THE END OF THE TERM
Boyd was in two minds about claiming that dance--it wouldn’t do the
little Texan any harm to be called down; but when the time came, he
presented himself before Blue Bonnet, outwardly as smiling as usual.
“Would you mind if we sat it out?” she asked.
Boyd looked his surprise; she had not been sitting out any of the other
dances, and again that uneasy feeling came over him. “As you like, of
course,” he answered, leading the way to the old bench under a big
apple tree just outside.
“I wanted to tell you,” Blue Bonnet began at once,--“I’ve thought it
all over, and it doesn’t seem fair _not_ to tell you--that I know
about--”
Boyd’s quick glance of astonishment, even though she felt it to be half
assumed, made it hard to go on.
“About your Sargent paper,” she added determinedly.
“Is that to be wondered at? It is down on the board with the rest.”
“I think you know what I mean. You know that those notes you dropped
the other day belonged to Alec.”
“Upon my word, that is--”
“And that the subject you used was really the one he was using.”
“Aren’t you taking a good deal for granted?” Boyd broke in; she should
not have it all her own way.
“You know what I say _is_ so,” Blue Bonnet insisted. “Those were Alec’s
notes, the subject was his, and all at once he gave up sending in a
paper. It’s very plain.”
“It has not occurred to you that Alec might have given me those notes?”
“Then, in that case, you would not have looked so--ashamed, while you
were picking them up.”
Boyd sprang to his feet, his face crimson. “I don’t wonder they sent
you East to be taught--manners!”
It was Blue Bonnet’s turn to crimson, but she held back the retort
trembling at the edge of her tongue; she had come out there to tell
Boyd Trent what she knew, and she had told him. It was inconceivable
that a Trent--the General’s grandson, and Alec’s cousin--should have
done this thing.
“I only wish you were a boy!” Boyd said.
“I’d like well to be--for a few moments,” Blue Bonnet answered, turning
away.
Boyd did not follow her; instead he wandered off to the lower end of
the yard, out of sight of the lantern-lighted barn, but not out of
hearing of the fiddle played by Amanda’s Uncle Dave. Leaning against
the old stone wall, the boy stared miserably out over the broad moonlit
meadow.
The worst of it was that he did not know what Blue Bonnet would do
now. As things were, it would be just his luck for that paper to take
a prize. It ought to, considering how carefully Alec had prepared
those notes; there had been very little left for him to do, beyond
putting them together. He wouldn’t have bothered about writing a
paper at all--what did he care for Woodford customs?--except that his
grandfather had seemed to expect it, and he wanted to keep on the right
side of his grandfather--for various reasons. Alec shouldn’t have left
the notes lying around, he knew he had been hunting for a subject;
and anyhow, they were only notes--taken from books; he wouldn’t have
thought of taking a real paper. There would have been plenty of time
for Alec to get up another one; it was the sort of thing he liked
doing. If only Blue Bonnet had not--Alec could have been depended
on not to tell; he had not referred to the matter since--Boyd moved
impatiently; that brief interview between his cousin and himself was
one of the things he preferred to forget.
It was all a horrid mess whatever way you looked at it; he would be
mighty glad when school closed; next fall he should be going back to
his own school; he never wanted to see Woodford again.
In the meantime, he supposed that Amanda girl was wondering where her
partner for this last dance was? She would have to wonder, that was all.
They were finishing the dance as he went back to the barn. Amanda
received his murmured apology about a sudden headache in indignant
silence; she didn’t believe he had a headache.
More than once, during the ride home, Boyd felt Kitty’s inquisitive
eyes upon him. “Why aren’t you singing with the rest of us?” she
demanded at last.
“I’d rather listen.”
“You didn’t look as if you were doing even that,” Kitty remarked.
Alec glanced at his cousin; something had happened during that sitting
out.
“Don’t let’s wait to talk,” Susy urged; “we’ll be home before we know
it now. Mrs. Parker, mayn’t we go around the long way? It’s such a
beautiful night.”
But Mrs. Parker vetoed this request; the short way ’round was fully
long enough in her opinion.
* * * * *
Two or three days later, Blue Bonnet came in after school waving a
letter. “I met the carrier! It’s from Uncle Cliff! He expects to get
here by the twelfth. He will be here in two weeks! And then in ten
days school will be out!” Blue Bonnet waltzed Solomon about the room
excitedly.
There was a litter of sewing about the sitting-room; Blue Bonnet was
to take her summer things back with her, and Grandmother insisted on
having a share in the making of them. Being fitted by Grandmother was
much pleasanter than being fitted by Mrs. Morrow, Blue Bonnet thought;
she didn’t fill her mouth full of pins, and then sigh if one so much as
stirred.
Not that there were no fittings to be gone through with at the
old-fashioned house at the further end of the village; Mrs. Morrow was
making the new white dress for “Closing Day” right now, and Blue Bonnet
was due in her little trying-on room right now, too.
“To think that it’s only two weeks!” Blue Bonnet looked about the
sitting-room a little soberly; would she be homesick for it after she
got back to the ranch? The great living-room there was not much like
this, certainly.
