MRS. SCATTERGOOD TALKS
"What do you suppose is the matter with Lottie?" murmured Marty. "Is she
sick or something?"
Suddenly Janice Day suspected the truth. She hugged little Lottie all
the tighter, saying in reply to her cousin:
"Don't bother her now, Marty. She isn't sick, I'm sure. She'll be all
right in a little while. She's come over here to spend the night with
me, haven't you, Lottie?"
"Ye--yes! If you'll k-k-keep me."
"Sure we'll keep you," said Marty gruffly. He was much moved by the
little girl's tears. "You stop her from gulpin' that way, Janice.
She'll--she'll swallow her palate!"
"She's in no danger, Marty," the older girl said. "She's just sobbing."
Lottie's tempestuous sobs began to subside. Janice led her toward the
kitchen door, whispering: "Is there anything the matter with papa or
Mamma 'Rill? Tell me, Lottie."
"Just that they ain't going to want me any more," repeated Lottie.
"Has Mrs. Scattergood been talking to you?" whispered Janice.
The visitor nodded emphatically but said nothing more. Janice turned to
Marty, and the boy wondered why she looked so angry. He had not done
anything out of the way, he was sure.
"Run right across town to the store, Marty, and tell Mr. Drugg and his
wife where she is. Tell them she is going to stay all night with me. But
don't tell them anything else."
"Huh?" queried Marty.
"Not a thing. Just that she came here to stay all night with me and I
didn't want them to be worried. That's enough."
"Oh!" grunted Marty. "I see," and he started out of the yard
immediately, while Janice led the more-quietly-sobbing Lottie into the
house.
"Dear sakes alive!" exploded Aunt 'Mira, "what ever is Lottie Drugg
doin' 'way over here at this time o' night? Anythin' wrong with 'Rill?"
"Not a thing," Janice said cheerfully. "Lottie wanted to stay all night
with me and she is a little late getting here. Now hush, honey! don't
cry any more. You are here now and you'll be all right, you know."
"Why, do tell!" said wondering Aunt 'Mira. "What's she cryin' for?
Didn't she know that little gals was as welcome here as the flowers in
spring? Come, give Miz' Day a kiss, sweetheart. I'm sartain sure glad to
see ye."
Lottie began to feel better and swallowed her sobs--if not her
palate--very quickly. She was of some importance in _this_ house, at
least. She sat down and took off her tam-o'-shanter and unbuttoned the
new blue coat of which she had been so proud only a few days before. But
she was no longer wearing "Mamma 'Rill's" present--the string of blue
beads.
"It's airly yet," said Mrs. Day. "When's your usual bedtime, Lottie? We
can all have a game of parchesi or somethin'. Can't we, Janice?"
"I don't go to bed much before half-past nine. Sometimes I'm let to stay
up later," Lottie said.
"And your eyes are as bright as buttons now," said Aunt 'Mira
comfortably. "Jest wipe the tears out of 'em."
"That is right, Lottie. Marty will soon be back and we'll play games,"
Janice agreed.
Lottie removed her coat and began to feel decidedly better. Marty came
in after a while, red in the face and short of breath, but cheerfully
a-grin again. He gave a bundle to Janice and winked at her as he said:
"All right. I ran all the way. They say she can stay. Whew!"
"It's my nightie," whispered Lottie, pointing to the bundle. "And my
toothbrush and clean stockings, and things."
"Some day you'll bust something, runnin' so," said Mrs. Day to Marty.
"Where are all those picture puzzles and toy-games? You want to amuse
Lottie now she's here."
Nothing loath, the boy rummaged out a wealth of amusement-producing
inventions and Lottie forgot her sorrow for the time being. Mr. Day came
in, and, being instructed by Janice in the kitchen, made no comment upon
Lottie Drugg's presence.
The visitor sat close beside Marty and if, at any time, she did not play
to the best advantage, he corrected her privately. As for Mr. and Mrs.
Day they looked on and smiled. Who could help smiling at little Lottie
Drugg?
Janice was glad that her visitor's mind was coaxed away from her
troubles before bedtime. By that time Lottie was chattering like a
squirrel and she bade the family good-night happily.
After the two girls had said their prayers and got into bed, the visitor
suddenly seized Janice tightly around the neck and sobbed a little with
her face pressed close against the bigger girl's shoulder.
