I alwers _did_ like to see pa.s.sin.""
The att.i.tudes inside the blinds were something, at this moment. Mrs.
Linceford, in a spasm of suppressed laughter herself, held her handkerchief to her lips with one hand, and motioned peremptory silence to the girls with the other. Jeannie was noiselessly clapping her hands, and dancing from one toe to the other with delight. Leslie and Elinor squeezed each other"s fingers lightly, and leaned forward together, their faces br.i.m.m.i.n.g over with fun; and the former whispered with emphatic pantomime to Mrs. Linceford, "_If_ Mr. Wharne were only here!"
"You"ve ben worried," said the man. "And you"ve ben comin" up to "em gradooal. You don"t take "em in. If one of these "ere hills was set out in our fields to home, you"d think it was something more than a hummock, I guess."
"Well, why ain"t they, then? It"s the best way to put things where you can see "em to an advantage. They"re all in the way of each other here, and don"t show for nothing to speak of. Worried! I guess I hev ben! I shan"t git over it till I"ve got home an" ben settled down a week. It"s a mercy I"ve ever laid eyes agin on that bran"-new black alpacky!"
"Well, p"r"aps the folks felt wuss that lost them stylish-lookin"
trunks. I"ll bet they had something more in "em than black alpackys."
"That don"t comfort me none. I"ve had _my_ tribulation."
"Well, come, don"t be grouty, Hannah. We"ve got through the wust of it, and if you ain"t satisfied, why, we"ll go back to Plymouth again. I can stand it awhile, I guess, if "t _is_ four dollars a day."
He had evidently sat still a good while for him, honest man; and he got up with this, and began to pace up and down, looking at the "hummocks,"
which signified greater meanings to him than to his wife.
Mrs. Linceford came over and put the window down. It was absolutely necessary to laugh now, however much of further entertainment might be cut off.
Hannah jumped up, electrified, as the sash went down behind her.
"John! John! There"s folks in there!"
"S"pose likely," said John, with quiet relish of amends. "What"s good for me "ill do for them!"
CHAPTER VI.
DAKIE THAYNE.
"Grimgriffinhoof won"t speak to you to-night," said Jeannie Hadden, after tea, upon the balcony.
She was mistaken. There was something different, still, in Leslie Goldthwaite"s look, as she came out under the sunset light, from the looks that prevailed in the Th.o.r.esby group when they, too, made their appearance. The one moved self-forgetfully,--her consciousness and thought sent forth, not fluttering in her robes and ribbons; with the others there was a little air and bustle, as of people coming into an opera-box in presence of a full house. They said "lovely!" and "splendid!" of course,--their little word of applause for the scenic grandeur of mountain and heaven, and then the half of them turned their backs upon it, and commenced talking together about whether waterfalls were really to be given up or not, and of how people were going to look in high-crowned bonnets.
Mrs. Linceford told the "hummux" story to Marmaduke Wharne. The old man laughed till the Th.o.r.esby party turned to see.
"But I like one thing," he said. "The woman was honest. Her "black alpacky" was most to her, and she owned up to it."
The regular thing being done, outside, the company drifted back, as the shadows fell, to the parlor again. Mrs. Linceford"s party moved also, and drifted with the rest. Marmaduke Wharne, quite graciously, walked after. The Lancers was just forming.
"The bear is playing tame and amiable," whispered Jeannie. "But he"ll eat you up, for all that. I wouldn"t trust him. He"s going to watch, to see how wicked you"ll be."
"I shall let him see," replied Leslie quietly.
"Miss Goldthwaite, you"re for the dance to-night? For the "bright and kind and pleasant," eh?" the "bear" said, coming to her side within the room.
"If anybody asks me," answered Leslie, with brave simplicity. "I like dancing--_very_ much."
"I"ll find you a partner, then," said Mr. Wharne.
She looked up, surprised; but he was quite in earnest. He walked across the room, and brought back with him a lad of thirteen or so,--well grown for his age, and bright and manly-looking; but only a boy, and a little shy and stiff at first, as boys have to be for a while. Leslie had seen him before, in the afternoon, rolling the b.a.l.l.s through a solitary game of croquet; and afterward taking his tea by himself at the lower end of the table. He had seemed to belong to n.o.body, and as yet hardly to have got the "run" of the place.
"This is Master Thayne, Miss Leslie Goldthwaite, and I think he would like to dance, if you please."
Master Thayne made a proper bow, and glanced up at the young girl with a smile lurking behind the diffidence in his face. Leslie smiled outright, and held out her hand.
It was not a brilliant debut, perhaps. The Haddens had been appropriated by a couple of youths in frock coats and orthodox kids, with a suspicion of mustaches; and one of the Th.o.r.esbys had a young captain of cavalry, with gold bars on his shoulders. Elinor Hadden raised her pretty eyebrows, and put as much of a mock-miserable look into her happy little face as it could hold, when she found her friend, so paired, at her right hand.
"It"s very good of you to stand up with me," said the boy simply. "It"s awful slow, not knowing anybody."
"Are you here alone?" asked Leslie.
"Yes; there was n.o.body to come with me. Oliver--my brother--will come by and by, and perhaps my uncle and the rest of them, to meet me where I"m to be, down among the mountains. We"re all broken up this summer, and I"m to take care of myself."
"Then you don"t stay here?"
"No; I only came this way to see what it was like. I"ve got a jolly place engaged for me, at Outledge."
"Outledge? Why, we are going there!"
"Are you? That"s--jolly!" repeated the boy, pausing a second for a fresher or politer word, but unable to supply a synonym.
"I"m glad you think so," answered Leslie, with her genuine smile again.
The two had already made up their minds to be friends. In fact, Master Thayne would hardly have acquiesced in being led up for introduction to any other young girl in the room. There had been something in Leslie Goldthwaite"s face that had looked kind and sisterly to him. He had no fear of a snub with her; and these things Mr. Wharne had read, in his behalf, as well.
"He"s a queer old fellow, that Mr. Wharne, isn"t he?" pursued Master Thayne, after forward and back, as he turned his partner to place. "But he"s the only one that"s had anything to say to me, and I like him.
I"ve been down to the old mill with him to-day. Those people"--motioning slightly toward the other set, where the Th.o.r.esbys were dancing--"were down there, too. You"d ought to have seen them look! Don"t they hate him, though?"
"Hate him? Why should they do that?"
"Oh, I don"t know. People feel each other out, I suppose. And a word of his is as much as a whole preach of anybody"s else. He says a word now and then, and it hits."
"Yes," responded Leslie, laughing.
"What _did_ you do it for?" whispered Elinor, in hands across.
"I like him; he"s got something to say," returned Leslie.
"Augusta"s looking at you, like a hen after a stray chicken. She"s all but clucking now."
"Mr. Wharne will tell her."
But Mr. Wharne was not in the room. He came back just as Leslie was making her way again, after the dance, to Mrs. Linceford.