“Only a matter of weeks,” Aunt Lucinda said, dislodging Solomon from
the piece of muslin, where he had suddenly elected to take a nap.
Blue Bonnet’s face sobered even more; if only they wouldn’t care so
much. “Uncle Cliff thinks Chula had better go out to Darrel’s for the
summer,” she went on. “And, oh, Grandmother! He’s going to give me a
week in New York before we go West!”
“That will be fine!” Mrs. Clyde said, her thoughts going back to the
Spring afternoon when the other Elizabeth had sat there on that same
lounge telling of certain plans, a letter from Texas in her hand.
“I think, Blue Bonnet,” Aunt Lucinda suggested, “that Mrs. Morrow will
be wondering where you are.”
“You’d think she give that up by now, wouldn’t you?” Blue Bonnet
remarked. “But she always looks just as surprised as if it was the
first time I’d kept her waiting. Come on, Solomon, you may go,
too,--but you are not to chase the cat, remember.”
The “We are Seven’s” received the news of Mr. Ashe’s expected arrival
with mingled pleasure and regret. “It isn’t that we mind his coming, if
it didn’t mean your going,” Kitty explained, linking her arm through
Blue Bonnet’s.
“I suppose,” Ruth said, “that if you asked him your prettiest, he would
let you stay on through the summer.”
“That’s one of the things you’re not likely to find out,” Blue Bonnet
laughed.
The seven were out in full force to welcome Mr. Ashe. “May I have her
this time?” he asked Kitty.
“I reckon we’ll have to lend her to you--for the summer,” Kitty
answered; “but you’ll have to promise first to get her back before
school opens.”
“Woodford appears to agree with you, Honey,” Mr. Ashe said, as the club
left them at the gate. He stood a moment before opening it. It was over
five months since he had seen her. She had grown taller in the five
months; taller, and a bit older. “I suppose one of these trips I shall
come back and find you quite grown up,” he said.
Blue Bonnet’s laugh was reassuring. “Not as long as I can help it! Tell
me about everything, Uncle Cliff! It doesn’t seem believable that in
just a little while now I’ll be going back. They’ll be glad to see me,
won’t they?”
“Uncle Joe intimated pretty plainly that if I came back without you
this time he wouldn’t hold himself responsible for anything that might
happen.”
“One thing, there won’t be anything changed!”
Uncle Cliff’s eyes twinkled.
“And please, Uncle Cliff, you’ll ask Grandmother the first thing? I
want that settled. There she is in the garden; Aunt Lucinda’s out.”
“Haven’t you asked her, Honey?”
“I waited till you came; I didn’t want to give her too much time for
thinking it over in.”
“It is really very good of you to be glad to see me,” Mr. Ashe said, as
Grandmother came forward to meet him, “considering that this time I do
not ‘go back alone.’”
“I have been telling myself that turn and turn about is only fair
play,” Mrs. Clyde answered; “and that the fall is not so far off.”
“Please, Grandmother,” Blue Bonnet’s tone was most insinuating, “it
won’t take you very long to get ready?”
“‘To get ready’?” Mrs. Clyde repeated.
“Why, to go with us. Uncle Cliff and I have been hoping and planning
for that this ever so long; but I didn’t tell you before, because I
didn’t want you to have time to think up objections in. There aren’t
any really, you know.”
Grandmother sat down on one of the garden benches, looking from Blue
Bonnet to Mr. Ashe in a surprise too great for words.
“It would be so lovely,” Blue Bonnet sat down beside her; “for us, I
mean, and we would try to make it as pleasant as possible for you. You
see, I never knew, until I came East, how much I needed a grandmother.”
“The need was mutual,” Grandmother said softly.
“And you could keep me from slipping back into the old spoilt ways; you
could see that I did my mending and practising, and only took coffee at
Sunday morning breakfast--”
Mrs. Clyde smiled. “At least, I should be on hand to bring you back
with me in the fall;” and suddenly, Texas did not seem as far away as
it had. Lucinda wanted to go abroad this summer--the only drawback had
been leaving her mother alone. She would like to see the Blue Bonnet
Ranch, where the other Elizabeth had been so happy during those few
years of her married life. And it would mean too the not parting with
Blue Bonnet for the summer.
“I will think it over,” she said.
“But that is just what I didn’t want you to do,” Blue Bonnet protested.
“Please, couldn’t you promise first?”
“Couldn’t you?” Mr. Ashe said. “Blue Bonnet and I have certainly set
our hearts on this; and I have a rooted objection to having our young
lady disappointed--unnecessarily.”
“There comes Aunt Lucinda, I hear Solomon’s bark!” Blue Bonnet jumped
up. “May I go and tell her it’s all settled, Grandmother?”
“You may go and tell her what it is we are trying to settle,” Mrs.
Clyde laughed.
Miss Lucinda approved of the plan thoroughly. “I think it would be a
delightful trip for you, Mother,” she said.
“And next year, maybe you won’t be wanting to go abroad, Aunt Lucinda,”
Blue Bonnet said; “then you and Grandmother can both come out to the
ranch.”
