TWO MORE GIRLS.
"It does seem as if to-morrow afternoon never would come," Molly
was saying, as she and Polly stood leaning on the fence in the
early twilight.
"What time will they get here?" Polly asked her.
"Three o'clock, and I just feel as if I couldn't wait, when I
think how every minute is bringing them along. It's going to be
splendid to have them here. You must come over to see them the
very first thing, Polly, for I want them to know my best friend
right away."
"I do hope they'll be nice," said Polly thoughtfully.
"Nice!" echoed Molly. "Of course they are. I'll tell you what,
Polly, Alan has been running them down to you. He is so queer
about it; I should think he'd like to have them come. They're just
as pretty as they can be, and boys always like pretty girls."
"Oh, dear," sighed Polly; "how nice it would be to be pretty!"
"Why, you aren't so bad, Polly." And Molly surveyed her with frank
criticism. "If only your nose wasn't quite so puggy, and you
didn't have quite so many freckles, you'd be real good-looking.
Besides, Alan says he likes your looks better than he does
Florence's."
"Does he?" And Polly flushed with pleasure.
"Yes, he told mamma so the other day; you know boys have queer
tastes," answered Molly flatteringly.
"But I wish I did know of something to take off freckles and tan,"
said Polly, rubbing her cheeks with a vicious force. "Aunt Jane
wants me to wear a veil and keep white; but I'd rather be black
and speckled all over, than make a mummy of myself. I think fresh
air and sunshine were made to be enjoyed, and not to be peeked out
at through a rag."
"It must be horrid to freckle," said Molly sympathetically. "Did
you ever try anything for it, Poll?"
"No, only lemon juice once, and it all ran into my eyes and made
them smart; but it didn't touch the freckles any."
"They say buttermilk is good," suggested Molly. "Why not try
that?"
"That's a good idea," said Polly. "We have some, and I don't
believe it would hurt. How do you use it, Molly? I'll do it to-
night, and then I could start white with your cousins, anyway; and
so much depends on first impressions, you know."
"I'm not just sure about it," answered Molly; "but I think they
put it on over night, and rub it in well. You'd better not do it,
if you are afraid it can do any harm."
"Oh, it can't," said Polly, with assurance; "and even if it does,
anything is better than looking like a fright."
"But you aren't a fright," said Molly loyally; then added, "What
does keep Alan so? His errand wasn't going to take two minutes,
and your mother will be tired of him."
"No, she won't," said Polly; "she likes Alan. Don't be in a hurry,
Molly; this is the last chance we shall have to talk for a year."
In spite of herself, Polly's voice failed a little on the last
words. She loved her friend dearly, and the coming of the cousins,
with the probability of its causing a separation between them, had
been her first real sorrow. For Molly's sake she tried to be eager
and interested about them, but when she was alone with Jean or
Alan, she was disconsolate enough over the prospect. The three or
four weeks had flown past, every day bringing the change nearer,
and the last evening had come. Arm in arm, the two girls had been
pacing up and down the walk, while they waited for Alan, and that
half-hour had made Polly realize more than ever how fond she was
of this companion with whom she had spent so many contented hours.
The memory of their frequent quarrels seemed to sink away into the
past, and only the thought of their good times was before them
then. But Alan's whistle was heard, as he came out of the house;
and he and Molly went away down the street, leaving Polly standing
alone at the gate. She looked after them until they disappeared in
the gathering darkness; then her curly head dropped on her folded
arms, and she began to sob with all the fervor of her impetuous,
affectionate nature. It was over in a minute or two, and no one
was the wiser for it but the birds in the tall elm trees above her
head. Then she turned forlornly, and started to walk to the house;
but, with Polly, the reaction always came quickly, and by the time
she reached the steps, she was humming the air which Alan had just
whistled, as she planned about the gown she would wear when she
went to see the cousins, and pictured to herself the details of
their first meeting. It was all so like Polly, to be in the depths
of grief at one moment, and to be singing the next. Her sorrows
were just as sincere as Molly's, while they lasted, but the very
intensity of them made it impossible for them to continue long at
a time. Polly's life was one of superlatives: when she was happy,
she was radiant; when she was unhappy, she was miserable. There
was no middle ground for her.
