‘I'm afraid of tearing the paper. Dear, what a horrid thing it is!’ replied Elsie, in a disgusted tone.
However, she stuck in a couple of pins and fastened the shade out of the way. After that they looked about the room. It was plainly furnished, but very nice and neat. The bureau was covered with a white towel, on which stood a pincushion, with ‘Remember Ruth’ stuck upon it in pins. John admired this very much, and felt that she could never make up her mind to spoil the pattern by taking out a pin, however great her need of one might be.
‘What a high bed!’ she exclaimed. ‘Elsie, you'll have to climb on a chair to get into it; and so shall I.’
Elsie felt it. ‘Feathers!’ she cried, in a tone of horror. ‘O John! why did we come? What shall we do?’
‘I guess we shan't mind it much,’ replied John, who was perfectly well, and considered these little variations on home habits rather as fun than otherwise. But Elsie gave a groan. Two nights on a feather-bed! How should she bear it!
Tea was ready in the kitchen when they went downstairs. A little fire had been lighted to boil the water. It was almost out, but the room felt stiflingly warm, and the butter was so nearly melted that Mrs Worrett had to help it with a teaspoon. Buzzing flies hovered above the table, and gathered thick on the plate of cake. The bread was excellent, and so were the cottage cheeses and the stewed quince; but Elsie could eat nothing. She was in a fever of heat. Mrs Worrett was distressed at this want of appetite, and so was Mr Worrett, to whom the children had just been introduced. He was a kindly-looking old man, with a bald head, who came to supper in his shirt sleeves, and was as thin as his wife was fat.
‘I'm afraid the little girl don't like her supper, Lucinda,’ he said. ‘You must see about getting her something different tomorrow.’
‘Oh! it isn't that. Everything is very nice, only I'm not hungry,’ pleaded Elsie, feeling as if she should like to cry. She did cry a little after tea, as they sat in the dusk; Mr Worrett smoking his pipe and slapping mosquitoes outside the door, and Mrs Worrett sleeping rather noisily in a big rocking-chair. But not even Johnnie found out that she was crying, for Elsie felt that she was the naughtiest child in the world to behave so badly when everybody was so kind to her. She repeated this to herself many times, but it didn't do much good. As often as the thought of home and Katy and papa came, a wild longing to get back to them would rush over her, and her eyes would fill again with sudden tears.
The night was very uncomfortable. Not a breath of wind was stirring, or none found its way to the stifling bed where the little sisters lay. John slept pretty well, in spite of heat and mosquitoes, but Elsie hardly closed her eyes. Once she got up and went to the window, but the blue-paper shade had become unfastened, and rattled down upon her head with a sudden bump, which startled her very much. She could find no pins in the dark, so she left it hanging; whereupon it rustled and flapped through the rest of the night, and did its share toward keeping her awake. About three o'clock she fell into a doze; and it seemed only a minute after that before she woke up to find bright sunshine in the room, and half-a-dozen roosters crowing and calling under the windows. Her head ached violently. She longed to stay in bed, but feared Mrs Worrett would think it impolite: so she dressed and went down with Johnnie; but she looked so pale, and ate so little breakfast, that Mrs Worrett was quite troubled, and said she had better not try to go out, but just lie on the lounge in the best room, and amuse herself with a book.
The lounge in the best room was covered with slippery, purple chintz. It was a high lounge, and very narrow. There was nothing at the end to hold a pillow in its place; so the pillow constantly tumbled off and jerked Elsie's head suddenly backward, which was not at all comfortable. Worse, Elsie having dropped into a doze, she herself tumbled to the floor, rolling from the glassy, smooth chintz as if it had been a slope of ice. This adventure made her so nervous that she dared not go to sleep again, though Johnnie fetched two chairs, and placed them beside the sofa to hold her on. So she followed Mrs Worrett's advice, and ‘amused herself with a book’. There were not many books in the best room. The one Elsie chose was a fat black volume called ‘The Complete Works of Mrs Hannah More’. Part of it was prose, and part was poetry. Elsie began with a chapter called ‘Hints on the Formation of the Character of a Youthful Princess’. But there were a great many long words in it; so she turned to a story named ‘Coelebs in Search of a Wife’. It was about a young gentleman who wanted to get married, but who didn't feel sure that there were any young ladies nice enough for him; so he went about making visits, first to one and then to another; and, when he had stayed a few days at a house, he would always say, ‘No, she won't do, and then he would go away. At last he found a young lady who seemed the very person, who visited the poor, and got up early in the morning, and always wore white, and never forgot to wind up her watch or do her duty; and Elsie almost thought that now the difficult young gentleman must be satisfied, and say, ‘This is the very thing. When, lo! her attention wandered a little, and the next thing she knew she was rolling off the lounge for the second time, in company with Mrs Hannah More. They landed in the chairs, and Johnnie ran and picked them both up. Altogether, lying on the best parlour sofa was not very restful; and as the day went on, and the sun beating on the blindless windows made the room hotter, Elsie grew continually more and more feverish and home-sick and disconsolate.