“Perhaps.” Miss Lucinda agreed.
After supper, Blue Bonnet and her uncle went for a ride. “Chula’ll miss
me,” Blue Bonnet said, patting the glossy neck; “she’s the dearest
horse.”
“And Firefly will be mighty glad to see you. Listen, Honey, I’ve been
cogitating. Don’t you want to take one or two of those girls along with
you for the summer? You must be sort of used to having girls to run
with by now.”
“Uncle Cliff! Oh, I would love that!”
“Kitty, I suppose--who else?”
“Kitty would be most fun. And Sarah’s been--you don’t know how good
Sarah Blake was to me a while back, Uncle Cliff!”
“How about telling me, Honey?”
Mr. Ashe listened to the rather sketchy story she told him, filling in
the outlines from his knowledge of her. When she finished, he leaned
nearer, laying a hand over hers. “Sarah’s going out to the ranch with
us if I have to kidnap her.”
The thought of Sarah being kidnapped sent Blue Bonnet off into a fit of
laughter. “But,” she said presently, “it wouldn’t do, really, to pick
and choose like that. The others would feel ever so hurt. They’re ‘We
are Seven’s’ too.”
“Then we’ll corral the whole bunch. There’s room enough for them on the
ranch, and if there isn’t, the one adjoining is in the market.”
“I wish we could! They’ve all been so nice to me, and we’ve had such
good times together. But I’m afraid it’s impossible.”
“I thought it was a copy-book maxim that nothing was impossible.”
“You haven’t lived ten months in Woodford, Uncle Cliff.”
“The first thing is--whether you really want them all to go?”
“Indeed I do!”
“Then the next thing to do is to see how your grandmother feels about
it. It may strike her as a pretty big proposition.”
“Grandmother won’t mind--she likes young people about. And if she says
yes, I suppose you will allow their fathers and mothers some voice in
the matter?”
“As a matter of courtesy, it might be as well to,” Mr. Ashe laughed.
“How about your neighbor; I thought it was settled that he was to have
a taste of ranch life?”
“Alec! Oh, he would like that. It would do him a lot of good. His
cousin is going abroad for the summer, to stay with his people.”
It was Aunt Lucinda who looked dubious when this latter plan was
explained. “Wouldn’t it mean too much responsibility for you, Mother?”
she asked.
“But please,” Blue Bonnet exclaimed, “we’d try not to trouble
Grandmother one bit; she wouldn’t have to do anything for us; and we’d
be as good as gold. Why, most of the time, she wouldn’t know we were on
earth.”
“My dear--” Aunt Lucinda began.
“That would hardly be a very satisfactory state of mind to be in,”
Mrs. Clyde said; she smiled down into Blue Bonnet’s eager face. “I
should hate to be the one to deprive any of the young people of such a
summer’s outing. And the fact that I am going may make it the easier
for you to secure their parents’ consents.”
“Thank you so much!” Blue Bonnet said joyously; and Aunt Lucinda
reflected that it was very improbable they would all be allowed to go.
“The first one who makes you a bit of trouble you send to me, ma’am,”
Mr. Ashe said.
“They would hate that so!” Blue Bonnet laughed. “But none of us would
dream of bothering Grandmother. And it’s all settled beautifully! We’ll
look like a party of Raymond’s Tourists, won’t we? And now I can tackle
those dreadful exams with a clear mind. They begin to-morrow.”
Blue Bonnet found Alec in his garden the next morning before breakfast.
“Uncle Cliff’s coming over to see General Trent by and by,” she said.
“Guess what for?”
Alec’s gray eyes lightened, as if before them he already saw the wide
open sweep of the prairie. “Oh, I say!” he cried.
“Grandmother’s going!”
“Good!”
“And--Uncle Cliff says that it is only fair to prepare you--all the
girls, if we can manage it.”
Alec stood the shock bravely. “It’ll prove an eye opener for Sarah.”
“It’ll be like having seven sisters, won’t it--for you?”
“I’ve always understood,” Alec laughed, “that the only boy in a large
family of girls got a lot of waiting on and spoiling.”
“You think your grandfather will say yes?”
“I’m not much afraid of his saying no,” Alec answered.
The six girls were the next to be told. “This isn’t the official
invitation,” Blue Bonnet explained, as they sat in a little group under
a tree in the school yard--she had started for school good and early
that morning; “Uncle Cliff and I are going visiting this afternoon, but
I wanted you to be prepared--so _you_ wouldn’t say no instead of yes
when your mothers asked if you would like to go.”
The wonder of it was holding even Kitty speechless.
“If we could--” Ruth sighed at last.
“Do you want us to go--very, very much, Blue Bonnet?” Debby asked.
“I do.”
“Then,” Debby nodded confidently at the others, “it’s as good as
settled. Blue Bonnet always gets what she wants--if she wants it hard
enough.”
And, to everybody’s surprise except Blue Bonnet’s and her uncle’s,
Debby’s word proved true. Fathers and mothers shook their heads
doubtfully, uncles and aunts indulged in grave forebodings, big
brothers and sisters offered advice, but after not too much delay all
the invitations were accepted.
