ENTER THE TUCKERS.
Two girls about my age and a youngish man were the arrivals. The girls
were dressed in blue serge, and I felt in my bones that they were going
to Gresham. They had an independent, easy way with them, and evidently
considered the youngish man a person whom they had a right to boss.
"Let's sit here, Zebedee, and you go get the milk chocolate for me,"
exclaimed one of the girls.
"Don't forget my salted peanuts and a copy of 'Life,'" called the other,
as Zebedee hurried off to make the purchases at the newsstand in a
corner of the waiting room.
"Elder brother," thought I, "and pretty good-natured to wait on those
girls so much." What nice looking girls they were, though. At the first
glance, they looked singularly alike, but as I examined them more
closely while Zebedee was gone, I saw points of dissimilarity. "They are
twins, for sure," I said to myself, "but I believe I am going to be able
to tell them apart." The one whom her sister called Dum had red lights
in her almost black hair and her eyes were hazel, while the one who
answered to the name of Dee had blue lights in her coal black hair and
her eyes were gray. Both of them had sharply defined brows, straight
noses, and broad, laughing mouths. Dum's chin was square and determined,
but in Dee's there lurked a dimple. They were exactly the same height
and both of them had fine athletic figures.
"There you are, Tweedles," said the youngish man, addressing them both
as he pitched his purchases into their laps. "Who's going to wait on you
at boarding school, I'd like to know?"
"Well, if you will make us have a roommate, I reckon she'll have to,"
laughed Dee.
"By the way, Zebedee, that is something I want to discuss with you," and
Dum squared her chin. "You make a great mistake in forcing a roommate
on Dee and me. We are not used to it, and we are not going to stand it."
Zebedee squared his chin, too, and his blue eyes took on a stern
expression. "Not going to stand it, eh? Well, I say you are going to
stand it. We have discussed the matter threadbare already, and you must
trust me to know what is best for you sometimes."
The stern light went out of his eyes and into them came a look of
infinite tenderness as he put an arm around Dum and held her close to
him. I certainly liked the looks of Zebedee, but what a name! He, too,
had an athletic figure, but not very tall, not much taller than the
girls, who were very well grown for fifteen. He had Dum's red black
hair, also her square chin, but Dee's dimple had found a place in the
middle of that determined chin. The three mouths were so alike that they
might have belonged to triplets, but his eyes were his own; ice blue
they were in color but there was nothing cold about them. They were the
kindest, merriest eyes; they seemed to see everything and feel
everything. Just now they were feeling very sorry for Dum, and as he
hugged her, big tears gathered in them.
"Oh, Dum," exclaimed Dee, "now you have made him cry!"
"No such thing. I'm not crying," and he shamelessly blew his nose.
I afterwards learned that one of the characteristics of this delightful
trio was that they thought there was no more shame in crying than
laughing. They laughed in church if there was anything to laugh at, and
cried at a picnic or farce-comedy if anything turned up to move them to
tears. "We don't bawl," Dee said to me once, "we just leak. It is all a
matter of tear ducts. We can't help it any more than you could help
sneezing if someone shook pepper in your face."
A train was called. It was not ours, but "Orphan Annie" jumped nervously
from her seat. She dropped her shabby little hand-bag, which she had
just opened for the hundredth time to make sure her ticket was safe or
to compare her Ingersoll watch with the clock in the station, and the
contents of the bag rolled to the floor. I dived to assist her and the
person called Zebedee did the same. Of course we bumped heads, and while
we were apologizing, Dum and Dee picked up the scattered belongings and
returned them to the poor, abashed girl.
"I just knew you were going to Gresham," said Dee, handing her the
much-thumbed ticket, "and wondered how long it would take us to get to
the point of speaking to you."
"You are for Gresham, too," said Dum, turning to me. "I have been
longing to know you. I might have known that old Zebedee would end by
butting in."
Here Zebedee took off his hat and bowed to "Orphan Annie" and me as
though we were of the blood royal, and said with a most engaging manner:
"We had best introduce ourselves and then all the conventionalities will
be observed. Conventionality is a mighty important thing for boarding
school girls to observe. These are the Tucker twins, called Tweedles
when you want both of them or aren't particular which one answers. This
red-headed one is Dum; this blue-headed one, Dee. They have other
official names, but somehow I can't remember them to-day. I am Jeffry
Tucker, at your service, the father of the Heavenly Twins."
"Father! You, their father!" I gasped.
"Certainly. Whose father did you think I was?"
"James' and John's," I answered flippantly.
"That's the reason we called him Zebedee," chorused the twins. "You know
the old gag: 'Who is the father of Zebedee's children?' No one ever
believes he is really a parent."
I burst out laughing and so did "Orphan Annie." I was certainly glad to
see that she could laugh. Already the genial atmosphere that surrounded
the Tuckers had had its effect on her. The drawn expression was leaving
her countenance and the hearty laugh dispelled the mist in her eyes. The
knowledge that there were two other passengers for Gresham set her mind
at rest, and she evidently felt relieved.
"My name is Page Allison."
"Daughter of Dr. James Allison of Milton, I bet anything," ventured Mr.
Tucker. "Oh, do you know my father?" I asked joyfully.
"Of course I do. We are of the same fraternity. Your eyes are so like
his, I came mighty near slipping you the grip. He was in the class of
'85 and I was in that of '99, but we have met at many fraternity
conventions. I am certainly glad to know his daughter." And while he did
not give me the fraternity grip, he gave me some kind of a grip that
tingled all the way up to my heart.
"And won't you tell us your name?" said Dee kindly to the other
stranger.
