FLOSSIE'S LETTER
THE children said "good-by" to little Lois, and as her father carried
her away, she waved her hand to them.
"Wasn't she cunning?" said Dorothy.
"She was very sweet," said Nancy, "and how well she did her little
dance!"
"She didn't dance half as fine as you do, Nancy Ferris," said Floretta.
"You _know_ that."
"Oh, but I was trained for dancing," said Nancy, "and, beside, she was
very little to dance so cleverly."
Floretta made no reply, but she thought of what Nancy had said.
"Trained for dancing. She said she was _trained_ to dance. I wonder
where? I wish I knew, but I didn't quite dare to ask her."
Once more they walked around the big tent, and Uncle Harry purchased a
gift for each to carry home as a souvenir.
There were little baskets that the gypsies had woven, and fancy boxes
filled with woodland plants. The boxes were made from birch bark, and
were very dainty.
These the children prized, and lovingly they thanked him for the pretty
gifts.
At the candy table he purchased enough of the homemade bonbons to fill
the baskets, and then they left the tent to start on the homeward trip.
The barge was waiting for them, and they clambered in, tired, but very
happy.
"This is the nicest fair I ever went to," said Dorothy, "and I've had
so many good things that I'm going to save my basket of candy until
to-morrow."
"So am I," cried all the others.
"And so am _I_," said Uncle Harry, as he held up a huge basket filled
with all kinds of candy.
How they laughed, and accused him of having a "sweet-tooth."
"Now, just a moment!" he cried, as he held up his finger for silence,
"I'm taking this _big_ basket home to treat the _big_ ladies with. I
took the _little_ ladies with me, but I've not forgotten the _big_
ladies that I left at the hotel."
"Because you don't ever forget any one," said Flossie, and the others
cried:
"That's it! Just it! He does nice things for every one."
"Oh, spare my blushes," said Uncle Harry, but it was easy to see that
their affection for him pleased him.
The ride home seemed shorter than the trip to the fair.
They joined in singing the merry songs that his fine voice led, and the
horses, knowing that they were on the homeward trip, jogged along at a
better pace than when they had started out.
Uncle Harry had found some bells, and fastened them to their harnesses,
and they made a jingling accompaniment to the merry voices.
And when the barge drew up at the Cleverton, Uncle Harry, with elaborate
courtesy, handed each young lady down, bowing low, and thanking her for
the honor she had conferred upon him by permitting him to take her to
the fair.
"Oh, you do truly know we have to thank you for giving us such a lovely
day!" said Dorothy.
"But think how happy I have been," he said, and although his blue eyes
were laughing, they knew that he meant it.
"Oh, mamma, we had the finest time," cried Dorothy, "and see the fine
basket of candy and the pretty birch bark box! See the little ferns
growing in it. Isn't he _dear_?"
"He surely is charming," said Mrs. Dainty. "His generous, sunny nature
makes every one love him, and I believe he values the love of his
friends more than most things."
"He has been gay, and full of fun all day," said Nancy, "and it will
take a long time to tell you all the pleasant things he did for us. I do
wish you and Aunt Charlotte _could_ have been there when he had his
fortune told."
"And he couldn't have been any nicer to us if we'd been tall ladies,"
said Floretta.
"I hope every one of you little friends were real _little ladies_, thus
rewarding him for his kindness," Aunt Charlotte said, gently.
"Oh, we were," said Nancy, "not a single one of us did anything that
could trouble him."
"There were a number of little girls who only came here last week, so we
weren't much acquainted with them, but they were all very nice, and he
said he had as fine a time as we did," said Dorothy.
She climbed into a large hammock, and with Nancy beside her, sat
swinging, and thinking of the day that had been so delightfully spent.
Mrs. Fenton came out upon the piazza, and, instead of sitting down,
seemed to be looking for something.
"Can I help you?" said Nancy, slipping from the hammock, and hastening
toward her.
"I've mislaid my glasses," she said, "and I can't find them."
She did not thank Nancy for so kindly offering to help her, but Nancy
seemed not to notice that. She peeped under chairs, lifted their
cushions, and even looked between folds of newspapers that lay near at
hand, but the glasses were not in sight.
"How trying!" said Mrs. Fenton, "I have some letters that I wish to
read, and I can't read them until my glasses are found."
