OVERLOOK
"The next station is Fairview, Keineth--watch out for the kiddies,"
said Mr. Lee, rising from the car seat.
Keineth had been sitting for a half hour with her nose flattened
against the car window, not seeing at all the fields and farmhouses
that flew past her, but trying to picture what Peggy would be like!
Keineth was very excited and a little tired from the night in the
sleeper; she was fighting back the thought that she would not see Daddy
for a long, long time. Daddy had gone with them to the station the
night before, and had helped her undress in the queer little shelf he
called a berth and had himself pulled the blankets close around her
chin and kissed her again and again.
"Little soldier--right face," he whispered--and Keineth knew that he
meant she should be very brave over it all. Then he had hurried off the
train, for the conductor was shouting: "All aboard----" and Keineth,
peeping from under her curtain for a last look, had seen his tall
figure go down the dimly-lighted platform.
The engine whistled and slowed down. Keineth took up the new bag which
had been Aunt Josephine's present to her, and followed Mr. Lee to the
door. Around the corner of his arm she saw a freckled-faced boy running
close to the car step, and beyond him two little girls.
The taller of the two must, of course, be Peggy! Keineth saw a
bob-headed, slim child of about her own height, brown as a berry.
"Dad--Dad," they cried, running forward as Mr. Lee stepped down from
the train almost strangled in Billy's hug. In their joy at seeing their
father the girls did not notice Keineth, who stood shyly back, wishing
the ground would open and swallow her up.
But the ground under the station platform was unusually solid! In a
moment Keineth felt three pairs of eyes upon her as Mr. Lee turned and
said:
"Here is the little stranger I have brought with me."
"Hello," said Peggy, smiling. Alice smiled, too, but hung back a
little, and Billy swept a critical glance over Keineth's city-clad
little figure. Mr. Lee, holding Alice's hand in his, was walking toward
an automobile in which sat the eldest daughter.
"I'm awfully glad you came," began Peggy as the children followed.
"It'll be such fun!"
"Is this Keineth?" cried the girl in the automobile, jumping out to
greet her father. Keineth had pictured Barbara as quite a young
lady--she had always thought seventeen very old--but Barbara was
dressed in a blue skirt and a middy blouse like Peggy's and wore her
hair in a long, thick braid. She had her father's kind eyes and the
friendliness of their glance warmed poor little Keineth's homesick
soul. She gave the child a little pat on the shoulder.
"We're just awfully glad you're here," she said, taking Keineth's bag.
Then, to her father: "We didn't think Genevieve would run! She's been
acting awful--but we just made her crawl up here to meet you."
"Genevieve's the name of the automobile," giggled Peggy as the smaller
girls cuddled into the back seat. Billy rode on the running board and
Barbara took the steering wheel.
"Mother's fine," Barbara was saying while, at the same time, Billy was
pouring into his father's ear a great deal of information concerning
his wireless. Peggy in breathless, excited words was pointing out to
the bewildered Keineth the sights of Fairview.
Genevieve, with many puffs and snorts and queer noises from under her
bonnet, crawled gallantly along the smooth road, up a hill, turned in
between two stone posts and stopped. Down the steps ran a woman who
seemed to Keineth only a little older than Barbara, She kissed Mr. Lee,
then, pushing the eager children aside, turned to Keineth.
"Here she is, mother," called out Peggy, drawing Keineth forward.
Mrs. Lee took Keineth in her arms and held her very close for a moment.
When she released her she put her hand under Keineth's chin to lift her
face.
"It's like seeing your mother again," she laughed, although there was a
queer little catch in her voice.
"You'll be Peggy's twin," she added, starting up the steps. "Bring in
their bags, Billy. Barb--let's give Dad a nice hot cup of coffee!
Peggy, you make Keineth perfectly at home."
Keineth took off her hat and coat. Very willingly Peggy took her in
charge.
"I'll show you the garden," she said.
"Let's go down to the beach!" cried Alice, following.
"Do you want to see my wireless set?" invited Billy.
"Billy thinks that's the only interesting thing about Overlook!"
"Wait a moment, children," suggested Mrs. Lee to them, "one thing at a
time! Keineth is tired, perhaps. Take her upstairs, Peggy, and let her
slip on a blouse and your old serge bloomers--then go outside and
play!"
Overlook really wasn't like a house at all--Keineth had never seen
anything quite like it. There was one big living-room with a veranda
running around it and with big doors opening from three sides upon the
veranda so that the room itself was just like out-of-doors. One end of
the veranda was enclosed in glass and used as a dining-room. Flowers in
boxes were on the sills of the windows and over them the sun streamed
through chintz-curtained windows. Upstairs were two rooms over the
living-rooms, and opening from these were screened sleeping porches,
with rows of little cots. Peggy explained that the rooms were used as
dressing-rooms and that each one of the family had a little chest of
drawers for their own clothes and that mother had brought the oak one
in the corner out from town for Keineth's use.
"But where do you sleep when it rains?" cried Keineth.
"Oh, out there," laughed Peggy; "you see, the roof slants down so far
that it keeps out the rain. That's your cot--between Barb's and mine."
Keineth caught a glimpse of a great blue stretch of water glistening in
the bright sunlight a quarter of a mile away.
"Oh--is that the lake?" she exclaimed, eagerly.
