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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/75380-0.txt b/75380-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4a1a7d4 --- /dev/null +++ b/75380-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4253 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75380 *** + + + + + + Dimple Dallas + + The Further Fortunes of a Sweet Little Maid + + BY AMY E. BLANCHARD + + _Author of "A Sweet Little Maid," "A Dear Little Girl," + "Thy Friend Dorothy," "Kittyboy's Christmas," etc._ + + _ILLUSTRATED BY IDA WAUGH_ + + PHILADELPHIA + GEORGE W. JACOBS & CO + 103-105 SOUTH FIFTEENTH STREET + + Copyright, 1900, by + GEORGE W. JACOBS & CO + + TO + GWENYTH WAUGH + WELL BELOVED FOR HER OWN SAKE, AND FOR THE SAKE + ON THOSE WHOSE NAME SHE BEARS + + A. E. B. + + + + + _CONTENTS_ + + + I. THE NEW SCHOLAR + + II. CHANGES + + III. TROUBLE WITH DONALD + + IV. A NEW DOLL + + V. MORE TROUBLE + + VI. WHERE IS BUBBLES? + + VII. UNCLE HEATH + + VIII. SHOPPING + + IX. AT CHRISTMAS + + X. A HAPPY NEW YEAR + + XI. DON AND A PONY + + XII. A MAY PARTY + + + + + _ILLUSTRATIONS_ + + + BUBBLES TRIED HER BEST TO COMFORT HER + + ELEANOR PROCEEDED TO OPEN THE TRUNK + + THEY HAD LUNCHEON IN THE LIBRARY + + THE TWO LITTLE GIRLS HAD GREAT TIMES PLAYING + + BUSY OVER THE CROWN FOR THE QUEEN TO WEAR + + + + + Dimple Dallas + + + + + _CHAPTER I_ + + _The New Scholar_ + + +The schoolroom was very quiet except for the whisperings from many +rosy lips as the children studied their lessons. Presently Miss Reese +tapped the bell and immediately there was more of a commotion as sundry +small skirts switched out from between the desks and several little +girls took their places in class. Among them was one with fair hair who +turned very red when a question was put to her by the teacher. It was +Eleanor Dallas' first day in school and she was painfully shy at having +to recite before others, for she had always been taught at home, and +having no brothers and sisters, she felt that in the presence of twenty +or more other girls that it would be impossible for her to remember +how to spell _parallel_ or _separate_ or _conscience_, and she spoke so +low when Miss Reese asked her a word that she could scarcely be heard. + +"A little louder, my dear," said Miss Reese; "I cannot hear you." +And then, with all the girls looking at her, and, with a growing +uncertainty as to whether impartial were spelled with a _t_ or a _c_, +she could not say anything. + +A titter ran around the class and poor Eleanor was in a state of abject +misery. Miss Reese, however, said kindly, "Never mind, Eleanor, I will +excuse you from recitations this first day, and give you a little +examination after school." + +"She's going to be kept in," whispered Laura Field to the girl next to +her, and the words reached Eleanor's ears. She had heard of girls being +kept in, and to think the disgrace had fallen upon her this first day. +It was almost more than she could bear, and she sat for the rest of the +period with downcast eyes to hide the tears which would keep welling up. + +Recitations over, the girls flaunted out of the room with many backward +glances directed toward the place where Eleanor was sitting with +such a miserable little face that Miss Reese, looking up and seeing +the trembling lips, felt that something out of the common must be the +matter. "Come here, dear," she said. "Are you not feeling well?" + +"Yes, Miss Reese," faltered Eleanor. + +"I hope none of the girls have been unkind to you. The first day at +school is always a trying one. I remember well enough how I felt when +I was a little girl. Very much as you do, I fancy." She put her arm +around the child and drew her close to her side. "Now," she said, "I +will go over to-morrow's lessons with you. Your mamma has told me +something of your methods of study, and since you have been using +different books from these, it will be better for me to give you some +idea of what we are going to do. There, now, these are your nice fresh +new books. Shall I put your name in them?" + +"If you please," responded Eleanor, quite interested and beginning to +forget her shyness. This being kept in wasn't so dreadful after all. + +Miss Reese went over all the next day's lessons and as she closed the +last book a little negro girl appeared at the door. "Miss Dimple, yo' +ma say, what de reason yuh ain't come home?" she said. + +"I was kept in," said Eleanor rather shamefacedly. + +Miss Reese laughed. "Why, my child, no you were not, at least not with +the general intention that kept in means. I simply wanted to have you +stay that I might go over the lessons with you. Did you think I meant +it for punishment, you poor little girl?" + +Eleanor looked up shyly. "I did think so," she answered. "One of the +girls----" She stopped short. Her Cousin Florence had told her that it +was very, very mean to tell tales about the girls, and that when she +went to school she must never do it, or else the girls would dislike +her. + +Miss Reese noticed the sudden pause and with tact did not pursue the +subject. "Now run along," she said. "To-morrow I hope you will have +good recitations, and you mustn't be afraid to speak above a whisper." + +True enough, the next day Eleanor was so sure of her _tions_ and her +_sions_ that she did not miss a single word, and, moreover, she made +friends with two of the nicest girls who invited her to come to their +own special corner to eat luncheon with them, and in a few days she +felt quite at her ease. She had known several of the girls before she +entered school and before long she had entirely overcome her shyness of +the others. But many of the experiences were novel, especially those +which occurred in the big schoolroom where the whole school assembled +to take part in the physical exercises, to listen to lectures or to +view certain experiments in physics. Eleanor never forgot her first +experience when the subject of electricity was before the school, and +she was invited to stand upon a board set upon four tumblers, and after +a contact with the electrical apparatus found her hair slowly rising +on end. Seeing her startled look, one of her best friends among the +larger girls, Hattie Spear, dropped on her knees and held out her arms. +Eleanor threw herself into them and at the same moment Hattie gave her +a kiss, then she gave a little scream and the girls all laughed, for +Eleanor had given her friend an electric shock. + +It took Mr. Dallas some time to explain the matter to his little +daughter that evening, and she watched for the next thunderstorm +with much interest, for she wanted to show off all this knowledge to +Bubbles. "You know it's electricity that makes the lightning," she told +her. + +"Law, Miss Dimple, how you know that?" returned Bubbles. + +"Papa told me. Just think, Bubbles, it is the same thing that makes the +light burn in the electric lamps." + +"Is dat so?" Bubbles raised her hands and appeared to be much +impressed. Then after some moments given to thought, she said, +"What you say de name of de man what makes de street lights, and de +lightnin'? Mr. Elick Cristy? Whar he live?" + +Eleanor looked at her quite puzzled, and then she laughed, but she did +not offer any explanation, for at that moment her mother called her. +But after that Bubbles always spoke of Mr. Elick Cristy's lights out on +the street corner. + +Eleanor's pet name at home was Dimple, but Mrs. Dallas felt that there +was danger of her little daughter's becoming altogether known by it, +and had asked Miss Reese to call her Eleanor. Dimple felt that this +was a step toward young ladyhood, and was very particular to instruct +Bubbles to call her Miss Eleanor upon every occasion. But Bubbles would +forget and upon the very first rainy day appeared at school with an +umbrella for "Miss Dimple." + +"That's a funny little colored girl," said one of Eleanor's +schoolmates. "I've seen her often but I never knew that she lived at +your house." + +"She has lived with us ever since I was a baby. She is quite a nice +child," returned Eleanor in a dignified little way. "Come here, +Bubbles, and put on my waterproof." + +"Miss Dimple, yo' ma give me a ribbon fo' Floridy Alabamy, dis mawnin', +an' she got one fo' you too," said Bubbles in a confidential tone. + +"Has she?" returned Dimple indifferently. "You may carry my books, +Bubbles. I am going to walk with Janet." Bubbles took the books and +trotted along obediently behind the two girls. Janet was a new arrival +in town and being lately entered at school Eleanor had a fellow feeling +for her. + +"Do you ever play with her?" asked Janet. "And she calls you Dimple; +what does she do that for?" + +"They call me that at home, and, yes, I play with her sometimes." + +"Oh, do you?" said Janet looking surprised. "I believe I'll call you +Dimple," she added. + +"No, please don't. Mamma doesn't want any one to, because she says when +I grow up it will sound ridiculous." + +"All right, then I won't," Janet returned. "I wish you would come over +to my house this afternoon." + +"Oh, no, you come to mine. We can play out in my little house in the +garden, even if it does rain." + +"Have you a little playhouse?" + +"Yes, one all my own. Papa had it built for me." + +Janet was much impressed. "I'll come," she said. And the two little +girls parted to meet an hour later. + +It was Friday afternoon, and there were no lessons to be studied, and +therefore Eleanor counted on having a fine time. "Mamma," she said, as +she entered the house, "I have a new friend, at least I haven't known +her very long and she has never been to see me, but she is coming this +afternoon. Her name is Janet Forrester. She lives in that yellow house +on Main Street, you know, the one by the church." + +"Yes, I know." + +"She hasn't been living in town very long, and that's why she doesn't +know many people. Do you know her mother?" + +"Only slightly. I have called upon her. I hope Janet is a good little +girl, and one that is proper for you to associate with." + +"Oh yes, she is. She wears lovely clothes, and her father keeps a +carriage." + +Mrs. Dallas smiled. "I don't think we can judge by either of those +things. You would better play in your own little house, for your papa +has come home feeling far from well, and I should like to keep the +house quiet." + +Eleanor looked distressed. "Oh, mamma, is he very ill? Will he have to +have a doctor?" + +"He will see Doctor Sullivan, but I hope he is not very ill. When your +little friend has gone, come and tell me about your afternoon together, +but try not to disturb me while I am with papa." + +Eleanor promised, and then went down to her playhouse in the garden. It +was a pretty place, and the little girl was justly proud of it. She +spent much time there, and here she kept her toys, her favorite books +and dolls, and here she most frequently entertained her little friends. + +It was not long before Bubbles showed Janet into the room. Bubbles, +too, was very proud of Miss Dimple's playhouse, and she had quite a +grand air as she ushered this new acquaintance into the presence of the +owner of the house, saying: "Company, Miss Dimple." + +Janet looked around with a critical air, and was immediately seized +with a feeling of envy. "It's a right nice little house," she said +loftily, "but it isn't as big as the one I had at home in Hartford; and +I had real lace curtains to my windows, and Turkey rugs on the floor. +Oh, there's only one room, isn't there? My house had two. Do you keep +your horse and carriage in that stable, I see out there?" + +"No," Eleanor was obliged to confess. "We haven't any horse and +carriage. We keep a cow and chickens, though." + +"I had a pony and a little cart of my own," said Janet grandly. "How +many dolls have you?" + +"Six, I think." + +"I have twenty. You're not going to let that nigger girl stay in here +with us, are you?" + +"Why, yes. She often used to play with my Cousin Florence and me." + +"My mother doesn't let me play with servants," said Janet with a little +haughty air. + +Bubbles looked much crestfallen, but immediately retired when Eleanor +said: "You needn't stay, Bubbles." + +"Now, what shall we play?" said Eleanor, left alone with her guest and +intent upon pleasing her. + +"We'll pretend we are countesses or duchesses or something. No I choose +to be a duchess, and you can be a countess. I'm company and I must be +the finest lady. Duchesses are more important than countesses." + +Eleanor didn't think this was very polite, but she yielded, and, +furthermore, gave up her best doll to her guest. "My best doll is +bigger than this," Janet remarked, "and she has a real gold chain to +wear around her neck. Haven't you more than one silk dress for yours? +All my dolls' dresses are silk. I think a duchess's child ought to be +dressed in silk. I will have to pretend her clothes are much finer than +they really are." + +They played quite happily for a time, although Eleanor did not quite +like the giving up of all her choicest things to her visitor, but she +had been taught that her guests must always have the best of everything +and she made no objections. It was toward the latter part of the +afternoon that Janet suddenly exclaimed: "Oh, where is my pearl ring? +It's gone." + +"Really?" said Eleanor. + +"Yes, I believe that servant girl, you call Bubbles, has stolen it." + +"Oh, no, she couldn't have done that," Eleanor protested, quite +shocked. "Not if you had it on when you came in here, and besides she +wouldn't do such a thing." + +"I don't know about that; anyhow, I had it on when I left home." + +"Perhaps you dropped it somewhere. Let's look for it; you see it has +stopped raining." But no amount of searching revealed the ring, and +Janet repeated her charges against Bubbles. + +"I'm just going to hunt her up, and tell her she's got it, and I'll +make her give it back to me," she said. + +"Oh, no, please," begged Eleanor; "I know she wouldn't take it." + +"Just tell me this then. Has she never taken anything in all her life?" + +Eleanor hesitated. Once Bubbles had possessed herself of some scraps +which she coveted for doll clothes, but her offence had never been +repeated, and Mrs. Dallas trusted her implicitly. "I know she hasn't +taken it," repeated Eleanor, much distressed. + +"You're just trying to shield her," said Janet. "I'm going home and get +my father to send a police officer after her; that's what I'm going to +do." And she flounced out leaving Eleanor in tears. Such a dreadful +threat and poor Bubbles; perhaps she would have to go to prison. +Eleanor's soft little heart was wrung at the thought, and she rushed up +to the house to find her mother and pour the doleful tale in her ears. + + + + + _CHAPTER II_ + + _Changes_ + + +Mrs. Dallas greeted Eleanor's tempestuous entrance with, "Softly, dear, +you know papa is not well." Eleanor lowered her excited tones and +poured forth her grievance, Mrs. Dallas listening quietly. At the close +of the recital she said: "I am sorry, my child, that it has happened, +and from what you tell me, I do not think Janet will prove to be just +the kind of a friend you would prefer. I think the best plan will be +for me to send a note to Mrs. Forrester and tell her that we will use +every means to find the ring, and ask her to let us know if it is +discovered at her own home." + +"Please don't let Bubbles take the note." + +"No, I will not. I am going to send a prescription to the drug store, +and the note can be taken at the same time, but if Bubbles does not +take it, I think you will have to." + +"O, mamma, I don't want to. Can't Sylvy go?" + +"I cannot spare her." + +Eleanor was silent for a moment. She did not want to subject Bubbles to +a possible wordy attack from Janet, and yet she dreaded seeing her late +companion again. But her loyalty to Bubbles at last overcame all other +feeling, and she said: "I don't have to go in, do I, mamma? I can leave +the note at the door?" + +"Yes, that will be quite sufficient." + +"Then I will go instead of Bubbles." + +Her mother smiled. "I thought you would decide it so. I can generally +be sure of my little daughter's good heart." + +"You don't believe Bubbles took the ring, do you, mamma?" + +"No, I think Janet has probably dropped it somewhere." + +Eleanor started off on her errand, and after going to the drug store, +she went on to deliver the note, and reached the gate just in time to +meet Mrs. Forrester coming out with Janet. The two little girls looked +at each other in rather an embarrassed way. It was not an agreeable +meeting for either of them. + +"This is one of your little school friends, isn't it, Janet?" Mrs. +Forrester asked. "Oh, you have a note for me? Wait a minute." + +Eleanor would rather have made her escape at once, but she obediently +remained while Mrs. Forrester read the note. "Why, I don't know +anything about this," said the lady. "What does your mamma mean? What +ring is it she mentions?" + +"Janet lost a pearl ring at our house," Eleanor answered. + +"Did she? I didn't know she had one," said Mrs. Forrester laughing. +"That is one of your fairy tales, Janet." + +"I did have a pearl ring, and that nigger girl stole it," Janet +returned. + +Eleanor flushed up. "She means Bubbles, and I know she didn't steal it." + +"You are a silly little creature, Janet," said Mrs. Forrester airily. +"Where did you get your valuable ring?" + +"I bought it for five cents." + +Mrs. Forrester laughed again. "So precious it must have been. Here, +take this five cents and go buy another, and that will end the matter." + +"I don't want another, I want that one." + +"You spoiled child, I don't believe you did lose it, you just wanted +me to give you the nickel." She turned to Eleanor. "Don't pay any more +attention to it, my child," she said. "It is really of no consequence." + +"Her name is Dimple," broke in Janet. + +"My name is Eleanor," maintained the other, sturdily. + +"It's of no consequence, Dimple," Mrs. Forrester said. "You can tell +your mother that Janet has her ring." + +"But she hasn't," said Eleanor in surprise. + +"She will have as soon as we can go to the shop and get it." + +This sort of reasoning was quite new to Eleanor, and she stood stock +still puzzling over it. While she stood thus a housemaid came out +with something in her hand. "You left this in the sitting-room on +the windowsill," she said to Janet, holding out a little trumpery +ring. Janet shot one look at Eleanor, and Eleanor with a dignified +"Good-evening," turned away thoroughly disgusted with this new +acquaintance, and it is safe to say that Bubbles was immediately +informed of the finding of the ring, and was, moreover, told that +Eleanor did not intend to play with Janet any more, a fact which +pleased Bubbles mightily. + +The next few days, however, were very anxious ones for Mrs. Dallas, for +her husband was found to have a severe attack of rheumatic fever, and +even after he was pronounced better, his recovery was so slow that at +last the doctor said he must go away to some famous springs in the far +west. The day after this was decided upon, Mrs. Dallas called Eleanor +to her. "My little girl," she said, "I am going to ask you to do a very +hard thing for papa and me." + +Eleanor looked up with wide open blue eyes. "Of course I'll do it, +mamma." + +"Wait, dear, till you know what it is. You know the doctor says papa +must go away; now, I do not feel as if he were well enough to travel +that distance alone, besides, in every way it would be better for me to +go with him. He is greatly depressed, and if he were to go off alone he +would mope and be homesick, and the trip would not do him the good that +it ought to. Now, dear, it will be a very expensive journey and it +will not be possible for us to take our little daughter, and besides, +now that she is fairly started in school we do not want her to be +interrupted, so dear----" + +"Oh mamma!" came with piteous entreaty. + +Mrs. Dallas put her arm around the child and drew her close to her. +"Darling, you do not know how hard it is going to be for me to leave +you." + +Eleanor winked away her tears. "Oh mamma, why can't I go to Aunt +Eleanor's and go to school with Florence?" + +"Because several of your Aunt Eleanor's children have the +whooping-cough. Florence was the last to succumb, so a letter from Aunt +Eleanor to-day told me, and you know your Uncle Heath and Aunt Dora +have gone to California to look after some business there that must be +settled up, and Rock will be sent to boarding-school, so you cannot go +to them." + +"And shall you leave me here all alone?" + +"No, indeed; papa and I have talked it over and we have decided to ask +Cousin Ellen Murdoch to come here with her family, and remain while we +are gone." + +"She is the one whose husband died a little while ago and left her +with--how many children?" + +"Four. Yes, she is the one." + +"But, mamma----" + +"Well, dear." + +"I thought--I didn't know that you were very fond of her." + +Mrs. Dallas smiled. "Perhaps I am not so fond of her as I am of some +persons." + +"Then why do you let her come to your house?" + +"Because she needs a change of scene, and it would be a good thing for +her if she could come here till her affairs are straightened out. It +is not only toward those we like that we should show consideration. We +ought not to be so selfish as to entertain only those persons who are +agreeable to us. If a person needs our sympathy we ought to offer it in +whatever way we can." + +"Do you think I ought to entertain Janet?" + +"No," answered Mrs. Dallas smiling, "I don't think she needs your +consideration; if she were in trouble and you could do her a kindness I +think you should do it. Some day you may have an opportunity of doing +some such thing, and then I hope you will not hesitate to do it." + +"Mamma." + +"Well, dear?" + +"Was Cousin Ellen ever hateful to you?" + +"You mustn't ask such searching questions, dear child. All you have to +do is to make it as pleasant as possible for her while she is here. She +has had much trouble and sorrow, but I know she will take excellent +care of you, and the rest we must not think about. Sylvy and Bubbles +will be here and you will be in your own home." + +"But, mamma, I shall miss you so." + +"And I shall miss you, my pet." They hugged each other, but when +Eleanor felt tears splash down from other eyes than her own she +squeezed her mother tighter and said: "Please don't cry, mamma, I will +be very good, I will so." + +"Thank you for the promise, dear. If papa sees you are bright and +cheerful about our going it will make him feel easier, and so will help +him to get well the sooner. See what a baby your mamma is. I must not +go before papa with such teary eyes." + +"With blue eyes trimmed with red," said Eleanor laughing. "Let me go +tell him that I don't mind so very, very much, and--oh mamma, is there +a baby?" + +"You mean among Cousin Ellen's children? Yes, there is a little girl +about a year and a half old." + +"I shall like that. I love babies." And with this Eleanor left the room +to go to her father. + +The next few days were full of excitement, for the packing and +arranging required Mrs. Dallas' constant attention. Mrs. Murdoch was +not to arrive till the evening of the day which saw Mr. and Mrs. Dallas +take their departure. Eleanor kept up bravely till she saw the carriage +turn the corner and then she sobbed unrestrainedly. It was not only +that it wrung her heart to see her father come hobbling on crutches out +of the house, but he looked so pale and thin that the thought of being +separated from him and from her mother was more than she could bear. +Never before did she remember having her mother parted from her for any +length of time, certainly a week, at the furthest, was the very longest +time that they had ever been away from each other. + +Bubbles tried her best to comfort her. "Ne' mind, Miss Dimple," she +said. "Yo' pa goin' off on crutches, but terreckly he comin' back +'thout 'em. Yuh don' want him go hippy-hop all he lifetime." + +[Illustration: "BUBBLES TRIED HER BEST TO COMFORT HER"] + +"No," sobbed Eleanor, "of course I don't, but I do wish he hadn't that +horrid rheumatism, and I want my mamma, I do, I do. It will be so long +before I see her again. I wish I could go, oh, I wish I could go!" she +sobbed afresh. + +Bubbles clasped her knees entreatingly, the tears rolling down her own +cheeks in sympathy. "Miss Dimple, ef yuh cries that-a-way, I git so +miserble I won't know what to do," she said. + +"I'm miserable," said Eleanor. "I wish Florence didn't have the +whooping-cough, then I could go to Aunt Eleanor's." Then suddenly she +thought of Rock Hardy, who this year was at boarding-school. That must +be worse than being left in one's own home, and she began thinking so +hard about him that the tears ceased to flow, and, although it was a +very mournful little face which was seen about the house for the next +hour, no more tears were shed that afternoon. + +Mrs. Dallas had suggested that Eleanor should go with Bubbles to the +train to meet her relatives, and about five o'clock they started down +to the railroad station. "I don't like to see the cars," said Eleanor; +"they make me think of mamma and papa; they are traveling on and on, +and every minute takes them further away." But at this moment the train +came in sight and in watching for the newcomers Eleanor for the moment, +forgot her griefs. + +"There they are, Bubbles," she cried. "I am sure that lady in black +is Cousin Ellen, and there are the two little girls and the boy. +Where is the baby, I wonder. Oh, the conductor is lifting her down. +She can walk, you see, for he has set her down on the platform." She +went forward rather timidly, saying, "I am Eleanor Dallas, and this +is Bubbles. You are Cousin Ellen, aren't you? Shall Bubbles carry the +baby?" + +Mrs. Murdoch assented. "I shall be glad if some one will take charge of +her. I am tired to death. Here, Donald, take these checks and find an +expressman to take the trunks. Eleanor will show you where to go. Come, +Olive, come, Jessie, we can go on." + +Thrust thus suddenly into the company of a strange boy, Eleanor had +nothing to say for some minutes. She was not used to boys, and, as a +rule, avoided them. The one before her was not specially attractive, +she thought, but after a while she found her voice and said: "Here is +the place." + +Donald threw down the checks. "Where are the trunks to go? What is your +number?" he asked Eleanor curtly. + +She told him and when the address was given they went on, Donald +striding along with his hands in his pockets and vouchsafing no reply +to Eleanor's "we go this way." + +"Do we have to walk? Aren't there any electric cars?" he asked when +they had turned the first corner. + +"Yes, but it isn't very far, and the cars don't go by our house," +Eleanor told him. + +"'Tisn't much of a place, is it?" + +"It isn't a real big city, of course. Did you think it was?" + +"No, but you needn't be so smart." + +Eleanor wondered wherein she had shown her special smartness, and made +up her mind, then and there, that this boy was not going to be any +company for her. He was about nine years old, but assumed the manner of +a boy older. The two girls seemed to be about six and eleven. + +Eleanor was glad when they reached home; the others had already +arrived. It gave the child a pang to see Mrs. Murdoch established in +her mother's room, although it seemed perfectly proper that the girls +should occupy the guest chamber. A little room back of it was set apart +for Donald. + +"Say, mamma, I don't like that room," he said on seeing it. "I want one +next to you. Isn't there one there?" + +"Yes, but it is Eleanor's room." + +"Well, I don't care. I always have a room next to you. Her mother isn't +here and she won't care." + +"You will be next to your sisters," said Mrs. Murdoch. + +"I don't want to be next to a pair of giggling girls. I want to be next +to you, so I can call you if I have earache or anything." + +Mrs. Murdoch looked uncertainly at Eleanor. "Perhaps Eleanor would just +as lief be next the girls," she said. + +"Mamma said I was to keep my own room," returned Eleanor with rising +color. "It has always been my room since I had one." + +"Oh, very well," said Mrs. Murdoch. "We'll see about it after a while, +Donald." But Donald's black looks did not add to Eleanor's serenity, +and she felt that every mouthful of supper would choke her although +Sylvy had prepared a specially appetizing meal. + + + + + _CHAPTER III_ + + _Trouble With Donald_ + + +Eleanor soon found that her favorite among the Murdoch children would +prove to be Jessie. Olive, the eldest girl, was not a very pleasant +child, being "touchy," critical, prim, and absorbed in herself. She was +fond of reading, but did not enter very heartily into the plays which +entertained Eleanor and Jessie. Mrs. Murdoch was a careful housekeeper, +and also a careful mother but a very indulgent one, and although she +attended most conscientiously to all of Eleanor's creature comforts she +did not give her any of the tenderness which she lavished upon her own +children, and very soon Eleanor came to feel like an outsider in her +own home. + +Her refusal to give up her room to Donald won her that spoiled +youngster's ill-will, and he never lost an opportunity of teasing her, +to Bubbles' great distress, so that finally there was open warfare +between the boy and the little colored girl. + +To Bubbles was given the care of the little baby, Alma, and Eleanor +was seldom allowed to have any of her old-time plays with the little +nursemaid. "You have Jessie and Olive now to play with," her Cousin +Ellen told her, "and I can find other things for Barbara to do." Cousin +Ellen was very precise in some matters and she considered the name +which Eleanor in her baby days had bestowed upon the small negro girl +as a ridiculous one, she therefore called her Barbara. At first Bubbles +declined to respond to this, but she soon found that she must. Sylvy +took her leave shortly after Mrs. Murdoch's arrival, declaring that she +would not come back till Mrs. Dallas returned. "I don't like nobody +al'ays fussin' roun' my kitchen," she said, "an' I wants to res' up, +anyway." + +Therefore another woman was installed in Sylvy's place and Eleanor was +never allowed to go into the kitchen to make patty-cakes or to help +Bubbles in order that she might the sooner get through her work and +come out to play with her beloved Miss Dimple. + +Nevertheless, Bubbles was permitted to take little Alma down to the +playhouse, on occasions, and many a good time Eleanor promised herself +there, for this was specially her own, and if she wanted a quiet place +of retreat she could always go there. + +But one Saturday morning when she was skipping down to her little +house, she was surprised to see Donald busily engaged in carrying her +toys out on the small porch, and depositing them there. She stood still +in amazement, and then cried out sharply, "What are you doing, Donald? +Let my things alone." + +"I'm not hurting your old things," Donald returned. "I'm putting them +down carefully enough, silly dolls and trash as they are." + +"They are not trash, and I'll thank you to put them back again." + +"I'm not going to do anything of the kind; I'm going to have this for +my house while I'm here." + +"Where did you get the key?" + +"From where it belongs, on the nail behind the dining-room door." + +Eleanor was aghast, then, with a lump in her throat, which threatened +every moment to be followed by a flood of tears from her eyes, she ran +back to the house, and hunted up Mrs. Murdoch. "Oh, Cousin Ellen," she +cried in a tumult, "Donald is taking all my toys out of my playhouse. +Please, won't you make him stop?" + +Mrs. Murdoch put down her piece of sewing very deliberately. "Donald +asked me if he could have the use of the playhouse," she said. "I +never allow him to play in the street, and his room is so small that +he cannot enjoy playing there, and there is no room that can be spared +for a play room in the house, besides, if there were it would be much +better to let him play out there in the garden where he can make all +the noise he chooses." + +"But," said Eleanor, the tears beginning to rise, "that is my +owny-doney house. Papa had it built e'spressly for me. It's my own, my +very own, and I don't want Donald to have it. I should think he could +play in the garden and the wood-shed and in such places as the other +boys in the town do." + +Here spoke up Olive. "I think you are very selfish. Don't you, mamma? I +always give up to Donald when mamma asks me to, don't I, mamma?" + +"I don't care; he is your brother and that is different," replied +Eleanor. + +"All the more that he is not your brother," returned Olive. "I don't +think you are a bit generous about your things when Donald is a +stranger here, too, and he doesn't know near so many people as you do. +Mamma said that if he got acquainted with one or two nice boys that she +would allow him to have them here to play if they could play in the +playhouse." + +Poor Eleanor looked the picture of distress. To be accused of +selfishness and to be robbed of her dearly loved place of refuge, that +was too much to stand, and she turned from the room without a word, +scarcely hearing Mrs. Murdoch's words: "You can have Barbara, for a +little while to help you move your toys. Olive will be kind enough to +give a portion of her time to the baby, I am sure. Go, Olive, and tell +Barbara to help Miss Eleanor to carry in her things. Your room will be +quite large enough to hold them, Eleanor." + +By this time Eleanor had fled to the garret and there Bubbles found +her, after some searching, crying as if her heart would break. "He +stole my key, Bubbles, he did, and he's moving everything out of my +dear house, and----Oh, I wish mamma would come home. Nobody loves me +here. I want my own mamma." Bubbles was the picture of distress, she +possessed herself of one of Eleanor's hands; patting and stroking it, +she begged the unhappy child not to cry, comforting her as best she +could, so that after a while Eleanor, with a great sigh, stopped her +sobbing and said: "I suppose I am very selfish, for mamma gave up her +house to Cousin Ellen, and I ought to give up mine to Donald. Come, +Bubbles, let's move the things, but I hate Donald; I just can't bear +him." + +They proceeded to the garden where Donald was still busy setting dolls +and dishes outside the little house. Without a word Eleanor and Bubbles +began picking up the things to carry them to the house. "You can just +leave the books and pictures," said Donald, condescendingly. "I don't +mind having them there. Most of the books are girl books, but some of +them, those fairy tales and things like that, I can read." + +"I shall not leave one single thing," said Eleanor shortly. + +"You're a mean, selfish girl," retorted Donald, and catching sight of +her swollen cheeks and red eyelids, he added: "Cry-baby, cry-baby, had +to give up your house whether you wanted to or not, didn't you?" + +"No, I didn't," returned Eleanor fiercely. "I gave it up because my +mother was kind enough to give up her house to your mother when she +didn't have anywhere else to go, and I am doing the same, but I wish my +Cousin Rock were here to fight you. I'd fight you myself if I were a +boy, and I wish my father would whip you till you couldn't see." + +In a transport of rage Donald picked up one of Eleanor's dolls and +hurled it to the ground, and then sprang at Eleanor. But Bubbles +interfered between them and received the blow; then she caught the boy +by the shoulders and shook him with all her might, and being a strong +little creature, she managed to throw him down and began to pound him +while he shouted lustily: "Mamma! Olive! Come quick! They're murdering +me!" + +His yells brought Mrs. Murdoch in great excitement. "Eleanor! Barbara! +Stop!" she said in stern tones. "My poor boy, what are they doing to +you?" + +"They set upon me just because I wanted the house to play in," said +Donald, scrambling to his feet, more dusty than hurt. + +"Oh," cried Eleanor, "it wasn't that at all, it was because you broke +my doll and tried to strike me." + +"No, it wasn't, mamma," protested Donald, "they were just mad, and I +didn't break the doll on purpose; it slipped out of my hand. Why didn't +Eleanor come and take out her old things herself? Here I was trying to +help her, and that's all the thanks I get." + +Such a statement of the case amazed Eleanor, but no matter how she +tried to protest, Donald was ready with his excuses, and to his tale +alone would his mother listen, so that Eleanor and Bubbles were marched +back to the house in disgrace, Mrs. Murdoch declaring that she would +not have such a desperate character as Bubbles in the house and that +she must be sent away. "I cannot imagine how Cousin Florence could keep +such a creature, a perfect savage," said Mrs. Murdoch, "and as for you, +Eleanor, you are a very bad example to my children: ill-tempered, +untruthful, selfish; I am almost tempted to write to your mother and +tell her that I will give up the house altogether, and go back to the +city, for even poor rooms would be better than a spot where my children +are in danger. I cannot stand such scenes. Perhaps, however, if we can +remove the evil influence of that colored girl we can get along. I will +see at once about her going." + +At this Bubbles burst into loud weeping, and implored Mrs. Murdoch not +to send her away, reiterating that she was only standing up for Miss +Dimple, and that no boy had any right to hit a girl; to all of which +Mrs. Murdoch was deaf, and both Bubbles and Eleanor were sent to their +respective rooms in a very desperate state of mind. + +From her window Eleanor could see her little house bereft of her toys. +These lay on the ground outside, and Eleanor wondered whether they +would still be allowed to remain there in case of rain. She stood +looking wistfully out when she heard a queer noise from the garret +window above, and leaning out with eyes directed to the window, she +saw Bubbles making mysterious signs. + +Eleanor hesitated for a moment, and then stole into the entry and up +the stairs to the garret. "What are you doing up here, Bubbles?" she +asked in a whisper. + +"I jus' a-tryin' to git a-holt o' yuh, Miss Dimple. I gwine run away." + +"Oh, Bubbles, please don't." + +"Yass, m', I is. I ain't gwine let nobody boss me an' call me +story-teller an' all kin' o' names." + +"Oh, but Bubbles, where will you go?" + +"I gwine to Sylvy. She let me come. She res'n up, yuh knows. She at her +father's house in de country." + +"But that is, oh, ever so far?" + +"Yass, miss." + +"Do you know the way there?" + +"No, m', but the butterman, he do. Sylvy live jes' noways fum his +house, an' when he come I gwine ax him will he tek me." + +"Oh, Bubbles, and I will be left all alone." + +Bubbles looked distressed. "She gwine sen' me off, anyway." + +"I'll beg her not to. She has no right to do it." + +"Dat don' do no good. She kaint see nothin' 'cepin' them childern o' +hern, an' ef dey lies den it all right, an' ef we speaks truff we ain't +all right." + +"I wish I could go, too," said Eleanor mournfully. But just then came a +voice. "Eleanor, where are you? I forbade your leaving your room." + +"You jes' sass her," said Bubbles. "Ef she believe I'm bad, I'm gwine +be bad." + +And Eleanor answered flippantly, "I'm up here, Cousin Ellen." + +"Come down." + +"Tell her yuh won't," urged Bubbles. + +Eleanor hesitated. "What do you want me for?" she compromised by saying. + +"Come down, and I will tell you." + +"You are not my mother, I don't have to come," encouraged by Bubbles, +she said. + +"You are a very bad, impertinent child. Come at once. I want you to go +and bring in those toys that are lying out on the ground cluttering up +the place." + +"I'll do that," said Eleanor, turning to Bubbles. "I'll be there +directly," she called to Mrs. Murdoch. "Tell me before we go, Bubbles, +when are you going to Sylvy? I won't tell." + +"Wednesday, when de butterman comes. I'll sneak out an' tek my bun'le +an' git in de wagon." + +"He comes in the morning when I am at school, doesn't he?" + +"Yass, miss." + +"All right, I reckon you'd better do that. I am sorry, but oh, Bubbles, +I shall miss you." + +Bubbles' fists went up to her eyes and she sat sniffling as Eleanor +departed. + +The latter went immediately to the garden, taking no notice of Donald, +except to make a face at him as she began removing her toys. He +answered with a mocking "Cry-baby!" and Eleanor longed with helpless +rage to do something to punish him, but she could only toil back and +forth from the big house to the little one, carrying her toys, her +books, her pictures. The broken doll she took up tenderly looking down +upon it with sorrowful eyes. "You were such a pretty little thing," she +whispered, "and I did love you so much. Oh, that wicked boy! I'd like +to see how he would feel if some big giant were to dash his brains out +on the ground; you poor dear little thing. You were such a nice size to +play with, and I could do all sorts of things with you that I can't do +with my big dolls." + +She was very tired when the last one of her possessions was removed, +but she called Jessie and told her that she meant to bury her dear +Florence, and Jessie cheerfully acquiesced when asked to attend the +funeral. So Florence was buried under a lilac bush, and then Eleanor +dragged her tired little legs into the house, feeling as if the clouds +were gathering thick and fast over her usually sunny sky. + +But when she went up to her room for the last time that evening she +found on her table two letters, and both of them brought comfort. One +was from her mother. It was full of words of love and bade Eleanor be a +good girl and give her cousin no trouble. Her papa was very tired after +his journey, but hoped he would begin to improve as soon as he was +rested. + +The other letter was from Rock Hardy, and among other things it said: +"Boarding-school isn't much like home, and I'm having a pretty tough +time, but I'm only telling this to you, for I wouldn't be so mean as +to bother mamma about it. I guess I can stand it if the other fellows +can." And these words set Eleanor thinking. + + + + + _CHAPTER IV_ + + _A New Doll_ + + +Mrs. Murdoch was very cool to Eleanor after this, and Olive followed +suit, while Donald did everything in his power to annoy his cousin. +Jessie, however, was too sweet-tempered to make herself disagreeable, +and little Alma was too much of a baby to be influenced against any one +who was always kind to her and ready to amuse her. Mrs. Murdoch kept +Bubbles strictly under her eye, and would not allow her to take Alma +out of her sight, a fact which Eleanor resented more than Bubbles did. +"As if Bubbles would be cruel to a little baby," she said to Jessie. + +"But you know she beat Don dreadfully," Jessie replied. + +"She didn't hurt him hardly one bit, and besides, he was going to +strike me." + +"Well, you know he didn't strike you," returned Jessie, and Eleanor +felt helpless to argue the point. + +Rock's letter had cheered her and strengthened her. If Rock would not +tell his mother that he was having a hard time, neither would she tell +her mother about her worries, for she was sure that her dearest mamma +had more to trouble her than had Mrs. Heath, Dallas Rock's mother, and +the child bore Olive's snubs and Mrs. Murdoch's cold looks with open +defiance, but she would not tell any one but Rock; to him she wrote +quite a long letter. + +"It is so dreadful here now," she wrote. "My little house in the yard +is all full of all sorts of stuff, and it is oh, so dirty, for the boys +that Don brings in there do just as they please. Cousin Ellen is very +partikular about mamma's house, but she don't care what comes of mine. +I'm not going to worry mamma, Rock, but I wish you and Florence were +here instead of Don and Olive. Jessie is a right nice little girl but +she is a good deal littler than I am." These and other things Eleanor +wrote to Rock and he answered in kind, so that Eleanor felt that they +were comrades in misery as they had been comrades in pleasure the +summer before. + +It was the day before the butterman made his appearance, that an +express package, addressed to Miss Eleanor Dallas, was left at the +door. As it happened Eleanor was in her room when Bubbles came running +upstairs saying: "Somepin fo' yuh! Somepin fo' yuh! Miss Dimple. Ain't +I glad!" + +With eager fingers Eleanor undid the string, uncovered the box and very +carefully lifted the soft paper snugly packed around the prettiest +little doll just about the size of the one which Donald had so wantonly +destroyed. The child's little scream of delight brought Olive and +Jessie from the next room, and they were soon all examining this new +arrival. The doll wore a pretty traveling dress of grey with hat to +match and grey suede shoes. Pinned to her frock was a note which read: + + "DEAR DIMPLE: + + "I am sending you a little friend of mine who, I hope, will be able + to comfort you while your mamma is away. Her name is Ada and she is + ready to be loved very much. I should like to have her taught from + the books which you will find in her trunk, and I hope you will + have no trouble in teaching her to be obedient and attentive. + + "Your very loving + "AUNT DORA." + +The note was type-written and was very easy to read. + +"Oh, my dear lovely child!" cried Eleanor. "I am so glad you have come. +But where is the trunk, Bubbles?" + +"Law! I nuver brought it up; I thought hit were fo' somebody e's," +and Bubbles skurried downstairs as fast as her legs could take her, +coming back in a moment with the trunk in her arms. Eleanor proceeded +immediately to open it and found it filled with a most complete little +wardrobe: two school dresses, a handsome suit for extra occasions, +a fine white frock for parties. Then there were stockings, tiny +handkerchiefs, all manner of under-clothing, a set of furs, ribbons, +a little hood trimmed with fur, a cunning hat in a small bandbox, and +at the very bottom of the trunk were found a slate and several funny +little books. Even Olive could not resist many ohs and ahs as one after +another of the dainty garments appeared. Aunt Dora had evidently made +everything with her own hands and the tiny hems, the neat little seams, +so excited the children's admiration that Jessie begged to take them to +her mother to look at. + +[Illustration: "ELEANOR PROCEEDED TO OPEN THE TRUNK"] + +Mrs. Murdoch's remark was: "They are very nice, Jessie, but I wish +Eleanor were more worthy of such kindness." + +Eleanor, hearing the words, retreated to the door of her own room; +standing there she retorted: "I am worth Aunt Dora's kindness as much +as you are worth my mamma's. She wouldn't treat one of your children +the way you do me, and I think when she lets you have her nice house to +live in that you might be a little more polite to me." + +"Such a want of fine feeling," sighed Mrs. Murdoch. "When you show a +sweet and amiable spirit, Eleanor, I shall be ready to give you more +affection, but you cannot expect it from those whom you twit and taunt +because of their misfortunes." + +"My mamma has a trouble, too," returned Eleanor, "and you are making a +lot for me. I wish I had never seen you." + +"Such a dreadfully spoiled child," sighed Mrs. Murdoch. "I would rather +you did not come into my room, Eleanor, since you only stir up strife, +and seem to delight in making impertinent speeches." + +"You just keep out of my mother's room," said Olive, looking defiantly +at Eleanor. + +With a little choking sob, Eleanor turned and went away, saying only: +"It's my mamma's room; my own mamma's room, and I was never turned out +of it before." + +"Never mind her, Olive," she heard Mrs. Murdoch say. "She is a spoiled, +badly-managed child, and you must try to set her a good example. I am +grieved to find that Florence is so indulgent and injudicious a mother." + +Eleanor hearing, turned in a perfect storm of tears goaded beyond +endurance to say, "You shall not say such things about my mother. +She is the dearest and best in the world, and I'd like to know where +anybody could find such a hateful, spoiled, wicked, wicked child as +Donald. And as for Olive, she is a horrid little sneak. I saw her steal +cake from the pantry and she told you that Bubbles did it. I don't tell +stories and I don't take things without leave." + +"Oh, mamma, I didn't," said Olive turning very red, but denying +Eleanor's charge with emphasis. + +"Don't add falsehood to your other sins, Eleanor," said Mrs. Murdoch. +"Go to your room. Indeed, I wish to do my duty by you, but I cannot +have you shield that favorite of yours by telling falsehoods about my +children." + +Olive whispered something to her, and she nodded in reply while Eleanor +walked from the room and threw herself sobbing into Bubbles' arms. "Oh, +Bubbles, Bubbles," she cried, "they say I tell stories and it is they +who do, and they call me selfish and wicked when it is they who are. +Oh, what shall I do?" + +"Ne'm mind, Miss Dimple," said Bubbles, soothingly. "'Tain't goneter +las' fo'ever, an' yuh jes' go 'long an' don' min' what Miss Murder +say." Then she whispered: "Don' min' 'bout me. She ain't a goin' to +fin' no place fo' me, an' yuh know I is goin' to Sylvy. Mebbe she won't +be so cross when I'm gone. Come, now, le's play with yo' new dolly. My, +ain't she pretty with them big eyes an' them rosy cheeks?" + +"She is lovely," returned Eleanor, drying her eyes, "and I shall just +love her, but I wish I could run away with you, Bubbles." + +"Sh!" said Bubbles, for just then Olive entered and said in a prim +way: "Mamma says you are not to stay in here with Eleanor, Barbara. +She says you are to go down and set the table for tea, and you are +not to stay in Eleanor's room nor even come in here without express +permission." + +Bubbles arose and obediently went below stairs, but she muttered much +to herself and racked her brain for some way in which she could avenge +the trials of her beloved Miss Dimple, who, meanwhile was trying to +comfort herself with her new doll. A letter from her mother that day +had said that Mr. Dallas was not quite so well but that Eleanor was not +to worry, for she hoped to have better news the next