"Fancy liking it," said Mary, then feeling that perhaps that did not
show a proper attitude toward one so kind as Ellis, she hastened to
say, "No doubt it is a lovely smell, you know, and if I were an
American perhaps I should prefer it, but I am English, you see."
"That's what makes you talk so funny," said Ellis bluntly.
"Oh, really, do I talk funny? I can't help it, can I, if I am English?"
"Oh, some of the folks that live other places not so far away think we
talk funny," Ellis went on to say.
"Do they? Then there is as much difference in liking ways of talking
as in the kind of smells you like. Now, I never could bear the smell
of onions cooking, and yet nurse says they smell so 'earty and
happetizing; she drops her h's, you know."
Ellis stared. He had never heard of dropping h's, but he was too wise
to say so. "I'll go get the _Leona_," he said by way of changing the
subject. "That's the name of my brother's boat; he named it after his
wife. You'd better come on down to Cap'n Dave's wharf; it is easier
getting aboard there."
Mary followed down a winding path to the shore of the cove and waited
on the pebbly sands till the boat was shoved up and then she waveringly
stepped in, fearfully sat down where Ellis directed, and in a moment
his sturdy young arms were pulling at the oars. The deed was done and
Mary felt as if she had cast away every shred of home influence. What
would Miss Sharp say to see her? Polly wouldn't hesitate to do such a
thing, she reflected, and after all she was in America which was a
perfectly free country, so Molly and Polly were always telling her,
then why not do as she chose? So she settled herself more comfortably
and really began to enjoy the expedition.
It was but a short distance to Green Island, and the water of the
dividing sound was too smooth to produce any uncomfortable qualms so
that Mary felt only a pleasant excitement as she stepped ashore and was
piloted by Ellis to the little hall where the fancy dress party had
been given. All the way along they looked carefully to see if by
chance anything could be discovered of the missing pin, but there was
no sign of it. Ellis started inquiries, putting the question to each
one he met: "You hain't heerd of anybody's findin' a breastpin, hev ye?
I'll ask at the post-office," he told Mary. "They won't know who you
are and if anybody finds it, I'll leave word it's to be returned to me."
"Oh, I'm sure you're very kind," said Mary gratefully. "I can give a
reward. Isn't that what persons do?"
"I don't know, I'm sure. Nobody about here wants any reward. I guess
any of us is ready to return property when we know where it belongs."
"Oh!" Mary felt properly rebuked. Really Ellis was a very superior
sort of person if he did murder the king's English. It was quite
evident that his morals were above question. She pattered by his side
till they reached the hall. The door was open and the place
unoccupied. It no longer seemed enchanted ground. The Japanese
lanterns looked out of place in the glare of daylight, and the flowers
still remaining, were faded and drooping. Instead of being bright and
festive, it appeared bare and desolate to Mary.
She and Ellis walked slowly around, looking in every corner, but their
search was not rewarded, and they returned to the boat, stopping at the
post-office on their way. The postmaster and his entire family were
greatly interested in Ellis's tale of the lost trinket.
"A diamond breaspin, did you say?" asked Jim Taylor. "Wal now, ain't
that a loss? I'll put up a notice right away. Marthy, you ain't heerd
of nobody's findin' a diamond breaspin, hev ye?" he questioned a girl
who came in to mail a letter. "Some of the P'int folks has lost one.
If you hear of its bein' found, tell 'em to fetch it here." He
carefully wrote out a notice which he pinned up alongside an
advertisement of a boat for sale, a cottage to let, and a moonlight
excursion. "That'll fetch it," he said. "If it's been found on this
island, you'll get it. You tell 'em over to the P'int we're on the
lookout. How is it you're undertakin' to look it up, Ellis? Who's the
lady?"
Ellis glanced furtively at Mary, squirming his bare toes on the dusty
floor. "Wal, I cal'lated I could find it," he replied. "I undertook
it on my own hook, and I guess I'll see it through. I'd like the fun
of restorin' it, if I can, Jim."