"Did you use them anywhere but just here?" Nancy asked.
Mrs. Fenton stood for a moment thinking.
"Seems to me I _did_ have them in the dining-room," she said.
"I'll go and ask the waitresses if they have seen them," said Nancy, as
she ran toward the hall.
She paused in the doorway, amazed at what she saw.
Floretta, with a pair of eyeglasses upon her small nose, was walking up
and down the room, as nearly as possible, in Mrs. Fenton's manner, and
exactly imitating her voice, while a group of waitresses, the cook, and
two kitchen maids laughed, and applauded her.
She cared not who composed her audience, so long as she obtained
applause. Floretta was, evidently, quite herself once more!
"Oh, Floretta!" cried Nancy, "you mustn't, truly you mustn't. Give me
the glasses. Mrs. Fenton is looking everywhere for them!"
"Well, I shan't give them to you!" said Floretta, rudely. "You aren't
Mrs. Fenton."
"But I've been helping her to hunt for them. She has some letters she
wants to read, and she can't till she has her glasses," insisted Nancy.
"Then let her come for them!" cried Floretta, when a quiet voice spoke.
"Very well, I _have_ come for them," it said, and there in the doorway
stood Mrs. Fenton.
The silly maids who had laughed so loudly, now hastily disappeared in
the kitchen.
Floretta dropped the glasses upon the table, and then, wholly ashamed,
crawled under it, where Mrs. Fenton's sharp eyes might not look at her.
Mrs. Fenton took the glasses, and without another word, swept from the
room.
Nancy, waiting in the hall, crept softly toward her, and gently laid her
hand on the lady's arm.
"I'm _so_ sorry she did that. I wish I could have got the glasses from
her, and brought them to you before you came to find them. Then you
needn't have known how naughty,--" Nancy caught her breath.
"Never mind that, Nancy. Remember, as _I_ shall, that _you_ were not the
naughty, disgusting child," said Mrs. Fenton, and she turned, with her
letters and glasses in her hand, and went up the long stairway to her
room.
It was nearly time to dress for dinner, which was always served
promptly at six.
Mrs. Dainty with Dorothy, and Aunt Charlotte with Nancy hastened to
their rooms, to freshen their toilettes, and Nancy realized that there
would not be time to tell Aunt Charlotte all about the unpleasant
happening.
"I've something to tell you, but I'll have to wait till we've plenty of
time," she said.
Aunt Charlotte, tying the soft, blue ribbon into the brown curls, looked
into the mirror before which they were standing, and smiled at the
thoughtful face.
"Will it keep until then, dear?" she asked.
"Oh, yes," said Nancy, "I only tell it to you because I love to tell you
everything."
"Dear child," said Aunt Charlotte, "I bless the day that you, as a
little waif, were taken in by Mrs. Dainty, and that I was asked to come
and care for you. I could not love you more if you were my own little
girl."
"I never saw my own mamma; she died when I was a baby," said Nancy, "so,
because you love me, you seem like my very own."
Gentle Aunt Charlotte's eyes were wet with happy tears, as she hooked
the pretty, white muslin frock, with its slip of light blue, and tied
the soft blue belt.
"Your shoes must be changed, Nancy," she said. "You know how particular
Mrs. Dainty is about the matter of shoes and stockings. They must match
the frock."
"Oh, yes," said Nancy, "and with this one she said: 'Wear blue
stockings and bronze slippers,' so I will."
She found the blue hose and the pretty bronze slippers, then, with elfin
grace, she caught the edge of her skirt, and with rosy, bare feet,
tripped across the floor in a graceful, gliding step, crying:
"Look, Aunt Charlotte, look! This pretty step Bonfanti taught me."
Aunt Charlotte did look, and as she watched the pretty child, and saw
her joy in dancing, she marvelled that little Nancy could smile as she
danced, remembering all that she had been taught, while apparently
forgetting all the unhappy months upon the stage.
She thought of poor little Nancy, forced to dance, night after night, to
support her old Uncle Steve, who was too lazy to support himself.
She thought of the time that the little pitiful note from Nancy had
reached them, and, together, she and Mrs. Dainty had found the child,
and brought her safely home.