time she wrote, +and she was glad to hear that her little daughter was getting along +well at school and that she was well. She must try to be kind and +obedient and helpful to her Cousin Ellen. + +"I won't, I won't, I won't," whispered Eleanor to herself. "I can't +be. She is too hateful to me. I wish I had never seen her and I wish I +could stay out of the house all the time." And indeed this is what she +tried to do, starting early for school, and trying to spend as much of +the afternoon as possible with some of her schoolmates. Olive had made +friends with Janet Forrester, and Jessie had found a playmate nearer +her own age, so Eleanor was free to select her own friends. Upon one +occasion there came a clash upon this very subject, for Mrs. Murdoch +insisted that Eleanor should go to Janet Forrester's to spend the +afternoon. "I feel myself responsible for you, Eleanor," she said, "and +I should like to know that you are somewhere with Olive that I may be +able to account for you." + +"Mamma doesn't like me to play with Janet," Eleanor blurted out. + +"Why not?" + +Eleanor hung her head. She did not like to tell tales, in school or +out, but Olive spoke up: "I know, mamma; it's because Barbara stole a +ring from Janet and she and Eleanor quarreled about it." + +"Oh, what a story," cried Eleanor. "She didn't steal it, any such a +thing. Janet said she did just to get Bubbles into trouble and she +found the ring afterward at her own house. So there." + +Mrs. Murdoch and Olive exchanged glances and Mrs. Murdoch lifted her +eyebrows slightly, in a way that Eleanor much disliked. + +"That's what Janet told me, anyhow, mamma," said Olive meaningly. + +"There are always two sides to a question," said Mrs. Murdoch, "but if +you are sure, Eleanor, that your mamma does not like you to play with +Janet you needn't go. Mrs. Forrester has doubtless the same objection +on her side." + +Eleanor looked at her with blazing eyes; then stamping her foot she +cried: "I wish you'd just write to mamma and ask her. She will tell you +the truth, anyhow, if you don't believe me. I never tell stories. I +never do such things. You can ask mamma." And she turned away. + +This was on Wednesday before school, and on her return home she found +Mrs. Murdoch in quite a perturbed state. "Eleanor," she said, "have +you seen anything of Barbara? She hasn't been seen since about eleven +o'clock." + +"I haven't seen her," returned Eleanor curtly. + +"Do you know where she is?" + +Eleanor hesitated, then remembered that she did not know just where +Sylvy's parents lived; it was somewhere in the country, but where she +could not tell. + +"Answer me," said Mrs. Murdoch. "Where is she?" + +"I don't know, Cousin Ellen, at least, I know she has gone away +somewhere in the country, but I don't know where the place is. You said +you were going to send her away, and so she went anyhow." + +"And you have known this all the time and haven't told me? Such deceit!" + +"I don't know why I should have told," retorted Eleanor. "It wouldn't +have done Bubbles any good, and I love her a thousand million times +more than I do you, if she is black. She is white inside and I know you +are not." + +"Eleanor!" Mrs. Murdoch spoke very sternly. "You are really the most +dreadful child I have ever encountered. I never had any one speak to me +as you have done. You are completely contaminated by your association +with servants." + +"I don't tell stories, and I don't steal from the pantry, and I don't +do lots of things your children do," returned Eleanor thoroughly +defiant. + +"Hush!" cried Mrs. Murdoch. "If it were not for worrying your mother +I should tell her very plainly what I think of you, but as it is, my +hands are tied. I shall have to pass over this as I have over many +other things. If Barbara has gone I wash my hands of her, and when your +mother returns she can do as she thinks fit about the affair. I am +not in a position to punish you as you deserve, but I wish you not to +address me or any of my family, except when absolutely necessary, while +we remain here." + +However much Mrs. Murdoch was pleased at Bubbles' departure to Eleanor +it was a sore loss, and she went to bed that night clasping her dear +Ada close to her heart and shedding many tears for Bubbles. The absence +of the little colored girl in more ways than one, made it hard for +Eleanor, for now Bubbles could not be used as a scapegoat for Olive's +sly pilferings, nor for Don's tricks, and so by degrees it was Eleanor +herself upon whom all the blame was laid. Did anything happen to be +out of place, Eleanor had it last. Were there mud tracked through Mrs. +Murdoch's clean halls, Eleanor did it; and, since Mrs. Murdoch's blind +idolatry of her children did not permit her to see a fault in any one +of them, poor Eleanor was gradually made to believe herself a most +wicked person, and she was in danger of acquiring some of the very +qualities which were attributed to her. + +It was Miss Reese who first noticed this, for she saw that the child's +sunny little face was now habitually clouded and that, whereas she had +formerly been responsive to gentle chiding for some slight fault, she +was beginning to show open defiance, and so the teacher called upon +Mrs. Murdoch and very tactfully brought around the conversation to the +subject which was upon her mind. + +"You find Olive and Jessie tractable, I hope," said Mrs. Murdoch. + +"Yes," returned Miss Reese, "Jessie particularly. I have some times +thought that Olive was not as frank as I should like her to be, but I +may be mistaken." + +Mrs. Murdoch's visible resentment showed Miss Reese that she was upon +dangerous ground. "That is a quality that belongs to Eleanor rather +than to Olive," Mrs. Murdoch said. "The child has been brought up very +unwisely." + +"Why, what do you mean?" Miss Reese was surprised into saying. "I have +always thought Mrs. Dallas one of the tenderest and most devoted of +mothers. Every one thinks Eleanor one of the best behaved little girls +in town; for myself I think she is a charming child." + +"One can never tell unless one lives in the house with such a +character," said Mrs. Murdoch, sighing. "Your estimate simply proves +what I say that Eleanor is vain and deceitful." + +Miss Reese began to take in the situation but she only said: + +"I think a teacher has an excellent opportunity for judging of the +characters of those placed in her care, and I cannot agree with you, +Mrs. Murdoch." Then she took her leave, resolved to give more attention +to Eleanor from this out. + + + + + _CHAPTER V_ + + _More Trouble_ + + +It was about two weeks after Bubbles' departure that Eleanor, coming +home one day from school, found her new doll missing and her precious +Jungle Book out of its place on her shelves. She searched high and low +but could find neither book nor doll. She gave to her dolls a devoted +affection. They seemed real persons to her and any indignity offered +to them cut her to the very heart. Once in a while she had forgotten +and had left some special member of her family out in the garden all +night and her self-reproach upon discovering it was great. It was as if +she felt upon her own tender body the dews of night, and as if pangs +of hunger had been hers, and after that, for days, the victim of her +forgetfulness would be treated with extra care and tenderness. + +For her books she had the feeling that is that of every true +book-lover. It hurt her to see her treasured volumes laid face down, +or to see thumb-marks soiling one of the clean pages or to come across +a leaf turned down; therefore she dreaded to see one of her beloved +books in Donald's hands. Donald was no respecter of the property +of others, and if he wanted a book he usually helped himself to it +and kept it in the playhouse as long as it suited him. He was very +tenacious, it may be said, about his right to the playhouse, and always +kept the door locked and the key in his pocket when he was not in the +small building, so that Eleanor had no opportunity of going in there to +search for any of her lost treasures. + +She sighed as she thought some day she would probably find her Jungle +Book, soiled and with dingy covers, returned to her shelves, but Donald +professed to despise dolls and what could he want to do with her dear +Ada? She determined to ask him if he had seen her doll, and to be very +polite when she did it; so she waited patiently till she should hear +him come in. + +It was cold November weather and the winter was fast approaching. +Eleanor shuddered as she thought of Ada lying somewhere out in the +chill wind, but she said very sweetly, "Donald, have you seen anything +of my new doll?" + +"What do you suppose I know about your old doll?" he returned. + +"I can't find her anywhere," Eleanor went on wistfully. "I left her +sitting on my bed this morning, and I have hunted high and low for her." + +"You didn't look in the flour barrel, I suppose," said Donald laughing. + +"No. Oh, you didn't put her in there, did you? She will smother." And +she hurried off to the pantry to examine the contents of the barrel. + +Mrs. Murdoch coming saw her there. "Eleanor, what are you doing?" she +asked sharply. "You charge Olive with pilfering from my store of cakes +and I find you in here. What does this mean?" + +"I am only looking for my doll, Cousin Ellen," Eleanor replied, too +much worried to notice the implied charges. + +"A queer place to look for a doll." + +"Donald asked me if I had looked in the flour barrel, and I want so +much to find her." + +"As if he would put a doll in there. He has better sense than to do +such a thing," said Mrs. Murdoch. "Your excuse is a very lame one, +Eleanor." + +But Eleanor paid little heed to her and again sought Donald, who +jeeringly said: "When she's up she's up, and when she's down she's +down, and when she's half-way up she's neither up nor down." And that +was all Eleanor could get out of him. + +Up and downstairs she trudged, looking in every room but no Ada was to +be found. All over the garden she searched, but no Ada was there, but +at last the child caught sight of something swinging from the garret +window, and going closer, she saw Ada clad in her little nightgown and +tied by the neck to a string which was suspended from a nail in the +eaves. Upstairs Eleanor rushed, feeling as if she could not endure such +treatment of her doll. She was in an agony of sympathy for poor Ada, +but, try as she would, she could not grasp the string which hung just +beyond her reach and could only be touched by standing on the ledge +outside the window. + +Eleanor was always desperately afraid to stand on high places, but +her eagerness to gain possession of her doll, nerved her to climb out +and stand upon the sill. She caught the string in one hand and with a +dreadful feeling that Ada's body was thumping against the side of the +house, she managed to climb in again and drew up the precious burden to +find the doll a little scarred, but otherwise unhurt. + +The child was now in such a nervous tremor that she felt her limbs +shaking under her as she sank down on the garret floor giving vent to +quick little sobs. "We won't stand it, Ada; we won't," she said. "We +will run away, too. We will go with the butterman and find Sylvy and +Bubbles. They love me better than these cousins." She had always been +used to having negro servants about her and the idea of going to Sylvy +did not affect her as it might have done a child not accustomed to +being petted and coddled by a negro nursemaid. + +"To-morrow the butterman comes again and we will hide somewhere, Ada, +and go with him. I hope Bubbles found Sylvy. I haven't heard a word +about her, but I hope she got there all right. I must write a note to +Miss Reese, for she will wonder why I am not at school. I will mail it +in the morning." The little inconsequent mind did not see any further +troubles arising from her purpose, and she began to make her plans. +"I will write to mamma and tell her I did not mean to be bad but that +they made me so, and I'll tell her I am safe and that I am going to +stay till she comes back," she told her doll. Then she tied up a little +bundle of her own clothing, and put in what she considered proper +apparel for Ada, and then she wrote her little note to Miss Reese: + + "DEAR MISS REESE: + + "I can't come to school because I am going away. I'm so miserble + without mamma and nobody loves me. Ime not going because I dont + like to go to school and plese excuse my lessons I will study very + hard when mamma comes back + + "Affectionately yours + "ELEANOR DALLAS. + + "P.S.--I forgot to tell you ime going to stay with Sylvy and + Bubbles." + +She decided that she would go to school and at recess she would slip +out and be on the corner when the butterman drove by. She would leave +her bundle with old Mrs. Wills who kept a small shop near the school. +She felt distressed at leaving her other dolls and Nyxy, her little +black cat, but she laid the former carefully away in a drawer, after +fondly kissing each smiling face, locked the drawer and took the key +with her. Nyxy she knew would be well cared for. Jessie was devoted to +him and the cook was fond of cats, and therefore with a soft whisper +and a loving pat, Eleanor bade good-bye to her furry pet the next +morning and started out alone. She did not often walk to school with +her cousins nowadays, for Olive usually stopped for Janet Forrester and +Jessie had a friend about her own age who called for her almost every +morning, therefore Eleanor was not observed as she stepped out with her +bundle and hurried along to Mrs. Wills before the others started. + +Mrs. Wills cheerfully took charge of the bundle, patted Eleanor's +shoulder and gave her a cocoanut cake. Her little shop was beginning to +show Christmas wares and it gave Eleanor a pang to think that perhaps +this year there would be no mamma on hand to plan delightful surprises. +The tears gathered in her eyes as she went on to school, stopping to +mail her letter to Miss Reese on the way. + +She arrived quite early and found the schoolroom empty of every one +except her teacher. Miss Reese looked up with a smile. "Good-morning, +Eleanor," she said. "This is quite a frosty morning, isn't it? It +promises cold weather soon. I suppose you are glad of that, for your +mamma thought she would be home by Christmas, I remember." + +"I'm afraid she won't be," returned Eleanor. "Papa wasn't so well when +she last wrote." + +"Oh, that's too bad. Never mind, you can have a good time with your +cousins. It must be very lively for you to have so many playmates, +after being the only child in the house." + +Eleanor did not reply, but there was a quivering of her lips that told +Miss Reese more than words could have done. "Did you come to school on +your wheel?" Miss Reese asked, changing the subject. + +"No, Miss Reese. Don has broken it. I hate Don." + +"Why, my child." + +"I do. I can't help it if I am wicked and selfish and--and deceitful, +I just hate him," she said, going to her desk and hiding her face +behind the lid as she raised it that Miss Reese might not see her +tears. But just then in came a troop of girls and no more was said, +although Miss Reese made a mental note of Eleanor's words. + +At recess Eleanor asked permission to go to Mrs. Wills' little shop. +This was often accorded the girls and consent was given to the child, +who, however, waited till the last moment and then ran out, passing +the girls returning from having made their purchases of sour balls or +ginger cakes or buns. + +"You'd better hurry up," said Laura Field; "the bell will ring in a +minute." + +Eleanor nodded in reply, and ran on, secured her bundle and hurried +around the corner to overtake the butterman. But just as she reached +the spot where she intended to wait for him she saw the white top of +his wagon ahead of her, and she ran with all her might toward it, +calling: "Mr. Snyder, Mr. Snyder, please wait for me," but his sleek +brown horses trotted on and the child, breathlessly following, at last, +dropped into a walk, but still determined to overtake him. + +On and on she went up the hard country road where fewer and fewer +houses were to be seen, and at last she saw the wagon turn into a lane, +and outside the gate she sat down to wait till the butterman should +come out again. She was very warm and tired and a cough which she had +noticed for some days, began to trouble her more than before. The cold +wind struck her and in a few minutes she was shivering, but she was not +the less firm in her determination to go on to find Sylvy. + +But as she sat there huddled up she heard a horse's hoofs come +clattering along the road and she saw the flash of a scarlet jacket as +a tiny Shetland pony came dashing along bearing as his rider a swarthy +little girl, whose black tousled hair was tossed about by the wind. She +drew rein as she saw Eleanor there and came cantering up to her. "What +you doing?" she asked, slipping down from her pony and peering down +with her bright eyes into Eleanor's face. + +"I'm waiting for the butterman," answered Eleanor shyly. + +"Wha' for?" + +"'Cause I want him to take me along with him." + +"I'll take you. Want to ride my pony? Come; there ain't no man coming." + +Eleanor looked up toward the house before the gate of which she was +waiting. "He's in there," she said. + +The girl shook her black locks. "No, he's gone t'other way." + +Eleanor looked distressed. "Are you sure?" she asked. + +The girl nodded. "I'll take you. Come 'long. Tossi can take us both." + +"Oh, no, he's too little." + +The girl laughed. "He's very strong. No, it won't hurt him. He loves me +and I don't let him be hurt." She flung her arms around the neck of the +pony and kissed the white star on his forehead. + +Eleanor at last consented to mount him, sitting behind the girl +and holding fast to her as they dashed up the road. Once she asked +breathlessly: "Do you know where the butterman lives? His name is Mr. +Snyder." + +"I knows him," returned her companion laughing, but she did not stop +till they came in sight of a group of gaudy wagons. + +"Oh!" cried Eleanor. "Those are gipsies." + +The girl jumped down. "My people," she said with a wave of her hand. + +"Are you a gipsy?" Eleanor was quite taken aback. + +The girl nodded in reply, standing with one arm over the neck of her +little pony. + +"But I want to go to Mr. Snyder's," said Eleanor helplessly, all the +stories she had ever heard of gipsies coming to her mind. + +The girl led the pony slowly along toward the wagons and Eleanor could +see that beyond them, in a small enclosure, were many horses, and that +in some of the wagons, with their red and yellow adornings, were women +and children. "Please don't go on," she said. "I don't want to go +there." + +"Wha' for?" again said the girl. + +"I want to find Mr. Snyder." + +"He your papa?" + +"No." + +"You live there?" + +"No." + +"Then wha' for?" + +"I want him to take me somewhere. Perhaps you know where Sylvy Johnson +lives. She is a colored woman. I would just as soon go to her house as +to Mr. Snyder's." + +The girl shook her head. "Don't know. We had a little nigger girl not +long ago. She went to the orspital, my brodder say. She was hurted." +Then she suddenly looked up saying: "I like you. I wish you'd stay and +see my big brudder. He have anudder pony like this one; he'll let you +ride on him." + +At this moment one of the dark, queer-looking women came from one of +the wagons toward them and Eleanor took affright. "Oh, no, please,--I +am very much obliged to you for letting me ride your pony; he is a +darling, but I am afraid to stay. I'm not afraid of you, for you are +a very nice, kind little girl, but I do want to go. I am so tired, +and--and--please." + +"Come on." The girl swung herself upon the pony, and giving the pretty +creature a slap with her hand she made him turn around and they were +soon dashing down the road again to the spot where Eleanor had been +first seen by the gipsy girl. + +Eleanor got down and looked up the lane. "Does Mr. Snyder live in +there?" she asked. + +"Don't know." + +"But you said you knew where he lived." + +"No, I says I know him, an' so I does." + +"But you said he had gone out another way." + +"Maybe. I don't know. No, he's comin' now. I see his wagon top. I said +that because I wanted you to come and see my brudder and me." + +"Are you going to be at that place long?" + +"Don't know. P'r'aps. You want to buy a pony? My brudder will sell you +a good one cheap." + +"I'd like to have one like yours. Isn't he a beauty? I always wanted +to ride a little pony like this, and I am glad I could do it. Did your +father give it to you?" + +"No, I haven't got no fadder." + +"Your mother then?" + +"No," the girl shook her head. "I haven't got no mudder; my brudder +give him to me. What you got in your bundle?" + +"Some clothes and my doll named Ada." + +"I got a doll too; her name is--what's your name?" + +"Eleanor." + +"Her name is Eleanor like you." + +"What is your name?" + +"Zula." + +"I think that is a pretty name. I'll name my next doll that." + +"Come and see me and I'll show you my doll. My brudder bought it for +me. I like your ribbon on your hair. Give it to me." + +Eleanor hesitated. She didn't like to refuse and yet she did not know +whether it was exactly right to give it to her, but finally she did +take it off, for she thought Zula had really been very kind. "Here," +she said, "you may have it." + +Zula tied it around her black tresses and laughed. "Here comes Snyder," +she said, "good-bye." And jumping on her horse she was off like a flash. + +Eleanor watched her red jacket out of sight and then said to herself, +"I wish I had asked her more about that little colored girl. I wonder +if she was a servant or what. I'm glad Bubbles don't have to go +traveling around the country with gipsies. She'll be glad to see me, +and so will Sylvy. What a long time Mr. Snyder has been at that house." + + + + + _CHAPTER VI_ + + _Where is Bubbles?_ + + +At last the man came driving down the lane. He drew rein as he saw +the little figure by the gate. "Want a lift, little girl?" he asked +cheerfully. + +"Yes, please," Eleanor responded. And the man helped her up beside him. + +"How far are you going?" he asked. + +"To Sylvy's," Eleanor answered in all simplicity. + +"To Sylvy's? You don't mean Sylvy Johnson's? No wonder you want a lift. +What are you going away off there for? It is a long way for a little +girl to go alone. Bless me!" He looked closer. "Bless my soul, if it +isn't the little Dallas girl! Why, what does this mean? What's the +matter at your house that they're running you off in this fashion?" + +Eleanor's cough interrupted her speech for a moment, and the man tucked +a warm cover closer around her. "See here," he continued, "I'll take +you home with me, and we'll see what's to be done. I'm not in the +notion of your going to Johnson's by yourself. How did you expect to +get back?" + +"I didn't expect to get back at all, at least, not till mamma comes +home." + +"Why, that's the queerest thing I ever heard. Did Mrs. Murdoch send you +off there?" + +"No," Eleanor confessed, "I am going of my own accord. Cousin Ellen +doesn't know anything about it." + +"Hm--hm." Mr. Snyder nodded thoughtfully. "Well, Mrs. Snyder will +settle it. I can't take you back just at once, for I must go home and +feed my horses, and get a bite myself, but if mother says so, home you +go." + +"Oh, no, please," begged Eleanor. "I want to go to Sylvy's." + +"Well, you wait and see what my wife says. Mrs. Snyder'll know what's +best. 'Tain't much further; only a couple of miles. Here, get up, Pete. +Get up, Morgan." And the horses quickened their trot soon bringing +them up to a substantial white house standing back some distance from +the road. "Here we are," said Mr. Snyder, lifting Eleanor down. "Whoa +there, Pete! I'd better fasten that horse; he's dead set on getting to +the stable. He knows it's his dinner time." + +A rosy-faced woman came to the side door. "Here, mother," said Mr. +Snyder, "I've got company for you; Mr. Dallas's little girl. Run in, +honey, out of the cold. It's blowing up, mother. Take the little girl +in where it's warm, and I'll come as soon as I've fed the stock." + +Into a clean warm kitchen Eleanor was led. There was an odor of fried +ham and potatoes, and from an iron pot, bubbling on the stove, came +a spicy smell. "Take off your things, honey," said Mrs. Snyder in a +matter-of-fact way, as if the coming of a strange little girl to dinner +were an everyday occurrence, and Eleanor obeyed, glad of the warmth and +the welcome. + +Mr. Snyder was not long gone, and when he returned he remarked, "This +young lady wants to go to Johnson's, Almiry. What do you think of that?" + +"Not to stay!" said Mrs. Snyder, pausing in the act of taking a pan of +biscuits from the oven. "You wasn't meaning to stay, was you?" she +asked Eleanor. + +"Yes, till my mother comes home. You see, Bubbles is there, at least, +I suppose she is. Didn't she come with you about two weeks ago, Mr. +Snyder?" + +"With me? No, indeed. Do you mean the little darky girl that lives at +your house? Haven't laid eyes on her." + +"Oh!" Eleanor's eyes grew big with anxiety, and her chin began to +quiver. "Then she's lost, unless she is at Sylvy's. Won't you please +take me there?" + +"Why, child," said Mrs. Snyder, "that ain't a fit place for you; just +a little two-story cabin with a loft. What on earth possesses you to +want to go there? Hear the child cough, Ben. Sounds to me like the +whooping-cough; mighty like it. I shouldn't be surprised if the child +had it. She oughtn't to be running wild around the country in this way." + +"Oh, do you think I really have it? I am so glad," Eleanor exclaimed in +a satisfied tone. + +Mr. Snyder laughed. "Funny thing to be glad about." + +"Why, you see, they have all got it at my aunt's in the city and that +is why I couldn't go there when mamma went away, and now maybe I can." + +"But what put it into your head to come so far from home to-day?" Mrs. +Snyder asked. + +Eleanor hung her head. "Because--because, Don hung my doll, and I can't +bear him, and they don't believe anything I say, and nobody loves me, +and I was so lonely I just couldn't stand it." + +Mrs. Snyder looked at her husband and then gathered Eleanor into her +motherly arms. "Poor little thing! Homesick in her own home; mother +sick, I reckon. Let us keep her here a bit, Ben. You told me a month +ago that Mrs. Dallas had gone off to them Hot Springs and left the +child with kinfolks. I remember, because you said you'd never had +no complaint of your butter and eggs from that house in all these +years, and you reckoned Mrs. Murdoch was kind of fussy. Ain't her name +Murdoch?" + +"Yes, that's it; Murdoch. She did say the butter was too salt and +couldn't I bring her bigger eggs; these was too small; and I told her +I'd call the hen's attention to it, and tell them they must keep their +tape-measures in their pockets. She didn't half like that. Fact is, she +told me she'd get some one else to serve her." + +"And that house has been supplied by you ever since Mrs. Dallas went +there a bride. Well, child, I guess your mother didn't know who she was +leaving you with. I reckon you haven't been very well looked after. +Here, set right up here and eat some dinner. She looks kind of blue +around the mouth, Ben. I don't think she'd ought to go back to-day, in +this cold wind." + +"Then, I'll send word to Mrs. Murdoch by Lem. He can go some time +before night; I'd as lief let her worry for a while. He can go 'round +by Johnson's and see if the little darky is there. Very likely she's +all snug with them. Some one else probably gave her a lift. I remember, +now, I didn't go to town on Wednesday week. I went to that sale over +by the crossroads, and I got Nat Gilam to go for me. No doubt she went +with him to Johnson's. Don't you worry about her, honey. What you got +bilin' in that pot, mother?" + +"Suet puddin'. Seemed like the day for it. I'd as lief let her fuss for +a while, that Mrs. Murdoch, I mean. Butter too salt, indeed." + +"Give the child somethin' to eat, mother; she ain't scarcely touched +anything." + +"She's half sick," said Mrs. Snyder, regarding the child with kind +eyes. "Don't you pester her, Mr. Snyder. I'll look after her. I've lost +six," she said to Eleanor, "and it's mighty lonely sometimes. I'm glad +enough to see a little child, once in a while." + +"There, mother, there; don't let's talk about it now," said Mr. Snyder; +"you'll be losin' your appetite next. I'm savin' a place for that suet +puddin' myself." + +Eleanor watched with wonder the huge amount of food which Mr. Snyder +consumed, but she hardly tasted any herself, and after the good man +had left the kitchen and Mrs. Snyder had washed the dishes and put +them away, she took the child on her lap and rocked her in an old +splint-bottomed chair which had a cozy squeak to it, so that, feeling +very content, Eleanor fell asleep to the accompaniment of creaking +chair and singing teakettle. + +She did not awaken till the short winter day had ended. Once she +stirred and was dimly conscious of being placed in a more comfortable +position, and felt herself warmly covered up and a soft kiss imprinted +upon her cheek; then she dropped into a sound sleep, to dream that her +mother was near her; that it was soft spring weather and the birds were +singing in the apple-tree by the kitchen door. + +It was when Mr. Snyder came noisily into the kitchen that she sat up +and rubbed her eyes, wondering where she was. "There, now, Ben, you've +waked the child, and she was sleeping so sweetly. I think she's got a +little fever." Mrs. Snyder bent over her, looking much concerned. "How +do you feel, my dear? Are you rested?" + +"Oh, yes." Eleanor threw off the shawl which had covered her, and arose +to her feet. "I feel very much rested, thank you, Mrs. Snyder." + +"Bless her dear heart!" exclaimed Mrs. Snyder, hugging her up close to +her. + +Eleanor gave a sigh of satisfaction. "It was so nice to have you rock +me to sleep," she said. "It made me feel as if I had mamma again." + +"I went over to see about your little Bubbles," said Mr. Snyder, "but +nobody's seen her. Sylvy showed every tooth in her head when she saw +me, and I told her you were here with us. I could scarcely keep her +from coming right over, but I told her you were too tired and were +taking a nap. How far did you trot behind my wagon? All the way out +from town to Murphy's, mother. That's where I met up with her. Sylvy +says she will be here to-morrow, and I've sent word to your cousin that +you are safe and sound, but that you've got the whooping-cough. That'll +finish the business, I think, mother. Those precious children of hers +are all made of gold studded with diamonds, and if there's any way to +prevent your coming near them she'll agree to it." He nodded knowingly +at Eleanor. + +Two red spots were burning on the child's cheeks; her eyes were very +bright, and her hands hot, so that Mrs. Snyder declared that she must +go to bed early, and after supper, for which Eleanor had but little +appetite, she was dosed with an herby draught and snugly placed between +warm sheets in a clean little room where a wood stove roared and sent +out a pleasant heat. "I shall be right in here," Mrs. Snyder said, "so +don't you be scared. If your cough is bad in the night, I'll come in +and give you something for it." She stooped to give a good-night kiss, +and Eleanor reached out her arms from under the covers and clasped the +good woman's neck. + +"I do love you," she said. "Nobody has kissed me good-night since +mamma went away. Where do you suppose poor little Bubbles is? Oh, Mrs. +Snyder, I am so distressed about her. I'm afraid she might be the one +that Zula, the gipsy girl, told me about. Why didn't I ask more about +her? I never thought it might be Bubbles. I thought of course that she +was safe with Sylvy." + +"There, dear, there, Mr. Snyder'll see about it the first thing in the +morning," said Mrs. Snyder. + +But Eleanor kept repeating: "What has become of her? Poor little +Bubbles!" She sobbed piteously, and for all Mrs. Snyder comforted her +as best she could, it was a long time before she could go to sleep, and +when she did her pillow was wet with tears. + +Meantime, quite a stir was caused by Eleanor's long absence. Olive and +Jessie returned home from school with the news that Eleanor had not +been seen since eleven o'clock, when she was met by some of the girls +on her way to Mrs. Wills'. Miss Reese had questioned the old woman who +remembered that the little Dallas girl had been there. Yes, she had +been there, and she had not stopped long; but Mrs. Wills said nothing +about the bundle which Eleanor had left in her care and which she had +taken away with her. The old woman had a very poor memory, at the best, +and she was peculiar. + +Miss Reese stopped to report the result of her inquiries to Mrs. +Murdoch. "Just like the child," said the latter; "she delights to annoy +me, and has taken this means of doing it. She probably wanted to play +truant, and will be coming toward night, no doubt." Nevertheless, there +was an undercurrent of anxiety, and some qualms of conscience regarding +the child's real reason for going off in this stealthy way, and as the +afternoon wore on and no Eleanor appeared, Mrs. Murdoch became more +and more annoyed. "The child was left in my care," she said to Olive, +"and her mother will censure me if anything happens to her. Do you +and Donald hunt around the house and grounds for her, and I will send +Jessie to the houses where she would be most likely to visit." + +But after a thorough search, Olive, of course, reported that no Eleanor +was to be found, and then, just as Mrs. Murdoch was really getting +worked up into a state of nervous fear and dread, Miss Reese came in. +"I have just received a little note from Eleanor," she said, "and she +tells me that she has gone to find Bubbles." She handed the note to +Mrs. Murdoch, who read it without a word, although under Miss Reese's +quiet gaze, she flushed slightly. + +"It is not always easy to understand children," said Miss Reese gently. +"Often their little hearts are bleeding under an indifferent, and, +often, defiant exterior. Eleanor has always had a life so full of +love and sympathy that any lack of it would probably affect her more +seriously than it would a less emotional child." + +"I am sure I have tried to do my duty," said Mrs. Murdoch plaintively. +"I have bathed her with my own hands more than once, and I have been +most particular to see that she was properly clad, and I have seen to +it that she had her study hour." + +Miss Reese said only: "She is safe, at all events. I think that Dr. +Sullivan goes out in that direction and perhaps, to-morrow, he will +stop and bring her back with him. He is very fond of her, I know, and +it would not be asking him to perform an unpleasant task. Shall I speak +to him about it?" + +"I shall be very much relieved if you will," returned Mrs. Murdoch, +glad to see a way out of the difficulty; and Miss Reese departed. But +next came word from Mr. Snyder that Eleanor was at his house, and +that she was not well; Mrs. Snyder had a suspicion that she might be +developing the whooping-cough. Perhaps she would best stay where she +was till the truth could be learned from the doctor. + +Therefore, much against his will, Donald was dispatched to take word +to Miss Reese and to the doctor. "That child will be the death of me," +complained Mrs. Murdoch. "I wish to heavens I had never undertaken the +care of her. I know nothing about these people to whom she has gone." + +But a call from the doctor reassured her. "She couldn't be in better +hands," he said. "I'll stop there to-morrow and see how she is. Bless +the little monkey! she ought to have come to me, if she was sick. She +is a dear child, one of the sweetest I ever knew, and that is a good +deal for a doctor to say." Mrs. Murdoch probably did not agree with +him, but she did not say so. + +But Eleanor, sleeping soundly, did not concern herself about any of +this and little knew what the morrow had in store for her. + + + + + _CHAPTER VII_ + + _Uncle Heath_ + + +The little girl's thoughts upon first awakening were concerning +Bubbles. She slipped out of bed and as she jumped upon the braided mat +which lay upon the floor the noise informed Mrs. Snyder that she was +up and her pleasant face appeared at the door. "Scramble back again, +honey," she said, "till I get this fire stirred up. The room will be +warm in a jiffy if I put in a stick of wood and open the drafts. Mr. +Snyder's gone to hunt up them gipsies; he'll be back by the time you're +ready for breakfast. Can you dress yourself? If you want me to fasten +any buttons, just run down to the kitchen. I've some bread in the oven +and I must be looking after it." + +Eleanor hurried to dress, for she was very anxious to hear if Bubbles +had been seen by the gipsies, and she was at the kitchen window +watching for Mr. Snyder when he drove up. He entered the room in his +usual hearty blustering way. "Breakfast ready, mother?" he asked. + +"All ready. I'm dishing up now." + +"Hallo, little one!" Mr. Snyder drew Eleanor to his knee. "Well, I've +been to the gipsy camp, and they've cleared out; every hoof. It is +getting too late for them and they want to get south. I'm sorry but it +don't seem to me that Bubbles could be with them; more likely she's +with some of the darkies in town." + +Eleanor shook her head. "No, she wouldn't go to any of them, 'cause she +told me she meant to come out here to Sylvy, for Sylvy said when she +left, if Bubbles couldn't get along with Cousin Ellen she could come to +her. You see, she's known Bubbles all her life; ever since Bubbles was +a baby, and it isn't likely she'd go to any one else." + +"That's so." Mr. Snyder nodded thoughtfully. "And you say that little +gipsy girl told you there was a colored child at the camp?" + +"Yes," Eleanor answered. + +"Those gipsies have been about here for a couple of weeks. I mind just +when they came. Yes, it might be her. Well, Sylvy's coming over after +a bit, and we'll see what she says about it. It seems to me if the +child the gipsies had was Bubbles, that they would have let Sylvy know, +or would have sent the child to her. Come now, breakfast is ready." + +It was impossible, even with this anxiety of mind, not to enjoy Mrs. +Snyder's delicious rolls and sweet butter, her honey and her country +sausage, and Eleanor really ate heartily, although she was not feeling +very well, and her cough troubled her. Mrs. Snyder suggested all sorts +of queer remedies, chief among which was a decoction made from a +hornet's nest which Eleanor rejected emphatically. "Oh, please, Mrs. +Snyder, I shouldn't want that. It might make me feel a buzzy and stingy +inside." + +Mrs. Snyder laughed, and just then Sylvy came in. Eleanor greeted her +joyfully. "Oh, Sylvy," she said, "I'm so glad to see you, but where do +you suppose poor Bubbles is? I feel so dreadfully about her." + +"Me too, honey," said Sylvy. "It on mah min' all de time. Tell me jes' +how it happen she quit Miss Murdoch." And Eleanor related her woeful +little tale which brought many "uh-uhms" and "dar nows," from Sylvy. + +"I git mah fathah to go 'roun' an' fin' out what he kin," said Sylvy, +after Eleanor had concluded, "an' if nobody ain't seen her I'll reckon +she's the one the gipsy folks has. How long yuh gwine stay here, honey?" + +"I wish I could stay here till I hear from mamma. I like Mrs. Snyder +and she says I am to stay to-day, anyhow." + +She seemed so much brighter that morning that Mrs. Snyder's fears that +she might have a very ill child on her hands were allayed, and Mr. +Snyder joked with her saying he believed it was a disappointment to his +wife not to have secured some one needing her nursing. + +"Now, father," Mrs. Snyder protested, "it isn't that, but I'd like to +keep the child here." + +"So you shall, till we hear what the doctor says. If she's got the +whoops she can't go back to school and she'll not be very welcome at +Mrs. Murdoch's, I'll venture to say." + +It was about noon that the doctor's buggy drove up. Sylvy, who had been +giving Mrs. Snyder a helping hand in the kitchen, caught sight of the +doctor's white horse. "Hyar come Dr. Sullivan," she said. "I knows that +white horse of his'n." + +Eleanor ran to the window. "It is Dr. Sullivan, and he is coming here. +There is some one with him; I wonder who it is." + +"Miss Murdoch?" + +"No, not Cousin Ellen; it is a man; I see his hat." + +"Don't run out in the cold hall," Mrs. Snyder warned her. "The +doctor will ride around to the side porch and I'll take him into the +settin'-room. I'm glad there's a good fire in there, for it's snapping +cold this morning." + +Eleanor waited till she heard the doctor's hearty voice say: "I'll have +you up for kidnapping, Mrs. Snyder. Where's that little girl of mine? +Bless her heart, why didn't she come tell me her troubles? Here is +somebody she'll be glad to see, if I'm not mistaken." + +At this Eleanor ran in to see, not only her friend the doctor, but her +dearly loved Uncle Heath. With a cry of joy she threw herself into the +arms of the latter, forgetting every one else. + +"Here, here," cried the doctor, "I want some of those kisses; don't +give them all away. Look here, baby, what's all this row about, anyhow? +What did you cut and run for?" + +Eleanor hung her head, and then, by dint of questioning, they reached +the root of the matter. The two men looked at each other, and the +doctor said under his breath: "I'd like to have the dosing of that boy +for about a week." + +"Oh, Uncle Heath, you won't let me go back to Cousin Ellen, will you?" +Eleanor said with entreaty in her tones. + +He took her up in his lap and stroked her hair. "No, Miss Dimps, I +have come on purpose to take you back home with me. On our way from +California your Aunt Dora and I stopped to see your father and mother, +and I have my pockets full of love for you." He did not say that Rock +had sent his mother Eleanor's pitiful little letter and on account of +this, more than anything else, Mrs. Heath Dallas and her husband had +hurried home that Eleanor might come to them. + +The little girl's hand stole into her uncle's pocket as if to gather up +some of the love of which he spoke, and she nestled closer to him. + +"Imagine my surprise when I called upon Mrs. Murdoch last evening to be +told that you were not there," her Uncle Heath went on. "I was referred +to our good friend, Dr. Sullivan, and here we are, ready to pick you up +and carry you back with us." + +"Weren't you s'prised not to see Sylvy or Bubbles come to the door at +our house? And, oh, doesn't it look queer with the furniture in the +parlor all switched around in a different way from that mamma used to +have it?" + +"I'm afraid those things made very little impression on me, for I was +very anxious to see my little niece and didn't think of any one else. +Now, how soon can you be ready to go back with me?" + +A fit of coughing brought from the doctor: "Here, here, what is that? +The child has the whooping-cough." + +"Yes," said Eleanor between her gasps, "Mrs. Snyder told me so." + +"Then, that settles it; you can't go back to Mrs. Murdoch. She'd sweep +you out with a broom, and then go into hysterics for fear her children +had caught the disease." + +"Do you suppose they have?" + +"I can't say; it is not improbable, but at all events, you'd best not +go back there. Mrs. Sullivan will keep you till you are ready to take +your journey, I am sure." + +"Sylvy can go in with me," Uncle Heath said. "She knows where your +traps are, I suppose, and she can help Mrs. Murdoch to get them ready +for you. Your mamma said all your toys and such things of yours as +might be in the way, were to be locked up in your little house in the +yard." + +"Oh,"--Eleanor exclaimed, and then stopped short. + +"What's the matter?" asked her uncle. + +"Why, Donald has that, and it's so dirty and battered up out there." + +"How is that? What is Donald doing out there? Did your mamma say he was +to use your playhouse?" + +Eleanor explained, and Uncle Heath's eyes snapped as he said, "We'll +let Sylvy go in and clean it up; then she can carry back your +belongings and set them in place. I'll have a Yale lock put on the door +and the windows boarded up. I have a letter from your mamma in which +she tells exactly what is to be done, and there will be no trouble in +carrying out her wishes, I think." + +"Uncle Heath, you are a darling, but I wish you'd do just one thing +more." + +"And what is that?" + +"Let Rock come home from boarding-school; he isn't having a bit of a +nice time." + +"I know it, and although boys aren't usually sent away from home +to school to have a good time, he is coming away for the Christmas +holidays and will not return. I suppose you'd like me to carry Sylvy, +and perhaps the doctor, back with me," he said, pinching her cheek. + +"Yes, I should like that." + +"Leave me out," said the doctor, "I can't neglect my practice for any +youngster's whims." + +"But you will try to find Bubbles, won't you, Uncle Heath?" Eleanor +asked wistfully. "Do you suppose she could be in Baltimore at the +hospital? You know Zula said her brother had taken a little colored +girl to a hospital." + +"What do you think, doctor?" + +"She might be in Baltimore or in Washington. I'll tell you what I'll +do, Dimple; I'll telegraph to the different hospitals in both cities as +soon as I get back home, and we'll find out I think without doubt. By +the way, what is Bubbles' name?" + +Eleanor looked at Sylvy. "It's Barbara, but I never thought about her +having any other name." + +"It's Markey," said Sylvy. + +The doctor took out his notebook and jotted it down, and then repeated +his assurance that he would use every effort to find out what had +become of Bubbles. + +Then it was settled that they should start the next morning. Sylvy +went in bright and early and the little playhouse was made as clean +as hands could make it, and it must be confessed that she took great +satisfaction in turning out Master Donald and in re-establishing +Eleanor's toys in their accustomed places. To be sure Donald blustered +and was inclined to do battle for the possession of the house, but +a few words from Mr. Heath Dallas settled the matter and his mother +assuring him that he could now have Eleanor's room he was pacified. + +"He's not really a bad boy," her Uncle Heath told Eleanor, "but he is +spoiled, and has been made to believe that every one should yield to +him, so he has become very selfish and cannot imagine any rights that +conflict with his wishes." + +"Rock isn't that way." + +"No, he has a wise mother." + +Rock was Mr. Heath Dallas' stepson. He and Eleanor were great friends, +and she looked forward with great delight to seeing him again. She was +planning many happy times with him and with her Cousin Florence who +lived not far from Mr. Heath Dallas. She asked her uncle if he thought +Rock had had the whooping-cough. "Suppose he hasn't," she said. + +"To be sure, I hadn't thought of that. I am pretty sure he has though, +and at any rate, we'll take it for granted, and if he hasn't we can +settle the question before he gets home." + +"I could go to Aunt Nellie's, you know." + +"Yes, but I hope we can keep you with us till your papa and mamma +return." + +Eleanor gave a little satisfied sigh. Her uncle had driven out from +town to take her back with him, and she was about to take leave of +good Mr. and Mrs. Snyder. Ada, attired in her grey traveling dress, +and carrying her muff, was ready to go, and Sylvy had pressed so many +cakes, apples and such things upon the child that she had to leave half +of them behind her. To Sylvy, even the shortest journey demanded a +supply of eatables. + +The doctor had made every effort to discover the whereabouts of +Bubbles, but had received no news of her from any of the hospitals. + +"If she is still with the gipsies, she would hardly have reached the +city yet," Eleanor was told for her comfort. "You may find her in +Baltimore when you get there," the doctor said further, and Eleanor was +obliged to be satisfied with this for the present. + +As they passed the gate of her own home, Eleanor hugged Ada closer and +looking up at her uncle said, "I never want to see my home again, Uncle +Heath, until mamma is in it." + +He smiled down at her. "You probably will not, dear child. We shall +keep you with us as long as we can." + +"I hope there won't be any children in the cars," continued the child, +"for I might give them the whooping-cough." + +"We are going to have the little compartment at the end of the parlor +car, and we can be all to ourselves in there." + +"Oh, can we? I've always wanted to travel in that little room, Uncle +Heath. Did you get it on purpose?" + +"Not exactly, but being a railroad man, I had it placed at my disposal." + +It was nearly dark when they reached the city. Eleanor looked out at +the stiff rows of houses, secretly glad that her home was not in one +of these. She did not wonder that her Cousin Florence always said that +she could not bear the city. "Uncle Heath," she said, "are all cities +like Baltimore, with so many, many houses all alike, with no gardens at +all and hardly any trees anywhere? I don't see why they can't have a +little bit of a garden in front of them, or porches to the houses, or +something. Cities are very ugly, aren't they?" + +"Most of them are, but some do have a section where you can see pretty +gardens and porches and many trees. Washington, you know, is very +attractive, and so are parts of Philadelphia." + +"Yes, I know Washington is, but I most forget Philadelphia, I've not +been there for so long." + +"We must go there some pleasant day." + +"Rock too?" + +"Yes; but here we are. Run in quickly." + +The door was thrown open by Aunt Dora herself, who almost lifted +Eleanor off her feet in the energy of her embrace. "You dear little +midget," she exclaimed, "you did come all safe and sound, didn't you?" + +"Yes, I came, and so did Ada. I was so glad to see Uncle Heath." + +"I knew you would be. Are you cold? No, your hands are quite warm, and +oh, yes; how do you do, Ada? I've not seen you for a long time," and +the doll's hand was gravely shaken by Aunt Dora, to