The postmaster laughed. "You're right cute, Ellis," he said. "Parker
gone a-fishin' yet?"
"No," Ellis told him; "he's goin' on Cap'n Abe Larkins' boat. They're
loadin' up now. They cal'late to get off in a day or two."
Jim Taylor nodded, and, having despatched the business with Ellis, he
turned to wait upon a customer, for this was store and post-office as
well.
Mary was surprised to find that every one, young and old was called by
the first name; it seemed to her a queer custom. She would have said
Mr. Taylor, but Ellis called even the old men Joshua and Abner and all
that. She did not criticise, however, for she was very grateful to
Ellis for not disclosing her secret. Really he was a boy of very fine
feelings, she decided, and she spoke her thought by saying: "You are
very good to do all this for me, Ellis."
Ellis looked confused. He had not been brought up to receive praise.
"Oh, it ain't nothin'," he said awkwardly. Then changing the subject
suddenly, he exclaimed: "There's Luella Barnes!"
"Where?" cried Mary in alarm.
"Comin' out of the ice-cream saloon with Granville. I guess he fetched
her over."
"I wonder if she's come after me," said Mary looking scared.
"Did she know you were comin'?"
"No, but I said I would go over to the Whartons'. I meant to go when I
told her, so maybe she thinks I am there and thought there was no need
for her to stay in. She goes somewhere every afternoon anyhow, so I
fancy she hasn't come for me, after all, though I'd rather not see her."
However this was not to be avoided, for Luella had caught sight of Mary
and was about to bear down upon her when her attention was distracted
by a friend who hailed her and in the meantime Mary slipped out of
sight. "That was Mary Reid as sure as shootin'," said Luella to
Granville.
"I guess not," he replied. "What would she be doing over here?"
"I cal'lated she'd gone to Whartons'," said Luella, pinching her under
lip thoughtfully as she looked down the road.
"Maybe she did go and they've fetched her over in their launch."
Luella "cal'lated" that was just the way of it, and gave herself no
further uneasiness, so Mary escaped by plunging down the bank and
skirting the shore till she reached the spot where the boat lay.
"I'll row you over to Jones's Island, if you'd like to go. 'Tain't but
a little way. There's lots of strawberries there," the boy said.
This was a temptation Mary considered. The afternoon was but half
gone; the evenings were long, and the sailing party would not return
before sunset. They enjoyed most of all the coming home when sea and
sky were a glory of color and light. It would be a delightful way to
pass the remainder of the afternoon, and to carry home a lot of berries
for supper would be an excuse to Luella for her long absence. "What
will we get the berries in?" she asked Ellis, when her thoughts had
traveled thus far.
"I'll run up to the store and get some of those little empty fruit
boxes; Jim'll give 'em to me. I saw a pile of 'em lying outside. You
wait here." So Mary waited. If it should be discovered that she had
gone off with Ellis in the _Leona_, she would at least have the berries
as an evidence of what they had gone for. Mary was getting more and
more crafty.
The end of it all was that they did row over to Jones's Island. A
barren looking, uninhabited spot it seemed from a distance. Barren of
trees it was, but when one once reached it there were great patches of
strawberries, clumps of wild roses and bayberry bushes, pinky-white
clover, deliciously sweet, tiny wild white violets and many other
lovely things. Then, too, it was the haunt of birds which,
undisturbed, had built their nests there year after year.
It did not take long to pick as many berries as they could eat and as
many as they wanted to carry away, and then when the sky was shining
gold and pink and blue above and the water shining blue and pink and
gold beneath, they started home, reaching there just as Luella,
standing on the porch, was watching earnestly for the little girl's
return. Ellis had parted from his companion at the point where their
roads separated. His supper hour was over long ago, though he did not
say so, his parting words being: "I'll let you know first thing if I
hear anything of the breastpin."
