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Page 43
Not a thing had happened the way she had planned; no, not a single
thing! But it seemed to her she had never been so happy in her life.
CHAPTER X
BETSY HAS A BIRTHDAY
Betsy's birthday was the ninth day of September, and the Necronsett
Valley Fair is always held from the eighth to the twelfth. So it was
decided that Betsy should celebrate her birthday by going up to
Woodford, where the Fair was held. The Putneys weren't going that year,
but the people on the next farm, the Wendells, said they could make room
in their surrey for the two little girls; for, of course, Molly was
going, too. In fact, she said the Fair was held partly to celebrate her
being six years old. This would happen on the seventeenth of October.
Molly insisted that that was PLENTY close enough to the ninth of
September to be celebrated then. This made Betsy feel like laughing out,
but observing that the Putneys only looked at each other with the
faintest possible quirk in the corners of their serious mouths, she
understood that they were afraid that Molly's feelings might be hurt if
they laughed out loud. So Betsy tried to curve her young lips to the
same kind and secret mirth.
And, I can't tell you why, this effort not to hurt Molly's feelings made
her have a perfect spasm of love for Molly. She threw herself on her and
gave her a great hug that tipped them both over on the couch on top of
Shep, who stopped snoring with his great gurgling snort, wriggled out
from under them, and stood with laughing eyes and wagging tail, looking
at them as they rolled and giggled among the pillows.
"What dress are you going to wear to the Fair, Betsy?" asked Cousin Ann.
"And we must decide about Molly's, too."
This stopped their rough-and-tumble fun in short order, and they applied
themselves to the serious question of a toilet.
When the great day arrived and the surrey drove away from the Wendells'
gate, Betsy was in a fresh pink-and-white gingham which she had helped
Cousin Ann make, and plump Molly looked like something good to eat in a
crisp white little dimity, one of Betsy's old dresses, with a deep hem
taken in to make it short enough for the little butter-ball. Because it
was Betsy's birthday, she sat on the front seat with Mr. Wendell, and
part of the time, when there were not too many teams on the road, she
drove, herself. Mrs. Wendell and her sister filled the back seat solidly
full from side to side and made one continuous soft lap on which Molly
happily perched, her eyes shining, her round cheeks red with joyful
excitement. Betsy looked back at her several times and thought how very
nice Molly looked. She had, of course, little idea how she herself
looked, because the mirrors at Putney Farm were all small and high up,
and anyhow they were so old and greenish that they made everybody look
very queer-colored. You looked in them to see if your hair was smooth,
and that was about all you could stand.
So it was a great surprise to Betsy later in the morning, as she and
Molly wandered hand in hand through the wonders of Industrial Hall, to
catch sight of Molly in a full-length mirror as clear as water. She was
almost startled to see how faithfully reflected were the yellow of the
little girl's curls, the clear pink and white of her face, and the blue
of her soft eyes. An older girl was reflected there also, near Molly, a
dark-eyed, red-cheeked, sturdy little girl, standing very straight on
two strong legs, holding her head high and free, her dark eyes looking
out brightly from her tanned face. For an instant Betsy gazed into those
clear eyes and then ... why, gracious goodness! That was herself she was
looking at! How changed she was! How very, very different she looked
from the last time she had seen herself in a big mirror! She remembered
it well--out shopping with Aunt Frances in a department store, she had
caught sight of a pale little girl, with a thin neck, and spindling legs
half-hidden in the folds of Aunt Frances's skirts. But she didn't look
even like the sister of this browned, muscular, upstanding child who
held Molly's hand so firmly.
All this came into her mind and went out again in a moment, for Molly
caught sight of a big doll in the next aisle and they hurried over to
inspect her clothing. The mirror was forgotten in the many exciting
sights and sounds and smells of their first county fair.
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