Eleanor's delight. +"Let us go right upstairs," continued Aunt Dora, holding Eleanor's +hand closely in hers. "You are to have a little room next to mine. It +isn't very big, but I think you and Ada will fit into it without much +crowding." + +"It isn't Rock's room?" said Eleanor, with a remembrance of her late +trials in some such direction. + +"No, he has a room back of mine. I am so glad to get home again and to +have you come to us right away. It seems so very lonely without any +children in the house. I can hardly wait till Rock's holiday begins, to +have him with me again. I know he is counting the days." + +"Yes, he wrote to me that he was. He makes a little mark on his +calendar every day." + +"Yes, I know; the dear child. I have been planning a number of things +for the holidays, but first I must tell you about your papa; he is +really getting better, and I think if he will only consent to stay +long enough, that he will come back quite well." She stooped to kiss +Eleanor, and then continued: "You were a dear child not to write to +them of your worries." + +"How did you know?" + +"A little bird told me." + +"Rock?" + +"Maybe. We might call it a rock wren." + +"Oh, Aunt Dora, has Rock had the whooping-cough?" + +"Yes, several years ago." + +"Did you know I had it?" + +"Yes, your Uncle Heath wrote me that you had, and I have been thinking +ever since, just suppose that Ada should take it!" Aunt Dora raised her +hands in comic distress, and Eleanor looked gravely at her doll as if +there were danger in that direction. + +"Never mind," said her Aunt Dora; "she will not take it, I am sure. Now +we will go down to dinner, if you are ready, and to-morrow I know the +first person you will want to see." + +"Florence?" + +Aunt Dora nodded yes. "She is to come over to luncheon and the next day +we will go out to do our Christmas shopping." + +"Oh!" Eleanor was delighted, and she skipped downstairs by her aunt's +side, looking very unlike the forlorn little figure waiting on the +roadside for the butterman. + +After dinner her uncle played dominoes with her and then her aunt took +her upstairs and read a lovely fairy tale to her, and after she was +snugly tucked in bed she had to have many good-night kisses before she +was satisfied. + + + + + _CHAPTER VIII_ + + _Shopping_ + + +Two such happy little girls they were who met the next morning; and for +the first fifteen minutes they talked and laughed so hard that they +nearly whooped themselves speechless for the rest of the day to make up +for it, and when Eleanor, with very red weeping eyes and a puffed face +found breath her first words were, "Isn't it perfectly splendid that I +have the whooping-cough, too?" + +And Florence, between whoops, spluttered, "Splendid." + +"This is the first time I ever knew it to be cause for congratulation," +said Aunt Dora laughing. "Now, this is market day, so, I am going to +leave you to your own devices. I may be back before luncheon, and I may +not. Meantime, make yourselves perfectly at home. You can play in the +library or in Rock's room or anywhere, but in the parlor." Then she +left them. + +"You must see my lovely new Ada; she is a darling. Aunt Dora gave her +to me, and she is such a comfort," said Eleanor. "I brought Celestine +too." + +"And I brought Rubina," said Florence; "she has a new hat." + +"I think we'd better play in the library," said Eleanor. "It has such +a nice bay window and we can have that for one house and the place +over by the mantel for the other house. It is so perfectly lovely to +see you again, Florence." And they, forthwith, proceeded to establish +themselves for a morning's play, chattering as fast as their tongues +could run, so that lunch time came before they were aware of it, and +then, after all, Aunt Dora did not come home, but sent some dainties +from the market and with their dolls they had luncheon at a small table +in the library. + +[Illustration: "THEY HAD LUNCHEON IN THE LIBRARY"] + +"Isn't it fine to have Rubina and Celestine together again?" said +Florence. "Did Bubbles take Floridy Alabamy away with her? Poor +Bubbles, I do hope your uncle will find her." + +"I hope so too," returned Eleanor with a sigh. "Yes, she took her doll, +but she is such a forlorn looking creature; that horrid Donald got +hold of her one day and pretended she was a witch and must be burned at +the stake. Bubbles found it out just in time to save her, but her hair +was singed off, and she has to wear a cap all the time." + +"Aren't boys horrid?" said Florence in a disgusted tone. + +"Some boys," returned Eleanor; "Rock isn't." + +"No, he isn't, but Dimple, I should think you would be glad to leave +that Cousin Ellen family. Sister says she doesn't think that relations +are a bit nice." + +"Why, Florence, we are relations." + +"Yes, I know. I don't suppose she means that none of them are nice. I +think she means that they are so likely to think they can pick you to +pieces and find fault with you just because they are relations. Most of +mine are that way. You know Cousin Ellen is my mamma's cousin, too, and +I never did like to see her when she used to come to our house." + +"Oh, well," said Eleanor with a satisfied sigh, "we don't have to think +about her any more." + +Nevertheless, she did much thinking on account of Cousin Ellen and her +family, that very evening. Just after dinner her Aunt Dora said: "We +must make out our shopping lists, Dimple, for we are going to start out +early to-morrow." + +"Let me see your purse, Dimple," said Uncle Heath, looking up from his +evening paper. + +Eleanor obediently went upstairs and brought down her little netted +purse; it had in it one dollar and two quarters. + +"How many Christmas gifts do you expect this to buy?" asked Uncle Heath +smiling. + +"Why, let me see;" Eleanor began to count on her fingers; "mamma, one, +and papa, two; you and Aunt Dora and Rock and Florence and Bubbles, I +should like to get Bubbles a new doll, and I do want so much to send +just a little something to Mrs. Snyder. Then I should like something +for Miss Reese and I always give Sylvy a present. How many does that +make? Ten, I believe." + +Her uncle chinked her coins in his hand, and looked at his wife with a +smile. "Then, you will have just fifteen cents apiece. I'm afraid you +cannot buy very magnificent things with that amount." + +"And how about your cousins, the Murdochs?" asked Mrs. Dallas quietly. +"They will have no papa to buy them gifts this year, and I am afraid +it will be rather a sad Christmas for them." Eleanor's speaking face +clouded, and she gave a long sigh, before she said, "I don't love them +very much, Aunt Dora, but--Uncle Heath, must I give them Christmas +gifts? That would make five more, you know, and--no, I don't love them +enough." + +"Suppose, instead of being merely ill and away from you, your papa +should be gone from this earth, and that, in consequence, the lovely +Christmas you always have had should be a very sad one this year." + +"Yes, I know," replied Eleanor thoughtfully, "but I'd have you and +Uncle Heath and Aunt Nellie and all of them to give me Christmas gifts." + +Her uncle laughed. "Her wounds are too recent for her to be worked +upon in any such way, Dora. How much money did you say you had in your +purse, Dimple?" + +"A silver dollar and two quarters." + +Her uncle handed the small purse back to her. "Look again; I'm afraid +you don't know how to count." + +Eleanor emptied the purse into her lap, and lo! instead of only one +dollar there were five. She gave a scream of delight. "Oh, Uncle Heath, +how dear you are. Do you truly mean this all for me?" + +"What a question. What is in your purse is yours, isn't it? I told you +that you didn't know how to count." And this was all the satisfaction +she could get from him, although there was no doubt that Uncle Heath +had slipped in the extra dollars. + +"Now, I can get a doll for Bubbles, for we must find her," she said. +"Now I shall have fifty cents instead of fifteen; no, I shall have more +than that." She fingered the money absently. "Aunt Dora," she said +after a pause, "I will get something for Cousin Ellen and all of them. +To be sure they were not very nice to me, but I said hateful things, +too, and I'd feel better about it if I were to send them something. +I could spend twenty-five cents on each of them, you know, and, even +then, I'd have more than I thought I should have for every one else." + +Her Aunt Dora smiled. "What did I tell you, Heath? Well, dear, I think +that will be a very good plan, and I am sure that we can find some very +pretty little gifts to-morrow, perhaps for even less than twenty-five +cents. Now, I tell you what I should do: I should spend the most, as +you ought to do, upon your father and mother, and then get Bubbles her +doll. After that we can spend the rest of the money upon the remaining +persons." + +This suited Eleanor exactly, and she said so. But just at this moment +came a ring at the door and a telegram was handed to Mr. Dallas. He +read it and looked up brightly at Eleanor. "Bubbles is found," he said; +"she is at the hospital from which I have just received this telegram. +I left word at each one of them that I was to be informed if a child +of her description should come in. It seems she is not in a very bad +state, but has a broken arm." + +"Oh," Eleanor clasped her hands, "dear Uncle Heath, can we go get her +right away?" + +"Why, no, I'm afraid not." + +Eleanor looked disappointed. "Why not?" + +"First, because it is after visiting hours, and second, because a +little girl with the whooping-cough would hardly be admitted into the +ward of a hospital." + +"Oh, I forgot that." + +"She will be well taken care of, dear," said Aunt Dora. "I am very glad +she is in so safe a place. To-morrow, before we do any of our shopping, +we will stop at the hospital and learn how she is. It is much better to +allow her to remain there till she is able to be moved safely, than to +try to take her away now. You know we cannot tell yet just how she may +be." + +Eleanor agreed that it was best to wait. "But I hope she will be well +by Christmas," she said. + +As it proved, Bubbles was not in so desperately bad a condition. She +had, indeed, been with the gipsies, some of whom she met as she was +trudging along toward Sylvy's, after having missed seeing Mr. Snyder. +The bright wagons and gay dresses attracted her and she lingered by +the way to watch this troupe of wandering people. One of the men was +training a restive young horse which came dashing down the road, and as +Bubbles tried to get out of the way, she was struck by another horse +which had become excited and had broken loose. A broken arm and some +bruises were the result for Bubbles. It was at first feared that she +might be injured internally, but after a week's nursing, it was found +that she was not, and a portion of the encampment having been started +on ahead, Bubbles was sent with them that she might sooner reach the +city and be placed in a hospital where she could receive attention and +communicate with her friends. She had sent word by one of the gipsy +boys to Sylvy of her whereabouts but the message failed of delivery. + +The two little girls waiting outside in the carriage while Mrs. Dallas +made her call, greeted her eagerly, when she came out, and listened +with the greatest interest to the report, asking all manner of +questions. "Wasn't she glad to see you? Is she very sick? What is the +matter besides the broken arm? Did the gipsies take her there? How long +has she got to stay?" The questions came tumbling over one another till +Mrs. Dallas declared she did not know which to answer. + +"One at a time," she said laughing. "She was perfectly delighted to see +me, poor little soul; she looks quite weak and miserable but she will +have every care. I saw the head nurse, and she told me that Bubbles is +in no danger. She has a broken arm and had a big lump on her head which +made her delirious for several days. The gipsies were very kind to her +and took her to the hospital. She will probably be out in a couple of +weeks." + +"By Christmas?" Eleanor asked. + +"Yes, I hope so, at least, if she improves as they think she will. She +sent her love to you and Florence, and she said that one of the gipsy +children had stolen her doll, so we shall get her one to-day, instead +of waiting to give it to her at Christmas. I think she would rather +have that than anything else. She is perfectly content, now that she +knows we are near her, and that she is to come to our house as soon as +she is able. I promised that I would go to see her as often as I could." + +Eleanor gave a deep sigh. "I'm so thankful," she said. "Poor little +Bubbles." The child was not looking very bright, and Mrs. Dallas +concluded that the shopping expedition should be very short that day. + +They did their shopping in rather a funny way, for Aunt Dora thought +it was not best for them to go into the shops themselves, and so, she +selected the articles and brought them out to the carriage that Eleanor +might approve them before they were sent home. Of course in every case +she was entirely satisfied, and when they came to Florence's present +that young person turned her head and shut her eyes tight that she +might not get even a glimpse of the game that Aunt Dora had selected. +But when it came to the present for Aunt Dora here was a quandary, +till Aunt Dora suggested that they should stop before the shop where +the purchase was to be made and she would send a salesman out to wait +upon them while she went on to another shop where they could call for +her. This plan worked very well and a pretty little candlestick for +her writing desk was carefully placed among the packages in the small +basket which was provided for the articles which they were to take home +themselves. + +The first purchase was the doll for Bubbles, and Florence suggested +that it should be as much like Eleanor as possible, therefore, a fair +creature with light flowing locks and blue eyes was chosen. + +For her father, "a book which will make him laugh," Eleanor decided +upon. "And for my blessed mamma something very lovely," and after +looking at many things, a very dainty, fluffy tie was chosen because +Aunt Dora said it would be easy to send it by mail. The rest of the +purchases were put off till another time, and the next morning after +the doll had been left at the hospital for Bubbles they continued their +shopping, getting a game for Rock, a cup and saucer for Uncle Heath, +a bright necktie for Sylvy, a pretty booklet for Miss Reese, and a +comical little match-safe for Mrs. Snyder, "so she will think of me +every time she lights her lamp," Eleanor said. After this, the Murdoch +family had to be disposed of, and this took the rest of the morning, +so that Eleanor returned home with an empty purse but with a well +satisfied feeling at having provided for every one. + +The next day was to be spent with Florence, and when Eleanor put her +head on her pillow that night, although she was a very tired little +girl she had before her a pleasant anticipation and no regrets. Her +last thought before going to sleep was, "I am glad I got something for +Cousin Ellen and the children," and she fell asleep at peace with the +whole world. + +When she awoke the next morning the ground was covered with snow +and her aunt met her with: "I wonder if it is prudent to send the +whooping-cough out of doors to-day. A fresh snow is liable to give +fresh cold. Shall you be much disappointed, Dimple, if I ask you to +stay at home to-day?" + +"I did want to go so much," she said wistfully. + +"I know you did, but although it is not very far to Florence's house, +the cars will not take you there, and even if they did, I should not +want you to go that way. You would best stay at home, I think, and we +can make a new dress and a hat for Bubbles' doll." + +At this Eleanor's face brightened and when Uncle Heath volunteered to +stop at Mr. Graham's and ask if Florence could come and spend the day +with Eleanor, if an opportunity occurred to send her around, Eleanor +was quite satisfied. "I am glad Aunt Nellie has a carriage," she said, +"for Florence will be so much more likely to come. I think it was +very nice for Aunt Nell to let us go shopping in the carriage, for I +couldn't have gone at all any other way." + +About noon the jingle of sleigh-bells announced the approach of a +sleigh, and looking out of the window there Eleanor saw Florence and +her eldest sister. Florence was seen to hop out and then the sleigh +drove off. Eleanor ran down into the hall to greet her cousin. "Hurry, +Florence," she said. "I am so glad you came. We are dressing Bubbles' +doll, at least, we are making a new dress for her, and a hat and coat. +Come right upstairs." + +"I can stay till three o'clock," Florence told her, "and then mamma +will stop for me, and she wants you to go for a little ride in the +sleigh. Should you like to?" + +"Of course," Eleanor answered. "I was just wishing that I could go when +I heard your bells jingling. Dr. Sullivan sometimes takes me with him +at home, but not very often." + +"We don't often have sleighing," returned Florence. "At least, not to +last very long. I am glad we have some while you are here. Oh, Dimple, +there are so many mysteries at home; I can hardly wait till Christmas. +We are going to have a tree. Are you?" + +"Yes, Aunt Dora says she is glad to have the excuse to have one; it +seems so much more Christmassy." + +They spent the next hour or two in helping to make the doll clothes, +or, at least, they thought they were helping, though it must be +confessed that Aunt Dora did most of the work. At three o'clock the +sleigh came jingling up, and they had a fine drive out through the park +and Eleanor came home with more color in her cheeks than they had worn +for some weeks. + + + + + _CHAPTER IX_ + + _At Christmas_ + + +The next day Eleanor was able to go over to her Aunt Nellie's, for +the sun was shining brightly, and the pavements were cleared of snow. +Florence and her other cousins greeted her warmly. They were all much +excited over the approach of Christmas, and Eleanor was piloted up +to the nursery, "Because," said Florence, "there is so much going on +downstairs, and some of sister's friends will be down in our room. +Mamma has gone out, but she will be back directly." And they proceeded +to establish themselves and set to work industriously to finish some +embroidery which each had to have ready for Christmas. They had hardly +begun to work, however, when Mrs. Graham appeared, and Eleanor scurried +her bit of linen out of sight, but Florence arose to the occasion with: +"Mamma, Dimple and I have been talking about the Christmas party that +we always have. We were wondering how we could manage it this year +when we all have the whooping-cough. We have a lovely plan, though." + +"Have you?" said her mother, sitting down and drawing off her gloves. +"Let us hear it." + +"Why," answered Florence, looking very wise as she threaded her needle, +"we think it would be nice to have a whooping party." + +Her mother laughed. "That's a queer sort of party. Do you mean to play +Indian?" + +"No, I mean we can have all the little girls and boys that are having +the whooping-cough and that can't go to school or anywhere." + +"And how many do you suppose that will be?" + +"I don't know. I know four or five. May we have it, mamma?" + +"Why, I don't know. I shall have to think about it. I suppose I should +have to furnish lozenges and cough syrup for refreshments." + +Florence laughed; it struck her as a very funny sort of refreshment, +but she knew her mother was joking, although she added quite seriously, +"We should have to be careful not to have anything very rich, you +know. I think, after all, you'd best think of something else, for, a +room full of children whooping and choking one after another, would be +rather an unpleasant scene. Don't you think something else would be +more amusing? You and Dimple put your thinking-caps on and we'll see +what can be done to amuse you during the holidays." + +Florence agreed to this and the two little girls proceeded with their +work while they tried to think very hard, looking very sober as they +stitched away. They were interrupted by the entrance of Florence's +little sister Gertrude, who had been down town with her mother and who +came in full of importance at having had presents provided for her to +bestow at Christmas. "I've got sumpsin for ev'ybody," she said, "but +I'm not going to tell." + +Florence hugged her up close to her. "Won't you tell me?" she asked +coaxingly. + +"No," Gertrude shook her head, "I tan't tell." + +"What color is the one you have for me?" Florence asked. + +"It's white, an' it sumpsin to wipe your nose on. Now, I won't tell you +one sing more," and she pursed up her lips tight, looking very wise +while the others laughed heartily but pretended to be much mystified. +These were very mysterious times, anyhow. Some one was always skurrying +something under a chair or poking something into a closet whenever +certain persons entered the room, and there were unfamiliar snippings +of lace and silk and cambric to be seen on the floor in the nursery, so +that Florence was wrought up to a pitch of curiosity rather unusual for +her. + +"You are to come over here right after breakfast, Christmas morning," +she told Eleanor; "you and Rock. I wish you could stay here all night +so that we could hang up our stockings together. I do so wish you +could." + +Eleanor looked a little doubtful; she did not want to neglect her Aunt +Dora and her Uncle Heath, not to mention Rock. "I am afraid I couldn't +do that," she said. "You know Rock will be at home and it would seem +mean to leave them all on Christmas morning." + +"Rock could come too; it would be such fun to have you," continued +Florence, all hospitality, but Eleanor declared that would never do, +and so they had to give up the plan. But, after all, it did turn out +that Eleanor spent Christmas eve with her cousins, for Florence's +mother decided that the children should have their Christmas tree at +that time, that they might all go to Mrs. Heath Dallas' on Christmas +night and see the tree that was to be prepared for Rock and Eleanor. + +"Aunt Dora won't tell me anything about the tree," Eleanor told +Florence, "so there's some sort of surprise, I know. Isn't it just fine +that we can all be here together? I should have been so miserable at +home." + +"I don't see how you could have stood Cousin Ellen and have been nice +to her," said Florence. + +Eleanor was silent for a moment and took several stitches in the doily +she was embroidering in outline stitch for her Aunt Nellie. "Well, I +wasn't very nice to her," she admitted after a time. "I meant to be in +the beginning, but when Don was so hateful and they treated Bubbles so +mean, I just didn't care and I said anything that came into my head. +Sometimes, when I got real mad, I was the sauciest girl you ever heard." + +"Are you going to tell your mother?" Florence asked solemnly. + +"I--I don't know. Maybe. Yes, I always tell mamma everything; somehow, +it comes out whether I want it to or not. Yes, I'll tell her, but I +couldn't be meek and lowly; I just couldn't. I never knew I could feel +so very, very mad at any one before, but, you see, now that I am not +there, I don't feel so mad, and I'm going to send the Christmas gifts, +you know. I'll tell you what I'll do: I'll write to Cousin Ellen, and +tell her I am sorry I was saucy, but I'll not say I am sorry about +Donald, for I'm not." And Florence agreed that she could hardly be +expected to. + +The letter was written that very day and was tucked in the box with the +Christmas gifts. It ran: + + "DEAR COUSIN ELLEN: + + "I hope you will have a happy Christmas. I am having a lovely time, + and Bubbles is getting along finely. Every one at the hospital + likes her and she is just as nice as she was when mamma was at + home. I thought you would be glad to know that she is not so much + hurt as we were afraid of because you sent her away and you would + feel very bad if you thought you had made her get hurt very bad. + I send you all a little Christmas gift. I hope you will like what + I send. Were you ever impudent when you were a little girl? I am + sorry I was. + + "Yours + "ELEANOR DALLAS." + +Eleanor submitted the letter to her Aunt Nellie who read it and +laughing, said: "You have said just the right thing, Dimple, and if +Cousin Ellen can remember as far back as a certain occasion when +she was a little girl I think she could answer, 'yes,' to your last +question." + +"Was she a nice little girl? Did you know her then, Aunt Nellie?" + +"Yes, I knew her very well. She was my cousin, you know, but I don't +believe your mother and I were as fond of her as you are of Florence. +She hasn't changed so very much, I fancy." + +"Then she couldn't have been so very nice," Eleanor concluded. + +It was the day upon which they expected Rock to return home, and +Eleanor was in a high state of excitement. There must be other arrivals +to be looked for, too, for Aunt Dora was having the largest guest room +made ready and one or two telegrams had arrived. "Are you expecting +somebody else?" she ventured to ask. + +"Yes," Aunt Dora answered smiling. + +Eleanor's wistful eyes asked the question before her lips said, "Not +papa and mamma?" + +Aunt Dora stooped and kissed her. "No, dear, I wish I could say it +was they for whom I am looking, but I'll tell you this much: they are +strangers to me." + +Eleanor puzzled over this. It seemed funny for Aunt Dora to entertain +strangers at Christmas time, and she was rather disappointed that it +should be so; it seemed as if it made a more formal day of it than she +could enjoy. She determined to ask Rock about it so soon as she should +have a chance, but he knew no more about it than she did and could not +coax the secret from his mother. Rock had grown, Eleanor discovered, +and although he was quite a rough and tumble boy, liking to be out +of doors and to play all sorts of games requiring muscle, he was as +kind and polite and gentle when he was in the house, as he ever had +been, and Eleanor did not feel that her old comrade had lost anything +by going to boarding-school. He was about a year older than Eleanor +and she had known him when his mother was a widow and before she had +married Eleanor's Uncle Heath. + +"It's too bad that you can't go down town with me to buy my presents," +Rock said to her the day he arrived. "But, I say, Dimple it's jolly to +have you here. I was so glad when I heard you were coming." + +"You weren't as glad as I was," she returned. "And isn't it fine that +you don't have to go back to that hateful school?" + +Rock looked sober. "Yes, it is," he replied. "Some of the fellows, who +have been to other schools say they aren't half bad, but you see, this +one has all new teachers this year, and though it used to be fine a few +years ago, it's not so any more. You see father thought it was the same +or he wouldn't have sent me there." One thing that Eleanor liked about +Rock was his loyalty to her Uncle Heath. + +The days passed quickly enough and when Christmas eve came around +Eleanor, Rock, Mr. and Mrs. Heath Dallas were to see the tree at +Aunt Nellie's. A fine affair it was, and it made a great show in the +dining-room where it stood. Florence had several brothers and sisters +and it seemed a big family to Eleanor, for, first, there was Kitty, +the eldest daughter who was sixteen, and then came Marian, and next +Florence, who was not quite ten, and then the three younger children, +Lee and Gertrude, and Ted, the baby. This youngest member of the family +was not old enough to do much more than laugh and coo at the shining +tree, but Lee and Gertrude were just of the age to most appreciate the +glittering glories of stars and rings and balls and glistening baubles. + +The presents were not to be given till the next morning, although +little Gertrude insisted upon making every one guess what she had for +him or her, and in most cases managed to convey the information as to +what it was. And then, because Rock said he was not going to hang up +his stocking because he was too big to do such babyish things, his +mother yielded to Florence's pleading for Eleanor's company for over +night, promising that she should not even be asked to stay to breakfast +if she could but be on hand to hang up her stocking with the rest. + +"Don't you dare to stay too long," said Rock. "We're going to have our +presents right after breakfast, aren't you, mamma?" + +Mrs. Dallas looked at her husband. "Unless you and Eleanor can wait +till evening when we have the tree." + +"Oh, pshaw! that's too long to wait," Rock declared. Then seeing his +mother's expression, he asked, "Is there any particular reason for it, +mother?" + +"Yes, I must confess, there is." + +"Then I'll wait, if Dimple will, but it's a good deal to ask of a +fellow." + +"I'll wait," said Dimple cheerfully. + +"Then I'll come over for you some time after breakfast," Rock told her, +"and I'll see the presents over here and have the fun of that." + +"I think Rock was just dear to do that," said Florence after he had +gone. "I did so want you to stay with me to-night. Come, let's go right +to bed, Dimple." + +"We want to hang up our stockings first." + +"Oh, of course. Mamma has some white ones, real big long ones, that she +keeps on purpose. You know every one of the family has a stocking on +Christmas morning." + +"I am always going to hang up mine," Eleanor declared; "even after I +am grown up and am married. I hope we shall live near each other then, +don't you?" + +Florence replied that she did and they hurried off to bed after seeing +the stockings securely hung up by the nursery chimney-piece. + +Although they were so filled with excitement that they kept awake much +longer than usual, they dropped to sleep at last and awoke at the sound +of the man attending to the furnace in the cellar. + +"It's morning," whispered Florence. "Get up, Dimple, we must go and get +our stockings, and then we'll come back to bed and look at them." + +"It is so dark," said Eleanor, also in a whisper, "are you sure it is +morning?" + +"Yes, I hear John at the furnace, so I know. Put something round you, +or you may get cold. Oh dear, I believe I am going to cough, and I +don't want to wake up Gertrude and sister and the others." She buried +her face in the pillow and managed to choke down the paroxysm to some +extent, and then they wrapped themselves up warmly and tiptoed through +the silent hall to the nursery where the row of stockings hung. + +"Here is mine," said Florence in a whisper, after feeling around for a +moment, "and here is yours. Don't they feel lovely and bumpy? Let's fly +back with them before any one hears us." But this was not accomplished +for Lee's quick ears heard them and he scrambled out of bed and +downstairs he came to get his stocking. Then came more scrambling and +whispering and giggling till all the stockings were in the possession +of their rightful owners, and the owners then proceeded to snuggle back +beneath the covers to examine their treasures. + +Florence and Eleanor found the usual supply of cakes and candies and +such things; away down in the toe they discovered a bright penny and +on top of each stuffed stocking was placed a pretty little doll about +three inches long. These were dressed in long clothes and wore, each, a +tiny cap and cloak. + +"Aren't they precious little things," said Eleanor, to whom a doll +always appealed. "Florence, aren't you dying to know what other +presents you have?" + +"Yes, I am puzzled, for in the corner of the nursery, where our +presents are always put, mamma has set up the largest screen, and so I +know there is something big behind it, but I can't guess whom it may be +for, and it is so lovely to think it may be for me." + +Their curiosity in this direction was soon gratified, for it was really +later than it appeared to be, for it was a dark morning and breakfast +was announced before they were dressed. To be sure, it did not much +matter, for all the children, except Lee, were too excited to eat much, +and Mr. Graham said he supposed the contents of the stockings took the +place of breakfast. + +"We didn't eat anything but two cakes and two pieces of candy," +Florence declared. "Lee has eaten half of what he had." But that did +not prevent Lee from entirely enjoying his chicken and waffles, and +the girls at last insisted that they could not wait all day for him. +Therefore a procession was formed with Mr. Graham at the head, and they +marched upstairs to the nursery. The screen was swung to one side, and +there before the delighted eyes of Florence and Eleanor was displayed a +pretty little doll-house, completely furnished from top to bottom. It +had three rooms above and three below. In the parlor were a lady and a +gentleman doll. The lady was sitting down and held a little boy doll +in her lap. In the kitchen was a black cook who was immediately dubbed +Sylvy, by Florence. + +"Dimple hasn't looked at her own presents yet," said Marian, too much +interested herself to see Florence's delight to look at her own gifts. + +"Why, where are they?" Eleanor asked. + +"There, before the door of the doll-house." + +Eleanor looked eagerly around and true enough there stood a cunning +little coach, drawn by two prancing horses and inside sat another lady +and gentleman with their little son. "Aren't they dear?" cried Eleanor. +"Oh, Florence, did you ever dream of having anything so lovely? Such +cunning little people and to think we have the two families! can't we +have the loveliest times? Oh, Aunt Nellie, I think you are a darling to +do this for me. I never had a papa doll before and this one is so fine; +he has such a lovely moustache." + +Kitty laughed. "If you knew what a time we had to get a gentleman the +proper size to fit the little house, you would not wonder that you have +never possessed such a rare creature." + +"Now, I want to know just who gave everything," said Florence. + +"Papa gave the house; mamma furnished it, and I gave the dolls and +dressed them, all but cook, and Marian gave that. Lee gave the little +piano; he wanted to have a hand in furnishing the house." + +"I don't see how you all kept the secret so well; I never dreamed of +such a surprise," Florence acknowledged. + +"Now, about mine," said Eleanor. + +"Your coach is from mamma and the lady and gentleman from me," Kitty +told her. "You haven't seen papa's present, have you?" + +"No, are there any more?" And Eleanor's heart was further warmed by the +gift of a set of books that she had long wanted. + +The doll-house was so fascinating that when Rock arrived he could +scarcely persuade Eleanor to go back home with him, and, indeed, he was +so well pleased with the gift that he said he did not wonder the girls +did not want to leave it, and he offered to go tell his mother that +Eleanor was having such a good time that she would rather stay the rest +of the day if she might. Aunt Dora appreciated the situation and sent +word that she might remain, but to be sure to be back by five o'clock, +and even then Rock found it hard to persuade her that it was time to +go, and that if they didn't hurry they might miss something. Then +Eleanor at last tore herself away, leaving her gifts behind her. + +"It seems queer not to go to church on Christmas day," she said as she +and Rock were on their way home. "Was the church very pretty?" + +"Beautiful," Rock answered heartily, "and so was the music. It is too +bad that you had to stay away. You ought to have seen Bubbles with her +stocking. She was delighted, and she has hardly touched a thing in it +because she wants to show it to you." + +"And to think," said Eleanor, "I had to stay away from her all +Christmas day. I don't believe it has ever happened before." + +"She had a good time," Rock assured her, "she has had all the nice +things that were good for her, and she knows she is to see you very +soon." + +"In a week, the doctor said, I did so hope she could come to-day." She +gave a little sigh, but Rock began to joke with her, and they reached +the corner before she knew it. + + + + + _CHAPTER X_ + + _A Happy New Year_ + + +It was quite dark when they reached home, and Eleanor saw that even in +the large guest chamber there was a brilliant light. "Oh, the company +has come," she exclaimed. + +"Pshaw!" said Rock, "they got here before us after all." + +Eleanor held back a little as she heard voices in the parlor, but +before she could see who was there out came some one who picked her +up, and gave her a mighty hug. "Grandfather!" she exclaimed. "Oh, +grandfather! I didn't dream it was you. Why, you are not a stranger." + +"Why, yes he is," Rock put in. "Mother and I never saw him in our lives +till to-day." + +"Why, of course," said Eleanor, "I forgot that he was in Europe when +Uncle Heath was married. Oh, grandpa, did you bring grandma? and where +is she?" + +"Upstairs; she'll be down directly." + +"And did you come all the way from Birmingham to-day?" + +"Not to-day, but we reached here to-day. I tried to get here yesterday +but we were detained just twelve hours beyond the time we expected and +so we came lagging along about sundown." + +"It is such a lovely surprise," Eleanor repeated, snuggling up to him. +Then her grandma came in and there was another welcome to be given. + +Then, and this was a surprise too, when Eleanor turned from her grandma +who should be standing in the doorway but Bubbles. Since she was +recovering rapidly the doctors thought she might be allowed to spend +Christmas away from the hospital, as Mrs. Dallas made it a special +request. "Oh, Bubbles, Bubbles, I am so glad to see you," Eleanor +cried. "Why, how long have you been here?" + +"I come 'bout fo' o'clock. Miss Dora she come an' fetched me. I gwine +back to-morrer, but in a week I kin come away fo' good an' all." + +"And do you feel well?" + +"Yass, miss, tol'able. I ain't just quite well, but I mos'." + +"But oh, suppose you haven't had whooping-cough." + +"Miss Dora say I has. She tooken an' write to Sylvy an' Sylvy she say I +has it when I a baby." + +"Oh, then, that is all right." + +Then dinner was announced, and Eleanor who had already eaten her fill, +regretted that she had tried to crowd two Christmasses into one day, +but there was no help for it, a second dinner could not possibly be +eaten, and she could only nibble at the good things provided. + +After dinner came the excitement of the second tree, which was dazzling +enough to satisfy any one, and then the presents were distributed, +such an array of them that Eleanor never remembered having so many. +Books, two new Jungle Books, and a set of Miss Alcott's works, besides +several other entertaining stories; a pretty set of furs, and many +other things. Bubbles was not forgotten by any one, and had a pile of +presents almost as big as Eleanor's. As for Rock, with his new wheel, +skates, a fine little kodak, and books in great number, he was very +happy. + +"It has been such a lovely Christmas," said Eleanor, "and I did not +see how it could be, a month ago. Aunt Dora, isn't it strange what a +difference it makes whether people love you or not?" And these were the +last words any one heard from her that night, for, in five minutes she +was fast asleep. + +The last night of the old year brought another joyful surprise for +Eleanor. Bubbles had that day arrived from the hospital, her arm still +in a sling, but she was otherwise quite herself. Aunt Dora assured her +that she should remain under her roof till Eleanor's parents should +return, and Bubbles, who was a grateful little soul, did her best to +show appreciation, constituting herself Miss Dora's special messenger. +"I was sassy, Miss Dora," she confessed; "'deed I was, but I ain't +sassy to folks 'at treats me good, an' I jus' run my legs off fo' yuh, +ef yuh wants me to." + +"It's bad enough for you to have nearly run your arm off," returned +Mrs. Dallas smiling. + +"It's great fun to have you and Bubbles here," Rock declared. "Aren't +we just going to have a warm old time?" And indeed, it was a happy +holiday week, for, although they were cut off from many outside +frolics, they could have plenty of fun at home, especially since +Grandpa and Grandma Dallas were always ready to add their share to +the amusements. It was grandpa, himself, who suggested the kind of +party which whooping-cough patients could have. Aunt Nellie agreed +heartily and sent out invitations to the hospital where Bubbles had +been, and all the children who were suffering from whooping-cough or +who had been through the ordeal and who could go out, were invited to +a Punch and Judy show the last day of the old year. Grandpa added to +the performance a magic-lantern show which gave great delight. It was a +funny sort of party, but the children all enjoyed it. + +"We won't put on our very best frocks," said Florence, "because we +mustn't dress better than the company. We are going to have jelly and +little plain cakes for the refreshments and we're going to give a +little doll to each of the girls and a game to each of the boys, for +favors." + +"I think that is a fine kind of party," said Rock. "I like it much +better than the other kind." + +The guests all enjoyed themselves so heartily and spread such reports +among their friends that grandpa said it was too bad that other +children who were unable to leave the hospital, but who were well +enough to be entertained in a similar way, could not enjoy the little +show, therefore he and Rock decided to give their services to the +entertainment of these other children the next week, so Florence's +first idea brought abundant fruit. + +It was late in the afternoon, after the little guests had departed that +Eleanor's surprise came. She and Rock and Florence were sitting before +the library fire when some one opened the door and a voice asked: +"Where is my daughter?" + +"Here I am, mamma," Florence answered. + +Then there was a little laugh and some one came forward in the dusk, +some one whose familiar form made Eleanor, as she turned her head, +spring to her feet. "It is my mamma! It is my mamma!" she cried, +flinging herself in the dear arms stretched out ready to clasp her. +And then who should walk into the room, quite erect, and without any +crutches at all, but Eleanor's papa. + +"Oh, when did you come? When did you come?" cried the child, her voice +shaking with excitement. + +"We have just arrived," her father told her. "We wanted much to be here +by Christmas, but it seemed better for me to stay longer and get the +full benefit of the baths." + +"And are you quite well?" said his daughter. + +"So nearly that I do not fear a return of the trouble. My little girl +has had a hard time, hasn't she?" + +"I did at first, but I've had a lovely time here. Aunt Dora and Uncle +Heath are so good to me, and here at Aunt Nellie's it is next to being +at home. When are we going back, papa?" + +"In a few days. You know I have a father and mother, too, whom I have +not seen for some time, and I want to have a little visit with them, +though, to be sure, we shall have them with us in the spring." + +"Shall we? I am so glad, but I'm glad so much lately, that it isn't +anything new." + +Then there was a great time deciding where every one should stay. +Florence said that Eleanor had been so long at her Aunt Dora's that she +ought to come to her other aunt's, and Rock insisted that Eleanor had +agreed to stay at his house till she went home, but finally Florence +carried the day, for she argued that Mrs. Heath Dallas would have all +the company, if her Aunt Florence went there, so Eleanor's parents +agreed that she should make Florence a little visit until they should +be ready to go home, and for a week the two little girls had a great +time playing with the new doll-house. + +[Illustration: "THE TWO LITTLE GIRLS HAD GREAT TIMES PLAYING"] + +Then came an arrangement which to Eleanor, particularly, was a most +delightful one. Since it would be some time before either of the two +little girls could go to school again, Eleanor's mother proposed that +Florence should go home with them and that they should have lessons +there. "For," said Mrs. Dallas, "what do you think, daughter? Miss +Reese has the whooping-cough; not very badly, but some one has to +take her place in the school. Now, don't you think it would be a good +plan to ask her to come for two or three hours a day to teach you and +Florence?" + +"Fine," replied Eleanor. + +"How should you like to take this boy, too?" asked Uncle Heath, putting +his hand on Rock's shoulder. "I find that I have to take another long +trip and I'd like to have Dora go with me, but we don't want to send +Rock back to boarding-school again, since he had such a sorry +experience the last time, but if you could take him in with your young +folks it would relieve our minds, besides being a good thing for him, +Miss Reese is a very competent teacher, I judge." + +"She is an excellent teacher," his brother assured him. And the matter +was considered settled. + +"Does Cousin Ellen know you are coming home, mamma?" Eleanor asked. + +"Yes, she knows, and she has taken a little house on the other side of +town." + +"Oh!" Eleanor's face was a sight to see, between her desire to seem +pleased and her real feeling of disappointment. + +Her mother hugged her tightly and said: "Never mind Cousin Ellen, now +you have your mother." + +Eleanor gave a great sigh of content and rested her head against her +mother's arm. "Dearest mamma, the next time you go away I shall get +into one of the trunks rather than be left behind. You don't know, you +never will know, how horrid Cousin Ellen can be." + +"Don't I? Perhaps I do. At all events, my darling, she will not be +near enough to bother you." + +"No, and now I am rather glad I am not to go back to school, for then +I should have to see Olive all the time, and she does try to set the +girls against me. Am I a very bad child, mamma?" + +"You are not perfect, sweetheart, but I don't believe you are as +naughty as Cousin Ellen would have us think." + +In a few days they started for home, a merry party, Eleanor, her father +and mother, Florence, Rock and Bubbles. As they came near the house +Eleanor glanced up at the window where poor Ada had hung so helplessly. +She looked over at the little playhouse, then she turned to Rock. "Oh, +Rock," she said, "I am so glad you are not Don." + +Sylvy, smiling and neat, met them at the door, and before twenty-four +hours all was as it had been before Cousin Ellen had come. Yet, it took +Eleanor a little while to adjust herself to the belief that there were +no hard words nor cold looks to greet her, and once or twice she cried +out in the night so pitifully as to bring her mother to her side to +awaken her from a nightmare in which she said she thought Cousin Ellen +was holding her while Don stuck pins in her. + +One of the first visitors was Dr. Sullivan, who greeted Eleanor with: +"Heigho, little girl! back again? Plenty of fresh air, remember. +Another patient is this, Miss Florence? A comrade in misery. Well, keep +out of doors all you can." + +And then came Miss Reese for sympathy, as she said, and she seemed so +glad to see Eleanor that the child felt that here was one person, at +least, who believed in her. "I'm so glad you can come and teach us, +Miss Reese," she told her. "I think it will be a dear little school. We +are to study in the library, mamma says, and I think it will be great +fun." + +Mrs. Dallas had just come in from a walk. "What do you think, daughter? +Cousin Ellen wants to know if I will let Don and Olive and Jessie join +our little class." + +Eleanor looked horror-stricken and her mother laughed as she asked, +"What did you say, mamma?" + +"I said no, and I said it very emphatically. Cousin Ellen says the +three older children have had the whooping-cough and she fears it for +none of them but Alma. I said: 'I do not think the arrangement would be +at all a satisfactory one, Cousin Ellen, and we will not consider it.'" + +Just here Bubbles came in saying: "Miss Dimple, Mr. Snyder out hyah." + +"Oh!" Eleanor jumped up. "Please 'scuse me, Miss Reese, I must see my +dear butterman. Come, Florence, come, Rock." And she ran out to greet +her old friend, who shook both her hands and said: "Mrs. Snyder heard +you was comin' home and she wants to know if you won't come out some +day with your cousins and the little colored girl. Some Saturday. If +you take the electric cars to Brookside it will be just a little walk +across the fields. Mrs. Snyder wants to hear all about what has been +happening and I've got a little colt to show you; one of the finest +in the land. Come next Saturday, if it ain't too cold," he said as he +drove away. + +"They were so good to me, you will let us go, won't you, mamma?" +Eleanor asked when she went into her mother. + +"Of course, dear, you may go. I am more than grateful to Mr. and Mrs. +Snyder for their kindness to you, and I would not refuse to have you +accept their invitation for anything." + +"And you'll take butter from them again?" + +"Most certainly. Now run along, Miss Reese and I have some matters we +want to talk over." + +"I can't find the key to the playhouse," said Eleanor, coming back in a +minute. + +"Can't you? Well, never mind, wait till to-morrow before you go there. +Suppose you get Bubbles to help you and Florence to put your clothing +neatly in the bureau drawers." + +"And then shall we help Rock to put his away?" + +"Yes." + +But upon being consulted, Rock said, "I did that myself." + +Eleanor looked at him admiringly and Florence said, "I didn't know boys +ever did such things; my brother doesn't." + +"Because somebody does it for him, I suppose, but my mother says +there's no reason why a boy shouldn't be as smart as a girl about +finding things and keeping them in order." + +"I wish my mother would say that to Lee," returned Florence; "he +always throws his things anywhere and we girls have to find them for +him and put them away." + +"Well," said Rock, "I wouldn't let a girl do that for me." + +Eleanor was sitting on the floor hugging her knees, her eyes roving +around the room. Presently she jumped up and began a frantic dance. +"What is the matter?" asked Florence in wonder. + +"I'm glad, just so glad