Sarah went about with a look of continual astonishment in her light
blue eyes; to be going to Texas, to be breaking away from all the
old routine of home duties and simple village amusements for a whole
vacation--Sarah and her sense of duty underwent daily conflict.
“But your father and mother want you to go!” Blue Bonnet argued.
“You’re bound to obey your parents, Sarah.”
“Sure!” Kitty added. “And don’t you worry, Sallykins, you’re bound to
run across a few things now and then which only your strong sense of
duty will enable you to go through with. Wait until you’re face to face
with your first tamale.”
School was to close on the twenty-second. The following week, Mr. Ashe
and Blue Bonnet were to spend in New York, giving the fellow travelers
time to make their final preparations,--the whole party leaving
Woodford for Texas on the first of July.
The ease and rapidity with which Mr. Ashe detailed these arrangements,
took the six club members’ breaths away.
“We might be simply running in to Boston for a day’s shopping,” Susy
commented.
“The more time the more worry,” Blue Bonnet said.
There were three all-engrossing topics of conversation during those
days; the Texas trip, the hoped-for promotion, and the Sargent.
“Two of which you’ve a share in, and one of which you haven’t!” Kitty
said to Blue Bonnet, now, after enumerating them.
“Did you know,” Debby asked, “that Boyd Trent had withdrawn his paper?”
“Withdrawn his paper!” five voices echoed excitedly. “Why didn’t you
tell us before?”
“I was waiting for a clear field,” Debby laughed. “He told me so
himself this morning.”
“But why?” Kitty asked.
“He didn’t tell me that.”
“Perhaps he thought it wasn’t good enough,” Ruth suggested.
“I’m sure I sometimes wish I could withdraw mine,” Amanda sighed.
“It wouldn’t have made any difference; he’d never have got a prize,”
Kitty declared.
As she went on up the street after leaving the girls, Blue Bonnet told
herself that _she_ knew why Boyd had withdrawn his paper. Perhaps he
had told Debby, knowing Debby would tell her among the others. She had
scarcely seen him since the night of Amanda’s birthday; to all intents
and purposes, he was devoting himself to baseball during most of his
out-of-school time.
That relations continued strained between the two cousins it was easy
to see; a mere outward semblance of friendliness being kept up on the
General’s account.
“Solomon,” Blue Bonnet said, as he came to meet her, “should I have
said what I did that night, or shouldn’t I? Maybe it was more or less
of a rushing-in business? But it didn’t seem fair not to let him know
why one couldn’t dance with him, or be friends. And it was true!”
Solomon appeared perfectly willing to take her word for it.
“What’s the trouble, Honey?” Uncle Cliff asked, as she came across the
lawn to the bench where he sat, busy over some papers Uncle Joe had
forwarded him.
“Just some school business,” she hadn’t any right to tell even such a
close confidant as Uncle Cliff about it. “You don’t get much chance to
lead the Simple Life going to school.”
“The twenty-second’s coming nearer every day, Honey.”
“At least, the exams will be over soon; the Sargent winners aren’t
given out until the very last day, at closing exercises.”
“Why didn’t you try? Afraid of cutting out all the others?” Mr. Ashe
laughed.
“I did think of it--then I changed my mind.”
She had fallen into their ways and customs pretty well, Mr. Ashe
thought; she couldn’t have been expected to go in for them all.
Blue Bonnet broke off a spray of white roses, brushing them lightly
across her face. She was sorry on Grandmother’s and Aunt Lucinda’s
account; they were disappointed, though they had said nothing. She
would like them to know the rights of it, and to be able to show
Grandmother the little bundle of papers thrust into one of the
pigeonholes of her desk.
“By the way,” her uncle asked, “how about the present financial
condition?”
“I’m getting on,” Blue Bonnet laughed; “last month I actually saved
a whole ten-cent piece. Aunt Lucinda thinks I’m almost ready for an
advance. She’s giving me a camera as a reward of merit.”
Nor had the little brick house on the mantelpiece been neglected; its
contents were to go to the Floating Hospital. She had not made that
promised visit to Aunt Lucinda’s crippled girls--that was one of the
things that must wait over until fall now; next year she meant not to
have so many wait-overs.
“I had a wire this morning from Maldon,” Mr. Ashe said; “he places The
Wanderer at our disposal for the trip West; she happens to be lying
idle in Boston.”
“How perfectly lovely! I must go tell Grandmother; and now--” Blue
Bonnet’s face was radiant, “_now_, Solomon needn’t travel in the
baggage-car.”
“Maldon will be relieved when he learns that,” Mr. Ashe observed.
The six received this latest piece of news wide-eyed. “Travel all the
way to Texas in a private car!” Amanda exclaimed.
“Blue Bonnet Ashe!” Kitty declared solemnly. “It was a lucky day for us
when you came East!”
* * * * *
The Boston relatives arrived on the twenty-first for a short visit;
Cousin Honoria and Cousin Augusta looked upon Cousin Elizabeth’s
proposed Western trip in mingled amazement and dismay; a little kindly
advice, a little gentle persuasion, were the least they could offer.