But to-night Polly was bent on beautifying herself. For Molly's
sake, as well as for her own, she was anxious to make a good
appearance in the eyes of the two girls whom she was to meet on
the morrow. The last thing before she went to her room, she
secretly visited the kitchen and helped herself to a generous bowl
of buttermilk, which she carried up stairs. She set it down on the
table and, lamp in hand, went to the mirror. In the main, Polly
was not a conceited girl, nor a vain one. On the contrary, she
thought little about her personal appearance, except to give an
occasional sigh over her hair and freckles. But, just now, it
seemed to her that beauty was the one thing to be desired, and
holding up the lamp, she gazed at herself steadily, unconscious of
the picture she made, with the light falling full upon her bright
hair and eager young face. Then she set down the lamp with a
suddenness which threatened to shatter it.
"Oh, you fright!" she said to herself, in a tone of disgusted
sincerity.
She turned away and took up the bowl from the table, sniffed at it
daintily, and wrinkled her nose in disgust. The strong, sour odor
of the buttermilk was not pleasant, certainly, but what mattered
that, if it removed the obnoxious freckles? She shut her teeth,
held her breath, and resolutely applied it to her face, putting it
on freely, and rubbing it in until her arms ached and her cheeks
burned under their unwonted treatment. The next morning she
repeated the operation with even greater zeal, and ended by a
vigorous application of soap and water, and a rough towel. Then
she drew near the glass once more, to see and admire her soft,
white skin, where no freckle would be found. As she gazed, her
eyes grew round with wonder, and she stood as if transfixed at the
sight before her. To say the least, it was striking. The freckles
had not disappeared, but still the buttermilk had done its work,
and Polly's face presented every appearance of having been
varnished, for, thanks to the polishing which it had undergone, it
shone like a new copper tea-kettle. For an instant, tears of
mortification stood in the gray eyes; then Polly's sense of the
ridiculous had its way, and, dropping into a chair, she laughed
till her cheeks were crimson under their metallic surface, and her
lashes were damp with hysterical tears.
"What in the world are you laughing at, Polly?" asked Aunt Jane's
voice at her door. "The breakfast bell has rung, and it's time you
were down-stairs."
"Yes'm," replied Polly, suddenly becoming sober again, as she
remembered that she must present herself to the family in this
plight, and would probably be well laughed at for her pains.
She delayed in her room as long as she dared, but her mother had
always insisted on perfect regularity at meal times, and Polly
knew that she must appear. With one last, despairing glance at the
mirror, a glance which was by no means reassuring, she turned away
and silently went down the stairs and into the dining-room, hoping
to take her place at the table so quietly that she could escape
notice. It was not her mother whom she dreaded, but she shrank
from her father's teasing and Aunt Jane's merciless comments. As
she drew her chair up to the table, Aunt Jane glanced up from her
oatmeal.
"Late again, Polly! Why, what have you been putting on your face,
child?"
Polly's cheeks grew scarlet, but she answered, with an attempt at
carelessness,--
"Oh, nothing but a little buttermilk. Why?"
"Why?" responded Aunt Jane, with needless emphasis, "I should
think you'd better ask why! Have you looked in the glass this
morning?"
"Yes," answered Polly faintly, for they were all staring at her,
and she saw a mischievous twinkle come into her father's blue
eyes.
"Well, I'd like to know what fresh piece of nonsense this is,"
Aunt Jane was beginning severely, when the doctor interposed,--
"Wait a minute, Jane; don't be in such a hurry to scold. Come,
Polly, tell us what you have been doing to make yourself look like
a South Sea Islander or a Pawnee?"
Polly dropped her eyes and played with her fork for a minute; but
sulkiness was not in her nature, and after a pause, she confessed.
"Molly said buttermilk was good for freckles, so I put some on
mine, but they didn't come off. You see," she added, turning to
her mother with the certainty that she would find sympathy in that
quarter, if in no other, "the Shepard girls are coming to-day, and
Molly wanted me to go over to see them right away, and I wanted to
look as well as I can."
