"Just for a minute then, if Mr. Judson will be very careful."
Knight already had the child in his arms and was lifting him with the greatest tenderness. Gabriel sank into the saddle and reached for the lines with a chuckle of delight.
"Git ap!" he said, "git ap!"
Knight patted Chula"s shoulder and spoke quietly.
"Careful, old girl. This is a little sick boy you have on your back; no capers to-day."
"Couldn"t he just walk round a minute?" Gabriel begged.
Knight looked at Miss Warren.
"If Mr. Judson takes you round _once_ will you get off willingly, Gabriel?"
Gabriel promised with a quick nod.
Around they went once--so carefully; Blue Bonnet leading Chula, and Knight holding the child in the saddle. When they came back to the place where they had started, Gabriel put his arms round Knight"s neck and the tired body sank into the strong arms willingly. Knight carried him to the chair and Gabriel snuggled into the pillows exhausted.
"He will be all right presently," Miss Warren promised, noting Blue Bonnet"s and Knight"s alarm. "He has no reserve strength yet--but it will come; here, in this sunshine."
Miss Warren went into the house for a gla.s.s of milk for Gabriel, and Blue Bonnet, dropping down beside him, rubbed his colorless little hands. For a moment the eyelids fluttered weakly; then they opened slowly and the eyes smiled.
"It was fine!" he said, almost in a whisper. "Fine! Say, bring him again to-morrow, will you?"
Blue Bonnet promised, and as she mounted Chula a few minutes later, a weak voice called:
"To-morrow! Don"t forget--you promised!"
CHAPTER XIX
A SURPRISE PARTY
The We Are Sevens, meeting for the first time in several months for the transaction of business, had selected Mrs. Clyde"s orchard as the best possible place to hold council.
"You can"t sit under fruit-trees in bloom every day in the year," Debby had insisted. "I"m for that bench under the peach-tree, myself."
The orchard was alluring. A delicious fragrance filled the air. The peach-trees were crowded with bloom, and the pear-trees threatened every moment to outrival their neighbors in gorgeous blossom. Out in the lawn crocuses lifted their heads; daffodils and hyacinths breathed forth their sweetness, and in the elms, birds twittered and sang of spring as they built their nests.
Sarah had brought her sewing, which she pursued diligently. Kitty had a book to read to the girls if they ever stopped talking long enough to listen; and Amanda swayed back and forth in the hammock lazily. Knight Judson, strolling by, thought it a very attractive group, and hoped the girls would see fit to invite him in.
Blue Bonnet, glancing down the road, spied him, and with a smile beckoned to him.
"Sit down," she said, making room for him on the bench beside her. "This is a club meeting, but we"re almost through. Love to have you stay to lunch, if you can stand so many girls all at once. I"m going to see if Katie will give it to us out here. We can use that rustic table over there."
"Lovely!" the girls cried in a breath. "Make Knight carry out the chairs."
"Knight"s awfully obliging, isn"t he?" Kitty Clark said from her cushion, as she watched his long limbs disappear in the doorway. "And so terribly good looking! How do you suppose he ever got such adorable manners on a Texas range? I noticed them the first time I ever met him.
He"s really polished, _I_ should say."
"It"s a good thing Blue Bonnet didn"t hear you say that," Amanda said, "and--why, Kitty--don"t you see Carita? You ought to know that Texas people are the most courteous in the world after last summer. I think you owe Carita an apology."
Kitty hastened to make amends.
"Don"t bother," Carita said generously. "I know how you feel about it.
One doesn"t have much society where we live in Texas; but it doesn"t matter--if one is _born_ a gentleman."
Blue Bonnet came out of the house with a tea-cloth, followed by Knight and Delia with the chairs.
"There"s gingerbread!" Debby announced, sniffing. "My, doesn"t it smell good!"
"Yes, and little hot biscuits with orange marmalade," Blue Bonnet added.
"Cold ham and hot chocolate, too. Katie"s an old dear, isn"t she?"
It was a merry party, and Knight seemed quite at home, even if he was the only man in sight. He admitted that he had never been so popular in his life, and was enjoying the novelty.
"Girls," Amanda said, when the meal was nearly finished. "I have something to propose. You needn"t go away, Knight. Maybe you can help us. Blue Bonnet doesn"t know anything about it--but--we"re going to have a party, and it"s to be for Mr. Ashe."
"For Uncle Cliff!" Blue Bonnet said, amazed. "What kind of a party?"
"That"s to be decided," Amanda continued. "_I"m_ in favor of having it to-morrow night, if we can get ready. It"s to be a surprise party--that is, Mr. Ashe isn"t to know a thing about it. He"s been so perfectly angelic to all of us that we thought it would be nice to show him our appreciation if we could. Do you think he"d like it, Blue Bonnet? That is, if we could get all our parents to come?"
"I think he"d adore it. Where are you going to have it?"
"We haven"t decided yet. Where do you think would be the nicest place?
You can come to our house--"
"Why not have it here?" Blue Bonnet interrupted. "I know Grandmother wouldn"t mind. In fact, I think she"d love it. I"ll go ask her."
She was off before the girls could remonstrate and back again with the welcome news that Aunt Lucinda and Grandmother thought it was the proper place to have it.
"All right," the girls agreed, "only--there"s one thing we insist upon, Blue Bonnet, _we_ furnish the refreshments. We"re going to make them. It won"t be hard, dividing it between us."
"May I turn the ice-cream freezer?" Knight inquired. "I"m quite expert at it."
"You certainly may," Kitty replied. "I engage you right now, and you may report at my house any time before noon to-morrow."
"And when Kitty"s through with you, you can come over to our house and help stir cakes. I"m down for angel food, and I loathe beating up the eggs," Amanda said.
Knight promised solemnly.
"What am I going to furnish?" Blue Bonnet inquired. "Is there any other way you shine in the culinary line, Knight?"
"You furnish the house and the guest of honor! Isn"t that enough for one person, I should like to know?" Kitty said. "Seems to me you ought to be satisfied. If I could bring out an Uncle Cliff I should consider that I had done all the community could ask of me."