JACQUELINE
The words of Frank Apgar still rang in the frightened ears of Tessie,
when she stole away from the Osborne place, so very early the following
morning. Now her continued failures were assuming discouraging
proportions indeed, and she knew the result of "borrowing" that ticket
money. She could never hope for a good word of recommendation from Mrs.
Osborne, and without it she could not obtain employment. To seek work
in the mills now would be equivalent to throwing herself on the mercy
of the public, for she knew perfectly well every mill had been notified
to watch for her.
To her obsessed mind her faults were now serious beyond belief--she had
actually stolen money! What at first seemed a mere matter of
"borrowing" until she could work one more little week to pay it back,
had suddenly become a crime impossible to atone.
Desperately she tramped through the long country roads, tugging her
bag, using it often as a stool to rest on. No one noticed the
girl--maids often left employment in Elmhurst and journeyed out to the
trolley line just as she was doing.
Childish laughter and the capering of a very white toy poodle dog
attracted Tessie's attention, as she stopped in front of the entrance
to a very handsome estate. Through the iron rails of a very high fence
could be seen the girl responsible for the silvery laughter. She was
seated in a small wheel-chair, and at her feet lay a young man lounging
on the velvet grass, that was cropped so close the blades looked like a
woven tapestry of magic green.
"Now, Jack," Tessie heard the young man say, "I will do all the things
thou badest me, but please don't ask a fellow to climb trees. I'm too
big for the limbs, and I should hate to break the pretty branches.
Necks don't count, of course." His voice was so jolly Tessie listened
behind the iron post of the open gateway.
"Well, all right, Prince Charming. I won't ask you to climb the tree,
but Jerry--I can hardly wait. Oh, isn't it too wonderful?" and the
pretty little girl clapped her hands quite like any ordinary youngster.
Here was Tessie's chance. These were a different sort of people and
perhaps they would take her on without any reference!
Acting on the moment's impulse, she picked her bag up and entered the
gate. The young man sat bolt upright and seemed inclined to laugh.
"Oh, wherever did you come from?" asked the girl in the chair. "We were
just telling fairy stories," and she smiled as if Tessie had been a
sequence to the tale.
"I'm looking for work," spoke Tessie bravely, "and this seemed such a
big place, do you know if they need any extra help?"
The child shot a volley of meaning glances at the young man. Anyone
could have interpreted the code as signifying interest and pleasure.
"We would have to consult the housekeeper," the young man answered
quickly. He gave his head a defiant toss, contradicting the joy
expressed by his sister.
"Oh, but perhaps--" faltered the girl. "Gerald, don't you think maybe
you and I might manage to take this nice girl to work? I'd just love to
have a very young person to talk to when I can't have you," and the big
blue eyes rolled oceans of appeal into the face of the handsome brother.
"Jack, you know I'm your slave," he answered. "But even I cannot always
manage Mrs. Bennet. But we can ask her," smiling at Tessie. "Come
along!" He sprang to his position at the wheel-chair. "Mrs. Bennet
should be glad enough to grant any favor on so perfect a morning."
"Then don't forget our plans, Jerry," the sister cautioned
mysteriously. "If it all works out as I am dreaming, brother, oh, what
a glorious time we will have! Come on"--to Tessie--"I'm just going to
make Mrs. Bennet take you on. She's awfully particular, but since I
haven't been able to walk I just impose on brother Gerald. And he has
been so kind," patting the hand resting round her chair, "and couldn't
you and I have good times together? What shall I call you?" she asked
naively.
"Stacia Wertz," replied Tessie, assuming another name to cover her
knowledge of the Osborne situation.
"That's from Anastasia, isn't it?"
"Now, Jacqueline," spoke the brother, "I have to run in town early this
morning, so if we are going to storm the Bennet we had best mass for
the attack. Suppose we sit here," as they reached a rustic bench, "and
prepare our story."
A half-hour later, in spite of all protests from the particular Mrs.
Bennet, who as housekeeper for Gerald Douglass and his young sister
Jacqueline, had good reason to value her reputation, Tessie (now
Stacia) was engaged. Her especial duties were to be with Jacqueline,
and Mrs. Bennet deplored to Mr. Gerald the fact that this young girl
brought no reference.
"But she is so young, Margaret," he had replied. "I am sure we can
supervise. And you know, Jack has been taking a lot of my time lately.
Yet the doctor says her ultimate cure depends on her cheerful frame of
mind, and she is getting along so beautifully. He expects to try the
strength of her limbs in ten days more."
It was this arrangement that won the day for Tessie, and once more the
black clouds of anxiety rolled away to disclose a rift of new interest,
and a gleam of new-found joy. No one could touch the life of Jacqueline
Douglass without sharing its delight. The child, temporarily disabled
through an acute ailment, had been enjoying every delight her handsome
big brother could procure for her, and even in this almost unbelievable
paradise "Jack" remained unspoiled, and her active brain was still
capable of inventing new wonders.
