secret, even to herself!
When the children came back from roaming the fields and woods,
with the blossoms and green vines gathered in their aprons and
arms, and they were all nicely set in the cracked teacup with
the handle gone that Mamsie had given them some time before, and
some other dishes that Mrs. Pepper had handed out with strict
charges to be careful of 'em, they all stood off in a row from
the stone table, in delighted admiration.
"Isn't it perfectly beautiful!" exclaimed Polly, in a rapture,
and clasping her hands.
"Perfectly beautiful!" breathed little David.
"Be-_yew_-ful!" echoed Phronsie, hopping up and down with
very pink cheeks, and her hair flying.
"It looks very well, Polly," said Ben, in a practical way.
"I wish we had somethin' to eat," began Joel.
"Oh, Joey!" cried Polly, reproachfully. But her heart jumped at
the recollection of the lovely smell that came from the oven,
and Mamsie's face. "Now, children," she said, "we've got
everything all done," with a quick glance around, "and Phronsie
must have her nap, so's to be a nice little wide-awake white cat.
Oh, Ben, leave the fur rug and the other things out under the
table," as Ben began piling them up to carry back to the
woodshed.
"Mamsie said, Always put everything back when we'd got through
playing," said Ben.
"Well, she'll let us put them there, we're going to use them so
soon, I know," said Polly, "if you tuck 'em in neatly. Won't you,
Mamsie?" she cried, running to the window to thrust her brown
head in.
"Yes," said Mrs. Pepper.
"And may we all come in now?" asked Polly.
"Yes," said Mother Pepper again.
"Don't forget your wings, Polly," cried Joel, picking them up
where Polly had carefully laid them against the tree, and
rushing to her, waving them aloft.
"Take care, Joel" warned Ben, but too late. One wing flopped
over, and caught in a knobby old branch of the apple tree, and
in a minute there was a big hole right in the middle!
"Oh, you--" began Polly, passionately, when she turned and saw
what was done. In a minute she dashed over to Joel and threw her
arms around him. "You couldn't help it," she finished, "and I
can paste a piece of paper over it, and it will be most as good
as new," while the children stood aghast at the mischief, and
Ben exclaimed, "How could you, Joe! Why didn't you let it
alone?"
"I didn't mean to. And now it won't fly--fly," screamed Joel, in
a gust.
"Oh, yes, it will," declared Polly, merrily; "you'll see. And
when I get it on, Joey Pepper, look out and look if you don't
see me sailing up to the sky."
Joel came out of his sobs and looked up to the blue sky, and
smiled through his tears, and when David and Phronsie saw Polly
so merry, they smiled too, and Ben caught Polly's eye and didn't
say any more. So they all marched into the house, and Phronsie
was tucked up on Mamsie's bed, for her nap, and Polly sat down
to mend her broken wing.
Mrs. Pepper, going on with her work, sent her a smile and loving
look, that said just as plainly as words could speak it, "You're
trying hard, Polly, my girl, and Mother knows it." So Polly
began to hum at her task, and presently the kitchen became the
very cheeriest place possible. What they would have done if any
of them had happened to spy out what was on the upper shelf of
the cupboard, covered carefully with a clean old towel, cannot
possibly be told.
At last it came to be three o'clock, the hour of the grand play.
Mrs. Pepper, as audience, was seated in her big rocking chair
that Ben had brought out from the kitchen and placed in the best
spot on the grass to see it all, and Polly and Ben and Joel and
David and Phronsie were in the depths of excitement, and
flitting here and there, Polly, as chief director, having a
perfectly awful time to get them into their parts, particularly
as Phronsie would keep rushing up, the old white fur rug nearly
tripping her up every step, to lay her soft face against Mother
Pepper's, and cry out, "I'm to be a white cat, Mamsie. I truly
am!" And Joel would insist on roaring like a bear, and prancing
and waving his arms, around which Polly had tied a lot of black
hair that Mamsie had let her take out of her cushion.
