TELLING FORTUNES
"I'm very sorry to be late," said Ruth penitently, as she walked
into Miss Burton's little sitting-room to find the three other
girls there before her.
"We were just wondering whether that fiery steed had carried you
off so far that you couldn't get back," laughed Miss Burton.
"He's a beauty, and I'd have given anything to have my father see
you ride off on him," said Dorothy, who longed to ride, but hadn't
yet been able to persuade her father that it was a necessary part
of her education.
"You see we didn't wait for you," continued Miss Burton, "so take
off your hat and coat, and you shall have a cup of chocolate and
some bread and butter as soon as you are ready."
"Riding does give one such an appetite," murmured Ruth apologetically,
forgetting that they didn't know that she had been feasting only
about an hour before. "But what were you talking about, girls, as
I came up-stairs? Your voices sounded so earnest that I felt quite
curious."
"We were talking about Mildred Walker," answered Betty. "I don't
believe you ever heard of her, Ruth, but she's a girl who always
lived here until about three years ago. Her father had a good deal
of money, and suddenly he made a great deal more and they went to
New York to live. They lived pretty extravagantly, I guess, and now
he has lost all his money and is very sick, and Mildred will have
to do something to help support the family. She's only nineteen,
and she's never done anything but have a good time all her life,
so we were wondering how she would get along."
"When my father heard about it," said Dorothy, "he slapped his
hand down on the table and said, 'There, that settles it; my girl
shall learn to do something to support herself in case need comes.'
He looked so fierce and decided that I should have been quite worried
if I hadn't made up my mind some time ago what I wanted to do."
"Oh, Dolly, what is it?" cried Ruth, almost upsetting her cup in
her earnestness.
"Why, physical culture, of course," answered Dorothy. "I haven't
any talent for anything else, and I just love that."
"It's a very good choice, Dorothy, for, even if you're never obliged
to teach, it helps one in many ways," said Miss Burton. "I've
always been very thankful that my wise father felt just as yours
does, for when the time came I was able to take hold and do my part.
When father helped me plan my education there seemed no possible
chance that I should be obliged to earn my own living, but it came
suddenly, as as it so often does, and I'm glad to think that both
father and mother lived to see me working happily and successfully."
Miss Burton was smiling as she finished, but there was a soft
mistiness in her brown eyes which touched the hearts of her adoring
audience.
"Dear little Miss Burton," said Ruth, giving her a swift hug, "we
can't be sorry that you had to earn your living if we try, for if
you hadn't we never should have known you."
"Who can tell?" said Charlotte with mock solemnity. "Perhaps she
might have come into our lives in some other way. Perhaps even
now some one is drawing near to us who may be destined to play an
important part in our lives or hers." Charlotte's voice grew deeper
as she spoke, and her eyes had a faraway look.
"Oh, Charlotte, you goose. You make me feel positively creepy,"
cried Betty.
"You don't see any one over my shoulder, I hope," said Dorothy with
an involuntary backward glance.
"Now, Miss Burton," said Charlotte with a laugh, "I leave it to
you if that isn't sufficient proof that I ought to be an actress."
"I'm afraid the modern manager would require still more proof
than that, Charlotte," answered Miss Burton, much amused. "But you
certainly did that well."
"Let's all tell what we think we could do if we had to," proposed
Betty. "What should you do, Ruth?"
"I suppose that after I've studied the violin a few years more I
could give lessons," said Ruth thoughtfully. "But somehow I don't
seem to look forward to it with any wild joy. Whenever I plan ahead,
I always think of myself as in a home, making things look pretty,
and having lots of dinner-parties. I believe I should like to be
a model hostess," she added honestly.
"Oh, Ruth, just a society woman?" asked Charlotte with scorn in
her voice.
"Ruth's idea means more than that, Charlotte, if you think of it
in its broadest sense," interposed Miss Burton. "To be a perfect
hostess implies capacity for managing one's household, a wide
culture, forgetfulness of self and a ready appreciation of the needs
of others, sincerity, charm, interest in one's fellow beings, and
so many other good qualities that I can't stop to mention them.
It's really a beautiful ideal, and Ruth is fortunate in living with
a woman who is one of the few perfect hostesses I know."
"I don't think I quite realized before how much it meant," said
Ruth. "But it must have been watching Aunt Mary that made me think
of it, for I used to have quite different ideas. It just occurs
to me," she added with an infections laugh, "that the last time I
remember saying anything about it I told father that when I grew
up I should keep a candy-shop."
"And eat all you wanted, of course," added Charlotte as they all
laughed. "That was my first idea, too."
"And what's your present idea?" asked Betty.
"Oh, mine's so big and impossible, and so slow in coming, that I
can't bear to talk about it," answered Charlotte, grown suddenly
shy, and then she relapsed into silence, and no amount of urging
would make her speak.
"No one asks me about mine," said Betty plaintively after a pause
in the conversation, "and I'm just dying to tell."
"Oh, Betty, forgive us, and divulge the secret this very minute,"
laughed Miss Burton.