"Oh, Janice Day! I never _can_ go home to papa and Mamma 'Rill. What
shall I do?"
"Don't worry about that, honey," Janice told her soothingly. "You can
stay here, you know, if you wish to."
"Oh, yes! I love you. Mr. and Mrs. Day are awfully nice to me. And Marty
is just the _best_ boy. But--but it isn't going to be like home," she
wailed.
"Well then, dear, why don't you wish to go home any more?" asked her
friend soberly.
"They--they don't want me. They--they ain't going to want me at all."
"Who says so?"
"I--I know they don't. Why, Janice Day! they've asked God for another
little girl--a baby girl--to come and stay with them. Mrs. Scattergood
says so. That's what she meant by saying my nose was going to be put out
of joint. She told me so. I asked her," confessed Lottie.
"Oh, my dear!" sighed Janice.
It was difficult to seek to relieve Lottie's mind regarding the
wonderful thing that was coming to pass in the Drugg household, without
saying what might be unkind, but true, about Mrs. Scattergood. Just at
this moment Janice felt that she could have shaken the acid-tempered old
woman with the greatest satisfaction!
"Did you ask Papa Drugg or Mamma 'Rill about it?" Janice queried of the
little girl.
"Oh, no."
"Then how do you _know_ they don't want you any more?"
"Why--of course they don't. Or they wu--wu--wouldn't _ask_ for another
little girl," sobbed Lottie.
"Perhaps the baby will be a little boy, honey. When folks ask God for a
baby He sends what He thinks is best for them to have. And wouldn't you
just _love_ to have a little baby brother to love and play with and help
take care of? Now, wouldn't you?"
"Oh, Janice Day!"
"Just think! You'd always have somebody to play with at home and you
wouldn't be lonely any more. You wouldn't even mind if your echo went
away," suggested Janice. "Think of it! When he grows bigger----"
"He'll be like Marty!" gasped Lottie, clutching at her friend more
vigorously.
"That is, if it _is_ a boy. But if it is a dear little girl, she'll be
lots of company for you," Janice pursued. "Think how nice it would be to
have a sister. I've always wished I had one. She can play keep house
with you, and play dolls, and you both can dress up and be real grown-up
ladies, and----"
A long, contented sigh from little Lottie. She began to breathe
regularly, with only now and then a sob in her voice. She was asleep.
Janice, however, did not sleep at once. With the soft, warm body of the
innocent child in her arms she lay a long time pondering these things.
How unkind of Mrs. Scattergood to let the barb of her bitter tongue
sting Lottie's gentle heart! How wrong and unwise 'Rill's mother was
about most things!
Because she selfishly desired her daughter to be at her beck and call,
Mrs. Scattergood had opposed her marriage to Hopewell Drugg. So, at
every turn, where the sour old creature could do so, she sowed thorns in
the path of her daughter and Hopewell.
"She makes herself unhappy, and all about her, as well. She succeeded in
embittering poor 'Rill's life for several weeks with her untrue gossip
about Mr. Drugg's drinking. Now, when she should be her daughter's
greatest stay and comfort, she deliberately tries to set poor little
Lottie against her own mamma and father. It is dreadful," Janice
decided. "It must be stopped. _I've got to do something about it!_"
So, when she finally dropped to sleep it was with this decision firm in
her mind. She awoke with it, too, and after leaving Lottie at the
schoolhouse, Janice drove her car around by Mrs. Scattergood's little
dwelling at the crown of the High Street hill.
The birdlike little old woman was out in her front yard swathing her
rosebushes in straw and mulching their roots against the harder frosts
of winter which were already due. She waved a gloved hand to the young
girl who stepped out from behind the steering wheel of her car and
entered the creaking gate.
"Here ye be, Janice Day, jest as bright as a new penny," said Mrs.
Scattergood. "I wanter know if that young'un of Hopewell Drugg's was
over to your house last night."
"Yes, she was, Mrs. Scattergood," Janice gravely replied. "She remained
all night with me."
"Huh, I don't approve of sech didoes. My young'uns was allus in the
house by dark--and stayed in till mornin'. 'Rill came traipsin' over
here after eight o'clock to see if I'd seen her."
"Lottie was all right," said Janice. "I sent Marty over to tell 'Rill
not to worry."
"The young'un ain't more'n ha'f witted. I allus have said so."