that I can't help it," Eleanor told her. "When +I think it is Rock and not Don who is in the little room, and that you +are here instead of Olive, I could scream with joy." + +"We haven't been to the playhouse yet," said Florence. + +"No, mamma said to wait till to-morrow." + +"Why?" + +"I don't know. She just said so. I don't suppose there is any reason." + +"I believe there is," said Florence mysteriously. + +"Oh, why?" + +"Because I saw your papa come out of there with a man." + +"Oh, well, we'll see to-morrow. I'm not going to guess about it. Let us +go downstairs. There comes Doctor Sullivan again, oh, and Miss Reese is +going. She will be here to-morrow to begin lessons. Doctor Sullivan is +not coming in. Miss Reese is going with him in the buggy." + +The next day did solve the mystery of the playhouse, for it appeared +that the place had been repaired and put in perfect order. The man, +whom Florence saw, had been putting in a pane of glass which Don had +broken. "It looks nicer than ever," said Eleanor admiringly. "I am so +glad papa had it made so new and clean, I feel as if all the Don of it +were gone now." The words were hardly out of her mouth before Don's +form appeared in the doorway. Eleanor drew herself up stiffly. "Well?" +she said. + +Don looked rather sheepish, but he said: "I just thought I would come +over." + +Eleanor said nothing. + +"Say, I left my knife out here," began Don. + +"When?" + +"Oh, a long time ago. I want to come in and look for it." + +"You can't come in. I will look for it. I don't believe it is here +though, for it's been ever and ever so long since you were in here." + +"I don't care, I'm coming in. I'd like to see any girl keep me out." + +At this Rock came forward. He had been sitting in a corner where Don +could not see him. "Then perhaps, a boy can keep you out," he said +calmly. "This is Eleanor's house and she has a right to do as she +chooses about it. If you have left anything here, go up to the house +and tell Mrs. Dallas, or Mr. Dallas either. They will see that you get +it." + +Don stood for a moment irresolute and then walked away, but a few +minutes later they heard a sharp cry of pain and they all rushed out to +see Bubbles sitting on the ground sobbing and holding her wounded arm. + +"Oh, Bubbles, Bubbles," cried Eleanor, running up to her, "what is it?" + +"Dat Don he come an' gimme a lick 'fore I knowed he was anywhere about, +and he knocked me over and hurt mah arm, he did." + +Rock's eyes snapped. "I'll get even with him," he muttered, "the little +bully." + +"Does your arm hurt you very much?" asked Florence anxiously. "Come, +let's go to the doctor right away." + +"We'll tell mamma first," said Eleanor. This done, Mrs. Dallas did +decide that the doctor would best be seen and they set out at once for +his office, fortunately finding him at home. He found nothing serious +had happened, but he frowned when told of the sudden and uncalled-for +attack upon Bubbles, and shook his head, looking sharply at Rock as if +he might be suspected of being at fault in the matter, so that Eleanor +spoke up and said, "Rock sent him off, doctor, and I suppose that's +what made him mad. Uncle Heath said he didn't think that Don was really +a bad boy, but I think he is a very bad boy." + +The doctor smiled at her emphatic way of speaking and said that he +would call in the morning and see if Bubbles were all right. Indeed, +it seemed that he generally found his way to the house every day, and +about the time that Miss Reese took her leave after lesson hours. + +Saturday proved to be as fine a day as could be expected in January, +and the four children, Bubbles included, started for Mr. Snyder's. +Florence and Rock had never been there before, and were delighted to +go whizzing along through the country which was really very beautiful, +even in winter, for it is not alone when trees are green, that hills +and dales are fair to see. + +They had been traveling for some time when Eleanor said, "You told the +conductor to let us off at Brookside, didn't you, Rock? That place we +just passed looked like it, but I am not sure if it is the place." + +"I told him," returned Rock, "but maybe he forgot. I'll ask him." This +he did to find that they had passed the place and were told that it +wasn't very far and they could walk back. + +"I call that pretty cool," said Rock as they scrambled down from the +car, "but we've got to make the best of it, I suppose." + +They trudged along for a little distance when suddenly they came to a +high trestle before which Eleanor stood aghast. "I never can go over +that," she declared. + +"Oh, yes, you can," said Rock. "I'll walk ahead and take your two +hands," but Eleanor shrank from such a proceeding. + +"I couldn't! I couldn't," she insisted, "it makes me sick to think of +it, and then suppose a car should come along." + +"No, they only come every half hour, and it is a single track so the +down car doesn't start till the up car gets to the terminus, the +conductor told me, so that's all right," Rock tried to reassure her by +saying. + +But Eleanor was firm and at last clambered down the embankment and +discovered a place narrow enough for her to cross the little stream +running below. Bubbles fearfully followed, and they managed to scramble +up the bank, reaching the other side almost as soon as Rock and +Florence. But this was not the end of their adventures. + + + + + _CHAPTER XI_ + + _Don and a Pony_ + + +The day was unusually pleasant for the season, and the children as they +journeyed along saw that they were not the only ones who had sought the +country. Ahead of them were three boys who were going in the direction +of Mr. Snyder's. + +"One of those boys looks like Don," said Florence; "I wonder what he is +doing out here. Do you know who the others are, Dimple?" + +"No, I don't believe I do, though one of them looks like Joe Forrester." + +"Is he the brother of the girl you told me about?" + +"Yes, but I don't know him. See, they are turning off here and that is +Mr. Snyder's house over there." + +"I hope those boys aren't going there." + +"I don't believe they are; the boys from town go wandering all about in +the woods and places about here. I don't believe Don would want to go +to Mr. Snyder's." + +But in this she was mistaken, for, after they had spent a pleasant hour +with Mrs. Snyder and had eaten a hearty and good dinner, they heard a +great commotion outside whither Mr. Snyder had gone to bring up his +pretty little colt to show the children. + +"Mr. Snyder thinks as much of that colt as if it were a baby," Mrs. +Snyder told them, "and it is a pretty creature. The land's sake! What's +all that to do?" + +They all ran out on the porch to see Mr. Snyder with a squirming boy +firmly held by the collar, while Lem was leading off the colt which was +limping and seemed in some way hurt. + +"Ben, Ben, what's the matter?" cried Mrs. Snyder running down the steps. + +"Matter enough," he answered, "just wait till I get this youngster +settled and I'll tell you." + +The children peeping over the balustrade of the porch, saw a very +wrathful countenance, yet Eleanor's sympathies were about to go out to +the captured boy when suddenly she exclaimed: "Oh, Florence! Oh, Rock! +It is Don." + +Sure enough, Don it was, and the angry man who held him prisoner +brought the boy up on the porch saying: "Here's a fine fellow for you. +He'll cost me a pretty penny, but I'll make him suffer." + +"Why, Ben, what has he done?" inquired Mrs. Snyder. + +"Done? Done enough. Him and a couple of other rascals that's got away, +worse luck, have come near ruining my colt and have played havoc with +your frames out there, mother." + +"Not my violet frames?" + +"Yes, that's right. You see, I let Dandy out into the back lot for a +run, seeing that it was such a fine day, and them fellows thought it +would be great fun to scare him to see him run, so they crept under the +fence and shied something at him, and he ran and jumped the fence, or +tried to, for he caught himself on that wire fence by the garden and +after struggling a while he got loose and went crashing through the +frames. I don't know how bad the colt's hurt, but I know how bad the +boy's going to be." He gave Don a shake and the boy, white with terror, +began to beg for mercy. + +For all the wrongs she had suffered at Don's hands were still fresh in +Eleanor's memory, she began to feel very sorry for the culprit, and she +said softly, "Maybe it wasn't Don that did it, Mr. Snyder. Maybe it was +one of the other boys, the ones who ran away." + +"Don? Is that this fellow's name? Do you know him?" + +"Why, yes, he is Donald Murdoch. Don't you remember Cousin Ellen +Murdoch, who lived in our house? He is her son." + +"Yes, yes," Mr. Snyder slightly loosened his grip upon Donald and +appeared to be considering the matter. After a moment's pause he spoke +again. "This is the youngster then, who caused you so much trouble I +suppose." + +"Ye-es," Eleanor answered reluctantly. + +"Pestered the little darky so she had to leave and was the cause of her +getting a broken arm?" He gave Donald a shake that made the boy's teeth +chatter. + +"Yes," spoke up Florence, for Eleanor was silent, "and he tried to hurt +Bubbles again just a day or two ago." Mr. Snyder's grip on the boy's +shoulder made the boy wince. + +"Told lies about you; took your playhouse and helped himself to +anything he wanted without so much as a 'by your leave,' didn't he?" +Mr. Snyder kept up his remarks to Eleanor. + +"Oh, yes," Eleanor found her voice again, "but his mother would feel so +dreadfully about it if you send him to jail." + +Mr. Snyder's face relaxed some of its grimness. "Come in here, all of +you," he said, "and we'll have a little trial by jury. Here, boy, stand +there. Don't you dare to budge one inch or it will be the worse for +you. You and your companions have trespassed on my property, and have +injured a valuable colt for me besides doing other damage. I am going +to sift the matter to the very bottom, and if you don't tell the truth +you'll get such a whipping as you never had. Now, sir, speak up; let's +hear your story. Did you or didn't you throw stones at the colt?" + +Don glanced around. He saw a set of stern faces, only in Eleanor's eyes +was a pitying look. He began to cry softly and she took a step forward +but Mr. Snyder waved her back. "Wait a minute. Tell me, boy, did you +throw the stone that hit the colt?" + +"The other fellows did, too," replied Don. + +"Never mind about them. We'll settle their hash later on. I am dealing +with you now. Did you?" + +"Yes," Don admitted reluctantly. + +"Well then, you are liable to one-third damages, supposing the others +are equally guilty." + +"Oh," Eleanor exclaimed, "Mr. Snyder, will it be a great deal?" + +"A matter of fifty dollars without the colt; if he's not seriously +hurt, but I'm afraid that, at the best, he is so scratched that he +wouldn't bring the price I might have got for him. Now then, boy, I'm +inclined to trounce you well. You need a whipping the worst kind." + +Donald cried woefully, and Eleanor looked ready to cry, herself. "Oh, +please, Mr. Snyder," she began. + +He looked at her and smiled. "Then, Don, down on your knees and beg +this young lady's pardon for treating her like a cub. Here before us +all, down with you." + +Donald did not hesitate, but began to mumble something. "Oh, no, no, +please," Eleanor interrupted him, feeling the shame of it tingling to +her very ears. "Never mind, now, Mr. Snyder. I don't care. It is all +over and past and, please, never mind." + +"All right. Get up, boy, you've Dimple to thank for being let off from +a thrashing, but I'll march you to your mother and you will tell a +straight story before her or I'll know the reason why." And Donald, +cowed and miserable, was taken directly back to town, and was marched +into his mother's presence. + +Mr. Snyder told his tale curtly. "I've plenty of witnesses," he said, +"and I know what I'm talking about. I've got to have this made right or +I'll go to law about it." + +"I am sure my boy never had a hand in it," returned Mrs. Murdoch +stiffly. + +"Your boy did, by his own confession. Here, sir, tell your mother all +about it." And Mrs. Murdoch was an unwilling listener to an account of +the disaster. + +"I never would have believed it," she said in a distressed tone, "but +Mr. Snyder, I am sure he didn't mean to hurt your horse, and besides +those other boys led him on, I am sure." + +"He threw the first stone and he was the ring-leader," persisted Mr. +Snyder. "I've three witnesses to prove it." + +"I know who they are," said Don, feeling safe under the shelter of his +mother's wing; "it was Florence and Eleanor and that boy they call +Rock." + +"Oh," Mrs. Murdoch said significantly, "if they were concerned in it, +the whole tale is probably a fabrication." + +"Which it isn't," Mr. Snyder declared. "They never one of them saw it, +all of them being in my house behind closed doors when it happened. +The ones who saw it were two of my neighbors and my man, Lem Hawkins +who shouted to them to stop and couldn't get there in time to prevent +mischief. Ain't you a pretty sneaking little cur?" he said turning +to Don. "I'd like to know who it was that begged you off. Tell your +mother how it comes that you escaped a sound whipping. And that brings +up another thing, ma'am. My wife and I are mighty fond of that little +gal, Dimple Dallas, and we don't mean to stand by and have her blamed +for others' bad actions. Just out with it, boy, and tell your mother +how you plagued the life out of her and that little Bubbles, and don't +forget to put in how she begged you off to-day. No shirking; a plain, +straightforward story." He shook his head in a terrifying manner at +Don who spluttered and stammered out a confession which satisfied his +stern judge, but which his mother would fain have had left unsaid, for +finally she stopped him with "That will do, Donald. I am sure you had +some provocation. I don't excuse you altogether, of course, but there +are always two sides to a question." + +"Just so," said Mr. Snyder, "and it won't be my fault if every one +doesn't hear both. Now, ma'am, are you ready to pay me twenty dollars +for the damage this boy has caused? I'm letting you off easy at that." + +Mrs. Murdoch looked aghast. "Pay twenty dollars! Why, I couldn't think +of it. I am in very straitened circumstances, and oh, Mr. Snyder, you +surely will not press such a claim for a mere piece of fun. Boys will +be boys." + +"And law's law. I'm going to have that made good." + +"You'll not go to law about it." + +"Perhaps." + +Mrs. Murdoch was so evidently distressed that finally Mr. Snyder who +was too good-hearted to insist upon ready money, made a proposition +that Donald should work out the amount. "I have a pretty good patch of +berries every year," he said, "and I always have to hire a few pickers. +Now, I'll be easy with you, but it is only right that the boy should +be made to do something about this, and I shall expect him to work out +every dollar." This arrangement was finally agreed upon, for Donald +thought he would rather enjoy a free time among the strawberry beds, +and he was so relieved at getting off thus easily that he was ready +to give Eleanor credit for all her influence in his behalf. So that +Mrs. Murdoch began to think that, after all, she might have misjudged +Eleanor. + +This was the end of any trouble with Don, so far as Eleanor was +concerned, and indeed, so far as it affected others, for he needed just +such a lesson and after many days of wearisome, back-breaking work +among the strawberry beds, work which Mr. Snyder made in no way easy +for him, he realized that one must respect the property of others, and +that in this world a person cannot be allowed his own way without +regard to the rights of others. + +But the rest of the winter passed happily enough. In the spring came +Grandpa and Grandma Dallas, and thinking that his little granddaughter +looked rather thin and pale, grandpa consulted his son with the result +that Eleanor was told that her grandfather meant to buy her a little +Shetland pony that she might spend the greater part of her time out in +the fresh air without getting too tired. + +"Do you hear? Oh, Rock! Oh, Florence, do you hear?" cried Eleanor, upon +being told the news. "Oh, grandpa, when will you get it?" + +"As soon as we can find one that is gentle and well-trained," he +answered smiling. "Do you know of any one who has such a pony for sale?" + +"No, not now. I did know a darling of a pony; it was Zula's, that +little gipsy girl's. Oh, if the gipsies were here, perhaps they would +have one to sell. They had one and Zula wanted me to buy it." + +"I am afraid they would be rather unreliable people to buy from," her +grandfather said. + +"Oh, but they are really not so bad. Zula loved her brother dearly and +her pony too, and they were very good to Bubbles." + +"Oh, yes, Bubbles, to be sure. Bring her in and let us hear what she +has to say of them. Perhaps they will be coming this way after a while +and we can see what they have to sell. It must be about time for them +to be getting up this way from the south." + +"Yass, suh, dey fust-rate to me," said Bubbles, upon being questioned. +"Dey had a mess o' hosses, an' a teenty little pony like de one Miss +Dimple tell you-all about. Hit were a good one, too, 'cause I heered +dat Marco, dey call him, when he fetch de pony in, an' he say to de +little gal: 'I got a pony mos' as good as yo'n,' an' she say she don't +believe it, an' he say 'sho.'" + +"Well," said grandpa, "I'll look about and see what we can find, and if +the gipsies come this way we'll hunt them up, and find out what they +have." + +It was lovely weather and the children had all so far recovered from +their illness as to be able to return to school, since Miss Reese, too, +was to take her place there after the Easter holidays. "I hope Miss +Reese will stay," said Eleanor, "for I love her, mamma. Do you think +she will teach at that school as long as I go there?" + +"I'm afraid not." + +"Why?" + +"I don't think Dr. Sullivan will let her." + +"Dr. Sullivan?" Eleanor looked puzzled, but presently it dawned upon +her what her mother meant. "Oh, mamma, is that why he used to come +every day about noon to take Miss Reese home? I thought how kind he +was," she said in an aggrieved tone. + +"Well, wasn't he kind?" + +"Yes, to himself." + +Mrs. Dallas laughed and said she must tell the doctor and Miss Reese +that. + +"Do you think Aunt Nellie will want Florence to come home after Easter?" + +"No, I think she will be very glad to have her remain where she can be +out of doors more than she could be in the city." + +"And can she stay all summer?" + +"Yes, if her mother doesn't find that she cannot be parted so long from +her. You know you and I wanted to see each other very much after a two +months' separation." + +"Yes, but Aunt Nellie has such a lot of other children and you had only +me." + +"Yes, but Florence has but one mamma, you know." + +"I hadn't thought of that," Eleanor returned. "Well, Florence can go +home and stay a week and then come back again. Can't she do that?" + +"Perhaps so." + +Just then Florence came in with her doll Rubina in her arms. "Hurry +up, Dimple," she said. "Get your hat; your grandpa is going to take us +out to drive. The gipsies have come and are camping in the same place +Bubbles says." + +"Oh, I am so glad. Are you going to take Rubina?" + +"Yes." + +"Then I'll take Celestine. Ada, my dear, you must stay at home, for +Celestine and Rubina are such friends, you know. Mamma, may Ada sit in +your room with you? I am afraid she will get lonely without me." + +"I shall be very pleased to have her company," Mrs. Dallas replied. "I +have noticed that she is an extremely well-behaved child and never +meddles with my things when you leave her in my room." + +"Is grandpa here? Is the carriage waiting?" Eleanor asked Florence. + +"No, not yet. Your grandpa and Rock have gone to get it." + +"Oh, then we will have time to change the dolls' dresses. I want Zula +to see them looking their best. What can I take Zula, mamma?" + +"Are you sure you will see her?" + +"Why yes, I suppose she is with these gipsies." + +"Perhaps it is not the same company." + +"Oh, well, I'll take something anyway. May I have some daffodils out of +the garden? I can give them to some one else if Zula is not there." + +"You may have some of them." + +"Rock is going to take his camera and see if he can get some snap-shots +of the gipsies," Florence told them. + +"Won't that be fine? Good-bye dearest, loveliest mamma. I wish you were +going too." + +"I couldn't very well go this morning. I have several things to attend +to at home." + +Over the same way that Eleanor had traveled with weary feet that +November day, they went this fair morning in April, and it was not long +before they saw ahead of them the gaily painted wagons of the gipsies. +"There they are!" cried Florence. "Can we drive up real close? I never +saw a gipsy camp before. I think the people look very queer." + +"I shouldn't mind traveling around the country in a wagon like that," +Rock declared, as he caught sight of the odd little houses on wheels. + +"Now we are going to stop," said Eleanor. "Grandpa, will you ask if +Zula is here. I want to see her." + +But grandpa was attracted by the sight of a little pony under a tree. +He nodded to one of the men lounging near, and asked him: "Is that pony +for sale?" + +The man looked around uncertainly. "Marco is boss. I'll tell him," he +said; and a grave-faced young man soon came up to the carriage. + +"I'm inquiring about that little pony," said grandpa. "Is he for sale?" + +"No, I don't sell him. He belonged to my little sister. I don't take a +thousand dollars for him. My little sister's horse he was." + +"Oh," Eleanor leaned forward. "Was it Zula's pony? Where is Zula?" + +The young man looked down. "She has died this winter." + +"Oh!" Eleanor drew back. "I wanted to see her. Are you Marco, her +brother?" + +"Her brother," he replied. "Where have you known my little sister?" + +"I saw her here last fall. Don't you remember? And the little colored +girl you took to the hospital? She is well now. You were very kind to +Bubbles. Won't you have these flowers? I brought them to Zula." And she +held out the yellow daffodils. + +The young man took them. "Thank you. I am glad to see you. I would like +to sell you the pony if I could sell him to any one, but I cannot. He +was Zula's, but I have another one here as good. I sell him for one +hundred twenty-five dollars." He turned to Mr. Dallas. + +"That is a pretty good price, but let us see him," said grandpa. + +"I am so sorry that Zula is not here," said Eleanor softly, "but, you +know, she is up in heaven and she must be very happy." + +The young man turned and looked at her. It seemed as if the tears were +very near his eyes as he walked away. + +Presently he returned leading a little shaggy pony which he declared he +could recommend as being gentle and perfectly safe. "I would not wish +to sell to Zula's friend a pony not good," he said earnestly. "Is it +for the little girl here?" + +"Yes, for her!" grandpa told him. + +"He is one year older than the other, but he is perhaps no worse for +that, for he is easy in harness and very gentle to ride. If you like +him I sell him for one hundred and twenty dollars." + +Mr. Dallas asked many questions, got out of the carriage, and examined +the docile little creature very carefully, and finally offered one +hundred dollars for the pony. "I will do this," said the young man. +"We are here for three or four days. I will bring you the pony this +evening, and you can keep him long enough to try him all you want, and +if he does not prove all I say you can return him, but if he does I +will sell him for one hundred and ten dollars." + +This seemed so fair an offer that Mr. Dallas, at last accepted it, and +that evening the little pony arrived to remain as Eleanor's very own, +for he proved to be as tractable and good a little creature as could be +desired. + + + + + _CHAPTER XII_ + + _A May Party_ + + +After the little pony was fairly established in his new home, Grandma +Dallas declared that she was not to be outdone by grandpa, and to make +the present quite complete she would add a pony-cart; and then three +merrier children could not be found than Eleanor, Florence, and Rock +as they drove out, the pony scampering unweariedly over many a mile. +It seemed no distance now to Mr. Snyder's and many a call did the good +butterman and his wife receive from the children. + +But as the first of May approached an event was promised which +threatened to cast all other interests in the shade. Florence and +Eleanor had started to one school after Easter, and Rock to another. +Eleanor was welcomed back with open arms by most of the girls, but +Olive and Janet still held aloof, and did not join her special company +of friends. "She's so stuck up, now that she has a pony, that she +can hardly see," Eleanor heard Janet say one day, for Eleanor was not +above giving her head a little toss and looking supreme contempt at the +speaker whenever they met. "And it isn't because I've a pony," she told +Florence, "but I just despise her anyhow." + +That very day Miss Reese made an announcement which set all the class +astir. "Since I do not expect to return to you next year, girls," she +said, "I thought we would have a little frolic before we part, and I +have planned to go a-Maying. But not on the first of May," she added. +"We will wait till it is warm enough to go with no danger of taking +cold. Now, I think it would be pleasant to try to have a real May +party, with a May-pole and a May-queen and all that. Each one of you +will be privileged to invite one guest, a boy if you like, for we must +have some boys along, and two weeks from to-day will cast votes for the +queen. That will give you time to think the matter over so you will not +decide hastily. I do not think we shall want to select the prettiest, +nor the wealthiest, but the one who shows the most loving disposition +or the most conscientious work, or some quality of mind or heart to +commend her." Not a girl but hoped that she would be selected, and not +one but felt that this was one of the most exciting events that she had +ever looked forward to. + +"Oh, Florence, suppose one of us should be chosen," said Eleanor, as +the two were walking home from school. "Wouldn't it be perfectly lovely +to wear a flower crown and be dressed in white and carry a sceptre. Are +you going to invite any one?" + +"Why, yes, I think I will invite Rock, unless you want to." + +"Oh, no, so long as he comes it will not make any difference. Oh, don't +you hope you will be chosen?" + +Florence was obliged to confess that she did hope so, but just how +greatly she desired the honor not even Eleanor knew. Florence loved +everything romantic, and it seemed to her that to be a May-queen +must be the summit of human bliss. She had been so short a time at +the school that she hardly dared to believe that she would stand a +chance of being chosen, much as she longed to be. She saw that her +Cousin Eleanor was very popular and that she would be one of the first +favorites. Olive Murdoch was an excellent student and was very careful +about obeying rules, and she was in many respects the most attentive +girl in the class. She had numerous friends, too, for where Olive liked +any one she could make herself very agreeable, and had the qualities +which made her a leader. Indeed, before the week was out, it looked as +if the two who would receive the most votes were Olive and Eleanor. + +"I shall vote for you," Eleanor told Florence. + +"And, of course, I shall vote for you," Florence returned. "Oh, Dimple, +if Olive Murdoch is chosen I don't believe I shall care to go to the +May party. I should hate to call her fair queen and all that. Are we to +vote for the maid of honor?" + +"I don't know. Miss Reese hasn't said anything about it, but if we can +choose the one we most want, and if I should be queen, I shall want +you, of course." + +"And I shall want you." + +At last came the day when the votes were to be given. Twenty little +girls, with hearts beating fast and with hopes high, cast in their +votes; a box to receive them stood on Miss Reese's desk. It seemed +to the children, as they sat there with the odor of apple-blossoms +drifting in through the open windows, and the fair May green before +them as they looked out, that Miss Reese never had been so long over +anything. She separated the slips of paper into small heaps and +carefully counted each one over more than once. + +At last she looked up, and smiled to see the little eager faces. "Olive +Murdoch, seven votes; Eleanor Dallas, six; Florence Graham, three; +Edith West, two; Leila Clark, two; Elsie Vail, one." + +"Oh," came a little murmur from the class and Olive's face wore a +triumphant and self-satisfied expression, while Eleanor and Florence +looked at each other, reading in one another's face the disappointment +written there. + +Suddenly Miss Reese spoke again: "Why, this is not right; there should +be but twenty votes and there are twenty-one. Some one has given two +votes. Now, shall we vote over again? Shall I call upon each girl to +announce her choice? or, since there seems to be no doubt but that +Olive Murdoch and Eleanor Dallas have received the greatest number of +votes, shall we consider them the candidates and let the class vote +over again for one or the other of these two girls? All in favor of +this last plan please raise their right hands." Up went most of the +right hands and Miss Reese nodded approvingly. + +"Now," she said, "each girl can write her choice on a slip of paper and +bring it to me, and then there will be no mistake. Jessie, give out +these slips." A little flush arose to Olive's cheeks and she whispered +something to the girl next her, who nodded in reply. + +The room was so still that the singing of a robin outside in the +apple-tree seemed the only sound to be heard. Then one by one the +girls came forward with their slips of paper. Miss Reese read each one +silently, and as Olive's turn came she looked up with a queer little +smile at the girl who dropped her eyes and went back to her seat with +a flushed face. Miss Reese again counted the votes. "This time we have +just twenty," she said. "There are for Eleanor Dallas twelve votes; for +Olive Murdoch, eight." Every girl turned and looked at Eleanor whose +face turned a rosy red and in her confusion she said quite loud enough +for them all to hear, "Oh, Florence, I wish it had been you." + +Miss Reese rapped on her desk. "Now," she said, "I think it will be +best to take a different way to choose the maid of honor. Let each girl +think of whom she would like and give her reason for it. I think that +will make it quite interesting. You may begin, Elsie." + +"I think Olive should be the one because she came so near being the +queen," said Elsie. + +Miss Reese nodded to the next girl who said she thought that some girl +who had received no vote should be chosen. + +Then came one who said: "I think Florence Graham, because she is a +stranger here, and she isn't going to stay very long. I think it would +be more polite to choose her." This seemed to strike the most of them +favorably, and in the end Florence was made supremely happy by being +elected maid of honor, and this important matter being settled, there +were other questions to be discussed and the May party in all its ins +and outs was talked over. + +Although there were some disappointed little souls, as a rule all +were well satisfied that the choice of queen had fallen where it did. +Eleanor was radiantly happy and yet she could not help feeling sorry +for Olive, who had counted upon being the favored one, and who gave +Eleanor a look of scorn as she passed her. "She needn't look so," said +Florence indignantly. "It was perfectly fair, and every one says so. I +haven't a doubt but that she voted for herself," which, if the truth +were known, was true, and, indeed, it was also true that the extra vote +on the first ballot was cast by Olive. If Miss Reese suspected this +she never said so, but she did know that Olive's name was on the slip +of paper which she brought up, and that was why she gave Olive the +quizzical little smile, for no other girl in the whole school had voted +for herself. + +Rock was jubilant when he heard the decision. "Hurrah for Queen +Eleanor!" he cried. "I am just delighted, and all the more that you got +ahead of Olive Murdoch." + +But Eleanor looked sober when he said this. "She's dreadfully +disappointed," she said, "and I'm awfully sorry for her. She studied +real hard and does her lessons so well. I sort of think that she +should have been chosen." + +"Why, Dimple Dallas," exclaimed Florence. "I don't see how you can say +that." + +"I do think so. She is the best scholar in the school." + +"Yes, and she's the hatefullest and the slyest." Florence was too loyal +to Eleanor to believe any good of Olive. + +"Well, anyhow, Jessie is a nice child and I like her," Eleanor +maintained. "She was never mean to me once, and if you were not to +be my maid of honor I should choose her next." This Eleanor said to +Jessie, and furthermore, invited her to go with Florence, Rock and +herself to gather flowers for the arbor under which the queen was to +sit. Great masses of mountain laurel, wild honeysuckle and other spring +blossoms they carried home in the little pony-cart, and long garlands +were woven for the arbor. + +"Won't you come and help us make the wreaths?" Eleanor asked Jessie. + +"I should like to," she answered, "but mamma said I was to come right +home as soon as we got back from the woods. I have had a lovely time, +and I'd like to stay," the child repeated wistfully. "I just love that +little pony." + +"You shall drive with us whenever you want to," Eleanor assured her, as +she bade her good-bye. + +Eleanor was very thoughtful all the rest of the day, even when she and +Rock and Florence were busy over the crown for the May-queen to wear +the following day. + +[Illustration: "BUSY OVER THE CROWN FOR THE QUEEN TO WEAR"] + +"We'll keep some of the prettiest bunches to trim our dresses with," +said Florence. "Bubbles, bring us a basin of water to put them in. I +shall have a little bunch on each shoulder and you can have the same, +Dimple. Oh, where did you get those lovely lilies of the valley?" + +"Mr. Atkinson sent them to me. I met him on the street and he was +asking me about the May party." + +"Where are they going to set up the May-pole?" Rock asked. + +"Just back of Mr. Atkinson's; in that pretty meadow with the grove at +one end." + +"What a lovely place!" exclaimed Florence. "Where are you going, +Dimple?" + +"I'm just going to speak to mamma." And a moment later she entered +her mother's room with a very serious face. + +"What is the matter with the May-queen?" her mother asked. + +Two tears started to Eleanor's eyes and she hid her head on her +mother's shoulder. "I want to be May-queen so much," she said in a +stifled voice. + +"Well, dearie, I don't see anything to grieve you in that." + +"Do you think I ought to give up to Florence or Jessie? It seems mean +not to give them the chance." + +Her mother smiled. "I don't think you are called upon to do anything +of the kind. You were chosen fairly by the class, and you have no more +right to refuse than if a presidential candidate were to say: 'Mr. +So-and-so wants so much to be president. I'll give my place to him.' It +is very kind of my little girl to think of such a thing, but I don't +think it would do. Let the matter rest as it is. Every one will have a +good time, and next year, or upon some other occasion, perhaps Jessie +will have another chance." + +"But Florence won't." + +"Maybe she will. We might have a May party of our own next year in +Florence's honor, and then she could be queen and Jessie maid of honor, +if that would do." + +"Oh, mamma, that is a lovely plan for you to think of, I feel real +comfortable now." + +And, therefore, with not a cloud to mar their pleasure the children +started off for the May party. The little pony, which they had named +Spice, wore a garland around his neck, and when Eleanor, dressed in +white, with her maid of honor by her side, appeared in the little +flower-decked pony-cart, a shout arose from the children, and with one +accord they began to sing "God save the Queen." + +Then Eleanor was helped down by two of her gentlemen-in-waiting, and +was conducted to her throne; her crown was placed upon her head and her +sceptre in her hand. Then a merry, merry time they had dancing around +the May-pole, weaving in and out with their many-hued ribbons. The +lookers-on in Mr. Atkinson's garden said it was the prettiest sight the +town had seen in a long time. + +After this they played games and sang songs and romped and ran and +searched the woods for wild flowers till it was time for feasting. + +When each basket was opened a store of good things appeared; these were +spread out upon the grass, and the little queen was served first. But +as she was eating her ice cream, she saw a pair of sparkling black eyes +peeping through the fence. "Oh, there is Bubbles," she exclaimed. "Poor +little Bubbles." + +"What is your Royal Highness' wish concerning her?" asked Rock with +quick wit, as he dropped upon one knee. "Is it yon sable maiden who has +attracted your Majesty's notice?" + +"Yes, it is. I wish she could have some of these good things." + +"Where is the Premier?" asked Rock. "Oh, there she is. Miss Reese, +her Majesty, the Queen, desires a consultation." And Miss Reese came +forward. + +"There is Bubbles," the queen said in very familiar language. "Please, +Miss Reese, can some one take her some ice cream and cake? Is there +enough?" + +"An abundance. I will see that she has some," was the reply. + +"May it please your Majesty, I will undertake the errand," said Rock. +"Do you send me in quest of the hand-maid who has found favor in your +sight?" Rock's language was a funny mixture of courtly and Scriptural +expressions. + +"Yes, do go, Rock, there's a dear." And Bubbles was made supremely +happy by a generously piled up plate of cake and ice cream. + +For some reason Don had taken a sudden liking to Rock, in spite of the +latter's snubs and his coolness toward him. Rock was a bright boy with +a ready wit and much ingenuity, and Don, with the admiration a small +boy so often feels for a larger one, followed him around upon this May +day until Rock, at first annoyed, was finally sorry for the smaller boy +and began to pay him some attention, and to Eleanor's surprise, she saw +the two hobnobbing like old friends before the day was out. + +Whether it was on Rock's account or not, it is true that when the +queen's chariot, as Rock called it, was driven up for Eleanor and +Florence, no one was louder in his cheers than Don, and despite the old +grievances, Eleanor could not help being pleased by this evidence of +Don's good-will, and she drove off as happy as a little girl could be, +followed by shouts of "Long live Queen Eleanor!" Spice shaking his mane +and evidently in high feather at such a frolic. + +"Has my dear daughter had a happy day?" asked Eleanor's mother as she +kissed her good-night. + +"So happy, mamma." There was little pause, then Eleanor said: "Don has +to pick strawberries all day Saturday, for Mr. Snyder, and Rock is +going to help him. May Florence and Bubbles and I go too? We can take +Jessie and get through a lot." + +"I cannot allow you to pick berries all day, dear, but you may spend +a part of the afternoon in that way if you want to. Rock can do as he +chooses, of course, but, how comes it that you are asking permission +for Bubbles?" + +"Don likes us all now," returned the child, "and Bubbles says if we +pick for him, why, she will too, but I don't believe Olive will ever +care for any of us." + +"Perhaps she will. If one goes right along and does the best she knows +how, after a while even her enemies will see her as she really is. +What do you think Cousin Ellen said to me to-day when we stood together +in Mr. Atkinson's garden looking at the May party?" + +"I don't know. What did she say, mamma?" + +"She said: 'Eleanor makes a very sweet little queen, doesn't she?'" + +"Oh, mamma, truly?" + +"Yes, truly. I think Mr. Snyder and Doctor Sullivan and--Don, perhaps, +have had something to do with her change of opinion. At all events, we +may hope that even Olive will be friends with you yet." + +Eleanor shook her head, but just then Florence called, "Queen Eleanor, +your Majesty, aren't you ever coming to bed? What makes you stay so +long?" + +"'Cause I'm so happy," answered Eleanor, after a last "Good-night!" + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75380 *** diff --git a/75380-h/75380-h.htm b/75380-h/75380-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..90161a4 --- /dev/null +++ b/75380-h/75380-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4438 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title> + Dimple Dallas | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .51em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .49em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 33.5%; + margin-right: 33.5%; + clear: both; +} + +hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} +hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} +@media print { hr.chap {display: none; visibility: hidden;} } +hr.full {width: 95%; margin-left: 2.5%; margin-right: 2.5%;} +div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} +h2.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} + +x-ebookmaker-drop {display: none;} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.right {text-align: right;} + +.smcap { font-variant:small-caps; } + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; + page-break-inside: avoid; + max-width: 100%; +} + +.caption p +{ + text-align: center; + text-indent: 0; + margin: 0.25em 0; + font-weight: bold; +} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + +table.autotable { border-collapse: collapse; } +table.autotable td, +table.autotable th { padding: 4px; } + +.tdl {text-align: left;} +.tdr {text-align: right;} +.tdc {text-align: center;} + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +div.titlepage { + text-align: center; + page-break-before: always; + page-break-after: always; +} + +div.titlepage p { + text-align: center; + text-indent: 0em; + font-weight: bold; + line-height: 1.5; + margin-top: 3em; +} + +.ph1 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; } +.ph1 { font-size: x-large; margin: .83em auto; } + +.ph2 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; } +.ph2 { font-size: large; margin: .83em auto; } + +.ph3 { text-align: right; text-indent: 0em; } +.ph3 { font-size: medium; margin: .83em auto; } + + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75380 ***</div> + +<div class="figcenter x-ebookmaker-drop"> + <img src="images/illusc.jpg" alt=""> +</div> + +<hr class="chap"> + +<div class="titlepage"> + +<h1>Dimple Dallas</h1> + +<p class="ph1">The Further Fortunes of a Sweet Little Maid</p> + +<p class="ph1">BY AMY E. BLANCHARD</p> + +<p><i>Author of "A Sweet Little Maid," "A Dear Little Girl,"<br> +"Thy Friend Dorothy," "Kittyboy's Christmas," etc.</i></p> + +<p><i>ILLUSTRATED BY IDA WAUGH</i></p> + +<p>PHILADELPHIA<br> +GEORGE W. JACOBS & CO<br> +<span class="smcap">103-105 South Fifteenth Street</span></p> + +<p>Copyright, 1900, by<br> +<span class="smcap">George W. Jacobs & Co</span></p> + +<p>TO<br> +GWENYTH WAUGH<br> +WELL BELOVED FOR HER OWN SAKE, AND FOR THE SAKE<br> +ON THOSE WHOSE NAME SHE BEARS</p> + +<p>A. E. B.</p> + + +</div> + +<hr class="chap"> + + +<h2><i>CONTENTS</i></h2> + +<table> +<tr><td class="tdr">I.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_I"><span class="smcap">The New Scholar</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">II.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_II"><span class="smcap">Changes</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">III.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_III"><span class="smcap">Trouble with Donald</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">IV.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><span class="smcap">A New Doll</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">V.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_V"><span class="smcap">More Trouble</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">VI.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><span class="smcap">Where is Bubbles?</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">VII.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII"><span class="smcap">Uncle Heath</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">VIII.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII"><span class="smcap">Shopping</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">IX.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX"><span class="smcap">At Christmas</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">X.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_X"><span class="smcap">A Happy New Year</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XI.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI"><span class="smcap">Don and a Pony</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XII.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII"><span class="smcap">A May Party</span></a></td></tr> +</table> + +<hr class="chap"> + +<h2><i>ILLUSTRATIONS</i></h2> + + +<table> +<tr><td class="tdl"><a href="#illus1"><span class="smcap">Bubbles tried her best to comfort her</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl"><a href="#illus2"><span class="smcap">Eleanor proceeded to open the trunk</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl"><a href="#illus3"><span class="smcap">They had luncheon in the library</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl"><a href="#illus4"><span class="smcap">The two little girls had great times playing</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl"><a href="#illus5"><span class="smcap">Busy over the crown for the queen to wear</span></a></td></tr> +</table> + +<hr class="chap"> + +<h2>Dimple Dallas</h2> + + + +<hr class="chap"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_I"><i>CHAPTER I</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class="ph2"><i>The New Scholar</i></p> + + +<p>The schoolroom was very quiet except for the whisperings from many +rosy lips as the children studied their lessons. Presently Miss Reese +tapped the bell and immediately there was more of a commotion as sundry +small skirts switched out from between the desks and several little +girls took their places in class. Among them was one with fair hair who +turned very red when a question was put to her by the teacher. It was +Eleanor Dallas' first day in school and she was painfully shy at having +to recite before others, for she had always been taught at home, and +having no brothers and sisters, she felt that in the presence of twenty +or more other girls that it would be impossible for her to remember +how to spell <i>parallel</i> or <i>separate</i> or <i>conscience</i>, and she spoke so +low when Miss Reese asked her a word that she could scarcely be heard.</p> + +<p>"A little louder, my dear," said Miss Reese; "I cannot hear you." +And then, with all the girls looking at her, and, with a growing +uncertainty as to whether impartial were spelled with a <i>t</i> or a <i>c</i>, +she could not say anything.</p> + +<p>A titter ran around the class and poor Eleanor was in a state of abject +misery. Miss Reese, however, said kindly, "Never mind, Eleanor, I will +excuse you from recitations this first day, and give you a little +examination after school."</p> + +<p>"She's going to be kept in," whispered Laura Field to the girl next to +her, and the words reached Eleanor's ears. She had heard of girls being +kept in, and to think the disgrace had fallen upon her this first day. +It was almost more than she could bear, and she sat for the rest of the +period with downcast eyes to hide the tears which would keep welling up.</p> + +<p>Recitations over, the girls flaunted out of the room with many backward +glances directed toward the place where Eleanor was sitting with +such a miserable little face that Miss Reese, looking up and seeing +the trembling lips, felt that something out of the common must be the +matter. "Come here, dear," she said. "Are you not feeling well?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Miss Reese," faltered Eleanor.</p> + +<p>"I hope none of the girls have been unkind to you. The first day at +school is always a trying one. I remember well enough how I felt when +I was a little girl. Very much as you do, I fancy." She put her arm +around the child and drew her close to her side. "Now," she said, "I +will go over to-morrow's lessons with you. Your mamma has told me +something of your methods of study, and since you have been using +different books from these, it will be better for me to give you some +idea of what we are going to do. There, now, these are your nice fresh +new books. Shall I put your name in them?"</p> + +<p>"If you please," responded Eleanor, quite interested and beginning to +forget her shyness. This being kept in wasn't so dreadful after all.</p> + +<p>Miss Reese went over all the next day's lessons and as she closed the +last book a little negro girl appeared at the door. "Miss Dimple, yo' +ma say, what de reason yuh ain't come home?" she said.</p> + +<p>"I was kept in," said Eleanor rather shamefacedly.</p> + +<p>Miss Reese laughed. "Why, my child, no you were not, at least not with +the general intention that kept in means. I simply wanted to have you +stay that I might go over the lessons with you. Did you think I meant +it for punishment, you poor little girl?"</p> + +<p>Eleanor looked up shyly. "I did think so," she answered. "One of the +girls——" She stopped short. Her Cousin Florence had told her that it +was very, very mean to tell tales about the girls, and that when she +went to school she must never do it, or else the girls would dislike +her.