"Well," began Betty slyly, "I'm going to be different from the rest
of you; I'm going to be married and keep house. And my husband's
going to be an invalid, at least I think I shall have him an invalid,
and I shall have to support the family. Oh, I forgot to say that
before I'm married I'm going to learn all about cooking and--and
domestic science. Then I shall do all my own housework, and make
cake for the neighbors, and cater for lunch-parties, and raise
chickens and squabs, and keep bees, and grow violets and mushrooms,
and have an herb-garden. Oh, and in my leisure moments--"
Miss Burton and the girls were quite helpless with laughter by this
time, and Betty interrupted herself to look at them with pretended
astonishment.
"I was just about to say," she went on severely, "when you
interrupted me by laughing so rudely, that in my leisure moments I
should make clothing for the children and myself, and also furnish
fancy articles for the Woman's Exchange."
"Oh, Betty, when you are funny you are the funniest thing I ever
saw," gasped Charlotte, going off into a fresh burst of laughter.
"I'm much obliged to you, Betty, for that laugh," said Miss Burton,
wiping her eyes, "and I hope I'll be there to see when you get that
model establishment of yours in running order."
"I'll send you samples of the various things if you're not on
hand," responded Betty with a twinkle. "But really, Miss Burton,"
she added with sudden seriousness, "I do want to take a course in
cooking and domestic science."
"Judging by the specimens of your cooking I've eaten I should think
it would be the thing for you to do," replied Miss Burton heartily.
"The opportunities for teaching in that line are many, and even if
you never have to earn money by it, to know how to cook is a very
great accomplishment."
"I dare say," said Charlotte, "that we shall all do something
absolutely different from what we are planning now. Probably Betty
will marry a millionaire, and Dolly will take in sewing. Who can
say that Ruth may not be an artist? And I--well, I think my strong
point is cooking, and I shall undoubtedly be feeding starving
families on baked apples for years to come."
"Oh, fudge," said Dolly, much disgusted with her part of the prophecy.
"You can't tell fortunes for me, Charlotte; I won't have it."
"I'm sure to be an artist," laughed Ruth. "I can draw a pig with
my eyes shut just as well as I can with them open. I should love
to splash on color, though."
"You might be a house-painter," said Betty meditatively. "When my
millionaire builds his house I'll employ you to do the painting."
"And Charlotte can be cook," suggested Ruth. "But speaking of
artists, girls, makes me think of what I've been wanting to ask
you ever since I got here. Uncle Henry and I called on Marie this
afternoon and found her sitting on the piazza in the sunshine.
Just as we were leaving we found out quite by accident that she
has been making perfectly lovely little sketches, and Uncle Henry
thinks she's a genius. He told her she must study as soon as she
got strong, and you should have seen the longing look in those
great dark eyes of hers."
"I suppose she hasn't a cent that she feels she can use for lessons,"
said Miss Burton thoughtfully. She, as well as Ruth's special chums,
had become very much interested in Marie, and Mrs. Perrier's little
house had been the goal of many a breezy walk.
"I think Uncle Henry means to help her, of course," continued Ruth,
"but I was wondering if there wasn't something we could do to earn
money. Wouldn't it be great if the Cooking Club could do something
to help?"
"I should say it would," responded Dorothy with the greatest
enthusiasm. "Didn't we begin to try even at our first meeting to
make our club helpful to others?"
"I hope we shan't miss the mark the way we did that time," groaned
Charlotte with a disgusted expression on her face.
"Oh, but didn't Joe look too absurd in that ladylike black skirt
and bonnet?" said Ruth going off into a fit of laughter. "I don't
care if the joke was mostly on me; it was the funniest thing I ever
saw."
"We never could pay him off with anything half so clever," laughed
Betty. "But, girls, it's Marie who wants to be an artist, not Joe.
Who's got an idea?"
"Let's have a supper in the Town Hall and cook all we can ourselves
and solicit the rest," proposed Dorothy.
"Too much outside work when we're in school," protested Charlotte.
"If we could have it four weeks from now it would come in the April
vacation," persisted Dorothy.
"Why not have some sort of an entertainment," suggested Miss Burton,
"and seat your audience at small tables? Then at the end of the
entertainment you could serve light refreshments."
"And we could have tableaux and perhaps some music," cried Ruth in
a burst of inspiration. "You'd help us out with it, wouldn't you,
Miss Burton?"
"Of course I would. I've had to plan such things several times."
"Let's choose the prettiest girls we can find in the school for
waitresses," said Betty, "and have them wear cunning aprons and
big bows on their heads."
"Why not have the thing open an hour or so before the entertainment
begins, and give them a chance to buy home-made candy and salted
almonds and some of those specialties which the gifted members of
our club delight in making?" suggested Charlotte. "We shall need
all the money we can get, for just the price of the tickets won't
amount to very much."
"That's a practical idea, Charlotte," said Miss Burton. "And
if you'd like it perhaps I can make some money for you by reading
palms. The boys could build a little tent for me, and I could give
each applicant five minutes of my valuable time."
"Oh, Miss Burton, can you really read palms?" cried Betty much
impressed.