[Illustration: "'I'M TO BE A WHITE CAT, MAMSIE'"]
"Joel, you spoil everything!" cried Ben at him. "See here, now
all your hair is tumbling off from your arms."
"They ain't arms. They're paws," said Joel, stopping suddenly
to look with dismay at the damage he was making. "Polly didn't
tie it on good," he said, trying to stuff back the loose hair.
"Yes, she did, too, real good," retorted Ben, "only you are
flourishing round so, nothing would keep on you. Keep still,
can't you!"
"And I'll tie it on again," said Polly, "if you'll wait till I
fix Davie--just a minute--there, Davie, you're all right. Now,
says I, Mr. Bear," and she flew over to Joel again.
Once more Mother Pepper sent her a swift approving smile, and
Polly's heart was so warm that a little sunbeam seemed suddenly
to have hopped right down there. And the little play went on
from first to last perfectly splendidly, and Mrs. Pepper,
feeling very strange indeed to be sitting there in the middle of
the afternoon with nothing in her hands to work over, clapped
them together and applauded enough for a big audience. And there
never was such a good time in all this world--no, not even under
the big white circus tent over in Hillsbury!
"I'm glad you like it!" cried Polly, tumbling over in a heap on
the grass when it was all over, and the audience got out of the
big rocking chair.
"It was very nice indeed, Polly," said Mother Pepper, with
shining eyes.
"Indeed it was!" declared Ben with enthusiasm, which meant a
great deal from him.
"And now, children," said Mrs. Pepper, "you rest on the grass
and talk it over, and I will call you into the house by and by."
"I don't ever want to go in," declared Joel, positively, and
rolling over on the grass to wave his legs in the air, while
little Davie lay quite still. "It was good to be in the play,
Polly," he said, "but it's nice to rest here."
"I was a white cat, Polly," said Phronsie, sitting down on the
grass as close to Polly as she could get, and tucking up her
feet under her.
"So you were, Pet," cried Polly, "the loveliest, sweetest white
cat in all the world, Phronsie dear," giving her a little hug.
"O dear me, I'm glad it's done, and that it was nice."
"It was the nicest thing you've ever done, Polly," declared Ben,
with emphasis.
"Chil-_dren_!" Mamsie's voice, and it had a new sound.
But Joel gave his sturdy legs another wave. "I wish we could
stay out here longer," he said. So it happened that he was last
in the procession filing into the little brown house, instead of
first, as was usually the case.
"_Oh, Mamsie_!" cried Polly, and, "_Oh, Mamsie_!"
exclaimed every one of the others, while Joel pushed in between
them as fast as he could, anxious to see what it all was.
There was the table drawn out in the middle of the kitchen and
spread with a clean white cloth. And on it stood a cake, yes, a
big one, and there was--yes, there actually was white on top!
When Polly saw that, she sat right down in the first chair. As
for Ben, he was just as much astonished, and couldn't stop the
children from reaching out to pick at the cake.
"I took some of your flowers, Polly, to trim it with," said
Mother Pepper, pointing to the wreath running around the big
cake. "Now, children, all of you sit down, and Polly shall cut
it, for she made the play." She handed Polly the big knife,
sharpened up till it shone as bright as could be.
"Let me--let me!" screamed Joel, with no eyes now for anything
but the sharp knife "I've never cut a cake. Mammy, let me!"
"Neither has Polly," said Mrs. Pepper, quietly. "No, Joe, Polly
made the play, else you couldn't any of you have had this nice
time."
"And she's worked herself most to death to get us through it,"
said Ben.
Polly had seized the big knife, and taken one step toward the
wonderful cake. Now she stopped, and looked over at Joel. "You
may," she said, smiling brightly.
"Oh, goody!" cried Joel, plunging forward. Then he stopped
suddenly, on meeting his mother's eye. "I'd rather not," he said.
"Go on, Polly, Joel's right," said Mrs. Pepper, in satisfaction.
So the slices were cut very slowly, Polly breathing hard with
anxiety. But the white frosting didn't fall off a bit, and each
piece was soon laid on a plate by Mother Pepper, and passed,
first to Ben and then to the others, and to Phronsie last of all,
of course, because she was the youngest.