What would she do on a ranch--where there were cowboys and Mexicans
and--Cousin Honoria glanced appealingly at her sister.
“Mustangs!” Cousin Augusta felt that she had added the final touch.
Blue Bonnet left the room with a haste that Grandmother could only
envy. “But I do not intend to ride the mustangs,” she said; “and I
have always wanted to see a real cowboy; and Benita is a Mexican.
Elizabeth was very fond of Benita; so is Blue Bonnet.”
“I think Mother will enjoy her summer very much,” Miss Lucinda said,
patting Solomon; Solomon had been more than ever attached to Miss
Lucinda lately. Solomon couldn’t understand just what was about to
happen, but he had an instinctive feeling that in an emergency Miss
Lucinda was likely to prove a veritable tower of defence.
It was that afternoon that Blue Bonnet came home jubilant, as she had
that Friday before Christmas. “I’ve passed!” she announced. “That’s
twice running! Looks like _I_ was getting the habit! And I needn’t have
worked so hard, after all; it wasn’t such a close thing. Alec’s passed
too,” she went on hurriedly, seeing reproof in her aunt’s eye; “and the
girls--Amanda’s conditioned. She’ll have to study this summer. I did
think there wouldn’t be a single school book along.”
“A little regular study on the part of each one of you girls every
day--” Miss Lucinda began.
“But,” Blue Bonnet broke in, “nothing is too regular out there, not
even the meals; that’s the delightful part of it.”
And Grandmother laughed at the sudden look in Cousin Honoria’s and
Cousin Augusta’s eyes.
At last, the twenty-second really came; Blue Bonnet, standing before
the glass, while Aunt Lucinda buttoned the long line of tiny buttons
down the back of the new white gown, decided that going to school has
its attractions, Closing Day being one of them. And later, sitting in
her place in the big assembly-room, sharing the common thrill of eager
excitement in the air, she was sure of it.
The graduation exercises were to take place that night. Blue Bonnet was
not much interested in those; she was waiting for the great moment of
the morning--the announcing of the names of the winners of the Sargent
prizes.
It came at last, the tall boy who had taken her in to supper the night
of her dance leading the list; Blue Bonnet thought his subject sounded
very dull, like himself. If only Mr. Hunt would hurry along to Alec’s
class! Would Alec--
“‘Remember the Alamo,’” Mr. Hunt read presently, “Alexander Morton
Trent.”
It was General Trent who led the applause that time.
“Now our room!” Kitty whispered. “It’ll be Hester--for the girls!”
But it was not Hester.
“‘The Sargents of the Future,’” Mr. Hunt announced, “Katherine Benton
Clark,” and no one was more surprised than Kitty herself.
“To think,” she whispered to Blue Bonnet, as she came back to her
place, “to think how dreadfully near I came to not being allowed to
try!”
After the general exercises were various gatherings in the different
classrooms, congratulations to be made and received, good-byes to be
said.
“And so,” Mr. Hunt said, meeting Blue Bonnet on the stairs, “you did
_not_ let your class go on without you?”
“Not either time,” she answered happily.
“I understand that you are off to Texas before long, taking a good
portion of the school with you?”
“To make sure that they do not go on without me,” she laughed back.
“Good-bye,” she added, holding out her hand, “and--thank you so much.”
He had been mighty kind, she told herself,--what a perfectly delightful
tutor he would have made!
It was towards late afternoon when she reached home, tired and happy.
The General was there, looking very proud.
“For the second time,” he was saying, for rather more than the second
time. “He really is a clever boy--they both are, for that matter; it
seems that Boyd withdrew his paper almost at the last--for some reason
or other I couldn’t quite make out--or we might have had a tie between
them.” He turned to Blue Bonnet. “Alec tells me that it is really
you, my dear, whom I have to thank--for supplying him with such an
uncommonly good subject.”
Cousin Tracy looked interested. “So that’s what you did with it,
Señorita?”
“I passed it on into the right hands, you see,” Blue Bonnet said, and
presently she slipped away to her room.
The big trunk which Benita had packed with such loving care for the
journey East stood open, and partly filled, and on the lounge lay her
suit case ready for the morrow.
Blue Bonnet sat down near it, Solomon beside her, thinking of that last
afternoon at home, and the hopes and fears filling her heart then;
thinking of a good many other things besides.
It was going to be a different going back from the one she had so
insisted on that November morning; very “decently and in order,”
for--Blue Bonnet’s eyes danced--was not Aunt Lucinda superintending the
packing?
How many things had happened in this room; she had had her good moments
and her bad, but the former had predominated; and when next fall came
it would be almost like coming home.
“And if I haven’t learned anything else, Solomon,” she observed, “I
have learned to make a bed beautifully; Aunt Lucinda said as much this
morning.”
“Will you be wanting any help, Miss?” Delia asked, from the open door,
and Blue Bonnet relinquished most willingly the task of unbuttoning
that long row of buttons.
