CHAPTER XX
GOOD-BYE, SUMMER!
Days at Surfwood passed happily and swiftly. Dolly and Dotty oftendiscussed the matter and always agreed that camp life and hotel lifewere equally pleasant, though in opposite ways. And if Dotty sometimessighed for the careless freedom of the life in the woods or if Dollyfelt in her secret heart that she preferred the more formal conventionsof the big hotel, they soon forgot such thoughts in the joys of themoment.
There was seabathing every day and automobile trips and all sorts ofbeach fun and frolic.
The time was drawing near for them to go back to Berwick and settle downagain to the routine of home life.
Among the last of the season's gaieties there was to be a children'sdance in the big ball-room. This was a regular summer feature and allthe guests of the hotel did their best to make the occasion attractive.
All under sixteen were considered children, and even some of the littletots were allowed to attend the festival. Fancy dress was notobligatory, but many of the young people chose to wear gay costumes.
The two Cliftons, the Brown twins and Dolly and Dotty had come to be aclique by themselves, and were always together.
"Let's dress alike for the silly party," said Clifford, who liked toappear scornful of such amusements, but who was really very fond ofthem.
"All right; how shall we dress?" said Dotty, who was always ready fordressing up.
"A shepherdess costume is the prettiest thing you can wear," saidPauline. "I have one with me, and it's lovely. S'pose you two girls copythat, and then have the boys rig up something like it."
"Mother will make us any old togs we want," said Tad, "It isn't amasquerade, is it?"
"Oh, no," said Dolly; "just fancy dress, you know, if you choose, andlots of them just wear regular party clothes."
"I'd like to be a shepherdess, all right," said Tad with a comicalsimpering smile.
"Now don't you make fun of my plan!" said Pauline; "we three girls canbe shepherdesses, and you three boys can be shepherds. Shepherd lads arelovely, with pipes and things."
"Clay pipes?" asked Tod.
"No, goosy; pipes to play on. Long ones with ribbons; oh, 'twill belovely!" and Pauline clapped her hands. "Liza will make you a suit,Carroll, and then the other boys can have it copied."
There was much further discussion and the elders were called intoconsultation, but finally Pauline's plan was adopted.
Her shepherdess' frock was dainty and beautiful. The Dresden floweredoverdress was of silk, looped above a quilted satin petticoat, and ablack velvet bodice laced up over a fine white muslin chemisette. Abroad brimmed hat with roses and a be-ribboned shepherdess' crookcompleted the picture.
"It's perfectly lovely, Pauline," said Trudy, when she saw the dress,"but we'll copy it for the girls in less expensive materials. Floweredorgandy will be very pretty for the panniers, and sateen or silkolinewill do for the skirts. The hats can be easily managed, and I'm sure wecan get the crooks down at the shop; if not, Dad will bring them fromNew York."
"You're a brick, Trudy," and Dotty flung her arms around thekind-hearted girl. "It's awful good of you to do mine as well asDolly's."
"Oh, Mother will help me, and it'll be easy as anything. I love to doit."
Long suffering Liza was accustomed to do as she was told, so she set towork to evolve a shepherd costume for Carroll. She was skilful with herneedle and out of sateen and some gay ribbons she constructed a suitthat was picturesque and jaunty even if not entirely the sort a shepherdlad might choose for daily wear.
A soft white silk shirt with a broad open collar and a soft silk tie wasvery becoming to good-looking Carroll, and the pipes, so necessary tothe character, were bought in New York by Carroll's father.
Mrs. Brown was quite willing to have this suit copied for her twins, andTod and Tad, though growling at the idea of being "dressed up like JackPuddings," were secretly rather pleased with the becoming garb.
"Suppose we make the caps for the boys," said Pauline, "I know just howand I think 'twill be fun."
The others agreed, and the day before the dance, the three girlspre-empted a cosy corner of the big veranda and sat down to work.
Copying a picture, it was not difficult to make the type of cap thatwould harmonise with the shepherds' suits.
Pauline cut them out and each of the girls sewed one.
"You haven't made the head-bands big enough, Pauline," said Dolly, asshe tried an unfinished cap on her own curly head.
"They're plenty big enough," Pauline retorted, "the boys haven't such amop of hair as you have."
"I know that; but even allowing for that I don't think they could everget their heads into these small bands. Where are they, let's fit themon them."
"They've gone off for the morning. I tell you, Dolly, these bands areall right. Don't you s'pose I know anything? Of course I measured thembefore I began. Some people think they know it all!"