When it was all over, this delightful surprise of Mamsie's, and
Polly and Mrs. Pepper were clearing up, Joel nudged David. "Come
on, Dave," he whispered, and the two boys ran out to the orchard
again.
"I'm goin' to be bear again," cried Joel. "O dear me! Ben's
taken in all the black hair," he cried, in great disappointment.
"He had to put it back in Mamsie's cushion again," said David.
"You know he promised."
"He might have left it a little bit of a while," grumbled Joel.
"He said he'd do it right away," persisted David, "so he had to,
Joel."
"Well, anyway, I'll be bear again without the black hair, then,"
declared Joel. "Now, look out, Dave, 'cause I'm goin' to climb
up th' apple tree."
"Bears don't climb up trees," observed little David, critically,
watching Joel's progress, quite content to sit down on the grass
meanwhile.
"Well, I'm goin' to, when I'm a bear," cried Joel, now well up
in the midst of the gnarled branches. "I'm goin' to climb trees,
and do everything I want to, so there, Dave Pepper!"
Little David said nothing, and turned his gaze downward, and a
big green worm, that had somehow lost his way in the tall grass,
meandered past him, trying to get home. So he put forth a gentle
finger, bending down the biggest spears accommodatingly, and was
so absorbed in the matter that he forgot Joel, until he heard a
voice, "Hi, there; look, Dave, look!"
"O dear me, Joe!" exclaimed David, letting the green spears
swing back abruptly, and viewing Joel in alarm, "you'll fall. Do
come down."
"Pooh! I can bend way out. See, Dave! See!" cried Joel, twisting
his legs around the branch on which he sat, almost at the very
tip of the apple tree, and he swung both arms exultingly. There
was a crack, a swish, and something came tumbling through the
air, and before David could utter a sound, there lay Joel on the
grass at his feet.
XI
DR. FISHER'S VISIT
Ben picked him up, as Mother Pepper and the others hurried out,
on hearing David scream. Joel lay so still and white in Ben's
arms that Polly turned quite faint. But when she saw Mamsie's
face, she bent over to Phronsie. "Come here, Pet," she tried to
say, as she drew her off that she might not see.
"What is it, Polly?" asked Phronsie, wonderingly. "What is Ben
carrying Joey for?"
"Now I must wash off the cake-crumbs, they're all over your face,
Phronsie," said Polly, desperately.
"Carry him into the bedroom," Mother Pepper was saying.
"Come, child," Polly pulled Phronsie hastily toward the woodshed,
"you must really let me wash your face."
"Why do you want to wash it in the woodshed, Polly?" asked
Phronsie, obstinately, holding back. "I want to wash it in
Mamsie's nice bowl."
"Oh, Phronsie, please come," begged Polly, still holding her arm.
"See, if you don't, I shall cry." Which was the truth as the
tears were beginning to come in Polly's brown eyes. Seeing this,
Phronsie yielded, and pattered along by Polly's side obediently,
and allowed her little face to be scrubbed and wiped quite dry,
Polly's heart all the while going like a triphammer, and her
ears pricked up for any word that might tell her of Joel. At
last she could bear it no longer.
"Phronsie," she said, when the round cheeks and hands were as
clean as clean could be, "now look at me, dear."
Phronsie lifted her blue eyes and fixed them in wide-eyed
astonishment on Polly's face.
"What makes you do so, Polly?" she asked wonderingly.
"Never mind," said Polly, with an awful feeling at her heart, it
was so still out in the kitchen and bedroom. "Now, you must do
just as I tell you, and not ask me any questions. Polly wants
you to do it, to go and sit down on that bench," pointing to a
little low one in the corner, "and not stir till I call you."
Phronsie looked over at the little bench.
"I'll go, Polly," she said with a sigh, "if you want me to."
