CHAPTER XV
A SEA TRIP
As the days went by, Marjorie became more accustomed to her newsurroundings, and felt quite at home in the Spencer household.
The baby's illness ran its course and though the child was very sick, thedoctor felt hopeful that they could keep the other children free frominfection. Mrs. Spencer felt keenly the trying situation, but Miss Hartwas so bright and cheerful that she made everybody feel happy.
So, as far as the two little girls were concerned, it was just as ifMarjorie were merely making a visit to Delight.
The children were becoming very much attached to each other. Delightgreatly admired Marjorie's enthusiastic, go-ahead ways, and Midget wasimpressed by Delight's quiet way of accomplishing things.
Both were clever, capable children, and could usually do whatever theyset out to, but Marjorie went at it with a rush and a whirl, whileDelight was more slow and sure.
But Delight was of a selfish disposition, and this was very foreign toMarjorie's wide generosity of spirit. However, she concluded it must bebecause Delight was an only child, and had no brothers or sisters toconsider.
Marjorie's own brother and sister were very attentive to their exiledone. A dozen times a day King or Kitty would telephone the latest newsfrom school or home, and very frequently James would cross the streetwith a note or a book or a funny picture for Midget, from some of theMaynards. So the days didn't drag; and as for the morning hours, theywere the best of all.
"It's like a party every day," said Marjorie to her mother, over thetelephone. "Miss Hart is so lovely, and not a bit like a school-teacher.We never have regular times for any lesson. She just picks out whateverlesson she wants to, and we have that. Last night we bundled up and wentout on the upper balcony and studied astronomy. She showed us Orion, andlots of other constitutions, or whatever you call them. Of course wedon't have school evenings, but that was sort of extra. Oh, Mother, sheis just lovely!"
"I'm so glad, my Midget, that you're enjoying your lessons. Do youpractice every day?"
"Yes, Mother; an hour every afternoon. Miss Hart helps me a little withthat, too, and Delight and I are learning a duet."
"That's fine! And you don't get into mischief?"
"No,--at least not much. I shut one of the kittens up in a bureau drawerand forgot her; but Miss Hart found her before she got very dead, and shelivened her up again. So, that's all right."
"Not quite all right; but I'm sure you won't do it again. I can't seem toscold you when you're away from me, so _do_ try to be a good girl, won'tyou, my Midget."
"Yes, Mother, I truly will."
And she did. Partly because of the restraint of visiting, and partly byher own endeavors, Marjorie was, on the whole, as well-behaved a child asany one could wish. And if she taught Delight more energetic and noisygames than she had ever heard before, they really were beneficial to thetoo quiet little girl.
One day they discovered what Miss Hart meant by using their steamer gamefor geography lessons. During school hours she proposed that they allplay the steamer game.
Very willingly the girls arrayed themselves in wraps and caps, Miss Hartalso wearing tourist garb, and with shawl straps and bundles, and withthe kittens, also well wrapped up, they boarded the steamer.
Miss Hart, who pretended to be a stranger with whom they becameacquainted on board, told them they were taking the Mediterranean trip toNaples.
The school-room was, of course, the principal saloon of the boat, and asthe passengers sat round a table, Miss Hart, by means of a real steamerchart, showed them the course they were taking across the Atlantic.
Time of course was not real, and soon they had to pretend they had beenat sea for a week or more.
Then Miss Hart said they were nearing the Azores and would stop there fora short time.
So they left the steamer, in imagination, and Miss Hart described to themthe beauties and attractions of these islands. She had photographs andpost cards, and pressed blossoms of the marvellous flowers that growthere. So graphic were her descriptions that the girls almost felt theyhad really been there.
"To-morrow," she said, as they returned to the ship, "we shall reachGibraltar. There we will get off and stay several hours, and I'm sure youwill enjoy it."
And enjoy it they certainly did. Next day it occurred, and when they leftthe ship to visit Gibraltar, they were taken to Miss Hart's own room,which she had previously arranged for them.