She did not speak of all this. Nancy's happy little heart should never
be reminded of sad days that were past.
Now her life was filled with bright sunshine, the sunshine of love, and
it was reflected in her happy face.
A gong rang out a silvery note.
"Oh, my shoes!" cried Nancy, with a peal of merry laughter. "I wanted to
show you those pretty steps, and I forgot all about dinner."
It was the work of but a few seconds for Nancy to draw on the light blue
hose, and even less time to put on the pretty slippers. She ran to the
mirror, and courtesied, took a few tripping steps, smiling at her
reflection, and then hastened to the hall to join Dorothy.
[Illustration: SHE TOOK A FEW TRIPPING STEPS, SMILING AT HER
REFLECTION.--_Page 176._]
"All ready," cried Nancy, springing to her feet, to follow Dorothy.
A pretty pair they made as with arms about each other's waist, they
tripped along the hall.
Fair, blue-eyed Dorothy Dainty was very lovely in a pale pink frock with
soft frillings of fine lace. Her stockings were of the same shade, and
her shoes were white. Mrs. Dainty in dark blue satin, and Aunt Charlotte
in pearl color made, with the two children, a pleasing group.
In the lower hall they met Mrs. Paxton with Floretta, the former wearing
a gown of purple satin, while Floretta wore a frock of scarlet silk.
Mrs. Fenton, passing, on her way to the dining-room, looked sharply
at the two groups, and _did_ she look amused when her eyes rested upon
Mrs. Paxton, and her small daughter? Dorothy noticed the look, and
turned to her mamma.
Mrs. Dainty read the question in Dorothy's eyes, and ever so slightly,
shook her head, and they passed into the dining-room.
* * * * *
The next morning, when the mail was distributed, there was great
excitement, because every one had so many letters.
"See mine!" cried Flossie Barnet. "Everybody see mine! It looks like
boy's writing. See it!"
"If some very young man wrote it, he might not be delighted to have it
so freely exhibited, Flossie," said Uncle Harry, with a laugh.
"Oh, why should he care?" she asked in surprise. "Who do you s'pose
wrote it? Guess, Uncle Harry!"
"Well, now let me think," said Uncle Harry, covering his eyes with his
hand, then peeping through his fingers.
"There's a small boy at home, who glories in the name of Reginald Merton
Deane. Open the letter, dear, and if I guessed right, you can give me a
prize, and if I'm wrong, I'll give you one."
Flossie studied the address for a moment, then she opened the letter,
and laughed with delight.
"I'll have to give you the prize, but why did he think to write to me?"
Dear little Flossie had never seemed aware that small Reginald preferred
her to any of his friends. Even when she was so little that she could
not pronounce his name, and called him "Weginald," he thought her the
dearest of all his playmates. And this was his letter:
"DEAR FLOSSIE:
"I miss you so much that I'm going to write, and
tell you all the news.
"Our old dog had a fit yesterday, and my brother
got the vet'nary doctor. When he came, he said
Carlo hadn't any fit. He was acting just awful. I
said 'what makes him tare round so?' an he said
maybe I'd tare round sum if I had a fish-bone in
my throat! The doctor took it out, and then Carlo
was so glad he tore round worsen ever!
"Arabella Corryville is acting worse than Carlo
did. You know her Aunt Matilda lives with them, an
neether Arabella, or her pa, or her ma dare to do
ennything without asking Aunt Matilda _first_.
Well, her aunt has had to go way up to New
Hampshur (I guess I didn't spell that rite) and
Arabella thinks its just her chanse to act awful.
Carlo is real quiet side of Arabella when she acts
the way she does now.
"She stays out doors most all the time, and goes
just where she pleases.
"Some days she's way down by the stashun until its
almost dark.
"You know she's always taking medesin, and carries
the bottles in her pockets.
"She carries em now, but she told me she's takin
the kind she likes best. Theres two kinds her Aunt
Matilda made her take, one tasted horrid, and the
other tasted nice. Arabella threw the horrid one
away, and ate the nice pills for candy. She told
me this morning that her Aunt Matilda is coming
home just for one day, and then they're all going
up where you, and Dorothy, and Nancy are. I don't
believe it, but if she does, and you see her, you
needn't give my love to her.
"Your tru friend,
"REGINALD."