Polly dropped a hasty kiss on the yellow hair, then fled on
unsteady feet through the kitchen and into the bedroom. Mother
Pepper was bending over Joel. Ben was holding the bowl of water,
and Davie was crying and wringing his hands at the foot of the
bed, with his eyes on Joel's face.
"You better go for Dr. Fisher, Ben," Mrs. Pepper said hoarsely,
putting the wet cloth into the bowl.
Polly crept up to her side. "Hasn't Grandma Bascom anything?"
she asked. "Shall I go and see?"
"No," said Mrs. Pepper. "And the doctor must see if he's broken
any limbs, or is hurt inside." Ben was already out and running
down the road at top speed.
It seemed an hour. It was really but ten minutes, when a step
bounded out in the kitchen. Mrs. Pepper looked at Polly, who
stole silently out, and with a gasp almost tumbled into the arms
of a little man with very big spectacles. "Oh, Dr. Fisher!" she
cried, "I'm _so_ glad!"
"And I'm glad, too," said little Dr. Fisher, beaming at her.
"Why, what's the matter, Polly, my girl?" as Polly seemed to be
almost tumbling over. "You see, I've come to take Phronsie to
ride. I haven't been able to a good while back," he mourned,
"but perhaps you'd better go," setting his spectacles to take a
keen look at her.
"Oh, Dr. Fisher! Ben's gone for you," gasped Polly, seizing his
hand, to draw him to the bedroom door.
"Gone for me!" repeated Dr. Fisher, taking the words out of her
mouth. "Who's sick?" and his face paled abruptly.
"Joel," gasped Polly; "he fell from the apple tree. Oh, do come,
dear Dr. Fisher."
The little doctor was by this time in the bedroom. "Don't worry,
ma'am," he said to Mrs. Pepper, then he hurried to the side of
the bed and bent over Joel.
"I ain't sick," exclaimed Joel, opening his eyes to look up into
the big spectacles. "I wish people'd let me alone," and he gave
an irritable flounce. "Oh--it's Dr. Fisher," he finished
joyfully.
"So it is," assented the little doctor, bobbing his head amiably,
so that the big spectacles slipped down to the end of his nose.
Then he looked to the others to keep still.
"You'll take me to ride with you in the gig, won't you, Dr.
Fisher?" begged Joel. His face was still white, but his eyes
were as bright as ever.
"Maybe," said the little doctor. "Well, now let's see. You've
been playing up in the apple tree, haven't you?" Meanwhile, his
long thin fingers were going rapidly all over Joel's bones and
muscles.
"Yes," said Joel, nodding. "And I was a bear, Dr. Fisher."
"I used to play bear when I was no bigger than you are, Joel,"
said Dr. Fisher, whose fingers seemed to be everywhere at once.
"I don't b'lieve you were as big a bear as I was," said Joel,
sturdily. "No, sir-_ree_! And I went clear out to the tip
of th' apple tree. Now could you do that, Dr. Fisher?" he asked
triumphantly.
"I wouldn't try it again, if I were you," said the little doctor,
ignoring the question, while his fingers went rapidly on their
work.
"And may I go to ride in your gig?" begged Joel, twisting away
to the other side of the bed, "and what are you feeling my legs
all over for?"
Little Dr. Fisher stood up quite straight and looked across at
Mrs. Pepper. "He's sound as a nut," he said.
"Praise the Lord!" exclaimed Mother Pepper. Polly ran up to her
and threw her arms around her. "Mamsie, just think, Joel's all
well!" she cried convulsively.
Little Davie threw himself flat on the floor and cried as hard
as he could. Polly ran over to him, "Why, Davie," she cried,
getting down on the floor by his side, "don't you understand?
Joel's all well. Dr. Fisher says so."
"I know it," sobbed Davie, "but I can't stop. I'm so happy,
Polly."
"Well, you must stop," commanded Polly, firmly, "'cause you'll
make Joel feel badly if he hears you, Davie."
So Davie hushed his tears. Since Joel might hear him, there must
be no crying. But he sat on the floor, and wouldn't get up.
