"Why, is it dinner time?" she asked.
"It is past our dinner time. We had just finished when you came in, or at least Amelia had just finished washing the dishes. We have dinner in the middle of the day, you know, on account of having Amelia come to do the dishes. Ellie, dear, I wonder if you could see that the child has something to eat while I am gone. Everything is in the refrigerator, but I am afraid there is not much beyond bread and milk."
"There is pie," Miss Eloise reminded her, "and there are plenty of tomatoes. We can manage, I am sure, sister. You go right along."
So Miss Newman did not waste time in getting ready, but started forth in a very few minutes, and then Miss Eloise sent Edna out into the little shed to report upon what she might find in the refrigerator.
The child realized now that she was really hungry, and having shared her anxieties with some one to be depended upon, she felt that there was nothing further to be done. Holding up the blue kimono so it would not drag on the floor, she went out into the little shed, annexed to the back of the bungalow. She looked inside the refrigerator. There was a plate of cold fish. Not very appetizing, thought she. A dish of cold baked potatoes--neither did these appeal to her--, a few tomatoes, b.u.t.ter, milk, and a little saucer of stewed apples. She took out the milk, the b.u.t.ter, the tomato and the stewed apples, and set these on the table. "I"ve found something," she called out.
"Bring it in here by the fire," said Miss Eloise in reply.
Edna carefully carried the things into the front room.
"There is salt on the shelf over the sink," Miss Eloise told her. "The bread is in the bread-box, and the pie is on the kitchen table covered with a tin lid. It gets soggy if you put it in the refrigerator. The knives are in the table drawer, and I think there are forks there, too."
Edna returned to the kitchen to get these things. There was quite a large section of blueberry pie, and there were some slices of bread already cut. The pie looked very good and she was pleased to think that a whole pie had been too much for the two Newmans and Amelia. "I am going to eat the tomato and some bread and b.u.t.ter first," she told her friend; "then I will eat some bread and milk and the stewed apples, and keep the pie till the last. I am very glad it was such a big pie that you could not eat it all."
"I am glad, too," said Miss Eloise smiling, "and I am glad you could find something else you liked."
Edna ate her meal with a good appet.i.te, and then carried the empty dishes out into the kitchen. "Shall I wash them?" she asked.
"Oh, no, I wouldn"t try," said Miss Eloise. "You might set them in the dish pan and run some water over them so they won"t get dry or attract the flies."
Edna did as she was told and then returned to watch for Miss Newman.
She had not long to wait before she saw her coming across the field which separated the Duncan"s house from the little bungalow. "Here she comes," cried Edna trying to get to the door in such haste that she forgot to hold up the blue kimono and came near to sprawling at full length. However, she did get to the door in time to open it before Miss Newman should turn the k.n.o.b, and to be ready to ask, "Did you find out anything about Louis?"
"Well, I did and I didn"t," Miss Newman told her. "Let me get off this waterproof and I will tell you." She slipped off the garment and hung it over the back of a chair, then she removed her rubbers and came over to the fire to dry the edge of her skirt. "We called up Mrs.
Ramsey first of all and told her where you were, then we called up the hotel. I let Rudolph do the asking, so Mrs. Morrison would think it was someone at the Duncan"s who wanted to know about Louis. He was not with his mother, and she said she had not seen him since he went out after breakfast to see Edna. "He is probably at Mrs. Ramsey"s," she told Rudolph."
"Oh, dear, where can he be?" sighed Edna, anxiety written on her usually happy face.
"Then I told Rudolph the circ.u.mstance of the boat. "Oh, I know whose boat that is," he said, "it belongs to d.i.c.k Fenton. He is a fisherman.
I can get hold of him easily." So now Rudolph has gone to hunt up d.i.c.k and he has promised to come around this way and let us know. So now, my dear, all we can do is to wait till Rudolph returns. Did you get something to eat?"
"Yes, indeed, I did, and the pie was delicious. I am so very fond of blueberry pie. Thank you so much, Miss Newman for leaving me such a nice big piece."
Miss Newman laughed. "I am glad you take it that way, though the truth is, we didn"t know we were leaving it for you."
"I am afraid I drank up all the milk," Edna went on. "I hope you will not need it for your supper."
"No, we shall not, for neither of us takes milk in tea and they will bring more for the morning."
"Did Rudolph think that anything dreadful had happened to Louis?" asked Edna after a pause.
"No, he seemed to think that no one could take the boat without d.i.c.k Fenton"s knowledge, and said that anyhow there were no oars in it, as d.i.c.k always took the oars up to the house."
It was a great relief to hear this, and Edna began to feel much more hopeful. "Only," she said, "I don"t see why he didn"t come back."
"That is where the mystery is," acknowledged Miss Newman.
