SAND COURT
With one accord, they all looked at Hester. Sure enough, it was easily
to be seen that she was sorry. All her anger and rage had vanished, and
she stood digging one toe into the sand, and twisting from side to side,
with her eyes cast down, and two big tears rolling slowly down her
cheeks.
Marjorie sprang up from her wabbly throne, and running to Hester, threw
her arms around her.
"Don't cry, Hester," she said. "We'll all forgive you. I think you lost
your temper and I think you're sorry now, aren't you?"
"Oh, yes, yes, I am!" sobbed Hester. "But I envied the good times you
had, and when Tom wouldn't let me into your club, I got so mad I didn't
know what to do."
"There, there, don't cry any more," and Midget smoothed the tangled red
mop, and tried to comfort the bad little Hester.
Tom looked rather disappointed.
"I say," he began, "she did an awful mean thing, and she ought to
be----"
"Hold on a minute, Tom," said Marjorie. "I'm Queen of this club, and
what I say goes! Is that right, my courtiers?"
She looked round at the boys, smiling in a wheedlesome way, and King
said, "Right, O Queen Sandy! Right always and ever, in the hearts of
your gentlemen-in-waiting."
"You bet you are!" cried Tom, quick to follow King's lead. "Our noble
Queen has but to say the word, and it is our law. Therefore, O Queen, we
beg thee to mete out a just punishment to this prisoner within our
gates."
"Hear ye! Hear ye!" said Midget, with great dramatic fervor. "I hereby
forgive this prisoner of ours, because she's truly sorry she acted like
the dickens. And as a punishment, I condemn her to rebuild this royal
palace, but, following Harry's example, we will all help her with the
work."
Then King burst forth into song:
"Hooray, Hooray, for our noble Queen,
The very best monarch that ever was seen.
There's nobody quite so perfectly dandy,
As our most gracious, most noble Queen Sandy!"
They all repeated this chorus, and the Queen bowed and smiled at her
devoted court.
"And also," her Royal Highness went on, "we hereby take into our club
Miss Hester Corey as a new member. I'm glad to have another girl in
it,--and what I say goes!"
This time Tom made up the song:
"What she says, goes!
She's sweet as a rose,
From head to toes,
So what she says, goes!"
"Miss Hester Corey is now a member," said Midget, "and her name
is,--is----"
"Sand Witch," suggested Tom.
"Yes," said King; "you expect witches to cut up tricks."
"All right," said Hester. "Call me Sand Witch, and you'll see there are
good witches as well as bad."
"Come on, then," said Marjorie, "and show us how you can work. Let's put
this palace back into shape again as quick as scat!"
They all fell to work, and it didn't take so very long after all. Hester
was conquered by the power of Marjorie's kindness, and she was meek as a
lamb. She did whatever she was told, and was a quick and willing worker.
"Now," said Midget, after it was all in order once more, "now we'll have
our celebration. You see, we have six in our court now, instead of
five, and I think it's nicer. I'll give the Sand Witch my sash to wear,
and she can be my first lady-in-waiting."
This position greatly pleased Hester, and she took her place at the side
of the enthroned Queen, while Tom stood at her other side. King played a
grand tune, and they all sang.
The song was in honor of the flag-raising, and was hastily composed by
Marjorie for the occasion:
"Our Flag, our Flag, our Sand Club Flag!
Long may she wave, long may she wag!
And may our Sand Club ever stand
A glory to our Native Land."
Tom persisted in singing "a glory to our native _sand_," and King said
_strand_, but after all, it didn't matter.
Then Sandow, bearing the flag, stepped gravely forward, and the boys all
helped to plant it firmly in the middle of Sand Court, while the Queen
and her lady-in-waiting nodded approval.
"Ha, Courtiers! I prithee sit!" the Queen commanded, when the flag was
gaily waving in the breeze.
Her four courtiers promptly sat on the ground at her feet, and the Queen
addressed them thus:
"Gentlemen-in-waiting of Sandringham Palace, there are much affairs of
state now before us. First must we form our club, our Sand Club."
"Most noble Queen," and Tom rose to his feet, "have I your permission to
speak?"
"Speak!" said the Queen, graciously, waving her sceptre at him.
"Then I rise to inquire if this is a secret organization."
"You bet it is!" cried King, jumping up. "The very secretest ever! If
any one lets out the secrets of these secret meetings, he shall be
excommunicated in both feet!"
"A just penalty!" said Tom, gravely.
"Is all well, O fair Queen? Do you agree?"
"Yes, I agree," said the Queen, smiling. "But I want to know what these
secrets are to be about."