Pauline was quick-tempered and Dolly was not, so the latter made noresponse to the somewhat rude speech, and the girls sewed a few momentsin silence.
Then as Dotty began to sew her cap to its band, she echoed Dolly'swords: "Why, Polly, these bands aren't big enough, that's so!" and Dottytried to put the cap on her own head.
"How silly you are!" exclaimed Pauline, angrily. "Do you suppose yourhead with all that hair isn't bigger than the boys' heads without anyhair to speak of? I tell you I measured these bands and they're plentybig enough. If you girls want to be so disagreeable about it, you canmake the caps yourselves."
"It's no use finishing these things," declared Dotty, "for the boyscan't get their heads into them! Why they're hardly big enough for a sixyear old kid!"
"I tell you they are. I guess I know. I measured one on my own brotherand his head is just as big as the Browns' heads are."
"You've got the big-head yourself!" Dotty flashed back at her, "youthink you know everything, Pauline Clifton! I'm just _sure_ the boyscan't wear these caps, but we'll go on and finish them, since you saythey're big enough."
"They _are_ big enough! there's no reason why we shouldn't finish them!"and Pauline's cheeks grew red as she sewed hurriedly on the cap sheheld.
"Well, don't let's quarrel about it," said Dolly, who had not changedher opinion, but who wanted to make peace. "If Pauline says they're allright, Dotty, let's go on and sew them. She must know, if she measuredCarroll's head."
"Of course I know!" and Pauline scowled at the other two girls. "Ifyou'd sew instead of fussing and finding fault, we could get the thingsdone before luncheon."
"All right," and Dolly smiled pleasantly, shaking her head at Dotty, whowas just about to make an angry speech. "If Polly takes theresponsibility, I'm satisfied to go on, but it certainly doesn't seem tome that any boy could get his head into that thing!" And she held up acap whose head band certainly did seem small.
"I'll take the responsibility all right," and Pauline shook her headangrily. "And when you see the boys with these caps on, you'll realisehow silly you've acted."
The girls stitched on for a few minutes without speaking and thenDolly's gentle voice broke the silence with some comment on some othersubject and peace was restored outwardly, though each of the three wasconscious of an angry undercurrent to their conversation.
The caps finished, Pauline took the three of them and said she wouldgive them to Liza, who had the ribbon streamers for them.
So the trio separated and as the Fayres had an engagement for thatafternoon the three girls were not together again until the next day.
The next day was the day of the dance, but there was a tennis tournamentin the afternoon, in which all the young people took part, and sointerested were they in the games that no reference was made to thequarrel of the day before.
The dance was in the evening, and at dinner time Dolly and Dotty passedthe Cliftons' table on their way to their own.
"Get dressed early and come down to the ball-room as soon as you can,"Carroll said to them as they went by. "The
party is a short one,anyway."
The children's dance was only from eight till ten as the more grown-upyoung people claimed the floor later.
Trudy helped Dolly and Dotty into their pretty dresses and both she andMrs. Fayre exclaimed with admiration.
The costumes of organdy and sateen were quite as pretty as the model ofsilk and satin. Both girls wore their hair hanging in loose curls andtheir broad rose-trimmed hats had long streamers of blue and pink ribbonwhich tied under the chin with a bow at one side. Their long whitecrooks bore bunches of ribbon and each carried a little basket offlowers to add to the dainty effect.
They found the others awaiting them in the ball-room, and indeed thedancing was just about to begin as they arrived.
It was a pretty sight. The long handsome room was specially decoratedwith flowers and banners, and the gaily dressed children were laughingand running about in glee. Many of eight or nine, were dancing in prettyfashion, and indeed all ages under sixteen were represented. This frolicwas an annual affair and the majority of the children staying at thehotel were allowed to attend.
Perhaps half of them were in fancy costume and fairies and RedRidinghoods flitted about with Bobby Shaftos or miniature cavaliers.
"Isn't it beautiful!" cried Dotty, at the threshold of the ball-room.She had never seen a party just like this before and the gay sightentranced her.
"We can't go in," laughed Trudy, as she and her parents looked in at thedoor. "The room is reserved for you kiddies, and we can only peep in atthe windows."
Dolly and Dotty soon found their friends and crossed the room to jointhe Shepherd Clan.
Pauline looked very lovely in her elaborate costume, and the boys werereally fine as shepherd lads.