“Katie and me ain’t liking to think of to-morrow,” Delia said. “’Tis
the dull house this’ll be the summer long.”
“You’ll be dusting the parlor _every_ Saturday morning now,” Blue
Bonnet laughed; “not just when I’ve forgotten it.” It was awfully good
of everybody to be nice about not wanting her to go.
She was sitting on the porch in the twilight, thinking contentedly
of the long twilights to come on the ranch veranda, with Grandmother
sitting close by, and all the “We are Seven’s” and Alec there, too,
when Mrs. Clyde said slowly, “Blue Bonnet, why--when Cousin Tracy
gave you such excellent material to work with--didn’t you try for the
Sargent? Why, at one time, we thought you were going to,--your aunt and
I.”
Blue Bonnet looked out across the shadowy lawn; she believed she would
tell Grandmother; it should be their secret between them.
“I have got a reason, truly,” she said; “but it takes in such a number
of other people. It began one afternoon when Boyd Trent met me out
riding, and--”
“When in doubt, always confide in your grandmother,” Mrs. Clyde
advised, as Blue Bonnet hesitated; “that’s one of the things
grandmothers were made for.”
“All right,” Blue Bonnet answered.
“Please,” she asked, as she finished her story, “was it very
dreadful--what I said to Boyd that night?”
“I think, taking everything into consideration, that it was
very--pardonable,” Grandmother said.
“And you won’t mind, now that you know I really did mean to try? And
Alec won a prize. I don’t believe I should have done that; and if I
had, Kitty couldn’t’ve.”
“How should I mind, dear?--now that I understand your reason for not
trying.”
Blue Bonnet drew a deep breath of relief. “Then I haven’t a single
worry left on my mind. I didn’t like you and Aunt Lucinda thinking I
was being--just horrid.”
“I am very glad you have told me this, Blue Bonnet. You must let me
tell your aunt.”
From the stile came the sound of Alec’s whistling--“All the Blue
Bonnets are over the border;” and from the open windows of Mr. Ashe’s
room came the same tune, as he bent over the packing of his valise.
“They will be over pretty soon now,” Blue Bonnet laughed.
“Blue Bonnet,” Miss Clyde said from the doorway, “Cousin Honoria is
hoping that you are not too tired to sing one of your Spanish songs
for them?”
“Of course I’m not!” Blue Bonnet answered. “Grave or gay?” she asked,
as Mr. Winthrop opened the piano for her.
“Both,” he replied.
She gave them both, choosing, in closing, the little song Benita had
crooned over her work during those final days at home last year, with
its soft Spanish words of farewell.
Cousin Honoria and Cousin Augusta suddenly found themselves envying
Cousin Elizabeth. It was wonderful how a young person brightened up a
house.
When she came back to the veranda, Blue Bonnet found a small detachment
of the “We are Seven’s” there, with Alec and Grandmother.
“We only came to say,” Debby explained, “that we are so glad we haven’t
got to say a really good-bye; and that we will be down at the station
in the morning.”
“And mind,” Kitty pointed a warning forefinger, “mind you and Mr. Ashe
don’t forget to come back for us!”
“As if--” Blue Bonnet laughed.
* * * * *
Just before going to bed, Blue Bonnet, in dressing gown and slippers,
came to her aunt’s room.
Miss Clyde was sitting by one of the open windows, looking out at the
soft, summer starlight, filled with the scent of the yellow and white
honeysuckle covering the veranda below. She was thinking of the past
ten months, wondering how deeply their teachings had taken root with
Blue Bonnet.
“May I come in--for just a few moments?” Blue Bonnet asked. “I want
to--talk;” and apparently forgetting that Miss Lucinda did not approve
of her sitting on the floor, she dropped down beside her aunt’s
chair, resting an arm on her lap, quite as though Aunt Lucinda were
Grandmother. “I can talk so much better this way,” she said. “Please,
Aunt Lucinda, I’m afraid I’ve been a lot of trouble to you--all these
months. But it hasn’t had to be ‘_Elizabeth!_’ so very often lately,
has it? You do think I’ve improved some?”
Miss Lucinda smiled. “I do not think that you have ever meant to be ‘a
lot of trouble,’--the words are yours, not mine, my dear; and it has
been a great comfort to both your grandmother and myself, having you
with us.”
“And when I come back next fall, you’ll see--” Blue Bonnet said
earnestly. “You’ve been ever so good to me, Aunt Lucinda--even if I
didn’t--exactly think so--at the time. And I thought--maybe--we’d make
this our real good-bye; because when Uncle Cliff and I get back from
New York, it won’t be for much more than a stopping over.”
“But it is not to be _good-bye_,” Miss Lucinda laid a hand over Blue
Bonnet’s--“only, until we meet again.”
“And,” Blue Bonnet added softly, as her aunt bent to kiss her, “‘Va
Usted con Dios!’”
THE END.