"That's future business," declared King. "Just now we have to elect
officers, and all that."
"All right," said Marjorie, "but you must be more courtly about it. Say
it more,--you know how I mean."
"As thus," spoke up the lady-in-waiting, dropping on one knee before the
Queen.
"What is the gracious will of your Royal Highness in the matter of
secretary and treasurer, O Queen!"
"Yes, that's better. Well, my court, to tell you the truth, I don't
think that we need a secretary and such things, because it isn't a
regular club. Let us content ourselves with our present noble offices.
Grand Sandjandrum, what are the duties of thy high office?"
"No duties, but all pleasures, when serving thee, O noble and gracious
Queen!"
"That's fine," said Midget, clapping her hands. "Hither, Sir Sand Piper!
What are thy duties at, court?"
"Your Majesty," said King, bowing low, "it is my humble part to play the
pipes, or to lay the pipes, as the case may be. I do not smoke pipes,
but, if it be thy gracious wish, I can blow fair soap bubbles from
them."
"Sand Piper, I see you know your business," said the Queen. "Ha! Sand
Crab, what dost thou do each day?"
"Just scramble around in the sand," replied Harry, and suiting the
action to the word, he gave such a funny scrambling performance that
they all applauded.
"Right well done, noble Sand Crab," commented the smiling Queen. "And
thou, O Sandow?"
"I do all the strong-arm work required in the palace," said Dick,
doubling up his little fist, and trying to make it look large and
powerful.
"Now, thee, my fair lady-in-waiting, what dost thou do in this, my
court?"
Hester shook back her mop of red curls, and her eyes danced as she
answered, gaily:
"I am the Court Sand Witch! I cut up tricks of all sorts, as doth become
a witch. Aye, many a time will I cause enchantments to fall upon thee,
one and all! I am a magic witch, and I can cast spells!"
Hester waved her arms about, and swayed from side to side, her eyes
fixed in a glassy stare, and her red curls bobbing.
"Good gracious!" cried Marjorie. "You're like a witch I saw on the stage
once in a fairy pantomime. Say, Hester, let's have a pantomime
entertainment some day."
"All right. My mother'll help us. She's always getting up private
theatricals and things like that. She says I inherit her dramatic
talent."
"All right," said Tom, warningly; "but don't you turn your dramatic
talent toward tearing down our palace again."
"Of course I won't, now I'm a member."
"Of course she won't," agreed Marjorie. "Now, my courtiers, and
lady-in-waiting, there's another subject to come before your royal
attention. We must have a Court Journal."
"What's that?" inquired Harry.
"Why, a sort of a paper, you know, with all the court news in it."
"There isn't any."
"But there will be. We're not fairly started yet. Now who'll write this
paper?"
"All of us," suggested Tom.
"Yes; but there must be one at the head of it,--sort of editor, you
know."
"Guess it better be King," said Tom, thoughtfully. "He knows the most
about writing things."
"All right," agreed King. "I'll edit the paper, only you must all
contribute. We'll have it once a week, and everybody must send me some
contribution, if it's only a little poem or something."
"I can't write poems," said Harry, earnestly, "but I can gather up
news,--and like that."
"Yes," said Marjorie, "that's what I mean. But it must be news about us
court people, or maybe our families."
"Can't we make it up?" asked Hester.
"Yes, I s'pose so, if you make it real court like and grand sounding."
"What shall we call our paper?" asked King.
"Oh, just the _Court Journal_," replied Midget.
"I don't think so," objected Hester. "I think it ought to have a name
like _The Sand Club_."
"_The Jolly Sandboy_," exclaimed Tom. "How's that?"
"But two of us are girls!" said Marjorie.
"That doesn't matter, it's just the name of the paper, you know. And it
sounds so gay and jolly."
"I like it," declared King, and so they all agreed to the name.
"Now, my courtiers and noble friends," said their Queen, "it's time we
all scooted home to luncheon. My queen-dowager mother likes me to be on
time for meals. Also, my majesty and my royal sand piper can't come back
to play this afternoon. But shall this court meet to-morrow morning?"
"You bet, your Majesty!" exclaimed Tom, with fervor.
"That isn't very courtly language, my Grand Sandjandrum."
"I humbly beg your Majesty's pardon, and I prostrate myself in humble
humility!" And Tom sprawled on his face at Marjorie's feet.
"Rise, Sir Knight," said the gracious Queen, and then the court
dispersed toward its various homes.
"Well, we had the greatest time this morning you ever heard of!"
announced Marjorie as, divested of her royal trappings and clad in a
fresh pink gingham, she sat at the luncheon table.
