SCHOOL BEGINS
Mr. Sorber was a man of his word. Scalawag arrived at the Corner House
before the end of the week.
Dot had told Tess so much about the beauties of the fat little creature
that the older sister could scarcely wait to see the pony.
"I almost wish I'd run away to be a pirate myself with Sammy Pinkney,
just to see that pony do his tricks in the ring," Tess declared, with a
sigh of envy.
"Oh, no, you wouldn't! No, you wouldn't, Tess Kenway!" Dot hastened to
say. "We had just a _nawful_ time. Hiding in that dark hole--"
"Hold, Dot--hold!" reminded Tess.
"Well, it _was_ a hole--so there!" her little sister said. "And there
were rats in it--and maybe worse things. Only they didn't bite us."
With Scalawag, the calico pony, came Louise Quigg and her father. The
_Nancy Hanks_ had been moored near Meadow Street again and the
canalboatman and his little girl had brought the pony ashore and led him
to his new home.
"Oh, you beautiful!" cried Tess, and hugged Scalawag around the neck.
The entire Corner House family--and some of the neighbors--gathered to
greet the little girls' new pet. Scalawag stood very placidly and
accepted all the petting that they wished to shower upon him.
"He eats it up!" laughed Neale, poking the pony in his fat side. "You
old villain! you've certainly struck a soft snap now."
Scalawag brushed flies and wagged his ears knowingly. Tom Jonah came up
to him and they companionably "snuffed noses," as Sammy said. But Billy
Bumps had to be kept at a distance, for he showed a marked desire to
butt the new member of the Corner House family of pets.
Louise and her father were entertained very nicely by the little girls
and Sammy. Cap'n Bill Quigg was a simple-minded man, after all; he did
not seem to deserve the bad name that the crabbed old lock-keeper had
given him. He might have been slow and shiftless; but he was scarcely
any more grown up than little Louise herself.
Ruth Kenway, now that her mind was less disturbed than it had been the
evening when they had been searching for Sammy and Dot, gave more of her
attention to the neglected canalboat girl. She planned then and there to
do something worth while for Louise Quigg; and in time these plans of
the oldest Corner House girl bore fruit.
On Saturday the Shepards went back to Grantham, for the next week Cecile
and Luke would go to their respective schools. Luke bade Ruth good-bye
in public. He sought no opportunity of speaking to her alone. If the
girl felt any surprise at this she did not show her feeling--or anything
save kindly comradery--while speeding the parting guests.
Again on Saturday night the young folks gathered for study in the Corner
House sitting-room. There had been very little time during this last
week of the long vacation to look at school books.
It is pretty hard to settle down to study after so long an absence from
textbooks. Agnes actually wrinkled her pretty forehead in a scowl when
she opened her school books.
"What does the doctor say is mostly the matter with you, Aggie?"
demanded Neale O'Neil, chuckling at her somber expression of
countenance.
"I don't know," growled Agnes--if a girl with such a sweet voice could
be said to growl. "It must be something awful. He asked to see my tongue
and then he said, 'Overworked!'"
"He was perfectly correct, dear child," Ruth said. "Do give it a rest."
"And we'll all rest if you do," Neale added.
"You're all so smart!" cried Agnes. "And Neale O'Neil never did
appreciate me. He is going to grow up to be a woman-hater--like that man
Cecile Shepard told us about, who lives next door to them in Grantham."
"Oh, yes--Neighbor," Ruth murmured.
"I know," said Dot cheerfully. "The misogynist."
"_What?_" gasped Tess, staring at her little sister who had mouthed the
word so deftly. "I never, Dot! What _is_ that? It--it sounds--Why, Dot!"
The astonishment of the whole family at the way in which the smallest
girl had said the word had pleased Dot greatly. She quite preened and
tossed her head.
"Oh, Mr. Luke taught it to me," she admitted. "He said it was such a
jaw-breaker that he was afraid I'd have a bad accident if I tried to say
it without being told just how. It's a real nice word, I think. Much
nicer than efficatacious. That's another word I've learned to say."
They laughed at her then and Dot's sudden pride was quenched.
Sammy was almost the only earnest student on this evening. He had met
some of his boy schoolmates during the past week and he found that he
desired very much to be with them in the grade they were making.
"I bet I can make it if they do," he said. "Anyway, my head's just empty
of studying now, so it ought to hold a lot. I'll cram it chock full of
the stuff in these books and then I won't have to work so hard by and
by," he added, evidently with the hope that he might obtain education by
the occasional cart-load, instead of by driblets.
Neale and Agnes were still "scrapping" in their own peculiar way. The
beauty accused Neale again of being a harsh critic.
"You never do say a good word about any of my friends," she declared.
"He's wise in not doing so," laughed Ruth. "Then there will be no
starting point for jealousy."
"_Now_ you've said something!" declared Neale.
"Humph! He wouldn't know a real sweet girl if he met one," Agnes said.
"Oh, yes. I know a sweet girl," the ex-circus boy said with twinkling
eyes.
"Who is she!"
