Six Girls and the Tea Room

by Marion Ames Taggart

  CHAPTER XIII

  A HINT OF SPRING

  "WHAT do you think we've decided to do?" cried Bob, the instant he gotinside the Patty-Pans door.

  "Break the umbrella stand," guessed Happie, springing forward to catchit as it staggered under too violent impact with Bob's foot.

  "Not a bit of it; that was the inspiration of the moment," he retorted."We decided on the way up to have a birthday party in the tea room--aWashington's Birthday party. It's going to be great. We shall have itin the afternoon so all the children can come to it, down to Penny. Wethink it's more suitable to include the young ones, because it occurredto me that George Washington was very young when he was born."

  "Bob, you foolish boy, come back here and tell me about it!" Happiecalled after her brother as he started down the hall.

  "Can't stop, have to hunt for a clean collar in my bureau undermother's bed, now Aunt Keren has my other bureau," Bob shouted back."Margery'll tell you."

  It was Bob's delight to pretend to suffer from the invasion of AuntKeren, and never to be able to find anything that he wanted because hehad bundled his possessions into boxes and slid them under his mother'sbed--the latter part of the statement being true. However, Bob saidthat he didn't mind "making his room a burnt offering. Aunt Keren haddone more than that for him," he added, "before she was fired." AuntKeren enjoyed Bob's fooling. The Scollards saw her shoulders shakewhile she regarded the boy severely through her glasses. It was thecheerful nonsense of the Patty-Pans crowd that was warding off nervousprostration, Mrs. Scollard decided.

  "Margery, what does he mean?" Happie demanded, turning to her sister."Perhaps you'd better tell me at dinner, though, for it's all ready,and quite capable of burning itself up while I listen."

  "Yes, let us get our hats and coats off," said Mrs. Scollard, whohad come home with what Happie called "the tea party," that night.So Happie ran back to her little kitchen, deferring for a time thesatisfaction of her curiosity.

  "Will you help me off with my coat, Auntie Keren? And ask mamma to letme keep on my dancing slippers, they're so lovely," sighed Penny, whonever hesitated to make everybody within her orbit useful. Miss Kerenlaughed as she complied with the first part of the request. Happie,coming in with a steaming dishful of spaghetti, beautifully whitestriping its groundwork of tomato sauce, thought that Aunt Keren didnot look cast-down by the call of the afternoon, nor saddened by herconfidence. She looked brighter and better. Aunt Keren was one of thosepersons to whom arousing of any sort is beneficial.

  "Now tell me about the party," Happie implored as they gathered aroundthe table.

  "I'm afraid I have to confess to its being part of a plot," saidMargery. "I want to ask young people of all ages and sizes to aWashington's Birthday party in the tea room--so much Bob told in hisfirst----"

  "Inbursting outburst," Bob said for her, as she hesitated.

  "Thanks, little Robin Redbreast," said Margery sweetly. "I thoughtwe'd play games, make candy--or you would, Happie,--on our gas stovethere, and have a genuine childish frolic. The feature of the afternoonis to be cutting down the cherry tree. I want a little tree set up ina box--not a real tree, but an artificial one--and everybody is tobe blindfolded and given a little hatchet. Then they are to be swungaround three times, and left to march up to the tree and cut it--or cutat it--once. The hatchet must be left just where it strikes till theperson taking charge of the woodmen pins a numbered bit of cloth onthe spot. There are to be prizes for the cut nearest a certain mark onthe tree, and consolation prizes for the furthest from it--you see itis just the old game of pinning the tail on the donkey, only made whatmagazine editors call 'a timely article.' Do you suppose it will beany fun?"

  "Of course!" cried Happie. "Anything is fun when there are enough ofthe right sort to play it. Whom would you ask?"

  "Your E's," began Margery. "I don't know that I'll ask any of theolder girls, my friends, but still we might ask one or two. Anyone youlike----"

  "Mr. Gaston? He's too old," said Happie hastily.

  "Oh, as to too old, I thought we'd ask Auntie Cam to come down withEdith, and Aunt Keren and mother are asked this moment," said Margeryblushing. "Mr. Gaston is fond of simple, jolly times. I suppose we'dbetter ask him. But--oh, Happie, do pay attention, and don't tease! Ihave a deep--not a dark, but a deep--plot in planning this party. Iwant little Serena to come, and I want her to fancy Ralph and Snigs.Now how can we manage that?"

