|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 69
"I don't know which is the most excited over the prospect, myself, or my
maid," said Eugenia to the boys. "Poor old Eliot is simply wild with
delight at the thought of seeing her home and family again, and I am
nearly as much upset as she is. We're to be gone five or six months.
Papa says that while we are over there we might as well go the rounds,
so maybe we'll spend Christmas in France, in the same place that Joyce
did."
"What time do you leave Locust to-night?" asked Malcolm.
"On the ten o'clock train, I think. Joyce is going with us, part of the
way, as papa has to make a trip to St. Louis before we go back to New
York."
"And which way are you all going now?" asked Keith. The others had
joined them, and the seven ponies were standing in a ring in the middle
of the road, their noses almost touching.
"We're going down to your house," answered Joyce, "to bid your
Grandmother MacIntyre and Miss Allison good-bye. They have been so good
to us all the time we have been here. Your Aunt Allison has done so much
to entertain us, and as for your grandmother, I couldn't begin to tell
you how she cheered us up when we had the measles. There was something
from her every day, fruit and flowers and wine jellies and messages. One
of my sweetest memories of Kentucky will be of your beautiful
grandmother."
Instantly both the boys lifted their hats in acknowledgment, but Keith
exclaimed in boyish impatience, "Oh, pshaw! I thought we were all going
over to the mill this morning. The last time, you know. There's no need
of your going down to bid them good-bye when we'll see you at--"
But Lloyd stopped him with a finger on her lip and a threatening shake
of her head. "Come on!" she cried, starting Tarbaby down the road at
full gallop. "We can't stand heah in the road all day."
Keith dashed after her, laying a detaining hand on her bridle when he
reached her side. "What's the matter, Miss Savage?" he asked. "What do
you mean, by shaking your head at me in that way?"
"Can't you keep a secret?" she demanded, crossly. "You know well enough
we want to surprise the girls to-night."
"Oh, I forgot!" he exclaimed, clapping a hand over his mouth.
"They are not to know a thing about it until time to light the
lanterns," she said, severely. "And I think it would be very rude indeed
for them not to make a good-bye call at yo' house this mawnin', even if
you all are comin' up to-night."
"Oh, I say, Lloyd, leave a little piece of me, please ma'am," he begged,
in a meek voice. "At least enough to help wind up the house party,
to-night. Say you'll forgive me!" he insisted, clasping his hands
together and looking at her cross-eyed, with such a comical expression
that she could not help laughing.
The last time! It's the last time! They said it as they stopped once
more for the mail at the little post-office; as they turned regretfully
homeward; as they went down the long avenue in the shade of the friendly
old locusts. They said it again when they wandered four abreast, and arm
in arm about the place, for a farewell glance at every nook and corner,
where they had romped and played in the five weeks just gone. Even when
the words were not wailed out disconsolately by one of them and echoed
by the others, the thought that each thing they were doing was for the
last time, went with them like a mournful undercurrent.
"Did you ever have a day fly by as fast as this one?" asked Joyce that
afternoon, looking up from the trunk that Mom Beck was helping her to
pack. "Here it is nearly six o'clock, and I haven't been down to the
mulberry-tree. I wanted one more swing on the grape-vine swing before I
dressed for dinner. It's like flying to go sailing through the air,
across the ravine, on that grape-vine that covers the mulberry-tree."
"There won't be time now," said the Little Colonel, casting an anxious
look toward the front windows. If the girls had not been so busily
occupied, they might have noticed how she had been manoeuvring for some
time to keep them away from the front windows. She even took them down
the back stairs when they were ready for dinner, with the excuse that
she wanted them to see the hamper in which Joyce's puppy was to travel.
Eugenia's Bob was to be left at Locust until after she had made her trip
abroad.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|