Polly was interrupted by a hearty laugh from the doctor, who laid
down his knife and fork and leaned back in his chair, to enjoy his
merriment to the utmost.
"I think there's no doubt of their being struck by your looks,
Polly," he said at length. Then, as he saw her bite her lips to
steady them, he added kindly, "Shall I tell my little girl what I
really think about it? I don't consider the freckles themselves
beautiful; but I would rather see her with enough of them to prove
that she lives out of doors in the sunshine, as every healthy
child should, than be one of the little, pale-faced beauties
brought up in the house, or under veils and broad hats. If I can't
have but one, I want my Polly to have health rather than beauty,
for health is beauty, especially in children."
"Better have a freckled face than a freckled soul," added Aunt
Jane, feeling that here was the opportunity to make a fine moral
point.
"There's more connection there than you think, Jane," responded
Dr. Adams quickly. "A child is much more likely to have an
unfreckled, unspotted soul, when her body has the health which
comes with plenty of exposure to the air and sun. Show me a
healthy child, and a small amount of care will make her a good
one; I'm not so sure of the sickly ones. It's my opinion that more
can be made of a healthy sinner than a feeble saint. Isn't it so,
Poll?" And he leaned over to pass his broad hand caressingly down
the shining face, as he added gaily, "There's one good thing about
it, my dear; we shan't have to waste any gas to-night. The light
of your countenance will be quite enough."
They were still sitting lingering over their meal, when Alan came
in to bring a note from Molly. At sight of Polly, he started back
in mock dismay, exclaiming,--
"Great Scott, Polly! What's the matter?"
"Don't tell Molly, Alan," she begged; "but I tried to get rid of
my freckles, that's all."
Alan gave a low, expressive whistle.
"I'm glad it's nothing worse. We had a girl once, that told Molly
if she let the moon shine on her while she was asleep, she'd all
swell up and turn black, and I didn't know but you were beginning
to do that."
"I thought you had given up slang, Alan," remarked Mrs. Adams, as
she motioned him to a chair beside her.
"So I have, mostly. Mother didn't want me to use much, and I
couldn't get along without any; so we split the difference and
agreed that I could have one. I chose 'great Scott,' but it
doesn't always fit the case. I say, Polly, you'll be over to-
night, won't you?"
Polly looked doubtfully at her mother.
"Isn't it rather soon, Alan?" Mrs. Adams asked.
"Not a bit of it," answered the boy. "Mother will be busy with
Uncle Henry, because he'll only be here one night, and we'll have
to see to the girls. Molly can't manage them both, and I'm no use
at all, so we need Polly to help us out. Mother said you'd better
come over about five, Poll, and stay to supper."
"I don't know whether I can get bleached in time," answered Polly,
laughing, as she followed him to the door; "but I'll come if I
can. And don't you dare tell Molly."
"Catch me telling tales!" returned Alan, with some dignity.
"That's not in my line, Poll; and not on you, anyway."
With an appearance of great carelessness, Polly strolled out to
the hammock soon after two o'clock that afternoon, and settled
herself, book in hand. But for the next hour, there was little
reading done, for Polly's gray eyes often wandered from the pages
before her, and fixed themselves on the distant corner around
which the Shepard family must come. It was a long hour of waiting,
and Polly had begun to think that the train must have been wrecked
by the way, when the distant, shrill whistle was heard. At the
sound, she drew herself into a more dignified position, settled
her skirts about her and fell to reading with a will. But though
her eyes went down the left-hand page and up again to the top of
the right-hand one, she could not have told so much as the title
of the book, so absorbed was she in listening for the wheels that
would pass the house. She heard them drawing near, but continued
to be lost in her reading until just as the carriage was in front
of her. Then she glanced up, as if by accident, and was filled
with confusion to see Alan leaning down from his seat on the box
and pointing at her, while two broad hats and two girl faces were
bent forward to survey her curiously. Alan waved his cap; she
answered his salute, and the carriage went swiftly on, leaving
Polly to stare at the pile of trunks strapped on behind it, with a
vague feeling that her intended effect had been a little marred by
Alan's demonstration.
