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Page 54
The conductor evidently thought he'd better get the train away as soon
as possible, for he now shouted, "All aboard!" to nobody at all, and
sprang back on the steps. The train went off, groaning over the steep
grade, and screaming out its usual echoing warning about the next road
crossing.
Uncle Henry took Aunt Frances's suitcase and plodded back to the surrey.
He got into the front seat and Aunt Frances and Betsy in the back; and
they started off.
And now I want you to listen to every single word that was said on the
back seat, for it was a very, very important conversation, when Betsy's
fate hung on the curl of an eyelash and the flicker of a voice, as fates
often do.
Aunt Frances hugged Betsy again and again and exclaimed about her having
grown so big and tall and fat--she didn't say brown too, although you
could see that she was thinking that, as she looked through her veil at
Betsy's tanned face and down at the contrast between her own pretty,
white fingers and Betsy's leather-colored, muscular little hands. She
exclaimed and exclaimed and kept on exclaiming! Betsy wondered if she
really always had been as fluttery as this. And then, all of a sudden it
came out, the great news, the reason for the extra flutteriness.
Aunt Frances was going to be married!
Yes! Think of it! Betsy fell back open-mouthed with astonishment.
"Did Betsy think her Aunt Frances a silly old thing?"
"Oh, Aunt Frances, NO!" cried Betsy fervently. "You look just as YOUNG,
and pretty! Lots younger than I remembered you!"
Aunt Frances flushed with pleasure and went on, "You'll love your old
Aunt Frances just as much, won't you, when she's Mrs. Plimpton!"
Betsy put her arms around her and gave her a great hug. "I'll always
love you, Aunt Frances!" she said.
"You'll love Mr. Plimpton, too. He's so big and strong, and he just
loves to take care of people. He says that's why he's marrying me. Don't
you wonder where we are going to live?" she asked, answering her own
question quickly. "We're not going to live anywhere. Isn't that a joke?
Mr. Plimpton's business keeps him always moving around from one place to
another, never more than a month anywhere."
"What'll Aunt Harriet do?" asked Betsy wonderingly.
"Why, she's ever and ever so much better," said Aunt Frances happily.
"And her own sister, my Aunt Rachel, has come back from China, where
she's been a missionary for ever so long, and the two old ladies are
going to keep house together out in California, in the dearest little
bungalow, all roses and honeysuckle. But YOU'RE going to be with me.
Won't it be jolly fun, darling, to go traveling all about everywhere,
and see new places all the time!"
Now those are the words Aunt Frances said, but something in her voice
and her face suggested a faint possibility to Betsy that maybe Aunt
Frances didn't really think it would be such awfully jolly fun as her
words said. Her heart gave a big jump up, and she had to hold tight to
the arm of the surrey before she could ask, in a quiet voice, "But, Aunt
Frances, won't I be awfully in your way, traveling around so?"
Now, Aunt Frances had ears of her own, and though that was what Betsy's
words said, what Aunt Frances heard was a suggestion that possibly Betsy
wasn't as crazy to leave Putney Farm as she had supposed of course she
would be.
They both stopped talking for a moment and peered at each other through
the thicket of words that held them apart. I told you this was a very
momentous conversation. One sure thing is that the people on the back
seat saw the inside of the surrey as they traveled along, and nothing
else. Red sumac and bronzed beech-trees waved their flags at them in
vain. They kept their eyes fixed on each other intently, each in an
agony of fear lest she hurt the other's feelings.
After a pause Aunt Frances came to herself with a start, and said,
affectionately putting her arm around Betsy, "Why, you darling, what
does Aunt Frances care about trouble if her own dear baby-girl is
happy?"
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