"Carrie Mel," returned Neale quietly.
"Carrie _Who_?" demanded Agnes, while the little folks, too, pricked up
their ears.
"And there's that very pleasant girl--Jenny Rosity," the boy said with a
perfectly serious face. "And I'm sure that Ella Gant is one of the very
best of girls--"
Agnes giggled.
"What do you mean? Who are you talking about?" asked Dot, much puzzled.
"Are they friends of Aggie and Ruthie? I never heard of that Carrie--
What did you say her name was?"
"The sweet girl? Oh! Carrie Mel," said Neale.
"And Jenny Rosity and Ella Gant. Who are _they_?"
"Then there's that very lively girl, Annie Mation," pursued Neale,
racking his brain to discover other punning words. "And despite her
superabundance of avoirdupois, Ellie Phant cannot be overlooked."
"Well, I never! _Elephant!_" gasped Tess. "And caramel!"
"And elegant and generosity," added Agnes.
"Don't forget Annie Mation," said Neale, grinning. "She's a lively one.
But Annie Mosity is one of the most disagreeable girls I ever met."
From that they began making out lists of such punning names, including
Amelia Eation, E. Lucy Date, Polly Gon, Hettie Rodoxy, Jessie Mine,
Sarah Nade, and dozens of others, even searching out "Mr. Dick" to help
them in this remarkably erudite task.
Finally Ruth called them to time and warned them that the evening was
supposed to be spent in serious study.
"Monday we must all go to school," she said, for even she was to take
several studies during the coming term, although she did not mean to
attend recitations full time at the Milton high school.
"Let us be able to answer a few questions intelligently."
"I guess," said Tess, "we won't any of us be as ignorant as one of the
boys was in my class last term. It wasn't Sammy, for he was home sick,
you know," she hastened to add, fearful that Sammy Pinkney might suspect
her of "telling on him."
"Who was it then?" asked Sammy.
"No. I'll only tell you what he said," Tess declared, shaking her head.
"'Cause I guess he knows more now. The teacher read us a lot about
hist'ry. You know, things that happened to folks away back, and what
they did. You know about the Pilgrims, don't you, Sammy?"
"Sure," said Sammy. "They brought over from England all that old
furniture Mrs. Adams has got in her parlor. She told me so."
"Were--were the Pilgrims furniture movers?" asked Dot, as usual in
search of exact information. "I know a little girl whose father owns a
moving van."
Tess tried to continue her story after the laughter subsided. "Anyway,
teacher told us how the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock and how it
looked and what they engraved on a plate and put there; but this little
boy wasn't paying much attention I guess."
"Why? What did he do, Tess?" asked Sammy.
"She told us all to draw a picture of Plymouth Rock, just as she had
described it; and while we were all trying to that boy didn't draw a
thing. Teacher asked him why he didn't draw Plymouth Rock, and he said:
"'Teacher, I don't know whether you want us to draw a hen or a rooster.'
Now, wouldn't you think he was ignorant?" she demanded amid the laughter
of the family.
They settled down at last to work, and before Neale and Sammy went home
each of the party was prepared in some measure, at least, to face the
teachers' first grilling regarding the previous term's work.
Ruth busied herself more and more about the domestic affairs of the big
house. Mrs. MacCall could not do it all, nor did Ruth wish her to.
The oldest Corner House girl was becoming a modern as well as an
enthusiastic housekeeper. She read and studied not a little in domestic
science and had been even before they came to live in Milton a good,
plain cook. Mr. Howbridge had once called her "Martha" because she was
so cumbered with domestic cares. Ruth, however, had within her a sincere
love for household details.
Mrs. MacCall, who was almost as sparing of praise as Aunt Sarah at most
times, considered Ruth a wonder.
"She'll mak' some mannie a noble wife," the Scotch woman declared, with
both pride and admiration in "Our Ruth."
"But he'll not deserve her," snapped Aunt Sarah, rather in disparagement
of any man, however, than in praise of Ruth.
Now that Luke and his sister were gone, the housekeeper watched Ruth
more keenly, even, than before. The good woman was evidently amazed,
after the close association of Ruth and Luke, that nothing had come of
it.
If the eldest of the four Kenway sisters felt any disappointment because
Luke Shepard had gone away without saying anything in private to her
regarding his hopes and aspirations, she showed none of that
disappointment in her manner or appearance.
Save that she seemed more sedate than ever.
That might be natural enough, however. Even Mrs. MacCall admitted that
Ruth was growing up.
"And I should like to know if we're not all growing up?" Agnes demanded,
overhearing Mrs. MacCall repeat the above statement. Agnes had come down
into the kitchen on Monday morning, ready for school.
"I should say we were! Ruth won't let me 'hoo-hoo' from the window to
Neale for him to come and take my books. Says it isn't ladylike, and
that I am too old for such tomboy tricks. So," and the roguish beauty
whispered this, "I am under the necessity of climbing the back fence
into Mr. Con Murphy's yard to get at Neale," and she ran off to put this
threat into immediate execution.