Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
TWO LITTLE WOMEN ON A HOLIDAY
BY
CAROLYN WELLS
Author Of The Patty Books, The Marjorie Books, Two Little Women Series,
Etc.
FRONTISPIECE BY E. C. CASWELL
Made in the United States of America 1917
TO MY VERY DEAR CHILD FRIEND
FRANCES ALTHEA SPRAGUE
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I A WONDERFUL PLAN
II A FAVOURABLE DECISION
III THE ARRIVAL
IV A MERRY QUARTETTE
V GOING ABOUT
VI A MATINEE IDOL
VII GREAT PREPARATIONS
VIII THE CALLER
IX FINE FEATHERS
X A SKATING PARTY
XI THE COLLECTIONS
XII THE LOST JEWEL
XIII SUSPICIONS
XIV AT THE TEA ROOM
XV DOLLY'S RIDE
XVI WAS IT ALICIA?
XVII A CLEVER IDEA
XVIII FOUR CELEBRATIONS
XIX ALICIA'S SECRET
XX UNCLE JEFF'S FOUR FRIENDS
CHAPTER I
A WONDERFUL PLAN
"Hello, Dolly," said Dotty Rose, over the telephone.
"Hello, Dot," responded Dolly Fayre. "What you want?"
"Oh! I can't tell you this way. Come on over, just as quick as you can."
"But I haven't finished my Algebra, and it's nearly dinner time,
anyway."
"No it isn't,--and no matter if it is. Come on, I tell you! You'd come
fast enough if you knew what it's about!"
"Tell me, then."
"I say I can't,--over the telephone. Oh, Dolly, come on, and stop
fussing!"
The telephone receiver at Dotty's end of the wire was hung up with a
click, and Dolly began to waggle her receiver hook in hope of getting
Dotty back. But there was no response, so Dolly rose and went for her
coat. Flinging it round her, and not stopping to get a hat, she ran
next door to Dotty Rose's house.
It was mid January, and the six o'clock darkness was lighted only by
the street lights. Flying across the two lawns that divided the houses,
Dolly found Dotty awaiting her at the side door.
"Hurry up in, Doll," she cried, eagerly, "the greatest thing you ever
heard! Oh, the very greatest! If you only CAN! Oh, if you ONLY can!"
"Can what? Do tell me what you're talking about." Dolly tossed her coat
on the hall rack, and followed Dotty into the Roses' living-room. There
she found Dotty's parents and also Bernice Forbes and her father. What
could such a gathering mean? Dolly began to think of school happenings;
had she cut up any mischievous pranks or inadvertently done anything
wrong? What else could bring Mr. Forbes to the Roses' on what was very
evidently an important errand? For all present were eagerly
interested,--that much was clear. Mr. and Mrs. Rose were smiling, yet
shaking their heads in uncertainty; Bernice was flushed and excited;
and Mr. Forbes himself was apparently trying to persuade them to
something he was proposing.
This much Dolly gathered before she heard a word of the discussion.
Then Mrs. Rose said, "Here's Dolly Fayre. You tell her about it, Mr.
Forbes."
"Oh, let me tell her," cried Bernice.
"No," said Mr. Rose, "let her hear it first from your father. You girls
can chatter afterward."
So Mr. Forbes spoke. "My dear child," he said to Dolly, "my Bernice is
invited to spend a week with her uncle, in New York City. She is
privileged to ask you two girls to accompany her if you care to."
Dolly listened, without quite grasping the idea. She was slow of
thought, though far from stupid. And this was such a sudden and
startling suggestion that she couldn't quite take it in.
"Go to New York, for a week. Oh, I couldn't. I have to go to school."
Mrs. Rose smiled. "That's just the trouble, Dolly. Dot has to go to
school, too,--at least, she ought to. Bernice, likewise. But this
invitation is so delightful and so unusual, that I'm thinking you three
girls ought to take advantage of it. The question is, what will your
parents say?"
