winnie who scorned to +read poetry and often employed poetical fancies in her rather quaint +phrasing. "A rose in the bud and a flower of a girl. A temper that +blazes, a quick pride that bleeds at a word and a passion for loving +that sometimes frightens me. The sick and the helpless and the +young--Rosemary would mother 'em all. And she's hurt so easy, and +she dashes herself against the stone wall so blindly--you'll be +careful and patient, won't you, Hughie? For she has the Willis will, +has Rosemary and times there is no holding her." + +Doctor Hugh smiled into the anxious eyes, dim with the loving +anxiety of many years. + +"I'll be careful, Winnie," he promised. "And you'll help me. Thank +you for telling me--what you have." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +WINNIE'S VOLUNTEERS + + +For the first few days after Miss Wright's arrival it seemed that +the proverb, "Many hands make light work" was to be the household +motto. Winnie was fairly swamped with offers of help and "Miss +Trudy" as she had asked Winnie to call her, and the three girls vied +with each other as to which should be the most industrious. + +"For I want to be useful, Winnie," said Aunt Trudy, a winning +sincerity in her kind voice. "Only tell me what to do, because I +don't want to interfere with your daily schedule." + +"And Sarah and I will make the beds and dust," promised Rosemary, +looking up from copying music. + +"I'll run all your errands," chirped Shirley and was promptly +rewarded with a hug. + +Winnie was a shrewd and practical general, as her answers proved. A +less experienced person would have made a vague reply, put off the +offers with a promise to "let you know when I need you" or politely +told them "not to bother." Not so Winnie. + +"Well, I'll tell you, Miss Trudy," she said capably, "I don't mind +saying if you'll plan the meals, you'll be taking a load off my +shoulders. I can cook and I can serve and I can keep things hot when +the doctor is late as he'll be many a time; but unless I can have +the three meals a day printed right out and hung on my kitchen door, +I'm lost-like. It drives me wild to have to figure out what we +should eat, when it's nothing at all, to my way of thinking, to +cook it." + +"I'll be glad to plan the menus," Aunt Trudy assured her. "Home I +write out the meals for the whole week every Saturday morning; I'll +do that for you without fail, Winnie." + +"Thank you ma'am," Winnie replied. "Now Rosemary, if you want to +help, you answer the telephone. I can't abide to be called away from +my baking and sweeping to tell folks where the doctor is, or why he +isn't here. I don't always get messages straight, so you take 'em +and when you're not home, let Sarah do it." + +"I like to answer the telephone," beamed Rosemary. + +Winnie, orderly soul, proceeded to clinch the remaining two offers +of assistance. + +"Sarah, there's no one can beat you making beds, when you put your +mind to it," she announced diplomatically. "You make the beds +mornings, when Rosemary is doing her practising and I won't ask you +to do another thing." + +"But me?" urged Shirley. "What can I do, Winnie?" + +"Bless your little heart, you run to the store for Winnie, and help +her make cookies," cried Winnie, "that's enough for one little girl, +dearie." + +"I don't think any of us has much to do," observed Rosemary. "I can +do lots more to help, Winnie. And so can Sarah." + +"If you'll do just one thing and do it every day, I won't be +complaining," Winnie returned. "You'll find it's easy to get tired +and it's then you'll want to skip a day." + +The girls were sure that nothing would induce them to "skip" a day, +and Winnie went back to her kitchen well-pleased with her bestowal +of commissions. + +The house seemed strangely empty without the gentle little mother +and at first time hung heavy on the three pairs of young hands. +Doctor Hugh was very busy adjusting his work to run smoothly and +his hours were irregular so that he did not see much of his sisters. +Then, as the mother's absence became an established fact, gradually +old interests and friends absorbed their attention and normal life +was resumed with the difference that a great gap was always present +and unfilled. Aunt Trudy was kindness itself and overflowing with +affection for her nieces, but her attitude toward them was that of a +placid outsider, gently watching them from a little distance. Aunt +Trudy did their mending exquisitely, because she liked to sew, but +she would not leave the mending and come down stairs to meet Nina +Edmonds, a new-comer to the neighborhood, though Rosemary was +anxious to have every social courtesy shown the rather critical +young person who seemed older than her thirteen years. + +"I don't want to drop my work now, dearie," said Aunt Trudy in +response to her niece's appeal. "I always lose my needle when I get +up; I'll meet your little friend some other time. Ask her to dinner +to-night if you wish--Winnie is going to have veal loaf and egg +salad." + +Rosemary acted on this suggestion, and Doctor Hugh, coming in late, +was surprised to find a fourth girl at the table, a freckle-faced +little girl with light bobbed hair and incredibly thin arms and +hands. Nina Edmonds talked incessantly and, after a few ineffectual +attempts to carry on a conversation with his aunt, the young doctor +devoted himself to his dinner, keeping, however, an observant eye on +the guest and on Rosemary who listened in evident fascination to the +steady stream of words. He had a call to make, immediately after +dinner and was surprised and distinctly annoyed when he returned at +half-past ten to find Nina and Rosemary still talking animatedly, +their arms around each other, in the window seat. Aunt Trudy was +placidly reading, and the younger girls had gone to bed. + +"Is it late?" Rosemary started up as her brother came in. + +"Half-past ten," he answered briefly. "I'll take you home, Miss +Edmonds, if you'll tell me where you live. I'm afraid your mother +will be worried about you." + +"Oh, my mother never worries--she knows I'll come home all right," +said Nina. "I didn't wear a coat, it was so warm--will I be cold in +the car?" + +"The car is in the garage," said the doctor grimly, holding open the +door for her. "We'll have to walk. Go to bed, Rosemary please," he +flung over his shoulder. "Don't wait up for me." + +There was a soft rush and a quick sigh, and Rosemary's arms went +about his neck. + +"Kiss me good night, Hugh," she whispered, "I'm sorry." + +He held her close for a moment, then the screen door shut with a +click, and they were gone. + +"I hope Hugh didn't hurt Nina's feelings," worried Rosemary as she +and Aunt Trudy went upstairs. "She doesn't have to go to bed at nine +o'clock and she thinks it is queer that I do. I'm afraid she will +call Hugh cross." + +"Oh, I don't believe she will," said Aunt Trudy comfortably. "She +seemed to me a nice little girl and you need plenty of young +friends, darling." + +Her new friend had made a great impression on Rosemary and Sarah was +forced to listen the next day to glowing accounts that rather bored +her. Sarah's present interests were confined to one sick rabbit and +one well rabbit who lived in a hutch in the roomy side yard. + +"I'm sick of hearing about Nina Edmonds," declared Sarah as they sat +down to dinner the following evening. "I don't call her anything +wonderful." + +Doctor Hugh had not come in, and Rosemary had volunteered to serve +in his place. Aunt Trudy frankly disliked either carving or serving. + +"I think she is lovely," maintained Rosemary, "and I'm going to have +my hair bobbed like hers." + +It was a warm night and under the glow of the electrolier Rosemary's +magnificent hair curled and shone like polished bronze. Even Aunt +Trudy stared at her, surprised, and the practical Sarah was moved +to protest. + +"I think your hair is nice the way it is," she said. "I'd leave it +alone if I were you." + +Winnie paused, on her way to the kitchen. + +"Don't let Doctor Hugh hear you say any such nonsense," she scolded. +"The idea! Bobbing a head of hair like that--it's going directly +against the generosity of the Lord!" + +"What is?" demanded a pleasant voice, and Doctor Hugh came into the +room. + +He had changed to a fresh linen suit at the Jordan office, as the +town had designated it to distinguish it from his home office, and +he looked so wholesome and clean and strong and smiling that the +four faces brightened at once. + +"You have to bring 'em up when I'm not around, don't you, Winnie?" +he said humorously, slipping into the chair vacated by Rosemary. +"What mischief are they into now?" + +Winnie vanished into the kitchen, murmuring something about a salad, +and Rosemary answered for her. Rosemary's blue eyes were unclouded. + +"Winnie is mad because I am going to have my hair bobbed like Nina +Edmonds'," she informed her brother. "I think bobbed hair is as +pretty as it can be, don't you, Hugh?" + +"It seems a pity when she has such nice hair," murmured Aunt Trudy +weakly. + +"Bob your hair!" thundered Doctor Hugh. "Of all the foolish notions, +that is the worst. This comes from talking foolish clatter with that +empty-headed silly little chit last night. The babbling brook must +have been named for her." + +"Yes, isn't she silly?" said Sarah scornfully. "Shirley doesn't like +her, either." + +"Nina Edmonds is my friend," began Rosemary, scarlet-cheeked. +"You--" + +"I beg your pardon, Rosemary," said the doctor instantly. "I +honestly do. I had no right to speak like that. But you mustn't +think of bobbing your curly mop, dear." + +"Sarah's hair is bobbed," Rosemary pointed out. + +"It was cut to make it grow," answered the doctor. "Mother told me. +You certainly don't need to treat your hair to make it grow, +Rosemary." + +"Write and ask Mother," suggested Sarah. + +"No, Mother isn't to be asked a single question for a year," Doctor +Hugh announced firmly. "We'll settle our problems without bothering +her. Rosemary is not to meddle with her hair--that's flat." + +"Oh, Hugh, I want to bob it!" insisted Rosemary. "Ever so many of +the girls do--not just Nina Edmonds, but half the girls in school. I +don't see why you are so cross about it. Can't I get it cut +to-morrow? Please?" + +Doctor Hugh's dark eyes behind their glasses rested on the pretty, +willful face. + +"I said NO!" he repeated. "Once and for all, Rosemary, I positively +forbid you to have your hair cut. Do you understand me?" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +ROSEMARY HAS HER WAY + + +"Sarah, Oh, Sarah! Sally Waters, I'm calling you!" + +Sarah glanced up at the merry face regarding her over the fence and +frowned. + +"Well, what do you want?" she asked ungraciously. "Don't you dare +call me Sally, Jack Welles!" + +"I'll call you Sadie, then," said the boy obligingly. "Where's +Rosemary?" + +He was a short, stocky lad, between fifteen and sixteen years old, +with a freckled snub nose, engaging brown eyes and a chin that +promised well for future force of character. + +"Where's Rosemary?" he asked again. + +"I don't know--I haven't seen her since lunch," answered Sarah. +"Don't you think Elinor looks better to-day, Jack?" + +Elinor was the sick rabbit and Sarah waited Jack's decision +anxiously. + +"Sure, leave her alone and she'll come out all right," he said +heartlessly. "You're always fussing with animals, aren't you, Sarah? +I believe you like 'em better when they're sick because it gives you +an excuse to pet them more." + +Sarah's brown, stolid little face kindled suddenly with passionate +earnestness. + +"Nobody cares!" she cried. "Nobody! Winnie wouldn't let me keep the +sick kittens in the kitchen and they died and Elinor would have +died, too, if it hadn't been for me. When I grow up, I'm going to +have a big house and there isn't going to be a single person in it. +Just animals--so there!" + +"I suppose you'll have a trained cow to do the cooking, and a dog to +wash dishes," teased Jack. "Never mind, Sarah, there'll always be +plenty of animals needing a friend like you. Maybe Hugh will doctor +them for you, and I'll come take your patients out for airings in my +best and newest airplane!" + +"Hello, what's all this confabbing?" called Doctor Hugh, coming +across the grass toward the fence. "Rabbits improving, Sarah? +Where's Rosemary?" + +"Hello, Hugh," Jack greeted him with a cheerful grin. "All the +patients cured this early in the day? Sarah is going to follow in +your footsteps, but she won't give her services to people, only to +mistreated animals." + +"I've been late for dinner two nights running and I thought I'd +surprise the family by a punctual appearance this time," explained +the doctor. "My chief difficulty now is to find some one to +surprise. Aunt Trudy has gone to the library, Winnie says, Shirley +is playing with some neighbor's child on the porch and no one seems +to know where Rosemary is. I saw you and Sarah from upstairs, or I +should have added her to the list of the missing, too." + +"I wanted to show Rosemary my new fishing rod," Jack explained. +"It's a beauty and my uncle sent it to me from Canada." + +Sarah stood up and shook a lapful of dirt from her frock. + +"I think you are cruel to catch fish," she said indignantly. + +"Why you eat fish, don't you?" retorted Jack. "Someone has to catch +them, you know." + +Poor Sarah had no answer for this argument and she turned and +retreated to the house without another word. + +"Queer little dick, isn't she?" smiled Jack to the doctor. "Crazy +about animals and always fussing over 'em. Well, I have to go dig +worms for bait--great day ahead to-morrow with nothing to do but +fish and try out the new rod." + +"Good luck to you," called Doctor Hugh, going back to his office to +indulge in the rare luxury of a half hour's reading. + +Vaguely he heard Aunt Trudy come in, speak to the two little girls +on the porch, and go on upstairs. He knew when Sarah came down +because she played "chop sticks" on the piano till Winnie came and +called her to go after a loaf of bread. The doctor wondered lazily +if the bread were a real need or a handy invention of Winnie's to +break up the musical program; she was quite capable of the latter. +After the piano was silenced, he lost himself again in his book to +be recalled by an undecided knock on the door. He waited, not sure +that it _was_ a knock. The timid tap came again and he called, "Come +in." The door opened, closed, and Rosemary stood facing him, her +back against it. In her hands she held a brown paper parcel. + +Doctor Hugh stared at her in genuine amazement. She was breathing +quickly, as though she had been running, and the lovely color +flooded her face. Her eyes were almost black with excitement and a +touch of fear. But it was her hair that held her brother's +attention. Gone was the rippling glory, the gold-red mane that had +reached to the girl's waist. In its place was a soft aureole of +hair, standing out fluffily on the small head and curling under at +the ends. + +Anger flamed in Doctor Hugh's face, then receded, leaving him white. +Before he could speak Rosemary's eyes filled with tears. + +"Oh, Hugh!" she sobbed. "I want my hair! And it's gone!" + +For answer her brother opened his arms and she fled into them. She +clung to him frantically while she wept out her remorse and grief. + +"I didn't know it was going to be like this," she wailed, sobs +shaking the slender shoulders. "The barber didn't want to cut it, +but I made him. And then, as soon as I saw it on the floor, I began +to cry. Oh, Hugh, I'm so sorry--I don't want short hair at all! And +what can I do?" + +The doctor said nothing for a little while, only smoothed the +cropped head with a gentle touch. Presently when Rosemary sat up and +wiped her eyes, he motioned toward the parcel still in her hands. + +"It's--it's my hair," stammered Rosemary. "The barber tied it up for +me--he said I might want a switch some time." + +"Well you won't!" declared Doctor Hugh with decision. "Leave it here +with me, dear, and I'll see that a lock is saved for Mother. You +mustn't feel so badly, Rosemary. The hair will grow again, you know. +And it is very pretty, still." + +"Hugh," said Rosemary solemnly, "why do I have to find things out +for myself? I didn't know that I hated bobbed hair till I had mine +cut--why am I like that?" + +"Oh, my dear," the doctor smiled a little sadly, "why do we all want +our own way at any cost? You wouldn't believe that I knew better in +this instance, would you?" + +Rosemary blushed and looked ashamed. + +"I'm glad to have this opportunity to speak to you alone, dear," the +doctor went on. "You've had your hair cut because I forbade it and +now you are sorry, but what about the next time? It's silly to think +you can go through life and always have your own way, child. No one +can. Each one of us must acknowledge some authority. I'm a good many +years older than you girls and I've had more experience and +discipline and at present I am taking Mother's place; you'll have to +accept my decisions for the time being. If I exact obedience, +Rosemary, it isn't because I am a tyrant--I've put in a good many +years obeying orders myself and I know that obedience is a valuable +lesson." + +"Have you a temper, Hugh?" asked Rosemary, shyly. "Have you the +Willis will?" + +Doctor Hugh's mouth twitched. + +"Guilty on both counts," he admitted. "I'm a cross, cranky old +brother with a gun-powder temper that sometimes gets the best of me. +As for the Willis will--what do you think about that, Rosemary?" + +"Winnie is always talking about it," said Rosemary. "She says I have +it and so have Sarah and Shirley. I suppose it is very wrong." + +"Don't you believe it!" announced the doctor. "Not a bit of it. A +good, strong will is a virtue, child, and please remember that. But, +of course, you want to train it--flying in the face of orders isn't +a proof of will power; more often it is foolish obstinacy. A stiff +will keeps us from being persuaded to do wrong, from tumbling into +pitfalls. It is the weak-willed person who yields to temptation. You +and I, and Shirley and Sarah, have constantly to remember that we +have the Willis will and are proud of it; and then resolve not to +yield easily to the little devils of temper and disobedience and +false pride. Which is the end of my sermon and long enough it's +been!" + +The big swivel chair accommodated them comfortably and Rosemary +remained in her brother's lap quietly, her eyes downcast. He watched +her silently. At last she raised her face bravely. + +"Are you going to punish me?" she asked clearly. + +He shook his head. + +"I know you are sorry," he replied. "Punishments are only to help us +remember, and you are not going to forget, are you? But I tell you +what I am going to do--ask you to give up Nina Edmonds as a chum." + +Rosemary was silent. + +"You do not have to be unkind or discourteous," continued the +doctor's even voice. "Just do not go over to her house so often and +by and by she will not come to see you. Play more with Shirley and +Sarah, dear--they look up to you and love you so." + +"Don't you like Nina--but I know you don't," Rosemary answered her +own question. + +"Since we are talking confidentially," said Doctor Hugh and Rosemary +felt a thrill of pleasure at his tone, "I'll tell you my real +reasons for objecting to Nina as a friend for you. She is too +old--that's all. What is she--thirteen?--well, she has all the ideas +and manners of a girl of eighteen. And you're still a little girl, +Rosemary, thank fortune. I don't want you to grow up too fast and it +would break Mother's heart to come home and find a grown up daughter +in the place of the little girl she left. Be twelve years old while +you can, honey, for the minute you are thirteen you leave that happy +year forever. I'm a serious old codger this afternoon, am I not? But +we understand each other better, don't we?" + +"Oh, yes!" Rosemary threw her arms around his neck. "I love you most +to pieces!" she confided. + +From that moment Rosemary began to worship her brother with all the +depth and power of her warm and affectionate nature. She did not +immediately become a model of obedience and she often disputed his +edicts and decisions. There were misunderstandings and tears and +many hard lessons to be learned still ahead. But Hugh would never +again be a stranger with her respect and love yet to be won. She +could admire his strength of will and purpose whole heartedly and as +she contrasted them with Aunt Trudy's characteristics, Rosemary +insensibly found her aunt wanting. + +She said something of this to Jack Welles the day after the +memorable hair cutting. Rosemary had endured the comments and +questions of the household at dinner that night with fair composure, +but she had flared up in wrath at Jack's laughter when he first met +her the following afternoon. + +"My mother says it is extremely ill-bred to indulge in comments on a +person's personal appearance," declared Rosemary heatedly. "My hair +is a part of my personal appearance." + +"What a dub you were to have it cut," said Jack, sobering. "But it +might look worse, Rosemary, honestly it might. I think it is rather +becoming with those ends curling under like that." + +Rosemary permitted herself to be calmed. + +"It's fun to brush it," she laughed. "And my head feels as light as +a feather." + +"What did Hugh say?" asked Jack curiously. "Or didn't you ask him? +And Aunt Trudy makes such a fuss about your hair--wasn't she +horrified?" + +Rosemary's expressive face shadowed. + +"Hugh was just dear to me!" she said enigmatically, "but Aunt Trudy +was so silly. She cried and cried and said what would my mother say +and wasn't I ever going to have any respect for her wishes--she is +so tiresome, she really is, Jack." + +"Then you must have been told not to have it bobbed and went ahead +like your usual perverse small self," declared Jack shrewdly. "I'll +bet Hugh didn't weep though--he looks to me as though he could talk +to you like a Dutch uncle." + +"Well I don't care if he did!" said Rosemary. "I'd rather be scolded +or punished than cried over. And Aunt Trudy doesn't cry because she +is sorry--she does it to get her own way. That's the way she makes +us mind--she cries and says we don't love her and that makes us feel +mean. + +"But I don't think it is fair one bit and afterward I'm so mad I +could throw a sofa cushion at her. You needn't look at me like that, +Jack Welles! Your aunt doesn't cry over _you_." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE RUNAWAY + + +June slipped quietly into July and with the long, hot sunny days +came the inclination to slight regular tasks as Winnie had +predicted. Sarah tried to beg off from making the beds morning after +morning and Shirley began to grumble when called from her play to go +to the store. Aunt Trudy declared that the heat always affected her +and demanded an electric fan in her room and drove Winnie frantic +with repeated requests for ice-water. Rosemary alone remained +faithful to her duties, feeling the responsibility of an oldest +daughter. She answered the many calls on the telephone, kept the +messages straight and even wrote out the cards for the office file. +Doctor Hugh declared he did not know what he should do without her. +When Sarah left her work undone, it was Rosemary who finished it for +her, Rosemary who listened sympathetically to Aunt Trudy's +complaints about the weather, Rosemary who coaxed Shirley into +clean frocks and amiability each afternoon and tried to soothe +Winnie when Sarah's side-yard menagerie insisted on invading the +house. + +"Rosemary, this is the second time Shirley has stayed away from +lunch," declared Aunt Trudy one noon. "Don't you think I should +speak to your brother about it?" + +"Oh, no, Aunt Trudy, not right away," protested Rosemary, her +troubled eyes wandering to the little sister's vacant place. "I +don't believe she really means to run away. I'll get her to promise +not to go out of the yard and she will be all right. Shirley never +broke her promise yet." + +"Sarah ought to play with her more, instead of fussing with those +silly rabbits," said Aunt Trudy severely. + +"I do play with her," retorted Sarah irritably. "I play with her +lots. But she likes Rosemary. I can't help it if she gets mad at me +and goes to play with those Bailey children, can I? Rosemary is +always practising." + +This was not quite fair on Sarah's part, for Rosemary though devoted +to her music and already an advanced pupil, seldom practised more +than an hour in the morning and another in the afternoon. The fact +was that six year old Shirley was developing the running-away habit +at an alarming rate. + +She came home late that afternoon, tired and cross, and to +Rosemary's questions returned the briefest answers. Yes, she had +been playing with the Bailey children. No, not in their yard. No, +they had not gone with her when she went further on. She had gone by +herself. Yes, she had had some lunch, a pound of sweet crackers. + +"Where did you get them?" asked Rosemary, who was brushing the sunny +hair. + +"At the grocery," admitted Shirley. + +"But you didn't have any money, dear, did you?" said Rosemary in +surprise. + +"I charged 'em--Mr. Holmes said it would be all right," announced +Shirley complacently. + +"Shirley Willis! And you know Mother positively never allows us to +charge a thing unless she orders it," cried Rosemary. "What do you +suppose Hugh would say? Did you eat a whole pound?" + +No, Shirley confessed, she had had crackers to give away. She had +given some to a strange dog and some to a little boy and girl she +met. + +"What little boy and girl?" demanded Rosemary, beginning to feel +that this youngest sister was too much for her. "Where did you +meet them?" + +"At the dump lot," said Shirley sweetly. + +Rosemary stared at her. The "dump lot" was on the other side of the +town and furnished an annual topic of discussion for the Eastshore +Woman's Club. To it the town refuse and garbage was carted and it +was regularly hauled over and searched by bands of men, women and +children intent on salvage. + +"What shall I do with you?" groaned poor Rosemary. "After this, +you'll have to stay in the yard, Shirley. You know Hugh would scold +if he heard you were playing in the dump lot. Promise Sister you +won't go away from the house to-morrow morning." + +Shirley, looking more than ever like an adorable cherub in freshly +ironed pink chambray, shook her head naughtily. + +"I might want to go," she argued. + +"But you mustn't!" Rosemary's voice was earnest. "You can't run all +over town like this, darling. You'll be run over by an automobile, +or something dreadful will happen to you. Promise to stay in your +own yard like a good girl." + +Shirley would not promise. The worried Rosemary went to Winnie. + +"I don't want to tell Hugh," she explained, "he's busy and when he's +home Shirley is so cunning and funny I don't believe he thinks she +can be naughty. Besides Mother told me to look after the +children--what can I do, Winnie?" and Rosemary, a child herself +waited Winnie's reply anxiously. + +"Running away is something most children go through," pronounced +Winnie. "You never had the trick, Rosemary, but Hugh did and so did +Sarah. Your father spanked Hugh and cured him and your mother and I +together cured Sarah. We tied her to a tree with a rope and she was +so ashamed to have the other children see her that she promised not +to leave the yard without permission." + +"But Shirley won't promise," said Rosemary. "She keeps saying she +might want to go. Aunt Trudy thinks we should tell Hugh about her." + +"Well I think myself he might be able to break her of the trick," +admitted Winnie. "Shirley thinks a heap of him and yet she's a +little afraid of him too. But I'm like you, Rosemary--I hate to +bother him just now. He's worried about that hospital case and last +night he was called out twice." + +"Could we tie Shirley to a tree?" asked Rosemary hopefully. + +"She's too big for that," Winnie advised her. "Sarah was only three +years old when that was tried. Shirley would untie the knots or cut +the rope or get someone to unloose her. No, we'll have to keep a +good watch on her and trust to making her see she's doing wrong. You +can reason with Shirley, if she is only six years old." + +"Oh dear," sighed Rosemary, quite worn out with her experiences, "I +never knew it was so hard to bring up children!" + +"Biggest job in the world," Winnie said shortly. "Mothers never rest +and their work is never done." + +The next morning Rosemary coaxed Sarah to play paper dolls with +Shirley on the porch while she practised and she went to her music +with a clear conscience. For an hour the scales and trills sounded +and wound up with a grand march for good measure. Stepping out on +the porch Rosemary found it deserted, the paper dolls scattered on +the rug, the box overturned where the children had left it. + +"Shirley!" cried Rosemary. "Sarah!" + +"I'm cleaning the rabbit house," shouted Sarah, and Rosemary hurried +around to the side yard. + +"Where's Shirley?" she demanded anxiously. + +"Shirley? Isn't she on the porch?" Sarah's dirt-streaked face peered +through the wire netting which surrounded her pets. + +"No, she isn't, and I'm afraid she has run away again," said +Rosemary, troubled. "How long ago did you leave her, Sarah?" + +"Oh, about half an hour," replied Sarah carelessly. "She wanted to +cut out more dolls and I got her the scissors and asked her if she +minded if I came and cleaned the pens. Elinor gets sick so easily I +don't like to let the house go without cleaning it every other day." + +"Bother Elinor!" said Rosemary impatiently. "Come help me look for +Shirley. Hugh is coming home for lunch--he telephoned and Winnie +answered it." + +They hunted through the house, but no Shirley could be found. +Rosemary even went to two or three of the nearest neighbors, but the +small girl was not there. + +"Shirley? I saw her going down the street with her express wagon," +volunteered Ray Anderson, a four year old boy who lived a few doors +away. "She was on the other side of the street." + +"If I knew where to go look for her, I would," said the worried +Rosemary, "but there are twenty streets she could be on. I'll run +over to the dump lot, Sarah; perhaps she has gone there again." + +"You'll have to run all the way, if you get back by half-past +twelve," observed Sarah dispassionately. "Aunt Trudy said she was +going to tell Hugh the next time any of us were late to meals." + +And though Rosemary ran most of the way to the dump lot on the other +side of town--where a single hasty glance satisfied her that Shirley +was not among the groups engaged in pulling over the unsavory +messes--and all the way back, the others were seated at the luncheon +table when she reached the house. She heard a distinct rumble of +thunder as she entered the door. + +"Mercy, child, how hot you look!" was Aunt Trudy's greeting. "I +don't see why you girls don't try to come to your meals on time; I +take so much pains to have the things you like and Winnie is such a +good cook. And yet the three of you haven't been punctual for a +week." + +"I'm afraid I set them a bad example," smiled Doctor Hugh. "Let's +form a compact--when Aunt Trudy tells me that not one of you has +been late for a week to any meal, I'll have the clock fixed." + +The dining-room clock was an old joke in the Willis family. It was a +cuckoo clock and had been broken for more than a year, but remained +one of those things that are never attended to. Several times a week +the little mother had mentioned that the dining-room clock really +must be mended, but it was always forgotten. Since Hugh had been +home he had often declared that the clock must be fixed but it still +remained mute and useless. + +"Shirley loves to hear the cuckoo call," said Rosemary, and +instantly regretted her remark. + +"Where is Shirley?" was the doctor's natural question. + +"I dare say she's run away again," announced Aunt Trudy, her tone +resigned. + +"Run away?" repeated Doctor Hugh sharply. "Why, what do you mean?" + +"Well, Hugh I'm sorry to tell you, but Shirley has run away several +times lately," said Aunt Trudy. "She has been absent from lunch +twice this week. I've talked to her and I know Rosemary has, but +nothing seems to do any good." + +A vivid flash of lightning, followed by a roar of thunder and a +sudden torrent of rain heralded the arrival of the thunder shower. + +"Do you mean to tell me that that baby has been allowed to run +around this town alone?" demanded the doctor sternly. "What have you +been thinking of? What have you all been doing?" + +"Well she is very self-willed," offered Aunt Trudy, "and I have no +strength left this hot weather. I said yesterday that you ought to +know about it." + +"Why didn't you tell him, then?" suggested Sarah impertinently. + +"That will do," said her brother. "Rosemary, how long has Shirley +been gone?" + +"About an hour now," admitted Rosemary reluctantly. "I've been over +to the dump lot, Hugh, and she isn't there." + +"The dump lot!" ejaculated the doctor. "Is that where Shirley is in +the habit of going? Suppose you tell me about this and how long it +has been going on." + +The shrill ring of the telephone bell interrupted Rosemary's +recital. Doctor Hugh answered it. He came back to the dining-room +frowning, yet oddly enough looking relieved. + +"Shirley is in the Moreland police station," he announced. "She was +picked up during the height of the storm with her express wagon. +I'll go over in the car and bring her home. Want to come, Rosemary?" + +Rosemary did, and the sun was shining out again as they took their +places in the roadster. + +"Don't look so sober, dear," said Doctor Hugh, glancing at the grave +face close to his shoulder. "I'm not blaming you, except that I wish +you had told me at once. This experience will probably quite cure +Shirley from running off. Heigh-o, I wonder what you girls will +think of to do next?" + +Moreland was the town adjoining Eastshore, and ten minutes' ride +brought them to the door of the police station. Rosemary clung +tightly to her brother's arm as they went up the steps. + +"There is nothing to be afraid of," he assured her. + +Then someone folded back one of the heavy oak doors and they found +themselves in a large, bare room. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +SARAH IN DISGRACE + + +The first person Rosemary saw was Shirley, looking very small and +forlorn. She sat on a chair so high that her little feet dangled in +mid-air. One hand clutched a half eaten bun, the other held a +scarcely tasted glass of milk. + +"Oh Rosemary!" cried the familiar little voice. "I'm so glad you've +come!" + +An obliging man in a blue uniform took the bun and the glass of milk +and Rosemary hugged Shirley tightly. + +"How could you run away again, darling?" the older sister whispered +reproachfully. "You worried us so! Were you out in the rain?" + +"Only a little," said Shirley, restored to cheerfulness now that +Rosemary was here to take care of her. + +"She got frightened when it began to thunder," the sergeant at the +desk was saying to Doctor Hugh. "As nearly as I can make out, from +what she says, she started to run at the first clap, and ran away +from her home, instead of toward it. She crossed the line from +Eastshore into Moreland before Jim Doran found her, running as hard +as she could and jerking the express wagon behind her and crying as +though her heart would break. He brought her here and as soon as she +calmed down a bit and told us her name and address, we telephoned +you. Oh, no thanks due us at all--we get a lost child every week or +so. But you ought to break her of running away--the automobile +traffic is so heavy, specially in the summer time, it's dangerous +for a child to be crossing the streets alone." + +Doctor Hugh shook hands with the sergeant and turned toward Rosemary +and Shirley. + +"Come here, Shirley," he said quietly. + +A little frightened, Shirley approached him dubiously. He lifted her +gently and swung her to the top of the table before the sergeant's +desk. + +"There's a sand box and a box of sand toys coming to our house +to-morrow," he said unexpectedly, "but I couldn't think of letting a +little runaway girl touch them. Perhaps I had better send them back +to the store." + +A sand-box had been one of Shirley's fondest wishes. + +"Oh, no, Hugh," she begged, "Don't send them back, please don't. I +won't run away again, ever. Honestly." + +"Will you promise not to leave the yard again unless you first ask +Rosemary or Winnie or Aunt Trudy?" asked the doctor. + +"Yes," nodded Shirley instantly. + +"Well then, if you are not going to run away again, I'll keep the +sand-box," decided Doctor Hugh. "And now we must be getting home for +I have a busy afternoon ahead of me." + +The sergeant shook hands with Shirley and told her that she was wise +to make up her mind to play in her own yard. His little girl, he +said, never ran away. The blue-coated man who had taken the bun and +the milk, carried the express wagon down and put it in the car, and +fifteen minutes later Shirley was deposited safely on her own front +porch. + +The sand-box and the toys came the next morning and Shirley played +for hours with them. Sometimes she induced Sarah to play with her, +but more often that young person was otherwise engaged. She had a +lame cat to care for now in addition to the rabbits and Winnie +declared that if it came to a choice between cream for her aunt's +tea or the cat, she wouldn't trust Sarah with the bottle. + +"I don't think you have a very kind heart, Winnie," said Sarah one +morning when she had been discovered in a raid on the refrigerator. + +"Well I have some conscience and you haven't, or you wouldn't be +wanting to feed loin chops that cost forty-five cents a pound to a +cat," declared Winnie grimly. + +"Sick animals need good food," maintained Sarah, swinging on the +screen door, a habit which invariably irritated Winnie. + +"Go on out and play, do," she now advised Sarah. "How can I get my +work done with you buzzing around me like a fly! Well what do you +suppose struck the child that minute--" Winnie broke off in +amazement. Sarah had dashed around to the front of the house, +banging the screen door noisily behind her. Not curious enough to +speculate further, Winnie went on with her task of scrubbing the +table top already immaculate in its snowy purity. + +Aunt Trudy was descending the front stairs leisurely an hour or two +later, pleasantly contemplating the nearness of the lunch hour, when +the door bell rang sharply. Really it sounded as though someone had +jabbed it viciously. Aunt Trudy approached the door with reproving +dignity. + +"You're Miss Wright, aren't you?" said a rasped voice. "Well, I'm +Mrs. Anderson and I want to tell you that something has got to be +done to Sarah; that child is simply unbearable. She slapped the face +of my Ray this morning and the poor lamb came into the house crying +with pain. He's only four years old, and I think when a great girl +of nine takes to slapping babies' faces, she needs a sound whipping. +No, I won't come in, but I was determined you should know about it. +That child will end up in prison if her temper isn't curbed." + +"No one ever spoke to me like that, Hugh," complained Aunt Trudy +tearfully to her nephew when he came in a few minutes later. "She +didn't give me a chance to say a word. I'm sure I don't approve of +Sarah slapping any one's face." + +"Of course you don't," agreed the doctor soothingly. "Where is the +culprit? We'll see what she has to say for herself. Look here, +Sarah," he opened fire as that young person came up the porch steps +and into the hall, "Mrs. Anderson says you slapped Ray's face this +morning." + +"Well?" inquired Sarah coolly. + +"Did you?" said the doctor matching her briefness. + +"I certainly did," Sarah assured him. "He is a bad, cruel boy and I +wish I had slapped him harder. He was stepping on poor baby ants!" + +Aunt Trudy stared in astonishment, but something pathetic in Sarah's +defiant little figure touched Doctor Hugh. She so evidently +considered she had vindicated herself. + +"That wasn't being kind, was it?" he said gently, "but, Sarah, +slapping his face didn't teach him not to step on ants--it merely +taught him that one of his neighbors was a very impolite little +girl. I want you to go over now and apologize to Mrs. Anderson." + +"But I slapped Ray," hedged Sarah cannily. + +"Well Ray is so little he probably doesn't hold malice," explained +Doctor Hugh seriously. "It is Mrs. Anderson's feelings that are +hurt; don't you think you are a little ashamed, Sarah, to know you +struck a child so much younger than you are?" + +"Go and tell her you are sorry, dearie," suggested Aunt Trudy. + +"I won't say I am sorry, because that would be a lie," said Sarah +virtuously. + +"If you are not sorry you slapped Ray you ought to be, because such +an act is the height of discourtesy," declared the doctor. "However, +if you apologize, I don't doubt that will be satisfactory. Go right +away, Sarah." + +"I think Mrs. Anderson should apologize to us," announced Sarah with +explosive suddenness. "She came over here telling tales and that is +the meanest thing any one can do. You hate tale-bearers, you said so +Hugh." + +The doctor's long-suffering patience snapped. + +"What Mrs. Anderson does is no concern of yours," he said testily. +"If you do not go to her house immediately and apologize, Sarah, +I'll march you over there and wait while you do it. I've listened to +all the argument I intend to." + +"I'll go," surrendered Sarah sullenly. + +What she said could only be conjectured but apparently Mrs. Anderson +was mollified for peace reigned the remainder of the week. Sunday +afternoon though, a fresh storm broke, with Sarah again the center. + +"Where's Sarah?" Doctor Hugh demanded, meeting Rosemary in the hall +on his return from a round of calls. + +Rosemary was dressed in white and ready for a sedate walk with Aunt +Trudy. + +"She's in your office, reading," she answered. "She likes the goat +skin rug, you know." + +"All right," nodded the doctor, "run along, chick, and tell Aunt +Trudy to keep on the shady side of the street. The sun is blazing." + +Sarah was not visible from the door, but walking around his desk, +her brother discovered her stretched full length in her favorite +reading attitude, on the white goat skin rug. Her book dealt with +the health of cats. + +"Sarah," began the doctor looking down at her, "did you take a +telephone message from Mrs. Anderson yesterday morning?" + +Sarah looked obstinate. + +"Did you?" her brother insisted. "Answer me," he commanded, pulling +her to her feet. + +"Yes I did," muttered Sarah. "Rosemary was busy practising and +Winnie's bread was in the oven." + +"Why didn't you tell me she wanted me to call there Saturday night?" +demanded the doctor sternly. + +"'Cause," murmured Sarah uneasily. + +"You're ashamed to tell me, and I don't wonder," Doctor Hugh said +crisply. "You'd let a miserable little thing like an apology you +were forced to make her, interfere with your loyalty to service. I +thought you were bigger than that, Sarah," he added. + +Sarah said nothing. + +"If you were a nurse in a hospital or a doctor's office, you'd be +dismissed," her brother went on, "for all you know I might have been +needed seriously. As it happened, no harm was done, but that doesn't +excuse you. Hereafter you are not to answer the phone under any +circumstances. You can't be trusted to deliver the messages you +receive." + +If he had only known it, Doctor Hugh had delivered a severe blow to +Sarah's pride. She had been extremely proud of her ability to answer +the telephone and welcomed the rare opportunities when Rosemary was +out or busy with her beloved music. But she said nothing and after a +day or two the doctor realized that she was not on "speaking terms" +with him. + +"She ought to be spanked," he confided to Winnie, "but I don't +believe in that form of punishment for children as old as she is." + +"It wouldn't do any good," said Winnie, "your mother spanked her +years ago when she'd take these silent fits. It only made her more +obstinate. You can do more with Sarah, Hughie, by helping her out +of a tight place than any way I know. She's always getting into +trouble and she never forgets the ones that stand by her. You keep +your eyes open and the chance will come." + +The opportunity came sooner than either of them expected. For nearly +a week Jack Welles had been storming, to any one who would listen to +him, about the "low-down" thief who nightly took his can of fishing +worms. + +"Plumb lazy, I call it," grumbled Jack, "to cart away the worms a +fellow breaks his back digging. Some worthless tramp is catching +fish with my worms and I intend to catch him." + +His wails had reached the ears of Doctor Hugh, himself an ardent +fisherman when time permitted and his sympathies were entirely with +the defrauded one. + +"Sit up some night and watch," he advised the lad. "Put the can in +the usual place--where do you keep it--on the back step?--all right, +put it there, and then hide back of the willow tree. You say it is +done sometime between ten and twelve, for you go to bed at ten and +your father comes home at midnight and finds the can empty? That +ought to make it easy for you, for you know when to watch for the +thief." + +Jack's father was engaged in some delicate electrical experiments +that were conducted in his factory at night to escape the vibration +caused by the heavy machines. + +Coming home from the Jordan office a little after then the next +night after he had given Jack his advice, Doctor Hugh remembered +what he had said and wondered if the boy had been successful in +detecting the thief. As he neared the Welles house he heard loud and +angry voices. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +WHEN PATIENCE SLIPS + + +"If I ever catch you touching my can of worms again, I'll--I'll--" +words apparently failed Jack and he began to sputter. + +"Got him, Jack?" the doctor leaped the hedge lightly and ran +diagonally across the lawn to the back of the Welles's house. + +"Him?" growled Jack in disgust. "Him! Look at this--" and he flashed +a pocket light that revealed to the astonished Doctor Hugh the +tear-streaked face of Sarah. + +"For the love of Mike!" gasped her brother. "Have you been taking +Jack's worms?" + +"Yes she has," Jack answered for her. "She's been dumping the can +out every night. And if she does it again I'll shake her if she is a +girl." + +"Hold on, hold on," said Doctor Hugh pacifically. "Let's get the +hang of this; why did you empty Jack's can of worms, Sarah?" + +"It--it hurts them to be jabbed with a hook," wept Sarah. + +"Like fun it does," retorted Jack scornfully. "Worms haven't any +feelings, hardly." + +"Well fishes have and if you haven't any worms you can't catch +fishes," stormed Sarah. "I will too throw away your worms." + +"You will not!" flashed Jack, taking a step toward her. + +Sarah, the defiant, turned and fled toward her brother. He put his +arm about her and found that she was shaking with nervous sobbing. + +"I'll see you to-morrow, Jack," he said quietly. "There is no use in +rousing the whole neighborhood. Come on, Sarah, we're going home." + +He lifted the little girl in his arms and strode across the grass, +entering the door of the house noiselessly and depositing her in a +large arm chair in the office. Then he went into the kitchen, warmed +a glass of milk and made her drink it. + +"Now tell me all about it," he said, sitting down at his desk to +face her. Sarah, he knew, had a horror of being "fussed over" and he +did not dare pet her though he wished his mother were there to +cuddle the pathetic little figure in her arms. + +"I emptied the can every night, after Jack went to bed," said +Sarah. "That's all. He doesn't care how much he hurts them, but I +do." + +"But how could you stay awake from eight till ten o'clock?" asked +the doctor curiously, "and how could you come down stairs without +waking Shirley or being seen by Aunt Trudy or Winnie?" + +"I didn't go to bed, that is not really," confided Sarah. "I lay +down with all my clothes on, because Rosemary always comes in to see +that our light is out before she goes to bed. But after nine o'clock +I stayed up till I saw Jack shut the kitchen door of his house and +then I knew he was through digging worms." + +"Didn't you ever go to sleep before Rosemary came in to look at +you?" asked her brother. "Not once?" + +"Not once," said Sarah firmly. "I put three of Shirley's building +blocks under my back so I couldn't. And when I got up I sat on the +window sill so if I went to sleep I'd wake up when I fell out." + +"Well you are thorough," admitted the doctor. "Weren't you afraid +Aunt Trudy would come in and find you sitting up? Or hear you +falling out of the window?" + +"I didn't fall," declared Sarah, matter-of-factly. "And Aunt Trudy +never comes to see if we are in bed. Mother used to, every night." + +"I see," the doctor frowned a little. "Well, Sarah, you'll have to +let Jack's worms alone after this. I'm not going to argue with you +about the feelings of the worms or the fish (you'll get that point +better when you are a little older) but I'll put it to you this way; +they're Jack's worms and you mustn't touch what belongs to him. And, +also, you can't go about making people think as you do. If you don't +believe in fishing, all right; you are at perfect liberty not to +fish. But you have no call to try to stop other people from fishing. +Jack may not approve of the way you keep your rabbits. He may think +they should be turned loose and allowed to destroy the garden. If he +came over here night after night and let your rabbits out, think how +angry you would be. Do you see, dear? You do what you feel to be +right and let the other fellow keep tabs on his own conscience." + +Sarah thought a few minutes. + +"Well, I will," she sighed reluctantly. "Worms are awfully nasty +things, anyway, Hugh. I had to pick some of them out of the can +with my fingers, because they wouldn't come out." + +"Then we're all serene again," said her brother cheerfully. "And now +it is after eleven and high time you were asleep." + +Sarah gave him a quick, shy kiss at the head of the stairs and +vanished into her room. She was always chary of caresses and her +mother declared that she could count the times Sarah had voluntarily +kissed her. + +The last two weeks of July were an unbroken "hot spell." Eastshore +was ordinarily comfortable in the summer time but the heat wave that +gripped the country made itself felt and not all the pleasant effect +of wide lawns and old shade trees could counteract the hot, humid +nights and the blazing, parched days. An occasional thunder shower +did its best to bring comfort, but the heat closed in again after +each gust, seemingly more intense than ever. It was a trying test +for tempers and dispositions and the Willis household began to +develop "nerves." + +"I should think you children could manage to remember to shut the +screens doors behind you," remarked Doctor Hugh one morning at the +breakfast table. "If there is one thing positively unendurable, it +is flies in the house!" + +Winnie put down the cream pitcher beside his cup of coffee with an +emphasis that threatened to spray him with its contents. + +"You'd better be speaking to Sarah," she said grimly. "I'm about +wore out, arguing with her. She won't let me use the fly-batter at +all and why? Because it is cruel to kill the dear darling little +flies that tramp all over our food with their filthy feet!" + +Rosemary giggled. She sat in Aunt Trudy's place, cool and neat in a +blue gingham dress, her charming bobbed head making a pretty picture +silhouetted against the light of the window behind her. The warm +weather had reconciled Rosemary to the loss of her hair. Aunt Trudy +often pleaded a headache mornings and Rosemary took her place at the +silver tray and poured her brother's coffee. + +"Don't let me hear any more such nonsense," said he sternly now. +"Keep the screens closed, Winnie, and kill any flies that get in. +Sarah, you are not to interfere in any way--and don't scowl like +that." + +For reply Sarah kicked the table leg to the peril of her glass of +milk and Shirley's. + +"You'll find yourself sent away from the table in another minute," +her brother warned her. "Eat your breakfast and behave yourself." + +"You'll be sorry when I'm dead," said Sarah, her voice plaintive +with self-pity. + +Shirley thought the moment auspicious to make a reach for a hot +biscuit. Over went her glass of milk and her fat little hand landed +in the butter dish. The telephone bell saved her, as far as Doctor +Hugh was concerned, and when he came back to tell Rosemary that he +would not be home till dinner time and to give her a list of the +time and places when he could be reached during the day, Winnie had +removed all traces of the accident. + +"I guess you must think I'm a washing machine," she grumbled after +the doctor had gone. "That's the tenth clean runner we've had on the +table this week. If we were using table cloths every meal I'd have +to give up--no living woman could keep this family in table cloths!" + +"Sarah, are you going to make the beds this morning?" asked +Rosemary, on her way to sweep the porch, a duty she had assumed. + +"No, I'm not," returned Sarah with characteristic candor. "It's too +hot. Let 'em air till night. I want to play in the sand-box." + +"Ray Anderson and me's going to play in the sand-box," said Shirley. +"You can't come--you take all the toys." + +"Oh, Shirley, how cross you are!" cried Rosemary, aghast at the +frown on Shirley's pretty forehead. "Don't be so cranky, darling. +Sarah will play in one end of the box and you play in the other." + +But Sarah, her nose in the air, announced that she wouldn't "have a +thing to do with the old sand-box," and she departed to sit in the +swing and read, leaving Rosemary to make the beds or "let them air" +as she decided. + +Rosemary finished sweeping the porch and had just begun to make her +own bed, when her aunt called her. + +"Shirley and that little Anderson boy are making so much noise, I +can't rest," Aunt Trudy complained. "I should think you could tell +them to play quietly, Rosemary. And I wish you wouldn't practise +this morning, dearie; my head is splitting and the piano does annoy +me so. This afternoon I'll take my sewing out under the tree and you +may have two hours to yourself, if you like." + +Rosemary went down and suggested to Shirley and Ray that they make +sand pies instead of building a railroad, knowing from experience +that sand pies was a comparatively quiet play. Then she dusted her +beloved piano with a little lump in her throat. Mother had loved to +hear her practise and had liked to sit on summer mornings in a chair +close by, sewing and listening. Mother was an accomplished musician +and she knew and noted her little daughter's enthusiastic progress. +One reason that Rosemary practised so steadily through the warm +weather in spite of discouragement was her determination to surprise +her mother by her improvement when that dear lady came back to them. + +"It's a shame you have all the beds to do, Rosemary," said Winnie, +coming up for a salve from the medicine closet in the bathroom and +discovering Rosemary wearily putting the bedrooms to rights. "I've +burned my finger on that silly hot water heater again. I've told the +doctor and told him to have the plumber stop in and fix it, but he +forgets every time." + +"I'll telephone Mr. Mertz," said Rosemary absently. + +"You ought to make Sarah do her part," went on Winnie, spreading +salve on a piece of gauze and binding it around her finger. "I'm +tired trying to get any help from her. And Miss Trudy wants +ice-water every minute of the day and if I don't get it for her she +comes out to the refrigerator and wastes half a block, hacking it. +Shirley wants nothing but hot breads and meat and first thing we +know she'll be sick on our hands." + +Winnie sat on the edge of the bath-tub and let her mind dwell on her +woes. Rosemary tried to listen sympathetically, but she was warm and +tired and if Winnie would only go perhaps she could finish the rooms +in time to read a little before lunch. The afternoon would have to +be given over to her delayed practising. + +"Well, I'm going down stairs," said Winnie, putting the salve jar +back on its shelf, "and all we're going to have for lunch is tomato +salad and bread and butter. If any one doesn't like it, they can +leave it; I'm not going to spend any time fussing with special +dishes this kind of weather." + +Rosemary's practising that afternoon was interrupted several times +by the telephone, twice for the wrong number. Aunt Trudy, with the +air of a martyr, took her sewing out under the horse chestnut tree, +Sarah and Shirley went to a neighbor's to play and Winnie announced +that she intended to take a nap. So there was no one to answer the +bells except Rosemary. By the time she had jumped up to be asked "Is +this the grocery store?" once or twice, had admitted the butcher boy +with fresh meat which must be put on the ice and had been summoned +three times by Aunt Trudy to thread her needle--for glasses, +declared her aunt made her warmer in summer and she would not wear +them--Rosemary's temper was fraying sadly. + +"Rosemary," said Aunt Trudy, coming into the living room as the +practise hour was about over (not allowing for time wasted, Rosemary +told herself resentfully), "Rosemary, where is Sarah?" + +"I don't care where she is!" cried Rosemary, whirling around on the +piano bench. "I'm tired of always being asked where Sarah and +Shirley are. I don't care!" + +Aunt Trudy burst into tears. + +"I don't think you ought to speak to me like that," she sobbed. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE LAST STRAW + + +Jack Welles' cheerful whistle sounded outside. + +"Coming!" answered Rosemary. + +She flung her arms about Aunt Trudy and gave her a penitent hug. + +"I'm sorry I was cross, Auntie," she whispered. "You know I didn't +mean it." + +Then she sped out the front door and joined Jack who was waiting on +the walk outside the hedge. + +"Come on uptown and have a soda," he suggested. "Perhaps it will +cool you off--you look slightly wild." + +"I feel wild," admitted Rosemary, falling into step beside him. +"This has been the most dreadful day!" + +"Weather's enough to make anyone cross," said the boy quickly. "I'll +bet the trouble is you're doing everyone's work. Hugh ought to make +Sarah stir around. She's lazy." + +"No, I don't think she is lazy," protested Rosemary, "Only, well you +know Jack, it was more fun doing the things you have to do when +Mother was home. I can't explain it very well, but I remember last +summer Sarah thought she'd wash the upstairs windows to surprise +Mother--Winnie was sick and Mother happened to say she didn't know +when in the world the windows would get cleaned. Sarah heard her and +the next day she lugged up a pail of water and a cloth and tried to +wash them. She splashed water all over the wall paper and made an +awful mess of it, but Mother kissed her and praised her and said she +was glad she had such a helpful little daughter. Aunt Trudy isn't +like that and Sarah likes to be praised for what she does. Aunt +Trudy never tells her she makes a bed well, but if there is a +wrinkle in the spread she shows her that. Sarah made the beds all +right for a long time, but now she goes off mornings and plays." + +"I knew it," nodded Jack, "and Winnie has a list of troubles a mile +long waiting for you every night." + +"Morning," corrected Rosemary, laughing. "Oh, Jack how do you know +so much? I don't see how I could get along without you, because +you're the only one who listens to my troubles. Hugh is a dear, but +he is so busy, and we're forbidden to write anything that will +bother Mother." + +"Fire into me any time you feel like it," invited Jack, steering her +toward the drug-store steps and the soda fountain therein. "I'm +always ready to listen and if you want any punching done, just let +me know." + +But the next hard day, when everything seemed to go wrong from +breakfast time to the dinner hour, no Jack was at hand to listen to +Rosemary's recital. He had gone away for a week's fishing trip with +his father. + +The day started with a pitched battle between Winnie and Sarah after +breakfast, over the question of feeding the cat the top of the milk. +Sarah declared passionately that she would starve herself before she +would feed a defenseless cat skimmed milk and Winnie, with equal +fervor, had announced that when she saw herself handing over the top +milk to a cat they might send her to the insane asylum without +delay. + +"You're a mean, hateful woman!" shouted Sarah, rushing out of the +kitchen and shutting the door on Shirley's finger which was too near +the crack. + +Shirley screamed with pain and after Rosemary had bathed the poor +bruised finger and Winnie had comforted the child with a cookie, +Aunt Trudy declared that her nerves were too unstrung to spend the +day in such a house and that she would go to town and shop. + +"That means I'll have to answer the telephone while I'm practising," +grumbled Rosemary. "Oh, dear, how selfish everyone is! I've a good +mind to sit down and read on the porch while it is shady. All the +others do as they please and I will, too." + +Her book was interesting, and there was a blessed freedom from +interruptions. Rosemary was amazed when Sarah, warm and dirty from +grubbing in the rabbit house appeared at the foot of the steps and +demanded to know if lunch was ready. + +"Oh well, I'll make the beds and pick up after lunch," said Rosemary +to herself. + +Shirley assumed the airs of an invalid at the lunch table and +secured large portions of meat and dessert as a concession to her +hurt finger. She ignored the vegetables entirely though the meal was +supposed to be her dinner and Doctor Hugh had given orders that she +was to be fed after certain rules. + +Winnie was put out because the iceman was late and her dinner +supplies threatened to spoil and Sarah insisted on the hot-water +heater being lit so that she might have hot water in which to wash +her cat. The wrangle with Winnie over this continued throughout the +meal. + +"I don't care whether you wash the cat or not," said Rosemary, when +Sarah followed her to the corner of the living-room where the piano +stood. "I'm going to practise, and don't bother me." + +"Silly old music," grumbled Sarah, "come on, Shirley, let's go sail +boats in the bath-tub." + +Rosemary spent the afternoon at the piano, having promised herself +that she would put in a full two hours over her music. The numerous +interruptions spun out the time so that when she finally closed the +lid the little clock on the mantelpiece chimed five. + +"Good gracious, the beds aren't made!" thought Rosemary and flew up +the stairs. + +One glance into the bathroom halted her and cooled her energy. +Shirley and Sarah had spent a busy afternoon, sailing boats in the +tub. They had used every clean towel in sight to mop up the puddles +on the floor and they were wet to their chins. Rosemary hustled them +off to get into clean dry clothes and then worked feverishly to +restore the room to a semblance of order. Aunt Trudy came home +before she had finished and when she saw the unmade beds and the +morning's disorder still untouched, she spoke her mind in no +uncertain terms. + +"Everybody has a grouch," observed Sarah cheerfully when they sat +down to dinner. Doctor Hugh had not come in. + +"Don't use that word, Sarah," reproved her aunt, sugaring a bowl of +boiled rice for Shirley. + +"Don't want rice, want cutylet," said Shirley, pointing to the veal +cutlet. + +"She's had enough meat to-day," interposed Winnie. "The doctor says +she shouldn't have it at all at night." + +Shirley refused to touch the rice and was sitting in stately +aloofness when Doctor Hugh came in looking warm and tired. + +"What's the matter?" he asked, dropping into his chair and testing +the soup Winnie instantly placed before him. Hugh was her idol and +she always managed not to keep him waiting. "Heat too much for you?" +he added. + +"Grouches is what ails 'em," volunteered Sarah. + +"I've asked her not to use that word, but no one pays any attention +to my wishes," sighed Aunt Trudy. + +"All right, drop it, Sarah," said Doctor Hugh shortly. "Aren't you +eating to-night, sweetheart?" he asked Shirley. + +"I want some cutylet," said Shirley wistfully. "I don't like rice." + +"She ate nothing for her dinner but beef loaf and two helps of date +pudding," announced Winnie. "I don't know when she expects to learn +to eat sensible and like a Christian." + +"Well, if Rosemary would take a little interest in the child and +coax her, she would soon learn to like vegetables," said Aunt Trudy. +"I think Shirley is left too much to herself." + +Rosemary flushed, but her brother spoke before she could reply. + +"You eat your rice, Shirley, or not one other thing can you have +to-night," he announced, with unusual severity, for Shirley was his +pet. "No, crying won't do you any good--eat your rice and stop +whining." + +"I think you ought to know how things go when I'm not here, Hugh," +began Aunt Trudy while Shirley ate her rice sulkily. "I was so upset +this morning that I thought I should fly if I stayed in the house, +so I went up to the city and shopped. I came in about half past five +and not one bed was made! The children's clothes lay just where +they had flung them last night. That's a nice way, isn't it? +Apparently I can not leave home for a few hours without finding +everything shirked on my return." + +Rosemary's blue eyes blazed with quick anger and an unlovely look +came into her face. + +"I don't care if I didn't make the beds!" she cried hotly. "I'm sick +and tired of beds and dusting and answering the telephone. You never +expect anyone in this house to do a single thing, but me!" + +"Rosemary!" said Doctor Hugh. + +"I don't think you should speak to me like that," asserted Aunt +Trudy on the verge of tears. + +"I won't speak to you at all!" jerked Rosemary. "That's the only way +to please you." + +Aunt Trudy began to cry and Doctor Hugh pushed back his plate. + +"Please leave the table, Rosemary," he said distinctly. "Go into the +office and wait for me." + +Rosemary rushed from the table like a whirlwind and the house shook +as she banged the office door. + +"I don't care!" she raged, in the depths of the comfortable shabby +arm-chair that had been her father's. "I don't care! Aunt Trudy +always cries and it isn't fair. I suppose Hugh will be furious, but +let him. I'm so tired and so hot and so miserable--" and Rosemary +gave herself up to a passion of angry tears. + +She had been crying in the dark and when the door opened and someone +switched on the light she knew it was Doctor Hugh. She slipped down +from the chair and walked around back of the desk. He took the +swivel chair and glanced at her half-averted face gravely. + +"Rosemary," he said gently, "how would you like to ride over to +Bennington with me to-morrow? They're opening the new hospital and I +half promised to go. We'll be gone all the morning and it will make +a little change for you." + +Bennington was the county seat, twenty miles away. It should be +delightful not to have anything to do the next morning but put on a +clean frock and go with Hugh. He might even let her drive the car a +few minutes at a time on a straight stretch of road--Rosemary found +her tongue. + +"Oh, Hugh, I'd love it!" she said enthusiastically. + +"All right, so should I," he smiled. "I think you need a bit of +pleasure. Things going rather hard for you, dear?" + +Rosemary nodded, a lump in her throat surprising her. She had +expected Hugh to be angry and to scold. Instead he was very gentle. + +"I'm sorry," he said, "Very sorry. You miss Mother, I know; we all +do. But I think you are learning a good deal this summer without +her. I've been watching you, and you are more self-reliant and +capable every day. Several people have spoken to me about the way +you answer the 'phone and the intelligent answers you give them. I +don't know what I should do without you." + +Rosemary flushed with pleasure. Then, being Rosemary, she flung +herself headlong at her brother, narrowly missing his glasses. + +"Oh, Hugh! Hugh dear, I _am_ sorry I acted so to-night!" she wept. + +"There, there," he patted her gently. "You didn't mean to be cross, +we all know that. You were tired and so was Aunt Trudy. I guess this +heat has about worn everybody out. I tried to warn you, but the +fireworks had to blaze up. Now kiss me, like my sweet girl, for I'm +going out again, and then make your peace with Aunt Trudy. And +to-morrow morning we'll leave dull care behind us and enjoy +ourselves for a few hours." + +"Shirley would love to go," suggested Rosemary. + +"All right, I thought you ought to leave the cares behind, but we'll +take Shirley if you say so," was the answer. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A CHAIN OF PROMISES + + +The "hot spell" broke that night and the morning was deliciously +cool and fresh. This delightful state of weather continued for +several days and was immediately reflected in the changed temper of +the Willis household and, it is safe to say, in many other Eastshore +households since we are all more or less affected by weather +conditions. + +Aunt Trudy, who really was miserable under excessive heat revived +and insisted on giving a birthday party for Shirley who was six +years old on the third of August, and Rosemary and Sarah pleased and +touched the good lady by their assurances that it was the nicest +child's party ever given in the town. Shirley took her good fortune +complacently and was heard to remark that she wished school would +open the next day because now she was old enough to go. + +The day after the party Aunt Trudy decided to "run into the city" +for her new glasses and some special errands. She left soon after +breakfast and would, she informed Winnie, return on the 5:48 train +that afternoon. + +It was the day for Rosemary's music lesson and she went, at two +o'clock, to her teacher's house. The lesson over, she took a book +back to the Library for Aunt Trudy, bought some clothespins for +Winnie and meeting Jack Welles, brown and freckled from his fishing +trip, accepted his invitation to stop at the hardware store and see +the prize trout his father had caught and which was mounted and on +exhibition in the window. So it was nearly half past four when she +reached home. + +"Rosemary!" a shrill whisper came down to her over the bannisters, +as she went upstairs to leave the book she had selected for Aunt +Trudy on the table in her room. "Rosemary, come up here, quick!" + +Rosemary, vaguely frightened, ran up to Sarah's room. Shirley was +there and both little girls looked as though they had been crying. + +"What's the matter--did Shirley hurt herself?" asked Rosemary in +alarm. + +Sarah shut the door and looked at her older sister queerly. + +"Promise you won't tell? Cross-your-heart-hope-to-die?" she urged. + +Rosemary sat down on the bed. + +"Is it good or bad?" she asked cautiously. + +"Bad!" cried Shirley in an awe-struck tone. "Awfully bad. Isn't it, +Sarah?" + +Sarah nodded hopelessly. + +"It's so bad," she declared, "that you never heard anything as bad. +And if you tell, Rosemary, I'll run away, as far off as I can run +away, and never, never come back." + +Sarah's dark eyes were red-rimmed and she seemed so desperately +unhappy that Rosemary's kind heart was touched. + +"Oh, Sarah darling, you know I won't tell!" she exclaimed. "I don't +care what it is, I won't tell anyone. I promise." + +Sarah drew a long breath of relief. She sat down on the floor, her +favorite resting place, and Shirley scrambled down beside her. + +"Well then," said Sarah more calmly, "I've lost Aunt Trudy's +turquoise ring!" + +"You've lost Aunt Trudy's turquoise ring!" repeated Rosemary. "How +on earth could you lose her ring?" + +"We were playing with the jewel case," murmured Sarah, a dark red +flush rising under her brown skin. + +"Sarah Eaton Willis! And after what Hugh told you!" Rosemary stared +at the culprit in astonishment. + +For Aunt Trudy's jewel case, containing numerous rings and pins of +no inconsiderable value and for which she cared little beyond the +pleasure of possession seldom, if ever, wearing any of the pieces, +had delighted Sarah and Shirley from the first moment they +discovered it. Their aunt had indulgently allowed them to deck +themselves out and play "lady" and apparently the idea that anything +could happen to a valuable brooch or ring or a string of pearls, or +cut amber beads be lost, never occurred to her. It occurred to +Doctor Hugh, however, when he came home unexpectedly one afternoon +and met Sarah and Shirley arrayed in barbaric splendor. He had +immediately forbidden further play with the jewelry and, at his +orders, Aunt Trudy had placed the case among the list of things on +her dresser which must not be touched. + +"I didn't think Aunt Trudy would care if we played with her rings a +little while this afternoon," said Sarah uneasily, "We were going +to put everything back, weren't we, Shirley? I had the ring on and +Winnie called me to go get a cake of yeast--she's always wanting me +to run errands. And when I came back the ring was gone off my finger +and we hunted everywhere and we couldn't find it. So it must be +lost," wound up the small sinner. + +"I don't believe you have half looked," protested Rosemary. "Where +did you go after you bought the yeast cake? Straight home? Well, +I'll go look all the way to the store and back, and you and Shirley +look everywhere in the house you can think of." + +"You won't tell, will you, Rosemary?" coaxed Sarah. "Hugh will be so +mad, but Aunt Trudy won't mind. She never wears any of her rings." + +"Of course I won't tell," said Rosemary impatiently. "I promised. +But you hurry and put the rest of the things back in the case and +put it on Aunt Trudy's dresser, Sarah. And then look all over the +house." + +Rosemary searched every step of the way to the grocery store where +Sarah had gone to buy the yeast cake, and all the way back, but with +no result. The two little girls reported that they had looked +"everywhere" in the house, but no ring had obligingly turned up. +Aunt Trudy came home, apparently saw nothing wrong with the orderly +array of articles on her dresser, and dinner was a comfortable meal +if three of the five present were a little more silent than usual. + +That night, when they were getting ready for bed, Rosemary announced +that she had a plan. She had offered to go to bed when Sarah went +and the surprised and pleased Aunt Trudy had told Doctor Hugh that +she was sure the girls were learning to like an early bedtime hour. + +"If the ring is lost, it is lost, and that is all there is to it," +said Rosemary, sitting on Sarah's bed to brush her hair, a habit she +still clung to though the bobbed locks were quickly made ready for +the night. "And there is only one thing to do, that I can see: buy +Aunt Trudy another." + +"Buy her a ring!" gasped Sarah. "We can't--we haven't any money. And +Hugh won't give it to us, unless we tell him what it's for. How much +does a turquoise ring cost, Rosemary?" + +"I don't know," admitted Rosemary. "A great deal, I suppose. I'll +have to earn it, because I am the oldest. And Sarah you'll have to +let me tell Jack Welles, because I want to ask him how I can earn +some money." + +"Aunt Trudy won't know the ring is lost," argued Sarah. "She never +looks at 'em--she says she doesn't." + +"That has nothing to do with it," replied Rosemary earnestly. "When +you lose a thing, you try to replace it--that's what Mother says. Do +you care if I tell Jack, Sarah?" + +"No, but he mustn't tell Hugh," Sarah insisted. + +The next morning Rosemary seized an opportunity while Jack was +trimming the dividing hedge, to confide the story of the lost ring, +first swearing him to secrecy. + +"And now you have to tell me how I can earn money to buy Aunt Trudy +another ring," she said anxiously. + +Jack whistled in perplexity. + +"I think you ought to tell Hugh," he said at once. "A ring like that +must cost a lot--Aunt Trudy wouldn't have any make-believe stones. +You can't earn money without he finds it out and then there will be +a pretty row. Hasn't Sarah enough backbone to face the music?" + +"Well, you see if she had only played with the jewel case after Hugh +told her not to, that would be bad enough," explained Rosemary. "But +she played with it and lost a ring and Hugh will scold dreadfully +if he finds that out. I promised not to tell and so did you, Jack." + +"Yes, I did, and I'm sorry I ever made such a fool promise," said +Jack crossly. "I don't see how you can earn any money, Rosemary. +There is nothing for you to do." + +Rosemary was sure she could think of something and that afternoon +she hailed Jack triumphantly. + +"I've got it!" she called, running down to the hedge where he was +raking out the trimmings left from the morning's work. "I know what +I can do, Jack. I heard Mrs. Dunning tell Aunt Trudy the other day +that she would give anything if she could get someone to stay with +her baby while she went to the card club meetings Tuesday +afternoons. I can take care of the baby!" + +"What do you know about taking care of people's babies?" demanded +Jack with scorn. + +"I know how, if they are not very little ones," Rosemary assured +him. "The Dunning baby is old enough to walk. I am going to get a +baby to take care of every afternoon and that will be a whole lot of +money every week!" + +"What will Aunt Trudy say?" asked Jack pointedly. + +"She won't know--she takes a nap half the afternoon, and I'll ask +the babies' mothers to keep it a secret," planned Rosemary. "I won't +say I am going to surprise Aunt Trudy with a present, but they'll +think I am saving up for her birthday or something, perhaps." + +"You see, you've started to deceive folks already," argued Jack, +"and you know if Hugh ever finds out what you are doing he will be +raging. Hadn't you better tell him, Rosemary, or get Sarah to own +up?" + +"She won't--I did try," admitted Rosemary. "Sarah is scared to death +of what Hugh will say. No, I have to get another ring for Aunt Trudy +and then, maybe, we can let her know the old one is lost." + +In spite of Jack's opposition, Rosemary persisted in carrying out +her plan for earning money. As she had said, she had nearly the +whole of every afternoon to herself for Aunt Trudy took a long nap +and Doctor Hugh rarely came home between one and six. She called on +the mothers of young babies and in many instances was eagerly +welcomed. A great many women wanted to leave their youngsters with +some one for an hour or two in the afternoon and Rosemary had a +"natural way" with children, to quote Winnie. The babies took to +her at first sight and in a few days Rosemary was able to announce +to the disgruntled Jack that she had "work" for every afternoon in +the week. + +"They think I'm earning money for Christmas," she said, "I didn't +say that, honestly I didn't, Jack. But whenever I told any one I +wanted to earn some money and did they want me to take care of their +baby for fifteen cents an hour, they always said, 'Oh, I suppose you +want to earn some money for Christmas, before school opens'!" + +"Bet you'll give it up after the first day," prophesied Jack. +"Taking care of cranky babies isn't what it is cracked up to be." + +There were many afternoons when Rosemary recalled his words. She +would have liked to give up, often. The babies were as good and +sweet-tempered as babies usually are, but no child is angelic and +the hot weather and their teeth troubles fretted the small people +sadly. Rosemary was sometimes at her wits' end to keep her charges +amused and there were days when she longed to fly home and rest her +tired head on the cool pillow on her own little bed. She had never +been forced to do anything steadily for long after she tired of it, +and to be obliged to smile and play with a wailing, discontented +baby on a hot, muggy afternoon did seem more than she could stand. +But she had plenty of perseverance, had Rosemary, and when she once +made up her mind to do a thing she stuck it out. Sarah and Shirley +had ceased to worry about the ring. Rosemary would make it all right +again for them--of that they had no doubt. + +But if Aunt Trudy slept long hours and did not interfere with the +goings and comings of her young nieces, she was not quite so +unobservant as they sometimes thought. + +"It seems to me that Rosemary is out of the house a good deal," she +remarked one morning to Winnie. "She ought to take more of an +interest in things here at the house." + +"Well, I suppose it's only natural she should find a good deal to do +outside," answered Winnie, who had not been blind to Rosemary's +frequent absences, cautiously. "She's young, you know, and doing +your duty gets tiresome after a bit." + +But to herself, Winnie admitted that Rosemary seemed to have +absolved herself from any responsibility toward her sisters. "Left +them to shift for themselves," was the way Winnie put it. She was +puzzled and also disappointed in her favorite, for indifference of +any kind had never been a Rosemary trait. + +"She ought to be looking after Sarah and Shirley some of the time," +grumbled Winnie. "Those young ones are under my feet continually. +The least Rosemary can do is to read to 'em now and then to keep +them quiet." + +That very afternoon Miss Mason, Rosemary's music teacher called to +see Aunt Trudy. Rosemary's music was falling below its usual +standard and that was a pity. Was she practising as faithfully as +usual? + +"I think it is a shame to waste all that money on music lessons, if +you won't practise, Rosemary," announced her aunt at the dinner +table that night. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +ONE DISASTROUS AFTERNOON + + +"I do practise," said Rosemary desperately. + +"Well not enough, or Miss Mason wouldn't say your work was falling +below your usual standard," Aunt Trudy insisted. "She was here this +afternoon, Hugh, and she asked me whether Rosemary was giving as +much time as usual to the piano." + +"Oh, let her slow up this kind of weather, if she wants to," +responded the doctor lazily. "I think she's stuck pretty faithfully +to the scales and finger exercises myself." + +Rosemary flashed him a grateful look. + +"Of course I don't want to find fault," said Aunt Trudy to this, +"but you know I feel responsible. And Winnie was saying this morning +that Sarah and Shirley are left too much to themselves." + +"Oh, that's all right," declared Sarah hastily and Shirley echoed, +"Yes, that's all right." + +Doctor Hugh laughed and even Rosemary smiled faintly. How could she +explain that she had no time left from the babies in the afternoon +to spend with the little sisters, or that the reason her music was +showing neglect was because her morning practise hours were given +over to the odds and ends of duties she dared not leave undone for +fear of comment and question and now had no other time to do? + +"I imagine Sarah and Shirley amuse themselves," said the doctor, +smiling, "but Rosemary dear, I don't want you to get in the habit of +being out of the house too much. Three afternoons I've called you up +and you weren't home." + +Doctor Hugh wondered if Nina Edmonds was absorbing Rosemary's +attention again, but he thought it wiser not to ask. As a matter of +fact, had he but known it, the voluble Nina had been away at the +seashore for several weeks. + +"Well, all I can say," remarked Aunt Trudy after a pause, "is that I +hope, Rosemary, your sense of duty will be strong enough to cause +you to pay a little attention to the children while I am away. I am +going to-morrow morning to spend two days with my cousin, you know, +Hugh. She is sailing for London, Wednesday." + +"Yes, you told me," acknowledged the doctor. "We'll manage all +right, Aunt Trudy. Rosemary will keep us all in order." + +But in spite of his cheerful faith, Aunt Trudy departed the next +morning "worried to death" as she confided to Winnie. + +"I have a feeling that Sarah and Shirley will get into some +mischief, the minute my back is turned," declared the good lady. +"And Rosemary will be mooning around and not catch them until it is +too late." + +Aunt Trudy's doleful prediction proved only too true. That very +afternoon, when Rosemary left to take care of the Simmons baby while +his proud mother attended the fortnightly meeting of her card club, +Sarah and Shirley decided to sail boats in the bath-tub. +Unfortunately, when the tub was half filled, Ray Anderson called +them to come and see his new kiddie car and when that was duly +inspected, Sarah pressed Shirley into service to help her feed the +rabbits. + +"Let's go up to the store and buy 'em some fresh carrots," Sarah +suggested. "I'll get the money out of the tin bank--Rosemary won't +mind, 'cause I'll pay her back soon as I can." + +Rosemary was putting the money she earned into the little tin +chimney bank which stood on the mantel shelf in her room. She +called it the "ring fund" and to Sarah it seemed that there must be +money enough already in it to buy several rings. But Rosemary was +positive she still needed a great deal more. + +Sarah and Shirley, by dint of much shaking and banging the bank +against the shelf edge, succeeded in extracting ten cents and with +this they purchased fresh young carrots, a delicacy much beloved by +the pampered rabbits. They had fed the rabbits and were swinging in +the porch swing, when they heard a cry from Winnie. + +"For mercy's sake, where is the water coming from!" she shrieked. +"Look at it, leaking down through the ceiling and dripping on my +clean tablecloth--have the pipes sprung a leak?" + +She dashed madly upstairs, Sarah and Shirley at her heels. The +bath-tub was overflowing and the floor was a lake. + +"Don't ever let me hear of you sailing boats again, as long as I +live in this house!" Winnie scolded, as she rolled up her sleeves +and pulled out the plug. "Sarah, go down and get me the mop--quick! +It'll be a wonder if the plaster doesn't fall in the dining-room, +it's that soaked!" + +Dinner was delayed because of the catastrophe and when Doctor Hugh +came in, hungry and tired, it was to find Winnie spreading a fresh +cloth on the table and scolding Rosemary vigorously. + +"The time to be helping me is before such a thing happens," +announced Winnie, twitching the linen angrily. "Is that you, Hughie? +Heaven alone knows when dinner will be ready to-night--I've been +made to set the table twice over and the potatoes boiled dry while I +was mopping up the bathroom." + +In a few words she sketched the incident. + +"Rosemary, can't you look after the children a little better, just +till your aunt gets back?" asked the doctor wearily. "Where were you +when they were letting the water run?" + +"I was--out," said Rosemary lamely. "Just around," she added +hastily, seeing a question forming on his lips. + +"Well you'll have to stay in to-morrow," he said decisively. "Aunt +Trudy will be home to-morrow night, and I want you to be with Sarah +and Shirley till then. That isn't asking too much--one day. And +we'll see if we can get along without any more accidents. No éclairs +to-night, Winnie, for Shirley and Sarah." + +The two culprits, deprived of dessert, were excused early, but +Rosemary left alone with Hugh was too busy with her own thoughts to +talk much though ordinarily she loved an opportunity for a chat with +him. + +"I simply have to go to Mrs. Hepburn's to-morrow," she thought +panic-stricken. "I promised faithfully to come, rain or shine. She +is going somewhere with her husband and that's the only day he has +off. I'll have to go--that is all there is about it. If Hugh finds +it out, he will be furious, but perhaps he won't know. Anyway, I'm +going! I promised." + +Sarah and Shirley playing their favorite game of dominoes on the +porch after dinner, were startled by a sudden rush from Rosemary. +She whirled through the doorway and demanded of her sister, "Sarah, +have you been meddling with my tin bank?" + +Sarah got up from the floor slowly. + +"I borrowed ten cents," she admitted, trying to back away and +backing into a rocking chair. + +"You 'borrowed' ten cents!" cried Rosemary, advancing upon her. "And +you know I want to save every cent! Of all the selfish, mean girls I +ever knew, you're the worst!" + +She clutched the unhappy Sarah by her broad sailor collar and +proceeded to shake her fiercely. Sarah retaliated by kicking +viciously and they were in eminent danger of upsetting the wicker +table and porch lamp when Doctor Hugh strode out and separated them. + +"Rosemary!" he said in surprise. "What do you call it you are doing? +And Sarah, too--kicking and fighting like two small boys! What ails +you, anyway?" + +"She took ten cents out of my bank--it's just the same as stealing, +because she never pays back anything she borrows," panted Rosemary, +almost crying. "I found a penny on the floor where she dropped it. +And she knows how hard I'm trying to save every cent, too." + +"Well, Sarah, I think robbing a bank is a pretty mean trick," +pronounced Doctor Hugh judiciously. "Where is this bank, Rosemary? +I've never seen it. Seems to me you're beginning to get ready for +Christmas rather far in advance." + +Rosemary looked at Sarah who gazed at her imploringly. Both girls +had forgotten for the moment the ring fund and its object. + +"I'll pay you back to-morrow Rosemary, honestly I will," said Sarah +hurriedly. "Aunt Trudy owes me ten cents for not melting her letter +sealing wax. She will pay me to-morrow night and I'll give it to +you." + +"Sarah, Sarah," groaned her brother, half in amusement, half in +despair, "I'm afraid your ethics are pretty wobbly. So Aunt Trudy +has to bribe you, does she, to let her desk alone? Well, see that +you turn the bribe over to Rosemary, though I should call it robbing +Peter to pay Paul, with a vengeance." + +"Goodness, suppose he had made you tell why you were saving the +money!" whispered Sarah, when the doctor had gone back to his +office. "I was just shaking in my shoes." + +"Sarah, wouldn't you rather tell, anyway?" said Rosemary suddenly. +"I don't believe Hugh would be so very cross, because you didn't +mean to lose the ring. And I am afraid it will take me a perfect age +to earn enough money to buy another." + +"I won't tell, ever!" declared Sarah, shaking her dark head +obstinately. "And if you tell, Rosemary Willis, I'll never speak to +you as long as I live! You don't have to buy another ring--that's +silly. Aunt Trudy doesn't even know this one is lost." + +"I don't care if she doesn't," insisted Rosemary. "You lost it, and +we have to get another one for her; that's all there is to it." + +The next afternoon Doctor Hugh repeated his request that Rosemary +should stay with Sarah and Shirley till Aunt Trudy came home on the +5:46 train. Then he left on a long round of calls and Rosemary, not +without many regrets and a thrill of fear when she thought what her +brother would say if he found her out, sped up the street to the +pleasant house where Mrs. Hepburn, hatted and gloved eagerly waited +her coming. + +"I was so afraid you wouldn't come," she greeted the little girl. +"Baby is asleep, and I want to get away before he wakes up and sees +me go. I'll be back at half-past five, sharp, but of course you +won't go till I come. You mustn't leave Baby alone in the house." + +As luck would have it, Aunt Trudy decided to come home on an earlier +train and found herself in the midst of bundle-laden Eastshore +shoppers who had spent the day in the city and were returning with +their spoils. Motherly Mrs. Dunning occupied a seat with Aunt Trudy +and what more natural than that she should speak of how much help +Rosemary had been to her that summer? The wonder was that Aunt Trudy +had so long escaped hearing but she went about very little in the +town and had met comparatively few of the neighbors even those +living on her own street. + +"Yes indeed I've been able to go away an afternoon or two a week," +babbled Mrs. Dunning, "something I haven't done since Baby came. +Your niece is such a nice child and so reliable. I wanted her this +afternoon, but Mrs. Hepburn had engaged her first." + +"My niece? Mrs. Hepburn engaged her?" repeated Aunt Trudy faintly. + +Mrs. Dunning explained and Aunt Trudy managed to keep from fainting +though as she told Doctor Hugh afterward, she would never know how +the strength was given her. She looked nearer to apoplexy than +fainting when she walked into the house a half hour later and, +purple-faced and choking, demanded to be told the instant the doctor +came in. + +Doctor Hugh and his car rolled up a few moments later and Aunt Trudy +sobbed out the "miserable story" as she characterized it. + +"To think of Rosemary, acting as a nurse-maid, and we never knew +it!" she wailed. "What would her mother say? What must the neighbors +think?" + +"Bother the neighbors!" said Doctor Hugh testily. "When Rosemary +comes home tell her I want to see her." + +Though his aunt did not suspect it, he had seldom been as angry in +his life. Not only had Rosemary deliberately defied him and gone off +that afternoon, but she had most certainly furnished topic for +gossip in Eastshore for it was not possible in so small a town that +her occupation had been unnoticed. And Doctor Hugh was very proud of +his pretty sister. What could have possessed the child to do such a +wild thing? + +He had himself in hand by the time Rosemary came running in, late, +for Mrs. Hepburn had been delayed and nothing could have induced the +young worker to desert her charge. + +"Your brother wants you--he's in the office," said Aunt Trudy +stiffly. + +And as soon as she saw Hugh the most awful sinking sensation went +through Rosemary. He had found out, how, she could not guess, but +somehow, that was plain. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +JACK STRAIGHTENS THINGS OUT + + +"You--you wanted to see me Hugh?" Rosemary faltered. + +"Please come in and close the door," he said quietly. Then as she +obeyed, "Now what is this Mrs. Dunning has been telling Aunt Trudy, +Rosemary? Have you been taking care of babies in the neighborhood +for fifteen cents an hour?" + +Rosemary nodded. + +"How long has this been going on?" asked her brother. + +"A--a couple of weeks," answered Rosemary faintly. + +"What was the idea?" + +Rosemary said nothing. + +"I asked you a question, Rosemary. Please answer me. What made you +do a thing like this without consulting some one? Did Winnie know?" + +"No," said Rosemary reluctantly, "Winnie didn't know. No one did. I +wanted to earn some money, Hugh." + +Then came the question she had been dreading. + +"What for?" + +Rosemary nervously knotted and unknotted her handkerchief. Her blue +eyes roved around the familiar room and came back to the grim face +and the dark eyes which watched her relentlessly. + +"Oh, Hugh!" she cried desperately, "PLEASE!" + +Her brother picked up a paper weight and studied it intently. + +"Look here, Rosemary," he began more gently, "you deliberately +disobeyed this afternoon when I asked you to stay in the house--" + +"Because I had absolutely promised Mrs. Hepburn, Hugh," Rosemary +broke in eagerly. "I'd _promised_! She was depending on me and I had +to go." + +"Very well, a promise is a promise," admitted the doctor, "though +when wrongly given sometimes they must be broken. We'll set aside +the fact that you disobeyed and consider only this wild scheme +apparently undertaken because you wanted to earn money. I want you +to tell me why you thought you needed money and why you couldn't +come to me and ask for it." + +"Because," whispered Rosemary unhappily, "Because." + +"That's no reason," said the doctor brusquely. "Come, 'fess up, +Rosemary, and I'll help you out of the scrape, whatever it is. My +dear little girl, you can't go around among the neighbors like +this--families help each other and stand by each other. I don't care +a hoot what other people may think--as Aunt Trudy seems to believe I +should--but I care a great deal that my little sister should go to +outsiders instead of coming to me." + +Rosemary touched his sleeve timidly. She longed to throw herself in +his arms, cry that she was tired of taking care of silly, +uninteresting babies (though as a matter of fact when she wasn't +tired she loved them all, the cross as well as the good-natured +ones), and tell him the whole story about the lost ring. But there +was her promise to Sarah. A promise was a promise--Hugh himself had +said so. And families were to stand by each other, and she must +stand by Sarah and Shirley. + +"I can't tell you, Hugh," said Rosemary earnestly. "I just can't." + +"You mean you won't," said the doctor sternly. "Well, go up and +bring me down this bank--I suppose that was the one you and Sarah +were quarreling over the other night? And you put the money you +earned in that? I thought so; bring it down to me." + +Wondering what he meant to do, Rosemary went up to her room and +returned with the bank. Doctor Hugh dropped it into one of the lower +drawers of his desk and turned the key. + +"I want you to bring me a list of the women for whom you have taken +care of children," he said, pushing a block of paper and a pencil +toward Rosemary, "and, as nearly as you can remember, the number of +hours you worked for each. Then we'll count out this money and you +will have to return it. I want that list by to-morrow night." + +Winnie sounded the dinner gong just then and Rosemary went silently +to the table. Aunt Trudy's eyes were red from crying and Sarah and +Shirley looked frightened. Their aunt had told them the "awful +thing" Rosemary had been doing and Sarah was in terror lest Hugh +already knew her part in it. But dinner, uncomfortable meal as it +was, reassured Sarah. Hugh would not have allowed her to leave the +table without a word if he had known about the ring. + +Rosemary went to her room directly after dinner and Sarah and +Shirley followed. + +"Was he mad?" asked Shirley, her eyes round with excitement. + +"Aunt Trudy was crying and wringing her hands," volunteered Sarah. +"She says the family is disgraced and Hugh will be ashamed to show +his face in Eastshore." + +"What a silly thing to say!" cried Rosemary. "Thank goodness, Hugh +is no snob. But he is furious because I can't tell him why I wanted +the money. And, oh, girls, I have to take it all back. How can I +ever buy the ring now, and what will the people say when I bring +back the money they paid me?" + +She hurriedly outlined what Doctor Hugh had said, and Sarah +immediately suggested that they get hold of the bank and bury it. + +"Hugh would only punish us again," said Rosemary practically. "Let's +tell him about the ring, Sarah. He said he'd help me out of the +scrape, no matter what it was, if I'd tell him." + +But Sarah set her chin obstinately and refused to go to her brother. +She reminded Rosemary of her promise and Shirley, too, began to cry +and say that she was afraid of Hugh. So it ended by Rosemary +renewing her promise not to tell and then crying herself to sleep +because she remembered how patient Hugh had been and she knew she +had both hurt and disappointed him. + +"And I can't go around and give the money back," she wept, tossing +about on her wet pillow, "What will people think? But Hugh will make +me, if he goes along to see me do it. Oh, dear, the Willis will +makes all the trouble in this family!" + +But in the morning the Willis will helped Rosemary to remain +unshaken in her determination not to tell any more than she had +told. Doctor Hugh called her into the office before breakfast--he +had had his early and was ready to leave when the girls came down +stairs--and asked her again why she wanted the money, patiently at +first and then, as Rosemary stubbornly refused to give a reason, he +lost his temper and began to storm. Rosemary finally flew out of the +office and banged the door and the morning was unhappily begun. + +Winnie, who had heard the story from Aunt Trudy, thought it her duty +to lecture Rosemary during breakfast--at which Aunt Trudy did not +appear--and Rosemary, whose nerves were already strained to the +breaking point, answered snappishly. + +"I should think you'd be ashamed to speak to me like that before +your little sisters," said Winnie indignantly. "Shirley wouldn't +talk to Winnie like that, would you dear?" + +"Oh, my no," said Shirley angelically. + +This was too much for Rosemary. She fled from the table to indulge +in a good cry up in her mother's room. Doctor Hugh had trusted the +key to her, after he had locked the room and Rosemary sometimes went +there when she wanted to be quiet and think. The room was in perfect +order, sweet and clean and well-aired and the things on the dresser +and shelves were exactly as her mother usually kept them. Rosemary +had arranged them so because she thought her mother would like to +find them ready for her when she came home. + +After the tears had stopped, Rosemary sat quietly for a few minutes +in the little low white rocker. Something of the peace and stillness +of the room stole into her troubled mind. Presently she rose and +went out, locking the door carefully behind her. + +"Anything the matter, Rosemary--you look a little woozy," said Jack +Welles with neighborly frankness, seeing her across the hedge later +that morning as she was spreading out handkerchiefs to bleach for +Winnie. + +In a rush of words, Rosemary told him the "matter." + +"Well, you do have a merry time," Jack commented when she had +finished. "But the solution is simple after all." + +"I can't take back that money," said Rosemary miserably. "But what +can I do? Hugh will never give in." + +"Do? There's nothing for you to do," answered Jack vigorously. +"Sarah and Shirley have the next act on the program and it's up to +me to see that they realize it, if you can't show them their duty. +Where's Sarah now?" + +"Teaching the cat to sit up," said Rosemary without interest. "It +won't do you any good to argue with her, Jack. She's afraid of Hugh +and she won't ever tell him. Besides, you know, I only told you if +you would promise not to tell." + +"Oh, I haven't forgotten that you nailed me firmly before you would +say a word," Jack replied grimly. "But I still think I can persuade +Sarah to confess her share and if she will, Shirley will admit that +she also was present. I'll go begin my good work now." + +He was gone half an hour and when he came back he was smiling. + +"Everything's all fixed," he announced. "Sarah and Shirley are going +to march up to the guns like good soldiers to-night, and I'm going +to do the talking for them. Sarah, sensibly enough, wants to get it +over before dinner, so I've promised to come over right after lunch +and sit on your porch so I'll be here no matter how early Hugh gets +home. You and I have to bolster up the weak spots in their courage." + +"I don't see how you ever persuaded Sarah," marveled Rosemary. "I +argued and argued, and she wouldn't listen to me." + +Jack looked very wise. + +"I used moral suasion," he declared. "Told her if she didn't own up +to-night, I'd go to Doctor Hugh and tell him everything myself." + +"Is that moral suasion?" asked Rosemary doubtfully. + +"Of course it is," said Jack with confidence. "If it isn't it ought +to be. I've never broken a promise yet and I'm mighty glad Sarah +didn't make me, but I'll be jiggered if I don't think there are +times when it is worse to keep a promise than to break it." + +A promise "wrongly given"--Doctor Hugh's words came back to +Rosemary. Had she given her promise wrongly? + +Doctor Hugh did not come home till nearly five o'clock and the four +solemn young people on the front porch were getting decidedly +fidgety before his roadster appeared at the curb and he jumped out +and hurried up the walk. He said "Hello" to the four as he passed +them and he was surprised, therefore, when he turned from his desk +to see them enter the office and advance toward him. + +"Hugh," said Jack clearly, "I've something to tell you. Sarah really +ought to, but she asked me to do it." + +"Suppose you sit down," said the doctor gravely. + +Sarah sat down gingerly on a chair near the door, ready for instant +flight, and the others ranged themselves near the desk. Jack began +with the loss of the ring and told everything that had happened +since. He spoke rapidly, but without excitement, and he was not +interrupted once. + +"I am really to blame, as much as anyone," he declared, when he had +reached the point where Rosemary had confided in him about the +missing ring and her determination to replace it. "I had no business +to promise not to tell before I heard what I was not to tell. That's +a fool stunt." + +"Yes, I think it is," agreed Doctor Hugh, but smilingly. + +"Rosemary thought she had to go on taking care of cranky babies till +she could buy another ring. If I'd had any money of my own--and I +don't know why I never do--" Jack paused for a moment to consider +this new idea--"I would have bought a ring myself and helped her out +of the hole." + +Doctor Hugh listened silently to the remainder of the recital, his +eyes studying the four expressive faces before him. + +"So Rosemary really couldn't tell you what she wanted the money for, +because she had promised," finished Jack. "And Sarah was afraid, and +so was Shirley." + +"I see," the doctor said. "I'm sorry they were afraid. Sarah dear, +do you really think you have saved yourself anything by not telling +me when you lost the ring?" he went on, turning to Sarah. "Haven't +you had more trouble and worry and unhappiness trying to keep me +from finding out and don't you think it is better to own up right +away and take your punishment and have it all over?" + +"Yes," admitted Sarah in a very small voice. + +"Well, then, next time tell me at once," said Doctor Hugh earnestly. +"And don't ever let me hear of four of you making a chain of +promises like this. We'll see what can be done about the ring +to-morrow, Sarah, and you and I will talk it over with Aunt Trudy." + +He held out his hand to Jack and put an arm around Rosemary, whose +face was radiant with relief and happiness. + +"I wish you had spoken up a little sooner, Jack," growled the +doctor. "I find that keeping track of three girls isn't the easiest +task in the world." + +"But we won't lose any more rings," said the practical Sarah. + +"No, we won't lose any more rings, Hugh," whispered Rosemary, +standing on tip-toe to kiss him. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A NEW SCHOOL TERM + + +The next morning, as soon as breakfast was over, the unwilling Sarah +was called into conference in the office with her brother and Aunt +Trudy. The latter was much surprised to learn that she had lost a +ring, and insisted that Sarah, who was rather a favorite of hers, +should not be punished. + +"I never did care anything about the ring, Hugh," said Aunt Trudy +earnestly, "and there's been trouble enough about it. It's just like +Rosemary to want to buy me another, but I'd never wear it, so why +should she? I'm glad enough that this ridiculous idea of hers has +been stopped before it went on any longer. Don't, for pity's sake, +say another word about that unfortunate ring." + +"Well, Sarah, that let's you out," said Doctor Hugh cheerfully. "I +must say I think you've shirked all the way through, first in not +owning up and again in letting Rosemary take the responsibility of +replacing the ring. And you kept her from telling me, simply to +shield yourself. However, I really understand that you were afraid +and fear often keeps us from doing what we know to be right. You're +going to fight that little 'I'm-afraid'"--for he had had a brief +talk with his little sister the night before after the others had +left the office and felt that he was just beginning to understand +Sarah--"and put him in his place, which is behind you, and so we'll +start all over as long as Aunt Trudy is willing. Shall we?" + +"Let's," said Sarah laconically, but she slipped a confiding small +hand in the doctor's larger one. He squeezed it affectionately. + +"Now I must be off," he said, glancing at his watch. "Where is +Rosemary? I thought I'd take her with me this morning--the ride will +do her good. Practising?" he repeated as Sarah called his attention +to the sound of finger exercises. "Let her practise this +afternoon--she needs to get away from a fixed schedule now and +then." + +Rosemary enjoyed this ride and the others that followed in quick +succession. Doctor Hugh, unknown to her, was realizing that every +one had been expecting too much of the oldest daughter of the +house, had looked to her, in fact, to grow up in one summer. + +"Poor little kid!" thought the doctor one morning, as he allowed +Rosemary to take the wheel of the car on a level stretch of clear +road and the color came into her face from the excitement and +delight. "Poor little kid, we've been expecting her to have the +patience and wisdom and experience Mother has. She's only twelve +years old and we ask her to act like a woman. She's bound to make +mistakes, but she won't make the same one twice--I'll bank on that. +Temper and will, rightly directed, make for strength, and Rosemary +will be as lovely within some day as she is to the eye--and my +sister is going to be a beauty, or I miss my guess." + +Aloud he said, "Watch the road, Rosemary. Never mind what is behind +you, watch the road ahead." + +Coming in at noon from one of these rides with Doctor Hugh, Rosemary +found a small box, wrapped in white tissue paper and tied with pink +string, at her plate. + +"It looks like a jeweler's box," she said jokingly as she opened it. +"Why it is!" she added in surprise. + +Sarah and Shirley crowded around her as she opened it. A little +gold "friendship" circle pin, set with a single turquoise, lay on a +bed of blue cotton. + +"How perfectly lovely!" cried Rosemary. "Is it mine?" + +"Of course it is," said Sarah. "Jack and Shirley and I went to Mr. +Evans and bought it for you. Do you like it?" + +"Why it's darling," the enthusiastic Rosemary assured her. "I never +saw a prettier pin. Look, Hugh, look Aunt Trudy," she said eagerly, +holding out the pin to them as they came in from the hall. + +"Why don't you ask where we got the money to buy it?" suggested +Sarah and at that Doctor Hugh shouted with laughter. + +"You'll be the death of me yet, Sarah," he protested. "Sit down, +people, do, and we'll begin luncheon while Sarah reveals her dark +secret." + +"'Tisn't a secret," announced Sarah with dignity. "Hugh said we +might take the ring-fund money, Rosemary, and buy you something nice +with it, and if we saw anything we thought you'd like, to tell him, +and he'd give us as much more money as we needed. Then Aunt Trudy +said she wanted to put some money with the ring-fund money, and so +did Winnie and so did Jack, so everybody did. Oh, yes, Hugh did, +too. And we saw this pin and Shirley and I thought it would be nice +because it had the turquoise in it like Aunt Trudy's ring, and Jack +said it was a 'friendship circle' and that meant we were all friends +of yours. So we bought it and it was seven dollars and a half," +concluded Sarah who was nothing if not thorough. + +"It's just beautiful," said Rosemary, with an April face of smiles +and tears. "I'll always keep it and love you all for thinking so +much of me." + +She had wondered several times about the ring money, but the doctor +had made no motion to give her back the bank. Neither had he +mentioned returning the money again. Rosemary supposed that he would +bring the subject up some time, but until he did she was content to +forget about it. She did not know till weeks afterward that it was +Jack Welles who had dissuaded the doctor from his plan to have the +"fund" returned to those who had paid it. + +"Rosemary earned the money fairly and squarely," he argued. "She +earned it by the hardest kind of work and it seems mean to make her +feel cheap. Those women were paying for service and they got it, +and they don't think any the less of Rosemary, either, if Aunt Trudy +does moan along about 'degrading' the family. You're forever +preaching that there is no disgrace in any kind of honest work, +Hugh--" + +"Oh, quit, I'm licked!" surrendered the doctor, laughing. "I won't +mention the money to Rosemary, Jack. Though when I think of that +child spending long, hot afternoons amusing cranky kids for +pay--Still, it's pluck like that that makes the backbone of our +country. What do you say if we take this money and buy her some +little personal gimcrack? Girls like things to wear, I've always +heard." + +So Jack gained his point and the pretty pin was the result. + +The days of vacation, "like the hairs of our heads" as Jack +observed, were numbered now and the week before school was to open, +Doctor Hugh made a flying trip to the sanatorium to see the little +mother. + +"You wouldn't know her, girls!" he told the three sisters, when he +returned. "Her cheeks are actually a bit pink and though she is +still awfully thin, her eyes are clear and bright. If three months +can do her that much good, a year will set her on her feet. She says +she lives on your letters, and you mustn't let a week go past +without writing. Rosemary must be a good censor, for Mother doesn't +seem to worry about the house at all; I told her we were pulling +together famously." + +"Well, we are," said Rosemary contentedly. "I wish you'd look at +Sarah, though, Hugh." + +"I am looking at her," said the doctor. "She seems to have torn her +dress." + +"That's the one decent dress she has," responded Rosemary severely, +"and now she hasn't a single thing to wear to school Monday." + +"What does Mother do when you need clothes?" asked Doctor Hugh +helplessly. "I suppose you'll all need dresses for school, won't +you?" + +"Mother has Miss Henry come and sew the first week in September," +said Rosemary, "but Aunt Trudy says the sanatorium is expensive and +she thinks we ought to try and cut down living expenses." + +"I think we can still afford some new frocks," replied her brother, +smiling. "Ask Aunt Trudy to engage Miss Henry, Rosemary, and to get +her whatever she needs to outfit you sensibly for school. You'll +have to remind me about shoes and hats and dresses, you know; an old +bachelor isn't expected to notice when these things wear shabby." + +Miss Henry came and sewed a week, making new dresses and contriving +and turning to make the best of several old ones. Monday morning, +when school opened, the three Willis girls started off brave in new +ginghams and Doctor Hugh assured them that he was proud of them. + +"I wish I was in high school," said Rosemary wistfully, as Jack +Welles joined them at the first corner. + +"Two more years, and you will be," he consoled her. "I'll be a +senior then, and I'll see that no one steps on you, Rosemary." + +"Oh, nobody will," said Rosemary confidently. + +And indeed she looked quite capable of taking care of herself. There +was little of dependency about Rosemary and her lovely soft eyes +were balanced by the firm white chin. "She is easily hurt, but her +pride helps her to hide that," Winnie was fond of saying, "and don't +be after forgetting that there's red in her hair, under the gold!" + +The Eastshore school was a splendid type of the modern school, +housing in one building the primary, grammar and high school +grades. Built on the extreme edge of the town, it faced an acre +play-ground, evenly divided among the three schools. Principals and +teachers were the best obtainable and indeed the State Board of +education was fond of using Eastshore school as a model for others +to follow. Mrs. Willis had often declared that she would never have +sent her son to boarding school had the public school then been as +excellent as that which Rosemary and her sisters attended. + +This morning Rosemary was to enter the seventh grade in the grammar +school, Sarah would be in the fourth primary and Shirley, having +"graduated" from the kindergarten the year before, would attain the +dignity of a seat in the first grade. Separating at the broad door, +they were swept into the different streams that carried them up +different stairways and into different classrooms and it was noon +before they saw each other again. Few of the pupils went home to +lunch and a large, light airy room on the third floor was set aside +for their use as a lunch room. A corner table was reserved for +teachers and here a small group usually gathered not only to eat and +exchange comment, but to keep an eye on the lunchers and subdue the +noise when it rose to a shout. The high school students had their +own lunch room, but the grammar and primary grades shared a room +together. + +"Well, what kind of people are in your room?" demanded Sarah, as she +and Shirley met Rosemary at the little corner table the latter had +secured and held for them. Rosemary had spread out the lunch Winnie +had put up for them, and Shirley was already beginning on a +sandwich. + +"Oh, I like the girl who sits in front of me ever so much," returned +Rosemary, cutting an apple into quarters for Shirley. "Her name is +Elsie Stevens and they haven't lived in Eastshore long. Last year +she went to the Port Reading school. Elsie Mears sits in back of me; +she wasn't promoted. And Nina Edmonds is across the aisle." + +"I don't think much of our teacher," announced Sarah, with +deplorable frankness. "She doesn't look very bright and she says she +is afraid of snakes." + +"Well so am I," declared Rosemary. "I don't think any one is very +bright who isn't." + +"That's because you don't know anything about snakes," said Sarah, +salting a boiled egg hurriedly. "Snakes are the best friends the +farmer has." + +"My teacher's name is Miss Farmer," chirped Shirley sunnily. "And +we have pink and red and blue crayons to draw on the blackboard +with." + +"Take another sandwich, darling," Rosemary urged her. "You're sure +you won't get tired this afternoon? You went home at noon every day +last year, you know." + +"Yes, but I'm six now," Shirley reminded her sister. "Will we have +home work in our room, Rosemary?" + +It was one of Shirley's ambitions to have "home work" to do, and she +longed to take a book home at night as Rosemary and Sarah did. + +"I don't know--I shouldn't think so," answered Rosemary absently. +"Sarah, Nina Edmonds wears her hair pinned up and no hair-ribbon." + +"Well she looks crazy anyway, so what difference does it make?" was +Sarah's comment on this news. "You can't go without a hair-ribbon, +Rosemary, because your hair will all be in your eyes. Hugh said Nina +was trying to be grown up and I guess she is." + +But that night Rosemary spent half an hour before her mirror, trying +to coax her bobbed curls into a knot like Nina Edmonds'. Rosemary's +hair was growing very fast and she had promised Doctor Hugh not to +have it cut again. Just now it was an awkward length, but its +curliness redeemed even that. Nina's straight blond locks were +strained into a tortuous knot at the nape of her neck, for she, too, +had decided not to bob her hair again. It was the absence of +hair-ribbon that particularly appealed to Rosemary, for she had +"spells" as Winnie called them, of wishing to appear grown up. At +other times she was satisfied to be what Doctor Hugh insisted she +should be content to be for several more years, "just a little +girl." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +TOO MUCH NATURAL HISTORY + + +When the girls of the Eastshore school reached the seventh grade, +they entered the cooking class. The white aprons and caps were much +coveted and whatever other study might be neglected, each girl +usually put her best into the weekly cooking lesson. There was a +small stove for each and every young cook was responsible for the +order and cleanliness in which her pots and pans and utensils were +kept. Woe betide her, if Miss Parsons, the teacher, found an +unwashed pan thrust under the sink in a moment of hurry. + +"She's very particular," reported Rosemary, the evening after her +first lesson in cooking. "She made Nina Edmonds take off her rings +and she scolded Elsie Mears because she put her hands up to her hair +just once, to tuck it back under her cap." + +"And right she is," announced Winnie from the dining-room where she +was setting the table for breakfast. "A cook has got no business +wearing rings, and I can't abide a girl who is always fussing with +her hair when she is handling food." + +"Winnie's a member of the sanitary squad," put in Doctor Hugh, +smiling behind his newspaper. It was one of the rare times when he +had an evening at home. + +"Nina Edmonds makes me sick!" said Sarah vehemently. "She screamed +when I showed her a darling little spotted snake I found to-day." + +Sarah and Shirley had brought out the box of dominoes and were +playing in the center of the floor. No amount of persuasion had ever +induced them to play on a table. + +"Don't talk about snakes, dearie," pleaded Aunt Trudy, shuddering +over her knitting. "They are such ugly, horrid squirmy things." + +"Oh, no they're not Aunt Trudy," said Sarah earnestly. "That's +because you're not used to them. Let me show you the one I've got in +my pocket--" + +To her aunt's horror, Sarah unbuttoned the pocket of her middy +blouse and pulled out a little dangling dark object. + +"Hugh!" shrieked Aunt Trudy, knocking over her chair as she rose +hastily. "Hugh make her stop! Ow! Rosemary, Winnie, take that awful +thing away, quick!" + +In spite of her sympathy for Aunt Trudy who was white to the lips +with fright, Rosemary wanted to laugh, as Sarah, not realizing that +her aunt was really in terror, and intent only on winning +understanding for her snake, continued to advance on the unhappy +lady, the spotted snake dangling from her hand. + +"Sarah!" Doctor Hugh managed to halt the march of his determined +small sister. "Sarah, take that snake away at once. At once, do you +hear me? Aunt Trudy is afraid of snakes." + +"Well, she wouldn't be, if she knew about 'em," insisted Sarah. "I +only want to show her." + +"You can't show her--lots of people are frightened by the sight of +snakes," replied the doctor. "Take your snake out of the room this +minute." + +Still Sarah lingered. + +"It's dead," she offered humbly. "A dead snake won't hurt Aunt Trudy +will it?" + +Doctor Hugh caught Rosemary's eye, and they went off into peals of +laughter while poor Aunt Trudy wept and Shirley implored Rosemary to +tell her what was "funny." + +"Take your snake away and bury it, Sarah," said the doctor, when he +could speak. + +"And don't try to educate your relatives and friends to recognize +the virtues of the reptile family; a person either likes snakes or +can't abide 'em, and you and Aunt Trudy will never agree on that +subject." + +"I think you ought to forbid her to ever touch one, or carry one +around with her," said Aunt Trudy when Sarah had gone out of the +room sorrowfully to borrow a match box from Winnie to serve as a +snake-coffin. "The idea of having a snake in one's pocket!" + +"You can't separate Sarah and animals," returned Sarah's brother +with conviction. "No use trying, Aunt Trudy. All this summer she was +crazy on the subject of rabbits and cats and now she seems to have +switched to snakes. About all we can do is to keep her within +reasonable bounds and trust to luck that before the winter is over +she will take up canary birds or something equally pleasing." + +Aunt Trudy did not know Sarah's teacher, Miss Ames, but if she had +they would have found a common bond of sympathy and interest in +their horror of snakes and other unpleasant forms of animal life to +which Sarah was devoted. Eleanor Ames was a nervous young woman and +she found it distinctly trying to be obliged to divide the +interests of her class with a shoe-box of baby mice, or to soothe +the ruffled feelings of timid little girls who had seen the bright +eyes and wriggling slim body of a live snake peeping out of Sarah +Willis' coat in the cloak room. Punishment seemed to have no effect +on the culprit who stayed after school and cleaned blackboards with +disconcerting cheerfulness and Miss Ames was considering the +advisability of sending Sarah home with a note asking the +co-operation of Doctor Hugh's authority, when something happened +that took the matter out of her hands. + +Late in October, one frosty morning on her way to school, Sarah made +what was to her a great and lucky discovery. Shirley and Rosemary +had gone on ahead of her, but Winnie had called her back to pick up +the clothes she had strewn about her room with her customary +careless abandon. Since the opening of school, Aunt Trudy had +patiently made beds and put the rooms in order and she would never +mention to her favorite Sarah a little matter like slippers in the +middle of the rug, bath-robe flung down on the bed and every +separate bureau drawer wide open and yawning. This morning Aunt +Trudy was going to the city to shop, and the task of bed-making +would devolve upon Winnie who had no intention of having her duty +complicated by others' neglect. A hasty glance into the room shared +by Sarah and Shirley, and Winnie had summoned the former, in no +uncertain voice, to "come up here and put your clothes away this +instant." Sarah, complaining that she would certainly be late for +school, had obeyed and if she had hurried could easily have reached +the school before the assembly bell rang. + +But crossing a vacant lot, Sarah came upon that which could make her +forget school and time. A faint rustle under the dead leaves caught +her quick ear and, stooping down, she uncovered a little snake, +languid from the cold. Perhaps he had been on his way to winter +quarters and the frost had caught him unaware. Anyway, he was numb +and Sarah, murmuring affectionate nothings to him, slipped him into +her pocket and then spent a valuable ten minutes poking about among +the leaves in the hopes of discovering another, believing implicitly +that snakes "always go in pairs." However, if the snake had a +companion, diligent search failed to uncover it and Sarah was forced +to take her reluctant way to school with only one snake to comfort +and love. While she was still some distance from the gate she heard +the bell ring, and as she reasoned, she was late then, so why should +she hurry when it would not save her a tardy mark? Morning exercises +were in progress in the auditorium when Sarah entered the building, +and she had her class room to herself. She hung up her hat and coat +and took another peep at the snake. He seemed to be feeling better, +but some fresh wave of sympathy led her to regret the necessity for +leaving him to spend a lonely morning in the cloak room. With Sarah +to think was to act, and she popped the snake into the pocket of her +middy blouse, pinning it with a safety pin in lieu of a button and +button hole. When the class returned from the auditorium, she was +sitting sedately in her seat and appeared only mildly interested in +the lecture on tardiness which followed. + +"We'll have the papers distributed on which you worked during the +last drawing lesson," announced Miss Ames unexpectedly. "The drawing +supervisor will be around next week and we are a lesson or two late, +here in our room. Instead of spelling this morning, I'll have you +paint the leaves you drew. George Wright, you distribute the papers +and Sarah Willis, you know where the paint boxes are." + +Sarah was monitor for the drawing materials and she went up and down +the aisles, giving each pupil a small paint box and two brushes, +while George Wright gave out the papers on which the pencil sketches +of autumn leaves had been drawn. + +The warmth of the pocket evidently revived the chilled snake and, as +Sarah was bending over the desk of Annabel Warde, a dainty little +girl about her own age, a lithe green body shot from out Sarah's +blouse, wriggled across the desk and dropped to the floor. The +safety pin had left too large a loop-hole. + +"A snake!" screamed Annabel, flinging her box of paints in one +direction and the brushes Sarah had just given her, in the other. "I +saw it! I saw it! Miss Ames, I saw a snake, and it's right here in +this room. It'll bite us, I know it will and we'll die! Catch it, +somebody, Oh, please hurry!" + +Jumping up and down and shrieking, Annabel was beside herself with +fright. Several other little girls began to scream, too, and the +boys rushed around the room shouting that they would catch it and +kill it, whatever "it" might be. None of them thought that Annabel +had really seen a snake. + +"Don't hurt it!" warned Sarah, down on her hands and knees and +hunting under the desks for her lost pet. "This kind of snake won't +bite any one, and you mustn't hurt it. I want to keep it all winter +and watch it grow." + +Miss Ames was trying to calm Annabel who persisted in sitting on top +of her desk with her feet curled under her, apparently under the +delusion that a snake always attacks the ankles first, when George +Wright whooped triumphantly. + +"I see it--gee, it really is a snake!" he shouted. "Look out, Peter, +let me shy this paper-weight at him--there, I'll bet that mashed him +into jelly!" + +There was a crash as the heavy paper-weight struck the floor and +then a small whirlwind landed on the astonished George. + +"How dare you try to kill my snake!" panted Sarah, crying with rage. +"He never did anything to you! You're a great, cruel, cowardly boy, +that's what you are!" + +She was pummeling George unmercifully and he retaliated with +interest, forgetting in the excitement and confusion that his +antagonist was a girl. But while snakes might temporarily cow Miss +Ames, a fight in her room was a situation she knew how to deal +with. + +"George! Sarah!" she descended upon the combatants and pulled them +apart with no gentle hand. "I'm ashamed of you! What can you be +thinking of! George, you must know better than to strike a girl, and +Sarah, what would your mother say if she knew you were fighting with +a boy? Why I never heard of such a thing--never!" and Miss Ames +looked as though she never had. + +Sarah darted over to the space behind the atlas table where George +had thrown the paper weight. She lifted the glass cube and picked up +the little mashed object under it. + +"He's killed it!" she sobbed. "He went and killed my little snake!" + +Miss Ames lost her patience which is not to be wondered at, +considering the trying half hour she had endured. + +"Sarah Willis you march down to the principal's office," she said +severely. "And throw that disgusting object in the trash can on your +way down. Don't you ever bring another snake, alive or dead, into +this room as long as I am the teacher. I want you to tell Mr. Oliver +exactly what has occurred here this morning and be sure you explain +to him that you fought George simply because he killed that wretched +reptile." + +Sarah's heart beat uncomfortably fast as she walked down the broad +stone steps to the first floor where the principal's office was. +Her class room was on the third floor. On the second floor she +stopped and wrapped the dead snake in her handkerchief--for a +wonder she had one--and when she reached the first floor she +studied the pictures hung in the corridor with minutest care. +For once in her short life Sarah was anxious to have time to +stand still. Usually exasperatingly indifferent to rebuke or +reproval, Miss Ames had hit upon the one punishment that Sarah +could be fairly said to dread--an interview with the principal. + +She approached the glass door marked "office" slowly. The door was +closed. All the stories she had ever heard of the boys who had been +"sent to the office," flashed through her mind. Few girls were ever +thus punished and it was a fourth grade tradition that a girl bad +enough to need an interview with the principal was always expelled. +Sarah wondered what her brother would say if she came home and said +she was expelled. Rosemary would feel the disgrace keenly--no one in +the Willis family had even been expelled from school, Sarah was +quite sure. + +Did you knock, or did you go right in? Was the principal always +there? Perhaps he might be away for the day--Sarah devoutly hoped he +would be. She shut her eyes tightly, took a firmer grip on the +handkerchief containing the dead snake, and knocked on the glass +panel. + +"Come in," called a pleasant voice, a woman's voice. + +Sarah opened the door and stepped in. She saw a large, sunny room +with a desk in the center, and a smaller desk over by the window +where a young woman was typing busily. + +"Mr. Oliver isn't in, is he?" said Sarah speaking at a gallop. A +swift glance had shown her that the young woman was the only person +in the room. + +"Just go right into the next office, and you'll find him," said Mr. +Oliver's secretary, smiling. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +MR. OLIVER AND SARAH + + +The door into the next office stood open. Sarah walked in, that is, +she stepped just inside the doorway and stood there as though glued +to the floor. The thin, gray-haired man who was stooping over the +flat-topped desk, looking at a card file, glanced up at her and +smiled. This was the principal, Mr. Oliver. + +"Good morning," he said. "Did you wish to see me?" + +"No-o," stammered Sarah, "I didn't. But Miss Ames sent me." + +Mr. Oliver sat down and pointed to a chair drawn up beside the desk. + +"Suppose you come and sit down and tell me all about it," he +suggested. + +His secretary in the next room stepped over and closed the +connecting door noiselessly as Sarah seated herself on the edge of +the chair and stared unhappily at the floor. + +"If you're in Miss Ames' room, you are a fourth grader," said Mr. +Oliver pleasantly. "What is your name?" + +"Sarah," the small girl whispered, "Sarah Willis." + +"Oh, yes--then you're a sister of Doctor Willis," said the +principal. "And I know Rosemary, too. Isn't there another sister--a +little light-haired girl in one of the grades?" + +"That's Shirley," answered Sarah, forgetting her errand for an +instant and looking Mr. Oliver in the face for the first time. +"She's in the first grade." + +"Well, Sarah, what have you to tell me?" said the principal quietly. +"Why did Miss Ames send you to me?" + +"I don't know where to begin," complained Sarah forlornly. + +"Don't be afraid--there is nothing to be afraid of," said Mr. +Oliver. "Just tell me everything that has happened and I promise to +listen to you and believe you." + +Sarah, as Doctor Hugh had discovered, was morally not very brave. +She was afraid of people and though the Willis will was as strong in +her as in any of the others, she would not come out openly and +demand her way. Rather Sarah would do as she pleased and shirk the +consequences wherever possible. The doctor had had several little +talks with her on this subject of fear and he was gradually teaching +her to acknowledge her mistakes and wrong doings and patiently +explaining at every opportunity the rules of fair play. + +"It is both cowardly and contemptible to let someone else be blamed +for what you have done," he said once to her. "I understand that you +are not really a coward, Sarah--you have to fight an extra enemy +called Fear. So when you do wrong and see a chance to escape blame +and punishment and refuse to wriggle out, you are really braver than +the girl who isn't afraid to say she did it. And every time you +conquer Fear, Sarah, you've made the next conquest easier. You'll +find that is so." + +So this morning, in the principal's office, Sarah remembered what +Doctor Hugh had said. She wanted dreadfully to retreat into one of +her obstinate, sulky silences, and refuse to answer questions. She +was afraid--afraid of a severe scolding and the disgrace of a public +expulsion. Her knees were wobbling, but she slipped to her feet and +stood facing Mr. Oliver bravely. + +"If you're going to expel me," she said clearly, "tell Hilda French +I wanted her to have my pencil box." + +And then the tears came. + +She cried and cried and as she wept she told the story and though +drawings of leaves and paint boxes and middy blouse pockets and +snakes and paper weights seemed to be hopelessly mixed in her +sobbing conversation, Mr. Oliver, in some miraculous fashion, pieced +together the disconnected bits and declared that he understood +perfectly. He loaned Sarah his extra clean handkerchief on which to +dry her eyes, her own handkerchief being obviously employed, for she +had laid the pathetic remains of the dead snake on his desk, and +when she was more quiet he told her kindly that there was no +question of expulsion. + +"I don't know where you ever got such an idea," he said, smiling a +little, and he looked so friendly and not at all angry, that Sarah +even managed a faint, watery smile in response. "Boys and girls are +never expelled from school except for very serious reasons. You've +made a little mistake, that's all and I'll show you where you were +wrong in just a minute. Sometimes we want our own way so much, we +can't see how we can be wrong." + +Sarah blushed a little, but nodded honestly. + +"Well, you see, as soon as you found out that Miss Ames didn't like +snakes in her class room, you should have stopped right there," said +Mr. Oliver decidedly. "You disobeyed Miss Ames and all this trouble +came from that. If she said her class room was no place for snakes +and mice--you brought mice one day, didn't you?--that should have +settled the question for you." + +"But how will the children ever learn about snakes?" asked Sarah +earnestly. + +"They'll learn, if they are interested," answered Mr. Oliver. "You +can't force anyone to adopt your likes and dislikes, you know, +Sarah. Rosemary may like to sew and you may say you 'hate' to touch +a needle, but do you make yourself into an ardent needlewoman, +simply because Rosemary enjoys sewing? Don't you see? I'm afraid +you'll have to give Miss Ames and me your promise that you will not +bring any more snakes, alive or dead, or any other animal to +school." + +Sarah promised slowly, her eyes on the dead snake. + +"He was such a lovely specimen," she mourned. "I s'pose maybe he was +valuable." + +"I tell you what to do, Sarah," said Mr. Oliver quickly. "You don't +know Mr. Martin, do you? He teaches biology in the high school and +I must take you up to his room some day and let you see the +'specimens' he has. He has a menagerie that fills one side of a +large room. Whenever you find something you can't resist, you bring +it here to me in the office and I'll turn it over to Mr. Martin. In +that way your class room won't be upset and Mr. Martin will likely +gain some valuable additions to his collection. Don't you think that +is a good plan?" + +Sarah said she thought it was, and then, as the noon bell rang +throughout the building, Mr. Oliver shook hands with her and told +her that if she ever needed advice or help to come directly to him. +He promised, too, to speak to Miss Ames and tell her that no more +snakes or other lively "specimens" would be brought into her room by +Sarah. He opened the door for her and she was free. + +She sped along the corridors, her snake in her hand again, but it +was a far happier Sarah than the little girl who had walked slowly +through them an hour and a half ago. Up to the lunch room dashed +this Sarah, and startled Rosemary who was opening the lunch box at +their corner table by her demand, "I have to bury a snake--will you +come help me?" + +Of course she had to tell what had happened that morning, and +Rosemary and Shirley agreed that Mr. Oliver was "just as nice as +nice could be." + +"Though I do hope, Sarah, this will teach you to let snakes alone," +said Rosemary in the elder-sister tone she rarely used. "You +frightened Aunt Trudy into fits and now you've upset a whole class. +No, don't show me that ugly little snake--I'm sorry he is dead +because you are, but I don't want to see him; I couldn't eat a bit +of lunch. Come on, and eat your sandwiches and then we will go down +and bury him somewhere on the play-ground." + +That night at dinner Rosemary had an announcement to make. Her eyes +shining like stars and her face glowing, she declared that she had +been appointed to plan and serve the dinner to be given by the +grammar school teachers for the Institute visitors. + +"Institute is the second week in November," bubbled Rosemary, "and +there will be about ten visiting teachers from the towns within +twenty-five miles. Miss Parsons says I'm the best cook in the class +though Bessie Kent is older than I am and Fannie Mears had cooking +last year." + +"But can you cook a dinner?" asked Doctor Hugh. "Seems to me that's +a pretty large order for a class of young girls and with visitors +expected, too." + +"Oh, we know just what to do," said Rosemary confidently. "I have to +make out the menu and submit it to Miss Parsons by Friday of this +week. And then I have to choose the girls I want to help me cook, +and those to set and wait on the tables--this year we're going to +have small tables instead of one large one. And we girls are to do +every bit of the work ourselves!" + +Aunt Trudy and Winnie beamed on Rosemary, sure that she would do +well whatever she undertook, while Sarah demanded to know who the +waitresses were to be. + +"Well, Nina Edmonds for one," said Rosemary and the doctor frowned +involuntarily. Although Nina seldom came to the house and he knew +that Rosemary saw little of her outside of school, he could not help +but see that her influence continued to be remarkably strong. + +"Nina's an awful chump," declared Sarah who cordially disliked her +and was in turn, disliked by Nina. + +"She is not!" flared Rosemary. "And, Aunt Trudy she has the +loveliest blue velvet dress. She says she can wear it under her +apron and then, after dinner when we take our aprons off, she will +look all right. Couldn't I wear my new brown velvet that night?" + +"Why I don't know," replied Aunt Trudy uncertainly. "I don't think +it would be very suitable, dear. What do you think, Hugh?" + +"Don't know anything about clothes," he said shortly. + +"You only want to wear it because Nina Edmonds is going to wear a +velvet dress," commented Sarah shrewdly. + +"It will be awfully hot," said Shirley with unexpected wisdom. + +"Well, I'm going to wear it, if Aunt Trudy doesn't say not to," +announced Rosemary, her chin in the air. "Though I'd give anything +if I had some high heeled pumps to make me look taller. Honestly, +Hugh, I'm about the only girl in our class who doesn't wear 'em." + +He smiled at her pleasantly, but there was no yielding in his voice. + +"When you're sixteen, if you still want them, I'll have nothing to +say," he said. "Mother has said you are not to wear them until then, +you know, and if I had my way no woman, sixteen or sixty, should +teeter about in silly anguish. I can't help it if the girls are +skipping five years, Rosemary; as I've often reminded you, the +calendar says you are still a little girl." + +Rosemary pouted a little, but she did not dare argue, the subject of +high heeled shoes having been long one of her secret sorrows. She +knew from experience that her brother would never consent to the +purchase of a pair and though she mentioned them from time to time, +it was without hope of converting him to her opinion. + +She was in her room that night, collecting her cooking notes and +recipes, in preparation for making out the important menu, when +Winnie peeped in. The brown velvet dress lay on Rosemary's bed where +she had spread it, the better to admire its charms. It was a new +frock and so far she had worn it only twice. Simply made, with a +square neck and a touch of ivory colored lace in the form of a +vestee and at the bottom of the sleeves, it was the most becoming +dress Rosemary had ever had. She knew it, too. + +"There's just one thing I want to say to you, Rosemary," announced +Winnie earnestly, "and that's this: you have got to make up your +mind which is the more important--this dinner or your dress. Because +cooking a good dinner takes all the brains a cook has--I ought to +know. You can't be thinking about whether you're going to get a +spot on your frock or whether the last hook is caught or left open. +And if you're too warm, as you will be in a velvet dress in that hot +kitchen and you all excited anyway, or if your feet hurt you, you're +not going to be able to give your attention to what you are cooking. +And I may not know much about teachers, but I imagine they're like +anybody else--when they're hungry, a brown velvet dress won't make +up to them for soggy potatoes and underdone meat. Miss Parsons is +banking on you--likely as not she's told the teachers you're the +best cook in the class, and if you serve up a poor dinner, do you +suppose looking at your velvet dress is going to make her glad she +trusted you? Of course you can suit yourself, and I'm not trying to +influence you, because you're old enough to--" + +Rosemary rushed at her and hugged her warmly. + +"You're a dear, darling Winnie!" she cried affectionately. "I'll +stop thinking about what I'm going to wear this minute, and go to +work on what I'm going to cook. Miss Parsons hates fussy clothes, +anyway, and I'll wear my white linen under my apron and be +comfortable. Hugh thinks I'm silly to wear the velvet, I know he +does." + +"The velvet will keep," said Winnie tersely, "and I'll do up your +white linen for you so that it will look like new." + +But, left alone, Rosemary could not resist trying on the brown +frock. She pinned her hair high, pushing it into a tower-effect with +the aid of combs, and added a long string of red beads that almost +touched the floor. + +"I look so nice this way," she told the reflection in the glass, +naïvely. "Why isn't it ever sensible to wear your best clothes when +you expect to be busy?" + +And that is a question older folk than Rosemary have asked, but, +unlike her, they have learned the answer. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE INSTITUTE DINNER + + +Rosemary early encountered the usual difficulties that beset the +leader of any enterprise. The girls she selected to act as cooks +wept because they were not appointed waitresses and those tolled off +to serve at the tables were affronted because they had not been +elected to cook. + +"You're the general, Rosemary," said Miss Parsons, when rumors of +dissatisfaction reached her. "Give your orders and see that they are +obeyed. You are in absolute charge of this dinner and no one is to +be allowed to dictate to you." + +The Willis will and the Willis chin were good possessions to have in +this crisis and gradually Rosemary managed to achieve something +approaching harmony among her staff. Only Fannie Mears resolutely +refused to be won over. + +"I'm just as good a cook as you are," she said to Rosemary one +afternoon, "and anyway, if I'm not, cooking isn't the most important +thing in school." (Fannie, you see, wasn't exactly logical.) "I'll +serve as a waitress," she went on "because I have a good deal of +class feeling and I don't want the other grades to say we made a +failure of our dinner. But I want you to know that I don't like it +one single bit and I think you are anything but fair." + +Despite such small troubles, Rosemary enjoyed her responsibility and +as she was free from nervousness and had faith in her skill and +ability, the prospective dinner, under her planning, took shape +nicely and gave every evidence of being a success. Nina Edmonds was +in charge of the tables and waitresses and as she really knew how to +lay the service correctly and had clever ideas for decorating, +Rosemary was sure the dining room would present an attractive +appearance. + +She went home early the day the dinner was to be given, to dress, +and found everything carefully arranged on her bed by Winnie who had +devoted half a day to the laundering of the white frock and cleaning +the white shoes. There was no school Institute Day, but Rosemary, of +course, had been busy all day, preparing for the dinner to follow +the close of the meetings. + +"You look like my girl," said Doctor Hugh, kissing her when she came +down to the hall and found him waiting. "I thought I'd run you over +to the school--you don't want to get tired out before the evening +has begun, you know. And what time do you think the fireworks will +be over? Do you have to stay after dinner is safely eaten?" + +"No, Miss Parsons has three women who are coming in to clear up for +us," answered Rosemary. "Usually we have to wash our own dishes, +that is, after every cooking lesson; but Miss Parsons said as soon +as the dining room was cleared, we might go, unless we want to +attend the reception in the gym. Jack said he might come and if he +does he'll bring me home." + +"There'll be no if about it," announced the doctor decidedly. "I'll +drop in around half-past nine and bring you home in the car. If I'm +a bit later, you wait for me in the gym and then I'll know where to +find you." + +Aunt Trudy and Winnie and Shirley and Sarah crowded to the door to +watch Rosemary off, in the dear way of loving families who would +send those they love off on always successful expeditions, and as +the doctor helped her into the roadster, Jack Welles came up, still +in football togs, for he had been practising. + +"To-night's the big night, isn't it?" he asked, smiling. "You're +going to stay for the reception, aren't you, Rosemary? And we can +walk home together." + +"Hugh's coming for me in the car," said Rosemary. "I wasn't sure you +were going, Jack." + +"Well I told you I was," retorted Jack. "I thought, living next door +to you, I could save Hugh an extra trip." + +"You come home with us, and we'll save you a walk," suggested the +doctor, touching the starter, and Jack shouted after them that he +would. + +"What made you say that?" demanded Rosemary, flushing with vexation. + +"Why not?" countered her brother. "Jack's a good friend, Rosemary, +isn't he?" + +"Of course he is," said Rosemary warmly, "But, oh, well, you +wouldn't understand, because you're not a girl. He did say he was +going to the reception, but I would much rather ride home with you; +and now he'll know I know he said he was going, and if you hadn't +asked him he might think I wasn't sure he had said so." + +"You may know what you are talking about, but I don't," declared her +bewildered brother. "However, as you wisely observe, I am not a girl +and perhaps that accounts for my dullness. Here we are at the +school, and whatever you do, Rosemary, don't fail to give them +enough. Anything but a sliver of chicken and a cube of potato for a +hungry man, remember." + +Rosemary laughed, and ran up the path to the lighted door. The +corridors were deserted, though the sound of music came from the +auditorium, where the teachers were meeting. Upstairs the kitchen +and the lunch room, which was to serve as dining room, were ablaze +with light and girls in white caps and aprons were rushing about, +giggling excitedly and getting in each other's way. + +"Oh, Rosemary!" Nina Edmonds pounced upon her at once. "Come and see +if the tables don't look pretty. Did you wear your brown velvet?" +she added in a lower tone. + +Rosemary shook her head. + +"White linen," she stated briefly. "I can't bother about clothes +to-night, Nina. I want to put the soup on to re-heat right away." + +Nina insisted that she must see the tables first and they did look +pretty, with a vase of yellow "button" chrysanthemums in the center +of each and yellow ribbons running from the bouquet to the place +cards. + +"Rosemary," Miss Parsons beckoned to her, "I just tasted the soup +and it is delicious, but I think a grain more of salt will improve +it. Just a dash, dear, and if you're afraid of getting too much in, +don't touch it. Everything going all right?" + +"All right," nodded Rosemary, forbearing to mention that Fannie +Mears refused to speak to her and was evidently cherishing a +smoldering resentment that might burst into flame at an awkward +moment. Two of the girls were limping about in high heeled shoes and +these must be shielded from the critical eye and caustic tongue of +the cooking teacher, lest they become temperamental and refuse to +"wait" at all. Assuredly Rosemary had her hands full. + +She went into the kitchen, tasted the soup and salted it carefully. +It was rich and smooth and Rosemary felt that when the time came to +ladle it into the cups she would have every right to be proud of her +ability, for she alone had made the soup, the other girls fearing +the mysterious "curdling" that sometimes spoiled their product. + +Just before serving time, Miss Parsons called her for a whispered +consultation as to the seating of a special guest and when Rosemary +returned to the kitchen, she found the trays of soup cups ready on +the table. While she and two other girls filled them, the teachers +were coming into the dining room and finding their places by means +of the prettily lettered cards. By the time all were seated, seven +young waitresses were filing into the room, bearing in their hands +the trays of steaming soup. + +They made a pretty picture and the guests smiled graciously as the +cups of thick cream soup, each with four delicately browned croutons +swimming on the top, were placed before them. The girls returned to +the kitchen as soon as all were served, for Miss Parsons had +instructed Rosemary to have them help her with the dishes for the +next course instead of waiting around the room for the guests to +finish. + +Rosemary had decided to have a simple, hearty dinner, since the +weather was cold and many of the teachers would have a long ride to +reach their homes that night. So individual chicken pies, baked +potatoes and a corn pudding were to follow the soup, the young cook +having wisely determined to omit any extra frills that would add to +the difficulties of serving. + +"Nobody's touched the soup!" reported Nina Edmonds, who was the +first to return with her tray, when the buzzer under Miss Parson's +chair sounded the signal in the kitchen that it was time to remove +the first course. + +"Nobody touched it!" echoed Rosemary in alarm. "Let me see!" + +She hurried around the table to inspect Nina's tray. Sure enough, +six little cups, still filled with soup, were there. + +"Say, something's the matter with the soup," said Bessie Kent in a +shrill whisper as she came in with her tray. "They didn't eat +it--see, all the cups are full." + +"Did Miss Parsons say anything?" asked Rosemary, staring at the +trays which now surrounded her. "How does she look?" + +"Kind of queer," answered Fannie Mears, breaking her silence. "She +must feel funny, with all those folks sitting and looking at their +soup and not eating it." + +"You hush up!" said Bessie Kent rudely. "There's the buzzer. Come +on, girls, we'd better hustle." + +In a daze Rosemary saw to it that the trays were filled again, but +she took no pride in the beautifully browned pies, the fragrant corn +pudding or the glistening potatoes wrapped in snowy napkins. Her +dinner, she was sure, was ruined. She wanted to run home and cry +where no one would see her, but instead she saw to it that each girl +had what she needed on her tray. Then, when her two assistants were +arranging the forks and plates for the salads, Rosemary slipped over +to the table where she had put the soup kettle and tasted the +contents. + +Salt! The soup was so thick with salt that she choked. Rich and +thick and smooth, what did it matter the texture or flavor, since +only one overpowering taste was present--that of salt. + +"How could it get like that!" puzzled Rosemary as she drank a glass +of water. "I tasted it just before we served it and it was fine. +What on earth must Miss Parsons be thinking of me!" + +Empty plates were carried back to the kitchen next time, and word +reached the young cooks that the pies were "wonderful" or "simply +great"--this last the expressed opinion of Mr. Oliver--and the fruit +salad met with an equally hearty reception. But not even the evident +enthusiastic approval which greeted the delicious ice-cream and cake +and perfect coffee which concluded the dinner, could compensate +Rosemary for her earlier mortification. When the meal was over and +the guests had gone down to the gymnasium for the reception and the +other girls had shed their aprons and followed, Nina too eager to +display the blue velvet frock to wait for Rosemary who insisted +there were several things she had to attend to, then she felt she +might cry a little for the first time in that long evening. + +"Rosemary, my dear child, what is the matter?" Miss Parsons bustled +in, followed by the three elderly women who were to wash the dishes. +"Are you tired out? Was the dinner too much work?" + +"The soup!" choked Rosemary. "Nobody could eat it. And I took such +pains with it." + +"Well, I was sorry afterward that I told you to salt it again," said +Miss Parsons regretfully. "I suppose you were nervous and added too +much. But don't let that grieve you dear. The rest of the dinner was +perfectly delicious and you should hear what people are saying about +you. I want you to come down to the gymnasium now and meet some of +the teachers." + +"Miss Parsons, I didn't over-salt the soup," protested Rosemary +earnestly. "I tasted it before and added just a dash as you told me; +and then I tasted it again, and it was all right. I _know_ I didn't +put in too much salt." + +"Oh, nonsense, Rosemary, you were excited, that's all," said Miss +Parsons briskly. "Any one is likely to make a mistake when she has a +good deal on her mind. Don't give it another thought, and if you +do, just remember it is a warning against the next time. I like to +think that every mistake we make keeps us from running into danger +some other time when the results might be more serious." + +Rosemary followed her teacher down to the gymnasium, but she only +half heard the introductions that followed and the kind comments on +her skill in cooking. She was wondering how she could convince Miss +Parsons that she had never put all that salt into her soup. + +"Why it tasted as though a whole box of salt had just been thrown +into it," said Rosemary to herself, standing near a window to watch +for Doctor Hugh and the car. "I don't care how much any one has on +her mind, no one puts a whole box of salt into a soup kettle!" + +And the voices of a group of girls, going home early, floated up to +her. + +"She says she didn't do it," said one of them, and Rosemary could +not identify the speaker though the tone sounded familiar. "But if +it had been good I'll bet she would have taken all the credit. They +say it was fairly briny, it was so salty!" + +Rosemary flushed scarlet. It wasn't fair! + +"For I didn't, I didn't, I know I didn't!" she declared, sitting +between Doctor Hugh and Jack that night as they sped home in the +car. "I'm just as sure as I can be that I didn't make a mistake--why +I tasted it afterward and it was delicious." + +"Well, if you didn't over-salt it, who did?" asked Jack practically. + +"I don't know," admitted Rosemary. "I could cry when I think of it." + +"I wouldn't do that," said her brother, turning in at their +driveway. "How about making us a chicken pie for Sunday dinner, +Rosemary, and asking Jack over to sample it?" + +"I'll make it," agreed Rosemary, "but just the same I want to know +who salted my soup." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +SHIRLEY IN MISCHIEF + + +The chicken pie was a wonderful success, so Doctor Hugh and Jack +assured Rosemary at the Sunday dinner, but the mystery of the +over-salted soup seemed destined to remain unsolved. Miss Parsons +never mentioned it again and Rosemary herself might have forgotten +it more readily except for several ill-natured references by Fannie +Mears whenever the Institute dinner was spoken of. Fannie and +Rosemary did not get along very well together and this was, in one +way, odd, because Fannie and Nina Edmonds were apparently most +congenial. They usually ate their lunches together, but Rosemary +chose to be with Sarah and Shirley and their corner table was +usually crowded with younger girls who adored Rosemary openly. + +The brief Thanksgiving holidays--with no school from Thursday to +Monday--brought the Willis family a more sincere appreciation of +their blessings than ever before. A short note from the little +mother lay beside each plate on Thanksgiving Day morning, and Winnie +kept one hand on hers tucked in her apron pocket even when she +served the golden brown waffles. When Aunt Trudy asked who would go +to church with her, Doctor Hugh answered for them all. + +"We'll please Mother," he said simply, and after the service he +packed the three girls into the little roadster and carried them off +for a long cold ride that gave them famous appetites for Winnie's +dinner. + +Doctor Hugh's practice was growing to include a wide radius of +countryside and the "young doctor" was gaining a name as one never +"too busy" to answer a country call. Doctor Jordan had prolonged his +vacation till late in October and then had returned to Eastshore +just long enough to sell his practice, office and instruments to his +young colleague and set off on a leisurely trip to California, a +luxury well earned after years of sacrificing service. Doctor Hugh +still retained the Jordan office, while seeing an increasing number +of patients at his home within fixed hours. + +His office had a great attraction for Shirley, and Rosemary had +discovered her one afternoon standing on a chair and calmly smelling +the rows of bottles that stood on the cabinet shelf, one after the +other. The shining instruments, in their glass racks, had a +fascination all their own for the small girl and she declared that +she intended to be a doctor when she grew up. + +"All right, and I'll take you into practice with me," Doctor Hugh +promised, having surprised her in a hurried investigation of his +medicine case. "But leave all these things alone, until you are +ready to study medicine. Don't come in the office when I'm not here, +Shirley; you'll hurt yourself some day, if you are not careful." + +But Shirley was possessed with the idea that she would like to be a +doctor. She begged and carefully treasured all the empty bottles and +pill boxes she could gather; she demanded a knife for "operations" +and was highly indignant when Winnie gave her a pair of blunt +scissors and told her they would have to do; usually tender-hearted, +she drew the wrath of Sarah by declaring that she would like to cut +off a rabbit's leg, "just like a doctor." + +"I think you're a cruel, cold-blooded girl!" stormed Sarah. "Cut off +a rabbit's foot indeed! Why don't you cut off your own foot and see +how it feels?" + +"Oh, Shirley just says that," Rosemary tried to soothe her outraged +sister. "She wouldn't hurt a rabbit any more than you would, Sarah. +You know that. But you've gone without dessert twice for meddling +with Hugh's things, Shirley, and you did promise to remember after +the last time, you know." + +Shirley, deprived of pudding and charlotte, was grieved and +penitent, but her memory was resilient and the day after +Thanksgiving temptation assailed her again. Winnie had gone to carry +a pie to an old neighbor several blocks away, Sarah was out playing +with a school chum and Rosemary and Aunt Trudy were deep in the +discussion of new curtains for the former's room. Shirley was left +to amuse herself and her small feet carried her to the empty office. + +"Jennie needs an operation," whispered Shirley, her dancing eyes +roving toward the desk. + +As luck would have it, a curved scalpel lay there in plain view. +Ordinarily it would have been locked up safely, but Doctor Hugh, +hurriedly selecting his choice of instruments that morning, had not +bothered to replace it in the rack. Shirley went over to the desk, +picked up the shining silver thing and carefully put it down. + +"I'll go get Jennie," she said to herself. "She's very, very bad +this morning, and I ought to 'tend to her right away." + +Upstairs she trotted, past Aunt Trudy's room and on to her room and +Sarah's where she rescued Jennie from under the bed. + +"What are you doing, honey?" called Rosemary, as Shirley passed the +door again on her way down stairs. + +"Playing with Jennie," was the wholly satisfactory answer. + +"I think she plays better by herself than with Sarah," announced +Aunt Trudy. "Sarah is so apt to lead her into mischief. Would you +rather have a hem-stitched hem or ruffles, Rosemary?" + +Back in the office, Shirley wasted no time in planning what to do. +She knew exactly how to proceed. Jennie was placed on the desk and +Shirley climbed into the swivel chair and grasped the scalpel. The +"operation" was to be performed on Jennie's arm, she, as a celluloid +doll, possessing an odd ridge in her anatomy that had always puzzled +Shirley. What made the ridge and what the inside of Jennie looked +like, were two questions that young doctor was determined to have +settled. + +Jennie proved unexpectedly difficult to cut. Shirley stuck out her +tongue in her anxiety and breathed hard as she tried to drive the +scalpel in. It slipped suddenly, the chair tilted and the curved +shining blade cut a cruel gash in the little hand holding it so +tightly. + +Pain, fright and a guilty conscience were blended in Shirley's +scream. Rosemary came rushing down, followed by Aunt Trudy who added +her cries to the child's when she saw her doubled up on the floor, +rocking back and forth and calling for Rosemary. + +"Are you hurt, darling? What's the matter? Tell Auntie," begged Aunt +Trudy bending over the little girl. + +"I cut my hand!" Shirley straightened up and Aunt Trudy caught a +glimpse of the bleeding hand and the front of the child's blouse all +stained where she had held it. + +The sight of blood always unnerved Aunt Trudy. She shrieked now and +covered her eyes with her hands. + +"I can't look at it--I'll faint, I know I shall!" she cried. +"Shirley will bleed to death, Rosemary. She has an awful cut. What +shall we do! What shall we do!" + +The terrified Shirley began to scream more loudly and Aunt Trudy +walked up and down the floor moaning that it was awful! + +"I'll get Hugh!" Rosemary flew to the desk 'phone. + +She had heard him say where he meant to make a call and she hoped +desperately that he might be at that house or that she might be able +to leave a message for him if he had not yet arrived. But the doctor +had "come and gone" Mrs. Jackson said. He was going to stop at the +Winters, he said. Yes, they had a telephone. + +Three more numbers Rosemary called, before she gained a ray of +comfort. At the fourth farmhouse the farmer's wife said that the +doctor was expected back in twenty minutes with a new brace he had +wanted them to try for their son's foot. He had offered to bring it +to them from the post-office because her husband was sick himself +with a cold-- + +Rosemary managed to check the good woman's flow of conversation and +to ask her to tell Doctor Hugh that he was wanted at home, when he +came. Shirley, tell him, had cut her hand. + +Shirley's cries, subdued while Rosemary talked over the 'phone, +burst out again as the receiver clicked in place. + +"Oh, dearest, hush!" implored Rosemary. "It doesn't hurt you so +very much, does it? Can't you be quiet till Hugh comes and makes you +all well?" + +"It bleeds and bleeds," screamed Shirley, and Aunt Trudy groaned +that the child would bleed to death before their eyes. + +"I'll wash it and bind it up myself," declared Rosemary, distracted +by the noise and confusion. "I don't know anything about such +things, but I think I can make it stop bleeding." + +"I can't help you," said Aunt Trudy hastily. "I faint the minute I +see blood. My knees are weak now. Don't ask me to hold her, will +you, Rosemary?" + +"I won't," promised Rosemary, biting her lower lip to keep it from +trembling. "I can take care of her, I know I can. Hugh keeps +bandages in this lower drawer and Winnie always has hot water in the +tea-kettle." + +Aunt Trudy frankly ran from the room when Rosemary returned from the +kitchen with a basin of warm water and arranged a package of gauze +and the scissors on the glass topped table between the windows. + +"I can't stay--I simply can not stay," she stammered and ran +upstairs to lie on her bed with her fingers in her ears. + +Her going was rather a relief to Rosemary who was sure she would be +less nervous and shaky herself with her aunt out of the room. But +before she had finished with Shirley she was ready to admit that the +mere presence of a third person would have been some comfort, +however cold. + +For Shirley shrieked protestingly when Rosemary approached her to +carry her over to the table. She fought off all attempts to look at +her hand. And when Rosemary forced her to yield and gently plunged +the poor little hand into the basin of water which was promptly +stained deep scarlet, Shirley, sure she was bleeding to death, +pulled away and ran for the door. + +"Oh, darling, don't act this way," begged Rosemary, catching her and +holding her close. "Be a brave little girl and let sister wrap the +hand for you; it isn't such a bad cut, dear, and after we have +washed off the blood, there'll be nothing to be afraid of." + +But Shirley continued to sob and squirm all the while Rosemary cut +and wound the gauze about her hand. As nearly as the inexperienced +Rosemary could tell, the cut was not serious though it was ugly to +see. Just as she fastened the tiny safety pin in place and was ready +to pronounce her bandaging done, the familiar two honks of the car +sounded outside. + +"Oh, Hugh, I never was so glad to see you in my life!" exclaimed +Rosemary, as the doctor appeared in the doorway. "Shirley cut her +hand and she screamed and screamed and Aunt Trudy cried and it was +awful." + +"Must have been," said Doctor Hugh briefly. "Let's see the cut." + +Shirley, exhausted from crying and struggling, made a feeble attempt +to put her hand behind her, but the doctor held her firmly between +his knees and inspected the bandage. + +"Pretty neat job," he said approvingly. + +Shirley began to cry again as he unwound the gauze and when he asked +Rosemary to hand him a certain bottle and pour some of its contents +on the cut, the little girl's shrieks of pain were heart-rending. +Rosemary watched in amazement as her brother calmly dressed the cut +with fresh gauze and then, when he had finished, gathered Shirley up +in his arms to soothe her gently. + +"She'll go to sleep in a minute," he said quietly. "She's worn out +with crying. How did it happen?" + +Shirley heard him and half raised herself in his arms. + +"I was going to operate on Jennie," she sobbed. "And the nasty knife +cut me. But I won't ever touch anything again, Hugh. Honest, I +won't." + +In a few minutes she was sound asleep, and the doctor placed her on +the couch in one corner of the room and covered her with a light +blanket. + +"Had a tough time, didn't you, Rosemary?" he said understandingly, +glancing from the basin on the table to Rosemary's tired face. +"Nobody home to help you and Aunt Trudy screaming louder than +Shirley I'll bet. I remember Aunt Trudy in hysterics when I came +home from school with a black eye one day." + +"Well, I felt like screaming, too," admitted Rosemary, "the blood +did make me a little sick. But then there would have been no one to +look after Shirley. I did the best I could, but I'm a poor nurse, +Hugh." + +"You never lose your head and that's the first rule for a good +nurse," said her brother. "Many a girl would never have thought of +trying to follow me up on the 'phone. And that was a mighty neat +bandage you did, child. You ought to learn first-aid, Rosemary. +Every girl should know what to do in an emergency or accident. I'll +teach you, if you like." + +Rosemary was wise enough to accept his offer and her first-aid +lessons began that week, for Doctor Hugh did not believe in +postponement. He was determined, though he did not say to his +sister, to "make hysterics difficult" under any circumstances and +especially in a household emergency. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +BUCKING THE STUDENT COUNCIL + + +Early December brought cold weather in its train and unusually heavy +snows. Householders were kept busy shoveling walks clean and the +boys and girls reveled in plenty of coasting. Sarah was invariably +late for supper these days and no amount of scolding from Winnie, or +pleading from Aunt Trudy, could induce her to desert the hill as +long as a single coaster remained to keep her company. Finally +Doctor Hugh devised a plan of going around that way before he came +home and, if Sarah were there, picking her and the sled up bodily +and bestowing them in the car. + +"I'll bet I know something you don't," said Fannie Mears one noon, +coming over with Nina Edmonds to sit at the corner table with +Rosemary in bland indifference to scowls from Sarah and sighs from +Shirley. + +Fannie Mears and Rosemary were not close friends at all, and the +latter was surprised at the overture. But she hospitably swept part +of the lunch aside to make room for the visitors and offered them a +couple of Winnie's delicious egg sandwiches. + +"Thanks, we have enough," said Fannie. "Have you heard what the boys +are going to do?" + +"Boys" with Fannie, meant the high school lads as Rosemary +immediately understood. The boys in the seventh grade failed to +interest either Fannie or Nina. + +"No, what?" answered Sarah bluntly, in blissful ignorance that she +was not supposed to be included in the conversation. + +"The Common Council has asked 'em to clean off the streets," +announced Fannie, addressing herself to Rosemary, "and Jack Welles +is going to make himself awfully unpopular, if he isn't careful." + +"Clean off the streets?" repeated Rosemary. "Why what do you mean?" + +"There's been so many storms, they haven't been able to keep some of +the streets clear of snow," explained Nina, biting into a cup cake, +for Nina lunched almost exclusively on cake. "They've had gangs of +men working, but before they get one snow carted away, another +falls. And now the Common Council has decided to ask the high +school boys to work after school. My father is a Councilman, and he +told us all about the last meeting. They'll pay the boys and it will +be a regular lark." + +"Yes, if Jack Welles doesn't go and spoil everything," said Fannie +darkly. + +"How can he spoil everything?" Rosemary demanded. + +She had not seen Jack so often once the school year was well under +way. Football practice had absorbed him during the early fall and +later came basketball. Other school and class activities, too, +claimed his attention, for Jack was popular and a good student as +well. He was president of his class, the Sophomores, and had that +year been appointed Student Advisor to the grammar school boys. + +"How can Jack spoil things?" repeated Rosemary. + +Fannie leaned across the table--she dearly loved to be important and +now she had something to tell. + +"It's like this," she began. "My brother told me. The Student +Council had a letter from the Eastshore Common Council, saying they +wanted volunteer snow workers among the high school boys. And the S. +C. called the presidents of the four classes together and told them +to go ahead and get the workers, twelve from each class." + +Fannie stopped and looked at Rosemary expectantly. Sarah's mouth was +wide open and she was listening eagerly. Shirley had wandered away +to play. + +"Well?" said Rosemary sharply. + +"Well," echoed Fannie disagreeably. "The boys made out their lists +and when Jack read his he had asked the two Gordon boys, Jerry and +Fred, and Eustice Gray and Norman Cox and Ben Kelsey. And Will says +the president of the Student Council was simply furious." + +Rosemary began to fold up the napkins and put them back in the box. +Will Mears was Fannie's brother and the other boys she knew only by +sight. + +"Why was Frank Fenton furious?" asked Sarah, delighting in the sound +of the three F's, though quite unconscious she had used them. + +"Oh, do be still!" Fannie tried to squelch the younger girl. "Frank +was mad, of course, because the S. C. counted on having all the snow +money for the dramatic fund. They want to put on a play this spring +and Will says they haven't a cent in the treasury. And now Jack +Welles goes and spoils a perfectly splendid chance to earn a lot of +money." + +"That's the third or fourth time you've said that about Jack," cried +Rosemary, stung into speech at last. "What has he done to spoil +anything? I don't see." + +"Why I should think you would," said Fannie, while Nina nodded +sagely. "The Gordon boys and Eustice and Norman and Ben are as poor +as can be; they want the money for themselves, and Will says they +jumped at the chance to earn it. Don't you see, it will keep that +much out of the dramatic fund, and Jack could just as well have +appointed boys who could have been glad to turn over the money to +the school. Will calls it a disgusting lack of class spirit." + +Rosemary's blue eyes snapped and fire burned in her cheeks. + +"There's nothing the matter with Jack Welles' class spirit, Fannie +Mears!" she cried. "I should think you would be ashamed to repeat +anything like that, I don't care who said it." + +"Well I'm not the only one who said it, or Will, either," declared +Fannie, rising as the warning bell sounded. "The president of the +Student Council told him what he thought of him, all right." + +Inwardly seething, Rosemary managed to get away to her class room +without further argument. She had never liked Fannie Mears, she told +herself and now she almost hated her. As for Will Mears, president +of the High School Juniors, well he wasn't a bit better. What a +disagreeable family the Mears must be! + +It was cooking class day, and Rosemary stayed almost an hour after +school that night, "puttering" as Miss Parsons called it, about the +school kitchen. Sarah and Shirley went home without her, and she was +walking briskly along alone, tramping hardily through the snow late +that afternoon, when Jack Welles overtook her. + +"How's the soup?" he asked cheerfully, that being a stock question +of his ever since the fateful Institute dinner. + +"How's the Student Council?" asked Rosemary. + +Jack's open face changed. + +"What do you know about the Student Council?" he said gruffly. + +"Oh, I heard--something," replied Rosemary. "Was Frank Fenton +unfair, Jack?" + +"Well, he doesn't think so," said Jack, "I suppose you girls have +been gossiping and you might as well get the story straight," he +added. + +Rosemary nodded eagerly. + +"I hope the Gray boys and the others will shovel snow," she cried +impulsively. "I don't give a fig for the old dramatic fund, Jack." + +"I do," said Jack. "It's all right to turn the snow money into the +fund and I've nothing to say against that. But when the Student +Council kicks because five boys out of forty-eight want to keep what +they earn, and they know they are putting themselves through school, +I think it shows a contemptible, small spirit and I told Frank so +to-night. You see, Rosemary," he went on a little more calmly, +"there aren't a whole lot of ways a boy can earn money and go to +school in a small town like this--nearly everyone tends to his own +fires and sweeps off his own walks and runs his own errands. If we +hadn't had one snow storm after another, there wouldn't have been +this chance. And I purposely appointed these five boys because I +know what they are up against. And by gum," he said forcibly if +inelegantly, "on my squad they stay!" + +"But can't the Student Council make you back down and appoint +others?" asked Rosemary, glowing with excitement. "I thought the S. +C. could do anything in high school, Jack." + +"They are pretty powerful," her companion admitted, "but they don't +dare carry this to the faculty, because they'll look so small and +Eustice Gray is in the direct line for one of the college +scholarships. Every teacher on the faculty staff will stand by the +boys--they're all fine students and making a stiff fight to get +through school. You don't suppose Mr. Hamlin is going to think the +dramatic fund is more important than shoes for Norman Cox, do you?" + +Mr. Hamlin was the principal of the high school. + +"But it can't be very pleasant for the boys," urged Rosemary, +troubled. + +"You've said it," confessed Jack gloomily. "I had a second fight +there, for after the fellows heard the Student Council was raising a +rumpus, they said they would get off my team and let others take +their places. Norman said he guessed they could get independent jobs +shoveling snow after school hours." + +"Could they?" asked Rosemary. + +"I suppose they could, but they won't if I have anything to say +about it," declared Jack with what Doctor Hugh called his "bull-dog" +expression. "I was told to appoint a snow cleaning team and I've +done it, and by gum my nominations stand. If the Student Council +doesn't like 'em, they can appeal to the faculty--and they'll get +what's coming to them! The town Council doesn't give a hoot where +the money goes, all they want is to have the snow cleaned away. I +told the fellows if they walked out, they made me just five short, +for I wouldn't appoint anyone in their places. If they want to see +the Sophomore class fall down on the job, all right. You watch my +twelve names go through!" + +Rosemary watched. So did all the high and half the grammar school, +for word of the dispute, variously colored to suit different +informants, had been noised around and the only persons in actual +ignorance of the state of affairs were the high school faculty. The +Student Council was desperately anxious that they should remain in +that state, for there had been one or two previous clashes over the +relative importance of the dramatic fund, and the members of the +council had no wish to be accused of "forcing" any unfair demands. +So, as Jack had foreseen, his nominations were allowed to stand and +the next afternoon, forty-eight laughing, shouting boys reported to +Bill McCormack, bluff and kindly member of the Eastshore Common +Council who would, in a larger municipality, have been called +"Streets and Highways Commissioner" or by similar sonorous title. + +But before the boys met "Bill" in front of the town hall, the +president of the Student Council, Frank Fenton, and Will Mears, +president of the Junior class, had held a conference with Mr. +Edmonds, the most influential member, some said, next to the +president, Cameron Jordan, a cousin of the old and respected +physician. The result of this conference was that Bill McCormack +held in his fat, red hands a sheaf of papers which allotted the +streets to the four classes and took the decision quite away from +him. + +"I was told to give these papers to the heads of the gangs," said +Mr. McCormack, smiling expansively. "Here ye are--Senior, Junior, +Sophomore, Freshman--them's your working papers, me lads, and now +off with ye; the shovels ye'll be finding in the basement of the +hall." + +Jack Welles glanced at the slip of paper handed him, folded it up +and stuffed it in his pocket. As soon as his "gang" was fitted out +with snow shovels, he marched them away in the wake of one of the +lumbering wagons that was to carry the snow off to a vacant field on +the outskirts of the town. + +"What did we draw, Jack?" asked Norman Cox curiously. + +"Plummers Lane," said Jack laconically. + +Plummers Lane, was the nearest approach to a "slumming section" that +Eastshore possessed. The idle, the shiftless and the vicious +congregated there, living in tumbled down shacks in the winter and +the middle of the streets, in summer. There were two factories, one +a novelty works, the other a canning and candy factory and the "dump +lot" bounded the Lane on the north and the jail on the south. +Altogether it was not the choicest portion which could fall to the +lot of the young snow cleaners. + +"It's enough to make you want to resign from the dramatic club!" +exclaimed Kenneth Vail, who, in common with the other boys, labored +under no delusion that chance fortune had sent them to Plummers +Lane. + +"If you had only put some one else in my place--" began Eustice Gray +uncomfortably, but seven voices immediately shouted to him, in +friendly chorus to "dry up." + +"We'll make Plummers Lane look sick," declared Jack. "From the looks +of it, I don't think there's been a shovel down here since the first +snow. If the S. C. thinks they have marked more off for us than we +can clean up, we'll show them! Here goes for the first shovel--out +of the way, Mike!" + +The grinning driver reined in his team and dodged as Jack hurled a +heavy shovelful over the side of the cart. The other boys followed +suit and twelve strong, sturdy backs bent to their task. The +population of Plummers Lane, that part of it visible by day, draped +itself along the curb to watch operations and hand out advice, but +any more practical help was not offered or expected. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +DRESSMAKER ROSEMARY + + +"I'm an old man," announced Jack Welles that night, dropping into a +chair in Doctor Hugh's office, while he waited for the latter to +prepare a bottle of medicine for his father's cough. + +"Back broken, I suppose?" suggested the doctor cheerfully. "The +first ten years are always the hardest, my boy." + +Jack groaned and Rosemary, patiently holding a bleary-eyed cat for +Sarah, looked at him anxiously. + +"Ten years!" complained Jack. "Another afternoon like this and I +won't live to see ten years. Ye gods, who would have thought a +little snow shoveling could break me up like this!" + +"You're out of practice," replied the doctor, busily writing a +label. "Don't try to clean all the streets in one day, Jack; I came +through Main street to-night and I must say the boys have made a +good job of it, though, of course, it was fairly well tramped down. +It's the side streets that are blocked. Where are you working?" + +"Plummers Lane," said Jack dryly. "The Juniors have uptown and Main +street. We're providing a side show for the unemployed and if we +don't get any fun out of our job, they at least can laugh their +heads off." + +"I told Hugh about the Student Council and the way they acted," said +Rosemary hotly. "Don't you think they are too hateful for anything, +Hugh?" + +The doctor looked at Jack who managed a grin. + +"Jack isn't hurt yet," said Doctor Hugh, smiling, "and I don't know +but digging out Plummers Lane is a man-sized job and one to be proud +of. Certainly if you get the streets in passable condition so that +we don't have to carry a sick woman through snow drifts to get her +to the ambulance--which happened last week--you'll have the thanks +of the doctors if not of the Student Council." + +"We're going to stick," declared Jack, taking the bottle the doctor +held out to him. "If there should ever be a fire down there, with +the snow piled over the hydrants and kerosene oil cans mixed up with +packing boxes and kindling wood in the front yards, after the +happy-go-lucky housekeeping methods followed by Plummers Lane +housekeepers, I should say three blocks would go like tinder. Bill +McCormack was down to see us, just as we were knocking off, and he +was pleased as Punch at what we'd done." + +"I'm coming down to see you," announced Rosemary. + +"So 'm I," cried Sarah. "I can shovel snow, too." + +"Come on, if you want to," said Jack, "but don't expect us to have +much time to talk to you. We're being paid by the hour and business +is business." + +He went off whistling, leaving Rosemary with an odd expression on +her face. It was the first time Jack had ever hinted he could +possibly be too busy to talk to her. + +"Hugh," she said seriously, when the doctor had prescribed for +Sarah's sick pussy cat and the anxious mistress had gone off to tuck +the patient in bed down cellar. "Hugh, couldn't I take hot coffee +and doughnuts to the boys while they are working in the snow +afternoons? I know they must get hungry and it is so cold and windy +down Plummers Lane--the wind comes across the marsh." + +"Go ahead," her brother encouraged her. "Get Sarah to help you. I +imagine Jack is having a tough time and he'll appreciate a little +unspoken sympathy. I'll give you a testimonial for your coffee, +Rosemary, if you think you need one; where are the doughnuts coming +from?" + +"They're all made, a stone crock full," dimpled Rosemary. "That was +what made me think of doing it. We'll come home from school and get +the big tin pail with the lid and a pan of doughnuts. But I can't +carry twelve cups." + +"Paper ones will do," the doctor assured her. "The boys will gulp +the coffee before it can possibly seep through. Make Sarah do her +share, and don't stay late, either one of you." + +The next afternoon, as Jack straightened his aching back to answer +the questions of Frank Fenton, who was serving as time-keeper for +the four squads, he looked across the street and saw two little +figures who waved gloved hands at him and beckoned in a mysterious +manner. + +"Isn't that Rosemary Willis?" asked Frank, "stunning kid, isn't +she?" + +Rosemary, rosy from the cold and with her eyes dark and starry, left +Sarah on the curb and crossed over. + +"Oh, Jack," she began before she reached him, "Sarah and I have +brought you some hot coffee and doughnuts. There's enough for +everyone." + +Frank had his data, but he still lingered, and the other boys at +Jack's shout, crowded around. Rosemary knew most of them and Jack +hurriedly performed the few necessary introductions leaving Frank +till the last. Norman Cox and Eustice Gray had hastened across the +street and returned with Sarah and the supplies just as Jack said, +"Rosemary, this is Frank Fenton." + +"He can't have any," said Sarah with blunt distinctness. + +Rosemary flushed scarlet and then, with the quickness characteristic +of her, jerked the lid from the coffee can and filled one of the +paper cups with the steamy, fragrant, liquid. + +"Please," she said gravely, holding it out to the astonished +president of the Student Council. "The sugar and cream are already +in. And these are fresh doughnuts." + +Mechanically Frank drank the hot coffee and ate a doughnut, while +Rosemary poured out the remainder of the coffee and Jack passed the +cups around, Sarah serving the doughnuts. + +"That is the best coffee I ever drank," declared Frank, when he had +finished. "And now, couldn't I take you home? I have my car down +the street a ways and I go right past your house." + +Jack choked over his coffee, but Rosemary thanked the senior +politely and said that she and Sarah had planned to stay and watch +the shovelers a while. + +"This isn't a very nice neighborhood, especially after dark you +know," said Frank. + +"We're not going to stay long," Rosemary was beginning, but Jack cut +her short. + +"I live next door to Rosemary, and I'll see that she and Sarah get +home all right," he said brusquely. "I know all about Plummers Lane, +too, Frank." + +The Student Council president lifted his cap and went back to his +car. + +"I don't like him," said Sarah decidedly. + +"I shouldn't wonder if he was faintly aware of your dislike," +grinned Jack. "Any more coffee left, Rosemary? You certainly had a +bright idea when you thought of this." + +Rosemary and Sarah were more than repaid for their long, cold walk, +by the evident pleasure the boys took in their warm drink and the +two fat doughnuts apiece they had brought them. They knocked off +work fifteen or twenty minutes earlier in order to see the girls +home before dark, but the next afternoon the doctor's car came and +picked up the sisters and the empty coffee can so that the workers +lost no time. + +For nearly a week, the boys shoveled steadily after school hours, +sticking to the job long after the first novelty had worn away. Bill +McCormack declared that they were the best "gang" he had ever hired +and the Plummers Lane residents ceased to regard them as a joke and +began to exchange sociable comments and quips with them, though +never descending to the plane of familiarity that included a shovel. +Rosemary and Sarah, and now and then Shirley, carried coffee and +doughnuts, or hot cocoa and cakes, each afternoon and Doctor Hugh +willingly stopped for them in his car. Even the weather ceased to +consent to co-operate for after one heavy snow, it cleared and the +streets made passable, remained that way till after Christmas. + +The most important subject of discussion in the Willis household, +along the lines of Christmas preparations, was the box to be sent +the little mother in the sanatorium. + +"I think we ought to make her something!" announced Rosemary. + +"Well, what?" asked Sarah. "I most know she'd love to have one of +Tootles' kittens, but I don't suppose we could mail that, could +we?" + +"Praise be, you can't," said Winnie who had overheard. "Those +kittens will be the death of me yet, and what they'd do to sick +folks in a sanatorium, I'm sure I don't know and don't want to." + +"What'll we make Mother?" urged Shirley, pulling Rosemary's belt. + +"I know--a kimona," said Rosemary triumphantly. "That won't be hard, +because we'll have only two seams. Mother will love to have +something we made her, instead of a gift we just went down town and +bought. What color do you think would be pretty, Sarah?" + +"Red," said Sarah promptly. + +"Pink," begged Shirley. "Make it pink, Rosemary." + +"I like blue," said Rosemary wistfully. + +"Let's ask Aunt Trudy," suggested Sarah. + +"I think you're awfully foolish to try to make anything," pronounced +Aunt Trudy when they consulted her. "But I suppose, if you have set +your hearts on it, why nothing will dissuade you. Why don't you make +your mother a white kimona, and bind it with pink ribbon? White was +always her favorite." + +So it was decided the kimona should be white eiderdown and bound +with pink satin ribbon and Rosemary and Sarah and Shirley went +shopping one afternoon after school and bought the materials. Their +purchase included a pattern, the first in their joint experience and +when they had spread it out on Rosemary's bed the three girls looked +at it helplessly. + +"We'll put it on paper, till we learn how to cut it," said Rosemary, +secretly wondering how anyone ever learned to understand such +complicated directions as were printed on the pattern envelope. + +They had decided that neither Aunt Trudy nor Winnie could be allowed +to help them and since Rosemary had a working knowledge of the +sewing machine's mysteries and could sew neatly by hand, they had +not anticipated any trouble. + +"But how could we know a pattern was such a silly thing?" wailed +Rosemary, tired and cross when the dinner gong sounded and they had +made no progress. The floor of the room was littered with paper and +the top of the bed resembled a pincushion for Shirley had amused +herself by sticking the contents of the entire paper of pins in +orderly rows on the counterpane. + +"Aren't you coming down to dinner?" asked Sarah, moving toward the +door. + +"No, I'm not," retorted Rosemary. "I'm not hungry and I don't want +anything to eat. Don't let Winnie come up here making a fuss; you +tell Aunt Trudy I don't want any dinner to-night. I'm not going to +do a thing till I get this kimona cut out." + +"Hugh will be mad," said Sarah, half way down the hall. + +"Let him," called Rosemary recklessly, shutting the door of her room +with a bang. + +She was deep in the pattern directions for the tenth time, when +someone rapped on her door. + +"I'm not hungry--don't bother me," she called, frowning. + +The door knob turned and Doctor Hugh smiled in at her. + +"Heard you were having trouble with the dressmaking," he announced. +"Can't I help? I'm not Winnie or Aunt Trudy, you know. I'd like to +have a finger in this, if I could." + +Rosemary drew a long breath. + +"You do understand, don't you?" she said, standing on the foot that +had not gone to sleep and trying to rouse the circulation in the +other one. "We didn't want anyone to touch our present for Mother, +except us; but you're us, too, aren't you?" + +"Surest thing," agreed the doctor, approaching the terrible pattern +with grave interest. "What's the matter with this--aren't you sure +how it should be cut?" + +Rosemary shook her head hopelessly. + +"I'm afraid to cut it before I know and I've tried it every way I +can think of," she confessed. + +"Well, if this is wrong, I'll buy you some more goods to-morrow," +promised the doctor, twitching the pattern to his liking. + +He took up the scissors and cut around the outline with what seemed +to Rosemary, reckless abandon. But when he had finished and she took +up the two pieces, they fitted together like parts of a picture +puzzle. + +"It's right!" she cried in delight. "Hugh, you darling, it's all +right! And I can baste it to-night and sew it on the machine +to-morrow and put the ribbon on by hand. Won't Mother love it!" + +"No more sewing to-night," said her brother firmly. "Dressmakers +always make mistakes when they're tired. Come down and eat your +dinner now, and then put this truck away till after school to-morrow +afternoon." + +Rosemary followed him downstairs meekly, though her fingers itched +to get at the basting. Sarah looked up at them in surprise as they +entered the dining-room. + +"I thought Rosemary was going to be cross!" she said frankly. + +"You were mistaken," retorted Doctor Hugh, smiling so infectiously +at Rosemary that she could do no less than twinkle back at him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +MR. JORDAN LEARNS SOMETHING + + +The kimona was finished without further mishap and packed away in +the Christmas box. + +"And no one was more surprised than I when the thing proved to be +cut right," Doctor Hugh confided to Winnie. "I never looked at a +pattern before, but I took a chance. I could see Rosemary was just +on the edge of 'nerves' and I figured out that if I did make a mess +of it, she might not find it out till the next day, and by that time +she might be able to see the humor in the situation." + +"You're a wise lad, Hughie, and I'm proud of you," said Winnie +fondly. She had guessed something of the cost of the fur lined coat +that the doctor had proudly displayed as his Christmas gift for the +little mother, now well enough to take short tramps through the pine +woods daily. Winnie did not know that a set of sorely needed medical +books had gone into the coat, but she suspected something of the +kind. + +The box was packed and sent and the Willis family settled down to +the first Christmas they had known without the gentle spirit who had +tirelessly planned for every holiday. But they had the dear +knowledge that she was coming home again to them, well and strong, +and they hung the wreaths in the windows and wound greens about the +lights and trimmed a tree for Shirley with thankful and merry +hearts. Doctor Hugh had missed so many home Christmas Days that he +in particular, enjoyed the preparations and his attempts at secrets +and his insistence on tasting all of Winnie's dishes drove the girls +into fits of laughter. A pile of packages surrounded every place on +Christmas morning and there was something pretty and practical and +purely nonsensical for each one from the doctor. He, in turn, +declared that for once in his life he had everything he wanted. Aunt +Trudy's gift to her nephew and each of her nieces was a cheque and +the announcements that followed were characteristic. + +"What are you going to get, Hugh?" asked Sarah curiously, when the +nature of her slip of paper had been explained to her. + +"Books," said Doctor Hugh, promptly, smiling at his aunt. + +"Music and a new music case, a leather one," declared Rosemary, her +eyes shining. + +"I'd like to buy a dog," said Sarah, and grinned good-naturedly at +the groan which greeted her modest wish. + +"You'd better buy an electric heater for the cats," suggested +Winnie. "I'm forever taking 'em out of the oven; some day I'll +forget to look, and there will be baked cats when you come down." + +Shirley was distressed at this dismal prediction, but Sarah did not +take it to heart. + +"I think, after all," she said meditatively, "I'll buy a hen and +keep chickens." + +"What are you going to buy with your money, Shirley lamb?" asked +Rosemary, as Sarah fell to planning a chicken yard. + +"A doll I guess," said Shirley who had had three that morning. + +When Sarah reminded her of that fact, Aunt Trudy protested. + +"No one is to attempt to dictate in any way," she said with +unaccustomed firmness. "When I was a child I was never allowed to +spend a cent as I wanted to and I gave you each this money to do +with exactly as you please. If you spend it foolishly, all right, I +don't care. But I want each one of you to get what you want, +whether or not it pleases some one else. I could have bought you +what I thought you ought to have, but that's the kind of presents I +had as a child and the only kind. And my goodness, didn't I hate +'em!" + +The girls stared a little at this outburst and then the doctor +laughed. + +"Well all I can say," he remarked drolly as he pushed back his chair +in answer to the summons of the telephone, "is that it is lucky +Christmas comes only once a year. Otherwise, Aunt Trudy, you'd have +us completely demoralized." + +Spending their Christmas money gave the three girls a good deal of +pleasure during holiday week and a letter from their mother was +another pleasant incident. Mrs. Willis wrote that the fur coat and +the kimona had made her the envy of the whole sanatorium and she was +so proud of them both that she cried whenever she looked at them! + +"--But, of course, I know you don't want me to do that, so I have +stopped, really I have," ran one paragraph of her letter. "I am so +proud of you all, my darlings and it seems such a short time ago +that you were all babies. How could I look ahead and see that my son +would grow up so soon and buy his mother a fur-lined coat, or that +my three girl babies for whom I sewed so happily would make me a +kimona and such a beautiful garment? I am wearing it now...." + +The clear cold weather came to an end during holiday week and a +heavy storm set in a few days before New Year's. For two days and a +night it snowed steadily and Sarah was almost beside herself to +think that now she could play in the snow as long as she liked with +no school to interfere. Shirley suffered from cold and did not like +to play out long at a time, but Rosemary was not too old to enjoy +snow ball fights and coasting and she joined Sarah on the hill as +often as she felt she could leave her beloved practising. Nina +Edmonds did not care for coasting, but Fannie Mears and several of +the girls in the grade above the seventh liked to coast on Fred +Mears' bob-sled. + +Late in the afternoon of the second day, when the snow had almost +stopped, except for a few large flakes, Rosemary set out to find +Sarah and bring her in in time for dinner. She was ploughing along +through the snow when Jack Welles hailed her. + +"'Lo, Rosemary!" he called. "Where you going--home?" + +"I'm going to the hill to get Sarah," Rosemary explained. "Hugh says +she'd coast till breakfast time if no one stopped her and I believe +she would. Where's your sled? Haven't you been out to-day? They say +the coasting is fine." + +"I know it is, but I haven't had time to try it, worse luck!" +growled Jack, falling into step beside Rosemary as they walked on. +"The Common Council has sent out a call for the snow cleaning gangs +again and I've been trying to round the fellows up." + +"Yes, I suppose the streets are piled up," agreed Rosemary. "When +are you expected to start work--not to-night?" + +"To-morrow morning," the boy replied. "But there won't be more than +six of us." + +"Six!" repeated Rosemary in astonishment. "Why I thought there were +twelve in each gang." + +"There were," said Jack briefly. "But, you see, it is holiday week, +and no one wants to work. The only five I can get are Norman Cox, +Eustice Gray, Jerry and Fred Gordon and Ben Kelsey. I'm the sixth. +Two of the others are away and the rest are going on a sleighing +trip up to the woods." + +"Where's Frank Fenton?" demanded Rosemary. "Can't he make 'em work?" + +"Oh, he's going on the ride, too," explained Jack. "A bunch are +going, girls and boys and three of the teachers will chaperone. They +go up to a camp, you know, and build a big fire and dance and have a +good time. Frank says it won't hurt to wait a day or two. I think +he's hoping the snow will melt." + +"What about the dramatic fund?" inquired, Rosemary, not +intentionally sarcastic. "I thought they wanted the money." + +"Too soon after Christmas," grinned Jack. "No, I guess the six of us +will have to represent the school. Is that Sarah over there with the +red hat?" + +"Yes, it is," answered Rosemary, beckoning to her sister. "Didn't +you want to go on the ride, Jack? Or the other boys?" + +"Well I don't care so much," replied Jack slowly. "Of course I'd +have a good time, but I can live without a sleigh ride. I'm sorry on +the fellows' account though--they wanted to go with some girls and +they don't have much fun. I hated like time to ask them to come and +shovel snow to-morrow morning. As Eustice says most of the school +fun costs too much for him, but this wasn't going to be expensive." + +"Couldn't you wait just one day?" suggested Rosemary. + +Jack shook his head. + +"It's understood that we stand ready to help the Council out," he +said in a business-like manner. "They depend on us, and it isn't +their fault the snow came during the holidays. We were glad enough +to get the chance before and I think it looks mighty cheap to try to +beg off now just because it isn't convenient to work. I'm going to +be on deck to-morrow morning if I'm the only one who turns up." + +Six boys, however, reported the next morning to Bill McCormack and +at their own suggestion, were set to work clearing the Plummers Lane +section of the accumulated snow. + +"My father is always talking about the fire risk down here," said +Jack to Jerry Gordon as they shoveled side by side. "Eastshore has a +nifty little fire department I'm ready to admit, but it can't climb +a snow bank even with the new chemical engine." + +The boys found the day unexpectedly long. Hitherto they had worked +three or four hours after school and the one Saturday they had +shoveled had been at the end of their task so that they had been +able to quit at noon. But, although they were genuinely tired long +before night--and the noon rest had never been so appreciated!--not +one of them suggested giving in or knocking off an hour or two +earlier. They worked so steadily and to such good purpose that by +half-past four, when Rosemary and Sarah appeared with hot coffee and +sandwiches, the most congested area in Plummers Lane was +comparatively clear. + +"Gee, Rosemary, you certainly are all right!" approved Jack as he +held the can for her while she ladled out coffee. "I never was so +hungry in my life." + +"They're chicken sandwiches and turkey, too," said Rosemary, +smiling. "Winnie said if you couldn't go on the sleigh ride she'd +see to it that you had something extra good to eat." + +The hungry boys fell upon Winnie's sandwiches with a vigor that +would have done her heart good, and the coffee disappeared +magically. When the last drop was gone and the last crumb vanished, +Jack insisted that the girls start for home. + +"It's getting dark now," he said, "and Hugh won't like it if you are +out late down here. I'd walk home with you, but we want to finish; +we're not going to quit till we get to the end of the street. +There's a fire hydrant there." + +Rosemary and Sarah, carrying the empty coffee can and the basket +that had been packed with sandwiches, walked slowly toward home, +Sarah audibly regretting that they had left the sled at the house. + +"We could have a good coast, before dinner," she argued, walking +backward, an accomplishment of which she was exceedingly proud. + +Pride, as often happens, went before a fall, in this instance, a +collision. Sarah, heedless of Rosemary's cry of warning, walked into +a stout, silver-haired gentleman in a fur-collared coat. + +"Bless my soul, what's this?" he asked in astonishment, looking down +at the small girl who had bumped into his knees. + +"How do you do Mr. Jordan?" said Rosemary respectfully, recognizing +the president of the Common Council. + +"Why it's Rosemary Willis!" beamed Mr. Jordan. "And Sarah, as I +live. Where are you going my dears?" + +"We're going home," explained Rosemary. "We took the boys some +coffee and sandwiches. They are shoveling snow, you know." + +"Oh, the high school lads, yes, I recollect," said Mr. Jordan. "I +meant to go around and see them at work, but I've spent the +afternoon in the library. Pretty faithful lads, aren't they, to +stick to their job in holiday week?" + +Rosemary held an instant's swift debate with herself. Jack, she +knew, would hold his tongue. But Jack was not within hearing +distance and his scruples did not honestly affect her. She put down +the coffee can and began to speak. She told Mr. Jordan the whole +story, from the beginning when the Student Council had objected to +Jack's list of workers. She told about the streets assigned to the +boys. She mentioned the sleigh ride and told who had gone. She named +the six boys who had spent the day shoveling. The faster she talked, +the prettier and more earnest she looked and the more interested Mr. +Jordan seemed. Sarah listened dumbly, fascinated by her sister's +eloquence. + +Mr. Jordan walked with them to their front steps and shook hands +with them both. + +"I am extremely obliged to you," he told Rosemary as he lifted his +hat to go. "I find that I have been a little out of things and you +have set me right." + +"Goodness knows what I've done," said Rosemary to Sarah as they +brushed their hair and made ready for the table. "Don't you say a +word to Jack--he will be furious. But I don't care what happens, I'm +glad I said what I did; this 'silence is golden' is a silly saying, +I think." + +Late that night, when every one had gone to bed, the fire whistle +sounded. Rosemary raised up in bed, shivering with excitement. She +counted the strokes. One-two--one-two--one-two-three-four. Reaching +for her dressing gown at the foot of the bed, she seized it and +rushed for the door. Sarah's door opened at the same moment and the +two little figures met in the hall. They shouted together, rousing +the household. + +"Plummers Lane!" they shrieked. "The fire's in Plummers Lane!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +SHOPPING WITH NINA + + +Shirley, half-awake and crying, came pattering out into the hall and +Winnie dashed from her room. On the second floor, Aunt Trudy +scuttled back and forth demanding where the fire was. + +"Go to bed girls," ordered Doctor Hugh, who had just come in and was +fully dressed. "Go back to bed, and I'll tell you all about the fire +in the morning." + +"Oh, Hugh, are you going? Wait for me, please?" cried Rosemary. "I +won't be a minute." + +"Me, too," shouted Sarah. "Wait for me, Hugh." + +He was already in the lower hall, struggling into his overcoat. + +"Go back to bed, and don't be silly," was his parting injunction as +he opened the door. "You'll catch cold, running through the halls. +Send 'em to bed, Winnie." + +The door banged behind him and they heard a familiar whistle. + +"Hugh!" some one called. "Hugh, it's down Plummers Lane. Going to +get the car out? I'll help you." + +"That's Jack," cried Rosemary, trying to see through the white +curtains without being seen. "Oh, dear, men have all the fun!" + +In spite of Winnie's remonstrances and Aunt Trudy's worry that they +would have pneumonia, the three girls tried to stay up till their +brother came back. After half an hour they gave up and went sleepily +to bed. The next morning they heard that the fire had been in one of +the novelty factories and that several houses had also been +destroyed. + +"If the hydrants hadn't been open and the street clear, they say the +whole block would have gone," the doctor reported. "In some way it's +got over town that Jack and his gang were the only high school boys +on the job yesterday and that they voluntarily cleaned the snow out +of Wycliffe street. The Common Council is talking of doing something +handsome to show their appreciation." + +Rosemary beamed, but Sarah who never could keep still blurted out +the truth. + +"Rosemary told Mr. Jordan last night," she said matter-of-factly. + +When Doctor Hugh had heard the details, he declared that while Jack +might not approve at once, he was sure he would later be glad. + +"You're a loyal friend, Rosemary," said the doctor patting the +gold-red hair now long enough to tie back in a thick bunch of curls +again, "and there are few finer qualities to possess than that." + +The Common Council, through Mr. Jordan passed a resolution thanking +the boys, by name, for their faithful "and valuable" services, and +the resolution was printed in the Eastshore "Chronicle" much to the +confusion of the lads and the delight and pride of their admiring +families. The Council also voted each boy the sum of $25, not, Mr. +Jordan explained, as an attempt to pay them, but in recognition of +"the devotion to duty which is able to ignore personal pleasure and +the initiative which is directed by common sense." + +"Incidentally," he added, "the property, saved because the street +was clear and the fire apparatus could get through, totals +considerable more than the sum we are voting you." + +Jack learned, of course, of the part Rosemary had played in this +train of events and though he made several cutting remarks about the +inability of girls to hold their tongues, he gradually, if +grudgingly, admitted that "it might have been worse." + +"Norman Cox and Eustice Gray and the others are tickled pink with +the $25," he confided. "They think you are great. And I suppose you +couldn't help spilling the beans to Mr. Jordan." + +But Rosemary was content to do without pæans of praise. + +The famous "January thaw" filled the streets with slush a few weeks +later and made indoors a pleasant place to stay. Fannie Mears caught +a heavy cold and was out of school a week and Nina Edmonds began to +seek the society of Rosemary, whom she had rather neglected. + +"You never come to my house any more," said Nina, one noon period. +"Come home with me this afternoon, won't you, dear?" + +Rosemary was acutely conscious of her brother's wishes concerning +Nina, and she knew that he preferred she did not go often to the +Edmonds' handsome home. + +"Well at least come shopping with me," suggested Nina, noticing the +younger girl's hesitation. "Go uptown after school this afternoon, +please, Rosemary?" + +"Aunt Trudy expects me home," said Rosemary doubtfully. + +"For goodness sake, do you have to go straight home from school +every day?" demanded Nina fretfully. "Why any one would think you +were Shirley's age! Can't Sarah tell your aunt you won't be home?" + +"I suppose she could," admitted Rosemary. "All right, Nina, I'll go +with you." + +Sarah accepted the message reluctantly after school that afternoon +and she and Shirley went home while Nina and Rosemary hurried off up +town. Nina's shopping manners were remarkably like her mother's and +she was respectfully treated in all the shops. Eastshore had no very +large stores, but the merchandise was of the better grade in even +the tiny places, the lack of variety, as in many small towns, being +balanced by uniform quality. + +"Charge it," said Nina airily, flitting from shop to shop and +counter to counter. + +It was dark, almost before they knew it and though Nina was +insistent that Rosemary come home to dinner with her, Rosemary +refused. No, she must go home. + +"Well, here's your parcel," said Nina good-naturedly. "You'll love +'em when you get used to them and you look perfectly stunning in +them, you know you do." + +Rosemary tucked the brown paper package under her arm and fled up +the street, dashing up the front steps behind a tall figure just +putting a key in the Willis front door. + +"Well, honey, why this haste?" demanded the doctor, stepping back to +let her go in first. "You didn't smell Winnie's apple pudding a +block away, did you?" + +"Where have you been, Rosemary?" asked Aunt Trudy, coming into the +hall. "Sarah said you said you would be home by half-past four." + +"What you got?" inquired Sarah, eyeing the parcel under Rosemary's +arm with frank curiosity. + +"Let me open it, Rosemary?" begged Shirley, standing on tip-toe to +pinch the package, her usual method of guessing the contents. + +"There isn't a speck of privacy in the house!" flared Rosemary. "I +think I might buy something once in a while that the whole family +didn't have to see. And no one has to come straight home from +school, except me. If I'm an hour late, Aunt Trudy always wants to +know where I've been." + +"I told her you went shopping with Nina Edmonds," remarked Sarah +sweetly, "And you're always cross when you go anywhere with her." + +"Sarah!" said Doctor Hugh, warningly, but Rosemary dashed past them +and up the stairs to her own room. + +She thrust the package down deep in her cedar chest and there it +stayed till the next Saturday afternoon. Then Rosemary deliberately +locked her door and proceeded to array herself in gray silk +stockings and patent leather pumps with narrow, high heels, the +results of Nina Edmonds' persuasive arguments and Rosemary's deep +longing to possess these accessories. + +Walking in the pumps proved to be unexpectedly difficult, but +Rosemary practised while she dressed and by the time she had put on +her best hat and coat and was ready to go down stairs she was able +to manage them better. Sarah and Shirley had gone to the library, +Winnie was busy in the kitchen and Aunt Trudy was sewing in her +room. Rosemary counted on leaving the house unobserved. She teetered +to the door of her aunt's room and carefully keeping out of her +range of vision announced that she was going up town for a little +walk. + +"All right, dearie, have a nice time," answered Aunt Trudy, rocking +placidly. "Tell Winnie to answer the telephone if it rings, because +I don't want to have to go down stairs." + +Rosemary experimented cautiously with the top step and then +discretion prompted her to abandon valor. In her best coat and hat +and gorgeously arrayed as to her pretty feet, she, who considered +herself quite grown up this afternoon, quietly slid down the +banister! Just as she reached the newel post the door opened. There +stood Doctor Hugh! + +"Haven't forgotten how, have you?" he said, laughing. "That was +neatly done, dear. I saw you through the glass before I opened the +door." + +Rosemary was painfully conscious of her shoes. Against her will, her +glance strayed down and the doctor's eyes followed hers. + +"Why how fine we are!" he said. + +Rosemary sat down on the last step and tried to pull her skirt down +over her feet. + +"I know you don't like them, Hugh," she answered resentfully, "but I +don't see why I can't wear high heels when I'm dressed up. All the +girls do." + +"They are very pretty shoes," said the doctor gravely. "And very +unsuitable for a walk on a cold, slushy winter day," he added. + +Rosemary said nothing. + +"I suppose you wheedled Aunt Trudy into letting you buy them," +commented her brother presently. "Well, dear, there are some things +we won't learn except through experience. I'm disappointed that +Mother's wishes didn't have more weight with you." + +Rosemary half expected him to forbid her to leave the house wearing +the new shoes, but he went on to his office without another word. +She opened the front door noiselessly and hastened uptown to meet +Nina Edmonds. + +Walking was not the unconscious, easy swing that Rosemary was +accustomed to, in the patent leather footgear and it was simply +impossible for her to forget her feet for one instant. Nina was bent +on more shopping and Rosemary found it very tiresome to stand before +the counters and look at things she knew Nina did not mean to buy. +Finally the latter suggested that they go to the little tea room +recently opened and have tea. The prospect of being able to sit down +delighted poor Rosemary. + +They had to cross the street and the tracks of the Interurban +trolley to reach the tea room and in crossing one of Rosemary's high +heels caught in the trolley rail. + +"I can't get it out!" she cried, snatching off her glove and working +frantically at the shoe. + +"Work your foot back and forth," advised Nina. "Oh, goodness, people +are stopping to look at you." + +Sure enough, the Saturday afternoon shoppers, a larger crowd than +usual for many farmers drove in on the last day of the week to make +their purchases, were beginning to be attracted by the sight of the +two girls on the trolley tracks. + +"How could you be so silly!" cried Nina in vexation. "Look at all +the rubes--if there is anything I detest, it is to be made +conspicuous." + +Rosemary flushed angrily, but a sudden shout drowned her reply. + +"Car coming!" cried a man on the curb. "Somebody flag the trolley!" + +The Interurban cars operated at a high rate of speed, even through +the town, and as the wires started their humming, Rosemary and Nina +glanced up and saw a car bearing down on them. + +"You'll be killed!" shrieked Nina, taking a flying leap that landed +her safely across the tracks. + +A man shot out of the crowd toward Rosemary and another dashed up +the street in the direction of the trolley, waving his cap. The +motorman put on the brakes, there was an ear-splitting noise as the +wheels locked and slid and the car stopped a good ten feet from the +frightened girl. Meanwhile the man who had come to her rescue had +unbuttoned the straps of the pump and pulled Rosemary free from her +shoe. + +"Fool heels!" he commented, while a crowd of the curious surged out +from the curb. "If I had my way no girl should ever own a pair. +Here, I'll get it out for you--" + +He tugged at the obstinate pump, the heel gave way and the man fell +back, the shoe in his hand, the heel neatly ripped off. + +"Oh, say, I'm sorry!" he stammered. "I didn't mean to tear it +off--here's the heel; I guess a shoemaker can put it on again for +you." + +He handed her the pump and the heel and the motorman and conductor +went back to their trolley. + +"Thank you very much--it doesn't matter about the heel, it really +doesn't matter at all," said Rosemary incoherently, her one wish +being to get away from this awful crowd. + +"If you're looking for the girl who was with you, she's gone," +volunteered a freckle faced boy. "I saw her streaking it up the +street as soon as the trolley stopped." + +Getting home with one heel off and one heel on, was not an easy +matter, but Rosemary managed it. Half an hour later, Doctor Hugh +reading at his desk, was astonished to have two patent leather +pumps flung down on the book before him and to see Rosemary, +crimson-cheeked and stormy-eyed confronting him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +SARAH LOSES A MENAGERIE + + +"You may burn them up or give them away or sell them!" Rosemary +cried. "I never want to see a pair of high-heeled shoes again as +long as I live. I despise them!" + +The doctor picked up the offending little shoes and eyed them +critically. + +"Wait," said Rosemary as he seemed about to speak. "I have something +to tell you, Hugh. I've been as bad as I could be, and I've done +everything you didn't like. But you'll be glad, because I never want +to see Nina Edmonds again. I never want any one to mention her name +to me." + +Her voice was hard and unnatural. + +"Hadn't you better sit down, dear?" Doctor Hugh suggested. "I'm +sorry if you and Nina have quarreled." + +"Oh, we haven't quarreled," said Rosemary bitterly. "I can't tell +you about it, Hugh, but she isn't the kind of girl I thought she +was. And I did like her so! I won't cry," she added doggedly. "I +haven't told you the worst yet. Hugh, you thought I persuaded Aunt +Trudy to buy me the pumps, but she didn't know anything about it; I +had them charged on Nina's account at the Quality shoe store. And I +owe Nina $12.98 this minute and I have to pay her right away. I +can't owe it to her another day. Will you lend me the money? I don't +care what you do to me, or how you punish me, but don't make me stay +in debt. I can't stand it." + +Doctor Hugh put his hand in his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He +counted out several bills and gave them to Rosemary. + +"Don't you want to tell me about it, dear?" he said quietly. "I can +not bear to see you hurt and not to know the reason. Perhaps I can +set it right for you." + +Rosemary shook her head. + +"Nobody can help," she said despondently. "There's nothing to help." +Her lips quivered. "I thought Nina was different," she said, and +then the tears overflowed. + +The doctor had seen Rosemary cry before, but never like this. As he +held her in his arms and she sobbed out the hurt and humiliation of +the afternoon against his shoulder, he wondered what had happened +to shake her so. He did not know that she had had her first +experience with disloyalty or that her first broken friendship was +teaching her a hard lesson. By and by the passion of weeping grew +quieter and Rosemary fumbled for her handkerchief. + +"I didn't know I was going to be so silly," she said, sitting up and +trying to smile as the doctor tucked his own clean handkerchief into +her hand. + +"You won't tell me what is troubling you?" he said persuasively. + +"I can't, Hugh," Rosemary answered, her tear drenched eyes meeting +his gaze squarely. "I can't talk about it, not even to you." + +"All right, dear, if that's the way you feel," he said instantly. +"Only remember, any time you want to confide, I'm always ready. +Don't be afraid of me, Rosemary; that is one thing I can not stand. +If I thought any of you girls were afraid to come to me and tell me +your troubles--" + +Rosemary threw her arms around his neck. + +"I'm not afraid of you, I'm only ashamed of myself," she whispered. +"And I love you more than any one in the world, next to Mother!" + +The doctor heard of the shoe incident the next morning, indeed the +story was known about Eastshore within a few hours, and he was able +to piece together from what he heard a fair understanding of Nina +Edmonds' part in the incident. He succeeded in impressing on Sarah +and Shirley, and even Winnie and Aunt Trudy, that they were not to +mention Nina's name, or anything they might hear about that +unfortunate afternoon, to Rosemary, on pain of his severest +displeasure. Nina nodded, rather shamefacedly, to Rosemary in school +the next Monday morning and Rosemary spoke pleasantly; but she never +voluntarily sought the society of the other girl again and there was +something about her that effectually discouraged Nina from +attempting any overtures. + +A week or two later, Winnie walked into Doctor Hugh's office one +night a few minutes before ten o'clock, ostensibly to bring him a +glass of milk and a sponge cake before he went to bed. + +"Out with it, Winnie," he said good-naturedly. "I can see that you +are fairly bristling with the necessity of making an important +communication." + +"It's Sarah, then," announced Winnie, putting down the glass of +milk. "Something has got to be done about her, Hughie." + +"Sarah?" inquired the doctor meditatively. "Why I thought she was +conducting herself in an exemplary manner these last few weeks." + +Winnie sniffed. + +"I'm always the one that has to tell you," she complained. "I'm +after asking Miss Trudy these three nights running to speak to you, +but does she? She does not. She speaks to Sarah who minds her about +as well as the wind does. And Rosemary won't be doing her duty, +either; she says 'twould be telling tales and she's got Shirley +around to the same way of thinking." + +"A conspiracy, eh?" smiled Doctor Hugh. + +"Well, Winnie, what should I know that I don't know about my small +sister Sarah?" + +Winnie was not to be hurried. She dearly loved a chat with her idol, +the doctor, and she had the born story-teller's art of prolonging +the climax. + +"I'm not one to be going out of my way to find something to babble," +she declared now. "There's plenty of things goes on I could be +running to you with every day in the week, did I so mind; but I +believe in letting folks have their own heads, as long as they don't +go too far." + +The doctor sampled the cake appreciatively. + +"Sarah, I take it, has gone too far?" he suggested. + +"I don't know as you'd call it that," said Winnie with a faint +suspicion of sarcasm. "I may be too finicky and if I am, may I be +forgiven for troubling you. But when it comes to sleeping in the +same room with six sore-eyed kittens and in the same bed with a +mangy street dog, I think something should be done about it. 'Tisn't +Christian-like." + +"Do you mean to tell me Sarah has got a mess like that up in her +room?" demanded Doctor Hugh. + +"She has that," said Winnie firmly. "That and worse. She has rabbits +in her clothes closet and this morning I had to carry out two dead +chickens. She lugs them all up every night to keep 'em warm, she +says." + +"Is everyone in the house crazy?" asked the bewildered doctor. +"What's the matter with you, Winnie? Ordinarily you can make the +world take orders from you--couldn't you put a stop to this?" + +"I've argued and I've scolded and I've threatened to chloroform +every animal on the place," said Winnie impressively, "but Sarah is +like cement. Where the Willis will is going to lead her, I'm sure I +don't know; but she's too much for me." + +"Nonsense!" the doctor pushed back his chair sharply. "At least you +could have come to me and told me the first night she tried to keep +an animal in her room." + +"I'm as weak as the rest of 'em," admitted Winnie. "Miss Trudy cried +and Shirley grumbled because she had to go in and sleep with +Rosemary; but none of us liked to say a word to you. I don't suppose +I'd be after telling you now if I wasn't afraid Sarah would catch +something from that dog she brought home to-night." + +"I'll go up and read the riot act to her, even if it is late," said +Doctor Hugh, frowning. "Such a state of affairs is beyond belief. +Shirley is sleeping with Rosemary, you say, and Sarah has the +menagerie in the bed with her?" + +"Well, she has the dog--I saw him under the blanket. But you're not +going to bother her to-night, are you?" asked Winnie anxiously. + +"Do you suppose I'm going to have her sleeping with a dog that came +from Heaven alone knows where?" was the impatient answer. "If I can +get the animals out of her room without waking her, well and good; +but in any case, out they come." + +Sarah woke up the moment the light was switched on. So did the +touseled little yellow dog who thrust his head out from under the +covers, close to Sarah's face, and barked sharply at the tall figure +standing in the center of the room. The rabbits could be heard +scampering about behind the closet door and the kittens set up a +hungry mewing from their basket under the bed. A faint scratching +came from beneath the inverted waste-basket where a dejected-looking +rooster drooped in lonely melancholy. + +"Go away!" said Sarah. + +"Give me that dog, Sarah," said Doctor Hugh sternly, hoping that he +would not laugh. "What do you mean by this kind of performance?" + +"He's a nice dog and he hasn't any home, he followed me all the way +from the grocery store," said Sarah, her dark eyes regarding her +brother suspiciously. "Leave him alone." + +For answer the doctor, with a quick movement, lifted the dog clear +of the bed clothes. + +"You'll hurt him!" cried Sarah in anguish. "You don't know how to be +nice to animals. Give him back to me, Hugh." + +"Look here, Sarah, this is no time for argument," said Doctor Hugh +crisply. "It is out of the question for you to sleep with your +barnyard friends. Everyone of them must go down cellar for the rest +of the night and we'll talk about what is to be done with them in +the morning." + +Sarah wept and protested and even tried to fight for her pets, but +Winnie and the doctor were deaf to her pleas. Between them, they +carried down every forlorn animal--Sarah's tastes ran to the lame +and the halt and the blind,--and then Doctor Hugh opened the window +wide (Sarah had insisted on keeping both windows closed lest a draft +strike the sick kittens), kissed the back of his small sister's +head, for she persistently refused to turn her face toward him, and +snapped off the light, leaving Sarah to cry herself to sleep. +Rosemary and Shirley, in the next room, had slept peacefully through +the racket. + +Unfortunately the next morning a call came for the doctor before +eight o'clock and snatching a hasty breakfast, he was out of the +house before the girls came down. He had no opportunity for the talk +with Sarah that day for although he came home to lunch, she was, of +course in school, and he did not get home in time for dinner. In +fact, it was nearly nine o'clock before his car rolled into the +drive. + +Aunt Trudy and Rosemary, Winnie told him, had gone to the movies as +a Friday night treat, and Sarah and Shirley had gone to bed promptly +at eight o'clock. + +"I was setting bread, and didn't see 'em go," Winnie added +significantly. + +Doctor Hugh went upstairs to the third floor. A light shone under +Sarah's door. He knocked, then tried the knob. It was locked. + +"Open the door, Sarah," he said quietly. + +"Go away!" quavered Sarah, tears in her voice. + +Doctor Hugh remembered the communicating door and strode through +Rosemary's room. Shirley was fast asleep in her older sister's bed. +Sarah had not thought to fasten the door between the rooms and she +looked up startled, as her brother came in. She had not undressed, +and she sat on the floor, the kittens in her lap. The dog and the +rabbits and the rooster were all back in their places. + +"This settles it!" said the doctor adamantly. "There's only one way +to deal with you, Sarah, and that is to come down like a ton of +bricks. You can't keep any pets for two months--that's final." + +"Any more pets?" suggested Sarah. + +"I said any pets," was the reply. "If you can find homes for these, +well and good; if you can't, I'll try to dispose of them for you. +But to-morrow morning, they go away. And now you'll have to help me +get them down cellar." + +When Sarah finally understood that she was to be deprived of all her +pets at once, she wept miserably. No amount of tears or storming or +wheedling or pleading, however, could alter Doctor Hugh's decision. +Even Winnie suggested that one kitten be kept, but to no avail. + +"Sarah must learn she can not do as she pleases and escape the +consequences," he said to Rosemary, who came to him on Sarah's +behalf. "Half way measures don't go with her, I find, so I've had to +be drastic. I'm sorry, too, Rosemary, but I believe I am making the +future easier for one strong-willed little girl." + +He found homes among his farm patients for all the animals and saw +to it that Sarah went with him to carry the pets to their new +abodes. She felt much better when she saw that they were to be well +cared for, but it was a long time before she would go near the empty +rabbit hutch in the side yard. Jack, who discovered that she avoided +it, chopped it up at last for kindling wood for Winnie and Sarah was +silently grateful. She missed her pets inexpressibly, but the rest +of the household, it must be confessed, enjoyed their absence +thoroughly. Sarah and her animals had absorbed the foreground for +many hectic weeks. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +A MYSTERY SOLVED + + +The brief month of February was starred for the Willis family by the +little mother's birthday. She was steadily improving, according to +her own letters and the reports from the doctors, and Doctor Hugh, +who spent at least one week-end each month with her, brought back +glowing accounts of her progress along the road to health. He +managed to get away to spend her birthday with her and personally +carried her the gifts and notes and loving wishes of the three +girls, Aunt Trudy, Winnie and close friends who also remembered. + +Almost before the snow had gone, talk of the March fair began to +engage the attention of the Eastshore school pupils. This was an +annual event and there was much rivalry between the three schools as +to which should turn in the most money. The proceeds of the fair +went to the Memorial Hospital in Bennington, rather had gone into +the building fund until this year for the hospital had recently +been completed. The high and grammar and primary schools, each had +tables and exhibits and there was always a large attendance during +the Friday afternoon and Saturday the fair was under way. + +"The high school is going to have a cafeteria," reported Rosemary at +dinner one night. "I wish we'd thought of that. The boys are going +to wear white aprons and caps and stand behind the tables and serve +the food, while the girls act as waitresses and carry out the dishes +and look after the silver. They want every one to eat their supper +there Friday and Saturday night." + +"All right, we'll come," promised Aunt Trudy. "Hugh can meet us +there, can't you, Hugh?" + +"Of course," he agreed. "But I'm saving my money for the grammar and +primary school tables--I want that understood. I'll treat you all to +supper, and please Jack Welles at the same time, but the real +expenditures of this family must be where they'll count for the +lower grades." + +The three girls beamed upon him approvingly. + +"I'm going to have charge of the cake table," said Rosemary. "Tell +Winnie to buy our Sunday cake from me, won't you, Aunt Trudy? I +have ten different kinds of icings to make--every one of the girls +has asked me to ice her cake, because they say I always have good +luck." + +"I hope you'll use sugar and not salt," murmured the doctor +wickedly. + +"Oh, Hugh, wasn't that soup too dreadful!" said Rosemary, shuddering +at the recollection. "I know perfectly well I didn't put in too much +salt and yet no one else seasoned it--I wish I knew how it +happened." + +"Let it go as a mystery," advised her brother. "What are you going +to do in the fair line, Sarah?" he added, turning to her. + +"Sell gold fish," she answered placidly. "What are you laughing at?" +she asked them in surprise. "I have a great big bowl with gold fish +in it and a lot of little bowls; and people buy the little bowls for +fifteen cents and I dip out two gold fish with a soup ladle for +twenty-five cents, and they take them home." + +"I'm going to sell little baby bouquets," announced Shirley, who +looked like a "baby bouquet" herself in a pink challis frock. "I +have 'em on a tray and I walk around and people buy them for their +buttonholes." + +"I'll be your first customer, sweetheart," Doctor Hugh assured her. + +Preparations for the fair absorbed most of the after-school time of +the next two weeks. There were committee meetings and inter-class +conferences, and difficulties that required to be straightened out +and sensitive feelings that needed careful handling. + +"We could get along so much faster, if every one was pleasant," +sighed Rosemary to her brother. "Fannie Mears has a dozen +pin-cushions to make and she made twelve of us promise to take one +and finish it for the fancy-work table; and then she wouldn't help +iron the napkins for the cake plates. She said it wasn't her table +and she didn't intend to waste her time. Harriet Reed heard her and +she was so mad she ripped up the pincushion she had just sewed and +the sewing teacher found it in the waste-basket and she says Harriet +has to buy material to replace the stuff she tore and she can't go +home after school to-morrow until she has made another pincushion." + +"Well, I don't think Harriet helped her cause much," said the doctor +pacifically. + +"Well Fannie Mears is too mean," said Rosemary. "It isn't a very +nice thing to say, Hugh--" + +"Then don't say it, dear," he countered promptly. "Don't gossip, +Rosemary. I know of nothing harder on the nerves and temper than a +fair, and if you can keep cheerful and serene and not quarrel with +your friends and above all, don't talk about them in their absence, +you will have done better than most fair workers twice your age." + +Rosemary remembered this bit of advice often in the turbulent days +that followed. Fannie Mears was one of those girls who manage to sow +discord and dissension wherever they go. She had a tireless industry +that commended her to her teachers and she was always ready to +accept additional tasks and duties. What they did not see was that +she distributed these tasks among her friends and the girls in the +lower grades and then was unwilling to help them in turn. + +"I suppose you've heard what Fannie Mears and Nina Edmonds have done +now?" remarked Sarah one noon period when the fair was a scant week +off. + +"No, what?" asked Rosemary who avoided Nina's name whenever +possible. + +"Why they've taken three dozen needle-books that have to have the +flannel leaves tied in them with ribbon," explained Sarah. "See, +Shirley has four to do. Fannie and Nina promised Miss Carlson +they'd do them, and now they've handed them all out in the primary +grades. They wanted me to do six, but I wouldn't." + +Sarah was engrossed with the gold fish which had already arrived and +were housed in the natural history room in the high school building. +She visited them several times daily and in his heart Mr. Martin, +the biology teacher feared she would kill them with kindness before +the fair opened. + +"Shirley doesn't mind tying the leaves in, do you dear?" asked +Rosemary cheerfully. + +"Not much," replied Shirley, "only I wanted to cut the ribbons for +my flower bouquets yesterday afternoon, and Fannie wouldn't lend me +the scissors." + +"I'll help you do it this afternoon," promised Rosemary, who had +planned to assemble the recipes for her cake icings and see what +supplies were lacking that she would need. + +"If that fancy-work table ever gets enough things, the rest of us +may be able to pay a little attention to our own tables," she said +to herself. + +But that afternoon Shirley came crying to Rosemary to say that she +had lost the four little needle-books. + +"I've looked everywhere," the child insisted. "All over everywhere, +Rosemary. And they're all gone." + +"That means I'll have to make four," said poor Rosemary. "Don't cry, +Shirley, Sister will see that you have four needle-books to turn in. +Though I don't see how you could lose them," she added wearily. + +"I'll bet Fannie Mears took those books," declared Sarah when she +heard of the loss. "It would be just like her. She thinks it's smart +to get four extra books." + +Rosemary protested weakly at this idea. In her heart of hearts, she +thought Fannie quite capable of such an act, but she had loyally +resolved to try and follow Hugh's advice. + +"But I can't help wishing he knew Fannie," said Rosemary to herself. + +She made the needle-books and helped Shirley measure and cut the +ribbon for her bouquets. Sarah's "soup ladle" proved to be a net and +that small girl "experimented" with the netting so earnestly that +she required a new net to be inserted practically every day. Of +course Rosemary was called on for this and as a result her own work +was left quite to the last. + +"But I couldn't ice the cakes till the day before the fair, anyway," +she said philosophically to Miss Parsons, "though I did want to +have time to see that the plates and napkins were matched; last year +we ran short of napkins." + +The morning of the fair, Rosemary hurried upstairs to ice her cakes. +They were all arranged on the kitchen table, thirty of them, each +one a triumph of culinary art. Rosemary was excused from school for +the day, but the cakes had been baked late the previous afternoon +for it was a school rule that the fair was not to interfere with +class attendance. + +"And I don't see why Rosemary Willis should be excused," muttered +Fannie Mears indignantly. + +"I suppose you think she can ice thirty cakes in half an hour," +Sarah flung back. "And set the table and go home and get dressed, +too." + +Humming happily, Rosemary tied on her white apron and went about her +mixing. As she had said, there were ten different icings to be made, +the same flavor being allowed only three cakes. Some were loaves and +some were layers and one or two had been scorched. These Rosemary +carefully grated and planned to ice thickly. + +In the midst of her work she made a distressing discovery. The linen +cloth for the table was soiled! + +"I'm just as sure as I can be that it was clean in the drawer last +night," Rosemary confided to Miss Parsons. "I looked the last +thing." + +She had found it rolled up in a wad and stuffed at the furtherest +end of the table drawer. Not only was it rumpled, but it showed +several stains. + +"I'll go home this noon and get one of ours," said Rosemary. "I +think I'll be glad when this fair is over." + +"I think we'll all be glad," replied Miss Parsons, frowning a +little, for the cloth incident annoyed her. She, too, had been +certain it was clean the afternoon before. + +Rosemary went home at noon, leaving half the cakes to do on her +return. A large bowl of chocolate icing stood on the table, covered +with a muslin cloth. + +There was no one to see the kitchen door open slyly fifteen minutes +later, no one to see a figure dart in and make for the table. One +hand lifted the muslin cloth, the other reached for the large tin +salt shaker. + +"Drop that!" said a voice peremptorily. + +The shaker dropped to the floor with a clatter, and Fannie Mears +turned to face Mr. Oliver. + +"What are you doing in here?" he asked sternly. "Did Miss Parsons +ask you to do anything to that bowl?" + +At that moment Miss Parsons herself came into the kitchen. + +"I was looking for you," Mr. Oliver explained, "and I saw Fannie +Mears about to shake something into that large bowl on the table. I +thought Rosemary Willis was working here this morning." + +"She was--" Miss Parsons stooped to recover the shaker. "Salt!" she +ejaculated as she saw what it was. "Fannie Mears, I do believe you +were going to salt Rosemary's icing!" + +Fannie began to cry. + +"Did you salt the soup last fall?" asked the teacher sternly. "Did +you? Answer me, Fannie." + +"Yes, I did," sobbed Fannie. "I got so sick and tired of hearing +about Rosemary and her cooking. I put in the salt while she was +looking at the tables in the dining-room with you. It makes me sick +to hear all the fuss people make about her being such a good cook." + +Rosemary, breathless from running, burst in at that juncture, the +clean tablecloth under her arm. + +"Rosemary," said Mr. Oliver gravely, "Fannie has just told us that +it was she who over-salted the soup at the Institute dinner--you +remember?" + +"You did?" cried Rosemary, turning to the other girl. "Did you take +the needle-books you gave Shirley, too?" + +Fannie nodded. + +"Did you wad up the clean tablecloth for the cake table?" chorused +Rosemary and Miss Parsons together. "And spill tomato soup on it, +too?" + +"Catsup," corrected Fannie. + +"How can you be so horrid!" cried Rosemary in a burst of frankness. + +"Well, it's your own fault," declared Fannie resentfully. "You've +got a swelled head over your cooking and I just wanted to make you +see you weren't so much, after all." + +"But there were teachers from all over the State at the Institute +dinner," protested Rosemary. "If the dinner was spoiled, they would +blame the school because we were not better taught. And the fair is +for the hospital and if it doesn't go off right, the whole school +loses credit. Don't you see, Fannie, you weren't just hurting me, +but you were making the whole school fall down." + +"You come down to the office with me, Fannie," said Mr. Oliver +sternly. "I think you and I will have a little talk and perhaps you +will see things in a clearer light afterward. Certainly your ideas +need to be set right, if you are to continue in school." + +"Oh, dear, I hope he won't scold her," sighed Rosemary, beginning to +stir the chocolate mixture. "As long as she didn't get the salt into +this, I don't care, and I don't think Mr. Oliver should." + +"He may think differently," said Miss Parsons briefly. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +GARDEN DAYS + + +Mr. Oliver did think differently. He talked very seriously to Fannie +for nearly an hour and then Rosemary was sent for to come to the +office. + +"Rosemary," said the principal, when she appeared, "I know you have +a great many last things to do for the fair, but I had to speak to +you before the three o'clock dismissal bell. Fannie is ready to +apologize to you before your class is dismissed this afternoon." + +He had explained to Fannie that she must either publicly apologize +to Rosemary or be indefinitely suspended. + +"I quite understand," went on Mr. Oliver, "that a belated apology +like this can not make up to you for the humiliation you suffered on +the night of the dinner, but at least the cooking class will know +that you were not at fault. I'm afraid you've had to endure a good +deal of teasing on the score of the salty soup." + +"Oh, I didn't mind, really I didn't!" cried Rosemary quickly. "I'd +rather Fannie didn't say anything, Mr. Oliver. Honestly I would." + +"I think it will be good for her," said the principal whimsically. +"Any girl who can be guilty of a series of such mean little acts as +Fannie has confessed to, can not help but benefit by open +confession." + +"But Mr. Oliver!" Rosemary spoke involuntarily and the color +deepened in her face. + +"Yes?" he encouraged. + +"Nothing--only, if you make Fannie apologize, you are punishing me," +brought out Rosemary desperately. "I can't stand it to sit there in +class and listen to her. I don't care about the salty soup--at least +I don't now; but I know how I should feel to have to get up before +the whole class. Please don't make Fannie do it." + +The principal tapped his desk thoughtfully with his pencil. + +"All right," he said presently. "I certainly have no right to make +you uncomfortable, Rosemary, and even less desire. Apologize here +and now, Fannie, and I'll excuse you from a class acknowledgment. +But only on Rosemary's account, mind you. I think you deserve all +the punishment I can give you." + +Fannie made a faltering and shame-faced apology and then Rosemary +was allowed to go back to the kitchen and, as the three o'clock bell +sounded, Fannie to go home. She did not come to the fair and her +class mates did not see her again till next Monday. + +True to his promise, Doctor Hugh took his family to the high school +cafeteria for supper and Jack Welles, who was one of the carvers, +served them in fine style. Frank Fenton was manager and he insisted +on securing the most desirable table for them, much to Doctor Hugh's +amusement and Sarah's ill-concealed disgust. + +"Why do you smile and say 'How do you do' to him, Rosemary?" she +demanded of her sister hotly. "I think it's untruthful to pretend to +like people you don't." + +"Well it isn't!" flung back Rosemary, who was tired from standing +behind the cake table that afternoon. "It's impolite to stick out +your tongue at them the way you do!" + +"Let me catch you doing that!" Doctor Hugh warned Sarah. "However, +children, let's not have any quarrels on a fair night. How late are +they going to keep this up, Rosemary?" + +"Only till eight o'clock," Rosemary answered. "We have to go back, +now, Hugh, and serve at the tables. Are you and Aunt Trudy coming +up?" + +"Right away," he assured her. "And we'll bring our pocketbooks." + +The fair was an unquestionable success. Shirley's bouquets sold +swiftly and her tray was replenished again and again that evening +and during the next Saturday afternoon. Sarah convulsed her +customers by her business-like manner and she did a thriving trade +in gold fish. + +Winnie came Saturday afternoon and bought a large cake and another +for Mrs. Welles who was kept home by a bad cold. The coveted state +of bare tables was attained an hour before the fair was scheduled to +close Saturday afternoon, and the Eastshore pupils had the pleasant +knowledge that they would have more money to turn over to the +hospital than in any previous year. + +Spring came to Eastshore with fascinating suddenness. One night it +was blustery and cold and householders stoked their furnaces with a +sigh for the nearly empty coal bins, and the following morning a +South wind blew gently, robins chirped on the lawns that showed a +faint green tinge and children appeared in school with huge bundles +of pussy willows. + +"What do you say to fixing up the garden, Rosemary?" Doctor Hugh +suggested, tumbling a sheaf of seed catalogues on the living-room +table early in April. "If Mother comes home in June, she'd like to +find plenty of flowers growing, wouldn't she?" + +"Oh, yes!" Rosemary's response was enthusiastic. "Do let's plan a +garden, Hugh, and if it doesn't cost too much, we could have Peter +Cooper fix up the lawn. It's rather thin in spots." + +The gardening fever seized upon the Willis family and the girls sped +home from school to dig and plant and rake and hoe. They recklessly +promised Winnie a vegetable garden back of the garage and risked a +late frost to jab onion and radish and lettuce seeds into the patch, +Peter Cooper, the handy man, spaded up for them. Rosemary acquired a +line of golden freckles across her nose and Sarah "got a shade +darker every day," according to Winnie. + +"I don't care!" the object of her solicitation retorted. "I won't +wear a hat--they're hot and stuffy and make my head ache." + +"But your mother won't know you," urged Aunt Trudy, who was sewing +on the porch in the warm sunshine. "She'll take you for an Indian." + +"Oh, I guess my mother'll know me," said Sarah, but all her +determination could not keep out a note of doubt in her voice. + +The next morning she was late for breakfast. Rosemary called her +twice and Winnie went up to see what was the matter. + +"She says she's all dressed and she's coming right away," she +reported, but no Sarah appeared. + +Doctor Hugh went to the foot of the stairs. + +"Sarah!" he called in a tone that seldom failed to produce results. + +"I'm coming," answered Sarah, and they heard her feet beginning the +descent of the stairs. + +She came into the dining-room so quietly, that Aunt Trudy glanced at +her in surprise. + +"Why Sarah!" she gasped, "What in the world have you done to your +face?" + +"What's the matter with it?" demanded Sarah hardily. + +"It looks skinned," said Shirley critically. "You can't go to school +looking like that, can she Hugh?" + +Rosemary seemed to understand. + +"So that's what you were doing last night!" she said. "I wondered +what you were fussing around so for; your light was burning long +after I went to bed." + +"You've skinned your face, child," insisted Aunt Trudy. "I never saw +a worse looking complexion, never. What have you done to yourself?" + +Winnie, bringing in the later-comer's oatmeal, took one hasty +glance. + +"My land, Sarah, have you been walking in your sleep?" she asked in +alarm. "You look as though you'd fallen out of a window and landed +on your face." + +Sarah's eyes filled with tears and two splashed down into her lap. +She looked at Doctor Hugh, who nodded to her encouragingly. He had +not said a word since her entrance. + +"Never mind what they say, Sarah," he told her cheerily, "just tell +your old brother about it; looks are not the most important thing in +this world, are they?" + +"Aunt Trudy said my mother wouldn't know me," explained Sarah, +winking back the tears for her poor sore face smarted at the touch +of salt. "And I bleached all the brown off, Hugh; only it is so +sore." + +"My dear child!" he said in amazement. Then added, "What did you put +on your face, dear?" + +"Well, you see, I wanted it to be real white," said Sarah, sure that +he would understand, "so I used a cucumber and buttermilk and a +lemon and I scrubbed it afterward with pumice stone." + +They stared at her a moment in silence. + +"It's a wonder you have any face left," declared Winnie. "I missed +the buttermilk from the refrigerator." + +Doctor Hugh said little then, but he took Sarah into the office and +put something healing on the red little face. Then he explained that +Aunt Trudy had only been teasing her, and that tan was pleasing to +most people because it showed that the owner of the face liked to be +outdoors. He allowed Sarah to go with him on his rounds that morning +and so saved her the ordeal of going to school to meet the +inevitable questions about her face. And, after the girls were in +bed that night, he "spoke his mind" as Winnie said, to her and Aunt +Trudy. + +"I'd rather have her tanned as black as a piece of leather," he +concluded, "than to be fussing with 'creams' and bleaching lotions. +For goodness sake, don't bother her about her looks for at least ten +years. She'll begin soon enough." + +So Sarah gardened to her heart's content without a hat, and in time +the seeds planted made a creditable showing. The doctor spent +several evenings figuring and at last decided they might afford to +have the house painted. He chose a deep cream color, after many +family consultations, combined with a soft brown and when it was +finished every one was pleased and sure that the little mother, for +whom it was really done, would be equally delighted. + +It did seem a waste of sunshine to be obliged to be cooped up in +school during such enchanting weather, but it was impossible to +convince the trustees of this. The three Willis girls had to be +content with spending every hour out of school in the open air. Jack +Welles was also gardening and though he gloomily spoke of the +weeding to come, he taught the girls many things about planting and +showed them how to care for the shrubbery that Doctor Hugh had sent +out from the nearest nursery and had small time to care for himself. + +"Mother does love roses so," said Rosemary once, "and Hugh is +determined to surprise her with a lot of new bushes." + +"Is that why you're named Rosemary?" asked Jack curiously, thinking +it strange that he had never noticed before how pretty freckles +were. + +Rosemary's expressive face sobered. + +"Partly," she answered, "but I had a sister, you know, whom I never +saw. She was named Mary, for Mother. And she died when she was three +years old. So when I was born, a year later, Mother named me +'Rosemary,' which means remembrance. Mother told me once that I was +named in memory of the little dead sister, and for the flowers she +loved and to please my father who thought 'Mary' the most beautiful +name in the world. So I've always liked my name." + +"It suits you, somehow," said Jack. "Want to hold this bush steady +while I fill in round the roots?" + +Whenever Jack was touched, he sought employment for his hands, for +fear he might say something to show his feeling. He had all the +boy's horror of "making a fool" of himself. + +April, with its soft, sudden showers and its exquisite velvety +greens ran into May with its first hot days and the sound of Peter +Cooper's hammer loud in the land as he diligently worked putting up +screens and awnings. Aunt Trudy began to "feel the heat" and Winnie +and Sarah battled again over the ethics of killing defenseless +flies. + +Toward the end of the month, the Student's Council, conceived the +plan of holding a picnic for the three schools, an all-day picnic +some Saturday. The plan was proposed at a morning assembly and met +with such vigorous and hearty response that the date was settled +upon then and there. Winnie was besieged that night by three excited +girls who asked her advice on what "would do" to take to the picnic. + +"We want to take enough, because some of them will bring only a +little," said Rosemary. "The boys always stuff an apple in their +pockets and then wonder why they are hungry when noon comes." + +"I'll pack you three lunches that will be lunches," promised Winnie, +"and there'll be enough to give away, too." + +"We're going in motor trucks," bubbled Shirley, "I want to ride up +front." + +"I want to ride on back," proclaimed Sarah who never, by any chance, +seemed to agree with anyone else. "I want to ride with my feet +hanging over. And I'm going to tie a string to Shirley's rag doll +and drag it in the dust--like the pictures in the Early Martyrs +book, you know." + +Shirley began to hop up and down with anger and began to cry. + +"I won't have my dolly dragged in the dust," she shrieked. + +"Martyrs have to be dragged in the dust," the perverse Sarah +insisted. "I want to see her bounce when she hits the stones." + +"Oh, Sarah, do be still," begged Rosemary. Then, to the weeping +Shirley, "Sarah is only teasing you, darling. She wouldn't hurt your +dolly." + +"Are the teachers going?" asked Aunt Trudy anxiously. "I hope some +older people will be on hand to look after you." + +"Oh, the teachers are going--worse luck!" Sarah assured her. "I'll +bet they shriek every time I find a water snake." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE SCHOOL PICNIC + + +The Saturday chosen for the picnic dawned clear and warm and there +was no sleep for anyone in the Willis family after six o'clock. +Shirley and Sarah had to be forcibly restrained from investigating +the boxes on the kitchen table and Winnie finally decided to finish +packing them before breakfast, in order to "get a moment's peace" as +she said. + +Sarah flatly refused to go to the picnic unless her red tie could be +found, not that she wanted to wear it for decorative purposes, she +carefully explained, but because she thought she could catch minnows +in it. There was a brook running through the picnic field and Sarah +meant to explore it thoroughly. + +By the time Rosemary had found the tie, Shirley had managed to upset +the shoe blacking on her white shoes and had to be hastily refitted +with tan socks and oxfords. Rosemary, flying down the hall with a +new pair of shoelaces for her sister, brushed past Doctor Hugh on +his way to the breakfast table. + +"Is there a fire, or is it only the picnic?" he asked humorously, +and she assured him that it was "always like this" on picnic +mornings. + +"Well I don't envy the job of the chaperones," said the doctor +feelingly, when they were at last seated and Aunt Trudy was pouring +his coffee. "You and Shirley," he said to Sarah, "want to do as +Rosemary says to-day." + +"Then I hope she doesn't say much," retorted Sarah ungraciously. + +"If I thought you meant to be as rude as you sometimes sound, Sarah, +I'd read you a lecture on politeness," said her brother, rather +sternly. "But we won't spoil a holiday by bickering. Can you all go +together in the same motor truck?" + +"Mr. Oliver said we could do as we pleased, as long as none of the +trucks were overcrowded," explained Rosemary. "I'm going to try and +have Sarah and Shirley in the same car with me; you see if three +other girls want to go together, that will just even it up." + +"All right, children, have a good time and don't eat too many +sandwiches," said the doctor cheerfully. "I'm sorry I can't stay to +see you off, but I'll hear all about the fun to-night. Try not to +go crazy, Auntie, before these Indians are safely out of the house." + +As soon as he had gone, the girls began to "pack up" though the +motor trucks were not to leave the school grounds till half-past +nine. They were all dressed in white and each carried a sweater, +Sarah's red, Rosemary's blue and Shirley's apple green. Winnie had +made up a generous box of lunch for each, and three vacuum bottles, +a surprise from Doctor Hugh, were waiting them, filled with +lemonade. + +"I think we'd better go early, Winnie," said Rosemary, "on account +of getting in the same truck. The earlier we are, the better chance +we have of getting seats together." + +"Yes, it's always well to go early to any picnic," replied Winnie +wisely. "The fun can't begin till you start, so why delay?" + +The motor trucks were drawn up before the school when the girls +reached the grounds and a group of boys and girls were standing +about them. They made a parade showing, being six in number and +gaily decorated with flags and bunting. There were two teachers +assigned to each truck and Rosemary was delighted to find that Miss +Parsons and her class teacher, Miss Penfield, were to be in charge +of one of the grammar school trucks. + +"Why I don't see any reason why you and your sisters shouldn't be +together," Miss Penfield answered when Rosemary asked her about +Sarah and Shirley. "Hop in here, and you'll be placed and may not +have to move." + +But just before the trucks were ready to start, Nina Edmonds and +Fannie Mears hurried up. They tried to climb into the truck where +Rosemary sat. + +"Got my load now," said the driver promptly, but pleasantly. "You'll +have to go in the next car." + +"That's full of primary kids--we don't belong in there with them," +protested Fannie. "Oh, look, there are Sarah and Shirley +Willis--they can't go in this car, they belong in the primary +grades." + +"Now Fannie, don't be disagreeable," begged Miss Penfield. "Rosemary +wants her younger sisters with her which is perfectly natural. It +won't hurt you to ride in one of the other trucks. Do it to be +obliging, if for no other reason." + +"I'm sure Fannie doesn't want to be disobliging, Miss Penfield," +said Nina smoothly, "but Mr. Oliver distinctly said there were two +trucks for the grammar grades and that we should not go out of our +assigned cars. Besides, Fannie and I want to sit with our friends +and they're all in this car. Rosemary needn't move, but I think +Sarah and Shirley should go where they belong." + +Miss Penfield flushed with vexation and annoyance. Mr. Oliver had +made just that ruling and she knew that Nina was quoting the letter +of his order, while ignoring the spirit. If she chose to make a +scene she could probably send the two girls to the other car, but it +was a question whether in attempting to enforce her commands she +might not at the same time spoil the day for Rosemary. + +"Are you crowded, Miss Penfield?" called Jack Welles, standing up in +the first truck and looking back. "We have room for three up here; +send them along, if you need space." + +"You go, Rosemary, and take Sarah and Shirley," said Miss Penfield +quickly. "Now come in here, Nina and Fannie, and for pity's sake let +us have no more of this jangling." + +The high school cars held the coveted lead in the line and Jack +happened to be in the first one. Rosemary and Sarah and Shirley were +welcomed joyously by the older boys and girls and Nina and Fannie +furiously regretted their insistence. They would have liked to go in +the high school truck and if they had only waited, or had been less +determined in their demands, they might have found places there. + +When the large field, where the Eastshore picnics were always held, +was reached, the trucks were parked in a circle and the pupils +scattered to amuse themselves according to their varying ages and +ideas. Shirley joined the little girls and shrieking games of "Tag" +were immediately under way. Sarah, ignoring the suggestions of her +classmates that they hunt for wildflowers, dropped flat on her +stomach and began a search for bugs. Rosemary left the lunch boxes +under the eyes of the teachers who gathered in a ring and took out +knitting and fancy work, and went off with half a dozen girls her +age to gather and wash wild-grape vine leaves to serve as plates at +the luncheon. + +As it is at all picnics, no one could really think of anything long, +till the boxes were unpacked and the good things set out. The boys +helped by getting in everyone's way, by tipping over the bottles of +milk and dropping ants and spiders on the tablecloths to frighten +the girls. There were great slabs of moss-covered rock all about +the field and these, when covered with cloths, made the nicest kind +of tables. The groups gathered to suit themselves and when Rosemary +found that Jack Welles, Jerry and Fred Gordon, Ben Kelsey, Norman +Cox and Eustice Gray were gravitating toward the rock she had +selected and that Shirley and Sarah were each bringing a playmate to +eat with them, she was thankful that Winnie had had the packing of +the boxes. + +There were more than enough sandwiches and stuffed eggs and cup +cakes and strawberry tarts to satisfy every one and the boys forgot +to be shy and, to Rosemary's delight, helped themselves without +urging, quite as though they knew Winnie had had their pleasure in +mind, as indeed the good soul had. + +"We're going to play ball this afternoon," said Jack, when it was a +mortal impossibility for any one to eat more. "Mr. Hamlin gave +orders that we must go far enough away so that there would be no +danger of striking any of the kids with the ball. We're going up the +brook away to an open pasture. Can we help you with the dishes or +anything?" he added thoughtfully. + +"There won't be any dishes," smiled Rosemary. "Winnie put in only +paper plates and napkins, and it won't be wasteful to leave the +little that's left for the birds. If you want to bury the boxes, +that will be nice; Hugh always detests any litter left around after +a picnic." + +"We'll dig a hole and bury all the trash," said Eustice Gray +instantly. "Come on, fellows, we'll go collect it." + +"But you haven't any shovel," said the practical Sarah. + +"A-ha, you're a good detective, but you don't know motor trucks," +replied Eustice, grinning at her, for he had taken a fancy to the +odd child who had screamed to him not to mash the spider he had +fished out of his lemonade cup. "All good motor trucks take a spade +with them, under the seat, to use in case they are stuck on some +muddy road." + +"Oh!" said Sarah. "Then I'll come help you." + +And she trotted around after the boys till they had collected the +litter and trash left by each group of picnickers and buried it +neatly in a hole they filled in and stamped down firmly. She would +have gone with them to play ball, but Rosemary held her back. + +"Well, if I can't play ball, I'll go hunt snakes," decided Sarah +whose frock was torn and dirty already, but whose streaked face +was radiant with the good time she was having. + +All the boys, big and little, had disappeared immediately after +luncheon, to play ball in more distant fields. The farmers of the +neighborhood were perfectly willing to lend their pasture land for a +day and there were no crops to be spoiled by tramping feet for +several miles along the brook. + +The younger girls gathered around one of the primary teachers who +promised to tell them stories and most of the grammar and high +school girls had brought their crocheting and were ready to sit +quietly a while and exchange patterns. Rosemary, however, did not +feel in what she called a "knitting mood" and when Bessie Kent +suggested that they go wading in the brook, she jumped at the idea. +A dozen girls were found to be aching for a frolic and Miss Penfield +smilingly told them to be young while they could, but not to wade +too far and not to stay too long. + +The water was icy cold, and much laughter and shrieking advertised +the first step, but as soon as they were used to the temperature +only the exhilaration remained. Led by Rosemary, they started slowly +up stream. + +"Good gracious, if Nina Edmonds and Fannie Mears aren't coming, +too," whispered Bessie, glancing back over her shoulder. "Wonder why +they want to tag along?" + +If she had only known it, Nina and Fannie were feeling decidedly +left out of things. They longed to go with the high school girls who +persistently ignored them and they were not at all popular with +their own classmates. When they found that they were to be left on +the edge of the circle of crocheters, they determined to follow the +wading party. Nina privately thought she was far too old to indulge +in such a silly pastime, and Fannie hated walking anyway, but at the +moment wading was better than doing nothing. + +"Who's that shouting?" asked Rosemary, as they rounded a bend in the +brook and heard a distant noise. + +"Must be the boys," replied Bessie. "Yes, see, there they are--way +over there; they're playing ball on the other side of the brook, a +couple of fields further on." + +The girls could see the running figures plainly, and from time to +time a bellow of pure joy and excitement wafted down to them. + +"Don't they have fun--" Rosemary was beginning, when a scream +startled them all. + +"I've cut my foot!" shrieked Fannie Mears. "Oh, the whole bottom of +the brook must be covered with broken glass. Look how it bleeds!" + +She lifted her foot from the water and Nina, who caught a glimpse of +the widening gash, cried out in horror. Fannie let her foot fall and +struck the glass again. She screamed even more loudly and began to +beat the water with her hands. + +"Look out, you won't be able to see the glass!" cried Rosemary, +turning and dashing toward her. "Stand still, Fannie, just a +minute." + +Rosemary stooped and felt carefully down about Fannie's feet. Her +hands struck a broken bottle and she lifted it out and tossed it on +the bank. + +"That's what did it," she said calmly. "Hurry and let me see your +foot--wait I'll pull you up on the bank, Fannie." + +But when Fannie saw her cut foot, which was bleeding profusely, and +the girls, who had crowded around saw it and her white, frightened +face, a veritable panic started. Fannie slipped into the brook, +crying with pain and fright, apparently believing that if her foot +was under water and out of sight it must stop bleeding, and the +other girls began a chorus of shrill screaming that tried Rosemary +to the point of exasperation. + +"How can you be so silly!" she stormed. "Somebody hold Fannie's foot +while I tie it up; I know first-aid. She's losing blood all the +time. Somebody help me--Oh, don't stand there like that! Bessie, +can't you hold her foot just a minute?" + +"I couldn't!" Bessie shivered and drew back. "My knees are wabbling +now, Rosemary. Blood always makes me so sick!" + +"Then run," said Rosemary desperately, seeing that she could expect +no help from the frightened girls about her. "Run, and tell some of +the boys to come quick!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +A LONG YEAR'S END + + +As Bessie obediently started in the direction of the ball-players, +Nina Edmonds uttered a shocked exclamation. + +"Oh, Rosemary, I don't think you should have done that," she said +reprovingly. "We haven't our shoes and stockings on, you know." + +"I suppose we should let Fannie bleed to death, then?" suggested +Rosemary, her great eyes snapping fire. "Fannie won't hold still +herself and not one of you has the nerve to hold her steady and yet +you stand there and make a fuss because a boy may see you without +your shoes and stockings on. If you're going to be ashamed of +anything, Nina Edmonds, be ashamed of being a coward!" + +Nina flushed angrily, but Rosemary was trying to pull Fannie back on +the bank and paid no further attention to her. Fannie fought off any +attempt to touch her and she cried and groaned without a moment's +pause. Rosemary, straightening up after a hard and ineffectual +tussle, was relieved to see Bessie running toward them, followed by +a string of boys, Jack Welles in advance. Bessie's cries had reached +them long before she came to the field and they had correctly +interpreted her frantic appeals for help. + +"Oh, Jack, I'm so glad you've come!" cried Rosemary. "Help me get +Fannie out on the bank. She's cut her foot badly and she won't let +me touch her, to tie it up." + +Will Mears, Fannie's brother, panted up and when he saw his sister +and understood that she was hurt, he bent down and lifted her out +with one swift, strong pull. + +"Gee, you _have_ cut yourself!" he said in distress as he saw the +injured foot. + +"Hush up!" said Jack sternly, as the girls began to shriek again. +"Go away, if you're afraid to look. Rosemary knows what to do, don't +you, Rosemary? Tell us how to help you." + +"Hold her still," directed Rosemary, frantically calling on her +memory for Doctor Hugh's first-aid lessons. "I'll have to wash it +out the best way I can, but I think I can stop the bleeding. Then +we'll have to get her to a doctor." + +"I'll hold her," said Will Mears grimly. "You go ahead." + +Fannie could not twist and squirm in his strong arms, and Rosemary +deftly washed out the great jagged cut that had slashed across the +slim instep, and then, further scandalizing Nina, tore a wide +bandage from the bottom of her petticoat, brought the edges of the +cut closely together and bound it tightly. + +"I think you ought to carry her to the truck," she said, when she +had finished. "Look out, Will, she's fainted. Lay her on the grass." + +The sight of Fannie, white and motionless, frightened the girls, and +it must be confessed the boys, too, far more than her steady +screaming. Rosemary did not appear to be alarmed, but borrowing +Jack's handkerchief, dipped it in the water and gently bathed +Fannie's forehead. Then she took her head in her lap and waited a +few minutes. Presently Fannie opened her eyes. + +"She's better now," said Rosemary. + +"I'll carry her to the truck," declared Will Mears, looking with +respect on the young nurse. "As you say, I think we'd better get her +to a doctor. Some of you run on ahead and explain what has happened +and tell them we want to start back right away." + +The girls sped on ahead and in a few minutes the picnic had broken +up hastily. A sort of bed was made in one of the trucks, using the +sweaters and wraps of the other girls, and Fannie was laid on this, +with her head in Rosemary's lap. Will Mears had no confidence in any +one else's ability to take care of his sister. + +"She would have bled to death, if it hadn't been for Rosemary," he +said to Jack, as the truck started, the driver carefully avoiding +the bad places in the road in order to spare the patient any +unnecessary jar. "I never saw a girl before who could do up cuts and +not scream at the sight of blood. I suppose it's because her brother +is a doctor." + +"Not altogether," replied Jack curtly. "Rosemary doesn't happen to +be the screaming kind of girl." + +Will Mears directed that the truck be driven to Doctor Hugh's office +where, by good fortune, they found him just in from a call, and +Fannie, quiet and spent now, with no breath left for screaming, had +her wound washed with an antiseptic and dressed. Then she was taken +home and put to bed. She was weak from the loss of blood and the +consequences might have been serious, the doctor admitted, if the +cut had not been tied in time. But to Will Mears' glowing praise of +Rosemary, he replied that she had only used her knowledge of +first-aid treatment. + +"Then all girls ought to learn it," burst out the high school +junior. "Those other girls stood around like perfect dubs. Fannie +could have bled to death, for all they did." + +"All girls ought to know first-aid," affirmed the doctor. "My +sisters are not going to be left helpless when an accident happens." + +"But you can't say it's altogether the first aid," persisted Will +Mears. "Look at Nina Edmonds; she might learn the whole programme, +and then, when something did happen, she'd run around like a chicken +with its head off! First-aid doesn't teach you to keep your wits +about you and not to scream and act like a lunatic generally, Doctor +Willis." + +"Well, of course, one needs character as well as first-aid +knowledge," admitted Doctor Hugh, smiling a little, "but if one +knows what to do, there's no temptation to wring the hands and +scream, Will. Rosemary knew what to do, therefore she did it." + +But Will Mears refused to give all the credit to first-aid and +indeed all the boys and girls who had seen Rosemary care for Fannie, +were loud in their praise of her fearlessness and skill. Mrs. Mears +sent for her to come and see Fannie, as soon as the patient grew +stronger, and though Rosemary rather dreaded the visit, she came +away feeling that next term in school she and Fannie would be, if +not close friends, at least on amiable terms instead of irritatingly +hostile which had been their covert attitude this last year. + +For it was time to think of school as "next year," since this term +was so nearly over. The Eastshore schools closed the middle of June +and the week after the picnic the pupils were plunged into the +throes of the final examinations. Even Shirley went about anxiously +wondering if she would "pass" and asking each of her sisters if they +thought she had had good marks during the year. + +"I just have to be promoted," she would say over and over. "I just +have to be promoted, 'cause my mother is coming home." + +"When's Mother coming home?" was Sarah's cry. "You said in a year, +Hugh, and it's a year this month." + +"I think we may look for her home sometime this month," said the +doctor one day when Sarah had asked him for the twentieth time. "You +mustn't expect her to keep a calendar, Sarah and come back on the +exact day she went away. It may be a few days longer, dear." + +"She went away a year ago this Wednesday," said Rosemary, half to +herself. + +"Has it been a long year, Rosemary?" asked her brother, quickly. + +"In spots," answered Rosemary, the tears rushing to her eyes. "It +has been ever so long, sometimes, Hugh." + +"Well, let's all get promoted," suggested Shirley, in her little +chirpy voice. "Mother would like us all promoted, wouldn't she, +Hugh?" + +"She'll about eat you up, promoted or not," he answered, swinging +Shirley to the top of his desk the better to hug her. "But by all +means be promoted; that will be fine news to tell her." + +The dreaded examinations approached relentlessly, engulfed each +fearful class and released them, after a few days, to wait their +fates. Shirley was sure she had "passed in everything," Sarah was +superbly indifferent, and Rosemary had secret qualms about history. +Jack Welles confided that he didn't care so much whether or not he +passed, but the uncertainty was driving him mad. + +"If I pass, I get my choice of three dandy fishing rods," he +explained to Rosemary. "And if I flunk, I have to work in the +garden all summer without a single fishing trip." + +This state of suspense extended to the last day of the term. The +senior classes, in the high and grammar schools, were given their +ratings earlier, to allow them to prepare for the graduating +exercises. Rosemary, Sarah, Shirley and Aunt Trudy went to the +exercises and all through the hot June night Rosemary sat, wide-eyed +and delighted, wondering if the day would ever come when she could +sit on the platform in a white frock with her arms filled with +roses, and perhaps be called on to read an essay. + +The day after the graduation, the cards were handed out among the +other grades. Jack Welles waited to walk home with the Willis girls +and though his patience was sorely tried by the prolonged farewells, +he managed to keep fairly good-humored. + +"Why was Bessie Kent kissing you as though she never expected to see +you again?" he asked Rosemary curiously. "Doesn't she live near you +and won't you see her nearly every day this summer?" + +"Oh, that's just because it was the last day of school," explained +Rosemary. + +"Silly, I call it," declared Sarah, voicing Jack's sentiments. "I +got promoted, Jack. And I'm going to hunt specimens all summer for +the biology teacher. He asked me to." + +"I got promoted, too," cried Shirley proudly. "I got a silver star +on my card. And now I'm in the second grade." + +Jack looked at Rosemary. She nodded happily. + +"Passed in everything," she said. "Even history. Won't it be fun to +be in the grammar graduating class next term!" + +"Well I passed, myself," announced Jack. "Watch me pick out that +fishing rod. And the garden won't see much of me this summer, I can +tell you that." + +"Mother will be so pleased," said Rosemary, as Jack went on to his +house, and the three girls mounted the steps of the Willis home. +"She likes us to do well in school, and Hugh was never kept back a +single year. She would like us to follow his record, I know." + +"The house looks kind of nice, doesn't it?" said Sarah unexpectedly. +Comment of that kind was unusual with her. + +The house did look "nice," its rich cream color showing up the vivid +green of the shrubbery and the velvety surface of the well-kept +lawn. The new rose bushes were bearing well and Doctor Hugh had +managed new green and white striped awnings for the porch. + +"I wish Mother could see the roses," said Rosemary as they went in. + +The late afternoon June sunshine streamed in through the hall window +and made a broad band to the stairway which was in shadow. Voices +sounded in the living room. + +"Hugh's home!" cried Sarah, her quick eyes darting to the hall table +where a man's hat and a light leather bag lay together with a +woman's hat and veil. + +Rosemary saw the hat and veil. They were not Aunt Trudy's. Her heart +gave a sudden leap. + +They went forward across the hall to the doorway of the living-room. +There, in the large arm-chair, facing the door, sat a little woman +with eyes like Rosemary's and dark hair like Sarah, but faintly +streaked with gray across its ripples. She was thin, as though from +a recent illness, but a clear pink glowed in her cheeks and her soft +voice was firm and strong. Her lovely mouth smiled at the girls and +she held out her arms. Doctor Hugh, standing behind her chair, +laughed a little, to keep from crying he afterward said, as Sarah +and Shirley hurled themselves upon their mother, both shrieking, +while they waved their report cards, "We're promoted! We're +promoted! We passed in every single thing!" + +She took them both in her lap at once and their arms were about her +neck. Across the yellow and dark head, her eyes met those of her +oldest daughter. Doctor Hugh, too, looked at Rosemary. + +She had not moved from the doorway since Sarah and Shirley had +brushed past her in their mad rush. Standing motionless and +speechless, a slender hand on either side of the doorframe, she +watched her sisters claim the mother's first kiss. Then, as the +beautiful eyes were raised to hers, she made an effort to speak. All +the love and longing and loneliness of the past year, not fully felt +till now, rushed to her voice. She took a step forward. + +"_Mother!_" said Rosemary. + + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rosemary, by Josephine Lawrence + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROSEMARY *** + +***** This file should be named 20620-8.txt or 20620-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/6/2/20620/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Jacqueline Jeremy and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/20620-8.zip b/old/20620-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7d5ebc4 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/20620-8.zip diff --git a/old/20620.txt b/old/20620.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0bdff90 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/20620.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7935 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rosemary, by Josephine Lawrence + +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: Rosemary + +Author: Josephine Lawrence + +Release Date: February 19, 2007 [EBook #20620] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROSEMARY *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Jacqueline Jeremy and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: SARAH PULLED OUT A LITTLE DANGLING DARK OBJECT. +"Rosemary" Page 157] + + + + +ROSEMARY + +_By_ +_Josephine Lawrence_ + +_Illustrated by_ +_Thelma Gooch_ + +NEW YORK +CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY + + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY + +_Rosemary_ + +PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I GOOD NEWS 1 + + II THE WILLIS WILL 12 + + III AUNT TRUDY COMES 23 + + IV DOCTOR HUGH TAKES COMMAND 34 + + V WINNIE'S VOLUNTEERS 45 + + VI ROSEMARY HAS HER WAY 54 + + VII THE RUNAWAY 65 + + VIII SARAH IN DISGRACE 76 + + IX WHEN PATIENCE SLIPS 87 + + X THE LAST STRAW 98 + + XI A CHAIN OF PROMISES 109 + + XII ONE DISASTROUS AFTERNOON 121 + + XIII JACK STRAIGHTENS THINGS OUT 132 + + XIV A NEW SCHOOL TERM 144 + + XV TOO MUCH NATURAL HISTORY 156 + + XVI MR. OLIVER AND SARAH 168 + + XVII THE INSTITUTE DINNER 180 + +XVIII SHIRLEY IN MISCHIEF 192 + + XIX BUCKING THE STUDENT COUNCIL 204 + + XX DRESSMAKER ROSEMARY 216 + + XXI MR. JORDAN LEARNS SOMETHING 228 + + XXII SHOPPING WITH NINA 240 + +XXIII SARAH LOSES A MENAGERIE 252 + + XXIV A MYSTERY SOLVED 264 + + XXV GARDEN DAYS 276 + + XXVI THE SCHOOL PICNIC 288 + +XXVII A LONG YEAR'S END 300 + + + + +ROSEMARY + + +CHAPTER I + +GOOD NEWS + + +The Willis house was very quiet. The comfortable screened porch was +deserted, though a sweater in the hammock and a box of gay paper +dolls on the floor showed that it had served as a play-space +recently. Inside, not a door banged, not a footfall sounded. + +The late afternoon June sunshine streamed in through the hall window +and made a broad band to the stairway which was in the shadow. The +light touched the heads of three girls huddled closely together in +the cushioned window-seat and turned the hair of one to gleaming, +burnished golden red, another to a fairy web of spun yellow silk and +searched out the faint copper tint in the dark locks of the third. +The girls sat motionless, their faces turned toward the stairs, as +silent as everything else in that silent house. + +"Rosemary!" whispered the dark-haired one suddenly, "Rosemary, you +don't think--" + +The girl with the gold-red hair, who sat between the other two, +started nervously. Her violet blue eyes transferred their anxious +gaze from the shadowy staircase to her sister's face. + +"Oh, no!" she said passionately. "No! Do you hear me, Sarah? That +couldn't happen to us. Why do you say such things?" + +"I didn't say anything," protested Sarah sullenly. "Did I, Shirley?" + +The little girl with the fairy-web of yellow hair did not answer. +She started from her seat and ran toward the stairs. + +"Hugh's coming!" she cried. + +Quick, even steps sounded on the hardwood treads and a young man +with dark hair, darker eyes behind eye-glasses and a keen, +intelligent face, descended rapidly. He picked up the child and +strode across the hall to the window-seat. + +"Poor children!" he said compassionately, sitting down beside +Rosemary and holding the younger girl in his lap. "Has the time +seemed long? I came as quickly as I could." + +Rosemary looked at him piteously. + +"All right, dear," he said instantly. "Mother is going to get well. +Dr. Hurlbut and I have decided that all she needs is a long rest. I +am going to take her to a quiet place in the country day after +to-morrow and she is to stay until she is entirely recovered. Why +Rosemary!" + +The gold-red head was on his shoulder and Rosemary was crying as +though her heart would break. + +"That's the way she is," said the dark and placid Sarah. "She jumps +on me if I say anything and then she cries herself sick thinking +things. I would rather," she declared with peculiar distinctness, +"have folks talk than think, wouldn't you, Hugh?" + +"I'm sorry to say I can't agree with you," replied the young +man briefly. "Here, Shirley, I didn't know you were such a +heavy-weight--you run off with Sarah and tell Winnie what I have +told you about Mother. Quietly now, and no shouting. Rosemary, +dear," he put a protecting arm around the weeping girl, "you will +feel better now--we have all been under a strain and the worst is +over. Here comes Miss Graham with Dr. Hurlbut and I must see him +off. Don't run--he'll probably go right out without seeing you." + +But the famous specialist stopped squarely in the hall and the +pleasant-faced middle-aged nurse, standing respectfully on the +lower step, nodded reassuringly to Rosemary who was frantically +mopping her eyes. + +"Well, Dr. Willis," said the great man heartily, "I am mighty glad +to have been of some little service. I'm sure you will find Pine +Crest sanatorium all that it is said to be and the right place for +your mother. She mustn't be allowed, of course, to worry about home +affairs. There are younger children, I believe?" + +"Three girls," said Hugh Willis. "Rosemary--" he summoned her with a +glance,--"my sister, Dr. Hurlbut." + +Dr. Hurlbut shook hands kindly letting his quizzical gray eyes rest +a moment longer on the tear-stained face. + +"Ah, we cry because of past sorrow," he said quietly, "and, a +little, because of present joy; is it not so?" + +Rosemary lifted her head in quick understanding, tossing back her +magnificent mane and showing her violet blue eyes still wet with +tears. She smiled radiantly and her face was vivid, glowing, almost +startling in its beauty. + +"I am so happy!" she said clearly, and her girl-voice held a note of +pure joyousness. "So happy that I do not think I can ever be +unhappy again!" + +The two doctors smiled a little in sympathy. + +"Ah, well," said the famous specialist, after a moment's silence, +gently, "let us hope so." + +He turned toward the door and the younger man went with him to the +handsome car drawn up at the curb. Rosemary, with a swift hug for +Miss Graham, dashed past her upstairs to her own room, always a +haven in time of happiness or stress. + +"Mother is going to get well!" whispered the girl, starry-eyed. "All +she needs is rest, and then she will be quite well again. Cora +Mason's mother died--" the expressive face sobered and, sitting on +the edge of her pretty white bed, Rosemary's twelve-year old mind +filled with somber thoughts. Presently she slipped noiselessly to +her knees and buried her curly head in the comforting cool white +pillow. + +"Dear God--" she began, but the tide of joy and relief began to beat +loudly again in her heart, sending rich waves of color into her +hidden face. + +"I am so happy," prayed Rosemary tumultuously. "I am so happy! I am +so happy!" + +Presently she rose and dragged her white shoes from the closet. +Sitting in the middle of the floor, she started contentedly cleaning +them. + +"Rosemary?" sounded a little voice. "Rosemary, you in here?" + +Rosemary straightened up so that she could see across the bed which +stood between her and the doorway. + +"Yes, Shirley darling," she answered. "Did you tell Winnie about +mother?" + +"Yes," said Shirley scrambling upon the bed. "We told her. What you +doing, Sister?" + +"Cleaning my white shoes," replied Rosemary, applying whitener +vigorously. "I'm going to put them on and wear my white linen dress. +Don't you want to dress up to-night, Shirley? Bring me your shoes, +if they are dirty, and I'll do them for you." + +"All right, I'll get them," decided Shirley, sliding off the bed +backward. "Could I put on my blue sash, Rosemary?" + +"Not with that dress," said Rosemary firmly. "I'll have to wash your +face and hands and neck and then you can wear the cross-bar muslin +with the lace yoke." + +"Are you up here, Rosemary?" demanded another voice. "What are you +doing?" + +"Cleaning my shoes," said Rosemary patiently. "Say, Sarah, don't +you think it would be nice if we dressed up a little for dinner +to-night?" + +"Why?" asked Sarah bluntly. + +"Oh, because--because, well, we know Mother is going to get well," +explained Rosemary. "And everything has been in such a mess this +week, the table half set and nobody caring whether they ate or not. +I'd like to show Hugh that we can have things done properly." + +"What difference does it make?" drawled Sarah lazily. "I hate a lot +of fuss, you know I do. Rosemary, do you suppose it hurts worms to +use them for fishing bait? Will you ask Jack Welles?" + +"I'll ask him the next time I see him, if you will put on your tan +linen with the red tie," promised Rosemary. "And do brush your hair +back the way Mother likes it, Sarah. She can't bear to see it +stringing into your eyes." + +"Oh--all right," agreed Sarah. "Don't forget to ask about the +worms." + +She departed and in her place came Shirley, carrying a pair of +diminutive and soiled white shoes. + +"I wish," she announced pleasantly, sitting down on the floor +beside Rosemary to watch the cleaning process, "I wish we could have +ice-cream." + +"Well I'll ask Winnie," said Rosemary promptly. "What dessert do you +suppose we are going to have to-night?" + +"Berries," Shirley answered wisely. "I saw 'em. Couldn't Winnie make +us chocolate ice-cream?" + +"Oh, she wouldn't have time to make it," said Rosemary, "but I'll +ask her if I can't telephone the drug-store and have them send us +some. There your shoes are, honey. Now hurry and get dressed." + +Dr. Hugh Willis, coming down from his mother's sick-room at the +summons of the musical chime which announced the dinner hour, +thought he had never seen a pleasanter sight than greeted his eyes +in the dining-room. The room itself was pleasant and airy and the +last rays of the sun struck the table set with fresh linen and a +simple and orderly array of silver. But it was the three joyous +faces turned expectantly toward him that caught and held his +attention. Rosemary, in white from head to foot, stood behind her +mother's chair and all the light in the room seemed to center in her +eyes and hair. Shirley, looking like a particularly wholesome and +adorable cherub from her sunny curls and wide, gray eyes to her fat +and dimpled knees scuffled in an impatient circle around her own +special seat and Sarah, a stout and stolid little Indian in tan +linen and scarlet tie, showed her one beauty--a set of strong, even +white teeth--in an engaging smile. + +"Well how smart we are," smiled the doctor, surveying them +appreciatively. "Seems to me everyone is dressed up to-night." + +"We wanted to have things nice--because Mother is going to get +well," said Rosemary with simple directness. + +For answer Dr. Hugh came forward and pulled out her chair for her, +"just as if I were a grown-up woman," she recounted with pride to +her mother later, and then lifted Shirley to her seat and tied on +her bib dexterously. + +"We're going to have ice-cream," Sarah informed him. + +"That's fine," he commented a trifle absently, beginning to carve. +When he had served them all, he spoke seriously. + +"Girls," he said, "I'm going to send a telegram after dinner +to-night to Aunt Trudy Wright. Mother wants her to come and stay +with you while she is away; I don't think she can begin to mend +until she knows that she has provided for you." + +"Oh, Hugh!" Rosemary mashing potato for Shirley's hungry +consumption, looked distressed. "I can keep house, I know I can. We +don't need Aunt Trudy." + +"She won't let me keep any mice in my room," wailed Sarah. "I don't +like her, either." + +"Let me eat it now," said Shirley, referring to her potato. "Let's +tell Aunt Trudy not to come. She says oatmeal is good for me and I +don't like oatmeal." + +"Have you all finished?" asked the doctor calmly. "Well then, I have +something to say: Aunt Trudy is coming, just as soon as I can get +her here; if for no other reason than Mother wants her and will go +away happy in the belief that you will be well taken care of. There +is to be no argument and I absolutely forbid you to mention the +subject to Mother; if she says anything to you, try to act as though +you were pleased at the prospect. For my part, I should think you +would be glad she could come. An aunt is pretty nice to have when +you are in trouble." + +"You don't know Aunt Trudy," said Sarah pertly. + +"Rosemary, will you go up and sit with Mother while Miss Graham has +her dinner, when we are through?" asked Dr. Hugh, ignoring Sarah's +remark. "I am going down to the drug-store for a few things and I'll +be back within half an hour." + +The dessert of berries and ice-cream were eaten almost in silence. +Three of the people at the table were busy with conflicting +thoughts. Shirley alone was concentrating her attention on the +delight of a larger slice of cake than usual. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE WILLIS WILL + + +"It's the first real warm night we've had isn't it?" said Mrs. +Hollister conversationally. "I got to thinking about you to-night, +Winnie, and I said to Mamie that I believed I'd come up and see you +for a minute or two; I thought you might be glad to have a little +help with the dishes or something." + +Winnie, a tall gaunt woman, the gray hair on her temples hardly +perceptible because of the ash-blondness of her tightly pulled hair, +stood beside the kitchen table apparently figuring some problem on a +slip of paper. + +"My dishes are done," she said capably, "but sit down, do Mrs. +Hollister; I'm not denying that I'm glad to see a friend after the +day I've had." + +Mrs. Hollister sank heavily into the cushioned rocker drawn up near +the table and removed her cotton gloves. + +"I said to Mamie I knew you'd be tuckered out," she observed. "Am I +keeping you, Winnie--is that important?" she indicated the slip of +paper in the other's hand. + +"I can do it any time before to-morrow morning," Winnie explained. +"It's the laundry list and I have about everything counted up. The +man comes Wednesdays." + +"Where are the girls?" asked the visitor, her quick eyes roving +approvingly around the immaculate kitchen. "Did the poor lady get +off safely?" + +"The girls are in bed," said Winnie, taking the questions in order. +"They were worn out and I told 'em bed was the best place for them +to be. They've lost all their good sensible habits these last two +weeks and it's glad I am the young doctor is going to be here to +look after 'em. They need to be settled down if ever anybody did." + +"And Mrs. Willis? She will really get well?" urged Mrs. Hollister. + +Winnie's face changed. Her eyes softened. + +"They all say she will be better than she's been for years, bless +her! All of 'em, Dr. Hurlbut, that big specialist that came from +New York, and Dr. Jordan and Doctor Hugh, who's as good as any of +them if he is young, all of 'em say if she only rests a year in +this sanatorium and doesn't have to worry we'll never know she +was sick." + +"She was taken sudden, wasn't she?" asked the visitor. "Mamie said +you found her, Winnie." + +Winnie snapped on the light for the summer dusk was deepening +into dark. + +"That I did," she answered. "I'll never forget it, never. I was +going up to her room to ask her whether I should wait for the butter +and egg woman or send down to the store and in the upstairs hall I +walked right into her, lying so still and white on the floor. I got +her on the bed myself and sent Rosemary flying down to Dr. Jordan's +office for Dr. Hugh. Dr. Jordan came up with the young doctor and +they got the trained nurse and for over a week we didn't know +whether the dear lady would stay with us or not. Then she got a +little better and Dr. Hugh wanted her to go off to this sanatorium +place, but she wouldn't hear of it till the specialist put in his +word and all three doctors promised her she'd be cured." + +"They say Dr. Hugh is going to take Dr. Jordan's practice," said +Mrs. Hollister irrelevantly. + +"I don't know who 'they' are, but for once they've told the truth," +said Winnie a bit tartly. "Dr. Jordan is going away for two months, +or three, and Dr. Hugh is to look after his office and patients. He +may settle down in Eastshore, if he likes it well enough." + +Winnie did not add what she, as a confidante of the family, had +heard discussed, namely that Dr. Hugh would likely buy the practice +of Dr. Jordan who was an old man and anxious to retire from active +service. + +"Dr. Hurlbut came down in a great big car this afternoon and took +Mrs. Willis," Winnie went on, "Dr. Hugh went with her and he's +coming back in the morning. The girls behaved beautifully and not +one of 'em cried till their mother was well out of sight." + +"Well I should say you'll have your hands full with the +housekeeping," was Mrs. Hollister's next comment. "I don't +suppose you can depend on much help from the girls, though +Rosemary is old enough to do considerable if she's a mind +to. How old is she now?" + +"Twelve," replied Winnie. "But you musn't think I'm to do +everything, Mrs. Hollister. Miss Trudy Wright is coming +to-morrow, to stay till Mrs. Willis gets home." + +"Who's she?" asked Mrs. Hollister bluntly. "Anybody you +can rely on?" + +"I'm not saying I don't like her, for I do," said Winnie with +admirable conservatism, "Miss Wright means well, if ever a woman +did. She's the half sister of Mrs. Willis's husband and she sets +great store, she's always saying, by her dead brother's family." + +"You don't sound as if you were so terribly pleased," said Mrs. +Hollister shrewdly. "Does she put her nose into things that are no +concern of hers?" + +"No, I wouldn't say that for her," answered Winnie. "I don't know as +there is any one thing I can put my finger on. Of course she has +never been in charge of the house before--it will be queer to be +taking orders from her. She's been here off and on, making visits +and she never bothered me. Mrs. Willis, poor dear, went away feeling +sure that the girls would be well looked after and I'd be the last +one to think of disturbing her thoughts. But, between you and me, +Mrs. Hollister, Miss Wright can't manage a family like this. She +just hasn't got it in her." + +"You mean the girls are a handful?" suggested Mrs. Hollister. "I +thought as soon as you said she was coming, that a woman without any +children of her own would find it hard trying to look after three +lively girls." + +"Children of your own has got nothing to do with it," asserted +Winnie, tossing her head. "I can make any one of the children stand +round, if I give my mind to it, and they're as fond of me as can be. +But remember I say if I give my mind to it--Miss Wright hasn't got +the patience to keep repeating the same thing fifty times and if she +gives an order and they don't pay attention she drops it right +there. I'm not blaming her--she's fat and has plenty of money and +likes to be comfortable; she must be fifty years old, too, and at +her time of life it's only fair to expect to have a little peace. +But I know the Willis family, and giving in to the girls is the +worst thing you can do. I get wore out lots of times and knuckle +down, but Dr. Hugh won't. I've been watching him, the little time +he's been here, and I'll bet he can hold out against even Rosemary." + +"I suppose it's her red hair," said Mrs. Hollister vaguely. + +"Rosemary is an angel from heaven," declared Winnie, loyally rising +to the defense of the absent. "She's always been the sweetest child +the Lord ever made and when she was a baby I could never bear to +scold her because she'd look at me so sad-like from those big blue +eyes of hers. But Rosemary has the Willis will and the Willis +temper and when she is on her high horse the house won't hold her. +Sooner or later she's going to try to have her way against the young +doctor's orders and then there will be war. All the girls are +getting out of hand now, anyway, what with their mother sick and the +house upset and no regular plan to follow. I caught Sarah yesterday +making her breakfast off of lemonade, raisin pie and fancy cakes." + +"She's a queer one, that Sarah," said Mrs. Hollister, chuckling. +"She nearly frightened the little Percey girl into fits showing her +a live snake one afternoon." + +"Sarah's got a good heart, if you can find it," declared Winnie, +"but unless you handle her just right, you're in for a peck of +trouble. Rosemary's temper blazes up and burns fierce enough dear +knows, but it burns itself out good and clean and leaves a good +clean ash. Now you take Sarah--she goes into a fit of the sulks and +likely as not she won't speak to anyone in the house for a week." + +"She would if she was my child," announced Mrs. Hollister grimly. +"I'd soon shake that out of her." + +"It's my private belief that you can't shake anything out of Sarah, +once she makes up her mind to it," said Winnie solemnly. "She's got +the Willis will and that is a caution. Even Shirley, six years old +and looking like a cherub straight from above, even Shirley has got +a temper of her own and as for will--well you try to make that baby +do a thing she says she won't do. The Willis will is something to +reckon with, Mrs. Hollister." + +"Why do you keep talking about the Willis will?" asked Mrs. +Hollister with curiosity. + +"Because I've lived with it for twenty-eight years and I know all +about it," said Winnie. "Twenty-eight years ago, this spring, have I +lived with this family and in that time I've seen Doctor Hugh grow +from the baby that was laid in my arms into a fine young man with +the Willis will made a help to him instead of a hindrance. Mr. +Willis--you never knew him, he died six months after Shirley was +born and Mrs. Willis has never been the same woman since--had it, +too, and the temper along with it, but he made them both his +servants and himself the master, as the Bible says. Many's the time +I've heard the story of Governor Willis, (his picture hangs in the +hall) and of how he held out against the whole legislature and the +public and proved himself right in the end. Old Judge Willis, the +father of Doctor Hugh's father, once came near being lynched for a +decision he made, but no howling mob could make him retract. As I +tell Mrs. Willis, when she gets to worrying about the strong wills +the girls have, it's worse not to have a mind of your own than to +have too much; I'm not one to preach breaking anyone's will--bend it +the right way, I always say." + +"Yes, that sounds all right," admitted Mrs. Hollister who had +listened eagerly, "but I don't know as I'd want to have the bending +of three wills all at once. It strikes me that the young doctor is +going to be pretty busy if he tries to 'tend to 'em all at the same +time. And you say he's going to take Dr. Jordan's practice, too." + +"He'll be busy, but he can handle anything," declared Winnie +confidently. "Dr. Hugh was my baby--I took care of him till he was +five years old--and I know he'll manage all right. The girls are +delighted to have a big brother, and they'll try to please him, I +know they will." + +"It's funny to say, but he's almost a stranger to them, isn't he?" +said Mrs. Hollister reflectively. "How many years has he been away +from Eastshore?" + +"Counting from the time he went away to school, about twelve years," +answered Winnie. "He came home vacations, of course, but the last +two years he wasn't home at all. He's been studying abroad and Mrs. +Willis was so happy to think he'd be home with her this summer. She +was pleased as could be that he wanted to settle in Eastshore. She's +talked a lot to me, since Mr. Willis died, about what she hoped the +children would do and when Dr. Hugh wrote her that he didn't want to +be a fashionable city doctor and hoped he could do as much good in a +quiet, industrious, uncomplaining way as Doctor Jordan had done +during the forty-five years he's lived in Eastshore, why Mrs. Willis +just about cried she was so happy." + +"Well, we never know what's going to happen, do we?" sighed Mrs. +Hollister, beginning to pull on her gloves as she noted that the +plain-faced kitchen clock said quarter of nine. "I'm sure I hope +she'll get the rest she deserves and come home to find nothing bad +has happened." + +"Of course she will," Winnie's voice held a faint trace of +indignation. "What do you think is going to happen while she is +gone? With Doctor Hugh and Miss Trudy Wright, to say nothing of me, +around to see to everything, what else do you expect but smooth +sailing?" + +"Winnie!" + +The kitchen door opened a crack and a dark head poked itself in. + +"Winnie, do you care if I take a piece of the chocolate cake from +the buffet closet?" asked Sarah politely. "I'm hungry." + +"Your brother says you eat too much cake--go to bed and you'll fall +asleep again and forget that you're hungry," commanded Winnie. + +"Can't I have just one piece?" insisted Sarah. + +"You can not," said Winnie firmly. + +"Well, I thought you'd say that," announced Sarah calmly, "so I +took it first, before I asked you." + +"Give it to me this instant," cried Winnie, swooping upon the +small girl. + +"Oh, I've eaten it," declared Sarah pleasantly. "I thought you'd +make a fuss." + +Winnie looked at Mrs. Hollister, who was moving toward the door. + +"All I have to say," said the visitor majestically, "is Heaven help +the young doctor." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +AUNT TRUDY COMES + + +"Are you going to the station, Sarah?" Sarah, stretched in luxurious +comfort on the porch rug, raised a rumpled head above her book and +frowned. + +"Why should I go to the station?" she drawled. + +"You know perfectly well," answered Rosemary with some impatience. +"Aunt Trudy is coming on the 4:10 and Hugh asked us to meet her." + +"You go--you're the oldest," said Sarah calmly. "I want to read +about sick rabbits." + +"Sarah, you know you promised mother to be good and to do the things +you thought would please her. Come on and meet Aunt Trudy--we'll all +go, you and I and Shirley," wheedled Rosemary, beginning to roll up +her knitting. + +"Where's Hugh--why doesn't he go?" asked Sarah who usually exhausted +all arguments before giving in. + +"Hugh's down at Dr. Jordan's and he won't be home till dinner +time," replied Rosemary. "Mother would want us to be nice to Aunt +Trudy, you know she would." + +"Well, I'm going to be nice," insisted Sarah, scrambling to her feet +and hurling the book under the swing where she kept the larger part +of her dilapidated library. "I'll go to the station if I can go as I +am--I have to clean the rabbit hutch when I get back and I won't +have time to be dressing and undressing all the afternoon." + +"You can't go as you are!" Rosemary surveyed her sister +appraisingly. "Your face is black and your dress has a grease +spot across the front. And you haven't any hair ribbon." + +"I'll go as I am, or I won't go at all," repeated Sarah coolly. + +Rosemary stabbed her long needles into her half-finished sweater and +hung her knitting bag on the back of her chair. + +"Then you can stay home," she said crossly. "I'll go up and get +Shirley now and we'll go without you." + +She ran upstairs, coaxed the protesting Shirley from her play of +sailing boats in the bath-tub, and was buttoning her into a clean +frock when Sarah came tramping through the hall. She occupied a +room with Shirley, while Rosemary had a room to herself connected +with the younger girls' room by a rather narrow door. + +"Wait a minute and I'll go," said Sarah, jerking down her tan linen +dress from its hook in the closet. + +"Is Aunt Trudy's room all ready, Winnie?" asked Rosemary, as the +three sisters stopped in the kitchen to notify that faithful +individual of their departure. "Do we look nice?" + +It was impossible to look at the three faces without an answering +smile. Rosemary glowed, pink-cheeked, star-eyed, in a frock of dull +blue linen made with wide white pique collar and cuffs. Her hair +waved and rippled and curled, despite its loose braiding, almost to +her waist. Rosemary was simply going to the station to meet the 4:10 +train, but nothing was ever casual to her; she met each hour +expectantly on tip-toe and, as her mother had once observed, laughed +and wept her way around the clock. Sarah smiled broadly--going to +the station to meet Aunt Trudy had, for some inexplicable reason, +resolved itself into a joke for her. Sarah was not excited and she +represented solid common-sense from her straight Dutch-cut hair to +her square-toed sandals, for no amount of argument from Rosemary +could induce her to put on her best patent leather slippers. And +Shirley--well Winnie picked up Shirley and hugged her fervently, +which was the emotion Shirley generally inspired in all beholders. +She was a young person, all yellow curls and fluffy white skirts +and tiny perfect teeth and distracting dimples. + +"Miss Wright's room is in perfect order," reported Winnie, setting +Shirley down and straightening her pink sash. "I put on the +embroidered bureau scarf and the best linen sheets and pillow +cases, just as you said, Rosemary." + +"And I put a bowl of lilacs on her table this morning," said +Rosemary happily, "so I guess everything has been attended to. +Do you want us to get anything up town? We're going to the +station, Winnie." + +"No, my dinner's all planned," answered Winnie with pride. "What +train's Miss Wright coming on--the 4:10?" + +"Yes, and Hugh said to have Bernard Coyle bring us up to the house +with his jitney," said Rosemary. "I suppose Aunt Trudy will have +some bags and parcels. You'll be round when we get back, won't you, +Winnie? I don't know exactly what to say to her." + +"Bless you, child, you'll do all right," Winnie encouraged her. +"Doctor Hugh will be home to dinner and 'tisn't as if your aunt was +a total stranger." + +"But she really is a total stranger," commented Rosemary, as they +began their walk to the station. "Of course she has been here a +couple of days last summer and she spent New Year's with us; but +Mother entertained her and we only saw her now and then, mostly at +the table." + +"Well, we have to make the best of it now, because Hugh says we +can't upset Mother," said Sarah. "I know she will be an awful lot of +trouble and she won't know the first thing about animals." + +"Maybe she'll read all the time," offered Shirley in her soft, baby +voice. "Dora Ellis has an aunt who reads books all the time and Dora +can do just as she pleases. She told me so." + +"Well, don't you listen to everything Dora Ellis tells you," said +Rosemary severely. "Mother doesn't like you to play with her and +Hugh said you were not to go across the street without asking +permission; doesn't Dora Ellis live on the other side of the +street?" + +"Yes, she does, but I didn't go over in her yard, not for weeks and +weeks," explained Shirley earnestly. "She told me 'bout her aunt +last year, in kindergarten." + +"All right, honey, I'm not scolding," declared Rosemary, giving her +a kiss. "There's the station clock and it says half-past four. But, +pshaw, that clock never keeps time." + +It was not half-past four they found, when they consulted the clock +in the ticket office, but it was close to ten minutes past and when +the three girls stepped out on the platform the smoke of the train +was already visible far up the track. + +There were several people waiting, most of them Eastshore people, +and these came up and asked about Mrs. Willis. Rosemary, assuring +them that her mother was definitely declared to be out of danger, +was fairly radiant. + +"Rosemary!" a girl about her own age hailed her. "I'm so glad to see +you. Daddy told us last night your mother is better, but I didn't +like to call you up because I thought perhaps you still had the +phone muffled. Mother and I are going down to the beach to stay till +after Labor Day." + +"How lovely!" cried Rosemary. "You have the nicest things happen to +you, Harriet. Are you going on this train?" + +"Yes, and don't I wish you were coming!" responded Harriet warmly. +"Couldn't you come down next month, if your mother is well enough to +leave?" + +"Oh, goodness, Mother has gone away, to be gone a year," said +Rosemary hurriedly. "I can't go anywhere, you see. Besides Aunt +Trudy Wright is coming on this train, and Hugh is going to be +home all summer. There's your mother beckoning--run, Harriet, +and be sure you write to me." + +They kissed each other and Harriet ran back to her mother and was +lost in the anxious pushing group that surrounded the steps of the +slowly stopping train. + +"Hang on to Shirley, while I try to find Aunt Trudy," directed +Rosemary, with a sudden panicky feeling that she couldn't remember +what her aunt looked like. + +But, as soon as she saw her, she recognized her. + +"Well, Rosemary darling, you came to meet me--that's lovely I'm +sure," cried Aunt Trudy, panting slightly from her leap off the last +step of the car, to the conductor's unconcealed amazement. "And +Mother is much better, the telegram said. As soon as I heard, I +resolved nothing should keep me from you--Oh, there's Shirley and +Sarah, the dears!" + +Shirley responded affectionately to her aunt's caresses, but Sarah +stood like a wooden image and submitted to being kissed with bad +grace. Aunt Trudy was too excited to be critical. + +"What do I do about my trunks?" she fluttered. "And these bags are +both heavy--I've brought you girls each a little something. Is Hugh +home? And Winnie is still with you, of course?" + +Rosemary wisely did not attempt to answer all these questions and, +considering that Winnie had been in the Willis family for +twenty-eight years and Aunt Trudy had unfailingly put this question +to some member of the family at every meeting for the last +twenty-seven, this particular query might be said to be more a +comment than a question. + +"We'll go up to the house in Bernard Coyle's jitney," said Rosemary, +leading the way around to the side platform. "He will take your +trunk checks, Aunt Trudy, and the express man will deliver them." + +Bernard Coyle ran two of the three Eastshore jitneys and personally +conducted the least ancient of his two cars. He welcomed the +prospect of four passengers with a glad smile and swung Aunt +Trudy's bags to a safe place under the seat at a nod from Rosemary. +While they climbed in, he departed with the trunk checks and +returned in a few minutes to report that the three trunks would be +in the front hall of the Willis home within an hour. + +Then he took the wheel of his wheezy little car and without another +word drove frenziedly and rackingly through the quiet streets till +the Willis house was reached. Winnie, mindful of Rosemary's plea, +came out to the curb to meet them. + +"Well, Winnie, I'm glad to see you again," was Miss Wright's +greeting. "You and I are to keep house and look after these flighty +young folks, I understand." + +"Yes'm," nodded Winnie. "Your room's all ready, Miss Wright--the one +you always have, next to Mrs. Willis'. And Doctor Hugh said to tell +you he'd be home at quarter of six." + +Aunt Trudy Wright was a rather short, dumpy woman and inclined to be +stout and short of breath. She had iron-gray hair, near-sighted dark +eyes and very pretty, very plump small hands. She exclaimed over her +room when she saw it, said that everything was lovely and insisted +on kissing the three girls again. Sarah promptly left at this point +and was discovered by her brother when he came home, lying flat on +the porch rug and absorbed in a book which dealt, in detail, with +the health and welfare of rabbits. + +"Well you look comfortable," he said good-humoredly. "Aunt Trudy +come? Who went to meet her? Where are the other girls?" + +"Uh-huh," grunted Sarah, interested at that moment in a description +of a balanced diet for her pets. + +Dr. Hugh laughed and went on. The house seemed strangely quiet to +him, though he could hear Winnie humming in the kitchen and +appetizing odors promised a dinner on time. In the upstairs hall, +Rosemary tip-toed to meet him, her eyes dark with mystery. + +"Hello, where is everyone?" asked her brother, giving her a kiss. +"What has happened to Aunt Trudy?" + +"She's getting ready for dinner," explained Rosemary. "She's been +crying in Mother's room for almost an hour and then her trunks came +and she thought she'd change her dress." + +"Crying in Mother's room--what for?" demanded Doctor Hugh quickly. + +"Oh, because memories were too much for her," quoted Rosemary +solemnly. "She made Shirley and me cry, too, but Sarah went down +stairs when she tried to kiss her, so she didn't hear her talk." + +"I'll give Sarah credit for good sense," said Doctor Hugh grimly. + +He strode down the hall to his mother's room, took the key from the +inside and locked the door and dropped the key in his pocket. + +"And that's that," he announced, smiling a little at Rosemary's +puzzled face. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +DR. HUGH TAKES COMMAND + + +Miss Wright appeared at dinner in rustling black silk, and kissed +Dr. Hugh affectionately. In her plump arms she carried three +packages. + +"I brought each of the girls a box of French chocolates," she +explained, smiling. "They're simply delicious and there is just one +shop in town which imports them." + +Rosemary dimpled as she untied her package, Shirley shrieked with +glee and even Sarah's "thank you, Aunt Trudy" had an unusual depth +of warmth in it. Two-pound boxes of chocolates did not appear at +dinner every day. + +Dr. Hugh put down his carving knife as Shirley lifted the lid from +her beribboned box. + +"I think I'll have to take charge of these boxes," he said quietly. +"Aunt Trudy is very generous to remember you so bountifully, but I +can not let you make yourselves sick. I'll keep them carefully for +you in the office and you may have a safe number every day I +promise you." + +"Oh, Hugh!" Rosemary's voice was reproachful. + +"I won't be sick," said Shirley with cheerful confidence. + +Sarah did not speak, but she thrust her box under the edge of the +tablecloth. + +"It's perfectly pure candy, Hugh, and won't hurt them," Miss Wright +assured him briskly. + +"Well, I'm sorry, but I believe that the purest and most expensive +candy taken in sufficient amount, will upset the digestion of an +ostrich," said Doctor Hugh firmly. "Put the boxes on the serving +table till after dinner, Rosemary." + +"And I hope you'll keep 'em under lock and key," observed Winnie as +she passed the creamed potatoes. "Sarah will be eating chocolates +for breakfast if there's none to interfere with her." + +Winnie considered herself a member of the family, as indeed she was, +and she frequently took part in the table conversation except when +there were strange guests present. + +Rosemary gathered up the boxes and put them on the side table and +dinner proceeded pleasantly enough. Aunt Trudy was a social soul and +seldom at a loss for something to say. She sat in the absent +mother's place and beamed upon the little circle, Dr. Hugh across +from her, Rosemary at his right, Shirley next to her and on the +other side of the round table, Sarah the silent. Sarah was certainly +a child of few words and she was never troubled by any idea that +something might be expected from her in the way of a contribution to +the general talk. To-night she sat stolidly, her dark eyes roving +now and then to the candy boxes which were behind Rosemary. + +"So you're going to practice right here in Eastshore, Hugh?" Miss +Wright was saying as Winnie brought in the salad, "your mother wrote +me, before she was ill, that you expected to take Doctor Jordan's +office; has he retired?" + +"No, not retired exactly," answered Hugh, "but he is planning to +take a long and much-needed vacation. He left for Maine this +afternoon. We both thought it better for many reasons to make no +change in the office--I'll take his just as he left it. Of course +I'll have some kind of a place here, too, but not many patients will +call here." + +Sarah created a diversion by pushing back her plate and slipping +down from her chair. + +"Where are you going, dear?" her aunt asked in surprise. "Don't you +want any dessert?" + +"No, it's cornstarch pudding," said Sarah calmly. + +Miss Wright apparently accepted the explanation, but Doctor Hugh +spoke sharply. + +"Sarah, come back here--dinner isn't over yet." + +Sarah stopped and faced him defiantly. + +"I don't want any pudding," she declared, scowling. "Winnie knows I +don't like it and she always makes it." + +"Come back and sit down and wait until you are excused--" Doctor +Hugh's level gaze seemed to draw the rebellious Sarah back to her +chair. "If you don't care for the pudding you needn't eat it, but +don't criticise anything that is placed before you." + +His staccato tones seemed to have a tonic effect on Sarah, for she +ate the pudding when it came, without further discussion. But the +moment her aunt rose from the table, she made a bee-line for the +candy boxes. + +"It's mine, Aunt Trudy gave it to me," she insisted when her brother +interfered. + +"Two apiece, of such rich candy, is enough for any one," he +declared. "And one for Shirley--take the kind you want, sweetheart, +and then I'll show you where I am going to keep them for you." + +"I must say I think you're too fussy, Hugh," commented Aunt Trudy, +as Shirley made a lingering selection and Rosemary passed her box to +her aunt and Winnie and then chose two of the enormous candies for +herself. "All children are fond of candy and I read only the other +day that a craving for sweets is the mark of a healthy appetite." + +Doctor Hugh made no direct reply. + +"Sarah, have you eaten your candy?" he asked pleasantly. + +"If I can't have my own box," said Sarah with emphasis, "I won't eat +any." + +"I'll put them away for you, then," declared her brother equably. +"Come and see where they'll be--in the glass cabinet in the office. +You may have two apiece after dinner till they are gone. They'll +last twice as long that way, Sarah," he added, smiling at her as he +turned the key in the cabinet and replaced his key ring in his +pocket. + +The telephone rang and Winnie answered it. The doctor was wanted and +it was eight o'clock before he returned. Aunt Trudy was reading +under the living-room lamp--for the nights were still a little too +cool to be comfortable on the porch--Rosemary knitting, and Shirley +and Sarah playing dominoes on the floor. + +"What time does Shirley go to bed?" the doctor asked, standing in +the doorway. + +Rosemary looked up, a little troubled. + +"Why she always went to bed at half-past seven when Mother was +well," she answered, "but since she was sick, Shirley got in the +habit of staying up till Sarah goes and sometimes Sarah won't go +till I do." + +"And what time do you go?" inquired her brother. + +Rosemary blushed and began to knit faster. + +"I'm supposed to go at nine," she admitted, "but sometimes it +is--later. Honestly, Hugh, I don't see why I should go to bed at +nine o'clock like a little girl; I'm twelve, you know." + +"Half-past eight would be better," said her brother, coming over to +sit on the arm of her chair, "but if Mother didn't object, we'll +still say nine. You are a little girl, dear, in spite of your great +age, you see. What about Sarah?" + +"You ask more questions than any one I ever knew," cried the +exasperated Sarah with bitter frankness. "I wanted to read my rabbit +book, but Shirley teased and I played dominoes to please her. And +now I suppose you'll be saying I ought to go to bed!" + +"Rosemary?" said Doctor Hugh. + +"Sarah is supposed to go to bed at eight o'clock," announced +Rosemary reluctantly. "She used to argue with Mother nearly every +night. No one ever wants to go to bed early, Hugh, and lots of the +girls stay up till ten." + +"Then I'm sorry for lots of girls," rejoined the doctor. "Shirley is +going to be my good girl and go to bed every night at half-past +seven, aren't you, dear? Sarah at eight and Rosemary at nine--and +that's all settled. Put up the dominoes, children, and run along for +it's twenty minutes past eight this minute." + +"I don't want to go to bed," wailed Shirley. + +"I'll go up with you, darling," promised Rosemary, putting down her +knitting. "I'll tell you a story about the little brown bear." + +"Don't want a story," said Shirley with finality. + +Aunt Trudy put down her book and surveyed her youngest niece +sympathetically. + +"What's the matter with my sweetheart?" she asked, her voice tender. +"Is she afraid of the big dark?" + +The doctor made an impatient exclamation. + +"That's nonsense, Aunt Trudy," he said curtly. "No child of my +mother has ever been frightened of the dark; we were not brought up +that way. Every one of us has been trained to go up to bed alone at +the right time, as a matter of course. Sarah, put away those +dominoes and go upstairs to bed with Shirley." + +Sarah tumbled the game into the box and stalked from the room +without a word to any one. Shirley simply threw herself flat on +the floor and cried with anger. She was sleepy and tired and she +resented this summary curtailment of her privileges. For the last +two weeks she had been going to bed when Rosemary did and she liked +the plan. + +"I hope you will excuse us, Aunt Trudy," said the harassed Doctor +Hugh, scooping his small sister up from the floor and carrying her +toward the door. "We're in sad need of a little discipline, I'm +afraid." + +"And you're not going to enforce it," he said grimly to himself as +he marched upstairs with the screaming Shirley. "I seem to have my +work cut out for me--I wonder how about Rosemary?" + +When he came downstairs again, having seen both Shirley and Sarah +quiet and asleep, he found his sister and aunt deep in the problem +of "narrowing off." + +"I just waited to say good-night to you, Hugh," said Aunt Trudy +brightly. "I'm tired from the trip and I want to start the day +well to-morrow." + +She kissed him and rustled out of the room, and Rosemary folded up +her work as the deep chime of the hall clock sounded nine. + +"Shirley was tired, Hugh," she said, a little timidly. "She hardly +ever acts that way. And Sarah doesn't mean to be obstinate, but she +just can't help it." + +"Well, I'm glad you think to-night isn't an average performance," +declared her brother humorously. "You're a sweet older sister, +Rosemary. The girls couldn't do better than to pattern after you." + +"Oh, Hugh! You are nice--" Rosemary's voice rose in a crescendo of +pure pleasure. "But I'm not a good example--you won't say that when +you know me. I get as mad, as mad--as--Shirley." + +"The more shame to you," said the doctor unbelievingly, kissing her +vivid little face. "Go to bed, child, and don't talk to me about +losing your temper." + +At eleven o'clock the light was still burning in the office and +Winnie knocked lightly on the door. + +"I brought you a glass of milk and a sandwich, Hughie," she said, +using the old pet name she had given him when a little lad. + +"Well that's mighty thoughtful of you, Winnie dear," he said, +smiling at her. "I've been doing a little thinking this evening +and that's hungry work." + +Winnie regarded him, wisdom and pride in her eyes. + +"I'm thinking that healthy folks is more of a problem than sick +ones," she observed sagely. "But you're enough like your mother, to +be able to manage all right, never fear. You've her understanding +and the endurance and will of your father, Hughie, and you'll be +needing it all, but you'll work it out. Shirley is spoiled and we're +all to blame--it wasn't all done in these two weeks, either; your +mother gave in a little at a time for she was tired and her illness +has been long coming. 'Tis nothing to set right a little wrong when +the heart is pure gold like Shirley's. And you'll soon set Sarah in +her place--she needs to be set frequent-like, though if you find +the way to her liking, she'll be fond enough of you in time. It's +Rosemary I'd speak to you about at the risk of seeming to meddle." + +The doctor stirred a little, but his face encouraged Winnie to +go on. + +"A rose in the bud--that's Rosemary," said Winnie who scorned to +read poetry and often employed poetical fancies in her rather quaint +phrasing. "A rose in the bud and a flower of a girl. A temper that +blazes, a quick pride that bleeds at a word and a passion for loving +that sometimes frightens me. The sick and the helpless and the +young--Rosemary would mother 'em all. And she's hurt so easy, and +she dashes herself against the stone wall so blindly--you'll be +careful and patient, won't you, Hughie? For she has the Willis will, +has Rosemary and times there is no holding her." + +Doctor Hugh smiled into the anxious eyes, dim with the loving +anxiety of many years. + +"I'll be careful, Winnie," he promised. "And you'll help me. Thank +you for telling me--what you have." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +WINNIE'S VOLUNTEERS + + +For the first few days after Miss Wright's arrival it seemed that +the proverb, "Many hands make light work" was to be the household +motto. Winnie was fairly swamped with offers of help and "Miss +Trudy" as she had asked Winnie to call her, and the three girls vied +with each other as to which should be the most industrious. + +"For I want to be useful, Winnie," said Aunt Trudy, a winning +sincerity in her kind voice. "Only tell me what to do, because I +don't want to interfere with your daily schedule." + +"And Sarah and I will make the beds and dust," promised Rosemary, +looking up from copying music. + +"I'll run all your errands," chirped Shirley and was promptly +rewarded with a hug. + +Winnie was a shrewd and practical general, as her answers proved. A +less experienced person would have made a vague reply, put off the +offers with a promise to "let you know when I need you" or politely +told them "not to bother." Not so Winnie. + +"Well, I'll tell you, Miss Trudy," she said capably, "I don't mind +saying if you'll plan the meals, you'll be taking a load off my +shoulders. I can cook and I can serve and I can keep things hot when +the doctor is late as he'll be many a time; but unless I can have +the three meals a day printed right out and hung on my kitchen door, +I'm lost-like. It drives me wild to have to figure out what we +should eat, when it's nothing at all, to my way of thinking, to +cook it." + +"I'll be glad to plan the menus," Aunt Trudy assured her. "Home I +write out the meals for the whole week every Saturday morning; I'll +do that for you without fail, Winnie." + +"Thank you ma'am," Winnie replied. "Now Rosemary, if you want to +help, you answer the telephone. I can't abide to be called away from +my baking and sweeping to tell folks where the doctor is, or why he +isn't here. I don't always get messages straight, so you take 'em +and when you're not home, let Sarah do it." + +"I like to answer the telephone," beamed Rosemary. + +Winnie, orderly soul, proceeded to clinch the remaining two offers +of assistance. + +"Sarah, there's no one can beat you making beds, when you put your +mind to it," she announced diplomatically. "You make the beds +mornings, when Rosemary is doing her practising and I won't ask you +to do another thing." + +"But me?" urged Shirley. "What can I do, Winnie?" + +"Bless your little heart, you run to the store for Winnie, and help +her make cookies," cried Winnie, "that's enough for one little girl, +dearie." + +"I don't think any of us has much to do," observed Rosemary. "I can +do lots more to help, Winnie. And so can Sarah." + +"If you'll do just one thing and do it every day, I won't be +complaining," Winnie returned. "You'll find it's easy to get tired +and it's then you'll want to skip a day." + +The girls were sure that nothing would induce them to "skip" a day, +and Winnie went back to her kitchen well-pleased with her bestowal +of commissions. + +The house seemed strangely empty without the gentle little mother +and at first time hung heavy on the three pairs of young hands. +Doctor Hugh was very busy adjusting his work to run smoothly and +his hours were irregular so that he did not see much of his sisters. +Then, as the mother's absence became an established fact, gradually +old interests and friends absorbed their attention and normal life +was resumed with the difference that a great gap was always present +and unfilled. Aunt Trudy was kindness itself and overflowing with +affection for her nieces, but her attitude toward them was that of a +placid outsider, gently watching them from a little distance. Aunt +Trudy did their mending exquisitely, because she liked to sew, but +she would not leave the mending and come down stairs to meet Nina +Edmonds, a new-comer to the neighborhood, though Rosemary was +anxious to have every social courtesy shown the rather critical +young person who seemed older than her thirteen years. + +"I don't want to drop my work now, dearie," said Aunt Trudy in +response to her niece's appeal. "I always lose my needle when I get +up; I'll meet your little friend some other time. Ask her to dinner +to-night if you wish--Winnie is going to have veal loaf and egg +salad." + +Rosemary acted on this suggestion, and Doctor Hugh, coming in late, +was surprised to find a fourth girl at the table, a freckle-faced +little girl with light bobbed hair and incredibly thin arms and +hands. Nina Edmonds talked incessantly and, after a few ineffectual +attempts to carry on a conversation with his aunt, the young doctor +devoted himself to his dinner, keeping, however, an observant eye on +the guest and on Rosemary who listened in evident fascination to the +steady stream of words. He had a call to make, immediately after +dinner and was surprised and distinctly annoyed when he returned at +half-past ten to find Nina and Rosemary still talking animatedly, +their arms around each other, in the window seat. Aunt Trudy was +placidly reading, and the younger girls had gone to bed. + +"Is it late?" Rosemary started up as her brother came in. + +"Half-past ten," he answered briefly. "I'll take you home, Miss +Edmonds, if you'll tell me where you live. I'm afraid your mother +will be worried about you." + +"Oh, my mother never worries--she knows I'll come home all right," +said Nina. "I didn't wear a coat, it was so warm--will I be cold in +the car?" + +"The car is in the garage," said the doctor grimly, holding open the +door for her. "We'll have to walk. Go to bed, Rosemary please," he +flung over his shoulder. "Don't wait up for me." + +There was a soft rush and a quick sigh, and Rosemary's arms went +about his neck. + +"Kiss me good night, Hugh," she whispered, "I'm sorry." + +He held her close for a moment, then the screen door shut with a +click, and they were gone. + +"I hope Hugh didn't hurt Nina's feelings," worried Rosemary as she +and Aunt Trudy went upstairs. "She doesn't have to go to bed at nine +o'clock and she thinks it is queer that I do. I'm afraid she will +call Hugh cross." + +"Oh, I don't believe she will," said Aunt Trudy comfortably. "She +seemed to me a nice little girl and you need plenty of young +friends, darling." + +Her new friend had made a great impression on Rosemary and Sarah was +forced to listen the next day to glowing accounts that rather bored +her. Sarah's present interests were confined to one sick rabbit and +one well rabbit who lived in a hutch in the roomy side yard. + +"I'm sick of hearing about Nina Edmonds," declared Sarah as they sat +down to dinner the following evening. "I don't call her anything +wonderful." + +Doctor Hugh had not come in, and Rosemary had volunteered to serve +in his place. Aunt Trudy frankly disliked either carving or serving. + +"I think she is lovely," maintained Rosemary, "and I'm going to have +my hair bobbed like hers." + +It was a warm night and under the glow of the electrolier Rosemary's +magnificent hair curled and shone like polished bronze. Even Aunt +Trudy stared at her, surprised, and the practical Sarah was moved +to protest. + +"I think your hair is nice the way it is," she said. "I'd leave it +alone if I were you." + +Winnie paused, on her way to the kitchen. + +"Don't let Doctor Hugh hear you say any such nonsense," she scolded. +"The idea! Bobbing a head of hair like that--it's going directly +against the generosity of the Lord!" + +"What is?" demanded a pleasant voice, and Doctor Hugh came into the +room. + +He had changed to a fresh linen suit at the Jordan office, as the +town had designated it to distinguish it from his home office, and +he looked so wholesome and clean and strong and smiling that the +four faces brightened at once. + +"You have to bring 'em up when I'm not around, don't you, Winnie?" +he said humorously, slipping into the chair vacated by Rosemary. +"What mischief are they into now?" + +Winnie vanished into the kitchen, murmuring something about a salad, +and Rosemary answered for her. Rosemary's blue eyes were unclouded. + +"Winnie is mad because I am going to have my hair bobbed like Nina +Edmonds'," she informed her brother. "I think bobbed hair is as +pretty as it can be, don't you, Hugh?" + +"It seems a pity when she has such nice hair," murmured Aunt Trudy +weakly. + +"Bob your hair!" thundered Doctor Hugh. "Of all the foolish notions, +that is the worst. This comes from talking foolish clatter with that +empty-headed silly little chit last night. The babbling brook must +have been named for her." + +"Yes, isn't she silly?" said Sarah scornfully. "Shirley doesn't like +her, either." + +"Nina Edmonds is my friend," began Rosemary, scarlet-cheeked. +"You--" + +"I beg your pardon, Rosemary," said the doctor instantly. "I +honestly do. I had no right to speak like that. But you mustn't +think of bobbing your curly mop, dear." + +"Sarah's hair is bobbed," Rosemary pointed out. + +"It was cut to make it grow," answered the doctor. "Mother told me. +You certainly don't need to treat your hair to make it grow, +Rosemary." + +"Write and ask Mother," suggested Sarah. + +"No, Mother isn't to be asked a single question for a year," Doctor +Hugh announced firmly. "We'll settle our problems without bothering +her. Rosemary is not to meddle with her hair--that's flat." + +"Oh, Hugh, I want to bob it!" insisted Rosemary. "Ever so many of +the girls do--not just Nina Edmonds, but half the girls in school. I +don't see why you are so cross about it. Can't I get it cut +to-morrow? Please?" + +Doctor Hugh's dark eyes behind their glasses rested on the pretty, +willful face. + +"I said NO!" he repeated. "Once and for all, Rosemary, I positively +forbid you to have your hair cut. Do you understand me?" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +ROSEMARY HAS HER WAY + + +"Sarah, Oh, Sarah! Sally Waters, I'm calling you!" + +Sarah glanced up at the merry face regarding her over the fence and +frowned. + +"Well, what do you want?" she asked ungraciously. "Don't you dare +call me Sally, Jack Welles!" + +"I'll call you Sadie, then," said the boy obligingly. "Where's +Rosemary?" + +He was a short, stocky lad, between fifteen and sixteen years old, +with a freckled snub nose, engaging brown eyes and a chin that +promised well for future force of character. + +"Where's Rosemary?" he asked again. + +"I don't know--I haven't seen her since lunch," answered Sarah. +"Don't you think Elinor looks better to-day, Jack?" + +Elinor was the sick rabbit and Sarah waited Jack's decision +anxiously. + +"Sure, leave her alone and she'll come out all right," he said +heartlessly. "You're always fussing with animals, aren't you, Sarah? +I believe you like 'em better when they're sick because it gives you +an excuse to pet them more." + +Sarah's brown, stolid little face kindled suddenly with passionate +earnestness. + +"Nobody cares!" she cried. "Nobody! Winnie wouldn't let me keep the +sick kittens in the kitchen and they died and Elinor would have +died, too, if it hadn't been for me. When I grow up, I'm going to +have a big house and there isn't going to be a single person in it. +Just animals--so there!" + +"I suppose you'll have a trained cow to do the cooking, and a dog to +wash dishes," teased Jack. "Never mind, Sarah, there'll always be +plenty of animals needing a friend like you. Maybe Hugh will doctor +them for you, and I'll come take your patients out for airings in my +best and newest airplane!" + +"Hello, what's all this confabbing?" called Doctor Hugh, coming +across the grass toward the fence. "Rabbits improving, Sarah? +Where's Rosemary?" + +"Hello, Hugh," Jack greeted him with a cheerful grin. "All the +patients cured this early in the day? Sarah is going to follow in +your footsteps, but she won't give her services to people, only to +mistreated animals." + +"I've been late for dinner two nights running and I thought I'd +surprise the family by a punctual appearance this time," explained +the doctor. "My chief difficulty now is to find some one to +surprise. Aunt Trudy has gone to the library, Winnie says, Shirley +is playing with some neighbor's child on the porch and no one seems +to know where Rosemary is. I saw you and Sarah from upstairs, or I +should have added her to the list of the missing, too." + +"I wanted to show Rosemary my new fishing rod," Jack explained. +"It's a beauty and my uncle sent it to me from Canada." + +Sarah stood up and shook a lapful of dirt from her frock. + +"I think you are cruel to catch fish," she said indignantly. + +"Why you eat fish, don't you?" retorted Jack. "Someone has to catch +them, you know." + +Poor Sarah had no answer for this argument and she turned and +retreated to the house without another word. + +"Queer little dick, isn't she?" smiled Jack to the doctor. "Crazy +about animals and always fussing over 'em. Well, I have to go dig +worms for bait--great day ahead to-morrow with nothing to do but +fish and try out the new rod." + +"Good luck to you," called Doctor Hugh, going back to his office to +indulge in the rare luxury of a half hour's reading. + +Vaguely he heard Aunt Trudy come in, speak to the two little girls +on the porch, and go on upstairs. He knew when Sarah came down +because she played "chop sticks" on the piano till Winnie came and +called her to go after a loaf of bread. The doctor wondered lazily +if the bread were a real need or a handy invention of Winnie's to +break up the musical program; she was quite capable of the latter. +After the piano was silenced, he lost himself again in his book to +be recalled by an undecided knock on the door. He waited, not sure +that it _was_ a knock. The timid tap came again and he called, "Come +in." The door opened, closed, and Rosemary stood facing him, her +back against it. In her hands she held a brown paper parcel. + +Doctor Hugh stared at her in genuine amazement. She was breathing +quickly, as though she had been running, and the lovely color +flooded her face. Her eyes were almost black with excitement and a +touch of fear. But it was her hair that held her brother's +attention. Gone was the rippling glory, the gold-red mane that had +reached to the girl's waist. In its place was a soft aureole of +hair, standing out fluffily on the small head and curling under at +the ends. + +Anger flamed in Doctor Hugh's face, then receded, leaving him white. +Before he could speak Rosemary's eyes filled with tears. + +"Oh, Hugh!" she sobbed. "I want my hair! And it's gone!" + +For answer her brother opened his arms and she fled into them. She +clung to him frantically while she wept out her remorse and grief. + +"I didn't know it was going to be like this," she wailed, sobs +shaking the slender shoulders. "The barber didn't want to cut it, +but I made him. And then, as soon as I saw it on the floor, I began +to cry. Oh, Hugh, I'm so sorry--I don't want short hair at all! And +what can I do?" + +The doctor said nothing for a little while, only smoothed the +cropped head with a gentle touch. Presently when Rosemary sat up and +wiped her eyes, he motioned toward the parcel still in her hands. + +"It's--it's my hair," stammered Rosemary. "The barber tied it up for +me--he said I might want a switch some time." + +"Well you won't!" declared Doctor Hugh with decision. "Leave it here +with me, dear, and I'll see that a lock is saved for Mother. You +mustn't feel so badly, Rosemary. The hair will grow again, you know. +And it is very pretty, still." + +"Hugh," said Rosemary solemnly, "why do I have to find things out +for myself? I didn't know that I hated bobbed hair till I had mine +cut--why am I like that?" + +"Oh, my dear," the doctor smiled a little sadly, "why do we all want +our own way at any cost? You wouldn't believe that I knew better in +this instance, would you?" + +Rosemary blushed and looked ashamed. + +"I'm glad to have this opportunity to speak to you alone, dear," the +doctor went on. "You've had your hair cut because I forbade it and +now you are sorry, but what about the next time? It's silly to think +you can go through life and always have your own way, child. No one +can. Each one of us must acknowledge some authority. I'm a good many +years older than you girls and I've had more experience and +discipline and at present I am taking Mother's place; you'll have to +accept my decisions for the time being. If I exact obedience, +Rosemary, it isn't because I am a tyrant--I've put in a good many +years obeying orders myself and I know that obedience is a valuable +lesson." + +"Have you a temper, Hugh?" asked Rosemary, shyly. "Have you the +Willis will?" + +Doctor Hugh's mouth twitched. + +"Guilty on both counts," he admitted. "I'm a cross, cranky old +brother with a gun-powder temper that sometimes gets the best of me. +As for the Willis will--what do you think about that, Rosemary?" + +"Winnie is always talking about it," said Rosemary. "She says I have +it and so have Sarah and Shirley. I suppose it is very wrong." + +"Don't you believe it!" announced the doctor. "Not a bit of it. A +good, strong will is a virtue, child, and please remember that. But, +of course, you want to train it--flying in the face of orders isn't +a proof of will power; more often it is foolish obstinacy. A stiff +will keeps us from being persuaded to do wrong, from tumbling into +pitfalls. It is the weak-willed person who yields to temptation. You +and I, and Shirley and Sarah, have constantly to remember that we +have the Willis will and are proud of it; and then resolve not to +yield easily to the little devils of temper and disobedience and +false pride. Which is the end of my sermon and long enough it's +been!" + +The big swivel chair accommodated them comfortably and Rosemary +remained in her brother's lap quietly, her eyes downcast. He watched +her silently. At last she raised her face bravely. + +"Are you going to punish me?" she asked clearly. + +He shook his head. + +"I know you are sorry," he replied. "Punishments are only to help us +remember, and you are not going to forget, are you? But I tell you +what I am going to do--ask you to give up Nina Edmonds as a chum." + +Rosemary was silent. + +"You do not have to be unkind or discourteous," continued the +doctor's even voice. "Just do not go over to her house so often and +by and by she will not come to see you. Play more with Shirley and +Sarah, dear--they look up to you and love you so." + +"Don't you like Nina--but I know you don't," Rosemary answered her +own question. + +"Since we are talking confidentially," said Doctor Hugh and Rosemary +felt a thrill of pleasure at his tone, "I'll tell you my real +reasons for objecting to Nina as a friend for you. She is too +old--that's all. What is she--thirteen?--well, she has all the ideas +and manners of a girl of eighteen. And you're still a little girl, +Rosemary, thank fortune. I don't want you to grow up too fast and it +would break Mother's heart to come home and find a grown up daughter +in the place of the little girl she left. Be twelve years old while +you can, honey, for the minute you are thirteen you leave that happy +year forever. I'm a serious old codger this afternoon, am I not? But +we understand each other better, don't we?" + +"Oh, yes!" Rosemary threw her arms around his neck. "I love you most +to pieces!" she confided. + +From that moment Rosemary began to worship her brother with all the +depth and power of her warm and affectionate nature. She did not +immediately become a model of obedience and she often disputed his +edicts and decisions. There were misunderstandings and tears and +many hard lessons to be learned still ahead. But Hugh would never +again be a stranger with her respect and love yet to be won. She +could admire his strength of will and purpose whole heartedly and as +she contrasted them with Aunt Trudy's characteristics, Rosemary +insensibly found her aunt wanting. + +She said something of this to Jack Welles the day after the +memorable hair cutting. Rosemary had endured the comments and +questions of the household at dinner that night with fair composure, +but she had flared up in wrath at Jack's laughter when he first met +her the following afternoon. + +"My mother says it is extremely ill-bred to indulge in comments on a +person's personal appearance," declared Rosemary heatedly. "My hair +is a part of my personal appearance." + +"What a dub you were to have it cut," said Jack, sobering. "But it +might look worse, Rosemary, honestly it might. I think it is rather +becoming with those ends curling under like that." + +Rosemary permitted herself to be calmed. + +"It's fun to brush it," she laughed. "And my head feels as light as +a feather." + +"What did Hugh say?" asked Jack curiously. "Or didn't you ask him? +And Aunt Trudy makes such a fuss about your hair--wasn't she +horrified?" + +Rosemary's expressive face shadowed. + +"Hugh was just dear to me!" she said enigmatically, "but Aunt Trudy +was so silly. She cried and cried and said what would my mother say +and wasn't I ever going to have any respect for her wishes--she is +so tiresome, she really is, Jack." + +"Then you must have been told not to have it bobbed and went ahead +like your usual perverse small self," declared Jack shrewdly. "I'll +bet Hugh didn't weep though--he looks to me as though he could talk +to you like a Dutch uncle." + +"Well I don't care if he did!" said Rosemary. "I'd rather be scolded +or punished than cried over. And Aunt Trudy doesn't cry because she +is sorry--she does it to get her own way. That's the way she makes +us mind--she cries and says we don't love her and that makes us feel +mean. + +"But I don't think it is fair one bit and afterward I'm so mad I +could throw a sofa cushion at her. You needn't look at me like that, +Jack Welles! Your aunt doesn't cry over _you_." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE RUNAWAY + + +June slipped quietly into July and with the long, hot sunny days +came the inclination to slight regular tasks as Winnie had +predicted. Sarah tried to beg off from making the beds morning after +morning and Shirley began to grumble when called from her play to go +to the store. Aunt Trudy declared that the heat always affected her +and demanded an electric fan in her room and drove Winnie frantic +with repeated requests for ice-water. Rosemary alone remained +faithful to her duties, feeling the responsibility of an oldest +daughter. She answered the many calls on the telephone, kept the +messages straight and even wrote out the cards for the office file. +Doctor Hugh declared he did not know what he should do without her. +When Sarah left her work undone, it was Rosemary who finished it for +her, Rosemary who listened sympathetically to Aunt Trudy's +complaints about the weather, Rosemary who coaxed Shirley into +clean frocks and amiability each afternoon and tried to soothe +Winnie when Sarah's side-yard menagerie insisted on invading the +house. + +"Rosemary, this is the second time Shirley has stayed away from +lunch," declared Aunt Trudy one noon. "Don't you think I should +speak to your brother about it?" + +"Oh, no, Aunt Trudy, not right away," protested Rosemary, her +troubled eyes wandering to the little sister's vacant place. "I +don't believe she really means to run away. I'll get her to promise +not to go out of the yard and she will be all right. Shirley never +broke her promise yet." + +"Sarah ought to play with her more, instead of fussing with those +silly rabbits," said Aunt Trudy severely. + +"I do play with her," retorted Sarah irritably. "I play with her +lots. But she likes Rosemary. I can't help it if she gets mad at me +and goes to play with those Bailey children, can I? Rosemary is +always practising." + +This was not quite fair on Sarah's part, for Rosemary though devoted +to her music and already an advanced pupil, seldom practised more +than an hour in the morning and another in the afternoon. The fact +was that six year old Shirley was developing the running-away habit +at an alarming rate. + +She came home late that afternoon, tired and cross, and to +Rosemary's questions returned the briefest answers. Yes, she had +been playing with the Bailey children. No, not in their yard. No, +they had not gone with her when she went further on. She had gone by +herself. Yes, she had had some lunch, a pound of sweet crackers. + +"Where did you get them?" asked Rosemary, who was brushing the sunny +hair. + +"At the grocery," admitted Shirley. + +"But you didn't have any money, dear, did you?" said Rosemary in +surprise. + +"I charged 'em--Mr. Holmes said it would be all right," announced +Shirley complacently. + +"Shirley Willis! And you know Mother positively never allows us to +charge a thing unless she orders it," cried Rosemary. "What do you +suppose Hugh would say? Did you eat a whole pound?" + +No, Shirley confessed, she had had crackers to give away. She had +given some to a strange dog and some to a little boy and girl she +met. + +"What little boy and girl?" demanded Rosemary, beginning to feel +that this youngest sister was too much for her. "Where did you +meet them?" + +"At the dump lot," said Shirley sweetly. + +Rosemary stared at her. The "dump lot" was on the other side of the +town and furnished an annual topic of discussion for the Eastshore +Woman's Club. To it the town refuse and garbage was carted and it +was regularly hauled over and searched by bands of men, women and +children intent on salvage. + +"What shall I do with you?" groaned poor Rosemary. "After this, +you'll have to stay in the yard, Shirley. You know Hugh would scold +if he heard you were playing in the dump lot. Promise Sister you +won't go away from the house to-morrow morning." + +Shirley, looking more than ever like an adorable cherub in freshly +ironed pink chambray, shook her head naughtily. + +"I might want to go," she argued. + +"But you mustn't!" Rosemary's voice was earnest. "You can't run all +over town like this, darling. You'll be run over by an automobile, +or something dreadful will happen to you. Promise to stay in your +own yard like a good girl." + +Shirley would not promise. The worried Rosemary went to Winnie. + +"I don't want to tell Hugh," she explained, "he's busy and when he's +home Shirley is so cunning and funny I don't believe he thinks she +can be naughty. Besides Mother told me to look after the +children--what can I do, Winnie?" and Rosemary, a child herself +waited Winnie's reply anxiously. + +"Running away is something most children go through," pronounced +Winnie. "You never had the trick, Rosemary, but Hugh did and so did +Sarah. Your father spanked Hugh and cured him and your mother and I +together cured Sarah. We tied her to a tree with a rope and she was +so ashamed to have the other children see her that she promised not +to leave the yard without permission." + +"But Shirley won't promise," said Rosemary. "She keeps saying she +might want to go. Aunt Trudy thinks we should tell Hugh about her." + +"Well I think myself he might be able to break her of the trick," +admitted Winnie. "Shirley thinks a heap of him and yet she's a +little afraid of him too. But I'm like you, Rosemary--I hate to +bother him just now. He's worried about that hospital case and last +night he was called out twice." + +"Could we tie Shirley to a tree?" asked Rosemary hopefully. + +"She's too big for that," Winnie advised her. "Sarah was only three +years old when that was tried. Shirley would untie the knots or cut +the rope or get someone to unloose her. No, we'll have to keep a +good watch on her and trust to making her see she's doing wrong. You +can reason with Shirley, if she is only six years old." + +"Oh dear," sighed Rosemary, quite worn out with her experiences, "I +never knew it was so hard to bring up children!" + +"Biggest job in the world," Winnie said shortly. "Mothers never rest +and their work is never done." + +The next morning Rosemary coaxed Sarah to play paper dolls with +Shirley on the porch while she practised and she went to her music +with a clear conscience. For an hour the scales and trills sounded +and wound up with a grand march for good measure. Stepping out on +the porch Rosemary found it deserted, the paper dolls scattered on +the rug, the box overturned where the children had left it. + +"Shirley!" cried Rosemary. "Sarah!" + +"I'm cleaning the rabbit house," shouted Sarah, and Rosemary hurried +around to the side yard. + +"Where's Shirley?" she demanded anxiously. + +"Shirley? Isn't she on the porch?" Sarah's dirt-streaked face peered +through the wire netting which surrounded her pets. + +"No, she isn't, and I'm afraid she has run away again," said +Rosemary, troubled. "How long ago did you leave her, Sarah?" + +"Oh, about half an hour," replied Sarah carelessly. "She wanted to +cut out more dolls and I got her the scissors and asked her if she +minded if I came and cleaned the pens. Elinor gets sick so easily I +don't like to let the house go without cleaning it every other day." + +"Bother Elinor!" said Rosemary impatiently. "Come help me look for +Shirley. Hugh is coming home for lunch--he telephoned and Winnie +answered it." + +They hunted through the house, but no Shirley could be found. +Rosemary even went to two or three of the nearest neighbors, but the +small girl was not there. + +"Shirley? I saw her going down the street with her express wagon," +volunteered Ray Anderson, a four year old boy who lived a few doors +away. "She was on the other side of the street." + +"If I knew where to go look for her, I would," said the worried +Rosemary, "but there are twenty streets she could be on. I'll run +over to the dump lot, Sarah; perhaps she has gone there again." + +"You'll have to run all the way, if you get back by half-past +twelve," observed Sarah dispassionately. "Aunt Trudy said she was +going to tell Hugh the next time any of us were late to meals." + +And though Rosemary ran most of the way to the dump lot on the other +side of town--where a single hasty glance satisfied her that Shirley +was not among the groups engaged in pulling over the unsavory +messes--and all the way back, the others were seated at the luncheon +table when she reached the house. She heard a distinct rumble of +thunder as she entered the door. + +"Mercy, child, how hot you look!" was Aunt Trudy's greeting. "I +don't see why you girls don't try to come to your meals on time; I +take so much pains to have the things you like and Winnie is such a +good cook. And yet the three of you haven't been punctual for a +week." + +"I'm afraid I set them a bad example," smiled Doctor Hugh. "Let's +form a compact--when Aunt Trudy tells me that not one of you has +been late for a week to any meal, I'll have the clock fixed." + +The dining-room clock was an old joke in the Willis family. It was a +cuckoo clock and had been broken for more than a year, but remained +one of those things that are never attended to. Several times a week +the little mother had mentioned that the dining-room clock really +must be mended, but it was always forgotten. Since Hugh had been +home he had often declared that the clock must be fixed but it still +remained mute and useless. + +"Shirley loves to hear the cuckoo call," said Rosemary, and +instantly regretted her remark. + +"Where is Shirley?" was the doctor's natural question. + +"I dare say she's run away again," announced Aunt Trudy, her tone +resigned. + +"Run away?" repeated Doctor Hugh sharply. "Why, what do you mean?" + +"Well, Hugh I'm sorry to tell you, but Shirley has run away several +times lately," said Aunt Trudy. "She has been absent from lunch +twice this week. I've talked to her and I know Rosemary has, but +nothing seems to do any good." + +A vivid flash of lightning, followed by a roar of thunder and a +sudden torrent of rain heralded the arrival of the thunder shower. + +"Do you mean to tell me that that baby has been allowed to run +around this town alone?" demanded the doctor sternly. "What have you +been thinking of? What have you all been doing?" + +"Well she is very self-willed," offered Aunt Trudy, "and I have no +strength left this hot weather. I said yesterday that you ought to +know about it." + +"Why didn't you tell him, then?" suggested Sarah impertinently. + +"That will do," said her brother. "Rosemary, how long has Shirley +been gone?" + +"About an hour now," admitted Rosemary reluctantly. "I've been over +to the dump lot, Hugh, and she isn't there." + +"The dump lot!" ejaculated the doctor. "Is that where Shirley is in +the habit of going? Suppose you tell me about this and how long it +has been going on." + +The shrill ring of the telephone bell interrupted Rosemary's +recital. Doctor Hugh answered it. He came back to the dining-room +frowning, yet oddly enough looking relieved. + +"Shirley is in the Moreland police station," he announced. "She was +picked up during the height of the storm with her express wagon. +I'll go over in the car and bring her home. Want to come, Rosemary?" + +Rosemary did, and the sun was shining out again as they took their +places in the roadster. + +"Don't look so sober, dear," said Doctor Hugh, glancing at the grave +face close to his shoulder. "I'm not blaming you, except that I wish +you had told me at once. This experience will probably quite cure +Shirley from running off. Heigh-o, I wonder what you girls will +think of to do next?" + +Moreland was the town adjoining Eastshore, and ten minutes' ride +brought them to the door of the police station. Rosemary clung +tightly to her brother's arm as they went up the steps. + +"There is nothing to be afraid of," he assured her. + +Then someone folded back one of the heavy oak doors and they found +themselves in a large, bare room. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +SARAH IN DISGRACE + + +The first person Rosemary saw was Shirley, looking very small and +forlorn. She sat on a chair so high that her little feet dangled in +mid-air. One hand clutched a half eaten bun, the other held a +scarcely tasted glass of milk. + +"Oh Rosemary!" cried the familiar little voice. "I'm so glad you've +come!" + +An obliging man in a blue uniform took the bun and the glass of milk +and Rosemary hugged Shirley tightly. + +"How could you run away again, darling?" the older sister whispered +reproachfully. "You worried us so! Were you out in the rain?" + +"Only a little," said Shirley, restored to cheerfulness now that +Rosemary was here to take care of her. + +"She got frightened when it began to thunder," the sergeant at the +desk was saying to Doctor Hugh. "As nearly as I can make out, from +what she says, she started to run at the first clap, and ran away +from her home, instead of toward it. She crossed the line from +Eastshore into Moreland before Jim Doran found her, running as hard +as she could and jerking the express wagon behind her and crying as +though her heart would break. He brought her here and as soon as she +calmed down a bit and told us her name and address, we telephoned +you. Oh, no thanks due us at all--we get a lost child every week or +so. But you ought to break her of running away--the automobile +traffic is so heavy, specially in the summer time, it's dangerous +for a child to be crossing the streets alone." + +Doctor Hugh shook hands with the sergeant and turned toward Rosemary +and Shirley. + +"Come here, Shirley," he said quietly. + +A little frightened, Shirley approached him dubiously. He lifted her +gently and swung her to the top of the table before the sergeant's +desk. + +"There's a sand box and a box of sand toys coming to our house +to-morrow," he said unexpectedly, "but I couldn't think of letting a +little runaway girl touch them. Perhaps I had better send them back +to the store." + +A sand-box had been one of Shirley's fondest wishes. + +"Oh, no, Hugh," she begged, "Don't send them back, please don't. I +won't run away again, ever. Honestly." + +"Will you promise not to leave the yard again unless you first ask +Rosemary or Winnie or Aunt Trudy?" asked the doctor. + +"Yes," nodded Shirley instantly. + +"Well then, if you are not going to run away again, I'll keep the +sand-box," decided Doctor Hugh. "And now we must be getting home for +I have a busy afternoon ahead of me." + +The sergeant shook hands with Shirley and told her that she was wise +to make up her mind to play in her own yard. His little girl, he +said, never ran away. The blue-coated man who had taken the bun and +the milk, carried the express wagon down and put it in the car, and +fifteen minutes later Shirley was deposited safely on her own front +porch. + +The sand-box and the toys came the next morning and Shirley played +for hours with them. Sometimes she induced Sarah to play with her, +but more often that young person was otherwise engaged. She had a +lame cat to care for now in addition to the rabbits and Winnie +declared that if it came to a choice between cream for her aunt's +tea or the cat, she wouldn't trust Sarah with the bottle. + +"I don't think you have a very kind heart, Winnie," said Sarah one +morning when she had been discovered in a raid on the refrigerator. + +"Well I have some conscience and you haven't, or you wouldn't be +wanting to feed loin chops that cost forty-five cents a pound to a +cat," declared Winnie grimly. + +"Sick animals need good food," maintained Sarah, swinging on the +screen door, a habit which invariably irritated Winnie. + +"Go on out and play, do," she now advised Sarah. "How can I get my +work done with you buzzing around me like a fly! Well what do you +suppose struck the child that minute--" Winnie broke off in +amazement. Sarah had dashed around to the front of the house, +banging the screen door noisily behind her. Not curious enough to +speculate further, Winnie went on with her task of scrubbing the +table top already immaculate in its snowy purity. + +Aunt Trudy was descending the front stairs leisurely an hour or two +later, pleasantly contemplating the nearness of the lunch hour, when +the door bell rang sharply. Really it sounded as though someone had +jabbed it viciously. Aunt Trudy approached the door with reproving +dignity. + +"You're Miss Wright, aren't you?" said a rasped voice. "Well, I'm +Mrs. Anderson and I want to tell you that something has got to be +done to Sarah; that child is simply unbearable. She slapped the face +of my Ray this morning and the poor lamb came into the house crying +with pain. He's only four years old, and I think when a great girl +of nine takes to slapping babies' faces, she needs a sound whipping. +No, I won't come in, but I was determined you should know about it. +That child will end up in prison if her temper isn't curbed." + +"No one ever spoke to me like that, Hugh," complained Aunt Trudy +tearfully to her nephew when he came in a few minutes later. "She +didn't give me a chance to say a word. I'm sure I don't approve of +Sarah slapping any one's face." + +"Of course you don't," agreed the doctor soothingly. "Where is the +culprit? We'll see what she has to say for herself. Look here, +Sarah," he opened fire as that young person came up the porch steps +and into the hall, "Mrs. Anderson says you slapped Ray's face this +morning." + +"Well?" inquired Sarah coolly. + +"Did you?" said the doctor matching her briefness. + +"I certainly did," Sarah assured him. "He is a bad, cruel boy and I +wish I had slapped him harder. He was stepping on poor baby ants!" + +Aunt Trudy stared in astonishment, but something pathetic in Sarah's +defiant little figure touched Doctor Hugh. She so evidently +considered she had vindicated herself. + +"That wasn't being kind, was it?" he said gently, "but, Sarah, +slapping his face didn't teach him not to step on ants--it merely +taught him that one of his neighbors was a very impolite little +girl. I want you to go over now and apologize to Mrs. Anderson." + +"But I slapped Ray," hedged Sarah cannily. + +"Well Ray is so little he probably doesn't hold malice," explained +Doctor Hugh seriously. "It is Mrs. Anderson's feelings that are +hurt; don't you think you are a little ashamed, Sarah, to know you +struck a child so much younger than you are?" + +"Go and tell her you are sorry, dearie," suggested Aunt Trudy. + +"I won't say I am sorry, because that would be a lie," said Sarah +virtuously. + +"If you are not sorry you slapped Ray you ought to be, because such +an act is the height of discourtesy," declared the doctor. "However, +if you apologize, I don't doubt that will be satisfactory. Go right +away, Sarah." + +"I think Mrs. Anderson should apologize to us," announced Sarah with +explosive suddenness. "She came over here telling tales and that is +the meanest thing any one can do. You hate tale-bearers, you said so +Hugh." + +The doctor's long-suffering patience snapped. + +"What Mrs. Anderson does is no concern of yours," he said testily. +"If you do not go to her house immediately and apologize, Sarah, +I'll march you over there and wait while you do it. I've listened to +all the argument I intend to." + +"I'll go," surrendered Sarah sullenly. + +What she said could only be conjectured but apparently Mrs. Anderson +was mollified for peace reigned the remainder of the week. Sunday +afternoon though, a fresh storm broke, with Sarah again the center. + +"Where's Sarah?" Doctor Hugh demanded, meeting Rosemary in the hall +on his return from a round of calls. + +Rosemary was dressed in white and ready for a sedate walk with Aunt +Trudy. + +"She's in your office, reading," she answered. "She likes the goat +skin rug, you know." + +"All right," nodded the doctor, "run along, chick, and tell Aunt +Trudy to keep on the shady side of the street. The sun is blazing." + +Sarah was not visible from the door, but walking around his desk, +her brother discovered her stretched full length in her favorite +reading attitude, on the white goat skin rug. Her book dealt with +the health of cats. + +"Sarah," began the doctor looking down at her, "did you take a +telephone message from Mrs. Anderson yesterday morning?" + +Sarah looked obstinate. + +"Did you?" her brother insisted. "Answer me," he commanded, pulling +her to her feet. + +"Yes I did," muttered Sarah. "Rosemary was busy practising and +Winnie's bread was in the oven." + +"Why didn't you tell me she wanted me to call there Saturday night?" +demanded the doctor sternly. + +"'Cause," murmured Sarah uneasily. + +"You're ashamed to tell me, and I don't wonder," Doctor Hugh said +crisply. "You'd let a miserable little thing like an apology you +were forced to make her, interfere with your loyalty to service. I +thought you were bigger than that, Sarah," he added. + +Sarah said nothing. + +"If you were a nurse in a hospital or a doctor's office, you'd be +dismissed," her brother went on, "for all you know I might have been +needed seriously. As it happened, no harm was done, but that doesn't +excuse you. Hereafter you are not to answer the phone under any +circumstances. You can't be trusted to deliver the messages you +receive." + +If he had only known it, Doctor Hugh had delivered a severe blow to +Sarah's pride. She had been extremely proud of her ability to answer +the telephone and welcomed the rare opportunities when Rosemary was +out or busy with her beloved music. But she said nothing and after a +day or two the doctor realized that she was not on "speaking terms" +with him. + +"She ought to be spanked," he confided to Winnie, "but I don't +believe in that form of punishment for children as old as she is." + +"It wouldn't do any good," said Winnie, "your mother spanked her +years ago when she'd take these silent fits. It only made her more +obstinate. You can do more with Sarah, Hughie, by helping her out +of a tight place than any way I know. She's always getting into +trouble and she never forgets the ones that stand by her. You keep +your eyes open and the chance will come." + +The opportunity came sooner than either of them expected. For nearly +a week Jack Welles had been storming, to any one who would listen to +him, about the "low-down" thief who nightly took his can of fishing +worms. + +"Plumb lazy, I call it," grumbled Jack, "to cart away the worms a +fellow breaks his back digging. Some worthless tramp is catching +fish with my worms and I intend to catch him." + +His wails had reached the ears of Doctor Hugh, himself an ardent +fisherman when time permitted and his sympathies were entirely with +the defrauded one. + +"Sit up some night and watch," he advised the lad. "Put the can in +the usual place--where do you keep it--on the back step?--all right, +put it there, and then hide back of the willow tree. You say it is +done sometime between ten and twelve, for you go to bed at ten and +your father comes home at midnight and finds the can empty? That +ought to make it easy for you, for you know when to watch for the +thief." + +Jack's father was engaged in some delicate electrical experiments +that were conducted in his factory at night to escape the vibration +caused by the heavy machines. + +Coming home from the Jordan office a little after then the next +night after he had given Jack his advice, Doctor Hugh remembered +what he had said and wondered if the boy had been successful in +detecting the thief. As he neared the Welles house he heard loud and +angry voices. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +WHEN PATIENCE SLIPS + + +"If I ever catch you touching my can of worms again, I'll--I'll--" +words apparently failed Jack and he began to sputter. + +"Got him, Jack?" the doctor leaped the hedge lightly and ran +diagonally across the lawn to the back of the Welles's house. + +"Him?" growled Jack in disgust. "Him! Look at this--" and he flashed +a pocket light that revealed to the astonished Doctor Hugh the +tear-streaked face of Sarah. + +"For the love of Mike!" gasped her brother. "Have you been taking +Jack's worms?" + +"Yes she has," Jack answered for her. "She's been dumping the can +out every night. And if she does it again I'll shake her if she is a +girl." + +"Hold on, hold on," said Doctor Hugh pacifically. "Let's get the +hang of this; why did you empty Jack's can of worms, Sarah?" + +"It--it hurts them to be jabbed with a hook," wept Sarah. + +"Like fun it does," retorted Jack scornfully. "Worms haven't any +feelings, hardly." + +"Well fishes have and if you haven't any worms you can't catch +fishes," stormed Sarah. "I will too throw away your worms." + +"You will not!" flashed Jack, taking a step toward her. + +Sarah, the defiant, turned and fled toward her brother. He put his +arm about her and found that she was shaking with nervous sobbing. + +"I'll see you to-morrow, Jack," he said quietly. "There is no use in +rousing the whole neighborhood. Come on, Sarah, we're going home." + +He lifted the little girl in his arms and strode across the grass, +entering the door of the house noiselessly and depositing her in a +large arm chair in the office. Then he went into the kitchen, warmed +a glass of milk and made her drink it. + +"Now tell me all about it," he said, sitting down at his desk to +face her. Sarah, he knew, had a horror of being "fussed over" and he +did not dare pet her though he wished his mother were there to +cuddle the pathetic little figure in her arms. + +"I emptied the can every night, after Jack went to bed," said +Sarah. "That's all. He doesn't care how much he hurts them, but I +do." + +"But how could you stay awake from eight till ten o'clock?" asked +the doctor curiously, "and how could you come down stairs without +waking Shirley or being seen by Aunt Trudy or Winnie?" + +"I didn't go to bed, that is not really," confided Sarah. "I lay +down with all my clothes on, because Rosemary always comes in to see +that our light is out before she goes to bed. But after nine o'clock +I stayed up till I saw Jack shut the kitchen door of his house and +then I knew he was through digging worms." + +"Didn't you ever go to sleep before Rosemary came in to look at +you?" asked her brother. "Not once?" + +"Not once," said Sarah firmly. "I put three of Shirley's building +blocks under my back so I couldn't. And when I got up I sat on the +window sill so if I went to sleep I'd wake up when I fell out." + +"Well you are thorough," admitted the doctor. "Weren't you afraid +Aunt Trudy would come in and find you sitting up? Or hear you +falling out of the window?" + +"I didn't fall," declared Sarah, matter-of-factly. "And Aunt Trudy +never comes to see if we are in bed. Mother used to, every night." + +"I see," the doctor frowned a little. "Well, Sarah, you'll have to +let Jack's worms alone after this. I'm not going to argue with you +about the feelings of the worms or the fish (you'll get that point +better when you are a little older) but I'll put it to you this way; +they're Jack's worms and you mustn't touch what belongs to him. And, +also, you can't go about making people think as you do. If you don't +believe in fishing, all right; you are at perfect liberty not to +fish. But you have no call to try to stop other people from fishing. +Jack may not approve of the way you keep your rabbits. He may think +they should be turned loose and allowed to destroy the garden. If he +came over here night after night and let your rabbits out, think how +angry you would be. Do you see, dear? You do what you feel to be +right and let the other fellow keep tabs on his own conscience." + +Sarah thought a few minutes. + +"Well, I will," she sighed reluctantly. "Worms are awfully nasty +things, anyway, Hugh. I had to pick some of them out of the can +with my fingers, because they wouldn't come out." + +"Then we're all serene again," said her brother cheerfully. "And now +it is after eleven and high time you were asleep." + +Sarah gave him a quick, shy kiss at the head of the stairs and +vanished into her room. She was always chary of caresses and her +mother declared that she could count the times Sarah had voluntarily +kissed her. + +The last two weeks of July were an unbroken "hot spell." Eastshore +was ordinarily comfortable in the summer time but the heat wave that +gripped the country made itself felt and not all the pleasant effect +of wide lawns and old shade trees could counteract the hot, humid +nights and the blazing, parched days. An occasional thunder shower +did its best to bring comfort, but the heat closed in again after +each gust, seemingly more intense than ever. It was a trying test +for tempers and dispositions and the Willis household began to +develop "nerves." + +"I should think you children could manage to remember to shut the +screens doors behind you," remarked Doctor Hugh one morning at the +breakfast table. "If there is one thing positively unendurable, it +is flies in the house!" + +Winnie put down the cream pitcher beside his cup of coffee with an +emphasis that threatened to spray him with its contents. + +"You'd better be speaking to Sarah," she said grimly. "I'm about +wore out, arguing with her. She won't let me use the fly-batter at +all and why? Because it is cruel to kill the dear darling little +flies that tramp all over our food with their filthy feet!" + +Rosemary giggled. She sat in Aunt Trudy's place, cool and neat in a +blue gingham dress, her charming bobbed head making a pretty picture +silhouetted against the light of the window behind her. The warm +weather had reconciled Rosemary to the loss of her hair. Aunt Trudy +often pleaded a headache mornings and Rosemary took her place at the +silver tray and poured her brother's coffee. + +"Don't let me hear any more such nonsense," said he sternly now. +"Keep the screens closed, Winnie, and kill any flies that get in. +Sarah, you are not to interfere in any way--and don't scowl like +that." + +For reply Sarah kicked the table leg to the peril of her glass of +milk and Shirley's. + +"You'll find yourself sent away from the table in another minute," +her brother warned her. "Eat your breakfast and behave yourself." + +"You'll be sorry when I'm dead," said Sarah, her voice plaintive +with self-pity. + +Shirley thought the moment auspicious to make a reach for a hot +biscuit. Over went her glass of milk and her fat little hand landed +in the butter dish. The telephone bell saved her, as far as Doctor +Hugh was concerned, and when he came back to tell Rosemary that he +would not be home till dinner time and to give her a list of the +time and places when he could be reached during the day, Winnie had +removed all traces of the accident. + +"I guess you must think I'm a washing machine," she grumbled after +the doctor had gone. "That's the tenth clean runner we've had on the +table this week. If we were using table cloths every meal I'd have +to give up--no living woman could keep this family in table cloths!" + +"Sarah, are you going to make the beds this morning?" asked +Rosemary, on her way to sweep the porch, a duty she had assumed. + +"No, I'm not," returned Sarah with characteristic candor. "It's too +hot. Let 'em air till night. I want to play in the sand-box." + +"Ray Anderson and me's going to play in the sand-box," said Shirley. +"You can't come--you take all the toys." + +"Oh, Shirley, how cross you are!" cried Rosemary, aghast at the +frown on Shirley's pretty forehead. "Don't be so cranky, darling. +Sarah will play in one end of the box and you play in the other." + +But Sarah, her nose in the air, announced that she wouldn't "have a +thing to do with the old sand-box," and she departed to sit in the +swing and read, leaving Rosemary to make the beds or "let them air" +as she decided. + +Rosemary finished sweeping the porch and had just begun to make her +own bed, when her aunt called her. + +"Shirley and that little Anderson boy are making so much noise, I +can't rest," Aunt Trudy complained. "I should think you could tell +them to play quietly, Rosemary. And I wish you wouldn't practise +this morning, dearie; my head is splitting and the piano does annoy +me so. This afternoon I'll take my sewing out under the tree and you +may have two hours to yourself, if you like." + +Rosemary went down and suggested to Shirley and Ray that they make +sand pies instead of building a railroad, knowing from experience +that sand pies was a comparatively quiet play. Then she dusted her +beloved piano with a little lump in her throat. Mother had loved to +hear her practise and had liked to sit on summer mornings in a chair +close by, sewing and listening. Mother was an accomplished musician +and she knew and noted her little daughter's enthusiastic progress. +One reason that Rosemary practised so steadily through the warm +weather in spite of discouragement was her determination to surprise +her mother by her improvement when that dear lady came back to them. + +"It's a shame you have all the beds to do, Rosemary," said Winnie, +coming up for a salve from the medicine closet in the bathroom and +discovering Rosemary wearily putting the bedrooms to rights. "I've +burned my finger on that silly hot water heater again. I've told the +doctor and told him to have the plumber stop in and fix it, but he +forgets every time." + +"I'll telephone Mr. Mertz," said Rosemary absently. + +"You ought to make Sarah do her part," went on Winnie, spreading +salve on a piece of gauze and binding it around her finger. "I'm +tired trying to get any help from her. And Miss Trudy wants +ice-water every minute of the day and if I don't get it for her she +comes out to the refrigerator and wastes half a block, hacking it. +Shirley wants nothing but hot breads and meat and first thing we +know she'll be sick on our hands." + +Winnie sat on the edge of the bath-tub and let her mind dwell on her +woes. Rosemary tried to listen sympathetically, but she was warm and +tired and if Winnie would only go perhaps she could finish the rooms +in time to read a little before lunch. The afternoon would have to +be given over to her delayed practising. + +"Well, I'm going down stairs," said Winnie, putting the salve jar +back on its shelf, "and all we're going to have for lunch is tomato +salad and bread and butter. If any one doesn't like it, they can +leave it; I'm not going to spend any time fussing with special +dishes this kind of weather." + +Rosemary's practising that afternoon was interrupted several times +by the telephone, twice for the wrong number. Aunt Trudy, with the +air of a martyr, took her sewing out under the horse chestnut tree, +Sarah and Shirley went to a neighbor's to play and Winnie announced +that she intended to take a nap. So there was no one to answer the +bells except Rosemary. By the time she had jumped up to be asked "Is +this the grocery store?" once or twice, had admitted the butcher boy +with fresh meat which must be put on the ice and had been summoned +three times by Aunt Trudy to thread her needle--for glasses, +declared her aunt made her warmer in summer and she would not wear +them--Rosemary's temper was fraying sadly. + +"Rosemary," said Aunt Trudy, coming into the living room as the +practise hour was about over (not allowing for time wasted, Rosemary +told herself resentfully), "Rosemary, where is Sarah?" + +"I don't care where she is!" cried Rosemary, whirling around on the +piano bench. "I'm tired of always being asked where Sarah and +Shirley are. I don't care!" + +Aunt Trudy burst into tears. + +"I don't think you ought to speak to me like that," she sobbed. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE LAST STRAW + + +Jack Welles' cheerful whistle sounded outside. + +"Coming!" answered Rosemary. + +She flung her arms about Aunt Trudy and gave her a penitent hug. + +"I'm sorry I was cross, Auntie," she whispered. "You know I didn't +mean it." + +Then she sped out the front door and joined Jack who was waiting on +the walk outside the hedge. + +"Come on uptown and have a soda," he suggested. "Perhaps it will +cool you off--you look slightly wild." + +"I feel wild," admitted Rosemary, falling into step beside him. +"This has been the most dreadful day!" + +"Weather's enough to make anyone cross," said the boy quickly. "I'll +bet the trouble is you're doing everyone's work. Hugh ought to make +Sarah stir around. She's lazy." + +"No, I don't think she is lazy," protested Rosemary, "Only, well you +know Jack, it was more fun doing the things you have to do when +Mother was home. I can't explain it very well, but I remember last +summer Sarah thought she'd wash the upstairs windows to surprise +Mother--Winnie was sick and Mother happened to say she didn't know +when in the world the windows would get cleaned. Sarah heard her and +the next day she lugged up a pail of water and a cloth and tried to +wash them. She splashed water all over the wall paper and made an +awful mess of it, but Mother kissed her and praised her and said she +was glad she had such a helpful little daughter. Aunt Trudy isn't +like that and Sarah likes to be praised for what she does. Aunt +Trudy never tells her she makes a bed well, but if there is a +wrinkle in the spread she shows her that. Sarah made the beds all +right for a long time, but now she goes off mornings and plays." + +"I knew it," nodded Jack, "and Winnie has a list of troubles a mile +long waiting for you every night." + +"Morning," corrected Rosemary, laughing. "Oh, Jack how do you know +so much? I don't see how I could get along without you, because +you're the only one who listens to my troubles. Hugh is a dear, but +he is so busy, and we're forbidden to write anything that will +bother Mother." + +"Fire into me any time you feel like it," invited Jack, steering her +toward the drug-store steps and the soda fountain therein. "I'm +always ready to listen and if you want any punching done, just let +me know." + +But the next hard day, when everything seemed to go wrong from +breakfast time to the dinner hour, no Jack was at hand to listen to +Rosemary's recital. He had gone away for a week's fishing trip with +his father. + +The day started with a pitched battle between Winnie and Sarah after +breakfast, over the question of feeding the cat the top of the milk. +Sarah declared passionately that she would starve herself before she +would feed a defenseless cat skimmed milk and Winnie, with equal +fervor, had announced that when she saw herself handing over the top +milk to a cat they might send her to the insane asylum without +delay. + +"You're a mean, hateful woman!" shouted Sarah, rushing out of the +kitchen and shutting the door on Shirley's finger which was too near +the crack. + +Shirley screamed with pain and after Rosemary had bathed the poor +bruised finger and Winnie had comforted the child with a cookie, +Aunt Trudy declared that her nerves were too unstrung to spend the +day in such a house and that she would go to town and shop. + +"That means I'll have to answer the telephone while I'm practising," +grumbled Rosemary. "Oh, dear, how selfish everyone is! I've a good +mind to sit down and read on the porch while it is shady. All the +others do as they please and I will, too." + +Her book was interesting, and there was a blessed freedom from +interruptions. Rosemary was amazed when Sarah, warm and dirty from +grubbing in the rabbit house appeared at the foot of the steps and +demanded to know if lunch was ready. + +"Oh well, I'll make the beds and pick up after lunch," said Rosemary +to herself. + +Shirley assumed the airs of an invalid at the lunch table and +secured large portions of meat and dessert as a concession to her +hurt finger. She ignored the vegetables entirely though the meal was +supposed to be her dinner and Doctor Hugh had given orders that she +was to be fed after certain rules. + +Winnie was put out because the iceman was late and her dinner +supplies threatened to spoil and Sarah insisted on the hot-water +heater being lit so that she might have hot water in which to wash +her cat. The wrangle with Winnie over this continued throughout the +meal. + +"I don't care whether you wash the cat or not," said Rosemary, when +Sarah followed her to the corner of the living-room where the piano +stood. "I'm going to practise, and don't bother me." + +"Silly old music," grumbled Sarah, "come on, Shirley, let's go sail +boats in the bath-tub." + +Rosemary spent the afternoon at the piano, having promised herself +that she would put in a full two hours over her music. The numerous +interruptions spun out the time so that when she finally closed the +lid the little clock on the mantelpiece chimed five. + +"Good gracious, the beds aren't made!" thought Rosemary and flew up +the stairs. + +One glance into the bathroom halted her and cooled her energy. +Shirley and Sarah had spent a busy afternoon, sailing boats in the +tub. They had used every clean towel in sight to mop up the puddles +on the floor and they were wet to their chins. Rosemary hustled them +off to get into clean dry clothes and then worked feverishly to +restore the room to a semblance of order. Aunt Trudy came home +before she had finished and when she saw the unmade beds and the +morning's disorder still untouched, she spoke her mind in no +uncertain terms. + +"Everybody has a grouch," observed Sarah cheerfully when they sat +down to dinner. Doctor Hugh had not come in. + +"Don't use that word, Sarah," reproved her aunt, sugaring a bowl of +boiled rice for Shirley. + +"Don't want rice, want cutylet," said Shirley, pointing to the veal +cutlet. + +"She's had enough meat to-day," interposed Winnie. "The doctor says +she shouldn't have it at all at night." + +Shirley refused to touch the rice and was sitting in stately +aloofness when Doctor Hugh came in looking warm and tired. + +"What's the matter?" he asked, dropping into his chair and testing +the soup Winnie instantly placed before him. Hugh was her idol and +she always managed not to keep him waiting. "Heat too much for you?" +he added. + +"Grouches is what ails 'em," volunteered Sarah. + +"I've asked her not to use that word, but no one pays any attention +to my wishes," sighed Aunt Trudy. + +"All right, drop it, Sarah," said Doctor Hugh shortly. "Aren't you +eating to-night, sweetheart?" he asked Shirley. + +"I want some cutylet," said Shirley wistfully. "I don't like rice." + +"She ate nothing for her dinner but beef loaf and two helps of date +pudding," announced Winnie. "I don't know when she expects to learn +to eat sensible and like a Christian." + +"Well, if Rosemary would take a little interest in the child and +coax her, she would soon learn to like vegetables," said Aunt Trudy. +"I think Shirley is left too much to herself." + +Rosemary flushed, but her brother spoke before she could reply. + +"You eat your rice, Shirley, or not one other thing can you have +to-night," he announced, with unusual severity, for Shirley was his +pet. "No, crying won't do you any good--eat your rice and stop +whining." + +"I think you ought to know how things go when I'm not here, Hugh," +began Aunt Trudy while Shirley ate her rice sulkily. "I was so upset +this morning that I thought I should fly if I stayed in the house, +so I went up to the city and shopped. I came in about half past five +and not one bed was made! The children's clothes lay just where +they had flung them last night. That's a nice way, isn't it? +Apparently I can not leave home for a few hours without finding +everything shirked on my return." + +Rosemary's blue eyes blazed with quick anger and an unlovely look +came into her face. + +"I don't care if I didn't make the beds!" she cried hotly. "I'm sick +and tired of beds and dusting and answering the telephone. You never +expect anyone in this house to do a single thing, but me!" + +"Rosemary!" said Doctor Hugh. + +"I don't think you should speak to me like that," asserted Aunt +Trudy on the verge of tears. + +"I won't speak to you at all!" jerked Rosemary. "That's the only way +to please you." + +Aunt Trudy began to cry and Doctor Hugh pushed back his plate. + +"Please leave the table, Rosemary," he said distinctly. "Go into the +office and wait for me." + +Rosemary rushed from the table like a whirlwind and the house shook +as she banged the office door. + +"I don't care!" she raged, in the depths of the comfortable shabby +arm-chair that had been her father's. "I don't care! Aunt Trudy +always cries and it isn't fair. I suppose Hugh will be furious, but +let him. I'm so tired and so hot and so miserable--" and Rosemary +gave herself up to a passion of angry tears. + +She had been crying in the dark and when the door opened and someone +switched on the light she knew it was Doctor Hugh. She slipped down +from the chair and walked around back of the desk. He took the +swivel chair and glanced at her half-averted face gravely. + +"Rosemary," he said gently, "how would you like to ride over to +Bennington with me to-morrow? They're opening the new hospital and I +half promised to go. We'll be gone all the morning and it will make +a little change for you." + +Bennington was the county seat, twenty miles away. It should be +delightful not to have anything to do the next morning but put on a +clean frock and go with Hugh. He might even let her drive the car a +few minutes at a time on a straight stretch of road--Rosemary found +her tongue. + +"Oh, Hugh, I'd love it!" she said enthusiastically. + +"All right, so should I," he smiled. "I think you need a bit of +pleasure. Things going rather hard for you, dear?" + +Rosemary nodded, a lump in her throat surprising her. She had +expected Hugh to be angry and to scold. Instead he was very gentle. + +"I'm sorry," he said, "Very sorry. You miss Mother, I know; we all +do. But I think you are learning a good deal this summer without +her. I've been watching you, and you are more self-reliant and +capable every day. Several people have spoken to me about the way +you answer the 'phone and the intelligent answers you give them. I +don't know what I should do without you." + +Rosemary flushed with pleasure. Then, being Rosemary, she flung +herself headlong at her brother, narrowly missing his glasses. + +"Oh, Hugh! Hugh dear, I _am_ sorry I acted so to-night!" she wept. + +"There, there," he patted her gently. "You didn't mean to be cross, +we all know that. You were tired and so was Aunt Trudy. I guess this +heat has about worn everybody out. I tried to warn you, but the +fireworks had to blaze up. Now kiss me, like my sweet girl, for I'm +going out again, and then make your peace with Aunt Trudy. And +to-morrow morning we'll leave dull care behind us and enjoy +ourselves for a few hours." + +"Shirley would love to go," suggested Rosemary. + +"All right, I thought you ought to leave the cares behind, but we'll +take Shirley if you say so," was the answer. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A CHAIN OF PROMISES + + +The "hot spell" broke that night and the morning was deliciously +cool and fresh. This delightful state of weather continued for +several days and was immediately reflected in the changed temper of +the Willis household and, it is safe to say, in many other Eastshore +households since we are all more or less affected by weather +conditions. + +Aunt Trudy, who really was miserable under excessive heat revived +and insisted on giving a birthday party for Shirley who was six +years old on the third of August, and Rosemary and Sarah pleased and +touched the good lady by their assurances that it was the nicest +child's party ever given in the town. Shirley took her good fortune +complacently and was heard to remark that she wished school would +open the next day because now she was old enough to go. + +The day after the party Aunt Trudy decided to "run into the city" +for her new glasses and some special errands. She left soon after +breakfast and would, she informed Winnie, return on the 5:48 train +that afternoon. + +It was the day for Rosemary's music lesson and she went, at two +o'clock, to her teacher's house. The lesson over, she took a book +back to the Library for Aunt Trudy, bought some clothespins for +Winnie and meeting Jack Welles, brown and freckled from his fishing +trip, accepted his invitation to stop at the hardware store and see +the prize trout his father had caught and which was mounted and on +exhibition in the window. So it was nearly half past four when she +reached home. + +"Rosemary!" a shrill whisper came down to her over the bannisters, +as she went upstairs to leave the book she had selected for Aunt +Trudy on the table in her room. "Rosemary, come up here, quick!" + +Rosemary, vaguely frightened, ran up to Sarah's room. Shirley was +there and both little girls looked as though they had been crying. + +"What's the matter--did Shirley hurt herself?" asked Rosemary in +alarm. + +Sarah shut the door and looked at her older sister queerly. + +"Promise you won't tell? Cross-your-heart-hope-to-die?" she urged. + +Rosemary sat down on the bed. + +"Is it good or bad?" she asked cautiously. + +"Bad!" cried Shirley in an awe-struck tone. "Awfully bad. Isn't it, +Sarah?" + +Sarah nodded hopelessly. + +"It's so bad," she declared, "that you never heard anything as bad. +And if you tell, Rosemary, I'll run away, as far off as I can run +away, and never, never come back." + +Sarah's dark eyes were red-rimmed and she seemed so desperately +unhappy that Rosemary's kind heart was touched. + +"Oh, Sarah darling, you know I won't tell!" she exclaimed. "I don't +care what it is, I won't tell anyone. I promise." + +Sarah drew a long breath of relief. She sat down on the floor, her +favorite resting place, and Shirley scrambled down beside her. + +"Well then," said Sarah more calmly, "I've lost Aunt Trudy's +turquoise ring!" + +"You've lost Aunt Trudy's turquoise ring!" repeated Rosemary. "How +on earth could you lose her ring?" + +"We were playing with the jewel case," murmured Sarah, a dark red +flush rising under her brown skin. + +"Sarah Eaton Willis! And after what Hugh told you!" Rosemary stared +at the culprit in astonishment. + +For Aunt Trudy's jewel case, containing numerous rings and pins of +no inconsiderable value and for which she cared little beyond the +pleasure of possession seldom, if ever, wearing any of the pieces, +had delighted Sarah and Shirley from the first moment they +discovered it. Their aunt had indulgently allowed them to deck +themselves out and play "lady" and apparently the idea that anything +could happen to a valuable brooch or ring or a string of pearls, or +cut amber beads be lost, never occurred to her. It occurred to +Doctor Hugh, however, when he came home unexpectedly one afternoon +and met Sarah and Shirley arrayed in barbaric splendor. He had +immediately forbidden further play with the jewelry and, at his +orders, Aunt Trudy had placed the case among the list of things on +her dresser which must not be touched. + +"I didn't think Aunt Trudy would care if we played with her rings a +little while this afternoon," said Sarah uneasily, "We were going +to put everything back, weren't we, Shirley? I had the ring on and +Winnie called me to go get a cake of yeast--she's always wanting me +to run errands. And when I came back the ring was gone off my finger +and we hunted everywhere and we couldn't find it. So it must be +lost," wound up the small sinner. + +"I don't believe you have half looked," protested Rosemary. "Where +did you go after you bought the yeast cake? Straight home? Well, +I'll go look all the way to the store and back, and you and Shirley +look everywhere in the house you can think of." + +"You won't tell, will you, Rosemary?" coaxed Sarah. "Hugh will be so +mad, but Aunt Trudy won't mind. She never wears any of her rings." + +"Of course I won't tell," said Rosemary impatiently. "I promised. +But you hurry and put the rest of the things back in the case and +put it on Aunt Trudy's dresser, Sarah. And then look all over the +house." + +Rosemary searched every step of the way to the grocery store where +Sarah had gone to buy the yeast cake, and all the way back, but with +no result. The two little girls reported that they had looked +"everywhere" in the house, but no ring had obligingly turned up. +Aunt Trudy came home, apparently saw nothing wrong with the orderly +array of articles on her dresser, and dinner was a comfortable meal +if three of the five present were a little more silent than usual. + +That night, when they were getting ready for bed, Rosemary announced +that she had a plan. She had offered to go to bed when Sarah went +and the surprised and pleased Aunt Trudy had told Doctor Hugh that +she was sure the girls were learning to like an early bedtime hour. + +"If the ring is lost, it is lost, and that is all there is to it," +said Rosemary, sitting on Sarah's bed to brush her hair, a habit she +still clung to though the bobbed locks were quickly made ready for +the night. "And there is only one thing to do, that I can see: buy +Aunt Trudy another." + +"Buy her a ring!" gasped Sarah. "We can't--we haven't any money. And +Hugh won't give it to us, unless we tell him what it's for. How much +does a turquoise ring cost, Rosemary?" + +"I don't know," admitted Rosemary. "A great deal, I suppose. I'll +have to earn it, because I am the oldest. And Sarah you'll have to +let me tell Jack Welles, because I want to ask him how I can earn +some money." + +"Aunt Trudy won't know the ring is lost," argued Sarah. "She never +looks at 'em--she says she doesn't." + +"That has nothing to do with it," replied Rosemary earnestly. "When +you lose a thing, you try to replace it--that's what Mother says. Do +you care if I tell Jack, Sarah?" + +"No, but he mustn't tell Hugh," Sarah insisted. + +The next morning Rosemary seized an opportunity while Jack was +trimming the dividing hedge, to confide the story of the lost ring, +first swearing him to secrecy. + +"And now you have to tell me how I can earn money to buy Aunt Trudy +another ring," she said anxiously. + +Jack whistled in perplexity. + +"I think you ought to tell Hugh," he said at once. "A ring like that +must cost a lot--Aunt Trudy wouldn't have any make-believe stones. +You can't earn money without he finds it out and then there will be +a pretty row. Hasn't Sarah enough backbone to face the music?" + +"Well, you see if she had only played with the jewel case after Hugh +told her not to, that would be bad enough," explained Rosemary. "But +she played with it and lost a ring and Hugh will scold dreadfully +if he finds that out. I promised not to tell and so did you, Jack." + +"Yes, I did, and I'm sorry I ever made such a fool promise," said +Jack crossly. "I don't see how you can earn any money, Rosemary. +There is nothing for you to do." + +Rosemary was sure she could think of something and that afternoon +she hailed Jack triumphantly. + +"I've got it!" she called, running down to the hedge where he was +raking out the trimmings left from the morning's work. "I know what +I can do, Jack. I heard Mrs. Dunning tell Aunt Trudy the other day +that she would give anything if she could get someone to stay with +her baby while she went to the card club meetings Tuesday +afternoons. I can take care of the baby!" + +"What do you know about taking care of people's babies?" demanded +Jack with scorn. + +"I know how, if they are not very little ones," Rosemary assured +him. "The Dunning baby is old enough to walk. I am going to get a +baby to take care of every afternoon and that will be a whole lot of +money every week!" + +"What will Aunt Trudy say?" asked Jack pointedly. + +"She won't know--she takes a nap half the afternoon, and I'll ask +the babies' mothers to keep it a secret," planned Rosemary. "I won't +say I am going to surprise Aunt Trudy with a present, but they'll +think I am saving up for her birthday or something, perhaps." + +"You see, you've started to deceive folks already," argued Jack, +"and you know if Hugh ever finds out what you are doing he will be +raging. Hadn't you better tell him, Rosemary, or get Sarah to own +up?" + +"She won't--I did try," admitted Rosemary. "Sarah is scared to death +of what Hugh will say. No, I have to get another ring for Aunt Trudy +and then, maybe, we can let her know the old one is lost." + +In spite of Jack's opposition, Rosemary persisted in carrying out +her plan for earning money. As she had said, she had nearly the +whole of every afternoon to herself for Aunt Trudy took a long nap +and Doctor Hugh rarely came home between one and six. She called on +the mothers of young babies and in many instances was eagerly +welcomed. A great many women wanted to leave their youngsters with +some one for an hour or two in the afternoon and Rosemary had a +"natural way" with children, to quote Winnie. The babies took to +her at first sight and in a few days Rosemary was able to announce +to the disgruntled Jack that she had "work" for every afternoon in +the week. + +"They think I'm earning money for Christmas," she said, "I didn't +say that, honestly I didn't, Jack. But whenever I told any one I +wanted to earn some money and did they want me to take care of their +baby for fifteen cents an hour, they always said, 'Oh, I suppose you +want to earn some money for Christmas, before school opens'!" + +"Bet you'll give it up after the first day," prophesied Jack. +"Taking care of cranky babies isn't what it is cracked up to be." + +There were many afternoons when Rosemary recalled his words. She +would have liked to give up, often. The babies were as good and +sweet-tempered as babies usually are, but no child is angelic and +the hot weather and their teeth troubles fretted the small people +sadly. Rosemary was sometimes at her wits' end to keep her charges +amused and there were days when she longed to fly home and rest her +tired head on the cool pillow on her own little bed. She had never +been forced to do anything steadily for long after she tired of it, +and to be obliged to smile and play with a wailing, discontented +baby on a hot, muggy afternoon did seem more than she could stand. +But she had plenty of perseverance, had Rosemary, and when she once +made up her mind to do a thing she stuck it out. Sarah and Shirley +had ceased to worry about the ring. Rosemary would make it all right +again for them--of that they had no doubt. + +But if Aunt Trudy slept long hours and did not interfere with the +goings and comings of her young nieces, she was not quite so +unobservant as they sometimes thought. + +"It seems to me that Rosemary is out of the house a good deal," she +remarked one morning to Winnie. "She ought to take more of an +interest in things here at the house." + +"Well, I suppose it's only natural she should find a good deal to do +outside," answered Winnie, who had not been blind to Rosemary's +frequent absences, cautiously. "She's young, you know, and doing +your duty gets tiresome after a bit." + +But to herself, Winnie admitted that Rosemary seemed to have +absolved herself from any responsibility toward her sisters. "Left +them to shift for themselves," was the way Winnie put it. She was +puzzled and also disappointed in her favorite, for indifference of +any kind had never been a Rosemary trait. + +"She ought to be looking after Sarah and Shirley some of the time," +grumbled Winnie. "Those young ones are under my feet continually. +The least Rosemary can do is to read to 'em now and then to keep +them quiet." + +That very afternoon Miss Mason, Rosemary's music teacher called to +see Aunt Trudy. Rosemary's music was falling below its usual +standard and that was a pity. Was she practising as faithfully as +usual? + +"I think it is a shame to waste all that money on music lessons, if +you won't practise, Rosemary," announced her aunt at the dinner +table that night. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +ONE DISASTROUS AFTERNOON + + +"I do practise," said Rosemary desperately. + +"Well not enough, or Miss Mason wouldn't say your work was falling +below your usual standard," Aunt Trudy insisted. "She was here this +afternoon, Hugh, and she asked me whether Rosemary was giving as +much time as usual to the piano." + +"Oh, let her slow up this kind of weather, if she wants to," +responded the doctor lazily. "I think she's stuck pretty faithfully +to the scales and finger exercises myself." + +Rosemary flashed him a grateful look. + +"Of course I don't want to find fault," said Aunt Trudy to this, +"but you know I feel responsible. And Winnie was saying this morning +that Sarah and Shirley are left too much to themselves." + +"Oh, that's all right," declared Sarah hastily and Shirley echoed, +"Yes, that's all right." + +Doctor Hugh laughed and even Rosemary smiled faintly. How could she +explain that she had no time left from the babies in the afternoon +to spend with the little sisters, or that the reason her music was +showing neglect was because her morning practise hours were given +over to the odds and ends of duties she dared not leave undone for +fear of comment and question and now had no other time to do? + +"I imagine Sarah and Shirley amuse themselves," said the doctor, +smiling, "but Rosemary dear, I don't want you to get in the habit of +being out of the house too much. Three afternoons I've called you up +and you weren't home." + +Doctor Hugh wondered if Nina Edmonds was absorbing Rosemary's +attention again, but he thought it wiser not to ask. As a matter of +fact, had he but known it, the voluble Nina had been away at the +seashore for several weeks. + +"Well, all I can say," remarked Aunt Trudy after a pause, "is that I +hope, Rosemary, your sense of duty will be strong enough to cause +you to pay a little attention to the children while I am away. I am +going to-morrow morning to spend two days with my cousin, you know, +Hugh. She is sailing for London, Wednesday." + +"Yes, you told me," acknowledged the doctor. "We'll manage all +right, Aunt Trudy. Rosemary will keep us all in order." + +But in spite of his cheerful faith, Aunt Trudy departed the next +morning "worried to death" as she confided to Winnie. + +"I have a feeling that Sarah and Shirley will get into some +mischief, the minute my back is turned," declared the good lady. +"And Rosemary will be mooning around and not catch them until it is +too late." + +Aunt Trudy's doleful prediction proved only too true. That very +afternoon, when Rosemary left to take care of the Simmons baby while +his proud mother attended the fortnightly meeting of her card club, +Sarah and Shirley decided to sail boats in the bath-tub. +Unfortunately, when the tub was half filled, Ray Anderson called +them to come and see his new kiddie car and when that was duly +inspected, Sarah pressed Shirley into service to help her feed the +rabbits. + +"Let's go up to the store and buy 'em some fresh carrots," Sarah +suggested. "I'll get the money out of the tin bank--Rosemary won't +mind, 'cause I'll pay her back soon as I can." + +Rosemary was putting the money she earned into the little tin +chimney bank which stood on the mantel shelf in her room. She +called it the "ring fund" and to Sarah it seemed that there must be +money enough already in it to buy several rings. But Rosemary was +positive she still needed a great deal more. + +Sarah and Shirley, by dint of much shaking and banging the bank +against the shelf edge, succeeded in extracting ten cents and with +this they purchased fresh young carrots, a delicacy much beloved by +the pampered rabbits. They had fed the rabbits and were swinging in +the porch swing, when they heard a cry from Winnie. + +"For mercy's sake, where is the water coming from!" she shrieked. +"Look at it, leaking down through the ceiling and dripping on my +clean tablecloth--have the pipes sprung a leak?" + +She dashed madly upstairs, Sarah and Shirley at her heels. The +bath-tub was overflowing and the floor was a lake. + +"Don't ever let me hear of you sailing boats again, as long as I +live in this house!" Winnie scolded, as she rolled up her sleeves +and pulled out the plug. "Sarah, go down and get me the mop--quick! +It'll be a wonder if the plaster doesn't fall in the dining-room, +it's that soaked!" + +Dinner was delayed because of the catastrophe and when Doctor Hugh +came in, hungry and tired, it was to find Winnie spreading a fresh +cloth on the table and scolding Rosemary vigorously. + +"The time to be helping me is before such a thing happens," +announced Winnie, twitching the linen angrily. "Is that you, Hughie? +Heaven alone knows when dinner will be ready to-night--I've been +made to set the table twice over and the potatoes boiled dry while I +was mopping up the bathroom." + +In a few words she sketched the incident. + +"Rosemary, can't you look after the children a little better, just +till your aunt gets back?" asked the doctor wearily. "Where were you +when they were letting the water run?" + +"I was--out," said Rosemary lamely. "Just around," she added +hastily, seeing a question forming on his lips. + +"Well you'll have to stay in to-morrow," he said decisively. "Aunt +Trudy will be home to-morrow night, and I want you to be with Sarah +and Shirley till then. That isn't asking too much--one day. And +we'll see if we can get along without any more accidents. No eclairs +to-night, Winnie, for Shirley and Sarah." + +The two culprits, deprived of dessert, were excused early, but +Rosemary left alone with Hugh was too busy with her own thoughts to +talk much though ordinarily she loved an opportunity for a chat with +him. + +"I simply have to go to Mrs. Hepburn's to-morrow," she thought +panic-stricken. "I promised faithfully to come, rain or shine. She +is going somewhere with her husband and that's the only day he has +off. I'll have to go--that is all there is about it. If Hugh finds +it out, he will be furious, but perhaps he won't know. Anyway, I'm +going! I promised." + +Sarah and Shirley playing their favorite game of dominoes on the +porch after dinner, were startled by a sudden rush from Rosemary. +She whirled through the doorway and demanded of her sister, "Sarah, +have you been meddling with my tin bank?" + +Sarah got up from the floor slowly. + +"I borrowed ten cents," she admitted, trying to back away and +backing into a rocking chair. + +"You 'borrowed' ten cents!" cried Rosemary, advancing upon her. "And +you know I want to save every cent! Of all the selfish, mean girls I +ever knew, you're the worst!" + +She clutched the unhappy Sarah by her broad sailor collar and +proceeded to shake her fiercely. Sarah retaliated by kicking +viciously and they were in eminent danger of upsetting the wicker +table and porch lamp when Doctor Hugh strode out and separated them. + +"Rosemary!" he said in surprise. "What do you call it you are doing? +And Sarah, too--kicking and fighting like two small boys! What ails +you, anyway?" + +"She took ten cents out of my bank--it's just the same as stealing, +because she never pays back anything she borrows," panted Rosemary, +almost crying. "I found a penny on the floor where she dropped it. +And she knows how hard I'm trying to save every cent, too." + +"Well, Sarah, I think robbing a bank is a pretty mean trick," +pronounced Doctor Hugh judiciously. "Where is this bank, Rosemary? +I've never seen it. Seems to me you're beginning to get ready for +Christmas rather far in advance." + +Rosemary looked at Sarah who gazed at her imploringly. Both girls +had forgotten for the moment the ring fund and its object. + +"I'll pay you back to-morrow Rosemary, honestly I will," said Sarah +hurriedly. "Aunt Trudy owes me ten cents for not melting her letter +sealing wax. She will pay me to-morrow night and I'll give it to +you." + +"Sarah, Sarah," groaned her brother, half in amusement, half in +despair, "I'm afraid your ethics are pretty wobbly. So Aunt Trudy +has to bribe you, does she, to let her desk alone? Well, see that +you turn the bribe over to Rosemary, though I should call it robbing +Peter to pay Paul, with a vengeance." + +"Goodness, suppose he had made you tell why you were saving the +money!" whispered Sarah, when the doctor had gone back to his +office. "I was just shaking in my shoes." + +"Sarah, wouldn't you rather tell, anyway?" said Rosemary suddenly. +"I don't believe Hugh would be so very cross, because you didn't +mean to lose the ring. And I am afraid it will take me a perfect age +to earn enough money to buy another." + +"I won't tell, ever!" declared Sarah, shaking her dark head +obstinately. "And if you tell, Rosemary Willis, I'll never speak to +you as long as I live! You don't have to buy another ring--that's +silly. Aunt Trudy doesn't even know this one is lost." + +"I don't care if she doesn't," insisted Rosemary. "You lost it, and +we have to get another one for her; that's all there is to it." + +The next afternoon Doctor Hugh repeated his request that Rosemary +should stay with Sarah and Shirley till Aunt Trudy came home on the +5:46 train. Then he left on a long round of calls and Rosemary, not +without many regrets and a thrill of fear when she thought what her +brother would say if he found her out, sped up the street to the +pleasant house where Mrs. Hepburn, hatted and gloved eagerly waited +her coming. + +"I was so afraid you wouldn't come," she greeted the little girl. +"Baby is asleep, and I want to get away before he wakes up and sees +me go. I'll be back at half-past five, sharp, but of course you +won't go till I come. You mustn't leave Baby alone in the house." + +As luck would have it, Aunt Trudy decided to come home on an earlier +train and found herself in the midst of bundle-laden Eastshore +shoppers who had spent the day in the city and were returning with +their spoils. Motherly Mrs. Dunning occupied a seat with Aunt Trudy +and what more natural than that she should speak of how much help +Rosemary had been to her that summer? The wonder was that Aunt Trudy +had so long escaped hearing but she went about very little in the +town and had met comparatively few of the neighbors even those +living on her own street. + +"Yes indeed I've been able to go away an afternoon or two a week," +babbled Mrs. Dunning, "something I haven't done since Baby came. +Your niece is such a nice child and so reliable. I wanted her this +afternoon, but Mrs. Hepburn had engaged her first." + +"My niece? Mrs. Hepburn engaged her?" repeated Aunt Trudy faintly. + +Mrs. Dunning explained and Aunt Trudy managed to keep from fainting +though as she told Doctor Hugh afterward, she would never know how +the strength was given her. She looked nearer to apoplexy than +fainting when she walked into the house a half hour later and, +purple-faced and choking, demanded to be told the instant the doctor +came in. + +Doctor Hugh and his car rolled up a few moments later and Aunt Trudy +sobbed out the "miserable story" as she characterized it. + +"To think of Rosemary, acting as a nurse-maid, and we never knew +it!" she wailed. "What would her mother say? What must the neighbors +think?" + +"Bother the neighbors!" said Doctor Hugh testily. "When Rosemary +comes home tell her I want to see her." + +Though his aunt did not suspect it, he had seldom been as angry in +his life. Not only had Rosemary deliberately defied him and gone off +that afternoon, but she had most certainly furnished topic for +gossip in Eastshore for it was not possible in so small a town that +her occupation had been unnoticed. And Doctor Hugh was very proud of +his pretty sister. What could have possessed the child to do such a +wild thing? + +He had himself in hand by the time Rosemary came running in, late, +for Mrs. Hepburn had been delayed and nothing could have induced the +young worker to desert her charge. + +"Your brother wants you--he's in the office," said Aunt Trudy +stiffly. + +And as soon as she saw Hugh the most awful sinking sensation went +through Rosemary. He had found out, how, she could not guess, but +somehow, that was plain. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +JACK STRAIGHTENS THINGS OUT + + +"You--you wanted to see me Hugh?" Rosemary faltered. + +"Please come in and close the door," he said quietly. Then as she +obeyed, "Now what is this Mrs. Dunning has been telling Aunt Trudy, +Rosemary? Have you been taking care of babies in the neighborhood +for fifteen cents an hour?" + +Rosemary nodded. + +"How long has this been going on?" asked her brother. + +"A--a couple of weeks," answered Rosemary faintly. + +"What was the idea?" + +Rosemary said nothing. + +"I asked you a question, Rosemary. Please answer me. What made you +do a thing like this without consulting some one? Did Winnie know?" + +"No," said Rosemary reluctantly, "Winnie didn't know. No one did. I +wanted to earn some money, Hugh." + +Then came the question she had been dreading. + +"What for?" + +Rosemary nervously knotted and unknotted her handkerchief. Her blue +eyes roved around the familiar room and came back to the grim face +and the dark eyes which watched her relentlessly. + +"Oh, Hugh!" she cried desperately, "PLEASE!" + +Her brother picked up a paper weight and studied it intently. + +"Look here, Rosemary," he began more gently, "you deliberately +disobeyed this afternoon when I asked you to stay in the house--" + +"Because I had absolutely promised Mrs. Hepburn, Hugh," Rosemary +broke in eagerly. "I'd _promised_! She was depending on me and I had +to go." + +"Very well, a promise is a promise," admitted the doctor, "though +when wrongly given sometimes they must be broken. We'll set aside +the fact that you disobeyed and consider only this wild scheme +apparently undertaken because you wanted to earn money. I want you +to tell me why you thought you needed money and why you couldn't +come to me and ask for it." + +"Because," whispered Rosemary unhappily, "Because." + +"That's no reason," said the doctor brusquely. "Come, 'fess up, +Rosemary, and I'll help you out of the scrape, whatever it is. My +dear little girl, you can't go around among the neighbors like +this--families help each other and stand by each other. I don't care +a hoot what other people may think--as Aunt Trudy seems to believe I +should--but I care a great deal that my little sister should go to +outsiders instead of coming to me." + +Rosemary touched his sleeve timidly. She longed to throw herself in +his arms, cry that she was tired of taking care of silly, +uninteresting babies (though as a matter of fact when she wasn't +tired she loved them all, the cross as well as the good-natured +ones), and tell him the whole story about the lost ring. But there +was her promise to Sarah. A promise was a promise--Hugh himself had +said so. And families were to stand by each other, and she must +stand by Sarah and Shirley. + +"I can't tell you, Hugh," said Rosemary earnestly. "I just can't." + +"You mean you won't," said the doctor sternly. "Well, go up and +bring me down this bank--I suppose that was the one you and Sarah +were quarreling over the other night? And you put the money you +earned in that? I thought so; bring it down to me." + +Wondering what he meant to do, Rosemary went up to her room and +returned with the bank. Doctor Hugh dropped it into one of the lower +drawers of his desk and turned the key. + +"I want you to bring me a list of the women for whom you have taken +care of children," he said, pushing a block of paper and a pencil +toward Rosemary, "and, as nearly as you can remember, the number of +hours you worked for each. Then we'll count out this money and you +will have to return it. I want that list by to-morrow night." + +Winnie sounded the dinner gong just then and Rosemary went silently +to the table. Aunt Trudy's eyes were red from crying and Sarah and +Shirley looked frightened. Their aunt had told them the "awful +thing" Rosemary had been doing and Sarah was in terror lest Hugh +already knew her part in it. But dinner, uncomfortable meal as it +was, reassured Sarah. Hugh would not have allowed her to leave the +table without a word if he had known about the ring. + +Rosemary went to her room directly after dinner and Sarah and +Shirley followed. + +"Was he mad?" asked Shirley, her eyes round with excitement. + +"Aunt Trudy was crying and wringing her hands," volunteered Sarah. +"She says the family is disgraced and Hugh will be ashamed to show +his face in Eastshore." + +"What a silly thing to say!" cried Rosemary. "Thank goodness, Hugh +is no snob. But he is furious because I can't tell him why I wanted +the money. And, oh, girls, I have to take it all back. How can I +ever buy the ring now, and what will the people say when I bring +back the money they paid me?" + +She hurriedly outlined what Doctor Hugh had said, and Sarah +immediately suggested that they get hold of the bank and bury it. + +"Hugh would only punish us again," said Rosemary practically. "Let's +tell him about the ring, Sarah. He said he'd help me out of the +scrape, no matter what it was, if I'd tell him." + +But Sarah set her chin obstinately and refused to go to her brother. +She reminded Rosemary of her promise and Shirley, too, began to cry +and say that she was afraid of Hugh. So it ended by Rosemary +renewing her promise not to tell and then crying herself to sleep +because she remembered how patient Hugh had been and she knew she +had both hurt and disappointed him. + +"And I can't go around and give the money back," she wept, tossing +about on her wet pillow, "What will people think? But Hugh will make +me, if he goes along to see me do it. Oh, dear, the Willis will +makes all the trouble in this family!" + +But in the morning the Willis will helped Rosemary to remain +unshaken in her determination not to tell any more than she had +told. Doctor Hugh called her into the office before breakfast--he +had had his early and was ready to leave when the girls came down +stairs--and asked her again why she wanted the money, patiently at +first and then, as Rosemary stubbornly refused to give a reason, he +lost his temper and began to storm. Rosemary finally flew out of the +office and banged the door and the morning was unhappily begun. + +Winnie, who had heard the story from Aunt Trudy, thought it her duty +to lecture Rosemary during breakfast--at which Aunt Trudy did not +appear--and Rosemary, whose nerves were already strained to the +breaking point, answered snappishly. + +"I should think you'd be ashamed to speak to me like that before +your little sisters," said Winnie indignantly. "Shirley wouldn't +talk to Winnie like that, would you dear?" + +"Oh, my no," said Shirley angelically. + +This was too much for Rosemary. She fled from the table to indulge +in a good cry up in her mother's room. Doctor Hugh had trusted the +key to her, after he had locked the room and Rosemary sometimes went +there when she wanted to be quiet and think. The room was in perfect +order, sweet and clean and well-aired and the things on the dresser +and shelves were exactly as her mother usually kept them. Rosemary +had arranged them so because she thought her mother would like to +find them ready for her when she came home. + +After the tears had stopped, Rosemary sat quietly for a few minutes +in the little low white rocker. Something of the peace and stillness +of the room stole into her troubled mind. Presently she rose and +went out, locking the door carefully behind her. + +"Anything the matter, Rosemary--you look a little woozy," said Jack +Welles with neighborly frankness, seeing her across the hedge later +that morning as she was spreading out handkerchiefs to bleach for +Winnie. + +In a rush of words, Rosemary told him the "matter." + +"Well, you do have a merry time," Jack commented when she had +finished. "But the solution is simple after all." + +"I can't take back that money," said Rosemary miserably. "But what +can I do? Hugh will never give in." + +"Do? There's nothing for you to do," answered Jack vigorously. +"Sarah and Shirley have the next act on the program and it's up to +me to see that they realize it, if you can't show them their duty. +Where's Sarah now?" + +"Teaching the cat to sit up," said Rosemary without interest. "It +won't do you any good to argue with her, Jack. She's afraid of Hugh +and she won't ever tell him. Besides, you know, I only told you if +you would promise not to tell." + +"Oh, I haven't forgotten that you nailed me firmly before you would +say a word," Jack replied grimly. "But I still think I can persuade +Sarah to confess her share and if she will, Shirley will admit that +she also was present. I'll go begin my good work now." + +He was gone half an hour and when he came back he was smiling. + +"Everything's all fixed," he announced. "Sarah and Shirley are going +to march up to the guns like good soldiers to-night, and I'm going +to do the talking for them. Sarah, sensibly enough, wants to get it +over before dinner, so I've promised to come over right after lunch +and sit on your porch so I'll be here no matter how early Hugh gets +home. You and I have to bolster up the weak spots in their courage." + +"I don't see how you ever persuaded Sarah," marveled Rosemary. "I +argued and argued, and she wouldn't listen to me." + +Jack looked very wise. + +"I used moral suasion," he declared. "Told her if she didn't own up +to-night, I'd go to Doctor Hugh and tell him everything myself." + +"Is that moral suasion?" asked Rosemary doubtfully. + +"Of course it is," said Jack with confidence. "If it isn't it ought +to be. I've never broken a promise yet and I'm mighty glad Sarah +didn't make me, but I'll be jiggered if I don't think there are +times when it is worse to keep a promise than to break it." + +A promise "wrongly given"--Doctor Hugh's words came back to +Rosemary. Had she given her promise wrongly? + +Doctor Hugh did not come home till nearly five o'clock and the four +solemn young people on the front porch were getting decidedly +fidgety before his roadster appeared at the curb and he jumped out +and hurried up the walk. He said "Hello" to the four as he passed +them and he was surprised, therefore, when he turned from his desk +to see them enter the office and advance toward him. + +"Hugh," said Jack clearly, "I've something to tell you. Sarah really +ought to, but she asked me to do it." + +"Suppose you sit down," said the doctor gravely. + +Sarah sat down gingerly on a chair near the door, ready for instant +flight, and the others ranged themselves near the desk. Jack began +with the loss of the ring and told everything that had happened +since. He spoke rapidly, but without excitement, and he was not +interrupted once. + +"I am really to blame, as much as anyone," he declared, when he had +reached the point where Rosemary had confided in him about the +missing ring and her determination to replace it. "I had no business +to promise not to tell before I heard what I was not to tell. That's +a fool stunt." + +"Yes, I think it is," agreed Doctor Hugh, but smilingly. + +"Rosemary thought she had to go on taking care of cranky babies till +she could buy another ring. If I'd had any money of my own--and I +don't know why I never do--" Jack paused for a moment to consider +this new idea--"I would have bought a ring myself and helped her out +of the hole." + +Doctor Hugh listened silently to the remainder of the recital, his +eyes studying the four expressive faces before him. + +"So Rosemary really couldn't tell you what she wanted the money for, +because she had promised," finished Jack. "And Sarah was afraid, and +so was Shirley." + +"I see," the doctor said. "I'm sorry they were afraid. Sarah dear, +do you really think you have saved yourself anything by not telling +me when you lost the ring?" he went on, turning to Sarah. "Haven't +you had more trouble and worry and unhappiness trying to keep me +from finding out and don't you think it is better to own up right +away and take your punishment and have it all over?" + +"Yes," admitted Sarah in a very small voice. + +"Well, then, next time tell me at once," said Doctor Hugh earnestly. +"And don't ever let me hear of four of you making a chain of +promises like this. We'll see what can be done about the ring +to-morrow, Sarah, and you and I will talk it over with Aunt Trudy." + +He held out his hand to Jack and put an arm around Rosemary, whose +face was radiant with relief and happiness. + +"I wish you had spoken up a little sooner, Jack," growled the +doctor. "I find that keeping track of three girls isn't the easiest +task in the world." + +"But we won't lose any more rings," said the practical Sarah. + +"No, we won't lose any more rings, Hugh," whispered Rosemary, +standing on tip-toe to kiss him. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A NEW SCHOOL TERM + + +The next morning, as soon as breakfast was over, the unwilling Sarah +was called into conference in the office with her brother and Aunt +Trudy. The latter was much surprised to learn that she had lost a +ring, and insisted that Sarah, who was rather a favorite of hers, +should not be punished. + +"I never did care anything about the ring, Hugh," said Aunt Trudy +earnestly, "and there's been trouble enough about it. It's just like +Rosemary to want to buy me another, but I'd never wear it, so why +should she? I'm glad enough that this ridiculous idea of hers has +been stopped before it went on any longer. Don't, for pity's sake, +say another word about that unfortunate ring." + +"Well, Sarah, that let's you out," said Doctor Hugh cheerfully. "I +must say I think you've shirked all the way through, first in not +owning up and again in letting Rosemary take the responsibility of +replacing the ring. And you kept her from telling me, simply to +shield yourself. However, I really understand that you were afraid +and fear often keeps us from doing what we know to be right. You're +going to fight that little 'I'm-afraid'"--for he had had a brief +talk with his little sister the night before after the others had +left the office and felt that he was just beginning to understand +Sarah--"and put him in his place, which is behind you, and so we'll +start all over as long as Aunt Trudy is willing. Shall we?" + +"Let's," said Sarah laconically, but she slipped a confiding small +hand in the doctor's larger one. He squeezed it affectionately. + +"Now I must be off," he said, glancing at his watch. "Where is +Rosemary? I thought I'd take her with me this morning--the ride will +do her good. Practising?" he repeated as Sarah called his attention +to the sound of finger exercises. "Let her practise this +afternoon--she needs to get away from a fixed schedule now and +then." + +Rosemary enjoyed this ride and the others that followed in quick +succession. Doctor Hugh, unknown to her, was realizing that every +one had been expecting too much of the oldest daughter of the +house, had looked to her, in fact, to grow up in one summer. + +"Poor little kid!" thought the doctor one morning, as he allowed +Rosemary to take the wheel of the car on a level stretch of clear +road and the color came into her face from the excitement and +delight. "Poor little kid, we've been expecting her to have the +patience and wisdom and experience Mother has. She's only twelve +years old and we ask her to act like a woman. She's bound to make +mistakes, but she won't make the same one twice--I'll bank on that. +Temper and will, rightly directed, make for strength, and Rosemary +will be as lovely within some day as she is to the eye--and my +sister is going to be a beauty, or I miss my guess." + +Aloud he said, "Watch the road, Rosemary. Never mind what is behind +you, watch the road ahead." + +Coming in at noon from one of these rides with Doctor Hugh, Rosemary +found a small box, wrapped in white tissue paper and tied with pink +string, at her plate. + +"It looks like a jeweler's box," she said jokingly as she opened it. +"Why it is!" she added in surprise. + +Sarah and Shirley crowded around her as she opened it. A little +gold "friendship" circle pin, set with a single turquoise, lay on a +bed of blue cotton. + +"How perfectly lovely!" cried Rosemary. "Is it mine?" + +"Of course it is," said Sarah. "Jack and Shirley and I went to Mr. +Evans and bought it for you. Do you like it?" + +"Why it's darling," the enthusiastic Rosemary assured her. "I never +saw a prettier pin. Look, Hugh, look Aunt Trudy," she said eagerly, +holding out the pin to them as they came in from the hall. + +"Why don't you ask where we got the money to buy it?" suggested +Sarah and at that Doctor Hugh shouted with laughter. + +"You'll be the death of me yet, Sarah," he protested. "Sit down, +people, do, and we'll begin luncheon while Sarah reveals her dark +secret." + +"'Tisn't a secret," announced Sarah with dignity. "Hugh said we +might take the ring-fund money, Rosemary, and buy you something nice +with it, and if we saw anything we thought you'd like, to tell him, +and he'd give us as much more money as we needed. Then Aunt Trudy +said she wanted to put some money with the ring-fund money, and so +did Winnie and so did Jack, so everybody did. Oh, yes, Hugh did, +too. And we saw this pin and Shirley and I thought it would be nice +because it had the turquoise in it like Aunt Trudy's ring, and Jack +said it was a 'friendship circle' and that meant we were all friends +of yours. So we bought it and it was seven dollars and a half," +concluded Sarah who was nothing if not thorough. + +"It's just beautiful," said Rosemary, with an April face of smiles +and tears. "I'll always keep it and love you all for thinking so +much of me." + +She had wondered several times about the ring money, but the doctor +had made no motion to give her back the bank. Neither had he +mentioned returning the money again. Rosemary supposed that he would +bring the subject up some time, but until he did she was content to +forget about it. She did not know till weeks afterward that it was +Jack Welles who had dissuaded the doctor from his plan to have the +"fund" returned to those who had paid it. + +"Rosemary earned the money fairly and squarely," he argued. "She +earned it by the hardest kind of work and it seems mean to make her +feel cheap. Those women were paying for service and they got it, +and they don't think any the less of Rosemary, either, if Aunt Trudy +does moan along about 'degrading' the family. You're forever +preaching that there is no disgrace in any kind of honest work, +Hugh--" + +"Oh, quit, I'm licked!" surrendered the doctor, laughing. "I won't +mention the money to Rosemary, Jack. Though when I think of that +child spending long, hot afternoons amusing cranky kids for +pay--Still, it's pluck like that that makes the backbone of our +country. What do you say if we take this money and buy her some +little personal gimcrack? Girls like things to wear, I've always +heard." + +So Jack gained his point and the pretty pin was the result. + +The days of vacation, "like the hairs of our heads" as Jack +observed, were numbered now and the week before school was to open, +Doctor Hugh made a flying trip to the sanatorium to see the little +mother. + +"You wouldn't know her, girls!" he told the three sisters, when he +returned. "Her cheeks are actually a bit pink and though she is +still awfully thin, her eyes are clear and bright. If three months +can do her that much good, a year will set her on her feet. She says +she lives on your letters, and you mustn't let a week go past +without writing. Rosemary must be a good censor, for Mother doesn't +seem to worry about the house at all; I told her we were pulling +together famously." + +"Well, we are," said Rosemary contentedly. "I wish you'd look at +Sarah, though, Hugh." + +"I am looking at her," said the doctor. "She seems to have torn her +dress." + +"That's the one decent dress she has," responded Rosemary severely, +"and now she hasn't a single thing to wear to school Monday." + +"What does Mother do when you need clothes?" asked Doctor Hugh +helplessly. "I suppose you'll all need dresses for school, won't +you?" + +"Mother has Miss Henry come and sew the first week in September," +said Rosemary, "but Aunt Trudy says the sanatorium is expensive and +she thinks we ought to try and cut down living expenses." + +"I think we can still afford some new frocks," replied her brother, +smiling. "Ask Aunt Trudy to engage Miss Henry, Rosemary, and to get +her whatever she needs to outfit you sensibly for school. You'll +have to remind me about shoes and hats and dresses, you know; an old +bachelor isn't expected to notice when these things wear shabby." + +Miss Henry came and sewed a week, making new dresses and contriving +and turning to make the best of several old ones. Monday morning, +when school opened, the three Willis girls started off brave in new +ginghams and Doctor Hugh assured them that he was proud of them. + +"I wish I was in high school," said Rosemary wistfully, as Jack +Welles joined them at the first corner. + +"Two more years, and you will be," he consoled her. "I'll be a +senior then, and I'll see that no one steps on you, Rosemary." + +"Oh, nobody will," said Rosemary confidently. + +And indeed she looked quite capable of taking care of herself. There +was little of dependency about Rosemary and her lovely soft eyes +were balanced by the firm white chin. "She is easily hurt, but her +pride helps her to hide that," Winnie was fond of saying, "and don't +be after forgetting that there's red in her hair, under the gold!" + +The Eastshore school was a splendid type of the modern school, +housing in one building the primary, grammar and high school +grades. Built on the extreme edge of the town, it faced an acre +play-ground, evenly divided among the three schools. Principals and +teachers were the best obtainable and indeed the State Board of +education was fond of using Eastshore school as a model for others +to follow. Mrs. Willis had often declared that she would never have +sent her son to boarding school had the public school then been as +excellent as that which Rosemary and her sisters attended. + +This morning Rosemary was to enter the seventh grade in the grammar +school, Sarah would be in the fourth primary and Shirley, having +"graduated" from the kindergarten the year before, would attain the +dignity of a seat in the first grade. Separating at the broad door, +they were swept into the different streams that carried them up +different stairways and into different classrooms and it was noon +before they saw each other again. Few of the pupils went home to +lunch and a large, light airy room on the third floor was set aside +for their use as a lunch room. A corner table was reserved for +teachers and here a small group usually gathered not only to eat and +exchange comment, but to keep an eye on the lunchers and subdue the +noise when it rose to a shout. The high school students had their +own lunch room, but the grammar and primary grades shared a room +together. + +"Well, what kind of people are in your room?" demanded Sarah, as she +and Shirley met Rosemary at the little corner table the latter had +secured and held for them. Rosemary had spread out the lunch Winnie +had put up for them, and Shirley was already beginning on a +sandwich. + +"Oh, I like the girl who sits in front of me ever so much," returned +Rosemary, cutting an apple into quarters for Shirley. "Her name is +Elsie Stevens and they haven't lived in Eastshore long. Last year +she went to the Port Reading school. Elsie Mears sits in back of me; +she wasn't promoted. And Nina Edmonds is across the aisle." + +"I don't think much of our teacher," announced Sarah, with +deplorable frankness. "She doesn't look very bright and she says she +is afraid of snakes." + +"Well so am I," declared Rosemary. "I don't think any one is very +bright who isn't." + +"That's because you don't know anything about snakes," said Sarah, +salting a boiled egg hurriedly. "Snakes are the best friends the +farmer has." + +"My teacher's name is Miss Farmer," chirped Shirley sunnily. "And +we have pink and red and blue crayons to draw on the blackboard +with." + +"Take another sandwich, darling," Rosemary urged her. "You're sure +you won't get tired this afternoon? You went home at noon every day +last year, you know." + +"Yes, but I'm six now," Shirley reminded her sister. "Will we have +home work in our room, Rosemary?" + +It was one of Shirley's ambitions to have "home work" to do, and she +longed to take a book home at night as Rosemary and Sarah did. + +"I don't know--I shouldn't think so," answered Rosemary absently. +"Sarah, Nina Edmonds wears her hair pinned up and no hair-ribbon." + +"Well she looks crazy anyway, so what difference does it make?" was +Sarah's comment on this news. "You can't go without a hair-ribbon, +Rosemary, because your hair will all be in your eyes. Hugh said Nina +was trying to be grown up and I guess she is." + +But that night Rosemary spent half an hour before her mirror, trying +to coax her bobbed curls into a knot like Nina Edmonds'. Rosemary's +hair was growing very fast and she had promised Doctor Hugh not to +have it cut again. Just now it was an awkward length, but its +curliness redeemed even that. Nina's straight blond locks were +strained into a tortuous knot at the nape of her neck, for she, too, +had decided not to bob her hair again. It was the absence of +hair-ribbon that particularly appealed to Rosemary, for she had +"spells" as Winnie called them, of wishing to appear grown up. At +other times she was satisfied to be what Doctor Hugh insisted she +should be content to be for several more years, "just a little +girl." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +TOO MUCH NATURAL HISTORY + + +When the girls of the Eastshore school reached the seventh grade, +they entered the cooking class. The white aprons and caps were much +coveted and whatever other study might be neglected, each girl +usually put her best into the weekly cooking lesson. There was a +small stove for each and every young cook was responsible for the +order and cleanliness in which her pots and pans and utensils were +kept. Woe betide her, if Miss Parsons, the teacher, found an +unwashed pan thrust under the sink in a moment of hurry. + +"She's very particular," reported Rosemary, the evening after her +first lesson in cooking. "She made Nina Edmonds take off her rings +and she scolded Elsie Mears because she put her hands up to her hair +just once, to tuck it back under her cap." + +"And right she is," announced Winnie from the dining-room where she +was setting the table for breakfast. "A cook has got no business +wearing rings, and I can't abide a girl who is always fussing with +her hair when she is handling food." + +"Winnie's a member of the sanitary squad," put in Doctor Hugh, +smiling behind his newspaper. It was one of the rare times when he +had an evening at home. + +"Nina Edmonds makes me sick!" said Sarah vehemently. "She screamed +when I showed her a darling little spotted snake I found to-day." + +Sarah and Shirley had brought out the box of dominoes and were +playing in the center of the floor. No amount of persuasion had ever +induced them to play on a table. + +"Don't talk about snakes, dearie," pleaded Aunt Trudy, shuddering +over her knitting. "They are such ugly, horrid squirmy things." + +"Oh, no they're not Aunt Trudy," said Sarah earnestly. "That's +because you're not used to them. Let me show you the one I've got in +my pocket--" + +To her aunt's horror, Sarah unbuttoned the pocket of her middy +blouse and pulled out a little dangling dark object. + +"Hugh!" shrieked Aunt Trudy, knocking over her chair as she rose +hastily. "Hugh make her stop! Ow! Rosemary, Winnie, take that awful +thing away, quick!" + +In spite of her sympathy for Aunt Trudy who was white to the lips +with fright, Rosemary wanted to laugh, as Sarah, not realizing that +her aunt was really in terror, and intent only on winning +understanding for her snake, continued to advance on the unhappy +lady, the spotted snake dangling from her hand. + +"Sarah!" Doctor Hugh managed to halt the march of his determined +small sister. "Sarah, take that snake away at once. At once, do you +hear me? Aunt Trudy is afraid of snakes." + +"Well, she wouldn't be, if she knew about 'em," insisted Sarah. "I +only want to show her." + +"You can't show her--lots of people are frightened by the sight of +snakes," replied the doctor. "Take your snake out of the room this +minute." + +Still Sarah lingered. + +"It's dead," she offered humbly. "A dead snake won't hurt Aunt Trudy +will it?" + +Doctor Hugh caught Rosemary's eye, and they went off into peals of +laughter while poor Aunt Trudy wept and Shirley implored Rosemary to +tell her what was "funny." + +"Take your snake away and bury it, Sarah," said the doctor, when he +could speak. + +"And don't try to educate your relatives and friends to recognize +the virtues of the reptile family; a person either likes snakes or +can't abide 'em, and you and Aunt Trudy will never agree on that +subject." + +"I think you ought to forbid her to ever touch one, or carry one +around with her," said Aunt Trudy when Sarah had gone out of the +room sorrowfully to borrow a match box from Winnie to serve as a +snake-coffin. "The idea of having a snake in one's pocket!" + +"You can't separate Sarah and animals," returned Sarah's brother +with conviction. "No use trying, Aunt Trudy. All this summer she was +crazy on the subject of rabbits and cats and now she seems to have +switched to snakes. About all we can do is to keep her within +reasonable bounds and trust to luck that before the winter is over +she will take up canary birds or something equally pleasing." + +Aunt Trudy did not know Sarah's teacher, Miss Ames, but if she had +they would have found a common bond of sympathy and interest in +their horror of snakes and other unpleasant forms of animal life to +which Sarah was devoted. Eleanor Ames was a nervous young woman and +she found it distinctly trying to be obliged to divide the +interests of her class with a shoe-box of baby mice, or to soothe +the ruffled feelings of timid little girls who had seen the bright +eyes and wriggling slim body of a live snake peeping out of Sarah +Willis' coat in the cloak room. Punishment seemed to have no effect +on the culprit who stayed after school and cleaned blackboards with +disconcerting cheerfulness and Miss Ames was considering the +advisability of sending Sarah home with a note asking the +co-operation of Doctor Hugh's authority, when something happened +that took the matter out of her hands. + +Late in October, one frosty morning on her way to school, Sarah made +what was to her a great and lucky discovery. Shirley and Rosemary +had gone on ahead of her, but Winnie had called her back to pick up +the clothes she had strewn about her room with her customary +careless abandon. Since the opening of school, Aunt Trudy had +patiently made beds and put the rooms in order and she would never +mention to her favorite Sarah a little matter like slippers in the +middle of the rug, bath-robe flung down on the bed and every +separate bureau drawer wide open and yawning. This morning Aunt +Trudy was going to the city to shop, and the task of bed-making +would devolve upon Winnie who had no intention of having her duty +complicated by others' neglect. A hasty glance into the room shared +by Sarah and Shirley, and Winnie had summoned the former, in no +uncertain voice, to "come up here and put your clothes away this +instant." Sarah, complaining that she would certainly be late for +school, had obeyed and if she had hurried could easily have reached +the school before the assembly bell rang. + +But crossing a vacant lot, Sarah came upon that which could make her +forget school and time. A faint rustle under the dead leaves caught +her quick ear and, stooping down, she uncovered a little snake, +languid from the cold. Perhaps he had been on his way to winter +quarters and the frost had caught him unaware. Anyway, he was numb +and Sarah, murmuring affectionate nothings to him, slipped him into +her pocket and then spent a valuable ten minutes poking about among +the leaves in the hopes of discovering another, believing implicitly +that snakes "always go in pairs." However, if the snake had a +companion, diligent search failed to uncover it and Sarah was forced +to take her reluctant way to school with only one snake to comfort +and love. While she was still some distance from the gate she heard +the bell ring, and as she reasoned, she was late then, so why should +she hurry when it would not save her a tardy mark? Morning exercises +were in progress in the auditorium when Sarah entered the building, +and she had her class room to herself. She hung up her hat and coat +and took another peep at the snake. He seemed to be feeling better, +but some fresh wave of sympathy led her to regret the necessity for +leaving him to spend a lonely morning in the cloak room. With Sarah +to think was to act, and she popped the snake into the pocket of her +middy blouse, pinning it with a safety pin in lieu of a button and +button hole. When the class returned from the auditorium, she was +sitting sedately in her seat and appeared only mildly interested in +the lecture on tardiness which followed. + +"We'll have the papers distributed on which you worked during the +last drawing lesson," announced Miss Ames unexpectedly. "The drawing +supervisor will be around next week and we are a lesson or two late, +here in our room. Instead of spelling this morning, I'll have you +paint the leaves you drew. George Wright, you distribute the papers +and Sarah Willis, you know where the paint boxes are." + +Sarah was monitor for the drawing materials and she went up and down +the aisles, giving each pupil a small paint box and two brushes, +while George Wright gave out the papers on which the pencil sketches +of autumn leaves had been drawn. + +The warmth of the pocket evidently revived the chilled snake and, as +Sarah was bending over the desk of Annabel Warde, a dainty little +girl about her own age, a lithe green body shot from out Sarah's +blouse, wriggled across the desk and dropped to the floor. The +safety pin had left too large a loop-hole. + +"A snake!" screamed Annabel, flinging her box of paints in one +direction and the brushes Sarah had just given her, in the other. "I +saw it! I saw it! Miss Ames, I saw a snake, and it's right here in +this room. It'll bite us, I know it will and we'll die! Catch it, +somebody, Oh, please hurry!" + +Jumping up and down and shrieking, Annabel was beside herself with +fright. Several other little girls began to scream, too, and the +boys rushed around the room shouting that they would catch it and +kill it, whatever "it" might be. None of them thought that Annabel +had really seen a snake. + +"Don't hurt it!" warned Sarah, down on her hands and knees and +hunting under the desks for her lost pet. "This kind of snake won't +bite any one, and you mustn't hurt it. I want to keep it all winter +and watch it grow." + +Miss Ames was trying to calm Annabel who persisted in sitting on top +of her desk with her feet curled under her, apparently under the +delusion that a snake always attacks the ankles first, when George +Wright whooped triumphantly. + +"I see it--gee, it really is a snake!" he shouted. "Look out, Peter, +let me shy this paper-weight at him--there, I'll bet that mashed him +into jelly!" + +There was a crash as the heavy paper-weight struck the floor and +then a small whirlwind landed on the astonished George. + +"How dare you try to kill my snake!" panted Sarah, crying with rage. +"He never did anything to you! You're a great, cruel, cowardly boy, +that's what you are!" + +She was pummeling George unmercifully and he retaliated with +interest, forgetting in the excitement and confusion that his +antagonist was a girl. But while snakes might temporarily cow Miss +Ames, a fight in her room was a situation she knew how to deal +with. + +"George! Sarah!" she descended upon the combatants and pulled them +apart with no gentle hand. "I'm ashamed of you! What can you be +thinking of! George, you must know better than to strike a girl, and +Sarah, what would your mother say if she knew you were fighting with +a boy? Why I never heard of such a thing--never!" and Miss Ames +looked as though she never had. + +Sarah darted over to the space behind the atlas table where George +had thrown the paper weight. She lifted the glass cube and picked up +the little mashed object under it. + +"He's killed it!" she sobbed. "He went and killed my little snake!" + +Miss Ames lost her patience which is not to be wondered at, +considering the trying half hour she had endured. + +"Sarah Willis you march down to the principal's office," she said +severely. "And throw that disgusting object in the trash can on your +way down. Don't you ever bring another snake, alive or dead, into +this room as long as I am the teacher. I want you to tell Mr. Oliver +exactly what has occurred here this morning and be sure you explain +to him that you fought George simply because he killed that wretched +reptile." + +Sarah's heart beat uncomfortably fast as she walked down the broad +stone steps to the first floor where the principal's office was. +Her class room was on the third floor. On the second floor she +stopped and wrapped the dead snake in her handkerchief--for a +wonder she had one--and when she reached the first floor she +studied the pictures hung in the corridor with minutest care. +For once in her short life Sarah was anxious to have time to +stand still. Usually exasperatingly indifferent to rebuke or +reproval, Miss Ames had hit upon the one punishment that Sarah +could be fairly said to dread--an interview with the principal. + +She approached the glass door marked "office" slowly. The door was +closed. All the stories she had ever heard of the boys who had been +"sent to the office," flashed through her mind. Few girls were ever +thus punished and it was a fourth grade tradition that a girl bad +enough to need an interview with the principal was always expelled. +Sarah wondered what her brother would say if she came home and said +she was expelled. Rosemary would feel the disgrace keenly--no one in +the Willis family had even been expelled from school, Sarah was +quite sure. + +Did you knock, or did you go right in? Was the principal always +there? Perhaps he might be away for the day--Sarah devoutly hoped he +would be. She shut her eyes tightly, took a firmer grip on the +handkerchief containing the dead snake, and knocked on the glass +panel. + +"Come in," called a pleasant voice, a woman's voice. + +Sarah opened the door and stepped in. She saw a large, sunny room +with a desk in the center, and a smaller desk over by the window +where a young woman was typing busily. + +"Mr. Oliver isn't in, is he?" said Sarah speaking at a gallop. A +swift glance had shown her that the young woman was the only person +in the room. + +"Just go right into the next office, and you'll find him," said Mr. +Oliver's secretary, smiling. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +MR. OLIVER AND SARAH + + +The door into the next office stood open. Sarah walked in, that is, +she stepped just inside the doorway and stood there as though glued +to the floor. The thin, gray-haired man who was stooping over the +flat-topped desk, looking at a card file, glanced up at her and +smiled. This was the principal, Mr. Oliver. + +"Good morning," he said. "Did you wish to see me?" + +"No-o," stammered Sarah, "I didn't. But Miss Ames sent me." + +Mr. Oliver sat down and pointed to a chair drawn up beside the desk. + +"Suppose you come and sit down and tell me all about it," he +suggested. + +His secretary in the next room stepped over and closed the +connecting door noiselessly as Sarah seated herself on the edge of +the chair and stared unhappily at the floor. + +"If you're in Miss Ames' room, you are a fourth grader," said Mr. +Oliver pleasantly. "What is your name?" + +"Sarah," the small girl whispered, "Sarah Willis." + +"Oh, yes--then you're a sister of Doctor Willis," said the +principal. "And I know Rosemary, too. Isn't there another sister--a +little light-haired girl in one of the grades?" + +"That's Shirley," answered Sarah, forgetting her errand for an +instant and looking Mr. Oliver in the face for the first time. +"She's in the first grade." + +"Well, Sarah, what have you to tell me?" said the principal quietly. +"Why did Miss Ames send you to me?" + +"I don't know where to begin," complained Sarah forlornly. + +"Don't be afraid--there is nothing to be afraid of," said Mr. +Oliver. "Just tell me everything that has happened and I promise to +listen to you and believe you." + +Sarah, as Doctor Hugh had discovered, was morally not very brave. +She was afraid of people and though the Willis will was as strong in +her as in any of the others, she would not come out openly and +demand her way. Rather Sarah would do as she pleased and shirk the +consequences wherever possible. The doctor had had several little +talks with her on this subject of fear and he was gradually teaching +her to acknowledge her mistakes and wrong doings and patiently +explaining at every opportunity the rules of fair play. + +"It is both cowardly and contemptible to let someone else be blamed +for what you have done," he said once to her. "I understand that you +are not really a coward, Sarah--you have to fight an extra enemy +called Fear. So when you do wrong and see a chance to escape blame +and punishment and refuse to wriggle out, you are really braver than +the girl who isn't afraid to say she did it. And every time you +conquer Fear, Sarah, you've made the next conquest easier. You'll +find that is so." + +So this morning, in the principal's office, Sarah remembered what +Doctor Hugh had said. She wanted dreadfully to retreat into one of +her obstinate, sulky silences, and refuse to answer questions. She +was afraid--afraid of a severe scolding and the disgrace of a public +expulsion. Her knees were wobbling, but she slipped to her feet and +stood facing Mr. Oliver bravely. + +"If you're going to expel me," she said clearly, "tell Hilda French +I wanted her to have my pencil box." + +And then the tears came. + +She cried and cried and as she wept she told the story and though +drawings of leaves and paint boxes and middy blouse pockets and +snakes and paper weights seemed to be hopelessly mixed in her +sobbing conversation, Mr. Oliver, in some miraculous fashion, pieced +together the disconnected bits and declared that he understood +perfectly. He loaned Sarah his extra clean handkerchief on which to +dry her eyes, her own handkerchief being obviously employed, for she +had laid the pathetic remains of the dead snake on his desk, and +when she was more quiet he told her kindly that there was no +question of expulsion. + +"I don't know where you ever got such an idea," he said, smiling a +little, and he looked so friendly and not at all angry, that Sarah +even managed a faint, watery smile in response. "Boys and girls are +never expelled from school except for very serious reasons. You've +made a little mistake, that's all and I'll show you where you were +wrong in just a minute. Sometimes we want our own way so much, we +can't see how we can be wrong." + +Sarah blushed a little, but nodded honestly. + +"Well, you see, as soon as you found out that Miss Ames didn't like +snakes in her class room, you should have stopped right there," said +Mr. Oliver decidedly. "You disobeyed Miss Ames and all this trouble +came from that. If she said her class room was no place for snakes +and mice--you brought mice one day, didn't you?--that should have +settled the question for you." + +"But how will the children ever learn about snakes?" asked Sarah +earnestly. + +"They'll learn, if they are interested," answered Mr. Oliver. "You +can't force anyone to adopt your likes and dislikes, you know, +Sarah. Rosemary may like to sew and you may say you 'hate' to touch +a needle, but do you make yourself into an ardent needlewoman, +simply because Rosemary enjoys sewing? Don't you see? I'm afraid +you'll have to give Miss Ames and me your promise that you will not +bring any more snakes, alive or dead, or any other animal to +school." + +Sarah promised slowly, her eyes on the dead snake. + +"He was such a lovely specimen," she mourned. "I s'pose maybe he was +valuable." + +"I tell you what to do, Sarah," said Mr. Oliver quickly. "You don't +know Mr. Martin, do you? He teaches biology in the high school and +I must take you up to his room some day and let you see the +'specimens' he has. He has a menagerie that fills one side of a +large room. Whenever you find something you can't resist, you bring +it here to me in the office and I'll turn it over to Mr. Martin. In +that way your class room won't be upset and Mr. Martin will likely +gain some valuable additions to his collection. Don't you think that +is a good plan?" + +Sarah said she thought it was, and then, as the noon bell rang +throughout the building, Mr. Oliver shook hands with her and told +her that if she ever needed advice or help to come directly to him. +He promised, too, to speak to Miss Ames and tell her that no more +snakes or other lively "specimens" would be brought into her room by +Sarah. He opened the door for her and she was free. + +She sped along the corridors, her snake in her hand again, but it +was a far happier Sarah than the little girl who had walked slowly +through them an hour and a half ago. Up to the lunch room dashed +this Sarah, and startled Rosemary who was opening the lunch box at +their corner table by her demand, "I have to bury a snake--will you +come help me?" + +Of course she had to tell what had happened that morning, and +Rosemary and Shirley agreed that Mr. Oliver was "just as nice as +nice could be." + +"Though I do hope, Sarah, this will teach you to let snakes alone," +said Rosemary in the elder-sister tone she rarely used. "You +frightened Aunt Trudy into fits and now you've upset a whole class. +No, don't show me that ugly little snake--I'm sorry he is dead +because you are, but I don't want to see him; I couldn't eat a bit +of lunch. Come on, and eat your sandwiches and then we will go down +and bury him somewhere on the play-ground." + +That night at dinner Rosemary had an announcement to make. Her eyes +shining like stars and her face glowing, she declared that she had +been appointed to plan and serve the dinner to be given by the +grammar school teachers for the Institute visitors. + +"Institute is the second week in November," bubbled Rosemary, "and +there will be about ten visiting teachers from the towns within +twenty-five miles. Miss Parsons says I'm the best cook in the class +though Bessie Kent is older than I am and Fannie Mears had cooking +last year." + +"But can you cook a dinner?" asked Doctor Hugh. "Seems to me that's +a pretty large order for a class of young girls and with visitors +expected, too." + +"Oh, we know just what to do," said Rosemary confidently. "I have to +make out the menu and submit it to Miss Parsons by Friday of this +week. And then I have to choose the girls I want to help me cook, +and those to set and wait on the tables--this year we're going to +have small tables instead of one large one. And we girls are to do +every bit of the work ourselves!" + +Aunt Trudy and Winnie beamed on Rosemary, sure that she would do +well whatever she undertook, while Sarah demanded to know who the +waitresses were to be. + +"Well, Nina Edmonds for one," said Rosemary and the doctor frowned +involuntarily. Although Nina seldom came to the house and he knew +that Rosemary saw little of her outside of school, he could not help +but see that her influence continued to be remarkably strong. + +"Nina's an awful chump," declared Sarah who cordially disliked her +and was in turn, disliked by Nina. + +"She is not!" flared Rosemary. "And, Aunt Trudy she has the +loveliest blue velvet dress. She says she can wear it under her +apron and then, after dinner when we take our aprons off, she will +look all right. Couldn't I wear my new brown velvet that night?" + +"Why I don't know," replied Aunt Trudy uncertainly. "I don't think +it would be very suitable, dear. What do you think, Hugh?" + +"Don't know anything about clothes," he said shortly. + +"You only want to wear it because Nina Edmonds is going to wear a +velvet dress," commented Sarah shrewdly. + +"It will be awfully hot," said Shirley with unexpected wisdom. + +"Well, I'm going to wear it, if Aunt Trudy doesn't say not to," +announced Rosemary, her chin in the air. "Though I'd give anything +if I had some high heeled pumps to make me look taller. Honestly, +Hugh, I'm about the only girl in our class who doesn't wear 'em." + +He smiled at her pleasantly, but there was no yielding in his voice. + +"When you're sixteen, if you still want them, I'll have nothing to +say," he said. "Mother has said you are not to wear them until then, +you know, and if I had my way no woman, sixteen or sixty, should +teeter about in silly anguish. I can't help it if the girls are +skipping five years, Rosemary; as I've often reminded you, the +calendar says you are still a little girl." + +Rosemary pouted a little, but she did not dare argue, the subject of +high heeled shoes having been long one of her secret sorrows. She +knew from experience that her brother would never consent to the +purchase of a pair and though she mentioned them from time to time, +it was without hope of converting him to her opinion. + +She was in her room that night, collecting her cooking notes and +recipes, in preparation for making out the important menu, when +Winnie peeped in. The brown velvet dress lay on Rosemary's bed where +she had spread it, the better to admire its charms. It was a new +frock and so far she had worn it only twice. Simply made, with a +square neck and a touch of ivory colored lace in the form of a +vestee and at the bottom of the sleeves, it was the most becoming +dress Rosemary had ever had. She knew it, too. + +"There's just one thing I want to say to you, Rosemary," announced +Winnie earnestly, "and that's this: you have got to make up your +mind which is the more important--this dinner or your dress. Because +cooking a good dinner takes all the brains a cook has--I ought to +know. You can't be thinking about whether you're going to get a +spot on your frock or whether the last hook is caught or left open. +And if you're too warm, as you will be in a velvet dress in that hot +kitchen and you all excited anyway, or if your feet hurt you, you're +not going to be able to give your attention to what you are cooking. +And I may not know much about teachers, but I imagine they're like +anybody else--when they're hungry, a brown velvet dress won't make +up to them for soggy potatoes and underdone meat. Miss Parsons is +banking on you--likely as not she's told the teachers you're the +best cook in the class, and if you serve up a poor dinner, do you +suppose looking at your velvet dress is going to make her glad she +trusted you? Of course you can suit yourself, and I'm not trying to +influence you, because you're old enough to--" + +Rosemary rushed at her and hugged her warmly. + +"You're a dear, darling Winnie!" she cried affectionately. "I'll +stop thinking about what I'm going to wear this minute, and go to +work on what I'm going to cook. Miss Parsons hates fussy clothes, +anyway, and I'll wear my white linen under my apron and be +comfortable. Hugh thinks I'm silly to wear the velvet, I know he +does." + +"The velvet will keep," said Winnie tersely, "and I'll do up your +white linen for you so that it will look like new." + +But, left alone, Rosemary could not resist trying on the brown +frock. She pinned her hair high, pushing it into a tower-effect with +the aid of combs, and added a long string of red beads that almost +touched the floor. + +"I look so nice this way," she told the reflection in the glass, +naively. "Why isn't it ever sensible to wear your best clothes when +you expect to be busy?" + +And that is a question older folk than Rosemary have asked, but, +unlike her, they have learned the answer. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE INSTITUTE DINNER + + +Rosemary early encountered the usual difficulties that beset the +leader of any enterprise. The girls she selected to act as cooks +wept because they were not appointed waitresses and those tolled off +to serve at the tables were affronted because they had not been +elected to cook. + +"You're the general, Rosemary," said Miss Parsons, when rumors of +dissatisfaction reached her. "Give your orders and see that they are +obeyed. You are in absolute charge of this dinner and no one is to +be allowed to dictate to you." + +The Willis will and the Willis chin were good possessions to have in +this crisis and gradually Rosemary managed to achieve something +approaching harmony among her staff. Only Fannie Mears resolutely +refused to be won over. + +"I'm just as good a cook as you are," she said to Rosemary one +afternoon, "and anyway, if I'm not, cooking isn't the most important +thing in school." (Fannie, you see, wasn't exactly logical.) "I'll +serve as a waitress," she went on "because I have a good deal of +class feeling and I don't want the other grades to say we made a +failure of our dinner. But I want you to know that I don't like it +one single bit and I think you are anything but fair." + +Despite such small troubles, Rosemary enjoyed her responsibility and +as she was free from nervousness and had faith in her skill and +ability, the prospective dinner, under her planning, took shape +nicely and gave every evidence of being a success. Nina Edmonds was +in charge of the tables and waitresses and as she really knew how to +lay the service correctly and had clever ideas for decorating, +Rosemary was sure the dining room would present an attractive +appearance. + +She went home early the day the dinner was to be given, to dress, +and found everything carefully arranged on her bed by Winnie who had +devoted half a day to the laundering of the white frock and cleaning +the white shoes. There was no school Institute Day, but Rosemary, of +course, had been busy all day, preparing for the dinner to follow +the close of the meetings. + +"You look like my girl," said Doctor Hugh, kissing her when she came +down to the hall and found him waiting. "I thought I'd run you over +to the school--you don't want to get tired out before the evening +has begun, you know. And what time do you think the fireworks will +be over? Do you have to stay after dinner is safely eaten?" + +"No, Miss Parsons has three women who are coming in to clear up for +us," answered Rosemary. "Usually we have to wash our own dishes, +that is, after every cooking lesson; but Miss Parsons said as soon +as the dining room was cleared, we might go, unless we want to +attend the reception in the gym. Jack said he might come and if he +does he'll bring me home." + +"There'll be no if about it," announced the doctor decidedly. "I'll +drop in around half-past nine and bring you home in the car. If I'm +a bit later, you wait for me in the gym and then I'll know where to +find you." + +Aunt Trudy and Winnie and Shirley and Sarah crowded to the door to +watch Rosemary off, in the dear way of loving families who would +send those they love off on always successful expeditions, and as +the doctor helped her into the roadster, Jack Welles came up, still +in football togs, for he had been practising. + +"To-night's the big night, isn't it?" he asked, smiling. "You're +going to stay for the reception, aren't you, Rosemary? And we can +walk home together." + +"Hugh's coming for me in the car," said Rosemary. "I wasn't sure you +were going, Jack." + +"Well I told you I was," retorted Jack. "I thought, living next door +to you, I could save Hugh an extra trip." + +"You come home with us, and we'll save you a walk," suggested the +doctor, touching the starter, and Jack shouted after them that he +would. + +"What made you say that?" demanded Rosemary, flushing with vexation. + +"Why not?" countered her brother. "Jack's a good friend, Rosemary, +isn't he?" + +"Of course he is," said Rosemary warmly, "But, oh, well, you +wouldn't understand, because you're not a girl. He did say he was +going to the reception, but I would much rather ride home with you; +and now he'll know I know he said he was going, and if you hadn't +asked him he might think I wasn't sure he had said so." + +"You may know what you are talking about, but I don't," declared her +bewildered brother. "However, as you wisely observe, I am not a girl +and perhaps that accounts for my dullness. Here we are at the +school, and whatever you do, Rosemary, don't fail to give them +enough. Anything but a sliver of chicken and a cube of potato for a +hungry man, remember." + +Rosemary laughed, and ran up the path to the lighted door. The +corridors were deserted, though the sound of music came from the +auditorium, where the teachers were meeting. Upstairs the kitchen +and the lunch room, which was to serve as dining room, were ablaze +with light and girls in white caps and aprons were rushing about, +giggling excitedly and getting in each other's way. + +"Oh, Rosemary!" Nina Edmonds pounced upon her at once. "Come and see +if the tables don't look pretty. Did you wear your brown velvet?" +she added in a lower tone. + +Rosemary shook her head. + +"White linen," she stated briefly. "I can't bother about clothes +to-night, Nina. I want to put the soup on to re-heat right away." + +Nina insisted that she must see the tables first and they did look +pretty, with a vase of yellow "button" chrysanthemums in the center +of each and yellow ribbons running from the bouquet to the place +cards. + +"Rosemary," Miss Parsons beckoned to her, "I just tasted the soup +and it is delicious, but I think a grain more of salt will improve +it. Just a dash, dear, and if you're afraid of getting too much in, +don't touch it. Everything going all right?" + +"All right," nodded Rosemary, forbearing to mention that Fannie +Mears refused to speak to her and was evidently cherishing a +smoldering resentment that might burst into flame at an awkward +moment. Two of the girls were limping about in high heeled shoes and +these must be shielded from the critical eye and caustic tongue of +the cooking teacher, lest they become temperamental and refuse to +"wait" at all. Assuredly Rosemary had her hands full. + +She went into the kitchen, tasted the soup and salted it carefully. +It was rich and smooth and Rosemary felt that when the time came to +ladle it into the cups she would have every right to be proud of her +ability, for she alone had made the soup, the other girls fearing +the mysterious "curdling" that sometimes spoiled their product. + +Just before serving time, Miss Parsons called her for a whispered +consultation as to the seating of a special guest and when Rosemary +returned to the kitchen, she found the trays of soup cups ready on +the table. While she and two other girls filled them, the teachers +were coming into the dining room and finding their places by means +of the prettily lettered cards. By the time all were seated, seven +young waitresses were filing into the room, bearing in their hands +the trays of steaming soup. + +They made a pretty picture and the guests smiled graciously as the +cups of thick cream soup, each with four delicately browned croutons +swimming on the top, were placed before them. The girls returned to +the kitchen as soon as all were served, for Miss Parsons had +instructed Rosemary to have them help her with the dishes for the +next course instead of waiting around the room for the guests to +finish. + +Rosemary had decided to have a simple, hearty dinner, since the +weather was cold and many of the teachers would have a long ride to +reach their homes that night. So individual chicken pies, baked +potatoes and a corn pudding were to follow the soup, the young cook +having wisely determined to omit any extra frills that would add to +the difficulties of serving. + +"Nobody's touched the soup!" reported Nina Edmonds, who was the +first to return with her tray, when the buzzer under Miss Parson's +chair sounded the signal in the kitchen that it was time to remove +the first course. + +"Nobody touched it!" echoed Rosemary in alarm. "Let me see!" + +She hurried around the table to inspect Nina's tray. Sure enough, +six little cups, still filled with soup, were there. + +"Say, something's the matter with the soup," said Bessie Kent in a +shrill whisper as she came in with her tray. "They didn't eat +it--see, all the cups are full." + +"Did Miss Parsons say anything?" asked Rosemary, staring at the +trays which now surrounded her. "How does she look?" + +"Kind of queer," answered Fannie Mears, breaking her silence. "She +must feel funny, with all those folks sitting and looking at their +soup and not eating it." + +"You hush up!" said Bessie Kent rudely. "There's the buzzer. Come +on, girls, we'd better hustle." + +In a daze Rosemary saw to it that the trays were filled again, but +she took no pride in the beautifully browned pies, the fragrant corn +pudding or the glistening potatoes wrapped in snowy napkins. Her +dinner, she was sure, was ruined. She wanted to run home and cry +where no one would see her, but instead she saw to it that each girl +had what she needed on her tray. Then, when her two assistants were +arranging the forks and plates for the salads, Rosemary slipped over +to the table where she had put the soup kettle and tasted the +contents. + +Salt! The soup was so thick with salt that she choked. Rich and +thick and smooth, what did it matter the texture or flavor, since +only one overpowering taste was present--that of salt. + +"How could it get like that!" puzzled Rosemary as she drank a glass +of water. "I tasted it just before we served it and it was fine. +What on earth must Miss Parsons be thinking of me!" + +Empty plates were carried back to the kitchen next time, and word +reached the young cooks that the pies were "wonderful" or "simply +great"--this last the expressed opinion of Mr. Oliver--and the fruit +salad met with an equally hearty reception. But not even the evident +enthusiastic approval which greeted the delicious ice-cream and cake +and perfect coffee which concluded the dinner, could compensate +Rosemary for her earlier mortification. When the meal was over and +the guests had gone down to the gymnasium for the reception and the +other girls had shed their aprons and followed, Nina too eager to +display the blue velvet frock to wait for Rosemary who insisted +there were several things she had to attend to, then she felt she +might cry a little for the first time in that long evening. + +"Rosemary, my dear child, what is the matter?" Miss Parsons bustled +in, followed by the three elderly women who were to wash the dishes. +"Are you tired out? Was the dinner too much work?" + +"The soup!" choked Rosemary. "Nobody could eat it. And I took such +pains with it." + +"Well, I was sorry afterward that I told you to salt it again," said +Miss Parsons regretfully. "I suppose you were nervous and added too +much. But don't let that grieve you dear. The rest of the dinner was +perfectly delicious and you should hear what people are saying about +you. I want you to come down to the gymnasium now and meet some of +the teachers." + +"Miss Parsons, I didn't over-salt the soup," protested Rosemary +earnestly. "I tasted it before and added just a dash as you told me; +and then I tasted it again, and it was all right. I _know_ I didn't +put in too much salt." + +"Oh, nonsense, Rosemary, you were excited, that's all," said Miss +Parsons briskly. "Any one is likely to make a mistake when she has a +good deal on her mind. Don't give it another thought, and if you +do, just remember it is a warning against the next time. I like to +think that every mistake we make keeps us from running into danger +some other time when the results might be more serious." + +Rosemary followed her teacher down to the gymnasium, but she only +half heard the introductions that followed and the kind comments on +her skill in cooking. She was wondering how she could convince Miss +Parsons that she had never put all that salt into her soup. + +"Why it tasted as though a whole box of salt had just been thrown +into it," said Rosemary to herself, standing near a window to watch +for Doctor Hugh and the car. "I don't care how much any one has on +her mind, no one puts a whole box of salt into a soup kettle!" + +And the voices of a group of girls, going home early, floated up to +her. + +"She says she didn't do it," said one of them, and Rosemary could +not identify the speaker though the tone sounded familiar. "But if +it had been good I'll bet she would have taken all the credit. They +say it was fairly briny, it was so salty!" + +Rosemary flushed scarlet. It wasn't fair! + +"For I didn't, I didn't, I know I didn't!" she declared, sitting +between Doctor Hugh and Jack that night as they sped home in the +car. "I'm just as sure as I can be that I didn't make a mistake--why +I tasted it afterward and it was delicious." + +"Well, if you didn't over-salt it, who did?" asked Jack practically. + +"I don't know," admitted Rosemary. "I could cry when I think of it." + +"I wouldn't do that," said her brother, turning in at their +driveway. "How about making us a chicken pie for Sunday dinner, +Rosemary, and asking Jack over to sample it?" + +"I'll make it," agreed Rosemary, "but just the same I want to know +who salted my soup." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +SHIRLEY IN MISCHIEF + + +The chicken pie was a wonderful success, so Doctor Hugh and Jack +assured Rosemary at the Sunday dinner, but the mystery of the +over-salted soup seemed destined to remain unsolved. Miss Parsons +never mentioned it again and Rosemary herself might have forgotten +it more readily except for several ill-natured references by Fannie +Mears whenever the Institute dinner was spoken of. Fannie and +Rosemary did not get along very well together and this was, in one +way, odd, because Fannie and Nina Edmonds were apparently most +congenial. They usually ate their lunches together, but Rosemary +chose to be with Sarah and Shirley and their corner table was +usually crowded with younger girls who adored Rosemary openly. + +The brief Thanksgiving holidays--with no school from Thursday to +Monday--brought the Willis family a more sincere appreciation of +their blessings than ever before. A short note from the little +mother lay beside each plate on Thanksgiving Day morning, and Winnie +kept one hand on hers tucked in her apron pocket even when she +served the golden brown waffles. When Aunt Trudy asked who would go +to church with her, Doctor Hugh answered for them all. + +"We'll please Mother," he said simply, and after the service he +packed the three girls into the little roadster and carried them off +for a long cold ride that gave them famous appetites for Winnie's +dinner. + +Doctor Hugh's practice was growing to include a wide radius of +countryside and the "young doctor" was gaining a name as one never +"too busy" to answer a country call. Doctor Jordan had prolonged his +vacation till late in October and then had returned to Eastshore +just long enough to sell his practice, office and instruments to his +young colleague and set off on a leisurely trip to California, a +luxury well earned after years of sacrificing service. Doctor Hugh +still retained the Jordan office, while seeing an increasing number +of patients at his home within fixed hours. + +His office had a great attraction for Shirley, and Rosemary had +discovered her one afternoon standing on a chair and calmly smelling +the rows of bottles that stood on the cabinet shelf, one after the +other. The shining instruments, in their glass racks, had a +fascination all their own for the small girl and she declared that +she intended to be a doctor when she grew up. + +"All right, and I'll take you into practice with me," Doctor Hugh +promised, having surprised her in a hurried investigation of his +medicine case. "But leave all these things alone, until you are +ready to study medicine. Don't come in the office when I'm not here, +Shirley; you'll hurt yourself some day, if you are not careful." + +But Shirley was possessed with the idea that she would like to be a +doctor. She begged and carefully treasured all the empty bottles and +pill boxes she could gather; she demanded a knife for "operations" +and was highly indignant when Winnie gave her a pair of blunt +scissors and told her they would have to do; usually tender-hearted, +she drew the wrath of Sarah by declaring that she would like to cut +off a rabbit's leg, "just like a doctor." + +"I think you're a cruel, cold-blooded girl!" stormed Sarah. "Cut off +a rabbit's foot indeed! Why don't you cut off your own foot and see +how it feels?" + +"Oh, Shirley just says that," Rosemary tried to soothe her outraged +sister. "She wouldn't hurt a rabbit any more than you would, Sarah. +You know that. But you've gone without dessert twice for meddling +with Hugh's things, Shirley, and you did promise to remember after +the last time, you know." + +Shirley, deprived of pudding and charlotte, was grieved and +penitent, but her memory was resilient and the day after +Thanksgiving temptation assailed her again. Winnie had gone to carry +a pie to an old neighbor several blocks away, Sarah was out playing +with a school chum and Rosemary and Aunt Trudy were deep in the +discussion of new curtains for the former's room. Shirley was left +to amuse herself and her small feet carried her to the empty office. + +"Jennie needs an operation," whispered Shirley, her dancing eyes +roving toward the desk. + +As luck would have it, a curved scalpel lay there in plain view. +Ordinarily it would have been locked up safely, but Doctor Hugh, +hurriedly selecting his choice of instruments that morning, had not +bothered to replace it in the rack. Shirley went over to the desk, +picked up the shining silver thing and carefully put it down. + +"I'll go get Jennie," she said to herself. "She's very, very bad +this morning, and I ought to 'tend to her right away." + +Upstairs she trotted, past Aunt Trudy's room and on to her room and +Sarah's where she rescued Jennie from under the bed. + +"What are you doing, honey?" called Rosemary, as Shirley passed the +door again on her way down stairs. + +"Playing with Jennie," was the wholly satisfactory answer. + +"I think she plays better by herself than with Sarah," announced +Aunt Trudy. "Sarah is so apt to lead her into mischief. Would you +rather have a hem-stitched hem or ruffles, Rosemary?" + +Back in the office, Shirley wasted no time in planning what to do. +She knew exactly how to proceed. Jennie was placed on the desk and +Shirley climbed into the swivel chair and grasped the scalpel. The +"operation" was to be performed on Jennie's arm, she, as a celluloid +doll, possessing an odd ridge in her anatomy that had always puzzled +Shirley. What made the ridge and what the inside of Jennie looked +like, were two questions that young doctor was determined to have +settled. + +Jennie proved unexpectedly difficult to cut. Shirley stuck out her +tongue in her anxiety and breathed hard as she tried to drive the +scalpel in. It slipped suddenly, the chair tilted and the curved +shining blade cut a cruel gash in the little hand holding it so +tightly. + +Pain, fright and a guilty conscience were blended in Shirley's +scream. Rosemary came rushing down, followed by Aunt Trudy who added +her cries to the child's when she saw her doubled up on the floor, +rocking back and forth and calling for Rosemary. + +"Are you hurt, darling? What's the matter? Tell Auntie," begged Aunt +Trudy bending over the little girl. + +"I cut my hand!" Shirley straightened up and Aunt Trudy caught a +glimpse of the bleeding hand and the front of the child's blouse all +stained where she had held it. + +The sight of blood always unnerved Aunt Trudy. She shrieked now and +covered her eyes with her hands. + +"I can't look at it--I'll faint, I know I shall!" she cried. +"Shirley will bleed to death, Rosemary. She has an awful cut. What +shall we do! What shall we do!" + +The terrified Shirley began to scream more loudly and Aunt Trudy +walked up and down the floor moaning that it was awful! + +"I'll get Hugh!" Rosemary flew to the desk 'phone. + +She had heard him say where he meant to make a call and she hoped +desperately that he might be at that house or that she might be able +to leave a message for him if he had not yet arrived. But the doctor +had "come and gone" Mrs. Jackson said. He was going to stop at the +Winters, he said. Yes, they had a telephone. + +Three more numbers Rosemary called, before she gained a ray of +comfort. At the fourth farmhouse the farmer's wife said that the +doctor was expected back in twenty minutes with a new brace he had +wanted them to try for their son's foot. He had offered to bring it +to them from the post-office because her husband was sick himself +with a cold-- + +Rosemary managed to check the good woman's flow of conversation and +to ask her to tell Doctor Hugh that he was wanted at home, when he +came. Shirley, tell him, had cut her hand. + +Shirley's cries, subdued while Rosemary talked over the 'phone, +burst out again as the receiver clicked in place. + +"Oh, dearest, hush!" implored Rosemary. "It doesn't hurt you so +very much, does it? Can't you be quiet till Hugh comes and makes you +all well?" + +"It bleeds and bleeds," screamed Shirley, and Aunt Trudy groaned +that the child would bleed to death before their eyes. + +"I'll wash it and bind it up myself," declared Rosemary, distracted +by the noise and confusion. "I don't know anything about such +things, but I think I can make it stop bleeding." + +"I can't help you," said Aunt Trudy hastily. "I faint the minute I +see blood. My knees are weak now. Don't ask me to hold her, will +you, Rosemary?" + +"I won't," promised Rosemary, biting her lower lip to keep it from +trembling. "I can take care of her, I know I can. Hugh keeps +bandages in this lower drawer and Winnie always has hot water in the +tea-kettle." + +Aunt Trudy frankly ran from the room when Rosemary returned from the +kitchen with a basin of warm water and arranged a package of gauze +and the scissors on the glass topped table between the windows. + +"I can't stay--I simply can not stay," she stammered and ran +upstairs to lie on her bed with her fingers in her ears. + +Her going was rather a relief to Rosemary who was sure she would be +less nervous and shaky herself with her aunt out of the room. But +before she had finished with Shirley she was ready to admit that the +mere presence of a third person would have been some comfort, +however cold. + +For Shirley shrieked protestingly when Rosemary approached her to +carry her over to the table. She fought off all attempts to look at +her hand. And when Rosemary forced her to yield and gently plunged +the poor little hand into the basin of water which was promptly +stained deep scarlet, Shirley, sure she was bleeding to death, +pulled away and ran for the door. + +"Oh, darling, don't act this way," begged Rosemary, catching her and +holding her close. "Be a brave little girl and let sister wrap the +hand for you; it isn't such a bad cut, dear, and after we have +washed off the blood, there'll be nothing to be afraid of." + +But Shirley continued to sob and squirm all the while Rosemary cut +and wound the gauze about her hand. As nearly as the inexperienced +Rosemary could tell, the cut was not serious though it was ugly to +see. Just as she fastened the tiny safety pin in place and was ready +to pronounce her bandaging done, the familiar two honks of the car +sounded outside. + +"Oh, Hugh, I never was so glad to see you in my life!" exclaimed +Rosemary, as the doctor appeared in the doorway. "Shirley cut her +hand and she screamed and screamed and Aunt Trudy cried and it was +awful." + +"Must have been," said Doctor Hugh briefly. "Let's see the cut." + +Shirley, exhausted from crying and struggling, made a feeble attempt +to put her hand behind her, but the doctor held her firmly between +his knees and inspected the bandage. + +"Pretty neat job," he said approvingly. + +Shirley began to cry again as he unwound the gauze and when he asked +Rosemary to hand him a certain bottle and pour some of its contents +on the cut, the little girl's shrieks of pain were heart-rending. +Rosemary watched in amazement as her brother calmly dressed the cut +with fresh gauze and then, when he had finished, gathered Shirley up +in his arms to soothe her gently. + +"She'll go to sleep in a minute," he said quietly. "She's worn out +with crying. How did it happen?" + +Shirley heard him and half raised herself in his arms. + +"I was going to operate on Jennie," she sobbed. "And the nasty knife +cut me. But I won't ever touch anything again, Hugh. Honest, I +won't." + +In a few minutes she was sound asleep, and the doctor placed her on +the couch in one corner of the room and covered her with a light +blanket. + +"Had a tough time, didn't you, Rosemary?" he said understandingly, +glancing from the basin on the table to Rosemary's tired face. +"Nobody home to help you and Aunt Trudy screaming louder than +Shirley I'll bet. I remember Aunt Trudy in hysterics when I came +home from school with a black eye one day." + +"Well, I felt like screaming, too," admitted Rosemary, "the blood +did make me a little sick. But then there would have been no one to +look after Shirley. I did the best I could, but I'm a poor nurse, +Hugh." + +"You never lose your head and that's the first rule for a good +nurse," said her brother. "Many a girl would never have thought of +trying to follow me up on the 'phone. And that was a mighty neat +bandage you did, child. You ought to learn first-aid, Rosemary. +Every girl should know what to do in an emergency or accident. I'll +teach you, if you like." + +Rosemary was wise enough to accept his offer and her first-aid +lessons began that week, for Doctor Hugh did not believe in +postponement. He was determined, though he did not say to his +sister, to "make hysterics difficult" under any circumstances and +especially in a household emergency. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +BUCKING THE STUDENT COUNCIL + + +Early December brought cold weather in its train and unusually heavy +snows. Householders were kept busy shoveling walks clean and the +boys and girls reveled in plenty of coasting. Sarah was invariably +late for supper these days and no amount of scolding from Winnie, or +pleading from Aunt Trudy, could induce her to desert the hill as +long as a single coaster remained to keep her company. Finally +Doctor Hugh devised a plan of going around that way before he came +home and, if Sarah were there, picking her and the sled up bodily +and bestowing them in the car. + +"I'll bet I know something you don't," said Fannie Mears one noon, +coming over with Nina Edmonds to sit at the corner table with +Rosemary in bland indifference to scowls from Sarah and sighs from +Shirley. + +Fannie Mears and Rosemary were not close friends at all, and the +latter was surprised at the overture. But she hospitably swept part +of the lunch aside to make room for the visitors and offered them a +couple of Winnie's delicious egg sandwiches. + +"Thanks, we have enough," said Fannie. "Have you heard what the boys +are going to do?" + +"Boys" with Fannie, meant the high school lads as Rosemary +immediately understood. The boys in the seventh grade failed to +interest either Fannie or Nina. + +"No, what?" answered Sarah bluntly, in blissful ignorance that she +was not supposed to be included in the conversation. + +"The Common Council has asked 'em to clean off the streets," +announced Fannie, addressing herself to Rosemary, "and Jack Welles +is going to make himself awfully unpopular, if he isn't careful." + +"Clean off the streets?" repeated Rosemary. "Why what do you mean?" + +"There's been so many storms, they haven't been able to keep some of +the streets clear of snow," explained Nina, biting into a cup cake, +for Nina lunched almost exclusively on cake. "They've had gangs of +men working, but before they get one snow carted away, another +falls. And now the Common Council has decided to ask the high +school boys to work after school. My father is a Councilman, and he +told us all about the last meeting. They'll pay the boys and it will +be a regular lark." + +"Yes, if Jack Welles doesn't go and spoil everything," said Fannie +darkly. + +"How can he spoil everything?" Rosemary demanded. + +She had not seen Jack so often once the school year was well under +way. Football practice had absorbed him during the early fall and +later came basketball. Other school and class activities, too, +claimed his attention, for Jack was popular and a good student as +well. He was president of his class, the Sophomores, and had that +year been appointed Student Advisor to the grammar school boys. + +"How can Jack spoil things?" repeated Rosemary. + +Fannie leaned across the table--she dearly loved to be important and +now she had something to tell. + +"It's like this," she began. "My brother told me. The Student +Council had a letter from the Eastshore Common Council, saying they +wanted volunteer snow workers among the high school boys. And the S. +C. called the presidents of the four classes together and told them +to go ahead and get the workers, twelve from each class." + +Fannie stopped and looked at Rosemary expectantly. Sarah's mouth was +wide open and she was listening eagerly. Shirley had wandered away +to play. + +"Well?" said Rosemary sharply. + +"Well," echoed Fannie disagreeably. "The boys made out their lists +and when Jack read his he had asked the two Gordon boys, Jerry and +Fred, and Eustice Gray and Norman Cox and Ben Kelsey. And Will says +the president of the Student Council was simply furious." + +Rosemary began to fold up the napkins and put them back in the box. +Will Mears was Fannie's brother and the other boys she knew only by +sight. + +"Why was Frank Fenton furious?" asked Sarah, delighting in the sound +of the three F's, though quite unconscious she had used them. + +"Oh, do be still!" Fannie tried to squelch the younger girl. "Frank +was mad, of course, because the S. C. counted on having all the snow +money for the dramatic fund. They want to put on a play this spring +and Will says they haven't a cent in the treasury. And now Jack +Welles goes and spoils a perfectly splendid chance to earn a lot of +money." + +"That's the third or fourth time you've said that about Jack," cried +Rosemary, stung into speech at last. "What has he done to spoil +anything? I don't see." + +"Why I should think you would," said Fannie, while Nina nodded +sagely. "The Gordon boys and Eustice and Norman and Ben are as poor +as can be; they want the money for themselves, and Will says they +jumped at the chance to earn it. Don't you see, it will keep that +much out of the dramatic fund, and Jack could just as well have +appointed boys who could have been glad to turn over the money to +the school. Will calls it a disgusting lack of class spirit." + +Rosemary's blue eyes snapped and fire burned in her cheeks. + +"There's nothing the matter with Jack Welles' class spirit, Fannie +Mears!" she cried. "I should think you would be ashamed to repeat +anything like that, I don't care who said it." + +"Well I'm not the only one who said it, or Will, either," declared +Fannie, rising as the warning bell sounded. "The president of the +Student Council told him what he thought of him, all right." + +Inwardly seething, Rosemary managed to get away to her class room +without further argument. She had never liked Fannie Mears, she told +herself and now she almost hated her. As for Will Mears, president +of the High School Juniors, well he wasn't a bit better. What a +disagreeable family the Mears must be! + +It was cooking class day, and Rosemary stayed almost an hour after +school that night, "puttering" as Miss Parsons called it, about the +school kitchen. Sarah and Shirley went home without her, and she was +walking briskly along alone, tramping hardily through the snow late +that afternoon, when Jack Welles overtook her. + +"How's the soup?" he asked cheerfully, that being a stock question +of his ever since the fateful Institute dinner. + +"How's the Student Council?" asked Rosemary. + +Jack's open face changed. + +"What do you know about the Student Council?" he said gruffly. + +"Oh, I heard--something," replied Rosemary. "Was Frank Fenton +unfair, Jack?" + +"Well, he doesn't think so," said Jack, "I suppose you girls have +been gossiping and you might as well get the story straight," he +added. + +Rosemary nodded eagerly. + +"I hope the Gray boys and the others will shovel snow," she cried +impulsively. "I don't give a fig for the old dramatic fund, Jack." + +"I do," said Jack. "It's all right to turn the snow money into the +fund and I've nothing to say against that. But when the Student +Council kicks because five boys out of forty-eight want to keep what +they earn, and they know they are putting themselves through school, +I think it shows a contemptible, small spirit and I told Frank so +to-night. You see, Rosemary," he went on a little more calmly, +"there aren't a whole lot of ways a boy can earn money and go to +school in a small town like this--nearly everyone tends to his own +fires and sweeps off his own walks and runs his own errands. If we +hadn't had one snow storm after another, there wouldn't have been +this chance. And I purposely appointed these five boys because I +know what they are up against. And by gum," he said forcibly if +inelegantly, "on my squad they stay!" + +"But can't the Student Council make you back down and appoint +others?" asked Rosemary, glowing with excitement. "I thought the S. +C. could do anything in high school, Jack." + +"They are pretty powerful," her companion admitted, "but they don't +dare carry this to the faculty, because they'll look so small and +Eustice Gray is in the direct line for one of the college +scholarships. Every teacher on the faculty staff will stand by the +boys--they're all fine students and making a stiff fight to get +through school. You don't suppose Mr. Hamlin is going to think the +dramatic fund is more important than shoes for Norman Cox, do you?" + +Mr. Hamlin was the principal of the high school. + +"But it can't be very pleasant for the boys," urged Rosemary, +troubled. + +"You've said it," confessed Jack gloomily. "I had a second fight +there, for after the fellows heard the Student Council was raising a +rumpus, they said they would get off my team and let others take +their places. Norman said he guessed they could get independent jobs +shoveling snow after school hours." + +"Could they?" asked Rosemary. + +"I suppose they could, but they won't if I have anything to say +about it," declared Jack with what Doctor Hugh called his "bull-dog" +expression. "I was told to appoint a snow cleaning team and I've +done it, and by gum my nominations stand. If the Student Council +doesn't like 'em, they can appeal to the faculty--and they'll get +what's coming to them! The town Council doesn't give a hoot where +the money goes, all they want is to have the snow cleaned away. I +told the fellows if they walked out, they made me just five short, +for I wouldn't appoint anyone in their places. If they want to see +the Sophomore class fall down on the job, all right. You watch my +twelve names go through!" + +Rosemary watched. So did all the high and half the grammar school, +for word of the dispute, variously colored to suit different +informants, had been noised around and the only persons in actual +ignorance of the state of affairs were the high school faculty. The +Student Council was desperately anxious that they should remain in +that state, for there had been one or two previous clashes over the +relative importance of the dramatic fund, and the members of the +council had no wish to be accused of "forcing" any unfair demands. +So, as Jack had foreseen, his nominations were allowed to stand and +the next afternoon, forty-eight laughing, shouting boys reported to +Bill McCormack, bluff and kindly member of the Eastshore Common +Council who would, in a larger municipality, have been called +"Streets and Highways Commissioner" or by similar sonorous title. + +But before the boys met "Bill" in front of the town hall, the +president of the Student Council, Frank Fenton, and Will Mears, +president of the Junior class, had held a conference with Mr. +Edmonds, the most influential member, some said, next to the +president, Cameron Jordan, a cousin of the old and respected +physician. The result of this conference was that Bill McCormack +held in his fat, red hands a sheaf of papers which allotted the +streets to the four classes and took the decision quite away from +him. + +"I was told to give these papers to the heads of the gangs," said +Mr. McCormack, smiling expansively. "Here ye are--Senior, Junior, +Sophomore, Freshman--them's your working papers, me lads, and now +off with ye; the shovels ye'll be finding in the basement of the +hall." + +Jack Welles glanced at the slip of paper handed him, folded it up +and stuffed it in his pocket. As soon as his "gang" was fitted out +with snow shovels, he marched them away in the wake of one of the +lumbering wagons that was to carry the snow off to a vacant field on +the outskirts of the town. + +"What did we draw, Jack?" asked Norman Cox curiously. + +"Plummers Lane," said Jack laconically. + +Plummers Lane, was the nearest approach to a "slumming section" that +Eastshore possessed. The idle, the shiftless and the vicious +congregated there, living in tumbled down shacks in the winter and +the middle of the streets, in summer. There were two factories, one +a novelty works, the other a canning and candy factory and the "dump +lot" bounded the Lane on the north and the jail on the south. +Altogether it was not the choicest portion which could fall to the +lot of the young snow cleaners. + +"It's enough to make you want to resign from the dramatic club!" +exclaimed Kenneth Vail, who, in common with the other boys, labored +under no delusion that chance fortune had sent them to Plummers +Lane. + +"If you had only put some one else in my place--" began Eustice Gray +uncomfortably, but seven voices immediately shouted to him, in +friendly chorus to "dry up." + +"We'll make Plummers Lane look sick," declared Jack. "From the looks +of it, I don't think there's been a shovel down here since the first +snow. If the S. C. thinks they have marked more off for us than we +can clean up, we'll show them! Here goes for the first shovel--out +of the way, Mike!" + +The grinning driver reined in his team and dodged as Jack hurled a +heavy shovelful over the side of the cart. The other boys followed +suit and twelve strong, sturdy backs bent to their task. The +population of Plummers Lane, that part of it visible by day, draped +itself along the curb to watch operations and hand out advice, but +any more practical help was not offered or expected. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +DRESSMAKER ROSEMARY + + +"I'm an old man," announced Jack Welles that night, dropping into a +chair in Doctor Hugh's office, while he waited for the latter to +prepare a bottle of medicine for his father's cough. + +"Back broken, I suppose?" suggested the doctor cheerfully. "The +first ten years are always the hardest, my boy." + +Jack groaned and Rosemary, patiently holding a bleary-eyed cat for +Sarah, looked at him anxiously. + +"Ten years!" complained Jack. "Another afternoon like this and I +won't live to see ten years. Ye gods, who would have thought a +little snow shoveling could break me up like this!" + +"You're out of practice," replied the doctor, busily writing a +label. "Don't try to clean all the streets in one day, Jack; I came +through Main street to-night and I must say the boys have made a +good job of it, though, of course, it was fairly well tramped down. +It's the side streets that are blocked. Where are you working?" + +"Plummers Lane," said Jack dryly. "The Juniors have uptown and Main +street. We're providing a side show for the unemployed and if we +don't get any fun out of our job, they at least can laugh their +heads off." + +"I told Hugh about the Student Council and the way they acted," said +Rosemary hotly. "Don't you think they are too hateful for anything, +Hugh?" + +The doctor looked at Jack who managed a grin. + +"Jack isn't hurt yet," said Doctor Hugh, smiling, "and I don't know +but digging out Plummers Lane is a man-sized job and one to be proud +of. Certainly if you get the streets in passable condition so that +we don't have to carry a sick woman through snow drifts to get her +to the ambulance--which happened last week--you'll have the thanks +of the doctors if not of the Student Council." + +"We're going to stick," declared Jack, taking the bottle the doctor +held out to him. "If there should ever be a fire down there, with +the snow piled over the hydrants and kerosene oil cans mixed up with +packing boxes and kindling wood in the front yards, after the +happy-go-lucky housekeeping methods followed by Plummers Lane +housekeepers, I should say three blocks would go like tinder. Bill +McCormack was down to see us, just as we were knocking off, and he +was pleased as Punch at what we'd done." + +"I'm coming down to see you," announced Rosemary. + +"So 'm I," cried Sarah. "I can shovel snow, too." + +"Come on, if you want to," said Jack, "but don't expect us to have +much time to talk to you. We're being paid by the hour and business +is business." + +He went off whistling, leaving Rosemary with an odd expression on +her face. It was the first time Jack had ever hinted he could +possibly be too busy to talk to her. + +"Hugh," she said seriously, when the doctor had prescribed for +Sarah's sick pussy cat and the anxious mistress had gone off to tuck +the patient in bed down cellar. "Hugh, couldn't I take hot coffee +and doughnuts to the boys while they are working in the snow +afternoons? I know they must get hungry and it is so cold and windy +down Plummers Lane--the wind comes across the marsh." + +"Go ahead," her brother encouraged her. "Get Sarah to help you. I +imagine Jack is having a tough time and he'll appreciate a little +unspoken sympathy. I'll give you a testimonial for your coffee, +Rosemary, if you think you need one; where are the doughnuts coming +from?" + +"They're all made, a stone crock full," dimpled Rosemary. "That was +what made me think of doing it. We'll come home from school and get +the big tin pail with the lid and a pan of doughnuts. But I can't +carry twelve cups." + +"Paper ones will do," the doctor assured her. "The boys will gulp +the coffee before it can possibly seep through. Make Sarah do her +share, and don't stay late, either one of you." + +The next afternoon, as Jack straightened his aching back to answer +the questions of Frank Fenton, who was serving as time-keeper for +the four squads, he looked across the street and saw two little +figures who waved gloved hands at him and beckoned in a mysterious +manner. + +"Isn't that Rosemary Willis?" asked Frank, "stunning kid, isn't +she?" + +Rosemary, rosy from the cold and with her eyes dark and starry, left +Sarah on the curb and crossed over. + +"Oh, Jack," she began before she reached him, "Sarah and I have +brought you some hot coffee and doughnuts. There's enough for +everyone." + +Frank had his data, but he still lingered, and the other boys at +Jack's shout, crowded around. Rosemary knew most of them and Jack +hurriedly performed the few necessary introductions leaving Frank +till the last. Norman Cox and Eustice Gray had hastened across the +street and returned with Sarah and the supplies just as Jack said, +"Rosemary, this is Frank Fenton." + +"He can't have any," said Sarah with blunt distinctness. + +Rosemary flushed scarlet and then, with the quickness characteristic +of her, jerked the lid from the coffee can and filled one of the +paper cups with the steamy, fragrant, liquid. + +"Please," she said gravely, holding it out to the astonished +president of the Student Council. "The sugar and cream are already +in. And these are fresh doughnuts." + +Mechanically Frank drank the hot coffee and ate a doughnut, while +Rosemary poured out the remainder of the coffee and Jack passed the +cups around, Sarah serving the doughnuts. + +"That is the best coffee I ever drank," declared Frank, when he had +finished. "And now, couldn't I take you home? I have my car down +the street a ways and I go right past your house." + +Jack choked over his coffee, but Rosemary thanked the senior +politely and said that she and Sarah had planned to stay and watch +the shovelers a while. + +"This isn't a very nice neighborhood, especially after dark you +know," said Frank. + +"We're not going to stay long," Rosemary was beginning, but Jack cut +her short. + +"I live next door to Rosemary, and I'll see that she and Sarah get +home all right," he said brusquely. "I know all about Plummers Lane, +too, Frank." + +The Student Council president lifted his cap and went back to his +car. + +"I don't like him," said Sarah decidedly. + +"I shouldn't wonder if he was faintly aware of your dislike," +grinned Jack. "Any more coffee left, Rosemary? You certainly had a +bright idea when you thought of this." + +Rosemary and Sarah were more than repaid for their long, cold walk, +by the evident pleasure the boys took in their warm drink and the +two fat doughnuts apiece they had brought them. They knocked off +work fifteen or twenty minutes earlier in order to see the girls +home before dark, but the next afternoon the doctor's car came and +picked up the sisters and the empty coffee can so that the workers +lost no time. + +For nearly a week, the boys shoveled steadily after school hours, +sticking to the job long after the first novelty had worn away. Bill +McCormack declared that they were the best "gang" he had ever hired +and the Plummers Lane residents ceased to regard them as a joke and +began to exchange sociable comments and quips with them, though +never descending to the plane of familiarity that included a shovel. +Rosemary and Sarah, and now and then Shirley, carried coffee and +doughnuts, or hot cocoa and cakes, each afternoon and Doctor Hugh +willingly stopped for them in his car. Even the weather ceased to +consent to co-operate for after one heavy snow, it cleared and the +streets made passable, remained that way till after Christmas. + +The most important subject of discussion in the Willis household, +along the lines of Christmas preparations, was the box to be sent +the little mother in the sanatorium. + +"I think we ought to make her something!" announced Rosemary. + +"Well, what?" asked Sarah. "I most know she'd love to have one of +Tootles' kittens, but I don't suppose we could mail that, could +we?" + +"Praise be, you can't," said Winnie who had overheard. "Those +kittens will be the death of me yet, and what they'd do to sick +folks in a sanatorium, I'm sure I don't know and don't want to." + +"What'll we make Mother?" urged Shirley, pulling Rosemary's belt. + +"I know--a kimona," said Rosemary triumphantly. "That won't be hard, +because we'll have only two seams. Mother will love to have +something we made her, instead of a gift we just went down town and +bought. What color do you think would be pretty, Sarah?" + +"Red," said Sarah promptly. + +"Pink," begged Shirley. "Make it pink, Rosemary." + +"I like blue," said Rosemary wistfully. + +"Let's ask Aunt Trudy," suggested Sarah. + +"I think you're awfully foolish to try to make anything," pronounced +Aunt Trudy when they consulted her. "But I suppose, if you have set +your hearts on it, why nothing will dissuade you. Why don't you make +your mother a white kimona, and bind it with pink ribbon? White was +always her favorite." + +So it was decided the kimona should be white eiderdown and bound +with pink satin ribbon and Rosemary and Sarah and Shirley went +shopping one afternoon after school and bought the materials. Their +purchase included a pattern, the first in their joint experience and +when they had spread it out on Rosemary's bed the three girls looked +at it helplessly. + +"We'll put it on paper, till we learn how to cut it," said Rosemary, +secretly wondering how anyone ever learned to understand such +complicated directions as were printed on the pattern envelope. + +They had decided that neither Aunt Trudy nor Winnie could be allowed +to help them and since Rosemary had a working knowledge of the +sewing machine's mysteries and could sew neatly by hand, they had +not anticipated any trouble. + +"But how could we know a pattern was such a silly thing?" wailed +Rosemary, tired and cross when the dinner gong sounded and they had +made no progress. The floor of the room was littered with paper and +the top of the bed resembled a pincushion for Shirley had amused +herself by sticking the contents of the entire paper of pins in +orderly rows on the counterpane. + +"Aren't you coming down to dinner?" asked Sarah, moving toward the +door. + +"No, I'm not," retorted Rosemary. "I'm not hungry and I don't want +anything to eat. Don't let Winnie come up here making a fuss; you +tell Aunt Trudy I don't want any dinner to-night. I'm not going to +do a thing till I get this kimona cut out." + +"Hugh will be mad," said Sarah, half way down the hall. + +"Let him," called Rosemary recklessly, shutting the door of her room +with a bang. + +She was deep in the pattern directions for the tenth time, when +someone rapped on her door. + +"I'm not hungry--don't bother me," she called, frowning. + +The door knob turned and Doctor Hugh smiled in at her. + +"Heard you were having trouble with the dressmaking," he announced. +"Can't I help? I'm not Winnie or Aunt Trudy, you know. I'd like to +have a finger in this, if I could." + +Rosemary drew a long breath. + +"You do understand, don't you?" she said, standing on the foot that +had not gone to sleep and trying to rouse the circulation in the +other one. "We didn't want anyone to touch our present for Mother, +except us; but you're us, too, aren't you?" + +"Surest thing," agreed the doctor, approaching the terrible pattern +with grave interest. "What's the matter with this--aren't you sure +how it should be cut?" + +Rosemary shook her head hopelessly. + +"I'm afraid to cut it before I know and I've tried it every way I +can think of," she confessed. + +"Well, if this is wrong, I'll buy you some more goods to-morrow," +promised the doctor, twitching the pattern to his liking. + +He took up the scissors and cut around the outline with what seemed +to Rosemary, reckless abandon. But when he had finished and she took +up the two pieces, they fitted together like parts of a picture +puzzle. + +"It's right!" she cried in delight. "Hugh, you darling, it's all +right! And I can baste it to-night and sew it on the machine +to-morrow and put the ribbon on by hand. Won't Mother love it!" + +"No more sewing to-night," said her brother firmly. "Dressmakers +always make mistakes when they're tired. Come down and eat your +dinner now, and then put this truck away till after school to-morrow +afternoon." + +Rosemary followed him downstairs meekly, though her fingers itched +to get at the basting. Sarah looked up at them in surprise as they +entered the dining-room. + +"I thought Rosemary was going to be cross!" she said frankly. + +"You were mistaken," retorted Doctor Hugh, smiling so infectiously +at Rosemary that she could do no less than twinkle back at him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +MR. JORDAN LEARNS SOMETHING + + +The kimona was finished without further mishap and packed away in +the Christmas box. + +"And no one was more surprised than I when the thing proved to be +cut right," Doctor Hugh confided to Winnie. "I never looked at a +pattern before, but I took a chance. I could see Rosemary was just +on the edge of 'nerves' and I figured out that if I did make a mess +of it, she might not find it out till the next day, and by that time +she might be able to see the humor in the situation." + +"You're a wise lad, Hughie, and I'm proud of you," said Winnie +fondly. She had guessed something of the cost of the fur lined coat +that the doctor had proudly displayed as his Christmas gift for the +little mother, now well enough to take short tramps through the pine +woods daily. Winnie did not know that a set of sorely needed medical +books had gone into the coat, but she suspected something of the +kind. + +The box was packed and sent and the Willis family settled down to +the first Christmas they had known without the gentle spirit who had +tirelessly planned for every holiday. But they had the dear +knowledge that she was coming home again to them, well and strong, +and they hung the wreaths in the windows and wound greens about the +lights and trimmed a tree for Shirley with thankful and merry +hearts. Doctor Hugh had missed so many home Christmas Days that he +in particular, enjoyed the preparations and his attempts at secrets +and his insistence on tasting all of Winnie's dishes drove the girls +into fits of laughter. A pile of packages surrounded every place on +Christmas morning and there was something pretty and practical and +purely nonsensical for each one from the doctor. He, in turn, +declared that for once in his life he had everything he wanted. Aunt +Trudy's gift to her nephew and each of her nieces was a cheque and +the announcements that followed were characteristic. + +"What are you going to get, Hugh?" asked Sarah curiously, when the +nature of her slip of paper had been explained to her. + +"Books," said Doctor Hugh, promptly, smiling at his aunt. + +"Music and a new music case, a leather one," declared Rosemary, her +eyes shining. + +"I'd like to buy a dog," said Sarah, and grinned good-naturedly at +the groan which greeted her modest wish. + +"You'd better buy an electric heater for the cats," suggested +Winnie. "I'm forever taking 'em out of the oven; some day I'll +forget to look, and there will be baked cats when you come down." + +Shirley was distressed at this dismal prediction, but Sarah did not +take it to heart. + +"I think, after all," she said meditatively, "I'll buy a hen and +keep chickens." + +"What are you going to buy with your money, Shirley lamb?" asked +Rosemary, as Sarah fell to planning a chicken yard. + +"A doll I guess," said Shirley who had had three that morning. + +When Sarah reminded her of that fact, Aunt Trudy protested. + +"No one is to attempt to dictate in any way," she said with +unaccustomed firmness. "When I was a child I was never allowed to +spend a cent as I wanted to and I gave you each this money to do +with exactly as you please. If you spend it foolishly, all right, I +don't care. But I want each one of you to get what you want, +whether or not it pleases some one else. I could have bought you +what I thought you ought to have, but that's the kind of presents I +had as a child and the only kind. And my goodness, didn't I hate +'em!" + +The girls stared a little at this outburst and then the doctor +laughed. + +"Well all I can say," he remarked drolly as he pushed back his chair +in answer to the summons of the telephone, "is that it is lucky +Christmas comes only once a year. Otherwise, Aunt Trudy, you'd have +us completely demoralized." + +Spending their Christmas money gave the three girls a good deal of +pleasure during holiday week and a letter from their mother was +another pleasant incident. Mrs. Willis wrote that the fur coat and +the kimona had made her the envy of the whole sanatorium and she was +so proud of them both that she cried whenever she looked at them! + +"--But, of course, I know you don't want me to do that, so I have +stopped, really I have," ran one paragraph of her letter. "I am so +proud of you all, my darlings and it seems such a short time ago +that you were all babies. How could I look ahead and see that my son +would grow up so soon and buy his mother a fur-lined coat, or that +my three girl babies for whom I sewed so happily would make me a +kimona and such a beautiful garment? I am wearing it now...." + +The clear cold weather came to an end during holiday week and a +heavy storm set in a few days before New Year's. For two days and a +night it snowed steadily and Sarah was almost beside herself to +think that now she could play in the snow as long as she liked with +no school to interfere. Shirley suffered from cold and did not like +to play out long at a time, but Rosemary was not too old to enjoy +snow ball fights and coasting and she joined Sarah on the hill as +often as she felt she could leave her beloved practising. Nina +Edmonds did not care for coasting, but Fannie Mears and several of +the girls in the grade above the seventh liked to coast on Fred +Mears' bob-sled. + +Late in the afternoon of the second day, when the snow had almost +stopped, except for a few large flakes, Rosemary set out to find +Sarah and bring her in in time for dinner. She was ploughing along +through the snow when Jack Welles hailed her. + +"'Lo, Rosemary!" he called. "Where you going--home?" + +"I'm going to the hill to get Sarah," Rosemary explained. "Hugh says +she'd coast till breakfast time if no one stopped her and I believe +she would. Where's your sled? Haven't you been out to-day? They say +the coasting is fine." + +"I know it is, but I haven't had time to try it, worse luck!" +growled Jack, falling into step beside Rosemary as they walked on. +"The Common Council has sent out a call for the snow cleaning gangs +again and I've been trying to round the fellows up." + +"Yes, I suppose the streets are piled up," agreed Rosemary. "When +are you expected to start work--not to-night?" + +"To-morrow morning," the boy replied. "But there won't be more than +six of us." + +"Six!" repeated Rosemary in astonishment. "Why I thought there were +twelve in each gang." + +"There were," said Jack briefly. "But, you see, it is holiday week, +and no one wants to work. The only five I can get are Norman Cox, +Eustice Gray, Jerry and Fred Gordon and Ben Kelsey. I'm the sixth. +Two of the others are away and the rest are going on a sleighing +trip up to the woods." + +"Where's Frank Fenton?" demanded Rosemary. "Can't he make 'em work?" + +"Oh, he's going on the ride, too," explained Jack. "A bunch are +going, girls and boys and three of the teachers will chaperone. They +go up to a camp, you know, and build a big fire and dance and have a +good time. Frank says it won't hurt to wait a day or two. I think +he's hoping the snow will melt." + +"What about the dramatic fund?" inquired, Rosemary, not +intentionally sarcastic. "I thought they wanted the money." + +"Too soon after Christmas," grinned Jack. "No, I guess the six of us +will have to represent the school. Is that Sarah over there with the +red hat?" + +"Yes, it is," answered Rosemary, beckoning to her sister. "Didn't +you want to go on the ride, Jack? Or the other boys?" + +"Well I don't care so much," replied Jack slowly. "Of course I'd +have a good time, but I can live without a sleigh ride. I'm sorry on +the fellows' account though--they wanted to go with some girls and +they don't have much fun. I hated like time to ask them to come and +shovel snow to-morrow morning. As Eustice says most of the school +fun costs too much for him, but this wasn't going to be expensive." + +"Couldn't you wait just one day?" suggested Rosemary. + +Jack shook his head. + +"It's understood that we stand ready to help the Council out," he +said in a business-like manner. "They depend on us, and it isn't +their fault the snow came during the holidays. We were glad enough +to get the chance before and I think it looks mighty cheap to try to +beg off now just because it isn't convenient to work. I'm going to +be on deck to-morrow morning if I'm the only one who turns up." + +Six boys, however, reported the next morning to Bill McCormack and +at their own suggestion, were set to work clearing the Plummers Lane +section of the accumulated snow. + +"My father is always talking about the fire risk down here," said +Jack to Jerry Gordon as they shoveled side by side. "Eastshore has a +nifty little fire department I'm ready to admit, but it can't climb +a snow bank even with the new chemical engine." + +The boys found the day unexpectedly long. Hitherto they had worked +three or four hours after school and the one Saturday they had +shoveled had been at the end of their task so that they had been +able to quit at noon. But, although they were genuinely tired long +before night--and the noon rest had never been so appreciated!--not +one of them suggested giving in or knocking off an hour or two +earlier. They worked so steadily and to such good purpose that by +half-past four, when Rosemary and Sarah appeared with hot coffee and +sandwiches, the most congested area in Plummers Lane was +comparatively clear. + +"Gee, Rosemary, you certainly are all right!" approved Jack as he +held the can for her while she ladled out coffee. "I never was so +hungry in my life." + +"They're chicken sandwiches and turkey, too," said Rosemary, +smiling. "Winnie said if you couldn't go on the sleigh ride she'd +see to it that you had something extra good to eat." + +The hungry boys fell upon Winnie's sandwiches with a vigor that +would have done her heart good, and the coffee disappeared +magically. When the last drop was gone and the last crumb vanished, +Jack insisted that the girls start for home. + +"It's getting dark now," he said, "and Hugh won't like it if you are +out late down here. I'd walk home with you, but we want to finish; +we're not going to quit till we get to the end of the street. +There's a fire hydrant there." + +Rosemary and Sarah, carrying the empty coffee can and the basket +that had been packed with sandwiches, walked slowly toward home, +Sarah audibly regretting that they had left the sled at the house. + +"We could have a good coast, before dinner," she argued, walking +backward, an accomplishment of which she was exceedingly proud. + +Pride, as often happens, went before a fall, in this instance, a +collision. Sarah, heedless of Rosemary's cry of warning, walked into +a stout, silver-haired gentleman in a fur-collared coat. + +"Bless my soul, what's this?" he asked in astonishment, looking down +at the small girl who had bumped into his knees. + +"How do you do Mr. Jordan?" said Rosemary respectfully, recognizing +the president of the Common Council. + +"Why it's Rosemary Willis!" beamed Mr. Jordan. "And Sarah, as I +live. Where are you going my dears?" + +"We're going home," explained Rosemary. "We took the boys some +coffee and sandwiches. They are shoveling snow, you know." + +"Oh, the high school lads, yes, I recollect," said Mr. Jordan. "I +meant to go around and see them at work, but I've spent the +afternoon in the library. Pretty faithful lads, aren't they, to +stick to their job in holiday week?" + +Rosemary held an instant's swift debate with herself. Jack, she +knew, would hold his tongue. But Jack was not within hearing +distance and his scruples did not honestly affect her. She put down +the coffee can and began to speak. She told Mr. Jordan the whole +story, from the beginning when the Student Council had objected to +Jack's list of workers. She told about the streets assigned to the +boys. She mentioned the sleigh ride and told who had gone. She named +the six boys who had spent the day shoveling. The faster she talked, +the prettier and more earnest she looked and the more interested Mr. +Jordan seemed. Sarah listened dumbly, fascinated by her sister's +eloquence. + +Mr. Jordan walked with them to their front steps and shook hands +with them both. + +"I am extremely obliged to you," he told Rosemary as he lifted his +hat to go. "I find that I have been a little out of things and you +have set me right." + +"Goodness knows what I've done," said Rosemary to Sarah as they +brushed their hair and made ready for the table. "Don't you say a +word to Jack--he will be furious. But I don't care what happens, I'm +glad I said what I did; this 'silence is golden' is a silly saying, +I think." + +Late that night, when every one had gone to bed, the fire whistle +sounded. Rosemary raised up in bed, shivering with excitement. She +counted the strokes. One-two--one-two--one-two-three-four. Reaching +for her dressing gown at the foot of the bed, she seized it and +rushed for the door. Sarah's door opened at the same moment and the +two little figures met in the hall. They shouted together, rousing +the household. + +"Plummers Lane!" they shrieked. "The fire's in Plummers Lane!