  "Ralph is so good to children, and all the little ones like him so muchthat it would be easy enough, if he didn't know it was Serena. But Idon't think either of those boys would notice her much if they knewwho she was. They'd be afraid of being misunderstood," Happie repliedpromptly.

  "That's what I think," sighed Margery. "Well, all we can do is to tryto bring the cousins together. Serena is such a lovely little creaturethat Ralph would lose his heart to her in a minute if he didn't keephis hand on it, so to speak."

  "Like a pocketbook in the Brooklyn bridge crush," suggested Bob. "Yourparty's all right, Margery, my dear, but your reuniting families andhealing feuds isn't going to work."

  "I suppose not," agreed Margery with another sigh, "but I'd like to setthe ball rolling. Maybe something would come of it later."

  "I think I'll compose something for the party," murmured Laura.

  "It's a praiseworthy attempt, at least, Margery," said Aunt Keren asthey arose from dinner. "Happie, just a moment, please."

  Happie followed Miss Keren into the hall, wondering. "I didn't want tospeak of it before your mother, because she would strain every nerve todo what I desired, or feel grieved if she could not do it," began MissKeren. "I am thinking of going up to Crestville for a little while. Ifeel that there is strength for me up there in those mountains, in thebright winter air. Do you think they could get on here, if I took youwith me?"

  "You want me to answer, 'honest true, black and blue,' like thechildren, Aunt Keren?" Happie asked. "Then I'm afraid I can't say yes.Because if I were away it would take Gretta out of the tea room to lookafter the Patty-Pans, and Margery could not get on alone down there."

  "And Laura could not be depended upon?" suggested Miss Keren.

  "Oh, Aunt Keren, you know Laura!" said Happie regretfully. "She is somusically undependable! I'm afraid depending on Laura would be a gooddeal like taking the sign of the treble clef and the sign of the bassclef and putting them under one's arms for crutches hoping to walk withthem. I wish I could say that I thought they could spare me, for I'dlove to go--for the sake of both the Keren-happuchs!"

  "Never mind the elder one, and the younger will have a long summer upthere," said Miss Keren. "I think that I shall go in a few days. RosieGruber is quite able to look after me. Run along, child. Don't lookregretful. I shall be perfectly safe, and shall quite enjoy solitude upthere. You know I never had a chance to be in my country house alone,while it was mine. Gretta is calling you."

  Happie ran down the hall, and soon she and Gretta were whisking dishcloth and dish towels, Happie doing her part in comparative silencewhile the once reticent Gretta gave her the history of the day in thetea room.

  Margery did not appear. They caught a glimpse of her in another gown,all soft pearl-gray and white, as she went singing into the parlor,and they heard her moving chairs about and giving small touches ofadded arrangement to the orderly room, which symptoms made Happie groanforebodingly.

  "Yes, there he is!" she exclaimed as the bell rang. "I don't see why hecalls here so often. You would suppose that he would think her familymight want Margery to themselves occasionally!"

  "Oh, come, Happie! Mr. Gaston isn't here quite so often as that seemsto mean. We do have Margery to ourselves a good many nights," saidGretta fairly. "I think he's very nice not to mind all of us. Up homewhen a young man calls on a girl the family let her have the room--Imean the parlor"--Gretta joined in Happie's laughter over this slip ofhers into the Crestville name for the one significant best room in thefarmhouses. "Wel
l, up there if a girl has a friend he doesn't expect tocall on any one but her. Mr. Gaston sees almost as much of you and Boband Laura as he does of Margery. I think he's very nice not to mind,and you ought not to grudge him his small fraction of her--for he likesher very much, Miss Happie!"

  "Of course he does. I'm not blind, and I'd shake him if he didn't,though I want to pound him because he does!" said inconsistent Happie.

  "Happie," called Margery, as Happie tried to slip into her own roomunheard, "do come here for a moment and let Mr. Gaston tell yousomething delightful!"

  "I wonder if he is going away!" thought Happie. She was a little bitashamed, later, to remember her ungraciousness. It was not pleasant tofeel one's mind going backward and forward like a shuttlecock betweenthe conviction that for the first time in her life she was unjust andthe pang that made justice impossible when she realized afresh thatthis fine young Baltimorean would steal away her sister.