Here they found pictures of all the interesting points in or nearGibraltar. There were views of the great rock, and Miss Hart told themthe history of the old town, afterward questioning them about it, to besure they remembered. That was always part of her queer teaching, toquestion afterward, but it was easy to remember things so pleasantlytaught.
She showed them pieces of beautiful Maltese lace, explaining how it wasmade, and why it was sold at Gibraltar, and she showed them pictures ofthe Moors in their strange garb, and told of their history. The luncheonbell sent them scurrying to the ship's dining-room, and they begged ofMiss Hart that they might go on to Naples next day.
But she said that geography mustn't monopolize all the days, and nextday, although she wasn't sure, probably there would be a session with Mr.Arithmetic.
"I don't care," said Midget, happily, "I know we'll have a lovely time,even if it _is_ arithmetic."
Valentine's Day came before the quarantine was raised.
Marjorie was very sorry for this, for the doctor had said that after afew days more she could go home, and it seemed as if she might have gonefor the fourteenth.
But he would not allow it, so there was nothing to do but make the bestof it.
The night before Valentine's Day, however, she did feel a bit blue, asshe thought of King and Kitty and even Rosy Posy addressing theirvalentines, and making a frolic of it as they always did.
And she thought of her father, who was always ready to help on suchoccasions, making verses, and printing them in his fine, neathandwriting. Of course, they would send some to her,--she knew that,--butshe was losing all the jolly family fun, and it seemed a pity.
And then the telephone rang, and it was her father calling for her.
"Hello, Midget," came his cheery voice over the wire; "now I wonder if alittle girl about you? size isn't feeling sorry for herself thisevening."
"I'm afraid I am, Father, but I'm trying not to."
"Good for you, Sister! Now don't bother to do it, for I can tell you I'mfeeling _so_ sorry for you that it's unnecessary for anybody else to dothat same. Now I'll tell you something to chirk you up. I suppose youhave lessons to-morrow morning?"
"Yes; Miss Hart said we could have a holiday if we chose, but we didn'tchoose. So we're going to have special valentiney lessons,--I don't knowwhat they'll be."
"All right; and in the afternoon, I shall send you over a valentineparty. No people, you know, they're not allowed; but all the rest of anice valentine party."
"Why, Father, how can we have a party without people?"
"Easily enough. I'll attend to that. Goodnight, now, Midget. Hop to bed,and dream hearts and darts and loves and doves and roses and posies andall such things."
"All right, I will. Good-night, Father dear. Is Mother there?"
"Yes,--hold the wire."
So Mrs. Maynard came and said a loving goodnight to her near yet farawaydaughter, and Marjorie went to bed all cheered up, instead of lonely anddespondent.
St. Valentine's Day was a fine, crisp winter day, with sunshine dancingon the snow, and blue sky beaming down on the bare branches of the trees.
The fun began at breakfast-time, when everybody found valentines at theirplates,--for as Midge and Delight agreed, they had made so many, and theymust use them up somehow. So Miss Hart and Mrs. Spencer received severalin the course of the day; two were surreptitiously stuffed into DoctorMendel's coat pockets, and the kittens each received some.
Lessons that morning were not really lessons at all. Miss Hart called ita Literature Class.<
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First she told the girls about the origin of Valentines, and how theyhappened to be named for St. Valentine, and why he was chosen as thepatron saint of love. Then she read them some celebrated valentineswritten by great poets, and the girls had to read them after her, withgreat care as to their elocution.
She showed them some curious valentines, whose initials spelled names orwords, and were called acrostics, and told of some quaint old-fashionedvalentines that had been sent to her grandmother.
"And now," she said finally, "we've had enough of the sentimental side, Iwill read you a funny valentine story."
So, in her whimsical, dramatic fashion, she read the tragic tale of Mr.Todgers and Miss Tee.
"In the town of Slocum Pocum, eighteen-seventy A.D., Lived Mr. Thomas Todgers and Miss Thomasina Tee; The lady blithely owned to forty-something in the shade, While Todgers, chuckling, called himself a rusty-eating blade, And on the village green they lived in two adjacent cots. Adorned with green Venetians and vermilion flower pots.
