THE JOURNEY.
Ruby and Aunt Emma were to start at nine o'clock, and as there were a
great many little things to be done before the travellers should get
off, the whole house was astir very early in the morning. Ruby was
very much excited over her journey, but there was a little lump that
kept arising in her throat all the time as if it would choke her if she
did not swallow it back.
Ruthy was to go over to the station with her, and see her off, and it
was hardly daybreak when she came over to Ruby's house, eager to have
as long a time as possible with her little friend before she should go
away.
Ruby felt as if she was a little queen, every one was so kind to her,
and so anxious to please her in every way. Even Ann was wonderfully
subdued, and when Ruby came downstairs, took her in her arms and said:
"I don't know what we shall do without the precious child, I am sure."
Coming from Ann, this was indeed a great compliment, and Ruby felt as
if Ann was really very nice, indeed, since she had so high an opinion
of the little girl.
"Are n't you sorry you have been so cross to me, sometimes?" asked
Ruby, presently, thinking that if Ann would admit that she had said a
great deal that she did not mean in the past, she would feel still
happier.
Ann was sorry to have the child from whom she had never been separated
for a whole day, go away for weeks, but she was not by any means
disposed to admit that Ruby had not deserved all the scoldings she had
over given her, and her voice had quite a little of its usual sharpness
as she answered,--
"You know as well as I do, Ruby Harper, that you 've been enough to try
the patience of a saint many and many a time, more particularly since
your mother has been taken ill, and though I 'm sorry you 're going
away, I am sure it is the best thing for you, for you had got long past
my managing, and nobody knew what you were going to do next. If you
were n't going to school, likely enough you would burn us all down in
our beds some night."
Ruby looked rather crestfallen.
"I don't think you need be cross the very last thing when I am going
away so far, and you won't see me for ever and ever so long again," she
said, with a little quiver in her voice.
"Well, I did n't mean to be," said Ann, giving her another hug. "It's
only that I got provoked that I said that. You see you and me have a
lot to learn yet, Ruby, before we can say and do just what we ought to,
and nothing else. I'll take it all back, and I'll show you the nice
cake I have made for your lunch on the cars."
Ruby followed Ann to the buttery, and admired the cake with its white
crust of icing, that looked like a coating of frost, to Ann's content,
and would have been quite willing to have had a piece of it then and
there, if Ann would have permitted it.
Everybody talked a great deal about everything but Ruby's going away,
for nobody wanted to give the little girl time enough to think about
it, lest she should grow homesick; and it seemed quite like a party,
Ruby thought, as she sat beside her father at the table, with Ruthy
sitting by her, all ready for another breakfast, she had risen so early.
After breakfast papa went down to the stable to harness up; the little
trunk was shut for the last time, and the key turned and put in Aunt
Emma's pocket-book,--greatly to Ruby's disappointment, for she wanted
to keep it herself; but Aunt Emma said she might have it after they got
safely to school, but it would be very inconvenient if she should lose
it on the way there, and she tried to console herself with that
promise. Ruby had had a parting frolic with Tipsey, and Ruthy had
promised to come over and play with the kitten very often, so that she
would not miss her little mistress too much, and now Ruby was going to
say good-by to her mother, and have a few quiet minutes with her,
before it should be time to put her hat and jacket on.
The room was dark and quiet, and when Ruby went in, old Mrs. Maggs, who
spent all her time in staying with sick people and nursing them, got up
and went out, so that the little girl should have her mother all to
herself.
Ruby cuddled her face down beside her dear mother's face, in the
pillow, and it was all the little girl could do to keep from bursting
into tears, and begging that she might not be sent away. She
remembered her promise to her father to be brave, and she swallowed the
lump in her throat, back, over and over again, while her mother told
her how she hoped that her little daughter would be a good girl, so
that all she should hear from Aunt Emma would be good news, of Ruby's
improvement in her studies, and of her good conduct.
Ruby listened to every word, and she promised her mother very earnestly
that she would indeed try to conquer her self-will, and be good.
"That will help you get well, won't it, mamma?" she asked, stroking the
white face tenderly.
"Yes, darling, nothing will help me get well faster than that," her
mother answered, giving her a tender kiss.
It was very hard to say good-by when papa's voice called,--
"Come little daughter, the carriage is ready." It was harder than Ruby
had had any idea that it would be. It seemed as if she could not
possibly say good-by to her mother, and go out of the room, knowing
that she could not kiss her good-night or good-morning any more for
weeks and weeks. If it had been any one else, but to go away from her
seemed quite impossible.
"Good-by, darling. Remember you are going to help me get well again,"
her mother said, drawing the little girl's face down for a last kiss,
and that helped Ruby to be very brave. She kissed her mother over and
over again, and then jumped up and went out of the room without one
word.