"Thank you so much," said Mary. "I cannot tell you how much I have
enjoyed the afternoon."
"I thought maybe you'd stayed at the Whartons' for supper," said
Luella, as Mary came up. "Land's sake, where did you get all them
berries? I know you didn't get 'em about here. There, now, I said I
seen you to Green's. That's just what I said. Did you have a good
time? Whartons' is real good about their la'nch, ain't they? Now
there's Roops hardly ever takes anybody out but their own folks. I
call that mean. Come on in and get your supper. Them berries is so
fresh I guess they'll keep till tomorrow, and you'll want the others to
have some. I cal'late you've eat your fill of 'em anyway."
Glad that Luella's flow of talk did not demand answers, Mary followed
her into the house and when the young woman drew up her chair sociably
to eat supper with her, Mary did not feel any resentment, so happy was
she that no explanations were expected.
_CHAPTER VI_
_Discoveries_
But the end was not yet for Mary. To be sure her strawberries were
much appreciated, and every one was good enough to say she had been
missed, and that it was too bad she had decided to stay at home.
"Though after all you weren't lonely," said Molly, "and I'm glad you
went over to the Whartons'; they are such nice, friendly people."
"I think they are, too," said Polly. "Luella told us they took you to
Green Island on their launch."
"I am delighted that you had that pleasure," said Aunt Ada.
"And I am pleased that you were so industrious as to pick all those
berries," Uncle Dick put in his word.
Poor Mary felt very uncomfortable. "I am a wretchedly deceitful girl,"
she told herself. "Why can't I tell them the truth? But, oh, dear, it
is harder to now than it was at first." So she summoned voice to say
only, "Yes, I did have a real nice time. Green Island is almost as
pretty as the Point, isn't it?"
"We don't think it is near so pretty," said Molly, loyally.
"But it is lovely," admitted Miss Ada. "I wish you could have seen
Rocky Point, Mary; that is the wildest spot imaginable. Perhaps after
a while you will get over your fear of being seasick and can go with us
on another trip there."
"Oh, it is such a fine place to have supper," put in Polly. "We had a
dear little fireplace, and it was so still you could imagine you were
hundreds of miles away from a house, and there was nothing to disturb
us----"
"Except ants and grasshoppers and mosquitoes," interrupted Uncle Dick.
"I'm sure there were very few of them," protested Molly. "Anyhow it
was just fine, Mary, and you must be sure to go next time. We had the
loveliest sail home through the sunset."
"Through the sunset," said Uncle Dick scornfully. "One would suppose
we were in a balloon."
"Well, but it was sunset on the water, too," persisted Molly. "The sea
was just as colorful as the sky."
"When anybody coins words like that I'm ready for bed," said Uncle
Dick. And Mary, feeling that the subject of the afternoon's doings was
exhausted, drew a breath of relief.
The three cousins played together most amicably all the next morning.
In Mary's breast hope was high, for might not Ellis appear at any time
with the pin? She counted much on that notice in the Green Island
post-office. She was brighter than she had been for days so that Molly
confided to Polly: "She seems more like us."
"I'm beginning to like her real well," admitted Polly. "She isn't so
stiff as she was at first."
"I suppose her Englishism is wearing off," returned Molly.
But that afternoon when she returned from the post-office, whither she
had gone for her Aunt Ada, she beckoned to Polly who was playing jacks
with Mary. They had a set of jackstones which they had collected
themselves from the pebbles on the beach, and the place was much more
interesting because of them.
"What do you want?" asked Polly following Molly into the house. "Are
there any letters for me?"
"No," said Molly, "but just wait a minute and I'll tell you. I must
take Aunt Ada her mail first." Her manner was mysterious and Polly
wondered what mighty secret she had to disclose.
"Let's go down to the rocks, to the lion's den," proposed Molly when
she came back into the room. "We'd better go around by the back way."