"Oh, they'll never let me go!" exclaimed Dolly, decidedly. "They don't
want anything to interfere with my lessons."
"No, and we feel the same way about Dotty. But an exceptional case must
be considered in an exceptional manner. I think your people might be
persuaded if we go about it in the right way."
"I don't believe so," and Dolly looked very dubious. "Tell me more
about it."
"Oh, Doll, it's just gorgeous!" broke in Bernice. "Uncle Jeff,--he's
father's brother,--wants me to spend a week with him. And he's going to
have my cousin, Alicia, there at the same time. And he wants us to
bring two other girls, and Alicia can't bring one, 'cause she's at
boarding school, and none of the girls can get leave,--that is, none
that she wants. So Uncle said for me to get two, if I could,--and I
want you and Dot."
"A whole week in New York! Visiting!" Dolly's eyes sparkled as the
truth began to dawn on her. "Oh, I WISH I could coax Mother into it.
I've never been to New York to stay any time. Only just for the day.
How lovely of you, Bernie, to ask us!"
"There's no one else I'd rather have, but if you can't go, I'll have to
ask Maisie May. I must get two."
"Are you going anyway, Dots?"
"I don't know. I want to go terribly, but I don't want to go without
you, Dolly. Oh, WON'T your mother let you?"
"The only way to find out is to ask her," said Mr. Forbes, smiling.
"Suppose I go over there now and ask. Shall I go alone, or take you
three chatterboxes along?"
"Oh, let us go," and Dotty sprang up; "we can coax and you can tell
about the arrangements."
"Very well," agreed Mr. Forbes, "come along, then."
So the four went across to the Fayre house, and found the rest of
Dolly's family gathered in the library.
"Here is Mr. Forbes, Daddy," said Dolly, as they entered.
Mr. and Mrs. Fayre and Trudy, Dolly's older sister, greeted the visitor
cordially, and looked with smiling inquiry at the eager faces of the
three girls.
Dolly went and sat on the arm of her mother's chair, and, putting an
arm around her, whispered, "Oh, Mumsie, please, PLEASE do say yes! Oh,
please do!"
"Yes to what?" returned Mrs. Fayre, patting her daughter's shoulder.
"Mr. Forbes will tell you. Listen."
"It's this way, my dear people," began Mr. Forbes. He was a man with an
impressive manner, and it seemed as if he were about to make a speech
of grave importance, as, indeed, from the girls' point of view, he was.
"My brother Jefferson, who lives in New York, has invited my daughter
to spend a week in his home there. He has asked also another niece,
Miss Alicia Steele. He wants these girl visitors to bring with them two
friends, and as Alicia does not wish to avail herself of that
privilege, Bernice may take two with her. She wants to take Dotty and
Dolly. There, that's the whole story in a nutshell. The question is,
may Dolly go?"
"When is this visit to be made?" asked Mrs. Fayre.
"As soon as convenient for all concerned. My brother would like the
girls to come some day next week, and remain one week."
"What about school?" and Mrs. Fayre looked decidedly disapproving of
the plan.
"That's just it!" exclaimed Dotty. "We knew you'd say that! But, Mrs.
Fayre, my mother says this is the chance of a lifetime,--almost,--and
we ought, we really OUGHT to take advantage of it."
"But to be out of school for a whole week,--and what with getting ready
and getting home and settled again, it would mean more than a week--"
"But, mother, we could make up our lessons," pleaded Dolly, "and I DO
want to go! oh, I do want to go, just AWFULLY!"
"I should think you would," put in Trudy. "Let her go, mother, it'll be
an education in itself,--the visit will. Why, the girls can go to the
museums and art galleries and see all sorts of things."
"Of course we can," said Bernice, "and my uncle has a beautiful house
and motor cars and everything!"
"That's another point," said Mr. Fayre, gravely. "You must realise, Mr.
