TWO SLEIGHRIDES
In the centre of the table was a huge round cake encrusted with
gorgeous frosting in the forms of beautiful flowers. Around its sides
were festoons of buds and blossoms, while here and there a sugar
butterfly was poised as if ready for flight.
There were flowers beside every plate, there were ices in wonderful
shapes, there were bonbons and nuts in abundance, while great silver
baskets were heaped with luscious fruits.
What a treat it was! How they laughed and talked as they enjoyed the
feast! How bright the lights, how sweet the scent of the lovely flowers
with which every room was decorated!
From the drawing-room the tender music floated in. Oh, it was like a
dream of fairyland!
Nina Earl watched Patricia closely.
"I guess you never saw a finer party than _this_," she said.
Patricia stared for a moment, then she said just what one might have
expected.
"This _is_ a lovely party, and I never saw a grander one except one I
went to when I was in N' York, where they had a cake as big as this
whole table, and--"
"Then the table to hold such a cake as that must have been pretty big to
get inside of any room!" laughed Reginald.
"Well, you didn't see it, so you can't know how grand it looked,"
Patricia replied, and as that was quite true, Reginald had nothing to
say.
Lola Blessington sat beside Nancy, and many of the older guests watched
the two as they talked together, and thought how charming they were,
and how very unlike.
Lola's blue eyes were merry, and her sea-nymph's costume was very
becoming, while Nancy's fine dark eyes and graceful figure never looked
prettier than in her lovely shepherdess frock.
At Nancy's right sat Dorothy, and her beautiful little face showed the
joy that was in her heart. She was always happiest when giving pleasure
to others.
And when at last the feast had been enjoyed, more merry games had been
played, and tripping feet had danced to lively measures, then the great
hall clock hands pointed to the hour, and the guests remembered that it
was quite time to be thinking of home.
A surprise awaited the merrymakers, for when good-nights had been said,
and they stepped out into the crisp air, they shouted with delight, for
lo, while they had been in the warm, flower-scented rooms, a snowstorm
had been covering the steps, the gardens, the avenue with a white velvet
carpet!
"Hurrah!" shouted Reginald, "this is the first snowstorm, and there'll
be fun every day as long as it lasts."
Long icicles hung like diamond pendants from roof and balcony, and still
the snow-flakes like downy feathers were falling lazily, as if they knew
not whether to pause, or to continue to descend.
And when the last carriage had rolled down the driveway Dorothy turned,
and clasping Nancy's hands, she said:
"Oh, there never was such a perfect party! We'll always remember it."
"Always," said Nancy.
There were two thoughts, two pictures in her mind. She was thinking of
Dorothy's first party, when, as a little outcast, she had climbed up
into the branches of a tree which overhung the great garden, that thus
she might peep at the lovely children in their beautiful frocks; now, as
Dorothy's friend and playmate, she had enjoyed this fancy dress party,
in a costume as charming as that of any guest.
She was happy now, and how dearly she loved Dorothy, how grateful she
was for her home and friends!
For days they talked of nothing but the party, and Aunt Charlotte found
it a little difficult to keep them from whispering about it during
school hours.
Three little guests who had intended to come, had, at the last moment,
been obliged to remain at home. They were Mr. Dainty's nephews, and
they had been much disappointed in losing a charming visit in which a
fine party was to have been included.
Patricia, with her usual lack of sweetness, told Arabella that she did
not believe that those three boys had ever _thought_ of coming.
"Well, anyway, _we_ were there, and we had a fine time, but say,--there
_weren't_ two fountains after all!" said Arabella.
"Why, what a thing to say, when I showed you the second one, only it
didn't work right," Patricia replied. "The way I turned it made steam,
so if I'd only just turned it the _other_ way it would have been water."
"How do you know it would?" Arabella asked in a teasing voice.
"How do you know it _wouldn't_?" Patricia replied, and Arabella chose
to make no reply.
After the little happening in the conservatory on the evening of the
party, Aunt Matilda spoke plainly to Arabella about her choice of
playmates.
"I don't approve of that Lavine girl," she had said.
"You don't know her," ventured Arabella.
"I don't need to," was the curt reply. "A girl that can't go to a party
without meddling with things, and getting into mischief, is not the girl
that I care to have you with, and there's no reason why you should go to
the other end of the town to find a playmate; there are enough pleasant
girls in your own school."
Aunt Matilda's words were true, but with Arabella's contrary nature, the
fact that her aunt did not approve of Patricia, made her the most
desirable of all her playmates.
She at once decided to spend the next Saturday with Patricia. She did
not dare to ask Patricia to call for her, because Aunt Matilda, if
exasperated, might send her home, and Patricia would never overlook
that. She had just decided to invite herself to visit Patricia when
something happened which delighted her.
It was after school, and they were talking of the coming Saturday, and
how it should be spent.
"We've not seen you driving your pony for a long time," said Katie Dean.
"We are going out with Romeo on Saturday," Dorothy said.