</p> + +<p>Miss Reese noticed the sudden pause and with tact did not pursue the +subject. "Now run along," she said. "To-morrow I hope you will have +good recitations, and you mustn't be afraid to speak above a whisper."</p> + +<p>True enough, the next day Eleanor was so sure of her <i>tions</i> and her +<i>sions</i> that she did not miss a single word, and, moreover, she made +friends with two of the nicest girls who invited her to come to their +own special corner to eat luncheon with them, and in a few days she +felt quite at her ease. She had known several of the girls before she +entered school and before long she had entirely overcome her shyness of +the others. But many of the experiences were novel, especially those +which occurred in the big schoolroom where the whole school assembled +to take part in the physical exercises, to listen to lectures or to +view certain experiments in physics. Eleanor never forgot her first +experience when the subject of electricity was before the school, and +she was invited to stand upon a board set upon four tumblers, and after +a contact with the electrical apparatus found her hair slowly rising +on end. Seeing her startled look, one of her best friends among the +larger girls, Hattie Spear, dropped on her knees and held out her arms. +Eleanor threw herself into them and at the same moment Hattie gave her +a kiss, then she gave a little scream and the girls all laughed, for +Eleanor had given her friend an electric shock.</p> + +<p>It took Mr. Dallas some time to explain the matter to his little +daughter that evening, and she watched for the next thunderstorm +with much interest, for she wanted to show off all this knowledge to +Bubbles. "You know it's electricity that makes the lightning," she told +her.</p> + +<p>"Law, Miss Dimple, how you know that?" returned Bubbles.</p> + +<p>"Papa told me. Just think, Bubbles, it is the same thing that makes the +light burn in the electric lamps."</p> + +<p>"Is dat so?" Bubbles raised her hands and appeared to be much +impressed. Then after some moments given to thought, she said, +"What you say de name of de man what makes de street lights, and de +lightnin'? Mr. Elick Cristy? Whar he live?"</p> + +<p>Eleanor looked at her quite puzzled, and then she laughed, but she did +not offer any explanation, for at that moment her mother called her. +But after that Bubbles always spoke of Mr. Elick Cristy's lights out on +the street corner.</p> + +<p>Eleanor's pet name at home was Dimple, but Mrs. Dallas felt that there +was danger of her little daughter's becoming altogether known by it, +and had asked Miss Reese to call her Eleanor. Dimple felt that this +was a step toward young ladyhood, and was very particular to instruct +Bubbles to call her Miss Eleanor upon every occasion. But Bubbles would +forget and upon the very first rainy day appeared at school with an +umbrella for "Miss Dimple."</p> + +<p>"That's a funny little colored girl," said one of Eleanor's +schoolmates. "I've seen her often but I never knew that she lived at +your house."</p> + +<p>"She has lived with us ever since I was a baby. She is quite a nice +child," returned Eleanor in a dignified little way. "Come here, +Bubbles, and put on my waterproof."</p> + +<p>"Miss Dimple, yo' ma give me a ribbon fo' Floridy Alabamy, dis mawnin', +an' she got one fo' you too," said Bubbles in a confidential tone.</p> + +<p>"Has she?" returned Dimple indifferently. "You may carry my books, +Bubbles. I am going to walk with Janet." Bubbles took the books and +trotted along obediently behind the two girls. Janet was a new arrival +in town and being lately entered at school Eleanor had a fellow feeling +for her.</p> + +<p>"Do you ever play with her?" asked Janet. "And she calls you Dimple; +what does she do that for?"</p> + +<p>"They call me that at home, and, yes, I play with her sometimes."</p> + +<p>"Oh, do you?" said Janet looking surprised. "I believe I'll call you +Dimple," she added.</p> + +<p>"No, please don't. Mamma doesn't want any one to, because she says when +I grow up it will sound ridiculous."</p> + +<p>"All right, then I won't," Janet returned. "I wish you would come over +to my house this afternoon."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, you come to mine. We can play out in my little house in the +garden, even if it does rain."</p> + +<p>"Have you a little playhouse?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, one all my own. Papa had it built for me."</p> + +<p>Janet was much impressed. "I'll come," she said. And the two little +girls parted to meet an hour later.</p> + +<p>It was Friday afternoon, and there were no lessons to be studied, and +therefore Eleanor counted on having a fine time. "Mamma," she said, as +she entered the house, "I have a new friend, at least I haven't known +her very long and she has never been to see me, but she is coming this +afternoon. Her name is Janet Forrester. She lives in that yellow house +on Main Street, you know, the one by the church."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know."</p> + +<p>"She hasn't been living in town very long, and that's why she doesn't +know many people. Do you know her mother?"</p> + +<p>"Only slightly. I have called upon her. I hope Janet is a good little +girl, and one that is proper for you to associate with."</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, she is. She wears lovely clothes, and her father keeps a +carriage."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dallas smiled. "I don't think we can judge by either of those +things. You would better play in your own little house, for your papa +has come home feeling far from well, and I should like to keep the +house quiet."</p> + +<p>Eleanor looked distressed. "Oh, mamma, is he very ill? Will he have to +have a doctor?"</p> + +<p>"He will see Doctor Sullivan, but I hope he is not very ill. When your +little friend has gone, come and tell me about your afternoon together, +but try not to disturb me while I am with papa."</p> + +<p>Eleanor promised, and then went down to her playhouse in the garden. It +was a pretty place, and the little girl was justly proud of it. She +spent much time there, and here she kept her toys, her favorite books +and dolls, and here she most frequently entertained her little friends.</p> + +<p>It was not long before Bubbles showed Janet into the room. Bubbles, +too, was very proud of Miss Dimple's playhouse, and she had quite a +grand air as she ushered this new acquaintance into the presence of the +owner of the house, saying: "Company, Miss Dimple."</p> + +<p>Janet looked around with a critical air, and was immediately seized +with a feeling of envy. "It's a right nice little house," she said +loftily, "but it isn't as big as the one I had at home in Hartford; and +I had real lace curtains to my windows, and Turkey rugs on the floor. +Oh, there's only one room, isn't there? My house had two. Do you keep +your horse and carriage in that stable, I see out there?"</p> + +<p>"No," Eleanor was obliged to confess. "We haven't any horse and +carriage. We keep a cow and chickens, though."</p> + +<p>"I had a pony and a little cart of my own," said Janet grandly. "How +many dolls have you?"</p> + +<p>"Six, I think."</p> + +<p>"I have twenty. You're not going to let that nigger girl stay in here +with us, are you?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes. She often used to play with my Cousin Florence and me."</p> + +<p>"My mother doesn't let me play with servants," said Janet with a little +haughty air.</p> + +<p>Bubbles looked much crestfallen, but immediately retired when Eleanor +said: "You needn't stay, Bubbles."</p> + +<p>"Now, what shall we play?" said Eleanor, left alone with her guest and +intent upon pleasing her.</p> + +<p>"We'll pretend we are countesses or duchesses or something. No I choose +to be a duchess, and you can be a countess. I'm company and I must be +the finest lady. Duchesses are more important than countesses."</p> + +<p>Eleanor didn't think this was very polite, but she yielded, and, +furthermore, gave up her best doll to her guest. "My best doll is +bigger than this," Janet remarked, "and she has a real gold chain to +wear around her neck. Haven't you more than one silk dress for yours? +All my dolls' dresses are silk. I think a duchess's child ought to be +dressed in silk. I will have to pretend her clothes are much finer than +they really are."</p> + +<p>They played quite happily for a time, although Eleanor did not quite +like the giving up of all her choicest things to her visitor, but she +had been taught that her guests must always have the best of everything +and she made no objections. It was toward the latter part of the +afternoon that Janet suddenly exclaimed: "Oh, where is my pearl ring? +It's gone."</p> + +<p>"Really?" said Eleanor.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I believe that servant girl, you call Bubbles, has stolen it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, she couldn't have done that," Eleanor protested, quite shocked. +"Not if you had it on when you came in here, and besides she wouldn't +do such a thing."</p> + +<p>"I don't know about that; anyhow, I had it on when I left home."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you dropped it somewhere. Let's look for it; you see it has +stopped raining." But no amount of searching revealed the ring, and +Janet repeated her charges against Bubbles.</p> + +<p>"I'm just going to hunt her up, and tell her she's got it, and I'll +make her give it back to me," she said.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, please," begged Eleanor; "I know she wouldn't take it."</p> + +<p>"Just tell me this then. Has she never taken anything in all her life?"</p> + +<p>Eleanor hesitated. Once Bubbles had possessed herself of some scraps +which she coveted for doll clothes, but her offence had never been +repeated, and Mrs. Dallas trusted her implicitly. "I know she hasn't +taken it," repeated Eleanor, much distressed.</p> + +<p>"You're just trying to shield her," said Janet. "I'm going home and get +my father to send a police officer after her; that's what I'm going to +do." And she flounced out leaving Eleanor in tears. Such a dreadful +threat and poor Bubbles; perhaps she would have to go to prison. +Eleanor's soft little heart was wrung at the thought, and she rushed up +to the house to find her mother and pour the doleful tale in her ears.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_II"><i>CHAPTER II</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class="ph2"><i>Changes</i></p> + + +<p>Mrs. Dallas greeted Eleanor's tempestuous entrance with, "Softly, dear, +you know papa is not well." Eleanor lowered her excited tones and +poured forth her grievance, Mrs. Dallas listening quietly. At the close +of the recital she said: "I am sorry, my child, that it has happened, +and from what you tell me, I do not think Janet will prove to be just +the kind of a friend you would prefer. I think the best plan will be +for me to send a note to Mrs. Forrester and tell her that we will use +every means to find the ring, and ask her to let us know if it is +discovered at her own home."</p> + +<p>"Please don't let Bubbles take the note."</p> + +<p>"No, I will not. I am going to send a prescription to the drug store, +and the note can be taken at the same time, but if Bubbles does not +take it, I think you will have to."</p> + +<p>"O, mamma, I don't want to. Can't Sylvy go?"</p> + +<p>"I cannot spare her."</p> + +<p>Eleanor was silent for a moment. She did not want to subject Bubbles to +a possible wordy attack from Janet, and yet she dreaded seeing her late +companion again. But her loyalty to Bubbles at last overcame all other +feeling, and she said: "I don't have to go in, do I, mamma? I can leave +the note at the door?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, that will be quite sufficient."</p> + +<p>"Then I will go instead of Bubbles."</p> + +<p>Her mother smiled. "I thought you would decide it so. I can generally +be sure of my little daughter's good heart."</p> + +<p>"You don't believe Bubbles took the ring, do you, mamma?"</p> + +<p>"No, I think Janet has probably dropped it somewhere."</p> + +<p>Eleanor started off on her errand, and after going to the drug store, +she went on to deliver the note, and reached the gate just in time to +meet Mrs. Forrester coming out with Janet. The two little girls looked +at each other in rather an embarrassed way. It was not an agreeable +meeting for either of them.</p> + +<p>"This is one of your little school friends, isn't it, Janet?" Mrs. +Forrester asked. "Oh, you have a note for me? Wait a minute."</p> + +<p>Eleanor would rather have made her escape at once, but she obediently +remained while Mrs. Forrester read the note. "Why, I don't know +anything about this," said the lady. "What does your mamma mean? What +ring is it she mentions?"</p> + +<p>"Janet lost a pearl ring at our house," Eleanor answered.</p> + +<p>"Did she? I didn't know she had one," said Mrs. Forrester laughing. +"That is one of your fairy tales, Janet."</p> + +<p>"I did have a pearl ring, and that nigger girl stole it," Janet +returned.</p> + +<p>Eleanor flushed up. "She means Bubbles, and I know she didn't steal it."</p> + +<p>"You are a silly little creature, Janet," said Mrs. Forrester airily. +"Where did you get your valuable ring?"</p> + +<p>"I bought it for five cents."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Forrester laughed again. "So precious it must have been. Here, +take this five cents and go buy another, and that will end the matter."</p> + +<p>"I don't want another, I want that one."</p> + +<p>"You spoiled child, I don't believe you did lose it, you just wanted +me to give you the nickel." She turned to Eleanor. "Don't pay any more +attention to it, my child," she said. "It is really of no consequence."</p> + +<p>"Her name is Dimple," broke in Janet.</p> + +<p>"My name is Eleanor," maintained the other, sturdily.</p> + +<p>"It's of no consequence, Dimple," Mrs. Forrester said. "You can tell +your mother that Janet has her ring."</p> + +<p>"But she hasn't," said Eleanor in surprise.</p> + +<p>"She will have as soon as we can go to the shop and get it."</p> + +<p>This sort of reasoning was quite new to Eleanor, and she stood stock +still puzzling over it. While she stood thus a housemaid came out +with something in her hand. "You left this in the sitting-room on +the windowsill," she said to Janet, holding out a little trumpery +ring. Janet shot one look at Eleanor, and Eleanor with a dignified +"Good-evening," turned away thoroughly disgusted with this new +acquaintance, and it is safe to say that Bubbles was immediately +informed of the finding of the ring, and was, moreover, told that +Eleanor did not intend to play with Janet any more, a fact which +pleased Bubbles mightily.</p> + +<p>The next few days, however, were very anxious ones for Mrs. Dallas, for +her husband was found to have a severe attack of rheumatic fever, and +even after he was pronounced better, his recovery was so slow that at +last the doctor said he must go away to some famous springs in the far +west. The day after this was decided upon, Mrs. Dallas called Eleanor +to her. "My little girl," she said, "I am going to ask you to do a very +hard thing for papa and me."</p> + +<p>Eleanor looked up with wide open blue eyes. "Of course I'll do it, +mamma."</p> + +<p>"Wait, dear, till you know what it is. You know the doctor says papa +must go away; now, I do not feel as if he were well enough to travel +that distance alone, besides, in every way it would be better for me to +go with him. He is greatly depressed, and if he were to go off alone he +would mope and be homesick, and the trip would not do him the good that +it ought to. Now, dear, it will be a very expensive journey and it +will not be possible for us to take our little daughter, and besides, +now that she is fairly started in school we do not want her to be +interrupted, so dear——"</p> + +<p>"Oh mamma!" came with piteous entreaty.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dallas put her arm around the child and drew her close to her. +"Darling, you do not know how hard it is going to be for me to leave +you."</p> + +<p>Eleanor winked away her tears. "Oh mamma, why can't I go to Aunt +Eleanor's and go to school with Florence?"</p> + +<p>"Because several of your Aunt Eleanor's children have the +whooping-cough. Florence was the last to succumb, so a letter from Aunt +Eleanor to-day told me, and you know your Uncle Heath and Aunt Dora +have gone to California to look after some business there that must be +settled up, and Rock will be sent to boarding-school, so you cannot go +to them."</p> + +<p>"And shall you leave me here all alone?"</p> + +<p>"No, indeed; papa and I have talked it over and we have decided to ask +Cousin Ellen Murdoch to come here with her family, and remain while we +are gone."</p> + +<p>"She is the one whose husband died a little while ago and left her +with—how many children?"</p> + +<p>"Four. Yes, she is the one."</p> + +<p>"But, mamma——"</p> + +<p>"Well, dear."</p> + +<p>"I thought—I didn't know that you were very fond of her."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dallas smiled. "Perhaps I am not so fond of her as I am of some +persons."</p> + +<p>"Then why do you let her come to your house?"</p> + +<p>"Because she needs a change of scene, and it would be a good thing for +her if she could come here till her affairs are straightened out. It +is not only toward those we like that we should show consideration. We +ought not to be so selfish as to entertain only those persons who are +agreeable to us. If a person needs our sympathy we ought to offer it in +whatever way we can."</p> + +<p>"Do you think I ought to entertain Janet?"</p> + +<p>"No," answered Mrs. Dallas smiling, "I don't think she needs your +consideration; if she were in trouble and you could do her a kindness I +think you should do it. Some day you may have an opportunity of doing +some such thing, and then I hope you will not hesitate to do it."</p> + +<p>"Mamma."</p> + +<p>"Well, dear?"</p> + +<p>"Was Cousin Ellen ever hateful to you?"</p> + +<p>"You mustn't ask such searching questions, dear child. All you have to +do is to make it as pleasant as possible for her while she is here. She +has had much trouble and sorrow, but I know she will take excellent +care of you, and the rest we must not think about. Sylvy and Bubbles +will be here and you will be in your own home."</p> + +<p>"But, mamma, I shall miss you so."</p> + +<p>"And I shall miss you, my pet." They hugged each other, but when +Eleanor felt tears splash down from other eyes than her own she +squeezed her mother tighter and said: "Please don't cry, mamma, I will +be very good, I will so."</p> + +<p>"Thank you for the promise, dear. If papa sees you are bright and +cheerful about our going it will make him feel easier, and so will help +him to get well the sooner. See what a baby your mamma is. I must not +go before papa with such teary eyes."</p> + +<p>"With blue eyes trimmed with red," said Eleanor laughing. "Let me go +tell him that I don't mind so very, very much, and—oh mamma, is there +a baby?"</p> + +<p>"You mean among Cousin Ellen's children? Yes, there is a little girl +about a year and a half old."</p> + +<p>"I shall like that. I love babies." And with this Eleanor left the room +to go to her father.</p> + +<p>The next few days were full of excitement, for the packing and +arranging required Mrs. Dallas' constant attention. Mrs. Murdoch was +not to arrive till the evening of the day which saw Mr. and Mrs. Dallas +take their departure. Eleanor kept up bravely till she saw the carriage +turn the corner and then she sobbed unrestrainedly. It was not only +that it wrung her heart to see her father come hobbling on crutches out +of the house, but he looked so pale and thin that the thought of being +separated from him and from her mother was more than she could bear. +Never before did she remember having her mother parted from her for any +length of time, certainly a week, at the furthest, was the very longest +time that they had ever been away from each other.</p> + +<p>Bubbles tried her best to comfort her. "Ne' mind, Miss Dimple," she +said. "Yo' pa goin' off on crutches, but terreckly he comin' back +'thout 'em. Yuh don' want him go hippy-hop all he lifetime."</p> + +<hr class="chap"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus1.jpg" alt="" id="illus1"> + <div class="caption"> + <p>"<span class="smcap">Bubbles tried her best to comfort her</span>"</p> + </div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap"> + + +<p>"No," sobbed Eleanor, "of course I don't, but I do wish he hadn't that +horrid rheumatism, and I want my mamma, I do, I do. It will be so long +before I see her again. I wish I could go, oh, I wish I could go!" she +sobbed afresh.</p> + +<p>Bubbles clasped her knees entreatingly, the tears rolling down her own +cheeks in sympathy. "Miss Dimple, ef yuh cries that-a-way, I git so +miserble I won't know what to do," she said.</p> + +<p>"I'm miserable," said Eleanor. "I wish Florence didn't have the +whooping-cough, then I could go to Aunt Eleanor's." Then suddenly she +thought of Rock Hardy, who this year was at boarding-school. That must +be worse than being left in one's own home, and she began thinking so +hard about him that the tears ceased to flow, and, although it was a +very mournful little face which was seen about the house for the next +hour, no more tears were shed that afternoon.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dallas had suggested that Eleanor should go with Bubbles to the +train to meet her relatives, and about five o'clock they started down +to the railroad station. "I don't like to see the cars," said Eleanor; +"they make me think of mamma and papa; they are traveling on and on, +and every minute takes them further away." But at this moment the train +came in sight and in watching for the newcomers Eleanor for the moment, +forgot her griefs.</p> + +<p>"There they are, Bubbles," she cried. "I am sure that lady in black +is Cousin Ellen, and there are the two little girls and the boy. +Where is the baby, I wonder. Oh, the conductor is lifting her down. +She can walk, you see, for he has set her down on the platform." She +went forward rather timidly, saying, "I am Eleanor Dallas, and this +is Bubbles. You are Cousin Ellen, aren't you? Shall Bubbles carry the +baby?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Murdoch assented. "I shall be glad if some one will take charge of +her. I am tired to death. Here, Donald, take these checks and find an +expressman to take the trunks. Eleanor will show you where to go. Come, +Olive, come, Jessie, we can go on."</p> + +<p>Thrust thus suddenly into the company of a strange boy, Eleanor had +nothing to say for some minutes. She was not used to boys, and, as a +rule, avoided them. The one before her was not specially attractive, +she thought, but after a while she found her voice and said: "Here is +the place."</p> + +<p>Donald threw down the checks. "Where are the trunks to go? What is your +number?" he asked Eleanor curtly.</p> + +<p>She told him and when the address was given they went on, Donald +striding along with his hands in his pockets and vouchsafing no reply +to Eleanor's "we go this way."</p> + +<p>"Do we have to walk? Aren't there any electric cars?" he asked when +they had turned the first corner.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but it isn't very far, and the cars don't go by our house," +Eleanor told him.</p> + +<p>"'Tisn't much of a place, is it?"</p> + +<p>"It isn't a real big city, of course. Did you think it was?"</p> + +<p>"No, but you needn't be so smart."</p> + +<p>Eleanor wondered wherein she had shown her special smartness, and made +up her mind, then and there, that this boy was not going to be any +company for her. He was about nine years old, but assumed the manner of +a boy older. The two girls seemed to be about six and eleven.</p> + +<p>Eleanor was glad when they reached home; the others had already +arrived. It gave the child a pang to see Mrs. Murdoch established in +her mother's room, although it seemed perfectly proper that the girls +should occupy the guest chamber. A little room back of it was set apart +for Donald.</p> + +<p>"Say, mamma, I don't like that room," he said on seeing it. "I want one +next to you. Isn't there one there?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, but it is Eleanor's room."</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't care. I always have a room next to you. Her mother isn't +here and she won't care."</p> + +<p>"You will be next to your sisters," said Mrs. Murdoch.</p> + +<p>"I don't want to be next to a pair of giggling girls. I want to be next +to you, so I can call you if I have earache or anything."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Murdoch looked uncertainly at Eleanor. "Perhaps Eleanor would just +as lief be next the girls," she said.</p> + +<p>"Mamma said I was to keep my own room," returned Eleanor with rising +color. "It has always been my room since I had one."</p> + +<p>"Oh, very well," said Mrs. Murdoch. "We'll see about it after a while, +Donald." But Donald's black looks did not add to Eleanor's serenity, +and she felt that every mouthful of supper would choke her although +Sylvy had prepared a specially appetizing meal.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_III"><i>CHAPTER III</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class="ph2"><i>Trouble With Donald</i></p> + + +<p>Eleanor soon found that her favorite among the Murdoch children would +prove to be Jessie. Olive, the eldest girl, was not a very pleasant +child, being "touchy," critical, prim, and absorbed in herself. She was +fond of reading, but did not enter very heartily into the plays which +entertained Eleanor and Jessie. Mrs. Murdoch was a careful housekeeper, +and also a careful mother but a very indulgent one, and although she +attended most conscientiously to all of Eleanor's creature comforts she +did not give her any of the tenderness which she lavished upon her own +children, and very soon Eleanor came to feel like an outsider in her +own home.</p> + +<p>Her refusal to give up her room to Donald won her that spoiled +youngster's ill-will, and he never lost an opportunity of teasing her, +to Bubbles' great distress, so that finally there was open warfare +between the boy and the little colored girl.</p> + +<p>To Bubbles was given the care of the little baby, Alma, and Eleanor +was seldom allowed to have any of her old-time plays with the little +nursemaid. "You have Jessie and Olive now to play with," her Cousin +Ellen told her, "and I can find other things for Barbara to do." Cousin +Ellen was very precise in some matters and she considered the name +which Eleanor in her baby days had bestowed upon the small negro girl +as a ridiculous one, she therefore called her Barbara. At first Bubbles +declined to respond to this, but she soon found that she must. Sylvy +took her leave shortly after Mrs. Murdoch's arrival, declaring that she +would not come back till Mrs. Dallas returned. "I don't like nobody +al'ays fussin' roun' my kitchen," she said, "an' I wants to res' up, +anyway."</p> + +<p>Therefore another woman was installed in Sylvy's place and Eleanor was +never allowed to go into the kitchen to make patty-cakes or to help +Bubbles in order that she might the sooner get through her work and +come out to play with her beloved Miss Dimple.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, Bubbles was permitted to take little Alma down to the +playhouse, on occasions, and many a good time Eleanor promised herself +there, for this was specially her own, and if she wanted a quiet place +of retreat she could always go there.</p> + +<p>But one Saturday morning when she was skipping down to her little +house, she was surprised to see Donald busily engaged in carrying her +toys out on the small porch, and depositing them there. She stood still +in amazement, and then cried out sharply, "What are you doing, Donald? +Let my things alone."</p> + +<p>"I'm not hurting your old things," Donald returned. "I'm putting them +down carefully enough, silly dolls and trash as they are."</p> + +<p>"They are not trash, and I'll thank you to put them back again."</p> + +<p>"I'm not going to do anything of the kind; I'm going to have this for +my house while I'm here."</p> + +<p>"Where did you get the key?"</p> + +<p>"From where it belongs, on the nail behind the dining-room door."</p> + +<p>Eleanor was aghast, then, with a lump in her throat, which threatened +every moment to be followed by a flood of tears from her eyes, she ran +back to the house, and hunted up Mrs. Murdoch. "Oh, Cousin Ellen," she +cried in a tumult, "Donald is taking all my toys out of my playhouse. +Please, won't you make him stop?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Murdoch put down her piece of sewing very deliberately. "Donald +asked me if he could have the use of the playhouse," she said. "I +never allow him to play in the street, and his room is so small that +he cannot enjoy playing there, and there is no room that can be spared +for a play room in the house, besides, if there were it would be much +better to let him play out there in the garden where he can make all +the noise he chooses."</p> + +<p>"But," said Eleanor, the tears beginning to rise, "that is my +owny-doney house. Papa had it built e'spressly for me. It's my own, my +very own, and I don't want Donald to have it. I should think he could +play in the garden and the wood-shed and in such places as the other +boys in the town do."</p> + +<p>Here spoke up Olive. "I think you are very selfish. Don't you, mamma? I +always give up to Donald when mamma asks me to, don't I, mamma?"</p> + +<p>"I don't care; he is your brother and that is different," replied +Eleanor.</p> + +<p>"All the more that he is not your brother," returned Olive. "I don't +think you are a bit generous about your things when Donald is a +stranger here, too, and he doesn't know near so many people as you do. +Mamma said that if he got acquainted with one or two nice boys that she +would allow him to have them here to play if they could play in the +playhouse."</p> + +<p>Poor Eleanor looked the picture of distress. To be accused of +selfishness and to be robbed of her dearly loved place of refuge, that +was too much to stand, and she turned from the room without a word, +scarcely hearing Mrs. Murdoch's words: "You can have Barbara, for a +little while to help you move your toys. Olive will be kind enough to +give a portion of her time to the baby, I am sure. Go, Olive, and tell +Barbara to help Miss Eleanor to carry in her things. Your room will be +quite large enough to hold them, Eleanor."</p> + +<p>By this time Eleanor had fled to the garret and there Bubbles found +her, after some searching, crying as if her heart would break. "He +stole my key, Bubbles, he did, and he's moving everything out of my +dear house, and——Oh, I wish mamma would come home. Nobody loves me +here. I want my own mamma." Bubbles was the picture of distress, she +possessed herself of one of Eleanor's hands; patting and stroking it, +she begged the unhappy child not to cry, comforting her as best she +could, so that after a while Eleanor, with a great sigh, stopped her +sobbing and said: "I suppose I am very selfish, for mamma gave up her +house to Cousin Ellen, and I ought to give up mine to Donald. Come, +Bubbles, let's move the things, but I hate Donald; I just can't bear +him."</p> + +<p>They proceeded to the garden where Donald was still busy setting dolls +and dishes outside the little house. Without a word Eleanor and Bubbles +began picking up the things to carry them to the house. "You can just +leave the books and pictures," said Donald, condescendingly. "I don't +mind having them there. Most of the books are girl books, but some of +them, those fairy tales and things like that, I can read."</p> + +<p>"I shall not leave one single thing," said Eleanor shortly.</p> + +<p>"You're a mean, selfish girl," retorted Donald, and catching sight of +her swollen cheeks and red eyelids, he added: "Cry-baby, cry-baby, had +to give up your house whether you wanted to or not, didn't you?"</p> + +<p>"No, I didn't," returned Eleanor fiercely. "I gave it up because my +mother was kind enough to give up her house to your mother when she +didn't have anywhere else to go, and I am doing the same, but I wish my +Cousin Rock were here to fight you. I'd fight you myself if I were a +boy, and I wish my father would whip you till you couldn't see."</p> + +<p>In a transport of rage Donald picked up one of Eleanor's dolls and +hurled it to the ground, and then sprang at Eleanor. But Bubbles +interfered between them and received the blow; then she caught the boy +by the shoulders and shook him with all her might, and being a strong +little creature, she managed to throw him down and began to pound him +while he shouted lustily: "Mamma! Olive! Come quick! They're murdering +me!"</p> + +<p>His yells brought Mrs. Murdoch in great excitement. "Eleanor! Barbara! +Stop!" she said in stern tones. "My poor boy, what are they doing to +you?"</p> + +<p>"They set upon me just because I wanted the house to play in," said +Donald, scrambling to his feet, more dusty than hurt.</p> + +<p>"Oh," cried Eleanor, "it wasn't that at all, it was because you broke +my doll and tried to strike me."</p> + +<p>"No, it wasn't, mamma," protested Donald, "they were just mad, and I +didn't break the doll on purpose; it slipped out of my hand. Why didn't +Eleanor come and take out her old things herself? Here I was trying to +help her, and that's all the thanks I get."</p> + +<p>Such a statement of the case amazed Eleanor, but no matter how she +tried to protest, Donald was ready with his excuses, and to his tale +alone would his mother listen, so that Eleanor and Bubbles were marched +back to the house in disgrace, Mrs. Murdoch declaring that she would +not have such a desperate character as Bubbles in the house and that +she must be sent away. "I cannot imagine how Cousin Florence could keep +such a creature, a perfect savage," said Mrs. Murdoch, "and as for you, +Eleanor, you are a very bad example to my children: ill-tempered, +untruthful, selfish; I am almost tempted to write to your mother and +tell her that I will give up the house altogether, and go back to the +city, for even poor rooms would be better than a spot where my children +are in danger. I cannot stand such scenes. Perhaps, however, if we can +remove the evil influence of that colored girl we can get along. I will +see at once about her going."</p> + +<p>At this Bubbles burst into loud weeping, and implored Mrs. Murdoch not +to send her away, reiterating that she was only standing up for Miss +Dimple, and that no boy had any right to hit a girl; to all of which +Mrs. Murdoch was deaf, and both Bubbles and Eleanor were sent to their +respective rooms in a very desperate state of mind.</p> + +<p>From her window Eleanor could see her little house bereft of her toys. +These lay on the ground outside, and Eleanor wondered whether they +would still be allowed to remain there in case of rain. She stood +looking wistfully out when she heard a queer noise from the garret +window above, and leaning out with eyes directed to the window, she +saw Bubbles making mysterious signs.</p> + +<p>Eleanor hesitated for a moment, and then stole into the entry and up +the stairs to the garret. "What are you doing up here, Bubbles?" she +asked in a whisper.</p> + +<p>"I jus' a-tryin' to git a-holt o' yuh, Miss Dimple. I gwine run away."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Bubbles, please don't."</p> + +<p>"Yass, m', I is. I ain't gwine let nobody boss me an' call me +story-teller an' all kin' o' names."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but Bubbles, where will you go?"</p> + +<p>"I gwine to Sylvy. She let me come. She res'n up, yuh knows. She at her +father's house in de country."</p> + +<p>"But that is, oh, ever so far?"</p> + +<p>"Yass, miss."</p> + +<p>"Do you know the way there?"</p> + +<p>"No, m', but the butterman, he do. Sylvy live jes' noways fum his +house, an' when he come I gwine ax him will he tek me."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Bubbles, and I will be left all alone."</p> + +<p>Bubbles looked distressed. "She gwine sen' me off, anyway."</p> + +<p>"I'll beg her not to. She has no right to do it."</p> + +<p>"Dat don' do no good. She kaint see nothin' 'cepin' them childern o' +hern, an' ef dey lies den it all right, an' ef we speaks truff we ain't +all right."</p> + +<p>"I wish I could go, too," said Eleanor mournfully. But just then came a +voice. "Eleanor, where are you? I forbade your leaving your room."</p> + +<p>"You jes' sass her," said Bubbles. "Ef she believe I'm bad, I'm gwine +be bad."</p> + +<p>And Eleanor answered flippantly, "I'm up here, Cousin Ellen."</p> + +<p>"Come down."</p> + +<p>"Tell her yuh won't," urged Bubbles.</p> + +<p>Eleanor hesitated. "What do you want me for?" she compromised by saying.</p> + +<p>"Come down, and I will tell you."</p> + +<p>"You are not my mother, I don't have to come," encouraged by Bubbles, +she said.</p> + +<p>"You are a very bad, impertinent child. Come at once. I want you to go +and bring in those toys that are lying out on the ground cluttering up +the place."</p> + +<p>"I'll do that," said Eleanor, turning to Bubbles. "I'll be there +directly," she called to Mrs. Murdoch. "Tell me before we go, Bubbles, +when are you going to Sylvy? I won't tell."</p> + +<p>"Wednesday, when de butterman comes. I'll sneak out an' tek my bun'le +an' git in de wagon."</p> + +<p>"He comes in the morning when I am at school, doesn't he?"</p> + +<p>"Yass, miss."</p> + +<p>"All right, I reckon you'd better do that. I am sorry, but oh, Bubbles, +I shall miss you."</p> + +<p>Bubbles' fists went up to her eyes and she sat sniffling as Eleanor +departed.</p> + +<p>The latter went immediately to the garden, taking no notice of Donald, +except to make a face at him as she began removing her toys. He +answered with a mocking "Cry-baby!" and Eleanor longed with helpless +rage to do something to punish him, but she could only toil back and +forth from the big house to the little one, carrying her toys, her +books, her pictures. The broken doll she took up tenderly looking down +upon it with sorrowful eyes. "You were such a pretty little thing," she +whispered, "and I did love you so much. Oh, that wicked boy! I'd like +to see how he would feel if some big giant were to dash his brains out +on the ground; you poor dear little thing. You were such a nice size to +play with, and I could do all sorts of things with you that I can't do +with my big dolls."</p> + +<p>She was very tired when the last one of her possessions was removed, +but she called Jessie and told her that she meant to bury her dear +Florence, and Jessie cheerfully acquiesced when asked to attend the +funeral. So Florence was buried under a lilac bush, and then Eleanor +dragged her tired little legs into the house, feeling as if the clouds +were gathering thick and fast over her usually sunny sky.</p> + +<p>But when she went up to her room for the last time that evening she +found on her table two letters, and both of them brought comfort. One +was from her mother. It was full of words of love and bade Eleanor be a +good girl and give her cousin no trouble. Her papa was very tired after +his journey, but hoped he would begin to improve as soon as he was +rested.</p> + +<p>The other letter was from Rock Hardy, and among other things it said: +"Boarding-school isn't much like home, and I'm having a pretty tough +time, but I'm only telling this to you, for I wouldn't be so mean as +to bother mamma about it. I guess I can stand it if the other fellows +can." And these words set Eleanor thinking.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IV"><i>CHAPTER IV</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class="ph2"><i>A New Doll</i></p> + + +<p>Mrs. Murdoch was very cool to Eleanor after this, and Olive followed +suit, while Donald did everything in his power to annoy his cousin. +Jessie, however, was too sweet-tempered to make herself disagreeable, +and little Alma was too much of a baby to be influenced against any one +who was always kind to her and ready to amuse her. Mrs. Murdoch kept +Bubbles strictly under her eye, and would not allow her to take Alma +out of her sight, a fact which Eleanor resented more than Bubbles did. +"As if Bubbles would be cruel to a little baby," she said to Jessie.</p> + +<p>"But you know she beat Don dreadfully," Jessie replied.</p> + +<p>"She didn't hurt him hardly one bit, and besides, he was going to +strike me."</p> + +<p>"Well, you know he didn't strike you," returned Jessie, and Eleanor +felt helpless to argue the point.</p> + +<p>Rock's letter had cheered her and strengthened her. If Rock would not +tell his mother that he was having a hard time, neither would she tell +her mother about her worries, for she was sure that her dearest mamma +had more to trouble her than had Mrs. Heath, Dallas Rock's mother, and +the child bore Olive's snubs and Mrs. Murdoch's cold looks with open +defiance, but she would not tell any one but Rock; to him she wrote +quite a long letter.</p> + +<p>"It is so dreadful here now," she wrote. "My little house in the yard +is all full of all sorts of stuff, and it is oh, so dirty, for the boys +that Don brings in there do just as they please. Cousin Ellen is very +partikular about mamma's house, but she don't care what comes of mine. +I'm not going to worry mamma, Rock, but I wish you and Florence were +here instead of Don and Olive. Jessie is a right nice little girl but +she is a good deal littler than I am." These and other things Eleanor +wrote to Rock and he answered in kind, so that Eleanor felt that they +were comrades in misery as they had been comrades in pleasure the +summer before.</p> + +<p>It was the day before the butterman made his appearance, that an +express package, addressed to Miss Eleanor Dallas, was left at the +door. As it happened Eleanor was in her room when Bubbles came running +upstairs saying: "Somepin fo' yuh! Somepin fo' yuh! Miss Dimple. Ain't +I glad!"</p> + +<p>With eager fingers Eleanor undid the string, uncovered the box and very +carefully lifted the soft paper snugly packed around the prettiest +little doll just about the size of the one which Donald had so wantonly +destroyed. The child's little scream of delight brought Olive and +Jessie from the next room, and they were soon all examining this new +arrival. The doll wore a pretty traveling dress of grey with hat to +match and grey suede shoes. Pinned to her frock was a note which read:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Dimple</span>:</p> + +<p>"I am sending you a little friend of mine who, I hope, will be able to +comfort you while your mamma is away. Her name is Ada and she is ready +to be loved very much. I should like to have her taught from the books +which you will find in her trunk, and I hope you will have no trouble +in teaching her to be obedient and attentive.</p> + +<p class="ph3">"Your very loving<br> +"<span class="smcap">Aunt Dora</span>."</p> +</div> + +<p>The note was type-written and was very easy to read.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my dear lovely child!" cried Eleanor. "I am so glad you have come. +But where is the trunk, Bubbles?"</p> + +<p>"Law! I nuver brought it up; I thought hit were fo' somebody e's," +and Bubbles skurried downstairs as fast as her legs could take her, +coming back in a moment with the trunk in her arms. Eleanor proceeded +immediately to open it and found it filled with a most complete little +wardrobe: two school dresses, a handsome suit for extra occasions, +a fine white frock for parties. Then there were stockings, tiny +handkerchiefs, all manner of under-clothing, a set of furs, ribbons, +a little hood trimmed with fur, a cunning hat in a small bandbox, and +at the very bottom of the trunk were found a slate and several funny +little books. Even Olive could not resist many ohs and ahs as one after +another of the dainty garments appeared. Aunt Dora had evidently made +everything with her own hands and the tiny hems, the neat little seams, +so excited the children's admiration that Jessie begged to take them to +her mother to look at.</p> + +<hr class="chap"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus2.jpg" alt="" id="illus2"> + <div class="caption"> + <p>"<span class="smcap">Eleanor proceeded to open the trunk</span>"</p> + </div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap"> + + +<p>Mrs. Murdoch's remark was: "They are very nice, Jessie, but I wish +Eleanor were more worthy of such kindness."</p> + +<p>Eleanor, hearing the words, retreated to the door of her own room; +standing there she retorted: "I am worth Aunt Dora's kindness as much +as you are worth my mamma's. She wouldn't treat one of your children +the way you do me, and I think when she lets you have her nice house to +live in that you might be a little more polite to me."</p> + +<p>"Such a want of fine feeling," sighed Mrs. Murdoch. "When you show a +sweet and amiable spirit, Eleanor, I shall be ready to give you more +affection, but you cannot expect it from those whom you twit and taunt +because of their misfortunes."</p> + +<p>"My mamma has a trouble, too," returned Eleanor, "and you are making a +lot for me. I wish I had never seen you."</p> + +<p>"Such a dreadfully spoiled child," sighed Mrs. Murdoch. "I would rather +you did not come into my room, Eleanor, since you only stir up strife, +and seem to delight in making impertinent speeches."</p> + +<p>"You just keep out of my mother's room," said Olive, looking defiantly +at Eleanor.</p> + +<p>With a little choking sob, Eleanor turned and went away, saying only: +"It's my mamma's room; my own mamma's room, and I was never turned out +of it before."</p> + +<p>"Never mind her, Olive," she heard Mrs. Murdoch say. "She is a spoiled, +badly-managed child, and you must try to set her a good example. I am +grieved to find that Florence is so indulgent and injudicious a mother."</p> + +<p>Eleanor hearing, turned in a perfect storm of tears goaded beyond +endurance to say, "You shall not say such things about my mother. +She is the dearest and best in the world, and I'd like to know where +anybody could find such a hateful, spoiled, wicked, wicked child as +Donald. And as for Olive, she is a horrid little sneak. I saw her steal +cake from the pantry and she told you that Bubbles did it. I don't tell +stories and I don't take things without leave."</p> + +<p>"Oh, mamma, I didn't," said Olive turning very red, but denying +Eleanor's charge with emphasis.</p> + +<p>"Don't add falsehood to your other sins, Eleanor," said Mrs. Murdoch. +"Go to your room. Indeed, I wish to do my duty by you, but I cannot +have you shield that favorite of yours by telling falsehoods about my +children."</p> + +<p>Olive whispered something to her, and she nodded in reply while Eleanor +walked from the room and threw herself sobbing into Bubbles' arms. "Oh, +Bubbles, Bubbles," she cried, "they say I tell stories and it is they +who do, and they call me selfish and wicked when it is they who are. +Oh, what shall I do?"</p> + +<p>"Ne'm mind, Miss Dimple," said Bubbles, soothingly. "'Tain't goneter +las' fo'ever, an' yuh jes' go 'long an' don' min' what Miss Murder +say." Then she whispered: "Don' min' 'bout me. She ain't a goin' to +fin' no place fo' me, an' yuh know I is goin' to Sylvy. Mebbe she won't +be so cross when I'm gone. Come, now, le's play with yo' new dolly. My, +ain't she pretty with them big eyes an' them rosy cheeks?"</p> + +<p>"She is lovely," returned Eleanor, drying her eyes, "and I shall just +love her, but I wish I could run away with you, Bubbles."</p> + +<p>"Sh!" said Bubbles, for just then Olive entered and said in a prim +way: "Mamma says you are not to stay in here with Eleanor, Barbara. +She says you are to go down and set the table for tea, and you are +not to stay in Eleanor's room nor even come in here without express +permission."</p> + +<p>Bubbles arose and obediently went below stairs, but she muttered much +to herself and racked her brain for some way in which she could avenge +the trials of her beloved Miss Dimple, who, meanwhile was trying to +comfort herself with her new doll. A letter from her mother that day +had said that Mr. Dallas was not quite so well but that Eleanor was not +to worry, for she hoped to have better news the next time she wrote, +and she was glad to hear that her little daughter was getting along +well at school and that she was well. She must try to be kind and +obedient and helpful to her Cousin Ellen.</p> + +<p>"I won't, I won't, I won't," whispered Eleanor to herself. "I can't +be. She is too hateful to me. I wish I had never seen her and I wish I +could stay out of the house all the time." And indeed this is what she +tried to do, starting early for school, and trying to spend as much of +the afternoon as possible with some of her schoolmates. Olive had made +friends with Janet Forrester, and Jessie had found a playmate nearer +her own age, so Eleanor was free to select her own friends. Upon one +occasion there came a clash upon this very subject, for Mrs. Murdoch +insisted that Eleanor should go to Janet Forrester's to spend the +afternoon. "I feel myself responsible for you, Eleanor," she said, "and +I should like to know that you are somewhere with Olive that I may be +able to account for you."</p> + +<p>"Mamma doesn't like me to play with Janet," Eleanor blurted out.</p> + +<p>"Why not?"</p> + +<p>Eleanor hung her head. She did not like to tell tales, in school or +out, but Olive spoke up: "I know, mamma; it's because Barbara stole a +ring from Janet and she and Eleanor quarreled about it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, what a story," cried Eleanor. "She didn't steal it, any such a +thing. Janet said she did just to get Bubbles into trouble and she +found the ring afterward at her own house. So there."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Murdoch and Olive exchanged glances and Mrs. Murdoch lifted her +eyebrows slightly, in a way that Eleanor much disliked.