Blue Bonnet in Boston.
by Caroline E. Jacobs and Lela H. Richards.
CHAPTER I
THE WAIL OF THE WE ARE SEVENS
Blue Bonnet raised the blind of the car window, which had been drawn all the afternoon to shut out the blazing sun, and took a view of the flying landscape. Then she consulted the tiny watch at her wrist and sat up with a start.
"Grandmother!" she said excitedly, "we"ll soon be in Woodford; that is, in just an hour. We"re on time, you know. Hadn"t we better be getting our things together?"
Mrs. Clyde straightened up from the pillows, which Blue Bonnet had arranged comfortably for her afternoon nap, and peered out at the rolling hills and green meadow-lands.
"I think we have plenty of time, Blue Bonnet," she said, smiling into the girl"s eager face. "But perhaps we would better freshen up a bit.
You are sure we are on time?"
"Yes, I asked the conductor when I went back to see Solomon at the last station. Four-twenty sharp, at Woodford, he told Solomon, and Solomon licked his hand with joy. Poor doggie! I don"t believe he appreciates the value of travel, even if he has seen Texas and New York and Boston.
He loathes the baggage-car, though I must say the men all along the way have been perfectly splendid to him. But then, any one would fall in love with Solomon, he"s such a dear."
Mrs. Clyde recalled the five dollar bill she had witnessed Mr. Ashe pa.s.s to the baggage-man at the beginning of the journey, and the money she had given by his instruction along the way, and wondered how much Solomon"s real worth had contributed to his care.
"I"m so glad we"re arriving in the afternoon," Blue Bonnet said, as she gathered up magazines and various other articles that littered the section. "There"s something so flat about getting anywhere in the morning--nothing to do but sit round waiting for trunks that have been delayed, and wander about the house. I wonder if Aunt Lucinda told the girls we were coming?"
Mrs. Clyde fancied not. A quiet home-coming after so strenuous a summer was much to be desired.
Blue Bonnet and the We Are Sevens had parted company in New York several weeks before, the girls going on to Woodford in care of the General, in order not to miss the first week of school.
The stay in New York had been particularly gratifying to Blue Bonnet, for there had been ample time while waiting for Aunt Lucinda to arrive from her summer"s outing in Europe, to do some of the things left undone on her last visit. A day at the Metropolitan Museum proved a delight; the shops fascinating--especially Tiffany"s, where Blue Bonnet spent hours over shining trays, mysterious designs in monograms, and antique gold settings, leaving an order that quite amazed Grandmother Clyde, until she learned that the purchase was for Uncle Cliff.
Then there had been a delightful week with the Boston relatives, Aunt Lucinda going straight to Woodford to open the house and make things comfortable for her mother"s arrival.
Cousin Tracy, as on that other memorable visit, had proved an ideal host. To be sure, a motor car had been subst.i.tuted for the sightseeing bus so dear to Blue Bonnet"s heart, but she found it, on the whole, quite as enjoyable, and confided to Cousin Tracy as they sped through the crooked little streets or walked through the beloved Common, that she liked Boston ever so much better than New York, it seemed so nice and countrified. There was a second visit to Bunker Hill and the Library, to which Blue Bonnet brought fresh enthusiasm, more stories of Cousin Tracy"s coins and medals, and so the days pa.s.sed all too swiftly.
"Well, at last!" Blue Bonnet exclaimed, as the train began to slacken speed and the familiar "Next stop Woodford" echoed through the car.
"Here we are, Grandmother, home again!" She was at the door before the car came to a standstill.
"Doesn"t look as exciting as it did when Uncle Cliff and I arrived in the Wanderer, does it?" Blue Bonnet"s eyes swept the almost deserted station.
Miss Clyde stood at the end of the long platform, her eyes turned expectantly toward the rear Pullman, with Denham, the coachman, at a respectful distance.
Blue Bonnet sprang from the car steps, greeted Aunt Lucinda affectionately, shook hands with Denham and rushed for the baggage-car to release Solomon.
"He"s perfectly wild to see you, Aunt Lucinda," she called back, as she ran toward the car--a compliment which Solomon himself verified a moment later with joyful leaps and yelps and much wagging of tail.
"My, but it seems nice to get home," Blue Bonnet said as she sank back cosily in the carriage and heaved a sigh of content. The sigh shamed her a little. It seemed, somehow, disloyal to Uncle Cliff and Texas. She sat up straight and turned her head away from the houses with their trim orderly dooryards and well-kept hedges, and, for a moment, fixed her mind with pa.s.sionate loyalty on the lonely wind-swept stretches of her native state; the battered and weatherbeaten ranch-house, Benita--But only for a moment. The green rolling hills, the giant arching elms, Grandmother"s stately house just coming into view, proved too alluring, and salving her conscience with the thought that it was her own dear mother"s country she had at last learned to love, gave herself up to the full enjoyment of her surroundings.