As the two girls approached, Pauline whispered to them, with an air oftriumph, "You see the caps are plenty big enough!" and sure enough thethree boys wore their caps, set jauntily on the side of their heads; butwithout a doubt the bands were amply large.
"So you see, I _did_ know something after all," Pauline went on, andDolly said frankly, "You did, Polly; you were right and we were wrong."
Dotty was not quite so smilingly gracious, but she had a strong sense ofjustice and she said, "They _are_ big enough, Pauline, I was mistaken,"and then the dancing began.
There were only simple dances as the children had not mastered theintricacies of modern steps, and there was much fun and gay good-naturedbanter. The Shepherds and Shepherdesses danced first with each other,but later others joined them and the clan separated.
But the last dance before supper Dolly danced with Carroll Clifton.
At the finish they sat for a moment under some palms to rest, andCarroll took off his cap and held it in his hand.
As a matter of fact, Dolly had forgotten all about the cap discussion,but suddenly her eyes fell on the inside of the cap, as Carroll held itcarelessly upside down on his knee.
She could hardly believe her eyes, but she looked again and sure enough,she was right! A full inch of material had been let into the band at theback to make it larger. Dolly stared at it, and then taking the cap, asif to admire it, she said, "I wonder if this is the one I made. You knowwe girls made the shepherd caps, and I hope you're duly grateful."
"Yes, nice cap-makers you are!" said Carroll, banteringly. "They were solittle we couldn't get them on. I told Polly and she gathered them inlast night and took them up to her room and made them bigger. I guessshe spent half the night doing it, for her light was burning prettylate."
Dolly said nothing, but a wave of indignation swept over her to thinkPauline should so deceive her. To think she should be so small and pettyas when she found herself in the wrong to secretly rectify her ownmistake and then triumphantly announce to the girls that the caps werebig enough after all!
Of course they were big enough, after she had set a piece in each one!Dolly smiled to herself to think what an undertaking it must have been,for that alteration, and it was done neatly, meant a troublesome bit ofripping and sewing.
Carroll looked at her inquiringly.
"Well," he said, "_is_ it the one you made? You seem desperatelyinterested in it!"
"I don't know whether it's the one or not. But it doesn't matter,they're all alike. Put it on, Carroll, they're all going out to suppernow, and it spoils your costume not to wear it."
Supper was a gay feast. It was the one occasion of the year when thechildren were allowed in the dining-room at night, and there weresnapping-crackers and especial varieties of cakes and ices and jelliessuited to juvenile tastes.
After supper the young guests were supposed to say good-night and theparty was over.
As they went upstairs, Dolly pulled Dotty back beside her, and at thesame moment whispered to Tod to let her take his cap.
Unnoticed by any one else, Dolly showed Dotty the piecing inside, andputting her finger on her lip, shook her head as an admonition to besilent. Then she returned the cap to Tod, who hadn't noticed theincident especially, and on the upper landing of the great staircase,the children said their gay good-nights and went off to their variousapartments.
"Now, what do you think of that?" said the fair-haired Shepherdess, notwaiting to take off her fancy costume, but pulling the black-hairedShepherdess down to the window-seat beside her.
This was the spot where the girls sat nearly every night to talk overthe events of the day. The wide velvet-cushioned seat with its manypillows, was cosy and comfortable, and the view of the ocean and thesound of the rolling waves made these evening chats very happy andconfidential.
"But I don't understand," said Dotty, looking puzzled. "You motioned forme not to speak a word, so I didn't. But what does it mean? Who put thatpiece in Tod's cap, his mother?"
"No; Pauline did it! She sneaked those caps away to her room last night,and sat up till all hours piecing those pieces in. And a sweet job shemust have had of it! Why, it's about as much trouble to piece a thinglike that, as to make a whole cap!"
"Pauline did it?" still Dotty couldn't understand. "Why, she said thisevening that the caps were all right and big enough."
"Of course they were, after she pieced the bands out longer! She did itherself, Dotty, and then pretended to us that they were just as we hadleft them. At least she meant us to think that, for she said, 'Now don'tyou see they're all right?' and she didn't tell us she had fixed them."
"How do you know she did it? Maybe Mrs. Brown or Liza did it."
"Carroll told me Polly did it herself. After she went to her room lastnight. He says her light was burning awful late because she had to fixthe three caps."
"The deceitful girl! If that isn't the limit! Just wait till I see her,I'll tell her what I think of her!"