"What was it all about, Moppets?" asked Mrs. Maynard.
So King and Marjorie together told all about the intrusion of Hester on
their celebration, and how they had finally taken her into the Sand Club
as a member.
"I think my children behaved very well," said Mrs. Maynard, looking at
the two with pride.
"I did get sort of mad at first, Mother," Marjorie confessed, not
wanting more praise than was her just due.
"Well, I don't blame you!" declared King. "Why, that girl made most
awful faces at Mops, and talked to her just horrid! If she hadn't calmed
down afterward we couldn't have played with her at all."
"I've heard about that child," said Mrs. Maynard. "She has most awful
fits of temper, I'm told. Mrs. Craig says that Hester will be as good
and as sweet as a lamb for days,--and then she'll fly into a rage over
some little thing. I'm glad you children are not like that."
"I'm glad, too," said King. "We're not angels, but if we acted up like
Hester did at first we couldn't live in the house with each other!"
"Her mother is an actress," observed Marjorie.
"Oh, no, Midget, you're mistaken," said her mother. "I know Mrs. Corey,
and she isn't an actress at all, and never was. But she is fond of
amateur theatricals, and she is president of a club that gives little
plays now and then."
"Yes, that's it," said King. "Hester said her mother had dramatic
talent, and she had inherited it. Have you dramatic talent, Mother?"
"I don't know, King," said Mrs. Maynard, laughing. "Your father and I
have joined their dramatic club, but it remains to be seen whether we
can make a success of it."
"Oh, Mother!" cried Marjorie. "Are you really going to act in a play?
Oh, can we see you?"
"I don't know yet, Midget. Probably it will be an entertainment only for
grown-ups. We've just begun rehearsals."
"Have we dramatic talent, Mother?"
"Not to any astonishing degree. But, yes, I suppose your fondness for
playing at court life and such things shows a dramatic taste."
"Oh, it's great fun, Mother! I just love to sit on that throne with my
long trail wopsed on the floor beside me, and my sceptre sticking up,
and my courtiers all around me,--oh, Mother, I think I'd like to be a
real queen!"
"Well, you see, Midget, you were born in a country that doesn't employ
queens."
"And I'm glad of it!" cried Marjorie, patriotically. "Hooray! for the
land of the free and the home of the brave! I guess I don't care to be a
real queen, I guess I'll be a president's wife instead. Say, Mother,
won't you and Father write us some poems for _The Jolly Sandboy_?"
"What is that, Midget?"
"Oh, it's our court journal,--and you and Father do write such lovely
poetry. Will you, Mother?"
"Yes, I 'spect so."
"Oh, goody! When you say 'I 'spect so,' you always _do_. Hey, King, Rosy
Posy ought to have a sandy kind of a name, even if she doesn't come to
our court meetings."
"'Course she ought. And she can come sometimes, if she doesn't upset
things."
"She can't upset things worse'n Hester did."
"No; but I don't believe Hester will act up like that again."
"She may, Marjorie," said Mrs. Maynard. "I've heard her mother say she
can't seem to curb Hester's habit of flying into a temper. So just here,
my two loved ones, let me ask you to be kind to the little girl, and if
she gets angry, don't flare back at her, but try 'a soft answer.'"
"But, Mother," said King, "that isn't so awful easy! And, anyway, I
don't think she ought to do horrid things,--like tumbling down our
palace,--and then we just forgive her, and take her into the club!"
"Why not, King?"
King looked a little nonplussed.
"Why," he said, "why,--because it doesn't seem fair."
"And does it seem fairer for you to lose your temper too, and try what
children call 'getting even with her'?"
"Well, Mother, it _does_ seem fairer, but I guess it isn't very,--very
_noble_."
"No, son, it isn't. And I hope you'll come to think that sometimes
nobility of action is better than mere justice."
"I see what you mean, Mother, and somehow, talking here with you, it all
seems true enough. But when we get away from you, and off with the boys
and girls, these things seem different. Were you always noble when you
were little, Mother?"
"No, Kingdon dear, I wasn't always. But my mother tried her best to
teach me to be,--so don't you think I ought to try to teach you?"
"Sure, Mothery! And you bet we'll do our bestest to try to learn. Hey,
Mops?"
"Yes, indeedy! I _want_ to do things right, but I seem to forget just
when I ought to remember."
"Well, when you forget, come home and tell Mother all about it, and
we'll take a fresh start. You're pretty fairly, tolerably, moderately
good children after all! Only I want you to grow a little speck better
each day."
"And we _will_!" shouted King and Marjorie together.