"No doubt you've heard it stated--'tis an aphorism trite-- That people who live neighborly in daily sound and sight Of each other's personality, habitually grow To look alike, and think alike, and act alike, and so Did Mr. Thomas Todgers and Miss Thomasina Tee, In the town of Slocum Pocum, eighteen-seventy A.D.
"Now Todgers always breakfasted at twenty-five to eight, At seven-thirty-five Miss Tee poured out her chocolate; And Todgers at nine-thirty yawned 'Lights out! I'll go to bed.' At half-past nine Miss Tee 'retired'--a word she used instead. Their hours were identical at meals and church and chores, At weeding in the garden, or at solitaire indoors."
"'Twas the twelfth of February, so the chronicler avers; Mr. Todgers in his garden, and Miss Tee, of course, in hers; Both assiduously working, both no doubt upon their knees, Chanced to raise their eyes together; glances met--and, if you please, Ere one could say Jack Robinson! tut-tut! or fol-de-re! Thomasina loved Mr. Todgers; Mr. Todgers loved Miss Tee!
"Two heads with but a single thought went bobbing to the dust, And Todgers smiled sub rosa, and Miss Thomasina blushed; Then they seized their garden tackle and incontinently fled Down the box-edged pathways past the flower pots of red; Past the vivid green Venetians, past the window curtains white, Into their respective dwellings, and were seen no more that night.
"All that night poor love-sick Todgers tried his new-born hopes to quell, And Miss Tee made resolutions, but she did not make them well, For they went to smash at daybreak, and she softly murmured ''Tis Kismet! Fate! Predestination! If he'll have me I am his.' While Todgers sang 'There's Only One Girl in This World for Me,' Or its music hall equivalent in eighteen-seventy.
"It was February thirteenth (On, my Pegasus! Nor balk At that fear-inspiring figure!) Thomasina took a walk. And Fate drew her--drew her--drew her by a thousand spidery lines To a Slocum Pocum window filled chockful of valentines, All gaudy--save two, just alike in color, shape and size, Which pressed against the window pane and caught the lady's eyes.
"'How chaste! How charming! How complete!' she cried. 'It must be mine! I'll tell my love to Thomas in this lovely valentine, Whereon is suitably inscribed, in letters fine and free, 'SEND BACK THIS TENDER TOKEN IF YOU CANNOT MARRY ME.' So with her cheeks all rosy, and her pulses all astir, She went in and brought the valentine and took it home with her.
"Ten minutes later Thomas paused outside the self-same store. You guess the rest. Fate grappled him and pushed him through the door, And made him buy the fellow to the very valentine Which Thomasina had purchased there at twenty-five to nine. He chuckled (and Fate chuckled) the appropriate words to see-- 'SEND BACK THIS TENDER TOKEN IF YOU CANNOT MARRY ME.'
"It was February fourteenth, and the postman's rat-a-tat Made two hearts in Slocum Pocum beat a feverish pit-pat Thomas and Thomasina each in turn rushed doorwards and Snatched their respective missives from the post's extended hand; And the postman, wicked rascal, slowly winked the other eye, And said: 'Seems to me the old folks is a gettin' pretty spry.'
"They tore the letters open. 'What is this? Rejected! Spurned!' Both thought the cards before them were their valentines returned. And Thomas went to Africa, and Thomasina to Rome; And other tenants came to fill each small deserted home. So no more in Slocum Pocum may we hope again to see Poor Mr. Thomas Todgers and poor Thomasina Tee."
"That's awfully funny," said Delight, as Miss Hart finished reading, "butI should think they would have known they got each other's valentine."
"I shouldn't," said Midge, who entered more into the spirit of the story;"they didn't know each other sent any, so each thought their own wasreturned. Besides, if they hadn't thought so, there wouldn't have beenany story."
"That's so," said Delight, who usually agreed with Marjorie, finally.
The postman brought lots of valentines for the two little girls.Delight's were almost all from her friends in New York, although some ofthe Rockwell young people had remembered her too.
Marjorie's were nearly all from Rockwell, and though there were none fromany of her family, that did not bother her, for she knew they would comein the afternoon for the "party."
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