The home was nothing short of paradise to Tessie. Even the lovely
Osborne home seemed unimportant compared with Glenmoor, the country
estate of wealthy Gerald Douglass and his pet sister.
The house was of stone and brick, its trimmings beautifully grained oak
and its decorations, all in mellow golds and browns, were as soft yet
as varied as the tones of the early chestnut burr. Jacqueline was a
russet blonde, just gold enough in her hair to deepen the glints, and
with the blue eyes and that incomparable complexion so often associated
with "red gold hair," it seemed to Tessie nature had been very partial
indeed in bestowing her gifts when Jacqueline Douglass was fashioned.
It was the second day of her service at Glenmore that Tessie overheard
her young mistress use the name "Marcia" when calling over the
telephone.
"Marcia! Might it be Marcia Osborne!" Tessie almost gasped. Then when
she heard further a "good-bye, and Jacqueline hoped they would all have
a lovely trip west," Tessie breathed freely. Yes, the Osbornes had
planned a trip west, and no doubt they were going. This seemed to
Tessie rare good luck. Marcia, Phillis and Mrs. Osborne were surely off
for their trip.
"Now I'm going to write Dagmar," decided Tessie--"poor little kid! I
feel like a quitter to have left her alone all this time. I wonder if I
couldn't go out there and look for her? Everything seems to be blown
over, and even mother and father might be glad to see me."
With a girl's unqualified impulse, Tessie quickly wrote an effectionate
letter to her mother and sealed in it a five-dollar bill. This would
surely prepare the way. Then she wrote a second letter, this one to
Dagmar, care of the Flosston post-office, and as the mail for Rose
Dixon and Dagmar Brodix was promptly mailed to Mrs. Cosgrove at
Franklin, Tessie planned better than she knew in hoping thus to reach
her abandoned companion. Her letters finished, Tessie (for the time
Stacia) slipped down the palatial hall to the door of Jacqueline's
sunset room, to inquire if the young mistress needed any attention. It
was one of those prolonged days in early summer when night seems unable
to break in on the soft, pelucent shadows of sunset meeting twilight.
Tessie found Jacqueline sitting in her Sleepy Hollow chair, the shaded
green robes tossed about giving the picture such tones as a pastel
might embody.
"Oh, do come in, Stacia," called Jacqueline. "I am just reading this
girl scout manual and can't understand these signal tests. Did you ever
see one of these manuals?" and again Tessie was confronted with the
persistent little blue book which had so conspicuously affected her
life.
"I have something you would just love!" exclaimed Tessie, taking
impulse from Jacqueline's enthusiasm. "I--that is, a friend of mine
found it. It's a merit medal," she had declared almost before she
realized what she was about.
"Oh, a real merit badge?" asked Jacqueline. "Not really a genuine badge
of merit? Those are all registered and can only be used by the original
owners."
"I'll show you," agreed Tessie, and now there was no turning back. The
girl, too helpless to share in scout activities, was examining and
fondling that merit badge a moment later, and seeing her delight,
Tessie felt amply repaid for her generosity.
"I'll tell you!" decided the child, pinning the little wreathed clover
leaf on her silk negligee, "I'll keep it carefully, and every day you
and I can make our scout pledges. Then, when I know you long enough to
be awfully sure you understand it, I am going to let you into a
wonderful secret. Won't that be splendid?" and her blue eyes begged
confidence from the brown eyes, as both girls thrilled with scout magic.
"Oh, yes, I would love to know your secret," Tessie felt obliged to
reply, "and maybe some day we will find the girl who lost the badge."
This ended the transfer of the much-prized emblem, and in giving its
story Tessie succeeded in covering the detail of locality by vaguely
stating "a girl friend found it and gave it to her." So Jacqueline had
no means of knowing of its connection with the Girl Scouts of True Tred
Troop.
That night Tessie felt a peculiar relief. It was as if some great
burden had been lifted from her. To give to dear Jacqueline anything
worthy of her was in itself a thing worth doing, and to make good use
of the badge was also an important consideration.
"I never had any luck since I carried that around with me!" she
decided, but that was a false statement. There never is, nor never was
any question of "luck." The real fact of the matter was simply that
Tessie, while in possession of the little badge, was continually
reminded of its purpose, and the ideals it stood for, so that in her
rather reckless career the emblem confronted her with constant mute
appeal.
Meanwhile, Jacqueline refused the urgent demands of her nurse that she
retire.
"No, nursie dear. Do be lovely to me tonight," she pleaded, "and let me
wait for Jerry. I have the most glorious news for him."
"If all of this nonsense does you good, Jacqueline, I am sure I shall
not oppose it," replied the nurse. "But personally, it is beyond my
experience. There is Mr. Gerald now. Just ring when you want me."
So Jacqueline was left to tell the handsome big brother about her
wonderful acquisition.
The merit badge of True Tred Troop!