"Annie Pore," said the girl in a voice singularly full and rich. "I have
never been anywhere alone and I am so afraid I'll miss my train. That is
the reason I dropped my bag. I am so much obliged to all of you for
picking up my things."
Her timidity seemed to disappear as she realized she was making friends.
As for me, I have never known what it was to be timid, and I felt at
home with the three Tuckers from the moment they entered the waiting
room; and from the time that Mr. Tucker and I bumped heads, I counted
them as the first three on the list of the million friends that Cousin
Sue said I must make.
"Well, since we are all going to Gresham, suppose you young ladies hand
over your tickets to me and I will be courier for the crowd," said Mr.
Tucker.
I gave him my ticket, also my reservation in the parlor car. It made no
difference how poor payments were, Father and I always traveled in
comfort. "It saves in the end to ride in a clean, comfortable coach,"
Father declared. "Saves wear and tear on clothes and nerves."
Annie Pore handed him her rumpled ticket.
"This is all you have?" he asked.
"Oh, yes, isn't that all right?" she entreated. "The man at the ticket
window assured me it was right."
"Of course it is all right. Now there are five minutes before the train
will be called, so if you young ladies will excuse me, I'll run
downstairs to see that Tweedles' trunks are safe. By the way, have you
attended to your luggage?" he asked me. "And you?" turning to Annie
Pore.
"Thank you, yes," I answered; but the other girl looked piteously at her
bursting telescope. "I haven't a trunk," she said simply.
I felt mighty sorry for Annie. The Tucker twins did, too. I could tell
by their eyes. Dee's filled and Dum turned and walked to the steps with
her father.
Dee whispered to me as she pretended to show me a picture in "Life":
"He's gone to get her a ticket in the parlor car. Just like him! Such a
thoughtful Zebedee as he is! We mustn't let him know we are on. That
would make him raging. He will carry it off perfectly naturally, and he
is fully capable of any deceit to keep Annie Pore from finding it out."
He had done exactly as Dee said he would do: got a chair in the parlor
car for "Orphan Annie." Right there I took myself to task for thinking
of the poor girl as "Orphan Annie," and I determined to control my
thoughts if possible and give her her proper name in my mind. Not that
Annie Pore sounded much more cheerful than the name I had given her.
Our train was called and our kind courier bundled up bag and baggage and
hustled us through the gates and into the chair car before Annie Pore
had time to ask about it; and then he gave the Pullman conductor our
tickets and settled us and the train started, and the girl never did
know she was being treated to a privilege her ticket did not give her.
We had a jolly trip and before it was over I knew a great deal about the
Tuckers, and they, in turn, a great deal about me, in fact, about all
there was to know. It was many a day, however, before we broke through
Annie Pore's reserve and learned that she was of English parentage, that
her mother had recently died and her father had a country store in a
lonesome little settlement on the river. No wonder the girl was so
scary. This was actually her first railroad journey. What traveling she
had done had been by boat, an occasional trip to Norfolk or Richmond
when her father went to town to buy his stock.
There was an unmistakable air of breeding about her. Her accent was pure
and her English without flaw. In spite of her timidity, she had a
certain _savoir faire_. For instance, when Mr. Tucker announced that we
were to have lunch with him and ordered the porter to bring two tables
and put them up, Annie accepted the invitation with a quiet grace that
many a society woman could not have equaled. When she took off her ugly
hat, disclosing to view a calm white forehead with heavy, ripe-wheat
hair rippling from a part, I had no doubt of the fact that Annie Pore,
if not already a beauty, was going to be one when she grew up.
It was only a buffet luncheon and there was not much on the menu to
choose from: baked beans, canned soup, potted meats, etc.
"Not much to eat here," grumbled Mr. Tucker.
"Eat what's put before you, Zebedee, and stop grouching," admonished
Dum.
"Well, it's a pretty hard state of affairs when a fellow wants to give a
party and there is nothing to eat but these canned abominations."
"I have a lunch box in my grip," I ventured; "maybe that would help out
some."
"Trot it out, do!" cried Dee.
And then Annie had the hardihood to untie the rope around her telescope
and bring out a bag of the very best and rosiest wine-sap apples I ever
tasted. She also produced a box of doughnuts she had made herself which
were greeted with enthusiasm. My lunch had been put up by kind old Mammy
Susan, and in her tenderness she had packed in enough to feed a
regiment.
"Fried chicken!" exclaimed Dee, clapping her hands.
"Columbus eggs!" shouted Dum.
"Not really country ham?" questioned Mr. Tucker. "That is too good to be
true. You must excuse Tweedles and me, but we have been living in an
apartment and eating in the cafe, and some real home food has just about
got us going. When I asked you young ladies to lunch, I did not dream
that I would be able to treat you so royally."
"Look, Zebedee, look! Clover-leaf rolls!" chorused the twins.
"Stop tweedling and look over the menu and see what we shall order to
supplement with." Mr. Tucker called it tweedling when the girls spoke
in chorus as was their habit.
We decided on cream of tomato soup, iced tea and butter, with Neopolitan
ice cream to top off with. I was certainly glad that, as usual, Mammy
Susan had paid no attention to my commands, and had done her own sweet
will in giving me enough lunch for half a dozen girls.
"It's bes' to err on de side er plenty, honey baby," the old woman had
said when I demurred at the size of the lunch boxes. "Even ef you is
goin' to a land flowin' wif milk an' honey, a few rolls to sop in de
honey won't go amiss an' some chicken an' ham to wash down wif de milk
won't hurt none."