When Rosanna finished, Helen gave a sigh of delight.
"Rosanna," she said, "it is perfectly beautiful; perfectly _beautiful_!
Shall you have the Webster girls sing that?"
"I had not thought of them," confessed Rosanna. "I thought it would be
nice for Elise and you, Helen. You both sing so sweetly and you can both
dance too."
"I shall be frightened to death," said Helen, trying to imagine herself
on a real little stage; at least on a make-believe stage with a curtain
stretched across Mrs. Horton's or Mrs. Hargrave's parlor. But frightened
or not, she was more than pleased that Rosanna had thought of her, and
she had no intention of giving up the part.
She and Elise commenced to practice on the song, and between them made
up the prettiest little dance. Mrs. Culver and Mrs. Hargrave were
delighted to play their accompaniments and suggest steps. Of course they
had to be told something of what was going on, but they were very nice
and asked no questions.
A week later Rosanna's little play was finished and ready to show Uncle
Robert. Rosanna was as nervous as a real playwright when he has to read
his lines to a scowly, faultfinding manager. She invited Helen over to
spend the night with her so she could attend the meeting.
Her grandmother was out to a dinner-bridge party, so Rosanna and Helen
and Uncle Robert went up to Rosanna's sitting-room and prepared to read
her play. And if the truth must be told, Uncle Robert prepared to be a
little bored. But as Rosanna read on and on in her pleasant voice,
stopping once in awhile to explain things, Uncle Robert's expression
changed from a look of patient listening to one of amusement and then to
admiration. By the time Rosanna had finished he was sitting leaning
forward in his chair and listening with all his might. He clapped his
hands.
"Well done, Rosanna!" he said heartily. "I am certainly proud of you!
Why, if you can do things of this sort at your age, Rosanna, we will
have to give you a little help and instruction once in awhile. Well,
well, that _is_ a play as _is_ a play! Don't you think so, Helen?"
"It's just too beautiful!" said Helen with a sigh of rapture. "Just too
beautiful! Which is my part, Rosanna?"
"I thought you could be the little girl who discovers the lost paper so
the other little Girl Scout's brother will not have to go to prison.
That is, if you like that part."
"It is the nicest part of all," sighed Helen. "What part are you going
to take?"
"I didn't think I would take any," said Rosanna.
"Oh, you must be in it!" cried Helen.
"No, Rosanna is right," declared Uncle Robert. "It is her play, you see,
and she will have to be sitting out front at all the rehearsals to see
that it is being done as she wants it."
"That is what I thought," said Rosanna. "But you are going to help with
everything, are you not, Uncle Robert?"
"Surest thing in the world!" declared Uncle Robert heartily. "But as
long as this is all about the Girl Scouts, won't you have to show it to
your Girl Scout Captain, or leader, before you go on with it?"
"Of course," said Rosanna.
"Who is she?" asked Uncle Robert carelessly.
"Why, you saw her, Uncle Robert," replied Rosanna. "Have you forgotten
the dear sweet little lady who called when I was sick when we were
looking for someone very fierce and large?"
"Sure enough!" said Uncle Robert after some thought. If Rosanna had
noticed she would have seen a very queer look in his eyes. He had liked
the looks of that young lady himself. "Well, what are you going to do
about it?"
"I suppose I will have to go around to her house, and tell her all about
it and read it to her."
"Is it written so I can read it?" said Uncle Robert, glancing over the
pages. "Very neat indeed. Now I will do something for you, if you want
me to save you the bother. Just to be obliging, I will take your play
and will go around and tell Miss Hooker that I am Rosanna's uncle, and
read it to her myself."
"Why, you know her name!" said Rosanna.
"Um--yes," said Uncle Robert. "I must have heard it somewhere. For
goodness' sake, Rosanna, this place is like an oven!"
"You _are_ red," admitted Rosanna. "Well, I wish you would do that,
please, because it makes me feel so queer to read it myself. It won't
take you long so we will wait up for you to tell us what she thinks."
"I wouldn't wait up," advised Uncle Robert, getting up. "If she likes
me, it may take some time."
"Likes _you_?" said Rosanna.