Meanwhile Johnnie was kept in occupation by Mrs Worrett, who had got the idea firmly fixed in her mind that the chief joy in a child's life was to chase chickens. Whenever a hen fluttered past the kitchen door, which was about once in three minutes, she would cry, ‘Here, Johnnie, here's another chicken for you to chase’; and poor Johnnie would feel obliged to dash out into the sun. Being a very polite little girl, she did not like to say to Mrs Worrett that running in the heat was disagreeable; so by dinner-time she was thoroughly tired out, and would have been cross if she had known how; but she didn't Johnnie was never cross. After dinner it was even worse; for the sun was hotter, and the chickens, who didn't mind sun, seemed to be walking all the time. ‘Hurry, Johnnie, here's another! came so constantly, that at last Elsie grew desperate, got up, and went to the kitchen with a languid appeal, ‘Please, Mrs Worrett, won't you let Johnnie stay by me, because my head aches so hard?’ After that, Johnnie had rest; for Mrs Worrett was the kindest of women, and had no idea that she was not amusing her little guest in the most delightful manner.
A little before six, Elsie's head felt better; and she and Johnnie put on their hats, and went for a walk in the garden. There was not much to see: beds of vegetables, a few currant bushes, that was all. Elsie was leaning against a paling, and trying to make out why the Worrett house had that queer tiptoe expression, when a sudden loud grunt startled her, and something touched the top of her head. She turned, and there was an enormous pig standing on his hind legs on the other side of the paling. He was taller than Elsie as he stood thus, and it was his cold nose which had touched her head. Somehow, appearing in this unexpected way, he seemed to the children like some dreadful wild beast. They screamed with fright, and fled to the house, from which Elsie never ventured to stir again during their visit. John chased chickens at intervals, but it was a doubtful pleasure; and all the time she kept a wary eye on the distant pig.
That evening, while Mrs Worrett slept and Mr Worrett smoked outside the door, Elsie felt so very miserable that she broke down altogether. She put her head in Johnnie's lap, as they sat together in the darkest corner of the room, and sobbed and cried, making as little noise as she possibly could. Johnnie comforted her with soft pats and strokings; but did not dare to say a word, for fear Mrs Worrett should wake up and find them out.
When the morning came, Elsie's one thought was, would Alexander come for them in the afternoon? All day she watched the clock and the road with feverish anxiety. Oh, if papa had changed his mind, had decided to let them stay for a week at Conic Section, what should she do? It was just possible to worry through and keep alive till af
ternoon, she thought; but if they were forced to spend another night in that feather-bed, with those mosquitoes, hearing the blue shade rattle and quiver hour after hour, she should die, she was sure she should die!
But Elsie was not called upon to die, or even to discover how easy it is to survive a little discomfort. About five, her anxious watch was rewarded by the appearance of a cloud of dust, out of which presently emerged old Whitey's ears and the top of the well-known carriage. They stopped at the gate. There was Alexander, brisk and smiling, very glad to see his ‘little misses again’, and to find them so glad to go home. Mrs Worrett, however, did not discover that they were glad no, indeed! Elsie and John were much too polite for that. They thanked the old lady, and said good-bye so prettily that, after they were gone, she told Mr Worrett that it hadn't been a bit of trouble having them there, and she hoped they would come again, they enjoyed everything so much; only it was a pity that Elsie looked so peaked. And at that very moment Elsie was sitting on the floor of the vehicle with her head in John's lap, crying and sobbing for joy that the visit was over, and that she was on the way home. ‘If only I live to get there,’ she said, ‘I'll never, no, never, go into the country again!’ which was silly enough; but we must forgive her.