Forbes, that my little girl is not accustomed to grandeur and wealth. I
don't want her to enjoy it so much that she will come back discontented
with her own plain home."
"Oh, nonsense, my dear sir! A glimpse of city life and a taste of
frivolity will do your girl good. Dolly is too sensible a sort to be a
prey to envy or discontent. I know Dolly fairly well, and I can vouch
for her common sense!"
"So can I," said Bernice. "Doll will enjoy everything to the limit, but
it won't hurt her disposition or upset her happiness to see the sights
of the city for a short time. Oh, please, Mr. Fayre, do let her go."
"Just as her mother thinks," and Mr. Fayre smiled at the insistent
Bernice.
"Tell me of the household," said Mrs. Fayre. "Is your brother's wife
living?"
"Jeff has never been married," replied Mr. Forbes. "He is an elderly
bachelor, and, I think is a bit lonely, now and then. But he is also a
little eccentric. He desires no company, usually. It is most
extraordinary that he should ask these girls. But I think he wants to
see his two nieces, and he fears he cannot entertain them pleasantly
unless they have other companions of their own age."
"And who would look after the girls?"
"Mrs. Berry, my brother's housekeeper. She is a fine noble-hearted and
competent woman, who has kept his house for years. I know her, and I am
perfectly willing to trust Bernice to her care. She will chaperon the
young people, for I doubt if my brother will go to many places with
them. But he will want them to have the best possible time, and will
give them all the pleasure possible."
"That part of it is all right, then," smiled Mrs. Fayre; "it is, to my
mind, only the loss of more than a week of the school work that
presents the insuperable objection."
"Oh, don't say insuperable," urged Mr. Forbes. "Can't you bring
yourself to permit that loss? As Dolly says, the girls can make up
their lessons."
"They can--but will they?"
"I will, mother," cried Dolly; "I promise you I will study each day
while I'm in New York. Then I can recite out of school hours after I
get back, and I'll get my marks all the same."
"But, Dolly dear, you can't study while you are in New York. There
would be too much to distract you and occupy your time."
"Oh, no, Mrs. Fayre," observed Bernice, "we couldn't be all the time
sightseeing. I think it would be fine for all us girls to study every
day, and keep up our lessons that way."
"It sounds well, my dear child," and Mrs. Fayre looked doubtfully at
Bernice, "and I daresay you mean to do it, but I can't think you could
keep it up. The very spirit of your life there would be all against
study."
"I agree with that," said Mr. Forbes, decidedly. "I vote for the girls
having an entire holiday. Lessons each day would spoil all their fun."
"They couldn't do it," Trudy said. "I know, however much they tried,
they just COULDN'T study in that atmosphere."
"Why not?" asked Bernice. "We're not young ladies, like you, Trudy. We
won't be going to parties, and such things. We can only go to the shops
and the exhibitions and for motor rides in the park and such things. We
could study evenings, I'm sure."
"It isn't only the lessons," Mrs. Fayre said; "but I can't feel quite
willing to let my little girl go away for a week without me." Her
pleasant smile at Mr. Forbes robbed the words of any reflection they
might seem to cast on his brother's invitation. "I'm sure Mrs. Berry
would do all that is necessary in the way of a chaperon's duties, but
these girls are pretty young even for that. They need a parent's
oversight."
Mrs. Fayre was about to say a mother's oversight, when she remembered
that Bernice had no mother, and changed the words accordingly.
There was some further discussion, and then Mrs. Fayre said she must
have a little time alone to make up her mind. She knew that if Dolly
did not go, Maisie May would be asked in her place, but she still felt
undecided. She asked for only an hour or two to think it over, and
promised to telephone directly after dinner, and tell Mr. Forbes her
final decision. This was the only concession she would make. If not
acceptable then her answer must be no.
"Please do not judge my wife too harshly," said Mr. Fayre as he
accompanied Mr. Forbes and Bernice to the door. "She still looks upon
Dolly as her baby, and scarcely lets her out of her sight."