"I mean likes the way I read it, and likes the play, and likes the idea,
and likes everything about it," said Uncle Robert. He said good-bye and
hurried off, bearing the precious paper.
The girls sat and planned for awhile, when the doorbell rang. Rosanna
could hear the distant tinkle, and saying "Perhaps he is back," ran into
the hall to look over the banisters.
She returned with a surprised look on her face.
"What do you suppose?" she demanded of Helen who sat drawing a plan of a
stage. "It is Uncle Robert, and Miss Hooker is with him. Oh, dear me, I
feel so fussed!"
"Come down!" called Uncle Robert, dashing in the door. "I have a
surprise for you both."
"No, you haven't! I looked over the banisters," said Rosanna, as the
three went down the broad stairs.
Miss Hooker thought the play was so good and she was so proud to think
that one of her girls had written it that she was anxious to talk it
over at once, and had asked Uncle Robert to bring her right around to
see Rosanna and Helen.
They all drew up around the big library table, and Uncle Robert sat next
Miss Hooker where he could make suggestions. And Miss Hooker and the
girls made a list of characters, and fitted them to different girls in
their group. Finally Miss Hooker said there were several places that
needed a little changing and would Rosanna trust her to do it with Mr.
Horton's help? At this Uncle Robert looked most beseechingly at Rosanna,
who, of course, said yes.
"Where will we give it?" asked Helen. "As long as it is a benefit we
want a place large enough for lots of people to come. All our families
will want to come, and all the Girl Scouts' families, and perhaps some
other people besides."
"We will give it here, won't we, Uncle Robert? Grandmother will let us,
I'm sure. In the big drawing-room, you know."
"Not big enough," declared Uncle Robert, while both girls exclaimed.
"Now this is the part I can help about and I have just had a great idea.
You all know that big barn of Mrs. Hargrave's? We boys used to play
there on rainy days when we were little. The whole top floor is one
immense room. We can give our entertainment there. Mrs. Hargrave will
give the barn, I know. And for my contribution or part of it, I will see
that you have a stage and a curtain and all that."
"How dear of you, Mr. Horton!" said Miss Hooker.
"Oh, Uncle Robert, a curtain that goes up and down?"
"Of course," said Uncle Robert, "and footlights and everything."
"O-o-o-o-h!" sighed both girls, and Miss Hooker looked at Uncle Robert
and smiled and he seemed real pleased.
"I think I must go if you will be kind enough to take me home," said
Miss Hooker. "Rosanna, you must tell the Girl Scouts about Gwenny at the
next meeting, and read your play. Then we will get right to work, for
the sooner this is staged, the better. We don't want to interfere with
the Christmas work."
After Mr. Horton had taken the tiny little lady home, the girls raced
upstairs and went to bed, but it was a long, long time before they could
get to sleep. They finally went off, however, and did not hear Uncle
Robert when he came home whistling gaily. They dreamed, however, both of
them, of acting before vast audiences that applauded all their speeches.
And at last Rosanna woke up with a start to find that Helen was clapping
her hands furiously and stamping her feet against the footboard. After
Rosanna succeeded in awakening her, they had a good laugh before they
went to sleep again.
At breakfast Uncle Robert was full of plans for the Benefit. "Miss
Hooker and I went all over your play last night, Rosanna," he said, "and
smoothed out the rough places. You know every manuscript has to be
corrected. It is on the table in my room. You had better read it over
after school, and if it suits your highness I will have it typewritten
for you, and you can go ahead. I am going to see about the barn now, on
my way down town, and if Mrs. Hargrave is willing--and I am sure she
will be--I will get a carpenter to measure for the staging. I suppose,"
he added, "I ought to ask Miss Hooker to look at the place and get some
suggestions from her?"
"Oh, I wouldn't bother to wait for her," said Rosanna, who was wild to
see the stage built. "She won't care what you do. If you like, I will
tell her how busy you are and that you won't bother to come around to
her house any more because you can attend to things just as well
yourself."
Uncle Robert looked hard at Rosanna. It was a queer look; sort of the
look you would expect from a cannibal uncle who has a little niece that
he wants to eat. Rosanna, catching the look, was surprised and quite
disturbed. But when Uncle Robert spoke, he merely said, "Thank you,
Rosanna; but you see I _do_ need Miss Hooker's advice very much indeed.