"There's a lovely road where the great icicles hang from the trees like
fringe, and the groom says it's the finest road for sleighing in
Merrivale."
Patricia had not been to school, and had walked over to meet the pupils
of the little private class.
"I suppose Nancy's going with you," Patricia said.
"Of course she will," said Katie, "don't you just know that Dorothy
wouldn't care for the ride if Nancy weren't with her?"
Katie laughed as she said it, the others joining in the merriment, for
it was well known that while Dorothy cared very truly for all her
friends, Nancy was the dearest. Patricia knew how handsome Romeo looked
in his fine harness, and the trim little sleigh with its soft fur robes
made a nice setting for Dorothy and Nancy as they spun over the
glistening road. She determined to say something which would impress
all who listened.
"I'll invite you to a sleighride with _me_, Arabella," she said, "will
you go?"
"Yes, _indeed_," said Arabella, "what time shall I be ready?"
"You be over at my house 'bout two, and we'll go as soon as we want to,"
she said.
Nina looked at Jeanette, and when Patricia had left them she spoke the
thought that was in her mind.
"I didn't know Patricia Lavine had a horse and sleigh. Has any one ever
seen her driving?" she asked.
"Don't b'lieve she has," said Reginald.
Patricia had offended him that afternoon by calling him a _little_ boy.
"You mustn't say that," said Katie, who, being a year older than her
cousin Reginald, felt obliged to reprove him when things that he said
were just a little too naughty.
"You just tell me, Katie Dean, do _you_ b'lieve she has?" he asked, but
Katie was talking to Mollie, and she chose to let him think that she had
not heard his question.
The day set for the two sleighrides was clear and crisp.
Mrs. Dainty and Aunt Charlotte were entertaining each other with
exchanging memories of Mrs. Dainty's school-days when with her
classmates she had been as popular as Dorothy now was, and Aunt
Charlotte had found it a task to keep them under good discipline without
quelling their high spirits.
The fire in the grate flamed higher and crackled merrily, and in the
glow the two ladies were enjoying tea, small cakes, and bonbons.
"You may go for a short sleighride, if you wish," Mrs. Dainty said, "if
you and Nancy will dress very warmly for the trip. Aunt Charlotte and I
have decided to remain here cosily by the fire."
"But Romeo hasn't been out for days, and I don't mind the cold. It'll be
just gay out in the crisp air," Dorothy said.
"Then surely you may go if it is to be so very gay," said Mrs. Dainty,
laughing, "but remember what I said about wearing warm wraps and furs."
Dorothy promised, and soon, with the groom riding behind them, they were
off over the road.
Romeo was as delighted as they, and sped along as if shod with wings,
his mane and tail floating gracefully as he almost flew along.
Dorothy and Nancy, nestled in a white fur robe, felt only the frosty
touch of the sharp wind upon their cheeks, and they laughed and talked
as if it had been a summer day.
On the dry bushes by the roadside great flocks of tiny sparrows hopped
from twig to twig, chattering and twittering as they pecked at the
little dried berries. A great crow flew out from a bit of woodland,
making a noisy protest that any one should drive over the quiet road,
and thus disturb his musings.
The icicles were glittering in the sunlight, and the crust sparkled as
if powdered with diamond dust, while the rough bark of the trees still
held a coating of frost which the sunlight had not been warm enough to
melt.
"We'll tell them how beautiful it looked when we get home," said
Dorothy, her eyes bright with delight.
"It will take two of us to even _half_ tell it," laughed Nancy.
And while Dorothy and Nancy were gliding rapidly over the frosty
highway, Arabella was standing at Patricia's door, ringing the bell, and
wondering why no one replied. Then some one came around the corner.
"Hello!" she cried. "Ma's gone to spend the afternoon with a friend, and
I've just been out to see about our sleigh, so nobody heard you ring.
The sleigh'll be here in just a minute; you come up with me and help me
bring down some shawls."
Without stopping to question, Arabella followed her up the three flights
of stairs, and such an array of shawls as Patricia brought out!
"These sofa cushions I'll throw downstairs, and we can pick them up
afterwards," she said.
Over the baluster she flung cushion after cushion, until Arabella's
curiosity forced her to question.
"What ever _are_ you going to do with all those cushions?" she asked.
Patricia looked very wise.
"Oh, you'll see," she said, and when she had reached the lower hall she
peeped out.
"Here it is!" she said.
Arabella looked.
"Why, that's an old _pung_!" she said
"Well, who said it wasn't?" Patricia replied sharply; "but it isn't an
_old_ one _now_, because it has just been painted yellow. It's our
grocer's, and the boy that drives it is going to let us ride in it this
afternoon." Arabella hesitated. She knew that Aunt Matilda did not
wish her to be with Patricia at all, and she also felt that to ride in a
yellow pung, lettered, "Fine Groceries, Butter, Cheese, and Eggs," was
surely not aristocratic, and yet, what _fun_ it would be!