And then the door opened suddenly, and Ben hurried in with a
white, disappointed face. "He isn't home, and they don't know
when--Why!" for there sat little Dr. Fisher laughing and peering at
him over his big spectacles.
"Yes, Joel may go to ride," said Dr. Fisher, when Ben had gotten
over his surprise a bit; "that is, if Polly will give up her
seat,--for I'd invited her," and he looked over at her.
"Yes, I will, indeed," said Polly, with a happy little laugh.
"Oh, Joe, you'll have such a good time!" kissing his cheek, into
which the color was slowly coming back.
"I know it," said Joel, wheeling over to give a roll out of bed.
"Take it easy," said Dr. Fisher, "there's plenty of time. Feel
all right, my boy?"
"No, I don't," said Joel, standing on the floor.
Mrs. Pepper's cheek paled, and an anxious look came into her
black eyes at once.
"Whereabouts do you feel badly?" asked the doctor, in surprise.
"Here," said Joel, laying his hand on his jacket-front. "I'm so
hungry."
"Do give him something to eat, Mrs. Pepper," said Dr. Fisher,
laughing heartily, "then we'll be off. And Polly, you and I will
have a ride next time," he said, darting off before Mrs. Pepper
had a chance to pay him, or even to thank him.
"But that I never could do enough," she said, wiping her eyes on
her apron, "but the Lord will, I know."
Joel was already in the gig, peeping out at them, and teasing Dr.
Fisher to hurry. They had driven off, and been gone some time,
when suddenly Polly started in dismay as she was setting the
table for supper.
"You most dropped that dish, Polly," said little Davie, looking
at her in amazement.
"I forgot--Phronsie--O dear!" gasped Polly, setting the dish in
her hand suddenly on the table, and plunging out of the room.
There sat Phronsie in the woodshed on the little bench, her
rusty little shoes placed patiently before her, and her hands
folded in her lap. "I'm so tired, Polly," she said plaintively.
"So you must be!" cried Polly, in a spasm of remorse, and
lifting her up. "Well, now we'll have such a nice time, Phronsie,
you can't think," covering her with kisses.
"You never came, Polly," said Phronsie, mournfully shaking her
yellow head, "never at all."
"Don't, Phronsie," cried Polly, almost smothering her as she hugged
her tightly.
"Oh, Polly, you hurt me!" cried Phronsie.
"Did I, Pet? well, I won't do so any more. Now, says I, one,
two--three, here we go into the kitchen!" and Polly set her down
on the floor.
"It is nice to walk with my feet," said Phronsie, giving a long
stretch to her fat little legs. "Little things kept sticking
into 'em, Polly, most all the time."
"The prickles, from sitting still," said Polly. "Oh, Phronsie
dear, I never shall forgive myself for forgetting you," as
Phronsie pattered across the kitchen, to clamber into Mother
Pepper's lap.
But notwithstanding all the wonderful things that happened that
day, Joel didn't quite forget the circus, and he whispered to
David that night, after they had hopped into bed, and pulled the
sheet over their heads, "I'm goin' to have a circus of my own,
so there!"
Little David was all worn out with the exciting events of the
day, and he didn't hear him, as he fell asleep almost as soon as
his head touched the pillow. So Joel, not finding it very much
fun to talk when there was no one to listen, closed his eyes,
and before he knew it, he was asleep too. Ben, looking across
at the two little faces, as he came up into the loft to go to bed,
said to himself, "Well, I'm thankful that Joe's asleep." And he
gave a sigh of relief.
The next days were full of work. "Play can't come all the time,"
Mrs. Pepper observed wisely. She sent Polly down with the money
for the doctor's visit, pinned up carefully in a paper, which
the little doctor promptly returned the next day, Polly having
left it, as he was away on his rounds. So Mrs. Pepper could do
nothing but tie it into the old stocking-leg again, in the
bureau drawer. "Children," she said, drawing them all up around
her, "we must never forget to do something for Dr. Fisher, and
may the Lord give us a chance soon. He's been so good to us."
"There never'll come a chance, Mamsie," said Polly,
disconsolately, "we're so poor."