The fact is I will never be able to put this thing through as well as I
want to put it through unless I can consult with her every day or so. In
fact, if I cannot consult as often as I need to, I will certainly have
to give it up. And that would be awful, wouldn't it?"
"Of course it would, Uncle Robert," answered Rosanna. "I just hated to
have you bothered."
"I will stagger along under the burden," said Uncle Robert, trying to
look like a martyr. "The thing for you to do is to forget how hard I am
working and how much help I have to have doing this, and get your girls
to studying on their parts."
"Miss Hooker says I am to read it at the Scout meeting next week and
then we will give out the parts and let them be learning them."
"All right, sweetness; get after them," said Uncle Robert, kissing
Rosanna, and Helen, too, "for luck" he said, and going off whistling.
"I think the play is making Uncle Robert very happy," said Rosanna as
the front door slammed and she heard a merry whistle outside. "He is a
changed person these last few days."
"That is what often happens," said Helen. "Probably he did not have
anything to occupy his mind after business hours, so he was unhappy.
Mother says it is a serious condition to allow oneself to be in. Now
that he has our play to think about, he feels altogether different. I do
myself. Do you know it is time to start for school? Let's be off so we
won't have to hurry, and we will have time to stop for Elise."
Elise was ready and the three girls sauntered down the street together.
As they passed a great imposing stone house, Elise said, "It is a
chateau--what you call castle, isn't it?"
"Yes," said Rosanna, "and a cross old ogre lives in it. He and his
sister live there all alone, with lots of maids and men to serve them,
and he is so growly-wowly that Minnie says even the grocer boys are
afraid of him. That is his car in front of the door. Did you ever see
anything so large?"
"Or so lovely?" added Elise. "If he was not so ze what you just call
growlee-wowlee, he might carry us to school; not?"
"There he comes," said Rosanna. "Does he look as though he would carry
any little girls _any_where unless he carried them off to eat?"
The great carved door opened and an old gentleman came down the steps.
He walked with a cane and to the children he seemed very old indeed with
his snow white hair and fierce moustaches. He scowled as he came and
stopped to switch with his cane at a vine that had straggled up the
step. He noticed the three girls approaching, and scowled at them so
fiercely that they involuntarily stopped to let him pass. But he was in
no hurry to do so. When he had looked them over sufficiently, he looked
past them and snorted loudly at something he saw up the street, but when
the girls looked around to see what was the matter, there was only a
little baby girl playing with a little woolly dog; so they all looked
back again at the old gentleman. He seemed to fascinate them.
Three pair of round eyes fixed on him caught the old gentleman's
attention.
"Well, well, well!" he said testily. "What do you see? Come, come, speak
out!"
Elise drew back but the other two stood their ground, and Rosanna, who
had seen him all her life and was at least accustomed to him, said
gently:
"We see _you_, sir."
"Ha hum!" sputtered the old gentleman, drawing his fierce white eyebrows
together. "What about me, young woman, what about me to stare at?"
Rosanna was distressed. There seemed nothing to do but tell him the
truth and that was almost too awful. She smoothed it down as well as she
could.
"If you will excuse me for saying so, you looked a little cross," she
said, "and--and something must be making you very unhappy."
"It is," said the ogre. "It makes me unhappy to see what a silly
no-account world this is; full of small children, and woolly dogs, and
things. Kittens! Babies! Chickens! Bah! All making noises! All getting
up at daybreak to play and meow and crow. Bah! Of course I am unhappy!"
He crossed the walk, waved the footman back with his cane, stepped
painfully into the car, and with his own hand slammed the door shut. But
his anger blinded him. He did not take his hand away soon enough, and
the heavy door caught it. With a cry of pain, he dropped back on the
cushions. The middle finger was crushed and bleeding profusely.
"Heaven protect us!" cried Elise.
The old gentleman was almost fainting. Rosanna did not hesitate. The
Girl Scouts had to understand First Aid. She ran up to the car and
entered it, tearing up her handkerchief as she did so. Helen, close
behind her, was doing the same thing with hers.