The Blue Bonnet Series
_By Lela Horn Richards
and
Caroline E. Jacobs_
[Illustration]
Each, one vol., large 12mo, illustrated, $2.00
A TEXAS BLUE BONNET
BLUE BONNET’S RANCH PARTY
BLUE BONNET IN BOSTON
BLUE BONNET KEEPS HOUSE
BLUE BONNET--DÉBUTANTE
BLUE BONNET OF THE SEVEN STARS
BLUE BONNET’S FAMILY
* * * * *
THE COSY CORNER SERIES
_By Caroline E. Jacobs_
Each, one vol., large 12mo, illustrated, $0.75
BAB’S CHRISTMAS AT STANHOPE
THE CHRISTMAS SURPRISE PARTY
A CHRISTMAS PROMISE
[Illustration]
L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
53 Beacon Street : Boston, Mass.
Selections from L. C. Page & Company’s Books for Girls
THE BLUE BONNET SERIES
_Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated,
per volume_ $ 2.00
_The seven volumes, boxed as a set_ 14.00
A TEXAS BLUE BONNET
BY CAROLINE E. JACOBS.
BLUE BONNET’S RANCH PARTY
BY CAROLINE E. JACOBS AND EDYTH ELLERBECK READ.
BLUE BONNET IN BOSTON
BY CAROLINE E. JACOBS AND LELA HORN RICHARDS.
BLUE BONNET KEEPS HOUSE
BY CAROLINE E. JACOBS AND LELA HORN RICHARDS.
BLUE BONNET--DÉBUTANTE
BY LELA HORN RICHARDS.
BLUE BONNET OF THE SEVEN STARS
BY LELA HORN RICHARDS.
BLUE BONNET’S FAMILY
BY LELA HORN RICHARDS.
“Blue Bonnet has the very finest kind of wholesome, honest,
lively girlishness and cannot but make friends with every one who
meets her through these books about her.”--_Chicago Inter-Ocean._
“Blue Bonnet and her companions are real girls, the kind that one
would like to have in one’s home.”--_New York Sun._
THE LITTLE COLONEL BOOKS (TRADE MARK)
BY ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON
_Each large 12mo, cloth, illustrated, per volume_ $2.00
THE LITTLE COLONEL STORIES
(Trade Mark)
Being three “Little Colonel” stories in the Cosy Corner Series,
“The Little Colonel,” “Two Little Knights of Kentucky,” and “The
Giant Scissors,” in a single volume.
THE LITTLE COLONEL STORIES:
Second Series (Trade Mark)
Tales about characters that appear in the Little Colonel
Series.--“Ole Mammy’s Torment,” “The Three Tremonts,” and “The
Little Colonel in Switzerland.”
THE LITTLE COLONEL’S HOUSE PARTY
(Trade Mark)
THE LITTLE COLONEL’S HOLIDAYS
(Trade Mark)
THE LITTLE COLONEL’S HERO
(Trade Mark)
THE LITTLE COLONEL AT BOARDING SCHOOL
(Trade Mark)
THE LITTLE COLONEL IN ARIZONA
(Trade Mark)
THE LITTLE COLONEL’S CHRISTMAS VACATION
(Trade Mark)
THE LITTLE COLONEL, MAID OF HONOR
(Trade Mark)
THE LITTLE COLONEL’S KNIGHT COMES RIDING
(Trade Mark)
THE LITTLE COLONEL’S CHUM, MARY WARE
(Trade Mark)
MARY WARE IN TEXAS
MARY WARE’S PROMISED LAND
_These thirteen volumes, boxed as a set, $26.00_
FOR PIERRE’S SAKE AND OTHER STORIES
_Cloth, 12mo, illustrated by Billie Chapman_ $1.75
“‘For Pierre’s Sake,’ who works so hard to scrape together
the pennies necessary for a wreath for his brother’s grave,
‘The Rain Maker,’ who tries to bring rain to the drought
stricken fields--these and many others will take their places
in The Children’s Hall of Fame, which exists in the heart of
childhood.”--_Portsmouth (N. H.) Herald._
THE ROAD OF THE LOVING HEART
_Cloth decorated, with special designs and
illustrations_ $1.25
This story of a little princess and her faithful pet bear, who
finally _do_ discover “The Road of the Loving Heart,” is a
masterpiece of sympathy and understanding and beautiful thought.
THE JOHNSTON JEWEL SERIES
_Each small 16mo, decorative boards, per volume_ $0.75
IN THE DESERT OF WAITING:
THE LEGEND OF CAMELBACK MOUNTAIN.
THE THREE WEAVERS:
A FAIRY TALE FOR FATHERS AND MOTHERS AS WELL AS
FOR THEIR DAUGHTERS.
KEEPING TRYST:
A TALE OF KING ARTHUR’S TIME.
THE LEGEND OF THE BLEEDING HEART
THE RESCUE OF PRINCESS WINSOME:
A FAIRY PLAY FOR OLD AND YOUNG.
THE JESTER’S SWORD
THE LITTLE COLONEL’S GOOD TIMES BOOK
_Uniform in size with the Little Colonel Series_ $2.50
_Bound in white kid (morocco) and gold_ 6.00
Cover design and decorations by Peter Verberg.