"Served me right, though!" she remarked philosophically to
herself, as she curled herself up to read in earnest, now that her
excitement was over. "I needn't have tried to pose for them; that
sort of thing doesn't suit me; I'd better leave it to Florence."
It was with some misgiving, that Polly, two hours later, started
to take the familiar walk to the Hapgood house. Every riotous curl
was brushed until it lay close to her small head, but already the
golden ends were doing their best to break loose once more; thanks
to her mother's efforts, her burnished skin had lost a little of
its coppery lustre; and her fresh blue and white gingham gown was
as dainty and trim as loving hands could make it. But Polly, as
she looked in the glass before starting, only saw that her hair
was red, and that her freckles would insist on showing. However,
Alan's compliment came to her relief, and she dismissed the
question of her looks with a smile, as something not worth a
thought, and ran off down-stairs to say good by to her mother.
Alan saw her coming, and started to meet her.
"What's the matter, Alan?" she said, noticing his frown, as she
joined him.
"Nothing but a crick in my knee," he explained cheerfully; "I
think I took cold last night, perhaps. They're up-stairs with
Molly," he added vaguely. "I'll call them down, or will you go
up?"
"I'll wait here," said Polly, seating herself on the broad stone
step. "What are they like, Alan?"
"Stunning beauties, both of them," responded Alan, with some
enthusiasm. "Katharine knows it, that's the worst of it. I do hate
a girl that thinks she's pretty. I'd rather they'd be homely as
Miss Bean, and not think about themselves, all the time. But I'll
go call them." And he departed, leaving Polly to meditate on his
words.
The girls soon came down the old stairway behind her, and as Polly
shyly rose to meet them, she felt at once the truth of Alan's
description of Katharine. There was a strong family resemblance
between the sisters, both were dark, and they had the same bright,
brown eyes and smooth, dark brown hair; but Katharine was by far
the more beautiful, with her pink cheeks, small regular teeth,
full lips, and long straight nose with just a suggestion of
sauciness in the slant of its tip. It was this nose that
captivated Polly, and, indeed, Katharine was like a beautiful
picture, in figure and feature, while her rapidly changing
expressions and her brilliant health added a charm which no
picture could ever have. She seemed years older than the other
girls, and this effect was increased by the elegance of her dress
and by her quiet, settled manners, which made Polly feel very
young and shabby in her spotless gingham. Katharine shook hands
with a dignity that quite overawed Polly, who turned to look at
Jessie with a conscious feeling of relief. Jessie was a plump,
lively young woman of twelve, with less, perhaps, of her sister's
delicate beauty; but the lack was more than made good by her
perfect unconsciousness of self, and her frank, winning manner,
which led Polly to forget her formal greeting, and seize her hand,
saying impulsively,--
"I'm so glad you've come to live here!"
Jessie laughed, showing a pair of deep dimples in her dark skin,
as she answered, with a cordiality equal to Polly's own,--
"And I'm so glad Molly has such nice friends,"
That settled the matter between them, and, arm in arm, they
strolled out to the tennis court, chatting like old friends, while
Molly and Alan followed with Katharine, who looked about her
indifferently, nodding slightly, from time to time, in answer to
some question.
"I do think these old houses are splendid," Jessie was saying
eagerly. "I never saw one before. Out in Omaha we call a house old
that has been built twenty years."
"Haven't you ever been East before?" asked Polly, with a feeling
of pity for any girl who had never known the delights of life in
an old New England town.
"Never since I was a year old, so I don't remember much about it,"
answered Jessie. "I think I am going to like it, though, for the
place is lovely, and Aunt Ruth is so sweet."
"I hope you won't be homesick, I'm sure," said Polly
encouragingly.
Jessie laughed outright at the idea.
"Why should I be homesick?" she inquired, rather to Polly's
surprise.
"Why, I don't know exactly, only I should think you'd be lonely
without your father and mother," she began.