"Well, Betty," said Miss Burton with her radiant smile, "I can,
at least, make it interesting for persons who like to have their
palms read. And fortunately I have a costume which I wore for this
same purpose at a Charity Bazar in Chicago."
"That will be great," said Dorothy. "Oh, girls, I think this is
going to be the grandest affair we've ever had in Glenloch. Can't
you just see how everything is going to look?"
"We'll get the boys to help decorate the hall," suggested Betty.
"They'll be useful in lots of ways," added Charlotte. "Boys come
in handy sometimes."
"We must have a business meeting right away with Kit and Alice,"
continued the practical Dorothy. "We shan't accomplish anything
until we know just what each one is to do."
"There's just one thing," said Ruth hesitatingly. "Do you suppose
we can make a success of it without telling people what we are going
to do with the money? Of course I know," she went on hurriedly,
"that our own families must be told, but it seems to me it will be
much pleasanter for Marie if it isn't generally known."
"That's so," declared Dorothy. "It would be horrid for her to feel
that she is being made an object of charity for the town. Let's
tell just our mothers and fathers, and swear them to secrecy."
"If we give a good entertainment," added Charlotte, "no one will
have any right to ask what we're going to do with the money."
"Good," cried Ruth, much relieved. "I felt almost sorry I'd proposed
it when I began to think about poor Marie."
"Girls, girls, it's half-past six," cried Betty, as Miss Burton's
clock struck the half-hour. "I actually haven't heard that clock
strike before this afternoon."
"Mercy me! We have dinner at six," and Ruth turned to find her coat
and hat.
At that moment there was a knock, and Miss Burton's landlady poked
her head into the room to say there was a gentleman at the door
who wanted to see Miss Ruth Shirley.
"It must be Mr. Hamilton," said Ruth, who felt guilty on account
of the lateness of the hour. "I'll call down and tell him I'll be
there in a minute."
"It's not Mr. Hamilton. It's no one I know," answered Mrs. Stearns.
Ruth looked puzzled. "Oh, do come down with me," she implored,
catching Miss Burton's hand, and together they went along the hall
and down to the turn in the stairs. Then, as Ruth caught sight
of the tall, handsome man standing in the hall with the lamplight
shining full upon his face, she forgot everything else in the world,
and getting over the remaining stairs in some incomprehensible way,
threw herself into his outstretched arms.
"Oh, Uncle Jerry, Uncle Jerry!" she cried with a little break in
her voice as she buried her head on his shoulder. She was quite
unconscious that, though his arms tightened around her, his eyes
were fixed with eager longing on the smiling girl who had stopped
half-way down the stairs. There was a long second of silence. Uncle
Jerry's face went white and then red. Margaret Burton's smile faded,
and an expression of perplexity took its place. Then she came down
the stairs, and holding out her hand said:
"I see you haven't forgotten me, Mr. Harper. I am very glad to see
you again."
Ruth looked up in amazement as Uncle Jerry took the white hand in
both of his. "Why, Miss Burton," he began impetuously, "I--" and
then something made him look up to the hall above where three heads
were gazing over the railing with eager curiosity.
"I am more than glad to meet you here," he continued lamely. "I--I
had no idea of meeting an old friend."
"Miss Burton, you never told me that you knew my Uncle Jerry, and
I've talked about him lots of times," protested Ruth in an aggrieved
voice.
"Well, of course, I supposed your Uncle Jerry was Jeremiah Shirley,"
laughed Miss Burton. "You never told me that Jerry stood for Jerome,
nor that his last name wasn't the same as yours."
"Why, so I didn't. And I suppose all the girls think your name is
Jeremiah, and they're probably sorry for you. I'll run up now and
get my hat, and bring them down to be properly introduced."
It seemed only a minute, and a very short one at that, to Jerome
Harper, before Ruth came down-stairs again with the girls behind
her. He ventured a little protesting glance at Miss Burton as she
stepped into the background, and allowed the chattering girls to
absorb him. Being Ruth's Uncle Jerry it was plainly his duty to
show himself in the best possible light to these, her friends, and
he did it in so charming a manner that they all fell in love with
him on the spot.
They left the house together, and only Dorothy noticed that Uncle
Jerry lingered a little to say good-bye to Miss Burton. Dorothy
usually did notice everything connected with Miss Burton, and just
then she had been thinking how pretty she looked in her simple
white wool gown, with her fair hair low on her neck and her brown
eyes shining.
"What under the sun made you say that some one might be coming to
play an important part in Miss Burton's life, Char?" she said in
a low tone to Charlotte as they started off. "Did you really have
a feeling?"
"A feeling? No, goosey; of course I didn't. Why do you ask?"
Dorothy pinched her arm to hush her, and nodded significantly at
Uncle Jerry, who was just ahead of them with Betty and Ruth.
Charlotte looked surprised and then scornful. "I hate to see any
one getting up a romance out of nothing," she whispered almost
crossly. "They're just old acquaintances, of course."
But Dorothy knew that Charlotte hadn't seen Uncle Jerry's face as
he said good-bye.