"Chances come, if people look for 'em," observed Mrs. Pepper,
shortly, as she shut the drawer.
"We ain't poor," cried Joel, who never could bear to be called
so.
"Yes, we are," said Polly, positively, "we are poor, Joel.
That's the truth, Joel, and you oughtn't to mind hearing it."
"Well, we ain't goin' to be poor," declared Joel, confidently.
"When Joel's ships come in, I s'pose he means," said Ben, and
the children shouted.
"I don't care," said Joel, when the laugh died down, "we ain't
goin' to be poor when I git to be a man. I'm goin' to be awful
rich."
"Well, you'll have to work when you're a boy, then," said Mrs.
Pepper, sensibly. "Riches don't tumble into lazy folks' laps."
"Then I'm goin' to work right straight off," cried Joel,
springing away on nimble feet. "Come on, Dave, and help pick
those old rocks."
But a terrible shower came on, and drove them all within doors,
and it grew so dark that Polly couldn't see to sew. So the three
youngest children gathered around her and clamored for a story.
"Yes," said Polly, "I will. Let's get down on the floor in a
ring." So they all sat down in the middle of the kitchen floor,
after some delay, caused by Joel's vociferous demand to sit
next to Polly.
"Phronsie must be one side," said Polly, "of course."
"Yes, I must, Joey," said Phronsie, cuddling up closer yet to
Polly.
"Well, the other side, then," said Joel, struggling to slip in
between Polly and little David, and twitching Davie's arm.
"Stop, Joe, and sit down over here," cried Ben, seizing him by
the jacket, "else you shan't sit anywhere."
"Ow!" howled Joel, pulling smartly at David.
"Davie got here first," said Polly, "and he's younger. How can
you, Joe?" she added reproachfully.
"He's always younger," said Joel, gloomily, "and I never sit next
to you, Polly."
"Oh!" cried Polly, "yes, you did, Joel Pepper, just the very
last time I told stories."
"Well, that was just forever ago," said Joel, still holding
David's arm, and showing no disposition to give up.
"Well, I think if Mamsie should come in now," warned Polly, for
Mrs. Pepper had gone over to Grandma Bascom's--the old lady
having been sick for a day or two--and been caught there by the
sudden shower, "and should see you, you'd feel badly, Joey."
At the mention of Mamsie, Joel's grasp on Davie's arm dropped,
and he slunk back. Then Ben pulled him into a place next to him,
quiet was restored, and Polly was soon launched on one of her
wonderful stories, "Mr. Kangaroo and the silly little Duck," and
presently they were all so absorbed that no one noticed the sun
was shining brightly, until they heard a voice, "Well, I declare,
sitting down in the day-time to tell stories!"
Polly sprang to her feet and stared.
"Ugh!" cried Joel, taking one look at their visitor.
"I should think," said Miss Jerusha, the minister's sister, in a
very tart voice, and raising her black mitts very high, "that
children as old as you are could find some work to do, without
sitting down to fold your hands and tell good-for-nothing
stories."
"They aren't good-for-nothing," shouted Joel. "You haven't heard
'em; they're just beautiful!"
"Be still, Joe," commanded Ben. But Joel broke away from him,
and jumped to his feet.
"And Mamsie lets Polly tell us stories," he blurted out fiercely.
"Well, then, she's a very unwise woman," said Miss Jerusha,
calmly seating herself in Mrs. Pepper's rocking chair.
"She ain't!" screamed Joel, quite beside himself with rage.
"Our mother's just right," said Ben, slowly getting to his feet.
There was a light in his pale blue eyes as he bent them on Miss
Jerusha, that made her look away a minute, but she soon returned
to the charge. "_I_ never was allowed to sit idle in the day-time,"
she said, "when I was a little girl."
"I don't believe you ever were little," said Joel, bluntly, and
glaring at her across the kitchen.
"Joel, Joel!" cried Polly, in great distress. "Oh, please excuse
him, Ma'am, he never talks so, and Mamsie will feel so very
badly, when she knows it."