"That's what Aunt Ruth seemed to think," interrupted Jessie; "but
I shan't be, a bit. You see, mamma is off travelling with papa
ever so much of the time, and when she's at home, even, we don't
see much of her, for we are in school days, and she goes out, or
else has company 'most every evening."
"Is that the way people do out there?" inquired Polly, with
perfect innocence.
The others were standing near and, at the question, Alan shot a
sly glance at Molly, as Katharine answered, with an air of
patronage,--
"Not all people, you know; but mamma is in society, and is very
gay, so of course she can't be expected to have much time for us."
"Oh!" said Polly, as if a new light had dawned on her. The simple
life of the old town and her own mother's devotion to her had not
taught her to know that, when the question arises between them,
home life must give place to social.
But Molly saw they were treading on dangerous ground, so, to ward
off a possible skirmish, she suggested,--
"Let's have a game of tennis. You girls play, don't you?"
It proved that they did, and Alan was sent off to get the net and
rackets, followed by Polly, who went racing after him, to help him
bring out his load.
"Why, do girls run here?" asked Katharine, with an air of
surprise.
"Yes, of course we do; run and play tag, and do all sorts of
dreadful things," answered Molly, with some spirit. "What do you
do, I'd like to know?"
"Of course it's different in a city," replied her cousin sedately.
"We play tennis and skate; but we never run, all for nothing. Only
little girls do that."
"What nonsense!" was Molly's comment. "I'd call myself a little
girl, then, if I couldn't have any fun without. I hope you don't
consider yourself a young lady--Excuse me, Katharine," she added
hastily. "I didn't mean to be rude; but you'll have to take us as
you find us, I'm afraid."
But Alan and Polly had reappeared, and the game began, watched by
Alan, who refused all the girls' entreaties to play.
"I can't to-night, Poll," he answered to her glance; "I'm too
stiff in the joints, but I'll act as umpire."
By the time the game was over, they were excellent friends, even
Katharine's reserve having yielded to admiration for the playing
of these two girls, who returned her swiftest balls with the
precision born of long practice. As the bell rang for dinner, she
dropped her racket and held out a hand to each, saying, with the
winning grace she knew how to assume at her pleasure,--
"I never saw better players in my life. We shall have to try a
series of match games this fall, West against the East."
"They do play pretty well, don't they?" inquired Alan from the
rear, with a tone of conscious pride. "I've coached them both, and
they can play every bit as well as I can."
"That's modesty," said Polly, laughing. "Alan wouldn't play, just
because he was afraid you'd beat him. We play five here, quite
often."
"How do you arrange it?" asked Katharine.
"Put in an extra one on the weak side," answered Polly, stooping
to pick up a ball she had dropped. "It isn't quite as much fun,
but there are just five of us, and it gives us all a chance," she
added, as they entered the dining-room and she took her place
between Alan and Jessie.
"How do you like it, Kit?" asked Jessie, when they were in their
room that night.
"Like what?" inquired Katharine, with a sleepy yawn.
"Oh, auntie and Molly and all?"
"Auntie is rather nice, only she is a little bit countrified,"
returned Katharine critically; "and Molly is well enough; but what
a funny little thing that Polly Adams is! She acts more like a
boy, the way she goes rushing around with Alan."
"I like her, though," said Jessie.
"She isn't so bad," answered Katharine thoughtfully; "she's a
good-hearted little thing, even if she isn't like the Omaha girls.
I do like Alan, though, Jessie; don't you? He is a splendid-
looking fellow, and has ever so much fun in him. He seems ever so
much older than he really is."
"Perhaps it's because he has been sick a good deal," suggested
Jessie.
"It may be that is it," assented Katharine, pulling off the silver
bangles that clanked like a criminal's fetters at every motion of
her hand; "but he doesn't look as if he'd been ill a day in his
life. I'm so glad there's a boy in the family; for they always
keep things going. I wonder what our school will be like."
The two girls speculated on the future until they heard Alan, in
the next room, kick off his shoes and let them drop, with a thud,
on the floor. Then, tired with their journey, they fell asleep.