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Page 49
"My! Aren't these doughnuts good?" said Molly. "I never in my life had
ENOUGH doughnuts before!"
Betsy drew a long breath and began rather languidly to eat one herself;
she felt, all of a sudden, very, very tired.
She was tireder still when they got out of the train at Hillsboro
Station and started wearily up the road toward Putney Farm. Two miles
lay before them, two miles which they had often walked before, but never
after such a day as now lay back of them. Molly dragged her feet as she
walked and hung heavily on Betsy's hand. Betsy plodded along, her head
hanging, her eyes all gritty with fatigue and sleepiness. A light buggy
spun round the turn of the road behind them, the single horse trotting
fast as though the driver were in a hurry, the wheels rattling smartly
on the hard road. The little girls drew out to one side and stood
waiting till the road should be free again. When he saw them the driver
pulled the horse back so quickly it stood almost straight up. He peered
at them through the twilight and then with a loud shout sprang over the
side of the buggy.
It was Uncle Henry--oh, goody, it was Uncle Henry come to meet them!
They wouldn't have to walk any further!
But what was the matter with Uncle Henry? He ran up to them, exclaiming,
"Are ye all right? Are ye all right?" He stooped over and felt of them
desperately as though he expected them to be broken somewhere. And Betsy
could feel that his old hands were shaking, that he was trembling all
over. When she said, "Why, yes, Uncle Henry, we're all right. We came
home on the cars," Uncle Henry leaned up against the fence as though he
couldn't stand up. He took off his hat and wiped his forehead and he
said--it didn't seem as though it could be Uncle Henry talking, he
sounded so excited--"Well, well--well, by gosh! My! Well, by thunder!
Now! And so here ye are! And you're all right! WELL!"
He couldn't seem to stop exclaiming, and you can't imagine anything
stranger than an Uncle Henry who couldn't stop exclaiming.
After they all got into the buggy he quieted down a little and said,
"Thunderation! But we've had a scare! When the Wendells come back with
their cousins early this afternoon, they said you were coming with the
Vaughans. And then when you didn't come and DIDN'T come, we telephoned
to the Vaughans, and they said they hadn't seen hide nor hair of ye, and
didn't even know you were TO the Fair at all! I tell you, your Aunt
Abigail and I had an awful turn! Ann and I hitched up quicker'n scat and
she put right out with Prince up toward Woodford and I took Jessie down
this way; thought maybe I'd get trace of ye somewhere here. Well, land!"
He wiped his forehead again. "Wa'n't I glad to see you standin'
there ... get along, Jess! I want to get the news to Abigail soon as I
can!"
"Now tell me what in thunder DID happen to you!"
Betsy began at the beginning and told straight through, interrupted at
first by indignant comments from Uncle Henry, who was outraged by the
Wendells' loose wearing of their responsibility for the children. But as
she went on he quieted down to a closely attentive silence, interrupting
only to keep Jess at her top speed.
Now that it was all safely over, Betsy thought her story quite an
interesting one, and she omitted no detail, although she wondered once
or twice if perhaps Uncle Henry were listening to her, he kept so still.
"And so I bought the tickets and we got home," she ended, adding, "Oh,
Uncle Henry, you ought to have seen the prize pig! He was TOO funny!"
They turned into the Putney yard now and saw Aunt Abigail's bulky form
on the porch.
"Got 'em, Abby! All right! No harm done!" shouted Uncle Henry.
Aunt Abigail turned without a word and went back into the house. When
the little girls dragged their weary legs in they found her quietly
setting out some supper for them on the table, but she was wiping away
with her apron the joyful tears which ran down her cheeks, such white
cheeks! It seemed so strange to see rosy Aunt Abigail with a face like
paper.
"Well, I'm glad to see ye," she told them soberly. "Sit right down and
have some hot milk. I had some all ready."
The telephone rang, she went into the next room, and they heard her
saying, in an unsteady voice: "All right, Ann. They're here. Your father
just brought them in. I haven't had time to hear about what happened
yet. But they're all right. You'd better come home."
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