</p> + +<p>"That's what Janet told me, anyhow, mamma," said Olive meaningly.</p> + +<p>"There are always two sides to a question," said Mrs. Murdoch, "but if +you are sure, Eleanor, that your mamma does not like you to play with +Janet you needn't go. Mrs. Forrester has doubtless the same objection +on her side."</p> + +<p>Eleanor looked at her with blazing eyes; then stamping her foot she +cried: "I wish you'd just write to mamma and ask her. She will tell you +the truth, anyhow, if you don't believe me. I never tell stories. I +never do such things. You can ask mamma." And she turned away.</p> + +<p>This was on Wednesday before school, and on her return home she found +Mrs. Murdoch in quite a perturbed state. "Eleanor," she said, "have +you seen anything of Barbara? She hasn't been seen since about eleven +o'clock."</p> + +<p>"I haven't seen her," returned Eleanor curtly.</p> + +<p>"Do you know where she is?"</p> + +<p>Eleanor hesitated, then remembered that she did not know just where +Sylvy's parents lived; it was somewhere in the country, but where she +could not tell.</p> + +<p>"Answer me," said Mrs. Murdoch. "Where is she?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know, Cousin Ellen, at least, I know she has gone away +somewhere in the country, but I don't know where the place is. You said +you were going to send her away, and so she went anyhow."</p> + +<p>"And you have known this all the time and haven't told me? Such deceit!"</p> + +<p>"I don't know why I should have told," retorted Eleanor. "It wouldn't +have done Bubbles any good, and I love her a thousand million times +more than I do you, if she is black. She is white inside and I know you +are not."</p> + +<p>"Eleanor!" Mrs. Murdoch spoke very sternly. "You are really the most +dreadful child I have ever encountered. I never had any one speak to me +as you have done. You are completely contaminated by your association +with servants."</p> + +<p>"I don't tell stories, and I don't steal from the pantry, and I don't +do lots of things your children do," returned Eleanor thoroughly +defiant.</p> + +<p>"Hush!" cried Mrs. Murdoch. "If it were not for worrying your mother +I should tell her very plainly what I think of you, but as it is, my +hands are tied. I shall have to pass over this as I have over many +other things. If Barbara has gone I wash my hands of her, and when your +mother returns she can do as she thinks fit about the affair. I am +not in a position to punish you as you deserve, but I wish you not to +address me or any of my family, except when absolutely necessary, while +we remain here."</p> + +<p>However much Mrs. Murdoch was pleased at Bubbles' departure to Eleanor +it was a sore loss, and she went to bed that night clasping her dear +Ada close to her heart and shedding many tears for Bubbles. The absence +of the little colored girl in more ways than one, made it hard for +Eleanor, for now Bubbles could not be used as a scapegoat for Olive's +sly pilferings, nor for Don's tricks, and so by degrees it was Eleanor +herself upon whom all the blame was laid. Did anything happen to be +out of place, Eleanor had it last. Were there mud tracked through Mrs. +Murdoch's clean halls, Eleanor did it; and, since Mrs. Murdoch's blind +idolatry of her children did not permit her to see a fault in any one +of them, poor Eleanor was gradually made to believe herself a most +wicked person, and she was in danger of acquiring some of the very +qualities which were attributed to her.</p> + +<p>It was Miss Reese who first noticed this, for she saw that the child's +sunny little face was now habitually clouded and that, whereas she had +formerly been responsive to gentle chiding for some slight fault, she +was beginning to show open defiance, and so the teacher called upon +Mrs. Murdoch and very tactfully brought around the conversation to the +subject which was upon her mind.</p> + +<p>"You find Olive and Jessie tractable, I hope," said Mrs. Murdoch.</p> + +<p>"Yes," returned Miss Reese, "Jessie particularly. I have some times +thought that Olive was not as frank as I should like her to be, but I +may be mistaken."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Murdoch's visible resentment showed Miss Reese that she was upon +dangerous ground. "That is a quality that belongs to Eleanor rather +than to Olive," Mrs. Murdoch said. "The child has been brought up very +unwisely."</p> + +<p>"Why, what do you mean?" Miss Reese was surprised into saying. "I have +always thought Mrs. Dallas one of the tenderest and most devoted of +mothers. Every one thinks Eleanor one of the best behaved little girls +in town; for myself I think she is a charming child."</p> + +<p>"One can never tell unless one lives in the house with such a +character," said Mrs. Murdoch, sighing. "Your estimate simply proves +what I say that Eleanor is vain and deceitful."</p> + +<p>Miss Reese began to take in the situation but she only said:</p> + +<p>"I think a teacher has an excellent opportunity for judging of the +characters of those placed in her care, and I cannot agree with you, +Mrs. Murdoch." Then she took her leave, resolved to give more attention +to Eleanor from this out.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_V"><i>CHAPTER V</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class="ph2"><i>More Trouble</i></p> + + +<p>It was about two weeks after Bubbles' departure that Eleanor, coming +home one day from school, found her new doll missing and her precious +Jungle Book out of its place on her shelves. She searched high and low +but could find neither book nor doll. She gave to her dolls a devoted +affection. They seemed real persons to her and any indignity offered +to them cut her to the very heart. Once in a while she had forgotten +and had left some special member of her family out in the garden all +night and her self-reproach upon discovering it was great. It was as if +she felt upon her own tender body the dews of night, and as if pangs +of hunger had been hers, and after that, for days, the victim of her +forgetfulness would be treated with extra care and tenderness.</p> + +<p>For her books she had the feeling that is that of every true +book-lover. It hurt her to see her treasured volumes laid face down, +or to see thumb-marks soiling one of the clean pages or to come across +a leaf turned down; therefore she dreaded to see one of her beloved +books in Donald's hands. Donald was no respecter of the property +of others, and if he wanted a book he usually helped himself to it +and kept it in the playhouse as long as it suited him. He was very +tenacious, it may be said, about his right to the playhouse, and always +kept the door locked and the key in his pocket when he was not in the +small building, so that Eleanor had no opportunity of going in there to +search for any of her lost treasures.</p> + +<p>She sighed as she thought some day she would probably find her Jungle +Book, soiled and with dingy covers, returned to her shelves, but Donald +professed to despise dolls and what could he want to do with her dear +Ada? She determined to ask him if he had seen her doll, and to be very +polite when she did it; so she waited patiently till she should hear +him come in.</p> + +<p>It was cold November weather and the winter was fast approaching. +Eleanor shuddered as she thought of Ada lying somewhere out in the +chill wind, but she said very sweetly, "Donald, have you seen anything +of my new doll?"</p> + +<p>"What do you suppose I know about your old doll?" he returned.</p> + +<p>"I can't find her anywhere," Eleanor went on wistfully. "I left her +sitting on my bed this morning, and I have hunted high and low for her."</p> + +<p>"You didn't look in the flour barrel, I suppose," said Donald laughing.</p> + +<p>"No. Oh, you didn't put her in there, did you? She will smother." And +she hurried off to the pantry to examine the contents of the barrel.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Murdoch coming saw her there. "Eleanor, what are you doing?" she +asked sharply. "You charge Olive with pilfering from my store of cakes +and I find you in here. What does this mean?"</p> + +<p>"I am only looking for my doll, Cousin Ellen," Eleanor replied, too +much worried to notice the implied charges.</p> + +<p>"A queer place to look for a doll."</p> + +<p>"Donald asked me if I had looked in the flour barrel, and I want so +much to find her."</p> + +<p>"As if he would put a doll in there. He has better sense than to do +such a thing," said Mrs. Murdoch. "Your excuse is a very lame one, +Eleanor."</p> + +<p>But Eleanor paid little heed to her and again sought Donald, who +jeeringly said: "When she's up she's up, and when she's down she's +down, and when she's half-way up she's neither up nor down." And that +was all Eleanor could get out of him.</p> + +<p>Up and downstairs she trudged, looking in every room but no Ada was to +be found. All over the garden she searched, but no Ada was there, but +at last the child caught sight of something swinging from the garret +window, and going closer, she saw Ada clad in her little nightgown and +tied by the neck to a string which was suspended from a nail in the +eaves. Upstairs Eleanor rushed, feeling as if she could not endure such +treatment of her doll. She was in an agony of sympathy for poor Ada, +but, try as she would, she could not grasp the string which hung just +beyond her reach and could only be touched by standing on the ledge +outside the window.</p> + +<p>Eleanor was always desperately afraid to stand on high places, but +her eagerness to gain possession of her doll, nerved her to climb out +and stand upon the sill. She caught the string in one hand and with a +dreadful feeling that Ada's body was thumping against the side of the +house, she managed to climb in again and drew up the precious burden to +find the doll a little scarred, but otherwise unhurt.</p> + +<p>The child was now in such a nervous tremor that she felt her limbs +shaking under her as she sank down on the garret floor giving vent to +quick little sobs. "We won't stand it, Ada; we won't," she said. "We +will run away, too. We will go with the butterman and find Sylvy and +Bubbles. They love me better than these cousins." She had always been +used to having negro servants about her and the idea of going to Sylvy +did not affect her as it might have done a child not accustomed to +being petted and coddled by a negro nursemaid.</p> + +<p>"To-morrow the butterman comes again and we will hide somewhere, Ada, +and go with him. I hope Bubbles found Sylvy. I haven't heard a word +about her, but I hope she got there all right. I must write a note to +Miss Reese, for she will wonder why I am not at school. I will mail it +in the morning." The little inconsequent mind did not see any further +troubles arising from her purpose, and she began to make her plans. +"I will write to mamma and tell her I did not mean to be bad but that +they made me so, and I'll tell her I am safe and that I am going to +stay till she comes back," she told her doll. Then she tied up a little +bundle of her own clothing, and put in what she considered proper +apparel for Ada, and then she wrote her little note to Miss Reese:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Miss Reese</span>:</p> + +<p>"I can't come to school because I am going away. I'm so miserble +without mamma and nobody loves me. Ime not going because I dont like +to go to school and plese excuse my lessons I will study very hard +when mamma comes back</p> + +<p class="ph3">"Affectionately yours<br> +"<span class="smcap">Eleanor Dallas</span>.</p> + +<p>"P.S.—I forgot to tell you ime going to stay with Sylvy and Bubbles."</p> +</div> + +<p>She decided that she would go to school and at recess she would slip +out and be on the corner when the butterman drove by. She would leave +her bundle with old Mrs. Wills who kept a small shop near the school. +She felt distressed at leaving her other dolls and Nyxy, her little +black cat, but she laid the former carefully away in a drawer, after +fondly kissing each smiling face, locked the drawer and took the key +with her. Nyxy she knew would be well cared for. Jessie was devoted to +him and the cook was fond of cats, and therefore with a soft whisper +and a loving pat, Eleanor bade good-bye to her furry pet the next +morning and started out alone. She did not often walk to school with +her cousins nowadays, for Olive usually stopped for Janet Forrester and +Jessie had a friend about her own age who called for her almost every +morning, therefore Eleanor was not observed as she stepped out with her +bundle and hurried along to Mrs. Wills before the others started.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Wills cheerfully took charge of the bundle, patted Eleanor's +shoulder and gave her a cocoanut cake. Her little shop was beginning to +show Christmas wares and it gave Eleanor a pang to think that perhaps +this year there would be no mamma on hand to plan delightful surprises. +The tears gathered in her eyes as she went on to school, stopping to +mail her letter to Miss Reese on the way.</p> + +<p>She arrived quite early and found the schoolroom empty of every one +except her teacher. Miss Reese looked up with a smile. "Good-morning, +Eleanor," she said. "This is quite a frosty morning, isn't it? It +promises cold weather soon. I suppose you are glad of that, for your +mamma thought she would be home by Christmas, I remember."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid she won't be," returned Eleanor. "Papa wasn't so well when +she last wrote."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's too bad. Never mind, you can have a good time with your +cousins. It must be very lively for you to have so many playmates, +after being the only child in the house."</p> + +<p>Eleanor did not reply, but there was a quivering of her lips that told +Miss Reese more than words could have done. "Did you come to school on +your wheel?" Miss Reese asked, changing the subject.</p> + +<p>"No, Miss Reese. Don has broken it. I hate Don."</p> + +<p>"Why, my child."</p> + +<p>"I do. I can't help it if I am wicked and selfish and—and deceitful, +I just hate him," she said, going to her desk and hiding her face +behind the lid as she raised it that Miss Reese might not see her +tears. But just then in came a troop of girls and no more was said, +although Miss Reese made a mental note of Eleanor's words.</p> + +<p>At recess Eleanor asked permission to go to Mrs. Wills' little shop. +This was often accorded the girls and consent was given to the child, +who, however, waited till the last moment and then ran out, passing +the girls returning from having made their purchases of sour balls or +ginger cakes or buns.</p> + +<p>"You'd better hurry up," said Laura Field; "the bell will ring in a +minute."</p> + +<p>Eleanor nodded in reply, and ran on, secured her bundle and hurried +around the corner to overtake the butterman. But just as she reached +the spot where she intended to wait for him she saw the white top of +his wagon ahead of her, and she ran with all her might toward it, +calling: "Mr. Snyder, Mr. Snyder, please wait for me," but his sleek +brown horses trotted on and the child, breathlessly following, at last, +dropped into a walk, but still determined to overtake him.</p> + +<p>On and on she went up the hard country road where fewer and fewer +houses were to be seen, and at last she saw the wagon turn into a lane, +and outside the gate she sat down to wait till the butterman should +come out again. She was very warm and tired and a cough which she had +noticed for some days, began to trouble her more than before. The cold +wind struck her and in a few minutes she was shivering, but she was not +the less firm in her determination to go on to find Sylvy.</p> + +<p>But as she sat there huddled up she heard a horse's hoofs come +clattering along the road and she saw the flash of a scarlet jacket as +a tiny Shetland pony came dashing along bearing as his rider a swarthy +little girl, whose black tousled hair was tossed about by the wind. She +drew rein as she saw Eleanor there and came cantering up to her. "What +you doing?" she asked, slipping down from her pony and peering down +with her bright eyes into Eleanor's face.</p> + +<p>"I'm waiting for the butterman," answered Eleanor shyly.</p> + +<p>"Wha' for?"</p> + +<p>"'Cause I want him to take me along with him."</p> + +<p>"I'll take you. Want to ride my pony? Come; there ain't no man coming."</p> + +<p>Eleanor looked up toward the house before the gate of which she was +waiting. "He's in there," she said.</p> + +<p>The girl shook her black locks. "No, he's gone t'other way."</p> + +<p>Eleanor looked distressed. "Are you sure?" she asked.</p> + +<p>The girl nodded. "I'll take you. Come 'long. Tossi can take us both."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, he's too little."</p> + +<p>The girl laughed. "He's very strong. No, it won't hurt him. He loves me +and I don't let him be hurt." She flung her arms around the neck of the +pony and kissed the white star on his forehead.</p> + +<p>Eleanor at last consented to mount him, sitting behind the girl +and holding fast to her as they dashed up the road. Once she asked +breathlessly: "Do you know where the butterman lives? His name is Mr. +Snyder."</p> + +<p>"I knows him," returned her companion laughing, but she did not stop +till they came in sight of a group of gaudy wagons.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" cried Eleanor. "Those are gipsies."</p> + +<p>The girl jumped down. "My people," she said with a wave of her hand.</p> + +<p>"Are you a gipsy?" Eleanor was quite taken aback.</p> + +<p>The girl nodded in reply, standing with one arm over the neck of her +little pony.</p> + +<p>"But I want to go to Mr. Snyder's," said Eleanor helplessly, all the +stories she had ever heard of gipsies coming to her mind.</p> + +<p>The girl led the pony slowly along toward the wagons and Eleanor could +see that beyond them, in a small enclosure, were many horses, and that +in some of the wagons, with their red and yellow adornings, were women +and children. "Please don't go on," she said. "I don't want to go +there."</p> + +<p>"Wha' for?" again said the girl.</p> + +<p>"I want to find Mr. Snyder."</p> + +<p>"He your papa?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"You live there?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Then wha' for?"</p> + +<p>"I want him to take me somewhere. Perhaps you know where Sylvy Johnson +lives. She is a colored woman. I would just as soon go to her house as +to Mr. Snyder's."</p> + +<p>The girl shook her head. "Don't know. We had a little nigger girl not +long ago. She went to the orspital, my brodder say. She was hurted." +Then she suddenly looked up saying: "I like you. I wish you'd stay and +see my big brudder. He have anudder pony like this one; he'll let you +ride on him."</p> + +<p>At this moment one of the dark, queer-looking women came from one of +the wagons toward them and Eleanor took affright. "Oh, no, please,—I +am very much obliged to you for letting me ride your pony; he is a +darling, but I am afraid to stay. I'm not afraid of you, for you are +a very nice, kind little girl, but I do want to go. I am so tired, +and—and—please."</p> + +<p>"Come on." The girl swung herself upon the pony, and giving the pretty +creature a slap with her hand she made him turn around and they were +soon dashing down the road again to the spot where Eleanor had been +first seen by the gipsy girl.</p> + +<p>Eleanor got down and looked up the lane. "Does Mr. Snyder live in +there?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Don't know."</p> + +<p>"But you said you knew where he lived."</p> + +<p>"No, I says I know him, an' so I does."</p> + +<p>"But you said he had gone out another way."</p> + +<p>"Maybe. I don't know. No, he's comin' now. I see his wagon top. I said +that because I wanted you to come and see my brudder and me."</p> + +<p>"Are you going to be at that place long?"</p> + +<p>"Don't know. P'r'aps. You want to buy a pony? My brudder will sell you +a good one cheap."</p> + +<p>"I'd like to have one like yours. Isn't he a beauty? I always wanted +to ride a little pony like this, and I am glad I could do it. Did your +father give it to you?"</p> + +<p>"No, I haven't got no fadder."</p> + +<p>"Your mother then?"</p> + +<p>"No," the girl shook her head. "I haven't got no mudder; my brudder +give him to me. What you got in your bundle?"</p> + +<p>"Some clothes and my doll named Ada."</p> + +<p>"I got a doll too; her name is—what's your name?"</p> + +<p>"Eleanor."</p> + +<p>"Her name is Eleanor like you."</p> + +<p>"What is your name?"</p> + +<p>"Zula."</p> + +<p>"I think that is a pretty name. I'll name my next doll that."</p> + +<p>"Come and see me and I'll show you my doll. My brudder bought it for +me. I like your ribbon on your hair. Give it to me."</p> + +<p>Eleanor hesitated. She didn't like to refuse and yet she did not know +whether it was exactly right to give it to her, but finally she did +take it off, for she thought Zula had really been very kind. "Here," +she said, "you may have it."</p> + +<p>Zula tied it around her black tresses and laughed. "Here comes Snyder," +she said, "good-bye." And jumping on her horse she was off like a flash.</p> + +<p>Eleanor watched her red jacket out of sight and then said to herself, +"I wish I had asked her more about that little colored girl. I wonder +if she was a servant or what. I'm glad Bubbles don't have to go +traveling around the country with gipsies. She'll be glad to see me, +and so will Sylvy. What a long time Mr. Snyder has been at that house."</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VI"><i>CHAPTER VI</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class="ph2"><i>Where is Bubbles?</i></p> + + +<p>At last the man came driving down the lane. He drew rein as he saw +the little figure by the gate. "Want a lift, little girl?" he asked +cheerfully.</p> + +<p>"Yes, please," Eleanor responded. And the man helped her up beside him.</p> + +<p>"How far are you going?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"To Sylvy's," Eleanor answered in all simplicity.</p> + +<p>"To Sylvy's? You don't mean Sylvy Johnson's? No wonder you want a lift. +What are you going away off there for? It is a long way for a little +girl to go alone. Bless me!" He looked closer. "Bless my soul, if it +isn't the little Dallas girl! Why, what does this mean? What's the +matter at your house that they're running you off in this fashion?"</p> + +<p>Eleanor's cough interrupted her speech for a moment, and the man tucked +a warm cover closer around her. "See here," he continued, "I'll take +you home with me, and we'll see what's to be done. I'm not in the +notion of your going to Johnson's by yourself. How did you expect to +get back?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't expect to get back at all, at least, not till mamma comes +home."</p> + +<p>"Why, that's the queerest thing I ever heard. Did Mrs. Murdoch send you +off there?"</p> + +<p>"No," Eleanor confessed, "I am going of my own accord. Cousin Ellen +doesn't know anything about it."</p> + +<p>"Hm—hm." Mr. Snyder nodded thoughtfully. "Well, Mrs. Snyder will +settle it. I can't take you back just at once, for I must go home and +feed my horses, and get a bite myself, but if mother says so, home you +go."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, please," begged Eleanor. "I want to go to Sylvy's."</p> + +<p>"Well, you wait and see what my wife says. Mrs. Snyder'll know what's +best. 'Tain't much further; only a couple of miles. Here, get up, Pete. +Get up, Morgan." And the horses quickened their trot soon bringing +them up to a substantial white house standing back some distance from +the road. "Here we are," said Mr. Snyder, lifting Eleanor down. "Whoa +there, Pete! I'd better fasten that horse; he's dead set on getting to +the stable. He knows it's his dinner time."</p> + +<p>A rosy-faced woman came to the side door. "Here, mother," said Mr. +Snyder, "I've got company for you; Mr. Dallas's little girl. Run in, +honey, out of the cold. It's blowing up, mother. Take the little girl +in where it's warm, and I'll come as soon as I've fed the stock."</p> + +<p>Into a clean warm kitchen Eleanor was led. There was an odor of fried +ham and potatoes, and from an iron pot, bubbling on the stove, came +a spicy smell. "Take off your things, honey," said Mrs. Snyder in a +matter-of-fact way, as if the coming of a strange little girl to dinner +were an everyday occurrence, and Eleanor obeyed, glad of the warmth and +the welcome.</p> + +<p>Mr. Snyder was not long gone, and when he returned he remarked, "This +young lady wants to go to Johnson's, Almiry. What do you think of that?"</p> + +<p>"Not to stay!" said Mrs. Snyder, pausing in the act of taking a pan of +biscuits from the oven. "You wasn't meaning to stay, was you?" she +asked Eleanor.</p> + +<p>"Yes, till my mother comes home. You see, Bubbles is there, at least, +I suppose she is. Didn't she come with you about two weeks ago, Mr. +Snyder?"</p> + +<p>"With me? No, indeed. Do you mean the little darky girl that lives at +your house? Haven't laid eyes on her."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" Eleanor's eyes grew big with anxiety, and her chin began to +quiver. "Then she's lost, unless she is at Sylvy's. Won't you please +take me there?"</p> + +<p>"Why, child," said Mrs. Snyder, "that ain't a fit place for you; just +a little two-story cabin with a loft. What on earth possesses you to +want to go there? Hear the child cough, Ben. Sounds to me like the +whooping-cough; mighty like it. I shouldn't be surprised if the child +had it. She oughtn't to be running wild around the country in this way."</p> + +<p>"Oh, do you think I really have it? I am so glad," Eleanor exclaimed in +a satisfied tone.</p> + +<p>Mr. Snyder laughed. "Funny thing to be glad about."</p> + +<p>"Why, you see, they have all got it at my aunt's in the city and that +is why I couldn't go there when mamma went away, and now maybe I can."</p> + +<p>"But what put it into your head to come so far from home to-day?" Mrs. +Snyder asked.</p> + +<p>Eleanor hung her head. "Because—because, Don hung my doll, and I can't +bear him, and they don't believe anything I say, and nobody loves me, +and I was so lonely I just couldn't stand it."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Snyder looked at her husband and then gathered Eleanor into her +motherly arms. "Poor little thing! Homesick in her own home; mother +sick, I reckon. Let us keep her here a bit, Ben. You told me a month +ago that Mrs. Dallas had gone off to them Hot Springs and left the +child with kinfolks. I remember, because you said you'd never had +no complaint of your butter and eggs from that house in all these +years, and you reckoned Mrs. Murdoch was kind of fussy. Ain't her name +Murdoch?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's it; Murdoch. She did say the butter was too salt and +couldn't I bring her bigger eggs; these was too small; and I told her +I'd call the hen's attention to it, and tell them they must keep their +tape-measures in their pockets. She didn't half like that. Fact is, she +told me she'd get some one else to serve her."</p> + +<p>"And that house has been supplied by you ever since Mrs. Dallas went +there a bride. Well, child, I guess your mother didn't know who she was +leaving you with. I reckon you haven't been very well looked after. +Here, set right up here and eat some dinner. She looks kind of blue +around the mouth, Ben. I don't think she'd ought to go back to-day, in +this cold wind."</p> + +<p>"Then, I'll send word to Mrs. Murdoch by Lem. He can go some time +before night; I'd as lief let her worry for a while. He can go 'round +by Johnson's and see if the little darky is there. Very likely she's +all snug with them. Some one else probably gave her a lift. I remember, +now, I didn't go to town on Wednesday week. I went to that sale over +by the crossroads, and I got Nat Gilam to go for me. No doubt she went +with him to Johnson's. Don't you worry about her, honey. What you got +bilin' in that pot, mother?"</p> + +<p>"Suet puddin'. Seemed like the day for it. I'd as lief let her fuss for +a while, that Mrs. Murdoch, I mean. Butter too salt, indeed."</p> + +<p>"Give the child somethin' to eat, mother; she ain't scarcely touched +anything."</p> + +<p>"She's half sick," said Mrs. Snyder, regarding the child with kind +eyes. "Don't you pester her, Mr. Snyder. I'll look after her. I've lost +six," she said to Eleanor, "and it's mighty lonely sometimes. I'm glad +enough to see a little child, once in a while."</p> + +<p>"There, mother, there; don't let's talk about it now," said Mr. Snyder; +"you'll be losin' your appetite next. I'm savin' a place for that suet +puddin' myself."</p> + +<p>Eleanor watched with wonder the huge amount of food which Mr. Snyder +consumed, but she hardly tasted any herself, and after the good man +had left the kitchen and Mrs. Snyder had washed the dishes and put +them away, she took the child on her lap and rocked her in an old +splint-bottomed chair which had a cozy squeak to it, so that, feeling +very content, Eleanor fell asleep to the accompaniment of creaking +chair and singing teakettle.</p> + +<p>She did not awaken till the short winter day had ended. Once she +stirred and was dimly conscious of being placed in a more comfortable +position, and felt herself warmly covered up and a soft kiss imprinted +upon her cheek; then she dropped into a sound sleep, to dream that her +mother was near her; that it was soft spring weather and the birds were +singing in the apple-tree by the kitchen door.</p> + +<p>It was when Mr. Snyder came noisily into the kitchen that she sat up +and rubbed her eyes, wondering where she was. "There, now, Ben, you've +waked the child, and she was sleeping so sweetly. I think she's got a +little fever." Mrs. Snyder bent over her, looking much concerned. "How +do you feel, my dear? Are you rested?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes." Eleanor threw off the shawl which had covered her, and arose +to her feet. "I feel very much rested, thank you, Mrs. Snyder."</p> + +<p>"Bless her dear heart!" exclaimed Mrs. Snyder, hugging her up close to +her.</p> + +<p>Eleanor gave a sigh of satisfaction. "It was so nice to have you rock +me to sleep," she said. "It made me feel as if I had mamma again."</p> + +<p>"I went over to see about your little Bubbles," said Mr. Snyder, "but +nobody's seen her. Sylvy showed every tooth in her head when she saw +me, and I told her you were here with us. I could scarcely keep her +from coming right over, but I told her you were too tired and were +taking a nap. How far did you trot behind my wagon? All the way out +from town to Murphy's, mother. That's where I met up with her. Sylvy +says she will be here to-morrow, and I've sent word to your cousin that +you are safe and sound, but that you've got the whooping-cough. That'll +finish the business, I think, mother. Those precious children of hers +are all made of gold studded with diamonds, and if there's any way to +prevent your coming near them she'll agree to it." He nodded knowingly +at Eleanor.</p> + +<p>Two red spots were burning on the child's cheeks; her eyes were very +bright, and her hands hot, so that Mrs. Snyder declared that she must +go to bed early, and after supper, for which Eleanor had but little +appetite, she was dosed with an herby draught and snugly placed between +warm sheets in a clean little room where a wood stove roared and sent +out a pleasant heat. "I shall be right in here," Mrs. Snyder said, "so +don't you be scared. If your cough is bad in the night, I'll come in +and give you something for it." She stooped to give a good-night kiss, +and Eleanor reached out her arms from under the covers and clasped the +good woman's neck.</p> + +<p>"I do love you," she said. "Nobody has kissed me good-night since +mamma went away. Where do you suppose poor little Bubbles is? Oh, Mrs. +Snyder, I am so distressed about her. I'm afraid she might be the one +that Zula, the gipsy girl, told me about. Why didn't I ask more about +her? I never thought it might be Bubbles. I thought of course that she +was safe with Sylvy."</p> + +<p>"There, dear, there, Mr. Snyder'll see about it the first thing in the +morning," said Mrs. Snyder.</p> + +<p>But Eleanor kept repeating: "What has become of her? Poor little +Bubbles!" She sobbed piteously, and for all Mrs. Snyder comforted her +as best she could, it was a long time before she could go to sleep, and +when she did her pillow was wet with tears.</p> + +<p>Meantime, quite a stir was caused by Eleanor's long absence. Olive and +Jessie returned home from school with the news that Eleanor had not +been seen since eleven o'clock, when she was met by some of the girls +on her way to Mrs. Wills'. Miss Reese had questioned the old woman who +remembered that the little Dallas girl had been there. Yes, she had +been there, and she had not stopped long; but Mrs. Wills said nothing +about the bundle which Eleanor had left in her care and which she had +taken away with her. The old woman had a very poor memory, at the best, +and she was peculiar.</p> + +<p>Miss Reese stopped to report the result of her inquiries to Mrs. +Murdoch. "Just like the child," said the latter; "she delights to annoy +me, and has taken this means of doing it. She probably wanted to play +truant, and will be coming toward night, no doubt." Nevertheless, there +was an undercurrent of anxiety, and some qualms of conscience regarding +the child's real reason for going off in this stealthy way, and as the +afternoon wore on and no Eleanor appeared, Mrs. Murdoch became more +and more annoyed. "The child was left in my care," she said to Olive, +"and her mother will censure me if anything happens to her. Do you +and Donald hunt around the house and grounds for her, and I will send +Jessie to the houses where she would be most likely to visit."</p> + +<p>But after a thorough search, Olive, of course, reported that no Eleanor +was to be found, and then, just as Mrs. Murdoch was really getting +worked up into a state of nervous fear and dread, Miss Reese came in. +"I have just received a little note from Eleanor," she said, "and she +tells me that she has gone to find Bubbles." She handed the note to +Mrs. Murdoch, who read it without a word, although under Miss Reese's +quiet gaze, she flushed slightly.</p> + +<p>"It is not always easy to understand children," said Miss Reese gently. +"Often their little hearts are bleeding under an indifferent, and, +often, defiant exterior. Eleanor has always had a life so full of +love and sympathy that any lack of it would probably affect her more +seriously than it would a less emotional child."</p> + +<p>"I am sure I have tried to do my duty," said Mrs. Murdoch plaintively. +"I have bathed her with my own hands more than once, and I have been +most particular to see that she was properly clad, and I have seen to +it that she had her study hour."</p> + +<p>Miss Reese said only: "She is safe, at all events. I think that Dr. +Sullivan goes out in that direction and perhaps, to-morrow, he will +stop and bring her back with him. He is very fond of her, I know, and +it would not be asking him to perform an unpleasant task. Shall I speak +to him about it?"</p> + +<p>"I shall be very much relieved if you will," returned Mrs. Murdoch, +glad to see a way out of the difficulty; and Miss Reese departed. But +next came word from Mr. Snyder that Eleanor was at his house, and +that she was not well; Mrs. Snyder had a suspicion that she might be +developing the whooping-cough. Perhaps she would best stay where she +was till the truth could be learned from the doctor.</p> + +<p>Therefore, much against his will, Donald was dispatched to take word +to Miss Reese and to the doctor. "That child will be the death of me," +complained Mrs. Murdoch. "I wish to heavens I had never undertaken the +care of her. I know nothing about these people to whom she has gone."</p> + +<p>But a call from the doctor reassured her. "She couldn't be in better +hands," he said. "I'll stop there to-morrow and see how she is. Bless +the little monkey! she ought to have come to me, if she was sick. She +is a dear child, one of the sweetest I ever knew, and that is a good +deal for a doctor to say." Mrs. Murdoch probably did not agree with +him, but she did not say so.</p> + +<p>But Eleanor, sleeping soundly, did not concern herself about any of +this and little knew what the morrow had in store for her.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VII"><i>CHAPTER VII</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class="ph2"><i>Uncle Heath</i></p> + + +<p>The little girl's thoughts upon first awakening were concerning +Bubbles. She slipped out of bed and as she jumped upon the braided mat +which lay upon the floor the noise informed Mrs. Snyder that she was +up and her pleasant face appeared at the door. "Scramble back again, +honey," she said, "till I get this fire stirred up. The room will be +warm in a jiffy if I put in a stick of wood and open the drafts. Mr. +Snyder's gone to hunt up them gipsies; he'll be back by the time you're +ready for breakfast. Can you dress yourself? If you want me to fasten +any buttons, just run down to the kitchen. I've some bread in the oven +and I must be looking after it."</p> + +<p>Eleanor hurried to dress, for she was very anxious to hear if Bubbles +had been seen by the gipsies, and she was at the kitchen window +watching for Mr. Snyder when he drove up. He entered the room in his +usual hearty blustering way. "Breakfast ready, mother?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"All ready. I'm dishing up now."</p> + +<p>"Hallo, little one!" Mr. Snyder drew Eleanor to his knee. "Well, I've +been to the gipsy camp, and they've cleared out; every hoof. It is +getting too late for them and they want to get south. I'm sorry but it +don't seem to me that Bubbles could be with them; more likely she's +with some of the darkies in town."</p> + +<p>Eleanor shook her head. "No, she wouldn't go to any of them, 'cause she +told me she meant to come out here to Sylvy, for Sylvy said when she +left, if Bubbles couldn't get along with Cousin Ellen she could come to +her. You see, she's known Bubbles all her life; ever since Bubbles was +a baby, and it isn't likely she'd go to any one else."</p> + +<p>"That's so." Mr. Snyder nodded thoughtfully. "And you say that little +gipsy girl told you there was a colored child at the camp?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," Eleanor answered.</p> + +<p>"Those gipsies have been about here for a couple of weeks. I mind just +when they came. Yes, it might be her. Well, Sylvy's coming over after +a bit, and we'll see what she says about it. It seems to me if the +child the gipsies had was Bubbles, that they would have let Sylvy know, +or would have sent the child to her. Come now, breakfast is ready."</p> + +<p>It was impossible, even with this anxiety of mind, not to enjoy Mrs. +Snyder's delicious rolls and sweet butter, her honey and her country +sausage, and Eleanor really ate heartily, although she was not feeling +very well, and her cough troubled her. Mrs. Snyder suggested all sorts +of queer remedies, chief among which was a decoction made from a +hornet's nest which Eleanor rejected emphatically. "Oh, please, Mrs. +Snyder, I shouldn't want that. It might make me feel a buzzy and stingy +inside."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Snyder laughed, and just then Sylvy came in. Eleanor greeted her +joyfully. "Oh, Sylvy," she said, "I'm so glad to see you, but where do +you suppose poor Bubbles is? I feel so dreadfully about her."</p> + +<p>"Me too, honey," said Sylvy. "It on mah min' all de time. Tell me jes' +how it happen she quit Miss Murdoch." And Eleanor related her woeful +little tale which brought many "uh-uhms" and "dar nows," from Sylvy.</p> + +<p>"I git mah fathah to go 'roun' an' fin' out what he kin," said Sylvy, +after Eleanor had concluded, "an' if nobody ain't seen her I'll reckon +she's the one the gipsy folks has. How long yuh gwine stay here, honey?"</p> + +<p>"I wish I could stay here till I hear from mamma. I like Mrs. Snyder +and she says I am to stay to-day, anyhow."</p> + +<p>She seemed so much brighter that morning that Mrs. Snyder's fears that +she might have a very ill child on her hands were allayed, and Mr. +Snyder joked with her saying he believed it was a disappointment to his +wife not to have secured some one needing her nursing.</p> + +<p>"Now, father," Mrs. Snyder protested, "it isn't that, but I'd like to +keep the child here."</p> + +<p>"So you shall, till we hear what the doctor says. If she's got the +whoops she can't go back to school and she'll not be very welcome at +Mrs. Murdoch's, I'll venture to say."</p> + +<p>It was about noon that the doctor's buggy drove up. Sylvy, who had been +giving Mrs. Snyder a helping hand in the kitchen, caught sight of the +doctor's white horse. "Hyar come Dr. Sullivan," she said. "I knows that +white horse of his'n."</p> + +<p>Eleanor ran to the window. "It is Dr. Sullivan, and he is coming here. +There is some one with him; I wonder who it is."</p> + +<p>"Miss Murdoch?"</p> + +<p>"No, not Cousin Ellen; it is a man; I see his hat."</p> + +<p>"Don't run out in the cold hall," Mrs. Snyder warned her. "The +doctor will ride around to the side porch and I'll take him into the +settin'-room. I'm glad there's a good fire in there, for it's snapping +cold this morning."</p> + +<p>Eleanor waited till she heard the doctor's hearty voice say: "I'll have +you up for kidnapping, Mrs. Snyder. Where's that little girl of mine? +Bless her heart, why didn't she come tell me her troubles? Here is +somebody she'll be glad to see, if I'm not mistaken."</p> + +<p>At this Eleanor ran in to see, not only her friend the doctor, but her +dearly loved Uncle Heath. With a cry of joy she threw herself into the +arms of the latter, forgetting every one else.</p> + +<p>"Here, here," cried the doctor, "I want some of those kisses; don't +give them all away. Look here, baby, what's all this row about, anyhow? +What did you cut and run for?"</p> + +<p>Eleanor hung her head, and then, by dint of questioning, they reached +the root of the matter. The two men looked at each other, and the +doctor said under his breath: "I'd like to have the dosing of that boy +for about a week."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Uncle Heath, you won't let me go back to Cousin Ellen, will you?" +Eleanor said with entreaty in her tones.</p> + +<p>He took her up in his lap and stroked her hair. "No, Miss Dimps, I +have come on purpose to take you back home with me. On our way from +California your Aunt Dora and I stopped to see your father and mother, +and I have my pockets full of love for you." He did not say that Rock +had sent his mother Eleanor's pitiful little letter and on account of +this, more than anything else, Mrs. Heath Dallas and her husband had +hurried home that Eleanor might come to them.</p> + +<p>The little girl's hand stole into her uncle's pocket as if to gather up +some of the love of which he spoke, and she nestled closer to him.</p> + +<p>"Imagine my surprise when I called upon Mrs. Murdoch last evening to be +told that you were not there," her Uncle Heath went on. "I was referred +to our good friend, Dr. Sullivan, and here we are, ready to pick you up +and carry you back with us."</p> + +<p>"Weren't you s'prised not to see Sylvy or Bubbles come to the door at +our house? And, oh, doesn't it look queer with the furniture in the +parlor all switched around in a different way from that mamma used to +have it?"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid those things made very little impression on me, for I was +very anxious to see my little niece and didn't think of any one else. +Now, how soon can you be ready to go back with me?"</p> + +<p>A fit of coughing brought from the doctor: "Here, here, what is that? +The child has the whooping-cough."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Eleanor between her gasps, "Mrs. Snyder told me so."</p> + +<p>"Then, that settles it; you can't go back to Mrs. Murdoch. She'd sweep +you out with a broom, and then go into hysterics for fear her children +had caught the disease."</p> + +<p>"Do you suppose they have?"</p> + +<p>"I can't say; it is not improbable, but at all events, you'd best not +go back there. Mrs. Sullivan will keep you till you are ready to take +your journey, I am sure."</p> + +<p>"Sylvy can go in with me," Uncle Heath said. "She knows where your +traps are, I suppose, and she can help Mrs. Murdoch to get them ready +for you. Your mamma said all your toys and such things of yours as +might be in the way, were to be locked up in your little house in the +yard."</p> + +<p>"Oh,"—Eleanor exclaimed, and then stopped short.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" asked her uncle.</p> + +<p>"Why, Donald has that, and it's so dirty and battered up out there."</p> + +<p>"How is that? What is Donald doing out there? Did your mamma say he was +to use your playhouse?"</p> + +<p>Eleanor explained, and Uncle Heath's eyes snapped as he said, "We'll +let Sylvy go in and clean it up; then she can carry back your +belongings and set them in place. I'll have a Yale lock put on the door +and the windows boarded up. I have a letter from your mamma in which +she tells exactly what is to be done, and there will be no trouble in +carrying out her wishes, I think."</p> + +<p>"Uncle Heath, you are a darling, but I wish you'd do just one thing +more."</p> + +<p>"And what is that?"</p> + +<p>"Let Rock come home from boarding-school; he isn't having a bit of a +nice time."</p> + +<p>"I know it, and although boys aren't usually sent away from home +to school to have a good time, he is coming away for the Christmas +holidays and will not return. I suppose you'd like me to carry Sylvy, +and perhaps the doctor, back with me," he said, pinching her cheek.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I should like that."</p> + +<p>"Leave me out," said the doctor, "I can't neglect my practice for any +youngster's whims."</p> + +<p>"But you will try to find Bubbles, won't you, Uncle Heath?" Eleanor +asked wistfully. "Do you suppose she could be in Baltimore at the +hospital? You know Zula said her brother had taken a little colored +girl to a hospital."</p> + +<p>"What do you think, doctor?"</p> + +<p>"She might be in Baltimore or in Washington. I'll tell you what I'll +do, Dimple; I'll telegraph to the different hospitals in both cities as +soon as I get back home, and we'll find out I think without doubt. By +the way, what is Bubbles' name?"</p> + +<p>Eleanor looked at Sylvy. "It's Barbara, but I never thought about her +having any other name."</p> + +<p>"It's Markey," said Sylvy.</p> + +<p>The doctor took out his notebook and jotted it down, and then repeated +his assurance that he would use every effort to find out what had +become of Bubbles.</p> + +<p>Then it was settled that they should start the next morning. Sylvy +went in bright and early and the little playhouse was made as clean +as hands could make it, and it must be confessed that she took great +satisfaction in turning out Master Donald and in re-establishing +Eleanor's toys in their accustomed places. To be sure Donald blustered +and was inclined to do battle for the possession of the house, but +a few words from Mr. Heath Dallas settled the matter and his mother +assuring him that he could now have Eleanor's room he was pacified.</p> + +<p>"He's not really a bad boy," her Uncle Heath told Eleanor, "but he is +spoiled, and has been made to believe that every one should yield to +him, so he has become very selfish and cannot imagine any rights that +conflict with his wishes."</p> + +<p>"Rock isn't that way."</p> + +<p>"No, he has a wise mother."</p> + +<p>Rock was Mr. Heath Dallas' stepson. He and Eleanor were great friends, +and she looked forward with great delight to seeing him again. She was +planning many happy times with him and with her Cousin Florence who +lived not far from Mr. Heath Dallas. She asked her uncle if he thought +Rock had had the whooping-cough. "Suppose he hasn't," she said.</p> + +<p>"To be sure, I hadn't thought of that. I am pretty sure he has though, +and at any rate, we'll take it for granted, and if he hasn't we can +settle the question before he gets home."</p> + +<p>"I could go to Aunt Nellie's, you know."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but I hope we can keep you with us till your papa and mamma +return."</p> + +<p>Eleanor gave a little satisfied sigh. Her uncle had driven out from +town to take her back with him, and she was about to take leave of +good Mr. and Mrs. Snyder. Ada, attired in her grey traveling dress, +and carrying her muff, was ready to go, and Sylvy had pressed so many +cakes, apples and such things upon the child that she had to leave half +of them behind her. To Sylvy, even the shortest journey demanded a +supply of eatables.</p> + +<p>The doctor had made every effort to discover the whereabouts of +Bubbles, but had received no news of her from any of the hospitals.</p> + +<p>"If she is still with the gipsies, she would hardly have reached the +city yet," Eleanor was told for her comfort. "You may find her in +Baltimore when you get there," the doctor said further, and Eleanor was +obliged to be satisfied with this for the present.</p> + +<p>As they passed the gate of her own home, Eleanor hugged Ada closer and +looking up at her uncle said, "I never want to see my home again, Uncle +Heath, until mamma is in it."</p> + +<p>He smiled down at her. "You probably will not, dear child. We shall +keep you with us as long as we can."</p> + +<p>"I hope there won't be any children in the cars," continued the child, +"for I might give them the whooping-cough."</p> + +<p>"We are going to have the little compartment at the end of the parlor +car, and we can be all to ourselves in there."</p> + +<p>"Oh, can we? I've always wanted to travel in that little room, Uncle +Heath. Did you get it on purpose?"</p> + +<p>"Not exactly, but being a railroad man, I had it placed at my disposal."