"Now, Dotty, that's just what I don't want you to do. I knew how you'dfeel about this thing, and honest, at first I thought I wouldn't tellyou, 'cause if I hadn't, you never would have known. But we never dohave secrets from each other, and so when I found it out, I thought Iought to tell you. But I don't want you to quarrel with Pauline aboutit. Won't you let it go, Dot, and never say anything to her on thesubject?"
"No, I won't, Dolly. She told a story, or if she didn't tell it rightout, she made us think what wasn't true, and it's just the same. Sheought to be shown up. Tod and Tad and her own brother, too, ought toknow what a mean thing she did. It's only justice, Dolly, that theyshould. You're so easy-going you'd forgive anything and forget it, too!But I can't. I've got to tell that Clifton girl what I think of her.Oh, I never heard of such meanness! Why Dollyrinda Fayre,--you or Iwould scorn to do such a thing!"
"Of course we would, Dot, but I don't know as it's up to us to tellPauline Clifton what she ought to do."
"It isn't that, Dolly; we're not her teachers, and I don't care what shedoes,--to other people. But she needn't think she can do a thing likethat, and act as if we didn't know anything, when we told her she waswrong, and then when she finds she is wrong to go and fix it up on thesly and pretend she was right all along! No-sir-ee! I won't stand forit. I'
ll show her up in all her meanness and deceit and I'll do itbefore the boys, too. She ought to be made to feel cheap! The idea!"
Dolly waited in silence until Dotty's wrath had spent itself. She hadknown Dotty would act like this, but she hoped to calm her justifiableanger.
"Well, all right, Dot," she said at last; "then if you still persist inquarrelling with Pauline about this thing, and if you won't agree not tosay anything to her about it, then I'm going to ask you not to, just formy sake. I don't often ask you a favour seriously, Dotty Rose, but I donow. If you're a friend of mine and if you really care anything aboutme, won't you promise, just because _I_ ask it, not to say anything toPauline about those caps?"
The two Shepherdesses faced each other in silence. Both were sittingcross-legged in Turkish fashion on the wide divan, and as they had notturned on their room lights, only the moonlight that streamed across theocean illumined the two earnest faces.
Fair-haired Dolly was pale in her earnestness and her blue eyes lookedbeseechingly at her friend.
The black-haired Shepherdess was flushed with anger. Her crook hadfallen to the floor and she had tossed her hat beside it. Her black eyessnapped and her curly head shook as she refused Dolly's request. But thepleading voice kept on, until at last kindness conquered, and Dotty Rosegave in.
"All right, you dear old thing," she cried, as she grabbed Dolly roundthe neck, "you've a Heavenly disposition, and I'm a horrid, ugly thing,but I'll do as you say, _because_ you ask me to."
"You're not ugly, Dotty, a bit; only you have a high temper, and yoursense of justice makes you feel like getting even with people. And Idon't say you're not right. Why, of course there is such a thing asrighteous indignation, and this may be the place for it. Only, I _do_want to have my way this time. You see, we're going home day afterto-morrow, and very likely we'll never see the Cliftons again, after weleave here. They don't come here every summer like we do. And I hate tospoil these two last days with a horrid squabble, when we six have beenso nice and chummy and pleasant all the time we've been here. Youneedn't have much to do with Pauline, if you don't want to, but just fortwo days, can't you just be decently polite to her, and not say anythingabout this business?"
"I can and I will," said Dotty, heartily; "but you needn't think, oldlady, that it's because I'm a meek and mild little lamb, and don't feellike telling that girl what I think of her! No, sir! It's because,--wellfirst because you ask me to; and second, because I'm the guest of youand your people, and it wouldn't be a bit nice of me to stir up anunpleasantness that probably everybody would know about. So, unless MissPauline Clifton refers to it herself, she'll never hear of that capsubject from me!"
"You're an old trump, Dotty, and I love you a million bushels! And I'mglad we're going home so soon, and oh, just think! we'll start off toschool together, and we'll both go to High School, and we'll have justthe same lessons, and we'll be together every day. Dotty Rose, I'm_glad_ I've got you for a friend!"
"You're not half as glad as _I_ am, Dolly Fayre!"
"We'll always be friends, whatever happens, won't we?" said Dolly; "andwe'll always tell each other everything."
"Always and always!" said the other Shepherdess, and they sealed theircompact with a kiss.
And the big, round-faced moon smiled at them across the night-blueocean, and tried to make up his mind which of the two D's he was morefond of.
THE END
Two Little Women Page 20