|
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 23
"Oh, don't, don't!" cried poor Elsie, for Johnnie's sobs were infectious,
and she felt an ominous lump coming into her own throat, "don't behave so,
Johnnie. Think if papa came out, and found us crying! Clover particularly
said that we must make the house bright for him. I'm going to sow the
mignonette seed [desperately]; come and help me. The trowel is on the back
porch, and you might get Dorry's jack-knife and cut some little sticks to
mark the places."
This expedient was successful. Johnnie, who loved to "whittle" above all
things, dried her tears, and ran for her shade hat; and by the time the
tiny brown seeds were sprinkled into the brown earth of the borders, both
the girls were themselves again. Dr. Carr appeared from his retirement
half an hour later. A note had come for him meanwhile, but somehow no one
had quite liked to knock at the door and deliver it.
Elsie handed it to him now, with a timid, anxious look, whose import
seemed to strike him, for he laughed a little, and pinched her cheek as he
read.
"I've been writing to Dr. Hope about the children," he said; "that's all.
Don't wait dinner for me, chicks. I'm off for the Corners to see a boy
who's had a fall, and I'll get a bite there. Order something good for tea,
Elsie; and afterward we'll have a game of cribbage if I'm not called out.
We must be as jolly as we can, or Clover will scold us when she comes
back."
Meanwhile the three travellers were faring through the first stage of
their journey very comfortably. The fresh air and change brightened Phil;
he ate a good dinner, and afterward took quite a long nap on a sofa,
Clover sitting by to keep him covered and see that he did not get cold.
Late in the evening they changed to the express train, and there again,
Phil, after being tucked up behind the curtains of his section, went to
sleep and passed a satisfactory night, so that he reached Chicago looking
so much better than when they left Burnet that his father's heart would
have been lightened could he have seen him.
Mrs. Ashe came down to the station to meet them, together with Mr.
Dayton,--a kind, friendly man with a tired but particularly pleasant face.
All the necessary transfer of baggage, etc., was made easy, and they were
carried off at once to the hotel where rooms had been secured. There they
were rapturously received by Amy, and introduced to Mrs. Dayton, a sweet,
spirited little matron, with a face as kindly as her husband's, but not so
worn. Mr. Dayton looked as if for years he had been bearing the whole
weight of a railroad on his shoulders, as in one sense it may be said that
he had.
"We have been here almost a whole day," said Amy, who had taken
possession, as a matter of course, of her old perch on Katy's knee.
"Chicago is the biggest place you ever saw, Tanta; but it isn't so pretty
as Burnet. And oh! don't you think Car Forty-seven is nice,--the one we
are going out West in, you know? And this morning Mr. Dayton took us to
see it. It's the cunningest place that ever was. There's one dear little
drawer in the wall that Mrs. Dayton says I may have to keep Mabel's things
in. I never saw a drawer in a car before. There's a lovely little bedroom
too, and such a nice washing-basin, and a kitchen, and all sorts of
things. I can hardly wait till I show them to you. Don't you think that
travelling is the most delightful thing in the world, Miss Clover?"
"Yes--if only--people--don't get too tired," said Clover, with an anxious
glance at Phil, as he lay back in an easy-chair. She did not dare say,
"if Phil doesn't get too tired," for she had already discovered that
nothing annoyed him so much as being talked about as an invalid, and that
he was very apt to revenge himself by doing something imprudent
immediately afterward, to disguise from an observant world the fact that
he couldn't do it without running a risk. Like most boys, he resented
being "fussed over,"--a fact which made the care of him more difficult
than it would otherwise have been.
The room which had been taken for Clover and Katy looked out on the lake,
which was not far away; and the reach of blue water would have made a
pretty view if trains of cars had not continually steamed between it and
the hotel, staining the sky and blurring the prospect with their smokes.
Katy wondered how it happened that the early settlers who laid out Chicago
had not bethought themselves to secure this fine water frontage as an
ornament to the future city; but Mr. Dayton explained that in the rapid
growth of Western towns, things arranged themselves rather than were
arranged for, and that the first pioneers had other things to think about
than what a New Englander would call "sightliness,"--and Katy could easily
believe this to be true.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|