"Yes--we'll go down to the beach in a little while. Can you swim?
Mother will teach you--she taught each one of us. I'm going to try for
the life-saving medal this year! We have sport contests at the club in
August. Can you play tennis?" Keineth said no. Peggy's manner became
just a little patronizing. "Oh, it's easy to learn, though it'll take
you quite awhile to serve a good ball, but you can practice with Alice.
Can you play golf?"
"My Daddy can."
"Well, you can walk around the links with Billy and me. Barbara plays a
dandy game--she can beat Dad all to pieces. Let's go down now and see
the garden."
Beyond the neatly-kept lawn with its bricked walks bordered with
nasturtium beds was the stretch of garden in which the children had
their individual beds. Peggy explained to Keineth that Billy this year
had planted his bed to radishes and onions; that she had put in her
seed in a pattern of her own designing which, when she separated the
weeds from the flowers would look like a splendid combination of a new
moon and the Big Dipper. Barbara and Alice had planted asters and
snapdragon because mother liked them for the house. Back of the flower
beds was a patch of young corn, and behind that the vegetable garden
which supplied the table. At one side of the garden was the barn where
poor Genevieve was now resting her rickety bones, and next to that was
a shed.
Billy was busy at work repairing the door of the shed. As the girls
came in sight he waved to them. They started on a run.
"Let's give Ken a ride on Gypsy," he called out. He dropped his hammer,
disappeared in the barn and came out leading a shaggy pony.
At the sound of the nickname carelessly bestowed upon her Keineth drew
in her breath quickly. Right at that moment she wanted more than
anything else in the world that these children should not think she was
a bit different from them! Already her plain serge dress had been hung
away and she was in a blouse and bloomers like Peggy's!
"I don't know," began Peggy doubtfully.
"Oh, please, let me have a ride," broke in Keineth in a voice she tried
to make as careless as Billy's own.
"We always ride Gypsy bareback--climb up here on these boxes!"
Keineth stepped upon the boxes, Billy wheeled the pony around and
Keineth bravely swung one leg over the pony's back, taking the halter
in her hand as she did so. Billy gave the pony a sound slap on the
shoulder and off they flew!
Never in her life had Keineth been on a horse's back, but she had
caught the challenge in Billy's laughing eyes and her soul flamed with
daring. She clenched her teeth tightly and, because she was in mortal
terror of slipping off from the pony, she gripped her knees with all
her might against his shaggy sides. In a funny little gallop--very like
a rocking horse--he circled the house, while from the shed Billy and
Peggy shouted to her encouragingly.
Keineth's first ride would have ended triumphantly if she had not laid
her hand ever so lightly on a certain spot in Gypsy's neck! For Gypsy,
having reached an age when he was of no further use in their business,
had been bought a year before from a circus company by Mr. Lee and
taken to Overlook, and at the time of the purchase no one had explained
to Mr. Lee that Gypsy's training had included quietly throwing the
clown from her back in a way which had always won screams of laughter
from the spectators and that the little act came at the moment when the
clown touched a certain spot on her neck! All the young Lees had ridden
Gypsy but had not happened to discover this little trick. But Keineth,
just as she had safely passed the kitchen door and was galloping toward
the shed, suddenly felt herself flying over Gypsy's head! Her fall was
broken by a pile of sand which had been hauled up from the beach for
the garden. Keineth was more startled than hurt, though she felt a
little stunned and lay for a moment very still.
"Oh, are you hurt?" cried Peggy, running quickly to her with Billy at
her heels.
"Oh, I s'pose she'll cry and bring mother out!" Keineth heard Billy say
behind Peggy's back.
Keineth's cheeks were very red. She stood up quickly and, though for a
moment everything danced before her eyes, she managed to laugh and
speak in a queer voice she scarcely recognized as her own.
"'Course I'm not hurt! A little fall like that!" she brushed the sand
from her blouse.
"Peggy," cried Billy, joyfully, "she's a real scout!" and Keineth knew
then that she was one of them.
Even Peggy's tone was different. "Let's ask mother if we can't go down
to the beach before lunch!" she called out over her shoulder, starting
houseward on a run.
That night a very tired little girl crept into her cot between
Barbara's and Peggy's. Alice was already asleep on the other side of
Peggy. Barbara was still on the veranda talking with her mother and
father. A soft land breeze, all sweet with garden smells, fanned their
faces as the girls lay there. What a day it had been to Keineth--she
had played in the sand, waded in the warm shallows of the lake, raced
with Peggy and Alice through the fields all white with daisies and had
gathered great bunches of the pretty flowers! She thought, as she lay
there watching the little stars peeping under the edge of the roof,
that she had never been so happy in her life! She loved Overlook and
all the Lees--and Peggy, best of all.
In whispers, reaching out from their cots to clasp hands, she and Peggy
opened their hearts to one another. She told Peggy all about poor, nice
Tante and about the old house and Francesca Ferocci and Aunt Josephine
and Fido and the French maid, and the tenants on the third floor and
her Daddy--who'd gone away on a secret. Peggy, very sleepily pictured
what they'd do on the morrow and the day after and the day after that.
Later, when Mrs. Lee went her rounds, as she always did, tucking a
cover under each loved chin, she found Keineth's fair curls very close
to Peggy's round bobbed head and their hands still clasping.