</p> + +<p>It was nearly dark when they reached the city. Eleanor looked out at +the stiff rows of houses, secretly glad that her home was not in one +of these. She did not wonder that her Cousin Florence always said that +she could not bear the city. "Uncle Heath," she said, "are all cities +like Baltimore, with so many, many houses all alike, with no gardens at +all and hardly any trees anywhere? I don't see why they can't have a +little bit of a garden in front of them, or porches to the houses, or +something. Cities are very ugly, aren't they?"</p> + +<p>"Most of them are, but some do have a section where you can see pretty +gardens and porches and many trees. Washington, you know, is very +attractive, and so are parts of Philadelphia."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know Washington is, but I most forget Philadelphia, I've not +been there for so long."</p> + +<p>"We must go there some pleasant day."</p> + +<p>"Rock too?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; but here we are. Run in quickly."</p> + +<p>The door was thrown open by Aunt Dora herself, who almost lifted +Eleanor off her feet in the energy of her embrace. "You dear little +midget," she exclaimed, "you did come all safe and sound, didn't you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I came, and so did Ada. I was so glad to see Uncle Heath."</p> + +<p>"I knew you would be. Are you cold? No, your hands are quite warm, and +oh, yes; how do you do, Ada? I've not seen you for a long time," and +the doll's hand was gravely shaken by Aunt Dora, to Eleanor's delight. +"Let us go right upstairs," continued Aunt Dora, holding Eleanor's +hand closely in hers. "You are to have a little room next to mine. It +isn't very big, but I think you and Ada will fit into it without much +crowding."</p> + +<p>"It isn't Rock's room?" said Eleanor, with a remembrance of her late +trials in some such direction.</p> + +<p>"No, he has a room back of mine. I am so glad to get home again and to +have you come to us right away. It seems so very lonely without any +children in the house. I can hardly wait till Rock's holiday begins, to +have him with me again. I know he is counting the days."</p> + +<p>"Yes, he wrote to me that he was. He makes a little mark on his +calendar every day."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know; the dear child. I have been planning a number of things +for the holidays, but first I must tell you about your papa; he is +really getting better, and I think if he will only consent to stay +long enough, that he will come back quite well." She stooped to kiss +Eleanor, and then continued: "You were a dear child not to write to +them of your worries."</p> + +<p>"How did you know?"</p> + +<p>"A little bird told me."</p> + +<p>"Rock?"</p> + +<p>"Maybe. We might call it a rock wren."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Aunt Dora, has Rock had the whooping-cough?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, several years ago."</p> + +<p>"Did you know I had it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, your Uncle Heath wrote me that you had, and I have been thinking +ever since, just suppose that Ada should take it!" Aunt Dora raised her +hands in comic distress, and Eleanor looked gravely at her doll as if +there were danger in that direction.</p> + +<p>"Never mind," said her Aunt Dora; "she will not take it, I am sure. Now +we will go down to dinner, if you are ready, and to-morrow I know the +first person you will want to see."</p> + +<p>"Florence?"</p> + +<p>Aunt Dora nodded yes. "She is to come over to luncheon and the next day +we will go out to do our Christmas shopping."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" Eleanor was delighted, and she skipped downstairs by her aunt's +side, looking very unlike the forlorn little figure waiting on the +roadside for the butterman.</p> + +<p>After dinner her uncle played dominoes with her and then her aunt took +her upstairs and read a lovely fairy tale to her, and after she was +snugly tucked in bed she had to have many good-night kisses before she +was satisfied.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VIII"><i>CHAPTER VIII</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class="ph2"><i>Shopping</i></p> + + +<p>Two such happy little girls they were who met the next morning; and for +the first fifteen minutes they talked and laughed so hard that they +nearly whooped themselves speechless for the rest of the day to make up +for it, and when Eleanor, with very red weeping eyes and a puffed face +found breath her first words were, "Isn't it perfectly splendid that I +have the whooping-cough, too?"</p> + +<p>And Florence, between whoops, spluttered, "Splendid."</p> + +<p>"This is the first time I ever knew it to be cause for congratulation," +said Aunt Dora laughing. "Now, this is market day, so, I am going to +leave you to your own devices. I may be back before luncheon, and I may +not. Meantime, make yourselves perfectly at home. You can play in the +library or in Rock's room or anywhere, but in the parlor." Then she +left them.</p> + +<p>"You must see my lovely new Ada; she is a darling. Aunt Dora gave her +to me, and she is such a comfort," said Eleanor. "I brought Celestine +too."</p> + +<p>"And I brought Rubina," said Florence; "she has a new hat."</p> + +<p>"I think we'd better play in the library," said Eleanor. "It has such +a nice bay window and we can have that for one house and the place +over by the mantel for the other house. It is so perfectly lovely to +see you again, Florence." And they, forthwith, proceeded to establish +themselves for a morning's play, chattering as fast as their tongues +could run, so that lunch time came before they were aware of it, and +then, after all, Aunt Dora did not come home, but sent some dainties +from the market and with their dolls they had luncheon at a small table +in the library.</p> + +<hr class="chap"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus3.jpg" alt="" id="illus3"> + <div class="caption"> + <p>"<span class="smcap">They had luncheon in the library</span>"</p> + </div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap"> + + +<p>"Isn't it fine to have Rubina and Celestine together again?" said +Florence. "Did Bubbles take Floridy Alabamy away with her? Poor +Bubbles, I do hope your uncle will find her."</p> + +<p>"I hope so too," returned Eleanor with a sigh. "Yes, she took her doll, +but she is such a forlorn looking creature; that horrid Donald got +hold of her one day and pretended she was a witch and must be burned at +the stake. Bubbles found it out just in time to save her, but her hair +was singed off, and she has to wear a cap all the time."</p> + +<p>"Aren't boys horrid?" said Florence in a disgusted tone.</p> + +<p>"Some boys," returned Eleanor; "Rock isn't."</p> + +<p>"No, he isn't, but Dimple, I should think you would be glad to leave +that Cousin Ellen family. Sister says she doesn't think that relations +are a bit nice."</p> + +<p>"Why, Florence, we are relations."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know. I don't suppose she means that none of them are nice. I +think she means that they are so likely to think they can pick you to +pieces and find fault with you just because they are relations. Most of +mine are that way. You know Cousin Ellen is my mamma's cousin, too, and +I never did like to see her when she used to come to our house."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well," said Eleanor with a satisfied sigh, "we don't have to think +about her any more."</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, she did much thinking on account of Cousin Ellen and her +family, that very evening. Just after dinner her Aunt Dora said: "We +must make out our shopping lists, Dimple, for we are going to start out +early to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"Let me see your purse, Dimple," said Uncle Heath, looking up from his +evening paper.</p> + +<p>Eleanor obediently went upstairs and brought down her little netted +purse; it had in it one dollar and two quarters.</p> + +<p>"How many Christmas gifts do you expect this to buy?" asked Uncle Heath +smiling.</p> + +<p>"Why, let me see;" Eleanor began to count on her fingers; "mamma, one, +and papa, two; you and Aunt Dora and Rock and Florence and Bubbles, I +should like to get Bubbles a new doll, and I do want so much to send +just a little something to Mrs. Snyder. Then I should like something +for Miss Reese and I always give Sylvy a present. How many does that +make? Ten, I believe."</p> + +<p>Her uncle chinked her coins in his hand, and looked at his wife with a +smile. "Then, you will have just fifteen cents apiece. I'm afraid you +cannot buy very magnificent things with that amount."</p> + +<p>"And how about your cousins, the Murdochs?" asked Mrs. Dallas quietly. +"They will have no papa to buy them gifts this year, and I am afraid +it will be rather a sad Christmas for them." Eleanor's speaking face +clouded, and she gave a long sigh, before she said, "I don't love them +very much, Aunt Dora, but—Uncle Heath, must I give them Christmas +gifts? That would make five more, you know, and—no, I don't love them +enough."</p> + +<p>"Suppose, instead of being merely ill and away from you, your papa +should be gone from this earth, and that, in consequence, the lovely +Christmas you always have had should be a very sad one this year."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know," replied Eleanor thoughtfully, "but I'd have you and +Uncle Heath and Aunt Nellie and all of them to give me Christmas gifts."</p> + +<p>Her uncle laughed. "Her wounds are too recent for her to be worked +upon in any such way, Dora. How much money did you say you had in your +purse, Dimple?"</p> + +<p>"A silver dollar and two quarters."</p> + +<p>Her uncle handed the small purse back to her. "Look again; I'm afraid +you don't know how to count."</p> + +<p>Eleanor emptied the purse into her lap, and lo! instead of only one +dollar there were five. She gave a scream of delight. "Oh, Uncle Heath, +how dear you are. Do you truly mean this all for me?"</p> + +<p>"What a question. What is in your purse is yours, isn't it? I told you +that you didn't know how to count." And this was all the satisfaction +she could get from him, although there was no doubt that Uncle Heath +had slipped in the extra dollars.</p> + +<p>"Now, I can get a doll for Bubbles, for we must find her," she said. +"Now I shall have fifty cents instead of fifteen; no, I shall have more +than that." She fingered the money absently. "Aunt Dora," she said +after a pause, "I will get something for Cousin Ellen and all of them. +To be sure they were not very nice to me, but I said hateful things, +too, and I'd feel better about it if I were to send them something. +I could spend twenty-five cents on each of them, you know, and, even +then, I'd have more than I thought I should have for every one else."</p> + +<p>Her Aunt Dora smiled. "What did I tell you, Heath? Well, dear, I think +that will be a very good plan, and I am sure that we can find some very +pretty little gifts to-morrow, perhaps for even less than twenty-five +cents. Now, I tell you what I should do: I should spend the most, as +you ought to do, upon your father and mother, and then get Bubbles her +doll. After that we can spend the rest of the money upon the remaining +persons."</p> + +<p>This suited Eleanor exactly, and she said so. But just at this moment +came a ring at the door and a telegram was handed to Mr. Dallas. He +read it and looked up brightly at Eleanor. "Bubbles is found," he said; +"she is at the hospital from which I have just received this telegram. +I left word at each one of them that I was to be informed if a child +of her description should come in. It seems she is not in a very bad +state, but has a broken arm."</p> + +<p>"Oh," Eleanor clasped her hands, "dear Uncle Heath, can we go get her +right away?"</p> + +<p>"Why, no, I'm afraid not."</p> + +<p>Eleanor looked disappointed. "Why not?"</p> + +<p>"First, because it is after visiting hours, and second, because a +little girl with the whooping-cough would hardly be admitted into the +ward of a hospital."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I forgot that."</p> + +<p>"She will be well taken care of, dear," said Aunt Dora. "I am very glad +she is in so safe a place. To-morrow, before we do any of our shopping, +we will stop at the hospital and learn how she is. It is much better to +allow her to remain there till she is able to be moved safely, than to +try to take her away now. You know we cannot tell yet just how she may +be."</p> + +<p>Eleanor agreed that it was best to wait. "But I hope she will be well +by Christmas," she said.</p> + +<p>As it proved, Bubbles was not in so desperately bad a condition. She +had, indeed, been with the gipsies, some of whom she met as she was +trudging along toward Sylvy's, after having missed seeing Mr. Snyder. +The bright wagons and gay dresses attracted her and she lingered by +the way to watch this troupe of wandering people. One of the men was +training a restive young horse which came dashing down the road, and as +Bubbles tried to get out of the way, she was struck by another horse +which had become excited and had broken loose. A broken arm and some +bruises were the result for Bubbles. It was at first feared that she +might be injured internally, but after a week's nursing, it was found +that she was not, and a portion of the encampment having been started +on ahead, Bubbles was sent with them that she might sooner reach the +city and be placed in a hospital where she could receive attention and +communicate with her friends. She had sent word by one of the gipsy +boys to Sylvy of her whereabouts but the message failed of delivery.</p> + +<p>The two little girls waiting outside in the carriage while Mrs. Dallas +made her call, greeted her eagerly, when she came out, and listened +with the greatest interest to the report, asking all manner of +questions. "Wasn't she glad to see you? Is she very sick? What is the +matter besides the broken arm? Did the gipsies take her there? How long +has she got to stay?" The questions came tumbling over one another till +Mrs. Dallas declared she did not know which to answer.</p> + +<p>"One at a time," she said laughing. "She was perfectly delighted to see +me, poor little soul; she looks quite weak and miserable but she will +have every care. I saw the head nurse, and she told me that Bubbles is +in no danger. She has a broken arm and had a big lump on her head which +made her delirious for several days. The gipsies were very kind to her +and took her to the hospital. She will probably be out in a couple of +weeks."</p> + +<p>"By Christmas?" Eleanor asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I hope so, at least, if she improves as they think she will. She +sent her love to you and Florence, and she said that one of the gipsy +children had stolen her doll, so we shall get her one to-day, instead +of waiting to give it to her at Christmas. I think she would rather +have that than anything else. She is perfectly content, now that she +knows we are near her, and that she is to come to our house as soon as +she is able. I promised that I would go to see her as often as I could."</p> + +<p>Eleanor gave a deep sigh. "I'm so thankful," she said. "Poor little +Bubbles." The child was not looking very bright, and Mrs. Dallas +concluded that the shopping expedition should be very short that day.</p> + +<p>They did their shopping in rather a funny way, for Aunt Dora thought +it was not best for them to go into the shops themselves, and so, she +selected the articles and brought them out to the carriage that Eleanor +might approve them before they were sent home. Of course in every case +she was entirely satisfied, and when they came to Florence's present +that young person turned her head and shut her eyes tight that she +might not get even a glimpse of the game that Aunt Dora had selected. +But when it came to the present for Aunt Dora here was a quandary, +till Aunt Dora suggested that they should stop before the shop where +the purchase was to be made and she would send a salesman out to wait +upon them while she went on to another shop where they could call for +her. This plan worked very well and a pretty little candlestick for +her writing desk was carefully placed among the packages in the small +basket which was provided for the articles which they were to take home +themselves.</p> + +<p>The first purchase was the doll for Bubbles, and Florence suggested +that it should be as much like Eleanor as possible, therefore, a fair +creature with light flowing locks and blue eyes was chosen.</p> + +<p>For her father, "a book which will make him laugh," Eleanor decided +upon. "And for my blessed mamma something very lovely," and after +looking at many things, a very dainty, fluffy tie was chosen because +Aunt Dora said it would be easy to send it by mail. The rest of the +purchases were put off till another time, and the next morning after +the doll had been left at the hospital for Bubbles they continued their +shopping, getting a game for Rock, a cup and saucer for Uncle Heath, +a bright necktie for Sylvy, a pretty booklet for Miss Reese, and a +comical little match-safe for Mrs. Snyder, "so she will think of me +every time she lights her lamp," Eleanor said. After this, the Murdoch +family had to be disposed of, and this took the rest of the morning, +so that Eleanor returned home with an empty purse but with a well +satisfied feeling at having provided for every one.</p> + +<p>The next day was to be spent with Florence, and when Eleanor put her +head on her pillow that night, although she was a very tired little +girl she had before her a pleasant anticipation and no regrets. Her +last thought before going to sleep was, "I am glad I got something for +Cousin Ellen and the children," and she fell asleep at peace with the +whole world.</p> + +<p>When she awoke the next morning the ground was covered with snow +and her aunt met her with: "I wonder if it is prudent to send the +whooping-cough out of doors to-day. A fresh snow is liable to give +fresh cold. Shall you be much disappointed, Dimple, if I ask you to +stay at home to-day?"</p> + +<p>"I did want to go so much," she said wistfully.</p> + +<p>"I know you did, but although it is not very far to Florence's house, +the cars will not take you there, and even if they did, I should not +want you to go that way. You would best stay at home, I think, and we +can make a new dress and a hat for Bubbles' doll."</p> + +<p>At this Eleanor's face brightened and when Uncle Heath volunteered to +stop at Mr. Graham's and ask if Florence could come and spend the day +with Eleanor, if an opportunity occurred to send her around, Eleanor +was quite satisfied. "I am glad Aunt Nellie has a carriage," she said, +"for Florence will be so much more likely to come. I think it was +very nice for Aunt Nell to let us go shopping in the carriage, for I +couldn't have gone at all any other way."</p> + +<p>About noon the jingle of sleigh-bells announced the approach of a +sleigh, and looking out of the window there Eleanor saw Florence and +her eldest sister. Florence was seen to hop out and then the sleigh +drove off. Eleanor ran down into the hall to greet her cousin. "Hurry, +Florence," she said. "I am so glad you came. We are dressing Bubbles' +doll, at least, we are making a new dress for her, and a hat and coat. +Come right upstairs."</p> + +<p>"I can stay till three o'clock," Florence told her, "and then mamma +will stop for me, and she wants you to go for a little ride in the +sleigh. Should you like to?"</p> + +<p>"Of course," Eleanor answered. "I was just wishing that I could go when +I heard your bells jingling. Dr. Sullivan sometimes takes me with him +at home, but not very often."</p> + +<p>"We don't often have sleighing," returned Florence. "At least, not to +last very long. I am glad we have some while you are here. Oh, Dimple, +there are so many mysteries at home; I can hardly wait till Christmas. +We are going to have a tree. Are you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Aunt Dora says she is glad to have the excuse to have one; it +seems so much more Christmassy."</p> + +<p>They spent the next hour or two in helping to make the doll clothes, +or, at least, they thought they were helping, though it must be +confessed that Aunt Dora did most of the work. At three o'clock the +sleigh came jingling up, and they had a fine drive out through the park +and Eleanor came home with more color in her cheeks than they had worn +for some weeks.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IX"><i>CHAPTER IX</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class="ph2"><i>At Christmas</i></p> + + +<p>The next day Eleanor was able to go over to her Aunt Nellie's, for +the sun was shining brightly, and the pavements were cleared of snow. +Florence and her other cousins greeted her warmly. They were all much +excited over the approach of Christmas, and Eleanor was piloted up +to the nursery, "Because," said Florence, "there is so much going on +downstairs, and some of sister's friends will be down in our room. +Mamma has gone out, but she will be back directly." And they proceeded +to establish themselves and set to work industriously to finish some +embroidery which each had to have ready for Christmas. They had hardly +begun to work, however, when Mrs. Graham appeared, and Eleanor scurried +her bit of linen out of sight, but Florence arose to the occasion with: +"Mamma, Dimple and I have been talking about the Christmas party that +we always have. We were wondering how we could manage it this year +when we all have the whooping-cough. We have a lovely plan, though."</p> + +<p>"Have you?" said her mother, sitting down and drawing off her gloves. +"Let us hear it."</p> + +<p>"Why," answered Florence, looking very wise as she threaded her needle, +"we think it would be nice to have a whooping party."</p> + +<p>Her mother laughed. "That's a queer sort of party. Do you mean to play +Indian?"</p> + +<p>"No, I mean we can have all the little girls and boys that are having +the whooping-cough and that can't go to school or anywhere."</p> + +<p>"And how many do you suppose that will be?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. I know four or five. May we have it, mamma?"</p> + +<p>"Why, I don't know. I shall have to think about it. I suppose I should +have to furnish lozenges and cough syrup for refreshments."</p> + +<p>Florence laughed; it struck her as a very funny sort of refreshment, +but she knew her mother was joking, although she added quite seriously, +"We should have to be careful not to have anything very rich, you +know. I think, after all, you'd best think of something else, for, a +room full of children whooping and choking one after another, would be +rather an unpleasant scene. Don't you think something else would be +more amusing? You and Dimple put your thinking-caps on and we'll see +what can be done to amuse you during the holidays."</p> + +<p>Florence agreed to this and the two little girls proceeded with their +work while they tried to think very hard, looking very sober as they +stitched away. They were interrupted by the entrance of Florence's +little sister Gertrude, who had been down town with her mother and who +came in full of importance at having had presents provided for her to +bestow at Christmas. "I've got sumpsin for ev'ybody," she said, "but +I'm not going to tell."</p> + +<p>Florence hugged her up close to her. "Won't you tell me?" she asked +coaxingly.</p> + +<p>"No," Gertrude shook her head, "I tan't tell."</p> + +<p>"What color is the one you have for me?" Florence asked.</p> + +<p>"It's white, an' it sumpsin to wipe your nose on. Now, I won't tell you +one sing more," and she pursed up her lips tight, looking very wise +while the others laughed heartily but pretended to be much mystified. +These were very mysterious times, anyhow. Some one was always skurrying +something under a chair or poking something into a closet whenever +certain persons entered the room, and there were unfamiliar snippings +of lace and silk and cambric to be seen on the floor in the nursery, so +that Florence was wrought up to a pitch of curiosity rather unusual for +her.</p> + +<p>"You are to come over here right after breakfast, Christmas morning," +she told Eleanor; "you and Rock. I wish you could stay here all night +so that we could hang up our stockings together. I do so wish you +could."</p> + +<p>Eleanor looked a little doubtful; she did not want to neglect her Aunt +Dora and her Uncle Heath, not to mention Rock. "I am afraid I couldn't +do that," she said. "You know Rock will be at home and it would seem +mean to leave them all on Christmas morning."</p> + +<p>"Rock could come too; it would be such fun to have you," continued +Florence, all hospitality, but Eleanor declared that would never do, +and so they had to give up the plan. But, after all, it did turn out +that Eleanor spent Christmas eve with her cousins, for Florence's +mother decided that the children should have their Christmas tree at +that time, that they might all go to Mrs. Heath Dallas' on Christmas +night and see the tree that was to be prepared for Rock and Eleanor.</p> + +<p>"Aunt Dora won't tell me anything about the tree," Eleanor told +Florence, "so there's some sort of surprise, I know. Isn't it just fine +that we can all be here together? I should have been so miserable at +home."</p> + +<p>"I don't see how you could have stood Cousin Ellen and have been nice +to her," said Florence.</p> + +<p>Eleanor was silent for a moment and took several stitches in the doily +she was embroidering in outline stitch for her Aunt Nellie. "Well, I +wasn't very nice to her," she admitted after a time. "I meant to be in +the beginning, but when Don was so hateful and they treated Bubbles so +mean, I just didn't care and I said anything that came into my head. +Sometimes, when I got real mad, I was the sauciest girl you ever heard."</p> + +<p>"Are you going to tell your mother?" Florence asked solemnly.</p> + +<p>"I—I don't know. Maybe. Yes, I always tell mamma everything; somehow, +it comes out whether I want it to or not. Yes, I'll tell her, but I +couldn't be meek and lowly; I just couldn't. I never knew I could feel +so very, very mad at any one before, but, you see, now that I am not +there, I don't feel so mad, and I'm going to send the Christmas gifts, +you know. I'll tell you what I'll do: I'll write to Cousin Ellen, and +tell her I am sorry I was saucy, but I'll not say I am sorry about +Donald, for I'm not." And Florence agreed that she could hardly be +expected to.</p> + +<p>The letter was written that very day and was tucked in the box with the +Christmas gifts. It ran:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Cousin Ellen</span>:</p> + +<p>"I hope you will have a happy Christmas. I am having a lovely time, +and Bubbles is getting along finely. Every one at the hospital likes +her and she is just as nice as she was when mamma was at home. I +thought you would be glad to know that she is not so much hurt as we +were afraid of because you sent her away and you would feel very bad +if you thought you had made her get hurt very bad. I send you all a +little Christmas gift. I hope you will like what I send. Were you ever +impudent when you were a little girl? I am sorry I was.</p> + +<p class="ph3">"Yours<br> +"<span class="smcap">Eleanor Dallas</span>."</p> +</div> + +<p>Eleanor submitted the letter to her Aunt Nellie who read it and +laughing, said: "You have said just the right thing, Dimple, and if +Cousin Ellen can remember as far back as a certain occasion when +she was a little girl I think she could answer, 'yes,' to your last +question."</p> + +<p>"Was she a nice little girl? Did you know her then, Aunt Nellie?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I knew her very well. She was my cousin, you know, but I don't +believe your mother and I were as fond of her as you are of Florence. +She hasn't changed so very much, I fancy."</p> + +<p>"Then she couldn't have been so very nice," Eleanor concluded.</p> + +<p>It was the day upon which they expected Rock to return home, and +Eleanor was in a high state of excitement. There must be other arrivals +to be looked for, too, for Aunt Dora was having the largest guest room +made ready and one or two telegrams had arrived. "Are you expecting +somebody else?" she ventured to ask.</p> + +<p>"Yes," Aunt Dora answered smiling.</p> + +<p>Eleanor's wistful eyes asked the question before her lips said, "Not +papa and mamma?"</p> + +<p>Aunt Dora stooped and kissed her. "No, dear, I wish I could say it +was they for whom I am looking, but I'll tell you this much: they are +strangers to me."</p> + +<p>Eleanor puzzled over this. It seemed funny for Aunt Dora to entertain +strangers at Christmas time, and she was rather disappointed that it +should be so; it seemed as if it made a more formal day of it than she +could enjoy. She determined to ask Rock about it so soon as she should +have a chance, but he knew no more about it than she did and could not +coax the secret from his mother. Rock had grown, Eleanor discovered, +and although he was quite a rough and tumble boy, liking to be out +of doors and to play all sorts of games requiring muscle, he was as +kind and polite and gentle when he was in the house, as he ever had +been, and Eleanor did not feel that her old comrade had lost anything +by going to boarding-school. He was about a year older than Eleanor +and she had known him when his mother was a widow and before she had +married Eleanor's Uncle Heath.</p> + +<p>"It's too bad that you can't go down town with me to buy my presents," +Rock said to her the day he arrived. "But, I say, Dimple it's jolly to +have you here. I was so glad when I heard you were coming."</p> + +<p>"You weren't as glad as I was," she returned. "And isn't it fine that +you don't have to go back to that hateful school?"</p> + +<p>Rock looked sober. "Yes, it is," he replied. "Some of the fellows, who +have been to other schools say they aren't half bad, but you see, this +one has all new teachers this year, and though it used to be fine a few +years ago, it's not so any more. You see father thought it was the same +or he wouldn't have sent me there." One thing that Eleanor liked about +Rock was his loyalty to her Uncle Heath.</p> + +<p>The days passed quickly enough and when Christmas eve came around +Eleanor, Rock, Mr. and Mrs. Heath Dallas were to see the tree at +Aunt Nellie's. A fine affair it was, and it made a great show in the +dining-room where it stood. Florence had several brothers and sisters +and it seemed a big family to Eleanor, for, first, there was Kitty, +the eldest daughter who was sixteen, and then came Marian, and next +Florence, who was not quite ten, and then the three younger children, +Lee and Gertrude, and Ted, the baby. This youngest member of the family +was not old enough to do much more than laugh and coo at the shining +tree, but Lee and Gertrude were just of the age to most appreciate the +glittering glories of stars and rings and balls and glistening baubles.</p> + +<p>The presents were not to be given till the next morning, although +little Gertrude insisted upon making every one guess what she had for +him or her, and in most cases managed to convey the information as to +what it was. And then, because Rock said he was not going to hang up +his stocking because he was too big to do such babyish things, his +mother yielded to Florence's pleading for Eleanor's company for over +night, promising that she should not even be asked to stay to breakfast +if she could but be on hand to hang up her stocking with the rest.</p> + +<p>"Don't you dare to stay too long," said Rock. "We're going to have our +presents right after breakfast, aren't you, mamma?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dallas looked at her husband. "Unless you and Eleanor can wait +till evening when we have the tree."</p> + +<p>"Oh, pshaw! that's too long to wait," Rock declared. Then seeing his +mother's expression, he asked, "Is there any particular reason for it, +mother?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I must confess, there is."</p> + +<p>"Then I'll wait, if Dimple will, but it's a good deal to ask of a +fellow."</p> + +<p>"I'll wait," said Dimple cheerfully.</p> + +<p>"Then I'll come over for you some time after breakfast," Rock told her, +"and I'll see the presents over here and have the fun of that."</p> + +<p>"I think Rock was just dear to do that," said Florence after he had +gone. "I did so want you to stay with me to-night. Come, let's go right +to bed, Dimple."</p> + +<p>"We want to hang up our stockings first."</p> + +<p>"Oh, of course. Mamma has some white ones, real big long ones, that she +keeps on purpose. You know every one of the family has a stocking on +Christmas morning."</p> + +<p>"I am always going to hang up mine," Eleanor declared; "even after I +am grown up and am married. I hope we shall live near each other then, +don't you?"</p> + +<p>Florence replied that she did and they hurried off to bed after seeing +the stockings securely hung up by the nursery chimney-piece.</p> + +<p>Although they were so filled with excitement that they kept awake much +longer than usual, they dropped to sleep at last and awoke at the sound +of the man attending to the furnace in the cellar.</p> + +<p>"It's morning," whispered Florence. "Get up, Dimple, we must go and get +our stockings, and then we'll come back to bed and look at them."</p> + +<p>"It is so dark," said Eleanor, also in a whisper, "are you sure it is +morning?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I hear John at the furnace, so I know. Put something round you, +or you may get cold. Oh dear, I believe I am going to cough, and I +don't want to wake up Gertrude and sister and the others." She buried +her face in the pillow and managed to choke down the paroxysm to some +extent, and then they wrapped themselves up warmly and tiptoed through +the silent hall to the nursery where the row of stockings hung.</p> + +<p>"Here is mine," said Florence in a whisper, after feeling around for a +moment, "and here is yours. Don't they feel lovely and bumpy? Let's fly +back with them before any one hears us." But this was not accomplished +for Lee's quick ears heard them and he scrambled out of bed and +downstairs he came to get his stocking. Then came more scrambling and +whispering and giggling till all the stockings were in the possession +of their rightful owners, and the owners then proceeded to snuggle back +beneath the covers to examine their treasures.</p> + +<p>Florence and Eleanor found the usual supply of cakes and candies and +such things; away down in the toe they discovered a bright penny and +on top of each stuffed stocking was placed a pretty little doll about +three inches long. These were dressed in long clothes and wore, each, a +tiny cap and cloak.</p> + +<p>"Aren't they precious little things," said Eleanor, to whom a doll +always appealed. "Florence, aren't you dying to know what other +presents you have?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I am puzzled, for in the corner of the nursery, where our +presents are always put, mamma has set up the largest screen, and so I +know there is something big behind it, but I can't guess whom it may be +for, and it is so lovely to think it may be for me."</p> + +<p>Their curiosity in this direction was soon gratified, for it was really +later than it appeared to be, for it was a dark morning and breakfast +was announced before they were dressed. To be sure, it did not much +matter, for all the children, except Lee, were too excited to eat much, +and Mr. Graham said he supposed the contents of the stockings took the +place of breakfast.</p> + +<p>"We didn't eat anything but two cakes and two pieces of candy," +Florence declared. "Lee has eaten half of what he had." But that did +not prevent Lee from entirely enjoying his chicken and waffles, and +the girls at last insisted that they could not wait all day for him. +Therefore a procession was formed with Mr. Graham at the head, and they +marched upstairs to the nursery. The screen was swung to one side, and +there before the delighted eyes of Florence and Eleanor was displayed a +pretty little doll-house, completely furnished from top to bottom. It +had three rooms above and three below. In the parlor were a lady and a +gentleman doll. The lady was sitting down and held a little boy doll +in her lap. In the kitchen was a black cook who was immediately dubbed +Sylvy, by Florence.</p> + +<p>"Dimple hasn't looked at her own presents yet," said Marian, too much +interested herself to see Florence's delight to look at her own gifts.</p> + +<p>"Why, where are they?" Eleanor asked.</p> + +<p>"There, before the door of the doll-house."</p> + +<p>Eleanor looked eagerly around and true enough there stood a cunning +little coach, drawn by two prancing horses and inside sat another lady +and gentleman with their little son. "Aren't they dear?" cried Eleanor. +"Oh, Florence, did you ever dream of having anything so lovely? Such +cunning little people and to think we have the two families! can't we +have the loveliest times? Oh, Aunt Nellie, I think you are a darling to +do this for me. I never had a papa doll before and this one is so fine; +he has such a lovely moustache."</p> + +<p>Kitty laughed. "If you knew what a time we had to get a gentleman the +proper size to fit the little house, you would not wonder that you have +never possessed such a rare creature."</p> + +<p>"Now, I want to know just who gave everything," said Florence.</p> + +<p>"Papa gave the house; mamma furnished it, and I gave the dolls and +dressed them, all but cook, and Marian gave that. Lee gave the little +piano; he wanted to have a hand in furnishing the house."</p> + +<p>"I don't see how you all kept the secret so well; I never dreamed of +such a surprise," Florence acknowledged.</p> + +<p>"Now, about mine," said Eleanor.</p> + +<p>"Your coach is from mamma and the lady and gentleman from me," Kitty +told her. "You haven't seen papa's present, have you?"</p> + +<p>"No, are there any more?" And Eleanor's heart was further warmed by the +gift of a set of books that she had long wanted.</p> + +<p>The doll-house was so fascinating that when Rock arrived he could +scarcely persuade Eleanor to go back home with him, and, indeed, he was +so well pleased with the gift that he said he did not wonder the girls +did not want to leave it, and he offered to go tell his mother that +Eleanor was having such a good time that she would rather stay the rest +of the day if she might. Aunt Dora appreciated the situation and sent +word that she might remain, but to be sure to be back by five o'clock, +and even then Rock found it hard to persuade her that it was time to +go, and that if they didn't hurry they might miss something. Then +Eleanor at last tore herself away, leaving her gifts behind her.</p> + +<p>"It seems queer not to go to church on Christmas day," she said as she +and Rock were on their way home. "Was the church very pretty?"</p> + +<p>"Beautiful," Rock answered heartily, "and so was the music. It is too +bad that you had to stay away. You ought to have seen Bubbles with her +stocking. She was delighted, and she has hardly touched a thing in it +because she wants to show it to you."</p> + +<p>"And to think," said Eleanor, "I had to stay away from her all +Christmas day. I don't believe it has ever happened before."</p> + +<p>"She had a good time," Rock assured her, "she has had all the nice +things that were good for her, and she knows she is to see you very +soon."</p> + +<p>"In a week, the doctor said, I did so hope she could come to-day." She +gave a little sigh, but Rock began to joke with her, and they reached +the corner before she knew it.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_X"><i>CHAPTER X</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class="ph2"><i>A Happy New Year</i></p> + + +<p>It was quite dark when they reached home, and Eleanor saw that even in +the large guest chamber there was a brilliant light. "Oh, the company +has come," she exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"Pshaw!" said Rock, "they got here before us after all."</p> + +<p>Eleanor held back a little as she heard voices in the parlor, but +before she could see who was there out came some one who picked her +up, and gave her a mighty hug. "Grandfather!" she exclaimed. "Oh, +grandfather! I didn't dream it was you. Why, you are not a stranger."</p> + +<p>"Why, yes he is," Rock put in. "Mother and I never saw him in our lives +till to-day."</p> + +<p>"Why, of course," said Eleanor, "I forgot that he was in Europe when +Uncle Heath was married. Oh, grandpa, did you bring grandma? and where +is she?"</p> + +<p>"Upstairs; she'll be down directly."</p> + +<p>"And did you come all the way from Birmingham to-day?"</p> + +<p>"Not to-day, but we reached here to-day. I tried to get here yesterday +but we were detained just twelve hours beyond the time we expected and +so we came lagging along about sundown."</p> + +<p>"It is such a lovely surprise," Eleanor repeated, snuggling up to him. +Then her grandma came in and there was another welcome to be given.</p> + +<p>Then, and this was a surprise too, when Eleanor turned from her grandma +who should be standing in the doorway but Bubbles. Since she was +recovering rapidly the doctors thought she might be allowed to spend +Christmas away from the hospital, as Mrs. Dallas made it a special +request. "Oh, Bubbles, Bubbles, I am so glad to see you," Eleanor +cried. "Why, how long have you been here?"</p> + +<p>"I come 'bout fo' o'clock. Miss Dora she come an' fetched me. I gwine +back to-morrer, but in a week I kin come away fo' good an' all."</p> + +<p>"And do you feel well?"</p> + +<p>"Yass, miss, tol'able. I ain't just quite well, but I mos'."</p> + +<p>"But oh, suppose you haven't had whooping-cough."</p> + +<p>"Miss Dora say I has. She tooken an' write to Sylvy an' Sylvy she say I +has it when I a baby."</p> + +<p>"Oh, then, that is all right."</p> + +<p>Then dinner was announced, and Eleanor who had already eaten her fill, +regretted that she had tried to crowd two Christmasses into one day, +but there was no help for it, a second dinner could not possibly be +eaten, and she could only nibble at the good things provided.</p> + +<p>After dinner came the excitement of the second tree, which was dazzling +enough to satisfy any one, and then the presents were distributed, +such an array of them that Eleanor never remembered having so many. +Books, two new Jungle Books, and a set of Miss Alcott's works, besides +several other entertaining stories; a pretty set of furs, and many +other things. Bubbles was not forgotten by any one, and had a pile of +presents almost as big as Eleanor's. As for Rock, with his new wheel, +skates, a fine little kodak, and books in great number, he was very +happy.</p> + +<p>"It has been such a lovely Christmas," said Eleanor, "and I did not +see how it could be, a month ago. Aunt Dora, isn't it strange what a +difference it makes whether people love you or not?" And these were the +last words any one heard from her that night, for, in five minutes she +was fast asleep.</p> + +<p>The last night of the old year brought another joyful surprise for +Eleanor. Bubbles had that day arrived from the hospital, her arm still +in a sling, but she was otherwise quite herself. Aunt Dora assured her +that she should remain under her roof till Eleanor's parents should +return, and Bubbles, who was a grateful little soul, did her best to +show appreciation, constituting herself Miss Dora's special messenger. +"I was sassy, Miss Dora," she confessed; "'deed I was, but I ain't +sassy to folks 'at treats me good, an' I jus' run my legs off fo' yuh, +ef yuh wants me to."</p> + +<p>"It's bad enough for you to have nearly run your arm off," returned +Mrs. Dallas smiling.</p> + +<p>"It's great fun to have you and Bubbles here," Rock declared. "Aren't +we just going to have a warm old time?" And indeed, it was a happy +holiday week, for, although they were cut off from many outside +frolics, they could have plenty of fun at home, especially since +Grandpa and Grandma Dallas were always ready to add their share to +the amusements. It was grandpa, himself, who suggested the kind of +party which whooping-cough patients could have. Aunt Nellie agreed +heartily and sent out invitations to the hospital where Bubbles had +been, and all the children who were suffering from whooping-cough or +who had been through the ordeal and who could go out, were invited to +a Punch and Judy show the last day of the old year. Grandpa added to +the performance a magic-lantern show which gave great delight. It was a +funny sort of party, but the children all enjoyed it.</p> + +<p>"We won't put on our very best frocks," said Florence, "because we +mustn't dress better than the company. We are going to have jelly and +little plain cakes for the refreshments and we're going to give a +little doll to each of the girls and a game to each of the boys, for +favors."</p> + +<p>"I think that is a fine kind of party," said Rock. "I like it much +better than the other kind."</p> + +<p>The guests all enjoyed themselves so heartily and spread such reports +among their friends that grandpa said it was too bad that other +children who were unable to leave the hospital, but who were well +enough to be entertained in a similar way, could not enjoy the little +show, therefore he and Rock decided to give their services to the +entertainment of these other children the next week, so Florence's +first idea brought abundant fruit.</p> + +<p>It was late in the afternoon, after the little guests had departed that +Eleanor's surprise came. She and Rock and Florence were sitting before +the library fire when some one opened the door and a voice asked: +"Where is my daughter?"</p> + +<p>"Here I am, mamma," Florence answered.</p> + +<p>Then there was a little laugh and some one came forward in the dusk, +some one whose familiar form made Eleanor, as she turned her head, +spring to her feet. "It is my mamma! It is my mamma!" she cried, +flinging herself in the dear arms stretched out ready to clasp her. +And then who should walk into the room, quite erect, and without any +crutches at all, but Eleanor's papa.</p> + +<p>"Oh, when did you come? When did you come?" cried the child, her voice +shaking with excitement.</p> + +<p>"We have just arrived," her father told her. "We wanted much to be here +by Christmas, but it seemed better for me to stay longer and get the +full benefit of the baths."</p> + +<p>"And are you quite well?" said his daughter.</p> + +<p>"So nearly that I do not fear a return of the trouble. My little girl +has had a hard time, hasn't she?"</p> + +<p>"I did at first, but I've had a lovely time here. Aunt Dora and Uncle +Heath are so good to me, and here at Aunt Nellie's it is next to being +at home. When are we going back, papa?"</p> + +<p>"In a few days. You know I have a father and mother, too, whom I have +not seen for some time, and I want to have a little visit with them, +though, to be sure, we shall have them with us in the spring."</p> + +<p>"Shall we? I am so glad, but I'm glad so much lately, that it isn't +anything new."</p> + +<p>Then there was a great time deciding where every one should stay. +Florence said that Eleanor had been so long at her Aunt Dora's that she +ought to come to her other aunt's, and Rock insisted that Eleanor had +agreed to stay at his house till she went home, but finally Florence +carried the day, for she argued that Mrs. Heath Dallas would have all +the company, if her Aunt Florence went there, so Eleanor's parents +agreed that she should make Florence a little visit until they should +be ready to go home, and for a week the two little girls had a great +time playing with the new doll-house.</p> + +<hr class="chap"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus4.jpg" alt="" id="illus4"> + <div class="caption"> + <p>"<span class="smcap">The two little girls had great times playing</span>"</p> + </div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap"> + + +<p>Then came an arrangement which to Eleanor, particularly, was a most +delightful one. Since it would be some time before either of the two +little girls could go to school again, Eleanor's mother proposed that +Florence should go home with them and that they should have lessons +there. "For," said Mrs. Dallas, "what do you think, daughter? Miss +Reese has the whooping-cough; not very badly, but some one has to +take her place in the school. Now, don't you think it would be a good +plan to ask her to come for two or three hours a day to teach you and +Florence?"</p> + +<p>"Fine," replied Eleanor.</p> + +<p>"How should you like to take this boy, too?" asked Uncle Heath, putting +his hand on Rock's shoulder. "I find that I have to take another long +trip and I'd like to have Dora go with me, but we don't want to send +Rock back to boarding-school again, since he had such a sorry +experience the last time, but if you could take him in with your young +folks it would relieve our minds, besides being a good thing for him, +Miss Reese is a very competent teacher, I judge."</p> + +<p>"She is an excellent teacher," his brother assured him. And the matter +was considered settled.</p> + +<p>"Does Cousin Ellen know you are coming home, mamma?" Eleanor asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, she knows, and she has taken a little house on the other side of +town."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" Eleanor's face was a sight to see, between her desire to seem +pleased and her real feeling of disappointment.</p> + +<p>Her mother hugged her tightly and said: "Never mind Cousin Ellen, now +you have your mother."</p> + +<p>Eleanor gave a great sigh of content and rested her head against her +mother's arm. "Dearest mamma, the next time you go away I shall get +into one of the trunks rather than be left behind. You don't know, you +never will know, how horrid Cousin Ellen can be."</p> + +<p>"Don't I? Perhaps I do. At all events, my darling, she will not be +near enough to bother you."