"Our old dog had a fit yesterday, and my brother got the vet"nary doctor. When he came, he said Carlo hadn"t any fit. He was acting just awful. I said "what makes him tare round so?" an he said maybe I"d tare round sum if I had a fish-bone in my throat! The doctor took it out, and then Carlo was so glad he tore round worsen ever!
"Arabella Corryville is acting worse than Carlo did. You know her Aunt Matilda lives with them, an neether Arabella, or her pa, or her ma dare to do ennything without asking Aunt Matilda _first_.
Well, her aunt has had to go way up to New Hampshur (I guess I didn"t spell that rite) and Arabella thinks its just her chanse to act awful.
Carlo is real quiet side of Arabella when she acts the way she does now.
"She stays out doors most all the time, and goes just where she pleases.
"Some days she"s way down by the stashun until its almost dark.
"You know she"s always taking medesin, and carries the bottles in her pockets.
"She carries em now, but she told me she"s takin the kind she likes best. Theres two kinds her Aunt Matilda made her take, one tasted horrid, and the other tasted nice. Arabella threw the horrid one away, and ate the nice pills for candy. She told me this morning that her Aunt Matilda is coming home just for one day, and then they"re all going up where you, and Dorothy, and Nancy are. I don"t believe it, but if she does, and you see her, you needn"t give my love to her.
"Your tru friend, "REGINALD."
CHAPTER X
A GIFT OF WILDFLOWERS
OF course, Dorothy and Nancy were greatly interested in the letter, and Uncle Harry said that he was glad that Reginald had thought to say that the fish-bone had been removed from Carlo"s throat.
He said it would have seemed quite a trip to take to leave the Cleverton, and go to Merrivale to feel Carlo"s pulse, and inquire for his health.
"Now that that bone is removed, I breathe easier," said Uncle Harry, "and so does Carlo!"
"Oh, you wouldn"t have gone home just to call on Carlo," said Flossie.
"Well, I don"t know," he said, trying to look solemn, "I wouldn"t like Carlo to feel neglected, and now I think of it, does Reginald speak of the cat?"
"No," said Flossie, "but when I answer the letter, I"ll tell Reginald you"re anxious about her."
"I am," said Uncle Harry, "because the last time I saw her, Carlo was barking at her very rudely, and her back was up in a hump like a camel"s. Reginald ought to have told us if her back is _still_ up, or whether she has taken the kink out of her spine. We might telephone and ask, instead of worrying."
He rose, and walked toward the hall, whistling as he went, an old nursery song that he used to sing to Flossie.
"The cat came fiddling out of the barn, With a pair of bagpipes under her arm."
How the children laughed!
"Look!" said Flossie, "he"s going right toward the telephone, just to make us think that he"s _truly_ going to ring up Reginald, and inquire for the cat."
"Who is Arabella?" Floretta asked.
"She lives near us," said Dorothy, "and she used to go to Aunt Charlotte"s private school with us."
"Doesn"t she now?" asked Floretta.
"No, she left our cla.s.s, and went to a large school in the city."
"By what the letter says, I"d think she was rather queer," said Floretta.
"Well--" said Dorothy, hesitating, "Arabella _is_ queer."
"Why don"t you like to say so?" was the sharp reply.
"Because Dorothy never likes to say anything that isn"t kind about any one, but Arabella _is_ queer, so Dorothy won"t say she isn"t," said Nancy.
It was a few days later that Dorothy was reminded of what Reginald had said in his letter to Flossie.
She was waiting for Nancy to go for a walk, and stooping to pick some of the pretty wildflowers that blossomed everywhere.
She had walked slowly along toward the clump of white birches where, when they had first arrived, they had called, and listened to the echo.
She looked back toward the hotel, but Nancy was not yet in sight, so she seated herself upon the gra.s.s, and began to arrange the flowers in a fine bouquet.
She was trying to mix the white blossoms and pink buds so as to show the beauty of each, when a carriage pa.s.sed, and before she looked up a shrill little voice shouted:
"Dorothy! Dorothy! We"re over at the farmhouse just beyond the Merlington. Aunt Matilda wouldn"t _let_ pa take us to a hotel. She doesn"t approve of hotels. Aunt Matilda says,--"
She was looking back to shout at Dorothy, and doubtless would have given even more particulars, but a firm hand had hastily forced her to turn around, and sit down.
Nancy ran along the path a few moments later, and her eyes were dancing.
"Did you see Arabella?" she asked. "_Did_ you?"
"Yes, just a few moments ago, and she turned around in the carriage and screamed to me," said Dorothy.
"I can guess what she said," laughed Nancy, "because she screamed at me. She told me she was staying at a farmhouse, and said that her Aunt Matilda didn"t approve of hotels."
"That is _just_ what she said," said Dorothy, "and she would have said more but some one, I think it was her Aunt Matilda, pulled her back into the carriage."
"Why, that"s just the way it was when I saw her. I ran out on to the piazza, and down the steps, and the carriage rolled by, and she twisted round to shout. There was this difference, though," said Nancy. "You were out here alone, and no one would know if you laughed, but when I ran out, our piazza was full of people, and when Arabella shouted, you"d ought to have seen them look.
"Flossie and her Uncle Harry were on the lawn, and as she rode past, he said with a sigh:
""Arabella, Arabella, If I had my new umbrella,"
and I was wild to know the rest of it, but his wife, who was standing near him, said:
""Hush, Harry, really you mustn"t," and he only laughed, and said:
""Oh, _mustn"t_ I? Why, when I saw Arabella and her Aunt Matilda, I really felt as if I _must_!""
"Let"s ask him what the rest of the verse is," said Dorothy.