Ah, how charming home did look, with the family grouped in the shady porch, Katy in her white wrapper, Clover with rose-buds in her belt, and everybody ready to welcome and pet the little absentees! There was much hugging and kissing, and much to tell of what had happened in the two days: how a letter had come from Cousin Helen; how Daisy White had four kittens as white as herself; how Dorry had finished his water-wheel – a wheel which turned in the bath-tub, and was ‘really ingenious’, papa said; and Phil had ‘swapped’ one of his bantam chicks for one of Eugene Slack's Brahmapootras. It was not till they were all seated round the tea-table that anybody demanded an account of the visit. Elsie felt this a relief, and was just thinking how delicious everything was, from the sliced peaches to the clinking ice in the milk-pitcher, when papa put the dreaded question –
‘Well, Elsie, so you decided to come, after all. How was it? Why didn't you stay your week out? You look pale, it seems to me. Have you been enjoying yourself too much? Tell us all about it.’
Elsie looked at papa, and papa looked at Elsie. Dr Carr's eyes twinkled just a little, but otherwise he was perfectly grave. Elsie began to speak, then to laugh, then to cry, and the explanation, when it came, was given in a mingled burst of all three.
‘O papa, it was horrid! That is, Mrs Worrett was just as kind as could be, but so fat; and oh, such a pig! I never imagined such a pig. And the calico on that horrid sofa was so slippery that I rolled off five times, and once I hurt myself very badly. And we had a feather-bed; and I was so homesick that I cried all the evening.’
‘That must have been gratifying to Mrs Worrett,’ put in Dr Carr.
‘Oh! she didn't know it, papa. She was asleep, and snoring so that nobody could hear. And the flies! – such flies, Katy! – and the mosquitoes, and our window wouldn't open till I put in a nail. I am so glad to get home! I never want to go into the country again, never, never! Oh, if Alexander hadn't come – why, Clover, what are you laughing for? And Dorry, I think it's very unkind,’ and Elsie ran to Katy, hid her face, and began to cry.
‘Never mind, darling, they didn't mean to be unkind. Papa, her hands are quite hot; you must give her something.’ Katy's voice shook a little; but she would not hurt Elsie's feelings by showing that she was amused. Papa gave Elsie ‘something’ before she went to bed – a very mild dose, I fancy; for doctors' little girls, as a general rule, do take no medicine, and next day she was much better. As the adventures of the Conic Section visit leaked out bit by bit, the family laughed till it seemed as if they would never stop. Phil was forever enacting the pig, standing on his triumphant hind legs, and patting Elsie's head with his nose; and many and many a time, ‘It will end like your visit to Mrs Worrett’ proved a useful check when Elsie was in self-willed mood and bent on some scheme which for the moment struck her as delightful. For one of the good things about our childish mistakes is, that each one teaches us something; and so, blundering on, we grow wiser, till, when the time comes, we are ready to take our places among the wonderful grown-up people who never make mistakes.
2
A NEW YEAR AND A NEW PLAN
When summer lingers on into October, it often seems as if winter, anxious to catch a glimpse of her, hurries a little; and so people are cheated out of their autumn. It was so that year. Almost as soon as it ceased to be hot, it began to be cold. The leaves, instead of drifting away in soft, dying colours, like sunset clouds, turned yellow all at once; and were whirled off the trees in a single gusty night, leaving everything bare and desolate. Thanksgiving came; and before the smell of the turkey was fairly out of the house, it was time to hang up stockings and dress the Christmas-tree. They had a tree that year in honour of Katy's being downstairs. Cecy, who had gone away to boarding-school, came home; and it was all delightful, except that the days flew too fast. Clover said it seemed to her very queer that there was so much less time than usual in the world. She couldn't imagine what had become of it; there used to be plenty. And she was certain that Dorry must have been tinkering with all the clocks – they struck so often.
It was just after New Year that Dr Carr walked in one day with a letter in his hand, and remarked, ‘Mr and Mrs Page are coming to stay with us.’