“A mighty attractive volume in which the owner may record the
good times she has on decorated pages, and under the directions
as it were of Annie Fellows Johnston.”--_Buffalo Express._
HILDEGARDE-MARGARET SERIES
BY LAURA E. RICHARDS
Eleven Volumes
The Hildegarde-Margaret Series, beginning with “Queen Hildegarde”
and ending with “The Merryweathers,” make one of the best and
most popular series of books for girls ever written.
_Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated,
per volume_ $1.75
_The eleven volumes boxed as a set_ $19.25
LIST OF TITLES
QUEEN HILDEGARDE
HILDEGARDE’S HOLIDAY
HILDEGARDE’S HOME
HILDEGARDE’S NEIGHBORS
HILDEGARDE’S HARVEST
THREE MARGARETS
MARGARET MONTFORT
PEGGY
RITA
FERNLEY HOUSE
THE MERRYWEATHERS
BOOKS FOR BOY SCOUTS
(_Published with the approval of the “Boy Scouts of America”_)
THE VAGABOND SCOUTS; Or The Adventures of Duncan Dunn.
BY KENNEDY LYON.
_Cloth, 12mo, illustrated by Harold Cue, jacket in
full color_ $1.75
“The pranks of the boys are amusing and exciting, but never
without some useful purpose. Boys in their teens, and especially
members of ‘Scout’ organizations, are bound to enjoy this book,
and it is good reading for them in these times.”--_Boston Post._
_BY BREWER CORCORAN_
_Each, 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated_ $1.75
THE BOY SCOUTS OF KENDALLVILLE
Illustrated by Charles E. Meister.
“This is one of the biggest, best and finest Boy Scout books yet
published. Every red-blooded American boy who reads this book
will give it his hearty endorsement and will be a finer boy for
having read the story.”--_Book News Monthly._
THE BOY SCOUTS OF THE WOLF PATROL
Illustrated by John Goss.
“This book is in itself a recommendation. It is the thrilling
story of how a Scout Patrol, under the patronage and
encouragement of the head of a munition factory, suspected,
sleuthed and captured the sky.”--_Louisville Times._
THE BOY SCOUTS AT CAMP LOWELL
Illustrated by Charles Livingston Bull.
“Brewer Corcoran has written a number of Boy Scout stories.
His place is secure with thousands of boys who are waiting the
announcements of his pen.”--_Oakland Tribune._
WILL BRADFORD’S SCHOOL DAYS; Or, The Barbarian.
Illustrated by Walter S. Rogers.
“This is a splendid story of friendship, study and sport, winding
up with a perfectly corking double play.”--_Springfield Union._
LAWRENCE: THE ARABIAN KNIGHT
BY HARRY IRVING SHUMWAY.
_Cloth 12mo, illustrated, full color jacket_ $1.75
No story of courage, endurance, and inspired leadership will
be read by boys with more interest than that of Thomas Edward
Lawrence whose part in the Great War has made of him a legendary
figure.
ALBERT: THE SOLDIER KING: Being the Story of Belgium’s Great Ruler.
BY HARRY IRVING SHUMWAY.
_Cloth, 12mo, illustrated from original photographs,
full color jacket_ $1.75
“This book for boys emphasizes the democratic ways and the high
ideals of the late King of the Belgians.”--_Cincinnati Enquirer._
THE CRUISE OF THE “KINGFISHER,” A Tale of Deep-Sea Adventure.
BY H. DEVERE STACPOOLE.
_Cloth, 12mo, illustrated_ $1.75
THE CRUISE OF THE “SALLY”
BY EDWARD P. HENDRICK.
_Cloth, 12mo, illustrated by Dean Freeman_ $1.75
COPPER COLESON’S GHOST
BY EDWARD P. HENDRICK.
_Cloth, 12mo, illustrated by Harold Cue_ $1.75
Baffling encounters with alleged ghosts, a daring underwater
escape from a flooded mine and an exciting ice boat race are
among the adventures experienced by this gallant crew.
JACK IN THE MOUNTAINS
BY JAMES F. CROOK.
_Cloth decorative, 12mo, with a poster jacket in color
and illustrations by Charles Livingston Bull_ $1.75
THE INCAS’ TREASURE HOUSE
BY A. HYATT VERRILL.
_Cloth 12mo, illustrated by Heman Fay, Jr., with
color jacket_ $1.75
This is a book which might well be read by any true-blue American
boy.
MYSTERY CAMP
BY M. M. DANCY MCCLENDON.
_Cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated and with a
poster jacket, by P. L. Martin_ $1.75
Transcriber’s Note:
Punctuation has been standardised. Changes to the original publication
have been made as follows:
Contents Chapter XII
Senorita _changed to_
Señorita
Page 148
with an impetuousity that _changed to_
with an impetuosity that
Page 220
withdraw it, _Senorita_ _changed to_
withdraw it, _Señorita_
Page 253
one for each of the “We are Sevens _changed to_
one for each of the “We are Seven’s
Book catalogue
Lousville Times _changed to_
Louisville Times
End of Project Gutenberg's A Texas Blue Bonnet, by Caroline Emilia Jacobs