"She is just as bright as any other child of her age--brighter than
some," affirmed Janice warmly. "She is more sensitive than most.
Therefore we should be careful what we say to her."
"Ha! what d'ye mean, Janice Day?" asked the old woman, eyeing her caller
suspiciously and belligerently.
Janice told her. She spoke warmly and with flashing eyes that held Mrs.
Scattergood silent for the nonce. She had never seen Janice display any
appearance of wrath before, and if her pet cat had suddenly turned in
her lap and spit at her and scratched her, Mrs. Scattergood would have
been no more surprised.
"Hoity-toity, young lady!" she finally said. "Do you think this is
pretty talk to me that's old enough to be your grandmother?"
"That is just why I am saying it to you, Mrs. Scattergood," Janice
responded firmly. "You _are_ little Lottie's grandmother----"
"No, I ain't!" snapped the woman, her face very grim. "Nor I ain't
likely to adopt any young one of Hope Drugg's and Cindy Stone's.
I--should--say--not!"
"And is that the attitude you propose to assume when the little stranger
comes? You cannot deny your relationship then."
"Oh! Well! Ahem! That's quite another matter," said Mrs. Scattergood
crossly.
"Just now, when dear 'Rill needs all the kindness that can be shown
her--by everybody--why can't you forget your"--"spite" she desired to
say, but did not--"dislike of Hopewell and little Lottie? Be friends
with them. Why! this arrival should make you all one happy family
together."
Mrs. Scattergood snorted--literally. "Ha! Sech a great to-do about
nothin'," she ejaculated.
"Oh, no, Mrs. Scattergood. It's not about nothing. It's the greatest
thing that can happen. It is the most beautiful thing in the world to
'Rill. I know she feels that way."
"Poor critter! She's almost as big a fule as that young'un, Lottie,"
muttered the woman.
"Doesn't she need your love and comfort all the more, then?" suggested
Janice softly. "Think of it, Mrs. Scattergood."
"I'll tell ye what I _do_ think, Janice Day," snapped the other, not at
all pacified. "I think you'd be in better business if you found
something else to do, 'stead o' comin' here to tell _me_ what's my
duty."
"Oh, now, Mrs. Scattergood, don't be angry with me. I know you'll be
sorry later if you do not show the love that 'Rill has the right to
expect from you at this time. Don't make trouble for her."
"Humph!" ejaculated the old woman, scowling at her. "A body might think
you had trouble enough of your own so't you could afford to mind your
own business."
Janice flushed, for the criticism stung. She had, however, determined
not to take offense at anything Mrs. Scattergood might say. Nothing but
the girl's deep sense of the necessity for her act had urged her to
address 'Rill's mother in this way.
"I haven't any personal trouble just now, Mrs. Scattergood. Of course,
Uncle Jason's difficulty worries me a bit. But when daddy hears about it
he will help."
"Your father! Broxton Day! Humph!" exploded the old woman, her wrinkled
face flushed and her eyes snapping. "I calc'late Broxton Day has got
_his_ hands full right now without doin' anythin' for your Uncle Jase."
"Why, what do you mean, Mrs. Scattergood?"
The color washed out of Janice's cheeks instantly, and her lips remained
parted in her excitement. Somehow the tart old woman's speech struck
deep into the girl's heart.
For several days she had been fighting down the feeling of suspicion and
fear that was rising like a tide within her. Daddy's letter was delayed.
She had not chanced to see any newspaper but the _Courier_ of late. Why!
even Uncle Jason's _Ledger_ had not appeared on the sitting room table.
She watched the hard old face of the crotchety Mrs. Scattergood in a
fascination of growing horror, repeating:
"What do you mean? Has anything happened to daddy? And you know it--and
I don't?"
"Well, ye oughter if ye don't," snapped Mrs. Scattergood. "I never did
believe in hidin' the trewth from folks. No good comes of it."
"What _is_ it? What has happened to my father?" and Janice clutched at
her arm.
"Wal, I've gone so fur, I might's well tell ye," the woman said, all of
a flutter now. "_Somebody_ oughter tell ye. Ye was bound to find it out,
anyway."
"But what is it?"
"Broxton Day's been shot by them Mexicaners. He's shot, is a prisoner,
an' I hear tell he ain't never likely to git out o' that plaguey country
alive!"
[Illustration: "What do you mean? Has anything happened to daddy?"]