‘Mr and Mrs Page,’ repeated Katy: ‘did I ever see them?’
‘Once, when you were four years old, and Elsie a baby. Of course you don't remember it.’
‘But who are they, papa?’
‘Mrs Page was your dear mother's second cousin; and at one time she lived in your grandfather's family, and was like a sister to mamma and Uncle Charles. It is a good many years since I have seen her. Mr Page is a railroad engineer. He is coming this way on business, and they will stop for a few days with us. Your Cousin Olivia writes that she is anxious to see all you children. Have everything as nice as you can, Katy.’
‘Of course I will. What day are they coming?’
‘Thursday – no, Friday,’ replied Dr Carr, consulting the letter, ‘Friday evening, at half-past six. Order something substantial for tea that night, Katy. They'll be hungry after travelling.’
Katy worked with a will for the next two days. Twenty times, at least, she went into the blue-room to make sure that nothing was forgotten; repeating, as if it had been a lesson in geography, ‘Bath towels, face towels, matches, soap, candles, cologne, extra blanket, ink. A nice little fire was lighted in the bedroom on Friday afternoon, and a big, beautiful one in the parlour, which looked very pleasant with the lamp lit and Clover's geraniums and china roses in the window. The tea-table was set with the best linen and the pink and white china. Debby's muffins were very light. The crab-apple jelly came out of its mould clear and whole, and the cold chicken looked appetizing, with its green wreath of parsley. There was stewed potato, too, and, of course, oysters. Everybody in Burnet had oysters for tea when company was expected. They were counted a special treat; because they were rather dear, and could not always be procured. Burnet was a thousand miles from the sea, so the oysters were of the tin-can variety. The cans gave the oysters a curious taste tinny, or was it more like solder? At all events, Burnet people liked it, and always insisted that it was a striking improvement on the flavour which oysters have on their native shores. Everything was as nice as could be when Katy stood in the dining-room to take a last look at her arrangements; and she hoped papa would be pleased, and that mamma's cousin would think her a good housekeeper.
‘I don't want to have on my other jacket,’ observed Phil, putting his head in at the door. ‘Need I? This is nice.’
‘Let me see,’ said Katy, gently turning him round. ‘Well, it does pretty well; but I think I'd rather you should put on the other, if you don't mind much. We want everything as nice as possible, you know; because this is papa's company, and he h
ardly ever has any.’
‘Just one little sticky place isn't much,’ said Phil, rather gloomily, wetting his finger and rubbing at a shiny place on his sleeve. ‘Do you really think I'd better? Well, then, I will.’
‘That's a dear' – kissing him. ‘Be quick, Philly, for it's almost time they were here. And please tell Dorry to make haste. It's ever so long since he went upstairs.’
‘Dorry's an awful dandy,’ remarked Phil, confidentially. ‘He looks in the glass, and makes faces if he can't get his parting straight. I wouldn't care so much about my clothes for a good deal. It's like a girl. Jim Slack says a boy who shines his hair up like that never'll get to be President, not if he lives a thousand years.’
‘Well,’ said Katy, laughing; ‘it's something to be clean, even if you cannot be President.’
She was not at all alarmed by Dorry's recent reaction in favour of personal adornment. He came down pretty soon, very spick and span in his best suit, and asked her to fasten the blue ribbon under his collar, which she did most obligingly; though he was very particular as to the size of the bows and length of the ends, and made her tie and re-tie more than once. She had just arranged it to suit him when a carriage stopped.
‘There they are,’ she cried. ‘Run and open the door, Dorry.’
Dorry did so; and Katy, following, found papa ushering in a tall gentleman, and a lady who was not tall, but whose Roman nose and long neck, and general air of style and fashion, made her look so. Katy bent quite over to be kissed; but for all that she felt small, and young, and unformed, as the eyes of mamma's cousin looked her over and over, and through and through, and Mrs Page said
‘Why, Philip, is it possible that this tall girl is one of yours? Dear me! how the time flies! I was thinking of the little creatures I saw when I was here last. And this other great creature can't be Elsie? That mite of a baby! Impossible! I cannot realize it. I really cannot realize it in the least.’
What Katy Did at School Page 2