</p> + +<p>"No, and now I am rather glad I am not to go back to school, for then +I should have to see Olive all the time, and she does try to set the +girls against me. Am I a very bad child, mamma?"</p> + +<p>"You are not perfect, sweetheart, but I don't believe you are as +naughty as Cousin Ellen would have us think."</p> + +<p>In a few days they started for home, a merry party, Eleanor, her father +and mother, Florence, Rock and Bubbles. As they came near the house +Eleanor glanced up at the window where poor Ada had hung so helplessly. +She looked over at the little playhouse, then she turned to Rock. "Oh, +Rock," she said, "I am so glad you are not Don."</p> + +<p>Sylvy, smiling and neat, met them at the door, and before twenty-four +hours all was as it had been before Cousin Ellen had come. Yet, it took +Eleanor a little while to adjust herself to the belief that there were +no hard words nor cold looks to greet her, and once or twice she cried +out in the night so pitifully as to bring her mother to her side to +awaken her from a nightmare in which she said she thought Cousin Ellen +was holding her while Don stuck pins in her.</p> + +<p>One of the first visitors was Dr. Sullivan, who greeted Eleanor with: +"Heigho, little girl! back again? Plenty of fresh air, remember. +Another patient is this, Miss Florence? A comrade in misery. Well, keep +out of doors all you can."</p> + +<p>And then came Miss Reese for sympathy, as she said, and she seemed so +glad to see Eleanor that the child felt that here was one person, at +least, who believed in her. "I'm so glad you can come and teach us, +Miss Reese," she told her. "I think it will be a dear little school. We +are to study in the library, mamma says, and I think it will be great +fun."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dallas had just come in from a walk. "What do you think, daughter? +Cousin Ellen wants to know if I will let Don and Olive and Jessie join +our little class."</p> + +<p>Eleanor looked horror-stricken and her mother laughed as she asked, +"What did you say, mamma?"</p> + +<p>"I said no, and I said it very emphatically. Cousin Ellen says the +three older children have had the whooping-cough and she fears it for +none of them but Alma. I said: 'I do not think the arrangement would be +at all a satisfactory one, Cousin Ellen, and we will not consider it.'"</p> + +<p>Just here Bubbles came in saying: "Miss Dimple, Mr. Snyder out hyah."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" Eleanor jumped up. "Please 'scuse me, Miss Reese, I must see my +dear butterman. Come, Florence, come, Rock." And she ran out to greet +her old friend, who shook both her hands and said: "Mrs. Snyder heard +you was comin' home and she wants to know if you won't come out some +day with your cousins and the little colored girl. Some Saturday. If +you take the electric cars to Brookside it will be just a little walk +across the fields. Mrs. Snyder wants to hear all about what has been +happening and I've got a little colt to show you; one of the finest +in the land. Come next Saturday, if it ain't too cold," he said as he +drove away.</p> + +<p>"They were so good to me, you will let us go, won't you, mamma?" +Eleanor asked when she went into her mother.</p> + +<p>"Of course, dear, you may go. I am more than grateful to Mr. and Mrs. +Snyder for their kindness to you, and I would not refuse to have you +accept their invitation for anything."</p> + +<p>"And you'll take butter from them again?"</p> + +<p>"Most certainly. Now run along, Miss Reese and I have some matters we +want to talk over."</p> + +<p>"I can't find the key to the playhouse," said Eleanor, coming back in a +minute.</p> + +<p>"Can't you? Well, never mind, wait till to-morrow before you go there. +Suppose you get Bubbles to help you and Florence to put your clothing +neatly in the bureau drawers."</p> + +<p>"And then shall we help Rock to put his away?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>But upon being consulted, Rock said, "I did that myself."</p> + +<p>Eleanor looked at him admiringly and Florence said, "I didn't know boys +ever did such things; my brother doesn't."</p> + +<p>"Because somebody does it for him, I suppose, but my mother says +there's no reason why a boy shouldn't be as smart as a girl about +finding things and keeping them in order."</p> + +<p>"I wish my mother would say that to Lee," returned Florence; "he +always throws his things anywhere and we girls have to find them for +him and put them away."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Rock, "I wouldn't let a girl do that for me."</p> + +<p>Eleanor was sitting on the floor hugging her knees, her eyes roving +around the room. Presently she jumped up and began a frantic dance. +"What is the matter?" asked Florence in wonder.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad, just so glad that I can't help it," Eleanor told her. "When +I think it is Rock and not Don who is in the little room, and that you +are here instead of Olive, I could scream with joy."</p> + +<p>"We haven't been to the playhouse yet," said Florence.</p> + +<p>"No, mamma said to wait till to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. She just said so. I don't suppose there is any reason."</p> + +<p>"I believe there is," said Florence mysteriously.</p> + +<p>"Oh, why?"</p> + +<p>"Because I saw your papa come out of there with a man."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, we'll see to-morrow. I'm not going to guess about it. Let us +go downstairs. There comes Doctor Sullivan again, oh, and Miss Reese is +going. She will be here to-morrow to begin lessons. Doctor Sullivan is +not coming in. Miss Reese is going with him in the buggy."</p> + +<p>The next day did solve the mystery of the playhouse, for it appeared +that the place had been repaired and put in perfect order. The man, +whom Florence saw, had been putting in a pane of glass which Don had +broken. "It looks nicer than ever," said Eleanor admiringly. "I am so +glad papa had it made so new and clean, I feel as if all the Don of it +were gone now." The words were hardly out of her mouth before Don's +form appeared in the doorway. Eleanor drew herself up stiffly. "Well?" +she said.</p> + +<p>Don looked rather sheepish, but he said: "I just thought I would come +over."</p> + +<p>Eleanor said nothing.</p> + +<p>"Say, I left my knife out here," began Don.</p> + +<p>"When?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, a long time ago. I want to come in and look for it."</p> + +<p>"You can't come in. I will look for it. I don't believe it is here +though, for it's been ever and ever so long since you were in here."</p> + +<p>"I don't care, I'm coming in. I'd like to see any girl keep me out."</p> + +<p>At this Rock came forward. He had been sitting in a corner where Don +could not see him. "Then perhaps, a boy can keep you out," he said +calmly. "This is Eleanor's house and she has a right to do as she +chooses about it. If you have left anything here, go up to the house +and tell Mrs. Dallas, or Mr. Dallas either. They will see that you get +it."</p> + +<p>Don stood for a moment irresolute and then walked away, but a few +minutes later they heard a sharp cry of pain and they all rushed out to +see Bubbles sitting on the ground sobbing and holding her wounded arm.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Bubbles, Bubbles," cried Eleanor, running up to her, "what is it?"</p> + +<p>"Dat Don he come an' gimme a lick 'fore I knowed he was anywhere about, +and he knocked me over and hurt mah arm, he did."</p> + +<p>Rock's eyes snapped. "I'll get even with him," he muttered, "the little +bully."</p> + +<p>"Does your arm hurt you very much?" asked Florence anxiously. "Come, +let's go to the doctor right away."</p> + +<p>"We'll tell mamma first," said Eleanor. This done, Mrs. Dallas did +decide that the doctor would best be seen and they set out at once for +his office, fortunately finding him at home. He found nothing serious +had happened, but he frowned when told of the sudden and uncalled-for +attack upon Bubbles, and shook his head, looking sharply at Rock as if +he might be suspected of being at fault in the matter, so that Eleanor +spoke up and said, "Rock sent him off, doctor, and I suppose that's +what made him mad. Uncle Heath said he didn't think that Don was really +a bad boy, but I think he is a very bad boy."</p> + +<p>The doctor smiled at her emphatic way of speaking and said that he +would call in the morning and see if Bubbles were all right. Indeed, +it seemed that he generally found his way to the house every day, and +about the time that Miss Reese took her leave after lesson hours.</p> + +<p>Saturday proved to be as fine a day as could be expected in January, +and the four children, Bubbles included, started for Mr. Snyder's. +Florence and Rock had never been there before, and were delighted to +go whizzing along through the country which was really very beautiful, +even in winter, for it is not alone when trees are green, that hills +and dales are fair to see.</p> + +<p>They had been traveling for some time when Eleanor said, "You told the +conductor to let us off at Brookside, didn't you, Rock? That place we +just passed looked like it, but I am not sure if it is the place."</p> + +<p>"I told him," returned Rock, "but maybe he forgot. I'll ask him." This +he did to find that they had passed the place and were told that it +wasn't very far and they could walk back.</p> + +<p>"I call that pretty cool," said Rock as they scrambled down from the +car, "but we've got to make the best of it, I suppose."</p> + +<p>They trudged along for a little distance when suddenly they came to a +high trestle before which Eleanor stood aghast. "I never can go over +that," she declared.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, you can," said Rock. "I'll walk ahead and take your two +hands," but Eleanor shrank from such a proceeding.</p> + +<p>"I couldn't! I couldn't," she insisted, "it makes me sick to think of +it, and then suppose a car should come along."</p> + +<p>"No, they only come every half hour, and it is a single track so the +down car doesn't start till the up car gets to the terminus, the +conductor told me, so that's all right," Rock tried to reassure her by +saying.</p> + +<p>But Eleanor was firm and at last clambered down the embankment and +discovered a place narrow enough for her to cross the little stream +running below. Bubbles fearfully followed, and they managed to scramble +up the bank, reaching the other side almost as soon as Rock and +Florence. But this was not the end of their adventures.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XI"><i>CHAPTER XI</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class="ph2"><i>Don and a Pony</i></p> + + +<p>The day was unusually pleasant for the season, and the children as they +journeyed along saw that they were not the only ones who had sought the +country. Ahead of them were three boys who were going in the direction +of Mr. Snyder's.</p> + +<p>"One of those boys looks like Don," said Florence; "I wonder what he is +doing out here. Do you know who the others are, Dimple?"</p> + +<p>"No, I don't believe I do, though one of them looks like Joe Forrester."</p> + +<p>"Is he the brother of the girl you told me about?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, but I don't know him. See, they are turning off here and that is +Mr. Snyder's house over there."</p> + +<p>"I hope those boys aren't going there."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe they are; the boys from town go wandering all about in +the woods and places about here. I don't believe Don would want to go +to Mr. Snyder's."</p> + +<p>But in this she was mistaken, for, after they had spent a pleasant hour +with Mrs. Snyder and had eaten a hearty and good dinner, they heard a +great commotion outside whither Mr. Snyder had gone to bring up his +pretty little colt to show the children.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Snyder thinks as much of that colt as if it were a baby," Mrs. +Snyder told them, "and it is a pretty creature. The land's sake! What's +all that to do?"</p> + +<p>They all ran out on the porch to see Mr. Snyder with a squirming boy +firmly held by the collar, while Lem was leading off the colt which was +limping and seemed in some way hurt.</p> + +<p>"Ben, Ben, what's the matter?" cried Mrs. Snyder running down the steps.</p> + +<p>"Matter enough," he answered, "just wait till I get this youngster +settled and I'll tell you."</p> + +<p>The children peeping over the balustrade of the porch, saw a very +wrathful countenance, yet Eleanor's sympathies were about to go out to +the captured boy when suddenly she exclaimed: "Oh, Florence! Oh, Rock! +It is Don."</p> + +<p>Sure enough, Don it was, and the angry man who held him prisoner +brought the boy up on the porch saying: "Here's a fine fellow for you. +He'll cost me a pretty penny, but I'll make him suffer."</p> + +<p>"Why, Ben, what has he done?" inquired Mrs. Snyder.</p> + +<p>"Done? Done enough. Him and a couple of other rascals that's got away, +worse luck, have come near ruining my colt and have played havoc with +your frames out there, mother."</p> + +<p>"Not my violet frames?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's right. You see, I let Dandy out into the back lot for a +run, seeing that it was such a fine day, and them fellows thought it +would be great fun to scare him to see him run, so they crept under the +fence and shied something at him, and he ran and jumped the fence, or +tried to, for he caught himself on that wire fence by the garden and +after struggling a while he got loose and went crashing through the +frames. I don't know how bad the colt's hurt, but I know how bad the +boy's going to be." He gave Don a shake and the boy, white with terror, +began to beg for mercy.</p> + +<p>For all the wrongs she had suffered at Don's hands were still fresh in +Eleanor's memory, she began to feel very sorry for the culprit, and she +said softly, "Maybe it wasn't Don that did it, Mr. Snyder. Maybe it was +one of the other boys, the ones who ran away."</p> + +<p>"Don? Is that this fellow's name? Do you know him?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes, he is Donald Murdoch. Don't you remember Cousin Ellen +Murdoch, who lived in our house? He is her son."</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes," Mr. Snyder slightly loosened his grip upon Donald and +appeared to be considering the matter. After a moment's pause he spoke +again. "This is the youngster then, who caused you so much trouble I +suppose."</p> + +<p>"Ye-es," Eleanor answered reluctantly.</p> + +<p>"Pestered the little darky so she had to leave and was the cause of her +getting a broken arm?" He gave Donald a shake that made the boy's teeth +chatter.</p> + +<p>"Yes," spoke up Florence, for Eleanor was silent, "and he tried to hurt +Bubbles again just a day or two ago." Mr. Snyder's grip on the boy's +shoulder made the boy wince.</p> + +<p>"Told lies about you; took your playhouse and helped himself to +anything he wanted without so much as a 'by your leave,' didn't he?" +Mr. Snyder kept up his remarks to Eleanor.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," Eleanor found her voice again, "but his mother would feel so +dreadfully about it if you send him to jail."</p> + +<p>Mr. Snyder's face relaxed some of its grimness. "Come in here, all of +you," he said, "and we'll have a little trial by jury. Here, boy, stand +there. Don't you dare to budge one inch or it will be the worse for +you. You and your companions have trespassed on my property, and have +injured a valuable colt for me besides doing other damage. I am going +to sift the matter to the very bottom, and if you don't tell the truth +you'll get such a whipping as you never had. Now, sir, speak up; let's +hear your story. Did you or didn't you throw stones at the colt?"</p> + +<p>Don glanced around. He saw a set of stern faces, only in Eleanor's eyes +was a pitying look. He began to cry softly and she took a step forward +but Mr. Snyder waved her back. "Wait a minute. Tell me, boy, did you +throw the stone that hit the colt?"</p> + +<p>"The other fellows did, too," replied Don.</p> + +<p>"Never mind about them. We'll settle their hash later on. I am dealing +with you now. Did you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," Don admitted reluctantly.</p> + +<p>"Well then, you are liable to one-third damages, supposing the others +are equally guilty."</p> + +<p>"Oh," Eleanor exclaimed, "Mr. Snyder, will it be a great deal?"</p> + +<p>"A matter of fifty dollars without the colt; if he's not seriously +hurt, but I'm afraid that, at the best, he is so scratched that he +wouldn't bring the price I might have got for him. Now then, boy, I'm +inclined to trounce you well. You need a whipping the worst kind."</p> + +<p>Donald cried woefully, and Eleanor looked ready to cry, herself. "Oh, +please, Mr. Snyder," she began.</p> + +<p>He looked at her and smiled. "Then, Don, down on your knees and beg +this young lady's pardon for treating her like a cub. Here before us +all, down with you."</p> + +<p>Donald did not hesitate, but began to mumble something. "Oh, no, no, +please," Eleanor interrupted him, feeling the shame of it tingling to +her very ears. "Never mind, now, Mr. Snyder. I don't care. It is all +over and past and, please, never mind."</p> + +<p>"All right. Get up, boy, you've Dimple to thank for being let off from +a thrashing, but I'll march you to your mother and you will tell a +straight story before her or I'll know the reason why." And Donald, +cowed and miserable, was taken directly back to town, and was marched +into his mother's presence.</p> + +<p>Mr. Snyder told his tale curtly. "I've plenty of witnesses," he said, +"and I know what I'm talking about. I've got to have this made right or +I'll go to law about it."</p> + +<p>"I am sure my boy never had a hand in it," returned Mrs. Murdoch +stiffly.</p> + +<p>"Your boy did, by his own confession. Here, sir, tell your mother all +about it." And Mrs. Murdoch was an unwilling listener to an account of +the disaster.</p> + +<p>"I never would have believed it," she said in a distressed tone, "but +Mr. Snyder, I am sure he didn't mean to hurt your horse, and besides +those other boys led him on, I am sure."</p> + +<p>"He threw the first stone and he was the ring-leader," persisted Mr. +Snyder. "I've three witnesses to prove it."</p> + +<p>"I know who they are," said Don, feeling safe under the shelter of his +mother's wing; "it was Florence and Eleanor and that boy they call +Rock."</p> + +<p>"Oh," Mrs. Murdoch said significantly, "if they were concerned in it, +the whole tale is probably a fabrication."</p> + +<p>"Which it isn't," Mr. Snyder declared. "They never one of them saw it, +all of them being in my house behind closed doors when it happened. +The ones who saw it were two of my neighbors and my man, Lem Hawkins +who shouted to them to stop and couldn't get there in time to prevent +mischief. Ain't you a pretty sneaking little cur?" he said turning +to Don. "I'd like to know who it was that begged you off. Tell your +mother how it comes that you escaped a sound whipping. And that brings +up another thing, ma'am. My wife and I are mighty fond of that little +gal, Dimple Dallas, and we don't mean to stand by and have her blamed +for others' bad actions. Just out with it, boy, and tell your mother +how you plagued the life out of her and that little Bubbles, and don't +forget to put in how she begged you off to-day. No shirking; a plain, +straightforward story." He shook his head in a terrifying manner at +Don who spluttered and stammered out a confession which satisfied his +stern judge, but which his mother would fain have had left unsaid, for +finally she stopped him with "That will do, Donald. I am sure you had +some provocation. I don't excuse you altogether, of course, but there +are always two sides to a question."</p> + +<p>"Just so," said Mr. Snyder, "and it won't be my fault if every one +doesn't hear both. Now, ma'am, are you ready to pay me twenty dollars +for the damage this boy has caused? I'm letting you off easy at that."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Murdoch looked aghast. "Pay twenty dollars! Why, I couldn't think +of it. I am in very straitened circumstances, and oh, Mr. Snyder, you +surely will not press such a claim for a mere piece of fun. Boys will +be boys."</p> + +<p>"And law's law. I'm going to have that made good."</p> + +<p>"You'll not go to law about it."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Murdoch was so evidently distressed that finally Mr. Snyder who +was too good-hearted to insist upon ready money, made a proposition +that Donald should work out the amount. "I have a pretty good patch of +berries every year," he said, "and I always have to hire a few pickers. +Now, I'll be easy with you, but it is only right that the boy should +be made to do something about this, and I shall expect him to work out +every dollar." This arrangement was finally agreed upon, for Donald +thought he would rather enjoy a free time among the strawberry beds, +and he was so relieved at getting off thus easily that he was ready +to give Eleanor credit for all her influence in his behalf. So that +Mrs. Murdoch began to think that, after all, she might have misjudged +Eleanor.</p> + +<p>This was the end of any trouble with Don, so far as Eleanor was +concerned, and indeed, so far as it affected others, for he needed just +such a lesson and after many days of wearisome, back-breaking work +among the strawberry beds, work which Mr. Snyder made in no way easy +for him, he realized that one must respect the property of others, and +that in this world a person cannot be allowed his own way without +regard to the rights of others.</p> + +<p>But the rest of the winter passed happily enough. In the spring came +Grandpa and Grandma Dallas, and thinking that his little granddaughter +looked rather thin and pale, grandpa consulted his son with the result +that Eleanor was told that her grandfather meant to buy her a little +Shetland pony that she might spend the greater part of her time out in +the fresh air without getting too tired.</p> + +<p>"Do you hear? Oh, Rock! Oh, Florence, do you hear?" cried Eleanor, upon +being told the news. "Oh, grandpa, when will you get it?"</p> + +<p>"As soon as we can find one that is gentle and well-trained," he +answered smiling. "Do you know of any one who has such a pony for sale?"</p> + +<p>"No, not now. I did know a darling of a pony; it was Zula's, that +little gipsy girl's. Oh, if the gipsies were here, perhaps they would +have one to sell. They had one and Zula wanted me to buy it."</p> + +<p>"I am afraid they would be rather unreliable people to buy from," her +grandfather said.</p> + +<p>"Oh, but they are really not so bad. Zula loved her brother dearly and +her pony too, and they were very good to Bubbles."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, Bubbles, to be sure. Bring her in and let us hear what she +has to say of them. Perhaps they will be coming this way after a while +and we can see what they have to sell. It must be about time for them +to be getting up this way from the south."</p> + +<p>"Yass, suh, dey fust-rate to me," said Bubbles, upon being questioned. +"Dey had a mess o' hosses, an' a teenty little pony like de one Miss +Dimple tell you-all about. Hit were a good one, too, 'cause I heered +dat Marco, dey call him, when he fetch de pony in, an' he say to de +little gal: 'I got a pony mos' as good as yo'n,' an' she say she don't +believe it, an' he say 'sho.'"</p> + +<p>"Well," said grandpa, "I'll look about and see what we can find, and if +the gipsies come this way we'll hunt them up, and find out what they +have."</p> + +<p>It was lovely weather and the children had all so far recovered from +their illness as to be able to return to school, since Miss Reese, too, +was to take her place there after the Easter holidays. "I hope Miss +Reese will stay," said Eleanor, "for I love her, mamma. Do you think +she will teach at that school as long as I go there?"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid not."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"I don't think Dr. Sullivan will let her."</p> + +<p>"Dr. Sullivan?" Eleanor looked puzzled, but presently it dawned upon +her what her mother meant. "Oh, mamma, is that why he used to come +every day about noon to take Miss Reese home? I thought how kind he +was," she said in an aggrieved tone.</p> + +<p>"Well, wasn't he kind?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, to himself."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dallas laughed and said she must tell the doctor and Miss Reese +that.</p> + +<p>"Do you think Aunt Nellie will want Florence to come home after Easter?"</p> + +<p>"No, I think she will be very glad to have her remain where she can be +out of doors more than she could be in the city."</p> + +<p>"And can she stay all summer?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, if her mother doesn't find that she cannot be parted so long from +her. You know you and I wanted to see each other very much after a two +months' separation."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but Aunt Nellie has such a lot of other children and you had only +me."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but Florence has but one mamma, you know."</p> + +<p>"I hadn't thought of that," Eleanor returned. "Well, Florence can go +home and stay a week and then come back again. Can't she do that?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps so."</p> + +<p>Just then Florence came in with her doll Rubina in her arms. "Hurry +up, Dimple," she said. "Get your hat; your grandpa is going to take us +out to drive. The gipsies have come and are camping in the same place +Bubbles says."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I am so glad. Are you going to take Rubina?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Then I'll take Celestine. Ada, my dear, you must stay at home, for +Celestine and Rubina are such friends, you know. Mamma, may Ada sit in +your room with you? I am afraid she will get lonely without me."</p> + +<p>"I shall be very pleased to have her company," Mrs. Dallas replied. "I +have noticed that she is an extremely well-behaved child and never +meddles with my things when you leave her in my room."</p> + +<p>"Is grandpa here? Is the carriage waiting?" Eleanor asked Florence.</p> + +<p>"No, not yet. Your grandpa and Rock have gone to get it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, then we will have time to change the dolls' dresses. I want Zula +to see them looking their best. What can I take Zula, mamma?"</p> + +<p>"Are you sure you will see her?"</p> + +<p>"Why yes, I suppose she is with these gipsies."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps it is not the same company."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, I'll take something anyway. May I have some daffodils out of +the garden? I can give them to some one else if Zula is not there."</p> + +<p>"You may have some of them."</p> + +<p>"Rock is going to take his camera and see if he can get some snap-shots +of the gipsies," Florence told them.</p> + +<p>"Won't that be fine? Good-bye dearest, loveliest mamma. I wish you were +going too."</p> + +<p>"I couldn't very well go this morning. I have several things to attend +to at home."</p> + +<p>Over the same way that Eleanor had traveled with weary feet that +November day, they went this fair morning in April, and it was not long +before they saw ahead of them the gaily painted wagons of the gipsies. +"There they are!" cried Florence. "Can we drive up real close? I never +saw a gipsy camp before. I think the people look very queer."</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't mind traveling around the country in a wagon like that," +Rock declared, as he caught sight of the odd little houses on wheels.</p> + +<p>"Now we are going to stop," said Eleanor. "Grandpa, will you ask if +Zula is here. I want to see her."</p> + +<p>But grandpa was attracted by the sight of a little pony under a tree. +He nodded to one of the men lounging near, and asked him: "Is that pony +for sale?"</p> + +<p>The man looked around uncertainly. "Marco is boss. I'll tell him," he +said; and a grave-faced young man soon came up to the carriage.</p> + +<p>"I'm inquiring about that little pony," said grandpa. "Is he for sale?"</p> + +<p>"No, I don't sell him. He belonged to my little sister. I don't take a +thousand dollars for him. My little sister's horse he was."</p> + +<p>"Oh," Eleanor leaned forward. "Was it Zula's pony? Where is Zula?"</p> + +<p>The young man looked down. "She has died this winter."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" Eleanor drew back. "I wanted to see her. Are you Marco, her +brother?"</p> + +<p>"Her brother," he replied. "Where have you known my little sister?"</p> + +<p>"I saw her here last fall. Don't you remember? And the little colored +girl you took to the hospital? She is well now. You were very kind to +Bubbles. Won't you have these flowers? I brought them to Zula." And she +held out the yellow daffodils.</p> + +<p>The young man took them. "Thank you. I am glad to see you. I would like +to sell you the pony if I could sell him to any one, but I cannot. He +was Zula's, but I have another one here as good. I sell him for one +hundred twenty-five dollars." He turned to Mr. Dallas.</p> + +<p>"That is a pretty good price, but let us see him," said grandpa.</p> + +<p>"I am so sorry that Zula is not here," said Eleanor softly, "but, you +know, she is up in heaven and she must be very happy."</p> + +<p>The young man turned and looked at her. It seemed as if the tears were +very near his eyes as he walked away.</p> + +<p>Presently he returned leading a little shaggy pony which he declared he +could recommend as being gentle and perfectly safe. "I would not wish +to sell to Zula's friend a pony not good," he said earnestly. "Is it +for the little girl here?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, for her!" grandpa told him.</p> + +<p>"He is one year older than the other, but he is perhaps no worse for +that, for he is easy in harness and very gentle to ride. If you like +him I sell him for one hundred and twenty dollars."</p> + +<p>Mr. Dallas asked many questions, got out of the carriage, and examined +the docile little creature very carefully, and finally offered one +hundred dollars for the pony. "I will do this," said the young man. +"We are here for three or four days. I will bring you the pony this +evening, and you can keep him long enough to try him all you want, and +if he does not prove all I say you can return him, but if he does I +will sell him for one hundred and ten dollars."</p> + +<p>This seemed so fair an offer that Mr. Dallas, at last accepted it, and +that evening the little pony arrived to remain as Eleanor's very own, +for he proved to be as tractable and good a little creature as could be +desired.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XII"><i>CHAPTER XII</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class="ph2"><i>A May Party</i></p> + + +<p>After the little pony was fairly established in his new home, Grandma +Dallas declared that she was not to be outdone by grandpa, and to make +the present quite complete she would add a pony-cart; and then three +merrier children could not be found than Eleanor, Florence, and Rock +as they drove out, the pony scampering unweariedly over many a mile. +It seemed no distance now to Mr. Snyder's and many a call did the good +butterman and his wife receive from the children.</p> + +<p>But as the first of May approached an event was promised which +threatened to cast all other interests in the shade. Florence and +Eleanor had started to one school after Easter, and Rock to another. +Eleanor was welcomed back with open arms by most of the girls, but +Olive and Janet still held aloof, and did not join her special company +of friends. "She's so stuck up, now that she has a pony, that she +can hardly see," Eleanor heard Janet say one day, for Eleanor was not +above giving her head a little toss and looking supreme contempt at the +speaker whenever they met. "And it isn't because I've a pony," she told +Florence, "but I just despise her anyhow."</p> + +<p>That very day Miss Reese made an announcement which set all the class +astir. "Since I do not expect to return to you next year, girls," she +said, "I thought we would have a little frolic before we part, and I +have planned to go a-Maying. But not on the first of May," she added. +"We will wait till it is warm enough to go with no danger of taking +cold. Now, I think it would be pleasant to try to have a real May +party, with a May-pole and a May-queen and all that. Each one of you +will be privileged to invite one guest, a boy if you like, for we must +have some boys along, and two weeks from to-day will cast votes for the +queen. That will give you time to think the matter over so you will not +decide hastily. I do not think we shall want to select the prettiest, +nor the wealthiest, but the one who shows the most loving disposition +or the most conscientious work, or some quality of mind or heart to +commend her." Not a girl but hoped that she would be selected, and not +one but felt that this was one of the most exciting events that she had +ever looked forward to.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Florence, suppose one of us should be chosen," said Eleanor, as +the two were walking home from school. "Wouldn't it be perfectly lovely +to wear a flower crown and be dressed in white and carry a sceptre. Are +you going to invite any one?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes, I think I will invite Rock, unless you want to."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, so long as he comes it will not make any difference. Oh, don't +you hope you will be chosen?"</p> + +<p>Florence was obliged to confess that she did hope so, but just how +greatly she desired the honor not even Eleanor knew. Florence loved +everything romantic, and it seemed to her that to be a May-queen +must be the summit of human bliss. She had been so short a time at +the school that she hardly dared to believe that she would stand a +chance of being chosen, much as she longed to be. She saw that her +Cousin Eleanor was very popular and that she would be one of the first +favorites. Olive Murdoch was an excellent student and was very careful +about obeying rules, and she was in many respects the most attentive +girl in the class. She had numerous friends, too, for where Olive liked +any one she could make herself very agreeable, and had the qualities +which made her a leader. Indeed, before the week was out, it looked as +if the two who would receive the most votes were Olive and Eleanor.</p> + +<p>"I shall vote for you," Eleanor told Florence.</p> + +<p>"And, of course, I shall vote for you," Florence returned. "Oh, Dimple, +if Olive Murdoch is chosen I don't believe I shall care to go to the +May party. I should hate to call her fair queen and all that. Are we to +vote for the maid of honor?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. Miss Reese hasn't said anything about it, but if we can +choose the one we most want, and if I should be queen, I shall want +you, of course."</p> + +<p>"And I shall want you."</p> + +<p>At last came the day when the votes were to be given. Twenty little +girls, with hearts beating fast and with hopes high, cast in their +votes; a box to receive them stood on Miss Reese's desk. It seemed +to the children, as they sat there with the odor of apple-blossoms +drifting in through the open windows, and the fair May green before +them as they looked out, that Miss Reese never had been so long over +anything. She separated the slips of paper into small heaps and +carefully counted each one over more than once.</p> + +<p>At last she looked up, and smiled to see the little eager faces. "Olive +Murdoch, seven votes; Eleanor Dallas, six; Florence Graham, three; +Edith West, two; Leila Clark, two; Elsie Vail, one."</p> + +<p>"Oh," came a little murmur from the class and Olive's face wore a +triumphant and self-satisfied expression, while Eleanor and Florence +looked at each other, reading in one another's face the disappointment +written there.</p> + +<p>Suddenly Miss Reese spoke again: "Why, this is not right; there should +be but twenty votes and there are twenty-one. Some one has given two +votes. Now, shall we vote over again? Shall I call upon each girl to +announce her choice? or, since there seems to be no doubt but that +Olive Murdoch and Eleanor Dallas have received the greatest number of +votes, shall we consider them the candidates and let the class vote +over again for one or the other of these two girls? All in favor of +this last plan please raise their right hands." Up went most of the +right hands and Miss Reese nodded approvingly.</p> + +<p>"Now," she said, "each girl can write her choice on a slip of paper and +bring it to me, and then there will be no mistake. Jessie, give out +these slips." A little flush arose to Olive's cheeks and she whispered +something to the girl next her, who nodded in reply.</p> + +<p>The room was so still that the singing of a robin outside in the +apple-tree seemed the only sound to be heard. Then one by one the +girls came forward with their slips of paper. Miss Reese read each one +silently, and as Olive's turn came she looked up with a queer little +smile at the girl who dropped her eyes and went back to her seat with +a flushed face. Miss Reese again counted the votes. "This time we have +just twenty," she said. "There are for Eleanor Dallas twelve votes; for +Olive Murdoch, eight." Every girl turned and looked at Eleanor whose +face turned a rosy red and in her confusion she said quite loud enough +for them all to hear, "Oh, Florence, I wish it had been you."</p> + +<p>Miss Reese rapped on her desk. "Now," she said, "I think it will be +best to take a different way to choose the maid of honor. Let each girl +think of whom she would like and give her reason for it. I think that +will make it quite interesting. You may begin, Elsie."</p> + +<p>"I think Olive should be the one because she came so near being the +queen," said Elsie.</p> + +<p>Miss Reese nodded to the next girl who said she thought that some girl +who had received no vote should be chosen.</p> + +<p>Then came one who said: "I think Florence Graham, because she is a +stranger here, and she isn't going to stay very long. I think it would +be more polite to choose her." This seemed to strike the most of them +favorably, and in the end Florence was made supremely happy by being +elected maid of honor, and this important matter being settled, there +were other questions to be discussed and the May party in all its ins +and outs was talked over.</p> + +<p>Although there were some disappointed little souls, as a rule all +were well satisfied that the choice of queen had fallen where it did. +Eleanor was radiantly happy and yet she could not help feeling sorry +for Olive, who had counted upon being the favored one, and who gave +Eleanor a look of scorn as she passed her. "She needn't look so," said +Florence indignantly. "It was perfectly fair, and every one says so. I +haven't a doubt but that she voted for herself," which, if the truth +were known, was true, and, indeed, it was also true that the extra vote +on the first ballot was cast by Olive. If Miss Reese suspected this +she never said so, but she did know that Olive's name was on the slip +of paper which she brought up, and that was why she gave Olive the +quizzical little smile, for no other girl in the whole school had voted +for herself.</p> + +<p>Rock was jubilant when he heard the decision. "Hurrah for Queen +Eleanor!" he cried. "I am just delighted, and all the more that you got +ahead of Olive Murdoch."</p> + +<p>But Eleanor looked sober when he said this. "She's dreadfully +disappointed," she said, "and I'm awfully sorry for her. She studied +real hard and does her lessons so well. I sort of think that she +should have been chosen."</p> + +<p>"Why, Dimple Dallas," exclaimed Florence. "I don't see how you can say +that."</p> + +<p>"I do think so. She is the best scholar in the school."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and she's the hatefullest and the slyest." Florence was too loyal +to Eleanor to believe any good of Olive.</p> + +<p>"Well, anyhow, Jessie is a nice child and I like her," Eleanor +maintained. "She was never mean to me once, and if you were not to +be my maid of honor I should choose her next." This Eleanor said to +Jessie, and furthermore, invited her to go with Florence, Rock and +herself to gather flowers for the arbor under which the queen was to +sit. Great masses of mountain laurel, wild honeysuckle and other spring +blossoms they carried home in the little pony-cart, and long garlands +were woven for the arbor.</p> + +<p>"Won't you come and help us make the wreaths?" Eleanor asked Jessie.</p> + +<p>"I should like to," she answered, "but mamma said I was to come right +home as soon as we got back from the woods. I have had a lovely time, +and I'd like to stay," the child repeated wistfully. "I just love that +little pony."</p> + +<p>"You shall drive with us whenever you want to," Eleanor assured her, as +she bade her good-bye.</p> + +<p>Eleanor was very thoughtful all the rest of the day, even when she and +Rock and Florence were busy over the crown for the May-queen to wear +the following day.</p> + +<hr class="chap"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus5.jpg" alt="" id="illus5"> + <div class="caption"> + <p>"<span class="smcap">Busy over the crown for the queen to wear</span>"</p> + </div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap"> + + +<p>"We'll keep some of the prettiest bunches to trim our dresses with," +said Florence. "Bubbles, bring us a basin of water to put them in. I +shall have a little bunch on each shoulder and you can have the same, +Dimple. Oh, where did you get those lovely lilies of the valley?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Atkinson sent them to me. I met him on the street and he was +asking me about the May party."</p> + +<p>"Where are they going to set up the May-pole?" Rock asked.</p> + +<p>"Just back of Mr. Atkinson's; in that pretty meadow with the grove at +one end."</p> + +<p>"What a lovely place!" exclaimed Florence. "Where are you going, +Dimple?"</p> + +<p>"I'm just going to speak to mamma." And a moment later she entered +her mother's room with a very serious face.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter with the May-queen?" her mother asked.</p> + +<p>Two tears started to Eleanor's eyes and she hid her head on her +mother's shoulder. "I want to be May-queen so much," she said in a +stifled voice.</p> + +<p>"Well, dearie, I don't see anything to grieve you in that."</p> + +<p>"Do you think I ought to give up to Florence or Jessie? It seems mean +not to give them the chance."</p> + +<p>Her mother smiled. "I don't think you are called upon to do anything +of the kind. You were chosen fairly by the class, and you have no more +right to refuse than if a presidential candidate were to say: 'Mr. +So-and-so wants so much to be president. I'll give my place to him.' It +is very kind of my little girl to think of such a thing, but I don't +think it would do. Let the matter rest as it is. Every one will have a +good time, and next year, or upon some other occasion, perhaps Jessie +will have another chance."</p> + +<p>"But Florence won't."</p> + +<p>"Maybe she will. We might have a May party of our own next year in +Florence's honor, and then she could be queen and Jessie maid of honor, +if that would do."</p> + +<p>"Oh, mamma, that is a lovely plan for you to think of, I feel real +comfortable now."</p> + +<p>And, therefore, with not a cloud to mar their pleasure the children +started off for the May party. The little pony, which they had named +Spice, wore a garland around his neck, and when Eleanor, dressed in +white, with her maid of honor by her side, appeared in the little +flower-decked pony-cart, a shout arose from the children, and with one +accord they began to sing "God save the Queen."</p> + +<p>Then Eleanor was helped down by two of her gentlemen-in-waiting, and +was conducted to her throne; her crown was placed upon her head and her +sceptre in her hand. Then a merry, merry time they had dancing around +the May-pole, weaving in and out with their many-hued ribbons. The +lookers-on in Mr. Atkinson's garden said it was the prettiest sight the +town had seen in a long time.</p> + +<p>After this they played games and sang songs and romped and ran and +searched the woods for wild flowers till it was time for feasting.</p> + +<p>When each basket was opened a store of good things appeared; these were +spread out upon the grass, and the little queen was served first. But +as she was eating her ice cream, she saw a pair of sparkling black eyes +peeping through the fence. "Oh, there is Bubbles," she exclaimed. "Poor +little Bubbles."</p> + +<p>"What is your Royal Highness' wish concerning her?" asked Rock with +quick wit, as he dropped upon one knee. "Is it yon sable maiden who has +attracted your Majesty's notice?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is. I wish she could have some of these good things."</p> + +<p>"Where is the Premier?" asked Rock. "Oh, there she is. Miss Reese, +her Majesty, the Queen, desires a consultation." And Miss Reese came +forward.</p> + +<p>"There is Bubbles," the queen said in very familiar language. "Please, +Miss Reese, can some one take her some ice cream and cake? Is there +enough?"</p> + +<p>"An abundance. I will see that she has some," was the reply.</p> + +<p>"May it please your Majesty, I will undertake the errand," said Rock. +"Do you send me in quest of the hand-maid who has found favor in your +sight?" Rock's language was a funny mixture of courtly and Scriptural +expressions.</p> + +<p>"Yes, do go, Rock, there's a dear." And Bubbles was made supremely +happy by a generously piled up plate of cake and ice cream.</p> + +<p>For some reason Don had taken a sudden liking to Rock, in spite of the +latter's snubs and his coolness toward him. Rock was a bright boy with +a ready wit and much ingenuity, and Don, with the admiration a small +boy so often feels for a larger one, followed him around upon this May +day until Rock, at first annoyed, was finally sorry for the smaller boy +and began to pay him some attention, and to Eleanor's surprise, she saw +the two hobnobbing like old friends before the day was out.</p> + +<p>Whether it was on Rock's account or not, it is true that when the +queen's chariot, as Rock called it, was driven up for Eleanor and +Florence, no one was louder in his cheers than Don, and despite the old +grievances, Eleanor could not help being pleased by this evidence of +Don's good-will, and she drove off as happy as a little girl could be, +followed by shouts of "Long live Queen Eleanor!" Spice shaking his mane +and evidently in high feather at such a frolic.</p> + +<p>"Has my dear daughter had a happy day?" asked Eleanor's mother as she +kissed her good-night.</p> + +<p>"So happy, mamma." There was little pause, then Eleanor said: "Don has +to pick strawberries all day Saturday, for Mr. Snyder, and Rock is +going to help him. May Florence and Bubbles and I go too? We can take +Jessie and get through a lot."</p> + +<p>"I cannot allow you to pick berries all day, dear, but you may spend +a part of the afternoon in that way if you want to. Rock can do as he +chooses, of course, but, how comes it that you are asking permission +for Bubbles?"</p> + +<p>"Don likes us all now," returned the child, "and Bubbles says if we +pick for him, why, she will too, but I don't believe Olive will ever +care for any of us."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps she will. If one goes right along and does the best she knows +how, after a while even her enemies will see her as she really is. +What do you think Cousin Ellen said to me to-day when we stood together +in Mr. Atkinson's garden looking at the May party?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. What did she say, mamma?"</p> + +<p>"She said: 'Eleanor makes a very sweet little queen, doesn't she?'"</p> + +<p>"Oh, mamma, truly?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, truly. I think Mr. Snyder and Doctor Sullivan and—Don, perhaps, +have had something to do with her change of opinion. At all events, we +may hope that even Olive will be friends with you yet."</p> + +<p>Eleanor shook her head, but just then Florence called, "Queen Eleanor, +your Majesty, aren't you ever coming to bed? What makes you stay so +long?"</p> + +<p>"'Cause I'm so happy," answered Eleanor, after a last "Good-night!"</p> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75380 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/75380-h/images/cover.jpg b/75380-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..969963b --- /dev/null +++ b/75380-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/75380-h/images/illus1.jpg b/75380-h/images/illus1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..02889be --- /dev/null +++ b/75380-h/images/illus1.jpg diff --git a/75380-h/images/illus2.jpg b/75380-h/images/illus2.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..883a515 --- /dev/null +++ b/75380-h/images/illus2.jpg diff --git a/75380-h/images/illus3.jpg b/75380-h/images/illus3.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3ccfb78 --- /dev/null +++ b/75380-h/images/illus3.jpg diff --git a/75380-h/images/illus4.jpg b/75380-h/images/illus4.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..dc1ff32 --- /dev/null +++ b/75380-h/images/illus4.jpg diff --git a/75380-h/images/illus5.jpg b/75380-h/images/illus5.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5780ad4 --- /dev/null +++ b/75380-h/images/illus5.jpg diff --git a/75380-h/images/illusc.jpg b/75380-h/images/illusc.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c90c830 --- /dev/null +++ b/75380-h/images/illusc.jpg 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. 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