"That's all right," returned Mr. Forbes. "She's the right sort of a
mother for the girl. I hope she will decide to let Dolly go, but if
not, I quite understand her hesitancy, and I respect and admire her for
it. Bernice can take somebody else, and I trust you will not try over
hard to influence Mrs. Fayre in Dolly's favour. If anything untoward
should happen, I should never forgive myself. I would far rather the
children were disappointed than to have Mrs. Fayre persuaded against
her better judgment."
The Forbeses departed, and then Dotty Rose went home, too.
"Oh, Dollyrinda," she whispered as they stood in the hall, "do you
s'pose your mother'll EVER say yes?"
"I don't believe so," replied Dolly mournfully. "But, oh, Dot, how I do
want to go! Seems 'sif I never wanted anything so much in all my life!"
"You don't want to go a bit more than I want to have you. Why, Dollops,
I shan't go, if you don't."
"Oh, yes, you will, Dotty. You must. It would be silly not to."
"But I couldn't! I just COULDN'T. Do you s'pose I could have one single
bit of fun going to places without you? And knowing you were here at
home, longing to be with us! No-sir-ee! I just couldn't pos-SIB-ly! So
just you remember that, old girl; no Dolly,--no Dotty! And that's SURE!"
There was a ring in Dotty's voice that proclaimed an unshakable
determination, and Dolly knew it. She knew that no coaxing of Bernice
or even of Dolly herself, could make Dotty go without her chum.
For chums these two were, in the deepest sense of the word. They were
together all that was possible during their waking hours. They studied
together, worked and played together, and occupied together their
little house, built for them, and called Treasure House.
Dolly knew she couldn't enjoy going anywhere without Dotty, and she
knew Dot felt the same way about her. But this was such a big, splendid
opportunity, that she hated to have Dotty miss it, even if she couldn't
go herself. The two girls said good-night, and Dolly went back to her
family in the library.
"I hate terribly to disappoint you, Dolly darling," began her mother,
and the tears welled up in Dolly's blue eyes. This beginning meant a
negative decision, that was self evident, but Dolly Fayre was plucky by
nature and she was not the sort that whines at disappointment.
"All right," she said, striving to be cheerful, and blinking her eyes
quickly to keep those tears back.
"Now, look here, Edith," said Mr. Fayre, "I don't believe I can stand
this. I don't differ with you regarding the children, but I do think
you might let Dolly go on this party. Even if it does take a week out
of school, she'll get enough general information and experience from a
week in the city to make up."
"That's just it, Will. But the experiences she gets there may not be
the best possible for a little girl of fifteen."
"Oh, fifteen isn't an absolute baby. Remember, dear, Dolly is going to
grow up some day, and she's getting started."
"And another thing. I asked Mr. Forbes a few questions while you were
talking to Bernice, and it seems this other girl, the niece, Alicia, is
attending a very fashionable girls' boarding school."
"Well, what of that? You speak as if she were attending a lunatic
asylum!"
"No; but can't you see if Dolly goes to stay a week with wealthy
Bernice Forbes and this fashionable Alicia, she'll get her head full of
all sorts of notions that don't belong there?"
"No, I won't, mother," murmured Dolly, who, again on her mother's arm
chair, was looking earnestly into the maternal blue eyes, so like her
own. And very lovingly Mrs. Fayre returned the gaze, for she adored her
little daughter and was actuated only by the best motives in making her
decisions.
"And, here's another thing," said Dolly, "Dot won't go, if I don't. It
seems too bad to spoil HER fun."
"Oh, yes, she will," said Mrs. Fayre, smiling. "She would be foolish to
give up her pleasure just because you can't share it."
"Foolish or not, she won't go," repeated Dolly. "I know my Dot, and
when she says she won't do a thing, she just simply doesn't do it!"
"I'd be sorry to be the means of keeping Dotty at home," and Mrs. Fayre
sighed deeply.