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Page 8
"The very words that Betty wrote in my Good Times Book the day she gave
it to me," she said, opening her diary to verify the motto on the
fly-leaf.
"It was beyond my wildest dreams then that I'd ever be standing here in
Warwick Hall garden, reading them for myself! I mustn't wait another
minute to make a record of this good time."
Choosing a seat in one of the arbours where a humming bird was darting
in and out through a tangle of vines, she opened the thick red book in
which she had kept a faithful record of her doings and goings for the
last two years, and glanced at the last entry. The date was such an old
one that she read the last few pages to refresh her memory.
"THE WIGWAM, Thursday, August 4th.
"Jack came home yesterday to our joyful surprise. Mr. Sherman had
telegraphed him to come at once to Kentucky, on a flying trip to
consult with the directors of the mine. As he had to pass through
Phoenix anyhow, he managed it so that he could stay over night
with us. I am so happy over the prospect of his having a chance at
last to see our 'Promised Land' that I am fairly beside myself. I
sat up half the night making cookies and gingerbread and rolls, and
broiling chickens for his lunch. He says he's been hungry for
home-cooking so long that it will go away ahead of dining-car fare.
"Everything turned out beautifully, and while I waited for them to
bake I wrote a list of the things he must see and questions he must
ask at The Locusts; things I've wanted to know ever since I came
back from Lloydsboro Valley, and yet you can't very well find out
just in letters. He left on this morning's early train. If he finds
he can take the time, he's going on to Annapolis for a day, just to
get a glimpse of Holland, and then to New York for a day and a half
with Joyce. Good old Jack! He's certainly earned his holiday. I can
hardly wait for him to come home and tell all about it."
Spreading the book out on her knees, Mary adjusted her pen and began to
write rapidly, for words always crowded to her pen-point as they did to
her tongue, with a rush.
"WARWICK HALL, September 12.
"Little did I think when I wrote that last line, that six whole
weeks would pass before I added another, or that my next entry
would be made in this beautiful old garden that I have dreamed of
so long. Little did I think I would be sitting here beside the old
sun-dial, or that such an hour could shine for me as the happy hour
when Jack came back.
"I drove into Phoenix to meet him, and I knew from the way he
waved his hat and swung off the steps before the train stopped that
he had good news, and it was! Perfectly splendid! They had made
him assistant manager of the mines, with a great big salary that
would make a change in all our fortunes. I thought it was queer
that he should bring a trunk back with him, for he went away with
only a suit-case, but I was so busy asking questions about Joyce
and Holland and everybody at The Locusts, that there wasn't time or
breath to ask about the trunk. We were half way home before he got
around to that.
"He said his first thought when they told him of his promotion
was, 'Now Mary can have her heart's desire and go away to school.'
And on the way to New York he planned it all out, how we'd give up
the Wigwam, and take a house in Lone-Rock, and he'd get some one to
help Mamma with the work, and he'd have Norman under his eye all
the time when he was out of school, and keep him out of mischief.
He's been wanting to do that ever since he went to the mines, for
there never was such a home-body. He can't bear to board.
"Nearly all of that little scrap of a visit he and Joyce had
together, those blessed children spent in getting my clothes. Joyce
has all my measurements, and they got me three dresses and a hat
and a lot of shirt-waists and gloves and fixings, all so beautiful
and stylish and New Yorkey, _and_ the fine big trunk to put them
in. There was even a new brush and comb and mirror, for she
remembered how ratty looking my old things were. And there was a
letter portfolio and a silk umbrella and a lot of odds and ends
that all school-girls need. I don't believe they overlooked a thing
to make my outfit complete, and I know they're as nice as any the
others will have, for Joyce has such good taste and always knows
just what is fit and proper. I feel so elegant in my pretty blue
travelling suit, and I'm just aching for a chance to wear the
beautiful little evening dresses they chose, one white pongee, and
the other some new sort of goods that looks just like a soft
shimmery cloud, a regular picture dress.
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