Nothing had been heard of Jenny Lind. Jimmie Bronson had made a
surreptitious visit to Mr. Wells' apartment and had escaped only "by
the skin of his teeth," he assured Mr. Jerry.
"I didn't get any further than the window before that Jap caught me and
I didn't see any birdcage. But I shan't give up, Mr. Longworthy. I'll
find that canary yet!"
Everybody seemed more anxious now than Mary Rose. She was so confident
that the Lord had his eye on the missing Jenny Lind that she almost
stopped worrying. Aunt Kate resolutely refused to allow her to go to
the Lincoln School in the blue serge suit.
"You'll wear proper clothes or you don't stir a step," she said
sternly. "An' if you don't go to school the truant officer'll come
here an' like enough I'll be arrested for not sendin' you. If you
don't want your poor aunt to go to jail you'll stand up an' put on this
dress I bought 'specially for you."
She had not been able to resist a sale of children's clothes at the Big
Store and had bought three dresses for an eleven-year-old girl. She
brought one out that morning, a blue and green and red plaid gingham
with a white collar and a black patent leather belt. Mary Rose was
speechless with admiration when she saw it. But if she had been so
proud of Ella's old clothes that she had to be punished, what would she
be in this ducky dress?
"I can't trust myself in it, Aunt Kate. It's too beautiful. It's fine
enough for a princess."
But after Aunt Kate had explained that if Mary Rose did not wear the
dress she might have to go to jail Mary Rose had no choice. She would
have to wear the frock and go to school and try her very hardest not to
be proud. She had only to think of Jenny Lind to humble her spirit.
She was very sedate as she walked with Aunt Kate. It did not seem
possible that at last she was going to enter the big school building
with towers and battlements enough for a fortress.
"It is like a castle. I don't care what Mr. Jerry said," she told Aunt
Kate as they went up the steps and into the principal's office where a
pleasant-faced middle-aged lady looked questioningly at Mary Rose and
asked how old she was.
From force of habit Aunt Kate said hastily: "Goin' on fourteen."
"Fourteen!" The principal was plainly astonished. "She's very small
for her age. And backward if she is only in the sixth grade. She
should be in high school at fourteen. Has she been ill?"
Backward! It was bad enough to be called small for her age, but to be
told that she was stupid was more than Mary Rose could bear in silence.
She opened her mouth to explain and then she remembered that she had
promised she would mortify her pride so she said never a word, although
she thought she would burst at having to keep quiet. But Aunt Kate's
pride was also touched and she stammered hurriedly that she should have
said her niece was going on eleven.
"That sounds more normal." And the principal smiled as she led the way
into a big sunny room full of children. Mary Rose drew a sigh of
relief when she saw the teacher. Mr. Jerry was all wrong about her,
for she was not an old witch. She was as pretty a young woman as any
child could wish to have for a teacher. She smiled at Mary Rose in a
very friendly fashion and found her a seat beside a little girl with
wonderful long yellow curls. It was delightful to be with children
again and Mary Rose's face rivaled the sun.
Aunt Kate had a strange ache in her heart as she watched her. Mary
Rose would make friends here, friends of her own age, and she would
miss her. But that was the way of the world, she thought
philosophically. When she was quite convinced that Mary Rose was happy
and contented and could find her way home alone she left the school.
Mrs. Bracken called to her from her window as she passed and she went
in to be introduced to Mrs. Bracken's niece, Harriet White.
"She is going to live with us," Mrs. Bracken explained, her arm around
Harriet's waist. "Isn't she a big girl for thirteen? I meant to be
back yesterday so she could start in school today, but we were delayed.
I was just telling her there was another little girl, Mary Rose, in the
building."
Mrs. Donovan looked almost enviously at Harriet White who was thirteen
and who appeared at least two years older. How easy everything would
have been if Mary Rose had been as large. She sighed and then smiled,
for she knew that she would not change small Mary Rose for big Harriet
White if she had the chance. She gazed pleasantly at Mrs. Bracken,
whose face seemed to have found a new expression in Prairieville, and
said from the very depths of her heart:
"If you enjoy her half as much as we enjoy our niece you'll consider
yourself a lucky woman to have her."
"I know I'm a lucky woman," Mrs. Bracken answered heartily. "I never
realized what made this building seem almost depressing until Mary Rose
came into it. What is this Mrs. Schuneman tells me about Mary Rose's
bird? I'm so sorry. She was so attached to Jenny Lind. Do you really
think that Mr. Wells had anything to do with it?"
"Oh, Mrs. Bracken, how could any man with a heart steal a child's pet
bird!" Mrs. Donovan tried her best to be discreet as she told the
story.
"Of course, we all know that Mr. Wells is queer," Mrs. Bracken remarked
when she finished. "Mrs. Schuneman said she understood that he had
complained to Brown and Lawson, but don't you worry, Mrs. Donovan. Mr.
Wells is not the only tenant and I rather think the rest of us will
have something to say. If he objects to Harriet Mr. Bracken will tell
him quite plainly what he thinks. And there are others. We all like
Mr. Donovan. He's a good janitor, willing and pleasant, and we won't
let him be discharged without a protest. Perhaps I shouldn't tell you,
but Mr. Strahan has written out a petition to send to the owner and
everyone in the building will sign it, I know, except perhaps Mr.
Wells." And she laughed as if Mr. Wells' not signing the petition was
a joke. "One against twenty won't have much influence."
Mrs. Donovan put out her hand and touched Mrs. Bracken's white fingers,
something she would not have dared to do two months earlier. "Thank
you for telling me that. Larry's tried, I know, and it isn't easy to
please so many people. We don't know who the owner is so we can only
talk to the agents, but a petition signed by everybody ought to prove
to them that Mary Rose isn't a nuisance."
"Anything but a nuisance!" insisted Mrs. Bracken.