The mystery was not solved till an hour later when not only Rudolph, but Louis himself appeared. Miss Eloise was entertaining Edna with a story that the time might not hang too heavily. The bad weather had made a porch party out of the question, and this afternoon Edna was the only listener. The fairy prince had but just entered into the tale when a knock at the door scattered all hope of his ever being recognized as the little bird on a bough.
Edna flew to the door, reaching it less clumsily this time as she had resumed her own frock which was now quite dry. "It"s Louis! It"s Louis!" she screamed. "Oh, Louis, why didn"t you come? I was in such a trouble about you."
"Well, I"ll tell you how it was," said Louis, entering the room. "It wasn"t my fault at all. I went down and got into the boat, but I found there were no oars, so of course there wasn"t any use for me to try to go out in it. While I was sitting there d.i.c.k came along; he"s the man the boat belongs to, you know. "Hallo, sonny," he said, "Waiting for a trip to sea?" I said I was just sitting there pretending I was out at sea. "I"m going to draw my pots," he said, "Want to come along?" Now, you know, Edna, of course I couldn"t miss such a chance as that, for I had never seen anyone draw lobster-pots, so of course I said yes, I"d like to go. I didn"t think we would be gone very long, and I knew you would stay until we got back. I never thought about the tide coming in, or would have made d.i.c.k wait till I had gone to tell you not to wait."
"You should have gone to tell her anyhow," said Miss Newman severely.
"It was inexcusable to leave a little girl all that time by herself."
"Well, but you see," said Louis in self-defence, "I was afraid d.i.c.k wouldn"t wait for me."
"You could have asked him whether he would."
Louis did not reply but hurried on with his story. In his heart of hearts he was conscious of having neglected his cousin for the sake of his own amus.e.m.e.nt, and had really no excuse to offer. "Well, so I got in the boat and we went off. It was further than I thought, but just the minute we got back I went right around to the cave, or at least I tried to get there. Gee! when I saw it was full of water, wasn"t I scared for a minute? Then I said to myself, "Edna"s not such a fool as to stay and get drowned. Of course she"s gone home," but just the same I thought I"d better go see, so I went back to Mrs. Ramsey"s, or at least I started to go, but I met Rudolph and he told me where you were and that everybody was kicking up a fuss about me, so I came back with him, and here I am."
It was all so little of a tragedy, and all Edna"s alarm had been due merely to the thoughtlessness of one careless and selfish boy, so no one felt the least sympathy with Louis when he said. "I missed my dinner, too."
"Serves him right," said Rudolph, under his breath to Miss Newman.
"Then I would advise you to go straight home to your mother," said Miss Newman in her most freezing manner, "and I hope it is the last time Edna ever trusts herself to your tender mercies."
Here Miss Eloise held out her arms and gathered Edna to her with kisses and caresses, whispering to her that she was a darling child.
Louis looked a little ashamed, but was evidently so much more sorry for himself at missing his dinner than for Edna in any state of mind or body, that no one detained him when he said he would go to his mother.
Rudolph did not offer to see him on his way, but turning to Edna said, "Whenever you are ready to go I can take you to Mrs. Ramsey"s as easily as not. We haven"t our motor-car this year, but I can drive over in the surrey."
Edna thanked him and he went off promising to return in half an hour.
Neither Miss Newman nor Miss Eloise made any comment upon Louis, but Edna was perfectly aware that they did not approve of him. She wished Louis were not so selfish, and she looked back to the time when she and her cousin were together at school, with Uncle Justus and Aunt Elizabeth. Louis was really nicer then, though more than once, even at that time, he had put Edna at disadvantage. She looked so sober that Miss Eloise asked what she was thinking about.
"Louis," was the laconic reply.
"I wouldn"t think about him," said Miss Eloise with more spirit than she usually displayed.
"What that boy needs is to go to boarding school," said Miss Newman firmly. "He ought to be where there are a lot of other boys to teach him he is of no importance whatever."
"He was so unhappy at Uncle Justus"s school that his mother says he shall never go away to school again," remarked Edna.
"Poor boy, then there is no hope for him," replied Miss Newman.
Edna did not exactly understand what this meant, but she did not say so, but seeing she still looked very sober, Miss Eloise changed the subject, and began talking of Edna"s friends, Dorothy and Jennie. "Why didn"t you all play together, Edna?" she asked. "I thought you three little girls were inseparable."
Edna hung her head. She wanted to shield Louis, but at the same time she did not want to say anything against her two friends. Finally she compromised by saying, "Boys don"t like to play with dolls."
"Oh, I see," said Miss Eloise with a smile, for Edna"s words had given the key to the situation.
It was not long before Rudolph appeared with the surrey. He brought a warm coat of his sister"s to wrap Edna up in, and they set off after Edna had given earnest thanks to her entertainers.