Katie and faithful Delia were awaiting the arrival of the family on the veranda, their joy at the reunion showing in every line of their happy faces. Blue Bonnet shook hands with them cordially, deposited a load of magazines and wraps in Delia"s willing arms and ran in to the house.
In the sitting-room tea was ready to be served. Blue Bonnet curled up in one of the deep armchairs and eyed the table appreciatively. How good it looked--the thin slices of bread and b.u.t.ter, the fresh marmalade, the wonderful Clyde cookies. She leaned back and smiled contentedly.
"Come, Blue Bonnet," Miss Clyde said, entering the room followed by Delia with a bra.s.s kettle of steaming water, "make yourself tidy quickly. Tea is all ready."
"All right, Aunt Lucinda, I sha"n"t be a minute, I"m quite famished,"
and to prove the fact Blue Bonnet helped herself to a handful of cookies on her way out of the room.
Aunt Lucinda cast an inquiring glance in her mother"s direction.
"I fear you will find Blue Bonnet a bit spoiled, Lucinda," Mrs. Clyde said with some hesitancy. "But we must not be too severe with her. The girls have led a wild, carefree existence all summer. I have done my best to look after them carefully, but I found seven rather a handful."
Something in Mrs. Clyde"s tone made her daughter turn and look at her closely. Was it imagination, or did she seem unusually fatigued? Miss Clyde had often wondered during the summer if the responsibility of so many girls had not been too much of a tax on her mother"s strength and patience, but her letters had been so cheerful, so uncomplaining, that she had tried to put the thought out of her mind, attributing it to overanxiety.
Blue Bonnet"s entrance prevented further questioning.
"I think, if you don"t mind, Grandmother, I"ll run over and see the General a minute. I promised Alec to look after him," Blue Bonnet said, putting down her tea-cup.
"That would be very nice, Blue Bonnet," Mrs. Clyde answered with a nod and a smile. "The General is going to miss Alec very much this winter."
As Blue Bonnet pa.s.sed her Grandmother she stooped and putting her arm round her shoulder gave her a gentle hug. Mrs. Clyde reached up and patted the girl"s face tenderly. Whatever had been her care, love had lightened the burden, there could be no doubt of that.
"You can"t think what a trump she"s been, Aunt Lucinda," Blue Bonnet said, straightening the bow at her grandmother"s neck. "A regular brick!
Why, she"s had all the girls at her feet this blessed summer."
"It would have been more to the point if I had had them in hand," her grandmother replied; making haste to add, as she met Blue Bonnet"s puzzled eyes, "not but that they were good girls, very good girls indeed."
Blue Bonnet whistled to Solomon and went out of the front door, banging it carelessly. Miss Clyde looked annoyed.
"I am afraid we are going to have to begin all over again with Blue Bonnet," she said with some concern. "She seems so hoydenish. I noticed it immediately."
"It is a good deal the exuberance of youth, Lucinda. Surplus energy has to be worked off somehow. We must be patient with her."
"I have been thinking," Miss Clyde replied, "that it would be wise not to enter Blue Bonnet in the Boston school immediately. If we could keep her with us until after the holidays we could perhaps interest her in some home duties--the girls will all be in school, and we could have her more to ourselves, and, perhaps, smooth down some of these rough corners."
Mrs. Clyde looked wistful.
"I shall miss the dear child so," she said. "I wish we might keep her with us a bit longer. Boarding-school will be the beginning of a long break, I fear."
"It is because of the a.s.sociation that I particularly wish her to enter Miss North"s school. She will meet refined girls from some of our old New England families, and the influence cannot fail to be helpful. I hope she will not be tempted to tell them that her grandmother is a brick," Miss Clyde added as an afterthought, but her smile was indulgent rather than critical.
"Girls are much the same the world over," her mother answered with the wisdom of experience. "Blue Bonnet is very like her mother. She was a great romp, but she pa.s.sed the hoydenish period in safety, so will Blue Bonnet; never fear."
"She must be taught order and system; and a little domestic science under Katie might not come amiss, since she will some day be at the head of a household," Miss Clyde went on, and her mother signified approval.
"Then there is mending and darning. On the whole, I think the next three months might be made very profitable to Blue Bonnet right here at home. I am not at all sure but that too much emphasis is given to the cultural side of education, and too little to the domestic these days. A girl to be well educated should be well rounded."
After dinner, when the fire in the grate had been lighted--for the autumn evenings were beginning to bring chill to the air--and the family gathered for an hour"s chat before bed, Miss Clyde broached the subject to Blue Bonnet.
"How would you like to continue your vacation for three months longer, Blue Bonnet, to stay on here with Grandmother and me until after the holidays?"