The lump in her throat was growing so big that she knew she should cry
in a moment if she did not hurry away.
"I was brave, papa, I was brave," she said, when she went out into the
hall and found her father waiting for her; but the tears came then fast
and thick for a moment.
"Now you will be my brave little daughter again, I know," said her
father, comfortingly, "for it is time for us to start now. I am afraid
the train would not wait for us if you were not at the station in time,
and it would never do to miss the train on your first journey, would
it?"
Ruby smiled through her tears.
"Don't you think they would wait when they saw the trunk on the
platform, papa? I should think they would know somebody was going away
then, and would wait."
"No, I don't think that even for anything as important as the trunk,
the train would wait," her father answered.
Ann helped Ruby put on her hat and jacket with unusual gentleness, and
Ruby thought that Ann looked very much as if she wanted to cry.
"Do you feel sorry, really, that I am going away, Ann?" she asked.
"Of course I do, honey," Ann answered.
All at once Ruby remembered how she had teased Ann, how many times she
had been rude to her, and had done what she knew Ann did not want her
to, and she put her arms around Ann's neck.
"Ann, I 'm sorry I have been so bad," she whispered. "I will be good
when I come home again."
Ann was very much touched by Ruby's apology.
"Never you think about that," she answered. "I'll miss you dreadfully,
and I shall never remember anything but the times you have been as good
as a little lamb; so you need n't worry your head about that."
"Time to start," called papa again; so Ruby climbed up in the front
seat, where she was to sit with her father, and Aunt Emma and Ruthy got
in behind her. The little trunk, with Ruby's initials upon it, had
already been taken down to the station, and was waiting for her there.
It was quite a little drive to the station, and they had not started
any too soon, for by the time papa had purchased the tickets, and had
given Ruby the little pocket-book, that he had saved for a parting
surprise, with a crisp ten-cent bill in it, some bright pennies, and in
an inside compartment what seemed to Ruby like untold wealth, a whole
dollar note, the distant whistle of the train was heard. And then
almost before Ruby knew it she had said good-by to Ruthy, who could not
keep her tears back when she said good-by to her little friend, and she
was sitting by the window, where she could look out at Ruthy, when the
train started, and her papa leaned over to give her a last kiss and hug.
"Good-by. God bless and keep my little daughter," he said tenderly.
The engine shrieked and whistled, the bell rang, and then with a jerk
the train began to move, and Ruby looked out, with her face pressed
close to the window, to see her father just as long as she possibly
could. He was on the platform by Ruthy now, and he waved his
handkerchief as the train started, and threw kisses to his little girl.
Ruby pressed her face closer and closer against the glass, but at last
it was of no use. There was only an indistinct blur where papa and
Ruthy had been standing, for Ruby's eyes were so full of tears that she
could not see them, and by the time she had taken out her new
handkerchief and wiped them away, the train had begun to go so fast
that she could not see the station at all. It was far behind her, and
Ruby had really begun her first journey.
It was hard work not to put her head down in Aunt Emma's lap and cry as
much as she wanted to, but Ruby glanced about the car, and saw that
every one else was looking very happy, and watching the things that
passed by the windows, so she thought, with some pride, that if she
should cry people might not know that it was because she was going away
from her dear papa and mamma and Ruthy, but they might think that she
was frightened because she had never been in the cars before, and she
certainly did not want them to know that.
She wiped the tears away from her eyes and sat up very straight,
looking out of the window as if she was very much interested in
everything she saw. Really, she could not have told you one thing that
they went past. She was fighting back the tears, and her longing to
have the train stopped and get off even now, and go back home again,
where every one loved her so much; and it took all her courage and
resolution not to break down.
Aunt Emma guessed what the little girl was thinking about, and she did
not disturb her for a little while, until she thought that Ruby could
talk without letting the tears come.
Then, all at once, she began to talk about the places they would pass
on their way to school, and Ruby grew so interested in listening to her
that the lump in her throat went away, and she really began to enjoy
the journey.
She looked about the car at the other passengers, and she wondered
whether they all knew that she was going away to school and had a
little trunk of her very own. It seemed to Ruby as if it was such an
important occasion that somehow every one must know, even if they had
not been told about it.
It was very pleasant to travel, she decided, after a little while, and
she wondered why it was that when she looked out of the window, it
seemed as if everything was running past the train, instead of the
train seeming to be in motion. It was very funny, and Ruby almost
laughed when they passed a field full of cows, which shot by the window
as if they had been running with all their might, when really they had
been standing quite still, looking with soft, wondering eyes at the
noisy monster that shrieked and whistled as it rushed on its way,
drawing a long train of cars after it.