  "Good-evening, Andromeda," said Robert Gaston, rising to greet her byhis nickname for her that recalled the dragon-office boy from whom hehad rescued her. "Faithful little Andromeda! Housekeeping and nursingall alone these many days! I hope your patient is better?"

  "Yes, thank you," said Happie. "She is going up to the Ark for a littlewhile. Margery, you didn't know Aunt Keren told me after dinner thatshe meant to go up to Crestville in a few days to stay there, withRosie to look after her. She thinks she will gain strength, even thoughit is winter."

  "Oh, dear me!" shivered Margery. Then she added: "I'm sure it willdo her good. I wish we could all go for a few days. Think of thosemountains snowclad, and think of sleighing in that bracing air! Oh, Iwonder----You don't suppose we could have a party over Sunday in theArk while she is there? All of us--and Mr. Gaston--and close the tearoom for a day or two? Oh, if we could!"

  "It would be good fun," admitted Happie. "Aunt Keren will never thinkof it, and we couldn't suggest it. I shall be able to help down thereagain, if Aunt Keren goes to the country."

  "Ah, but you haven't heard my plan for a little jollification!"said Robert. "Andromeda, will you countenance a theatre party? Iwant to ask Mrs. Charleford and Edith, your mother, her two elderdaughters, Bob, the elder of the Gordon boys, and--who else? Oh,Robert Gaston,--to see the Midsummer Night's Dream. I want to taketwo boxes, and get Mrs. Charleford and Mrs. Scollard each to chaperonone half our party, and have as good a time as we can. Why, let mesee--Mrs. Charleford, Edith, two; your mother, you two girls, three;Bob, Ralph, and myself--eight. Why, we can easily take Laura andSnigs Gordon. Dear me, I forgot Gretta, though she is one of my firstthoughts, because in the matter of play-going age counts before musicaltalent, so Gretta has prior claim over Laura. But even with her wecan ask Laura and Snigs, for that is only eleven altogether, and weboys can stand up at the back. I want the two lower boxes on the left,if I can get them--but you haven't said whether or not you approve,"Robert interrupted himself, amusedly watching the rapture in Happie'sdimpling, tell-tale face which needed no speech to reveal her mind.

  "It's a perfectly blissful plan!" she cried. "I never sat in a box inmy life, and I always wanted to dreadfully. And I've been crazy to seethe Midsummer Night's Dream; I know lots of it by heart. I love thatplay and the Tempest so very much. And we haven't had time--becauseof the tea room and all, to take Gretta about as I meant to. It is abeautiful plan. I'm ever and ever so grateful for my part of it. Youreally are very kind, Mr. Gaston."

  Robert Gaston smiled, well pleased. Not being in the least dull hehad read plainly Happie's mental attitude towards him, and he wassincerely sorry for her, thinking that he should not have liked aninterloper to come to steal Margery away had he been Happie, and fullycompassionating her foreboding pangs--which showed that Margery was notwrong in believing him fine and tender beyond the ordinary.

  "It is not kind to be good to oneself, Miss Andromeda-Happie," he said."Will you ask your mother about it? Or ask her to let me ask her?"

  "Yes, I'll tell her that you want to see her," said Happie, slippingaway. Gretta's suggestion that Robert Gaston might want to read andtalk to Margery alone oppressed her, in spite of her pleasure in thebox party.

  When Robert Gaston left the Patty-Pans that night he left "threeperfected plans promising pleasure," Bob said as he shook hands. Thetea room party for Washington's birthday was decided upon. This camefirst, as the holiday fell in the ensuing week. Then the party for theMidsummer Night's Dream early in the following week! Robert confessedthat his own birthday followed Washington's in four days, and thathe should like to keep it by having his party on the 26th, which wasTuesday, if he could. As far as the Scollards were concerned there wasno objection to any date, unless it were to be a distant one, for whichLaura would have been wholly unable to survive her impatience, andHappie was not less eager.

  The third party was the crowning joy of that planful evening. WhetherAunt Keren had heard what Margery had said about the house party in theArk there was no way of knowing--in Patty-Pans anything is more likelyto be heard than not--but she came into the little parlor in her oddabrupt way just as Robert Gaston arose to go, saying: "Good-evening,Mr. Gaston. Sit down again and help me conspire."

