Blue Bonnet smiled broadly.
"Oh, do let him, Grandmother. There"ll be plenty of things left for to-morrow."
"Your Uncle is your legal guardian, dear. I think the privilege is his without asking."
"What is the present? Where is it?" Blue Bonnet asked, her eyes shining.
"I think Grandmother took it up in your room. I suspect you might find it there."
Mrs. Clyde nodded.
Blue Bonnet was out of the room and climbing the stairs in a twinkling.
A second later Grandmother and Uncle Cliff heard a shout of joy, then laughter and animated conversation.
"She found it without much difficulty," Mr. Ashe said, smiling.
A moment later he was being smothered in caresses, and a voice was saying between tears and laughter:
"Oh, Uncle Cliff, if you aren"t the darlingest, best uncle anybody in this world ever had!" While a slim, shy young girl with soft brown eyes looked on with interest.
There was an explanation on Uncle Cliff"s part, and then Blue Bonnet took the girl"s hand in her own affectionately.
"Carita," she said, "have you met the family? You remember Grandmother, of course; and this is my aunt, Miss Clyde. Aunt Lucinda, this is Carita Judson. She"s come to go with me to Miss North"s, and I"m the happiest girl in Ma.s.sachusetts!"
CHAPTER V
BOARDING-SCHOOL
The reception-room at Miss North"s school was not elaborate. It had none of the attractiveness of Miss North"s own living-room. It looked cold, business-like, and uninviting--at least so Blue Bonnet thought as she sat waiting to say her last good-bys to Uncle Cliff and Aunt Lucinda.
The parting with Grandmother had been something of a wrench. Blue Bonnet had managed to keep herself pretty well in hand, for Grandmother"s sake; but to-day it was different. Everything was so strange--so forbidding.
Even the presence of Carita seemed of small comfort. Carita was lovely--but, after all, she couldn"t fill Grandmother"s place, nor Uncle Cliff"s, nor even Aunt Lucinda"s.
Uncle Cliff rose from the stiff-backed chair he had been occupying for the last half hour, and took Blue Bonnet"s hand. Aunt Lucinda got up, too.
A frightened, half panicky look came into Blue Bonnet"s face. The feeling that she was about to be left alone with strangers for the first time in her life came over her in a great wave. She reached up and taking hold of the lapels of her uncle"s coat, held him fast.
"Must you go now--right this minute, Uncle Cliff?" she said, and he could feel her trembling.
Mr. Ashe looked at his watch.
"I am afraid so, Honey. Trains don"t wait, you know. I must be off to-night, sure."
Blue Bonnet turned to Aunt Lucinda and kissed her with warmth; then she walked between her uncle and aunt down the length of the long corridor to the front door. Carita also clung to Uncle Cliff. At the door they all paused.
"Now you have everything that you need, Blue Bonnet?" Aunt Lucinda inquired. "You are quite sure? You can write immediately if anything has been forgotten, remember--"
"Yes, you are to have whatever you need, Honey," Mr. Ashe interrupted.
"Yes, Aunt Lucinda, I won"t forget. Yes, yes, Uncle Cliff, and you"ll write often, won"t you? I"ll be so lonesome just at first.
Good-by--good-by!" There was a droop to the last note of the second good-by--a quaver that went straight to Uncle Cliff"s heart and made him turn round and take Blue Bonnet once more in his arms.
"Why, Honey!" he said, as the brown head went down on his breast, and the quick sobs shook the slender form. "Now, now! What are you crying for? Do you want to go back to Grandmother"s? You only have to say so, you know."
The head shook violently on the broad shoulder that sheltered it, but no answer came.
"Do you want to go home with me--back to the ranch?"
Again the head shook--no!
Mr. Ashe unlocked the arms that had gone about his neck so lovingly, and lifting the wet face looked into it tenderly.
"Don"t, Honey," he said, and there was a catch in his own voice. "Don"t, please. Uncle Cliff can"t bear to have you cry. He"ll hear those sobs every step of the way back to Texas--and long after."
Blue Bonnet straightened up and made a brave effort to smile through her tears.
"Oh, no, you mustn"t! I didn"t mean to give way like that. I thought I was going to be all right--and then--all at once--it just had to come.
It"s homesickness. I"ve been fighting it for a month!"
"Remember you are responsible for Carita, too."
Mr. Ashe drew the solemn-eyed young girl who had been witnessing Blue Bonnet"s little outburst into the circle.
Blue Bonnet turned quickly and put her arms round Carita.
"If Carita dares act like this, I"ll exert my authority and spank her,"
she said, giving that young person a warm hug. "I"m to mother her in every particular. Isn"t that right, Uncle Cliff?"
"You are never to forget that you are responsible for her being here, Honey. You must make her happy and set her a good example at all times."
Blue Bonnet"s merry laugh brought the smiles back into Uncle Cliff"s face.
"I"ll try and not lead her into temptation, at any rate."
"That might be a good thing to remember, Blue Bonnet."
"And now, dear," Miss Clyde said, "perhaps you and Carita would better go up to your rooms and get your things out of your trunks. Miss North wanted them emptied as soon as possible, so that they could be taken to the trunk-room."
"All right, Aunt Lucinda. Good-by then--good-by! No, Uncle Cliff, I"m going to be good now. My love to everybody on the ranch--_everybody_, remember." She continued to wave her good-bys heroically until the corner was turned and Uncle Cliff and Miss Clyde lost to view.
"Now for the unpacking, Carita. Come along. I"ll help you first. That"s a motherly spirit, I"m sure."
"Yes, begin by spoiling me--that"s right!"