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +SHOPPING WITH NINA + + +Shirley, half-awake and crying, came pattering out into the hall and +Winnie dashed from her room. On the second floor, Aunt Trudy +scuttled back and forth demanding where the fire was. + +"Go to bed girls," ordered Doctor Hugh, who had just come in and was +fully dressed. "Go back to bed, and I'll tell you all about the fire +in the morning." + +"Oh, Hugh, are you going? Wait for me, please?" cried Rosemary. "I +won't be a minute." + +"Me, too," shouted Sarah. "Wait for me, Hugh." + +He was already in the lower hall, struggling into his overcoat. + +"Go back to bed, and don't be silly," was his parting injunction as +he opened the door. "You'll catch cold, running through the halls. +Send 'em to bed, Winnie." + +The door banged behind him and they heard a familiar whistle. + +"Hugh!" some one called. "Hugh, it's down Plummers Lane. Going to +get the car out? I'll help you." + +"That's Jack," cried Rosemary, trying to see through the white +curtains without being seen. "Oh, dear, men have all the fun!" + +In spite of Winnie's remonstrances and Aunt Trudy's worry that they +would have pneumonia, the three girls tried to stay up till their +brother came back. After half an hour they gave up and went sleepily +to bed. The next morning they heard that the fire had been in one of +the novelty factories and that several houses had also been +destroyed. + +"If the hydrants hadn't been open and the street clear, they say the +whole block would have gone," the doctor reported. "In some way it's +got over town that Jack and his gang were the only high school boys +on the job yesterday and that they voluntarily cleaned the snow out +of Wycliffe street. The Common Council is talking of doing something +handsome to show their appreciation." + +Rosemary beamed, but Sarah who never could keep still blurted out +the truth. + +"Rosemary told Mr. Jordan last night," she said matter-of-factly. + +When Doctor Hugh had heard the details, he declared that while Jack +might not approve at once, he was sure he would later be glad. + +"You're a loyal friend, Rosemary," said the doctor patting the +gold-red hair now long enough to tie back in a thick bunch of curls +again, "and there are few finer qualities to possess than that." + +The Common Council, through Mr. Jordan passed a resolution thanking +the boys, by name, for their faithful "and valuable" services, and +the resolution was printed in the Eastshore "Chronicle" much to the +confusion of the lads and the delight and pride of their admiring +families. The Council also voted each boy the sum of $25, not, Mr. +Jordan explained, as an attempt to pay them, but in recognition of +"the devotion to duty which is able to ignore personal pleasure and +the initiative which is directed by common sense." + +"Incidentally," he added, "the property, saved because the street +was clear and the fire apparatus could get through, totals +considerable more than the sum we are voting you." + +Jack learned, of course, of the part Rosemary had played in this +train of events and though he made several cutting remarks about the +inability of girls to hold their tongues, he gradually, if +grudgingly, admitted that "it might have been worse." + +"Norman Cox and Eustice Gray and the others are tickled pink with +the $25," he confided. "They think you are great. And I suppose you +couldn't help spilling the beans to Mr. Jordan." + +But Rosemary was content to do without paeans of praise. + +The famous "January thaw" filled the streets with slush a few weeks +later and made indoors a pleasant place to stay. Fannie Mears caught +a heavy cold and was out of school a week and Nina Edmonds began to +seek the society of Rosemary, whom she had rather neglected. + +"You never come to my house any more," said Nina, one noon period. +"Come home with me this afternoon, won't you, dear?" + +Rosemary was acutely conscious of her brother's wishes concerning +Nina, and she knew that he preferred she did not go often to the +Edmonds' handsome home. + +"Well at least come shopping with me," suggested Nina, noticing the +younger girl's hesitation. "Go uptown after school this afternoon, +please, Rosemary?" + +"Aunt Trudy expects me home," said Rosemary doubtfully. + +"For goodness sake, do you have to go straight home from school +every day?" demanded Nina fretfully. "Why any one would think you +were Shirley's age! Can't Sarah tell your aunt you won't be home?" + +"I suppose she could," admitted Rosemary. "All right, Nina, I'll go +with you." + +Sarah accepted the message reluctantly after school that afternoon +and she and Shirley went home while Nina and Rosemary hurried off up +town. Nina's shopping manners were remarkably like her mother's and +she was respectfully treated in all the shops. Eastshore had no very +large stores, but the merchandise was of the better grade in even +the tiny places, the lack of variety, as in many small towns, being +balanced by uniform quality. + +"Charge it," said Nina airily, flitting from shop to shop and +counter to counter. + +It was dark, almost before they knew it and though Nina was +insistent that Rosemary come home to dinner with her, Rosemary +refused. No, she must go home. + +"Well, here's your parcel," said Nina good-naturedly. "You'll love +'em when you get used to them and you look perfectly stunning in +them, you know you do." + +Rosemary tucked the brown paper package under her arm and fled up +the street, dashing up the front steps behind a tall figure just +putting a key in the Willis front door. + +"Well, honey, why this haste?" demanded the doctor, stepping back to +let her go in first. "You didn't smell Winnie's apple pudding a +block away, did you?" + +"Where have you been, Rosemary?" asked Aunt Trudy, coming into the +hall. "Sarah said you said you would be home by half-past four." + +"What you got?" inquired Sarah, eyeing the parcel under Rosemary's +arm with frank curiosity. + +"Let me open it, Rosemary?" begged Shirley, standing on tip-toe to +pinch the package, her usual method of guessing the contents. + +"There isn't a speck of privacy in the house!" flared Rosemary. "I +think I might buy something once in a while that the whole family +didn't have to see. And no one has to come straight home from +school, except me. If I'm an hour late, Aunt Trudy always wants to +know where I've been." + +"I told her you went shopping with Nina Edmonds," remarked Sarah +sweetly, "And you're always cross when you go anywhere with her." + +"Sarah!" said Doctor Hugh, warningly, but Rosemary dashed past them +and up the stairs to her own room. + +She thrust the package down deep in her cedar chest and there it +stayed till the next Saturday afternoon. Then Rosemary deliberately +locked her door and proceeded to array herself in gray silk +stockings and patent leather pumps with narrow, high heels, the +results of Nina Edmonds' persuasive arguments and Rosemary's deep +longing to possess these accessories. + +Walking in the pumps proved to be unexpectedly difficult, but +Rosemary practised while she dressed and by the time she had put on +her best hat and coat and was ready to go down stairs she was able +to manage them better. Sarah and Shirley had gone to the library, +Winnie was busy in the kitchen and Aunt Trudy was sewing in her +room. Rosemary counted on leaving the house unobserved. She teetered +to the door of her aunt's room and carefully keeping out of her +range of vision announced that she was going up town for a little +walk. + +"All right, dearie, have a nice time," answered Aunt Trudy, rocking +placidly. "Tell Winnie to answer the telephone if it rings, because +I don't want to have to go down stairs." + +Rosemary experimented cautiously with the top step and then +discretion prompted her to abandon valor. In her best coat and hat +and gorgeously arrayed as to her pretty feet, she, who considered +herself quite grown up this afternoon, quietly slid down the +banister! Just as she reached the newel post the door opened. There +stood Doctor Hugh! + +"Haven't forgotten how, have you?" he said, laughing. "That was +neatly done, dear. I saw you through the glass before I opened the +door." + +Rosemary was painfully conscious of her shoes. Against her will, her +glance strayed down and the doctor's eyes followed hers. + +"Why how fine we are!" he said. + +Rosemary sat down on the last step and tried to pull her skirt down +over her feet. + +"I know you don't like them, Hugh," she answered resentfully, "but I +don't see why I can't wear high heels when I'm dressed up. All the +girls do." + +"They are very pretty shoes," said the doctor gravely. "And very +unsuitable for a walk on a cold, slushy winter day," he added. + +Rosemary said nothing. + +"I suppose you wheedled Aunt Trudy into letting you buy them," +commented her brother presently. "Well, dear, there are some things +we won't learn except through experience. I'm disappointed that +Mother's wishes didn't have more weight with you." + +Rosemary half expected him to forbid her to leave the house wearing +the new shoes, but he went on to his office without another word. +She opened the front door noiselessly and hastened uptown to meet +Nina Edmonds. + +Walking was not the unconscious, easy swing that Rosemary was +accustomed to, in the patent leather footgear and it was simply +impossible for her to forget her feet for one instant. Nina was bent +on more shopping and Rosemary found it very tiresome to stand before +the counters and look at things she knew Nina did not mean to buy. +Finally the latter suggested that they go to the little tea room +recently opened and have tea. The prospect of being able to sit down +delighted poor Rosemary. + +They had to cross the street and the tracks of the Interurban +trolley to reach the tea room and in crossing one of Rosemary's high +heels caught in the trolley rail. + +"I can't get it out!" she cried, snatching off her glove and working +frantically at the shoe. + +"Work your foot back and forth," advised Nina. "Oh, goodness, people +are stopping to look at you." + +Sure enough, the Saturday afternoon shoppers, a larger crowd than +usual for many farmers drove in on the last day of the week to make +their purchases, were beginning to be attracted by the sight of the +two girls on the trolley tracks. + +"How could you be so silly!" cried Nina in vexation. "Look at all +the rubes--if there is anything I detest, it is to be made +conspicuous." + +Rosemary flushed angrily, but a sudden shout drowned her reply. + +"Car coming!" cried a man on the curb. "Somebody flag the trolley!" + +The Interurban cars operated at a high rate of speed, even through +the town, and as the wires started their humming, Rosemary and Nina +glanced up and saw a car bearing down on them. + +"You'll be killed!" shrieked Nina, taking a flying leap that landed +her safely across the tracks. + +A man shot out of the crowd toward Rosemary and another dashed up +the street in the direction of the trolley, waving his cap. The +motorman put on the brakes, there was an ear-splitting noise as the +wheels locked and slid and the car stopped a good ten feet from the +frightened girl. Meanwhile the man who had come to her rescue had +unbuttoned the straps of the pump and pulled Rosemary free from her +shoe. + +"Fool heels!" he commented, while a crowd of the curious surged out +from the curb. "If I had my way no girl should ever own a pair. +Here, I'll get it out for you--" + +He tugged at the obstinate pump, the heel gave way and the man fell +back, the shoe in his hand, the heel neatly ripped off. + +"Oh, say, I'm sorry!" he stammered. "I didn't mean to tear it +off--here's the heel; I guess a shoemaker can put it on again for +you." + +He handed her the pump and the heel and the motorman and conductor +went back to their trolley. + +"Thank you very much--it doesn't matter about the heel, it really +doesn't matter at all," said Rosemary incoherently, her one wish +being to get away from this awful crowd. + +"If you're looking for the girl who was with you, she's gone," +volunteered a freckle faced boy. "I saw her streaking it up the +street as soon as the trolley stopped." + +Getting home with one heel off and one heel on, was not an easy +matter, but Rosemary managed it. Half an hour later, Doctor Hugh +reading at his desk, was astonished to have two patent leather +pumps flung down on the book before him and to see Rosemary, +crimson-cheeked and stormy-eyed confronting him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +SARAH LOSES A MENAGERIE + + +"You may burn them up or give them away or sell them!" Rosemary +cried. "I never want to see a pair of high-heeled shoes again as +long as I live. I despise them!" + +The doctor picked up the offending little shoes and eyed them +critically. + +"Wait," said Rosemary as he seemed about to speak. "I have something +to tell you, Hugh. I've been as bad as I could be, and I've done +everything you didn't like. But you'll be glad, because I never want +to see Nina Edmonds again. I never want any one to mention her name +to me." + +Her voice was hard and unnatural. + +"Hadn't you better sit down, dear?" Doctor Hugh suggested. "I'm +sorry if you and Nina have quarreled." + +"Oh, we haven't quarreled," said Rosemary bitterly. "I can't tell +you about it, Hugh, but she isn't the kind of girl I thought she +was. And I did like her so! I won't cry," she added doggedly. "I +haven't told you the worst yet. Hugh, you thought I persuaded Aunt +Trudy to buy me the pumps, but she didn't know anything about it; I +had them charged on Nina's account at the Quality shoe store. And I +owe Nina $12.98 this minute and I have to pay her right away. I +can't owe it to her another day. Will you lend me the money? I don't +care what you do to me, or how you punish me, but don't make me stay +in debt. I can't stand it." + +Doctor Hugh put his hand in his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He +counted out several bills and gave them to Rosemary. + +"Don't you want to tell me about it, dear?" he said quietly. "I can +not bear to see you hurt and not to know the reason. Perhaps I can +set it right for you." + +Rosemary shook her head. + +"Nobody can help," she said despondently. "There's nothing to help." +Her lips quivered. "I thought Nina was different," she said, and +then the tears overflowed. + +The doctor had seen Rosemary cry before, but never like this. As he +held her in his arms and she sobbed out the hurt and humiliation of +the afternoon against his shoulder, he wondered what had happened +to shake her so. He did not know that she had had her first +experience with disloyalty or that her first broken friendship was +teaching her a hard lesson. By and by the passion of weeping grew +quieter and Rosemary fumbled for her handkerchief. + +"I didn't know I was going to be so silly," she said, sitting up and +trying to smile as the doctor tucked his own clean handkerchief into +her hand. + +"You won't tell me what is troubling you?" he said persuasively. + +"I can't, Hugh," Rosemary answered, her tear drenched eyes meeting +his gaze squarely. "I can't talk about it, not even to you." + +"All right, dear, if that's the way you feel," he said instantly. +"Only remember, any time you want to confide, I'm always ready. +Don't be afraid of me, Rosemary; that is one thing I can not stand. +If I thought any of you girls were afraid to come to me and tell me +your troubles--" + +Rosemary threw her arms around his neck. + +"I'm not afraid of you, I'm only ashamed of myself," she whispered. +"And I love you more than any one in the world, next to Mother!" + +The doctor heard of the shoe incident the next morning, indeed the +story was known about Eastshore within a few hours, and he was able +to piece together from what he heard a fair understanding of Nina +Edmonds' part in the incident. He succeeded in impressing on Sarah +and Shirley, and even Winnie and Aunt Trudy, that they were not to +mention Nina's name, or anything they might hear about that +unfortunate afternoon, to Rosemary, on pain of his severest +displeasure. Nina nodded, rather shamefacedly, to Rosemary in school +the next Monday morning and Rosemary spoke pleasantly; but she never +voluntarily sought the society of the other girl again and there was +something about her that effectually discouraged Nina from +attempting any overtures. + +A week or two later, Winnie walked into Doctor Hugh's office one +night a few minutes before ten o'clock, ostensibly to bring him a +glass of milk and a sponge cake before he went to bed. + +"Out with it, Winnie," he said good-naturedly. "I can see that you +are fairly bristling with the necessity of making an important +communication." + +"It's Sarah, then," announced Winnie, putting down the glass of +milk. "Something has got to be done about her, Hughie." + +"Sarah?" inquired the doctor meditatively. "Why I thought she was +conducting herself in an exemplary manner these last few weeks." + +Winnie sniffed. + +"I'm always the one that has to tell you," she complained. "I'm +after asking Miss Trudy these three nights running to speak to you, +but does she? She does not. She speaks to Sarah who minds her about +as well as the wind does. And Rosemary won't be doing her duty, +either; she says 'twould be telling tales and she's got Shirley +around to the same way of thinking." + +"A conspiracy, eh?" smiled Doctor Hugh. + +"Well, Winnie, what should I know that I don't know about my small +sister Sarah?" + +Winnie was not to be hurried. She dearly loved a chat with her idol, +the doctor, and she had the born story-teller's art of prolonging +the climax. + +"I'm not one to be going out of my way to find something to babble," +she declared now. "There's plenty of things goes on I could be +running to you with every day in the week, did I so mind; but I +believe in letting folks have their own heads, as long as they don't +go too far." + +The doctor sampled the cake appreciatively. + +"Sarah, I take it, has gone too far?" he suggested. + +"I don't know as you'd call it that," said Winnie with a faint +suspicion of sarcasm. "I may be too finicky and if I am, may I be +forgiven for troubling you. But when it comes to sleeping in the +same room with six sore-eyed kittens and in the same bed with a +mangy street dog, I think something should be done about it. 'Tisn't +Christian-like." + +"Do you mean to tell me Sarah has got a mess like that up in her +room?" demanded Doctor Hugh. + +"She has that," said Winnie firmly. "That and worse. She has rabbits +in her clothes closet and this morning I had to carry out two dead +chickens. She lugs them all up every night to keep 'em warm, she +says." + +"Is everyone in the house crazy?" asked the bewildered doctor. +"What's the matter with you, Winnie? Ordinarily you can make the +world take orders from you--couldn't you put a stop to this?" + +"I've argued and I've scolded and I've threatened to chloroform +every animal on the place," said Winnie impressively, "but Sarah is +like cement. Where the Willis will is going to lead her, I'm sure I +don't know; but she's too much for me." + +"Nonsense!" the doctor pushed back his chair sharply. "At least you +could have come to me and told me the first night she tried to keep +an animal in her room." + +"I'm as weak as the rest of 'em," admitted Winnie. "Miss Trudy cried +and Shirley grumbled because she had to go in and sleep with +Rosemary; but none of us liked to say a word to you. I don't suppose +I'd be after telling you now if I wasn't afraid Sarah would catch +something from that dog she brought home to-night." + +"I'll go up and read the riot act to her, even if it is late," said +Doctor Hugh, frowning. "Such a state of affairs is beyond belief. +Shirley is sleeping with Rosemary, you say, and Sarah has the +menagerie in the bed with her?" + +"Well, she has the dog--I saw him under the blanket. But you're not +going to bother her to-night, are you?" asked Winnie anxiously. + +"Do you suppose I'm going to have her sleeping with a dog that came +from Heaven alone knows where?" was the impatient answer. "If I can +get the animals out of her room without waking her, well and good; +but in any case, out they come." + +Sarah woke up the moment the light was switched on. So did the +touseled little yellow dog who thrust his head out from under the +covers, close to Sarah's face, and barked sharply at the tall figure +standing in the center of the room. The rabbits could be heard +scampering about behind the closet door and the kittens set up a +hungry mewing from their basket under the bed. A faint scratching +came from beneath the inverted waste-basket where a dejected-looking +rooster drooped in lonely melancholy. + +"Go away!" said Sarah. + +"Give me that dog, Sarah," said Doctor Hugh sternly, hoping that he +would not laugh. "What do you mean by this kind of performance?" + +"He's a nice dog and he hasn't any home, he followed me all the way +from the grocery store," said Sarah, her dark eyes regarding her +brother suspiciously. "Leave him alone." + +For answer the doctor, with a quick movement, lifted the dog clear +of the bed clothes. + +"You'll hurt him!" cried Sarah in anguish. "You don't know how to be +nice to animals. Give him back to me, Hugh." + +"Look here, Sarah, this is no time for argument," said Doctor Hugh +crisply. "It is out of the question for you to sleep with your +barnyard friends. Everyone of them must go down cellar for the rest +of the night and we'll talk about what is to be done with them in +the morning." + +Sarah wept and protested and even tried to fight for her pets, but +Winnie and the doctor were deaf to her pleas. Between them, they +carried down every forlorn animal--Sarah's tastes ran to the lame +and the halt and the blind,--and then Doctor Hugh opened the window +wide (Sarah had insisted on keeping both windows closed lest a draft +strike the sick kittens), kissed the back of his small sister's +head, for she persistently refused to turn her face toward him, and +snapped off the light, leaving Sarah to cry herself to sleep. +Rosemary and Shirley, in the next room, had slept peacefully through +the racket. + +Unfortunately the next morning a call came for the doctor before +eight o'clock and snatching a hasty breakfast, he was out of the +house before the girls came down. He had no opportunity for the talk +with Sarah that day for although he came home to lunch, she was, of +course in school, and he did not get home in time for dinner. In +fact, it was nearly nine o'clock before his car rolled into the +drive. + +Aunt Trudy and Rosemary, Winnie told him, had gone to the movies as +a Friday night treat, and Sarah and Shirley had gone to bed promptly +at eight o'clock. + +"I was setting bread, and didn't see 'em go," Winnie added +significantly. + +Doctor Hugh went upstairs to the third floor. A light shone under +Sarah's door. He knocked, then tried the knob. It was locked. + +"Open the door, Sarah," he said quietly. + +"Go away!" quavered Sarah, tears in her voice. + +Doctor Hugh remembered the communicating door and strode through +Rosemary's room. Shirley was fast asleep in her older sister's bed. +Sarah had not thought to fasten the door between the rooms and she +looked up startled, as her brother came in. She had not undressed, +and she sat on the floor, the kittens in her lap. The dog and the +rabbits and the rooster were all back in their places. + +"This settles it!" said the doctor adamantly. "There's only one way +to deal with you, Sarah, and that is to come down like a ton of +bricks. You can't keep any pets for two months--that's final." + +"Any more pets?" suggested Sarah. + +"I said any pets," was the reply. "If you can find homes for these, +well and good; if you can't, I'll try to dispose of them for you. +But to-morrow morning, they go away. And now you'll have to help me +get them down cellar." + +When Sarah finally understood that she was to be deprived of all her +pets at once, she wept miserably. No amount of tears or storming or +wheedling or pleading, however, could alter Doctor Hugh's decision. +Even Winnie suggested that one kitten be kept, but to no avail. + +"Sarah must learn she can not do as she pleases and escape the +consequences," he said to Rosemary, who came to him on Sarah's +behalf. "Half way measures don't go with her, I find, so I've had to +be drastic. I'm sorry, too, Rosemary, but I believe I am making the +future easier for one strong-willed little girl." + +He found homes among his farm patients for all the animals and saw +to it that Sarah went with him to carry the pets to their new +abodes. She felt much better when she saw that they were to be well +cared for, but it was a long time before she would go near the empty +rabbit hutch in the side yard. Jack, who discovered that she avoided +it, chopped it up at last for kindling wood for Winnie and Sarah was +silently grateful. She missed her pets inexpressibly, but the rest +of the household, it must be confessed, enjoyed their absence +thoroughly. Sarah and her animals had absorbed the foreground for +many hectic weeks. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +A MYSTERY SOLVED + + +The brief month of February was starred for the Willis family by the +little mother's birthday. She was steadily improving, according to +her own letters and the reports from the doctors, and Doctor Hugh, +who spent at least one week-end each month with her, brought back +glowing accounts of her progress along the road to health. He +managed to get away to spend her birthday with her and personally +carried her the gifts and notes and loving wishes of the three +girls, Aunt Trudy, Winnie and close friends who also remembered. + +Almost before the snow had gone, talk of the March fair began to +engage the attention of the Eastshore school pupils. This was an +annual event and there was much rivalry between the three schools as +to which should turn in the most money. The proceeds of the fair +went to the Memorial Hospital in Bennington, rather had gone into +the building fund until this year for the hospital had recently +been completed. The high and grammar and primary schools, each had +tables and exhibits and there was always a large attendance during +the Friday afternoon and Saturday the fair was under way. + +"The high school is going to have a cafeteria," reported Rosemary at +dinner one night. "I wish we'd thought of that. The boys are going +to wear white aprons and caps and stand behind the tables and serve +the food, while the girls act as waitresses and carry out the dishes +and look after the silver. They want every one to eat their supper +there Friday and Saturday night." + +"All right, we'll come," promised Aunt Trudy. "Hugh can meet us +there, can't you, Hugh?" + +"Of course," he agreed. "But I'm saving my money for the grammar and +primary school tables--I want that understood. I'll treat you all to +supper, and please Jack Welles at the same time, but the real +expenditures of this family must be where they'll count for the +lower grades." + +The three girls beamed upon him approvingly. + +"I'm going to have charge of the cake table," said Rosemary. "Tell +Winnie to buy our Sunday cake from me, won't you, Aunt Trudy? I +have ten different kinds of icings to make--every one of the girls +has asked me to ice her cake, because they say I always have good +luck." + +"I hope you'll use sugar and not salt," murmured the doctor +wickedly. + +"Oh, Hugh, wasn't that soup too dreadful!" said Rosemary, shuddering +at the recollection. "I know perfectly well I didn't put in too much +salt and yet no one else seasoned it--I wish I knew how it +happened." + +"Let it go as a mystery," advised her brother. "What are you going +to do in the fair line, Sarah?" he added, turning to her. + +"Sell gold fish," she answered placidly. "What are you laughing at?" +she asked them in surprise. "I have a great big bowl with gold fish +in it and a lot of little bowls; and people buy the little bowls for +fifteen cents and I dip out two gold fish with a soup ladle for +twenty-five cents, and they take them home." + +"I'm going to sell little baby bouquets," announced Shirley, who +looked like a "baby bouquet" herself in a pink challis frock. "I +have 'em on a tray and I walk around and people buy them for their +buttonholes." + +"I'll be your first customer, sweetheart," Doctor Hugh assured her. + +Preparations for the fair absorbed most of the after-school time of +the next two weeks. There were committee meetings and inter-class +conferences, and difficulties that required to be straightened out +and sensitive feelings that needed careful handling. + +"We could get along so much faster, if every one was pleasant," +sighed Rosemary to her brother. "Fannie Mears has a dozen +pin-cushions to make and she made twelve of us promise to take one +and finish it for the fancy-work table; and then she wouldn't help +iron the napkins for the cake plates. She said it wasn't her table +and she didn't intend to waste her time. Harriet Reed heard her and +she was so mad she ripped up the pincushion she had just sewed and +the sewing teacher found it in the waste-basket and she says Harriet +has to buy material to replace the stuff she tore and she can't go +home after school to-morrow until she has made another pincushion." + +"Well, I don't think Harriet helped her cause much," said the doctor +pacifically. + +"Well Fannie Mears is too mean," said Rosemary. "It isn't a very +nice thing to say, Hugh--" + +"Then don't say it, dear," he countered promptly. "Don't gossip, +Rosemary. I know of nothing harder on the nerves and temper than a +fair, and if you can keep cheerful and serene and not quarrel with +your friends and above all, don't talk about them in their absence, +you will have done better than most fair workers twice your age." + +Rosemary remembered this bit of advice often in the turbulent days +that followed. Fannie Mears was one of those girls who manage to sow +discord and dissension wherever they go. She had a tireless industry +that commended her to her teachers and she was always ready to +accept additional tasks and duties. What they did not see was that +she distributed these tasks among her friends and the girls in the +lower grades and then was unwilling to help them in turn. + +"I suppose you've heard what Fannie Mears and Nina Edmonds have done +now?" remarked Sarah one noon period when the fair was a scant week +off. + +"No, what?" asked Rosemary who avoided Nina's name whenever +possible. + +"Why they've taken three dozen needle-books that have to have the +flannel leaves tied in them with ribbon," explained Sarah. "See, +Shirley has four to do. Fannie and Nina promised Miss Carlson +they'd do them, and now they've handed them all out in the primary +grades. They wanted me to do six, but I wouldn't." + +Sarah was engrossed with the gold fish which had already arrived and +were housed in the natural history room in the high school building. +She visited them several times daily and in his heart Mr. Martin, +the biology teacher feared she would kill them with kindness before +the fair opened. + +"Shirley doesn't mind tying the leaves in, do you dear?" asked +Rosemary cheerfully. + +"Not much," replied Shirley, "only I wanted to cut the ribbons for +my flower bouquets yesterday afternoon, and Fannie wouldn't lend me +the scissors." + +"I'll help you do it this afternoon," promised Rosemary, who had +planned to assemble the recipes for her cake icings and see what +supplies were lacking that she would need. + +"If that fancy-work table ever gets enough things, the rest of us +may be able to pay a little attention to our own tables," she said +to herself. + +But that afternoon Shirley came crying to Rosemary to say that she +had lost the four little needle-books. + +"I've looked everywhere," the child insisted. "All over everywhere, +Rosemary. And they're all gone." + +"That means I'll have to make four," said poor Rosemary. "Don't cry, +Shirley, Sister will see that you have four needle-books to turn in. +Though I don't see how you could lose them," she added wearily. + +"I'll bet Fannie Mears took those books," declared Sarah when she +heard of the loss. "It would be just like her. She thinks it's smart +to get four extra books." + +Rosemary protested weakly at this idea. In her heart of hearts, she +thought Fannie quite capable of such an act, but she had loyally +resolved to try and follow Hugh's advice. + +"But I can't help wishing he knew Fannie," said Rosemary to herself. + +She made the needle-books and helped Shirley measure and cut the +ribbon for her bouquets. Sarah's "soup ladle" proved to be a net and +that small girl "experimented" with the netting so earnestly that +she required a new net to be inserted practically every day. Of +course Rosemary was called on for this and as a result her own work +was left quite to the last. + +"But I couldn't ice the cakes till the day before the fair, anyway," +she said philosophically to Miss Parsons, "though I did want to +have time to see that the plates and napkins were matched; last year +we ran short of napkins." + +The morning of the fair, Rosemary hurried upstairs to ice her cakes. +They were all arranged on the kitchen table, thirty of them, each +one a triumph of culinary art. Rosemary was excused from school for +the day, but the cakes had been baked late the previous afternoon +for it was a school rule that the fair was not to interfere with +class attendance. + +"And I don't see why Rosemary Willis should be excused," muttered +Fannie Mears indignantly. + +"I suppose you think she can ice thirty cakes in half an hour," +Sarah flung back. "And set the table and go home and get dressed, +too." + +Humming happily, Rosemary tied on her white apron and went about her +mixing. As she had said, there were ten different icings to be made, +the same flavor being allowed only three cakes. Some were loaves and +some were layers and one or two had been scorched. These Rosemary +carefully grated and planned to ice thickly. + +In the midst of her work she made a distressing discovery. The linen +cloth for the table was soiled! + +"I'm just as sure as I can be that it was clean in the drawer last +night," Rosemary confided to Miss Parsons. "I looked the last +thing." + +She had found it rolled up in a wad and stuffed at the furtherest +end of the table drawer. Not only was it rumpled, but it showed +several stains. + +"I'll go home this noon and get one of ours," said Rosemary. "I +think I'll be glad when this fair is over." + +"I think we'll all be glad," replied Miss Parsons, frowning a +little, for the cloth incident annoyed her. She, too, had been +certain it was clean the afternoon before. + +Rosemary went home at noon, leaving half the cakes to do on her +return. A large bowl of chocolate icing stood on the table, covered +with a muslin cloth. + +There was no one to see the kitchen door open slyly fifteen minutes +later, no one to see a figure dart in and make for the table. One +hand lifted the muslin cloth, the other reached for the large tin +salt shaker. + +"Drop that!" said a voice peremptorily. + +The shaker dropped to the floor with a clatter, and Fannie Mears +turned to face Mr. Oliver. + +"What are you doing in here?" he asked sternly. "Did Miss Parsons +ask you to do anything to that bowl?" + +At that moment Miss Parsons herself came into the kitchen. + +"I was looking for you," Mr. Oliver explained, "and I saw Fannie +Mears about to shake something into that large bowl on the table. I +thought Rosemary Willis was working here this morning." + +"She was--" Miss Parsons stooped to recover the shaker. "Salt!" she +ejaculated as she saw what it was. "Fannie Mears, I do believe you +were going to salt Rosemary's icing!" + +Fannie began to cry. + +"Did you salt the soup last fall?" asked the teacher sternly. "Did +you? Answer me, Fannie." + +"Yes, I did," sobbed Fannie. "I got so sick and tired of hearing +about Rosemary and her cooking. I put in the salt while she was +looking at the tables in the dining-room with you. It makes me sick +to hear all the fuss people make about her being such a good cook." + +Rosemary, breathless from running, burst in at that juncture, the +clean tablecloth under her arm. + +"Rosemary," said Mr. Oliver gravely, "Fannie has just told us that +it was she who over-salted the soup at the Institute dinner--you +remember?" + +"You did?" cried Rosemary, turning to the other girl. "Did you take +the needle-books you gave Shirley, too?" + +Fannie nodded. + +"Did you wad up the clean tablecloth for the cake table?" chorused +Rosemary and Miss Parsons together. "And spill tomato soup on it, +too?" + +"Catsup," corrected Fannie. + +"How can you be so horrid!" cried Rosemary in a burst of frankness. + +"Well, it's your own fault," declared Fannie resentfully. "You've +got a swelled head over your cooking and I just wanted to make you +see you weren't so much, after all." + +"But there were teachers from all over the State at the Institute +dinner," protested Rosemary. "If the dinner was spoiled, they would +blame the school because we were not better taught. And the fair is +for the hospital and if it doesn't go off right, the whole school +loses credit. Don't you see, Fannie, you weren't just hurting me, +but you were making the whole school fall down." + +"You come down to the office with me, Fannie," said Mr. Oliver +sternly. "I think you and I will have a little talk and perhaps you +will see things in a clearer light afterward. Certainly your ideas +need to be set right, if you are to continue in school." + +"Oh, dear, I hope he won't scold her," sighed Rosemary, beginning to +stir the chocolate mixture. "As long as she didn't get the salt into +this, I don't care, and I don't think Mr. Oliver should." + +"He may think differently," said Miss Parsons briefly. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +GARDEN DAYS + + +Mr. Oliver did think differently. He talked very seriously to Fannie +for nearly an hour and then Rosemary was sent for to come to the +office. + +"Rosemary," said the principal, when she appeared, "I know you have +a great many last things to do for the fair, but I had to speak to +you before the three o'clock dismissal bell. Fannie is ready to +apologize to you before your class is dismissed this afternoon." + +He had explained to Fannie that she must either publicly apologize +to Rosemary or be indefinitely suspended. + +"I quite understand," went on Mr. Oliver, "that a belated apology +like this can not make up to you for the humiliation you suffered on +the night of the dinner, but at least the cooking class will know +that you were not at fault. I'm afraid you've had to endure a good +deal of teasing on the score of the salty soup." + +"Oh, I didn't mind, really I didn't!" cried Rosemary quickly. "I'd +rather Fannie didn't say anything, Mr. Oliver. Honestly I would." + +"I think it will be good for her," said the principal whimsically. +"Any girl who can be guilty of a series of such mean little acts as +Fannie has confessed to, can not help but benefit by open +confession." + +"But Mr. Oliver!" Rosemary spoke involuntarily and the color +deepened in her face. + +"Yes?" he encouraged. + +"Nothing--only, if you make Fannie apologize, you are punishing me," +brought out Rosemary desperately. "I can't stand it to sit there in +class and listen to her. I don't care about the salty soup--at least +I don't now; but I know how I should feel to have to get up before +the whole class. Please don't make Fannie do it." + +The principal tapped his desk thoughtfully with his pencil. + +"All right," he said presently. "I certainly have no right to make +you uncomfortable, Rosemary, and even less desire. Apologize here +and now, Fannie, and I'll excuse you from a class acknowledgment. +But only on Rosemary's account, mind you. I think you deserve all +the punishment I can give you." + +Fannie made a faltering and shame-faced apology and then Rosemary +was allowed to go back to the kitchen and, as the three o'clock bell +sounded, Fannie to go home. She did not come to the fair and her +class mates did not see her again till next Monday. + +True to his promise, Doctor Hugh took his family to the high school +cafeteria for supper and Jack Welles, who was one of the carvers, +served them in fine style. Frank Fenton was manager and he insisted +on securing the most desirable table for them, much to Doctor Hugh's +amusement and Sarah's ill-concealed disgust. + +"Why do you smile and say 'How do you do' to him, Rosemary?" she +demanded of her sister hotly. "I think it's untruthful to pretend to +like people you don't." + +"Well it isn't!" flung back Rosemary, who was tired from standing +behind the cake table that afternoon. "It's impolite to stick out +your tongue at them the way you do!" + +"Let me catch you doing that!" Doctor Hugh warned Sarah. "However, +children, let's not have any quarrels on a fair night. How late are +they going to keep this up, Rosemary?" + +"Only till eight o'clock," Rosemary answered. "We have to go back, +now, Hugh, and serve at the tables. Are you and Aunt Trudy coming +up?" + +"Right away," he assured her. "And we'll bring our pocketbooks." + +The fair was an unquestionable success. Shirley's bouquets sold +swiftly and her tray was replenished again and again that evening +and during the next Saturday afternoon. Sarah convulsed her +customers by her business-like manner and she did a thriving trade +in gold fish. + +Winnie came Saturday afternoon and bought a large cake and another +for Mrs. Welles who was kept home by a bad cold. The coveted state +of bare tables was attained an hour before the fair was scheduled to +close Saturday afternoon, and the Eastshore pupils had the pleasant +knowledge that they would have more money to turn over to the +hospital than in any previous year. + +Spring came to Eastshore with fascinating suddenness. One night it +was blustery and cold and householders stoked their furnaces with a +sigh for the nearly empty coal bins, and the following morning a +South wind blew gently, robins chirped on the lawns that showed a +faint green tinge and children appeared in school with huge bundles +of pussy willows. + +"What do you say to fixing up the garden, Rosemary?" Doctor Hugh +suggested, tumbling a sheaf of seed catalogues on the living-room +table early in April. "If Mother comes home in June, she'd like to +find plenty of flowers growing, wouldn't she?" + +"Oh, yes!" Rosemary's response was enthusiastic. "Do let's plan a +garden, Hugh, and if it doesn't cost too much, we could have Peter +Cooper fix up the lawn. It's rather thin in spots." + +The gardening fever seized upon the Willis family and the girls sped +home from school to dig and plant and rake and hoe. They recklessly +promised Winnie a vegetable garden back of the garage and risked a +late frost to jab onion and radish and lettuce seeds into the patch, +Peter Cooper, the handy man, spaded up for them. Rosemary acquired a +line of golden freckles across her nose and Sarah "got a shade +darker every day," according to Winnie. + +"I don't care!" the object of her solicitation retorted. "I won't +wear a hat--they're hot and stuffy and make my head ache." + +"But your mother won't know you," urged Aunt Trudy, who was sewing +on the porch in the warm sunshine. "She'll take you for an Indian." + +"Oh, I guess my mother'll know me," said Sarah, but all her +determination could not keep out a note of doubt in her voice. + +The next morning she was late for breakfast. Rosemary called her +twice and Winnie went up to see what was the matter. + +"She says she's all dressed and she's coming right away," she +reported, but no Sarah appeared. + +Doctor Hugh went to the foot of the stairs. + +"Sarah!" he called in a tone that seldom failed to produce results. + +"I'm coming," answered Sarah, and they heard her feet beginning the +descent of the stairs. + +She came into the dining-room so quietly, that Aunt Trudy glanced at +her in surprise. + +"Why Sarah!" she gasped, "What in the world have you done to your +face?" + +"What's the matter with it?" demanded Sarah hardily. + +"It looks skinned," said Shirley critically. "You can't go to school +looking like that, can she Hugh?" + +Rosemary seemed to understand. + +"So that's what you were doing last night!" she said. "I wondered +what you were fussing around so for; your light was burning long +after I went to bed." + +"You've skinned your face, child," insisted Aunt Trudy. "I never saw +a worse looking complexion, never. What have you done to yourself?" + +Winnie, bringing in the later-comer's oatmeal, took one hasty +glance. + +"My land, Sarah, have you been walking in your sleep?" she asked in +alarm. "You look as though you'd fallen out of a window and landed +on your face." + +Sarah's eyes filled with tears and two splashed down into her lap. +She looked at Doctor Hugh, who nodded to her encouragingly. He had +not said a word since her entrance. + +"Never mind what they say, Sarah," he told her cheerily, "just tell +your old brother about it; looks are not the most important thing in +this world, are they?" + +"Aunt Trudy said my mother wouldn't know me," explained Sarah, +winking back the tears for her poor sore face smarted at the touch +of salt. "And I bleached all the brown off, Hugh; only it is so +sore." + +"My dear child!" he said in amazement. Then added, "What did you put +on your face, dear?" + +"Well, you see, I wanted it to be real white," said Sarah, sure that +he would understand, "so I used a cucumber and buttermilk and a +lemon and I scrubbed it afterward with pumice stone." + +They stared at her a moment in silence. + +"It's a wonder you have any face left," declared Winnie. "I missed +the buttermilk from the refrigerator." + +Doctor Hugh said little then, but he took Sarah into the office and +put something healing on the red little face. Then he explained that +Aunt Trudy had only been teasing her, and that tan was pleasing to +most people because it showed that the owner of the face liked to be +outdoors. He allowed Sarah to go with him on his rounds that morning +and so saved her the ordeal of going to school to meet the +inevitable questions about her face. And, after the girls were in +bed that night, he "spoke his mind" as Winnie said, to her and Aunt +Trudy. + +"I'd rather have her tanned as black as a piece of leather," he +concluded, "than to be fussing with 'creams' and bleaching lotions. +For goodness sake, don't bother her about her looks for at least ten +years. She'll begin soon enough." + +So Sarah gardened to her heart's content without a hat, and in time +the seeds planted made a creditable showing. The doctor spent +several evenings figuring and at last decided they might afford to +have the house painted. He chose a deep cream color, after many +family consultations, combined with a soft brown and when it was +finished every one was pleased and sure that the little mother, for +whom it was really done, would be equally delighted. + +It did seem a waste of sunshine to be obliged to be cooped up in +school during such enchanting weather, but it was impossible to +convince the trustees of this. The three Willis girls had to be +content with spending every hour out of school in the open air. Jack +Welles was also gardening and though he gloomily spoke of the +weeding to come, he taught the girls many things about planting and +showed them how to care for the shrubbery that Doctor Hugh had sent +out from the nearest nursery and had small time to care for himself. + +"Mother does love roses so," said Rosemary once, "and Hugh is +determined to surprise her with a lot of new bushes." + +"Is that why you're named Rosemary?" asked Jack curiously, thinking +it strange that he had never noticed before how pretty freckles +were. + +Rosemary's expressive face sobered. + +"Partly," she answered, "but I had a sister, you know, whom I never +saw. She was named Mary, for Mother. And she died when she was three +years old. So when I was born, a year later, Mother named me +'Rosemary,' which means remembrance. Mother told me once that I was +named in memory of the little dead sister, and for the flowers she +loved and to please my father who thought 'Mary' the most beautiful +name in the world. So I've always liked my name." + +"It suits you, somehow," said Jack. "Want to hold this bush steady +while I fill in round the roots?" + +Whenever Jack was touched, he sought employment for his hands, for +fear he might say something to show his feeling. He had all the +boy's horror of "making a fool" of himself. + +April, with its soft, sudden showers and its exquisite velvety +greens ran into May with its first hot days and the sound of Peter +Cooper's hammer loud in the land as he diligently worked putting up +screens and awnings. Aunt Trudy began to "feel the heat" and Winnie +and Sarah battled again over the ethics of killing defenseless +flies. + +Toward the end of the month, the Student's Council, conceived the +plan of holding a picnic for the three schools, an all-day picnic +some Saturday. The plan was proposed at a morning assembly and met +with such vigorous and hearty response that the date was settled +upon then and there. Winnie was besieged that night by three excited +girls who asked her advice on what "would do" to take to the picnic. + +"We want to take enough, because some of them will bring only a +little," said Rosemary. "The boys always stuff an apple in their +pockets and then wonder why they are hungry when noon comes." + +"I'll pack you three lunches that will be lunches," promised Winnie, +"and there'll be enough to give away, too." + +"We're going in motor trucks," bubbled Shirley, "I want to ride up +front." + +"I want to ride on back," proclaimed Sarah who never, by any chance, +seemed to agree with anyone else. "I want to ride with my feet +hanging over. And I'm going to tie a string to Shirley's rag doll +and drag it in the dust--like the pictures in the Early Martyrs +book, you know." + +Shirley began to hop up and down with anger and began to cry. + +"I won't have my dolly dragged in the dust," she shrieked. + +"Martyrs have to be dragged in the dust," the perverse Sarah +insisted. "I want to see her bounce when she hits the stones." + +"Oh, Sarah, do be still," begged Rosemary. Then, to the weeping +Shirley, "Sarah is only teasing you, darling. She wouldn't hurt your +dolly." + +"Are the teachers going?" asked Aunt Trudy anxiously. "I hope some +older people will be on hand to look after you." + +"Oh, the teachers are going--worse luck!" Sarah assured her. "I'll +bet they shriek every time I find a water snake." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE SCHOOL PICNIC + + +The Saturday chosen for the picnic dawned clear and warm and there +was no sleep for anyone in the Willis family after six o'clock. +Shirley and Sarah had to be forcibly restrained from investigating +the boxes on the kitchen table and Winnie finally decided to finish +packing them before breakfast, in order to "get a moment's peace" as +she said. + +Sarah flatly refused to go to the picnic unless her red tie could be +found, not that she wanted to wear it for decorative purposes, she +carefully explained, but because she thought she could catch minnows +in it. There was a brook running through the picnic field and Sarah +meant to explore it thoroughly. + +By the time Rosemary had found the tie, Shirley had managed to upset +the shoe blacking on her white shoes and had to be hastily refitted +with tan socks and oxfords. Rosemary, flying down the hall with a +new pair of shoelaces for her sister, brushed past Doctor Hugh on +his way to the breakfast table. + +"Is there a fire, or is it only the picnic?" he asked humorously, +and she assured him that it was "always like this" on picnic +mornings. + +"Well I don't envy the job of the chaperones," said the doctor +feelingly, when they were at last seated and Aunt Trudy was pouring +his coffee. "You and Shirley," he said to Sarah, "want to do as +Rosemary says to-day." + +"Then I hope she doesn't say much," retorted Sarah ungraciously. + +"If I thought you meant to be as rude as you sometimes sound, Sarah, +I'd read you a lecture on politeness," said her brother, rather +sternly. "But we won't spoil a holiday by bickering. Can you all go +together in the same motor truck?" + +"Mr. Oliver said we could do as we pleased, as long as none of the +trucks were overcrowded," explained Rosemary. "I'm going to try and +have Sarah and Shirley in the same car with me; you see if three +other girls want to go together, that will just even it up." + +"All right, children, have a good time and don't eat too many +sandwiches," said the doctor cheerfully. "I'm sorry I can't stay to +see you off, but I'll hear all about the fun to-night. Try not to +go crazy, Auntie, before these Indians are safely out of the house." + +As soon as he had gone, the girls began to "pack up" though the +motor trucks were not to leave the school grounds till half-past +nine. They were all dressed in white and each carried a sweater, +Sarah's red, Rosemary's blue and Shirley's apple green. Winnie had +made up a generous box of lunch for each, and three vacuum bottles, +a surprise from Doctor Hugh, were waiting them, filled with +lemonade. + +"I think we'd better go early, Winnie," said Rosemary, "on account +of getting in the same truck. The earlier we are, the better chance +we have of getting seats together." + +"Yes, it's always well to go early to any picnic," replied Winnie +wisely. "The fun can't begin till you start, so why delay?" + +The motor trucks were drawn up before the school when the girls +reached the grounds and a group of boys and girls were standing +about them. They made a parade showing, being six in number and +gaily decorated with flags and bunting. There were two teachers +assigned to each truck and Rosemary was delighted to find that Miss +Parsons and her class teacher, Miss Penfield, were to be in charge +of one of the grammar school trucks. + +"Why I don't see any reason why you and your sisters shouldn't be +together," Miss Penfield answered when Rosemary asked her about +Sarah and Shirley. "Hop in here, and you'll be placed and may not +have to move." + +But just before the trucks were ready to start, Nina Edmonds and +Fannie Mears hurried up. They tried to climb into the truck where +Rosemary sat. + +"Got my load now," said the driver promptly, but pleasantly. "You'll +have to go in the next car." + +"That's full of primary kids--we don't belong in there with them," +protested Fannie. "Oh, look, there are Sarah and Shirley +Willis--they can't go in this car, they belong in the primary +grades." + +"Now Fannie, don't be disagreeable," begged Miss Penfield. "Rosemary +wants her younger sisters with her which is perfectly natural. It +won't hurt you to ride in one of the other trucks. Do it to be +obliging, if for no other reason." + +"I'm sure Fannie doesn't want to be disobliging, Miss Penfield," +said Nina smoothly, "but Mr. Oliver distinctly said there were two +trucks for the grammar grades and that we should not go out of our +assigned cars. Besides, Fannie and I want to sit with our friends +and they're all in this car. Rosemary needn't move, but I think +Sarah and Shirley should go where they belong." + +Miss Penfield flushed with vexation and annoyance. Mr. Oliver had +made just that ruling and she knew that Nina was quoting the letter +of his order, while ignoring the spirit. If she chose to make a +scene she could probably send the two girls to the other car, but it +was a question whether in attempting to enforce her commands she +might not at the same time spoil the day for Rosemary. + +"Are you crowded, Miss Penfield?" called Jack Welles, standing up in +the first truck and looking back. "We have room for three up here; +send them along, if you need space." + +"You go, Rosemary, and take Sarah and Shirley," said Miss Penfield +quickly. "Now come in here, Nina and Fannie, and for pity's sake let +us have no more of this jangling." + +The high school cars held the coveted lead in the line and Jack +happened to be in the first one. Rosemary and Sarah and Shirley were +welcomed joyously by the older boys and girls and Nina and Fannie +furiously regretted their insistence. They would have liked to go in +the high school truck and if they had only waited, or had been less +determined in their demands, they might have found places there. + +When the large field, where the Eastshore picnics were always held, +was reached, the trucks were parked in a circle and the pupils +scattered to amuse themselves according to their varying ages and +ideas. Shirley joined the little girls and shrieking games of "Tag" +were immediately under way. Sarah, ignoring the suggestions of her +classmates that they hunt for wildflowers, dropped flat on her +stomach and began a search for bugs. Rosemary left the lunch boxes +under the eyes of the teachers who gathered in a ring and took out +knitting and fancy work, and went off with half a dozen girls her +age to gather and wash wild-grape vine leaves to serve as plates at +the luncheon. + +As it is at all picnics, no one could really think of anything long, +till the boxes were unpacked and the good things set out. The boys +helped by getting in everyone's way, by tipping over the bottles of +milk and dropping ants and spiders on the tablecloths to frighten +the girls. There were great slabs of moss-covered rock all about +the field and these, when covered with cloths, made the nicest kind +of tables. The groups gathered to suit themselves and when Rosemary +found that Jack Welles, Jerry and Fred Gordon, Ben Kelsey, Norman +Cox and Eustice Gray were gravitating toward the rock she had +selected and that Shirley and Sarah were each bringing a playmate to +eat with them, she was thankful that Winnie had had the packing of +the boxes. + +There were more than enough sandwiches and stuffed eggs and cup +cakes and strawberry tarts to satisfy every one and the boys forgot +to be shy and, to Rosemary's delight, helped themselves without +urging, quite as though they knew Winnie had had their pleasure in +mind, as indeed the good soul had. + +"We're going to play ball this afternoon," said Jack, when it was a +mortal impossibility for any one to eat more. "Mr. Hamlin gave +orders that we must go far enough away so that there would be no +danger of striking any of the kids with the ball. We're going up the +brook away to an open pasture. Can we help you with the dishes or +anything?" he added thoughtfully. + +"There won't be any dishes," smiled Rosemary. "Winnie put in only +paper plates and napkins, and it won't be wasteful to leave the +little that's left for the birds. If you want to bury the boxes, +that will be nice; Hugh always detests any litter left around after +a picnic." + +"We'll dig a hole and bury all the trash," said Eustice Gray +instantly. "Come on, fellows, we'll go collect it." + +"But you haven't any shovel," said the practical Sarah. + +"A-ha, you're a good detective, but you don't know motor trucks," +replied Eustice, grinning at her, for he had taken a fancy to the +odd child who had screamed to him not to mash the spider he had +fished out of his lemonade cup. "All good motor trucks take a spade +with them, under the seat, to use in case they are stuck on some +muddy road." + +"Oh!" said Sarah. "Then I'll come help you." + +And she trotted around after the boys till they had collected the +litter and trash left by each group of picnickers and buried it +neatly in a hole they filled in and stamped down firmly. She would +have gone with them to play ball, but Rosemary held her back. + +"Well, if I can't play ball, I'll go hunt snakes," decided Sarah +whose frock was torn and dirty already, but whose streaked face +was radiant with the good time she was having. + +All the boys, big and little, had disappeared immediately after +luncheon, to play ball in more distant fields. The farmers of the +neighborhood were perfectly willing to lend their pasture land for a +day and there were no crops to be spoiled by tramping feet for +several miles along the brook. + +The younger girls gathered around one of the primary teachers who +promised to tell them stories and most of the grammar and high +school girls had brought their crocheting and were ready to sit +quietly a while and exchange patterns. Rosemary, however, did not +feel in what she called a "knitting mood" and when Bessie Kent +suggested that they go wading in the brook, she jumped at the idea. +A dozen girls were found to be aching for a frolic and Miss Penfield +smilingly told them to be young while they could, but not to wade +too far and not to stay too long. + +The water was icy cold, and much laughter and shrieking advertised +the first step, but as soon as they were used to the temperature +only the exhilaration remained. Led by Rosemary, they started slowly +up stream. + +"Good gracious, if Nina Edmonds and Fannie Mears aren't coming, +too," whispered Bessie, glancing back over her shoulder. "Wonder why +they want to tag along?" + +If she had only known it, Nina and Fannie were feeling decidedly +left out of things. They longed to go with the high school girls who +persistently ignored them and they were not at all popular with +their own classmates. When they found that they were to be left on +the edge of the circle of crocheters, they determined to follow the +wading party. Nina privately thought she was far too old to indulge +in such a silly pastime, and Fannie hated walking anyway, but at the +moment wading was better than doing nothing. + +"Who's that shouting?" asked Rosemary, as they rounded a bend in the +brook and heard a distant noise. + +"Must be the boys," replied Bessie. "Yes, see, there they are--way +over there; they're playing ball on the other side of the brook, a +couple of fields further on." + +The girls could see the running figures plainly, and from time to +time a bellow of pure joy and excitement wafted down to them. + +"Don't they have fun--" Rosemary was beginning, when a scream +startled them all. + +"I've cut my foot!" shrieked Fannie Mears. "Oh, the whole bottom of +the brook must be covered with broken glass. Look how it bleeds!" + +She lifted her foot from the water and Nina, who caught a glimpse of +the widening gash, cried out in horror. Fannie let her foot fall and +struck the glass again. She screamed even more loudly and began to +beat the water with her hands. + +"Look out, you won't be able to see the glass!" cried Rosemary, +turning and dashing toward her. "Stand still, Fannie, just a +minute." + +Rosemary stooped and felt carefully down about Fannie's feet. Her +hands struck a broken bottle and she lifted it out and tossed it on +the bank. + +"That's what did it," she said calmly. "Hurry and let me see your +foot--wait I'll pull you up on the bank, Fannie." + +But when Fannie saw her cut foot, which was bleeding profusely, and +the girls, who had crowded around saw it and her white, frightened +face, a veritable panic started. Fannie slipped into the brook, +crying with pain and fright, apparently believing that if her foot +was under water and out of sight it must stop bleeding, and the +other girls began a chorus of shrill screaming that tried Rosemary +to the point of exasperation. + +"How can you be so silly!" she stormed. "Somebody hold Fannie's foot +while I tie it up; I know first-aid. She's losing blood all the +time. Somebody help me--Oh, don't stand there like that! Bessie, +can't you hold her foot just a minute?" + +"I couldn't!" Bessie shivered and drew back. "My knees are wabbling +now, Rosemary. Blood always makes me so sick!" + +"Then run," said Rosemary desperately, seeing that she could expect +no help from the frightened girls about her. "Run, and tell some of +the boys to come quick!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +A LONG YEAR'S END + + +As Bessie obediently started in the direction of the ball-players, +Nina Edmonds uttered a shocked exclamation. + +"Oh, Rosemary, I don't think you should have done that," she said +reprovingly. "We haven't our shoes and stockings on, you know." + +"I suppose we should let Fannie bleed to death, then?" suggested +Rosemary, her great eyes snapping fire. "Fannie won't hold still +herself and not one of you has the nerve to hold her steady and yet +you stand there and make a fuss because a boy may see you without +your shoes and stockings on. If you're going to be ashamed of +anything, Nina Edmonds, be ashamed of being a coward!" + +Nina flushed angrily, but Rosemary was trying to pull Fannie back on +the bank and paid no further attention to her. Fannie fought off any +attempt to touch her and she cried and groaned without a moment's +pause. Rosemary, straightening up after a hard and ineffectual +tussle, was relieved to see Bessie running toward them, followed by +a string of boys, Jack Welles in advance. Bessie's cries had reached +them long before she came to the field and they had correctly +interpreted her frantic appeals for help. + +"Oh, Jack, I'm so glad you've come!" cried Rosemary. "Help me get +Fannie out on the bank. She's cut her foot badly and she won't let +me touch her, to tie it up." + +Will Mears, Fannie's brother, panted up and when he saw his sister +and understood that she was hurt, he bent down and lifted her out +with one swift, strong pull. + +"Gee, you _have_ cut yourself!" he said in distress as he saw the +injured foot. + +"Hush up!" said Jack sternly, as the girls began to shriek again. +"Go away, if you're afraid to look. Rosemary knows what to do, don't +you, Rosemary? Tell us how to help you." + +"Hold her still," directed Rosemary, frantically calling on her +memory for Doctor Hugh's first-aid lessons. "I'll have to wash it +out the best way I can, but I think I can stop the bleeding. Then +we'll have to get her to a doctor." + +"I'll hold her," said Will Mears grimly. "You go ahead." + +Fannie could not twist and squirm in his strong arms, and Rosemary +deftly washed out the great jagged cut that had slashed across the +slim instep, and then, further scandalizing Nina, tore a wide +bandage from the bottom of her petticoat, brought the edges of the +cut closely together and bound it tightly. + +"I think you ought to carry her to the truck," she said, when she +had finished. "Look out, Will, she's fainted. Lay her on the grass." + +The sight of Fannie, white and motionless, frightened the girls, and +it must be confessed the boys, too, far more than her steady +screaming. Rosemary did not appear to be alarmed, but borrowing +Jack's handkerchief, dipped it in the water and gently bathed +Fannie's forehead. Then she took her head in her lap and waited a +few minutes. Presently Fannie opened her eyes. + +"She's better now," said Rosemary. + +"I'll carry her to the truck," declared Will Mears, looking with +respect on the young nurse. "As you say, I think we'd better get her +to a doctor. Some of you run on ahead and explain what has happened +and tell them we want to start back right away." + +The girls sped on ahead and in a few minutes the picnic had broken +up hastily. A sort of bed was made in one of the trucks, using the +sweaters and wraps of the other girls, and Fannie was laid on this, +with her head in Rosemary's lap. Will Mears had no confidence in any +one else's ability to take care of his sister. + +"She would have bled to death, if it hadn't been for Rosemary," he +said to Jack, as the truck started, the driver carefully avoiding +the bad places in the road in order to spare the patient any +unnecessary jar. "I never saw a girl before who could do up cuts and +not scream at the sight of blood. I suppose it's because her brother +is a doctor." + +"Not altogether," replied Jack curtly. "Rosemary doesn't happen to +be the screaming kind of girl." + +Will Mears directed that the truck be driven to Doctor Hugh's office +where, by good fortune, they found him just in from a call, and +Fannie, quiet and spent now, with no breath left for screaming, had +her wound washed with an antiseptic and dressed. Then she was taken +home and put to bed. She was weak from the loss of blood and the +consequences might have been serious, the doctor admitted, if the +cut had not been tied in time. But to Will Mears' glowing praise of +Rosemary, he replied that she had only used her knowledge of +first-aid treatment. + +"Then all girls ought to learn it," burst out the high school +junior. "Those other girls stood around like perfect dubs. Fannie +could have bled to death, for all they did." + +"All girls ought to know first-aid," affirmed the doctor. "My +sisters are not going to be left helpless when an accident happens." + +"But you can't say it's altogether the first aid," persisted Will +Mears. "Look at Nina Edmonds; she might learn the whole programme, +and then, when something did happen, she'd run around like a chicken +with its head off! First-aid doesn't teach you to keep your wits +about you and not to scream and act like a lunatic generally, Doctor +Willis." + +"Well, of course, one needs character as well as first-aid +knowledge," admitted Doctor Hugh, smiling a little, "but if one +knows what to do, there's no temptation to wring the hands and +scream, Will. Rosemary knew what to do, therefore she did it." + +But Will Mears refused to give all the credit to first-aid and +indeed all the boys and girls who had seen Rosemary care for Fannie, +were loud in their praise of her fearlessness and skill. Mrs. Mears +sent for her to come and see Fannie, as soon as the patient grew +stronger, and though Rosemary rather dreaded the visit, she came +away feeling that next term in school she and Fannie would be, if +not close friends, at least on amiable terms instead of irritatingly +hostile which had been their covert attitude this last year. + +For it was time to think of school as "next year," since this term +was so nearly over. The Eastshore schools closed the middle of June +and the week after the picnic the pupils were plunged into the +throes of the final examinations. Even Shirley went about anxiously +wondering if she would "pass" and asking each of her sisters if they +thought she had had good marks during the year. + +"I just have to be promoted," she would say over and over. "I just +have to be promoted, 'cause my mother is coming home." + +"When's Mother coming home?" was Sarah's cry. "You said in a year, +Hugh, and it's a year this month." + +"I think we may look for her home sometime this month," said the +doctor one day when Sarah had asked him for the twentieth time. "You +mustn't expect her to keep a calendar, Sarah and come back on the +exact day she went away. It may be a few days longer, dear." + +"She went away a year ago this Wednesday," said Rosemary, half to +herself. + +"Has it been a long year, Rosemary?" asked her brother, quickly. + +"In spots," answered Rosemary, the tears rushing to her eyes. "It +has been ever so long, sometimes, Hugh." + +"Well, let's all get promoted," suggested Shirley, in her little +chirpy voice. "Mother would like us all promoted, wouldn't she, +Hugh?" + +"She'll about eat you up, promoted or not," he answered, swinging +Shirley to the top of his desk the better to hug her. "But by all +means be promoted; that will be fine news to tell her." + +The dreaded examinations approached relentlessly, engulfed each +fearful class and released them, after a few days, to wait their +fates. Shirley was sure she had "passed in everything," Sarah was +superbly indifferent, and Rosemary had secret qualms about history. +Jack Welles confided that he didn't care so much whether or not he +passed, but the uncertainty was driving him mad. + +"If I pass, I get my choice of three dandy fishing rods," he +explained to Rosemary. "And if I flunk, I have to work in the +garden all summer without a single fishing trip." + +This state of suspense extended to the last day of the term. The +senior classes, in the high and grammar schools, were given their +ratings earlier, to allow them to prepare for the graduating +exercises. Rosemary, Sarah, Shirley and Aunt Trudy went to the +exercises and all through the hot June night Rosemary sat, wide-eyed +and delighted, wondering if the day would ever come when she could +sit on the platform in a white frock with her arms filled with +roses, and perhaps be called on to read an essay. + +The day after the graduation, the cards were handed out among the +other grades. Jack Welles waited to walk home with the Willis girls +and though his patience was sorely tried by the prolonged farewells, +he managed to keep fairly good-humored. + +"Why was Bessie Kent kissing you as though she never expected to see +you again?" he asked Rosemary curiously. "Doesn't she live near you +and won't you see her nearly every day this summer?" + +"Oh, that's just because it was the last day of school," explained +Rosemary. + +"Silly, I call it," declared Sarah, voicing Jack's sentiments. "I +got promoted, Jack. And I'm going to hunt specimens all summer for +the biology teacher. He asked me to." + +"I got promoted, too," cried Shirley proudly. "I got a silver star +on my card. And now I'm in the second grade." + +Jack looked at Rosemary. She nodded happily. + +"Passed in everything," she said. "Even history. Won't it be fun to +be in the grammar graduating class next term!" + +"Well I passed, myself," announced Jack. "Watch me pick out that +fishing rod. And the garden won't see much of me this summer, I can +tell you that." + +"Mother will be so pleased," said Rosemary, as Jack went on to his +house, and the three girls mounted the steps of the Willis home. +"She likes us to do well in school, and Hugh was never kept back a +single year. She would like us to follow his record, I know." + +"The house looks kind of nice, doesn't it?" said Sarah unexpectedly. +Comment of that kind was unusual with her. + +The house did look "nice," its rich cream color showing up the vivid +green of the shrubbery and the velvety surface of the well-kept +lawn. The new rose bushes were bearing well and Doctor Hugh had +managed new green and white striped awnings for the porch. + +"I wish Mother could see the roses," said Rosemary as they went in. + +The late afternoon June sunshine streamed in through the hall window +and made a broad band to the stairway which was in shadow. Voices +sounded in the living room. + +"Hugh's home!" cried Sarah, her quick eyes darting to the hall table +where a man's hat and a light leather bag lay together with a +woman's hat and veil. + +Rosemary saw the hat and veil. They were not Aunt Trudy's. Her heart +gave a sudden leap. + +They went forward across the hall to the doorway of the living-room. +There, in the large arm-chair, facing the door, sat a little woman +with eyes like Rosemary's and dark hair like Sarah, but faintly +streaked with gray across its ripples. She was thin, as though from +a recent illness, but a clear pink glowed in her cheeks and her soft +voice was firm and strong. Her lovely mouth smiled at the girls and +she held out her arms. Doctor Hugh, standing behind her chair, +laughed a little, to keep from crying he afterward said, as Sarah +and Shirley hurled themselves upon their mother, both shrieking, +while they waved their report cards, "We're promoted! We're +promoted! We passed in every single thing!" + +She took them both in her lap at once and their arms were about her +neck. Across the yellow and dark head, her eyes met those of her +oldest daughter. Doctor Hugh, too, looked at Rosemary. + +She had not moved from the doorway since Sarah and Shirley had +brushed past her in their mad rush. Standing motionless and +speechless, a slender hand on either side of the doorframe, she +watched her sisters claim the mother's first kiss. Then, as the +beautiful eyes were raised to hers, she made an effort to speak. All +the love and longing and loneliness of the past year, not fully felt +till now, rushed to her voice. She took a step forward. + +"_Mother!_" said Rosemary. + + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rosemary, by Josephine Lawrence + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROSEMARY *** + +***** This file should be named 20620.txt or 20620.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/6/2/20620/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Jacqueline Jeremy and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/20620.zip b/old/20620.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6fad8da --- /dev/null +++ b/old/20620.zip |