  "Certainly, with pleasure," said Robert amiably. "Against whom? I amready to help you with bomb, plain dynamite, deadly potion, or powderand shot. Whomever you want removed, whatever your conspiracy may be,I'm your man, Miss Bradbury."

  "Nice boy! I dislike hesitation above most things," said Miss Bradburyapprovingly. "A ready ruffian is such a comfort! I want the entireScollard family removed, also Gretta and the Gordon boys, and you, too.I have selected steam as the instrument."

  "Appropriate to flat-dwellers, who are so accustomed to the poundingsteam in the radiators that it must have lost much of its terrors,"Robert replied. "Please command me, Miss Bradbury, and elucidate."

  "I am going up to Crestville to recuperate--also to sleigh ride--thisweek. Saturday I have decided to go. That will give Rosie a chance toclean the house from top to bottom. It would be downright crueltyto deprive Rosie of an excuse to clean. I shall stay till I am tiredof solitude and feel stronger. By that time my friends here will beready to welcome me again. I'm afraid Happie will get tired of me, ifI don't run away, and it would be like losing our hyphen to have oneof the Keren-happuchs weary of the other! Now, I want a party while Iam there. I have talked to the owner of the Ark, Miss Gretta, and sheis rather more than willing to let me have my way. The tea room is tobe closed from Thursday night until Tuesday morning. I am sure it willnot bankrupt the six maidens, nor divert the business. You are allto go up to Crestville on the eight o'clock train on Friday morning,March first, and you are to come down again on Monday afternoon, onthe 1:47. We are to sleigh, skate, build wood fires on our hearth,sing, tell stories, crack nuts, and be generally jolly. We are goingto see whether or not Gretta is right when she says her country ismore beautiful in winter than in summer. And we are going to offerlibations to Jack Frost to send us crackling cold weather, without muchwind--even Gretta admits the wind up there is formidable--and withplenty of snow. Contrary minded?"

  Miss Keren paused for an expression of opinion as to her proposal, andit came without a sign of there being a contrary-minded mind among herhearers.

  Margery's face lighted up with delight, although she already looked ashappy as a girl can be. "Auntie Keren! You veritable fairy godmother!Just what I was saying a while ago that I wished we might do!" shecried.

  Miss Keren checked a tiny smile, and Happie looked at her suspiciously.She was quicker than Margery to catch clues, and she remembered theexcellent acoustics of their little connected rooms.

  "Sometimes I wonder if fairies aren't just particularly quick people?"she said suggestively. "There's no fear of any one here voting againstyour proposal, Auntie Keren, dear."

  "No, indeed, Miss Keren! I never had such a birthday present. I can'tsay how glad I am to get this invitation," cried Robert, with suchevident sincerity that Margery's bright color deepened. "You'll show meyour brook, and Do
n Dolor, and your Rosie and Mahlon, your mountains,your little all-sorts store, everything, won't you, Miss Margery?"

  "How much she has told him and how well he remembers!" thought Happie,as Margery nodded smilingly. "There's a Valley of Eden up there, nottoo far to go to. Shall I show you that also?" she asked.

  Robert had once more arisen to go. He stood looking down at prettyMargery smiling up at him. "You do that in spite of yourself," he said.

  "Auntie Keren, you really are a duck!" said Happie, putting her armaround the elder Keren-happuch's tall, thin figure and conducting herdown the hall. "Let me take you safely to your room, Fairy Godmother.You are much too valuable a fairy godmother to go down this longpassage alone."

  "I am not going to my room, Happie," said Miss Keren as Happie pausedat what had been Bob's door. "I want to talk with your mother in thedining-room a half hour. She is giving Laura mathematics, or tryingto. Mathematics and the artistic temperament seem to have no affinity.It is wonderful that child can count time! You run back to Margery andGretta, I don't want you."

  "Frankness, Miss Keren-happuch, is admirable, but horrible. I supposeI can't be offended with a fairy godmother, though! Only think ofgoing to bed with three, a whole three, good times to dream over! Howdeliriously happy we are going to be!" Happie recklessly squeezed MissKeren as she pulled away her arm and faced right about on her summarydismissal. Her last vestige of awe of Miss Keren had vanished. Sherealized the squeeze herself only when she had almost reached her owndoor. "It's the fourteenth of February--why, so it is!" Happie thought,stopping short at the discovery. "We've been getting valentines. Wintermust be breaking up, for there's not a trace of ice between Aunt Kerenand me now."