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Page 27
We could hardly wait for the carriage to come, we were so eager to know.
I couldn't tell what it was about her, but somehow, when she stepped out
of the carriage and shook hands with us, she made me feel awkward and
shy and out of place. Maybe it was because she had such a grown-up
manner and seemed so young-ladified, although she is only Joyce's age.
Then she spoke in such a superior sort of way to her maid, when she
ordered her to follow up-stairs with the satchels.
They went straight to the green room to dress for dinner, and Joyce and
I locked arms again, and strolled down to the gate. Joyce asked me what
I thought of her. I told her that I would be thankful to the end of time
that I got here first. Seeing her arrive in such a stylish travelling
suit, gloves, and Knox hat, and carrying such a handsome leather bag,
opened my eyes to the way I must have looked when I came. It tickled
Joyce, the way I described myself, travelling in a sunbonnet and
carrying my belongings in an old-fashioned willow basket.
She gave my chin a soft nip and kissed rue on each cheek, and said, "You
funny little Bettykins! As if it made any difference to your friends
what you wore."
I told her I believed it would make a difference to Eugenia, and she
thought, too, that maybe it might. Then I told her I believed that was
why godmother gave me the enchanted necklace before she came, so that I
wouldn't feel uncomfortable. Joyce had not heard about the necklace, so
I showed her my gold beads and told her their story. She thought it was
lovely of godmother to make the fairy tale come true, but she advised me
not to tell Eugenia. Girls who always travel in private cars and have
everything they wish for, she said, can't understand what it means to be
poor. Then she told me about a box that her Cousin Kate had sent her,
and how good it made everybody in the little brown house feel, when it
came.
JUNE 8th.
We had the grandest surprise this morning. Lloyd came up to the house
soon after breakfast, on Tarbaby, leading her mother's riding horse, a
graceful little bay mare. Behind her came one of the coloured men
leading two ponies, so that we could all have a ride. The bay mare was
for Eugenia, who is a fine horsewoman. She learned in a New York
riding-school. The ponies were for Joyce and me. Mr. Sherman had them
sent out from Louisville after he went away, for us to use all the time
we are here.
One of the ponies is named Calico, because he is marked so queerly. His
hair grows in such funny little streaks and stripes and patches that he
looks as if he had been painted that way on purpose. He was a clown pony
in a circus one time, and is supposed to know a lot of tricks. Joyce
wanted him because he is so gentle, and she had never ridden any before.
She didn't mind his ridiculous looks. So Lad fell to my share,--a pretty
brown one that is as easy as a rocking-horse after the stiff-jointed old
farm-horses that I am used to bouncing around on at home.
They were all ready to start, so we went galloping down to Judge Moore's
after Rob, and the five of us raced all over the valley till nearly
lunch-time. It was grand. The dust flew, and people ran to the windows
when we went by, as if we had been a circus.
We did have a sort of circus when we passed by Taylor's grove. A
Butchers' Union had come out from town for a big picnic, and they had a
brass band with them. It struck up a waltz just as we reached the grove,
and Joyce's pony, Calico, began turning around and around as if he had
lost his senses. Joyce screamed and threw her arms around his neck,
frightened almost to death until Rob called out that Calico was dancing,
and for her to hang on and see what he would do. What he did was to
stand on his hind legs and dump Joyce off into the middle of the road.
She sat there in the dust, too astonished to move, until Rob helped her
up, and then they both leaned against the fence to laugh at Calico's
antics. He was so funny. He kept up his performances until the music
stopped. Then he walked over to Rob and held up his fore foot to shake
hands, as if he wanted to be congratulated. The music of the band seemed
to have brought back all his old tricks to his memory. I didn't suppose
that Joyce would mount him again, but she did. Rob called to the men and
asked them please not to play again until we were out of hearing, and we
rode off.
JUNE 9th.
I don't believe that I could ever love Eugenia very dearly, because she
makes me feel uncomfortable so often. She has a way of looking down on
you that would rile anybody. But she is a fascinating sort of girl, when
she wants to be friendly and entertaining. We have been in her room all
morning, listening to her talk.
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